Week #59 - Muret

Momamillian!

1. first district meeting was really FUN.  Zone leaders were there for it, too, so that was a good time.  It's a good thing I'm best friends with the ZLs, otherwise it would have been reeeeeaaaaallly stressful.  But basically I just spent the first half of my weeks studies on preparing for district meeting.

5.  We have not had a primary program in this ward yet, hopefull soon!  There was a child's baptism yesterday, though, and the primary sang at the end and that was adorable.

I've never even heard of Alexander and the Terrible Horrible Very Bad No Good Day.  What was that about?

I got the halloween package!  Thunks :) So what they do is when you send it, they send a text warning us that it's coming, and then we get it a few days later.  It was awesome.  I still love that selfie picture of you guys :)

So, our cool cyber cafe is down for repairs right now, so we're in this really dinky one, and the USB ports don't always work, so I'm not sure I can send photos yet.  We will see.

Okay it worked :)

Also, I thought of more things for the christmas package :)  I thought of RUNTS, and also blueberry muffin mix, like, that betty crocker stuff.  Mmmmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmmm.

So this week!

Lundi was really fun, because we got to do an FHE with our bishop and his famille.  They wanted Elder Haskin to teach the restoration all by himself, so that was fun.  In the mean time, we tried to control their wild children, more wild than any children you have ever seen.  It was really fun.  At the end, we invited them to pray again about the truth of the LdM, and to write their testimonies in a LdM after doing so, and to think of someone they could share it with.  So we'll be doing some suivi on that bientôt.

The next day was neat.  We got out to Auterive to pass by some members, and were able to see two of them!  One of them we had a nice little chat, and learned that he's been trying to do some missionary work with some pals, and we offered our help, and he accepted.  We also learned his really really cool conversion story.  This same day, I challenged the elders in Concorde to text us everytime they saw a miracle, and we would do the same.  Then we challenged each other to reach a total of 40 miracles seen.  We ended up with 51 miracles/blessings seen that day, and they were really cool.  It was an awesome day.  I decided that had we gone through the day, written down the numbers at the end and looked back, it would have been a really lame day.  But because of this miracle searching, it was such a cool day.  Yeah.

The next day I was in Toulouse on exchange.  We were able to teach two of their amis, both new, both awesome.  One of them came up to those guys and said "hey, I don't want to take to much of your time, but I'm looking for a church, and I over heard you talking to someone else, and I think it's yours" and so that was neat.  The other guy was just a normal contact, and now he has a baptismal date.  Miracles are being seen.  Also, Elder Rellaford and I ate an entire loaf of bread for dinner and then took pictures with light sabers.

After that was DISTRICT MEETING.  That was a really good time.  We talked about unity, and the Spirit was there to guide us to know how we can work better together.  Sweet.  Then afterwards I was on exchange AGAIN in Toulouse, this time with the Zone Leaders, and that was so much fun.  AND.  In Muret, miracles were seen that day, too.  This lady came up to us a while ago asking if we were the Freres Mormons, and we said yeah, exchanged info, and ladida.  So we fixed a rdv with her, she lives FOREVER away, and so that was fun for them.  They learned that she has been meeting with missionnaires for a really long time, and even had the entire works of the LDS church, not just the LdM, and already has a testimony about all that.  That was super neat.  So, the next time we see her, we're gonna probably invite her to be baptized.  She had lost contact with the missionnaires for a while because she moved.  Anyway, back in Toulouse, we found a member's home deep in centre ville, and he hadn't had the missionaires chez lui for a really long time, if ever, and he was very touched by our visit.  Good times.

The next day was pretty lame.  We switched back off, we were supposed to have a rdv in Auterive again, but that didn't go through.  So, while we were waiting, I decided it was time to text everyone in the phone that I'd never heard of and invite them to an activity.  From this texting binge, I received a bunch of "who is this?" texts in return, along with a bunch of "not tonight, but next time!" so that made it worth it.  Some people even called back and asked when the next activity was or if we could see each other another time.  So that was so fun.  We were just sitting there and getting texts for like an hour and a half straight.  Then the activity that night was really fun, I had an eating competition with a recent convert, we ate an entire bag of potato chips together, and then had a popcorn competition, too.  I totally won both, but if you ask Mary-Jane, she would say I cheated.  I didn't.

After that, we have samedi.  We had planned to go out to this distant city and knock all the doors, because it was a really small city, but by the time we got out there, we realized that if we wanted to make it home on time, we'd have to leave right away.  So.  eh.  It was a really, really long walk, and we made it home safely.  Luckily it wasn't a total waste of time, because we talked to some real neatos on the way there, and also fixed a rdv with an old guy we used to see all the time but haven't seen for a while to play pétanque with him.  So I'm excited.  We'll see how that goes.

The next day was chooorch.  The metro line was broken in the morning, so we had to walk from the train station to the church, which wasn't too bad, but it's still so HOT.  It's october and it's just HOT.  But not as hot as it used to be, so that's alright.  Afterwards there was the baptism, all went well, and they showed the Joseph Smith movie from the 1960s or whatever, and it was so fun.  I'd seen it before, but it's still hilarious and really great.

Anyway, yes, we are allowed to watch the Mormon messages.  I love them.  I love the one about the guy with the video in Goblin Valley.  That one is sweet.  There's another one, you might've watched it, about not looking at what we haven't done and looking rather at what we were able to accomplish.  That one was sweet.  There's this part where the mom forgets to turn on the oven and says "shoot shoot shoot" and it made me think of you :)  But that one's really good, because, like, what happened on mardi, when we looked back on the all the miracles we saw and not looking at all the lessons we didn't have or baptisms or whatnot, life was that much better.  Very cool.

" love you, I love you, I LOVE YOU" - Buddy the Elf

I love you,

Elder Max Liechty

Week #58 - Muret

Mom!

For a second there, I thought you were french! Woooowwwiieeee

1.  The first district meeting is this thursday, so, I'll let you know how that goes.  So no, I haven't had to teach a lesson in a DL meeting yet.  But soon!

2.  Right now, yeah, still planning on BYU.  I'll make sure I tell Nate he's made a mistake :)  But seriously, though.  I've been thinking about it a lot, and I think my plan is gonna stick with BYU.

3.  ... No response.  But, with you, I'm pretty sure it's the end of July.  "And that's all I have to say about that" - Forest Gump (I was wondering if he knew when he'd be coming home so I could make school plans)

So much marriage.  'Tis the season? Heh heh, yeeaaaaahhhhhhh.

I know that road, because that's where Jacen, Bobby and I went van camping that one time.  But I never went up those rocks.  Went up some other rocks some other time, so I know what you mean when you say it's no fun :)

If you're really gonna miss LP marching band, you should sign up for director or something.  That would be really fun

QUICK QUESTIONS.

what are some thanksgiving songs?  They put me in charge of translating thanksgiving songs for an activity, and then I realized that I don't know any, except Thankful by Josh Groban.  So.  Could you please send me some and the lyrics? (does anyone know any Thanksgiving songs?!?)

Also, I saw an ad for a new Danny Radcilffe movie called Horns.  WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT.  It basically looks like a younger version of Hellboy.

Mom check out this week, it was a neat one.

It started out with us on lundi.  We did street boarding as a district, and it was really fun.  It always starts out kind of slow, and I'm not really looking forward to contacting people for two hours straight in the same place, but it's always really cool.  We talked to this guy who looked like Johnny Depp, and he was pretty neat.  Talking to people that long always reminds me the importance of making each contact personal, and just opening your mouth and letting the Lord fill it, because otherwise you're saying the same thing to people for two hours and it gets really boring and most of the time people say no.  So I always end up liking street boarding :)

The next day we were able to see Sylvie, the first time since she was baptized since she was with her mother for the last little bit.  Still a member!  Still active! :)  We talked about all the blessings we have seen thanks to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Then, after that, we went down to Foix to see our friend Dayana.  She ended up being in this rdv for longer than she had planned, so we talked to the people in the streets.  We met this really neat guy, who was very very friendly and we had a nice long discussion with him.  He asked me to friend him on facebook, too, so, we'll get around to that.  But he's in between Paris and Algeria all the time, only in Foix to visit his bro, so we got his number and gave him ours and that is it.  He also invited me to come to his house any time in Algeria when I can.  So.  Then later, our train was an hour and a half en retard, so we ended up having to sleep in Toulouse because we missed the connecting train to Muret.  That was a good time.

Then we woke up nice n early to get back to Muret on time.  Then we went on exchange, I stayed in Muret with Elder Andersen's bleu, Elder Player.  He's from Alaska :)  We got to see Jerome, and that was fun.  Talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. He seems more interested in talking than learning, so we'll see where this goes in the future.  After that we went searching after the home of this referral we had, and it was really confusing, because there was construction being done on his appartment complex, and we couldn't find his place.  So we rang this one door, and the lady who answered somehow knew everything about this guy and exactly where he lived.  So.  It was kind of startling and funny, but we found his home!  And apparantly he hasn't been there for the past couple weeks and no one knows when he's coming back, so...we'll try calling him :)

The next day we were out in Auterive to pass the less active members we weren't able to see before.  We did lots of walking to find their homes, with not too much success.  But on the way home we talked with the bus driver the whole time, about a half hour, and he was really cool, very nice.  And it's the same guy every time, so, we've got some kind of ins with him now.

Then we were supposed to have a rdv in Foix the next day, so we went out, but, it didn't end up going through, and that was a bummer.  So we were out there, talked to strangers, and then it was back on home to eat dinner with our friends André and Charlotte.  They made this delicious meal, and that was so dang nice.  They told us they aren't too interested in learning about the church and applying it's teachings, moreso just meeting the members and seeing how they live.  So.  Well.  We'll probably see what we can do about that :)

Then samedi we were supposed to visit another less active member in a ville a little distance away, but she called us before saying she couldn't.  But at least she was thoughtful enough to call!  Sometimes they don't call and we show up and there's nobody.  We refixed for another day.  So next on our list was to walk really far away to these other amis house from Ethiopia and give them their BoM in amharic, and when we got there, she was on the phone with another ethiopian friend who lives in Aix-en-Provence, which is in our mission, and she wants one in amharic, as well.  So that was a cool little miracle as far as timing goes n stuff.  Then we got to see our dear Frère Déjean, still doing very well, loves the missionaries, and probably loves the church more than anyone in the world.

Sunday was cool, too.  Unfortunately, none of our amis were able to make it ... but the Déj was there, and he was happy out of his mind, that was cool.  The talks were also really neat, and were about love n stuff.  Overall, it was just a really good sacrament meeting.  I made it a goal to really really prepare myself for the sacrament, and so that helped a lot.  It was something our seminary teacher challenged us to do a few years ago, and I applied it once, and it was cool, and that was it.  Did it again, still just as cool, so I'm probably gonna try to do it more often.  So.  Yup.

It was a real interesting week.  We worked pretty hard, had some good times, and fixed some stellar goals for next week.  Looks like all you guys do is have fun, so that's nice :)  I tried mind photoshopping my face into the photos to feel a little more loved, and it worked alright :)

I LOVE YOU ALL

Love,

Elder Max Liechty

And some from his letter to kent:

Dad!

One day, sam is going to find a lake and catch all the fish in it, if he perseveres.  That's the message of the gospel, there!  But also maybe he doesn't quite have the wrist movements down?  Maybe there's a training video you can show him.

Dad.  I can't find the raincoat.  I know this is the worst news I probably could have brought you, but, I have to tell you.  I was looking for it, and I can't find it.  It must be in the mystical void where is hiding my umbrella and the rest of my Altoids.  But I'm sorry dad!  I tried to take care of it, I even mourned over it when I thought I lost it!  And now I've truly lost it!  I'm the worst son.  Forgiiiiiiive me.  I'll even buy you a new one if that's what it takes!

I've been focusing a lot on more sincere prayers this week, too.  Nightly prayers where normally a quick one on my knees, in bed, and then after laying down in bed I would continue to kind of have a prayer in my mind until I fell asleep.  But I've started trying to do it out of bed at night (I do it in the morning for sure, because if not, I would go straight back to sleep!), and it's really cool.  My knees might hurt a little more because these french apartments don't have carpet, but my prayers have felt a lot more sincere, and I've really thought more about what it means to pray, and how awesome a privelege...privilidge...privelidge................it is.  It's a blessing!

Thanks dad, keep being the best dad,

Week # 57 - Muret

Momma momma momma momma momma

This was a good week. We did lots of things and had lots of fun.  And Elder Haskin is doing great.  He speaks way better french than I did when I left the MTC, so he's gonna go places.  It's lots of fun, but it's also pretty difficult having all the responsibility loaded on you at once.  Like, I can't have him make half the phone calls, I have to make almost all of them!  You remember how much I dislike phone calling!

But I'm not too stressed.  Just taking it as it comes and also praying a lot.

I read Trevor's email :) hehe heheh that's a good time. (Trevor Shaffer had a greenie in the Philippines and his experience is WAY different than Max's greenie:)

Mom.  I cook all the meals.  I just taught Elder Haskin how to cook shrimp and rice.  I haven't learned how to make any amazing extravagant meals, but, eh, maybe some day.  We just don't have lots of tiiiiiiime to cook cool stuff.

No, we don't have many dinner appts :)  I've had a few on my mission, like in Gex almost every day, but not for the last little while.  But, eh.

So, was that an inspired question or what?  HOW DID HE DO IT.  was it cool or was it lame?  Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeez. (Zach asked Katie to marry him last week!)

You going to Capitol reef makes me think of me visiting Capitole Place here in Toulouse.  In France.

So anyway, check out this week:

It started out with some cool miracles including missing trains and trams and going wrong ways and whatnot for whatever reason, because I can make it around Muret and Toulouse blindfolded these days.  But anyway, we went on the wrong metro line, but met this neat guy who shared his Mentos with us.  That was about it.  But it made me happy anyway :)

Mardi was a very cool day.  We had planned to go to a distant ville called Foix, and as the lady was handing us the tickets, we watched the train roll away.  noooooooooooooooo.  So we made do, and caught a bus to another train stop to take the next train.  So the bus dropped us off about 20 minutes from the train station, and the train was leaving in about 15.  So.  We ran.  it was Elder Haskin's first time running in church clothes, and it was not easy.  But we caught the train!  and then we went to Foix.  We were planning on passing a bunch of less actives out there, but then we saw too many miracles and didn't have enough time.  But we got a lesson with this young adult woman from New Caledonia, who is going to come to church next week and also wants to show us the castle in Foix, which is a SICK castle.  It's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen.  When I saw it, I was just so blown away and happy that talking to strangers was that much easier and we met some amazing people.  Then, on the way home, we met this legendary member who works on the trains, and whenever he meets the missionnaries, he takes them up to first class and chats with them.  He started it out by saying, in english, "Where are you going?  Do you know Joseph Smith?  Do you know Thomas S. Monson?  Do you know Elder Tihopu?"  and the answer was yes to all of that (Elder Tihopu is in our mission).  So that was sweet, and the first class seats where very comfy.

Mercredi was just as cool.  We went out to Auterive, again with the goal to pass less actives, and then we met this guy and had a lesson with him instead.  Then fixed a RDV for that weekend.  He had some really weird ideas and conspiracy theories, but when we talked about God and Jesus Christ he normaled up a little and we had a pretty good conversation.  Then we visited one member famille we had planned on seeing, but only had a short time with them, and they had some friends coming over, too.  The friends came over while we were there, and we got to meet them, so that was really neat.  Yes.

Then Jeudi we got to see Jean Marc and Séverine, as well as had our zone training in the morning.  It was probs the coolest one we've had yet, and the Spirit was super strong.  When we went to Jean-Marc's, we started out by helping him plant some plants around the edge of their house.  That was a good time.  Then during the RDV, we found out that their daughter, Coralie, had read out of her BoM comic book, and that she liked it.  That was cool.  But that was about all we got.  It's going pretty slow with them, but they have so much potential that we don't want to stop.  We'll see.  We've seen that when we go with the Ducrocqs, their famille-in-law, the rdvs are a lot more focused, and the Ducrocqs just got called as ward missionnaires, so they're pumped to do more work with us.  Sweeeet.

Vendredi was pretty slow.  We did our weekly planning, and were supposed to meet up with Frère Déjean to take him to a baptism that day, but he wasn't able to make it.  Bummmmmer.  Then there was fhe that night, it was fun, but not too many people showed up.  Slow day, but, eh, we got some stuff done, so that's aight.

Samedi was fun.  We went to lunch with Frère Déjean and his pal Jean Claude.  When JC was out smoking, the Déj told us his concern for JC and his health because he drinks too much and smokes too much. He said he is someone that merits spiritual paradise with how nice he is, but that he's afraid for his health n stuff.  We read the story about Zeezrom and how even the worst can change, and all it takes is simple testifying of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.  He was touched and said he would do it.  Then that evening we got to see our friend from Auterive again.  We sat down and drank a coke with him, talked about spiritual stuff, it was good.  He likes talking about weird conspiracies n whatnot, but we did our best to keep it under control.  We challenged him to read 3 Nephi 11, and he said he wanted more to read, so he'll do 3 Nephi 11-26, the whole story of Jesus' stay.  So that was cool.

Then we got dimanche.  church was great.  We were supposed to have some amis come, but we called them before to make sure, and she was feeling really sick, so she couldn't come.  But we should have a rdv with them this coming week, so, uh, pray for the please!  They're really cool, and from Ethiopia.  And we totes found a bunch of ethiopian supplies that we can give them, so that's cool.  Other than that, church was sweet.  Everyone seemed really happy this week, so there was a really neat spirit there.  Yeah.

Then we're today.  Voila.  It was a really good week, sweet and awesome towards the beginning, slowed down a little at the end, but I'm picturing this next week and being pretty dang cool.  Should see lots of miracles, as usual!

I Looooooooooove you all

Elder Max Liechty

Château de Foix

Capitole Place

Week #56 - Muret with a new greenie!

Max and his new "son" :)

I'm guessing Lyon

Wassup wasssssuuuuuppp?

Mom!

How big is the marching band this year?  Still 3A?  And you'll have to record all of their performances and keep the best so I can watch it afterwards, because I loooooooove that music.

So this will probably be a real little email, because I spent more than half of this week in Lyon learning how to be a good father and all the keys to raising a good son, things which you cleeaaarrly already know, because you raised the best sons and a pretty good daughter, too :)  I'M KIDDING CAITLYN.

Lundi was straight off to Lyon in the morning, passing throught Montpellier...Wait.  I already told you this.

So MARDI, after I had emailed you, we did some training for the trainers.  I think.  This whole week was a blur and lots of training and traveling and sleeping in an apartment with, like, a thousand beds, smelling like a stinky locker room and feet because of the 25 unshowered bleus that arrived at midnight!  It was funny, because their plane was delayed, so they missed the corresponding plane, and the next one landed them in Lyon at midnight.  Heh heh.  So they all dragged themselves in at night, tired as bums, smelling worse, having not showered for more than, like, 40 hours at least, and that was that.

All I remember from Lyon was that we did some contacting in the streets to fill time because we were so behind because of the plane delay, and we met some neat guys.  One guy I was talking to seemed really cool, and we were having a pretty nice conversation, until this weirdo came up and started interrupting and asking questions about why I was mormon and not JW.  I later learned that he wasn't JW, either, but he was actually curious why I was mormon and what we had that the others didn't.  So I told him.  Half way through, the cool guy left, and I was stuck with Eavsdroppin' Earl.  At first I was bummed that cool guy was gone, but the new guy was actually pretty neat, too.  We were talking about the Godhead n stuff, and he wanted to make sure that I believed they were three separate beings.  I showed him Jesus' baptism as proof that it makes sense, and his mind was BLOWN.  More blown than any mind I've ever seen, and I was like, "buddy, that's first grade!"  But that was cool to see something click in his mind like that.  At the end of the convo, he handed me all the JW stuff and said he didn't need it anymore and took all our pamphlets and a LdM.  That was neat.

We met our bleus on jeudi, I believe, and that was super cool.  I got the coolest one.  His name is Elder Haskin.  Born in Minnesota, but lived in Georgia for the past little bit.  Everyone I've met from Georgia on my mission so far has not been in the same stake as Cumming, so no one knows Bruce or Karen!  Anyway, he's beautiful, and I'm so excited for this transfer.

So we got back from Lyon on vendredi, and I made a bunch of phone calls telling people sorry we were out of town foreeeevvveeer and couldn't see them.  That evening was FHE, and we had the two bleus in our district teach it to practice french!  And they did perfectly.  They speak like natives, those dogs.  And on the way home, these two people sat just accross from us, and said "WOW how welled dressed they are" and then we joked about it being friday night, gotta have the class, and then they were the coolest people I've ever talked to on the train.  So that was a good time.

The next day we got to visit Frère Déjean, and that was fun.  He has a reeeeaaallly heavy southern accent, not at all easy to understand.  But having been with him for three months, I'm starting to arrive at understanding.  But Elder Haskin!  Oh boy.  No idea what was going on.  He got a lot of it, but Frère Déjean likes to talk about his health problems, and uses medical terms, and when he started doing that, no one was following.  Then it was conference!  I'm always afraid that there is no way conference could be better than last time, but, it always is.  My favorite part was when Dieter F. Uchtdorf said "Mind boggling."  Heh heh, yeah.  Gotcha.  It was especially funny, because when we were in the car after the implosion of that building in Ames, you asked dad how the germans would say it, and Elder Uchtdorf said it just like daddio.

Dimanche was also straight conference.  Such good times.  I think one of my favorite talks was Lynn G. Robins when he talked about "remember which way you face," that was on saturday.  So was Uchtdorf.  After three sessions of conference on sunday (we do priesthood, saturday afternoon, and sunday morning), I was pretty much shot, so I really really enjoyed the talks, but I could not for the life of me take any notes.  But they were, as far as I remember, just straight testimonies of Jesus Christ and the living prophet.  Sweet.

So, as a DL, all I do is call people on sunday night and see how they're doing and also I'm suppoooooosed to inspire them and be a good example.  We're having a meeting tonight to set goals as a district for this transfer, and, eh, that's all I know.  I should be getting a list soon of things I'm supposed to be doing, so I'll let you know IF I get that.

I THOUGHT OF STUFF FOR THE CHRISTMAS PACKAGE.

A 2015 calendar, preferably something waaaaaaaaay cool, and then some, like, shark stuff.  Aaawww yeah.  That's all I thought of.  So.....if I think of some, I'll let you know again :)

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH.

And these are all the pictures I have this week, sorry, they're lame, I'll get a better father son photo soon for you.

LOVE,

Elder Max Liechty

Week #55 - Staying in Muret and training a brand new missionary

Maman!

0.  You called me a girl!  Google tranlsate made you call me a girl!  I would be "mon cher" because I'm a dude.  But I was impressed anyway!

1.  Weather is getting pretty cold in the morning.  But maybe that's just because I've been in southern france for so long, and 70 degrees is starting to feel cold.  Other than that, it's nice and breezy during the day, a little toasty still.  But also, I went through Montpellier the other day, and it was raining and flooding and actually that's really a big problem for transfers because if anyone is going between and east and west, we have to go through Montpellier, because any other train goes out of our mission, so.....but mostly it's nice weather!

2.  If you gotta go, you gotta go.  I haven't yet gone at an investigators house, though, just members'

3.  So, I'm staying, but... (see question 6)

4.  I thought of one thing: poptarts.  I would be so down with some fruity poptarts.

5.  Lost weight, fo' sho'.  I fit into pants I never could have imagined wearing once upon a time.  My one belt doesn't do anything anymore, but the other one has more holes, so that's a good thing.

6.  So my new area is not new, it's still Muret.  And my new collegue is.............I don't know yet!  Because I'm training!  Right now I'm in Lyon with all the other trainers, and we're waiting for our bleus.  Woooooooohoooooooooo doggie.  so that's fun.

So, eh, my week, check it ooooouuuuutttt

Lundi was a good time.  We had an FHE with the Urbanis, with all the missionaries, kind of a parting party because one of the sisters was finishing her mission, and some of us others have been here for a while, so we were sure that someone else would be parting, and also their son is leaving on a mission this week, to Tahiti!  so that was really fun.  Then, afterwards, we took a bus home, that was supposed to go to Muret, but instead it stopped in Seysses, in between Toulouse and Muret, and we asked the bus driver why it was terminus Seysses, and he said "ain't no busses goin' that far this late!" so he showed us the way home, and we walked for about 40 minutes and were late :) but it was fun!

Mardi we had a RDV with Jean Marc and Séverine, showed them how to make German pancakes.  And also, we got one of those comic book BoMs for Coralie, and she was diiiiggggiiinn' it.  So that was really neat.  And that night, we got to see Frère Déjean, and teach the restoration, because our ward council and mission president and also Elder Ballard have asked the missionaries to teach the resto in the houses of every member.  He loved it.  Then we had him right his testimony in the LdM, and he wrote a super sweet, humble testimony and that was great.

Then we had Sylvie's baptismal interview (!)  She passed!  No problems.  Then after talking a little more about baptism with her, we headed out to Auterive to pass some less active members and teach them the restoration.  We were able to see a few of them, and one with a member, as well, and that was very cool.  Afterwards, she asked us for a blessing, and we gave her one, and the Spirit was super solid in there, you could cut right through it.  Then also it was Malika's birthday, so we had made cookies that morning and gave them to her, and she was super thankful.  

Then jeudi was our last district meeting this transfer.  This transfer flew!  But anyway, after that, we got to see Sylvie again, talked about the Holy Ghost, and that was sweet.  Afterwards, we had a RDV with this italian fella, and it was realllllyyyy interesting.  We invited an italian member to come with us, and well, it was just kind of a bizarre rdv.  He started preaching to us out of this binder he had made for some kind of economic plan that would change the world.  But it was weird, and we had come to teach the gospel, so....then the member started trying to stop him, and kind of they started shouting at each other, and we were like "are they mad?  Or just italian?"  And then he gave us pizza, and that was it.... :)

The next day we got our calls!  I'm staying in Muret, training a newbie, Elder Mattinson is going all the way to Toulouse Concorde, the same ward, just a different city.  Elder Olsen says "hi" then that evening we went to Toulouse for a party at the church, and Jean Marc and Séverine drove us, so that was cool!  Coralie loved it because she got to meet all the other little girls.  That was a good time.

The next day was SYLVIE'S BAPTISM.  We spent the whole morning preparing, filling the font, making her a fruit salad, finishing the program, voila voila.  Her baptism was great.  She was so happy, and I'm so glad I got to take part in her conversion!  Then we got back that night and it was up n packing for Elder Mattinson, even though he's just moving next door :) like, 30 minutes next door, mais bon.

Church was amazing.  We had 3 Amis at church!  That's more than I've ever had ever on my mission ever. And of all places, it was here in Muret!  Muret-cles (miracles, kind of).  So this guy we were teaching english called and said he'd be in Muret this weekend and wanted to come to church, so that was one.  And then.  So it was fast sunday, and we decided to fast to find a way to bring Jean Marc, Séverine, and Coralie to church, or at least some of them!  So we left it at that, and started the day.  When we got to church, we got a call from Sr. Ducrocq, saying she was one her way to their house to get Séverine and Coralie and bring them to church!  JM works, so that'll be more difficult.  but that was an answer to our prayers!  She had felt that morning, randomly, to call her. She called her, said "are you dressed?  Can you come to church with us?"  And it was as easy as that.  so that was sweet.  Then we said bye bye to all the dying missionaries from Toulouse getting on their trains that evening right before we got on our own. And that was the week.

Now I'm here in Lyon, gonna get a baby.  This transfer was so much fun, and so fast, and we saw so many miracles.  Elder Mattinson has made his way into my favorite companions, along with all the other companions I've had, because they are all my favorite companions.

I love you all so much, and sorry if I scared you again being a day late!  Heh heh hehhhhhhh

LOVE

Elder Max Liechty

Week #54 - Muret

Mom!  and everyone else!

1.  We are getting along just fine.  Like two peas in a pod!  This has been one of the easiest transfers, and the fastest, too.  Not saying it wasn't easy to get along with the rest of my comps, but Elder Mattinson has been really fun!

2.  I met Elder Dover for, like, two seconds once.  He was companions with one of my companions a good while ago, too.  And remember when I met Elder Gee, and Ben Jones knew him from BYU?  I just remembered that.  That's neat.

3.  YES I remember waving stuff in the air and shouting stuff.  More like, chanting it, but close enough.

4.  Okay

5.  Bed time.  I'm kidding.  But sometimes, it is.  But I really like the evening, because we either have RDVs, or there are people home when we knock on their doors!  Cool!

I never read the Maze Runner.  I remember hearing about it, but that's it.  I read the Kite Runner?  Not the same.

THIS WEEK WAS REALLLLLLLLLLLLY FUN

It all starts with lundi, when we did our district street boarding.  We were talking with people, good times, met some really cool ones, gave them BoMs, and then got a really neat lesson with these people that I thought were homeless at first, but then I learned that they were students at a private college, and really smart, and spoke real good english, too, and also really nice.  Talked about the restoration with them, they were touched.  Cool thing.

Then the next day was really good.  We saw Sylvie, still on track to be baptized, no problems :)  And right after that we headed out to Auterive, a city that has quite a few less actives, so that was cool.  We were able to see a sister who hadn't been visited for a reeeeaaaal long time.  She still has a stellar testimony, but, like a lot of less active members, someone offended her reeeeeaaaal bad a while ago, and she hasn't been able to forgive him.  So we talked about the power of forgiveness and repentance.  She has a goal to come back to church before the end of the year!  So we'll help her with that.

Then I started getting sick.

But it was okay.  The next day we had service in the morning where we shoveled, and shoveled, and shoveled.  And my back hurt until dimanche.  But it was okay.  Then we were able to visit Fr. Déjean, and he's still doing great.  Better than ever.  The famille that takes him to church every sunday is sparked out of their minds because they've been seeing such big changes in his life the past little bit.  So that was great.  AND ALSO.  This guy called us, who had contacted us a while back on the train, asking for english class, and had accidentally forgotten to give us a number, because he gave it in english.  Anyway, he called us--luckily he had our number, too--and we fixed a rdv for the next day!  Cool.

Then I woke up the next day, sore back, sore throat, stuffy head, pain.  But the mission nurse lead me to some amazing medicines, and now I'm all better!  The morning was really difficult that day, I could barely move, but we made it to district meeting, and I was alright to finish the day.  We got to see the guy that had called the day before, and that was a neat RDV.  Right before seeing him, though, we met this famille from Ethiopia, and we fixed a RDV for a coming day.  Then our english class went well, got him a BoM, voila voila.  And then we gave some cookies to André and Charlotte, who were sparked out of their minds, and drove us home because they were so sparked.  Cool.

The next day we saw Sylvie again, still great :)  Then out to Auterive again!  This time we gave some cookies to the famille that takes Fr Déjean every dimanche to thank them, and saw a different less active, who was really cool.  The first time we saw him, he said a real catholic prayer, but this time he said a good ol fashion mormon prayer!  Yay!  Progress!

Samedi was the best.  We went out to lunch with Fr Déjean and Jean-Claud, his appartement buddy.  Those are the pictures.  We drove through this beautfiul country side out to this tiny ville to this delicious and not too expensive restaurant.  Fr Déjean was the happiest I've ever seen him.  He couldn't stop smiling.  And Jean-Claud kept teasing him, because he was afraid maybe we wouldn't come, maybe we'd forgotten, and as soon as we showed up, he hadn't stopped smiling.  He was all dressed up in a suit and tie he had just bought.  I was more sparked than anyone!  After the delicious meal, we went to FHE, that was lots of fun.  We did this cool object lesson, where you put five matches on a piece of gum on a plate, and then fill the plate with water.  You light the matches, each of them representing an element of the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, endurance to the end), and then you put a cup over them, representing the help of Jesus Himself.  THEN ALL THE WATER GETS SUCKED UP IN THE CUP WUT WUT.  The water is sin, and also there is normally a coin on the plate and is trapped under the sin, but is saved through the gospel!  Yay!  Elder Mattinson taught me that one, and my life was changed forever.

The dimanche.  The usual.  Except for in the morning this guy called us that also had contacted us a few days ago, only taking our number, saying he will decide if we are worthy to meet with him. He decided we were, so he called to fix a RDV, and it was kind of bizarre, he said he wants to have a really high level discussion...and he's italian, so we're bringing an italian member, and probably just gonna let them go at it :)  Church was great.  Fr Déjean was there again :)  as far as logistics and numbers go, that means he's officially reactivated :)  yay :)  That many smiley faces means I'm actually smiling and actually reall happy :)

This was a sweeeet week.  And now it's the last of the transfer.  So.  Looking back on Muret, I've learned a loads.  And I saw the work hasten from almost nothing, to not having enough time to do all the things we would maybe like to do.  so that was really cool.  The Lord's hand is in this, and I know it.

I love you all!

And Also Chan's post was very silly.  Good man

LOVE

Elder Max Liechty

Week #53 - Muret

Mary Jane's baptism

 Elder Higham and I (my MTC companion!)

Frère Déjean!

Peter thuggin' a BoM

Wooooo mom!

I'm writing in my journal, don't worry!

I've gotten to see a little bit of Toulouse, a cathedral or two, eh, besides that, not really.  We had planned to take a pday down to the border of France and Andorra, because that is the edge of our sector, but it would have been a 2 hour ride there, 2 hours back, and only 20 minutes enjoying it if we wanted to get everything else done on pday.  And en plus, like, 30 euros. So, we decided against it.  Today we found a mall, though, it's huge, and we call it "Wal Mart" and also we found a Toys R Us, so that was special.  Some areas are definitely a lot easier for sight seeing pdays, Muret, not so much.  But it's still a good time!

It was so much fun to see Bordeaux again.  I saw some members at the conference, too, and they recognized me!  Yay!

Mary Jane just got baptized, and Sylvie is going to be baptized the 27th.  Yes.

If anything, it's getting hotter and humider.  Not really, it's cooling off a little.  It should really start dropping after this week, or so I am told.

Transfers are in TWO WEEKS, aka, the 29th is transfer day.

Mud run looks like a BOAT load of fun.  Am I invited next time?

I was just remembering some jazz band songs today, and I remember how much I like jazz band, but not so much the class!  Heh heh.  Yeah.

Do you want to hear about my week?  Even if you don't, here it is.

It was a really fast week, and a little uneventful, simply because we were up n gone for a lot of it.  Listen up.

Lundi we were in Toulouse, did some legality, am now legal in France again for the next year, and then did some street boarding.  Talked to some really neat guys, especially this guy who had a Bob Dylan shirt on, talked to him and his pal for a good 45 minutes (only 10 or so were about Bob Dylan and music :) )

Mardi was ZONE CONFERENCE IN BORDEAUX.  It was uplifting.  It was a good time.  The spirit was there.  It was cool.  We watched a video of Elder Ballard who had visited the missionaries in the Swiss part of our mission, and it was cool.  He made a lot of promises if we keep working really hard and keep improving our effectiveness.  Saw some of my old comps, yes, good times.  That was the whole day, other than that, we were on trains there and back.  Had to wake up at 3h45, thought, because there were six of us in the appartement trying to catch a train at 6h00.  That was fun.

The next day I was on exchange in Toulouse.  I got to meet some of their really cool amis and teach them.  A lady from Ghana was one of them, and she's so cool.  They hadn't been able to teach her because of her situation, but now they can see her again, and she has so much faith and is ready to learn.  So that was cool.  Then I got to teach Mary Jane again!  And that evening we got to visit a less active fella from Nigeria, and he's really cool.  I'll send a photo of him thuggin' a book of mormon.

Then it was already jeudi and it was my first day in Muret the whole week!  And we didn't even get to do much.  We got to talk with Frère Déjean, though.  We're in more or less daily contact with him, and he's doing really, really well.  He has a goal to get to the temple, so I'm excited to help him with that!

Vendredi we got to see Sylvie, went over the restoration with her again, because we're running out of new things to teach because she's so ready!  I'm kidding, we're just going over the baptismal questions to see if there is any way at all possible to prepare her better than she already is.  After that, we got to see Malika again!  It's been a while, because she is really busy at her store because the other employee quit and she was all alone.  But she was able to make some time, and that was neat.  After that was FHE, good times as always!  Talked about the wise man building his house on the rock, and the foolish one on the sand.  Classic.

Samedi matin, we got to see Frère Déjean again!  he was a little upset because we weren't able to find any way to get him to the baptism!  No members from Muret were planning on going, he's a bigger fella, and would have a real tough time taking the train and walking n all that, so he was a little bummed.  But we promised him we'll make plans for the next baptism to be able to get him there!  After that it was to Toulouse, preparing for the baptism, and seeing Mary Jane baptized!  yay!  I'm happy I got to take a little part in friendshipping her and her son and even teaching them a coupld times.  She has an awesome rock solid testimony.

Then comes dimanche, which was church as usual.  AND FRERE DEJEAN WAS THERE AGAIN!  Yayyy.  The picture is him and the very charitable member couple that bring him to church on sundays.  They said they'd love to keep doing it.  Yesssssss.  He's so happy when he's at church.  Also, I got to translate for a guy from Arizona who was there doing somethin with Air Bus or someth.  Church was real good.  Real happenin.

It was a really quick week, and kind of a bummer that I was only in Muret for, like, a couple days in whole, but, eh, work got done, right?  This next week should be siiiiick, I'll let you know in a week if it was or not :)

I LOVE YOU ALL

love,

Elder Max Liechty