WEEK 55

what a week! i cant decide if it went by fast or slow...hahah we'll just go with the fact that it was a little more different than usual. it was very interesting and i have lots of questions, but i do want to say thank you to everyone for the prayers and thoughts on my behalf! i have been blessed this week and i have felt the love and support from everyone back at home! :) you are all so great and treat me too well. thank you for all that you do!

MONDAY NIGHT

well tonight me and jorgy decided that it was a macdo night and so as soon as we finished with our emails we made our way to the nearest macdo and had our dinner. we then decided that we were going to start saving money and that we were going to cut back on ALL spending...#franceisexpensive so after dinner we went out porting and to do a couple passbacks cause this lady the other night told us to come back later and she'd let us pray. we got to her house and she was all oh ya...i forgot...come in and dont take any longer than 5 minutes...so it was super interesting and she was not that interested but was doing it just to please us...which made us a little sad...but whatever! we gave her a card and brochure and we'll see if anything ever comes of that again!

TUESDAY

well today we finally got to have a member present lesson with anna! it went well...it was really interesting but it went well! and she came to the church for it and we gave her a little tour and she said that she liked it but it was a little far for her to come for every rdv from now on...so we'll see if we can like switch off and on..? we woke up and had some studies and then decided that we were going to go to the church to be there early just in case she came a little early, and when we got on the bus she was there! so we just rode in with her and walked to the church and did a quick little tour and then waited for soeur foutrein to come in! she finally got here and they immediately started talking all about family history and started getting to know each other. after that we taught a lesson on faith and it went....well...lets just say that we arent exactly sure what to do with anna! she tells us that she isnt sure if she believes in a god, more like a force, and she doesnt really believe that jesus was the christ...like she wants to know for sure if he really was a person...cause she doesnt really believe in all the miracles that he performed...so that is going to be taking up most of our thinking time on what is most important to share with her from now on! after all that we went home for lunch and then went contacting and less active finding. we went to this old lady that we went to see last week and she was so happy to see us again. we talked about The Lord Being our Light and sang that hymn for her cause she LOVES when the missionaries sing ;) haha she was cute and asked us to come back next week. then we went out contacting and in for dinner and then porting! haha nothing too crazy that happened after that. me and jorgensen were talking about the future a lot and i have no idea what the heck i am going to do...does anyone want to let me move in with them when i get home?

WEDNESDAY

today was like absolutely wasted.............it was not a very good day hahahaha but seriously it just was not good. we got a call from jean paul this morning and he asked if we wanted to go over and share a little thought with him and so we contacted to the church first thing to look to see if there was a mormon message to share or something cause like he is already a member...he just really likes the missionaries! and hes just a little crazy! so we did that and found something and contacted back to the apartment for lunch. we got in and ate and then we got up to go out and contact and #soulsearch and try to go and see some less actives. when we were walking out the door i heard a little voice in my head say 'ask jorgy if he has the keys.' and then i heard him jiggle in his pocket so i didn't do anything about it...as we got out of the apartment building, he reached into his pocket and his eyes went wide. IT WAS HIS POCKET CHANGE FROM EARLIER!!! ahhh so ya we locked ourselves outside...AGAIN!!! ahhh so we went in and waited for someone to come and open the main door and then went up to our apartment and tried to do the credit card trick...does anyone know how to do that by the way? cause we could not get it...the next door neighbor then opened her door and asked if we locked our keys in again and we said yes and she goes do you want to climb in through the balcony again and i said yes and then...we didnt even leave the door open...so we had to call the mission office and everyone trying to see if we had a spare key somewhere! after like 2 hours of calling and waiting, and going to an office supply shop so that jorgy could buy some dry erase markers and a small whiteboard...;) (why? im not sure? ) we got a call from the mission office telling us that their records said there was a spare in the church. so we called the first counselor and told him the situation and he told us that he would meet us at the church. so we made our way there and got the key and went home and finally got in! yay! ahhhh so then we went back to the church to put the key away and then back to go to our rdv with jean paul! he invited a less active from the neighborhood that we happen to love! it was a good rdv and then me and jorgy went for some kebabs cause it was just that kind of a day...

THURSDAY

well today we went and had like the wettest and coldest day that i'v had since being here in dunkerque! like it was really wet and really cold all day! we woke up and started with studies and then decided to watch a movie for language study. we watched a movie about zion's camp! that is an interesting story! we then went out for some early morning contacting and some less active finding and to renew jorgy's bus pass. we got on the bus to go find someone and ran into a certain less active that i am sure you all know which im talking about....he told me how mad he was at us and how we lied to him..? i was like yo how can i lie to you if i havent talked to you? so he talked more and more and then left...we then got to contacting and searching and couldnt find this one less active! but we needed to go and catch the bus to be home on time...we got in for lunch and then had a rdv with mike our recent convert. he was fun to be around. just like always! we got in to his apartment and the clouds started coming in...we talked about fasting, fast offerings, and tithing and then left and it started to rain! we went contacting and decided to go and find this one dude that the branch president told us to go and find a few weeks ago and so we went there and he wasnt there that day...so we'll stop by again later. since it was still pouring, we decided to go in and make some calls for a while til it cleared up and people started coming back outside, and plus, we didnt have umbrellas :) so we got inside and then started to make the calls and within an hour it started to clear up! so we went out porting and when we got to the neighborhood, it started to POUR again! so you know we ported in the pouring rain until our bus got there! its been told that the longer a missionary spends out in the cold, rain, or snow that their spouse just gets that much more attractive! so my wife should be pretty attractive after today, i can tell you that much ;) i got a call from the APs tonight telling me that they had a lady come in and give them 4 bags of chips and salsa and that they were told to get them to me! so that was like the greatest thing that i have ever heard!;) thanks mom!!!

FRIDAY

today was just a weird day! hahah something that i was NOT expecting in the slightest! we woke up and had just enough time for some quick personal study and then we had to leave the apt to get to the church for branch council. we got here and i sat and played the piano practicing for sunday! then we started and had a good branch council. we started to get serious about maybe having this branch party! at the end of the meeting, the branch president came up to me and jorgy and asked what we were doing right now and we told him that we had a lesson and that we were teaching with the recent convert. he asked if he waited for us if he could take us to meet up with this certain less active that he felt like he should visit. we told him yes and then went and waited for our investigator...sadly he never showed up so we just left and went with the branch president trying to find this less active. as we were in the car, the phone started to ring and jorgy answered the phone and it was President Babin. he asked to speak to me and it scared the crap out of me! haha i was all, what did i do? but i was so thankful for his call. he told me that he'd recieved an email from mom telling me of some pretty important things going on at home. he read me the email and told me that i had his permission to call my mom and grandparents and that he wanted me to call him back on monday. so we went with the branch president and found the guys house but he wasnt home...so we left a card and then he took us home and i called a few members asking if they had international calling plans, and ironically, in the small branch of dunkerque i found someone who had an international phone! so we made our way to his house and he let me call home! i got to talk to my mom which helped me out so much. she filled me in on all the details and then told me to call my grandparents. as my grandma answered the phone i couldn't help but cry! being able to talk to them for a little bit was a priceless memory and im hoping that i'll get to do it a couple more times over the next few months. our heavenly father does watch over us! after that me and jorgy just went and contacted til we got to macdo cause it was that kind of a day!;)

SATURDAY

today we got up and started our studies and then left our apartment to go and meet with this other recent convert that is a little flaky and that we are worried about. we got to his apartment he told us that he needed to go to the hospital cause his blood pressure was too high and he was not doing well but then told us to sit down so that we could have our lesson...we were like homie do you need to go and he was like no i'll go later...so that was interesting! we taught him the last little part of the plan of salvation and then left him so that he could go to the hospital. he asked if we'd come over tomorrow to give him a blessing. then we went to the apartment for lunch and then to a less actives house for a little rdv! it was good except for the fact that she told us that she believes that every church is right and that she doesnt believe that god would restrict everything to one...thats why she doesnt like religion....so that was interesting..we came home after that and then weekly planned...you know how that goes...then we went out porting for the night! it was quite a decent day!

SUNDAY

today was just great! fast and testimony meeting was amazing! we got to church today and had such great lessons on the importance of prophets and how to prepare ourselves for conference! it was very good! then during sacrament meeting the branch presidents wife got up and bore her testimony on how grateful she is for the gospel and said that she often asks the question, why was i so blessed to have the gospel in my life? which really made me think of how blessed we are! this gospel is so amazing! i bore my testimony on gratitude and the plan of salvation. it was such good meetings! we then went home for lunch and studied and then went out to see another less active that had been in the hospital for a while and it went well! she asked us for a blessing and told us that she had some service that she'd like us to do sometime! so that was good! then we went out porting for the rest of the night. it was a good day and the spirit was definitely with us! 

jesus is real! heavenly father watches over and loves us! we are important and we all have potential! i love and miss you all! talk to you soon!

tanner aka elder libby