Elder Max Liechty: Weeks 46 and 47

Mom n Dad n Everyone!

As Zachary might say, what it is what it is?

The way you wrote Dude makes it look like doody :)

whoa ho, sam at private party? Like, catering n stuff? Elite. High class.

The sisters in my ward like your teeth a lot. they say they are perfectly straight and beautiful. They say "The radiance of those small objects which habitate within your mouth gives cause to rejoice within the dental care of america. Be proud of those pearly whites a.k.a. dang girl you got nice teeth." The sister that said that is british. So.

I'm gonna have to say no to Weird Al..... :( BUT you can send me the lyrics, just pretend like you're the one saying them or something. That'll work.

Wow, so, have a great trip, you rich retired couple you.

THE WEEK

I forgot to tell of a miracle on lundi. When we were waiting in the prefecture, this lady came up to us, started speaking in spanish to us, and we were able to understand that she was a member from Spain and that she wanted to know where the church was. So that was really cool. Probably count that as being the answer to someone's prayer. Unless it was more like "oh man the missionnaires, now I have to pretend like I'm interested in coming to church..." but I'm pretty sure it was the good way, so that was neat.

The next day was interesting. We had a leçon planned in the evening with a new ami we had found not too long ago, so we went and started the leçon. Then her friend came into the park where we were, and she had some doggies with her. Our friend, her name is Simona, said "I like dogs, but I hate those dogs." And then we found out why. They went NUTS and started attacking each other and also another dog that was there and it was loud and crazy and then Simona got up and started slapping the dogs around. It was kind of weird. But then afterwards we asked "hey, would this be better another time, maybe?" and she said yes, so we fixed a RDV with her the next day, but, unfortunately, she couldn't come to that one, so that was a bummer.

However, the next day we had zone conference! And the night before, the office elders had stayed at our apartment, and guess who is there right now? It's Elder Phelps! Because he broke his foot, so he's in the office team for now because he can stay in the office. So he came and stayed the night, and that was fun. And zone conference was amazing as usual. This time was interviews with president, so that was a really good time. I asked him if we could get bikes in Muret, and he said yeah, so we should be getting bikes in a couple weeks. Zone conference is just a good, uplifting time, filled with the spirit, and gets me pumped up like nothing else.

And the next day we went on exchange. I was in Muret with Elder Jenkins, the bleu in Toulouse. We had an awesome day. When we were out contacting in the morning, we contacted this lady and got talking and it was awesome, and we talked about prayer, and we asked if we could pray with her right there, and she said "totes" or something like that, so we prayed. But like a couple of fools we forgot to ask for her number, so we can't contact her right now. So we're just praying really hard that either we see her again on the street or she feels the need to call and meet with us. Her name is Anna. Anyway, the rest of the day was cool, too. We were able to pass a member famille, the Riquelmes, and had a quick fifteen minute RDV with them. We even squeezed a name out of them, someone they had helped teach a while ago and they wanted to get in contact with again. That was awesome. Elder Jenkins rules.

Then vendredi we had a MGV with la famille Ducrocq, a very silly famille that loves the missionnaires. Some delicious pizza, some delicious cheese cake, the usual. And that evening we had an FHE at the church with members and amis, and it was cool. had a great spiritual thought about God's love, and some awesome snacks, including no bake cookies, and some awesome games. Just a good time all around.

Samedi we got to go to our samedi sportif and play some basketball. A few guys we had contacted a while ago came, and they were super cool. Apparently the sisters are teaching them now, too, and they are progressing really well. That's so cool. That and weekly planning were about all we were able to do that day, so, yeah. Neat.

Church was a classic. This time, though, I got to translate for a guy who works with a company tied with Airbus and lives in Milwaukee. That was a neat experience. It was going alright, but it was pretty skippy and sketchy on my part, until sacrament meeting, where I really searched for the help of the Lord and got down to business, and it went a lot better and it was neat. And there was this other famille there from Texas, the mom is French, and they were just visiting for a few days, but they might play basketball with us today for pday, so we'll see. It was a good sunday, all around, talked with members, the usual.

So that's about the week. It was really fun, and I feel like we accomplished stuff, even if what you read seems kind of lame and boring and day to day kind of stuff. This week should be sweet, as they all should be.

Have a great trip without me and without any of the children and i hope you feel guilty,

LOVE YOU

love,

Elder Max Liechty

I forgot something really cool!

I believe it was vendredi.

we were on the way home from Toulouse on the train. We overheard these people speaking the queen's english, and, instictively, I eavesdropped. The were wondering if this train went to Lourdes, and then they asked us directly, so we said yes, asked where they are from, and got talking. They were from London and somewhere a little more south that starts with a B, and they were going to Lourdes for their Catholic pilgrimage (Lourdes is where Mary appeared to a little girl a long time ago, and there is some holy water and stuff there, very catholic), and we got talking, and it was a really good time. It was the most neutral conversation I've ever been in with practicing catholics, because they didn't try to battle or anything. The mostly just wanted to know how the Mormons keep youth in the church so well. We told them it's because our familles are the best. Which is true. I have the best of all the familles. I LOVE YOU

AND THEN WE FORGOT TO WRITE......

MA'AM.

So. I see how it is. You go on a cruise with dad, and then don't email your son. Alright. Well. I might just not send pictures. Hm. How's that feel?

I'll probably send pictures anyway, to show my love for you, even though you don't always show your love for me.

I got your package! So I guess we'll count that. I loved it. I love all that is in it. It blew my mind when I got it and made the day that much better. Thanks, love you. I love all the pictures. And the shark with frickin' lazer. And the dice game. And the jelly beans. And the notes. And sam's drawing. And all that was inside. Thunks.

So I guess I'll get right to the week, eh?

Lundi started out alright. We played basketball with some Americans who had been at church the day before, and that was a really good time. They brought their french cousine, too, and that was fun. Then afterwards, we did a little street boarding, then it started raining, so we decided to finalize planning and set a bunch of goals to make the best week ever. And we did. We made a huge list of goals of how we could do better, how we can work harder, what we need to change, etc., and we applied it, and it was a cool week. Check it out:

Mardi was probably the coolest of the days. We got a RDV with our less active friend, Alfred Déjean, did lots of contacted, and knocked some doors the evening. Check this. We had planned to pray every hour and see miracles. So we did. And that evening, we prayed to have a lesson while knocking doors, just to top off the day. We found a lot of really cool people at their homes, none really interested, but, still friendly. then this lady that had had the missionnaires over before and totally invited us back when she has time, and then her grand daughter and her friends from Germany, Spain, and Vietnam came, and they all spoke english, and they were cool, too, but they started talking amongst themselves, and the old lady left, and we were just standing out front of this lady's house, so we kind of just slipped out of there awkwardly. But then the last door we got. We knocked, the lady came out, we had a good contact, she was talking about how hard it is to believe when there are so many problems, and we testified that it's to really help us. Then I thought of a scripture, one of my favs, Ether 12:4, whipped it out on her like that, testified, then we prayed with her on the spot. Neat. Yes. Good end to the night. Very good day.

Then comes around the next day, and we got ourselves a lesson with our baptismal engagée, Sylvie, and she had some questions about the sacrament meeting, because someone had given a talk on the sacrament, and had used really weird logic that was not correct, and was getting pretty deep, and, well, it confused her. So we got it under control, explained the simplicity of the symbolism, and that we don't have to worry about silly stuff like what that fella was talking about. Then later, while we were hitting the streets, we found this lady, the simplest and coolest contact I've seen yet, we simply talked, did the questionnaire, and then she said she could see us next mercredi, so we fixed that RDV right on the spot. Then we passed some old amis, were able to chat with them, and we'll be seeing them in a couple weeks because they are going on vacation, kind of like everyone else in this area right now. It's Toulouse vacation time. Because it's pretty dang toasty down here.

The next three days we basically spent in Toulouse. We helped the Elders there jeudi evening because they had two RDVs at the same time, so I got to help teach this very cool Tahitian famille about the Plan du Salut, and it went really, really well. Then they fed us amazing Tahitian food. Yes.

Then whips around vendredi déjà, and we've got ourselves some service in the morning. We, all four of the elders, helped someone in our ward, a recently returned missionnaire, move her stuff from the ground floor to the upstairs and then put some stuff together for her, because we're men. Then they made us amazing lasagna, because they are Italian. After that we hustled back to Muret, where we had a RDV with Malika, our recent convert, talked missionary work, and she's super excited to share what she knows, so that's real cool, and then back to Toulouse for the FHE at the church, which went really, really well, too. I think we had 5 amis there, several members, as well, and it was just a good time.

The next day we had samedi sportif, that was fun, as usual, made some new friends, strengthened friendships with the oldies. Then we were supposed to have a lesson that evening, but it ended up not happening, unfortunately, but we still had to weekly plan for next week, so we had a solid session of planning for next week. Alright. Yeah.

Here comes dimanche. Church was classic. It was fast sunday, so that was cool. The coolest part of this day is this: I had started my fast last night, but I couldn't remember for what I had chosen to fast for......uh.......yeah, so. In the morning I kind of just send "uh, help me with what I had decided last night" and then I added some other things just in case I hadn't actually prayed for anything the night before. Anyway, the day goes on, just another fast sunday. Then we got home, sunday, and we hit up our power hour (acutally just twenty minutes) of contacting in the evening before we have to get in. We went out, and it was pouring rain, and I had lost my umbrella somehow in Narbonne, so we just went out and got soaking wet, and no one was on the road. I went out thinking "this stinks there is so much more effecitve ways we could be working right now" but we had told the Lord this is what we were doing, so we did it. And after grouching for about 10 minutes, I just had a blast the last 10. Joking with people as they ran past us in the rain, people pointing and staring at us from the bars on the corners, so on. Then I remembered what I had fasted for: that I don't be a grump when we do stuff I don't feel like doing and to stay motivated and happy. Voilà. Cool. It worked. It took me a second to realize it, but yeah. Cool. Yes.

So yeah, uh, that's the week. I hope you have a sweet one, too. Also, is it true that EFY changed to FSY? That's just something I heard. No idea.

LOVE YOU

I love,

you,

love,

Elder Liechty