WEEK 64

Bonjour à tous!! Comment vous allez?? Sorry for not being here this Monday if there were any of you trying to chat...we had a zone activity today and so that is why I was on at a different time. I hope you are all healthy and safe in the good old USofA and that all your wildest dreams are coming true! So here was my week...tell me yours:)

MONDAY NIGHT

So tonight after emails we went for a little walk to the game store where elder Sorensen bought this one game called like Magic or something?? It has to do with cards or whatever? I have no idea. He told me he was going to get me hooked on it and I told him that he wouldn't. I was also looking for monopoly deal but I couldn't find it, so I'm just gonna have to keep looking! We came home and since it was soo cold outside, I had to put my thermals on and get my big coat and scarf on! Then we went out and did some porting. We ported into this one lady who had 4 little kids that let us in really quickly to say a quick prayer. She was nice but told us she was Muslim and didn't have any desire to change and that she was content with life. We went back and caught out bus and then headed over to Jean Paul's for a little message where he gave me some pictures that we'd taken forever ago, that he'd already given to me before none the less! he's a funny dude! Then we came home for the night and I called up elder Jorgensen to ask him how he was doing. Keep him and his family in your prayers :)

TUESDAY

Well today went pretty well! I spent the day with elder Jouffray on an exchange and it was a very fulfilling day:) we got a lot done and had a really fun time together. So this morning we woke up and got all of our stuff ready and had to head out pretty early so that we could catch our train into Calais for the day. We got out and to the gare where we waited for our train and checked our emails #thankgoodnessforipads then we got on and the entire way over I was working on my MY FAMILY booklet for family history! This week we have a challenge from the zone leaders to fill it out with all the information necessary of our ancestors and use it while we do some contacting to find those investigators! So that's been super cool to learn about my ancestors and find out some of their stories and where they come from. #familyhistory #iamdoingit when we got into Calais, we made our way to the apartment of the missionaries and hung out with them until studies were over. Then me and elder Jouffray went out and had a rdv with the same member from last week! The one that fell right in front of me. She remembered me and was sweet. We talked about our potential with her and showed the Uchtdorf Mormon message with her. It went really well. We then left and went to a grocery store to try to buy some ice cream for this pie thing that me and elder Sorensen were making for district meeting. Well let me just say that France is weird cause the store didn't have ANY ice cream. Sad huh?? So instead of buying some ice cream, me and elder Jouffray bought some pains au chocolat and the walked home like true frenchies and ate our pains au chocolat on the road :) we got home and took lunch and got to playing Rubik's cube and then had to head out for a rdv with one of their investigators. When we got to her apt she wasn't home....so we walked and found this less actives house and went and talked to him. He let us in and ranted for a whole hour and 15 minutes about how hard life was and how he didn't like it and it was a long meeting....then we finally left and got home for dinner and then left for one last rdv that we had with one last investigator. This investigator is getting baptized this Saturday! So we went over the baptismal interview questions and answered any last questions that she had and then left. We went and bought some Coke and then headed in for the night and played some monopoly deal:)

WEDNESDAY

Today went pretty smoothly. We had an interesting time hahah we woke up this morning and went to work on making a raspberry and apple crumble for dessert at district meeting! When we had it made we headed out the door and caught the bus. As soon as we got on the bus, elder Jouffray realized that he forgot to get the stuff for their salad and so we hopped off and walked back into their apartment and grabbed the stuff for their salad and headed to the church. When we got to the church we checked emails and played on our iPads and then played monopoly deal while waiting for the other guys to all get here. We started sooner or later and had a lesson on being a successful missionary. Then we ate and me and Sorensen had to leave to be able to catch our train. We got home from district meeting and came home to plan. We then went out to work and as soon as we had been outside about 5 minutes it began to rain. So we came back inside to get umbrellas and I remembered that the umbrella that I found in this apartment that I had been using had broken...and so I had to go without an umbrella for a little bit til we got to the store and I bought an umbrella! Once I got my umbrella though, the sky decided to stop raining....we had planned on showing a conference talk to Mike for our rdv tonight and so we went to Macdo and used their wifi to download it. After being there for a good 20-30 minutes waiting for the dumb thing to download, it had stopped! And didn't work! So we called up Jean Paul and asked him if we could stop by his house and use his internet to download a video and he told us yes. So off we went to his house and downloaded the conference talk and then he showed me a picture he had found on the Internet...it was a picture he found on Facebook of elder Jorgensen!!! He had found one of Jorgy's prom pictures!!!! It was so funny!!! He had it printed out and was so proud he found it!!! I was dying. Then we left and did some contacting and then had a rdv with a less active and so we went and had a little lesson on prayer and it went well and he prayed for us and said he'd be coming to church this Sunday! So after that we went home for dinner and then went to mike's house for our lesson. We shared the talk, What Lack I Yet? And he really enjoyed it and asked us if we could somehow get all of the conference for him so that he could watch it. So we need to figure out how to do that! Then we came in for the night and headed straight to bed!

THURSDAY

you know, random people who invite you over for dinner we the greatest! Especially when then lady makes a really good tartiflette!! Remember a couple weeks ago when we were porting and some people let us in to pray with them? And then they invited us over for dinner? Well tonight was the night and it was super yummy! I love eating legit food! Well this morning we got up and had some studies and then we went out and did some contacting and while we were doing that, we walked past a tiny little grocery store that had pains au chocolat for .35€ each and so elder Sorensen wanted to go in and buy some so we did. They were yummy! Then we went to our rdv that we had with Dominique! It went well. We talked about prayer and the importance of it and why we do it and asked him if he'd commit to pray every morning and night and he said.....no. He said I'm going to be honest and say no because I'm not gonna say yes when I know that I won't do it. So that made us a little sad. He said he'd pray when he needed to...:/ so after that we made our way home for lunch and ate and then went out and contacted for a little bit. We contacted 2 people that could really have some potential that told us to call them back another time to talk and so we hope that that is going to work out well. We then took a bus up to the Belgian border and went to go and teach some REALLY old people that let us in last week to pray. They were super old and didn't really understand why we were there and what we were doing, but we still tried to teach the plan of salvation a little bit and they then told us they'd call us if the ever wanted to have some questions answered. Then we left their house and went and did some porting in their area for a little bit until it was time for us to go and catch our bus. We made our way home and went over to the other couples house and they let us right in, and she had made a tartiflette and said that she had never made tartiflette before! But it was super delicious and we spent a good night with them. They asked us tons of questions about the US and what it was like and then we got talking a little bit about religions and they asked us what we believed happened when we die and what happens during the life after death and so we were talking about that when all of the sudden the husband just says, 'I didn't invite you over to talk about religion, I invited you over to be nice.' And so we were like sorry! We were just answering your questions! So that was interesting. But in any case they were really nice and the food was really good and they told us next time they want to make muscles and fries for us! So that will be good!

FRIDAY

Well today was interesting...haha! We had some interesting rdvs with some interesting people. We started our studies this morning and then went straight into contacting. We were walking for a little bit and then elder Sorensen decided that he wanted to take a bus somewhere. So we went and got on a bus and then while on the bus, some drunk people started harassing us a little bit and telling us that they were going to steal our iPads and how they 'loved' Jesus...haha so we hopped off the bus and went contacting while searching for some less actives in the area. We found this one who let us in and when he opened the door he was a small little Indian man, who was blind and partially deaf...IM BBBLLLLLLIIIINNNNNDDDDDD! #guessthemovie so he let us in and we prayed and fixed a new rdv with him so that we could really prepare something. So we then left and came home for lunch and watched some meet the Mormons. Then we started weekly planning hahah yay!....we did some planning for a good 2 1/2 hours and then had to get going because we had a rdv with the guys that came to the church with us and the Norby's last week. He owns a kebab shop and so we went to his kebab shop to teach him. We got there and were sitting there waiting for him to come and then him and his friend sat down and we decided to explain the Book of Mormon and so we did and as we were doing that, his friend started getting super mad and super defensive and I was getting a little nervous haha...he was telling us how there is no way that that was true because he already knew the Karan was true....ahhh so I was like explaining that we were here just to explain what we believe and he was just telling me that I have to read the Karan and it was just a mess. There was no spirit there and it was just hard to teach him...so we left and made our way to the church cause tonight we had a visiting night with the stake where a couple members from the stake came in to spend the night with us and go and find and teach some less actives. So I got to go with the branch president and it was really good! First time on my whole mission that I've done splits! Sadly we didn't get let in by any of them and that was mostly because it was so late. After we finished we all met back up at the church and then we got a ride home for the night.

SATURDAY

Today was good. It blows my mind how fast the week goes! It was crazy for me to think today that we were almost finished with the week. So we started out today with studies and then a little morning contacting. On our way out we ran into Mado and we stopped and talked to her for a good 10 minutes and she was telling us that for our rdv tonight she had found cottage cheese! And so I was really excited. Then she told us where the best boulangerie in France was and so we went to that cause believe it or not, the best boulangerie in France is in DK ;) so we got some bread and a little patisserie which was delicious!! And then headed home for lunch. After we had finished we had to go and pick up Jean Paul so that we could go to a rdv with this less active that we see regularly. The one who was in the hospital for a while. The rdv went really well! We talked about reading the scriptures and she told us that when she was able to read the scriptures and read anything again that she would read them but that she wanted the general conference that we were making for a couple other members and so we are going to get that to her to watch. We then made our way home and went and did some less active finding. We went and found this one family's house but the son was the only one that was home and he let us in and was super nice! They are an English family and so obviously they speak English and he was telling us all about his crazy life back in England and how the reason he moved to France was because he wanted to change his life. #thatswherewecomein hehehe he asked some questions and then told us we could even come back sometime! He's 21 and so that will be super cool to see him again. And the best part is that he isn't a member (yet!) so that was a little miracle in itself that he let us in to talk!

SUNDAY

Do you all remember the miracle that we had last night with the English kid?! God is working little teeny miracles around us and giving us the help that we need little by little! It is so amazing to see the ways that God works. I can't believe that I am so blessed to see the hand of Heavenly Father in my life. He truly does work miracles! And that alone gives me hope! During church today, Soeur Foutrein gave a talk and shared a talk given by Josh Groberg from November 2004 GC and it really touched me and really applies to my gratitude: 'I know He lives. I know He loves us. I know we can feel His love here and now. I know His voice is one of perfect mildness which penetrates to our very center. I know He smiles and is filled with compassion and love. I know He is full of gentleness, kindness, mercy, and desire to help. I love Him with all my heart. I testify that when we are ready, His pure love instantly moves across time and space, reaches down, and pulls us up from the depths of any tumultuous sea of darkness, sin, sorrow, death, or despair we may find ourselves in and brings us into the light and life and love of eternity.' Isn't that beautiful?! It is true that Heavenly Father loves us and is there to always help us. So that was amazing to hear today. After church today we made our way to Jean Paul's for lunch where surprisingly I didn't die! Lol it was kind of nasty though...his oil for fries is BLACK I kid you not...so we played around with him and were looking at things on our iPads and then we headed home and changed our clothes and went out and did some real work for the night. We went out to the same area as last Sunday night to try to stop by all the passbacks and none of them answered:( so we're just going to have to try to go back. We ported around for awhile and then had to head in for the night. On the bus ride home, we were just chilling and talking when someone came up to us and said, 'Hi my name is Nina and you guys came and talked to my brother yesterday at my house.' IT WAS THE ENGLISH GUYS SISTER!! And so she was talking to us the whole way home and telling us how happy the whole family was to hear that the missionaries had come back to see them cause it had been a couple of years since they had last heard from them. How is it that God prepares people so well!?! We told her to tell her family we'd be passing by next Thursday night and that we'd love to see them all and she said she would be there with them! It was so cool! Just like the quote from earlier, when we are going down the deepest and darkest slopes, gods love and peace can bring us back to where we need to be! And I'm excited to be able to start working with this family who seems super prepared!!

So that was my week! Pretty fulfilling! We are getting close to transfers so send all the packages and letters this week!;) I can't wait for them! Je voulais vous dire aussi que j'ai décidé qu'après la Noël jusqu'à la fête des mères, que je vais faire une jeûne d'anglais! Ça veux dire que je vais parler que le français pendant 5 mois sauf les e-mails et mon journal! Donc si vous voyez les erreurs dans mes e-mails, elles sont à cause de mon jeûne:) à bientôt!!

Elder Libby

What's your verse?? Mine was Isaiah 53:3-5

 

     

WEEK 63

How does time go by so fast?! Lol I seriously can't believe it. It's actually kind of funny cause this last week I was complaining when it was only Wednesday, and then it got to be Saturday and I was like oh my gosh it's already Saturday! Before we know it, I'll be home with 12 little kids! No I'm just kidding. I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to get married ;) well this week was great, just like all the rest. The Lord was helpin' us out!

MONDAY NIGHT

well after emails today we had to go grocery shopping still so we went and did that and then made our way home. When we got home from that, we had about an hour and a half let of PDAY and so I climbed into bed and I decided to take a little nap. I didn't bother taking a nap cause elder Sorensen was writing in his journal and so I knew he'd wake me up. When I woke up I looked at the clock and...it was past 6! And I looked at elder Sorensen and he'd fallen asleep as well! So I yelled at him and he woke up and we hurried and got ready to leave the apartment. We went out to some apartment buildings and ported them up and then saw this old Muslim lady who seemed to be struggling with her groceries and so we asked if we could help and she said yes! So we carried her groceries to her apartment and then guess what? She paid us with a pomegranate and some almonds so funny!! So that was the funniest thing ever. Then we stopped by to grab some kebabs and the owner told us that he'd looked up our religion on the internet but had always wanted to meet with some members to know more and was wondering if we could meet with him, so we said yes and we are hopefully seeing him later this week! Then we went to the gare to print off train tickets and then to Jean Paul's for our rdv with him. It was a pretty good night!!

TUESDAY

Today we had district meeting and we had to leave pretty early this morning so we woke up and got ready and had to head out to be able catch our bus. We got out and to the gare and hopped on the bus that took us to St Omer. When we got there we made our way to the church and then we got into the car and the elders there took us to the store so that we could buy some baguettes for a part of our side dish. We got back to the church and we started district meeting. It was....interesting....today. None of us really understood what the point of the lesson was and so we were really just confused on what we were supposed to take out of it. But after it was over we ate and the elders of St Omer made this Nutella cake thing that was SO rich. It gave me like an instant headache. Wow it was SO sugary!! We then had to head to the gare so that we could make it home. When we got home, we came and figured out what we were going to do for the rest of the day. So we went out contacting and found some nice people and taught them and some let us pray with them! It was cool. Then elder Sorensen has this idea that if we make cookies for investigators it will fix any situation or something lol and so we had to go and buy some chocolate to make some and then we came in and took a half hour break to make them. We made some cookie dough and then put it in the fridge and then went out to go porting. Tonight we had decided to go all the way up to the Belgian border and port at the border! It was like close to a half hour bus ride, but we got there and were porting and this super SUPER old couple let us in to pray with them and told us we could come back! They are super old and I think they were just excited to have some new people in the house and that's why they said we could come back. We'll see if they even remember us when we go back next week! Then we made our way home for the night and we were watching the Face2Face event with Lindsey Stirling.

WEDNESDAY

We had to go into Calais today to do exchanges with the district leader and it went pretty well! We woke up and had to get going to catch our train so we left and made our way to Calais. We found out that they were still in St Omer cause they had done an exchange yesterday and so we had to just chill in Calais for about an hour while we waited for them. We checked our emails and stuff and then went out and did some walking around and contacting. When they got here we went and stopped by the patisserie shop to by a few little snacks to eat for breakfast and then went in to their apartment to plan for our day. Me and elder wells took lunch first off cause our day was full of lessons and appts. So after we had finished lunch we went to a member lesson with an older member who was baptized a few years ago but doesn't understand the gospel so much. The missionaries go ever to see her to explain little principles to help her understand little by little. We talked about the Book of Mormon to help her understand the story a little bit better and she seemed like she understood what we had to explain! As she walked us out she went to get her mail, and on the way back in, she tripped on the curb and fell down! So me and elder wells ran and helped her up and after the tears and shock went away we walked her up to her apt and she told us she'd be fine. So we left her and went to our next rdv. Sadly she had been in the hospital all the night before and had forgotten to call us and so we had a member there and just had to walk her home. On the way home, we ran into a friend of the members and we started to talk and the friend told us that she'd been searching for God in her life and would love to meet with the missionaries to know more! It was super great! So we prayed with her and then made our way to the gare. We had to take a train to a different investigators house and when we got there he let us in and we had a really good discussion with him. Things seem to be going well between for the ward in Calais! When we finished that we made our way home and met the other elders at subway where we had our dinner and then went home and ended the night with some monopoly deal :) it was a fun day!

THURSDAY

We spent our day today with the new mission couple in Brussels, the Norby's, from Lehi Utah! They were so much fun and so nice and really helped me and elder Sorensen out a lot with missionary work for the day. We woke up this morning and got ready to get out and make our train to get home to Dunkerque. When we got home we went and tidied up the apartment a little bit and got ready for them. Remember how we made some cookie dough the other day? We may or may not have thrown some cookies in the oven for them when they got here ;) #tryingtoscorethembrowniepoints so that was fun. When they got here, we let them in and we had some small talk and got to know each other. They looked at my photo wall and were asking questions about all the photos and it was fun to explain to them my family! Then we had to get out of the apartment cause we had scheduled a couple of rdvs with some members and investigators for them to help us with. We had our first one with Dominique, a recent convert who is struggling with his testimony a little bit, but has been reading in the Book of Mormon!! We got there and had felt impressed to talk about the Aaronic Priesthood. We were talking about the duties of this priesthood and why it is important and we got talking about home teaching and the spirit was there! We then asked sister Norby to bear her testimony and she had elder Norby translate since she doesn't speak too much French, and her sweet little testimony about the priesthood was so amazing!! The spirit was so strong and Dominique was just so happy!! It was amazing! The Norby's then took us out to Subway for lunch and we were talking and having some fun with them, and then had to head out to the church for one last rdv with the man that we met at the kebab shop this Monday night. We got to the church and he even remembered about our rdv and brought his friend! We gave them a quick tour of the chapel and then had a little discussion. He told us that he had lots of questions cause he wanted to know if he was on the right path or not and so he started asking, and a ton of his questions related to the plan of salvation and he was wondering why God needed to send his son to die for us and pay for our sins and he wanted to know why we couldn't do it ourselves, and so I started to testify that Jesus Christ was going to help us when we were judged and all of the sudden, I just started to bawl my eyes out! The spirit was like a brick wall! Lol it was amazing. I KNOW Jesus Christ died so that He could know how to help us on that day when we meet our Heavenly Father. Isn't that great that we are going to have help?! So after the rdv we headed home and the Norby's finished up their inspection and we took some cute pics and then they were out. We then hurried and filled out a progression sheet of investigators and less actives that we had seen lately for branch council tomorrow and then went and tried to stop by Anna's house....keep her in your thoughts and prayers! We don't really know what is going on right now, but we are trying to see her. Then we decided to go and try to see some other less actives that we had found with the help of a member from the St Omer branch. We got to their apartment and left some cookies and then on the way home they texted us and asked us not to come back but thank you for the cookies. So we will try to figure out what is going on there haha we came in for the night and we played a round of phase 10 and I kicked butt thanks to all the practice I had from camp outs with my family back home

FRIDAY

Today was super cool cause we figured lots of things out for less active members on the ward list. We had the time today to go searching for a couple and we found out that some of them had moved and we knew their new addresses and so that was a pretty successful day in my eyes. We also had our big branch day, which includes going to the chapel and cleaning, having branch council, eating together and having an activity. Today we didn't feel like it would be a great use of our time to go to the activity and so we went and had branch council and ate with the members and it was a fun time. A member made this AMAZING apple and raspberry crumble and oh my heck it was the greatest thing that I think I have ever tasted. It was funny cause I asked her for the recipe and she said yes and then started putting all the rest into a Tupperware for us and then I told her that I just wanted the recipe and she goes oh really? Well take this anyway! So I even got the leftover crumble!! #BESTDAYEVER After we had finished eating and got all cleaned up, me and elder Sorensen came home to drop off the food that they gave us and planned a little bit more for the day. We decided we'd go and find some less actives. We found one house, had a number in our phone for another, found out that one had passed away a couple of years ago, and found out that another one moved to another town away from Dunkerque! So that is 4 people right there! We were pretty happy about that. So after we had done all of that, we found ourselves in front of this really nice, old less active lady and Sorensen wanted to go inside and talk to her...so we went in and spent some time talking. She is so cute and so nice! She told us that her son, the one who had moved to another town away from Dunkerque, had moved away and that she didn't remember exactly where he moved to. So we shared a little message with her and then got going cause we had a little meeting with Mado tonight. When we got over to her house we talked for a while about lots of different things and she was complaining for some things and saying how grateful she was for other things...so pretty much just a normal rdv with her;) we talked to her about prophets and it went well. She told us that she always had a problem believing in prophets and understanding why we have them, so we explained why we have them and at the end she seemed to understand why God would have someone be a prophet, to reveal his word unto his people. So when she had figured that out and we had answered all her questions, she ended with a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help her to forgive the others who had hurt her in the past! #stepsintherightdirection then we came home for the night and I kicked butt in phase 10 again!!

SATURDAY

Today was supposed to be a killer day full of lessons! Until about 11 this morning we were supposed to have a member present lesson and this one lesson with an investigator from forever ago and some less active lessons but the member present lesson and the other lesson with the old investigator fell through....#itslippedrightthroughourfingers #namethemovie so we were at the church waiting for the member present lesson when they called and said they wouldn't be coming and so we decided the walk home and contact along the way since we didn't have anything else to do. On the way home we stopped by the store so that I could buy a Coke and have it for when I finished my fast tomorrow afternoon. We came in for lunch and then started our weekly planning and then had a rdv with a less active that we had found in the phone a couple of days ago. So we went to that and it was #awkward lol like he let us in and we kinda tried to have a conversation and stuff but it wasn't working and so we shared the Because of Him video as a spiritual message and then left and decided to contact to another less actives house cause we didn't have anything else to do. So we walked for what seemed like a lifetime and then we found his house and he didn't answer...so we started walking towards Mikes house cause we had our rdv with him tonight. We contacted this one man who said he was going to try to call us....he had hair on his neck that was longer than the hair on his head!! No joke! So it will be interesting to see if he calls us. Then we got to Mikes and he let us in. We started talking about school and movies and then I showed him some funny videos on my iPad and then we started the lesson. We talked about the articles of faith cause he had never heard them before and we just explained each of them. We had to finish up our weekly planning and so after we finished with him we made our way home to finish that up and that took the night. I ended the night calling up my good friend Pierre from Reims! Do you remember him? He's so cool! And he's doing ok, just in case you were wondering.

SUNDAY

if I can tell you one thing that I learned today, it is that when you follow the spirit, the Lord will bring you the blessings!!! It was such a cool night and I just wanted to say that. When we follow the counsel that we are given by our Heavenly Father, and have faith in his plan, he guides us and helps us find what we needed. Today was a good fast and testimony meeting. At church today, during sacrament meeting, Jean Paul kept leaning over to me and saying 'Allez frère! Témoignez!' So with there only being 8 members there yesterday with us 2 missionaries making 10, I went up and bore my testimony. It was a good Sunday! After sacrament meeting, the branch presidents wife gave me the recipe for the killer Apple raspberry pie thing that she made for us the other day during branch council and so I decided that I was going to make that for district meeting this week. IT IS SO GOOD! So that got me excited lol when left and made our way home to break our fasts and then to eat and I made a ton of this pasta stuff haha when I had finished I realized how much I had made and probably have lunch and dinner prepared for me for the next 2 months haha it was a lot of pasta. Then we went out and contacted and tried to find some less actives and stopped by a few houses but nothing...so after we'd been out for about 3 hours we decided to come in and take a little break and rejuvenate a little. When we were getting ready to head back out we were trying to figure out where to go porting and so I said a little prayer asking where we should go. As soon as I opened my eyes after the prayer to look at the map, my vision just zoomed in to this little area at the end of a bus line that I'd never been to. I didn't hear a voice or anything, but my eyes closed into this area so I said lets go! So we went and we were knocking and knocking and then this one lady let us pray with her! And then as we were walking to another house I said a little prayer asking Heavenly Father to lead me to where I needed to go since I was sent out here, and the next door we knocked was a lady that answered that told us we could pray and after the prayer she began to tell us how her brother had just passed away and how his funeral was tomorrow and how she was very sad, but really thankful we'd passed and told us we could come back next week!!! It was probably the coolest night of my life!! I got an answer to prayer just like that! I know that Heavenly Father listens and answers prayers, and that when we pray, we are communicating with our Heavenly Father. We are so blessed as his children! After that we came home and I wrote some letters and we made it to bed.

So there's my week!! I can't believe how fast time goes! Believe it or not I've already been in Dunkerque for almost 3 and a half months....time goes by too fast for me sometimes! Thank you all for you love and constant support. You all mean a ton to me and I can't wait to see you again sometime! Vous êtes constamment dans mes prières! N'oubliez jamais que notre père céleste est toujours là pour nous bénir et de nous aider. Il nous aime, et je vous promets que c'est sur. A bientôt! Que dieu vous bénisse!

Elder Libby

What's your verse?? Mine was Deuteronomy 31:6

 

       

WEEK 62

Well hello e'erybody! What be new? Things are going pretty well in the small town of Dunkerque! There isn't too much that I can be complaining about. We had a long week though! It feels like it's been a long time since I last sent home an email! But it's finally here. Being able to talk to everyone from home just rejuvenates me a little bit and motivates me to work a little harder. So thanks for your help!

MONDAY NIGHT

Well after emails today we went home and ate some food and we packed up and headed out to the gare to catch our train to Brussels for the night. We have a conference tomorrow where sisters Bonnie L Oscarson and Linda K Burton are going to be talking to us!!! I was super excited. So we got into Lille and met up with the ZLs and then headed to Brussels! When we got there there were 8 elders in the apartment and we all played SCUM! Which is a super fun game for all of you who haven't played. Then me and another elder who had served in Reims got talking all about it! It was very fun to be talking to him about our memories:)

TUESDAY

Today was great! I seriously loved hearing from Sisters Oscarson and Burton! They were amazing and being able to hear it with all of my friends was a blast. I seriously just love my mission. I AM SO BLESSED!! We woke up this morning and all got ready and then went and got some Belge Gaufres for breakfast. #wheninbelgium they were amazingly good. A little over priced but still very delicious!! After we had met up with all of the other missionaries, we all headed out to the church. It took a rather long tram ride, but sooner or later we got there. I got to see all my friends and I even ran into the Redd couple again! Soeur Redd gave me the biggest hug! She is so cute. We then were seated to sing and invite the spirit before their arrival! When they came in they began to address us. I wanted to share just a few things that really touched me :)

Brother Oscarson promised us that when we make promises with the Lord, He will ALWAYS help us get over our fears and trials

Brother Burton told us how important it is be converted while being missionaries, but the most important part is to STAY that way when we return home

Sister Oscarson told us that success is not measured by numbers growing, but our testimonies of the gospel growing

Sister Burton reminded us that we were disciples of Christ that needed to remember that we are searching for souls to give everlasting life (3 Nephi 5:13)

Elder Kearon (of the Seventy) reminded us that as Mormons, we THRIVE on adversity, cause we can do hard things!

It was such a good conference!! And I was so blessed to be a part of that! After the conference I went up to Sisters Oscarson and Burton and asked if I could take a picture cause my mom was so excited when she heard I would be meeting them! And they told me yes and Sister Burton says, 'we'll even do this heart thing! It's Korean. ;)' they were so cute!! So I took some pictures with them! What a fun day. We then had a couple other meetings that went well and then had to leave to catch our train. On the tram ride home I was taking pics with some MTC buddies and elder Orton haha do you all remember him?! He's my buddy :) then we got to the gare and my comp told me he was going to go get a gaufre and that he'd be back. So I waited with elder Orton and some other friends! Then about 10 minutes before my train left, my comp hadn't come back! So we went and looked at the gaufre place and he wasn't there, and I had the phone so I couldn't call him cause I didn't have service cause we were in Belgium and I didn't know who he was with! AHH! So I went and got on the train and found some other missionaries and was just hoping my comp was on the train. As we were moving I got a text from a random missionary phone saying he was on the train. So all was well. We met up when we got to Lille and then headed home to Dunkerque! We got home and went and changed and then headed out to do some work to finish up the night. We went to the beach and took some pics with the ocean

WEDNESDAY

Well there goes one week with Sorensen! Time flies when you are having fun right?? Today was a good day though. We woke up and had a text from the ZLs asking if there was any way that we could come in earlier tomorrow to have interviews with President and Soeur Babin before the zone conference. So we studied and once we had finished we went out and looked at train times. We also had to go to the church to download something for a rdv with Mike that we were having today. So we went out to do all of that. We took our language study at the church while there and then headed out. We contacted back to the apartment and then came home and ate some lunch. After we had finished with that, we went over to Mike's and hung out with him, I mean taught him a lesson ;) hahah he's so much fun. I'm so glad I know him! We showed him the Mormon message by dieter f Uchtdorf that talks about us living below our potential. He really liked it and said that it makes him want to be better than he is. Which is what we are going for, right? ;) after we had finished with him, we went and tried to find some less actives and found the places, but one was empty we believe and one had moved and the new person didn't know where to...and they weren't interested in talking to us either ;) #alwaysdoingwork so we were in the neighborhood of some members and so we decided it wouldn't be a bad thing if we stopped by and told them hello. So we were on our way to their house and we saw a bunny in the field! And so I got my iPad out to take a video of us catching it and as soon as I did that, it ran away...he was camera shy! so we just went to the members house and they let us in and we talked and shared a little message with them and they helped us out with some less actives that we didn't know and then we left and came home for dinner. Then we went out to try and stop by some people's house that let us in to pray with them a few weeks ago and so we got to their house and they weren't home:( so we went and headed back to Jean Paul's house cause he had asked us to come over tonight to share a little message.

THURSDAY

We had zone conference today and it was really good! We got to have interviews with President and Soeur Babin and they went really well! We had to start off our day super early and get up at 5:30 to be able to make our train this morning....it's a good thing I love mornings! NOT. We were up and at em so early this morning that I literally just didn't want to function. But I got ready and we got to the gare to make our train. When we got to Lille for interviews we showed up to the church and we were the only ones there and no one was there to let us in so we just had to wait at the chapel for someone to get there. When the APs and some other elders got there to let us in, they did and iPad audit, which is technically just a check to see if we were doing anything against the rules on our iPads. I passed so lucky me! We then went in for our interviews with the Babin's. They went really well. I was talking with president Babin and he told me that it was nice to see a smiling, happy, and changed elder Libby. Which made me happier:) #trialsmakeyoustronger he's such a nice man! Our conference today was really good and we talked a lot about the importance of members in our work and how we needed to have a good relationship with them. The relationships that missionaries have with members is so important and I know that members and missionaries can do amazing things together! I challenge each of you to help out the missionaries in your area at least once this week! Whether that means driving them to an appt or helping them teach an investigator or even inviting them and an investigator to come and eat with you. You honestly DO NOT know how much that could help the missionaries! After all of our conferences we went and ate some lunch and then had one last one from our ZLs and so we went and listened to them and then after we all talked and laughed and hung out as missionaries and then we headed to the gare to catch our trains. We hopped on the train to Dunkerque and I tried to sleep on the way home, but it just wasn't working out....I was so tired though. Early mornings are NOT my thing! When we got home we came and changed and then went out to try to see that old man who let us in to pray with him a few weeks ago. We wanted to see how he was doing and try to teach him. He was home and let us in to teach him a little bit and then told us to come back at the end of November. We then headed home and stopped by Jean Paul's for 5 minutes to talk to him and then came in for dinner and bed time!

FRIDAY

Today was a pretty good day. We got a lot done and saw those miracles! One of the biggest miracles that happened today was when we went to Dominiques house for our rdv, we got in and I saw his Book of Mormon sitting on his table and asked if he'd been reading, and he told me, yup! I read every night. Even if it's just a couple pages! It was so cool! I was so happy that I almost couldn't talk! So this morning we started out with studies and then after we decided that we'd go contacting and less active searching. So after our studies we headed out to find them. We found a couple of them but only one was home and answered and she told us that she wasn't too interested. So that was sad. Then we contacted our way to Dominiques house and he let us in for our rdv. We watched the restoration video with him and it went well. He's such a nice guy, and he's reading his scriptures!! Then we came home for lunch and then after we decided we'd go to a neighborhood with a member and a couple less actives and try to stop by them all. Sadly none of them answered and so the afternoon was just spent knocking on some doors...but when it was time to leave, we caught the bus and headed back home cause we had a rdv with Mado! On the way to her house we were contacting and we met this really nice lady that let us pray with her but sadly she was from paris...so that was sad. But then we got to Mado's house and taught her about prayer. It went well but she got really off topic a lot and was talking about how she thought it would be a good idea if the missionaries went around and tried to find all the 'lost less actives' so ya we told her that that was what we were doing and she was happy. Then before we left we asked her if she'd like a blessing so that she could get better, cause she was kind of sick with the cold that's going around, and she said yes! So we gave her one and she was so happy! Then we ended our night with some contacting

SATURDAY

Today was a long day....lol we had to weekly plan and just like always it took a lot longer than it needed to. Weekly planning is just awful! But we got it done and did what we needed to do. We also saw a little miracle tonight! Well I don't know if it's exactly a miracle, but it was still cool! We woke up this morning and had some studies and right after we went out and did some early morning contacting. It went well, we talked to some nice people but nothing too exciting. We then were heading in for lunch and passed by a friterie and so we went in and bought us a cornet of frites! I LOVE FRIES. = ️ when we had gotten those we went and stopped by Jean Paul's house so that I could track my package that mom sent me cause it was supposed to come this morning but didn't and so I checked and it is in France and should be here Monday! So all is well! After we had finished with that we came home for lunch and since we had already taken like 15 minutes to walk home from the friterie and go to Jean Paul's, and I wasn't hungry anymore, I just took a 45 minute nap for lunch. And it was a good nap! Let me tell you that!! When I woke up, we did our weekly planning, which went well, we got what we needed to get done, done, it just took to long and being cooped up in the apartment for that long makes me go a little crazy! After we had finished we went and did some porting in this little neighborhood just around the corner from our apartment and we were knocking doors and getting no's when this one old guy let us in with his wife! They told us that they'd had the missionaries over before and that they knew us quite well and that they liked us but we're not going to change. They let us talk and told us that of course we were invited over to talk again but that they were not going to change. But they prayed with us and invited us over again in a couple of weeks and told us they were going to make us dinner! They were super nice and it was super cool. Just wait, they'll be members one day ;) then we headed to macdo for dinner. When we got home, I tried calling Jean parfait, but he didn't answer and so I called the missionaries in Reims and they told me that he was going through a rough time right now and that it's really complicated:( PLEASE pray for him that all will work out. I'm going to keep trying to get in contact with him, but KEEP HIM IN YOUR PRAYERS. I also called sylviane tonight to say hello and that I missed her and she was just as happy as ever. She is the cutest little lady and I love her:)

SUNDAY

On the way to church we were walking with Jean Paul and he has a new little walker thing to help him walk and while we were walking he told me to sit down on it and then started pushing me around on it. It was pretty funny! Today during priesthood we talked about the blessings of the temple and it was really good. We read the talk by president monson and we talked about what we feel when we go to the temple and why the temple is important for us. It was a super good lesson! After all the meetings in church we started to make our way home and as we were walking with Jean Paul, he had me sit down on his walker thing again so that he could push me around again! He's so funny. When we got home for lunch, we turned on a movie and sat and ate really quickly. Then we went out contacting for a while and talk to a few nice people and taught a couple of good lessons! We walked all over downtown Dunkerque and on Sunday's there are just not a ton of people out there. But we worked and we are looking for those miracles! We then came in for dinner and when we had finished we went out to go porting for a little while. We had to come back early cause the busses don't run that often on Sunday nights and so the last one brought us back around 8 and we had to contact around til we came in for the night. When we came in I called Jean Parfait and he answered and I talked to him for a while and he seems to be ok! He didn't tell me anything but I don't really need to know about that so it was ok! He's doing alright though. 

Well there goes my week! It was good and things are going alright! I hope all is going well for you all at home! I love hearing from you so keep the emails and letters coming. You guys are awesome! Talk to you soon!!

E LIBS

 

     

WEEK 61

hey everyone

 

already there goes another week! I can't believe how fast time goes but also how long it can feel! It feels like forever since I last saw Jorgy. Is it weird to say that I already miss him?? And to make matters worse, the mission has blocked iMessage on our iPads so now I can't talk with him like that anymore. But such is life. We have rules we all need to follow;) haha this week was good and me and my new comp get along great! Things are going great here in the old DK!

MONDAY NIGHT

tonight was pretty chill and laid back. After we left the church from emails we went to a less actives house who wanted to say goodbye to Jorgensen one last time. She had completely forgotten about our rdv and so it went by pretty fast. We walked in and shared our message and then she asked for a blessing and so elder Jorgensen gave her a blessing and so we did that and then headed out. We then had our last rdv with Mike and elder jorgensen so we went and did that and it was really good to see Mike, like usual. After that we went home for the night and had a raclette party! Raclette is a French meal with potatoes and cheese and meat...a little hard to explain but I'll take some pics!

TUESDAY

today went by super fast! It was super good! We had to members that fed us so that always makes a missionary happy;) we started the day off with studies and while we were supposed to be doing language study, me and Jorgy were making our planner covers for the transfer! So that was a good use of time if you ask me. We then had to get out of the apartment to catch a train to get to the branch president's house cause he invited us over for lunch. So something I think you already know, but there isn't enough priesthood in Dunkerque and so our branch president doesn't live in Dunkerque...he lives in Lille which is a good hour away. So we had to take a couple trains to get to his house. When we had finally gotten to the right gare, he called us and told us he'd be a half hour late and so we just chilled and waited for him. The chill part was not an exaggeration...haha it was a cold day in Lille and so we were a little chilled when he finally got there to pick us up. We got to his cute little French home and his cute little wife had this really yummy potato lunch thing prepared for us and so we ate and talked and had a great time with them. They are truly a special couple and I'm glad I've had the chance to serve around them. So we were talking and they were telling us all about the mission that they served in St Brieuc here in France and how they loved/hated it hahah they were talking about how hard it was and how it was nothing they expected but how grateful they were for it. It was funny to hear them talk about it. After that they told us of a 6 month mission that they served in the London Temple and some pretty spiritual experiences they had there. One that I'd like to share was that he told us once he was performing a sealing, and he'd been going through the names and came across and Arab family (he could tell by the names) and something you need to know about the French is that they are pretty darn racist haha so he said when he saw this he was all oh great. But still he did the names instead of putting them to the side. Then he paused and I looked at him, and he had tears coming out of his eyes, and he said, "elders, I cannot explain to you how real it was that I could feel these people next to me as they accepted this work." He said that the spirit in that sealing room was so strong, that he could hardly talk to finish the sealing ordinance! It was so touching to see him so emotional! I testify that I KNOW we can be sealed as a family for TIME AND ALL ETERNITY! Because of Jesus-Christ, there is NO END TO HAPPINESS! Isn't that wonderful?! It was a great reminder to me. After that, we headed to the gare and made our way home. When we got home we had another rdv with Mado and Miguel. It was a good rdv where Mado had made us chili for elder Jorgensen's departure. It was fun to spend some time with them and talk about how much Miguel is changing. He is changing because of Jesus Christ in his life! After that rdv we went so that Jorgy could say goodbye to Jean Paul. We sang a hymn and then Jorgy shared a little message and then we had to get going so he could finish up packing and what not. I called elder Powelson one last time to say goodbye. I'm gonna miss him!!

WEDNESDAY

we woke up bright and early this morning to be able to get all together that we needed and get out of the apartment on time to make the train. Jorgy said he had a twisted stomach cause he was nervous....he's growing up! then we hopped on the train and wrote each other little notes in our little missionary books;) we had a long train ride to Paris so let's just say that mine was a little long and full of memories. When we got to Paris we went into the metro system with all of the other missionaries and I waited for my new collegue. I got to see tons of friends that I love and I even got to see Powelson one last time before he headed off to Canada. It was such a good day. I was talking with all my friends that were my age and let me just tell you that it is going to be a weird day when the sister missionaries in my group go home. There are only a couple more months for them and that is just freaking me out a little bit! I can't even believe how fast time goes. So anyway after all the kicks and giggles were over I got to meet elder Sorensen! He is from Provo Utah and is one transfer older than me. He is super loud and loves to make a joke out of everything, so let me just say that we are pretty much the same person. ;) he was telling me today that he's pretty sure that president just puts people together because they look alike. And I know all of you thought me and Jorgy looked alike, so I guess you can say it again cause I guess elder Sorensen thinks we look alike! Haha we left to the gare and got some macdo for lunch and then caught our train back to Dunkerque. The train ride was long so it consisted of talking and sleeping hahah! But sooner or later we got home. We came home and dropped off elder Sorensen's stuff and then went out to try and stop by some potential investigators. It was a solid night. But then we headed over to Jean Paul's house cause he wanted to meet elder Sorensen and Miguel was there as well. So it was nice and we all got to talk. Things are good! It just takes some adjusting to get used to it ;)

THURSDAY

today was a long day full of WORK. We worked hard! And it was my half birthday;) I realized that during studies this morning lol. It was good though. We went out to a place that I had never been to before and so I was glad to get to know somewhere new. There isn't a ton to talk about today but we started off with studies and then went out and did some morning contacting as well as stopping by the post office. We came back in for lunch and talked about movies and what not before we needed to head out to work again. We decided that for the afternoon we were going to go out to an area that I had never been to to see if there was any work that could happen out there. We got out there and just found out that it was a big neighborhood and just full of houses so what did we do? We ported those bad boys! We went crazy and we're just knocking doors and ringing bells and trying to get someone who wanted to talk about Jesus and we found this one guy who was really interested as to why we were here in France and....nothing hahah he told us he wasn't interested to talk about God cause that would just make him mad....haha so after a good long time and when our tummies were grumbling we decided to head in for dinner. We got in and ate and talked and then for tonight we needed to start off by going to the church for 2 reasons. 1) we found out Tuesday that we have a special conference in Brussels on Tuesday that is the young women's and relief society general presidents that are going to be speaking to us! So we get to go to that and we had to go and find some train times! I am super excited to be able to hear from them!! And 2) we received a referral from the church headquarters today and so we had to go and try to locate him. So we tried that and got his phone number but he never answered so bummer...so after we had finished up at the church we headed out to do some porting as well as some less active finding over around the church. And that took up our night!

FRIDAY

we had a good day today! I'm realizing how weird it is to be here in Dunkerque without Jorgy. Like I was with him everyday in this small little town for 3 months and now he's gone! It is weird to me! Like ya I've gotten new comps before but in my other villes I had other missionaries in the apartment so it wasn't that weird, but being all alone with someone completely new and different is just a little bizarre. Haha so we had some studies this morning and then we went out and did some contacting. It is getting COLD in Dunkerque y'all! I had to break out my big winter coat! So that was really weird. We were walking all around Dunkerque and trying to talk to people but it is getting hard to find people during the day cause it is just so dang cold that not a ton of people are out! So we contacted who we could and did what we needed to and then made our way in for lunch. After we had finished eating we made our way to Anna's house for a rdv with her and sister Foutrein! We got there and Soeur Foutrein was waiting in her car just outside of Anna's apartment and so we went in and talked about the ward party from last week and how she liked that and we chatted about different things for a while and then got started on our lesson. We talked about the plan of salvation again and kind of just went over a big summary of what it is, explaining all the steps simply just so she understands the basics and she was telling us how she didn't believe that there is a life after death....she was saying how it is hard for her to believe that cause she'd never thought of it before and didn't think it was possible and then she was saying how she didn't think it was possible for any of it and was just making me a little frustrated!!! We finished up our lesson and now we are completely confused as to what we need to do next. She told us she was going to come to church this Sunday so we hope it happens. Then we went to stop by a less actives house to try and teach her a little something for her home teaching and she was super cute and nice and let us in to talk to her. After that we went home for dinner and then started weekly planning. We finished most of it tonight but we are going to have to do some more of it tomorrow....it was an interesting day!

SATURDAY

Today was a pretty cool day! We had a pretty cool lesson with a friend of a member and it was really cool! I don't remember if I said this last week, but at the ward party last week, one of the members actually invited his friend and he was interested to learn about who we were! So we had a lesson with them and it was good! After our studies this morning we headed over to the church to meet up with them. It took them a while to get there but sooner or later they made it and we gave him a little church tour and then sat down and explained a little bit about who we are as missionaries and then also the Book of Mormon cause at the party someone gave one to him and we figured that it would have been a good idea to give him a little overview on it and to answer any other questions that he might have had. It went well and we are interested to see what happens with him in the future. So after all that he gave us a ride to downtown and we went to the post office to send off a couple things and then we went and got some kebabs for lunch cause it has literally been like a month or so since I have had one! So it was good. Then after we had finished and our tummys were kebab happy, we finished up our weekly planning. It went well but obvi it was good to have done. Then we went out and contacted and stopped by the gare to print off some tickets for our conferences next week. Then we slowly made our way in for dinner. There was a huge tv placed outside the bar outside of our apartment playing the rugby World Cup and so it was really fun to watch that for the rest of the night! Then after we had finished up our dinner, we went out porting looking for some souls. We ported into this one guy who told us that he was agnostic and that he was searching to see if there is really a God and if he really does answer questions and he wanted to know how people got such a strong grasp on faith in him. It was so cool to talk to him! We gave him a Book of Mormon and then testified to him and the spirit was so strong! Sadly he didn't pray with us, and he didn't give us his number, but he did say he gave all his admiration to us and he even started to tear up a little bit. It was super cool! So anywho, that was the coolest part about our night before we came in and called it a night.

SUNDAY

today was a good Sunday!! I love the members here in Dunkerque! Which is a good thing cause if I didn't that'd be hard to like it here;) haha it was a really great Sunday. We went to church this morning and had some great lessons. We talked about feeding His sheep. Which was a super good lesson! Soeur Foutrein taught a really good lesson and shared a really good scripture that really touched me, and I wanted to share it with you all! I know you all know it already, but here it is anyway: Philippians 4:13 

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

It is so cool right?! Christ makes life so easy, it's us who makes it hard. We can do ANYTHING through Him and He makes us stronger. His grace IS sufficient! What a miracle:) so anyway we had a really good sacrament as well and a member gave a talk on humbling and softening our hearts and that was really good as well. The members in France who are LEGIT members are seriously just amazing! After all the meetings we were talking to members and one member family, the Deslypper's, are going to the temple in Madrid tomorrow morning for the week and so I went up to them and asked them to do me a favor and add my grandma's name to the prayer roll and she was so excited and said of course elder! So that made me happy we came home for lunch and then after we went out and did some contacting and finding til about dinner time. I found this one building that I wanted to try and get into, but no one answered and those who did didn't let us in...so we just kept walking and talking to people. When dinner came around we went in and ate. When we had finished, we decided that we would go out and find some less actives that lived by the Deslypper's and then stop by to say have a good trip and thank you and so we did that but as soon as we got to the less actives house, she came running out screaming at her kids....so we decided we'd come back another time hahah then we went and tried to see the Deslypper's and they asked if we wanted to come in for 'deux petits minutes?' Hahaha we ended up staying the rest of the night as we talked about some less actives and then them showing us some of their old vacation photos and their collections. They told us that it was really nice that the missionaries just stopped by randomly to say hello. So we shared a little message with them and then they took us home for the night. We are definitely in good care here in Dunkerque! The members are AMAZING:)

Well everyone I am doing good. I'm realizing that this life is a test, and even though I fail a lot and have many faults, I know my Heavenly Father wants me to succeed and he is helping me. I'm grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and that my Heavenly Father wants me. I challenge you all to look for ways to improve the life of someone else this week! Whether it be performing service, or putting their name on the prayer roll at the temple. YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE:) je vous aime tous et vous me manquez. J'espère d'entendre de vous bientôt et je vous souhaite une magnifique semaine!!! A bientôt:)

E Libs

 

     

WEEK 60

Well everyone I am staying another transfer in Dunkerque! They don't
want me out of here yet. Looks like my damage hasn't hit hard enough
yet;) no I'm just kidding. But yes I am staying in Dunkerque for a
third transfer and things are going to be good. My new companion is

one transfer older than me. So ya! It'll be a good time. So keep the

packages and letters coming my way:)

 

Elder Tanner Libby

150 Quai Des Anglais

59140 Dunkerque

FRANCE

MONDAY NIGHT
Well there isn't a ton to say about tonight. On the way home from the
church we hopped on the bus with the really cool bus driver from a
couple weeks ago! It was fun to talk to him for a little bit on the
way home. He's really nice and he's fun to talk to. He asked me if we
were doing our mission tonight ;) he probs thinks I'm part time then
we got home and ate some dinner and made our way to the less actives
house from the other night. The one who used to be in the branch
presidency. He told us that he wanted to show us some of his music
cause I guess he writes music! So we went and spent the night there
while he showed us some of the new stuff that he is making and going
to make an album with. So that was fun! Then he showed us his gospel
library and man that thing is full!! Haha he has tons of church books
and tons of journals! It was cool to see them all. Then we made our
way home for the night.
TUESDAY
well today was an interesting day! Haha to start out we had our
studies and then we had decided that our less active that
has just been coming back to church, we had a rdv with her tonight and
since she couldn't make it to conference this last weekend, we thought
it could be a good idea to share president Nelson's talk with her!
About how amazingly important women are in the church and stuff. So
for language study we made our way out to the church to download that
and get it on our USBs to share tonight. When I was on the computer
and moving the file of the talk from one folder to another, I found
this video clips with missionaries and was like what is this? So I
clicked on it and it was like a legit movie and the opening scene was
some missionaries playing basketball. So I was all ok why not we'll
see what these are haha so I moved them onto my USB as well. Then we
went to try to find this less active and we found his apartment but he
didn't answer....so we'll try again soon. So we came home for lunch
and I turned on those movie clips and it was the weirdest thing we've
ever seen!! It's a movie about these missionaries in, we think, LA and
like honestly it's just so weird. Like they were in a neighborhood
during a shooting and saved this one dude who later gets interested in
the gospel and it was just really interesting....sadly tonight when we
went to finish it, there were 5 different files and I didn't have
number 4 and so we missed like a half hour right in the middle and
don't know the entire story! It was so weird!! So after lunch we went
out to contact and had to go to the gare to print off some train
tickets for district meeting tomorrow. While walking around the phone
rang and it was a member who asked us what we were doing tonight and
asked if we'd be interested in coming over for dinner! And so we told
him we had some plans already, and asked if we could come over another
night and he said that they had to leave town on Thursday and that
they would need us to come over tonight if we went. So we made some
calls to clear up our night and then got ourselves a dinner appt!!
Then we went and  made our way to a current investigator's house for our rdv! We had
SUCH a cool rdv with her today!!! We taught her the first three points
of the plan of salvation (pre-mortal life, the creation, and the fall)
and she just took it right in! She's also been reading from the Book
of Mormon and said she's going slow so that she understands completely
what is happening! When we explained to her that the fall of Adam and
Eve was a part of God's plan for them to learn and gain experience she
said, 'ya that makes sense. I've never thought about it like that.
Cause if they stayed there like that, they wouldn't have been able to
find happiness cause they didn't know what being sad was like. And
then we wouldn't be here. Ya makes sense.' And then me and Jorgy were
all YESYESYESYESYEYSYES!!! It was soooo cool!!!! She's doing really
well and progressing slowly but surely. We don't know if she
understands that we're there to convert her though...so we'll see what
happens:) then we went to dinner at this members house and we started
off the night by him showing us some stuff on the maps app of our
iPads and talking in their front room for a while and then we went in
for dinner and they made us some really yummy beef steaks with
potatoes and mushrooms!! It was delicious! It was also fun to be the
spoiled missionaries. They even pulled out their non alcoholic
champagne for us!! That's when you know you are special;) plus that
stuff is good!! Then he gave us a ride home for the night and me and
my comp finished up our weird movie things we found!
WEDNESDAY
Well we had district meeting today and so we had to get up and moving
this morning. We made some pizzas to eat today and so we were making
those first thing and then had to get out to catch our train. As we
walked outside it was drizzling and my comp said 'hey at least
it isn't raining hard!' And right after that it began to pour! So we
decided we had just enough time to run in and get our umbrellas. So we
went in and got them and then we left again and as we stepped outside,
it wasn't raining anymore. So that rocked haha. We got our train and
got into Calais and had to wait for the other elders and so we were
all just playing on our iPads while waiting! The other guys finally
got there and so we started district meeting and one of the elders
going home this transfer gave us some last words of advice. It was
good. Then we ate and had some killer good Oreo shakes! Then we needed
to get out and catch our train home. When we got home we had gotten an
email telling us that my comp had received his package from
his mom finally! So we went and found that and, bless her heart,
Sister Jorgensen bought me some Oreos!!! I was pretty happy. We then
had to go to Jean Paul's to make some photocopies for ny comp's

legality cause tonight we were going to PARIS!!! That's my
happy place lol I love Paris and it's been too long since I've been.
We were at Jean Paul's for a while and while my comp was making his
copies and printing things off, I played sudoku and then we sang some
hymns with Jean Paul. After that we went and did some contacting
around Dunkerque before we took dinner and had to leave. Then we left
and caught our train to PARIS when we got in we had to go and buy
metro tickets and surprisingly it was not as expensive as we thought
it was going to be! So that's a bonus for us. We took the metro and
the trams into Versailles and I got us all the way to the APs
apartment without help! I know Paris like the back of my hand! Maybe
that means I'll serve here someday! I would honestly love that. Paris
is so amazing and I encourage all to come and experience it at least
once in your lives! So we got to the APs apartment and I got to talk
with elder lattin again! He was my district leader when I was in Metz
and is now an AP! So congrats to him I guess. Hahah
THURSDAY
Well we got up this morning and had to get going pretty quick cause
the elders in Versailles had to leave as well for a meeting that they
had this morning. We left and they took us to the mission office to
see if we had any mail that was there and I had a couple of letters!!
Then we went and got on the trains to make it to the legality place
for my comp. We got there and we're waiting outside for it to
open when we turned around and saw some other missionaries that were
coming to do the same thing! So we hooked up with them and my comp

 and this other elder got to do it all together while me and
his companion and a visa waiter missionary from France waited. After
about an hour and a half they were done and that left us with a good 4
hours before our train for Dunkerque left back home! So #parispday! It
was a blast. We spent the day just going around in Paris and stopping
at the most important places. We went and saw the temple which is
coming along so nicely!! I have pics for you. And then we made our way
to the Eiffel Tower and on the way there we ran into these really nice
people from California. It was fun to talk to them. They were on a 5
week trip of Europe. I think I'll do the same one day;) we got to the
Eiffel Tower and all of the sudden 2 more missionaries appeared! So we
sat and talked with them and one of them said to me, elder, I dare you
to go up to that African and bargain off an Eiffel Tower for as cheap
as you can. And so I said ok! So I went up to him and said how much
for that one? And he said 7€. Then I said 2. And he said 3,50. And I
said 3. And he said deal! Hahah so I got an Eiffel Tower for 3€ which
was pretty funny! Then we left and had to go get lunch cause it had
been since last night that we ate haha so we went and got some crepes
and paninis which were delicious!! Then me and my comp had to leave to
get to the gare to catch our train home. For some reason the train
ride home today was like a half hour longer than last night....so by
the end I was READY to get off. We got home and went in for dinner and
I literally just took a nap! Paris takes it out of you! But then we
had to go and get to our rdv that we had with our less active.
She had told us she was making hot chocolate and that she invited

the gay less active over... So we got there and thought that
since she didn't have the chance to watch conference that we'd show
her the talk by president Nelson that was so good and directed to
women! She told us that after the talk that she was grateful to hear
that and grateful the church was finally starting to realize the
importance of women...AGH!!! She makes us crazy. Anyway we left and the gay less-active

walked us home. I haven't really talked a ton about him lately
cause it's a complicated story, but long story short, he was almost
excommunicated last week but he pleaded for one last shot and asked
for real help in repentance and tonight he told us he really was
changing and starting to read the scriptures, and he seemed legit and
sincere! And he had watched conference last week! We were so shocked!
So we are excited to see where that goes. We went in for the night and
I cut off my hair
FRIDAY
Today I got up to the alarm but the thing is, me and my comp have 2
alarms. One at 6:20 to wake us up and one at 6:30 for us to get
up...so at 6:20 I got up and turned off the alarm and then went back
and laid in bed waiting for the next one...I woke up and....it was
7:48 and the dumb second alarm never went off! I was mad. So we got up
and hurried to get ready cause we had to go and catch a train to
Amiens for an exchange with the ZLs. So we went and bought some snacks
to share for the night with them and then headed to the gare. When we
got to Amiens the ZLs were waiting for us at the gare and we made our
way to their apartment to eat lunch. Elder Powelson told me that I was
his last exchange before he went home so you know I was pretty happy.
We ate some food and then planned a little bit for our day. We started
off by going to one of their recent converts apartment and talked with
him for a good hour before we shared the little thought we had
prepared. He was asking us all about movies that he should go and
watch and we were telling him our favorites hahah of course I was good
at that one ;) we all know I love myself a good movie. After we had
spent a good amount of time there he asked for a picture with elder
Powelson cause it was his last time at his house before he left for
home. We then had to get to the church cause we had a rdv with one of
their investigators. We got there and a member was there to help us as
well. We sat and talked and waited for their investigator and talked
to the member for 40 minutes til he showed up! It was fun. The members
are always fun to talk to. We taught the plan of salvation. Just a
little explanation of the whole thing to get him used to it before we
went into the details. It was a good rdv! Then we had a dinner appt
with some members tonight! They had invited tons of their members over
and even some investigators! It was a blast. These people were from
Madagascar and so the meal was super good. Foreign food is always a
blast to try out! After talking and having fun we realized that it was
already 9:30 and that we needed to get home. So we sang a quick hymn
and then took a ride home with an investigator who played some maroon
5 in the car. Let's just say that elder Libby was in his happy place
for a little while. We got home and played some monopoly deal before
going to bed. It was quite a fun last exchange.
SATURDAY
so we found out transfers today and like I said I am staying in
Dunkerque for a third transfer! My new companion is elder Sorensen.
I've met him once but I don't know anything about him so how about
next week I fill you in on him;) my comp actually got called this
morning to be a district leader in Le Havre and he is pretty excited
about that. We woke up this morning and had to get ready pretty
quickly cause the ZLs had a baptism this morning and needed to get to
the church on time. So we got up and got ready and then headed out the
door. That exchange was really fun and I am definitely going to miss
elder Powelson! He's a really cool guy! We walked to the gare and
waited til our train and then headed on home to Dunkerque. Since we
weren't home in time to look at the repertoire to see transfers, Soeur
Walton called me and filled me in on what was going down! To say the
truth I was kind of sad when I didn't get asked to train a bleu cause
I really wanted to. But I know that the Lord's plan is not always what
we have planned. So I am excited to meet elder Sorensen and I hope
that one day I get to have a little baby bleu! We got home and ate
some lunch before heading out to the church to start to set up for the
big party that we had tonight! We got all the chairs set up and all
the tables up and moved the big wall and then people started coming!
We all ate and played and laughed and talked and lots of investigators
and less actives came. Some that we'd never seen before and some that
wanted to learn more about the gospel! So it was a really good turn
out. Even Anna came and was walking around and playing with Soeur
Foutrein! It was really good. We had a little game of bobbing for
apples and lots of members and missionaries got to play. Sadly there
wasn't enough for me but I'll send pics of the branch president and
some missionaries playing! It was a fun time!! We then cleaned up the
chapel and got everything back in order and made our way home for the
night. I'm excited for next transfer. I love my comp, but it is time to
move on and get out of each other's hair while we are still on good
terms;) plus it is always good to just have a change.
SUNDAY
Well today was branch conference and it went really well! We had a
visit from the stake president and some other stake representatives me
had some really good talks and lessons. My favorite was given by the
second counselor in the stake presidency and he talked about prayer
and why it's so important and the blessings that come from having
prayers that mean something special and are more that just repetitive.
It was really good! Sadly our investigator couldn't come to church today cause she
had to watch her grandson and so today we had a ton of people for once
and she wasn't there! Dang! But she told us that she was planning on
coming next week. So I hope she comes! She is doing great!! After the
sacrament today, we had a small branch council where the stake
presidency asked us what we thought we could do to help make Dunkerque
have success. We finally decided on having one night a month where
we'd all go and visit some less actives and try to out what they're
situation is. So that is going to be good. There are going to be
people that come in from the stake and help us out as well! So that
will be good. Then we ate lunch with all the members and talked with
them before everyone started to leave. When we had finished up
cleaning the chapel and getting everything in order, we made our way
home for weekly planning. Haha it took a decent amount of time this
week and we were in for the rest of the night because of it. We had
like 10 or so minutes before dinner when we finished so we decided to
try to clean out this huge mess of a closet that we have and we only
got like 2 shelves cleaned off, so we are going to have to come back
for more cleaning soon. It was a mess. But it was a good Sunday!
Well there goes my week! Things are coming along here in Dunkerque!
It's going slowly but surely. Thanks for all the prayers! I love and
miss you all. Can't wait to here from you! Bisous. (kisses)
Elder Libby