WEEK 37

well this week went super quick! it was a good week and it was full of change. so to start off i've found that i am ADDICTED to patisseries and bread, and i got a new collegue!...i believe i told you all last week so i don't know why i am telling you again but i am:) i like him a lot! he is super quiet so that's been interesting trying to get around the awkward first week of a new companionship phase...but he's good and he knows what he is doing! he is from canada...saskatoon saskatchewan and he went to a french immersion school so he is PRO at the language! so that's a plus! the weather here has been getting amazing! i love the spring in france:) it's not too hot, and it's not too cold, all you need is a light jacket!:) #hopeyouallgetthemoviequote france is definitely a beautiful place and if you haven't been i strongly suggest you hurry and buy yourself some plane tickets! 

TUESDAY NIGHT

so tonight was such a blast! we were invited to go over to a wardies apartment to talk for a little bit and then to go bowling with her and her boyfriend/recent convert to the ward. we had so much fun! we bowled for a good two hours and had some pizza and laughed and listened to normal music! it was a great night. definitely a good night to end the stay in Reims for my old comp. and a little side note...just before i signed off of emails today, i got a call from the mission office telling me that i am the designated driver in Reims, and with that i will be the blue card holder! (blue card is a special credit card that i can buy things with) so i was happy and i got to drive us around all night! it was fun:)

WEDNESDAY

so we woke up this morning and had a little time for some studies before we had to leave the apartment pour aller à paris (to go to Paris!) days spent in paris are always a fun time! we got in around 11 and had until 2 for our train! on the way in we found out that our zone leader was on with us so we went to go see him and his comp and he told us there was a soeur that was being transferred that was all alone and needed help with bags so we went to find her and then took her to the meeting point where there were probably close to 75 missionaries just chilling in the metro station! it was fun to be there with everyone! we talked to everyone and then when our time came to depart i went and gave a few last hugs to all the "dying" missionaries! that's missionary talk for all the missionaries going home! we then went with some other elders and got some macdo lunch. cause nothing beats the #bigmacmealfor10euros haha it was good fun and when in france, you can't always think about cost...you sometimes just have to do;) then we got on our train and we chilled and talked and made our way into Reims! it was interesting having to help my collegue get all around cause i've only been here for about 6 weeks and i still don't know the area all that well! so it was fun trying to find all the places again! we got his luggage home and then had to come to the church to do the car report..that took a lot longer than i expected and so we went porting for the last little bit of the night and then came home for dinner.

THURSDAY

today was super interesting!!! we got to help a complete stranger. it was a blast. we started out with contacting and it went well...we had to go send off some letters and stuff to get to the mission home and look for some train times and then we all decided we wanted a kebab for lunch so we went to this kebab shop that we've all been dying to try and when we got there we found out that it was closed...for the MONTH of May! i think that might have been god trying to tell me to calm down a little?? so instead we all went home and made some lunch together...we then went less-active and old investigator finding and found one ami who told us that she wanted us to come back but her hubby wasn't home and knew we couldn't come in without him there so she was going to call us to invite us over for dinner! so that was fun. we then were walking back cause we missed the bus (and soon figured out why) and saw a lady driving along with a flat tire...i thought in my head that sucks...then about a block ahead i had noticed it was the same car, but now parked and a lady getting out of it so i was all i'll talk to her and tell her it's flat...so i stopped her and she was all No! and i was like your tire's flat ...and she was like, AHHH! i'm so sorry thank you so much...oh my what am i going to do?? and i was all do you have a spare and she was like i don't think so...so we looked in her car and found a spare and then she just looked at us. my new comp was all i don't know how to do this so i was all ok i be gettin down and dirty. so it was raining and i was changing a tire! i got all the nuts off and went to pull the tire off, but it was stuck so i was like maybe we unscrew that nut? and this random dude came up to me from the sidewalk and said no it's just stuck cause of the rust and then he vanished into thin air #angelnumber1 so i was like well i guess we can just bang it with the wrench? so i did that and got no where so i then was like i need a hammer, and another guy from the sidewalk came up to me and was like do you want this? and handed me a hammer...#angelnumber2 so i banged the tire and it came loose and replaced this lady's tire with only damaging my shirt a little bit! i then gave the man back his hammer and he vanished into thin air as well. it was kind of a cool experience! then we went to the first counselor's house for the night and talked to them about their less-active daughter and they were really nice to us and gave us a cake to take home for the night!

FRIDAY

so today was literally just a whole bunch of planning...haha i don't have a ton to report cause we spent 5 hours planning and it was just a long day! but i guess you could say that it was important cause today marked 11 years since my baptism! i only remember that cause it was the day before mom's bday! so that's fun! I decided I wanted a quiche for lunch and did it all by myself! that's really fun! and then planned and had some fun while doing that! we then went out contacting tonight and found an english speaking girl from nigeria who said she wanted to meet with us and come to church! so that was really cool! and we are meeting with her tomorrow!

SATURDAY

so we woke up this morning and had to rush out the door to make it on our train to get to paris for the day! and for the day i mean for like 2 hours or so...but we got there and to my surprise, an elder I knew from the mtc was there! so while our collegue's went in for their meeting, me and him teamed up as collegues and went contacting together and went to see the seine river, the tip of the eiffel tower and the louvre! it was a great time. i love paris so much! did you know that? we then were on our way back and we found this shop that has some really good gaufres i guess and so we went in and i got some gaufres for lunch! and yes they were really good! then we went back and i cried a little cause i had to say goodbye;) jk but then we made our way back to reims! when we got back we had a rdv with an ami named Jean-Parfait (directly translated it means john perfect;) and it went really well. we taught him the plan of salvation and he was really happy to hear that we have a life after this life...he said he never knew for sure cause he never thought about it, but he said it makes sense if there is a god! so that was really cool. he then asked us some questions in the book of mormon that he had found since the last time and told us he is still planning on being baptized in July! so that was really cool. we then went to go meet with the girl from nigeria. she was a little late and we had to wait for a while but that's ok. it usually happens with most investigators! but we took her to the church and showed her that and then showed her the baptismal font and she was really happy. she said she felt warm and happy and good. we sat her down and talked and asked her what she wanted while meeting with us and she said, i just want to be happy. you two are happy and i just want to be like you. i have things in life that make me not happy, but i want to be happy cause i know that god wants me to be happy. she was tearing up and almost got me crying! it was so spiritual. we talked and asked if she'd come to church and she said yes! then we went home and met up with one of the couple missionaries and it was fun to talk to them for the night while they inspected the apartment and then took us to ikea to buy some new things for the apartment! they are so cool and i love them!

SUNDAY

so today made me really temple sick! haha i really was wanting to just go to the temple and just look at it...maybe go in and sit in the celestial room for a while...it was just a day that made me realize how grateful i am for them in my life! i'm so grateful for the covenants we make with our heavenly father that can help us come to him and feel of his love and presence in our lives! our ward had a temple trip from thursday to saturday and today during sacrament meeting everyone got up and bore testimony on how beautiful and how sacred the temple was and how much the trip meant to them and i was just thinking of how much i wish i could have gone! it was a good spiritual meeting. so my challenge to all of you is to go to the temple a ton for me! i need it! cause i can't go for another 2 years! so go a lot for me! it was really good at church today and then we went home for lunch and to break our fasts and then out to work! we walked all over and contacted the people who were out on a rainy sunday, and then later we went to a member's house who was not at church and he let us in and he let us talk and introduced himself to my new comp and then we went porting to finish up the night! we called the soeurs to do weekly calls and they told my new comp they didn't want to be in charge of assigning district meeting food assignments so they gave the "calling" to me! so that was fun...i had to figure that out! but we have fun with what we are called to do right?

well i hope you all had a fantastic week! i know i did! je vous aime, et vous êtes toujours dans mes prières! j'espère que tout ce passe bien aux états-unis! à la prochaine!  (I love you, and you are always in my prayers! I hope everything goes well in the United States! see you)

elder libby