WEEK 39

so this week was LONG!! was it for anyone else?? haha it was full of GO GO GO and it seemed like it has been forever since i sat down at a computer! but we are here and all is well when it's pday i guess right?? so i officially hate mission rumors! haha we all were thinking cause SOMEBODY heard that we were getting ipads at zone conference...and at zone conference SOMEBODY heard that they were getting to the mission office today (monday) so i am thoroughly convinced that we are not going to be getting ipads;) so we'll have to see how life treats us! but anywho... i got flipped off twice this week and went to paris 4 TIMES! haha on four different days! #record so here we go and i'll tell you a little about my week!

MONDAY NIGHT

we had a rdv with this guy that we found in our area book. he is from camoroon and is evangelical and is currently working with the priest of his church to make some Jesus movies but he said he'd love to see us to talk. we sat and explained the book of mormon as another testament of jesus christ and told him the basics of the story. he said that he never heard it explained like that and that he wanted to read it cause the last time he didn't know the story behind it! he was thankful for the explanation and was eager to be able to meet again! we then went to meet with some old investigators who are in their 50s and maybe 60s but they invited us over to talk and eat some food and when we got there they took us on a tour of their HUMONGOUS home and showed us les poissons rouge (goldfish) in the backyard...they were sure proud of that! lol! then we needed to go to the gare to print out some of our tickets for paris and they offered to drive us there and then back home. so we got in the car and went and did that and they were telling us all about reims and all about every building we drove by and they told us that they would take us on a tour of some of them some day..so that will be fun!

TUESDAY

so our day started out with studies as usual but then we had to stop cause we were going into paris to start some exchanges with the zone leaders! i was pretty excited and i'm never going to complain about having to go into paris! #parisnumber1 about 15 minutes before we were getting ready to bounce out of the apartment, there was a buzz at the door and it was my package from home! i was super happy to get that! we then made our way to paris and had a pretty uneventful ride there but when we got there, one of the elders had bought me some macdo for lunch! i never complain when there is macdo;) we then got on our train and came back to reims. it was a good time sitting there and eating some lunch on a train;) we got home a little late for our rdv and had to go and buy some bus passes, and by the time we got to church for the rdv we were 20 minutes late...and our phone didn't work with the member who was helping us so it was crazy and he was a little upset, but we were meeting with our newest investigator, and we taught him the word of wisdom! it went super well and by the end of the lesson we had found out that since he first met with the missionaries in january, and he found out that this is something we believe, he has stopped drinking coffee and agreed to stop drinking beer! it was so cool to see the spirit testify to him that it was true. it was amazing. then we came to start converting some of the home vids that mom sent to me in the package and then we went contacting and ran into another young lady we'd lost contact with ... remember last week, i asked for your prayers so she wouldn't be lost? well thanks! it was good to see her. we sat down in a park and talked with her and she said that she wanted to come to church this week. so it was really good to see her! we then kept contacting and then dinner at burger king and porting! it was a good day. we stopped by the church on the way home to pick up my home vids and then went home and i watched them all! i sure do love my family!

WEDNESDAY

well we had no time for studies this morning cause right after we got ready we had to leave to catch the train to get back to paris! #parisnumber2 we watched Meet the Mormons while we all exercised and ate breakfast cause i got that in my package too:) we made our way into paris and met up with our normal collegues and then they split off to go and get what they needed to get done for the day cause missionaries are usually busy...and then we just had to chill and wait cause our train wasn't for about an hour or so! so we were just walking around doing whatever when we found the elders from charleville! who are just right above reims. they had just gotten done with exchanges as well and were heading back and they were on the same train as us. so we walked around with them and then got on the train together and rode home. it was good fun. by the time we got home we made it into the apartment to eat some food and plan for our day...we had about 3 hours left in the day and planned for 1 hour...it took sooo long...uhh so we just went and contacted and were invited over to dinner at mustard man's house tonight! it was good fun. they had us over and we had some fun and chatted and it took all night. we talked about the mormon message of expressions of love and it was really good. it was really cool to hear his wife tell me how grateful she was for eternal marriage. she was saying how her and her husband are nothing alike, but how grateful she was for him and that she gets to spend eternity with him! so that was super cute. you know, there aren't a ton of members of the church here in france, but the ones that are here are the STRONGEST members i have ever met in my life. they've touched my heart and showed me that we can do hard things!

THURSDAY

so because i'm in france and because every other day seems to be a holiday it would only make sense that today was a holiday too right?? we got out of the apartment to go and have our french course and it was a holiday so we missed our bus! and so we called up mustard man and told him that we wouldn't be able to make it and he said he'd come and pick us up. so we waited and he came and got us and then him and his wife just decided that since we had like a half hour to get to the gare for our train to paris #parisnumber3 so they just sat there and answered questions and helped us figure out how to word our sentences and stuff! it was good. we then got to the train and made our way to paris. we got there a little late and made our way to the church in paris for our interviews with president and soeur babin. let me just take a minute to express my love for these two! they are simply amazing. they told me all that i needed to know and helped with the concerns that i had and gave me the advice that i was in desperate need of. they are so amazing! and i'm so grateful that i know them! i also found out that when soeur babin was serving in reims, she had the same bishop and same ward mission leader that i have now! of course they've had different callings in the past 30 years but they are the same now! isn't that funny! i then wanted a yop...i don't remember if those are in america...like a yogurt drink?? and because of it...we almost missed our train! like as soon as we got on, the doors closed! it was crazy and i was dying cause i was out of breath for running! hah but we made it and got home in time to make it to teach a lesson to our newest investigator on the importance of prayer. we invited another to come cause they're both rwandian and so that makes them bros so that was good but they talked forever! then we called one of our members and asked him if he could come and pick us up cause it was raining and we didn't want to walk to our lesson. when he walked in the door i ran and gave him a hug cause it had been like 3 weeks since i'd seen him! he told us all about the US and then we went to our rdv. we talked about the importance of the book of mormon and our investigator told us that while on the trip she read all the way to 2 nephi 22! so that was super cool. she told us that she'd read the chapter we assigned her and then we talked for a little bit and made our way home for the night.

FRIDAY

so we got up this morning and first things first we went and got some pain au chocolat's for breakfast! it was necessary ok? we had a train to catch to paris! #parisnumber4 we were on the train and forgot that they had asked us to prepare a lesson cause president was going to be randomly picking some missionaries to come and teach him so we hurried and threw together a lesson plan and that took almost the whole train ride...it was interesting. but we had a really good zone conference and didn't get called on! so that's a blessing i guess! it was all about bettering our teaching skills and making our rdv's all that more important! it was fun to be around everyone again. i sat by president and soeur babin at lunch and she was telling me all about some of the members that were in reims when she was here and some of them are still here! so it was fun to see how not a ton changed! we then came home and went to the church for our ward counsel and we talked all about chateau thierry which is the area that me and my comp cover and it was a really good ward counsel and we got a lot discussed that we needed to and then came home for dinner. it was a fast day!

SATURDAY

well today was really good as well! not a ton happened today but we woke up and studied and then went out for some early morning contacting and that was fine. we stopped by the boulangerie to get some bread and some patisseries and it was really yummy! we then came in for lunch and watched meet the mormons again! it's fun to have a new movie in the apt! after that we went and made our way out to chateau thierry for the afternoon. we started out with some contacting and then went and waited for a member to meet up with us to help us teach a lesson. it turned out to be a really good lesson on the importance of following the spirit and having the spirit in our lives. the reason we taught that is cause this investigator was baptized but never confirmed a few years ago and so we thought that might be a good way to go about this! it turned out really good and so we'll see how the next few rdv's go! we then were shown a few more referrals that this member had for us and tried to contact them but didn't have enough time. we came home and had some dinner and then we had a fireside at the church tonight. we showed up and 2 of the less actives that we've been working with showed up! it was awesome! and the fireside was really good too! we had fun talking and learning about the book of mormon and i was just so happy that those two showed up! it was a good night

SUNDAY

well today was great! we had a stellar lesson in priesthood about how to better read and understand the book of mormon! it was really good! then when sunday school started, both of the less actives walked in again! and this time with three new people! one brought his mom, the other brought his girlfriend and grandma! it was awesome! i was so happy to see them. we then talked for a little bit and went in for sacrament meeting! it was such a good sunday! we talked to them afterwards and we are going to see them this week. so that was pretty much amazing! we were brought food by some members again as usual and that was good so we went home to eat and then started weekly planning. we got finished with that and then had a rdv with a different less active and so we went to the church to meet up. it was really good. we talked about the importance of coming unto christ. she told us she wants to but isn't ready....so we bore testimony and she started to cry. it was really special. we were sitting at her table and i went to scoot my chair in and my finger got caught in the chair and it pinched it really hard and i may or may not have started tearing up too...#dontworryitwasjustthespirit then we got out of there and went to the church to finish up weekly planning and then made our way to a members for dinner! it was really yummy. she made us a salad and gave us some ice cream. i love her so much! it was fun to be there with her. after all that we shared a spiritual message and then came home for the night.

well there is my week! i hope you all are doing fine! i miss you and pray for you everyday! talk to you soon!

elder libby