Tuesday, December 11, 2012

St Etienne 4

Hello everyone, and welcome the Le GRAND COMPTE EN REMBOURSE!!!  So let's get going over to ze questions

The package came on Tuesday or ... Wednesday, I really don't remember, but it came, and I love everything in it!  I would say that the Salsa is my favorite thing in there.

I am getting better at piano, I can play the melodies of most hymns by sight reading, and I can play the whole top hand on a lot... I can also do the base hand... now if I could only do them at the same time ha ha.

The weight is going good, I found an old package of whey protein powder in the apartment, I had a protein shake for breakfast, and I am the same color and feeling alright, so I guess it hasn't spoiled.

Church is really good, this coming Sunday will be the baptism of Lisa, and everyone is excited that a normal French girl is getting baptized.  The relief society president, Soeur Scotto is really on top of things (I'm thinking she is so excited to have another potential marriage partner for her son)

So, yeah, I think people come into the country with a visa or something, and then they try to get papers to stay longer than the 90 days, unfortunately that process takes a very long time, and they can't accept everybody because there are tons and tons of people trying to get in.It is a really sad situation, because for the most part (the people we are teaching are included in this group) if they return to their home countries they will most likely be killed.  There is a member here who is just about one of the nicest people in the world who is working with legality problems.  He is also trying to get his family here, but he hasn't heard from them in a while, and he doesn't know if they are still alive or not...I can't even imagine having to deal with problems like that.  There are some who try to get a job through the church, but there is really not much we can do, so the ones who aren't really interested in the message don't stay for very long.  We cannot baptize people who are illegal either because one of the requirements is that they honor obey and sustain the law.  It is really a sad sticky situation.

I don’t have a ton of time right now, because we have a rendez-vous in a bit, so if I don’t finish, I’ll try and finish later.  Also I’ll send pictures later as well. 

Elder Turley is finishing his mission in a few weeks, You are thinking of elder Tulley who was in the MTC with me.  Yeah, it’s not much difference, but Turley is a tall skinny white guy, and Tulley is a short buff Indian.; 

Frère Samuel is doing really well.  He is progressing slowly but surely, it has now been two weeks since he has gone to a bar or gambled, now we just need to get him some of that fake coffee stuff to replace the real  coffee, which he already agreed to.

Oh, quelquechose de cool, is that Elder Anderson will be doing a tour of our mission.  So tomorrow, I get to go to Lyon and see him for our zone conference, and then since we are in the Lyon stake, I get to stay to see the second dose of Elder Anderson at stake conference.  It will be really cool, and he is going to speak in French and everything.  I’ll be in Lyon From 8 in the morning to 9 in the morning the next day. 

Oh, Narcisse, Rita’s ex boyfriend… he came to church yesterday for the confirmation, but he had made some serious threats last week, so the Bishop had hired a vigil …   er I forget how you call them in English.  Maybe vigil?  Anyway, because of the threats, the bishop asked him to leave.  Narcisses seemed fairly calm, but all the members were scared, particularly Rita and her mother, and he really smelled of alcohol.  We tried to talk with him, but he just kept getting more frustrated, so the vigil actually had to drag him out of the building..; then the police came and he agreed to leave.  Luckly this all happened before the meetings actually started.  It is like the Wild West out here ha ha.  Not really, but definitely more excitement then I’ve seen in any other American (or French) ward.

Other than that, nothing really exciting this week, just rendez-vous and other schtuff.  Oh, on Tuesday, we went to soeur Galetti’s house to paint.  She has a freakin beautiful Frenched-out house.  I really wish I brought my camera so I could take a picture, and a picture of the meal we had!  Brioche with a pâte  with endives salad, then a simple rice dish with mushroom sauce and a “nice white fish”, but she must have put crack in it or something because it was soo good!  Then ice cream and applesauce for desert, which I thought an odd combination, but it turned out quite well.

I also did hear about the elections, They happened around 4am our time, and one of the converti recents kept texting us during the night to tell  us who was ahead and whatnot.  I am not terribly disappointed, I really think that things need to be changed in congress rather than the white house, but… I don’t know, I’ll talk about it when I get back.  Travis said it looks like we’ll have 4 more years of Barry in the white house… I think that’s quoting something, anyway it made me chuckle.

I love you all so much.  Things are going great here!  There should be another baptism this week, so I’ll try and get some pictures to you… with my face in it.
Keep the faith, stay strong, don’t freeze, sometimes it’s good to just roast by the fire for a while… My hands are numb, and I am still cold in the computer place with my coat on… ha ha Ciao!

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