Yes, all four of us live in one apartment under la famille Polucchi, and we all sleep in ONE TINY BEDROOM on bunkbeds, but it's real real fun
My French is coming fine, it's definitely not perfect and for sure I can't say all I want, but I'm really starting to understand these people and their so so foreign language that doesn't sound anything like it's written. But it's a beatiful language and I love hearing it all day everyday
For General Conference we saw Saturday morning during Saturday night, Priesthood on Sunday morning, Saturday afternoon on Sunday afternoon, and Sunday morning during Sunday night, so we didn't get to see Sunday afternoon YET hopefully we get to see it with a member or such pretty soon. and yes, thankfully it was all in English so I could understand it all. Oh, and did I mention we got to watch it in SWITZERLAND. In Genève. We honestly just go to Suisse all the time.
We speak mostly English in the apartment, some good Franglais (français et anglais), and we're gonna start trying to speak just French outside of the apartment. the problem is there are SO MANY AMERICANS here. So many people speakin English all the time.
And yes I believe that is how you write my address;
Elder Max Liechty
18 Impasse des Quatres Saisons
F-01170 Crozet
FRANCE
I'm doing real well out here, it get's more and more fun the more I begin to understand the language. Lots o' prayers being said all the time for the people, my collègue and also myself sometimes.
And about the camera...I forgot the cords back at the aparment today so...I can't figure it out this time BUT NEXT TIME I'll do what I can. Because this place is the plus beau of all the places.
It's starting to get chilly here, I haven't worn the galoshes yet because all the rain so far have been total surprises and I haven't even had my umbrella on me. But I assure you when it get's to snowing, chances are I'll be wearing those galoshes. Also I don't think I have a raincoat, but that's not a problem as long as I start carrying that umbrella around with me
So this week, oh boy
Lundi we had P-day, or should I say, did more service for the office AGAIN. But we got McDonald's out of it and did you know here in France they have a KIT-KAT McFLURRY?!?!? How crazy is that. So delicious. Then, after the service and the McDo's, we went and hiked a mountain. We didn't have a lot of time, so we honestly just ran up it and then back down it. It was really fun, but really hard because it was honestly just straight up. We followed the ski lift right behind our house straight up the mountain. And also it was really foggy, so we got real wet. But then after coming down, we all hopped in the shower real quick (not all together, mind you) because we had a RdV with some members that evening in like fifteen minutes from returning. The RdV, a soirée familial, was really fun and the family was awesome, the famille Pascaud. The had an adorable little bébé that the whole time the other kids were kissing and practically eating it up it was wild. but I couldn't blame 'em; it was a cute cute bébé.
Mardi we had two Tombez-vous (fall throughs) that weren't really a disappointment because the planning we did for them was kind of half hearted and also one of the guys we made a RdV with was probably high when we talked to him on the street. But we did get a surprise service project and free dinner later that evening with la famille Serrano, a super cool famille with an inactive son. He loves computer games, that's all we really know about him because he was out and about while we were there. but the service was great, some classic weeding and gardening and then of course the food was amazing, because I'm in FRANCE.
Mercredi we practiced some teaching with Frère Aubin, practiced the Restoration leçon, real good stuff, drank lot's of apfel shorla (however that's spelled). He loves that stuff and might I say me too. Then that evening we had a RdV with some more members, the famille Tagg, where the husband is from Canada and the wife is from France and GET THIS. I know the wife's little brother, because he was at the MTC same time as me and he was French so granted I met him and all the other Frenchies. They look exactly the same and sound exactly the same, that's why I first predicted that they were related. And then for dinner we had Tacos. Which is the second taco meal I've had here in France...I'm beginning to question where I really am right now...And also they have some real cute little kids that love Playmobile.
Jeudi we gave some service to an old man, Frère Senn, from Switzerland. Cleaned windows, and then we talked to him for the longest time ever. the conversation started to die, then I remembered that he had said something about geneology earlier, so I brought up how I used to love doing indexing, and then we talked another good half hour about that and he showed me his family search work he'd been doing. We did this because we were waiting for dinner. Which was SO GOOD. This fish stuff and rice and then ice cream with fresh berries man that was good. And also he has all these sweet old books because he's really old. And also he know's the name Liechty but in Suisse it's Liechti, and I said yeah I know because family search and then we talked about that some more. Then that evening we had a RdV with Anne-Charlotte. She's having a hard time gaining a témoignage about the Livre de Mormon, but when we asked her about baptême she said "pas encore" which means "not yet" which means SOME DAY.
Vendredi we had MORE DINNER WITH MEMBERS. Dinner with members almost every night this week it was awesome. And also that morning we made banana bread to hand out to investigators and the Conseil de Paroisse that evening, since we had Ward Council. they were so dang GOOD. So anyway we went about our day and found this Austrian lady we spoke English to us and we talked for the longest time but got nowhere, she just wasted our time, and had zero good points supporting her claims about her Bible interpretation. So we left. But then we had an amazing dinner with la famille Jardon, with this delicious shrimp-avacado stuff, and tomatoes, and French curry, and CAKE. The French curry was pretty spicy, but then I put this spicy olive stuff on it that Frère Jardon gave me and then I died because it was so spicy. And after I cleared my plate, I notcied a stray piece of rice, and thought "why not?" so I ate it, turns out it was just that olive stuff and my throat was burned again. Then after conseil de paroisse, we gave some banana biscuits (as the turned out more little buiscits than muffins, which was our intent) to Anne-Charlotte, and she appreciated that.
Samedi. Samedi is Témoigne day, I think. the Témoigne Jehovah, that is. they are released on Saturdays and thus no one wants to talk to us because they think we're TJs. They say "we've seen your collegues" did they have these plaques? No. Were they dressed the same like us? ...no... We're they young men like us? ........no........ We're they those stinkin' Temoignes? Yes, but aren't you...No, we're the MORMONS. So curse those stinkin' Témoignes, making our Saturdays good and difficult. But then later we found this cool guy from Texas who we talked to for a good while, and he's a lawyer, looks like a cowboy, and is really good at spitting. and the best part was is that he knew that the real LDS church members weren't polygamists! That did my heart good to know that some people out there know the truth. Then we accidently ran accross a guy we have a RdV with this coming week and that was cool, because we'd never met him before, just talked on the phone. And then CONFERENCE.
And on Dimanche CONFERENCE.
My favorite line from conference was probably President Uchtdorf's "YOU CAN DO IT NOW." it was really an amazing conference, and I hope my heart out that I can hear the Sunday afternoon one sometime soon.
Today I'm going out to buy a second suit, because now we have to wear a suit everyday (after conference) and I don't want to wear the same one everyday. and then also my watch broke........Little secret it actually broke in the MTC, but I forgot to tell you, but I fixed it with some tape, but now the hands aren't moving...SO. I am probably going to go to a Swatch and get a watch with a lifetime warranty, so I can have a sweet watch that I can get fixed if it ever breaks.
Spiritual thoughts for this week:
When bearing your testimony, don't be afraid to be a little bold. Tell them how it is. And when people try to deny us, or mock us, or ridicule us because we're weak, my favorite thing to say is this:
"we may not speak the language very well, and we may not be able to answer all your questions, but we have been called by a prophet of God to teach what we know. And we know these things are true." That shuts 'em up real fast. It's so important to share that we KNOW these things, because a solid testimony is so important. Small and simple truths confound the wise.
I really love these French people, even when they slam the door in our faces or won't share their baguettes with us.
Love you all, and always praying for you
Elder Liechty
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