Week #81 - Avignon....in which selfie sticks are discovered:)

Mahahahaaaammmm!

So, I got that dreaded call this morning.....with my travel plans n whatnot.......Gee willikers.  Uh.  Don't really know what to say or what so....

So, to explain the pictures before you see 'em, there's this thing going around called the "selfie stick."  Probably already hit the US, can't imagine it hasn't.  But basically it's just a go pro stick but you can attach your camera to it, too.  And this store had them for 4 bucks.  So we all bought them last pday.  Hence the pictures.

When I say sometimes he's 8, I mean it's like he doesn't "know" how to cook or do dishes heh heh heh.  He knows, he just doesn't want to :)  He sometimes throws fits when he has to do something he doesn't wanna, but don't we all?  Don't we all.  Yes.  We do.  It's actually really opened my eyes to stuff that I need to get better at ha.  Yeah.  It's been fun

Anyway.  Today has been interesting, and I may need to cut emails a little short, so I'll write the most important thingies.

Lundi, we went to visit our dear sister Soeur Protano at the hospital.  That was fun, she's doing well, she just got out today, too, and we just finished moving her in n stuff, too, so that's nice.  Then we headed to the church to do an english class that evening because we did such a dang good job the last time, they couldn't get enough of it!  Ha yeah.  Nice.  On the way, I recognized this dude, and so I talked with him, and then I realized that he was the boyfriend of one of the young women in our ward, so that was cool.  Not interested, but he's still kinda cool :)

Then the big thing for mardi was going to the Farina's house.  It was really fun, and again we ate well.  Their friend was there again this time, so that was especially neat.  And en plus, she was way nice this time and she was real open and jokin' n laughin' wit' us.  That was fun.  We shared that story about the missionary in jail and the paper airplane and the Jesus LOVE thingamajig.  If you don't know what it is, I'm sure Zach does or any other returned missionary does, cuz it's pretty sick.  If not, I'll show you when we skype, maybe.

Then mercredi was exciting.  Elder Olivier has been having stomach problems for the past week now, and he won't call Sr. Povar cuz he doesn't want to stay in, but it was pretty this day, so we forced him to stay in, so Elder Bleak and I went on exchange.  We shared our days, unfortunately everything I had planned fell through.........but we had a good time seeing their amis!  Saw Halima, she's still super dope, and then we visited Marylene and Bernard, a member and his non member "wife" (long story, don't worry too much about it :)), and that was the day.  We met some really cool kids that day, and by kids I really mean kids because for some reason everyone we talked to that day was in highschool or younger, so that was hilarious.

then on jeudi I was back with Elder Kimbergt, and we hit the town.  We met our boy Abdel, the one we met in the public bathroom :)  Ha yeah.  Nice.  So we saw him again, gave him a book of mormon, and yeah.  Kinda awkward at the end, cuz while we were giving him the book and explaining it to him, his pals came down (to the bathroom), and it really seemed like he didn't want to take the book in front of his friends.  So.  We made him take it anyway :)  Then we saw our boy Eric.  He's doing well.  He had family over, so we just talked with him outside his door.  We have another rdv fixed with him this week, so that'll be fun.  He said he hasn't really had the time to read the bom since the last time, so we'll follow up AGAIN.  After we did that, we went to this place that I named "THE NEST" cuz it's where there are about 10 less active families/members that live within walking of each other.  We got to pass a couple, found one good adress, no one home, and one family that is not interested.  So.  Making progress on the nest!

Then vendredi was district meeting!  Very fun.  The senior couple also made this delicious canadian cookie cake thing, sweet!  Delicious.  We talked a lot about goals this week, so if I could ask you if you could pray for us to set awesome goals, to have faith to reach them, and then also to reach them, that would really help!  We're all shooting to teach a boat load of 20 lessons this week and all the weeks to come, and to finish it off strong with a BAPTISM.  Prayers would be real helpful.  Anyway, after the meeting, we came back, I was on exchange with the DL, when we got back we helped Sr Protano move some more, taught a good english class, and voila le day.

Samedi we switched back, sooooooo many trains, and then we saw our man Etienne.  Actually, before that we had an hour of miracles planned out as a district.  WE started it off a little rough, both kinda scared that we wouldn't see any miracles and everyone else would, but we did!  we saw some!  We met some really cool people, taught this sweet dude a lesson, too.  We actually had a really good time, which was AWESOME.  After that we saw Etienne, taught about the sabbath day.  He seems kinda hesitant to come to church right now, not really sure why.  He still works saturday night to sunday morning, but he said he should be able to make it.  Unfortunately with the hour changes, he couldn't make it cuz they made him work an hour longer, bummer.  But we're seeing him again this week, gonna try to get him to see the church, too!  His date is for the 11 of avril, but that's gonna need to move a couple weeks so he can come to church 3 times first.  After him, walkin' home, we met this lady who speaks stellar english, cuz she studied in england, and she wants to come to our english class, and we told her that she should help us teach it!  So that'll be fun.  She's super nice, too.

Then we got dimanche.  CHURCH. Fast n testimony meeting, a real good one, too.  Jean-Personne came again, we taught him about getting answers from prayer, so that should be helpful.  Invited them to have some sick questions for General Conference this week, should be doin' that.  Then we at the Mauclair's home, delicious slowe cooked beef mmmmmmmmmm.  Then back at the church, waitin' for a dude, but he didn't come.....bummer.  And that was sunday!  Fun

I got your package!  Lots of chocolat eggs n bunnies and the best part was one of those sticky hand things that you throw at the window.  Elder Kimbergt and Elder Olivier had never seen it before, so it was a big hoot.  THANKS.  

Easter's real soon, huh?  Neat.  Easter rules.

I guess mother's day is not too far off, either?  Kinda, but whatever.  I'll see you then!

I love you buttloads :)

LOVE

ELDER MAX LIECHTY

A BIT FROM KENT'S LETTER:
So that challenge, huh?  Franchement, we barely saw our amis this week, which was a real bummer.  The two we did see I've invited before, one gotta invite again, the other wants to be baptized so.  But yeah yeah.  I need to.  And when I saw Jean-Personne at church, and Didier right when he got back from his vacation, I thought yeah.  They need to be invited to baptism.  And we have a huuuuge district goal and mission goal to baptize this transfer, and you can't be doin' baptism if you ain't invitin' people!  Geez!

Wut?  Jordan Christensen is back?  Wut?  Had no idea.  Wow.  It's been a while, huh?  Wow.

FALL OFF THE BONE RIBS.  We ate at a member's house this week, and he slow cooked this awesome beef for 5 HOURS.  Or maybe more than that, they don't really know.  All I know is they put it in before they left for church, and we ate it about an hour or two after church.  So I'm excited for those ribs, you know?

We had a pretty neat experience I forgot to tell mom.  Well, more like didn't tell mom but I don't know why.  It was right before the miracle hour we had on saturday.  We were gonna start it off, and Elder Kimbergt was all "I don't wanna."  and instead of gettin' real mad at him and telling him to suck it up and do it, we leaned agains the wall that surrounds Avignon for a couple minutes, and I just listened to his fears. And I realized they're the same as mine!  And like you said, it's just the fear of hearing no!  What's the big deal?  So we talked about it, I tried to pump him up, and while doing so, I was able to pump myself up, too, and we had a sweet hour of contacting and that was fun.  Awesome.

I love you dad!

Week #80 - Avignon

Mom!

I'm doin' alright!  The weather in Avignon is getting lots nicer, and there hasn't been too much wind!  yay!

Elder Kimbergt is fun.  He's very french, and I think we'll just leave it at that :)  Frenchies are a lot different than most europeans, so saying he's european wouldn't be quite right.  He's french :)  He's been out a little over a year, and he doesn't really speak english.  At all.  He wants to learn (he says), so we'll work on that probably :)

We did see eric again!  And we're gonna see him again this week!

Etienne reaalllly does have a baptismal date, but cuz he couldn't yet come to church, we're gonna have to move it a little.  But his moto is finished!  I talked with him yesterday, and the moto is finished, and he should be comin' to church!  wooooooooooo!

Pierre marc we haven't seen yet, haven't been able to get out to his city yet cuz he lives sooooooo far away.

We saw Lou on the street and I'll tell you more about the following events in just a second :)  It's fun

The other elders: Elder Bleak and Elder Olivier/Taraufau.  And they DO have internet in Tahiti, despite the common belief, so she could be on facebook :)

John to Tokyo!  Perfect!  And Tyler Coley going!  wowowowowow!  I've been gone for a little bit, huh?

So let me tell you a few things about this week:

So after I emailed you on mardi, we went to see our ami Victoria.  She showed us a cathedral, we did a little english class with her, and then taught her the restoration.  She was real cool with it, and she's down with meeting with us more often.  This is only the second time I've seen her in the 4 months I've been here!  She said she wants to see us this week, so we'll totes do that.  After that Elder Kimbergt had to use the restroom, and we found this public restroom smack dab in the middle of town that I'd never seen before.  You walk down some stairs and it's an underground toilet.  So while he was doing what most people do in the bathroom, I was chattin' it up with the security guard.  We got talking, Elder Kimbergt finished up, and then we talked with this guy for, like, an hour and a half.  It was cool, and he wants a Book of Mormon.  We tried to pass by the toilets a couple times, but he hasn't been there since, so we'll keep trying :)  After that we headed out to Orange to see the Farinas, had a sweet rdv talking about their families and family history.  They loved it!  They thought it would be really difficult, because they didn't really know their families, but as we talked, they realized that they really do!  So that was neato.

Then on mercredi we saw our boy Eric again.  Taught a restoration and it was SWEET.  We talked about praying to know, and he started tearing up a little, and like too many people do when they feel the Spirit, he grabbed a cigarette and started smoking.  It's a feeling they don't understand, and sometimes I guess it's pretty scary, so they try to get rid of it.  But it was cool.  After we saw him, we were gonna head out to this distant ville, but we learned that a sister from our ward who feeds us every week was in the hospital!  So we went to visit her, she was very happy to see us, cuz she loves the missionaries.  After that we stopped by to see Jean-Personne, then by the guitar shop, Didier still isn't back from vacation, but they other guys there were happy to see us!  That was about the day

Then the next day I can't remember exactly what we did, because I had lost my planner and there's nothing written....I do remember that we helped Sr. Protano start to move her stuff into her new apartment, even though she was in the hospital.  It was fun.  Other than that, all I really remember is that I talked to a really cool guy in the back of the bus.  I guess those were the two big events of the day?  OH NO.  The biggest event of the day is when we saw Lou, and she said she had a mouse trapped in her closet!  She wanted us to kill it, cuz she was scared.  So we went over all four of us that evening, and killed it :)  It was really hilarious, cuz we had this whole wall thing built up to make sure it didn't run, and when we opened the closet, it wasn't there, cuz it had climbed up in her clothes!  We shook the clothes around, it fell out, and Elder Kimbergt took care of it.  That was exciting.

Vendredi we were supposed to have basketball with Nabil, but it was sprinkling, so we played ping-pong with him.  The rain stopped for a second, and we shot some hoops with him, but we decided to move basketball to this week, so yeah.  Then we went to go see André, cuz he said he was gone till about the 18th, and so we figured he'd be home since the 18th is passed.  He still likes us a lot, asks lots of questions, but not really interested in taking the real missionary lessons and stuff.  We're gonna try to keep sneaking them in n stuff, but we'll see.  After andré we went to do english class!  Always a fun time.  Our friends Halima, Nathalie, and Jassem were all there, as well as the coolest member, Fr. Regnault.  so that was a very fun time, yeah.

Then samedi we helped anooother person move, but all we did was load up the truck, cuz she is moving all the way to Nice, and we can't go there.  Then we went to Cavaillon to see our DMB and have a meeting/lunch with him.  Mmmmmmmm tahitian food.  On the way there, we almost missed the bus, because we accidentally were waiting for it one stop AFTER it was supposed to turn, so when we saw it start to turn, we sprinted hard core for it.  You know the "fight or flight" thingamajig?  Well apparantly my generation invented the "fight flight or freeze" thingamajig.  So I've been trying to eliminate the freeze, and I've sprinted hard core for some busses lately.  Plus, it was a miracle we caught this bus, cuz it was held up by some random car in the middle of the road, so that saved our buns.  After that we did our weekly planning, and that was a good fun day.

Then comes sunday, good as usual.  Jean-Personne was there again, as usual :)  There was also a member there from Gex!  I'd never met him, cuz he was in england with his wife for that whole time I was there, but it was cool to meet him. He's a cool dude.  After church we met our frere menthong, talked about the family with him, too.  He was having a hard time focusing on the family and stuff, talkin' bout how when you were a little kid in africa, you talked with other little kids, not the old people, so he didn't really share moments with his parents or nuthin'.  But as he kept ramblin', he eventually realized that he had some good memories with his parents and grandparents n stuff!  Cool cool.  Then Elder Kimbergt was feeling woozy and sick n stuff, so we took him back, I called some people on the phone, and that was the end of the day.  woooooooo

So a fun week, sometimes real eventful, sometimes not really at all.

But overall, I'm still on a mission and in France and it's AWESOME!

I love you all a lot

Elder Max LIECHTY

Week #79 - Staying in Avignon

Saying goodbye

No explanation for this

And no explanation for this one either!

Moom!

Yeah, so I'm staying!  But my baby boy is leaving me, and I got a new companion, his name is Elder Kimbergt.  He's from Nancy, and you know what that means:  He's French!  So this'll be fun.  It's him, me, a tahitian, and another american here in this apartment, so I'll probably forget a lot of my english by the end of this transfer.  We'll see.

Those holland talks are NICE.  The first one, I've actually been listening to it a bunch, because he gave the same one to mission presidents some time ago, and I got it on my USB and I just been listenin' to it all the time because it ROCKS.

Elder Holland really likes to go hard, huh?  And it's interesting, cuz even though he goes so hard, he's often people's favorite apostle!  I think it's cuz he's so bold, and not afraid to tell us how it is.  Because wouldn't it be nice if we all just said it like it was and accepted it like it was?  And he does it with so much love at the same time!  Cool.

Speaking of your exam thing, remember that time Sam and I got paid to play video games and drink soda n stuff?  That was sick.  I'll try to find more stuff like that when I get home.  Easy money being a test rat, huh?

So your week mighta been dullsville, but I really liked mine, check it out.

So we started out going hard on lundi.  I don't even remember what we did for pday, I think we played pétanque (siiick), and then we hit the streets.  We didn't have any plans, so we went into centreville, where there was this american band playing!  Like band band, like McKendrick band.  Some honor band going on tour or something, so that was fun.  And while we were watching them, our friend Yapo came up and we talked with him, and that was fun.  then we went to see Jean-Personne, he's doin' alright, still needs work.  And then we decided to pass our boy Eric that we hadn't seen in forever.  He was home!  So we sat down with him and taught the Atonement, he loved it, he was feelin' it, and he invited us back later that week!  Cool.

So get this.  The next day we got to see our boy Etienne, had a real good time talkin' about the restoration.  Sometimes when you reteach an ami the restoration, they don't really remember too much about Joseph Smith's story, or maybe something else, but Etienne was real good and remembered a lot, so that was nice.  Right after him we headed to see the Farinas, and they made FISH.  Elder Steadman was convinced he hated fish, and then to tease him a little, we had Sr. Farina make us some delicious fish.  It was so good that now Elder Steadman likes fish.  Then Elder Steadman killed it sharin' a spiritual thought Alma 37:37 about always thinking about the Savior.   Nice

Then we had district meeting in Marseille, that was fun.  Then when we came back home, a miracle happened and we were able to catch a bus out to Pernes-les-Fontaines, and normally we were gonna have to wait forever and stuff and it woulda been difficult, but we got this bus and it rocked.  We went out there, saw our boy Pierre-Marc, he was happy to see us which was nice, cuz the last time I talked to him on the phone he had said that he was kinda taken by some family problems right now, and what we have isn't for him right now.  He said doors ain't closed, but not right now.  So we passed by, and he was there, and he was cool.  Then we had some more time in this little ville, and I had remembered that this less active lived on a road called Emile Zola, and we had passed it on the way, but I didn't know which number or even the name, so we decided just to knock all the doors. No luck until this lady opened the door, super willing to talk, and we talked about eternal families and she dug it.  She said we could come back any time and talk more about it.  That was a sweet miracle, because this town was litterally half the size of Muret and you have no idea what that means, but it was small.  Then, like the last time we went to Pernes, the bus didn't work out and we were trapped in Carpentras.  It almost worked out this time, but we saw the bus leave right before our eyes and all our sprinting was in vain.  So we called a member, he was more that willing to come get us, and we had a good time in his car.  He rules, and he'll probs be blessed for that service.

Jeudi we had a totally open day except we were gonna see Eric sometime in the afternoon.  Then one of the other Elders got sick, so we did a mini exchange so we could take care of all the rdvs we had.  We gotta see Eric, taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ, he was diggin' it again, and we invited him to baptism.  He said he's gonna think about it, cuz it's a big decision, so he'll be thinkin' about it and we'll be seeing him soon.  then we saw the other Elder's ami Abdel, talked about Jesus with him, then this cool couple, he's a member but she's not, and we talked about geneology and stuff, and they loved it.  Also this day we walked by a Pizza place called OK PIZZA.  So that was silly

Then vendredi we went out to L'Isle sur la Sorgue to help a frere with some service.  The trains weren't running, so we had to wait forever for a bus, and while we were waiting we waited with this cool little muslim kid, about 16, who was actually headed to jail........he was cool, and he recognized that he screwed up his life, and he asked us to pray a bunch for him, and we reassured him we would, that life keeps goin', that he can change.  so that was a neat experience.  After service at Frere Barray's (we tore down wall paper and it was real fun), we went to pass a less active family in the area that hadn't been visited for a long time.  They have a couple kids who aren't baptized, and they had been taught a while ago, distanced themselves for a little, but now they're back and they want us to teach the kids.  so.  That's sick.  then we went into Avignon, ate crepes with Sr. Protano, taught english class (we translated Bohemian Rhapsody, and it was hilarious), and went home.  Sweet.

Then samedi we played bball with our man Nabil, he brought two friends of his, so that was cool.  Then we did ANOTHER mini exchange so that the two elders leaving could pack and us two could keep doin' stuff.  We saw an ami named Lou who is real cool, and we were able to help her understand a little more an answer to her prayers she thought was a no. She was confused that it could be no if she felt pretty good about it.  We told her that maybe it was a "not yet" (it was about baptism), because she believes in God, but not so much Jesus Christ yet.  She even likes Joseph Smith and all that, but yeah.  She understood and she wants to keep meeting with us, so that's cool.  Then we saw our boy Etienne, taught tithing, he accepted it like nothin'.  He's so ready!  and his moto should finally be all solved n whatnot, so we gave him a baptismal date in april because he should be able to start comin' to church! Woooo!  Very cool.

Then we had dimanche.  It was fun, we said goodbyes (I didn't, but the others did), we made cookies for all the members, too, and it made them chill around after church a lot longer, too, so that was nice.  After church we finally got to see our less active brother Fr. Menthong (don't laugh).  He was real cool, and he truly appreciated our presence and our visit.  So that was sick.

Then we got yesterday.  Went to Lyon, took waaaaay long on the train cuz of construction being done on the tracks, so we took some funky trip around who knows where; all I know is that we arrived in Lyon and then made it back to Avignon, and that's all that matters.  Then that evening we got to see Etienne again, taught about commandments, his wife made us some delicious empanada like things from Cote d'Ivoire, and that was sick.  He's still cool with the date, his moto should be done this week!  We also got to bring a member this time, and that was really cool, Etienne got to meet some new guy.  Nice.

So yeah.  that was a good week.  It was sweet, because we were really working for success this week, not just working to fill time or whatnot.  I used to really think that as long as I was working, I'd see success.  But it's not that true!  You have to work smart, you have to work for success, you need to have a goal in mind!  So that was real fun.  Awesome last week with ma boy Steadman.

It was nice to see Monty in that video, cuz I was actually gonna ask you if he was dead cuz you hadn't given me any news concerning him!  so that was nice.  Also sam's a good dancer.  Also he's almost gettin' his mission call!

I haven't heard anything about the ecc endorsement, you did your part already?  If you did that, he should have done his, but I'll ask him next chance I get.

I LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU

Love,

Elder Max Liechty

Week #78 - Avignon

Elder Liechty with that look goin'

Elder Liechty with a goose

Moooooommmmmmmm!

Yayyyyy!  You wrote me again!!!

1.  I'd say I'm pretty dang good as a trainer.  Kiddin'.  But I really enjoy training.  It's fun to be the bleu's first idea of a normal missionary, but it's also realllly stressful, cuz you want them to be real good, and you have to set the example!  But it's helped me a lot, I think, and I've learned a load from training.  Probably more than my bleus have.

2.  No, next transfer is next week!  We get our calls in 5 DAYS.  This transfer was too fast that it was DUMB.  Kiddin'.  But it was really fast.  This will be 14 weeks in Avignon, or 3 n a half months about.  Since before Christmas.

3.  We had this reeaaallly cool experience with Etienne the other day, and his wife.  We taught them about eternal families, and it was sweet.  Normally his wife, Charlotte, just sits there and takes care of the baby and kinda listens, but this time we asked her a real good question about eternal families, and she got way into it.  It was so sweet to have her participate, and the rdv was sweet.  The Spirit was incredibly strong, and we could all tell that we were being edified and that this was somethin' good.  Then, right after, Elder Steadman and I were waiting for the elevator, and I turned to him with the intention to give him a high five, and as I turned, I stuck my hand down low, and he stuck his hand up high, and everything went silent.  We looked each other in the eyes as we shared this special moment, and then we high fived.  That was sweet.  Elder Steadman got into the rdv, too, which was really cool because sometimes he's very quiet and doesn't particitpate too much.  But he did this time, and it was SICK.  The high five was definitely two-way.  We had all felt the Spirit and were edified.  So cool.

4.  Yeah of course I've got some regrets.  I didn't really figure out missionary work till pretty deep into the mission.  I thought it was one way, but I really had no idea until not too long ago.  There were times when I forgot to have fun, and times when I was having too much fun (or at least I felt like it was too much fun, so the next week I would try to have no fun.)  But the key was to find the balance.  It was like you taught us kidlins all growing up, that you wanted us to be well rounded people (not fat) and be able to do lots o things.  And that's the key to missionary work.  Finding a way to do it all.  So yeah, I've got some regrets, but I learn things and I apply them, so rather than regrets, their kinda like "learning experiences."  Yeah.

And yes, Etienne will be baptized soon, probably!  His only problem was being able to come to church, but we've recently found a solution for that, or rather he found his own solution. He's just bought a moto and he should be able to come to church now, cuz normally he would have had to take a bus home from work (he works saturday night to sunday morning) and then catch a different one to church, but his new moto should really simplify things.  so that's sick.  Other than that, he believes strongly in the restoration, he's one of the coolest amis I've had.  super dope dude, you could say.

So let me tell you about the week!

So lundi was another one of those days.  That meaning we had pday and then weekly planning, cuz we had been on "vacation" last week since thursday.  It's pretty funny, cuz we've all been calling the zone/stake conference trip our vacation.  Cuz it was real fun.  Missionary work was done!  Don't worry!  Anyway, so we did that and that was about it.  Kinda a lame day, but don't worry, the rest of the week was fun.

Mardi we went to go pass our boy Didier, but unfortunately he wasn't at his place!  While we were waiting for him, we made a boat load of calls and sent a boat load of text messages to our amis n stuff.  So after that we talked to strangers, including this spanish guy that was totes JW, but didn't really understand us when we said we weren't JW, and he asked for the address, and we gave him ours, so we'll see if one day he shows up. Real fun, and then we went to the Farinas up in Orange.  Unfortunately, Luis was gone in Marseille with some famille friends, so he wasn't there, kinda a  bummer, but we helped Sr. Farina get in a better mood cuz she was real upset that Luis hadn't come home when he said (he was supposed to be home in time for our rdv).  But it was still fun!

Mercredi was a stellar day.  Get this.  We went to go see Didier again, because he was leaving for Canada the next day, and we had to get that in!  So on the way there we met this cool bro from Ghana, he's a pastor at his church he established here in Avignon to help youth in bad situations, and also he spoke english.  He wants us to speak at his congregation some time, so we'll have to see about that.  Then at Didier's, he had a BANJO.  And I played the banjo for the first time in two years.  I'm no good anymore.  Need to practice again.  Anyway, so we jammed with him for a little, and then we gave him a book of mormon finallllly.  He accepted it very willingly and said he'd read it even before I told him to read it.  He's the coolest guy, and I'm gonna miss him if I get transferred!  After that we went to see Halima, that's the other equipe's ami, cuz we were on a mini exchange today.  So we saw her, taught her some english with a member that also loves english, and then talked.  The rdv was kinda all over the place, but she's learning.  She's cool.

then comes jeudi, district meeting in Marseille.  Then I was in Aix, with Elder Nye, where we had some really cool rdvs.  this one lady, it was funny cuz she told us right off the bat that she's uncomfortable talking with people she doesn't know, and this was our first rdv with her, so that was fun.  But then testimony was shared and it was cool.  After that, we taught their baptismal engagés, husband and wife, really cool old people.  The wife decided that she needs to be baptized this saturday, so they've been teaching her every day.  So we taught them.  They were struggling with tithing, but during this rdv when it came up, she was very ready to accept it.  The husband's gonna take a little more time, but she's sweet.

Then vendredi we came back to Avignon, played b-ball with Nabil.  Very fun.  Then we met the biggest number of cool people on the buses ever.  That was neat.  And just about the whole day was spent on buses, back home from bball, to Etiennes (that was our miracle rdv I told you about), and then to english class.  so that was a fun time.

Samedi we went out to Cavaillon to have a meeting with our DMB, frere Holman, he's polynesian.  they made us delicious food, as well.  I'm excited to work with this DMB, if I really get the chance and am not transferred!  So after that meeting, we went back to Avignon and straight to the bowling alley to meet some friends and the friend of a member.  That was really fun, again.  The member's friend was sweet, he's from Russia.  And then on they way home, we went about the whole way with one of our friends, Timmy, cuz he lives right next to us, and as we were talking, he just about invited himself to church, and we said yeah, come on in.  He should be coming this next sunday!  Very cool miracle, because he has been a potential ami for a long long long time, and we see him all the time, but it's never gone farther than that.  Cool.

Dimanche was church, fast sunday.  Fun fun fun fun.  Jean-Personne came, and then this member and non member husband from Nimes came, too, cuz they'll be moving here soon.  And the husband is thinking about being baptized!  That's sweet. so miracles are happening here.  Then we had ratatouille with Sr. Protano, that was delicious.  And then once again weekly planning, mostly so we wouldn't have to do it today and have another lame pday.

Anyway.  so that was the week.  It was fun.  this week we're really pushing for miracles, and we want to teach more lessons than we've ever taught!  Two of our favorite amis are out of town, so we're bankin' on lots of miracles this week.  Cool.

Thanks for all and everything n whatnot!  I LOOOOOOOVE YOU

Love,

Elder Max Liechty

Week #77 - Winding it down in Avignon

Mooooom!

Don't feel bad about writing me!  It's fun to joke about with the other Elders, because sometimes their parents forget to write, too!  I'll still love you if you write me or not :)

Our friend moved to Vietnam, but he's coming back in several months, and he had to get a different apartment to move back into because his old one was a university apartment, and he wouldn't be able to live there when he comes back, so we helped him move the few things he was leaving behind.

We're teaching Etienne, yeah!  He was sick, so we haven't seen him for the past little bit, but we should be seeing him soon!  Hopefully.

Our testimony meetings are fun.  Sometimes people get up and say silly things, but for the most part they're pretty solid.  And I think they actually move faster than testimony meetings in Utah, so that's sick.  And our branch isn't too big, so a majority of the people get to get up every time.  They ask us not to get up (unless there's a huge pause, then we could probably get up), because they want to give most of the time to members to bear their testimonies.  Yeah, we're always in the same ward (branch) no matter where we are, even if there are two wards in the ville, there are missionaries assigned to each one.

Yeah I don't know what I'm gonna do about rent.

And about touring or coming home...........................................I'd love love love love love love love to show you around my mission and also score a few more days here, but I also think France would be reeeaaallly fun to tour as not a missionary, you know what I mean?  Like, in shorts and a t-shirt and stuff because it will be smack dab in the middle of AUGUST.  So..........if there's a way we could come back after I'm released, let's do that.  If not........I don't know, it could still be fun!  Eeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I'll keep thinkin' 'bout it.

Ooops.

So anyway, let me tell you about this exciting week.

Lundi we spent some time with these kids from Switzerland (members) that were in Elder Olivier's old ward there.  We showed them around, and then played pétanque with them, which ROCKS, still a super fun day.  Also throughout the day we ran into some amis and potential amis that are still really cool, so that was neat.

The next day we went to play some b-ball with Nabil, and he brought a friend, and also the Swiss kids were there, too.  That was really fun, and I played a lot better this week than I did last week.  Alright.  That was fun, we got to meet his friend and talk to him about what we do.  After that we had the Farinas, where we ate some good quiche.  Their son is still doing pretty well, but he hasn't been to church for a couple weeks again, so we're still working with him!

Wednesday we went out to pass a bunch of our friends, and got in with Andre.  He showed us some of the recordings of his polish grandmother telling her story, and he translated them, and we could tell he is real sensitive to the spirit of elijah, and that he loooooves geneology, so we're gonna keep working with that.  After our rdv, he walked out with us, and we were talkin' and he was talking about all he doesn't believe to be true in the catholic church, and that's all the things that are different between ours and the catholics!  So that was neat, we'll work with that, too.  Then that evening we ate with Sr. Protano, and there was the other Elders ami there, Halima, from Nicaragua, and she's real cool, and that was fun.

Jeudi mornin' we went to help a frère move out, he's movin' far, and that was kinda fun.  Well, it was fun, but it was reaaaaallllly dusty and I was sneezin' up a storm and I used all of his kleenexs, and then I was still runnin' the nose.  But it was fun anyway.  When that was finished, we got on a train to go to St. Raphaël!  Wooooooooo

Vendredi was the conference in the morning, which was sweet.  We learned a bunch about the spirit of elijah, and then we watched Meet the Mormons, which is a sweeeet movie, if you haven't seen it yet.  I cried watching it, mostly just cuz I hadn't seen a movie in so long.  Then that evening, when we came back from Nice, we ate kébabs, where we met up with this Tahitian frère named Max (wwooooo), and we made plans for the next day.  Then we went and passed a member, blessed their home, I got thrown under the bus and had to play the violin.  Their six year old daughter played it better than me.

Then samedi was so much fun.  We had a samedi sportif with Max and bunch of his Tahitian friends.  We played basketball, they fed us, and then we played soccer.  I was sooooooooooo tired after that, cuz I'm fat.  but it was really good fun. Also, Elder Olivier taught us something that tahitians say to say "aw yeah, sweet" which is just "shhyeahh, méchant" and the tahitians there LOVED us for that.  Then we watched the adult session of stake conference, then we went out to chinese buffet with Max and tahitian friends.  Wow.  It was especially cool, because he had this one friend, Clement, that came to the adult session, too, and he was super touched.  Prez Roney was talking about how missionaries are called to bless your home, and Clement was like "can they bless my home, too?" and Max was all "sshhhyeah" and now he wants to meet with missionaries.  Shhhyeah.  I reeeaaallllly liked these guys, and St. Raph is sweet.  It was sun and beach all weekend.

Then dimanche was our stake conference, and I really liked the first two talks, and then they kicked us out of the room (the missionaries) cuz we were being too loud. Kiddin'.  There just wasn't enough room for everyone that came, so the put us in the hallway, where we could hardly hear anything, and the childrens were running about and making noise, so we just took care of them mostly.  Man.  Kinda a bummer, but it was still fun.  Then a member drove us allll the way home, and we were all dead tired by the end of that trip.

Yes, I got to see all my old pals, or a lot of them, and it was sweet.  This mission is sweet.  We were driving back from Nice, and you could see all the mountains that go straight into the ocean and I was like "that's my mission" then we got to Avignon and it was cloudy and cold, and that kinda stunk, but Avignon is still sweet cuz we had a giant wall around the entire city and the bridge.  the bridge.  Yeah, the bridge.

And that was about our week.  Good times, it was really fast, and now it's already the fifth week of the transfer, I can't believe it.  Still tryin' to make the most of it, don't worry!

Enjoy the photos of St. Raphaël and my real cool star shirt I got from helping a member clean out his garage.

LOVE YOU LOVE YOU LOVE YOU and loved the photos of Hawaii.  Geez.

Love,

Elder Max Liechty