A "Super" Week

Its been a great week; we had to move Josés baptism back a week because he couldnt come to church this weekend, but we fixed another baptismal date with raymond and brother salles called me while i was on the train coming back from Paris; we have visited the family salles a couple times now, they used to be less active but started coming back to church a few months ago, anyways we have a mission goal to baptize a family before the year ends; or "creat an eternal family" we introduced the goal to alot of the members so they could start praying for it, brother salles has a 13 year old daughter who is not baptized; so he called me and said; why not our family! yeah he got the hint haha so we have started teaching his daughter the lessons.  we have found a couple other new families; one of them is going really well, we are seeing them tonight.
        I got the christmas package by the way, fudge is great, thank you much
thats great news about kody sorensen; brother sorensen is legit, i love that guy haha, tell kody congratulations for me
       Week 2 district meeting start tomorrow; so we have been spending alot of time preparing for that.  but this time we are having the whole zone meet in poitiers; so we dont have to take trains and run around everywhere; using up our whole week; just a couple days out of the week now.
        Nah i wasnt in the choir for the andersen conference; but on the mission facebook page there is pictures of the whole mission
       Everything else is going great; we have been doing alot of finding, bat porting; got let in several times last night, a muslim couple; un "maitre chien" dog master haha that guy cracked me up; and a jehovahs witness; one of the reasons why i love bat porting so much; you meet some of the coolest people ever.
        Thanks for everything, i shall be sending y'all a letter soon.

much love; LOVE YOU MOM!!

talk to you all soon

Staying Put this Transfer...

           Everything is going pretty here; we got transfer news a couple days ago; me and elder stephens are staying together as zone leaders here in le mans; so surprises there; mon fils, my blue; is coming into our district to be with elder burgess in angers haha so that means that i will be going on exchanges with my blue, and he thought he could escape me; i told him before i left cergy, that he would never escape me; that i would be his zone leader somewhere, and low and behold.
            We did alot of finding this last week of the transfer; getting ready for next trasfer, alot of bat porting; we got let in quite a few times; and we have quite a bit of potential now.
           On Saturday we were doing some contacting and we started talkin with a young french guy; 26 years old; Martin. he was legit and invited to go get some drinks with him at Mulligans pub; we happily agreed; he bought us some coca colas, and himself a beer; we talked for a good hour about everything; he wants to believe in God; wanted to know how to repent; why we are here on earth, just a legit guy, im excited to hit up the pub again with him sometime soon; even though it was a bit hard for me because out of the corner of my eye i could see the toulouse vs clermont rugby game; oooh brother, theres luke mccallister; lookin like a beast; just executed a beautiful offload to his flanker then another pass to the scrum half burgess for the try; the people in the pub go crazy; woohoo!! haha but it was a great rendez vous, Martin is legit

                We head up to paris again this thursday for mission conference and then week two district meetings the week after where we go visit all the missionaries in the zone; it'll be good

Much love, talk to you soon

A Good Thanksgiving...

No turducken this year?? hmmm tisk tisk. 

        Our turkey bowl thing went well; and the meal, owned the noobs as usual ha; Elder Burgess brought a rugby ball; me and him threw it around a bit afterwards; oh joobies; clearly it has been a year since i have passed a rugby ball; my accuracy was pretty shaky haha.
       What else; we had dinner with a guy from the french foreign legion this week, him and his family, he is a great guy, of course no longer in the FFL, he did his 5 years and now he is out.
       Our zone is doing soo much better now; after we started calling the DLS more and they call their missionaries everyday; people are starting to be more accountable; good stuff; good stuff indeed.
       We did some bat porting last night; somebody didnt like us at all, on our way out of the building my comp and i both got pretty soaked; some guy chucked a bucket of water on us from one of the stories above, i sure hope it was water; i tried to find which window it came out of, but he hid himself well; well played well played indeed; i cant hate because i would have done the exact same thing haha either that or i would let us in, feed us, and be baptized!!
       About what i want to do after the mission; to be honest i am not too sure, all i do know at this point is i am going to go to University of Utah and probably try out for the diving team, i think that will be something that could really interest me..... nah i kid.  I know i want to go back to BYU and keep playing rugby, thats for sure; which major and when?? i am not too sure, i like business and geology, and burritos; so i will see where that can lead.  Its true i need to give it some serious thought; so i will let you know what happens
       Everything else is going well, we continue to help our two baptismal dates move toward baptism; it's a battle; slowly but surely they will get there.  
       We meet amazing people everyday, great stuff

much love

A Great Conference...

The Elder Andersen conference was this last weekend; it was reaallly good.  it was good to go up and see paris for a bit too.  we got there a bit early; we got a bit lost looking for the chapel in versailles; there was fog up in that joint like it was nobodies business.  before the actual conference started we took a mission photo with elder andersen; elder teixiera; elder boutielle; president and his two councilors and all their wives, so that was cool; afterward we all lined up to shake all their hands; elder teixiera remembered me from bruxelles; so that was pretty cool, he asked me how i was doing.  conference was great; i wont go into details but it was good; andersen pretty much saying; hey its not easy here; probably the hardest; and we dont know why to be honest; buuut there will be a righeous people in every nation when the Savior comes, it was good stuff; he cracked plenty of jokes. they were all also at our stake conference yesterday in angers

That's crazy to hear about all those mission calls; that blows my mind that london and nate are leaving already; give them my congrats

This past week was hard; we had 5 bap dates at one point and between the periods of Wednesday to Thursday we only had 1, so 4 dropped dates over a couple days.  a  couple of them were people that i was 100 percent sure would be baptized, especially the last one; probably one of the most prepared amis i have ever seen; and he dropped us just like that out of nowhere; it was around 8 at night; we decided to pray and go balls out for the last hour and do some finding even though i felt like i had just been sucker punched in the family jewels.  We drove and saw a large apartment building; lets port that puppy out we said, as we got out of the car; a girl yelled over to us, long story short she said she had prayed a little while earlier cuz she was feeling pretty down in the dumps spiritually, so we told her; hey we prayed about 5 minutes ago to be led to someone; it was a great moment; we talked for a while and she invited us to her families place.

I was on an exchange when we went over and saw them; i was with a blue missionary; 4 weeks in the field; we met up with the girl again; 21 years old; met her mom; and her sister and her brother; african family; practicing catholic.  had a LEGIT rendez vous with them; the mom looved us; so much that she invited us over to eat dinner the next day; so the next day we ate some african food baby; foofoo; pondu; fish; chicken; rice; and beignets.  we ate with are hands; cuz thats how they role. so legit; so good. great fam; we are seeing them tonight; hopefully set a bap date

So now we have 2 dates; we found another guy too.

What am i thankful for....?  I am thankful for america, more specifically, utah, orem.  That place is a literal paradise; i am convinced there is no better place in the entire world. I am greatful for a living prophet; the priesthood, i am thankful for french pastries, and cheese. my brothas, and how they make me laugh with their shinanigans, my sister and her good example of patience. shlobus and his pooka nooey.  ma maman et mon papa, de plus en plus chaque jour je me rends compte combien ils sont une bendection dans ma vie.

So anyways; thats about it, we have thanksgiving turkey bowl coming up; so have to get ready for that too, gave our food assignements last night woohoo

much love

Lots of (good) "Stuff" Going on....

i got news after talking to my son on the phone yesterday that my investigator from cergy got baptized this past weekend, its really too bad i got shipped out of there at that moment, but hey she is baptized

we had zone conference and interviews yesterday up in angers; so we took the train early yesterday morning to get to the angers chapel a good hour and a half before; we had already given everyone in our zone the interview times, we did a quick split, i went with elder burgess to the grocery store to buy the food for the whole zone; while my comp set everything up at the chapel, our training went great; i had the idea of bringing in a BBQ, wearing some aprons and spatulas, a good parabole for what we would be sharing; it was a lot of fun and went really well, we wanted to make sure they would remember and apply what they actually learned, so it was great; and my interviews with pres and sister poznanski were great too

the week 2 district meetings went great, traveled around to see all the districts and went on alot of exchanges; we spent a good 4 days out of our area; and still managed to find the most new investigators; setting the example ha, its true that if we do all we can to help the zone, we just see miracles in the little time that we have

its been a pretty exhausting week; physically and mentally; but super legit; we set the goal to set 7 baptismal dates this week; so pray for those if you could. we already have 2

everything else is going just awesome

oh yeah; there was a newspaper article on us this last sunday; a couple days before a member told us to come to the church because there was a reporter who needed pictures of us to go with the article; we showed up and did our thing

the next sunday she showed us the newspaper, it was the MAIN article; with a HUGE photo of us on the front; this town is for sure going to recognize now; haha famous missionaries in le Mans, yatta

much love

A GREAT week, and start in the new area...

I apologize in advance, this email will be short.

But on to more important things; i got sick on transfer day; of course; that is just my like; but i am feeling better now. My comp is elder Justin Stephens; we were in the same classes in orchard elementary school!!! what the joobies!

We are recieving some major blessings from heaven here so far; our first day we called the only two investigators that the elders had here; during our first rendez vous with them we fixed baptismal dates for the both of them, whoot whoot, we are finding new investigators left and right, my mouth is getting tired and all dry from talking all day; especially in french, not the easiest language with a sore throat.  this town has been seriously prepared; its pretty cool.

We went up to Paris on Friday for mission conference with all the zone leaders and president, talked about all the stuff we have coming up.  tomorrow we leave to start week 2 district meeting; we go visit each district in our zone, talk to all the districts and train all the district leaders afterwards.  we also plan on doing all our exchages with the district leaders after the meetings; so tuesday wednesday and thursday we will not be in our ville at all; it kind of scares me; that we have to leave our city for so long and our investigators; but this will save time overall.  we go to angers, (where elder burgess is the DL haha) then to blois for the next district meeting; back to Tours for the exchange, and then to Poitiers for the last district meeting.  Its the largest zone in the mission; my head feels like it is going to explode, but s'allllll good; then zone conference and interviews we have to figure out; and the big mission conference; we have to get our whole zone up to paris when elder Andersen of the 12 is coming.  I'm sure i will be getting plenty of phone calls.

Sometimes it seems like we have no time at all to do the actual missionary work; but we do; and the Lord puts the right people in our path, things just work out, the little time we do get; I just make sure i talk with EVERYONE

That's funny about joseph; what a shmeegle haha

Sunday was great, the ward here is alot different from the one in cergy, alot of old french people haha; but they are nice, the bishop is actually a young 37 year old african dude; he's a pimp.  We presented ourselves; and it seems like they are happy to have us.

much love

Moving.., Sad,.. but HAPPY

it seems like it has been a long week; long story short; the miracle baptism we were looking for didnt happen; it will happen soon but just not while i am here, i am getting transferred...  however we set two baptismal dates, a mom and her daughter who are soo LEGIT, they LOVE me haha i know that sounds prideful but we just get along great; the mom came to church yesterday, the daughter was sick, we have seen them for about two weeks now; and they are set to be getting baptized the 3 of November, i am pretty bummed that i wont be there for it, just story of my life; i set up baptismal dates; then get shipped out to a ville where the elders did so poorly they got "whitwashed" out, where they both leave at the same time because there is nothing going on there.  its hard not to get a little upset about it, lucky elder guymon and his future collegue have things SET UP here haha nah i kid i kid, easy there elder Webber.  But the mom and her daughter invited us over for dinner tonight; so i am excitited for that; get to say good bye and take a pic before leaving

WELL DONE mariah on your talk; in all honestly, much respect much respect.  i had to get up and bare my testimony and say goodbye to the ward this sunday; and just a secret, i was nervous.... it is true

But so much good stuff has gone on this week; where do i start, i have no idea!!  oh before i forget; i am getting transfered to Le Mans, to be Zone Leader for the Orléans Zone, in the southern part of the mission. President gave me a call on friday and told me it will be especially difficult because, we are whitwashing in, both missionaries who were there are getting kicked out; and me and my comp are both going into the ville at the same time; which is never the easiest thing, its what i did when i went up to brusseles.  i have never been zone leader before and neither has my companion; he is a transfer younger than me; aaannnd they changed the ville that the zone leaders are normally in; usually they are in orléans; but now we are in mans, annnd this zone is notorious for how big it is and how much time we spend on trains going from exchange to exchange; district to district; so president told me; your missionary work is Reallllly gonna have to be top notch to keep from going under; and we are getting a car; and a new credit card, and i have to do my year mark legality while i am down there so i have to find the prefecture.  if i look at it from that perspective i tend to get a little stressed out; but from day to day; its sall good; every days a PARTY, i am suuuuper excited.  Already called the elders who were down there.... yeah theres no progressing investigators, figures.  but hey i dont mind 3 weeks of pure finding

this last sunday was great; our investigator with a bap date was there; and francois who got baptised; and then after the first hour priesthood, i walked out into the hall and Chantal was there!!! i baptized her last transfer; she had been up in brusseles studying; but this last week was in lille visiting her sister; which is about 4 hours away from cergy; she heard it was my last sunday and came all the way down to cergy, woooow; when i got up to give my testimony and say bye, i almost cried because my two cergy baptisms there in the congregation for my last sunday; best gift ever.  she gave me some book marks and a silver tie; because "all my ties are ugly" haha great

our less active families all came too; the francos; especially i will miss, when the dad heard i was leaving in priesthood he cried a little bit; hes the really big dude; who reminds me of brother jensen; i got pictures with them and said bye bye

everything else is great, i started packing today, ready to move on down to my new ville to spend the winter most likely

here is my new address, place it up for the homies!!

Elder Webber

Les Missionnaires

49 rue Marengo

72000

Le Mans

France

much love, 

A Good Week

We found someone who wanted to get baptized on the 20th, which was quite the miracle, we had a lesson with him on saturday, but he then explained he had found a little side job in paris; so he could not come to church the next day or see us until wednesday; i pulled a francois on him, telling him he has to make the decision between this side job and the baptism; and the blessings that come with; a real test of his faith; afterwards my blue said i was too hard on him; and need to take it easy... nah i dont think so.

unfortuneatly he chose the job and didnt come to church; and is working down in paris until wednesday; soooo he will just have to put his blessings on hold i guess; his choice; you can only do so much.  BUT we still have every intention of finding someone to baptize this weekend.  we had a meeting with our ward mission leader; his is a bit of a knuckle head; after church yesterday; i told him we would call him tuesday evening to tell him who will be getting baptized the weekend; he kind of just looked at us, and didnt say anything haha

we saw some great things this past week; its been raining all week and pretty cold; so instead of doing the usual contacting; we decided to do some bat porting in a group of big apartment complexes i had seen earlier; after waiting for someone to do the code and enter the building we shmeegled in behind and were inside at last.

we only had one hour and we told ourselves SOMEONE will let us in and we will have a lesson before we leave.  took the elevator up the 6Th floor and started our way down, talked with a few nice people; but not much, then a we knocked on another door and the lady let us in, we had a lesson with her and her 15 year old daughter; left her with a book of mormon; got her number and set up another rendez vous the next day, after we left, we said; hey that would be cool if someone else let us in, the next floor down; we spoke with another lady; i told her we would only take 25 minutes; and she let us in; we ended up staying for a while, had another lesson, got number and set up a rendez vous for tomorrow; next floor down we found a family from portugal, who had been baptized there in the church and were now living here but not going to church; we talked with them; got their number and set up a rendez vous the next; day; it was pretty funny.  then we left and i got a phone call from  a less active, evelyn, she told me how she was beat by her husband the night before, he is not a member and hates the church; she asked us to come over; we went over; gave her a blessing, told her to go to the cops asap; and to talk with the bishop because he works with the police and will know exactly what to do.  Now she is coming back to church with her two daughters; so thats great.

Francois is still doing great; and he is going to recieve the priesthood this sunday; im excited for him

district meeting went great with President, smooth as a babies bottom

by the way there is a facebook for the mission that presidents wife has started; and she puts pictures and what not up on the site; i dont know what the page is called; but im sure you can find it, if you search facebook enough

A Baptism...

the baptism went great; francois was pretty dang excited; at first when we were filling up the font the water was super cold; i called a member and he told me to push a few buttons and i did; then the water was hot; but it was almost boiling hot when it was finished; good think it was our ward mission leader who went in to baptize francois; not me, he came out his feet were bright red, haha noob. after francois was dunked he stood in the faunt for about 30 seconds, just being quiet; it was really a special moment for him; he was really happy

things are going well; we continue working with our other baptismal dates; one of them might move away to england this next week; so we will see

my blue has had to spend alot of time in paris and he went up to brussels to do his belgium legality; so i would spend long days down in paris doing contacting or waiting around; its kinda hard being a trainer; but i dont mind it, it can be pretty fun

there seems to be quite a bit of political movement going on over here; but i dont know if thats just normal; they did sound out a few text messages saying to stay out of heavily populated arab areas for a while; and then theres just the classic gays and feminists who are always complaining or rioting about something

but all else is well, we hope to get at least 2 baptisms before this transfer ends in 3 weeks; so thats means that we will have to find some new peeps this week and keep working hard with the ones we have

much love

September 10th

before i forget, yes i am staying in cergy for another transfer; we just got the email with all the transfer decisions on saturday; i was 90 percent sure i was going to stay anyway; because you spend two transfers together when you have a blue, so i will be here for another 6 weeks; still district leader; and we are getting two other elders moving into our apartment this next transfer; so there will be 4 missionaries in our area; which is the way is used to be, cool cool, i know them both; and theyre both pretty chill; so itll be good to see them in couple days

we fixed a baptismal date this last week with françois; an african man about 42 years old; he loves us haha, he came to church yesterday and couldnt stop talking about how much he liked it; it was good to see. the fact that everyone contributes; its like a family. good stuff; so he will be getting baptized the 29 of september, we found him when we were doing some contacting in a parc at cergy prefecture; not too much success; but i saw him sitting on the bench eating some foods; we went up and talked with him; now hes got a baptismal date and LEGIT

we had fixed a goal to have 10 investigators at church this sunday haha; which alot of people thought was pretty outrageous; but we worked hard and by saturday night we had a good 8 that confirmed to come to church the next morning and 7 more that were maybies, then sunday morning when i checked the phone, thats when i saw all the missed calls and texts of everyone saying they couldnt come haha; ah man thats the worst; but françois and one other of our investigators came so thats good. i would say we had about 20 invited to come; and 2 actually came; soooo if we invite 100 people this week then we should get 10 right?? haha we refixed the goal again this week; and now it WILL HAPPEN; ha

all else is going great; im going to try and bake a cake tomorrow for a less active family we are going to see; im just praying just it wont be sooo disgusting as to push them even farther away from the church ha nah i kid i kid.

all else is well; alot of finding; praying; searching; teaching; meeting some really interesting people; ups and downs, happy times; depressed times, but then happy times again

as for the package; yeah i would love some peanut butter cups; but chuck in whatever you want; it will be much appreciated; whatever frosts your cookies; 

much love

September 17th

the apartment is still pretty good with the two extra elders now; one is from my group in the MTC, he's a real jokester; we get along too well; tooo well.  and his comp in his last transfer; the one from my group is coming from a pretty rough time from down in the southern parts of the mission; some sketchy stuff; so he needed out of there; now he's in the promised land of cergy; where you CAN get over 20 lessons a week; as apposed to what they were just doing down there; 3 or 4.  

we all just went to the HIMALAYA restaurant; Indian and Pakistani restaurant; dont worry we told them we were australian... haha yeah ive heard about the news about all the muslims, its pretty sketch, but whatever.  The food was great; all you can eat buffet for 12 euros; and that included ice cream bar; the peeps there were laughing at how much food we were eating; and they told us to come back haha thata boys my pakistani homies!!

françois is going so great; came to church again, solid dude

the other family that we have been seeing for a while; we went and saw again; REPENTANCE was the theme of our message; and i think they got the point; "no we are not here to have bible study twice a week"

i have sooo many exchanges to do this week; and zone conference and stake conference; so its going to be pretty stressful and i just hope that my blue remembers where to go for the the rendez vous that we set up, i guess we'll see

yesterday we were doing some contacting; we had some spare time before our rendez vous with françois and frere kimbembe, we did some contacting around cergy prefecture; "little africa/morocco" we walked by all the parked buses and one of the dudes knocked on the window; he opened his door and asked as who we were; he was arab, we told him and he invited us in the bus haha no worries i made sure the taliban wasnt hiding behind the back seat; turned out to have a pretty good lesson with him in the bus; and he invited us to drop by again any other afternoon when he is parked there

things are going pretty well; really trying to find those "prepared" people these first couple weeks of the transfer; because they will be the ones we will be baptizing at the end

much love

A good week....

this week has been interesting, we spent alot of time in paris; doing n'importe quoi, but it had to be done, so week 2 of the transfer was a little harder to reach our goals; and i personally believe its the most important week of a transfer, but thats just elder webber.  we had to go into paris for my fils legality; to get his visa and what not; that took up the whooole day, so the trainers; elder burgess and my old mtc comp included went out and did some contacting to pass the time; bought a tie, and this arab girl; taught me how to write my name in arab; so the time was well filled, i did have to cancel 3 rendez-vous; because all the blues took too long; and we were all late; joobies.

then zone conference on thursday; that took up the whole day; but it was GREAT, learned alot of great stuff. afterwards i had my exchange with elder florence in my district; we went out to his ville; in chartres, a little town, very old, they are struggling over there, while i was there i opened an ensiegn while eating dinner and saw an article with the chartres cathedral; which i could see out the window; the article was about how the parabole of the good samratin 

actually explains the plan of salvation; and the stain glass windows in the chartres cathedral depicted it, wow what a crazy coincidence, those early christian writers were smart.  and on saturday was stake conference, normally missionaries dont go to the saturday session, but president wanted all the missionaries in the paris and paris east zones to go; and we sang the mission song and a hymn, because the whole session was centered on missionary work; it was actually pretty dang cool

last p day after emails i got a haircut; we went to saint christophe to look for a barbershop; i wanted to mix it up a bit and not just shave my head like usual; found the cheapest; and arab barber shop; 8 euros; not bad; i told him to give me the classic; now i look like an arab; super short on the sides and longer on top, he busted out the razor and lined me up, very well done indeed; them arabs do know how to cut air; ill give that to em

we set another baptismal date yesterday; with rodrigue; and francois is still going great; so if all goes well; francois will be getting baptized the 29 of september and rodrigue the 20 october

work is going great; my comp is exhausted haha... he needs to start eating fruits and veggies

much love

For Sept 3rd...

wow kids village; lucky joseph, lucky indeed. And chaperone at a timpanogos stomp, ooohh wow; partay whoot whoot; whoot whoot.  Tis good to hear that the australia and nz trip went well; how is grandma and grandpa doing? That is crazy that ben is in highschool; and zach is a senior; annd mariah in 8th grade; im pretty sure i dont remember a thing from the 8th grade.  When is Bens curfew now? ha

This week was a week up some ups and downs.  the louvre was great; but we did pretty much do the classic run around try and see all the cool stuff in as little amount of time as possible thing; ha; i barely even remember glancing at the mona lisa before turning around taking a bunch of photos getting owned by all the little asian dudes then bouncing that joint as quick as possible.  I thought the egyptian artifacts section was the best; a mummified cat and alligator; ooooh how legit.  the renassaince floor, meh; just alot of buff naked dudes

tuesday i did my exchange with the zone leaders; went down to the center of paris, spent the night; we had a rendez vous with christine; a 50 year old or so lady that i found up in here in cergy a couple months ago; passed her down to the paris ZLS because thats where she lives; now shes a progressing investigtor; she refuses to call us elder; and uses our first names; she remembered my name after so many months ha.  First thing she says when we sit down to begin our lesson; "ah joshua, comment ça va, bien sûr je me souviens de ton nom; je te dis pourquoi, je te trouve... sexy, oui franchement; je ne veux pas te gêner, mais c'est vrais; tu aimes bien les grandes villes, tu es quel qu'un qui habiterait dans une ville comme paris; peut être à la venir" hahaha i just laughed; so did the ZL, wow how nice ha, but honestly we did end up having a great lesson with her; believe it or not

had zone/district conference; we split off into our different districts and soeur poznanski came and assisted my training; it went great; i talked alot with her afterwards; it was great; she said she loved it; vous parlez hardiment, she said; i speak boldy; yeeeeeaaahhh buddy; we dont mess around in district meetings ha; good stuff good stuff

the rest of the week was alot of dissapointments and hard work; allllllot of people who didnt show up to rendez vous or would cancel; on sunday we had 5 rendez vous set up; and during the first hour of church i got 5 different texts or calls finding out one by one they all got canceled haha; woooah; a long day of finding then, but we found some cool people; so its all good.  The family didnt come to church; mmmm the mom is being a bit ridiculous; the kids are legit; but the mom is being pretty stubborn... she needs to repent.  and hey thats why we are here; right

Im excitied for the last week of the transfer; get things rolling again; 

oh yeah; in your next pachage :) umm if you could look for like some little books that are pretty much just a summary of church doctrine and have scriputes and what not; like my old collegue companion had one; it would be like God had a body of flesh of bones; and then a bunch of bible verses that kind of hint it; or priesthood and alot of verses about it; it also had brief explanations on other major world religions.

its alright if you dont find one

thanks again

much love, Elder Webber

Going Well... Baking a Cake

hello family

before i forget, yes i am staying in cergy for another transfer; we just got the email with all the transfer decisions on saturday; i was 90 percent sure i was going to stay anyway; because you spend two transfers together when you have a blue, so i will be here for another 6 weeks; still district leader; and we are getting two other elders moving into our apartment this next transfer; so there will be 4 missionaries in our area; which is the way is used to be, cool cool, i know them both; and theyre both pretty chill; so itll be good to see them in couple days

we fixed a baptismal date this last week with françois; an african man about 42 years old; he loves us haha, he came to church yesterday and couldnt stop talking about how much he liked it; it was good to see. the fact that everyone contributes; its like a family. good stuff; so he will be getting baptized the 29 of september, we found him when we were doing some contacting in a parc at cergy prefecture; not too much success; but i saw him sitting on the bench eating some foods; we went up and talked with him; now hes got a baptismal date and LEGIT

we had fixed a goal to have 10 investigators at church this sunday haha; which alot of people thought was pretty outrageous; but we worked hard and by saturday night we had a good 8 that confirmed to come to church the next morning and 7 more that were maybies, then sunday morning when i checked the phone, thats when i saw all the missed calls and texts of everyone saying they couldnt come haha; ah man thats the worst; but françois and one other of our investigators came so thats good. i would say we had about 20 invited to come; and 2 actually came; soooo if we invite 100 people this week then we should get 10 right?? haha we refixed the goal again this week; and now it WILL HAPPEN; ha

all else is going great; im going to try and bake a cake tomorrow for a less active family we are going to see; im just praying just it wont be sooo disgusting as to push them even farther away from the church ha nah i kid i kid.

all else is well; alot of finding; praying; searching; teaching; meeting some really interesting people; ups and downs, happy times; depressed times, but then happy times again

as for the package; yeah i would love some peanut butter cups; but chuck in whatever you want; it will be much appreciated; whatever frosts your cookies; 

much love

He Has Food!

Ha dont worry too much about the food; yesterday at church; members brought us boxes and boxes of food; so we are pretty well stocked up right now; its something they do once a month here; families bring the missionaries a bunch of food.

so no spaghetti and carrots for us this week; thats for sure

My comp is from Chico California; funny guy; pretty shy and awkward but hes funny ha which is good. THE PICKIEST eater ever though; i know i know you guys would always give me a hard time for being a picky eater; but hey; i think i grew out of that; i was eating n'importe quoi throught highschool and college, but my comp, its pretty bad ha so whenver we go to eat at members houses i make sure that i serve the food and load up his plate with all kinds of the goodies he doesnt like ha; he gets soo mad at me but i just laugh ha

Yes indeed yes indeed DC and Richie; half man; half god; no i kid... but seriously

The two families are going great; but yesterday morning when we were getting ready to go to Church they both called about an hour before it started and canceled; aahhh noooo, thats the worst feeling ever; one of the moms in the family is being kind of ridiculous; shes really hard to communicate with; doesnt understand much, but the kids love us; and we love the kids, we should be seeing them tomorrow and we are going to try and give them a baptismal date.

We went bat porting last night for the first time this transfer; its been a while since ive done that, bat porting; you find this huge ghetto apartment complex building; wait for someone to walk out because its locked to get in; shmeegle your way in; go up to the top; 14 15 floors and work your way down; knocking on all the doors; last night we werre in the ghetto of ghettos hahaha, as soon as we finally got into one my comp elder guymon let out a groan; uuuueehhh, this is horrifying haha it was pretty sketch; lots of muslims and africans; but thats ALL we did in Saint Quentin; i got pretty good at getting let in

then in Brusseles i didnt knock on a single door; for three transfers; but i decided to try it again last night; yeah not the most effective; but it was funny

all else is well, thanks for the package; NUTTY BARS, lelelelelelelelelelelelelelele

much love

And he's cool...

Yeah its a whole lot better with the pagan lord out of here; back to chez lui; i sympathize with the point of view that i was sent here to help him; and thats a possibility; but after trying all i could do; and still looking back at how much time was wasted; i lean towards the opinion; that God sent me here to show me what happens to pagan dead companions; and how not happy they are; so im glad i got a taste of that; and i want to be the complete opposite

 

my blue is great; hes a goof haha we went to a members house a couple days ago to eat dinner; we had already planned out the trick to have a wine bottle there filled with juice; the dad poured me and elder guymon a glass and i started drinking; "mmm this is good; not as strong as last time though Frere Pettit" my comp refused to drink for a while; then he bumped my leg; "elder; what do i do" "just drink it" i say; soo... he startes drinking away and i keep pouring his glass; he had a face of pure horror haha; but nah long story short; i told him later that night it wasnt wine; and we laughed about it a while; good times good times breaking the word of wisdom just because his trainer said to; oohh the POWER haha no no seriously i kid; hes a great guy; we get along great and its AWESOME so serve with someone who wants to work and set high goals, we learn together thats for sure

 

the baptism is this saturday, pretty excited.  I got the bishoprics permission after a bit of a "discussion" did you get my pictures i sent you last week?

 

District leader is great, i think exchanges are a bit of a pain; but you gotta do what you gotta do; you spend half the time on a train anyway, its a small district thought; and we are starting to turn things around.

 

im still in cergy by the way; yeah i didnt go anywhere; just got a new companion, so i will be here for at least two transfers now

 

much love, thanks in advance for the package

 

yatta

 

A Daddy :-)!

This week was another hard one; trying to convince my comp to do some things differently, or anything; it's like I had to work my butt off and think my brains out to try and get some respectable work done, but we survived and he's going home soon; where he wants to be; so let him have it; im trying to be extra nice to him these last couple days; and hes doing alright BUT ANYWHO...

I'm a father... i have a son...

I got the call a couple days ago; that i am going to train this next transfer; and training lasts two transfers; so i will be in Cergy for at least another two transfers, trainer=father.  Blue or new missionary=son. so that means my trainer who is dying (going home) this next week is now a grandfather; what fruitfull loins; fruitful loins indeed

Im super excited for it; i have been wanting to train for a while now; yeeessh i pray so that i can remember the difficulties and challenges i had when i was a blue and the things i wish i learned; so i can pass it on to this new missionary, we are going to have a Party AND work hard at the same time; yes it is indeed possible.  Im also staying district leader so im pretty stoked about that as well, itll be a busy two couple transfers coming up, its going to be legit though

hmm for the pachage; just whatever you chuck in there will be much appreciated, all the other packages previous have been great; no worries

much love

Elder Webber

Better!

hello hello, no more sickness thank goodness

I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me when i come do emails; but i will remember next week and email you some photos; no problemo.

Yesterday i went to my first full on african evangelical prayer; dance concert; pagan worship, gift of tongues thingy... oh my word.. church is true, church is true; thats all i have to say about that. ha we were suppose to be meeting with a potential investigator; but lo and behold; we got lured into this thing, we decided to stay; the music was catchy, and the african woman behind us yelling all kinds of chicken noises; gift of tongues baby haha oh my word.  the preacher after went on a rant about blood covenants and all that jazz; after a few minutes of that we decided to bounce that joint, couldnt take any more apostate doctrine, good people; really enthusiastic; just lacking some basic common sense there me thinks, wheeeen did Jesus teach anything like this anywhere; show me in the bible

If nothing else; it was testimony of how the Church of Christ is really organized 

one of our top investigators dropped us, because he spoke with his parents and they told him the whole polygamy and sect thing, i convinced him to come meet us at the train station anyway so could clear some stuff up, we put all those stupid lies to rest; but he still couldnt and didnt want to continue seeing us; but he said he would continue reading the BOM, so hopefully one day; he will come around; it was a real shame; good guy

All else is well; numbers are back up.  me and the two other elders i lived with in bruxelles that got sent down here to paris are leading the way apparently; paris was reaaally stuggling; but we saw some legit numbers in bruxelles; so now with a new point of view; things are turning around down here, president is a smart man

thanks again; much love; joseph keep up the dance moves

Hate Being SICK!

those pictures are hilarious.  Joseph does look kind of different; but still has his pukunui.  Beach boys for stadium of fire; wow i didnt know they were still alive, KFC, yeesshhh, there is one right by our chapel here; where im doing emails; so i might have to shmeegle some as well.  

on wednesday, so 5 days ago; my comp decided to make some chili for the district meeting; it was great chili; no lies but then during our exchange later that night me and elder florence both woke up at 4 in the morning and owned the toilette like a noob, couldnt sleep after either; my comp also got sick; so we have been sick with food poisoning these past 5 days; still pooing out liquid; i dont think i had ever been so sick in my life; or so miserable, we called sister poznanski, which is a rule when youre sick and she told us alot of stuff and to go to the doctor; so we went and that was just a testimony to me of how worthless french doctors are; oh my word, we were able to go to church; but we really didnt look happy to be there. but we are feeling better now. just been eating rice with ketchup. we used up 4 roles of toilette paper in a day and a half.

so in all honesty its been a less than perfect week; just laying and suffering on the couch.  its kind of difficult to get things rolling again; i find myself a little stressed out; hoping my comp will keep the desire, members crying about anything and everything; the ward mission leader who thinks hes the boss and does absolutely nothing.  sometimes things are just way more complicated than they need to be, find teach and baptize people; thats all it is, everything else reaaaally does not matter.

I think i need to set a goal to be more optimistic haha

The bright side; there was a member who cooked us rice and brought us tons and tons of medicine, offered to drive us anywhere; and another member who brought over some weird fish herbal oil that are suppose to help heal us ha, but suuuper nice peeps, so its all good.  Today is P day and we are going into paris to look for some new pants for my comp, reenergize; renew and start week 4 of the transfer, turn things around

hmm as for the package ha; whatever you wanna throw in there will be greatly appreciated

much love 

The New Area---work to do...

hello

cergy is pretty cool; umm probably some of the hardest days of my mish so far, i got into paris, and went to the church to get my new comp, aaalll the missionaries on exchange day, go into the mother nest paris; and then leave as soon as possible to go to their new area, i met my comp, and i was ready to go head out to cergy, only to find out that we would be staying there until 6 at night; so from 9 in the morning till 6 at night i was hauling noobss luggage around through the metros all day, sweating my face off, but that all good; finally got out to the apartment; didnt unpack my stuff cuz we were already late, next day had a lesson with an old catholic woman, who is very invested in her church; went okay, finally we came back and we had some time to plan, and discuss, found out that, that is the only investigator they have, absolutely ridiculous, i heard tooons of good things about cergy and how great it is; lots of work; great ward; it makes me wonder what has been going on here the past 2 transfers.  My comp finishes his mission at the end of this transfer; im just going to say it; hes pretty dead, in fact he told me straight up, just try and help me not become a dead missionary by the end of this; oohh great great, great. but hes coming along, theres been some really frustrating moments already, but this week will be better, it was almost emberassing calling in the numbers the other day.  But i spoke with ZL elder peterson quite a bit today during paris pday, he said his situation is just as bad if not worse; hes been wondering whats been going on down here too, he was up in brusseles with me too, when president said he needed us to "help out, and be that example" before shipping us down here; i didnt think it would be this different; but it is; annnnd its all good, balls out, no worries, just the dirty work; now; contacting contacting contacting, i know that my comp is just gonna loooooove that, but i dont give a rats tiddily wink, cuz apparently there wasnt very much of it the past four or five months.

cergy is a nice place though; we get all the benefits of paris without having to actually be in the busy downtown city area; youre right; out in the suburbs a bit; we go into paris about twice a week for district meeting and when it is our shift at the visitors center.  Theres for sure, more french down here; i love it.  talking with the members and what not; working out the rust from a long stay in bruxelles ha.  Today was paris Pday; all the paris missionaries; go into paris and we play football at one of the parks, they use to play by the eiffel tower but they got kicked off of there; so we played at some other place; owned the noobs, wore the hot dog shirt as well. hows rugby going for zach and ben?

Thats legit to hear about the all blacks; it will be interesting to see what the lineup looks like by the time i get back.  theres a family in the ward; the pettit family; the dad is from new zealand and played rugby for byu; im not sure what years though; i also met a lady who works in the paris ward, who knew grandma hutt; she was from new zealand as well; but i forgot her name.

what did petes mom have to say??

Joseph Nichols is doing great too

as for that mcguinn story, thats fresh; i like that.  I see way too many missionaries that are going home here, or close too it; and thats all they talk about, they want to leave as soon as possible, its kinda sad; i think ive met maybe one so far; who was honestly sad about going home and didnt want to, thats definitly the same way i want to be; i dont think about now because ive got tooons of time left; im just getting started baby! but thats interesting

ah yesh before i forget, my new address

Cergy, France

56 Blvd de l'evasion N° 301 

95800

shlap that puppy on facebook for my dwindling fan club haha

Transferred Back to Paris....

I got the news this week that i am getting transfered, im going to
Cergy, one of the paris suburbs in the paris zone; as district leader,
so im pretty excited, me and elder hall got a phone call this morning
from president and his wife; saying congratulations for the great week
we had this week, so that was pretty cool, ill be packing my bags
tonight and tomorrow night, leave on wednesday morning; take the train
down to paris.  I will miss Bruxelles alot; this place is pretty
legit, i feel like ive done my part here; when me and elder dicataldo
white washed in, the missionaries before us just left us crap; now its
legit and i love it.  we have a baptismal date set for pierre on June
30, and plan on setting 2 more right before i leave; so thats legit;
too bad i wont be able to see them.

The frites were delicious by the way! over 50 kinds of sauces; fried
twice in two different kinds of oil for just the perfect crispiness.
We went over to colettes and gracias a couple days ago; we had dinner;
and then they turned off the lights and brought out the birthday cake,
it was pretty cool, gave me a couple presents, and wrote me a card, in
english en plus.

A lady we contacted a few weeks ago; now has a baptismal date from the
sister missionaries; she told the sister missionaries that she had a
dream, she was knocking a door and it was locked and couldnt get in,
then two guys came up and told where she could find the door; after
her dream she didnt want to tell anyone about it because they would
think she is weird; but then we contacted her, and she said thats why
she stopped, i saw her at church yesterday; said hello, so now she and
her two boys are gonna get baptized on the 30 of june as well

There was a member visiting our ward yesterday; from Fiji; so i
started talking to him, and of course he knows the whippys, he use to
play rugby with them, wow the world is a small place, hes at byu
hawaii now, but says hes trying to get to byu provo, so maybe i will
play with him too ha, hes a fullback, jimmy

buuut anyway, im saying my goodbyes to all the homies here in
brusseles; paul our bouncer friends; and all our investigators, France
is really suffering in comparison to Belgium, so president came up to
our district meeting and told us that for those who leave back to
france; its imortant to have the same expectations as here, yatta

anyway; thanks again, much love

Got Lost ...

Thank you for the package; it was awesome, the hot dog tee shirt was too good, i wear it when we go jogging in the morning, i get some interesting looks.  The quote book is awesome; now i look even wiser to the other elders ha.  

On saturday, we i went on a mini exchange with Elder Bishop, because they are passing us a family, and they have been seeing them for a while, multiple baptismal dates but they keep getting pushed back, so i was the "representative" for our companionship, we had to take a train up north to dutch speaking part of belgium, outside our mission actually, the rendez vous went great, i know the kids pretty well; diana and eric, so i was able to be pretty bold with them; saying they havnt been doing their part, i did it in a loving way though, it went great, but we took the wrong train back, there was a delayed train that came exactly when ours did; so we ended up going an hour north even more; to a small down called saint nicholas, santa clauses home town; we changed trains; and we were home really late haha; word got out and the first words the zone leaders asked me were "spreckin zee deutch?" haha we just laughed it off.

Today we are going to the best friterie in brusseles; apparently word on the street is that they are the most legit ever; they fry them three different times in three different oils; with over 50 choices of SAUCES!  And then we are hitting up the basilica; going to the top, apparently you can see all of brussels from up there, so itll be cool.

We are planning on inviting one of our best investigators to be baptized this saturday, hes legit, so we are going to make it happen.  I continue to learn more magic tricks; gracia and collette are two baptisms we had a while a back; are pretty impressed, they tell me what works and what doesnt; how to make it look better.  I would be okay serving another transfer here in brusseles; but i do miss france a little bit.  So Aaron is doing pretty legit; thats great.

Anyway; thanks again for the package and the news; much love

Exhausted...

I can honestly say that i am exhausted this Pday; its been a crazy long week; and we got the best numbers that weve ever had on our missions so far; only came second to the zone leaders; they did well, president gave us a call and told us to keep up the good work; yeeeah buddy; gribaumont apartment; going strong;

 

The zone conference with Elder Teixiera was sooo legit; i loved it.  The lille zone; my old zone from france came up, so we were both in it. i got to see Elder Burgess, talked with him quite a bit, chill guy.  Pretty much The 70s in the church are legit, they know; and they know that they know. they are not afraid to show it. he started off by saying; i have pearls for you today; but im not going to give pearls to the swine, so i hope that you have spiritually prepared to recieve my message today.  so pretty intense; almost scary; actually it was scary.  A couple years ago; Elder Bednar came to this mission; he came to one of the zone conferences; he got up to the pulpit, and said, you aren't ready for revelation; and he left; needless to say the mission president was furious with those missionaries that day.  

Anyway the past month or so i have had a deep doctrine kind of question about desire; im not going to try and explain it on here now, but i had discussed and argued with just about every missionary about it with no response, so with a little push from the other missionaries i decided i would ask Elder Teixiera, after the conference while shaking hands, with everyone; i finally got up there; shook his hand and asked if i could ask him a personal question; he said yes, i met with him later in the bishops offiice, i asked him my question; i was kinda nervous; he looked at me for a long time; and started talking.... he did not answer my question; and i am COMPLETELY okay with that in hindsite because his response was much more important to me; he took a deep question about something else and turned it into something important for me, and i think he knew that; he said; i am proabably not going to answer your question; but i feel that what i have to say is something that you need to hear.  That short interview changed the way i look at my mission; dont worry i wrote it down; it was a very special experience

 

other than that; we have worked really hard this past week and plan to do better in the week to come, president saw that there were no baptismal dates fixed for this week; so made an anouncement that there will be baptisms this week; no questions asked, he said there are people our there who are ready to be baptized this week; so our search has begun and now we have our potential prospects, i first i wasnt seeing any baptisms for most likely my last transfer here in Brusselles; but now i see one.

 

anyway much love

 

let me know whats up

 

peace out

Doing well...

very nice very nice; We had to push Pierres baptismal date to the back of June; I'm sure he will eventually be baptized; he wants more time to tell his family; who are all catholic, so i probably will be transfered out of here by then; so its sad; but as long as he gets baptized; its all good.

 

Yesterday we got confronted by some jehovahs witnesses... i smashed them to the ground.  I then felt somewhat bad (for them); do they not think they i have studied the history of their church; and know how to destroy their efforts to disuade us!  Muslims; jehovahs witnesses; catholics; bhuddists; atheists; and protestants; but now I have ceased :-) ; it is a distraction; and in the long run it does nothing; but sometimes it just gets to me; and i cant help it

 

We had some more brazilian bbq yesterday; twas great as usual, however we were late getting home; its funny because you really start to understand why we have the be back at the apartment at 9:30 rule; because theres that quick switch right when the sun goes down, the metros turn crazy; and theres parties going down everywhere ha; absolutely nuts; so yeah that wont happen again

 

We saw a lady get her necklace stolen the other day; we would have chased them down, but the time we got up to the corner; they were long gone; and judging by all the kebabs ive been eating lately; i probably would have just wound up humiliating myself, two arab boys... of course, talked with the lady after; turned out it was a 500 euro necklace; kind of gives you a new point of view on Aladdin, i dont think i could ever watch that film again and not become enraged by a street theif arab

 

We are seeing paul tonight; a less active albanian man; i have told you about him before; the bouncer; im pretty sure hes in the mafia ha nah jokes; but seriously.. we are going through the lessons with him; he loves it; and i look forward to them every week

 

We had the best numbers in the zone this week, not that its about numbers; buuut just sayin, and then i read a passage in a book about how many lessons and investigators a missionary in peru gets; annnd that brought me back down to earth ha

 

We have a seventy coming this wednesday; i cant help but think that hes going to spiritually "smash" us; Elder Teixiera or somthing like that

 

Anyway; thanks for everything, thanks for the package thats coming; its finally sunny over here; and the metros are just sweaty and disgusting and it smells like africa

 

much love

Going Well...

ah man it sounds like an absolute party back there in the land of milk and honey, spring time is just too good, school ending; rugby in full swing and shlobus still being a shmeegal ha.

thats much respect to United, I think thats legit; before i forget; do you think the national chamionship will be in rio tinto when i get back?  Anyway, so zach threw up from nervousness; ah man thats too good; i cant wait to come back and watch them play.  and play with them some day; that will be too fun.  BYU well deserved indeed; thats so cool; thats too bad that Cal had to drop down; it would be sweet to beat them in the national chamionship; but thats still really cool.

I would love to coach the backs at united some day as well; maybe even when shlobus is grown up a little and playing; ha but by then i think i will be around 33, so thats a ways away. much much respect to United; what a perfect team; they were more than a team when i went there; it changed alot of guys lives and keeps them on the straight and narrow; something great to work toward; give coach colin my thanks.

before i forget; if you want... before you send my package off; i hope you havnt sent it yet; could you chuck a quotes book in there; just any cool book with some quotes in it; i think we use to have a little; something like that.

We set a baptismal date with Pierre, a great guy who i have been teaching for a while, i hope all goes well and he will be baptized on the 9th of June, what a great pre birthday gift ha.  Something great happened a few days ago; during fast and testimony meeting at church; Sister Dravie, an african woman in our ward got up to bare her testimony, she got baptized a couple years ago. she lives alone,  She talked about how she was going through a really hard time; bad health and other things; one day she prayed really hard; she missed the missionaries; she hadnt seen them for a long time and thought they forgot about her, she wanted help.  in her testimony she said that right after her prayer she heard the doorbell ring; she opened the door, it was Elder Webber and Elder Dicataldo, we were just finishing off our list of recent converts we wanted to go see; and her name was next; it wasnt until many weeks later; during her testimony that i knew her prayer had been answered and that we were lucky enough to be a part of that, anyway, she was so excited to see us; weve seen her many times since; i gave her a blessing last night; things are going great. So i guess thats my spiritual thing for the day ha

Many weeks ago me and elder D contacted an african woman in the street; we came to find out she was less active member; we got her number and talked to her for a while, we passed her number on to the sister missionaries; yesterday we found out that her three daughters and her nephew are taking the lessons now and they all want to get baptized; all from a 2 minute contact on the road; pretty cool

We had dinner last night with a family from Goiania Brazil;, i dont know if i spelled that right; we ate some brazilian bbq; i thought that was pretty funny

anyways much love, thanks for the letters and package, tell the bros good luck with rugby; mariah good luck with track and soccer; and Aaron good luck with school and opionionology haha

adios 

Transfers,... But staying (with a new comp.)

thats funny about joseph; what a shmeegle.  Cool to hear that both
united and byu are doing pretty good; thats legit; does zach play 12?

we got the transfer information; and im staying in Bruxelles, thats
what i wanted; i get a newer guy who just got finished being trained;
finally im not junior comp; geeeeeze louize, i see so many
missionaries that are older or have "leadership" positions (my italien
comp) that are just noobs, sometimes i really wonder whats going
through their head; meeeh maybe im just getting tested for my
patience.

but anyway im way excited; we are going to do alot of good things this
transfer i can tell; so it will be cool.  This past week i broke my
personal record for most lessons in a week; we had 15. yatta. and 4
amis at church.  I remember in Saint Quentin when i would have 2 or 3
lessons a week sometimes; that was really hard; but i look back at it;
and it was good for me.

during some contacting last week we met a young african dude; we later
met him down at "his place" pretty much the ghettos of all ghettos,
this building under construction on the street corner; where all the
African homies would stand around and hang out; on the same road there
are all these big loading garages and every once and a while a driver
or store owner will come and pick a few african dudes to come help him
unload; and they get paid a little; ha; wow its like 18th century
southern USA all over again.  however we started teaching our friend
on the bench and low and behold all the brothas started coming out;
listening in, sitting down with us; and then 4 of them showed up to
church this past sunday; pretty unexpected, awesome.

apartment is getting a bit crazy, with transfers coming up; we tend to
get a little too excited; water balloons all up that apartment; place
turned into a huge; oh good times.  The Italian wasnt happy; thats
only because hes a noob and cant catch so his bed and himself got
pretty wet ha

anyway; thats about all i can think of right now; thanks for the
letters; i shall write back shortly

much love

Trudging Along...

sweeeet haha sounds like easter was pretty funny. shlobus shlobus shlobus.  For our easter we went and had dinner at an american familys place, there are a few american families in the ward and they invited us over; honey baked ham from the army base; mashed potatoes; cheesecake, and sweet potatoes; ah man american food is so much better than european food; do not be decieved by people who say that french cuisine is so much better because its not haha nah it was just cool to eat the classic american sunday dinner. 

All the metros; buses and trams have been down for the past couple of days; because a bus driver got in a wreck with another car full of.... arabs.  and the arabs got out and tried to get the bus driver but he locked himself inside the bus; but a ticket man from the same bus was caught outside making calls and so they beat him to death and ran away, good for nothings.  so of course everyone that works for the transportation in the city of brussels went on a little mini strike; because they are scared little pansies or they are just looking for any excuse not to work, it should all be back up and running tomorrow... classic europeans.. classic arabs. 

so we have been walking everywhere; an Hour and a half walk to the church this sunday. and then back again; none of our rendez vous worked because the metros were down; so it was just a lot of contacting and planning the past couple days. AND now litterally every shop is closed because its easter; so we have nowhere to shop for food; luckily we found a place to do emails because our first three places were closed; laaaaziest continent ever; makes me mad sometimes, its a challenge to try and love these people over here, i think they should re name the mission to African mission located in france and belgium mission.  because those are the people we do most of our teaching and contacting with... buuuuut we shall press on yatta

we have two people that are progressing and doing quite well; first is pierre; he has been coming to church everyweek and we see him every friday, he is reading the book the mormon, really chill nice guy, from Congo, i think hes 40 years old.  And then Roxana a 25 year old Romanian intern; shes doing pretty good, and we meet with her once sometimes twice a week down in place de luxembourg by all the european parliment buildings; theres a nice park next to it.  All the rest of our peeps are kinda off and on; but we've done alot of finding and hopefully it will pay off

anyway thanks for all the news; sounds pretty legit

much love

Movin' Along... (and some (gross) Hijinks)

hello everybody i hope its going great

this week was pretty good; we set a baptismal date with a scientology
guy; and he accepted; but im not too sure that he fully realizes yet
all that he will have to leave behind in order to follow Christ and be
baptized.  Hes a great guy; from Hungary

We just came from our apartment where we made Elder Broadbent a newer
missionary do the milk challenge... yeah he threw up all over in that
piece haha; but no worries i got a great  video of it; which i will
show once home ha.  On friday during weekly planning; i drinking tons
of water seeing how clear i could get my pee; right up to the point
where you would think its water... so i recieved the challenge to
drink it; and i did baby; pretty warm, I did drink it through one of
those "filtering" brita pitchers though; still a little yellow; still
a bear grylls fan; still a bear grylls fan.

Right now we are seeing this guy Théophile; a 19 year old WHITE FRENCH
BOY, wow; i never would have though; and he is super super interested;
he came to church and loved it, after church members were coming up to
me; asking all about him; just a solid solid investigator; i hope
things keep going smoothly

Before i forget; can you get me; Quinns address or the one that works
best for him; that makes me so sad; hes a brother, i would like to
send him a letter.

As for the priesthood class and those hard questions; so so true; we
get those questions all the time; and if you really get into it; you
can find logical answers that confound every bit of them but....
theres really no point; people that ask you those questions and let
those things stop from thinking about what really matters; are
probably the people that you should drop and stop teaching, so yeah

Shlobus climbin the mountains; good times good times; and there is no
doubt about it; thats one of things i look forward to the most;
shmeeglin in the mountains with shlobus, that will be too fun.

tell mariah happy birthday, thanks again for the package; the magic
tricks and bean boozeled; the other guys loved them.

we continue to do tons and tons of contacting; its hard to stay happy
and positive in days like that; sometimes you just feel like going
crazy and youre just wasting your time with people who dont give a
rats bum about God; or even talking with other people for that matter;
but just like we found théo and Atella the scientologist; people are
out there that want to listen

much love, talk to you soon

Walking..., Walking,... Walking...

bonjour tout le monde

first off thanks for the package; i just got it today, and everybody
loved the bean boozeled, they just think its hilarious, luckily they
didnt see the other goodies that wait in store for them; so thankyou
very much for that.

The metros trams and buses were down until wednesday; so still quite a
bit of walking, we measured and its about 7.5 miles to go to the
church and back; add in the other rendez vous we had to walk and thats
came around close to 10 miles of walking a day; no exageration homies,
thats the bad thing about being in a big city; the transportation goes
down and youre pretty helpless; and of course it rained every day that
the metros were down and once they started working it cleared up and
became sunny, sometimes i wonder if God was angry ha no i joke, its
all good

This sunday was soo.... interesting.  An inactive came to church;
first time ive seen him, smelling of cigarettes and a little acohol.
it was testimony meeting and he decided to get up and tell everyone
how he he sold himself to men and did hardcore drugs; oh good gosh;
and most of our investigators didnt show up; thats kind of a blessing
because that would not have been good for them to hear that, and i sat
next to james yamadan; an autistic kid about 16 in the ward who never
stops yelling and touching people, and afterward our ward mission
leader wasnt there to teach the investigators class; so i had to go
find him; only to find he was chilling with with all the young adults;
so we all crammed into a tiny room and had a rather ill prepared and
awkward lesson by our less than stellar ward mission leader, and then
our investigator left early; saying he had "shopping to do" probably
one of the worst sundays of my life; its definitly not a day of rest,
i guess thats why they give us P days on mondays

buuuuuuuttttt, quickly things turned around; we met a vietamese man i
contacted a few days ago for the first time; we met up with him in the
metro stop and walked to the church together, we asked him a few
questions got to know him; he speaks french, he has a family but he is
divorced and was just looking for happiness and a better family
relationship; i took the lead in that lesson baby, im sorry but my
comp is a bit awkward; great guy though, anyway he said when i called
him that he felt good and wanted to meet with us; so we talked about
God our Heavenly Father; and how through His Son Jesus Christ we can
find happiness and peace even in jacked up europe, he loved it; wants
to see us again and bring his kids as well;

i got the address to his Vietemese restaurant that he works at so im
hoping to see him there too (and get a discount on some asian cuisine)

its been a hard week; thinking about a lot of things and alot of
things going wrong; but theres still those really good moments that
keeps us chugging along, tis cool

anyways thats cool to hear about the family; keep me updated; joseph
is a shmeegle and hilarios; mariah congrats on track; that is legit,
when i was your age; i really wasnt that athletic, it wasnt until
around high school that i started passin people up, now i look down at
them and cackle hahahahaha

much love; much respect; happy birthday, and tell zach to answer my email

yatta