4/29

The swans were white. Our branch has 22 members. It's very, very small and it is not really anything like any ward I have ever seen in my life. There are a couple of members who are really cool tho.

So for our amis there is only one who is really doing very well. There are a lot of people who just talk to us just to hear the "good word". It is not really their main priority, so a lot of our amies we don't see very often because they are too "busy", but E___y, the one who is progressing, really, really loved church this week. Then afterwards we went to the branch president's house and she came too. We had a super good FHE. The guy who called us does not really have the desire to act in faith and get baptized. It's really sad.

Being in St. Omer is pretty way different than my other cities. We see the same people everyday and everyday they don't want to talk to us. We have to walk like 45 minutes to get anywhere to go porting. It is a test of faith, but if E___y is the only reason that missionaries are in this town, then its worth it.
 

The glasses are not reading glasses, they are to help me focus on stuff that is far away. For awhile it was weird seeing my reflection wearing glasses.
 

There are a LOT of blossoms here, and it's really pretty. St. Omer is made out of old dirty brick and the air smells like hot dogs, but the trees are beautiful! The sun is out now, too. last week we were porting and there was a man nude sunbathing in his front yard.

One thing that our mission president has been telling us to do is role plays. We do so much practice teachings, It is really good to know what you want to say before you go into a lesson. Lessons are way more effective if they are simple.
 

So this week is labor day, and the weird thing about labor day is that no one works. We were going to have our district meeting that day but there are no trains or metros. This whole week is kinda askew because new missionaries are going on legality trips and the holiday and stuff. I just hope we can work as much as possible.

4/22

howdy peeps.

 

So this week was a really weird and cool week. The weird part, I got called a bum and got thrown off a man's porch, but that was the only weird part. Being in St Omer is way different than Cergy or Angers. There is like 70 percent old grumpy people who want nothing to do with us. This week we fixed a goal to, in every prayer, pray for miracles. The cool part is that we saw a lot! I dont know if there were actually more miracles this week or if we just noticed more of them, but either way, a bunch of good stuff happened.

So lately we have been having a really hard time seeing our amies. They are super busy or on vacation and don't want to be bugged, but its good because in the last 2 weeks we have found 7 new amis.

Wanna know something weird about France? At school they go for 6 weeks and then they have a 2 week vacation, but they still get Christmas break and spring break and summer and all regular holidays, but this week (the one that just happened) and next week are both vacation weeks. No one is in town. It is like a ghost town when we are porting, but when people are home, they have been listening to us. God's will is pretty cool and it seems to always work out for the best.

So we went back to the place with the swans and there were big ugly mean geese there.

 The big news in St Omer this week was a big bike race. I got a video of it. It was not the Tour de France tho.

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be able to skype on Mother's Day.

I don't know why its happening but I now notice when stuff is beautiful, like blossoms and clouds and stuff. I know that God created this world for us and that it wasn't just a random scientific explosion.

Our amis that we have found recently are doing really well, but they are all soooooo different! It's really important to teach everyone for their individual needs and at their own speed.

4/15

I saw Elder Hunter (another missionary from our Stake, who was serving in France, but is now home) the last day! He's a baller, and a half.

 

Things in the tiny branch are wierd. It's very different. This sunday i taught the youth, 2 girls and 2 boys. Since this branch hasnt had missionaries for over 7 yeas they dont really know what to do with us and we dont have enough members for an ami class. So we teach the youth the 2nd hour. Its fun though. Our chapel is in the basement of a random building.

 

We have plenty of people to teach, just as much as my other cities, but it is hard to see them. I dont know why but it seems like theyre always "busy" and we walk a LOT. Elder H___ and I are doing a good job. We found 4 new amies last week and a family. We also almost got attacked by huge mom and dad swans who were sitting on their babies.

So the coolest thing that happened this week was that a man who had been an investigator for a super long time (there werent any missionaries for him) talked to a member. The member said that there was missionaries here now. He called us and said he wanted to be taught. He had read like half of the Book of Mormon but had stopped coming. He even went to institute.  One thing that our prez told us tha really stuck out to me is that sometimes people reach a point where it is impossible to progress without the Holy Ghost. That is this man, he is so cool. Today we are going to fix a baptisimal date. He said that back when he used to come to church he became "puritan" and that he recieved a answer from the Holy Ghost that the church is true. We told him to pray and ask for another witness of the spirit. He called us and said he got one. He said he heard a voice speak to him and it calmed his spirit. He is a legit 29 year old french guy. I'm super excited, and so is the ward.

I bought the glasses. I really like them! I bought a good pair so that I dont really have to worry and there is insurance on them.

Guess what happened this week, our gas got shut off, so we had cold showers for 2 days, but I'm used to that.

4/8

Hey everybody! Conference was awesome! On Saturday night we watched the Saturday morning session live. Then on Sunday we watched priesthood taped.  Then Saturday afternoon taped, then Sunday morning live, and then this morning we watched Sunday afternoon. We had to go to Lille to watch it, but we got to watch it in English. We spent the night in Lille with a bunch of missionaries. It was kinda outta control. All of the questions that I had where answered during conference.

That's really sad about the chicken with no feet.  (It died this weekend.)

 

There are 22 members in this branch, but it is pretty much just 3 big families. From what I've seen of St. Omer I really like it. The average age of the citizens here is like a billion. Its pretty cold. We cant see the ocean, but we can feel the freezing wind.

(I found this on Google Images,
 I think this may be the cathedral he was talking about,
I hope he sends a real photo sometime soon.)

My new comp is from Layton ,Utah. His name is Elder H_____. This is his last transfer, so I'm "killing" him. Its going to be fun. He's really good at being a missionary because he's been one for like 2 years. There are no buses or anything, or a mission car, so we walk EVERYWHERE. The coolest thing about this city is that there is a collapsing cathedral. it looks like Gondor after it got attacked.

 

It took us like 2 and a half hours to get here. France has the fastest trains in the world.

There are some glasses stores here. Were getting some today.


The numbers in the picture (that I shared last week) are for what number transfer we are in.

I got a letter on Friday here in St Omer, so the address is right.

So St. Omer is really cool. We have some really solid amis that we can see often. So I'm really excited to get things going here.

The worst thing about this town is our shower is pink and has butterflies painted on it.

One of the people we teach smokes A LOT and we are going to scrub her apartment with a couple members.

I'm pretty far from Paris.  (Andrew asked him how close he was to Paris.)

4/1 (with pictures!)

hey everyone. so I dont have that much time to write today, its "Easter Monday" and the cyber cafes are closed, so we're using the computer at t

but so about transfers, I am going to St Omer. Its a branch that has 22 members. Its really high north in France. I'm pretty sad to leave Angers. I love it here!

This week was very very slow number wise, but I really learned a lot about myself. It was good even though it was the least productive week of my mission so far.

Everything is going really great.

There are a lot of changes going on in the mission, we now have 11 zones (we used to have 8) and the number of sisters is doubling. There's also a lot of new places for missionaries to serve. St. Omer has only had missionaries for 18 weeks, so I hope that a lot of good things will happen there.

Sorry about the really short email, but everything is going great! I really love you guys!
he church, and we have a lot of things to do today and its really stressfull because there are no buses.

With a girl he baptized and the sister missionaries in the ward.

with one of his good friends

with the parents of the mission presidents wifes, who he LOVES

there is a cathedral and a castle in the background

his district