Anguoleme 4

Hello everyone, you are just a little inquisitive bunch this week aren't you?  Ha ha no it's good.  So we better get to the questions if you  want me to finish them all. Don't worry we are in the expencive place because once again our little cheap mexican internet café is down.  I think we will just switch to this one.  I am frustrated with the other.  We bought enough internet time for today and next week, but that other place we paied the same price for enough time to cover us for the whole transfer... but you get what you pay for I guess.

Yes I got the packages and the two cards thank you very much!  I am really greatful for it.  I would say the favorite would be the salsa, I just got to have my morning fix of eggs and salsa, so thank you.  Did you know here, they sell a bottle of salsa that is about less than an eigth of what you sent me, and it costs 5 euros, but that is france.  It is ok, bottled water is only 10 cents for a two liters, so you get back money for some things.

I'll tell you what I did for my Bday in the day to day;

Yes hopefully there will be two new amis later today, but maybe not, we'll see if he can still do the rdv, he said he would tell us in the next 15 min or so.

No talks given in church, so I got to enjoy the lessons, but there was branch council and I did some stuff for that, more in the day to day;

Elder Cooper is doing well and feeling good and is working harder than me, so he is great!

Zone conf was fun, this last tuesday.  Blues conference is a missionaries second transfer, so We'd have to stay together for next transfer to go to blues conference together.  although, I am on 14 transfers and 13 collegues, so by my record it is not too likely we'll go together.

Yes we are being obedient.  Why you be asking me that?  I be a good missionary =P

I am eating fresh, eggs salsa and bacon every mornin, my favorite, and then usually rice or a pasta dish for lunch, and then cheese, and tomato with vinager for dinner or if I am more hungry a sandwich with lots of tomatoes and lettuce.  The tomatoes are stinking good here, you can almost eat them plain!  Our neighbor Joelle gave us a watermelon the other day that was very good and juicy.  I remember in Avignon I was in the land of melon, but they are not bad here.

I have not got a suit yet.  Angouleme does not sell things in my size.  I wear a size 52 pant (in european sizes) and they go up to 48 or sometimes 50, and a 47 shoe and the max everywhere is 45.  So we are doing an exchange with the bordeaux elders, so I am trying to get there a little earlier today so that I can look for something there for today

Why do you say I has long sideburns?  I cut them last week.

Bordeaux is a much bigger city so it is normally a little more hopping for the missionaries.  There are two wards and Five pairs of missionaries there I believe. 

I have a little nouvelle on Elder Bell.  He is living in Nîme apparently and working or going to school or both in Montpellier.  That is all I have on him.

Yes Porting is door to door. we usuall look at the map, and see where there is a cluster of less actives and we go pass them and then port the doors by them.  I usually like to knock on individual houses compared to apartment buildings, because you actually have to have a job and be sane to afford a house.  i notice (except for lyon because it is really expencive there)  The active members almost always live in houses or the really nice new apartment buildings, and the less actives live in the cheap government cement block housing.  Blessings for living according to true principles? 

No street boarding here yet.  There really isn't a very crowded place to do it, except for the main shopping road, but people don't like to be bothered there.  I don't think I have ever found someone interested on that road, and I have talked to a good number of them.

We are working with some of the members, the average age of the members here is about 70 so we are doing what we can.  There is a younger family that we had dinner with this week who is really willing to and is doing misionary work, so hopefully we'll keep following up with that and we might see some fruit from it.  looking at the branch numbers here.  There are about 150 members, and around 25 of them are active.  So there is pleanty of work to do with the less actives here.  I think that is where we will continue to put the accent is finding through the less actives.

Elder Cooper has made noticable improvements on his french in the past four weeks, he is progressing really well. he is still learning for sure, but I am impressed.  we are trying to speak french outside and utahnese inside, but it is more like english and french when we remember.  it is hard with two americans to speak french all the time.

Monday:  I didn't write down what we did, emails took a while, we called some people.. did we get a kebab,?  I don't think so.  then we ported by the church in passing an old ami who wasn't interested.

Tuesday:  zone conference took all day, and then we talked to people at night.  It was really good.  Just a review thing for what we have learned the past few zone confrences.  It was good. Our goal is to have fifty baptisms in the month of July.  we are at 15 ish now, but we do have about 40 people who have a baptismal date for this coming week.  We keep praying for it.

Wednesday:  Saw Fr Bordichoux I played my guitar for him which he loved.  He complained much less and the spirit was there, so I'd say that it was a success.  Then we did studies and went to Magnac and Touvre to talk to people not too much happened, but it was pretty.

Thursday:  Went to cognac for the day passed a really less active lady who wasn't happy to see us, and found a family of four who wants to be taught, and we ran into this lady who had requested the missionaries over the internet, but hasn't been answering her phone.  That was a really a big miracle, so hopefully she'll start answering.  Her mother recently died and she wants to know where she went.

Friday:  Did a service project for a less active that we thought lived just outside of angouleme. Turns out she lives at ... Courtras which is almost an hour away to the south.  We fixed her gardin and such, it was a good change of pace, but it took a long time.  We got back to the apt around 3, ate a little, studied, and went to this member family's place for dinner and a lesson.  Great barbequed merguese (a sausage thing) and grilled pork with grilled tomatoes and a carrot celery salad thing.  Quite a good impersonation of an american barbeque, but it was still pretty french.  Oh yeah, that was my birthday.  not a bad way to spend it.  I got the package tuesday or wednesday.

Saturday:  Did our weekly planning because friday we were doing service all day.  Then we Contacted some poeple around angouleme. Saw this 90 year old guy and his wife.  He is named alex nixon, and his wife is the sister of one of our members.  They were very nice and gave us something to drink although they are perfectly happy to stay catholique.

Sunday:  Good day at church.  We have a member Sr Clenet who does the sunday school and she is a really really good teacher.  I have never been so interested during sunday school as I have been with her.  She has a lot of energy too in her little 4 foot nothing body.  ... she is really short.  Then we  had conseil de branche where I told about the people we are working with and asked what there was we could do all that good stuff.  The second councilor of the stake was there, he is really on top of things making sure that the meeting time is actually being put to good use.  I hear in Bordeaux with the stake president they take a half hour for ward council, but they get everything done that they need to.  Vite fait bien fait quoi. 

Well that rdv just got canceld for later... as you may have realized we didn't have any lessons with amis last week.  It was a little rough but I am satified with our work.  We are doing what we are supposed to, some times the going is just a little bit harder.  I am still happy..; and sweating, except for when I come to do emails here.  it was 39 yesterday or 105, so it is hot hot hot in angouleme.  I have not been sleeping well because of the heat either, so that has made things a little rough too, but ca va.  We talked to 500 people this week, which is pretty good for this little village.  We have some other rdvs for this week, so I hope that they go through.  I love the Lord!

I feel like this email is pretty lenghty.  I hope you like it.  i'll try to send off some photos too.  There might be a couple repeats, because I forget which ones I already sent.  I love you all so much and miss you.  I thought about monte this past sunday.  give him a kiss for me!  and max... you can just pet him for me.  Stay groovy!  ciao