Elder Crawley's Last Week

Yeah so this week was sorta weird again because all the amis that were were able to meet with on a pretty regular basis are no longer calling us back or anything. They have all dropped off the face of the earth! It's really pretty weird... but its ok I guess. Elder Crawley is getting into his very last week as a missionary which is really weird cause he talks about home a lot and that makes me remember home and it feels like so long ago that I was just able to do anything I wanted and stuff, and I also have like 40000 days left on my mission! He almost has less days than I have years! But I am slowly creeping up on my 4th transfer which is crazy cause that means 6 months is gone! 

I feel like I haven't grown at all haha but that's just because I know growth is a slow process and you can't really see it from yourself as well as other people can see it. I have noticed that I can basically say anything I want in French and I am able to talk to members and other people if I sort of know where the conversation is going. My French has come so much farther and scripture study and study has been crazy. I have been able to really focus on LEARNING from the scriptures rather than just being able to read them. 

But that recent convert Gabriel that I was telling you about has texted us and he basically said that he made a huge mistake and that he is never coming back.... sooooo... yeah. that put a damper on the day for sure. And this other recent convert has also asked to break communication with the church at least for a while... so all of our people are literally just dropping off the face of the earth!! like its crazy!! 

Transfers are coming up and everyone thinks they are gonna white wash my equipe and I am gonna be going over by Bordeaux or something like that, but we will see in a few days! I hope I get to stay so I can keep going to the Lepore and Frere Girards houses! That in an of itself is worth staying a few more weeks! haha But yeah not a ton of new contacts and progressing amis or anything but we are still working and trying to get things looking up here in rainy cold wintery Lyon haha. Looks like you guys are having fun! Oh and Elder Crawley's sister just got engaged this past week and she was 16 when he left I just thought that was funny cause she is 1 month older than me and she is already selling her life away just like Katie... haha jk.

Hope everything is going well! Love you all! 

Some school by Confluence

Found a Mexican taco! 

Nous Sommes Charlie

Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

I Love Being Here as a Missionary!

So this week was cool! We had a few days where we were trying to go on exchange with our zone leaders and they kept getting sick so we had to just go out and pass less active people which is always fun I guess! But we also had a lot of fun just taking 40 million buses and figuring out how to get out there and everything! We still have to be sort of careful cause of the terrorist thing but its not that bad down here in Lyon! 

On a sad note we have this golden Recent Convert named Gabriel and he is literally the best member that  have seen in a long time! I was here all the way until his baptism and he has been baptized for a bout a month and he hasn't been to church in 2 weeks and we called him to find out if he was out of town or what and he just said he wasn't coming back! Like he got offended by something that someone said and now he doesn't want to come back!! It doesn't make sense! So we are going to try and see him this week and fix everything, we are going to take him to bishops house for a family night, but really weird how that happens! 

But today we were in Vieux Lyon looking for gifts for Elder Crawley's family and we were in a souvenir shop an this guy started asking about our church cause I guess he has met the missionaries and stuff and so we talked for a little and we ended up getting his number to call him this week! And on the bus this Muslim lady just turns around and like waves at me and I was like ..... um hi.... so I waved back and she beckoned me over and so I went over and she was like, do you remember me? haha and I didn't really but I was yeah totally! I just forgot your name... haha and so she told me and as soon as she did I remembered that we had talked to her way back in November and she hasn't answered or anything since then and she was like super excited to see me and asked where Elder Olsen was and I told her that he is now in Aix but then asked if I had her number and stuff and I was like I still have it so she was like ok when you go back to the US you have to keep it so we can talk haha cause she thought I was going home soon or something. I explained that I was staying and then she was like oh ok well I will call you soon and then we can talk about the church and stuff more. So it was cool to see that you can prepare people and make friends for other missionaries in the future and just leave a good impression with everyone. Anyway that's about it, haha we didn't have a ton of lessons we just talked to crazy drunk people haha and cool Catholic people and crazy people in general and just a whole mix nothing really stood out too much but it is cool to be here in France and I love being here as a missionary :)

Me by a bridge by Bellecour













Me and Elder Crawley decided to get really model status at Buffalo Grill this week for Elder Thompson's birthday!

Stairs at Vieux Lyon

Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

A New Ami, Chris!

This week has been another one where we haven't really been teaching a whole lot, we just talk to people and a lot of the time people don't really want to talk, but we did find a new ami this week and his name is Chris! He is about 60 and like the biggest smoker I think I have ever met. He smokes about every 15 minutes haha so I literally smell like smoke almost all the time now which is ok, I guess, cause that is how everyone here smells for the most part. haha But yeah we have been teaching him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read it and invited him to come to church but he couldn't come cause he got hit by a bus a few weeks ago so he stayed home and hopefully read the Book of Mormon! haha He has soooooo many books so maybe he will forget and then we will have to do it with him! haha But aside from that we have just been out here talking to people who are willing to talk and my French is ok now! I can express my ideas and everything that I want just fine usually so now it just talking fast and getting a really good accent! haha 

I bought a jacket this week at Soldes it is super stylish! I will show you in a picture next week when I have it in action! I gave myself a haircut! It was the scariest thing I have had to do since being out here I think! I would rather contact 50 people than do that! haha But it looks ok now or at least I think it looks good! 

I didn't get half the pictures you sent but it looks like you guys had a ton of fun! But this week we passed a lot of members and did a lot of 15 minute RDV's so it is always fun to get into people's houses and share a little spiritual thought! And it is fun being with someone who has been on their mission for literally almost 2 years! haha Sometimes its tough cause he talks about home and stuff but then we just go out and try and make his last 3 weeks as a missionary the best that they could possibly be! Our new Mission Pres is going to be Scott Brown look him up! I want to know everything about him! haha He is from Sandy, that's all I know and he is a lawyer :) That's good for me! haha Maybe he will get me into law school!!

Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

Happy New Year!

Yeah that picture of Jono is so crazy to see! It feels like that is 4000 million years in the future for me! I don't even think about that day when I am back to America! It looks like you had a lot of fun doing all of your little activities out there in the freezing cold! haha it gets cold here but not like that! It is weird to think that all those things were all last year and about this time next year I will feel the same but things will be completely different! So much can change in a year and especially when you are living in a place like France! 

This week we didn't have a lot to do cause people are still on vacance which is just vacation I guess... but yeah so we decided to do some pass backs with less active members and we decided cause we finished a little early to go pass the family Skashkov who are Russians and I have tried to go over there a few times but they are never home and so I had no idea what to expect! But we went and they answered the door and let us in!! haha I was so surprised cause it is the 5th time we have passed in my 2 transfers here but they were there that day I guess! We got talking a little just cause we didn't know them at all and they are super cool. They are about 24 and have a 2 year old little girl who is the cutest! We then found out that his brother in law who lives with them is a professional hockey player here in Lyon! so we are gonna try and get out to a game! They invited us back on Saturday for dinner but we both forgot until about an hour before so we rescheduled it for tomorrow! They are the coolest! They even came to church this past week! I am not sure how long they haven't been coming but it shows that even just a small 20 minute visit can have a big affect on people! I hope you are all doing well!

Christmas Zone Conference with David Archuleta as the guest speaker. 

Dinner at Bishop Lepore's home. 

Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

La Fete des Lumiere

France is getting really busy! we are just being missionaries meeting crazy people all the time who either yell at us on the metro or just really cool people that you want to baptize on the street then they aren't interested or a whole mix of things but yeah! I will be staying in Lyon! I stayed for the Fete de Lumiere and so that was super cool! I did however find out the hard way that I will need a new coat because it is not like dry utah heat it is that new york type bone chilling cold here! It is about 1 to 6 degrees here everyday so it is starting to get pretty cold! but it never snows here! 

The Porte Des Alpes Eldres Ami Pong went with us to the Fete De Lumiere he is super awesome! haha 

I would love to hear all about your new cars when you finally decide! Just get an Audi they are super popular here in france and i really think they look classy but that is just me... Elder Olsen in Getting Tranfered to Aix en Provence to be Zone Leader and i am geting Elder Crawley today who was jsut zone leader in Montpellier so i am just a magnet for zone leaders i guess! he is in his last transfer thoèugh! THis next transfer David Archuleta is coming to our mission so that will be really cool! We are inviting everyone to come to that so if you are here you are welcome to come haha I am glad to hear everyone is doing good though! 

I went to Toulouse this past week and it was really cool to see a different part of the mission and not just Lyon! i have some pictures from it we had to go for Elder Olsen's legality or something! BTW you should try and get my Swiss legality all figured out haha cause I wanna serve in Swiss! Like see if we can become citizens of Germany or something so we are part of the EU so I can just go to Swiss! haha If you can't figure that out it's fine though. 

   Pont Neuf in Toulouse it is really famous I guess or I hear it is famous!

I am excited to see you on Christmas and Elder Haws is staying with me for Christmas and he is getting a blue! I am no longer a blue! haha Love you all and I hope you love the chocolate! It wasn't the nicest stuff but it is French so yeah! 

 More Pictures!!

    Fete de Lumiere

   Cool stuff I see everyday that I probably take for granted.

I locked us out of our apartment last week so here we are waiting for the other Elders to come home.

Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

In the World but Not of It

Yeah it is already December! and I haven't even had use of Facebook,Twitter or Instagram for like 3 months and it is the weirdest feeling on earth! I see everyone using their phones all the time and I know now what it means to be in the world and not of it cause I don't really even miss it anymore! Sure, it would be fun to see what all my friends are doing and stuff but that would make things harder here! Elder Olsen and I talk about this all the time, haha... in between me singing him disney songs and stuff like that! 

But yeah it has been a pretty good week! We went to Chalon Sur Saone and spent our Thanksgiving together as a district and that was fun! But we only had 2 heures to eat and talk then we had to go out and be missionaries again because it isn't a holiday in France. We met a couple cool people when I was with Elder Perry on an exchange! Including Elder Perry, cause I didn't really know him before! But yeah, time goes fast here! I am entering my 3rd transfer which is crazy! I got to France and my roommate Elder Berry was in his third and I thought he was so old! Now I realize that it is nothing! I can maybe have a half conversation in French if they don't mumble like a lot of French people do! But yeah, we just keep contacting and trying to find more people to teach cause we haven't had any really solid progressing amis or anything. We continue to have baptisms! We have had 3 in the past 2 weeks here! None of them are for our equipe but they are for the other people here, so that is good! 

This next week I am going to Toulouse with Elder Olsen cause he has to do his legality and stuff down there so I am taking a 5 hour train ride down there. It should be fun or really boring. I'm not sure which it will be yet! It's funny how different people are here in France, just their mannerisms and stuff! There are a lot of Muslim people. They aren't really nice they just sorta yell at you on the metro, which makes me glad that I don't understand everything yet, haha! It makes for interesting stories and stuff. Anyway, it is just the life of a missionary, I guess! But yeah, we are working. Transfers are this coming week so we will see if I stay here in Lyon for Christmas or not! Have you heard about He is the Gift? If not, go look it up!

http://www.mormon.org/christmas?cid=HPFR112814529

http://www.mormon.org/christmas

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

Diligence Brings Miracles!

Well we have taught 20 lessons again this week! We taught 9 lessons on Sunday which was awesome because all I have heard that a year ago getting twenty lessons was like something that was never, ever, ever heard of! The good missionaries were getting like 7 lessons a week and we are now starting to see that the numbers are sky rocketing and it has just been really cool to be a part of that! 

Here in this mission we focus a lot on diligence and that is how we have been able to turn around this mission. In the past it has been not a very obedient mission but President Roney has really cracked down and fixed up all the missionaries and has had them buy into the "diligence brings miracles" because when you are doing what you are supposed to, the Lord is going to give you miracles! So really the biggest Christlike attribute is diligence. I haven't been here for very long so thats about all I have really noticed so far it's only been about 8 weeks, so yeah! 

I hope you know chewing gum is against the mission rules ;) haha but yeah it is still really nice here in Lyon, but I need some sweaters and stuff cause it isn't cold enough for my big coat but it is still a little nippy outside! We had a lot of lessons on the street this week and we have made a questionnaire about Noel for the people here in France so they will stop and talk to us! I am thankful for everything that you have done for me and I would just like to share that with you! We have so much to be thankful for but we can't see it unless we step back! 

This week I went on a ton of exchanges so I wasn't with Elder Olsen a lot! I went with a kid who has been here for 2 weeks so I'm sure you can imagine what that was like for me... the big dog leading the pack, haha, it was scary! But we taught our lessons ok even though they were asking about heaven and what happens in the celestial kingdom and like when Jesus will come again and just other crazy questions, like why bad things happen! That's all people here talk about so it wasn't unusual to hear that! 

I also live with Elder Haws and so that is always interesting because he is funny and we just are bros!
We are celebrating Thanksgiving in Chalon with our District so I get to take a train one and a half hours north of Lyon!! haha :)

I miss Lake Powell and I can't even imagine having a whole week to do nothing and relax it is so different than the mission life where you are ALWAYS doing stuff! But I will just work hard now so Lake Powell will be that much more relaxing when I get back!

Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

Watching New Missionaries Arrive!

This week flew by! It was the first week of the transfer and so it was sorta crazy for the office and we saw all the missionaries passing through Lyon and there is a new group of Blues so I am no longer the youngest group in the mission! haha but we didn't have any changes in our house. We only had one person leave and he is going to Swiss because he is European and we got Elder Sorenson who went to Alta and he is pretty cool! I am glad to hear my Utah Utes are putting the hurt on Stanford and seem to be doing really good! I have been on two transfers with the Zone Leaders and with the office elders this week so I haven't been with Elder Olsen a lot which is sad but the other elders are super good missionaries so it is all ok! 

Elder Erickson got run over by me during Samedi Sportif this week and I felt super bad the soccer ball just was moving so fast and he came out of nowhere! haha He says he was fine but idk.. We also did body shots where is where we box but you cant hit them in the face and of course I got hit right in the jaw by Elder Berry (he isn't very coordinated) haha but its ok cause I was whooping him. haha 

Here in France you meet SOOOO many Muslims from Algeria that is seriously the majority of people that we meet here and they are usually really nice until we start talking about prophets and then they usually start talking really fast and tell us we can't know that and that Mohammed was the last prophet and a bunch of stuff like that! haha  I just started telling people I am from Allemane because everyone just assume I am from America when I start to talk so I get a laugh out of that! haha I only know three words of German so yeah, I have to make sure they also don't speak German! 

This week we had a lot of tombez vous which means they don't show up and we only had about 8 lessons but its ok! and Bishop Lepore got me my package! I am gonna send you my SD card soon! so I am gonna save pictures for a week or two so you have some surprises! 

I am very thankful for you and everything you do! Love you all!! 

Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

Week of Excellence!

This week was super super fast but it was super long at the same time! It was our Week of Excellence which means we were trying to achieve all the standards of excellence which means that we had to teach 20 lessons. If you know how many people we usually teach or have taught in the past few weeks than you know how big of a challenge that is, especially when we are a white washed brand new formed equipe in downtown France so we were just gonna try to over double our highest numbers of lessons taught in the past few weeks. By Wednesday morning we had taught 3 lessons which was pretty good and then by the end of Sunday night we had taught 21 lessons!!! 

It was so crazy cause it literally just snuck up on us! Not only did we teach that many lessons but we had 4 new people with baptismal dates and we even had to drop one guy who had set a baptismal date that wasn't progressing these past few weeks! So all said and done it was crazy! We had like 5 lessons with recent converts or less actives and we had like 45 conversations with people on the road or metro or anywhere we could! We found 5 new amis who we are teaching this week and it literally has just started to blow up this past week! 

I am staying in Lyon for the next 4 weeks because it is a short transfer so after that I might be onto another city for Christmas or something like that, but either way I am excited that I get to learn the city a little bit better and learn the ward here better because they are actually super cool here! Bishop Lepore is a good dude and I hope that you got to meet him! We did attend a Catholic Mass last night! There were probably about 350 college students there, haha, and we got there early and still barely got seats! We got invited and President said we could go if we were respectful and stuff! It was really interesting to see how other churches do things and it made me realize how people who come to our church feel! 

The thing I learned this week is in Alma 32 where he talks about how if we had seen God our punishments for sin would be way worse and I liked that because here I always hear people say they don't believe because they haven't seen God or haven't seen anything like that. I think God does that because He loves us and it is a time to walk in faith rather than by sight. 

 Elder Schettler's current address:

2, rue de Longchamp

69100 Villeurbanne, France

Email: benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Center

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon, France

Halloween and Family History Night

 It seems like everything is working out very well at home! We are just working hard here. I shaved my legs so that was about the biggest thing that changed with my non-mission life! haha but my mission life is busy. We had a family history night where we contacted people for 3 hours outside on the street in downtown about Family History and stuff, haha. The French people are so quiet and its hilarious cause they just know I am American. 

Family History Night

We went to our bishops house on Halloween they are American so we had a good time there with them and their family! He is going to be in SLC for 10 days so it would be awesome if you could go find him! He works for Family Search and is going to be at the Joseph Smith building. His last name is Lepore and his name is Ronald or something! He is super awesome though! 

HALLOWEEN in LYON with Bishop Lepore's family!

We are doing emails late today cause we went to the President's today. We played basketball and stuff. President Roney even laced up his shoes and balled with us in church clothes and Adidas, but Elder Haws proved he deserves his scholarship... he is super good and tall!!!

Frank is in Bezier this week so we teach him over the phone. We got dropped by a girl who we taught once and we have to pass our new contacts to other elders cause they don't live in our sector but they are sorta boring I think. The new people we met are super cool they are from Kosovo and it is a father and his 13 year old son.

The Master Taco Cinqo... 

 it was tough but I did it!! I wasn't smiling so much after. 

This is elder Erickson's Companion with me 

Moms' commentary:

Elder Erickson is an office assistant to President Roney and his mom is a good friend of mine from Logan, UT. I get extra information about Ben through Zac's letters and we love to share back and forth. I wanted to share this email from Elder Erickson about Ben and his missionary friends. It gives me a deeper understanding of how my son really is doing:) He also gives some great advice for current and returning missionaries that came in a zone conference this week with Elder and Sister Kearon of the Seventy. 

Elder Erickson: 

Elder Schettler was with me today:) I really like Elder Schettler, he's super funny and is really enjoyable to be around. He's in one of the coolest apartments in the mission, with three of my favorite missionaries: Elder Olsen (his trainer), Elder Haws (yes, THE Elder Haws whose brother is dominating the NCAA and who will be doing the same thing in two years), and Elder Berry (a fellow Aggie, who's super funny and is comps with Elder Haws). He's doing great. :) My favorite Elder Schettler line (said to Elder Haws during a round of basketball in morning exercises): "Hey, do you know who is really good at basketball? Tyler Haws!" ;)

Elder Kearon:

How can we be happy and work hard and have energy ? 

It's really simple: choose to be happy, attack the day, and do your morning exercises. Excepting the cases of clinical depression and other psychological and mental problems, the Lord has given us the power to choose to be happy, and to make our lives better. He told us something that really stuck with all of us, especially to all of us that don't have much time left on our missions: the reason that returned missionaries miss their missions so much is because they stop doing the things on their missions that gave them energy and joy and happiness. They stay up late with their friends, sleep in, don't do deep daily personal study of the scriptures, don't serve others, focus on themselves, and even slip into old negative things that drag them down spiritually. Then they wonder why they miss their missions so much. But, even now, as missionaries, we don't always do the things that give us the power to be energetic and happy. So, we need to get on the ball with things like that. :) President gave us an action plan today on how we can do that: Project Morning M.A.N.G.O.'S. 

Still the Same Old Goof!

Yeah well I don't even realize a lot of the cool stuff around me anymore just because I think I am becoming used to living here in France, like the apple juice cartons are normal and they only have like half and half milk here which is weird! haha 

We listened to General Conference in English but I was tired so it sorta sounded like a different language sometimes I guess!! We really just contact people all day trying to find more amis and stuff! We are teaching about 4 lessons a week. We have a new engage named Franck who is super awesome and he has a date of baptism but he can't be baptized because he is really addicted to smoking, so we have been trying to help him stop that and everything. Cassandra didn't come to church last week but we think she will come this next week! We had Stake Conference and it was super long. I only understood Soeur Roney because like me, she doesn't speak really fast or anything! haha. We have a conference with Elder Kearon of the Seventy this Thursday and then transfers are next week so I will find out next Friday!

I haven't met that many weirdos here in France yet though which is surprising I guess! There are a lot of Muslim people and so we have a lot of interesting discussions with them about Jesus and stuff but they are all super nice for most the time! When I talk to people they usually talk to me unless they see my plaque then they get all weird and sometimes just move to another spot on the metro! haha and half the people here think I am German, until I speak to them. My favorite place so far is the Stade de Gerland and the Fourvriere, they are super cool and we will need to come visit them sometime! I haven't done a lot of sight seeing here though but I do know how to get around very well on the metro and bus systems now so I could get us anywhere probably. 

My friends are all over the world and everyone is having different experiences but the thing we have in common is that we all see miracles everyday even though we are so far apart and they are all thanks to the gospel and the blessings we have from our families and this church. It is really cool to see how the same thing can effect so many people for the better! 

Elder Haws keeps my life interesting though we have become really tight and just love to rap battle at night and Elder Olsen films us so I hope you know I am not a total different person haha still the same old goof that left 2 months ago! Elder Berry is Haw's companion and everyone is like 6'2" or bigger, so yeah, I'm the little guy!  But yeah just same old France stuff! I am going shopping today cause I everyone looks at me funny in my American clothes! haha 

Villeurbanne, France

Elder Schettler's current address is:

 2, Rue de Longchamp  

69100 Villeurbanne, France
benjamin.schettler@myldsmail.net

Mission Home address:

France Lyon Mission

Business Centre

59 rue de l'Abondance

69003 Lyon

France