10/28

hey everybody! This week was pretty awesome. Some good things happened, but it went by really really fast.

 

So there is a man that we have taught a couple times who live in a town called Ho***n. It is like on the other side of the galaxy. It takes like 2 hours to get there. So we don't really go see him that often just cuz its super hard to get out there. I think I've told you about him. He is half paralyzed and his sister joined the church but they didn't know she lived wayyy out there (with her brother) but it is easier for them to get to the A******y ward than to ours cuz there is a train to Paris and there is not a train to Mantes, but anyway he really wants to get baptized and has been taught everything. He is ready and prepared to keep all the commandments. His cell phone doesn't work right now because he ran out of credit, so he cant make calls, he can only answer. His sister has been on vacation all month and doesn't answer or call him because of roaming fees. So this Wednesday we finally called him and asked how its going. He said that it had been going bad. He had not had electricity since that last Saturday and he couldn't really do anything in the dark and his food was going bad. He cant leave his house because of his paralysis, so he said he didn't know what to do so he just prayed and prayed that we would call him so we could come help him. Well, we came by as early as we could the next day and all we had to do was flip the breaker, but it was something he couldn't do because of his wheelchair. (I also think he didn't really know what to do) but long story short.. he prayed for the missionaries to call him and help him, and we did.  It reminds me of the conference talk by Elder Nelson "ask the missionaries, they can help you." I remember so many times our power would go out and dad would say "I'm going to teach you how to flip a breaker" and he would make us go outside and watch him do it. Thanks dad.

 

Another thing that dad taught me really helped this week. Our toilet keeps acting funky. Sometimes its doesn't flush and sometimes it doesn't stop flushing. I remember that dad taught me pretty much how toilets work. He also taught me the 4 rules of plumbing-

 

1)boss is a jerk

2)pay day is on Friday

3)water runs down hill

4)keep your hands out of your mouth.

 

So the dead cat is still there, but it is crushed up against the curb now, but like right next to it today there was a cat sitting there with a blank stare on its face... drooling. It gave me the willies!

 

So, Elder Wells mom sent him an issue of "LDS Living" magazine. There is a big section about the church in France, but there is also a big ad for SVU and there is a big picture with a bunch of my old friends on it. It made me really want to go back!!!

 

 So I got some kinda big news.. its pretty weird. Elder Wells and I are not staying together  =( we're both staying here, but we're each getting new comps. My new comp is named J***n P***e.  Never heard of him. But also weirder news... so as I was reading the transfers I saw something next to my name that said "DL" and I knew that wasn't right. If someone gets called district leader, the night before the Assistants call them and tell them. so when I read that and I called them and said "yo what up with dat?" (I am really good friends with Elder C****y) and he was like "ummmm yeah we didn't call you last night but... yeah..." so I'm district leader now... boo

 

I'm pretty upset that you guys didn't tell me you broke the Jeep....

 

and that's pretty cool about Joseph! I don't really know a lot of missionaries anymore because theres so many new ones... so I'm glad that the ones that he talked to knew me and liked me.. cuz that could have been awkward if not.

 

I want to get a truck, if you don't mind. There are NO trucks in Europe and I miss them so bad. Maybe that could be a homecoming present =p. no jk. 

 

So its pretty crazy that another month has gone by.

 

Would we save money if after I went to SVU I transferred to a UC or CSU?

10-21

 

So this week was good. Things are starting to roll.

 

That's pretty sweet about Bradley scoring the game winning goal, but its too bad he hates soccer. I am going to need him to train with me when I get back from my mission for that month before I go to Virginia. Sorry I didnt say last week but thats super cool that Bradley made the A team, but I could still ham on him. There is no way that he can take me. I'll slam lay up in his face.

 

That's pretty cool that the home teachers came over. We get asked to do people's home teaching all the time and I'm kinda like "... do you want us to find investigators or not?"

 

There is a man that lives 2 hours away in a tiny town. He has been taught by missionaries living in a different sector, but they're like "he's too far and he actually lives in your boundries. " so they passed him to us. He's super nice. He is in a wheelchair because half  of his body is paralyzed. He really wants to be baptized, but he cant because he cant come to church. (He doesnt have a car) but in a couple weeks he is going to move into Paris. He'll be able to go to church there easly because of the metro. So we're going to prepare him to be baptized here but he'll do it in a different ward.

 

The man who came to church last week is really cool. He was a gospel singer and he gave us CDs. He came to stake conference with us in Versailles and he really like it. Tonight we are teaching him at the bishop's house and doing FHE.

 

So yeah stake conference was yesterday and it was pretty cool. It was across the street from the chateau de versailles just like last year and the theme was "the search for excellence." Its was pretty spiritual. There was a choir that had the missionaries who serve in Versailles in it and they sang very VERY high. I was talking to the missionaries after about it and the sisters said that they couldnt go that high? They just opened their mouths, but it was a good choir. It was also cool to see pretty much the whole ward from Cergy. and P_____ and F_______ were there. and F_______ got on one knee and kissed my knuckles. (He said he really missed me) but it was good to see that they're still active and going strong.

 

Also when we were driving there we got to see the area where they have started work on the temple. it is a VERY nice neighborhood. I hope it looks really pretty, but it is also really close to a busy road.

 

The bishop rented a car to drive us there. It was a Renault Clio. It was super super small and we fit 5 huge guys in it. Let's just say there was no air or space or comfort, but it was nice of him to do.

 

There's not much more to say. I'm almost a hundy percent sure that I will be staying here for next transfer.

 

I thought of something really funny that would make you guys laugh really hard, but I dont remember, so now i feel dumb.

 

How do you make dirty shirts white? I feel like if I can do that then I dont need to buy new ones.

 

I feel like I dont even know Andrew or Bradley anymore.

 

So I don't think you understand when I tell you how GHETTO this place is. The other day there was a knife fight out in the streets.  There are some areas that are super nice, like mansions, but most is just not good. I don't know how to beat around the bush--- it just aint pretty or clean. There are  2 dead cats down the street from our apartment... from last week.

 

Don't worry about me. I take multivitamins everyday, so I prob wont get sick and we usually stay away from knife fights. So I feel like it'll all be good.

 

 

10/14

Sooo same thing as last week, our pday got broken up again. We had a pretty good week last week! The reason that it was so good is that it set us up to have a good week THIS week. Also we saw a really cool thing happen. There was a member who was inspired after General Conference and invited her brother to come to church. He was there and during Sunday School.  He asked a lot of questions and was super involved. His questions were really good. The topic was "the goal of life" and he said that he was wondering about that. We told him that we can receive guidance from prophets and apostles and he was like "... I thought those were all done, do you believe that God calls prophets today?" He wanted us to answer his questions but he didn't want to make a scene so we set up an appointment for this week with his nephew (who got home from his mission 2 months ago).

 

So I forgot to tell you last week about what happened at zone conference. Do you remember the show "Scrubs" that Melanee used to watch? The main character JD has these "visions" where he sees a couple seconds into the future and they are USUALLY something really weird happening. Well the night before zone conference I had one of those and it was of me leading the music. When they passed out the programs I opened it up and started reading who would do what and I saw my name for directing the music. I remember when I was like 14 there was a mutual activity with Lisa Griggs and it seemed like they didn't have anything to do so they were like "hey, we can teach everyone how to lead music..." I am sooooooooo glad that that stuck with me because the zone conference was actually a 4 zone conference. So I woulda looked like a noob in front of like a hundy missionaries. I am pretty good friends with one of the assistants to the president, and he is the one who chose me to do it. He claimed that he "thought it would be funny". THANK YOU LISA GRIGGS!!!

 

So this month is super tight on money and I did some unwise spending early in the month (haircut and stamps) and we are at like 0 dollars. We are mega poor. Last week we were going to be ok because a member invited us over to eat... but it ended up falling through not that it was there fault or anything but it was just an unfortunate event. So we had to get super creative with the weird stuff in the back of our cupboards.

 

So every week after district meeting we have a district meal and every equipe brings a part. Last week we were assigned to bring the drinks and it since we have like no money we were like uhhhh what do we do???? Then I remembered that I had kool-aid that I was saving for a rainy day and this was a rainy day (it was raining.) so we used that and everyone was super happy and loved it.

 

So do you remember the Chastons? The senior couple that you love a lot. Elder Chaston had a heart attack on Thursday, but its super lucky because the city that he is in, Nancy, has a super good heart doctor, but just remember to pray for him!!

 

So about the car..... so when I first got here and I was talking to Elder Wells, one of the first things he said to me was "a couple weeks ago our car broke down, but it should be back soon". Welllllll not even a lil bit. We have been playing phone tag between us, the garage, and the office and finally this week they got all the paperwork and code numbers that they need. So now they can order the part. It is pretty frustrating because it has just been sitting there and they haven't been working on it and they hadn't even ordered the part. The reason that they tried to email me a hard copy of the signature was just in case I had to go and give them a hard copy. Somehow I got the duty of being the guy who keeps calling the angry repair man!! but hopefully they get the part soon and fix it soon because then we can be sooo much more mobile!

 

 

Yeah winter is starting to come! It actually snowed this week, but it was weird because it was like a sunny cold day, and then a cloud came over us and it started snowing. It is pretty cold. Elder Wells bought a coat today.

 

I bought some new socks today.

 

I saw Sister Pettingill at zone conference and she said that at the wedding reception you guys like pinned her in a corner and just bragged about how cool I am. I'm pretty sure she was exaggerating tho cuz I was like I bet that dad was just all over the meatballs.

 

So last night I had a dream that Mason was following me around and I petted him and then my hand smelled like his fur oil (in my dream) and then he started running super fast and then slowly started slowing down, then he was walking, then he laid down, then he laid on his side then he stopped breathing and died. It was a super sad nightmare. It made me miss Mason, and Sam.

 

I don't really know what will happen next transfer. I would like to stay with Elder Wells. That'd be cool, but there is for sure someone else who is gonna be in the apartment next transfer cuz Elder Baughan is going home.

 

That's cool bout Dax. Maybe he'll be able to tell me how much my diamond is worth. I hope billions.

 

Well tonight we are going to make tartiflette for the district and Pres and Souer Poznanski will be at our district meeting so I hope its good.

 

Oh, so last week we set a goal as a district to find 10 new amies. there are 5 equipes in our district so that is roughly 2 per equipe.... the sister missionaries found 5!!!! We tried really hard but only found one, but we did see a lot of good things and found a lot of potentials.

10/7

hey everyone.. sorryy this is soooooo late but the reason that it is late is at least a good reason... We had to take time out of our pday to go to some RDVs. One of the guys we are teaching is super difficult. He really wants to get baptized. The missionary that was here before me set a baptismal date with him and then the ami like dropped off the face of the earth. Then on the date that they fixed he showed up, wanting to get baptized... it doesnt work like that! but he is too tired to come to church and by too tired I mean like really really tired. He works nights in downtown Paris unloading trucks. So on Sundays he just sleeps. Its kinda hard to explain that joining our church means coming to our church. I know that if he makes a sacrifice he will get the blessings but he just wont do it, but his faith IS growing at least.

but so yeah that is why this email is so late. but at least this week started off good. Last week was great because of Zone conference and General Conference, but hard because of the same reasons as the week before- buses that dont show up, people that dont show up, etc. but zone conference was really cool! President announced a new mission goal that every equipe brings a family to Christ for Christmas. Last year around the same time it was a goal too, but I feel like this year we have better tools, and we, as a mission, are more committed. President did a really good job of giving us ways to acheive this goal. I really think it is possible if we are diligent enough. The zone conference was a 4 zone conference so there were TONS of missionaries. And Elder Smith was there. I'm really glad to see he's doing well without me! just kidding. But really it was good seeing him. I really like him.

So for General Conference they show some live, but some are recordings. On Saturday night we watched the Saturday morning session live at our church on the computer (in English) and then we spent pretty much all day Sunday at Versailles watching it (in english) and it was a really good conference! I totally agree with what President Monson said about how inspiring it was. I feel like the theme of conference was: 1. the atonement and 2. charity, patience, and acceptance and 3. missionary work. The Lord is really hastening his work and ESPECIALLY is France. It really is a great time to be a missionary. I love conference soooo much. I think my favorite talk was by Elder Dube.  I also liked Elder Caussé's talk. He's French!

 

But I think the best part about conference wasnt seeing the General Authorities, but it was seeing one of the converts that I found, taught, and helped to be baptized! She is still active and I could feel her testimony just by looking at her. I really wanted to break the rules and give her a big bear hug! Do you remember when I was in Cergy and a girl tried to kiss me and I ducked out of the way and then we went porting and 3 houses in a row were opened to us?   P________ was the first door that we knocked on and her and her daughter were baptized. Blessings of obediance! but it was so great to see her and talk to her!!!! I got to see some of the fruits of my labor during the mission and that was such a blessing.

 

I kinda want to buy some new white shirts and socks. My shoes are still holding up, but I'm pretty sure they are going to need to get bronzed after the mission, but I can get shirts and socks pretty easily.. should I just buy them?  I feel bad using personal money.

 

Yeah you should ask someone to make the owl tie!! but I dont think ill need it on the mission. Its not very professional, but I have been thinking a lot and I think I want to be like dad and only wear ties with animals on them when I get home.

 

You can/should totally send me updates, but like if a whole letter is "pavs to boyle to vlasic to patty ROOFER!!!!" then like that isnt very good, but  I want to know about what's going on! And that's crazy about Shaq! Do you think he'll go to the games?  I want to meet him!

 

Well, I really miss you guys, but I'm not homesick. I wish we would have been the type of family that says "I love you" and hugged. but really, you guys are like the best family ever. Everyone used to say "your dad is sooo cool!" and I was like "not even a little." but really I dont think that any of the times that dad and I got in a fight I was ever right. I really am blessed to be a Guymon =)

 

What did you put in the crêpes?

 

 

9/30

Sorry, my emails are going to be a lot later from now on. My companion likes doing his later in the day.

 

So when I was in St Omer my mission starting getting pretty hard... I felt like I was becomong more and more charitable and a much better teacher, but I have been finding less and less amies and the amies that I do find do not really progress. I told president that I want to be the best missionary that I can be, and ever since then things have been very, very hard. I'm not discouraéged or trying to complain, but things are very slow.  I think that God is really putting me to the test, and I hope I pass. But when I got my mission call to here I never really expected it to be easy. (not that any missions are easy)

 

We do help this man who is a recent convert. We mowed his lawn last week and this week we are cleaning his kitchen. I feel really good when I teach, and because we dont really have any amies right now it feels good to teach him and to be able to help his faith still grow.

 

This week was ward conference and it was pretty weird because there were a lot of visitors from the stake and some visitors from Cergy. Every single member from Cergy remembered me, and my name. They were all happy to see me and how I was doing.  I am really glad that I left a lasting impression on them because when I was at Cergy I was a noob! I was really happy to see them.

 

I dont want to send a short email but I dont really have any stories to tell this week. It was quite a boring week.

 

The bishop told us to visit every member in the ward (that we can) and so we set up a lot of rendez-vous with the members. I have heard that this ward is really good at doing missionary work. So hopefully we can see some fruits from doing that.

 

I haven't met anyone with Guymon as a last name, but a lot of other missionaries ask me if I know Guymons that I dont know.

 

I dont know any famous facts about the town I am in. I heard that it was voted "most ghetto town in europe"... (I really have from several semi-reliables sources)

 

 

 

Can you guys search for the curriculum for the french test so that I can know what to study in my language study. We study french for an hour a day.