Week #96 - LAST WEEK IN FRANCE!!!!

Mommmmmmmmm!!!

Yeah, so I wrote Bobby and told him n stuff, so that'd be really cool.

And yeah, I already told everyone that knows Utah/America that I'm going straight from the aéroport to 5 Guys,

so I might have to hold that promise.  Also I learned that they are opening a 5 Guys in Paris, so that'll be dope. 

But anyway, yeah, we can go get some American eats, I'll pray about the destination all week.  I'll let you know

while I'm givin' you a hug :)

As far as sleeping, uhhhhhh...I DON'T KNOW.  Like, I'm really used to cold floors, like in Zach's room, but also 

carpet could be fun, and bein' wit' Sam again could be fun............uhhhhhhhh.....I don't wanna ruin Sam's bed, 

though.....here, you ask Sam what he wants, and we'll go with that.  If he doesn't mind destroying his bed to 

share a room with me, or if he would rather keep his bed and I'll sleep in Zach's room, ça me va.

Got a sexy blue suit at Soldes, so you'll be seeing that in a little.  Plus, it's kinda stretchy, too, so it's comfy to 

sit down in.  Mmmmmhmmm.  It's kinda the perfect suit, you'll have to see.  Also Elder Anderson and I bought 

the same one, so that'll be fun this sunday when we wear the same one :)

Let me tell you a few things about this week before I answer your last question(s).

I was on exchange with Elder Thompson starting monday night (where we taught the Polish guy on the street),

then we had pday, and that evening was the missionary meeting, so that's all we really did that day.  We did, 

however, talk to some of the guys at the suit place, and it was especially funny, cuz as I was explaining we were

Mormon, they were playing "I'm on top of the world" by Imagine Dragons, but I toooootes didn't even think 

about telling him they were Mormon till after we left.  So that was a bummer.  But the next day with Elder 

Thompson, we met up with a couple recent converts/less actives, one of whom we taught in front of Paul 

Cezanne's house (you can ask Zach about him, he'll probs know), and another that we ate kébabs with that 

evening.  Best kébab I've found in Aix, too, so that was cool.  We also met a really cool guy named Samatar 

from Djibouti, who came to our american cake night, even though he was doing Ramadan and couldn't eat 

the cakes till after he got home.  He's a real cool guy, and we're hoping to see him again soon.

Then on thursday we got to visit our recently reactivated frère Philibeaux, who is doing just fine.  We also got 

a text from one of our amis, Catharina from Brazil, who was telling us that she got her scholarship she was

looking for and she thanked us for praying for her, so we milked the occasion and asked her if she wanted to 

meet with us that evening, where we got to teach her, and the stake president was there cleaning the church, 

so he helped out the teaching, too.  That was really, really cool.

Then we went on anoooother exchange, this time with Elder Arts, who is going home with me.  He served in 

Aix before, and he's also from the Netherlands, and there is a Dutch member here who really likes him, so we 

called him up and visited him.  His wife is also a recent convert, so that was fun.  then at soirée gâteaux 

américains, we had a real good time.  Played a sort of easier french dodge ball, too, which everyone enjoyed.

Then when we got here to saturday morning, we got back to back to back to back to back mangez-vous.  We 

had breakfast with a member who wanted to see Elder Arts before he left, we made the pancakes, then we 

had a recent convert who wanted to cook Iranian food for us (that's where he moved here from), and then this 

american tourist family that wanted to take us out to eat at some french restaurant.  They were the coolest 

family (besides my own), and they were at church the next day and we sparked them by giving them a bunch

of really fun french things.  Aw yeah.

So then sunday all we had to make for ourselves was breakfast, then after church while we were heading out, 

our bishop was like "what do you have planned today" and we said "nothin' till the evening, why?" so he invited

us over to eat.  And you might remember about a year n a half ago I told you about how I ate with Bishop 

Caussé's parents and then with his brother and then about 4 or 5 weeks ago I ate with his daughter and 

son-in-law?  Well, get ready to be jealous, cuz yesterday I ate with the man himself.  Bishop Caussé himself.  

The bishop of the entire world (first counselor, but come on).  and it was aweesesssssome.  His wife cooked 

some amazing FISH (yessssss) and they are the actual best family in the world (besides my own).  So that was 

huge and historical, and also I'll send you the pictures, but that'll have to be from the iPad, cuz I forgot my 

camera thing....oopps.

but anyway after eating with them we went to a BBQ with the same Dutch member from earlier this week, and 

that was really fun.  There were some other recent converts over, too.  Good times in Aix en Provence.

And this week we have previewed a lot of traveling for district meetings and baptismal interviews, so we're

lookin' forward to that.  A nice busy last week........

So the biggest change over the past two years....I don't know, cuz I can't really measure myself that way, cuz 

I've been there the whole time, I think you'll have to judge that when you see me next week.  But I think the 

biggest change, as far as I can tell, is my testimony of Jesus Christ and my understanding of how much He 

loves us!

Most proud of....my sexy blue suit maybe?  Kiddin'.  but not.  but actually I think the thing I'm the most proud 

of is...I don't know.  I really couldn't say.  That'll take a lot of thinking.  Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of lots of

things on my mission, but.....I'll think.  Tell ya next week ;)

Most concerned?  School.  I was laying in bed the other night and I was like "I have to go to school for, like, at

least 5 more years............." but I like school, so it should be alright.  I'm probably more concerned about money

n all that, but that's just my fault.  I'll probs try to fix that as soon as possible :)

I LOVE YOU.  I don't know if I email next week or not, but I'll just tell ya I love you!

Love,

Elder Max Liechty

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Week #95 - 2 weeks left in Aix-en-Provence

This is us and Frère Ismael Men Dassi the first time we ran into him at 

a fountain on street corner (lot's of fountains in Aix, btw)

MOM!!

I saw the pics, and I was suuuuuuuper jealous you got to hang out with John n Terry.  Super jealous.

So for pday today, we're actually gonna hit up SOLDES.  Cuz it's soldes.  And it's my last opportunity before 

returning, so I need to get a fly suit so I can look good when I triumphantly walk off the airplane.  Luckily I got 

sent to the sexiest town in France for soldes, so that's handy.

Also, I'm a day late cuz yesterday was ZONE CONFERENCE.  And I finally met President and Sister Brown!  

One word: spiritual giants.  Or two words: spiritual giants.  Like, I'm just glad it wasn't some knucklehead that 

took over my last couple weeks.  They're really amazing people, and love just emanates from them.

So, let me tell you something about last week.  So we made a goal to teach 20 less active/recent convert 

lessons.  And you know how many we got?  20!!  Plus we got more normal lessons this week than we did last 

week, so that improved as well!  We saw so many miracles it was just stunning to see how much Heavenly 

Father wanted to help us reach this goal.  We only got 20 cuz o' Him.

We started out on monday, which was a little bizarre, cuz we saw Michel, and he's not doing so hot.  He 

actually called us the next day, still not doing so hot, and we told him to go to the hospital, which he did the 

last time this happened and that helped him out a lot.  So we're pretty sure he's there now, and hopefully that 

works out for him and everything gets better.  Really sad there.

We also saw Jacqueline that day, and we saw her a couple more times during the week to sing with her, and 

also to visit her with another recent convert, which was really neat.  She's the one who lost her dog and took it 

really hard, but now she's doing a lot better.  She really appreciates our visits, and so that's neat.  So that's 

good news.

Then the really big miracles began.  We went to go pass a less active in the morning named Ismael, but he 

wasn't home (and the prob is that he is never home and doesn't answer his phone very often, so it's tough to 

see him.)  However, we went to pass him, nothin', then we went n talked to people in the street, no one wanted

to talk, really difficult, and then on our way back for lunch, we ran into a guy who we taught more or less the law 

of chastity (real fun to teach on the street, btw), and then who do we see on the street corner but Ismael!  He 

sees us and jumps up in the air out of excitement (he's realllllly funny like that) and then we were able to share a 

scripture and pray with him.  Very neat.  Then we actuallly saw him the next few days in a row again.  We helped 

him in his yard, we taught spiritual thoughts, really neat.  Especially neat, cuz he was contacting us and calling 

us and inviting us over n stuff.  So that was neat.

We got to see Fr. Philibeaux, who did not pray to Moroni this time, so that was nice.  As of this sunday he is 

actually officially reactivated, which is DOPE.  We're gonna keep visiting him and treating him as a recent 

convert, just because it's been so long since he came to church, but not he's coming all the time and it's 

awesome.

We saw this really really really old spanish less active, too, who is really hard to understand (probably harder 

than pépé was) and is not really interesting in returning, but really likes the missionaries.  He's honestly like a 

hundred years old (I think he's actually 92, but he could probably be 120 also).

Patricia, one of our recent converts, asked for help on how to give spiritual thoughts at family home evenings n 

stuff, so we helped her out with that a couple times, and she's doing just fine these days.  As is Rachelle, the 

other recent convert, who actually has the same birthday as you, mom, which we celebrated on saturday (I 

pretended like I was celebrating for you :).  All the recent converts are just doin' great, so that's nice.

Also, I was in Avignon thursday-saturday, so I was having just as much fun as you.  Got to see some of my 

favorite members, the Hubys had us over for dinner, the Farinas came to english class, and Bernard and 

Marylène had us over, too, and gave me a birthday present they had planned on giving me weeks ago, but I 

had to leave to quickly after church, so they couldn't get it to me!  so that was really cool and thoughtful that 

they had kept it in case I came back!  Very cool.  Also got to see Halima, who is going to be baptized the 18th, 

so that's super cool.  Also knocked on doors with no shade in 100 degree weather in the south of France, so 

that was also really fun.  AVIGNON!!!

And also on sunday bishop Gérald Caussé was there, so I got to talk to him (in french!  wooo!) and he 

remembered going to Cedar Hills for stake conference, and I told him what you told me about liking his accent 

and hoping I get one, too.  But I'm sorry, I don't think I have an accent.  sorry.

So now we're actually on a sort of exchange/blitz with the Elders from Manosque, with whom we did good work

yesterday after zone conference.  Elder Thompson and I taught a Polish man about the restoration, and that 

was especially cool.  And also ate kébabs.  so today we're gonna go get foxy suits and then do more work and 

then do the real exchange on wednesday n stuff.  So we done been BUSY!

This was one of the best weeks of my mission.  We worked really, really hard and saw amazing miracles.  

ONE OF WHICH I JUST REMEMBERED.  So we were waiting for a recent convert, John, to come teach 

Jacqueline with us, and while we were waiting at the church and doing a little cleaning (cuz it was filthy for 

some reason), a NOTHER less active came in, named  Yves, out of nowhere just walked into the church.  He 

had changed his number (again!), so we weren't in contact with him, but we got it from him again, and he's been 

calling to see how we are and if we can do some activities together n stuff.  Really cool miracle.  Also John 

showed up, and he was really great talking with Yves and asking him why he didn't come to church anymore!  

Really neat.

The whole week we shared one scripture with everyone, Mosiah 2:41, which just says that if you keep the 

commandments, you're happier than anyone else, and also blessed in everything.  It's an amazing scripture for 

less actives, things which we realized after seeing all these miracles and the progression of these people.  It 

makes them realize that you can be happier if you keep the commandments, and it makes them think about 

how happy they were when they were going to church and how different it is now that they've taken a pause.  

Really neat.  And all these miracles are thanks to MOMMA WEEK (also, like, dad helped and everyone else and 

also God and Jesus n all them, so).

I love you a lot, and probs see you soon :)

LOVE 

ELDER MAX LIECHTY

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