Week #89 - Avignon

Moooooooooooooooooooooom!

So, here's a real bummer for you, but I pulled out my camera today and I didn't have an SD card in it.....so that's back at the apartment, and all the awesome photos from this week won't get sent till next week. there's lots of really funny ones, and even one to send dad for his birthday, but.......I'll just have to send all that next week!

The baptism went real well, like I said, all the photos are back home....

We should be getting iPads TODAY!!!  I'm actually in Aix writing this in the church waiting for zone training to start where we should get our ipads.  Sweet.

(He and Sam will actually be speaking on the same day )And also that's nice to know that I can keep my talk short, because I learned that I can't speak gospel in english anymore....so I'll take it real easy and probs talk something simple like faith.  And yeah, how does that work?  How do I know what I'm supposed to talk about?

So I can't remember if I'd already told you n all, but we saw our man Frederic on monday had a cool rdv with him, and then we also got to see Sr Protano, who surprised us with dinner, so that was awesome.

We finally got to see Etienne again, he's doin' alright.  We read 3 nephi 11 with him, he gets it n stuff, and I think he likes it, it's just that his wife is really not interested at all, and is pretty set on her church.  So their son is still gettin' baptized.  But.  Welp. We're workin' with that a lot.  Or at least trying.

We also got to see Eric this week, and taught him the word of wisdom.  He gets it for the most part, but I think he's still kinda in the mindset that he could drink a little, that too much is the only problem.  He understands the problem with smoking, and he wants to quit, but we're probably gonna be following up a bunch on all that and helping him out.  His real needs right now are to feel the Spirit between rdvs.  Cuz it's clear he feels in when we're there, but he doesn't do much about it between.  So follow up hard core time.  The fact that we'll be having iPads could be really handy.

We saw Jean-Person as well.  It was kinda a funky rdv.  He had a client in the store for the first part, so we just kinda awkwardly waited for her to leave, and when she left, it turned out that she had met the missionaries a while ago in Besançon, and totes recognized us, so that was neat.  We talked with JP afterwards for a good while, and found out a little bit that he actually doesn't have a testimony, like at all.  Well, he really likes the church and recognizes that there is a lot more spirituality at our church than at others, but he has a hard time understanding the fact that he needs to be baptized again if he's already been baptized.  We're planning on teaching hard in the priesthood restored paint and helping him gain that testimony.

For my birthday, two members had us over for cake, so that ruled.

We also got to see Lou again and chatted with her for a good while.  we're having a hard time fixing a day that we can work on her geneology, because of mobility issues and she has a baby and no car and all that, but iPads may or may not solve that problem.  So we'll see with that, too.

We visited a family out in l'Isle sur la Sorgue, and it is their son who came to church last sunday for the first time since I've been here.  He went less active just before I got here, but he loves the missionaries, and his parents want us to work with him a lot.  We also saw another family with a less active son, so that was neat, as well.  Something that's been real neat here in Avignon is working with families that have just one member less active. It's always really interesting how that happened.  How the one went astray.  It's been a really neat learning experience.

This week was pretty fun, sorry if this email sounds real choppy, I'm kinda hustlin' to get it out before zone training.

I promise that I will send pictures next week :)

P.S. the email is late cuz we had a big branch picnic yesterday and had no time for anything pday.  so.

I LOVE YOU ALOT AND A LOT

Happy birthday to me

Love,

Elder Max Liechty

Week #88 - Avignon

Moooooooooom!!!

So, How's Avignon is a good question, because I was only here for, like, half the week!  this was the week of exchanges, but it was real fun.

Also, you didn't tell me if you liked or didn't like the way I emailed last time, so......I'm just totes gonna do it again :)

Yeah, so, Bob emailed me a little bit ago and I told him to tell his parents to talk to you about it, too, cuz that would be TIGHT to room with him.  Because also we still share the record player, so we both need to profit from it in some way :)  But yeah.  If it's possible in the same place, that would be the rockinest.

Nothin' real new and exciting happening here, 'cept the fact that there's a baptism this saturday!  It's not my équipe or nothin', but it's this real cool american guy named Nate. He actually moved from Switzerland to the US when he was younger, was in the army, was in a bunch of crazy stuff in his life, and then got in an accident and found himself in a hospital in france, where he met the missionaries the first time in Nimes, just next to us.  Then another accident, and found himself at the hospital just 5 minutes on bus from our appartement!  Real neat.  He's a bro, too.  covered in tats, really funny, loves Jesus and the church and is getting baptized this saturday!  So that's new.

Other than that, I was in Vitrolles and Aix-en-Provence for a few days this past week.  In Vitrolles I got to meet one of their coolest recent converts, an Iranian who moved here about a year ago, and he and his brother both got baptized.  Really cool story, really cool guys, really cool rdv.  Loves Jesus Christ :)

Aix-en-Provence was really fun, too.  It was actually a holiday that day, so there weren't many busses.  So after having a rdv with a real cool guy with a red beard, we headed towards the bus stop to catch a bus out to this place a little ways away to find an ancient ami of about 3 years.  So we headed to the bus, but cuz we were talkin' with people, we just missed it, so instead we decided to walk out there and pass this lady.  We found ourselves at the top of this sweet mountain, like the middle of a rain forest/national park, with a few houses here and there, but it turned out this lady doesn't live there anymore......so we decided to knock our way down the mountain, and every house we knocked on we got a good conversation in with the people, and a couple turned into lessons, too.  So that was a miracle.  One real cool young family that spoke english with us, and then this reeaaaaalll old lady that needed help with gardening, so they're gonna go help her out soon.  That's what the picture is of, it's Elder Nye in front of some bamboo or something on whatever mountain we were on.  Took a video, too, but the only reason you don't see fun videos of me is cuz it takes waaaaaaaaay long to send them on emails, so I just wait till I send the card.  Sawry.

Other than that, here in Avignon we got to see Jean-Person. We talked about the Book of Mormon with him, cuz it was clear he didn't totally understand everything that was in it.  so we talked kind of about the whole story, when stuff happens, why there are 4 Nephis and why they aren't the same guy.  He really liked it though, and then when he came to church on sunday, they had a real good rdv with him.  I couldn't be there, cuz I got to play piano to help the primary kids for the primary program for mother's day the 31st.  but he seemed to really like it, so that was sweet.

We also got to see Lou, an ami we hadn't really seen for a long time.  She's the one for whom we killed a mouse.  Yeah.  so we saw her, did the Ma Famille booklet, and she loved it, so that was sweet.  She wants to do some stuff on Familysearch.org, so we'll do that with her sometime soon.

i didn't get to see Etienne this week, but elder Kimbergt did, on exchange, and he seems to be doing alright.  'Cept that they're baptizing their son into a false church this sunday! ;) but yeah.  We should be seeing them this week again, because I haven't seen him in FOREVER.

We saw Eric a couple times, but weren't able to visit with him because he was always just about to leave.  but he told us when we should pass by and he'll be there, so that should be happening this week.  So.

And that's about the week.  This coming week is MY BIRTHDAY and then also right after that we get iPads!! whooooooooooo. Neat.

Have another good week, tell Sam to not even study for finals, they ain't even a big deal, and give Nana and Poppa a big ol' hug for me when they get there.

LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Max Liechty

Week # 87 - Avignon

Heyoooooooo!

Hey, since I just saw you yesterday, do I have to write a big long letter?  Heh heh yeah probs.  

Sounds like Have a Soup Pie was real fun, and yeah, I'd go.  I'd probably drive the van out there, but, like, eh, I don't have one anymore so...

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

We spent a looooooooooot of time organizing all the less actives in our branch and mapping them out and dividing them up between the two équipes.  We have it all nice and organized and finally we gonna be able to do more less active work in this branch, cuz there're about 3 times as many less actives as active members!  This branch has to be at least............3 times this big!  What is this?  A branch for ants?  But anyway, there are a lot of less actives, and most of this week was spent mapping them out, passing the ones closest by, and finding a lot of addresses no longer good, but finding a few good addresses, too!  And some not too far from our appartement!

But yeah, this week was kinda funky cuz we didn't have many rdvs fixed, we were just kinda goin' and trying to find all week.  We were supposed to see Etienne and Ange on friday, but Ange couldn't, and then that turned out to be alright, because there was this huge problem with the trains that day cuz an "accident de personne," you can guess what that means.  So we were in Aix en Provence for the zone training that morning, and weren't able to get back to Avignon till 19h which means 7 o'clock in french, not 9 o'clock :)  But anyway, so we weren't able to make it to Etiennes, but we should be seeing him finally this wednesday.  It's been FOREVER.  He's moved appartements into another kinda sketchy area, but that just makes this whole thing more fun :)

Other than missing those rdvs, we got to see our man Jean-Person (turns out that's how you spell it, not Jean-Personne....super embarassing) a couple times.  Once about halfway through the week we stopped by to chat, and some members came into his store, so that was cool to see them all there, too.  We only had enough time though to give him a scripture to read that should help him with his desire to get a call from God, 2 nephi 31.  Then we saw him another time in the week, just to follow up on his reading, he hadn't yet, but he said he would.  We chatted a little with him again.  Then on sunday he came to church!  It's always real refreshing to see him there, cuz he always looks real classy and has a big ol' smile on his face. He really likes church.  We talked about the word of wisdom in the amis class, and he had some good questions about why certain things are forbidden if it's only bad if you're addicted?  And we told him that frankly it's better to just not take the risk and stay completely away from harmful substances instead of walking the line and drinkin' / smokin' every once in a while.  He seemed to understand, so we'll follow up on that this week!

Met some cool people on the streets, as per use (you-j....), but no one is a new ami yet. Elder Kimbergt and I have been working a lot better together lately, too, so that's been nice.  the other elders are all doin' real good, too.

However I totes forgot to take a picture of all four of us, and now I have a huge zit on my forehead, so we'll just have to wait till later to do that, huh?  Heh heh.  but you saw all four of us on Skype at the same time, right?  so that counts, right?

And here's a picture of a big old wall in a city called Orange, and then this NASTY bug that interrupted our weekly planning session, then we killed it, and this is what was inside of it.  I thought you might like it. ( I didn't, and I didn't include the picture either:)

So, you have to tell me if you like this style of email better than the day by day one, cuz for me this is WAY easier, and all the lame details are written in my journal.  But if you want to know what I did day to day, you let me know, and I can do that.  i can do that for you, cuz i love you.  But just so you know this is way easier, and I feel like i avoided a lot of the really boring details.  Just let me know. (Um, I like this style A LOT better:)

I love you tons, mom, and it was awesome to see all of you yesterday!  Happy momma's day again!

Love,

Elder Max LIECHTY

Week #86 - Avignon

Maaawwwwm!

Moooooooooom (in a groaning kinda tone), the picture is supposed to be of Elder Olivier pretending to be Joseph Smith in the paintings!  I can't believe you didn't get that!  Maybe that's just missionary humor...(Picture from last week...I THOUGHT that was it, but I had to ask:)

So we got plans for mother's day!  But I do need your help.  What time do you have church these days?  Cuz we have a member that can host us, but I need to know when you are home so i know when to Skype you.  So.....

(Birthday question) Maybe just some treats?  But not too many, cuz I'm fat, and I need to be skinny to fit into a french suit before I get home!  But really, I can't think of much.  Maybe just some fun pictures and letters n stuff?  That would rule.  I already have ALMOST enough shark shirts, but the rest could probs wait :)

I don't have a pic of all four of us yet, but we'll get one and I'll send you it!

I'm sorry, this computer place has been real ghetto lately and I'm running out of time already, so I'll try to get this all in.

I'll start with mardi.  We saw our friend Victoria, who works at the pope's palace and speaks english.  We practiced english with her and shared the My Famille booklet with her.  She realy liked it and wants to get hoppin' on her geneology, so that's neat.  Then after that we headed out to orange to see the famile Farina.  We had a real good FHE with them;  We just shared something out of the liahona about being an example for others, nuthin' special, but they all participated, and it really ruled.  Sweet.

Then we've got ourselves mercredi.  Cool things from that day:  We saw Jean-Person (turns out I've been spelling his name wrong for, like, 5 months...), and talked about baptism with him.  He really wants to be baptized, and said he will be, but he's waiting for his calling.  So...we're gonna try to help him understand that God called all of us to be baptized n stuff and how to recieve answers from prayers, and he'll be baptized. Don't know when, but he will.  But it was a real bummer, cuz he didn't come to church this sunday :( we'll see what's up

Then jeudi we had to help the other Elders teach an ami in a ville about an hour away, so that was fun.  She's real cool, but we also helped her move a couple days ater and she's no longer in our area :(  but she did meet the missionaries from Aix (the new area she's in), so that's neat.  Then when we came back we tried to pass a couple less actives with no success.  I actually had forgotten the map (oops), but we kinda remembered where one person lived.  Well, we knew what door/floor she lived on, but we weren't sure which building.  So we knocked on all the doors on that floor in all te buildings around, found some cool people, but not the less active.  Still pretty fun though.  Then when we were coming back, we decided to pass by Eric's house.  We had passed earlier, but he wasn't home, so we passed again. On the way, we ran into this guy who had met the elders in Aix and had given them his number to give to us cuz he's here in Avignon for school break.  looks like we got to him before the Aix elders could get to us!  Neat.  Cool guy.  Then Eric was home!  So we got to teach him, too.

Then vendredi was hilarious. It was a holiday here in france, the only one during the year where there are NO BUSSES.  So we had no busses.  Luckily we did our weekly planning that day, but we still had time to work, so we walked.  And walked.  We walked real far, visited a member who was in the hospital not too long ago, she's doin' fine, then we had our english class, and that went well.  After, when we were walkin' home, one of the english class students drove by and offered us a ride home, so that was neat, cuz we were able to make it home on time!  wooooo!

Then samedi was kinda a weird day.  We had it completely open, 'cept the morning when we helped the ami in that outer ville move (went well, met her tahitian ex-husband who is a less active, too, so that was neat), so we planned to go and try to see all the less actives we could.  We passed just about each one of them, not a single one was home, and we learned that many had moved and don't live there anymore, so that was....great?  It was fun anyway.  The funnest part was when these crazy kids tried to hit us with their car!  Whooooo!  We were in a pretty so-so area, not that bad, though, like, I'd been there before and never had any problems and there's plenty of old people walking around, but for some reason that day all the teenage Algerians were after us.  But we handled it well.  The face I made at them was kinda like this:    :I   And that sure got 'em.  Then we tried to pass some more less actives and didn't find them either :)  but, like, it was still a pretty good day

Dimanche was also neat.  We had lots of people at church, so that was nice ('cept our man J-P).  but the coolest was after church.  We had a fun branch council, and then we hit the streets to find some people to teach.  We met some cool people on the streets, including an ancient ami's boyfriend who's pretty cool.  And then when we were coming back in the evening, we were waitin' for the bus and started talking with this lady sitting there.  She recognized us because she takes the same bus as us every sunday morning, and I recognized her, too.  She thought it was silly how we ran every morning to catch the correspondance for the church. Ha.  But we ended up teaching her a restoration lesson on the bus, so that was neat;  She's real nice, and we had given away our only LdM that day, so we promised her one the next sunday.  YEah.

And that was the week.  Kinda weird cuz we didn't see our amis that much.  Etienne kinda disappeared for a second, but he's back and we should be seeing him tomorrow!  he was out of town working for a little and they're moving, too, so we're gonna help them with that.  anyway.

Weather's nice.

So yeah.  Let me know ASAP about the church hours, but i should be able to Skype you whenver you are available!

I love you a lot, all

Love

Elder Max liechty

DAD!

I've already started to try to serve him in little ways, and each time I do, I've seen it's really helpful.  Sometimes I'm just too caught up in myself to really help the guy out, or i really want to do what I've planned.  I think the problem is that I started out trying the "fix" the guy, cuz when President called me at the beginning of last transfer he went on for about 5 minutes telling me about all Elder K's little issues, so i was dead set on fixing him.  But I was way off, and I actually just needed to show him lots of love and be real nice and let him know that someone cares, because he's got a pretty difficult family life and all that.  So it's been cool to try to change my attitude around and just love the man.

the mission rules, dad.  I'm real happy that I'm here and that I've met all the people that I have.  just tryin' to meet more, if you catch my drift.

I love you a lot dad!  I'll see you THIS SUNDAY!!!!