Avignon 3

Salut tout le monde!, here are the answeres to the questions:

I know nothing about the tour de france... sorry, but I think the olympics will be in Paris this year right?  Or maybe London...

Yes Quansah, and his two kids came to church.  He was telling everybody that it will be his turn to be baptised in two weeks!  He is so cool.  i could see his daughter getting baptised in the next transfer or so as well, so there is lots happening here in Avignon.

There is only me and Elder Hamilton in Avignon, and our area covers all the way north to Orange (a great little city, we have worked there a few times) and all the way south to ... Arelles I think.  So it is a really big area.  Usually we work in the little villages just outside of Avignon.

Our appartement is not fixed.  we called the office  and they said they would get back to us.  We might get if fixed some time before the year ends... if they hurry.

MONDAY:Did some lovely porting.  Played a game of RISK, and walked around town.  Soldes starts this week so I didn't buy anything that day.

Tuesday:  Went to Mont Fevet to work, nothing too speciale.  Then we had an FHE with Sylvain one of the cool young people in our branch. 

Wednesday;  Worked in the morning in Villeneuve, we found a really cool mother with three kids who was interested!  wooh, there are people who want to talk to us!  What was really cool is I was imagining earlier that morning finding a young mother with black hair and three kids.. and she fit the description.  It was a really cool experience.

Then we went to le pontet where are church is, and talked to some muslims, taught our english class and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ to Quansah afterward.

Thursday:  Had the Baptismal interview for Cyprien, then I went to Aix again for exchange.  I was able to work with Elder Tulley who was in the MTC with me.  It was a fun exchange, no real big news.  I was able to talk to some of the members who were confused because they had thought I left ha ha.

Friday:  Back in Avignon in the morning to have lunch with our Branch president.  He is a little... harsh with this jokes, but I still like him.  He has like an entire orchard in his back yard, and he gave us a bunch of fruit.  We worked a bit in Orange (where he lives) then took the train back to see Frère Jeunehomme a less active member... and his cat.  We had a good talk about obedience, and he said he would come to church this week (he didn't...)

Saturday.  Weekly planning!  Then we had a baptism!  Cyprien and his cousin were baptised!  It was really cool and went smoothly.  It was my first baptism where the I didn't have to do anything, and nobody yelled at us because nothing went wrong yeah!  Really good time, Quansah and his kids came, and he was telling everyone it will be his turn soon, and his daughter was asking about baptism too!  Reallly fun.  then we had dinner with the family and played sptitunk... which is like shuffle board only you throw balls instead of.. shuffling a puck.  I believe in english it is called boules.  I also learned what hide and go seek is in french.  it is cache cache en noir.  And hide and seek tag is cache cache touche touche, it is cute isn't it?

Sunday, Church, ate, talked to lots of people, oh, and the theatre festivale started... It started saturday, but we were out of town all day.  It is now nuts here.  Tons and tons and tons of people and weirdos in costumes walking all over.  The entier city is covered in adverisements for all the plays... most of them have no nudity.  There are a group of asians who parade outside our appartement banging drums and gongs and such every few hours.  Mobs and mobs of people.  It is crazy.  P-days look like they are going to be fun ha ha.  I just need to make sure I don't get pick-pocketed.  Then that evening we taught Qwami, an african homeless guy who we have seen a few times.  He actually has a job now, so that is good, but he cancles pretty much every rdv.  He was about 35 minutes late to this one.  anyway it went well.

Another thing about the festivale, there is supposidly over .. or maybe close to 1000 productions in all of avignon.  It is huge, though most of the theaters only sit 20 to 30 people.  I don't know if we will see any or not.  There are lots of free stuff just playing on the street too, so maybe we'll look into that.

I love you all very much, and I miss you!  I love my mission and am reading my scriptures and se rapproching to the lord every day.  It is amazing to see all the little miracles that he gives us, and the big ones too.  I know that the promise "ask and you shall recieve, search and it shall be given you, knock and it shall be opened to you" is true if we ask in faith with a pure intent.  I love the poeple of avignon, even the weird theatre people.  I'll see you all next week!

Also, parents, thank you in advance for the birthday stuff, it will be well appreciated.  I am sorry to hear that robin still is feeling bad, I'll be sure to pray for her.  I love you too Bruce and Robin and Brett, and everyone else.  I don't have enough time to write all your names, but you know who you are.  Have a good week!

Avignon 2

Dear Family,
So Elder Hamilton is the District leader, the one you saw on Skype was Elder Park the Zone leader.  A zone is made up of about four-ish districts and a district is made up of four-ish missionary companionships.

The district leader (what elder hamilton is) does 2 exchanges (splits) with all the other elder equipes in our district (there are four others in our district) so there are a lot of exchanges to do.  It adds up to about one a week, and two one week for the transfer.  I am going to be on a lot of trains this transfer, so that will be fun. Also as DL, he calls the other missionaries every so often, and at least once a week every sunday night to gather the numbers (of lessons taught etc)  He is also in charge of district meeting which takes place every other week, that is mostly just giving assignments to others to give a testimony or explain what they have learned in their studies about whatever topic.

Elder Hamilton has two transfers after this one before he dies (ends his mission) he goes home this october.

The new ward here isn't even a ward, it is a branch.  About 40ish people come every week.  They are really nice though, for the most part.  Usually small branches have a reputation of being really bizarre as in lots of crazy people, but everyone I talked to seemed very normal.

Yes it is still hot, and humid... all the time.  I have basically
gotten used to being sweaty 24/7.  Right when we wake up it is nice because we open the windows and put the fan in the window so it blows the cool air in, but you can't do that for too long because then bugs will fly in.

The appartement is quite large compared to the other ones I have stayed in.  It is only two rooms (bathroom, and everything else room) however, it is more than twice the size of the appartement in Aix.  I mentioned it is a little ghetto though (I think).  It is really old, and has scary moldy cubbards under the kitchen sink.  The sink itself is falling appart, so we need to call about that and get it fixed. The shower is bareable... kinda gross though.  We do have a dryer which is amazing because nothing would dry if we didn't have one.  The kitchen (apart from the sink) is good, old looking, but sanitary enough.  I have not gotten sick from anything yet.

Yes I still have my robe.

I sent the letter last p-day (sorry, I had a hard time getting stamps) so it should be there soon.

Elder Hamilton and I get around by the bus and lots of walking.
Avignon itself is a very pretty city... inside the castle walls.
Inside the castle walls is classic old small French buildings with several really cool old churches, the palais de pape which is breathtaking, and the bridge of Avignon (which is really only half a bridge) which is supposidly famous for some reason.  Outside the walls, are ugly HLMs (big appartement buildings) and other uninspired, square gray buildings.  Everything looks the same and is rather ugly...and Grey.  Then outside the band of ugliness are some pretty neighbourhoods where we do most of our work.  There is also a second castle across the river from where we live... it is small but still really neat.  We do not work inside the walls too much because it is 90% tourists.

Eva's family is a bit of a sad story.  The Magazine the dad made did not do very well, and he was not impressed with the support of the members (or lack thereof)  He has not come to church or talked with the missionaries in two weeks... and because of that, his wife doesn't come to church or talk to us either... lame.  I guess we see that he really didn't have a testimony.. or a strong one.

Avignon, we have very few amis because now it is summer and the entire world is on vacation and avignon isn't a very big city in the first place.  Basically we have done lots of door to door.... lots and lots of it.  We have seen some good miracles though.  God knows when to give us a little bone right about when we have had enough.  We still managed to get 9 lessons last week and one new ami so take that satan!

I am doing good though, and I am happy here.  Elder Hamilton is very easy to get along with, and is a hard worker.  There are still miracles, and I predict that we are going to have a couple baptisms soon because while we do not have many amis, the ones we have are awesome.  one normally should be baptised the 7 of July (his name is Cypren) and the other should be baptised the 28th of July (his name is Dainelle)

I love you all very much.  For my birthday, I want Beef Jerky, pens, my cat shirts that should be in my closet.  (one says bobcat with a saddle, the other is a cat wearing sunglasses, and the third is a white tiger.)  If you have my line of authority that would be great too.  Then I guess, a little bit of money to buy my own french clothes would be the next best thing.. that is all I can think of... Summer Solds is coming up soon, so I can find a French suit for real cheap. That is all I can think of.  I love yall! stay safe!  Til next week.
Tell JJ he needs to have a girlfriend before I get back!

Avignon 1 18-6-12

So I was almost done with this email, and then French keyboards have a lovely button right next to the 'a" key that takes you to the home page, and my email wasn't saved... Lame! Now I have like no time.

I got moved to Avignon (sur le pont d'Avignon, on y dance tout enrond) It is right next to Aix, and my new collegue (Elder Hamilton) is district leader, so I will get to go there pretty much every week this transfer so it is like I am not even gone.

Avignon has the palais de pape which is the only other place the pope has ever lived besides the vatican, so that is fun, it is an enourmouse ... giant palace.

We live within old castle walls, so that is really cool as well.

Rosetta stone helped a little, I am doing great with the language, the gift of tounges is real because I can actually understand these people... unless they are drunk.

Yes we fast every now and then for our amis

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD, I LOVE YOU!!!
I drink more than three liters of water a day

No, I do not eat out often, but I have pleanty of extra money to do that, I will got later if I ever train someone

Elder Tulley from the MTC is replacing me in aix, so I will get to see/work with him, and that will be fun!

By the way, it is Je t'aime ha ha, just so you know, but good job with the french mother, I did not know the word chou chou before you wrote it to me, but then we do not really say things like that much as missionaries ha ha.

Have a wonderful day, sorry this email is kind of lame, Elder Hamilton is cool, He was in our district last transfer so I know him a little,he is from LA basically about an hour away.  Keep it real yo!

Jun 11, 2012

sup y'all?  Buenos dios, mi llammo Elder Crossman y yo soy missionaros de l'eglesia de Jesus Christo

   Ok, questions:  Yes still hot, I am getting used to it though, no aircondtioning, so we sleep with the windows open and the fan on all night and it is not too bad, I have not used my bed sheets the past few weeks ha ha.

   I believe in the first print, there will be either 4000 or 8000 copies, I don't remember which.  They are in a lot of the presses here, and in France there is like a press every 20 yards or so, but don't worry if you do not have any costomers because the government will pay your salarie haha.

    Yes I am back to eating like I should and loosing weight.  (2kilos this past week)

   Last monday, ... I wrote you a physical letter telling you about last monday, it will get there ... soon, I need to just send it first =P

    Tuesday: Streetboarded,   Did a bunch more passbacks and found a new ami named Joseph who is a middle aged white Frenchman!  That makes like ... the fourth French person I have taught on my mission ha ha, the others are Eva and Eva's parents.  He is really cool and fun and all that good stuff, he looks like ...  That guy on ocean's 11 who owns the casinos... no not him, the guy on the movie casino... he always plays gangster rolls...

    Wednesday:  Taught a new ami, the sister of one of the members.  She seemes a little hesitant at first, but then she really opened up by the end and a originally planned 8 minute get to know you rdv turned into a 25ish minute good testimony meeting.  She is also French... #5 Then we taught Clair who is a nice person, but elle son fiche quoi, she doesn't really want to know if it is true, she just likes talking religeon... and she is French... #6

    Thursday:  Day of failure and cancled rendez-vous and lots of contacting yeah!  Pilar our old spanish ami is really sick, she says that the sécurité sociale is coming to help her...  

    Friday:   we had a cool lesson with a guy DURING streetboarding, he said he had time now, so we taught the plan of salvation to him and he was way reflexif, asked good questions, and is really interested.  His name is Nicholas and he has about 18ish years... I wrote that like a french person, he is 18 years old.  He is french too...#7  After we met another new ami SID who is sort of muslim, and is really nice, and says he believes the bible the koran and the book of mormon, but he really doesn't.  It was a decent rdv, he talks a lot.

    Saturday:  Taught Irma and Erika, one of her daughters.  They are doing well, only there is a lot of sickness in thier extended family so we addressed that a bit to try to help them

    Sunday:  Had a conférence de Pieu (stake conference) broadcasted across all of France Italy Belgium, and the Netherlands.  Elder Nelson and Elder Eyring spoke, it was phantabulouse!  Super strong talks on the family and all that good stuff, and also a cool miracle.  When we started, the language was being transmited to us in dutch, so no one could understand it, they worked for a few minutes, then they said that they couldn't do anything.  Frère Masse gave a prayer with the rest of the ward for the transmission to work.  After they turned the thing back on and it was in French!  

    After church we saw the family Ulmann again.  Great Rdv with them.  The littlest boy had some trouble focusing at the end, but he is only 9 and the rdv was kind of long so you can't blame him.  Cynthia, their 18 year-old daughter told us that after our missions, we need to come back and she would "nous montre des bonnes boîtes"  (some good clubs) and we would go party, but in the mean time, she said she would just teach us how to cook... have to watch out for that one...

Today we got up at 5 so we can do some nessisary cleaning and stuff before studies so that after emails and groceries we can have FUN ALL DAY until 6 when it is back to work.  We are going to explore the vielle ville (old town) and take some good pics and stuff, so I will send you the card after today... I fail ath that sorry!

I love you all and glad to hear you are doing well.  Abbey and Paige are graduating?  They are like 10 years old right? So weird.  I'll shoot kevin an email to say hi and all that.  I will know if I stay or if i go this friday!  I really do want to stay, especially since things are starting to pick up again we have so many cool amis and members I can't leave! IM NEVER GOING HOME!  Anyway, this is getting a little weird now. 

je t'aime, j'aime la France, j'aime le seigneur PAIX

Bonjour! May 21st, 2012

quoi de neuf?  Only one question from what I can remember, Yes I write in my journal, usually every other night, but I have made it a goal to write every day for my twentieth year of life which starts in less than 9 weeks just so you know.  

  Sorry I have not sent pictures, as I have said before the computers we use here seem to have problems, as in most of the time it doesn't recognize you put in the sd card.  I will send you my card eventually, I need to find my other one (it is somewhere in my suitcase which is in a high tight corner of our closet which is why I have not looked for it yet.

Monday:  Did shopping... other stuff that I don't remember, then had a soirée familiale with a member family and eva's family.  Satan is really really trying to keep us from teaching them. There were a lot of distractions, we got to thier house late, the car almost broke down, and we got home really late... like 10:30 but we taught the lesson, and it was really good!

Tuesday:  lots of panneau and porting, talked to kim, one of our recent converts, talked to Irma, another recent convert even thought we wanted to see her daughter, but that didn't happen.

Wednesday: Panneau, porting, calls, ratez-vous (that means the guy didn't show up for a lesson)

Thursday:  Réunion de district, it was really cool to see all the new elders in our district.  They are now, Elder Smedley and elder Didieuksman(from holland), Elder Adams and elder M... something, Elder Dorton (I think), and elder Duncan (he was in my district at Lyon, so it is really neat to see him again and catch up), and Elder Park and Elder Ormond the two elders you saw during our call.  After that, we had a good RDV with Inès, thought she doesn't really want to do anything, just hear the word of God...  Then Saw Pilar, she is old and cranky like always ha ha, but we love her, then taught Laurent, really good RDV who accepted a baptism date!

Friday:  Calls, Porting... Irma, wanted to see jennifer...

Saturday: one early morning RdV with what we thought was a less active, but turned out to be a gay catholic who was actually really cool.  We had a good lesson, and we will be seeing him again soon... Taught the law of Chastity because he had a question if he was sining.  Good RDV, and he actually said he was going to try to change his life because he had a dream that he had to... interesting.  After that, three ratez-vous in a row, tough, then to feel better we had dinner at the Family Farrants house. It was a lot of fun, we had "tacos" they were actualy really good for french mexican food.  Greg (M. Farrant) taught us how to play rugby because he apparently was on a professional division team for aix at one point, so that was cool.

Sunday: church was good, eva's parents and brother came... didn't have time to see us after.... lame.  Then it rained... and rained ... and rained... hard ... all day.  We had no RDVs, so we got to go porting in the rain.... the whole day... it was fine until someone got mad at us and called the police, though, if he had not have done that, then we would have stayed longer in that area, and we woudl have missed this really cool girl we got to talk to who said she would come to church next week.. Nice tender mercy, the Lord really knows when to give you one of those before you kill something haha.  

Emails is the first thing of the day today, so we will do is shopping... maybe play a nice game of monopoly.  Our whole district has had a bad week, so the Elders in Vitrolles, the other aix elders and us are going to have a nice lunch together to se fortifier on peut dire.

I love you all, stay safe.  This week was a little harder, but I am still happy and am loving it overall.  IT sounds like you had fun in california, that is great!  Too bad you will have to wait all the way to thanksgiving to go on another adventure ha ha.  Vous êtes gatez, tous lol.  see you next week!

May 28th 2012

Hello!  how are you? good good, ...  me? bin, ça va, just a little french thing pa pa, we don't say "à dieu" unless we really do not think that we will see said person again in this life.  à dieu, literally means "to god".  It is kinda cool, here everyone says à demain "to tomorrow" à plus tard "to later...", au revoir "til we see each other again" etc.

answer to your question: is it hot?  YES, I carry a little towel with me in my bag to wipe my brow as it were.I was in vitrolles again a couple days ago and geeze it was hot and humid.

Monday:  wrote letters, went bowling (bowling in france is like golfing in hawaii, you just have nothing but bad luck) saw pilar and ...a recent convert... probably Irma

Tuesday:Saw eva, did lots of contacting, picked up the Elders from Nice at the gare (train station) for zone conference (One was Elder Uluave who was in the MTC with me, it was really good to get the nouvelle from him!  

Wednesday:  Zone conference!  Really inspirational, talked about our desires and improving our contacting and following up with engagements.  President Murdoch's last zone conference, so unless I get a bleu (new missionary) this next transfer, I will not see him again. He gave a wonderful talk, he and his wife.  He talked about how he has never done anything he hasn't wanted to because he has righeous desires... at least that is what he strives for.  No advice on getting married or anything haha.  Then after conference, I went to Vitrolles on exchange again, but this time I was with Elder Smedly.  So Elder Smedly cannot drive legally, so I got to drive a stick shift for the first time in my life!  I wasn't too bad, only stalled it once... going forward, I had a hard time going in reverse for whatever reason.  But it was fun to drive again, and I want a stick shift when I get back  ha ha.

Thursday:  Day two in Vitrolles, driving and teaching a few good lessons.  I was able to go to Marseille as well, so check that off the map.  Marseille was frightening, I kinda felt like I might be shot or shanked at any moment, but we taught a really awesome sincere seaker of truth who really is an élu (elect).  Very touching lesson.  I have really learned to appreciate just how easy of a life I have had.  I am so thankful that I have not had to work to make sure that we could have our baguettes at night, that I have not had to worry about whether I will eat that day, or have a bed to sleep in... Some really humbling things here, even in a assez rich part of the world.  Cigarrettes and alcohol destroy families and happiness! I am now angry at those beer commetials with everyone drinking and having a good time... Stay away from those things, they are revêche, renfrogné, néfastes, and patibulaire!  DON'T DO DRUGS!  

Got back to beautiful Aix-en-provence that night.

Friday:   Lots of contacting, taught pilar again, a great lesson on tithing.  She is totally getting baptised soon, just needs to trust in God a little bit more!  After, we taught Eva's brother François.  He ... he is a foul mouthed teenager ha ha.  Not a bad kid, but just ... has little interest in living the gospel, but he is getting more interested since his whole family is being converted.  He is cool.

Saturday:  Got some member coordonées (contact info of their friends)! wooh! those things are precious jewels that need to be taken care of, so hopefully we will see some good fruit from that.  Then saw another member family with a less-active son. The family Chipouka, Soeur chipouka is so nice, I love their family!

Sunday:  taught evas parents again, finally!  Good lesson, lots of spirit, invited them to be baptised, and they are not opposed to it, they just said they want to know more first which makes sense.  Really M Rognon (eva's father) just needs to stop smoking...and drinking... and gambling, then they will be good!  They are making great progress though, really a testimony builder of how the gospel helps families.

Monday:  Our internet place was not open yet, so we passed a cool old French historical home that is just across the street.  It was originally built for some French duke to have love affaires, then it got turned into a normal rich person's house, then a small historical art museum that is free to jeunes 25 years old and younger (score!)  No, but it was really really pretty, I took some pictures of the outside, but they were not allowed inside.

I will send pictures soon, I'll maybe send you my sd card next week because this monday we are going to play tourists, so there should be some good pictures!  

Yes I am eating... not very well this week because of lots of member visits and zone conference, and exchanges to vitrolles, but I am still exercizing.  I have actually gained a kilo, but my waist size is smaller, so I am gaining muscle baby! ... or just fat in  different places, but i think it is muscle.

Yes, I would like to do something with movies que ce soit a director, cinematographer, actor, something else... that is the dream right now anyway, but we will see.  As I have thought about what I want to do with my life, while I am in bed before falling asleep, I really want to take a shot at doing something with film, or singing.  Or food science (that sounds a lot better to you mother, doesn't it?)  I think that would be neat and really helpful to the world.  Anyway, I love you all so much, keep things groovy! 

As far as things I need... american toothpaste, good american pens, and american beef cattle jerky! Those are really the things we should be proud of, because the french versions all stink.  Yes I did get the other SD cards, thank you!  The only meat that exists here is ham... and wierd stuff like tongue, frog legs, sheep brains, a full rabbit (really the entire rabbit, except hair), and like hooves and stuff.  I am currently in the process of trying all of them.

Wonderful awesome delicious recepie:  boil entire asparagus stems so they are very soft. For the last couple minutes you are boiling the asparagus throw in some whole or half strawberries. strain water, add shredded hard-boiled eggs, butter and sour cream for the sauce( just put the butter and the sour cream on the asparagus and let the heat from them melt it.  ENJOY! 

que la force soit avec vous tous! 

Aix Transfer 2

    Hello, everyone! I missed you, how are you doing? woah, lots of questions this week.  I'll try and tackle them.

    With regards to the panneau, it really depends how often we do it.  usually no more than twice or three times a week, at two hours at a time.  Although, this week.... or maybe last week we did it for 5 hours... that was... fun, but we did get quite a few contacts.  We make the board (materials provided by the church) right now it says"FREE DISCUSSIONS IN ENGLISH WITH REAL AMERICANS" and that is all.  We wanted to try something different, and we did get a whole lot of people to talk to us, so we will see how many come to our class. Before, it said "WE HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU, ANSWER WELL, AND YOU WIN A PRIZE!", then before we have just had some questions like what brings you happiness and stuff like that with a picture of Jesus.  It really doesn't matter what it says on the board really, we mostly just have it to have an excuse to stand on the corner and talk with everyone.   Other than that our finding activities are knocking doors (I have done a faire ammount of that so far), just talking to people on your way, and pass backs which intail calling, and or passing by old amis, less actives, or people who gave us their info in the past.  I would say we do the most of pass backs.

    We are our amount of lessons have picked up, we taught 14 leçons last week which was the most that transfer.  I did the math, and I have taught around 163 leçons on my mission.  my goal is to break 1000 So that means an average of 80-90 leçons a transfer.  The closest I have come so far is 71 in a transfer, but I think I can do it.  Yeah, but it is pretty cool, we had two neat miracle amis that I will talk about later.

    No I do not feel really new anymore, I feel like I could lead a companionship if I needed to, but I would not say I am a veteran, and there are always things to improve on.

    No I have not gone to the temple since the MTC, and I will not go for the rest of my mission.  The closest temples are Madrid, Spain, and Bern, Swiss.  However both are out of our mission boundaries, and we won't go so that is too bad.  They are building a temple right next to the palace of Versailles, they have all the approvals now, and should begin construction in a few months hopefully.  That will also be out of our mission boundaries so no go there either... I will just have to go a lot when I get home to make up for it.

    Yes I got the package last Thursday.  Thank you very much, the bag works great, and the gum and soup is always appreciated.  I have a new goal to weigh 100kg by my 20th birthday (that is 220 lbs.)  Right now I am at 114kg, I think it is possible, but will really require me to be really really good with what I eat and how I use my exercise time.  

    Transfer calls were last Friday.  Elder Baret will be replaced by elder Ormond from Idaho quelque part, and a couple other changes in our district.  As for me and Elder Harris....We are both staying.  Nothing surprising there.  However, that does mean that one of us will go next transfer because almost never to two missionaries serve with each other more than 2 transfers.

    Eva's family is doing awesome.  We have not been able to teach them much, but Eva is taking care of that for us (she is great and is going to be an awesome missionary)  They are studying their scriptures together every day, praying together, they have been coming to church for 6 weeks straight, and they are hopefully going to be baptized the 2nd of Juin ... I forgot how to write that in English.. June right.That is so freaking cool.  They (meaning eva's father) still has a few soucis (like drinking and cigarettes, and tithing) but I think they are going to be great. I am so excited, that is big miracle number 1 for this week.

    Big miracle number 2:  we were porting (knocking on doors) later one night.  Around 8h40ish someone answered and let us in after we said we were missionaries and all that.  We were able to talk to her a little, share how our message can help her, and she agreed to see us again. We have since seen her, and said it would be really great to know that God has called another prophet.  We have another rdv set up for later this week. Another solid ami!

   Big miracle number 3:  At the beginning of this week we randomly got a call from a guy who said that he had talked to the missionaries in the past, but was too busy, and had the time now so he wanted to meet us.  We met him to find out that he had only seen the missionaries in the street once two years ago, and had kept the card they gave him until he called us... that is pretty amazing. We have seen him (laurent) about four times, and he says he knows already that everything we are teaching him is true. Really an incredible miracle to be a part of.

   It seems strange that I am already more than a quarter done with my mission.  Kinda sad, it is passing by way too quickly.  I am glad to say that I feel satisfied with the work that I have done so far, and I am still loving it.  It is really the best two years.  French is going well. I can almost always say what i want and understand what people are saying to me without translating it in my head which is interesting when I catch myself doing it.  I made a phone call in English the other day and it was really weird because I didn't know what to say.  I was throwing in French words and structuring sentences like the french would... kinda funny.  What else is great, is even thought I do not have a huge vocab, I can understand how people are talking that I can guess the meaning of most words.  It is really neat!

    THEY ARE MAKING AN ENDER'S GAME MOVIE!!!!! That is awesome 1 because I'll be there when it comes out and 2 I love ender's game.   Though it stinks because everyone is taking my movie ideas.  I wanted to make a hunger games movie, enders game... now the only one that isn't done is a legit book of mormon movie.  So I can still do that.

    I think that is all for this week.  I have a new planner so I can't give you a day by day thing, but I will try to do that next week.  I love you all and I am excited to see you mom and dad and maybe JJ this sunday!  Say safe, keep the faith, live, laugh, love and all that.  Je vous aime, et Dieu vous aime, ça c'est écriture, Dieu tant aime le monde, il lui donne son fils unique, pas pour les chasser, mais pour les sauver... Je sais que j'ai changé l'écriture, je ne l'ai pas mémorisé. Lâches moi les baskets! 

    PS Félicitations JJ on your Graduation. I am very proud of you! Love yah Brah!