Week #63 - Muret

zone training

driving the train

Pilgrims

Mom!

Yeah, the tummy was that bad...let's not talk about it... :)

The mustache was one of the other elders halloween candy that he gave us.  It was grape flavored, and a reeeeaaally weird texture, not actually sure I was supposed to eat it...

I didn't get the box yet, I'm still waiting!

Frère Déjean is doing great :)  We cleaned his house again, and he's very grateful for that.  But I think he needs more interaction with members during the week, but, eh, it's France :)

And there was Sylvie's baptism not too long ago, and Mary-Jane's, both doing very well.  They've both given talks already and have callings, and are very active.  So no worries there!

As for this week, it was really fun.  Lots of stuff got done.  Check it ooooouuuuutt.

So pday was fun, afterwards we went on a passing route, passing old amis that we found in the area book, with a goal to pass them and then knock ten doors around each ami.  We were only able to pass one, because she ended up living real far away, but we passed by, she said come on back, and then the first door we knocked by her house also said come on back.  Not the door, but the lady behind the door.  So that was a really successful evening.  Nice.

The next day was succesful and miraculous.  We went out to Seysses to pass a less active sister who we had been trying to see for a very long time.  We had run into her at the grocery store forever ago, and tried to fix so many rdvs.  So we just laid it down and decided to pass her instead of calling her.  After taking forever to find her home, we found it, and she wasn't home.  So we called one more time, nothin'.  Then the elders in Toulouse called, and we talked about some plans over the phone for a little, and we were just standing there in her driveway while this was happening.  Then she pulled in.  Had we not gotten that call, we probably woulda missed her, and woulda been a real bummer.  But instead of being a real bummer, it was a real miracle!  Then because she lives so far away, there were no busses returning, so we walked home :)  Not the first time I've walked home from that ville, so not a huge deal

Then I went on exchange in Toulouse with Elder Andersen.  It was a good time.  WE got to teach some of his amis that are absolutely golden.  The wife met the church a very long time ago when she was a young woman, and is ready to be baptized.  The husband is really spiritually sensitive, too.  So that was sweet.  They'll probably be baptized pretty soon.  After that we had planned to pass this guy, and, well, it ended up being really late, and we were trapped in his ville really late, and he wasn't even there.  So it was kind of a bummer.  But the train back home had the conducter's cabin open on the back, so we pretended to drive, and it was fun :) don't worry, there wasn't anyone watching us thinking we were some kind of goof-off nonesense church :)

The next day was back in Muret, another exchange with Elder Mattinson.  But first, we had zone training.  Get this.  The church came out with this new initiative for the christmas season.  Get this.  It's called "He is the Gift."  and you need to go to heisthegift.org, I think it opens to the public this weekend.  It's awesome.  It's just as good, and then better than the Because of Him.  Yeah.  And there's all this stuff you can do, too, to be good missionaries at home!  Yay!  So anyway, we cleaned Fr. Déjean's home that day, it's almost kind of clean now!  Then that evening we knocked on some doors.  The first neighborhood we got to was just a bunch of really , really old people that got mad at us, so we moved on, and found a new neighborhood where everyone was eating at that time, but they were cool hip young families, and they said to come back!  Cool.

The next day some things went down, and elder Haskin had a bloody nose, and so the nurse said not to go out until it finished, and it lasted for, like, a million hours.  But I got to go out that morning a little bit with Elder Mattinson and teach this girl from Alabama.  It was in english, and it was hard, because I don't remember english anymore.  Then we got home, had a lesson fall through, and then started our weekly planning, and, well, elder haskin'ts nose starting bleeding again :)  He's fine now, though :)

Samedi was real cool.  We got to see Sr. Labernede, and that was sweet.  She loves the missionaries, and also wants her nonmember daughter to be baptized.  And en plus, the daughter WANTs to be baptized, too.  It's just that, well, they have a hard time coming to church, and also her exhusband is against the daughter being baptized. Well.  We'll say lots of prayers for that.  Then we had a thanksgiving activity that night in Toulouse, and it went really really well.  We were all dressed up like pilgrims and indians, but I don't have the photos. I'll try to get them from someone else.  Anyway, the evening was really really good, lots of people showed up, and we were dang hilarious.  We did a skit.  yeah.

Then sunday was classic.  Church.  Got lots done.  A member even invited us over for thanksgiving!  yay!  Not american or anything, there probably won't even be turkey, but still!  We'll teach those frenchies what it means to be grateful.

So anyway.  This was a good week, and we've got some good times lined up for next week.  Also, next week is the primary program!  yay!

So yeah.  Look up He is the Gift.

Love you.

LOVE

Elder Max Liechty

Week #62 - Muret

You didn't write me.

I'm gonna give you some time to think about what you've done, and I'll write you back soon.

:)

I LOVE YOU.

But seriously.  I'll let you write me first so in case you have any questions :)

So, you took too long, and I'm gonna write you first :) (He thinks I didn't write because I accidentally sent it to Kent. Luckily he was still online and got my email that Kent quickly forwarded to him)

I'ma just jump straight into the week.

Lundi we went out on the town knocking doors n whatnot.  We decided to walk down this road to another city and knock every door on the way, talked to some really neat people, and even found a lady who said come on back.  Also it was really dark and really cold, so we're gettin' all up in our winter clothes these days.  I, uh, purchased a new, uh, fancy french coat, too, uh, sorry I didn't warn you.  But it was at a place that is the equivilant of Ross or TJ Maxx, so, like, it's good quality for the price!  Yeah.  Nice.

The next day was rough.  We were trapped inside our apartment, because, uh, tummy problems ;) so that was a long day.  Luckily we were able to get the other elders to come on down and help us out with some important rdvs we had that day, and were still able to get some work done in Muret.  Other than that, we rearranged the apartment, and now it's super clean and really spacey, and I'd probably live somewhere like this even if I wasn't a missionary.  Cool.

The next day we were able to leave again :)  We went out to pass some old amis, becuase they had asked for a cookie recipe, so, we went ahead and gave it to them.  They were really happy to see us again, and said the next activity we have, they want to come.  So that was really neat.  Then also that day the electricity in our apartment blew out.  And we didn't know where anything was, so we were without electricity.  Cold, dark, and sad.  But we got some lamps from the other elders, and so that's the photo of us writing in our journals that night.  Yeah.  AND.  On the way home that night, we talked to this fella on the train, and he was really really cool.  His name is Paul.  He works on restoring old watches and other antiques.  And it was really funny, because the only reason he sat next to us was so he could put his feet up on the chair across from him, and he actually stole this other lady's chair to do that.  Ha.  But, we got his number and learned he also lives right across the street from us!  So we're gonna probably work really hard with him this next little bit.

Then jeudi started out with cold showers and darkness again.  The rest of the day was fun though!  We went with the whole district to do some street boarding for a little bit in the afternoon just before we hopped on a train to Lyon for bleu's conference!  And that was the entire day.  Really long train.

The next day was the conference, and it was great.  I feel like training is a chance to start over your mission again, because you get to remember what prez says when you first come in, and this time you actually listen and think about how to apply it, instead of just being tired and not wanting to take notes :)  So this has been a real good time.  That evening we got to get out and talk to strangers in Lyon, and that was really fun.  Got the number of this fella who was interested in prophets and gave it to my good friend Elder Olsen serving in Lyon right now.  Yeah.

Then we woke up really really early in the morning, got on a train, and came on home.  When we got home, we saw one of our neighbors and asked if they knew anything about the breaker and where it was, and they showed us, and it was as simple as that.  We clicked the button and it was fixed.  Electricity, warm water, yeah.  We felt pretty dumb afterward, because the breaker was right above the fuse box.  It just didn't look anything like a breaker, okay?!  The rest of that day was weekly planning, and then we went to Toulouse to have a missionary meeting.  yeah. 

Then church!  It was pretty quick, nothing too special, but there were some cool less actives there that day, and also we hit it hard talking to members afterwards and fixing with them.  Some times it's really scary to talk to them and try to get to their homes, but we just did it because we realized we never go to their homes, so it was about time.  And it was that simple.  We talked to them, and they were like "yeah, of course! We haven't had the missionaries over forever!" Which is funny, because I've been here forever, so it's probably my fault :)

How's Caity doing?

I'm writing Poppa a letter today, but I'm not positive it will get to their place in time!  So I'll probably also write them an email.

How's wedding preparation going?

Love you!

Elder Max Liechty

Yes, I come across lots of africans :)  Southern france is really close to Africa, and also used to own a lot of africa, and has very similar climates to northern africa.  So yes.  France is very african friendly, if that's a politically correct way to say it.

Is sam gonna marry her?

I'll go ahead and take them invitations as soon as possible.  I like getting letters :)

So far they haven't done much for christmas.  The grocery store has lots of wrapping paper n stuff, and I remember in Bordeaux one time there was a big old Salvation Army type band playing some christmas jams.

Did you keep everything from the van?  Did you throw away my altoids?  Did you throw away my banana peel?  We still have the couch though, right?  RIGHT?

LOVE YOU AGAIN

Dad!

Mom didn't write me today, so I'm writing you first.  Changin' things up!  I gave her a warning, though, that she isn't my mom any more if she misses another week.  But I was kidding, because she will always be my mom :)

I love that we can pray to know what to pray for.  It's hilarious, but also really good.  Because Heavenly Father knows exactly what he wants to give us, and if He hints to us that we should ask Him for it, He's already ready to give it to you!  So neat. I've been really focusing on praying specifically this week, by name and for specific things, and my prayers have been a lot cooler, so that was neat.

There's no snow here, so ski season is still long off.  However, there is a little city down at the bottom of our area that gets a lot of snow apparantly, so I'm gonna go check that out one of these days.  Probably not ski, but maybe go touch the snow.

You should pick the music for the reception.  You're good at music.  And also you could maybe engineer some kind of something that would be really cool for the reception.  Like a mechanical dragon.

I love you dad, a lot!

Love Elder Max Liechty

Week # 61 - Staying in Muret for another 4 weeks

Now, for the letter.

Mooooommmm!

I thought about not sending a full letter, because tout simplement, I'm mad.  You sold the van.  I'm not actually that mad, did you take the couch out at least?  And all my CDs, I hope.

But this letter might be a little short, because I forgot my planner at home, because this is a new transfer.  But, anyway.

I'M STAYING IN MURET.  and yeah, this is the longest I've stayed somewhere.  And, if I stay one more transfer, I will have broken the Muret record for longest stay.  So we'll see.  Crossing my fingers!

Daylight savings time is one of the best parts of the mission, because you get another hour of sleep :)  Yeah, they do it in France.

Elder Kearon is the one who gave the talk about being in the desert in flip-flops and being stung by a scorpion that one time a while ago.  Classic.

When we were in Lyon picking up the bleus, there was a huge religious manifestation, but the Mormons weren't invited, it seems.  But that's really cool that Elder Eyring gets to go to the Vatican.  Neat.  We'll have to see if anything gets posted about that.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!OKAY SKETCHY PART OF THE EMAIL MAYBE DON'T POST

Some members have been talking about a video that the church put up about the temple garment and temple clothes.  I looked on lds.org and didn't find anything, they said that at the end it was labelled ldsliving, so they were pretty sure it was legit, but, have you heard anything about it?

!!!!!!!!!!OKAY THAT PART IS OVER

So, like I said, I forgot my planner, so we'll have to see what I remember from this week.

Lundi, we went to see Fr.  Déjean, which is pronounced day-john, but with a soft j.  anyway, we visited him, had a good time.  We also went to Toys-R-Us for part of our pday with the other elders, and that was fun.

The next day we.....I'm pretty sure that was the day we went out to this city called St. Gaudens.  It was a very ugly day, the first cold day of the season, gray and rainy and dumb.  But we didn't let the weather get us down, and we searched for amis anyway.  We were able to teach these two really cool people on the street, and that was great.  Afterwards, they told us where the best sandwich place was because we hadn't had dinner yet, and then the best part: the sandwiches were really, really good.  It was a really cool day, because we had the whole district texting miracles to each other everytime they came, and there were a load of really neat ones seen.

The next day was stacked.  We saw Sylvie, very good times, still active, yes.  Then we went to Jean Marc and Séverine's, with Fr.  Ducrocq.  We got to read a little bit out of the children's LdM with their daughter before they got us playing games.  We played that one game with the pile of sticks on the table and you have to pick up the ones without moving the others.  Anyway, that brought back the good times.  After that we headed out to Auterive to visit and famille and teach the restoration.  It was very cool, and it was obvious they felt the Spirit.  That was a really fun day, and I almost forgot I was in a small ville because we had so much going on!

Now, this next day I don't remember so well.  I do remember there was ward council in the evening...Oh yeah!  We went on exchange.  I was in Muret with Elder Andersen, and it was really neat.  We went to Fr. Déjeans and cleaned his home, because it's not the tidiest home you've ever seen.  I used a vacuum cleaner and vacuumed the walls and all the spiders and stuff.  It was very accomplishing and now his home feels a little lighter.  We're not done, however.  We also were supposed to have a rdv with a less active, but that fell through because of us!  We were on our way, and we talked to this fella, and we ended up talking for a while, and were late to the rdv.  We got to her home as she was leaving for another rdv, but she and her husband gave us a ride back into town becaue it was raining.  On the way, they fixed with us to eat lunch with them on tuesday, or, tomorrow.  So that's sweet.

Vendredi I think was fun, if I remember correctly.  Wait.  Vendredi was the exchange......

So....................oh yeah, jeudi was district meeting.  We had a real nice district meeting, after which I had to go to the prefecture to check out my legality, which is still not ready.  Jeudi was kind of a slow day apart from district meeting, but, it was still a good time, as the days always are.

Samedi......ah yeah.  That was Stake Conference in the evening.  that's all I really remember from that day.  It was a really good stake conference, and because Narbonne/Béziers is in the Toulouse stake, I got to see all my favorite members again :)  Also, the metros were all down, so we were walking all over Toulouse that night, and that was fun.  Luckily, thanks to that, we met two really cool guys.  One was a friend of a member who came up to us and chatted, and the other guy lived close to the church and saw the missionaries and mormons all the time.  We had a nice little chat with both of 'em.  Yeah.  Stake conference was so good.

And then dimanche was the rest of stake conference.  It was such a good time.  Very awesome spirit.  And then that evening we got to go to a members home for dinner.  This frère had apparently the best pizza in the world, and it was true.  It was delicious. They also had a guitar :)  They also have an incredibly musical famille.  And also this was the first time in a little bit that I had been in a real active member's home, and the Spirit was so thick we had to dust it off our seats before we sat down.  It was just a good feeling.  That's why we need to get investigators into members' homes.  Because you can tell a big ol' difference.

Anyway, so yeah.  Staying in Muret, so is Elder Haskin!  This transfer is a weird one, only four weeks, but go on ahead and send all that.  I'm excited. I really like Muret.

I LOVE YOU

love,
Elder Max Liechty

Dayd,

It would have been SO fun if you had come with me on band trips!  You would've seen whole new geeky side of me come out that doesn't come out too often.

I really liked the Ma and Pa I had.  They had gifts for us at one point, so that was sick.  also, they talked with us and were cool.  they didn't go and chat with the other adults and be lame, they stuck around with us, and that was really nice.

I stayed!  and with Elder Haskin!

Yeah, so the Dr. Pepper video and burgers was mostly just for fun, no real reason.  The same story for when Elder Phelps and I ate the baguettes.  Elder Haskin and I have one, too that I made just barely, but there's more talking in it.  You'll see!

This week was a real good time, and stake conference was amazing. I don't think I've ever had a more fun and good stake conference.  Because I actually listened and prepared for this one like I would any other conference.  Also, stake conference in France is way cooler than in Utah, because people be comin' from four hours away to see this, and it's like a big reunion with a bunch of people you haven't seen for a long time.  A real gathering of the Saints.  Very neat.

That's kind of bizarre that the weather is still so nice in Utah.....it's starting to get reallllly ugly here, but, like, not a huge deal. Probably keep working :)

Love you, daddy,

Love Elder Max Liechty

Week #60 - Muret

3. I'd say my french is pas mal.  Check that out.  That means "not bad" in french, so, that just goes to show ya.  The french people always say I speak good french, but I think they're just trying to be nice.  Either way, after the first second or two, they all know you're american.  There's no hiding it.

4.  Just a little notice!  this transfer is over this week, and then next transfer is only 4 weeks long so that people aren't travelling over Christmans.  So, I don't know if you already knew that, but that's the news.

I did not feel that bad when marching band was over.  Eh.  Like, I liked it, but, it's kind of one of those things for me that you do and enjoy and then at some point you kind of just have enough of it.  Sam's probably just a super geek.  But it's true that I do get probably too excited when I find other missionaries who did marching band so we have something to talk about together...If that answers your question.  Let's just say I didn't cry like cry baby over there :) luv u sam

They kind of do halloween in france, but it's really pretty new.  But it's such a catholic country that lots of people do the all saints day mass, which is not as fun as halloween, and is also the next day.  I don't think they dress up in costumes for that.

While I think about what you can pray for, let me tell you about this week:

lundi was very good times.  After emails, we went to visit Fr. Déjean with the bishop.  It was really fun, and we watched a really ancient church video, you might've seen it, called Man's Search For Happiness.  Classic.  He enjoyed it, we talked with him, and he really respects the bishop. He even had him do both the opening and closing prayers.  Ha.  Yeah.

The next day was super fast, because we had our studies in the morning, got ready to go to Bordeaux, and then went to Bordeaux, for zone conference that is.  The train was really fun, and long, and also Bordeaux is still a really cool city.  Funny story from that day:  when all the missionaries got on the bus to go to their apartments that night, this guy was staring and smiling at us.  All the elders were on, and then the sisters ran to catch it, too, and got on after us.  They walked through all of us, and when they got towards the said man, he said "be careful, they're gonna convert you!" and then saw that all the girls had plaques, too, and that was hilarious. He laughed, too, so it was not awkward.

And then the next day was zone conference.  Inspiring like nothing else.  Elder Kearon from the 70 was there, and it was amazing.  It was all about things that can keep us motivated and help us rise to a new level of commitment in our missionary work.  One of those things was always thinking about our families, past, present, and future.  The name we wear, the people we're representing, and the people we're working for.  He had us imagine what we wanted our children to be like in several years (I imagined them exactly like us, because you created perfect children), and decide what new level of commitment we needed in order to earn these children.  That was cool.

The next day we were able to see Sylvie, and that was great.  Talked about endurance to the end, and she was down wit' it.  Nice.  Then after that we headed home, prepared a list of people we were gonna pass from the area book, because we decided we weren't doing enough follow up, and started it.  Didn't get very far, but, eh, we started.  After that was ward council, that was really fun.  They've been doing it over the phone for the past while, and I've been absolutely sick of it because it's so hard to follow on a conference call, and in person was so much better.  Then it was all six elders sleeping in the muret apartment.  That was great.  By the way, when we were in Bordeaux, we had, like, 20+ elders in our apartment, and that was great.

The next day there was a party that evening for the other ward.  It was actually not a party, but a talent show, but that doesn't really matter.  anyway, we invited a bunch of people, and the last guy we were expecting was the only one able to come.  And he stayed after we had to leave, and made some friends.  That was pretty cool.  Then get this, he came to church on sunday.  Yeah.

samedi was a real good time, because we went out to Foix to do some service at a member's home.  My back still hurts, but it was really, really fun.  Also Foix is still the coolest city out there.  By the way, I was on exchange with Elder Mattinson, that's why he's in the picture, not Elder Haskin.  But that evening, also, we had salmon, which was delicious, and Elder Mattinson's parents had sent Old Bay seasoning, so that was even better.  And we also made 5L of kool aid.

Dimanche was good, as always.  Because it was fast sunday, we got time in the morning to go out and work!  Yay!  After talking to people out on their sunday walks, we went to the train station, where we ran into a less active member we had never met before.  He's from Nigeria, and he's pretty dang cool.  So that was a neat last minute exchange miracle. Church was great, our friend Jerome was there, out of nowhere.  He seemed to like it, so we'll see if coming to church changed anything for him.  And that's about the week.

As far as praying, I suppose you could pray that we find some new amis?  We didn't get to do any teaching this week except for Sylvie and street teaching, and we really need to find some new people here in Muret.

Also, I'm in a WARD mom, it's a WARD.  France isn't thaaaat behind the times.  I may have said branch before because Narbonne really got to my brain, man.  But no, I haven't born my testimony except for arriving and leaving.

Anyway.  I love you a lot.  Here's a picture of Elder Haskin finishing our Star Wars puzzle and his content face afterwards.

Is there anything I can pray for YOU for?  Huh?

I LOVE YOU

love,

Elder Max Liechty

And a cute story from Kent's email:

I had a really neat experience I forgot to tell momma.

It was at the Bordeaux conference.  They asked me to be in a little group of people to sing the EFY Medley of As Sisters in Zion and Army of Helaman.  So we sang a little at the beginning, and then the rest of the missionaries would come in, and it was really cool.  And to be honest, I could care less that I got to sing, because, I'm a real average singer, nothin' special here.  But the fact that I got to be on that end of the singing, to hear what Prez Roney and Elder Kearon got to hear, to imagine what it had to have sounded like at our Nice conference in summer with Elder Andersen, just blew my mind.  There was another presence in that room, and I totes felt something stronger that I remember ever feeling before.  That was really cool.

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