Week #70 - Avignon

Moooooooooooom!

So, about the Paris stuff, we're fine down here :)  We heard all about it, not only from the zone leaders n Prez, 

but also everyone in the streets this is all they're talking about.  There were some manifestations, but that's 

about it.

Hey, check it out, it's a real good thing you haven't sent the package yet, because I thought of something. 

In my last interview with Prez, I was expressing the desire to learn a lot more about the Atonement, and 

we talked about this book called The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister, but it's not on lds store, so I

was wondering if you could maybe find it at a Deseret Book and toss that in?  And did I tell you about the 

face soap, too?  I might need some more.  Speaking of which, I had a dream that we went to this one store 

and they had shelf fulls of it, but it was just a dream and that still doesn't exist here.

So, let me tell you about this pretty awesome week.

It starts on monday.  We hit town briefly, and then we hopped on a train to Toulouse!  Yay!  When we got to 

Toulouse, I felt like I was home.  I like Toulouse more than Bordeaux, I decided.  If I ever get the chance to 

work in or move back to France, it'll probably be Toulouse.  Anyway, we headed over to the apartment, and 

on the way there was this guy who looked like Sylvester Stalone.  I told him that, and he was SPARKed out of 

his mind, and he was a pretty cool guy.  That was about that day, in the apartment it was us, all four Toulouse

Elders, the Aix ZLs, too, and also Muret showed up out of surprise.  That was fun.  Packed like sardines.

The next day was eventful, that meaning we got our legality done and now I have a really cool looking card 

that makes me legal in France!  Yes.  Then, we were supposed to catch a train shortly thereafter, but the legality

process took a million years, so we missed that one, so Elder Olsen (my zone leader and former district leader 

from Toulouse) and I explored Toulouse briefly, and found a really cool Bible store.  Then we got on the train 

and on home we went and back in Avignon we finally were.

The next day was really cool.  We had nothing lined up, so we set plans to see some miracles, and boy did we 

see them.  We met some really, really cool guys on the street, and also got a lesson with Etienne just passing 

by his home cuz we were in the area.  There was also this fella who we stopped and talked to who wanted all 

of our brochures, but we didn't have all of them, so he took our number and is supposed to call us to get the

rest.  That was kinda funny.  We also met this guy on the bus with whom we fixed a rdv for this sunday, but 

he was in Paris at the manifestation, so we refixed for this week.  Still a cool guy.  Then we passed by the guitar

place to see our pal Didier, and it was really easy to talk about God with him, so we'll probably be going back 

again.

The next day was also pretty cool.  We prepare a few pass backs and tried to find some people (no success 

unfortunately) but the first guy we contacted off the bus was real neat and we actually taught him the 

restoration right then and there.  That was fun.  After our failures to find anyone, we got an english class 

with Natalie and Josué, and it was just as much fun as usual.

The next day was pretty boring and too quick.  We had weekly planning, and then we were off to Aix en 

Provence for our zone conference the next day.  They have the smallest apartment in the world, but it was 

pretty fun over there.  Aix is a real cool city, and the chapel is probably one of the coolest in the mission.

So then samedi was zone conference itself, really fun. We learned all about how to become more delightful 

people.  We talked about Joseph in Egypt, and how in every situation he was in, he tried to be as happy and 

delightful as he could, always trusting in God, and he always somehow managed to rise to the top, even when

he was in prison he rose to the top and ended up running the prison.  So anyway, we want to be as delightful

as him.  Then we headed on home, we were supposed to have a rdv, but it fell through.  Here's a funny phrase 

I learned: "Poser un lapin à quelqu'un."  It means to not show up to a rdv.  Directly translated it means to place 

a rabbit in front of someone.  I think that's HILARIOUS.  So I'm glad I got to use that that night.  We passed

Jean-Personne instead, and had  a nice little rdv with him.  Then we bought some kébabs for dinner and the

guy working there looked like Ringo Starr and also loved missionaries, because they used to come to his

place all the time, but they haven't for a while.  So I think we found our new place :)

Then rolls around dimanche ALREADY.  This was a very fast week, cuz we were allllll over the place.  But it was

a cool day, church was sweet, Jean-Personne came to church again (he used to come all the time, but during

the holidays he was out and about or working, so he couldn't, but now the holidays are over!).  After that, we

went out to pass some more less actives, actually found one for real and were able to teach him!  He's mildly

special needs, so it looks like I've found myself another Frère Déjean or Fr. Handy!  Yes.  I was actually looking

for someone like them in this branch, because those two have been my favorite members.  After this frere, we

went into ville to do some passes, but there was a manifestation, so we steered pretty clear of centreville, so

instead we passed André.  Cool thing I just realized: we tried to pass this other lady for a real long time before

going to André, with no success.  We had a bunch of cool things lead to us finally getting into her apartment 

complex, but we couldn't find her, so that was a bummer.  But it turns out THAT was so that we wouldn't miss

André, who had just gotten back home right when we came to his house.  So that was neat.  He was at the

 manifestation, and he was worried about the state

 of the world, so we turned to Ether 12:4 again, just 

like old times, and let him know there is hope.  That

 was the day.

So that was a really good week, I think.  We have

some fun things lined up for this week, hopefully

not too many people pose us rabbits :)  I still love 

that.

And I love you!  My favorite family.  Have a great

week

Love,

Elder Max Liechty

Goofy picture of Max in Toulouse

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