Sunday Mornin', Rain is Falling - Letter 04/28/14

If you're looking for the source of that rain, it must not be us haha. We've gotten a ton more this week than we did before. But, I love the rain so much, so it's all good. We call it 'Miracle Fuel'.

So with the package, the postage was part of what I paid to get the box, so I don't need to pay anything else on it. I'm just starting to hit the point where I have to replace some of my clothes, so that has been a pain, having to buy that. Luckily my shoes are still holding up. I think that they'll make it my whole Mission pretty easily. Then like pants and shirts I should be good till the end, I may buy a few things right at the end so I have church clothes. I may get a suit at Soldes, but that's still a few months away, so I'm not too worried about it for right now. Also, I've had to use my card for groceries a few times, my MSF card has been acting really funny :P So I'll get that all sorted out with the Mission Office.

As far as other things I need, the only thing I can think of is more peanut butter and a small English dictionary, like with actual definitions of words. We have French/English dictionaries, but sometimes the translation from French is an English word we don't actually know haha. So that would be really useful. The smaller size you can find, the better, for shipping and hauling around at transfers :)

So this week..... we got frooged a lot! Haha we only had two lessons that we planned out beforehand that stuck. But, it all evened itself out! After every time that we got frooged, we would just start contacting or porting. And almost every time, we would teach someone there on the street. It stunk getting frooged, but we taught so many street lessons this week, so it was all good.  

Right now we're trying to hit our ami Frank with a baptismal date. He is friends with a recent convert, Hakim, and they work together in the same hair cutting parlor (I think that's how you say it, we just call them coiffeurs here haha). So we've taught him a few times and last week he told us that he was coming to church at least once, and if he liked it, he'd come a second time. Then he'd come a third time. Then he'd get baptized! But he said if he didn't like it he wouldn't see us again. So, naturally, it was kind of high pressure for church yesterday!

So, of course, we had a lady get up and give a crazy talk that left all the members trying to hide their laughter and a member of the Bishopric had to ask her to finish and sit down. So we were terrified. But, the last speaker did a really great job, really teaching solid stuff and the Spirit was strong. At the end of the meeting, we asked if he wanted to see us again... And he was super pumped, and told us that he wanted to see us this Wednesday! So, that's a great sign. We'll be on exchanges, so sadly Elder Mattson won't be there, but we're going to try and fix a date with him for the last Saturday of this transfer. 

Yesterday after church we went and ate with the Rossi family, and they are awesome! They have an older daughter that served in the Lyon mission when it was still the Geneva mission, a son that is becoming active again because he's engaged to a member, and two other sons that are 15 and 11. They live in the house that I want to live in haha. It is out in the countryside, and this house is OLD. They live backed right up into the woods, and it's the perfect image of French countryside, I love it. We had a dish called Tardiflette, which is basically like funeral potatoes on steroids. I felt so full afterwards haha. We taught a lesson on the Priesthood for their son that's turning 12 in July, and just had a really nice afternoon with them. 

Congrats again on your calling, that is really cool! You've got some fun Counselors, plus a crazy packed summer ahead of you, so that should be fun! Let me know how it all goes! I'm still pretty sad that President Poston won't be the one to release me, but they'll will be such awesome missionaries! I do remember Greg, that is so sad :( I'll make sure to keep them in my prayers. 

I did email Grandma and Grandpa Martin, I haven't gotten a response, but I'm just gonna keep emailing them every week :) Président Poznanski is a very inspired man! 

Anyways, I love you all so much, and I'm really grateful for all of your prayers and sacrifices for me! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 

Little sticker we found on the wall while contacting... don't know what he's saying, but he looks cool!

 

 This week's 'Weekly Planning' adventure included sunglasses and an aluminum foil grill while Elder Martin wasn't paying attention haha.

 

 Pretty sure this cow is saying "Mmmm testify Elder Mattson. 'Dat be da truth!"

Spring Showers! Letter 04/21/14

Joyeuses Paques!

So the words for 'Easter' and 'Passover' are the same in French, which has made contacting lately really interesting when we tell people we want to talk to them about 'Paques'. A few people stopped and got really interested, then figured out it was about Christ and said they were Jewish, and they thought we were talking about the other 'Paques' haha. 

Anyways, coming back from that tangent, how was your week!? How did everything go with your birthday? Did you get to sleep in? :) I hope so! How did everything go with Easter and stuff? Nothing too exciting happened here actually. Sacrament meeting was really good, then we contacted all afternoon. One thing about France is that it SHUTS DOWN on religious holidays. Like, zero people in the streets. It feels a little like a haunted village haha. So we had several LONG hours of that, but it was all worth it in the end!

We were getting ready to call one of our amis, when Elder Mattson shoved the phone back in his pocket and jumped across the street really fast. Having lived together 6 weeks already, I knew good enough to just follow haha. So we contacted this young woman from Gabon, and ended up teaching a really cool lesson about Easter with her! It was a cool experience of just dropping everything and following the Spirit, and we were paid off for our super long, dead afternoon. Then we taught our ami Armel (the one we were going to call) and saw him for about 20 minutes last night, which is ideal for him and us. We explained a few questions he had about the priesthood and stuff, and he is going to go watch some conference talks before our next lesson. 

I'm all sorts of out of order now, but it's not a big deal haha. So anyways, this week was really, really slow unfortunately. With all of the lessons that we had scheduled ahead of time, we should have had 15 lessons there, not even including people we taught on the street and last minute stuff we set up with Just. But, every single one of them cancelled on us. So that was a little rough. But, still, for week 1 of the transfer we still did really well with finding new people to teach and stuff. So it can only get better from here!

Just is kind of in a weird place right now. He finally opened up to us and said he's freaked out because he knows that a lot of stuff having to do with the temple is symbolic, and he associates symbolic stuff like that to magic. He knows we don't do freaky stuff like that, but it's really throwing him off. He even told us that he had one foot in the door, ready to be baptized, until this worry came up. So, on Wednesday we're teaching him with our Bishop, who is a temple worker sometimes in the temple in Switzerland, where most of France goes. So, that should help. And we've been studying how to explain to him that symbolism is totally normal, that even Christ did a huge chunk of His teaching in symbols. It's not to hide stuff, it's just to make big things more simple to understand. Hopefully he'll get that, because he's almost there! 

So we only had like 2 Family Home Evenings this week, unfortunately, and neither member invited a friend like they were supposed to. But, it was good to get to know them better, and at one of them the member fed us :) So now, I can officially use two hands to count how many times members have fed us haha. But it's all good, I honestly only like it if they invite they're friends or our investigators over too haha. 

I haven't heard too much about the Saitovics since Bata's baptism. I sent him a letter like a month ago, but Elder Earnshaw, the bleu that replaced me, accidentally gave me the wrong address. But, the only difference is that it said Rue instead of Avenue, so hopefully they've gotten that figured out and delivered by now. But we have to put the mission home as the return address with other people in the mission area, so even if he writes back I won't know until Zone Conference. Hopefully they're doing well! 

I couldn't send that package today, unfortunately :( Today is an even bigger holiday than yesterday, which is weird haha. So the poste is closed. But, everything is already payed for, I just bought a postage paid box. 

I'm really sad to hear that Mr. Burrows is leaving, I love that guy! I'll just look him up again when I get home haha. Tell Tristan that I remember those weeks of testing and stuff, it is a pain but it's so worth it. Have him take care of all his college stuff first thing, ASAP next Fall so that he doesn't have to worry. So many missionaries around me are worrying about college and stuff, and I'm all relaxed because everything is already taken care of! :) It's so worth it to get it done and then defer.

Oh, by the way, speaking of the race here in Le Mans, I saw a magazine while shopping today that said that Patrick Dempsey is coming to Le Mans for the 24 Heures Race, I thought you would like that :) Anyways, that's about it for this week, hopefully I'll have more exciting things next week! I love you guys, and I really appreciate everything you do for me!

Love,

Elder Martin

 Batman supporting the Blood Drive in Le Mans! (Needless to say, he was much happier when he found out that we're not Jehovah's Witness and totally support blood donations haha)

 Found a grilled cheese machine in our apartment. yeah!

This is what it looks like when they make kébabs.

Elder Mattson figured out that playing with my scarf can turn him into a Dementor!

Flipping Crèpes!

Found a Teeter-Totter while out knocking doors...

Vieux Mans, the part of town where they film old movies

Transfer day before Soeur Bingham left! (Notice how we're tan and the sisters are, in fact, vampires!)

Walking by the forest, we decided to take some forest pictures!

We found snow!!! Idaho kid is SUPER happy!

But...California kid is not...

Letter 04/14/14

Hey!

So I'm pretty anxious about transfers too! Neither of us got calls last night, so we're not sure exactly what's gonna happen. We might just stay together, which would be super cool! The repertoire should come out any minute haha.  We're very anxiously waiting. That's cool that the Ward Council will be so Missionary oriented now, that really is what it's supposed to be like. I'm so pumped for Trace to get his Call, that'll be awesome! I'm sure he'll be a really good missionary, and it must be fun working with him as a Ward Missionary right now. Make sure to keep him working!

We saw a poster for the Saratov Approach, they're having a youth activity in Paris where they watch it and the producer is going to give a fireside. But, we can't go to those things haha. I'll watch it after though! I email all of those guys (Gavin Ritchie, Casey Spain, Kole Powell, Ben Anderson, Tanner Lusk, etc...)haha. And I already get their forwarded emails. Except for Tanner's, I don't get his, so if you could forward those that would be way cool. We have an email chain where we write and talk every week. Then Ben and I just chat it up if we're on at the same time on P-day haha. 

So we did see Just this week, he's doing really well, just patiently listening to us and not getting too overanxious :) He told us that he wants to be baptized, but he refuses to set a date right now. He said he will tell us when he's ready. So we'll see what happens! We met some cool people this week, including a Bulgarian guy named Adrian. He speaks decent French, but he sounds just like the Saitovics, it's a really similar accent. So, naturally, I already love this guy haha.  

This week we're having some FHE's with our members for them to invite their friends for an Easter message and invite them to church for Easter Sunday. So that should bring some awesome results! It's weird looking back at last transfer, it was easily the most successful transfer of my Mission haha. We taught more than 6X the lessons this transfer as I did in my 4th transfer haha. And we're just going to keep moving on and up :) 

I did get my Easter package, with all the guilty feelings that come with eating the candy while trying to get in shape haha :) But I loved it, especially the peanut butter! We have really missed that. I'm doing pretty well, a little tired haha but that's normal. My knee has kind of been acting up, but I think it's fine.

OK!!!! So we just got the repertoire, and the news is in! I'm staying in Le Mans with Elder Mattson!!! Haha it's been so long since I've spent 2 transfers with a companion, I'm so excited! Tell Ben (South) congrats on the Mission Call, I'm pumped for him! I lived with the Mandarin speaking missionaries for a few weeks and learned a little bit. All I can say it, tell him good luck haha. I've heard that actually speaking it is not that difficult, but reading it takes forever haha. 

I love you guys so much, have a great week!

Love,

Elder Martin

P.S.  Also, Happy birthday on Wednesday! I love you so much, have a great Birthday!

 

 A super cool view of the cathedral in LeMans

 A cool painting we found on a random wall while we were walking to a lesson

Letter 04/07/14

Hey

No worries, the email from Dad's iPad worked just fine. Also, when the heck did Dad get an iPad?! haha. 

My week was pretty good. My email won't be very detailed today, we're actually getting ready for a funeral. A member passed away this week and his funeral is today, so we're emailing in between setting up chairs and the service. The Poznanskis are coming because President used to be the Branch President here a long time ago, when the chapel was built and it was actually still a branch. 

Anyways, this is the last week of the transfer, so next week we'll know the verdict. But, we're pretty sure we're not staying together. After the good job we did organizing the Zone Conference, one of the AP's was talking about how he didn't know why they hadn't called Elder Mattson to be a Zone Leader before, and our Zone Leaders gave a solid report on him this transfer on how he needs to be a ZL. So, we're both pretty sure that's what will happen this next transfer. But, we're not sure! I'm pretty sure I won't be training, because there are only 2 Elders coming in, so the chances aren't high. I keep hoping Ben will come out here to Le Mans :) That would be awesome! 

For Elder Mattson's year mark we were actually in Tours, so we celebrated with the giant Tours Religieuse. I'll attach pictures ;) We had a really fun exchange with them, and it was cool to see another city. Other than that, he didn't really burn anything, just kind of a chill day. We just kind of went to work as usual, nothing really special haha. That's what happens on the Mission haha, it all starts to become normal. Tell the boys that the Mission really is fun, we just try to avoid burning things haha :) 

Just is doing well, but he started trying to research online and found some bogus sites. We told him just to go to the official site. He has tons of temple questions because he read some bizarre fake stuff about them haha. But he also said that he trusts whatever we tell him, and he came to us and wanted to see us as soon as he read it. So that got sorted out. Keep him in your prayers that he'll recognize the sacredness and importance of it and be patient :)

Yeah we all laughed as we listened to Elder Holland's talk. And then we said "No worries, at least the potatoes were mashed!" Interesting things happen on the Mission haha. But it really is all good. Some days you feel on top of the World, and sometimes no. Elder Holland gave a training to Mission Presidents where he talked about the same thing, how when we suffer these things, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest Being who has ever walked the earth. It's super powerful, but I don't know if you can find it online. I saw it in the MTC and I have part of it on my jump drive here.

We didn't catch all of Conference, but we got most of it. It was super good. Elder Mattson and I were talking about how Oct12 and Apr13 were all about missionary work, but this one and last October are more like "Prepare for some crazy difficult trials, because they're coming and they're going to test the entire Church!"

Anyways, I love you guys so much, and I appreciate your prayers! There is nowhere I would rather be right now. Even when things are difficult, I know that what I'm doing is the greatest blessing I've ever gotten. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Martin

Elder Mattson

This is what happens while I'm making calls during weekly planning!

The Tours Religieuse! It is humongous, biggest pâtisserie I've eaten so far!

Awww!!! Cute comp photos at the bus stop haha!

For Elder Mattson's training this week, we all became Pokémon (Meant to Evolve)!

Our district!