WEEK 33

what a great way to end the week! conference was amazing and i hope that i am not the only one who got so many answers to prayers! it's crazy how many answers you receive when you actually take time before conference to find out just what you need in your life. i'm so amazed and so impressed as to how much our heavenly father actually does care! he is always there for us and will never leave us alone! he knows what we need and will continually bless us. i love that!

MONDAY NIGHT

well we've got a super older, but super nice couple in the ward and i had talked to the mrs at church yesterday; shes wanting to alter my suit and make me look slim and french! she said she'd never done that for missionaries but would love to help! so we made our way home after emails and got a call from him, and he said, and i quote, "Simplelment, vous allez manger avec nous ce soir. On vous verra chez nous à 6:30." (simply, you will eat with us tonight. we will see you at home at 6:30!) then he hung up the phone! so we went over to their house and they fed us some really yummy couscous and she had me put on my suit so that she could pin me up and get it ready for the altering! that took up the rest of the night and then we headed home.

TUESDAY

today was such a good day but i was so dead tired after! haha my legs were hurting so bad..it was the first time i had actually done like intense missionary work in a while! i had an exchange with one of my zl's and it was really good. we woke up and had to finish up making the tartiflette that me and my comp had to make for our district meeting...those onions seriously were so ripe and i was crying for the whole time making them...then we went out to make our train and it was pouring rain...so you know those movies or videos that you see of missionaries running through the rain? ya that was me...i felt like a.......SUPERSTAR!!!!!!!! (imagine me with my hands in the air with peace signs, while i'm kneeling on one knee) i hope that someone can name the movie...when we got to Torcy for District meeting we had a really good time laughing and learning and of course eating...sometimes you just can't have fun without eating. then me and my zl went out on our little adventure we called an exchange. we had a really good time and i really got to know him and i learned that i really need to get better at being a missionary...i've been out almost 8 months...you'd think that i was somewhat good at being a missionary right?? we actually even had to run to an internet cafe so that i could email my mom because my neighbor from home, who was visiting in france, was bringing me a package! it was fun as he got our number and called me and we planned to meet tomorrow! then we took a 5 minute mcd's break cause sometimes a missionary just needs one...and when you've got a mcd's fund it's hard to say no sometimes! then we had a dinner appt with a member and they made us some chinese food! it was really good! then my zl was telling me how if we see someone from home we are supposed to call and make sure that it is ok with president...so i did and all is well! he said i was good to meet up with my neighbor!

WEDNESDAY

so we started off our day with the norm...we got our studies out of the way and then we decided that since we were meeting up with the neighbor in paris that we'd run out so that we got there on time! so on our way out, the zl's surprised us with a trip to a boulangerie for breakfast! it was so good! then we made our way into paris on the good old metro! or the RER as the locals call it...can i call myself a local yet? once we got into paris i was like legit running to the gare cause i was so excited to meet up and get my package! today was april fool's but it felt just like christmas! i was so excited! once we got to the gare we met up with them and i just gave him a big hug! i was so happy! he said he was happy too cause it was a really heavy box...haha! so we took some pictures and then caught up on some new life events and then i gave him another big hug and we made our way to our train so we could come home. we got to our train and finally after a long 45 minute ride we got home and i tore into my package and found a speaker and some candy and some deodorant (cause deodorant in france is AWFUL!) let's just say that i was super happy!! then we got a call from the couple who's altering my suit and she said that she was about ready to cut the material on my suit but she wanted to make sure that it fit so we went over so i could try it on and then they fed us a little meal and then we had a dinner with the young adults in the ward! it was way fun! we all got together and had some food and played some games! it was a blast!

THURSDAY

so today was really good! we did lots of walking and talking and CONTACTING!!! i know a lot of you know about #becausehelives but you all need to go and watch the video cause it is so good! doing the church's initiative for this is so cool! the contacting cards are so cool and they make it a lot more fun to share! we started today with a little french course from one of the members who teaches us a little bit of french every week and it was good. the members here in reims sure do take care of their missionaries! then we had a rdv with one of the members that invited us over to his non-member mom's house and they fed us the most delicious quiche ever!!! and apparently it's called a Quiche Lorraine...which is the region Metz is in...and i'd never had it before...and they thought it was crazy that i was there for 6 months and never had quiche lorraine...so that was fun! then we had to go to the church to get to a rdv that we had with a man who called himself DR SCHAWKY hahahahahah so we got here and waited for an hour and he never showed up so we went out to contact! while contacting we realized that we didn't have any contacting cards so we ran back to the apartment to get some. while we were making them, we got a call...from a man who called himself DR SCHAWKY hahahaha and he was all why weren't you there? and we were all we were! and he was all the gate was closed and we said that he had to open the gate and come in the church and he told us he'd be there on saturday....so ya that was interesting! then we literally went and walked around all the rest of the night contacting and finding! i remembered that i left a special cheesecake that the member made for me today at the church so we had to run home and get that and eat it all tonight!

FRIDAY

well during our studies we were so rudely interrupted by a buzz on the door which just happened to be a package from my comp's family and it was a little conference care package, not just for him, but for me too! so i got a pen and a notebook and some candies for my conference! we finished up studies and made our way out contacting and while out i found a new kebab shop....i'm still trying to find THE kebab of Reims...it doesn't seem to exist yet! so we got some kebabs and made our way home for lunch and i was satisfied but still a little disappointed...i guess you can call me picky?? heheheh then i walked into my room and noticed that with all the candy from my comp's mom and with all the stuff in the package from home the other day, and i still had left overs from christmas, i had a ton of food that i was hoarding so i pulled it all out and all the missionaries had a free for all and took what they wanted! it was good, i got a ton put away and got a little cleaned up! then we started weekly planning and we all know how much i love that;) i may have gotten a little bored and started taking some funny pictures! then we had a rdv with our new convert and got to the church and he texted and said he couldn't come anymore...so we were leaving and ran into the member from canada and we went contacting with her for a while and then headed in for the night.

SATURDAY

well after studies today we went contacting for a little while. it happened to be raining and there was no one outside so we had lots of time to work on my infamous-but-not-so-mission-wide famous movie quotes! haha jk i don't think there is anyone in the mission who knows i love movies....but i do love me some movies!!! while we were walking we ran into a little friend...his name was ratatouille and he went to live with heavenly father...it was a sad, wet little mouse, dead on the side of the road! so i took a picture in his remembrance. then we came home and took lunch and then went to the church to meet with the infamously famous man who calls himself DR SCHAWKY....hahahaha he got there and we gave him a little tour of the church and he sat us down and pretty much said, i know who you are but how do i get you to leave me alone. do i need to serve a mission too? how do i get a call to go on a mission? haha this all took about an hour and a half to explain that we could just leave him alone if he didn't want us to meet with him anymore...it was very interesting!!! then we had another rdv and it was a really good rdv! we watched a movie on the restoration and he really liked it and had a few questions about baptism and so i asked when he found this to be true if he'd be baptized he said yes! and he wants to plan to do that in July! so that was really cool! then all the sisters were starting to show up to watch the general sisters session and the soeur brought me my suit! so we went home and tried it on and got the other elders to go over to the church to watch conference! we were the only ones to show up to the session that night so we switched it right over to english and i loved every minute of it! then we went and tried to find another kebab shop and we found the nastiest kebab ever! haha it was very gross and we all went to bed feeling a little sick...

SUNDAY

well since the church wasn't going to broadcast the priesthood session until 11 we had a little time to just chill and do some studies on a sunday morning! it was really good. i read in luke about the crucifixion and resurrection and it was super fitting for the morning! the we decided to go over to the church so that we could download the sessions of conference so that we wouldn't be struggling to stay up with it live! so we got here and started the download and greeted with the members as they walked in! it was really good to see everyone. we were given some lunch by a member and after the first session we set up a table and ate some baguettes and quiche! it was really yummy! then we had the second session and during the middle of the session, we were attacked by a storm of angry ants that smelt our chocolate and lemonheads! ahhhhh so we had to go and find some ant killer and get rid of that problem...it was kinda gross but we did what we had to do! then after the second session all the members left and they cleaned up the projector and so after everyone was gone, we put the projector back up and watched the sunday morning session and the answers just kept coming! it was very inspiring. i was waiting for president monson to announce a kaysville utah temple....heaven knows we need it!!! but maybe next conference! we had a good time though and then we went home and had some dinner and went to bed!

it was kind of an uneventful week and not a ton of new and exciting things happened, but i was sure grateful for the one's that did happen! all is well in france, at least from what i know! i love you all! keep the prayers coming. i need them! je vous aime! (I love you!)

elder libby

you never know how strong you are, til strength is the only thing you have left