WEEK 52

this cant be happening! i cannot believe that it is like here. where did all the time go! i am so excited to be able to go back and start reading through my journal and find out what was going on a year from now! its been something that i have been looking forward to since like week 3! hahah that is going to be great! this week i just happen to have the opportunity (i hope!) to get an ipad and it just so happens that that day falls on the day of the wedding! #coincidence #ithinknot so at least i'll be having an interview with president on that day and i'll get to cry AND ill get an ipad:) not too bad if you ask me!

MONDAY NIGHT

well because the trains are crazy and everything, we had to go into st omer for district meeting! so we took the bus and got into st omer and then went to dinner at macdo and chilled and helped them out with their missionary work! aka we just went contacting to finish up the night! nothing too fun or interesting happened tonight except that i asked all the elders to give me a blessing and it was so cool! i just had a lot going through my head and needed some counsel. let me just tell you that heavenly father is watching over me and my family! i know that he is there and he is helping all of us out and knows what we need. he is a pretty cool guy if you ask me! i have no doubt that he is at the head of this amazing work. his wish is for us to be happy and i am so thankful for that!

TUESDAY

this morning we woke up and got all ready for the day and booked it out the door to make our train and it just happened to be pouring rain! so me and my elder on exchange had to go and park the car and then we ran out to our train! we got on and out to calais and stopped by the boulangerie cause everyone wanted to eat a little something so they all went in and then we went to pay and the lady told us that she was sorry but she only accepted cards with more than 10 euros in the purchase, so he looked at me and said, stock up libby! so i started telling the lady what i wanted and we got 10 euros worth of patisseries! it was fun:) then we got to district meeting and had a good formation and some fun chats at lunch and then me and another elder got to go on an exchange so me and him headed home to good old dunkerque! we got in and had to take a little potty break back at the apartment and then we went out searching for souls:) we taught a couple good lessons and talked to a few cool people but no one was really interested. so we came in for dinner and then decided that we would go porting in these buildings when a cute african lady answered. she has a 5 year old daughter who is the CUTEST little girl that i have EVER seen. she was very interested in the book of mormon and asked us where she could find one. so we gave it to her and planned for another rdv with her! it was very cool. we then went to the beach and took some fun pics cause why not!

WEDNESDAY

well the other elders have troubles waking up to the alarms in the mornings. so we called them to see if they woke up cause they had an early train to do the re-exchange and there was no answer...so we tried again about 20 minutes later and no answer..so i called the lady at the mission office and she told me that she was going to order tickets for us to go and do it when i got a call from my comp saying that the phone was just on silent but they were coming....so i had to call the lady at the office back. #thankheavensforofficecouples #ilovethemall so we ate some breakfast and then went and bought our exchange elders their first YOP! it was a noteworthy experience;) then me and my comp came to the church to start out our studies and then went home to plan and had a rdv with a recent convert! he is such a nice guy but i just feel like he is a little unmotivated...its really sad but he is super nice! we taught about the last part of the plan of salvation and then headed out contacting and then went out porting for the night and did some passbacks and sadly all of them told us no...but they'll get another chance! we then stopped for some kebabs for dinner and went home for the night

THURSDAY

we had an exchange with the zone leaders today and it was really fun! i went with an elder from cardston alberta canada! he is so cool! we started off our day by going to a different recent converts house to help him out with his talk that he had to give this week and that went well. he is 19 years old so its really fun and easy to talk to him. he is a really cool kid. after that we went and found the zl's at the gare and while walking out we had this homie from nigeria come up to us and ask who we were cause he'd seen us and wanted to be baptized! HAHA! it was funny! we talked and got his number and then told him we'd call him and fix something up and then i asked him for his name and guess what he said? "Prince.....Moses!" so hahah I'm still not sure if his name is prince? ... or moses?! it was great! we went home and ate some lunch and then we went out and contacted and we ran into this one dude and talked to him for a good 45-50 minutes on the side of the road cause he was saying that there should be no religion cause only poor people believe in god and we kept talking and made him think and gave him a brochure and he said, "you guys have made me think. i'm gonna read this and i think i'll call you next week!" so we're waiting for his phone call! me and the canadian elder just talked and got to know each other pretty well! it was a fun exchange:) we went to dinner at macdo cause we didnt have a ton of food at the apt and then when we came outside it was pouring rain again! so we went home and got our jackets and it was a waste cause i still got soaking with my jacket! we then went porting for the night and then walked along the beach to get home. it was really romantic;) we found some snails on the ground and decided to bring them home for the other elders and when we walked into the aparment we looked on the umbrella and the snails were on top of each other! #mating? #youneverknow

FRIDAY

today took forever to get over with and i feel like we kinda wasted a day but we didnt... it just took forever! we woke up and i had told the zl's about steven's (my dad!) famous sunday morning cocoa cake and they all were wanting to try it so for breakfast this morning i made some cocoa cake and it turned out good! we then studied and then took the zl's off to the gare and then me and my comp went to the store to buy some garbage bags and then went home and planned for our day. we had a home teaching appt with a member at the church so we took our lunch and headed to the church and ate lunch at the church and waited for the member. he called us and told us that he'd be 20 minutes late and so i got to have a rdv with DAN (daily afternoon nap) while waiting;) we then talked about president monson's address in the august liahona and he talked for ever and we were with him for a good 2 hours! hahah so by the time that we finished we went and ported for a little bit and found a less active who tole us that we could come back again! then we had another less active appt and it went really well! we talked all about joseph smith cause she is really interested in him!

SATURDAY

so today we had planned on staying in the apartment all day starting our weekly planning and waiting for the senior couple from belgium to come and inspect our apartment but after studies i already wanted to kill myself cause we'd been in the apartment for too long! so we went out contacting for a little bit! today in dunkerque was 'la bénédiction de la mer' which translated means the blessing of the sea...and people think mormons are weird!;) they had markets all up and down all the roads and flags all over the town it was fun to see! we then went in to start lunch and planning and got a call from the senior couple saying they were here. so they came up and their son was here visiting! he was so cool! he had just graduated from nursing school and gave me some tips on med school and told me a ton to help me out:) im nervous for school...by the way mom have you thought about that yet?;) anywho they fixed up a few things and then we prayed and they left. me and my comp then began planning and kept getting distracted from the sea thing right outside our apartment! it was really weird and we saw the popes and nuns just outside! no worries there are pics!;) then we went out contacting and porting for the night!

SUNDAY

today was so full of the Lord's tender mercies on me and my comp! it was such a good day full of blessings from the spirit! it started off getting into church and the branch president's daughters and kids were in town for a family reunion and we got to meet and talk to them and they just made me and my comp feel like a million bucks! they were so nice and we found out that one served in barcelona and the other at temple square! so it was so fun to talk to them about missions. obviously i had to take a picture:) then we went home for lunch and had studies and i just opened up the liahona and flipped to 'Is It Still Wonderful to You?' by Gérald Caussé and it was so good to read. i challenge you all to go and read it right now, because it might just change the path of you day. it really makes you think! i loved it and it made me want to enjoy the things that i have. we then went out and stopped by our new african investigaor's home and she let us in and we got to teach her all about the restoration and the book of mormon and she sat there taking notes and asking tons of questions and then stopped us and said, this makes so much sense. god loves all his kids, he isnt just going to give his aid and love to the people in the old world when he knew there were people in the new world. this makes so much sense! it was amazing to see the spirit working with her! we prayed with her and her cute little daughter and then decided to stop by another investigator's house. we had talked to her a couple times this week on the phone and so we stopped by and she let us in to talk and she just started crying. she's having a really rough time so keep her in your prayers! she let us pray with her and then told us that she was very grateful for us and that she wants us to keep calling her and stopping by! she is such a sweet lady! im very grateful to know her!

heavenly father watches out for us! he knows what we need! remember that whenever you need to talk you got him and he's got you! and you can always email or write me...ive been told im quite a good ventee;) i hope all goes well with the wedding this week! know my prayers and thoughts will be with you:) je vous aime:)

elder libby

 

WEEK 51

hello everyone! this week went by really well and me and my comp had a blast! me and this kid are just the funniest missionaries you will ever meet and we have fun while getting the work done! #gottalistentocharly! the work is always that much easier when you are having fun! i cant believe that the time is going by so fast though! me and my comp are already in our 4th week together! time flies when you are with your best friend though;)

MONDAY NIGHT

well because of district meeting and times and all that fun stuff we have to go into the other elders area every monday night to be able to make it to district meeting by tuesday morning cause there are no buses or trains that run that early in the morning to Calais! so we went in to St Omer and by the time we got there we realized that we hadnt eaten any dinner so we went and got some macdo for dinner! it was great as always. anyone who knows elder libby knows that he loves some good old macdo! then we went home for the night and got some shut eye

TUESDAY

today i got to do an exchange with the big tahitian and i love that kid with all my heart! this elder is born and raised in tahiti and is just the biggest teddy bear that i have ever met in my entire life! it was so much fun to be hanging out with him all day! he is a really nice kid, and he speaks almost fluent english! so thats always fun. he told me that he learned all of his english from going to institute and seminary in tahiti and that he is really shocked cause he was called to paris france speaking french but that he has spoken more english than french while being here on his mission...i guess we all need to get better at speaking some french for them frenchies;) we woke up and headed out the door so that we could get our train and me and one of the other elders from st omer took some really cute candid photos but sadly i dont have them yet cause he hasnt emailed them back to me so i'll send them in when i get some! no worries. then we got to district meeting and had a fun time together and ate and talked and planned and all that fun stuff and then we taught a lesson to one of their investigators and it might have been the most awkward lesson that i have ever taught. we taught about the restoration and gave a church tour and when we asked her if she ever got to the point of knowing the truth of our message if she'd be baptized she said no cause it's a different religion...hahah and then she left. so that was really interesting! then we went home for dinner and contacting and then we went on some less active searching and while walking we ran into an old lady who was just talking our ears off and so cute and old she could hardly walk by herself so we helped her cross the road...first time i did it and it was in france! before leaving i asked if we could take a pic and she grabbed my arm and said 'allez-y' so we took a cute little photo! then on the way home, we found an ice cream truck that gave out huge ice cream cones with 6 scoops and more soft serve ice cream on top! so naturally we had to buy some and take some cute pics again. we then made our way in for the night

WEDNESDAY

today went pretty dang well! haha i slept like a baby last night so when i woke up this morning it was just a great morning! we did some studies and then for morning contacting my comp took me to the calais lighthouse and to the beach! good fun! i saw england so that was great!:) long live the queen! then we went and bought some drinks for lunch cause we obviously had to get some kebabs! they were really good but they didnt toast the bun so they just fell right apart...so that was fun:) we caught our train and got home to good old dunkerque! it had been a long time so it was really good to be home. during the train ride i was playing around on my comps ipad and i was looking at his family history and tree and saw that for almost every ancestor they had a story about their conversion and life! and so i am super excited to get my ipad so that i can do that too! im excited to learn about those guys and maybe find out if a couple of them come from france!;) except i looked at the crotch of my pants...and i had another tear! i am running these bad boys down to the ground! so that was interesting...i was down to one pair of pants! we went porting and then stopped by a less active for a quick rdv. she told us that her and her family are planning on coming to church so we really hope that that happens!

THURSDAY

well today was awesome all because of our new investigator! do you all remember her? she was our little miracle and she is just so cool! i love her! we had a great rdv with her:) teaching prepared people is so much fun. we woke up this morning and went and did some contacting to the church for our language study and then we contacted on the way home and we got a call from this guy at the city mairie telling me that he needed something from my visa to take care of my legality for the second year of my mission so we ran over and he told me he'd call me when he had it figured out! we then went home for lunch and for our rdv! we got there and she was waiting for us and told us all about her. she has 2 kids and 2 grandkids. one child from her first husband and the other from her second husband. she told us that she just lost her second husband last year from a really bad sickness but she came to accept it cause she knows that he is doing better now. the spirit was strong! we taught her the restoration and she was asking lots of questions and then...SHE INVITED HERSELF TO CHURCH!!! she just told us that she was going to come! we finished up our rdv and fixed another time to go and see her and then left. while there we missed a call from the guy at the city mairie and he told us that he had everything that i needed! he took good care of me! so we told him we'd be by in the morning! we then went to a less active rdv and it went well. we just talked all about joseph smith and then headed out to a dinner appt with a member! she invited us over cause she found some new areas that she wanted us to port and she wanted to tell us all about them! we found out that she was like the same age as our new investigator and then asked her if she'd be willing to help us teach her! she said yes and we talked all about that and ate a salmon and spinach lasagna! it was a fun night! plus she took my pants and told me she'd sew them all up for me:)

FRIDAY

so this homeboy that works for the city is seriously the best. if he is not employee of the month right now then he needs to be promoted! we went to go and pick up my stuff this morning and he had everything figured out and he signed me up for an appt next week! he is the best. we then went over to a recent converts house to teach him. he had a dr appt so we had to really quickly teach him! then we went searching a new bus map for the apt and there were none at the bus place so we went to the church to look up this guys address for tomorrow cause we had a rdv with him. then we went home and ate lunch and then went to another recent converts house and helped him out with his lesson that he was asked to give in church this week! he was really nervous! but it was a good rdv! then we went home and we planned cause you know its friday and we should probably do that sometimes;)

SATURDAY

we got a call from the member that lives not too far from us and he was really wanting to come and help us out with some contacting today. he is a little not all there in the head so we have to be nice to him and so we told him he could come and help for a couple hours! after studies i felt like i needed to call our new investigator just to see how she was doing and she just started to cry and tell us that her ex husband was killed yesterday and that she needed us to pray for her cause she needed it. i just didnt know what to do! she told us that she wouldnt be able to come to church tomorrow but that she would still like us to come over next week. promise me that you will all pray for her and her daughter! so we did our studies and then went out and contacted and taught a lesson and then went for language study and lunch and then we tried to go out and see some members but they weren't home and so that made me sad. then we went and got the member so that he could come and help us out and we were just laughing and having a fun time! while waiting for him to get ready to go outside i found a sudoku puzzle on his table and so i took it and finished it while waiting:) then we went out contacting and we laughed and had fun! then we dropped him off at home and went out porting and bought some ice cream and coke for the night:)

SUNDAY

today went by pretty fast! which is funny cause every week sunday seems like it is going to go so slow but it ends up flying by! we went back out to the neighborhood that the sister told us to try and got 4 passbacks and taught 2 lessons! it was great! we got to church today and the sister brought back my pants all sewed up and perfect! she takes good care of me! then we had great meetings and had fun with all the members! after church me and my comp had to get on the internet to look at train times to try and find out some of the times that we needed to order for our week and then we went home for lunch and watched for good old emma smith! it was fun:) we then took a little time for our studies and then went out porting to finish up the night! like i said we saw tons of success out there and it was all because of #membersinspiration seriously it was a great night!

well i hope you are all doing well! remember that god is real and that he does watch over all of us. he loves us and wants us to be happy, so we need to find the happiness! im grateful for him, his son, and this gospel in my life. love you all:)

elder libby

 

WEEK 50

well everyone i am officially starting to freak out about my year mark....that dumb date is coming too fast and things just need to slow down a little! i cannot believe how fast time goes when you aren't paying attention to it! like seriously...this week was super good and we had lots of laughs and lots of fun together so there is no complaining! things are so great here in DUNKERQUE and i'm loving being here and serving the Lord in such a fun place with adventures at every corner! but how are all of you doing at home? i look forward to hearing about your lives every week so keep all of the emails coming!!

MONDAY NIGHT

so the trains here at the edge of the world don't run all that often and to be able to get to district meeting tomorrow we had to go in tonight and spend the night with some of the other elders! so right after we had finished up with our pday we went and caught a bus out to another town to spend some the night with the other elders in our district. it was really fun! they had a family home evening in their branch that night and so we all went and played some ping pong and had a good lesson and spirtual thought with some of the members there! then we went home for the night and one of the elders started teaching me how to juggle! so lets just say that soon i am not only going to be a professional ping pong king, but also a juggler! im moving up guys so #lookout

TUESDAY

today we all woke up and hurried and got ready so that we could get out of the apartment and to district meeting on time...its not that easy with one shower and 4 elders! but somehow we did it and all is well! we got out of the apartment and over to the church and while waiting for all the rest of the guys we went and played the piano...cause you know i have to play it this sunday!:/ while playing some of the other elders came in from the gare and one of them is this big tahitian who i learned is like the nicest kid on this planet and he was like i dont really play the piano and then he sat down at the piano and then just started playing hallelujah and all these songs that just made me want to die cause i love it when people play the piano and i just love listening to the piano! so that was awesome! it was really fun to go into district meeting and be the only person in the entire room with out and ipad...just kidding! it actually sucked cause i had to carry my scriptures around everywhere and everyone else was just on there cute little ipads...we just found out today that the kids who didnt get any ipads yet will be getting them at this next zone conference. unless they get stolen ;) we had a visit from the zone leaders and so the district leader was trying super hard to impress and it just made me laugh cause he's just a little power hungry...we were all laughing cause it was super obvious. after district meeting we had an hour and a half until our bus left from st omer to dunkerque and so we went into another room and planned for a little bit and then we got a ride back to the gare until we got our bus! we had quite a fun time while we were in st omer and im excited to be able to do that every week for the transfer! on the bus ride home there were these annoying girls that were sitting behind us that were spraying their perfume on the back of my head on purpose so i stood up and told them to grow up and moved...ugh! we got home and went home and grabbed our suits and took them to the dry cleaners cause we decided on sunday that our suits hadnt been cleaned in forever haha! and then went to a rdv that we had with this recent convert and it went well! he was a nice old man that the branch president is a little worried about cause i guess he isnt too strong yet, but we're working with him! he was super nice though!

WEDNESDAY

so here in dunkerque we do this one thing once a month called journee du branche. which is the branch day and what it consists of is cleaning the chapel and doing a branch council and then eating a meal together. so this morning we only got like one hour of studies until we needed to get out to go to the journee du branche! we got there and talked with all the people for a little bit and then went right into the branch council. we talked about lots of things and how we are going to make dunkerque a booming place! and we talked about the gay less active and what we need to do for him...and we decided to try to ignore him cause honestly he wont leave us alone and has no real potential for right now...don't worry that story will come into play a little sooner!;) so we ate with the few members that came and talked and laughed and were guessing who the new apostles would be and stuff and then i played the piano for a little bit and then we went home to drop some stuff off and then went out and did some contacting! we were walking down the road when this girl, obviously drunk or high, maybe both, yelled PILOTS DES AVIONS!!! so we looked at her and explained that we actually werent airplane pilots and that we were missionaries and she listened and was so confused on how we lived and made our way through life and why we came to dunkerque it was really funny! but she told us she didnt have a ton of time and so after explaining everything to her and also explaining a few gospel principles we decided to take advantage of the situtation and try to get a lesson out of it! so we asked if we could pray with her and as we asked her she was pulling out a cigarette and lit it and said well i just lit this and i cant pray with it but after i finish yes! so she started walking with us and telling us how her dog was going in to get FIXED tomorrow...when we sat down on a bench to pray we looked at the dog and me and my comp have come to the conclusion that the dog had an infection cause his little boys were MASSIVE....hahah we realized that that was why he needed to get fixed!;) but we started to pray and as we were praying she scooted right over to me, leaned into me and put her head on my shoulder and i was terrified she was going to try to kiss me! hahaha! it was so funny and elder jorgensen was just laughing! but we prayed and then got out of there! it was funny and she was super nice so it will be interesting to see if we ever see her again! then we had a rdv with a less-active and we watched the restoration video with her and she told us that she was going to try to come to church this week! so it was really good and she invited us over next week again:)

THURSDAY

today we started out with some studies and then since i am about to get to my year mark i need to start working on getting legal in france for the second year of my mission so we went to the place here to get legal..i dont know the word in english but in french it is the prefecture and they sent me to one room who told me that i needed to go to another building..so we decided that we'd do that later when we were just contacting around. so we went and did some language study at the church and then made our way home for lunch. after lunch we had a rdv with one of the other recent converts in the area and on the way there we contacted a guy who said that he was really interested to hear more about us but he lived in Lille! so we told him that we'd take his number and give it to the missionaries there! it was cool, he let us pray with him and everything. god is working miracles here! then we went to our rdv with mike who is the coolest kid ever! he is 3 months older than me from haiti and is one of the strongest members that ive ever met! he is so nice! we taught him the convert lessons of the plan of salvation. he plays soccer over here and has been here doing that for 3 years. he is so cool! after all of that we made our way to the place to renew my legality or at least find out how to do the thing and they told me that i couldnt do it until my visa has 1 month left...so we're waiting! patiently! then we went to a rdv that we had with another less active that elder jorgensen has explained to me as someone who knows nothing..a true blond if you will;) but she was super nice and said that not this sunday but next she was going to come to church! after her rdv we went home for the night. today the gay less active called us 4 times and texted us 12 times trying to set up a rdv but we've decided to leave him be for this week....it gets better!

FRIDAY

well today consisted of yup you got it! weekly planning! but this time i have something to tell you cause it wasnt the only thing that we did all day! we got up and had studies and then we went and did some contacting and what not and then we went and had lunch and then planned and planned and planned but then we had an exchange that night! so we finished planning and the went and hopped on the bus to go to our exchange! it was really fun! we got in and went porting while the other equipe had a lesson and then went back to the car and got a text saying that the investigator invited them to eat and so they sat down and ate! needless to say we got home really late and stayed up later talking and laughing! today we got 5 calls from the gay less active and 10 texts....

SATURDAY

we woke up this morning dead cause of the late hour that we went to bed...but we studied and all that fun stuff and then we made our way to the church to do some stuff on the computer and then we went off to the gare to get home. we hopped on the bus and this time there were no annoying girls behind me! when we got home we went and ate some lunch so that we could start out fasts and then we went with a member to see another member that is in the hospital! the same one as last week. so it took forever to get out there but we did it and we got back. when we got back we decided that we'd go and pick up our dry cleaning and so we got there and they were closed! so that was a bummer but we went and contacted this lady who told us that she was so happy to be able to talk to us cause it really helped her out and that she wanted us to come back and meet her at her house and teach her more! it was super cool! she gave us her phone numer and address and we set a rdv for next week! it was even the good number and address too! so that was really good! we then went out porting for the night! we started to make the less active really mad today..;i cant even remember how many calls and texts but he started saying that he needed to meet with us that he wasnt coming back to church...i texted him and told him we are really busy and that we'd call him if we ever had time to meet with him...it is interesting dealing with him!

SUNDAY

we got to church this morning and guess who was there...the less active...telling us that he came to church for the lord and for us...NO DUDE YOU NEED TO COME FOR YOU...so ya. we had a great priesthood and sunday school lesson and then we went into sacrament meeting and we had a total of 9 people there! 7 members and 2 missionaries! but we made it through the whole meeting of testimonies! it was really good. we got out of sacrament and saw that the less active had left early and we had a text from him saying that he had tried too hard and that he was never coming back and that he wants us to keep coming back to his house to teach him...so we told the branch president and he has advised us to not contact him til further notice! so for the moment we are just recieving texts and phone calls asking us to call him to fix a rdv and what the problem is and why we wont respond! it is funny! but after church we went with another member and ate some food to break our fasts and it was an interesting meal....green beans and tuna... but we made it through! after that we went out porting for the night and were talking about how its only about 4 1/2 months til we get to call home again! that'll be a fun day!!

well this week was a blast and we had tons of success and fun! i hope you are all doing well. remember that you are constantly in my prayers and that i love you! talk to you soon!:)

elder libby

 

WEEK 49

that is so weird to type 49...that means that next week i will be typing 50 and i am not ready for that...why can't time just slow down just a little bit??? ah! well things are going great everyone! i successfully made it to Dunkerque and everything is going great! my new companion is amazing which is something that i definitely needed to have this transfer...i needed that change bad! his name is elder Jorgenson and he is from St George Utah and he is just one of my best friends:) i love him to death. he's just my big teddy bear;) no but seriously we get along great and we LOVE to laugh! this transfer is going to be great! well i'll stop with all the mushy love stuff and tell you how my week went!

MONDAY NIGHT

tonight was really good. yesterday at church we were stopped by the relief society president who told us that she wanted to make us dinner and bring it to the church. but because of the rules of the mission, we needed a dude to be there as well. #cantbealonewithwomen so we invited the one and only pierre! so tonight we got there and the rs president comes in and says something came up and i can't stay with you so you are just going to have to eat this dinner without me! so we waited and when pierre showed up we all sat and ate together and talked and laughed and then pierre wrote me a little goodbye note and we took some pictures. it was a good way to say goodbye! i love that man!

TUESDAY

well today was really fun towards the end cause Jackie, our ward mission leader, took me and elder rodriguez out for dinner! it was so much fun to be able to sit and talk with him one last time and he gave me some pretty great life advice. but i'll get to that later! we went out this morning for some contacting and didn't have a ton of success...it was blazing hot and no one was outside and so i was getting my butt sweat stains for fun;) TMI? you decide. so we came in for lunch and then went and did some more contacting! we had a lady that we didn't know call and ask if we could go and give a blessing to one of her friends, but the timing was weird and so we ended up having to go and start the exchange with me and rodriguez early cause we were going to dinner with Jackie. so we went home and finished up packing and then went to the gare to print off some train tickets and then went out with Jackie. he took us to a chinese buffet and it was good! i love me some good chinese food. after dinner he drove us home and i asked for a picture and asked him what his life advice was for me. he said that if i went home converted to the gospel, and found an amazing and worthy wife that my life would be blessed and the lord would always be with me. i love that man! he is so cool!:)

WEDNESDAY

well today started out with me and rodriguez just running all around trying to get all the last stuff that we had into our bags! my bags were pretty full, but not as full as last time...and the funny thing is i have no idea what i left behind....haha! life is great. we got all our stuff together and then i called up the mr jean parfait himself to say my goodbye and tell him how much i loved him and he gave me his email and told me that i needed to email him and keep in contact! then i got a phone call from a missionary telling me that he recieved the package from mom and that he was going to give it to me when i got into paris and met up with everyone! paris was crazy. so many missionaries and so much fun! we had to run all over dropping people off and bringing people in but finally we made it into Gare du Nord and we caught our train with 90 seconds to spare! me and elder jorgenson immediately hit it off when he told me that he like coke. i knew we'd be best friends! we got into dunkerque around 5 at night and had to go grocery shopping so that i had something to eat this week and then we had a meeting with a member who is a little mentally handicapped but he loves the missionaries and he just wanted to meet the new guy;) we then went contacting at the beach for the rest of the night!

THURSDAY

today was pretty good! still just trying to get used to this weird 2 man stuff!! it gets so quiet! but we have fun watching movies and videos from the gospel library to fill our downtimes at night and during meals! today we had nothing planned and no investigators so we set out on a quest to get a baptismal date by sunday! it was our goal and a good one at that;) so we went out on a quest for an investigator. we contacted a lady that wasn't from the area but from an area away from dunkerque in a ville 350 kilometers away...a little place called REIMS. you ever heard of that place before?? i was all no way! and she was all no way! and we were all no way! and so she told me that she was going to call the other elders and that this church would be the last church that she investigates cause she really wanted a god to be there but she just wasn't sure and that she might be taking this as a sign to try one more time! so that was really cool. but other than that it was just another day of contacting and finding! we went and taught this less active that we found who told us that her husband doesn't let her come to church but that she still pays her tithing and tries to come when he isn't home. so that was a fun contact;) then we went and ported up a neighborhood and told some stories to each other! my comp has a great life guys;)

FRIDAY

today we planned. hahah and that is about all that i have to share with you! we woke up and went out and contacted for a while and then came in and ate some lunch and then since the area book and the phone are a mess, we are taking some time during weekly planning to find some people that are lost in the book to teach and same thing with the phone! we are going to clean those things up for the next few weeks and make dunkerque a huge place in the mission again! dont worry it will happen. after we were done planning we had an hour to go out and contact and find someone so we went and did that and it was blowing wind really hard haha!

SATURDAY

well today was good fun. we had a rdv with the guy that i met the first night that i was here to go out and see a less-active that was in the hospital. so we went out and contacted and then we came in for lunch and then went out with him and it took forever and an eternity to get out to the hospital and back! we went and said hello and then sat and chitchatted for a while and then we all decided to leave and so when we got out to the bus stop, we had just missed the bus so we had to chill and wait for the bus! then we went in and finished up some transfer goals that we needed to do and then we went out contacting to end the night! all in all it was a super fast day and not a ton to report cause everything that we did took up so much time! haha but it was good and rainy and windy none the less...i mean what do you expect when you are next to the ocean #amirite

SUNDAY

well the first sunday here and i met the entire branch! including me and my companion there were 15 people in the chapel! isnt that awesome?? haha i was asked to share a little talk and introduce my self during sacrament and it went well. i like it here and all of the members seem to like me! there is only one lady here who plays the piano and she only plays right handed so it looks like i need to spice up my piano skills! haha that could be helpful i think! anywho we got out of the chapel really slowly today so we got home and did our lunch and then some studies cause i guess we are supposed to do studies on sunday and i have never done them before?? haha so ya we did that and then went out into the nasty cold and windy rain to do some contacting! lets just say that mine and elder jorgenson's wives are going to be BEAUTIFUL. because apparently the more time you spend proselyting in the nasty weather the more attractive your wife gets...you know like the prayer thing?;) but it was pretty bad and so we decided to go inside after an hour and we were soaking wet and try to clean up the phone for a little bit! all in all it was a good day

my time here in dunkerque is going great! thanks for the love and prayers and keep the letters coming!!i love and miss you all!;)

elder libby

 

 

WEEK 48

well transfers came!!! everyone, i am leaving Reims to the great city and metropolis the people of France like to call DUNKERQUE!!! from what i know there are about 8 people in the branch and the city isn't that big either, and in the winter it is colder than ever! so thankfully i am going during the summer and fall;) i am very excited to go though! another elder in my mtc group started his mission in Dunkerque and he said that he loved it there so i am excited to go:) i'll have to get you my address next week when i am there but i will definitely get it to you! so just send all the packages and letters to the mission office this week;) hahah!

MONDAY NIGHT
tonight we were asked to help mustard man with his home teaching. he is the home teacher of Nolwenn's aunt and so we went with him to her apartment and had a fun time with her. she was dog-sitting her mom's dog and it is the cutest little white dog ever and of course i had to take some pictures with it! it was really fun! after that we had about 20 minutes to go contacting and then we came in and figured things out for the exchange tomorrow with the ZLs!

TUESDAY

we had a pretty fun bastille day! i don't know about all you but it was super fun for us! French Independence day is NOTHING like the 4th! so dont worry i didn't have any parades or crazy carnivals! but it was a really fun bastille day! probably the best one that i've ever had;) hahah we got into paris for our district meeting and all bore testimonies on a certain thing that elder ericson asked us to. i was asked to speak about a family on my mission that has helped me out the most. so OBVIOUSLY it was the Royer family from metz:) i showed pics and only teared up! we then ate and then took our district photos! it was a really fun district meeting and i am going to miss this district! then me and elder johnson had a lunch appt with the Fieschi family! the same family from last week and so we were waiting at the church for them to come and get us and then we got to their house and had lunch and then after lunch they had us play ping-pong and then after ping-pong they took us to their garden to show us and for us to help them water their plants and then after that we went back to their house and hey had us set the table for dinner! and we were like woah! we're eating dinner here? and they were like, it's bastille day! you're spending the entire day with us! lol! so we started setting the table for dinner when the wife said, plus we invited our less-active son so you can say that you had some sort of missionary work for the day! haha so that was fun! plus the sister of the little boy in the Reims ward came and so we got to talk about his baptism! remember that family? the dad is less active but wants to baptize the son? so that was good to talk to her about the baptism as well! so all in all is was a really fun day filled with lots of laughter and on the way home we may or may not have heard the song "im so excited" come on;) it was fun!

WEDNESDAY

well we woke up this morning and did some studies and then elder johnson, being the cool cat that he is, likes coke just as much as me and told me that carrefour, the french wal-mart, was having a sale on coke that was 3-10 packs for 10 euros! so obviously we went and bought some! because of the fact that i was most likely leaving this transfer i only bought one 10 pack but it was funny to see him walking back to his apartment with all of his coke! after that we made our way back into paris to make the exchange with our companions. once we got back to reims we went back and planned for a little bit and then went out and contacted for a while until we had a rdv with this old investigator who was painting her walls and said she could only talk to us for like 5 minutes and we were there for a half hour! haha we shared a little spiritual thought with her that she said helped her right when she needed it! then we went to another lesson in the park with an investigator that we have now and holy cow! he asked questions! almost too many!! when we finally finished we had missed dinner and needed to get back to the apartment!

THURSDAY

well today was the last time that i got to go to the french course in the mornings with mustard man and his wife! which was a little sad but it was good to see them one last time! they are leaving on a trip for 15 days so this morning was the last time that i would see them! it was her birthday today and we didn't find out til we got there so i felt kinda bad that i didn't give her a little present of some sort! but it was good. after that we left and went home to go eat some lunch and then we went to teach a lesson with jean parfait and jackie and it went really well! jackie told me that if i was transferred that i needed to keep my tuesday night open so that he could take me out to dinner. so im excited for that! after that we went home and took the car out to chateau thierry cause we had a dinner appt with a less active who was going to make me his special and famous TARTIFLETTE:) and i love tartiflette!! it was fun. we got there and he hadn't finished making it yet so he allowed us the 'privilege' to help him make it and then we shared a little spiritual thought with him! he is super cool and i hope someday he comes back to the church! he'd get married really fast!;) hahha

FRIDAY

today was just another friday...you know spending the whole 4 hours in the apartment literally planning for nothing!!!!! hahaha it was so crazy. i dont know how we spend that much time planning for maybe two people that we are seeing! it doesn't make sense! but that pretty much took up the entire afternoon! we went out contacting and then came in for lunch and weekly planned and during it i looked out the window and something right behind the cathedral was on fire and there was so much smoke coming from behind! we thought it was someone invading on reims! but im still here and everthing is ok! then we went out porting and came home and i gave myself a haircut and then i wanted to do transfer prophecies but we didnt do it.......

SATURDAY

well i found out today that im spending the next chapter of my mission in DUNKERQUE!!! i was a little nervous at first to tell you the truth! but it was all good in the end. it is going to be my first 2-man apartment and so that is going to be interesting and it is going to take some getting used to, and also i just can't get over how small the branch is! it blows my mind! so that is going to be very fun and it will keep my very occupied for the first bit of my new adventures there!! after we found out about transfers we went home for lunch and then looked around on the new list to see what missionaries were going where and had some fun with that. we then hopped in the car and made our way out to chateau thierry. we went to go get a member who had asked if he could come and help us out for the day and it was fun to be with him. we stopped by a couple member's houses and then some less actives to tell them about transfers and also to share some spiritual thought! it was fun to see them all again one last time. we then came home for the night and i called a few people to tell them that i was leaving! jean parfait said that he was going to ask jackie if he could come to dinner with us on tuesday night!

SUNDAY

well i had to give my talk today! and i only cried a little bit!! im gonna miss all these REMOISES!!! they hold a special place in my heart! it was so fun to be able to see them all once more and to take some pics and get invited to dinner once more!! i love these frenchies;) so ya my talk went well! i think i only messed up on all of it and i don't know how much it made sense...but after all the meetings and figuring out what was going on for the next couple days we went home and we had mail! on a sunday? it happened;) i got a post card from debbie! it was fun to have something from them;) we then went out contacting and then went once more to see the Rol's. brother rol got some eye surgery this last week and wasn't at church today so sister rol asked us to come over to see him once more! it was fun to see them and laugh with them once more! they are the cutest old couple ever! then we came home for dinner and i did a little video journal to send home in my package and then started packing! i took down my photo wall and my room is just starting to look so naked! it sucks having to move!! but it was a good week!

i hope you all know how much i love you and how much i miss you! keep the emails and letters coming! i love you:)

elder libby