Elder Tanner S. Libby

Monday, January 12, 2015

WEEK 21

dear everyone,

well what a week! haha i first off wanted to thank everyone for the prayers and love towards me and my other missionaries in france! it's been quite the interesting and kind of scary week but honestly there is nothing to worry about when you're in the Lord's hands and on his errand right? we've been very safe and very aware of everything going on and we are truly watched over and blessed all the time. me and the other elders here in metz are actually a little happy to hear that our small town in France made world news! so a little good comes out of everything! look for the good and it will come haha that's my little shpeel to you all this week! ok here was my week!

MONDAY NIGHT

not too much happened tonight! me and my comp went out porting and we talked a lot about people from home and how we missed all our friends and it was good but made me think a lot about all of you! it was good and fun though and sometimes you need to just vent and make things better right? haha it was a good night. then when we got back the ZL's were here for an exchange with the other equipe! so we got to talk and have some fun with them! my zl’s mom follows the mission page, just like my mom, and when he told her he’d be in metz, she told him he’d better give elder libby a hug from his mom! so, he gave me a hug from my mom who had gotten it from his mom who had gotten it from my mom (at least i think) so it was really worn down once it got to me, but still good! haha

TUESDAY

we woke up and had to hurry fast to district meeting in lux! just kidding not hurry but it always seems like we have to cause we have to be out of the apartment at like 8:30 and usually we don't leave until like 11 so its always a little bizarre. but we got on the train and once we got on the announcer lady came over the intercom to tell us that there was a problem on the rails and that we wouldn't be getting to luxembourg anytime soon. so we were on the train to lux for 2 hours when usually it takes just less than 45 minutes,....haha that was fun! we finally got there and had a really good district meeting and then ate some food and took some time to be chatterboxes and then all was well! haha then on the way back to metz we were all telling each other a bunch of jokes and stupid riddles and making everyone mad cause they couldn't figure them out so that was pretty funny cause me and the one zl knew them all so we kept playing them and making the others upset cause they couldn't figure them out! haha we got home and then my comp realized he needed to shave but had no shaving cream...so we walked and contacted people on the way to the store and went to buy some shaving cream! that was fun and really cold! haha the weather here is freezing! then we got home and took dinner and went out porting where we found this really nice lady who let us in her home to un-thaw and told us i know why you're here but i'm already catholic and i am saved. she told us she let us in because what we were doing is something extremely important and she didn't want us to freeze to death. when we were about to leave i asked if we could pray, she then grabbed mine and my comps hands and held them tight and we prayed! she then told us she would bisou us (double kiss on the cheeks) but she is a little sick. haha it really touched my heart. she was amazing! we then came home and finished off the night!

WEDNESDAY

today was just the weirdest day...like i did not feel like myself at all...haha! it was so weird like i was all over the place and i couldn't concentrate on anything and i just felt really weird. when studies started i couldn't stay focused and i was all over the place and falling asleep...it was just a really weird day and i don't know what was the matter. maybe i just didn't sleep good last night? it was really bizarre. but anyway then we went contacting and i had a letter to drop off and we went in to send it and they have changed all the prices on stamps and everything! they used to be .98 euros and now they are 1.20 euros....so i won't be sending a ton of letters home soon...i'm kinda poor...haha! but then we went contacting until it was time for lunch! we got lunch out of the way and made our way around metz trying to find some less-actives that we could meet. we found this one in a building who was ironically the son of another less-active lady that i've met with a couple times! so that was exciting! we got home and found the relationship and figured everything out. i was pretty proud of myself for figuring the stuff out! then we went contacting and i wanted a patisserie...i had a weird day so i can have one right? i bought a little cream puff and it was delicious. pretty cheap too! then we went home and took dinner for the night and then just went porting again! i told my comp some fun senior year stories again tonight! gosh i love all my friends! i miss them so much. but all is well. soon enough i'll see them again!

THURSDAY

today was really good! they are starting to take down all the holiday stuff from christmas and i think that is helping a lot! this holiday season was just a little rough cause i was away and i wanted to be with family and friends...but it's good now cause it's over and i think my homesickness is finally vanishing away! so i'm really grateful for that! after studies me and my comp went contacting and while we were out he asked me if i wanted to go to mcdonalds for lunch! ummmm....YES! #FIRSTMCDONALDSRUNINFRANCE!!!!!! you could say i was a little excited! haha it cost me a lot but i got a coke and fry for 5 euros...haha youch...but i'm only gonna make it a rare thing so don't worry i won't be spending nonsense money! i took lots of cheesy selfies so that was fun! then we had dmp and this week was really good. we introduced our new investigator and it was really good! we talked a lot on being able to nourish them in the gospel and how to do it! it was really good. we then had a rdv with a less-active family and they had completely forgetten about the rdv so they let us in for just a little bit and then told us all the drama in paris and what had been happening. what a sad day for everyone! but then we went home for the night. on the way home my comp asked me to explain what grey's anatomy was...haha… he HAD been listening to my senior year chatter! i was really excited to pull someone else in on my strange addiction! haah. and i want to be a dr. when I grow up!

FRIDAY

today was pretty good. we didn't do a ton but we did at the same time! we had our studies and then we had weekly planning.... it takes forever, but it is good and if we don't do it our week is crazy and chaotic. we went way in depth to the area book and talked tons about our amis and we had lots of fun too! it's funny how off topic you can get. but it was really productive and we did what we needed to do. we were talking about the family who hosted our skype calls, and literally after i said how much fun they are, the phone rang, and it was that same sister saying she had a letter from my mom! so she asked us to meet her at the church and she gave it to me. this sister had taken a couple minutes to email my parents and tell them we were so safe, and my mom emailed her back telling her about all the #answerstoblessings from this week, and that they knew at home i was safe. it was really good to hear from them and to see how touched this sister was from doing that little act of email service. she was very grateful my mom trusted her to deliver this message! then we had a rdv with our new ami and we made our way to her house and had a good rdv talking about how important the bom is and how she needs to read it and how she believes that it's true! she's truly been prepared by the Lord!

SATURDAY

today we woke up and we had studies and then finished off our weekly planning and when we went outside to go contacting there was NO one outside and so we went back in and got hardcore into the area book and got way in depth of what we need to do with our area! so that literally took like all day and we just did that! then we had a rdv where we discussed the importance of going to church. our investigator told us she'd even come to church tomorrow!

SUNDAY

today was ward conference and so church was really special! we went and we had good meetings where one investigator came. he is so integrated with the ward it is phenominal! then during sacrament, some other investigators walked in! it was amazing! we were all so touched by the stake president's talk and i think we might be making progress. the first one told us that he is still praying and wants to be baptized but wants to be sure. he asked us to continue to pray for him so that is really special to me! we then had a ward meal after and our investigators all stayed to eat! by the time that was all over it was about 2:45 and we needed to head home and stay inside. there was a peace walk all over france today and we were instructed for safety to stay inside and on the way home, i kid you not....THOUSANDS of people were walking on the streets of metz. it was really cool to see. the rest of my night was just spent in the apartment and staying safe! haha not a ton happened!

well i had an amazing week and it's all thanks to you! thank you for the prayers and continual support! i love you all and miss you more! thanks for being my friends and family! talk to you soon!

elder libby

Monday, January 5, 2015

WEEK 20

already in the 20's! haha look at that! i'm almost a fourth of the way done! amazing how time flies even when it seems like it isn't haha! this week was super long so i'm pretty happy to be sitting down writing my emails this week! it's gonna be good to get the holidays out of the way and get back into the normal routine of crazy missionary scheduled life! haha just in case you're wondering, i am no longer sick but i have a cough still and that sucks but we learn to live with lots of things we don't like right? haha ok here was week 20!

MONDAY

elder quist was still feeling really sick today so after emails and all that fun stuff was over we headed back to the apartment and we played uno and we found a scrabble board in the apartment so we even got to play bananagrams! haha it was fun but i was really wanting to just get out of the apartment and get back to doing missionary work! time seems to go faster when you do what you're supposed to and i was getting really homesick and really apartmentsick haha i had been in the apartment for almost a week straight and i just wanted to get out and do something. but that happened soon enough.

TUESDAY

today we woke up and made our way to luxembourg first thing for district meeting. we got on a train and just talked to whole time and when we got up there me and elder quist realized that we had to buy drinks and bread...haha so that was fun trying to scrouge up some money to get ready for district meeting...luxembourg is sure expensive...i can't wait to be done going up there! haha district meeting was really good. we had lots of announcements and a good lesson so you could say it was productive! we had some good lunch and some good laughs and then we left. we decided that since in the next couple of weeks we are going to stop going to luxembourg for district meeting we needed to go get some snapples a few last times! so we did and the lady in the store recognized us and was talking to us like we were regulars! cause we kind of are...but it was funny! then we got home and elder quist said that when he goes outside is when his sickness kicks in because of the nasty weather...so we stayed in for a while with the other elders and i realized that me and elder lattin were perfectly fine and so we didn't need to be in the apartment and so i asked him if we could go out and do something so we did! it was really good. we went porting and found this family that was like ooh ya you're the mormons! the elders right? haha so we talked and they asked us to come back later! so that was good. it was a good way to end the night!

WEDNESDAY

elder quist was feeling lots better today so it was a really good day of solid contacting and finding. today was new year's eve and we had heard that france is kind of a scary place to be outside in on new year's day so we decided that thursday we'd stay inside again and then work our tails off today! so that's what we did. we started off with studies and everything and it was good, then we went out and we contacted for a couple hours. after lunch we went back out to the porting neighborhood to see if we could talk to the people who knew us and they weren't home...so we just made our way back to town and contacted and did some stuff til it was time to go in for the night and dinner. we had been invited over to the bishop's house again for new year's so it was really exciting to get over there and have another rdv with english speakers! their family is really nice and so it was lots of fun to talk and have a fun night with them. she made us chicken enchiladas and homemade salsa so i was like about to cry cause i haven't had that in like almost 4 months...it reminded me a lot of home! i love salsa and mexican food. i cannot wait to eat cafe rio again! our night consisted of schrades, talking, laughing at french cultures, fireworks even! haha it was really fun! we had ice cream sundays and when we were leaving the bishops wife gave us popcorn boxes to use over the next few days and i had about 5 boxes in my arms and reached across the table to shake hands like a good missionary does before they leave dinner appointments and a box fell out of my arms and landed on an ice cream dish and it fell to the ground and shattered.....i am such an idiot! haha i was really embarrassed and she just told us to go...haha i felt bad but hopefully she wasn't too mad at us! we then went home and watched frozen! it was a good day!

THURSDAY

today we woke up and since it wasn't safe to go out all day we just chilled in the apartment and watched a few movies that the Royer family lent us! we watched frozen again....haha then the incredibles, and finding nemo! after finding nemo was over i fell asleep on the couch and when i woke up we had nothing else to do so....we watched finding nemo and the incredibles again! haha it was really an unproductive day but we were following counsel from the mission president and ward members...haha i felt like we were breaking all kinds of rules! but it was really fun! we then ended the night by watching frozen...one last ime! haha it was funny! by the way...the frozen we watched was on USB from the Royer family and so it was only in French! so it was fun to watch that and hear all the quotes and songs in french...i thought a lot about my friends while i was watching it! i mean i did go see it in the theater with my friends and family 5 different times! haha je voudrais un bonhomme de neige!

FRIDAY

today elder lattin had a meeting in paris so me and elder quist and elder pratt were a three-sum equipe and it was really good! we got a call last night from the senior couple that they'd be coming by around 1 to deliver new mattresses and frying pans so they needed us home so they could be delivered! haha yay...another day spent in the apartment...i have memorized every nook and cranny in that old apartment it's insane! but anyway we dropped elder lattin off at the gare around 7 and the rest of the day was studies and waiting around for the senior couple...well 1 pm came around and then 2 and then 2:45 so i called and asked if they were still coming and they said they'd be here in 5 minutes! so we ran down and met them and brought everything up! it was fun to talk to them and they seem really nice! in fact, the elder lived in metz for 3 years when he was a kid and his dad was in the air force, and he literally lived right around the corner! so we went and took pictures with them and talked and then we needed to go get elder latting from the gare! we went and had kebabs for dinner and then had a rdv with Nora..it was really good except she's not willing to start praying to know what to do...we think it's because she knows what the answer will be...but be sure to keep her in your prayers! elder quist wants to drop her and i don't want to yet...she told me on friday that she was like my french mom.. she's really nice so pray hard for her! then we headed in for the night and found some frozen music on the other elders USB.....

SATURDAY

today was long and really boring! haha it included staying in the apartment encore to do weekly planning! haha it was a really long day but it was really good none the less! haha we had studies and then went straight into weekly planning and it was actually really good! we talked a lot about our amis and went really into depth with the area book! it was awesome! we got a rdv set up for later today with this guy that we found in the potentials area and it was just really good! then we went and got baguettes before our rdv with abraham. the guy we found. it was good. he was on his phone the whole time and didn't seem too interested but at the end he said that he wanted to meet with us cause he was curious...so we'll see where that goes! then we went in and took dinner and made our way to a spiritual thought with the piguets! we got to their apartment and soeur piguet called us and asked us to meet her at the grocery store cause she needed help! so we met her there and she had bought us chocolate's for christmas cause she felt bad she didn't get to see us on christmas. haha she's awesome! then we went back to their house and their non member cousin showed up! arville if you remember! so we gave a spiritual thought and it was really good! then we made our way home for the night! it was a good day!

SUNDAY

today was really good. church was really good and maxime came to all 3 meetings again! just like normal! it was really good! we had a really good testimony meeting! there was a time when no one was going up so frere Royer, who is the second counselor looked at me and nudged his head towards the pulpit...so i became his favorite and went up and bore my testimony! haha it was a good meeting! he said to be sure to tell my mom that i saved the meeting! then we taught maxime the word of wisdom and he was like stop teaching...i already do this so it's all good. haha! it was funny! he's currently praying to know if baptism is the right thing! so keep him in your prayers too! then we went home and contacted for a while and then ended the night with few hours of porting! it was really good! we got a family that asked us to come back tuesday night so that's exciting!

well thank you for the continual prayers and thoughts! i love you all and i am so thankful for all you do for me! i look forward to talking to you all soon! talk to you later!

elder libby

WEEK 19

well this week was something else! talking to the family was amazing and i loved every single minute that i had! it was incredible and i am very thankful for modern technology haha how did missionaries work without skype?;) it was amazing though and i'm sorry i couldn't call all of you...i really wanted to and was thinking of everyone who wrote me a letter! so thanks to whoever did! i love you guys! haha alrighty here we go with week 19!

MONDAY NIGHT
well monday night me and elder quist finally went and contacted our referral that we'd recieved like a week before! just like schedule conflicts and everything led to not being able to meet til tonight but our first lesson went very well! she told us she believed that the story of Joseph Smith was true and asked us to come over again so we could talk more! it was a good lesson! then we decided that we'd go out and find a new porting area and see what we could do. so we found this one area and started it and then finished out the night with that. but on the way back to the bus stop we were stopped by ... the police! haha someone in the neighborhood called and tattled on us! what bums...but we showed them our passports and they were nice and joking with us and then left. so that was pretty funny!

TUESDAY

today was when the plague hit...haha i woke up today with this nasty cough and a really bad headache so i started popping the airborne!!! haha i love that stuff! but i took some of that and then we had to head out the door to make it to district meeting! it was good fun. we got to lux and then had to get on the bus and get to the church. the meeting was good except while we were there my headache was just booming and i wanted to die. haha it was so bad i felt like i couldn't eat anything or else i'd throw up! haha it was really bad. we got on the bus and train and that only made it worse so by the time we got home from luxembourg i just needed to lay down and take a nap. so me and elder quist stayed in for the rest of the night and i slept off the headache! haha it was really bad but thank heavens for sleep and airborne it finally went away! i woke up around 7 and so after a little food we went out porting to finish up the night. it was really good. nothing really happened but it was really good.

WEDNESDAY

well last night i did not sleep at all! haha i was up all night just tossing and turning and having a throbbing headache! haha i hate being sick! but we got up and me and elder quist had to wait in the apartment all morning to wait for my package from home to come! it was a package sent from my grandparents! they gave me lots of goldfish! it was a great present and much worth the wait i'll tell you that much! haha then me and elder quist had to go buy cookies for the little service project that we decided to do for christmas eve. we all decided that we'd go and carol for some less active families and give them all a box of cookies so they knew we were thinking of them on christmas! but that plan was thrown down the hole when we got there and no one was home and one guy was too busy working to hear one song...haha so we just left all the cookies and counted it as an A for effort! haha we got home and went to catch our train to get to the Brun's house! it was such a good night with them. they gave us a good dinner and a little gift and it was really good to just chill and talk cause they are the coolest family! we then ended our night and got in bed cause SANTA WAS COMING!

THURSDAY

we woke up around 8 and just made our way out to see what the big fat man with a long white beard brought us! it was awesome to walk out and see some presents. none of us were on the naughty list this year! santa treated us all really well. i was mostly excited to just read all the letters from home! i got up on the couch and read all the letters and it literally took me almost an entire hour or so just to get all the way through! so thank you to everyone who was a part of that. only a couple got me choked up but there were no tears so i'm getting better! haha i loved the letters though and it was definitely the best part of the morning. we then were all just sitting around waiting for the bishop to come and take us to his house for the afternoon and it was actually a lot better than we planned. we had a good meal and some fun playing apples to apples and bananagrams! it was really fun to be able to talk in english (cause the bishop here is american) it was really good. we listened to some music and talked and it was really nice. when i saw the car of frere royer come into view, my heart sank! haha i was terrified and i kinda didn't want to go call my family! haha weirdest feelings ever! but we got to their house and i called and it was awesome! like i said i wanted to call everyone but...i couldn't...so i'm sorry but know that i love you all! then they made us dinner! it was escargots and this kind of pasti! it was so good! hahah yes even the snails! they look disgusting but they are delicious! then we took frozen, incredibles and finding nemo back to the apartment...haha one day a year for movies? we gotta take advantage!!! haha but it was an amazing day!

FRIDAY

today was kinda awful...i woke up last night and i was dripping with sweat....it was awful! so i changed my garments and tried to get back to sleep...haha i woke up thinking i was fine and then i stood up out of bed and....the banging headache came back.....so i got in the shower thinking that would help and then it didn't...so elder lattin decided that we could start exchanges and me and elder pratt could stay inside and recooperate and not die! haha so that's what we did. we literally just chilled in the apartment and watched all the videos on our usb's and listened to a ton of music and i wanted to just leave the apartment...being sick on the mission SUCKS, elder lattin and quist had a rdv with nora tonight and said that it went really well and they left her with a good commitment so hopefully she keeps it and i get to see her next week!

SATURDAY

well today was a lot like yesterday! besides the fact that....WE WOKE UP TO SNOW!!!! it was really little and had all melted by 10 but still it was snow!! elder lattin and elder quist had to go to paris all day long so it was just a long day....haha elder pratt slept almost all day long so it was me listening to all the movies and music on my usb all day long! i wrote lots of letters back to people who wrote me on christmas day and it was really good but really long! haha then when the other two got back the mailman had brought presents too! haha i had a little package from the one and only PAM COBURN!! haha it was a letter and a little game! really nice and made me remember why i love her so much! haha we played with that for a little to turn out the night and elder quist started coming down with the plague....so this stuff can kill haha it's spreading to everyone!

SUNDAY

yesterday was a longer day haha we woke up and elder pratt and quist were now dying and i felt really good! so me and elder lattin went to church and everyone thought we'd killed the other elders or something ahah it was a good church meeting but for some reason i was really thinking about home today! so it seemed to go on forever. when we got home we decided that we'd tend to the needs of our dying companions for the day so we stayed in and took care of them. me and elder lattin and towards the end of the day all four of us got really good at uno and took lots of time playing that! it was good fun but we're really need to all get healthy again and back to missionary work! haha

well that was my week family and friends! thank you for an amazing christmas! i love and miss you all and i pray for all of you all the time. know how much i love you! i can't wait to see you all again! talk to you soon! over and out

elder libby!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

WEEK 18- "HAHA I CAN'T SPEAK FRENCH!"

what a week! ahhh time flies when you're having fun! this week was a rush....i honestly can't believe that it's already monday! what a crazy fast week! ummm i don't think anything too crazy happened...it was just really busy so it flew by! which is always good right! lots of stuff to do and that means i'm doing my job hopefully huh? k here goes week 18!

MONDAY NIGHT

we finished off the night by stopping by a patissserie and i got a religeuse...i think they call them that cause when you eat the first one, you religiously go back and get more...not even kidding! haha they are amazing! we then went scoping out the stores for soldes...which is a huge european sale that happens twice a year and everything goes to like 50-70% off and it's like apparently amazing. so i found a few things i want! a couple weeks ago, we went into this one store and i saw this sweatshirt that i wanted and there were like a bunch of them on the table then tonight when we went there was only one left and it was my size...coincedince? i think not! so i bought it! it says inspirée par des rêves, i'm getting excited for soldes!! then we went porting to finish off the night.

TUESDAY

today was a good long day of missionary work! haha i was really glad when it was over... like you honestly wouldn't think it is so exhausting sometimes...but like some nights my head hits the pillow and i'm OUT. it's funny. but we had a good day. during studies we got a text from the ZL's asking us to prepare spiritually for the conference so i got ready for that...whatever that means;) just kidding but ya i tried to figure out what some questions were and get in tune with the spirit! it was really a good study session. then we went out and contacted and we talked to this one dude who was a 7th day adventist? and he was nice but he was all telling us how Jesus Christ doesn't support the mormon church....haha i was like can you see my plaque (badge) dude? haha it was interesting! then we went and tried to find this less active family but we got lost and we ran into this syrian kid who was really nice and he spoke english and took us to this completely different place than we asked but it was nice! haha he was a good kid! then we went over to the piguet's house to finish the night and today was the twins birthday! so we had cake and stuff! it was a fun night!

WEDNESDAY

today was awesome|! the christmas conference was really good and i love paris with all my heart!! it was amazing! we woke up and went to paris at 6:30 so we were all really tired on the train ride over! it was really funny! elder quist was cracking us up! haha it was really good. lots of dumb jokes but they were really funny cause of the lack of sleep. then we got to paris and went to versailles! i talked to like all of my friends! we had a really good conference with elder teixiera of the seventy! he did awesome! i forgot my other journal at the apartment so i don't remember a ton of what he said and all the impressions that i had during the conference but i do remember that it was amazing! haha he made us lots of promises and it was powerful to hear that from a servant of the lord! then of course i saw all my friends from the mtc and it was really good! we wanted to go see the eiffel tower and then we didn't:( we ran out of time....ahhh so we got back and then went and got kebabs and finished off the night! it was such a good day!

THURSDAY

today was such a busy day! it was crazy! we had lots of stuff to do today and i was like super exhausted all day long! haha we went out contacting again and we talked to this one guy who was like oh! i see your guys visitors center in paris all the time! i work right next to it and go there all the time but i've never been stopped by anyone...so i was kinda worried....because the neighborhood that the visitors center is a gay neighborhood...haha funny huh? kinda ironic! but ya he said he'd really look into it! then we had dmp with frere schneider and it was really good! talked a lot about the amis and their needs! it was really good! then Charles, his son who has just recently came home from his mission, asked if he could come back to metz with us and go contacting with us! so he did and we went home teaching with him and it was really good! he told us he had some leadership positions while on his mission and we think he was AP so ya...i took all his advice to heart! haha it was good!

FRIDAY

today feels like nothing happened...haha it was so long and full of like nothing....ahhhh but we had a rdv with georgette...a lady we met a few weeks ago and she was really nice and bought us water at a street side cafe...typical frenchy right;) haha it was fun but the rest of the day was full of weekly planning...it was awful! haha i honestly the longest day!! but ya then we had a rdv with Nora and that ended the day. it was a good rdv but i'm starting to get the feeling she doesn't want to meet with us cause of the religious stuff...i feel like she wants to meet with us cause she feels we're friends and she just wants to talk...so ya...we're stuck so be sure to keep her in your prayers!!

SATURDAY

today was my 4 month mark if that means anything! haha it was a good day we really all day were just preparing for the ward christmas party...elder pratt signed me up to make cookies so all morning we were just walking around trying to find ingredients to make them...and then the other half of the day making the cookies! haha it was good though. we went and put on the christmas ties from mom and all headed out to the christmas party. it was really good! Nora and maxime came! it was really good! i had to give the spiritual thought...kinda butchered it...haha i can't speak french! it was really good though and we had lots of fun with the ward!

SUNDAY

today you could definitely feel the love in the air....haha it was totally christmas sunday. everyone was so happy and go-lucky! it was crazy! everyone asked us if we had places to go for christmas...it was really touching to see how everyone cared! i love the ward here in metz! then we had a little after party after sacrament meeting with all the left over wassel that the bishop had made for the party! it was really fun! then me and elder quist were invited over for the night at the Brun's so we went there and had a really fun night with games and food and lots of fun! they asked us to come over for christmas eve so i am really excited for that! it was a really fun day!

sorry that this is so rushed! we are trying to cut down on time today cause we are talking to family on thursday! i love you all so very much! thanks for the love and prayers! talk to you all soon! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

elder libby

Monday, December 15, 2014

WEEK 17- "DUCKS ARE LIFE"

well what a week! haha it was crazy and seemed long but short and all over the place! haha i don't even know where to begin! but we'll try out something and eventually get there. transfers this week were really good! i was put in a 3 sum equipe for the day and didn't get to go pick him up in paris...but it was all good! elder quist is from a really small town in washington and he's good! makes me work and that's exactly what i need right? haha he's really interesting and i love him. so something that i learned last night that is interesting in france is that you have to be 18 years old in order to drive! that's different...how do high school kids live:) just kidding!!

MONDAY night

we left for the Brun's house cause we had a mangez-vous (which is just a word we use for dinner appointment....it's a lot more fun to say mangez-vous than dinner appt) but it was so good! i love every single member of that family!!! they are all the best and i love them with all my heart. we had this rice and meat stuff and it was good and on the way home it was snowing! but we got to metz and....no snow:( so ya but it was a good night and lots of fun!!!

TUESDAY

well today was just long and kinda boring...eldredge decided to save all his packing for one day....so he spent all day packing and i just sat around the apartment and like ironed all my shirts and doing a lot of dumb stuff! haha it was my last day with eldredge so all is well in love and war...for comp study i decided i wanted to give the new testament a little break and read doctrine and covenants..and it went good! i love the doctrine and covenants! then eldredge wanted to go to the chinese buffet and holy cow i feel fat....haha we had kebabs yesterday and the chines buffet today....ahhh so ya... then we went home and packed all day long.....ahhh it was really long..and then! Nora saved the day cause she invited us over for a mangez-vous! she fed us like a legit 5 course meal...i honestly wouldn't doubt if that meal costed any less than like 100 euros...it was amazing. we had duck liver for an appetizer...don't worry, it was nasty but i was a good missionary and ate it, and then duck for the main meal. i felt like a murderer cause like ducks are life and i love little ducks with all my heart but it was really good, and i felt bad that i liked it. but then we had a chocolate cake and it was really good! i love nora! she told us she had plans to keep us over til midnight but we told her we needed to be home by 9:30 and she was a little upset! but all is well. she shed a couple tears saying goodbye to elder eldredge...she's such a good lady.

WEDNESDAY

today was good! my new comp came and its awesome! we woke up and took eldredge to the gare at the butt-crack of dawn! it was really fun cause i got to wear my favorite outfit and all the elders were like we don't know you...they really did ignore me the whole way there and back...haha it was really funny. but i was in a 3 sum companionship all day with the other elders all day while we waited for my new comp to come in. for some reason they didn't send me into paris with elder eldredge. but it was a good day. lots of studies and then they had to make a CD for one of their amis to we went to the church to make the CD and then took lunch and by that time, my new comp was just about to arrive in the gare! it was fun to go pick him up. on the way there elder pratt and i switched tags to play a little joke on him...it was funny cause we picked him up and the whole way home he thought i was elder pratt! it was funny. tonight we had a mangez-vous with the Royer family. i talked a little about pauline royer a couple weeks ago. she's the one who lived in utah for a couple months to nanny and speaks english! he family was fun and we had a french dish called tarteflette. i think i spelled that wrong. but it was a fun night. their house is the typical french house. think of what a french house would look like. yup that's their house! haha they don't have central air, it's a wood burning heater and like a log cabin feel with cement and everything! so cool. that's where we are going for christmas so that will be good!

THURSDAY

today was really good! my comp is like perfect cause he's like un peu awkward but like so blunt. haha he like really just wants to make me a good missionary cause he thinks eldredge was a bad missionary so he's all you can't be anything like him. so it's really good for me. i like him a lot. today was a rdv with the old lady from a while ago where i saw the HUGE spider run across her floor under her piano and so we got out to her house and we literally just talked for like ever...haha! she talked all about how she lived in normandy during ww2 so that gives you an idea of how old she is...haha! she's really funny. we shared he is the gift with her and she had prepared a lunch for us! it was good. like this salmon spread on bread. it was really fun. she just loved the company. she asked us to come back next month so that will be good! we came back and headed to DMP with frere schnieder! it was really good. we talked all about mine and elder quist's ami's cause like i'm running the ville and i have no idea what the heck i am doing so we were just trying to figure out what was going on. it was really good and really needed! then we came back and took dinner and then went to go get a map so we knew where we had already ported and then went out porting to finish the night. it was really good. no one wanted to hear us sing christmas carols...cause we suck..that's the reason i know it. haha! but it was a good night

FRIDAY

today was soooo long! haha i feel like it was just a day where we didn't do anything! ahhh it went on forever! but it was good and we all have those days i guess. during studies today we got a text from Mormon.org and from the referral sister in the mission saying we got a self referral from Mormon.org! it was way cool! so we called the lady and she was like call me monday and we'll set something up! it was really cool! then we went contacting and while we were out elder quist told me that he'd heard of the famous Tezel Kebab which is here in metz haha so we went there for lunch and i am really done spending money! haha but it was really good and then we went home and started our weekly planning....ahhh i love weekly planning....not! haha we planned for 4 hours...it was so awesome! like i said, i really have no idea what i am doing...running a ville is not easy! then we had our lesson with nora just like every other friday night and that was really good. most of the night was just talking and getting to know elder quist! she is just such a talky lady! she is amazing. for her commitment this week we gave her a talk in the ensign and as she was flipping through she saw "Societe du Secours, and Jeune Filles" which means relief society and young womens. she asked about those and i was like SCORE. it was good to explain that to her and her daughter.

SATURDAY

today was really good. my studies were really focused on the temple. i really love and miss the temple. i read a few talks on the temple and as i was reading it i realized how much we take the temple for granted. like we all live what 15 minutes from the temple? and we go maybe once a month? people here like 5 or 6 hours away and have to plan out a WHOLE day and hundreds of euros just to go...it's crazy! i realized how important the temple is and how sacred and important the ordinances and covanents we do and make in them are amazing. never take them forgranted! my challenge to everyone at home is to go weekly if you can. please make it a goal and go for ME! i want to be there. it's the best place on this earth. better than disneyland. i promise! but today was just a contacting day all day! we went to tons of new places and went all over metz! it was a fun day! we talked a lot and found new porting areas and everything. it was really good. then we went porting to finish off the day and we went to a less active family and they let us come in and leave our christmas message with them and talk for a little. it was good. they were a cool family! their daughter tried to bisou us again and it was really funny to see elder quist reject the bisou! haha he's so awkward i love it!

SUNDAY

today was like the best sunday that i've had since i got to france! like we were constantly doing something and we actually did missionary work! it was really good. we woke up and headed to church and it was really good today! maxime came to all three lessons again and he is just prime! i'm really glad i have the opportunity to teach him! he's awesome! after all the meetings we met with maxime and he said the same thing...he just wants to be sure before he commits...which is good, but it's taking forever to be sure;) just kidding. we talked about prayer and answers to prayer and then we left. it was good. choir was good and we are almost done! i'm excited to be done! i don't necessarily love choir! we then went contacting and went to a mangez-vous with the raymond family! it was a really good! we talked and were there for the rest of the night and they are just a cool family! they were the ones who he's a swat team member or whatever haha he's really cool. they are nice.

so that was my week! haha it was really good! i love france and i love you all! keep me in your prayers and remember that heavenly father loves you! thanks everyone!!!!!!!!!

elder libby

alma 29:9

the actual "forgive me father for i have sinned" things!

Monday, December 8, 2014

WEEK 16- TRANSFERS

bonjour! well looky there! another week come and gone!! haha sometimes i cannot believe how fast the days go here. another week come and gone! crazy stuff. welll um something interesting...ummm i got nothing!! haha it's really just been crazy and i can't believe how fast the days go...thinking that i'm almost at my 4 month mark is CRAZY. so ya...time flies when you're having fun? i've loved looking at my temple countdown! it's fun to read all the little notes from eveyone and look at the temple of the day...it's like a thing in the apartment...everyday someone asks what's the temple today? so yes! it's a blast! thanks to all who helped my momma! i love that Christmas package BEAUCOUP de much! (that makes no sense in french so just use your imagination!) k here goes my week!

TUESDAY

well we were supposed to have district meeting today....but elder lattin was sick...still:( soo it turned into a finding day! ahhh that was fun! i really like going to Luxembourg though...they have a store there called America Today and we go there to buy the snapples and mountain dew that we always have! so it's always a party when we go there! but because we didn't go we just had a contacting day...haha the day started out with studies and i am trying to finish up all the ensign this week! so hopefully that happens fast! but studies went good and around about 11 we went out to go contacting for a couple hours. it was good. we talked to a few people but we walked all over and after a couple hours we went back for lunch and chilled with the other elders cause elder lattin is on bed rest...haha i'm just glad i haven't gotten sick yet! but after lunch we went contacting and got 2 lessons in an hour and a half! it was awesome! we talked to a bunch of people but those 2 lessons made the day! we then had a rdv with the new ami that me and elder cardon found last week on our exchange named abraham. we got there at 4 and at 4:20 he wasn't there so i called him and he said oh i'll be there in 20....and he ended up not getting there til like 4:55! ahhhhh it was freezing cold too! haha but we met him and found out a lot about him and were done in about 15 minutes. it was good. lots of getting to know him. but we got home around 5:30 and took dinner and i had a letter from home! it was court macy and mom! i was pretty happy so i read it and took dinner and then eldredge needed to go to the Church for something....so we went to the Church and that killed the night!

WEDNESDAY

today was such a fun day! haha loved every minute of it! kinda...haha! me and elder pratt had an exchange today and we went to Forbach, because he's never been...but we left the apartment around 9 and caught our train! on the way there it started.....SNOWING!!!!!!!! i saw some snow! it was awesome! haha and when we got to Forbach, there was 2 inches of snow on the ground! i was like so happy! it made me feel like i was home for a little bit...haha i miss Utah just a little! but we contacted and walked all around all day and just chilled. it was awesome. we went and got kebabs for lunch and it was fun to just joke around and have fun while doing missionary work. i love that kid..but it was fun just to get out and hang out you know? um we were there in Forbach til about 3 and then came home and when we got back both elder lattin and eldredge were asleep...so ya we just chilled and waited for them to Wake up so that we could end our exchange..it was good. we've gotten really good at rubiks cubes lately so we are like masters at those and that's kinda what we did while waiting! but we went out porting once elder eldredge woke up and we ported into this old lady who invited us in and showed us pictures of a pair of sister missionaries who used to visit her and she asked if we could come back! while we were talking though......i saw the BIGGEST spider crawl across her floor and run Under her piano...ahhh it was nasty. but hurried and sang a Christmas hymn for her and then we headed out and headed home for the night! when we got back elder lattin was listening to phantom of the opera and i was all excited! so i went and listened to it with him and remembered that phantom takes place in paris! so we talked about that and how he's been to the paris opera house where it takes place and he showed me all the pics and oh my gosh....i need to go there before i head home!!! haha it was a good night!

THURSDAY

today was a lot better than i thought it was going to be...not lying at all it was really good! haha today was another day where we had no plans so it was just going to be another finding day...yay...those are always fun...but it was seriously so awesome! for studies elder pratt came in with us cause elder lattin was sleeping and it was really good. we all had really good studies. i read talks again! we then went contacting and it was a little rough at first...not really any talking or anything but then after about an hour we started talking and it ended well. we taught a couple lessons and it was good! we then headed back for lunch and elder pratt was watching ephraim's rescue...again...haha he LOVES that movie! we then got a call from the lux elders and they were on their way over here cause they needed to do some second year legality stuff and needed help on knowing where to go and stuff...so me and eldredge were up and at em! haha we headed to the gare and got them and spent the afternoon taking them where they needed to go. then after they had everything figured out, they wanted to go shopping so we left them and made our way around centreville and contacted! there was a huge Christmas marche going on so we stopped and looked at what was all there...we found a marche with churros...haha and fell into temptation. we went and got some churros and lets just say that they are a lot better in the US! haha they were all right but lots better in the US. then sœur piguet called us and asked if we could come over for a spiritual message and talk so we went to that and she told us of some problems her and her kids had been having and we talked for a good 2 hours and then we shared the He Is The Gift and talked til we needed to go home. it was a good night!

FRIDAY

today was just plain awesome. i honestly just had like the best day. it was something that i needed...haha i've been a little worried about things going on at home and been thinking about home a lot but today was just a day where i realized how much i love it here! elder lattin was feeling better today so we had district meeting! we went up to lux and had a really good district meeting. lots of announcements and stuff but the lesson was on desires. and elder lattin had us all go around and explain why we desired to be here on our missions. it was awesome. #spiritinlux but after that we had lunch and headed back to metz. we stopped by america today and got mountain dew! it was fun...you can't get it like anywhere else in europe so we take advantage! haha! we got back to metz and went straight out contacting and we talked and had fun and it was just good. it's times like today that i really like my companion! haha but it was good and that took a couple hours. we came back and tood dinner and then headed to the Church to meet up with sœur brun cause she wanted to come to our lesson with Nora tonight! so when she got there her kids came too so we talked to all them and then needed to get going to Nora's! on the way there we were telling her that we were going to invite to baptism and she explained that her mother was a lot like nora and it took a good chunk of time before her mom was baptized...so she advised us to just talk with her and give her time. she's the coolest lady ever. then we got to her house and she had a ton of snacks and everything out for us and we all talked and we shared he is the gift with her and Lila and it was good. a good spirit and we shared a spiritual message. that's our job right? so after the lesson we went to the Church to get the brun kids and they were setting up a Christmas tree in the Church! so we joined in! i felt at home just playing with my friends! haha it was awesome! then we all started to take pictures and selfies and i was taking some with the kids and sœur brun yelled at me and said (in french) elder libby! i am your french mother and you haven't taken any pictures with me! haha so i ran over and took some with her. i love her! it was a good night. they invited us over for dinner on monday night so that's going to be really fun!

SATURDAY

transfers were announced today! elder eldredge is leaving and going to Blois and i am staying here! my new comp is named elder quist and he is from Washington we believe. he sounds pretty cool! i called him on the phone and he sounds cool so i'm excited to meet him! we woke up today and i immediately started stressing cause we'd find out between 10 and 12 if we were training or if we got any leadership calls or anything...haha i was so scared i would have to train! so the other elders played a prank on me and said that the APs called them and were waiting to talk to me...they said they got our phone numbers mixed up and they were waiting...so my heart started pounding and i Grabbed the phone and said hello and.....no one was on the line...i chucked their phone across the room! haha i was mad but all is well and i'm not training! so bon! haha we had a part-member family call us and ask if we could come over for lunch as a goodbye for elder eldredge so we went to that and while there they let us use their computer to figure out transfers. it was a fun time there! they made us bbq chicken and this really good vegetable stuff and they had an american friend come over. she is from orem, served in the Lyon mission and she's currently living in belgium being a nanny. we talked and ate and played uno and that was good. but we had to get going...haha they were lots of fun to be around! then we went to have a rdv with abraham but he never showed up so we called and asked if he'd come to Church tomorrow and he said he would so lets hope he comes!

SUNDAY

today was my last day as a bleu!!!! haha bitter sweet...i'm growing up! haha but it was a good day. Maxime came to all three hours of Church today! which is awesome because we didn't even call to confirm....which is bad of us...but he still came!! it was awesome. our day at Church was great. we just had lessons and testimony meeting and that's about all. we had the Christmas choir practice again...and i don't really like choir so sorry if that offends anyone! but we had to leave early and get to our lesson with maxime. it was an awesome lesson. he like bore his testimony and everything! it was just awesome! we didn't ask to set a baptismal date yet cause he says he wants a couple more weeks...maybe next time though! it was really good. then the rest of my day consisted of weekly planning....blehhh and then finishing up the district! it was awesome! i'm done being a bleu!!!

well there goes another exciting week in metz France everyone! haha we have 3 dinner appointments this week so that's going to be awesome! i love all you at home! thanks for all your support and everything! i'll talk to you all next week!

elder libby

ether 12:4

Monday, December 1, 2014

WEEK 15- CHRISTMAS PACKAGE

AHHHHHH!! what's up everyone!? ahhh this week seems like it's been really long but at the same time i feel like we just talked! haha this week has been crazy...lots of drama and it was just interesting! but i wanted to tell you some interesting things about France again, and i literally cannot remember anything that i wanted to tell you....so i guess think of something and ask me and i'll tell you how it is in France! BUT! i did get my Christmas packages this week and so i just wanted to say thank you to EVERYONE who participated! it was a great surprise! and even though i am not allowed to read the letters yet, i did go through to see who they were all from! so thank you! i am so blessed. i love you all!

TUESDAY

today was good...but tonight was AWESOME!! we had exchanges with the ZL's so it was just amazing. i was really scared for it cause if you aren't a district leader or your comp isn't district leader it usually means you've been doing bad if the ZL's come on exchanges with you...so i was really nervous! but i'll get into that later. today after studies we went contacting...we just walked all over the place, looking at Christmas Marchés and all that stuff so that was fun! Christmas Marches are the little markets all around that sell like crepes and gaufres and stuff like that! haven't bought anything from them yet but it will happen soon! haha but we did want a religeuse which is a type of pastrie that is KILLER GOOD. like ohmygosh they are delicious!! umm they're kind of like a ball eclair but soooo much better! be jealous tout le monde! haha they are sooo good. but we had DMP so we went off to frere schneider's house and we talked about objectives the whole time...it was a blast! haha then we got back to metz and met up with the ZL's! our ZL's are elder lam and elder cardon. a little background on both elder lam is from Singapore and he is a swimmer! he got a scholarship at stanford to swim. so it is really cool to talk to him! apparently he was also a really famous, well-known, model in Singapore....haha if you Google Parker Lam, apparently he comes up in his modeling days! i wouldn't know...i haven't tried it haha but still that's crazy to me! and elder cardon is from cedar city Utah and him and elder eldredge have been best friends since 9 years old or something crazy like that. so they're really good friends. i was with elder cardon tonight. elder lam told me he couldn't be with me cause i'd make him depressed cause he can't swim and he misses it so much! so that was funny! but me and elder cardon had a blast. i love him to death. he is quite the kid and we talked a lot. he started talking to me and told me that i needed to be completely honest with him about how i felt about mine and eldredge's companionship. so i was and he just listened...and after like 25 minutes of just venting and stuff, i was done and he said, i feel the same way...he told me that since they've been out on their missions, they entered the same day...crazy huh? best friends and they went to the same mission on the same day!, but he said that elder eldredge has not changed at all since he's been out and how said it is to see how miserable he is here and how that is like the saddest thing to say about a missionary and about your best friend...that a mission didn't even change you....so we talked a lot about that and it was just a really good night. he really reassued me! i loved it! we taught 2 lessons and got 2 new amis!! one was named Georgette and i asked if we could take a pic...haha it's a really funny picture! you're all going to love it!!!

WEDNESDAY

today was just a rollercoaster...haha Thanksgiving for us and from about until 10:30 i felt like the only thing i was thankful for was my family...i did not want to be here in the least. the morning was good so i shouldn't be complaining about that, we went to district meeting this morning and it was really good. elder cardon had no money so i had to buy his dagum bus pass...8 euros later....:( thank goodness for reimbursements. at district meeting we had a lesson on charity and how we could better apply it in our teachings and our actions toward others. (funny...just realized how i should've applied this later in the day) but it was really good! then we had our half hour of Thanksgiving. it was breakfast burritios and french fries!! haha pretty great i think. i love french fries:) but we went around the table and told what we were grateful for so i guess it was kinda like home right? after all was said and done, we made our way back to the gare and i wanted a snapple so we went and they were out of snapples...:( but they did have mountain dew so i got some of that and it was good! a little taste of home! and we went and caught our bus...we apparently went on the wrong train...it was an international train and when the lady came to check our tickets, we were supposed to get a fine, she was like thank you! and walked away. so that was a blessing! we got back to metz and me and elder cardon went contacting for about an hour before he needed to head back. so that exchange was over...but he told me something right before he left...he said he wouldn't be surprised if i trained next transfer...i almost died...so umm i might be "pregnant" next week. (pray that i'm not!) ahh that was scary...then so then i was back with eldredge...we decided that we were going to go porting for the night...he was in one of his moods again...and i expected it...elder cardon had told me that they had gotten into a discussion the night before before we went to bed...so i expected it...we were porting at this one house when the guy started yelling at us and slammed the door, then opened it again and told us to get off his property and was saying mean things and ya...so then we were walking away and eldredge starting yelling and smacking things and so i stopped and let him be mad for a little bit and then suggested we pray...he told me that he didn't have the spirit so he couldn't pray, so i said that's WHY we need to pray. he said stop talking to me, if you want to pray go ahead. so i did. then about 3 houses later it was time to go home so we started walking back and he started apologizing and saying stuff about why he was angry and i just said i just think that when we don't have the spirit we need to pray. and as soon as i said that he looked at me and said, i also don't like being told what to do. so i said just stop talking i don't want to fight. and he said did you not just hear me? i don't like being told what to do, so i'm gonna keep talking. so i'm gonna admit...i kinda got a little scared so i started running to the bus stop..he chased after me and when he caught up i told him i couldn't do it anymore and that i didn't want to be his comp anymore and i needed the phone so i could call president. and as soon as i said that, he stopped, and looked like he was gonna start crying. so i just left and started walking to the bus stop. when we got on the bus he came over to me and said that he was going to pray so he prayed and then started apologizing again...he said that he realized when i said that that he's gotten into fights with all his other comps and it hit him that he was the problem. he told me that he had things to work on and that whenever we get put in situations like that, he doesn't like to listen to me cause he knows that it's the right thing to do and he's an older missionary than me so he should be coming up with those ideas. then he pointed out all his problems and then said there are also things that you need to change like right now....haha it just kinda bugged me that he never said he was going to change but he made sure he told me that i needed to change things now....ya it was interesting...we were all good though like after an hour or so and went to a rdv we had that night. i honestly can't even remember how the rdv went...i was still kinda mad...but we finished the rdv at like 9:05 and we are supposed to be home at 9:30 but the bus wouldn't be there for like 10 minutes and it took like 15 minutes to get there...so we called the DL to tell him that we were going to be late and eldredge made up this story about us getting mugged and made it like really sarcastic...like really sarcastic...like he said that undercover members came out and defended us haha and we were on the bus ride back and got a call from the mission president's wife...i guess the DL thought we were serious and called the mission president! haha so we told her it was a joke and she about died laughing haha it was great! then everyone was mad at us when we got back to the apartment...haha it was an interesting day!

THURSDAY

today was a whole lot of nothing...haha it was literally just a slow day and it felt like we didn't do anything the whole day. the other set of elders went up to Luxembourg for transfers around 12 so it was just me and elder eldredge...awkward...but he really made up for it...he bought me ice cream tonight. and it was snickers ice cream so i kinda forgave him a little...haha no just kidding. honestly i'm not even mad at the fight...i'm just mad at the situation...we were fighting over saying a prayer....really? ahh anyway...so we started off with studies of course. they were really good. we then went contacting and taught a lesson and walked just all over the place! it was fun we went to the cathedral in Metz and actually went Inside! it's interesting in those things!! haha but it was really fun! we then came back for lunch and i had a letter from mom and since i wasn't really hungry i just wrote her back a letter. eldredge turned on a video about joseph Smith and fell asleep so i was just writing and waiting for him to Wake up...it started to pour rain and then he woke up and since we needed to go to the computer and look for a conference talk for a lesson we have coming up with nora. so we went and we did that. we watched a few talks trying to find the one we felt was best for her and found it. it is Thomas S. Monson from april 2013 called Love-The Essence of the Gospel. go read it. it's really good. then we went porting to finish up the night...we went to this new neighborhood that we found...HUGE HOUSES and really nice people! we had one lady say come back another time, and one family give us a referral! so that was really good! then we came home and i really wanted some ice cream so eldredge bought me some ice cream...i'll take that apology! haha no but really it was snickers ice cream bars so i cant really be that mad can i?

FRIDAY

today felt really unproductive too...ahhh i'm really excited for transfers! haha less than 2 weeks!! it will be really good! we started off with studies...we had our comp studies too which was just talking and eldredge talked for EVER but i'm not complaining cause at least we did it instead of talking about marriage....again...haha so umm in the middle of 12 week...THE BUZZER RANG AND IT WAS MY CHRISTMAS PACKAGE!!!!!! i was so happy! i ran down the stairwell in my socks!! haha it was so fun. i wasn't going to open it yet but eldredge made me so i did! it was full of all that i wanted!! letters and deodorant :) haha thank you again to everyone who helped my mom with that! umm that took a little bit and then we went and contacted and ran a couple errands...eldredge wanted me to make cookies for the other elders to apologize for his little joke the other night so he bought all the ingrédients and i hurried and made the cookies. so we made cookies and cleaned the apartment for them and then started weekly planning......ahhhh i hate weekly planning! it took like 4 hours this week....ahhh it is awful...but we gotta do what we gotta do....haha! mom sent me a few sd cards with some fun videos on them but i had to convert them so that i could Watch them on the dvd player so we went to the Church to convert those and i Watch a few before i went to bed. it was a good time! i am so grateful for a mom who cares about me and the good technology we have now days!!! it was way fun to see everyone!

SATURDAY

so umm today was supposed to be splits but the the black plague has returned and gotten to everyone except me!!! so i'm counting myself Lucky! while everyone else was sleeping trying to get "unsick" i went out and had studies. while i was studying, the greffier, the office elders, called us and said that they'd be at the Church in 2 hours and needed one companionship to come let them in cause they had these Christmas books for us. the Christmas book is called Room in the Inn by Neil L. Anderson...i guess it's in an ensign from a couple years ago? maybe y'all can find it? i went and told eldredge and he said he'd be ready by then to go...so we went and they also had mail for us!! i got my other package from the ward! which was really surprising cause mom told me they wouldn't be sending it til december 1 so i was really excited. then they wanted to try the legendary kebab's of Metz so we took them to Tezel and got kebabs. when we finished that we went and finished converting all the little videos from home and eldredge got all up and excited about watching bible videos...so i let him be and after about an hour and a half he was ready to go....ahhh we got back to the apartment and i opened the package and played with it for a while and then we went contacting in the ice cold weather! haha it's getting so cold here!!! and that was alright...but we got back and i decided to read the Christmas story in french! that was cool. then we had dinner and a rdv with Nora! tonight since we didn't have a member was just going to be a night of talking. we walked in and she had a TON of little treats for us all over the coffee table and it was fun just to eat and hear her fun stories. i love her with all my heart! she is so great!!!! then we got home and i watched the rest of the videos from home...there's one video from mom that made me BAWL haha so thanks mom...i guess i miss you;)

SUNDAY

today was super fast!!!! i couldn't believe how fast it went. it was really good and i had a good day! so the other elders are still sick but eldredge is doing good so me and him went to Church. the other elders stayed home and everyone was so worrried about them thinking they were dead or something. haha it was funny! we got to Church and the bishop came up to us and said the member who was supposed to teach the lesson in priesthood bailed so he needed us to teach for him...so we taught about our Christmas initiative! it's Christmas.mormon.org so go check it out! it's pretty cool! and then for sunday school we took maxime to a gospel principles class...oh ya! he came to Church again!! it was good! and then for sacrament meeting it was the primary program! little kids speaking french may just be the cutest thing of my life haha! i love it! my children will speak french! but maxime was laughing the whole time so i think he liked it too! we then had ward Council and when i walked in sœur brun was in there...she's the YW president and she motioned for me to go sit right next to her. so i did and when i sat down she whispered to me "Mon Fils!" haha that means my son....it was like the best. she's so awesome!!! then after that we had a rdv with maxime and it was really good. Pauline Royer, a member, who lived in Utah for 2 months as a nanny and is fluent in English and french, was our member...during the lesson whenever i'd talk he'd say he didn't understand what i was saying...so he'd turn to elder eldredge and he'd have to explain...in other words...i'm screwed when eldredge leaves! never thought i'd say that...haha sorry that was rude...but it was a good rdv. and then we really didn't do anything the rest of the day....we had some studies but we just stayed in the apartment cause everyone was sick so it was a good day!

well there's my week everyone! thanks again to all who helped my mom with the Christmas box! it was a great surpise and i loved it so much!!! can't wait to read all the letters! keep the prayers and emails coming! i love them all! thanks again! til next week!

elder libby

i have wept in the night

for the shortness of sight

that to somebody's need made me blind;

but i have never yet

felt a tinge of regret

for being a little too kind:)

thomas s monson