I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go: Legality Day

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week has been so good! Yesterday was legality stuff, and that was an adventure haha. Imagine a typical physical exam, but entirely in French haha. It was interesting. But it was great to be in Paris again! Also, I got to be with all my friends that came here with me from the MTC, which was awesome! Elder Davis is in my district, and Elder Christiansen is in my zone, so I still see them sometimes. But it was awesome to see Elder Nelson and Elder Alfaro yesterday! We actually didn't see any cool stuff, we were super pressed for time. While we were doing our legality, our trainers all got to go to the Eiffel Tower and all that fun stuff, but I still haven't been! I know that at some point I'll serve in Paris and see it though, so no worries.

I've decided that traveling is not my favorite. We were supposed to take a train Sunday night to Nancy, then catch a train Monday morning to Paris. However, we messed up on the schedule and there wasn't a train Sunday night! So, we had to wake up at 4h50 Monday morning to make it to Paris on time, and got home about 21h20 last night haha. Crazy! Tell Tristan the train is only cool for so long. We have 2 trains. The TER is kind of normal and not super exciting. But the TGV, which takes us to Paris, is nuts! Somehow, yesterday we got first class tickets, so it was super comfy. Also, it goes almost 200 mph, so that was pretty cool.

I'll probably get my new proselyting bag today, because when we're in the city we have to carry it in front of us so we don't get robbed, and my bag right now is way to big to hold in front of me comfortably. So I'll get a nice little man-satchel haha. It should hopefully be somewhere around 30euro.

I'll try not to 'wither away' haha, but if I keep eating at member's houses that won't be a problem. We had soooooo much food on Sunday! And it was so delicious, I can't really describe it. It was also super good to get to know Frère Erhard better and to have Jean-Pierre there to become more comfortable with more branch members. The language is coming along, I hope that it will start coming more quickly though haha. Yesterday I actually had a conversation with a woman in the OFII office from Camaroon (the place that Elder Naughton is serving right now). I actually got to teach most of the Restoration by myself and understood what she was saying! It was awesome!

The building you saw on Google Earth is actually the church, our apartment is kind of right behind it. So that's why it says the Church's name on the window :) Unfortunately, you can't really see our apartment from the street.

This week we weren't able to make much progress with la famille Saitovic. The language barrier is really kicking our butts right now, so we made an executive decision to start learning Serb! Actually, by the end of my mission I could potentially speak Spanish and Portugese as well, so that should be fun! That's what one of our zone leaders has done during his mission.

We committed our ami Michael to be baptized this week, he's just waiting on his response to see if the Book of Mormon is true. Once he knows, he's actually super pumped to be baptized. He kept saying that was how he wanted to show the Lord that he was willing to follow Him, which is perfect! He has tons of faith in Jesus Christ! We also met a gendarme named Tony Martin (we decided that we must be cousins) and taught him the Restoration, and he's super open to it. We're gonna keep meeting with him this week.

I can't believe school is starting and I'm not going back! Tell Tristan that French is great and Mr. Swanson is the bomb! Also, tell him to pay attention in case he gets called somewhere French speaking, because that probably would have been super helpful haha. I usually write to everybody I can every week, but sometimes it's tough.

That is crazy news! I don't know Adam Millet, but I know the kids that were in the ATV accident. That's so sad, I hope they're ok! That's crazy that Abby got married, who else from my class is getting engaged right now? That's a super weird thought, glad I've got a while before that is on my plate haha. That's so awesome that Trace is getting baptized! I'm so happy for him, this is going to make him so happy. The gospel really does bring joy! I email Tanner every week, and I am so excited for him! Love that man, but not in a weird way haha.

So today we went to this awesome cemetery, and I had a thought. I could have ancestors there and not even know it! Could you possibly go on FamilySearch and start looking at some of the villes that the Martin/Casault/Larose etc lines come from? If I ever have ancestors in villes where I'm serving, I'd love to know about that :) We actually use Family History as a huge missionary tool, so the more I know the better! Also, could you have Dad maybe write me a letter or an email telling me his conversion story? It's really sad, but I've realized that I'm out here speaking to people about the gospel and trying to help them join the church, and I don't even know how it really happened with Dad! That would be super cool. Anyways, thanks so much for everything. I love you all! The Lord really has blessed me because of your prayers, and I'm so thankful for that! You're all amazing examples to me!

Love,

Elder Martin