12/30

ATTENTION!!!!!

Seeing you guys on Skype was pretty cool! And its sweet that mom has her hearing aid now!

That's super weird that Bradley and Andrew are growing up so fast. The jump between 12 and 14 is HUGE. and the jump from 10 to 12 is HUGE too! I don't think the jump from 19 to 21 is that big. I don't know if its weirder that I'll be home in 5 months, or that I'll be 21 in 3... SO WEIRD.

So on Christmas we had lunch at a Tahitian family's house and we had TONS of raw fish and caviar. She also made me tartiflette tahiti style and then she pulled out the most cake I have ever seen and then she pulled out waffles and whipped cream. So after I stuffed myself with the food, I ate a whole plate of cake and waffles and ice cream. I had no choice. She was super stubborn and forced us to eat SOOO much.

The next day we went to lunch and it was a seafood buffet! We had shrimp, crawdads, oysters. and other unknown seafood, but the weird thing is that we had sea snails. They were not very good at all. We also had lamb and escargots. I don't know how french peeps eat so much!

Overall it was a pretty awesome week. We also had a super awesome Sunday. We set a baptismal date with Madison for Jan 18th. She's really shy and lives pretty far away. So we have got a lot of work to do. So pray for that.

I bought myself a page-a-day calender and 6 pairs of socks. I'm kinda scared to go spend all my money, but I know I need to, and that mom kinda wants me to. I want to buy a new suit because my suits are gettin toe up, but I want regular clothes too. Its all expensive.

We found quite a few potential amies this week. So things are getting good. People are coming back home from vacation.

Does Bradley still use my dakine backpack? because I want that back when I get home. and all my hats.

 

My friend Kate told me that she watched the video of us skyping.  What did I say in the video? 

Well I don't have that much to say, I talked to you guys half way through the week. 

Its starting to get really really cold, but it hasn't snowed yet. It snowed once while I was in Mantes.

Skype on Christmas Eve

3 Generation Photo

In William's mission if you train someone you are referred to as their "father" and if that person becomes a trainer, that makes you a "grandfather", so this is William and the missionary he trained, with the missionary that elder is now training, so  3 generation photo!

12/23

Hey everyone.. well first of all for the skype call... I need to know if it will work on Christmas Eve again.. around 6:30 here.. so I think like 9:30 there. Srsly let me know asap.. because if Melanee isn't there, or if you guys are going to the airport or something that would be super lame.

So the holiday season is super awesome, but super hard. So the rest of the year everyone says "I'm busy" and now that no one is busy, everyone is either out of town, or super stoked that they are free that they just want to sit around and watch tv. All of the investigators from last transfer are out of town.  So to get in to the spirit of Christmas president has suggested that we go offer to sing Christmas songs with families while we are porting. Pretty much no one wants to here us sing. One time I was getting tired of people not wanting to listen to us sing, so I just said.. "ok elder, this house we are going to straight carol"... as soon as they open the door, start singing "Away in a Manger", so we did that. We got out the first line.. "au loin dans l'étable...." and the woman said "c'est bon, au revoir!!!!" and slammed the door.  She said "that's good, bye." It was sooo funny but sad.

So you know how everyone says don't get into cars with people you don't know? and you know how everyone jokes about people offering people candy... well elder moffitt and I got kidnapped this week. So I asked S**** where the tram line was and all of a sudden we're talking about how he is more christian than us because he follows the law of Moses and stuff like that and then before I knew it we were in a car with them and they shared some candy with us. They were actually pretty nice dudes. They gave us a ride back to centreville. You cant really get mad at them cuz like they were just tryna do some member missionary work. It was just in an aggressive and rude way. They even gave me a coran. 

Another pretty cool thing happened. We met these 2 college guys. One of then was giving me the stink eye from down the road and I was like "wow whats this guy's deal?" and when he finally got in speaking distance he asked if we were Mormon. He was once a foreign exchange student in Utah and stayed at an LDS home. He said he loves them so much. He didn't know that the church was over here. he didn't even believe that we have a chapel. or 60 members. He is going on vacation to Asia, and then when he gets back he said he totally wants to come to church with us and its pretty good because both of the dudes spoke English very well. which is good because elder moffitt is still learning french and its nice when they can understand English too so if you have problems you can just say it in English.

I don't know if I'll buy anything for Christmas, because all of the sales are in January. So I'll just go all out then and by go all out I dont really mean that. I am going to get a couple things. 

This morning we played soccer with a less active member and his friends. I pwned them like noobs but I am really really heavy on my feet now. I'm gonna work on that. 

The ward likes me decently well. I got to give a little testimony/introduction thing on Sunday and everyone liked it. The relief society here gave us a huge bag of presents, but someone told me its all chocolate. haha. That isn't good cuz I'm trying to get fit. wanna here something horrible? last Christmas I was up to 190! Right now I am a lil over 180. I want to get home at 175, so not very much relief society candy for me. 

so I'm having a lot of fun and feeling really good. I have been feeling God's love a lot lately and its just a really good feeling. It fills you up.

so let me know if skype works.

Spud and I email. He's doing good. He's training a thai guy who was waiting for a visa.

I've always thought it was a bad idea to have fish hooks that close to your head.  It's pretty cold but its not that bad. It feels kinda nice.

12/17

yo, don't freak out...

 

so, as you know, yesterday we had the Christmas zone conference and so that means today is our Pday.. sorry I couldn't let you know but we found out Sunday night that is was going to be Monday and we were all kinda like ummm our parents are going to be worried. 

 

Also, don't freak out about the letter, I got it.. so we got letters from our family.. (most of us) and then everyone got a little card from Elder Dussere's mom. She wanted  to send a little card to everyone. so I got my letter and went in the hallway and read it and then put it in my pocket and started reading the little card. That's when she took the picture. As soon as that happened I was like ummm that's going to be a problem, I hope they don't think I didn't read the letter! So I did get it and I loved it. Everyone thinks dad is funny.  I let them read the first sentence. (I asked him if he got our letter.)

 

So at the Christmas conference I was able to get pres to do the endorsement thing for SVU. So now I need the bishop and stake president's address, phone number, and email, then I can fax that to SVU. (and I emailed Camryn Andreason.  She emailed me back.) (He's reapplying for SVU)

 

Yeah I remember Quincy Douby. He was AWFUL. I think about the Kings all the time. haha Remember when Ron Artest wanted to be called Bill Artest, or something like that? What a weird dude.  And then Garcia broke his arm doing pushups. So many funny memories.

 

So Sister Poznanski didn't come to our interviews last transfer, so she wasn't able to take pictures. And then they want to a different Thanksgiving. So I hadn't seen her for a while.  (I had asked why he was never on the mission Facebook site that the mission president's wife puts a lot of pictures on each conference.)

 

So in my new ville (it's awesome) there are some cool things happening. We've got some cool people we're teaching and they are actually progressing and coming to church. I like my comp. He just got finished training. I just want to have a great time because last transfer was really hard for me and he said it was hard for him too.  So like.. we're doing well. He is from Sandy and has played lacrosse his whole life. He just graduated from high school. Today is his birthday! So yeah Elder M***** is my tenth comp and I'm in my 6th ville. I don't really mind moving around often, but its a really big hastle to pack and move and when I've been in villes for 3 transfer I feel like it is a lot easier because you know the members, and they trust you, and you know the area well. When you serve for 2, by time you figure everything out, you're out of there.

 

So, Christmas is really, really awesome. I've always loved Christmas but this is honestly the first year where I've actually felt the spirit of Christmas. I have had a ton of spiritual moments lately. Like not crazy miracles, but moments when I feel God's love. Like I'll be singing a Christmas song or reading the scriptures and I can honestly say that I am feeling God's amazing love for me.. and us.. he loves us SO much and it has been wonderful feeling that so often. I always knew that at Christmas we celebrated Christ's birth but until these last couple weeks I didn't fully understand how much it means that Christ came to earth. God has a perfect plan and the key part is Jesus Christ's atonement. So pretty much the most important event in the universe and in all eternity is Christ's life. So when he was born I am sure that choirs of angels sang. I know that Jesus, our savior, someone who loves us so much that he was willing to suffer and die for us, came to earth, and so obviously, the moment he came to earth was like very very very important.  I love talking to people about that and I am so grateful that I can speak French to these french people so that I can try to help them see how important Christmas is.

 

I really have no clue when we are going to do skype, but I'll let you know. I don't remember my username or password tho. Can you send me those again? (I don't remember them either!)

 

So lately president has been like super joke-y with me. It's getting kinda odd. He does stuff like call me out at zone conference so everyone laughs and looks at me and he'll text me after ten thirty just to try and be funny. He's a really funny guy and I like him a lot. 

 

So everyone did a gift exchange yesterday. The gift I gave was a stress ball. Its not a very nice gift but its a nice thing to have. In the box I wrote some cool quotes and some scriptures about being calm. But anyways, the sister missionary who got it HATED it. She started using it right away. I got a nutella cookbook of all kinds of expensive and complicated things you can do with nutella.

 

I got to see a lot of my old comps at the Christmas conference and a lot of my friends. I liked that.

Special Christmas Zone conference

We didn't get an e mail from Elder Guymon today because he had a special zone conference.  The mission president asked all the parents to write an encouraging letter and send it to him and he would pass them out at this conference.  This first photo is William and his companion reading their letters.






Don't get this look, but do remember he used to always do some kind of look when I'd point a camera at him, so I wont look too much into it and just think he's silly.

 

This is the whole zone with the mission president and his wife.  I can see William right smack in the middle, with a huge smile.  He looks photo shopped in or he just has a huge head.  So good to see him with that awesome smile!!!!

12/9

so GREAT NEWS!  I am not sick anymore!  I feel better for the most part.  Remember last week how I told you that my comp snores really weirdly? He has done that every night since. I use sleeping pills now and they knock me out so fast, but its better than not sleeping (like I have for a week and a half).

 

So other news-  I got transferred. My new ville is Reims. My companion will be Elder Moffitt. My adress is 135, boulevard pommery, 51100 Reims. I'm really excited. I've heard good things from Elder Pieper about that place. All of my friends in the mission are going home.  It makes me sad. I dont really know anyone anymore and the mission is so big that its impossible to see the peeps that I do know.

 

So last night was a choir performance and a baptism for the other equipe here. We have to do them in Versailles cuz there is no font anywhere else. We invited a bunch of amies to the chior performance and baptism. None of them came, but it was a super good concert. I felt the spirit so strong. Since it was a stake performance I got to see everyone from Cergy again. super cool.  At the baptism I was asked to give a talk on the holy ghost AND on baptism.  I was the only talk, so that was weird, but I think it was good. All of the members enjoyed it.

 

I spent 3 euros on an erasable pen and I lost it for 2 weeks, but this week I found it in my drawer. It was one of the highlights of the week just cuz I really like that pen.

 

so Elder Smith is a trainer.. so I am going to have a Grandson in the mission.

 

Our phone didnt have a code one it. I think people just steal phones because you can just put a chip in the phones here and they work. Its not like Verizon.

 

I'm very very happy to be transferred. I have been living in the red zone of stress and no sleep for like this whole transfer.

 

That's cool about all of the SVU stuff. I want the glasses when I get home. I've been talking to max doxey and I'm really exited to go back. I was reading about the elagibility requirements for D3 and it didnt really say anything about 24 crédits. Can you check one more time for me? I haven't talked to my counselor yet..

 

I've been emailing my friend Jefferson Chandler and he said he would be roomies with me.

 

We'll talk more about that for the Christmas call.

 

So I was thinking about Bradley and Andrew and how big they are and I dont like that. I could probably still beat them up tho.

 

 And dad is kind of right about buying all of my clothes here. I'm only going to buy a couple pants.

 

We got the car back and its been really nice because now members invite us over. So that's good, but I'm leaving, so that's bad.

 

For Christmas, can I get a Rudy Gay jersey? I never told you, but he is my favorite current player. Elder Smith and I talked about him all the time so that is mega cool that he's a King! (maybe just a shirsy).

12/2

um yeah its December already WUUUT?

 

So this week was very odd. It started off kinda good.  I finished off my exchanges, so that was good. We did the last one here and we did a double exchange. That means that they both came here. So we had 6 missionaries in our teeny apartment.  Last Monday night our stove broke and our toilet is kinda broken and our floor is broken and we have tons of other problems. So the good news is is that we got permission to get a new apartment. So the hunt is on.  I guess I'll probably be transferred by time we get a new one tho.

 

So I woke up during the exchange with THE WORST THROAT EVERRRR! It felt like I had tonsillitis again.  I had that the rest of the week, even right now, but I also had a fever and a cold this week.

 

So this week was Thanksgiving and we had a potluck thing in Rouen with a bunch of people in the zone. Our zone is too big distance-wise for us to all get together, but it was super hard to make things because of our broken oven and my sickness, but we mashed 12 kilos of potatoes. It was wayyyy too much. There were only 14 people at Thanksgiving. So we counted wrong.

 

On the way home from Thanksgiving I accidentally left the cell phone on the train coming home.  I thought it was in my pocket, but it wasn't. So we had to go to the lost and found in Paris to see if it was there and it wasn't. So we're living without a phone. Every single appointment for the rest of the week fell through because we couldn't call and confirm them. So Elder P got pretty mad at me. Which makes sense.

 

But the good news is that on Sunday we went to see one of our amies who is never home and he was there and let us in and was interested. He works next to where they are building the temple and his boss is Mormon so they've talked a little about it. So that's really good.

 

So the last 3 nights in a row I have been woken up by the SCARIEST noise ever! Its really loud and sounds like a gnome is standing right next to me and squealing. It doesn't sound human. I ask Elder P if he hears it and he says no and that I'm crazy. So that makes me mad. So last night I was hearing the noise and I was wide awake and really scared and I heard Elder P roll over and start scratching himself so I knew he was awake and I heard it again. So I asked him if he heard it and he said no and I was like... theres no way. So then it happened again and he was like...oh, that, that's me... I've been doing that with my mouth and I have no control of that.... so like.. I don't know what I'm going to do bout it. the good thing is that the last 3 nights he hasn't snored.

 

Besides that everything's going good. I am not that cold, but I'm still sick. I have these super fancy cough drops that kinda work.

 

Besides that everything's great. I'm pretty happy!