Phoenix

     Sorry in advance, but there will be a lot of grammatical corrections to be made in these emails. Every word I write is underlined in red and the keyboard is different and I have to press shift AND another button in order to type a period.  cherish them. 

MTC District June 23, 2013

     Last Sunday I participated in the biggest Sacrament Meeting ever. It was in the gym and it worked so smoothly. there are miracles afoot in every aspect of the day, my friends. Then I got to be in the Missionary Broadcast and so close to the Brethren. The messages were wonderful and really placed importance on the role of members in missionary work. If serving a mission does nothing else for me, I hope I will come home with an improved idea of my role as a ward member. They are so important. If you have not seen this, watch it now.
   Some side notes. First, Sister Marriott came to Relief Society last week or so and gave us the FULL version of her story. She is adorable. Second, if you're wondering why everyone laughs as Holland sits down and L Tom gets up to speak, its because Elder Perry stuck his arm out to clothesline Holland on the way up. They are so full of life and energy and it's awesome. Finally, I would note that we tried to situate ourselves to get a nice closeup, but despite all the indicators to the contrary during the practice session, it did not occur. However, if you really want to see me, I'm in a yellow shirt next to the aisle and you can tell its me around 2:36 online. Enjoy my beautiful face. 

     We woke up early to get on our plane and said goodbye to all our friends. And then they decided to not send us to the airport for another 3 hours. So that was awkward at breakfast. We took three flights, landing in Chicago, London, and finally Lyon. We barely made it on each of them. Although, I did have some time to introduce a man to the plan of Salvation, which he said he would look more into if I would check out Thomas Equinnus. I think that's his name, some philosopher that talks about the Bible. Please, sir, you got a deal. Give it two years, though. He also tried to stump me with some riddle about Original Sin and was speechless when I trumped that with Article of Faith Number Two. Gateau, my friend.  Oh yeah and my companion, Sister Swenson tried to take the biggest pair of scissors onto the plane. Seriously imagine scissors at least triple to length and width of a broadsword that she forgot in her backpack. So we were sprinting to our plane after that holdup. 

France

     We met President Roney and Sister Roney at the airport and half of our bags were lost. Good thing I packed extra clothes in my carry on and there was Hotel Douche Gel in the bathroom. We contacted a little in between going places, and went through a series of rejections from Atheists and Muslims and all kinds. We also gave out our first Book of Mormon. Elder Smart contacted the maid at our hotel. He is seriously awesome. We got the weirdest chest x-rays ever and became legal to stay in France!  yay!  (Also I found the exclamation mark button!)

     My companion is Sister Layton. She's just as tall as me and says somehow companions always share some physical trait. Funny. It took her a week to tell me that I'm killing her, which contrary to my original thoughts, does not mean she's frustrated with me, but that this is her last transfer. Scary. 

     So, missionary work. We started off a little rough because she was really sick the first day and the Africans are flaky. Also, suddenly, I can't understand anything here. Every day I understand more and more, but its been rough adjusting to the speed and accents. 

     I'm in Annacy, the fairy tale town right next to Switzerland. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really in France because people just throw English at me sometimes. Frere Giles is my favorite. He is from Utah and apparently is a video game creator. The branch here is small and ready for some serious Blue Fire if you catch my drift. The members work with the missionaries a lot, but conversions are low just because they've done all they can already and they keep trying to help. The Cadets are funny. They're in charge of all things musical. Frere Cadet usually plays the piano, the right hand line with both hands, but he asked me to do it. Then he told me I need to practice more. Sorry, peoples salvation is more important than playing the piano well at church. In Relief Society, Sister Cadet was leading the song as we walked in and stopped it. She went on about how she did her makeup today and looks really pretty and nobody will look at her leading and how can she work with people like us? Of course I learned this all afterwards when Soeur Layton translated. Oh yeah, and she knows Kaitlyn Albach and Peter Moody because she's from Orem. Small world. 

Tiramisu

This morning she was making Tiramisu and asked me to finish it while she took a shower. Bad idea. I did what she told me and then panicked because I saw this chocolate-y mixture and I couldn't remember her saying what to do with that; So I tried to mix it in. Turns out I had it right the first time and she was already done with that mixture of cocoa powder and water. Well, it'll still taste good, right? 

   

  I also now more fully understand Frere Smiths hesitation to contact on buses. And for the record, I'd appreciate any contacting tips or spiritual thoughts you come across. This is my letter address:

39 Ave du Cran 74000 Annecy France

Lies they told me about France. 

-People are mean. Not true. But really, like anywhere, it depends on the people. Although people here will be more honest with you, but I think I prefer it that way. 

-People are stylish. At least not here. Its like a mix between America and a thrift store. Everyone dresses very neutrally except for the occasional solid color teal sweatsuit with sneaker heels. Yikes. 

-People aren't ready for the gospel. Obviously that's false. I handed it to a man who tried to tell me that on the plane.

Truths:

-Everyone smokes. 

-There's lots of Africans. 

-The public transportation is well used. 

-And there are lots of round abouts. 

-People speak French. 

OH and here's a funny experience I forgot about. I told Soeur Layton to call potentials while I contacted; And then this old guy tried to get me to sit in his bike basket and go eat at a restaurant. I told him I'd meet him at the church to talk about Jesus.Nice try. I'm a missionary.

Okay I have to go invite people to Christ now.