Week #15 - Bordeaux

Yo yo YO (again)

So yeah, that was really neat seeing all y'all on Christmas, very fun, very excited to use that new bathroom in two years.  Stoked.

Tell nana and poppa HOLY SMOKES for me!  That sounds like a real party, wish I coulda been there!  (They had a horrible return trip back to VA) Really nuts.  Ha ha WOW.  I'm just imagining nana and poppa out late partying in a taxi and arriving home in Leisure Ville all late and what not and then the workers there having to help them home or something.  That's hilarious.

Gamewise, not really.  We bought UNO today, because we needed a game to play with a famille tonight at FHE, but that's it.  That and shooting my new toy gun and spinning the Spongebob Tops.  I saw a real, legit Mille Bornes at the market today, thought about buying it, but it was already opened and kind of in bad condition, so maybe the next time I see it.

In the latest news, we finally got a DVD/CD player in our appartement, so that's really nice.  The office was all out, and we didn't have one for our new appartement, so they told us to buy one.  So I threw down 80 Euros on that puppy, luckily I get it reimbursed, so no big.  But now I can listen to those CDs, and we also got a new one for Christmas from President Roney.  It's got good music, too.

So the week, alors.

Lundi, we had plans for that guy, but we ended up getting out there too late, calling him, telling him we'd be late or we can do it another night, so we did it another night.  And this night instead we went porte à porte, wishing people happy holidays n whatnot.

Then mardi we went nuts making cookies n stuff to give to membres.  Then we went out to a famille's house a little while away, the Spagnolinis, to give them cookies.  We tried to sneak them on the door and run, but they saw us, invited us in, so we prayed with them and talked about Christmas.  Then we ran out, because we had a RDV with our ami André, who had been out of town since I got here.  And then I didn't even get to teach him, because I had to run back to the appartement and get some stuff to take to our dinner appointment that night.  Then we had the dinner appointment.  And you wanted me to tell you what I ate again so everyone can here: get excited.

There was crab, oysters, shrimp, snails, scallops, mussels, salmon, and all of this RAW.  completely uncooked, all of it still in its shells, the shrimp still had its eyeballs, its antennae, its legs.  Same with the crab.  Oh man oh man oh man, and when they opened the crab, Frère Alves exclaimed "it's a girl" and then we commenced to eat the CRAB EGGS.  Also raw, mind you.  And the oysters.  They were still ALIVE.  they were soaking in seawater, and you had to poke them with your knife to make sure they were still alive before you ate them.  Then you throw them down your throat.  NUTS.

And one more thing we ate:  Foie Gras.  It's a specialty of Bordeaux.  what it is:  duck liver.  How you make it:  bury the duck, with just its head sticking out, and feed it until it's gut EXPLODES.  Then mash up the liver and voilà, foie gras.  Very yummy.

and this whole family we ate with were Tahitien.  And they made too much food for just Christmas Eve, so we returned and finished everything for Christmas lunch.

Then we passed some membres with banana bread, wished them merry Christmas, then went to Tommy's house TO SKYPE.  Then I Skype'd ya.  Then after we watched Mr.  Kreuger's Christmas, because it's a very good Christmas movie.

Then oh my gosh the day after, jeudi, nuts.  We had plans to go pass this lady up in a ville called Lacanau.  It's up by the beach, and we imagined there would be some places to porte or contact, so we set out a big amount of time up there.  Then we got there, ate lunch on the beach, and came to realize it is just a vacation town.  Nooooooooooo.  It was a two hour bus ride out there, and the next one didn't come for FIVE MORE HOURS.  So we talked with the few people we were there, tried passing this lady several times, only to find out the address we had was actually here secondary beach home...So that was kinda a drag of a day.  But then that evening we had a leçon with a guy we found out of the Area Book, so that was cool.  Good leçon, gonna go back soon.  Invited that sucka to pray about the LdM and if God is really there.  He was a cool old French guy who likes a very wide range of music.

Oh, also that day, that made Lacanau a little less of a drag, was that I made a guy laugh reallllll big on the street.  Because he saw us, knew what was coming, but then I threw him off by asking him if he thought the weather was good or bad that day.  He was all "Now I'm not into this whole religio....." bustin' up at that point, cuz I threw him off.  That's how you open people up, that's how you get them to listen.  Because they all have what they want to say planned.  they know you're gonna try to talk to them, so they're gonna say "je suis pressé" or I'm in a hurry.  So bus the barrier.  And then he wasn't really interested anyway, but at least that was a good seed planted in his heart, not a "stinkin' JWs" bitter seed.

Then we had zone training, this is vendredi, very fun.  Then after, with our whole district, we went out Streetboarding.  Where you set up the sign with a big question on it where there are a lot of people and then you talk to EVERYONE.  first guy I talked to gave me his number, so that got me pumped for the rest of the time, got a few more numbers, gave lots of cards, gave out a DVD, talked to, giving it a guess on the lower side, 50 people in two hours, which was lucky for a whole day back in Gex.  This place is NUTS.  Then we had to go pass this other referall down by the church, she wasn't there....again....and then we had  lesson with Tommy and Kéziah, who were the Tahitiens we had dinner with, too.

Then we had plans to go up to Pauillac to teach André, but we didn't have a place to teach him, and it started to rain big time up there, so we didn't go.  It was a bummer.  He called us when it stopped for a little, told us we could come again, but then it started again, big time, so we still couldn't go.  Then we bummed around, didn't know what to do, cuz we had a killer day planned in Pauillac, another ville about two hours by bus, and now we had nothing.  Then we remembered that we hadn't yet done weekly planning because of zone training, so we did that.  Then we tried to pass some less actives that lived by us, I talked to this guy with a lot of class and a very nice beard, planted another good seed, and that was the day.

Then dimanche was killer because we sparked the membres UP, set up RDVs n whatnot, and this was kinda the first time I had talked to membres without my collègue next to me to help.  So it was a RUSH.  but I got some good stuff DONE.  Got us the new ward list, then set up a lunch with the ward clerk, found a lady to hem my H&M suit pants that I have been keeping up with tape until now...and then some other RDVs during the week.  Very cool.  Then we went and tried to pass that same referral down by the church, wasn't there AGAINAGAINAGAIN, then we had a FHE with a very cool famille, something we set up that day also.  Their daughter is a littled challenged in some way, and less active, but we're becoming her friends and she's opening up, and she's very very cool.  The whole family.  We gave them the sacrament because they were too sick to come to church, and it was cool, because I think this is the first time in a long time where Tess, the LA daughter, took the sacrament.  Spirit was strong n stuff.

Now we're here today again.  Got a haircut today, at a real coiffure, pretty neat.  This European dude massaging my head with shampoo then clipping my hair all European like.  We have another FHE set up for tonight, should be very fun.  The daughter of this famille is also very less active, maybe more less active, and she smokes.  But she was at church the other day because her mom gave a talk.  Now we're gonna break into their house and rebaptize that daughter or something, reactivate her in someway.

50 pushups is a lot, but I think I can do it.

I love working, I love the Lord, I love ma famille.

L O V E

elder Liechty

Also, New Years plans,

there's a big fête going down at the church the night before, so that.  But that's it for now.  We might have to go in early or something because it's a big city and it's a big festival.  We'll see.

and also, I haven't gotten the letter yet, and I don't remember what address I gave you, but Elder Foote got a letter, and here's the address that worked:

Les Missionaires

Elder Max Liechty

app 80 tour 5

2 Rue Raoul Ponchon

Mérignac 33700

FRANCE

And also sorry for the kind of quick cut off on Christmas, I meant to drag it out longer, but then I accidentally clicked :)

And also we were in this ville the other day, and on every street corner they were playing Last Christmas by Wham!.  so that was nuts, and also Christmas was already passed.  Hmmmmm.

anyway, love you lots

elder Liechty

And gosh dang, also I know Presiding Bishop Caussé's father and brother, they are in my ward here in Bordeaux

 Show message history

New address in Bordeaux

We think this is Max's current address in Bordeaux:

Les Missionnaires

Elder Max Liechty

App 80 Tour 5

2 Rue Raoul Ponchon

Merignac 33700

FRANCE

Week #14 - Bordeaux

Yo yo yo you you you,

So, first of all, the plans:

We're gonna Skype it up at 6 pm over here, that makes 10 am over there.  Them's the plans right now.  Should stay that way.  And yeah, I think it's an hour, but, like, I don't know.  As you can tell, I don't really know a lot.  But we will be Skyping, count on that.

Christmas plans:  going to Tommy's house.  Tommy is a recent convert, from Tahiti, and he rocks.  You'll see him on Skype, and try to keep my first name a secret.  He's been trying to find me on Facebook the last few days, and I like to keep it a little tease, something I may or may not tell him on my last day here.  Ha ho ho ha hooooo.  And the night before, Christmas Eve, you know, we're going to some more Tahitian's houses for a big feast.  I'm stoked, because Tahitians eat a lot of fish, and I like fish.  These are our plans.  Stoked.

We do have a senior couple over this area.  There name is the Dickensons, from Wales/originally from England, and Elder Dickenson sounds exactly like Wallace from Wallace and Gromit.  It's hilarious and I love it.  We work with them a lot, at least a lot more than we did back in Gex with the Genève Senior couple.  I've heard of the Brias, I think they're down in Nice?

Speaking of seeing pictures of people, Elder Foote is all up in the new Ensign!  Or, at least the new Liahona, the one with all the conference talks.  He's in there with a couple other Elders and Sœurs in Lyon.  Neat.

I got the package, keeping all the gifts closed till actual Christmas, still stoked for whatever I get, and they're sitting under my paper tree with all the notes from the good people of America on it.  Looks like Christmas back there.

Still loving Bordeaux.  Loving it.

It's a normal building, and there are three wards in Bordeaux, I'm in the Eysines ward.  My sector covers the real Bordeaux, like the big city status, so that's neat.  We used to have our own ward building, but it was burned down, suspected ARSON (oh la la), so now we meet in the Talence building, which is really far away from where we live, so it's a nice bus ride and walk out there.  It's a decent sized ward, not as big as Gex, but still pretty nice.  The members are super cool, I just have to get to know them and start working with them and gaining their trust, then come the baptemes.

It will probably always be afternoons here in Bordeaux when I email, yes.

Good ol' lundi we taught English class in the evening, down in the institute center, and this lady comes every week, not yet a member, but she is being taught by the sisters.  Teaching English is always fun because I love hearing French people try to read an English word before you tell them how to pronounce it.  Very fun to hear, makes me love the people even more.

Then we had zone conference, mardi, and I got my PRESENTSSSSSSS.  and also get this get this get this, you remember you told me to look for two sisters for Frère Terry?  Well one of them is now in England, I think I already told you, and the other, Soeur Karissa Magelby, was at the same zone conference the other day, so I said hi for Frère Terry.  You can tell him I did that for him.  Then that evening we went out caroling with the whole district, very fun.  Spent most of the time singing, but then I noticed this guy that I wanted to talk to, who had stopped his bike to listen, so I went and I took my book, showed him where we were, and then we sang the end of "Les Anges dans nos Campagnes" and he LOVED IT.  He thanked me so much afterward, then I gave him a Christmas DVD I had with me, then he thanked me more, and he was really cool and and and......I forgot to give him our number or take his.....I was too stoked at how cool he was.  Nuts.  But now the seed has been planted, his heart has been touched, he is ready for the next missionnaires to meet him.

Mercredi we had a nice little RDV with Tommy in the afternoon, talked to him about the importance and blessings of the Sacrament, because he hadn't been to church the past few weeks, and he loved it, said he felt bad he hadn't been in a while, said he'd come.  Then invited us to his house for Christmas, of course we said yes, he's excited to meet you all.  I like Tommy.

Jeudi we had lunch with the famille Spagnolini, who are awesome and very old.  Frère Spagnolini has only half of one of his legs and none of the other, or something, and his voice is really raspy and kind.  And he goes to bed at about four o'clock in the afternoon because he's so old.  The lunch was delicious, then we shared a thought about CHRISTMAS.  Then we did some work in the Area Book, looking for anciens amis we could teach again; hopefull some of the people we picked will work out.  Also this day, we found this girl from England who said she didn't know what to believe, and we said we want to help her to find out, so we set up for the next day.

The plans we had with Daniella, the English girl, fell through.  BUT.  She texted us.  That might not sound like a big deal, but it totally is, because that means 1 - she kept the card and 2 - she didn't want us to go out and not find her and be disappointed.  Cool.  But she's still cool and we'll have a RDV with her someday.  And she totally has a crush on Elder Foote, we might have to pass her to the Soeurs :)

Then that evening we had a quick unplanned RDV with Frère Rebuffo, during which he gave us some less actives to search for, and also asked us to go to his sister's house and tell her that he is still there and living, because they haven't had contact for some time.  So that'll be sweet and hopefully some spirit will touch this woman when we do that.  Same with the other referalls he gave us.

This fine samedi evening was the Christmas party!  We had some amis show up, Tommy was there, lots of members, and there was some good talent.  I talked with this one guy, Frère Dragan, from Romania, for a while, because he has an amazing beard and pony tail.  Touched his heart, I think he's less active, but I saw him at church the next day, so that was neat.  Then we helped the Tahitians clean up after the party and then they invited us over Christmas Eve.  Neat.

Dimanche dimanche dimanche, went out, did a lot of finding, some good ol' Area Book work.  We did a lot in the Area Book this week, becuase something President Roney said is "There is at least one baptism in each area book" so.  Someone we've contacted or will contact will be baptized and whatnot.  Neat.

Then today.  We went to a museum today for free, and there was a lot of nudity it was kind of hilarious.  But there were some fun paintings, too, like rabbits eating a lion, little nude Cupid flying around, lots of Jesus pictures, too, and some crazy Catholic saints n stuff and people being shot by arrows.  Pretty greusome, a lot of it.  Enjoyable, all the same.  And for tonight, we have a planned RDV with a guy we called out of the Area Book, which should be cool.  Cool.

I've got a nice testimony of hard work.  About how when we focus, work, contact, all that, we find miracles.  We find people to teach, we enjoy talking to all of God's Children.  And the secret to hard work is just remembering that everyone is a Child of God, He wants them back, and you need to love them just as much as He does.  Then contacting isn't scary, but rather fun, and successful.  That's the secret.

Love you all and and and JOYEUX NOEL.  Bonnes fêtes.

I love Christmas and all it stands for and I love you.

Love,

Elder Liechty

PS. Oh, also, it was Primary Program dimanche, so that was fun.  Other than the soirée de Noël, they didn't do anything special.

The temps are really mild, but sometimes really cold, too.  Today was a nice forty or fifty even, maybe, but sometimes it drops colder, especially at night and in the morning.  It's kinda like San Francisco.  

LOVE YOU

Week #13 - Bordeaux

Mommomomomomomomomom

Hellooooooooooooooooooo

Okay, so, still don't know my address...We asked the senior couple, but they haven't responded yet.  And also, our name isn't on the box yet, so I wouldn't get the mail...But you can give that other address away, because I see the zone leaders at church all the time and other times during the week for meetings, so they can give me the mail.  We'll get on this whole mail thing real nice and fast.

I can honestly say I have no idea about Skype on Christmas...We haven't exactly been invited to anyone's house yet...We were going to go to a recent converts house, Tommy, who is really cool, but he's gonna go out of town for Christmas.  Nuts.  And also Elder Foote's family is going to be here in France for Christmas, so he'll have to Skype at a different time, probably, because their plane gets in at five in the afternoon, that day.  so.  I realize the big day is coming up, but I have no idea what we're doing.  Sorry.  We'll figure that out, too, before the next email.

My comp is Elder Foote, from Reno, Nevada, and he's super cool.  Really tall, super funny, knows French and all that.  Been out for about a year and a half.  We're totally getting along, no worries there.  He's been in BDX for one transfer before.  And he was in this zone a long time ago, and he's back.  The thing about the BDX zone is that once you're in, you don't get out.  At least for four transfers.  And if you get out earlier than that, you'll be back one day.  Ha.  Bordeaux, man.

I like Bordeaux because it's big and we get to ride buses and trams and we have a new apartement.  I like how there is a lot of people, so if we don't have any plans or if some plans fall through, there's always something to do because there's always people.  And I like Bordeaux because it's so much more French than Gex.  This is real France.  Old buildings, buses, trains, rivers, rats in the street (like Ratatouille), and crazy old guys that swear at you and have funny southern French accents.  I love it.

Zone conference where we get our gifts is TOMORROW.  Stoked.

Weather:  Sometimes it's really cold, sometimes it's warmish.  We've worn our coats out the past few days, but today we were just out in our white shirts and ties.  That was nice.  Not nearly as cold as Gex no no no.

Things from home:  LOVE.  And also I'm just about out of that special face stuff, the expensive stuff, Ziana (?).  And vitamins, I'm just about out of vitamins.  But yeah, that and love and prayers is all I need right now!

Long train ride, it was really fun.  I was a little nervous at first, because I figured there would be people there to pick me up, but there wasn't, and I just kinda got on the train and did my thing, but it was fun.  Gotta talk with neat people, sit on my buns for about a hundred hours, read some good scripture, SHARE THE GOSPEL, all that good stuff.  Very fun.

WHAT IS A VANITY and what was it doing in my bathroom.

I recognize the name Robinson, but I can't say I knew him.  Family is in the prayers, though, bien sur.

So we're a little short on time today, there was an accident on the tramway, which slowed us down a little bit...So this might be a quick little ditty of an email.  Here goes:

We've been building IKEA stuff in our new apartement a lot of the week and attending for the men with the big appliances, but we got it all in place n such.  and the apartement smells like IKEA, and kind of like our house in Germany, if you remember that smell.  (It smelled like IKEA.)

but other than that, we've had lots of opportunities for contacting, because there're lots of people.  Found some neat guys the first day, some numbers taken, found a guy who plays guitar, got his number, maybe gonna play guitar with him one day, baptize him another.

And we had the occasions to meet with some members, namely Tommy, Frère Handy, and Soeur Farel.  All very neat people, and I love them.  Man it's easy to love people if you just tell yourself you love them.  Either that or I'm very convincing.  Or easily convinced...

Tommy is a recent convert, from Tahiti, but doesn't look Tahitian; he's very cool and funny and loves the missionnaires.  And he lives with a bunch of other Tahitians in his apartement, we like to call it Hotel Tahiti.  We shared a message about Geneology and how COOL it is.  I really love geneology, I do.  That's something else I would love from home, maybe some cool stories from ancestors, or like from other really old people that have cool stories that may or may not actually be related to us, but are still cool...

Frère Handy has some kind of mental disability, might have been caused by when he was young and played rugby.  He's very slow, but he's so nice and loving and great.  And he bises us (cheek kissin deal), and he has a short beard normally.  Very itchy on the face, but it's alright.  This whole bising thing isn't even a surprise anymore.  I see people do it all the time EVERYWHERE and when it comes to me, I take it like a man.  But we are only allowed to bis men, so it's fine.  And it's different here than Gex; they do three times in Gex, but only two times here, kinda throws me off.  But anyway, we shared a scripture, 2 Néphi 4:15-35, one of my favorites, about how to always put your trust in God and His Son, even when you feel like you can't.  And focus on them rather than your sins.  that's a real nice scripture, READ IT.

Soeur Farel is really old and lives really far away, in Ghetto Bordeaux.  Not really ghetto, just the boonies, Blanquefort.  And she's so old she was here in Bordeaux when Mitt Romney served here.  LONG AGO.  She showed us some really neat old pictures, and I loved them, because they were old, and also French.  Then we shart a little thought with her, lifted her spirits, talked about her inactive children, and she said she wasn't too worried, she knows they'll come back some day soon.  that's faith.  Awesome lady.

And we had a couple other little RDVs with membres, all our amis are out of town right now, but Enrique will be coming back soon.  He's engaged to baptism this January, and apparently he's ELECT.  Very ready, very excited, we just gotta teach all the lessons.  Cool.  Pray for him, thanks.

So I'm here in this ghetto internet café, not sure if I should risk putting my SD camera card in this computer...So you might not get pictures for some time...I'll see, maybe one day I'll risk it.  And Bordeaux is cool, but pictures don't really do it justice.  so old, so French, and the other night we were out by the river doing some street contacting, and I saw THE FATTEST rat in the world run across the path and down under the bridge.  So French.

So I love you all so much, very excited for Christmas, I'll get on that as soon as I can, excited for the presents, all that, LOVE YOU

Love,

Elder Liechty

Week #12 - BORDEAUX

Alright...BOO.  Ha, probably scared you again with another Tuesday email, didn't I?

Well anyway,  hey mom and all the rest, how are you?

So Tuesday email...you know that means something happened...Ho ho ho ho ho...I'm not gonna tell you where I am now and you're gonna have to guess.  Ha.  But I'll give you a hint.  It starts with a B and ends in ordeaux.  That's right, it's Bordeaux.  Okay I told you.   But yes.  BORDEAUX.  A big city, with lots of people, and it's also old and stuff and very French.  Sweeeeeet.

So Gex, that was very countryside-y.  Well it was a huge sector, and if you went south or north from Gex or east or west from Gex really it was country.  But there were cities and stuff, too.  Just spread out, a good mix of it all.  I would say it was more countryside.  In fact, the road my apartement was on was called Vertes Campagnes, which means Green Countryside, so....But Bordeaux is definitely a city.  Definitely.

I got the envelope package, it was very very pleasant and the tree is hanging up and it has ornaments on it and it rocks.  We get the packages this next week at our big zone conference, where I am told I will be able to find this Sister Magelby that Brother Terry told you to tell me to look for.  And I found out about the other sister, can't remember the name, but she actually moved missions and is now in the Scotland-Ireland mission.  So I can't really say hey to her.

They got started with the Christmas stuff a little before Thanksgiving, like a bunch of crazies, forgetting one of the most important holidays of the year.  But yeah, Gex was pretty decked out in Christmas stuff.  And the BORDEAUX Gare has Christmas lights and that's pretty neat, I'll send a picture when I'm at a safer computer, because right now I'm in a ghetto internet café.  I'm not very homesick, no, not like I don't miss you all, but it's not keeping me from focusing or working or nuthin. (wipes away tears)

I know how to make banana bread, but that's about it.  I can make pasta and rice...and scrambled eggs...and we made crêpes once, they turned out alright...but I haven't really had a cooking companion yet, so we'll see.

Zach is gonna be RIGHT NEXT DOOR.  He should come over, that would be fun.  Lots o' good fun.  We could go contacting together, because I'm sure we could find some German people somewhere.  At least in Gex...but I'm not there anymore.  I might miss Gex a little bit.  But BORDEAUX.  Like the wine.  Wine country.  Neat.

I heard Nelson Mandela died, yeah, and also the Mormon guy from Fast and Furious.  The French love that movie, especially the French in the Gex ward, and one of them was dressed all in black (still a white shirt, but black suit and tie) because he was mourning.  That was funny.

So this last week.  My last little week in Gexy.  Lundi we just went out contacting, searching for some amis in St. Genis, and no one was home, except ENRIQUE.  Whose house we hadn't been to in a little, so it was neat to see him again.  And his friend who is in a rock band was over, and he loves the Floyd, so we talked Floyd for a little bit, and then we talked about Jesus a little bit, and then we prayed and left.  He told us to come back when we found it if one of us was leaving.

Oh yeah MARDI.  We went to Mass that morning, with our Polish friend.  He's so so so cool, I literally love him.  But I'll never see him again.  When we parted he said "see you in heaven."  So I guess that means he's gonna be baptized?  Ha.  Well anyway, I discovered something that day.  I always kind of wondered who are the people that go to each kingdom?  Because I say our Polish friend at Mass, I watched him, and he was so sincere and so spiritual it broke my heart to think that he wasn't a member of the true church, yo.  But it's the amazing people like him, blinded by the craftiness of man, that will inherit the second kingdom; a kingdom that is still a billion times more glorious than we can imagine.  That comforted me a little more, but I still hope he gets baptized or something.  Then we had lunch with Soeur Thia, then we did some contacting, and then we went to GENEVA for a soirée musicale.  that was neat, because it's an équipe of elders from Lyon who dedicated this whole transfer to traveling all the stakes in our mission and playing classical/church music and sharing spiritual thoughts at these soirées.  That was neat.

Mercredi was kinda a drag, not a whole lot, some plans that fell through, but then that evening we went to the Pelucchis because they had early Christmas Presents for us because they knew at least one of us would be moving, so they gave it early and we opened it that night and it was fun, lots of candy and cool Italian things.  And earlier that day we went contacting with a member from Germany qui s'appelle Michael, and that was neat.

Then we had district meeting, it was one of the guys in our district's last week, so we gave him gifts and all that.  He was Tahitian, and he was cool.  Then afterwards we had some plans, but they fell...again...so we did some contacting.  and then that night we went to the Jardon's for dinner, delicious as usual.

Vendredi I found out where I'm going.  Bor bor bor bor bor BORDEAUX.  I'm here now, and the other elder who left went to Dijon, just north of Gex.  then we spent most of the day inviting people to our Christmas party that evening at the church, and we found two amis at home, JIE (yes), and Vivianna.  They both came and loved it, and Vivianna brought her mom.  Vivianna was taught a little while ago, a few years maybe, but she never came to church for anything.  but we at least got her to enter the church. First step.  They're both very cool.

Samedi we had a LESSON.  The first real eventful thing, so that was cool.  Our first plans that didn't fall through in some way.  This was especially neat, because this guy we found during M-Week, at the beginning of the transfer, but it was too late for him and his family.  Which I understand, because I'm pretty sure we knocked his door at 9h 00.  Pretty late.  And we tried to go back a few times, but we always ended up getting to his house really late because of different set backs.  but the things is, Elder Beyer and I agreed that we were going to baptize this guy next, so we gotta teach him.  And the second time we talked to him we found out he was going to be gone for a couple weeks, but we could come back after that.  So we did, earlier, like afternoon time, and we had a lesson with him.  and he is very very cool, very open, very nice, loves his family, his wife his kids, and he's gonna read the Livre.  Cool.  Then that evening we had a MGV with la famille Plug, one of my favorite families in Gex, that was fun.

We had ward lunch after church on dimanche, and that was fun, got to say bye to my friends, got some Christmas presents, some which I haven't opened yet because they told me to open them ON Christmas, so.  And I broke a little girls heart, Coralie Bréant, because I had to leave.  She's like seven or eight, really tiny, I might even say adorable, and she would make me do goofy things, and I was the only one who would do them.  So that was rough, but I guess that's the life I gotta lead, a soul-less heartbreaker of little children.  C'est la vie.  Then that evening we went passed some people, some amis, said our good-byes, drank some tisane with Enrique, and he gave me a cool scarf from Venezuela.  He's awesome.  Also I packed a lot this day.

Lundi was TRANSFER DAY.  I was virtually all alone the whole day on the trains.  Elder Beyer and Crawley dropped us off in Genève, we said our goodbyes, and we got on the train.  Elder Holding and I were on different cars of the same train.  and I sat next to a stranger.  But by the time I got the guts up to talk to her, she got up and went to the toilette, and when she came back she said in an empty row and said it's so we have more leg room.  Thoughtful, but now I couldn't contact her.  So I read ma scriptures.  then We arrived in Lyon, Edler Holding and I waited by the screen to see which gate our next train would come, and then we parted.  I expected more missionaries to be there to help us along, but no.  I saw some missionaries, but they were headed a different direction, so that was that.  And on this train I talked with lots of people, and the time passed that much faster.  I sat in that area between cars, because I didn't have an assigned seat.  It was like those chairs in the back of old school trucks that flip down from the wall.  I rode that from Lyon to Toulouse.  That was four hours on that baby.  But it was fun, because people would come in that area when it was about fifteen minutes before the stop, or so, and I'd talk to em.  And one lady I talked to for an hour because she was just sitting there in the middle place, too.  that was fun, a very quick hour.  And then the train from Toulouse to Bordeaux, sat next to a guy, had wine on the breath, so I shared an Altoid with him, and that started a conversation, we chatted, shared our message, he was pretty cool, but his stop was an hour before mine, so I was alone for another hour.  read them scriptures.  then arrived in Bordeaux, met my companion, and we sat in the gare for about FOUR HOURS because we had to wait for other missionaries and their trains were delayed.  Fun all the same.

And now I'm in Bordeaux.  so any mail that was sent to Gex recently, sorry, but I probably won't get that for a couple months...or maybe sooner, but who knows.  It's all up in the air.  But Bordeaux is beautiful.  already done some contacting out in the big roads, it's more fun than in Gex because you get to pick who you contact because there's so many.  But Gex was fun because you'd contact EVERYBODY and knowing that you did that was really fulfilling.  But still.  My companion is Elder Foote, and we're getting a new apartment next week, super cool.  I'm very excited for Bordeaux. Very.

Love you all, hope it's very cold for you là-bas.  Everyone here in Bordeaux thinks it's cold, but it's not;  not compared to Gex or Utah.

Love love love,

Elder Liechty

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Gex - Week #11

Advents wreath I made out of lettuce.  We sang the song and everything

Me being cold

MARTIGNY

Thanksgiving dinner

Hellllllllooooooooooooooo

It's really cold.  Not like Canada cold, but really cold like -4 Celsius sometimes.  NUTS.

Thanksgiving was really fun.  Thursday night we didn't have any plans except we had a lesson with Anne-Charlotte, so we were out contacting until nine o'clock and then we returned to the apartement where Elder Crawley was preparing Thanksgiving dinner!  Yay!  His mom sent him a bunch of just-add-water gravy and stuffing and canned chicken.  So that was really fun.  And our neighbor, named Absalon, gave us some bread!  We made friends with him because we gave him banana bread one day.  Alors we had our little feast that night, and the next day we went to chez Mathias and had a real festive meal with turkey and cranberry sauce and potatoes and gravy and YAMS (which are not common here in France) and stuffing and rolls rolls rolls rolls ROLLLLLLSS.  And then pie, of course.  That was very fun, and they're all American, so we were speaking in English and it's as if we were in America.  And then the next day this other American family from the Genève ward invited us over to play football in the morning with the rest of the Geneva English ward.  So it was a good ol' classic Thanksgiving.

We're getting along awesome, and working really well together.  I'd be kind of afraid if he got transferred and I stayed, because I don't know if I'm a hundred percent ready to be the guy who knows the area yet.  Or the guy who leads the lessons.  But I might be able to handle it.  It would be super cool if we both stayed another transfer, especially because Christmas is coming up real soon, and also we're making really good progress with investigators right now.

Thermals would be real nice, yeah, but we should wait to see if I stay in Gex.  Because if I move to like, I don't know, Nice or something, I'm not gonna need thermals no no no.  It's still about 12 degrees C là-bas.  Nuts how much the temperature changes throughout the whole mission.  I'll let you know the next email, because that will be TRANSFER DAY.  Nuts that's so soon already.

We all hang out on p-day, yeah, shopping and eating and chilling and sometimes sight seeing.  It's fun when there's lots of us.

We have one zone conference a transfer, one zone training and transfer, and in this zone we have two district meetings a transfer, but I don't know if that's the same with all zones.  But every time there is anything district or zone, the whole zone gets together afterwards and eats.  And we have different zone conferences every transfer, one is with a few zones and it's just the conference, the next is just your zone and prez does interviews, and it's like that every other transfer.

I'm really getting the understanding down, but still working on really responding.  I can respond like normal, but still working on getting a personality in French.  Sometimes it goes really well and it's neat, and sometimes it's awkward because I just give the standard answers and that's that.  But I'm starting to understand church talks and I'm participating in conversations at the dinner table and helping with lessons and starting contacts and all that, so it's going good.  I'm comfortable, but there is so so so much room for improvement until I really get comfortable.

So on lundi we had dinner with this famille Jaquier, and I learned something neat neat.  There's like a community of French people in Utah that the Jaquiers know.  She gave me the lady's email, so if you want you could email her and talk to her and she could help you learn French or something!  Tell her your son is serving in France and he knows that Jaquiers in Gex or something like that.  The dad's name is Mike, but I can't remember the mom's name.  

Then mardi we had an exchange with our district leader in Martigny, Suisse.  Very neat, because that's about 1.5 or 2 hours away from us, and it's BEAUTIFUL.  It's in a canyon, next to a lake, and the mountains just rise up right out of ground, straight up.  It's awesome.  The exchange was okay, but our DL hurt his back, and I was with him, so most of the day we spent in the house, making calls, organizing the area book, and making cookies to give to some membres.  But something I learned from this exchange is how much I actually like contacting.  You feel so much better when you are out working all day rather than if you are sitting in the house doing not much all day.  So that was a nice little awakening.  Praying for Elder Leit, the district leader, because his back has had him trapped in the apartement for the better part of this transfer.  Whohohohohohoa.

Mercredi we took the bus down to Ferney and passed a lot of membres, shared some spiritual thoughts, and gave them cookies.  And then some of them gave us referalls.  Then we were supposed to have a RDV with Jean-Yves, but he wasn't there, so we knocked doors around his house.  Then we scared a lady out of her mind because she looked out the window and didn't see us, and opened the door and we were there.  That was hilarious, because she screamed so so so so loud.  Ha.  Then we ate a delicious dinner with a famille whose mother is from Madagascar, so it was very very spicy and delicious.

Then it was thanksgiving!  We had district meeting in the morning, but no one in our district is American because they're all the missionnaires in Suisse, therefore all European, so nobody appreciated it.  We sang the national anthem and stuff, but that was it.  Then we went to pass a guy real fast who was reading a LdM we gave him, and now he's almost done!  He should be finished by tomorrow he told us, and he really likes it.  We were planning just to talk with him a little, but we ended up having a full lesson right there on his doorstep, prayer, commitment to keep reading, and everything.  And it was very cold, I couldn't feel my toes by the end.  But we're going back this week to keep talking.  He's really cool.  His names Florent.  Then like I said, Anne-Charlotte, and little thanksgiving dinner.  Anne is still progressing, but she still hasn't gotten an answer so we're praying and fasting for her, and we gave her a schedule to read 3 Néphi and we're doing it with her.  prayer Prayer PRAYER.

Vendredi was our real thanksgiving.  We had a cool lesson with some people we found a few weeks ago.  We called em up the other day and they told us they had been waiting for our call, so we went and taught them, and they are very cool.  The mom is handicapped from an accident, and very old, very very very old, lives with her kids there at the house, and it was very fun talking to her because sometimes she had good things to say and other times is was just n'importe quoi.  But it was a very good lesson, and we'll be going back.  Then we did some service at the mall, collecting food for the Banque Ailementaire, food bank kind of thing.  That was cool, and while we were there we saw Anna, our spanish ami who has a LdM and is very cool.  Then after we did a little contacting in the short time we had before THANKSGIVING DINNNNNEREEERRERRRRR.  Good day, lots of love and thankfulness going around that day.

Samedi we did a lot of porte à porte, a few lessons fell through, but then we found some cool cool guys from Poland.  They spoke some english but no french, so we talked very slowly in english.  One of them had already seen the missionnaires and talked with them a little, but he was offended by them because they wouldn't listen to his ideas.  So we talked to him, and he invited us to his church.  We said okay, if you come to our church tomorrow.  And he said okay.  More on that later.  Then that night we had some investigators and friends of membres come with us to a stake activity in Geneva, where they did like a Oscars kind of thing where every ward did their own little movie.  Gex's was EASILY the best, and they also won best film.  It was literally a good film, I enjoyed it genuinely.  Then we met some nonmember friends and they came to church the next day!  Yay!

So yesterday, alors, the Polish guys....CAME TO CHURCH.  They came to sacrament meeting and heard all the testimonies.  The seemed to like it somewhat, and also we have a membre who served in Poland and still remembers some Polish, so he was talking to them.  Very cool.  So now, Elder Beyer and I are going to Catholic Messe this Tuesday morning with them.  STOKED.  Then we had a lesson with one of the friends of a membre, this membre being Giada Pelucchi, and it was really cool.  And we also had pizza.  And then we had another very cool lesson with Jie.  WHO IS AMAZING.  He wasn't at church this morning, and we were kinda sad at that, but then we learned THIS.  He walked around for a bout an hour in St Genis looking for our church, and he went to this Catholic one or something, and he was confused because it was all in French and we weren't there!  Voila.  He made a huge effort to find us, we just forgot to tell him the address and the fact that it is in Gex.  So he has the desire, we just forgot to tell him.....Ha....But chances are that church he went to for a little bit is probably the same one Elder Beyer and I will be going to tomorrow....Ha.  Then we did some nice porting, found a Protestant Evangelist man and taught him a little bit, we won with our Bible knowledge, how little it might be.  Then more porte à porte.

And now we are here.  We have some plans to go somewhere neat today, but not totally sure.  Also, don't remember if I told you, but we found this cool famille across the street from our apartement who has a LdM and are pretty interested.  We have them to teach tonight.  And also during the week I contacted this guy named Joy from Nigeria, and he's a barber, and I'm gonna call him to cut my hair one of these days, and then preach him the GOSPEL.  He was very nice, and I like his name.

Love you all so much, we're gonna work our buns off this last week of the transfer.  Thanks for your prayers, I love you ALLLLLL

Love, 

Elder Liechty