Running running running

French Fact: They're very particular about pronunciation. I just had language study with a French person and well, I don't speak quite as well as I once thought. Then again, I don't do anything as good as I think I do. There it is. 

Recap of P day last week-we came back to the ville we all love, to spend time with Soeur Carter, who we also love. And whose birthday was a few days ago. So we went to the zoo, vieux Lyon, and Fourvière cathedral. We ate ice cream and crèpes that were delicious. Emily will be going back  to the U.S. this week and she apparently spent a lot of time sitting at cafés and writing in her journal, so she wanted pictures of it. She really wanted Soeur Carter, the photographer, to do it. But halfway through, I got bored and so I took the camera and went crazy. Comedy relief, if nothing else. Soeur Floisand and I sent on temporary exchange that night to teach a woman named Lola. She is wonderful and really has a thirst for the living water. It's wonderful to help someone quench thirsts of this nature. 

Tuesday we had Fellowship of the Jedi. We talked a lot about Elder Anderson's Conference and the spiritual and physical preparations required. I think I never realized until this point what a big deal it is to have an apostle. In the church, we kind of think of them as celebrities where we want to go shake their hands and be edified by their message. I've come to realize just how ordinary these men are, and thus, how spectacular their calling is. As Elder Bednar says, this must be the work of the Lord, because these ordinary men could not do it. Their capacities must be greatly increased and they must rely a lot on their faith and testimonies of the gospel. C'est pas evident des fois. We have been doing some hard core preparation so that, unlike the Nephites in the Book of Mormon, we'll be able to understand the words the first time. I've never quite prepared like this, but I think I want to in the future. If we had a decent period of serious preparation before every general conference, we'd never stop! And our joy would be full. Interesting note Elder Andersen points out in one of his talks-RMs will never become inactive so long as they pay their tithing. During lunch, we celebrated Soeur Carter's birthday with chocolate cake, a chicken hat, pop rocks, and a Lyon pin. We studied. We enjoyed fajitas. And I got to spend the night with Soeur De Oliveira, my bleue. She's fun. I like that human.

Thursday we flew back bright and early and everything that could have gone wrong did. We woke up and left by 4:30 only to find that the metro was delayed 15min. We got to our stop and had missed the tram that goes to the airport by like 5min. So we had to wait 25 for the next one. There were unreasonably large lines in the airport. We waited to check our bag and finally it was our turn and the lady was being trained. The trainer made her check BOTH our passports even though I was the one paying for the bag being checked. Then she found out that the cart de séjour in Soeur Luthi's passport was expired. Trainer lady made a huge deal and said we couldn't travel, but made some phone calls and turns out we can. At least she believed us when we said we could speak French, because otherwise this would have taken a lot longer. I can never understand when they speak English. Anyways, they made us go wait in a different line to pay for the bag. We waited and paid and ran to security. Another huge line awaited. At this point, we technically had 3min until our gate closed. Some nice lady let us cut a bunch of people, but we still had a large group of travelers in front of us with an even larger number of carryons. Trumpets, iPads, you name it. We talked to the security guy and he let us put our bags in front of theirs. But still, the scanner lady was being trained, so it was slow. Then another lady decided I was a security threat and she patted me down for a good five minutes. Just enough time for our bags to get through. We threw on our shoes and ran for another ten minutes to our gate. Made it just in time. They let us in after the gates closed right before the flight was going to leave. That's another good thing about France-deadlines don't mean as much and people show up late all the time. And we made it. 

everyone wants my photo!

We got back and went on exchanges right away with Bayonne. We taught a lady named Valerie who came to church for a year straight and was never baptized because of her husband. They are now separated. Our Indian ami Vincent brought an ami, Rerinold. The only hard thing is that Vincent speaks English and Rerinold speaks French. They communicate via Tamil. But we have to translate into a few different languages. Thursday we went contacting all the livelong day and it was awesome. We have a new ami named Frenzy and stopped by Soeur Baquedano's for a quick drink, spiritual thought, and to talk about her friend she's going to introduce us to. It was pleasantly sunny. We were also supposed to meet with another member, but Soeur Luthi's half of our equip had an ami call last minute and say he could meet right then, so we let her take Baba over to the Vendassi's house to teach him. 

Friday we had Zone Training, in which Soeur Luthi and I talked about how cool apostles are and how important it is to obey the dress code. Then we took the whole second hour to teach our Zone how to sing. I was conducting. I've gotten a lot better ever since someone pointed out that you are supposed to go down at the beginning of each measure. Elder Heck kept telling me to smile. It was hard. After that, Sonia told Soeur Brimhall and I all about her family problems and we encouraged her to do the little things to remain strong. We had RCM and this morning we had language study chez les DeFranchis. It was a great week. I am tired, but I will have two 13-hour bus rides to catch up on sleep on our way to Nice. So, à fond la caisse quoi. Follow the prophet. Love.