Week #24 - Bordeaux

Mom your French is better than mine!

(bonjour is one word :) )

First I saw "March" "Baltimore" "jazz" and I thought SAM GETS TO GO ON ANOTHER SWEET TRIP?!?!  Then I realized it was you and then I thought MOM GETS TO GO ON ANOTHER SWEET TRIP?!?!

Mmmm mmm mmmmmm Rib City.  That and Panda Express are the two first meals I want when I get home, please.

It's a ward, still pretty little (in comparison).  The primary is about fifteen kids, maybe?  Which is a decent size for France, considering a little ville we visited the other day, Angoulême, has three kids that make up the primary :)

Have you heard of the film Grand Budapest Hotel?  I saw an ad for it the other day and it looked like there was a LOT of very famous people in it.  And have you seen yet that Walter Mitty film yet?  Films.

Who has been teaching jazz band without Mickey?  Sounds suspicious...

TJ Haws.  Is coming to my mission.  Wu wu wut.  whoa ho ho.  What if he and I were.......COMPANIONS?!?!  And now Eric Mika will be unstoppable, inhumanly sized, basketball star, speaks the only language more beautiful than French.  All the boys in the world might as well give up any hope of ever getting married when that guy's around.

This week was pretty neat, not gonna lie.

We played this game called Gnip-Gnop with the frère from our ward, and it was incredibly fun.  And the weather was SO PLEASANT.  It's so beautiful out right now, it's killing me.  Mmmm mmmm mmmmmm.  Sunny, breezy, perfect to wear a light jacket, mmmmm mmmm mmmmm.  Then that evening we went to the FHE of the young adults, because we had some amis come!  We invited a young couple from Guadeloupe, and they came.  While we were playing gnip-gnop, they texted us saying they might not be able to make it, sorry.  Then they texted back later and said that he managed to get off work early so they could come!  Then we went and it was very very fun, very non threatening, the young adults were all super to them, awesome moments passed.  High hopes for these cool guys.

Mardi we went out talking to strangers, again, and then passed this less active member.  We went by and he was there, and he was very old.  And he had a lot of signs in his house pointing to that he was now very Catholic.  But we went in, got to know him, read a scripture, and that was neat.  He said there was this missionary, Suisse German named Martin, that he loved so much, and he pushed him really hard.  Then I realized that's the key.  People don't love you and remember you because you were easy and nice, they love you and remember you because you helped change their life.  New goal set: change some lives.  Then we visited Frère Handy, lovely lovely frère Handy.  It was really good, he was happy, smiley, but he is still troubled by the thought he has sinned to much to be forgiven (he hasn't, that's for certain, but he's pretty unstable when it comes to self confidence), but i feel we helped clear some of that up for him, talking about loving everyone, even yourself.

Then mercredi we went to Angoulême, because Elder Foote had to do a baptismal interview with a young fella that the sisters here have been teaching, but lives in Angoulême during the week.  It was fun, because it is the first ville that Elder Foote served in, so he was going nuts n stuff.  We visited a very old man named Jean Bourdichoux, who Elder Foote loves and used to visit all the time.  frère Bordichoux was so so so happy to see elder Foote, it touched his heart.  Good times.  Listened to him sing (something they used to do all the time).  Then we went, did the interview, all went well, this fella is all good to be baptized (see samedi).

(I just found a caterpiller crawling on my bag.  The weather is nice enough now that all this fuzzy caterpillars are rising out of the earth like a bunch of freaky zombies or something, and they're everywhere.)

Jeudi we got to teach the famille Hristova, our Bulgarian friends!  We gave them the LdM in Bulgarian, explained a little, and invited them to start reading.  We were going to watch the Restoration film in Bulgarian, but the DVD didn't work, so that will have to wait for another time and we'll bring our portable DVD player.  But there was this other French guy there, he was really nice, and respected the Mormons and had read a little of our book.  It was neat.  They're a group of real cool people.

Vendredi we went to the Banque Alimentaire again, very fun, we got cred there now since this is our second time.  Those brothers recognize us now.  Lots of people asked about our church, too, which we're not supposed to really talk about there, but sometimes do anyway :) they started it :)  Then that afternoon we went out and passed by that less active fellas home, his name is Daniel, and we talked for a while, and he invited us to dinner chez lui next mercredi.  Neat.  Then that evening we were supposed to have something set up with la famille Hristova and the DVD, but the DVD didn't work out, so we just talked about Joseph Smith a little.  The had started reading the LdM, the intro and the testimonies of the witnesses, and they said "it's really good.  It's the better Bible" and we we're all "dang straight it is."  Now we just gotta watch that film with all of them there, because often at least one of them is missing.

Samedi was fun because we had the young men and young women with us!  We went out contacting with them, had a RDV with Pierre Setondji, our less active friend that also works at the food bank, and then finished it off with the baptism.  Seeing that man get baptized made me want to just baptize more people, so I plan on doing that.  Also, the youngsters were all really cool, and I guess this activity inspired a lot of them, especially the young men, to do missions later.  Good work, I suppose?  It was fun, we got to know them, a handy way to get to the rest of the family, then referrals, then baptisms!  We've got a lot of people with a lot of faith, and I'm praying that we can bring them to the straight n narrow path through the good ol door of baptism.

Dimanche we did a lot of contacting in the evening, and that was about it.  However, church was fun, as usual.  In elders quorum they shared the talk You Can Do it Now by Elder Uchtdorf.  That's a really good one that I like a lot, from the last conference.  Then I tried my hand at some translating for one of the Americans in our ward, whose husband normally translates for here, but he was out taking care of the kid.  I couldn't get it word for word, but I got the gist of it and paraphrazed it to my best.  And also I had to play piano and now the chorister asked me to do it again next week.  I don't know how these people found out I play piano.  Also, Frère Handy had finally decided that he was in fact pardonnable!  He was so happy to tell us.  I love him.  He has such an awesome desire to be perfect, and I'd say he's pretty dang close.

Looking forward to another good week of hardwork, because that's the way that blessings are seen.  It's worth it if we have done all that we can.  I think that's a quote from 17 Miracles or something.

I'm praying for you, because I LOVE YOU

Love,

Elder Liechty

Week #23 - Bordeaux

Mother mom MOM

It totally is the short bus :)  the people that normally take it are either very old or handicapped (or Mormon missionaries looking for the ride of their lives).

I know my mom loves me because she sent me a PACKAGE!  And in that package was.....THE GREY RAINCOAT!!!  I love my mom.  And i love heart shaped candy.  And I love the grey raincoate (I'm wearing it.  Right now.)  Thanks mom.  You're number one

We have not yet had the chance to visit them, we keep going by at a time when they are not there.  Hmmmm.  But we passed by once when she was just leaving and she said she was still excited to watch the film and get the book.  We just have to go by when they are all there.  BUT.  something neat we learned is that there is someone in our ward who speaks Bulgarian!  Granted, he is less active, but this sounds more like a two birds one stone activity (rather, six birds one stone because there are five people in the Hristova famille (I learned that the name is written like that, but still pronounced the same)).  From what we've heard, he's an awesome young man, but may or may not live completely the word of wisdom.  This are things we can fix.  That was very exciting news.

We haven't yet done our pday activity, because we're doing emails first and then going to go play Gnip-Gnop, as it is called, with frère Thorley.  But so far we bought groceries and ate at McDo's.  Our normal grocery store is closed for some reason, so we took a little longer and paid a little more money this week with groceries.  Bummer.  But no biggie.

While we were buying groceries, accross the mall they were playing some olympics on a TV....and I glanced over....and it was snowboard cross....and I saw a dude fall and it was pretty funny because there's always a dude that falls.  And there's no hope for that poor guy EXCEPT that one time a guy fell and got up and either won or got close or something.  He was probably American.

LA SEMAINE

So lundi we had plans to go pass a fella that was being taught a while ago, and on our way, taught a guy from Guadeloupe on the street real quick.  He was neat BUT...we forgot to get his number so we have to rely on him calling us.  And unfortunately the guy we passed wasn't interested any more.  But it's cool, because we had the little lesson on the way.

then all up in mardi we went on EXCHANGE.  I guess who I went with.  Guess.  It was Elder Beyer!  We served together again, and it was very fun.  It was especially fun to see him doing things that I started doing in Gex that rubbed off on him that I forgot when I left to BDX.  And it got me pumped up and liking contacting again!  Elder Foote and I had kind of gotten boring with contacting, and not really having fun with it.  But then after this exchange, we were pretty pumped to go out and do work again.  It seems as if he and I are both the type that more follow examples than set them, so in following each others example of trying to follow the other's example, things slowly degenerated to the point that nobody was setting an example.  SO.  We had this chance to see the examples of our beautiful zone leaders, and that pumped us up again, and we started setting an example for each other.  That's why this was a good week, because we worked our buns off being good missionnaires.

Then it seems we have come to mercredi.  Elder Foote and I went to the Banque Alimentaire (Food Bank of France) to be trained so we could do service there with Frère Handy and our less active friend Frère Pierre Setondji.  All clear, we will be doing service there.  then we went out, hit the pavement, contacted, and went to a hometeaching appt with Frère Rebuffo to a man's home who just moved here a little bit ago for an internship at the hospital (he is from Madagascar).  It was cool.  We shared the first presidency message, which, if I remember correctly, is about service?  We haven't gotten the Liahona since I got here in décembre, so I don't even know what's going on in the church these days.  As far as I know, 17 year olds can go on missions now.

Enter jeudi.  We talked to 135 people on this day, which I do believe, is the most people I have talked to in one day.  I enjoyed it.  We found some very neat people, and also ate some delicious kebabs.  This is the day we found a young couple from Guadeloupe who were pretty interested and would like to come to church (unfortunately, something came up and they couldn't come, but they're coming to institute this evening for a FHE, so neat).  Days like these where we just talk to people and have a good time with it is fuuuuun.  We also found a very nice lady searching the truth, and she said the upcoming dimanche she will come with all her kids and her sister.  That'll be very neat.

Vendredi, food bank day.  got out of the apartment real early in the morning to go to la banque alimentaire and do some service. It's loads of fun.  We have been assigned to sort the good fruit from the bad fruit, which includes putting good looking fruit in boxes, and throwing old and bruised and moldy fruit into big bins of more moldy fruit.  We would throw them in a way that would make them splat the most :)  And Frères Handy and Setondji were there, so that was a good experience.  Then that evening we went out and talked to more strangers, and it was still fun.

Now samedi rolls along and we have a very pleasant RDV with frère Setondji, and he gave us some delicious tropical juice smoothie.  We showed him a scripture (Mosiah 5, I believe) and he was LOOOOVING it.  He was astonished at how much stuff was found in just this one chapter.  i think that means he likes the LdM, still.  Then we told him we wanted to do something with him and Soeur Lacave (his good member friend) at her house, so we'll probably be doing that.  Actually, we will be doing that.  then that evening we went out and talked to strangers, again, and we talked to people that normally we would classify as scary and not worth it to contact, but when we contacted them, we got phone numbers and RDVs.  hmmmmmmm, looks like that is what we were missing

the week ended nicely with a dimanche, as it normally does.  all we did of big mention was pass a fellow that the sisters had begun teaching, but were having a hard time teaching because they could never get another woman to come with them.  so they gave him to us, and he's apparantley really cool.  He's from Madagascar, and he likes to speak German (I'll tell him all the things I know, which includes the numbers 1 through 12, the advents song, the alphabet, and your basic hello, goodbye, thank you, you're welcome).  We went by his place, he had company, but he was excited to get in contact with us and we set up a meeting with him this vendredi.  cool.

I tried to make this letter a little more animated and flowing by adding transistions between the days, I hope it worked.

Something that I have studied recently that blew my MIND is the fact that in the Book of Mormon, there are prophecies of the restoration, the coming forth of the BoM, Joseph Smith, all that.  And then I thought "how did Joseph Smith fell when he told these things to Oliver Cowdrey, and realized that he was the instrument bringing this prophecies to reality?"  WHOOAAOAOAOAAA. That was pretty nuts to me, and I loved it.  It reminded me that there are parts of the LdM that prophecy about us, too, and that we are all instruments being used to bring to pass Heavenly Father's work and his glory.  That's very neat.

French people don't like accepting help that often, but when you force it upon them, you can tell they're grateful.  So I'll start washing dishes even when they tell me not to :)  The only thing is that sometimes we don't eat at members houses so much anymore in BDX as we did in Gex.  But I guess that means seize the few opportunities I have, n'est-ce pas?

Well I LOOOOOOOOVE you

Elder Liechty

Week #22 - Bordeaux

Mom mom mom!

It was a very good week, yes.  Incredibly fast, but good.  Very wet, but good.

Elder Foote has two transfers after this one and then he is dead. (yes that's what it means to die:))

I'll take the big tube, no problems there.  And as far as other things...the grey raincoat :) and I was thinking about jalapeno (sic) jelly today, but I don't know if you have any of that or what at this season.  And transfer ends on 2 march, three weeks I believe that makes.  So soon.  This transfer is going to fast is what.

The pants aren't THAT tight, okay?  No worries.  Or maybe they are, and I just can't tell the difference because everyone here wears the same kind of pants.  They are all in the mode is what.

I've seen ads for the Lego movie, but I haven't even thought twice about it!  I guess that can get put on the list of movies my family has gone to seen without me.  And yes, that list begins long before I left on my mission :)

1.  We don't go out to eat that often.  I think the last time we went out was when we went with Tommy to the Éthiopien restaurant.  We have plans to buy kebabs soon, however, because a guy told us where to find the best one.

2.  I heard the olympics started!  I heard there is a Mormon woman doing the skeleton or the luge or something.  She got in a big accident a few years back and took a break, but she's going again, but she said she wouldn't go unless she could bring her whole family, and someone saw that and paid for her and her whole family to go.  Neat.  good example of family values.  Reminds me of the times my family used to go to movies without me :)  Where are the olympics this year?  Russia or something?  And that's understandable for the French, all they ever do is play soccer.  and those Norsk atheletes are cheating, they have winter year round, therefore year round training, that's why they're winning.

3.  yeah so maybe jalapeno jelly, if that is available?  Ooooooh pistachios?  Some kind of nut mix or something mmmmmmmm

4.  I am......not(wearing galoshes)......I'd give some excuse but it's literally just because I forget.  By the end of the night sometimes my feet are very cold and and little damp, and I wish I'd worn them, but, I haven't yet.  Sorry

5.  We exercise, oh yeah.  Push ups n stuff in the morning.  Some lunges, the works.  We've gone running a couple times, but it's gotten pretty cold in the mornings lately, so we took a break and instead do the easy exercises

6.  We haven't had lots of opportunities for service here in BDX.  Had a few in Gex.  But elder Foote and I are going to go to the Banque Alimentaire (food bank of France) because there is a member and a less active member that both work there.  There's a family working on their house,  and we've tried to go help them, but they haven't had anything for us yet.  One day.

Like I said, André left us this mardi, bummer.  Then we had a meeting with the other missionaries, fun times.

Mercredi we had a RDV with frère Handy, and it was good.  It started out kind of robotically, just kind of doing it.  But we could tell something was up.  So we talked more and then he opened up and told us.  We read some scriptures that we thought of, which was interesting, because I had thought earlier that day to change the lesson to one of those scriptures.  But it got a lot better, his spirit is always a lot better lightened when he reads stories similar to his in the LdM.  I really enjoy our visits with him.  Then we went to go pass a referal the Dickenson couple had given us a little bit ago, and we found him there.  He was really cool and nice, but not so interested.  His son was pretty sweet, too.  They are famille of the new senior couple who will be moving in in avril, so he said if we're here we can stop by with them.  Then we had a RDV with frère Rebuffo, shared a little scripture, nice n quick.  Then a drunk lady contacted US at the bus stop.  Pretty fun

Jeudi we went out and did work.  That morning we called frère Handy telling him about how we will be going to the banque alimentaire next week, and then we talked for a little.  He told me that the scripture we left with him was one of his favorites, and that our call warmed his heart, as did our RDV, and as will seeing us at the banque alimentaire.  Then that evening we had dinner with a famille from Kaysville, Utah, the Thorleys, and he made us hamburgers.  We shared a story about logic versus faith, because the Assistants challenged us to share stories like that during RDVs.  I don't remember which one we shared, but it was neat.  The important thing to remember is that we need to put our faith in Jesus over our trust in logic.  God has asked us to do lots n lots of things that may seem either impossible or just illogical and without reason.  But he has commanded us to do these things, and when we do them, we see blessings.  I don't know how that works, but I know that it works.

Vendredi we did some lots of contacting.  We went out to a little town that evening called Martignas-sur-Jalles to do some porte à porte.  It was a lot smaller than we thought it would be.  And also we had plans to pass someone whose adresse we had, but we looked on the map there and her street didn't exist...but it was fun anyway, and on our way back we bought some delicious pastries. Mmmmmm

The next morning we had plans to pass this less active fella we had passed the week before, but again, we got him just as he was about to take his dog out.  But he was coming out this time, and we said hey, shook hands, he seems really nice, and we fixed something for the future.  He's out of town for a little bit, but we should be seeing him in a couple weeks.  He also had a really firm hand shake, not very common among French people.  It was very refreshing.  Then we went out and talked to strangers on the road.  And it started raining again, pretty hard, and nobody was outside.  so we passed by the house of this Bulgarian famille we had contacted on the road a while ago.  They were all there, and they let us in.  We explained the LdM, and showed it to them on the internet in Bulgarian, because we didn't have a Bulgarian book with us.  The problem here is that there is a little language barrier, as the mother doesn't speak very much French, the father only really speaks work French, but the children speak French pretty well, so that should be fine.  And also we found a Bulgarian LdM at the Zone Leader's apartment, so that was a nice little miracle.  they are an amazing family with a lot of faith.  Their name is Ristova, you can pray for them if you'd like

Then dimanche, good times, church n stuff.  The sisters asked me to play the piano part for J'habitais dans les Cieux (I lived in Heaven?) during sacrament meeting.  Luckily, it's a good easy song, so that was fun.  Then after church la famille Alves saw us and invited us to eat with them, because they cooked their lunch at the church.  They had a lot of food, as the famille Alves normally does, so we accepted.  Then we went out and talked to a lot of French people, found some neat ones, but didn't get around to baptizing any of them.

And that brings us to today.  The last day of Soldes.  Elder Foote's mother wanted him to buy another suit for his brother, but we couldn't find one.  So it was kind of a wasted pday, unfortunately.  But we discovered that the musée that was not open on lundi is now open on lundi, so we'll probably go there next week.  Also, there is this tiny bus called the Bus 47, and it doesn't have specific times or stops, it just stops if you see it and flag it down.  And I've been wanting to take it for a long time, and we took it today.  It was all I ever wanted and more.

Thanks for your prayers and your fasting.  I think I should probably fast a little more than we do here, because I've really seen the blessings of fasting.  So much strength given you when you're in that state of weekness.

And I really appreciate that quote.  I think the difference between enduring and putting up with something is that when you put up with something, you deal with it, but you still kind of hate it and wish it would stop.  But when you endure something, you accept it as it is, and that it's not likely to change, and you take it like a man.  Or, rather, take it humbly.  There are even possiblities where, in enduring something, it becomes somewhat of a strength for you.  Hmmmmmm

Love you bunches,

Elder Liechty

Week #21 - Bordeaux

Hey moooooooooooooooooom,

So, it looks like your prayers and fast....WORKED.  We did some good work this past while, and we've been working hard.  Of course, there is always room for improvement, but the motivation level here in BDX is stepping up.  Thanks for your help.  you ROCK.  All I've been doing is praying, and then trying to be the example.  It's hard when I'm used to being more of a follower than a leader, but that'll have to change someday, so why not now?  Sometimes I just throw myself into stuff to start us getting motivated, then Elder Foote picks up on it, then we get to work, and it's good.  He knows he's having a hard time staying motivated, but he says that my smile helps, so I throw some of those his way every once in a while.  We have a mission wide goal for baptisms this year, I don't quite remember what it is, but it's good.  And last year in January, we had 8 baptisms.  This January I believe we have had 18 missionwide, so the work is hastening, that's for sure.  I'd like to play a part there, but the only way that's gonna happen is if we keep working really hard.  And also prayers n whatnot

Yeah so the face cream.  WOWEEE.  If it's gonna be like that, I say forget about it.  Unless, of course, you find the samples.  And also, if you send more of that cheap medicated wash, too, that'd be fine.  Better the have a spare than run out and find none, so.

Fun on p-days include:  Soldes.  It's Elder Foote's last Soldes, so we've been hitting them up.  We were gonna go to the Musée d'Aquitaine today, which apparantly is really sweet, and also not open on Mondays, but we got caught up in Soldes.  Didn't even buy much stuff, just went to all the stores checking out what was left because it's almost over.  but there are cool stuff that we will start hitting up now that the Soldes are just about done.  Old buildings n stuff.  Ruins, old castles, lots of vineyards.  This place is OLD.

No body talks about the Super Bowl, no.  I almost forgot about it.  And then the olympics are this year, huh?  Didn't even think of that.  But at zone conference, President Roney gave us all a treat and showed us the Doritos commercial from this years Super Bowl and told us the results.  What a funny commercial.  We only see the Roneys at Zone Conferences.  If you're in Lyon, you see them more often, and sometimes he goes on Stake Conference Tours, when it's that time of year.

THIS IS PUBLIC HEALTH.  Remember when we drove out to that road with the big Colonoscopy sign and took a picture with that sticker?  Funny stuff, mom, funny stuff.

Breakfast, yes, I eat breakfast.  I drink A LOT of juice, that normally throughout the day.  I like to eat toast.  Toast and jam, and fruit.  Yeah, that's right, I'm still eating fruit out here.  Grapefruit, even.  Grapefruit and bananas, mostly.  Vegetables, on the other hand...I had some lettuce last week and some peppers.  I try to make it a goal to eat at member's houses so I get my proper nutrients :)

But as for recipes, you can send them to both of us, just so I have them before hand, and then so Soeur Roney has them for the book.  Cool, thanks.

So what we did this week that was neat.

Lundi we had an FHE with la famille Labourel, they're really cool.  Frère Labourel went through an amazing experience regarding his conversion, so it's always neat to talk to him.  And Soeur Labourel is really good at cooking, so that's fun too.  And then we played a game called Carrum (maybe) that was SO FUN.  It's Indian, and it's kind of like pool and shuffle board combined.  It was really really fun, for real.  Wish I knew what it was called for sure.

Don't really remember what happened mardi, but we talked to a lot of people, that's for sure.  It was also the last day that the Senior Couple in BDX is here, they left for Genève, and we aren't getting a senior couple until avril, I believe.

Mercredi we went and home taught la famille Spagnolini with Frère Rebuffo, and that was nice.  Frère Spagnolini is the one in the wheel chair, and really nice, and likes me beause we both have Swiss ancestors.  And Soeur Spagnolini made some delicious quiche.  Mmmmmm.  Then we had to sit in the appartement for a minute because an electrician was coming to make sure the electricity was alright, and it was.  So that was really quick.  then we headed out to a RDV with a man named Alain, who we picked up a little bit ago.  This lesson was better than others, he didn't try to talk or change topic so much.  But, if he doesn't really start acting or reading or praying, we're gonna have to re-drop him again.  He's a nice fella, however.

Jeudi we had zone training in the morning, good stuff, as usual.  then we visited Frère Handy.  Something they invited us to do at zone training was to start every RDV with a story from the life of Jesus.  And, en plus, a story that puts faith in Jesus Christ over logic.  So we did that with Frère Handy, and it went really well.  then he gave each of us a book of pictures of BDX.  that was really nice.  I like Frère Handy.

Vendredi we saw ANDRE!!  He got back from Paris, and we taught him the Word of Wisdom at a member's house.  It went well.  Here's what we learned:  He's getting baptized for sure!  In...Paris.  Because he's been to church there more, he knows more people in that ward, and also he's at the point to move there right now because of his job.  So.  It was really really nice teaching André.  He's awesome, and I'm proud to say that we taught him the most difficult lesson to teach, the law of chastity.  But most importantly, I'm glad I got to feel the spirit with him, and watch the little changes take place as he moves towards baptism.  Something he said while we were walking him to his bus is that he knows for sure that God is there and he loves him so much.  It was just out of nowhere he said that, but it was sweet.  He's gonna be a killer member in Paris.  They need 'em there because the Lyon mission is so much better :)

Samedi we had four things set up (that's a lot), but only two really went through.  One of them, we saw the guy, but he was really busy and said that he would try to come to church tomorrow (he didn't :) but also he's moved back to Nigeria now, so).  But the two that did were really good.  One was with Pierre Setondji, our less active member we're working with.  We did the whole logic versus faith leçon and it was really nice.  He's cool, and I think he still has a testimony, but now he sings in the choir of the church he goes to, so he feels like he kind of has a commitment.  We'll see what we can do about that.  Then that evening we saw Simon, he's the man that we invited to church and he CAME.  He's still really really cool.  We drank some hot cocoa with him, and gave him a LdM.  He has 0 Christian background, so he really wants to start by reading the Bible.  We showed him how long it is and he had second thoughts :) but also he lives right next to the institute building, so we invited him to go there because it could really help with his scripture reading and study and help him learn and understand.  He said cool.  He wants to take this pretty slow, it seems, but we're still planning on seeing him and planning on having him be really cool.

Dimanche was all churchy.  We had church.  And get this.  So I've been carrying this consecrated oil on my belt loop for who knows how long now, and haven't gotten a chance to use it UNTIL dimanche.  We gave a blessing to our friend and fellow member Patrick Jean-Charles from Guadeloupe because he's been having troubles sleeping and he doesn't know what's up.  So if you could keep him in your prayers, too, that'd be sweet.  Then that evening we had a FHE with la famille Maillard where we watched the Rétablissement video and talked about how awesome the church is.  Tess (the less active daughter) doesn't like church because it's three hours of sitting down and boring.  Elder Foote and I thought later that maybe we could sit next to her and play that box game or something.  If you have some ideas, throw em our way.

Then yesterday was zone conference, sweet.  We talked about listening skills, having the spirit skills, loving skills, all that.  all these things I had kind of been thinking about the week before, and then they all got touched on during zone conference.  Very cool.  I appreciated that.  The assistants reminded us that our purpose is to invite EVERYONE unto repentance.  Whether that is straight up telling someone to start keeping a commandment the haven't been, or inviting members to live a commandement more exactly or more often.  It's true.  That's why we're here, and that's how we will change lives.  Repentance can seem scary, but it's not. I know that.  It's the number one feeling you can have.  It's the delicious fruit that Lehi tasted of, and like him, I want to share it with EVERYONE.  Then that evening all we had time for was to talk to some neat people on the tram.  This is really when I saw your prayers working, because no. 1 - it was right after you fasted n stuff and no. 2 - that evening we had the choice to be kind of effective and unload our supplies from zone conference, or to go out and talk to people on the tram for the last twenty minutes of the night.  Normally, I would've been submissive, and we would've ultimately chosen to do stuff inside, or spend twenty minutes deciding and not do anything.  But it was elder Foote who suggested going out on the tram and contacted the last people of the night.  Very cool.  It was fun, and I loved it.  Thanks.

So today all we have planned is our last RDV with André before he goes to Paris for good and gets himself baptized.  Then we have RCM with the other missionnaires.  Cool, though.  My French pants we picked up after getting hemmed and very French.  I'd send you pictures but 1 - I haven't taken any and 2 - they would blow your mind that I can fit myself into pants that tight.

Love you.  Something I've been working on this week was asking Heavenly Father "Qu'est-ce que tu veut que je fasse?" or what would you have me do?  And it's been working, I'll tell you what.  Seeing changes here.  And also asking for the strengthening power of the Atonement.  Something also neat I thought of:  Jesus has asked us to drop our yoke and take his upon us.  What does that even mean?  Why can't we just drop our yoke or just give it to Jesus and like not carry anything?  so much easier.  But, the thing is, his is so light and easy to carry, and he's just offering it to us like that.  He gives us the strength to keep carrying the burdens.  Just like the Nephites in that one story or whatver when they were all having the secret prayers in their hearts, and the burdens weren't taken, but they were strengthened, rather, to carry them.  That's how it is.  The burden isn't just dropped and left there, it's carried, and Jesus helps us, that's what's up.  That has helped me a lot, too.

love you again,

love,

elder Liechty