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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