Lyon 2/20/12

   THIS EMAIL IS FROM FEB 20th, 2012 so is out of order... FYI


Hello family and friends!  So you can stop worrying, I checked my account, and it was just my ... What's it called, not the checking, or savings, the other one.  Anyway, Wellsfargo takes a monthy fee out of there, and all my money was in my other accounts, it was only $10 in the hole, so all is well again.  I actually have only spent about 10 dollars on that card since I went to the MTC.  Everything is paid for except if you want to buy extra things like suits and stuff. I still have all my money.  OK, lets start on the questions:

    I will probably be in Lyon until April, definitly until March 25, that is the end of our transfer.  Elder Bell will probably leave in March, because he got here a transfer before me (a transfer is 6 weeks).  Usually you stay in an area for 2 to 3 transfers, but people still get transfered after 1 or stay for 4.  

    Elder Bell is our district leader, our district includes us, another elder équipe, a sœur équipe, and a senior couple.  Elder Bell and I do exchanges with the other pair of elders (not the soeurs or the senior couple ha ha) then the Zone Leaders do exchanges with us.  Those happen a few times a transfer, and we have one Zone conference a transfer (every 6 weeks).  Our zone is made up of about 4 districts roughly the same size as ours.  Also Elder Bell calls the Elders and Soeurs each night, and gets their numbers for the week on Sunday.

    The package got here wednesday I believe.  Thank you so much!  The Jerky was well appreciated, Edler Bell loves the mangos (but please don't send more too much sugar and carbs c'est trop lourd!), and the pictures are perfect!  I don't think I need anything else at the moment, except any healthy recipie ideas you have that you can just email me.

    This week was a little bit rough.  Elder Bell had a fever most of the week, so we didn't get to do much (he is feeling better now).  Our amis (Julie and her daughters) who are supposed to be baptised this coming sunday didn't come to church, and all we have heard from them since is a text saying they want "a couple days of reflection for a big decision" so that could be a serious situation (un situation grave) or not, if they don't call us by tomorrow evening we are going to give them a call.  

    On the other hand, the weather is much nicer.  It has been raining, but it is almost warm when the sun is out.  Lyon isn't quite as picturesque as you would thing southern France would be, but there are some places that really take your breath away.  
 
    Anyway, things are progressing, I really am starting to understand the people... sometimes ha ha.  Even  when I can understand the words, they don't always make sense.  For instance I tried talking to someone on the side of the road the other day, I introduced myself and said we have a message about an eternal family, and how his family has blessed him.  His answer: "Désolé, désolé, il y a un mystique je peux pas vous entendre!"  Translated: "sorry, sorry, there is a misquito, I cannot hear you!" so I spoke up, and he just walked away ha ha.  I even asked Elder Bell to make sure I understood right, and he said I had... interesting...

   Ok, well that's really all for this week.  Remember everyone who sent me a letter in the MTC and has not recieved a response:  if you want a response, you must email me because I don't have your address  

    Je vous aime tous, gardez la foi!  Je vous virai le lundi prochaine!

Aix-en-Provance 2

Ok, so it takes forever for the images to load onto this computer, so I am going to attach them now, so they can process while I write, I hope I don't overload the email. 

If I remember which ones I put, that is me at the only Mexican restaurant in France pointing to a utah state licence plate, next is me and elder Kirkpatrick, and lastly is the whole group of us that went on a hike today for our P-day activity.  I'll see if I have time to send more photos after this.

questions answered:

Yes I am teaching French people now.  So far almost all of our amis are French french, Spanish, or Some other European country.  There are a lot of universities here, so we teach a lot of students.  

I am honestly not sure if that restaurant is by us.  There is a lot of construction just behind us, and we are close to a really groovy-looking library.

I was wearing Elder Quezada's glasses in the pic last week.  He is pretty much blind.  I think I have enough contacts for my whole mission. at least enough for more than a year.

I don't know what the liting of omy coat was with Elder Bell

I actually have not cut my hair yet in France... I really need to do that today or next week. A lot of times Elders cut their own hair, or find some place cheap.  We have clippers in the apartemement... Not sure what I'll do yet.

I have gained three pounds since coming to aix, but I am still shrinking, try an answer that one... anyway, the blue suit Ted gave me is now loose on me.

Our apartement is really tiny, about 90ish sq. ft. Not exaggerating, but it is new and easy to keep clean... I barely fit in the shower haha.

We did a Randonnée today ( a hike).  SO much fun, to a 12ish century abbey.  It is very cool, and lots of fun.  My face is burnt.  

Aix is still amazing!  Sunny and great, and our amis are soo freakin cool.  We have three that are preparing for baptism the 7th of Avril. 

Cool Miracle: I saw a guy on the road and really felt like we should talk to him.  So we did, and he was actually pretty interested, and we should be seeing him in a couple of days.  Even more cool is he is russian!  It is really nice when the Lord sends you people who want to listen.  

Transfers are next week, and it is not out of the question that I will get a new companion even though I have only been here a week and a half.  Elder Kirkpatrick has already been here for 6 months, and that is usually uncommon comme même.  So we'll see.  

Ok, well I am honestly out of time, so Love you and I will see you next week!

GROS BISOUS!!! 

Aix-en-Provance

  Bonjour toute la monde!  Comment ça va?  Things are going good here.  Lots of changes, but I'll explain that latter.  Now lets start with the questions as always

    Yes, I get the smiley faces in you emails pa pa :)

    Congradulations on the move up to high priest Dad, however, I thought they only made old geezers high priests.

    In Lyon we taught la classe des amis.  It is something that exists outside of Utah where not everyone is a member.  It is just a gospel class for amis and recent converts and such.

    I didn't buy a man purse, but Zhune, the coolest Chinaman in the world gave me one (I thought I already said that, if not sorry)

    If I remember right, my title last week said "you said what?", but in a very informal manner.

    Now, on vas commencer justement qu'est-ce que se passer this last week.  Like I said, there were a lot of changes this week, and I am not really sure where to start, so I guess I'll just begin.

    Last monday we went to the doctor, and he basically said there were a lot of things wrong with Elder Bell's blood, and wanted another test done.  President Murdoch was there with us, and he said it is very likely that he will just send E. Bell home since he only has a couple weeks anyway.  So we got the results for that last blood test Tuesday, and it turns out that E.  Bell has Mono, so it was sure that he would be going home.  President called us Tuesday night and told us that E.  Bell will go to Geneva tomorrow and fly home thursday.  The other thing he said is for me to pack my bags because I was going to Aix-en-Provence tomorrow at noon as well.  So that is where I am now.  E. Bell is probably on a beach in California right now, and I am in Aix.

    My new companion is Elder Kirkpatrick.  He is from just outside of Mesa Arizona.  He is really cool, and we get along great so far.  I honestly have not taken any pictures with him yet, so you are going to have to wait for next week for pictures of him.  Sorry for not sending any yesterday either, the computer did not want to cooperate.  I'll see if this one works any better.

    Next, do not send anything to my old address, my new one is:

Elder Crossman/les missionaires

Résidence le Felibrige bât. B appt. 26

4 Place Coïmbra

13090 Aix-en-Provence France

    So how is Aix? Well Elder Barret (my new zone leader) told me this my first day, and so far I have found it to be true, "AIX EST SI FRICKIN BELLE!!!!"  Really everything just seems to be amazing here.  It is warm, sunny, beautiful streets, the people are nicer, lots of open space, not so much dog poo on the road, the amis are cool.  I love it here so far.

    My French is really progressing too, E. Kirk (we sometimes call him Captain Kirk) and I only speak French out side of the appartement, so that means I speak English only at lunch, and when we return home at 9h00 at night.  The Morning is study time so we speak French then too.  I have had several dreams in French, and I can almost always understand what people are saying, unless they are drunk or have a very thick Marseille accent.  The accent is kind of funny here, it sounds kind of spanish mixed with a little Southern US and then French... Really interesting.

    Anyway, I have to go soon.  I love you all so much! The Church is true!  As of today, I sent letters back to everyone who has written me, so if you have written me, and you don't get a letter in a week or two, it means I don't have your address. 

Again Love you all, till next week.

Lyon 3/5/12

Hello everyone!  How are things going?  Pretty good for me... ok, like always, I am a little pressed for time, so here are the answers to this week's questions:

    Yes I write in my journal most days, I sometimes miss a few, but I have made it a goal to at least write someing every day for my 20th year of life... 20 ew, that' so old!

    Our appartement is heated by three little electric heaters.  However, we haven't used them in a while because it has been BEAUUUUUUUUtiful here this week.  Just warm and sunny, and the whole world seems a little bit happier.

    Yes I'll remember my robe.

    By French ami, I am assuming you mean Pascal.  He is good, still comes to church every week, but the French have this thing of thinking they are busy all the time when they really are not.  He is very difficult to see during the week even though he has no job, and really nothing else to do but go see the doctor and his dad.

    You guys are already planning on sending another package!?!? wow, well if you do, Those soups were really good, and I like to chew gum while we study (we can't chew it out of the apartement), also deoderant, because the deoderant here is absolutley discusting, like this roller ball thing that just goops up your armpits.  You have to wipe yourself down every time you use it. and jerkey... that's another thing that doesn't exist here.  Elder Bell and I finished the last bag about three days after we got the package.  Also I do miss mexican food, but I don't know how you would send that.

    Now for the news here.  There honestly isn't much because Elder Bell has been sick all week.  I am totally fine, but we took him to the doctor a couple days ago, and they said there is something wrong with his liver.  We are going to see the specialist today with President Murdoch.  I think Elder Bell is worried that he will get sent home early if whatever he has takes more than a couple weeks to get better.  We really won't know anything until the rendez-vous today, so I will tell you what is up tomorrow.  Because Elder Bell has been sick, it has basically been a lot of sitting in the apartement.  But there still are a couple miracle stories.

    Thursday, I was able to go out and work on an exchange with the Gerland Elders.  I was leading this one again, but my exchange companion is American so that was less of a stress.  I thought maybe we would pass our recent convert Bright, so I went to get my english scriptures.  Then I thought that there is a 98 percent chance he would be working today, so I just packed my french scriptures.  Then I just thought I would throw in one of our english give away BOMs if he was there by any chance.  We got there, and Bright was at work, but his friend Paul was there.  We asked if we could speak to him instead, and he let us in.  We taught him the first lesson.  I remember Elder Duncan (who I was with) asked him what he thought about the Joseph Smith story.  His response was, "I think it is true".  It was really cool, and we were able to give him that Bom I put in my bag.  I am sure that was the spirit that told me to pack it.  I am just glad I listened!

    Lastly, lets have the weightloss segment.  The suit Ted gave me still fits nice, but it is getting a little loose.  Since recieving my call, total weight lossed is 73lbs!!!  Only about 30 more to reach my goal!  I really feel great physically, and I really think it helps me in my missionary work to not be sweaty, gross, and out of breath when I talk to people.  I will try to throw some pictures on, so I'll close my email here.

    Love you all, thank you for the emails.  There really are people here, even in France waiting to hear the word of God!

I am my Father's Killer?

 I first want to explain the subject title for this email.  When you get to your mission area, you are "borne", when you are done with your mission you "die", Your last companion before you die is your "killer" and your trainer is your "father".  Elder Bell finally told me yesterday that he will be dying at the end of this transfer (25 Mars 2012). I had suspicions that he was going to die, but like I said, it wasn't until yesterday that he actually told me.  So I am actually going to kill my own father... 

    Now on to questions!

    In our appartement we have a microwave, stove, oven, sink, and washer (because there is no other place to put it), we also have several pots and pans, but only one that works decently.

    Thanks for the advice of what to eat.  I kinda knew that it was just basically veggies and meats, but meat is pretty expencive...well everything is expencive here, but meat is really expencive.  Usually we have frozen hamburgers or hotdogs for meat.  You want to try to only spend about €20-€25 per week per person, because you will run out of money if you spend more than that.  If we are not at a members for a meal (we usually have one or two member meals a week... I'm sure that will change when I move to a branch with 20 members) I usually eat fruit (apples, oranges, lichis) vegitables (brocoli, carrots, lettuce) and the meats meantioned above.  However I am still loosing weight.  The new grand total since I recived my mission call is 65 pounds lost (~31kg)!  

    For exercizes I usually just do pushups and sit ups and hand weights.  When it gets a little warmer, we'll probably go jogging or something.

    The soups were delicious!  I have those often too, but they are only so so here.

    All the papers are talking about the death of Whitney Houston... our neighbor has decided to dedicate the week to her by blasting "I will always love you" every ...Single ... Night... and they are playing it in the computer place right now ha ha.

    In other news, we have finally heard back from Julie and her family.  She wasn't baptised yesterday, but it sounds like everything is still good with her.  She does have a personal issue that I won't say because it is her business, but she is talking to us again, and still has a strong testimony!  Christophe is... Not yelling at us anymore, but he still isn't interested in talking.  ...Sigh ha ha, but the work still continues. 

    I actually had a really cool experience in church the other day.  In the rules they tell us that we are not supposed to complain about anything or anyone, but I think I can say that last week was kinda poopy because of what was going on with our amis and other stuff and blah blah blah.  Anyways, right after church, we had a baptism for the Gerland Elders (they are in another area of Lyon, but the baptisms take place in our ward because we are the only ones with a font).  I don't have too much time left, so I am going to just sum this up.  I was talking to a lot of people, and i could understand every thing they were saying to me! It seems that over this week my comprehension of French has really gotten better.  I was happy and I got a huge feeling of love from Heavenly Father, because I know he is helping me.

    Another cool story:  I went on exchange with Elder Tahannawakkamakka-moo (something like that) this week.  He came to our area, because Elder Bell had to do the baptismal interview with the Gerland elder's ami, so I was the leader.  I had to find the busses, call people, set up stuff for tomorrow, and all that jazz, and to top it off, Elder T-moo has only been out a tranfer or two longer than me, his French is pretty good, but not perfect, and he doesn't speak a word of English.  I really know I was helped by the Lord (1) because I did it all (2) because the lessons we had were pretty good (3) we only got lost once for like half an hour.  That was really a ... growing experience... I think I have several gray hairs now though ha ha.

    Ok, well my time is up.  Je vous aime tous!  Je sais que le seigneur me guide toujours parce que je vais mourir sans lui. Alors, à la prochaine tout la monde, et souvenez bien de m'envoyer les colis!