11/25

So this was like one of the weirdest and busy, but not busiest, weeks ever. I had to do 3 exchanges last week, back to back to back. My first exchange was in Caen. The bus ride took sooooooooooooo long.  It was with the Zone Leaders-  Miles Adams. Don't you know his mom from the internet?  So it was a super short exchange because of really weird train times. We taught a lesson to one of his amies and then went to a huge ward meeting for his ward about the ward mission plan for next year. So I pretty much just sat and listened.  They had some good ideas. Then we spent the night and then went home. Their apartment is like a castle!

 

My second exchange was with Elder Well's companion. He lives in our apartment so I got to stay in Mantes and I already know him pretty well. He is a super super super nice guy. His name is Elder W___. It was a pretty good exchange. We taught pretty well together.

 

My third exchange was in Rouen. It was with Elder C_____. He was in the district last transfer, but it was pretty good. We did a lot of finding together and talked a lot. He is a really good guy too. The cool thing about the finding is that we actually found people, so that's really good.

 

This upcoming week I still have 2 exchanges to do. I wish I wouldn't have gotten so far behind!

 

So French people don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Its an American Holiday.... but so half of our zone is getting together and we are having a big feast together.. and it is IMPOSSIBLE to find turkeys... I don't think they exist here, but its sad because our zone is sooo spread out that we cant physically all get together. So we are in two groups.

 

I really miss Hmong people's egg rolls.  When I was a kid I didn't like them and never ate them and then well I was like 18 I caved and had one and it was SOOO GOOD! I wasted my childhood not eating them. I feel like I did that with a lot of foods. like tortilla soup. and refried beans.

 

I got the Christmas card and it was pretty weird. First of all cuz we have never done that before and  second of all Bradley looks like a man.

 

So of the people we found 2 weeks ago, only one stayed around. When he came to Church he was talking to this one guy a lot and I asked if they knew each other already... the member said "yeah, he was my philosophy professor in college" whaaaaat!

 

So P____, my old ami, who got baptized this week, asked me to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really cool  and he signed up to clean the chapel this week. That was cool that he volunteered to do that.

 

I bought a sweater today. It was 50 percent off. A couple weeks ago I was looking at them at a cheap store and they were just really bad so I ended up not getting one. The one I got today was cheaper than at the cheap store and it is way better. So I'm happy. And warm.

 

That's good about Bradley getting good at bball. I cant wait to get back and play some pick up games at the stake center with him.

 

We don't do anything for Pday cuz its too cold and there's nothing to do.

 

Thanks for everything!

11/18

sooooooo I don't know where to start.

 

This week was pretty good. We found some sweet new people to teach, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them again.

 

This week we had interviews with president. He asked us to bring our planner cuz he said he was going to go through them. So that made me kinda nervous. Not that I don't plan, but I was just pretty scared of him looking at a day and being like... so why didn't you meet your goals for today, did you not have enough faith?" but he ended up not even looking at my planner. We talked for a LONG time and it was mostly him talking to me about me. It was pretty great to know that he knows me very well and cares about me personally, because we have like 250 missionaries now. I really like president.

 

So Sunday was a big day for me. P___(the man whose sister brought him to Church) got baptized. The other equipe taught him this transfer. The night before the baptism was pretty chaotic because we (mostly the other equipe) had to get everyone ride to Versailles. There is not a baptismal font in Mantes so we have to go there and everyone already had rides with everyone else but the only problem was that 5 people didn't have rides- the missionaries and P____, but eventually it worked out and we were able to all get there.

 

Right after the baptism I went to go pull the plug of the font and the Versailles elders were like "oh don't pull the plug, there's going to be another baptism here tonight." I asked who it was and they where like "some guy from A______" and I was like WUUUUUT because the guy in the wheelchair that I taught just moved to Anthony and it was a real bummer because he was all ready to be baptized and then he moved. So I asked them who it was and they said "oh, his name is C______.."  So it was my ami!!! I was so happy. So two people that I taught last transfer got baptized yesterday.

 

So something that our ward started doing that is pretty cool is we have some people sing a prelude before sacrament meeting. Our sacrament meeting is last, so sometimes when people come in there is a lot of noise. When someone is singing everyone is usually quiet and respectful. Yesterday, P____  sang the prelude. He is a Professional singer and what I mean by that is he has a cd, but it was pretty cool that he was willing to get involved already.

 

People in France are very, very worried that France hasn't qualified for the World Cup, but I was walking past a place that had soccer playing and Franck Ribery (that guy with all the scar) scored suuuuuuch an awesome goal.

 

A bunch of French people think that Thanksgiving is a lame Holiday, but it isn't. It was announced that this year we are not going to play turkeybowl, so that means I wont be able to go for back to back titles.

 

I think I am going to have room in my suitcase on the was home because I don't think anyone is going to want socks with holes in the bottoms or stained white shirts or beat up ripped Church pants or worn out Church shoes. There's no way I'm bring those home. And I'm not going to get very many clothes, just a couple pantalon and some shoes. I think I like American stuff better and it would be cheaper to get it there, but if I do a massive shopping spree and get a bunch of stuff at the same time that just wouldn't be good at all.

 

I think for right now my college plan is to go to SVU in July and then that year. Then transfer afterwards. I love SVU so much but I don't really think it is the best option to graduate and get a degree from. If I get some kinda degree at SVU it will be way easier to transfer. I kinda want to go to a CSU or UC just cuz I really like California.

11/11

So it is really, really cold now in Mantes. Today when we went running there was frost on the cars and ground. I feel really bad for my Tahitian companion because he HATES cold. He said it never gets below 20 degrees all year there. So he is miserable and cranks the heater up super high in the middle of the night.

 

So my formation this week was pretty good. The topic I chose was "try your best" I feel like it went pretty good but I was pressed for time. One of the assistants sat in and he said it was really well done. Not that I'm trying to kiss up to Elder Coffey (who is one of my best friends on the mission) but he is someone who gives very good formations.

 

Right now in the mission the assistants to the présidant are my best friend in the mission and my 3rd best friend in the mission. So everything's great.

 

I speak to my comp in French. He really wants me to teach him English so I'm tryna.

 

We found a Tahitian family and it was actually really cool how we did. So we were porting in the freezing and we were like.. umm let's get out of here, so we started walking downhill and he's like nope, so he walked uphill and there was this old man that we talked to and he was like.. "oh I know some Tahitians", so he gave us directions on how to find their  house and we went there and they were super happy to see Elder Piere and they gave us sooooo much food!

 

I pretty much almost never get mail anymore. I got lainie's letter. She didnt tell me you gave her a stamp.. when and how did you do that?

 

I think I'm just gonna start buying some clothes this January, but I don't know what my style is, or what is cool in America...

pictures

 Elder Garner (holding the #3)'s parents sent these photos because they knew Elder Guymon was in them. 

11/4

Hey everyone. So let me tell you about my francophone (only french speaking) companion. He is from Tahiti. He loves surfing and playing ukulele. He is the only active member in is family.  Yeah, he's pretty cool.

 

So at the beginning of the transfer we divided up all of the investigators that we taught and the ones that the old equipe (the people who got transferred out) taught and right when Elder Piere got here pretty much all of our amies dropped us. And all of the amies that Elder Wells has now are progressing. They even fixed a baptismal date with one of them. I'm super happy but I'm super jelly. but whatever. it is good.

 

So since I'm district leader, I have to take in the district's stats and do a little report on Sunday nights and like I had no training or anything. All there is is a little piece of paper in the area book that says "district leader responsibilities." I hope I did everything right. And tomorrow at district meeting I have to give my first formation. I kinda have an idea of what I'm going to do, but I'm so nervous. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I have no clue what happened to my bed sheets. In the MTC they gave us some clean ones every week. The first day we came into France Sister Poznanski gave us new ones. Every apartment has sheets and extra sheets. I use my own pillow case though and french pillows are square, so I have to shove it in a rectangular case and then it puffs up super big. My bed right now has a grove in the middle from where I sleep (and everyone else for the last million years) so I feel like I'm sleeping in a ditch. And I sleep on the top bunk.

 

On Saturday afternoon the zone leaders(who are in Caen) called me and while they where taking to me he asked, "hey is it raining like super hard there?" and it totally wasn't. It was just kinda broken clouds and blue skies. That night we were on  a bus and it started raining, like the hardest I have ever seen in my life. It was like a solid column of water falling on the bus. So I guess that was the storm that he was talking about... It was really impressive how hard it was raining and we were on the bus. The other equipe was up in the hills with no chance of survival and no umbrellas or raincoats, just sweaters. So I felt really bad for them.

 

I don't know if I've already told you about the recent convert already but we saw him twice this week. He kinda has the same problem as mom because he believes everything he reads on Twitter.

 

So this week I was having a normal day, feeling good, and then out of nowhere I sneezed like 20 times in a row and got I gigantic headache and runny nose. It was the strangest thing that ever happened to me and it wasn't snot, it was like clear, cold water.

 

I don't need a Thanksgiving package... but what am I going to do for Christmas? I don't want to be spoiled but should I start buying some clothes for when I come home? You told me that Bradley and Andrew jacked my clothes.