What to Expect When You're Expecting - Letter 05/26/14

Howdy!

This has been a great week! The transfer is officially over, but I won't get to transfer news 'til later. Anticipation killing you yet? ;) 

So first off, this week we've been doing a "Book of Mormon Challenge Week" in our Zone. So every night, the Zone Leaders texted us a few different challenges of different ways to present and give people the Book of Mormon. It was a really cool success, we saw lots of miracles! 

We've been super busy, just trying to see everyone before Elder Mattson leaves. It was a cool trick to be able to set up renezvous with everybody haha, I'm glad we took advantage of it! Our last training from Elder Mattson as a District Leader was great, and then we took District photos (I'll send them today :) ) We haven't been able to get hold of Lucian, which is really tough. We're gonna have to move his baptismal date, probably to the same day as J-P. Speaking of him, he's doing pretty well! He wasn't able to come to church yesterday because he was in Bretagne, the west of France. He also texted us this morning and had to cancel our rendezvous, a friend of his just got diagnosed with cancer so he's helping him out. But, he's still super optimistic and is reading and praying! His prayer at the end of our last lesson was the most sincere, awesome one I've ever heard! Definitely a tear jerker. 

Our rendezvous with Just was kind of so-so haha. He just refuses to take time to read, and makes it sound like it's our problem, not his. He just wants to read with us when we come over, but then we can't teach anything else. So we'll see what happens with him. We couldn't see Gu this week because he's finishing his finals, but we'll see him in the next couple of days.  We have a guy named Youssou that we're seeing right now, he's kind of crazy haha. He's from Senegal, and he's pretty cool. Honestly, the last time we went over we were kind of thinking of dropping him, but he's opened up a little more so we're going to hold off for now. 

We also met some fun people this week! A guy Karim, who's dad was Muslim and his mom was Catholic. He just got baptized Christian about a month ago, but he still feels like there's something missing. He loves us and always calls us his brothers. We gave him the Book of Mormon and told him that it would fill that hole for him. The other night we finished porting and went to catch a tram and this big Romanian guy stopped and asked who we were. Long story short, he's an ami now! His name is Moïse (Moses in French) and he wants us to teach his whole family! Also, the other night we had an awkward 10 minutes to just contact around our house. Usually around that time it's only young girls and Muslims out, but we just smiled and said "We're gonna find someone awesome!" And we did! His name is Marc, and he's from Congo, (The one that Elder Naughton is in). He met the sister missionaries a year ago and even came to church once, but he moved around and lost contact with them. We gave him the Book of Mormon and we're seeing him later this week!

So all week Elder Mattson and I have been giving each other a pretty hard time haha, guessing what's happening this transfer. I kept telling him he'd be a Zone Leader, and he wanted me to train so bad. Last night, he finally got to call his family haha. In the middle of his call, our phone started ringing, and it was the assistants! So I answered and it was Elder Everett (the one I lived with in Bruxelles, he's AP now). We talked for a few minutes, and he asked how I like Le Mans. I told him how much I love it, and he asked "How would you feel about staying there for another 2 transfers?" I told him how pumped I would be, and he told me that they want me to train here! Imma be a DADDY!!! Anyways, so this whole time Elder Mattson is giving me an "I told you so!" face. Then like 15 minutes later, the phone rings again, and its President Poznanski! I didn't even bother answering, we both knew it was for him haha. He's gonna be a Zone Leader in Angers! And even cooler, he's going to serve with Logan (Miller) haha! It's some pretty exciting news all around, both of us are going to get some awesome challenges and experiences this transfer! I go to Paris to pick up my bleu on Wednesday, and then we hit the ground running! I'm so excited to stay here in Le Mans for 4 transfers! 

So there's my week, and I was so glad to hear about yours! I love you all so much, and I can't wait to hear from you again. Au revoir! 

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 Le Mans from the hill

The district of Le Mans, Transfer 7! (The hats were part of Elder Mattson's formation)

Our Skype picture, I don't know what his camera did to my eyebrows haha, but they're gone!

Letter 05/19/14

Yeah this email will definitely be a little bit shorter haha. But that's ok! It was great talking to you guys yesterday! Everyone looks good, and it was so weird seeing our kitchen again.

Anyways, so it was Lucian that I was telling you about yesterday that has his baptism the 14 June. But then this morning we taught Jean-Pierre, and fixed a date with him for the 28 June! So, a pretty cool present for my year mark! I'm pretty excited for both of them, and they're both during next transfer so I should be here for both! We'll try and get a few more set up for whoever replaces me too! We haven't seen Ciddy, he's been really hard to get a hold of. Hopefully that will work out, I'm a little worried about him. Oh! We got back in touch with Just today. There's been some crazy problems with his phone and he's been in Paris, but we ran into him in centreville about an hour ago, so we're seeing him again tomorrow night. So, that worked out well! 

This week we had two exchanges, so that was crazy! First on Tuesday we had them after District Meeting, with our Zone Leaders! So I was with Elder Schultz, the only missionary I actually know from Salt Lake haha. He is awesome, (so rich haha), and super funny. He's in Elder Mckechnie's group, so he'll be done with his Mission in about 3 months. Then we were with Alençon again, I got to stay here in Le Mans with Elder Allen. We found some really cool people, including a Chinese college student named Gu! He said he hasn't ever really believed in God, but he wants to. He jokingly said he wants to pray for better grades, so we told him it was a good start haha. He accepted the invitation to be baptized, so next week we're going to fix a date with him. 

On Saturday we did some service, we redid the wallpaper in a members bathroom, so we got to walk around in normal person clothes all morning. We have gnarly tan lines on our necks from the collared shirts haha. Afterwards Gu called us and said he was in town and had a few minutes right then, so we got to teach him in town in our regular clothes. It was really weird. Tonight we're going to eat with the Tréhet family, our Ward Mission Leader and his wife. They are so awesome! He's a funny little man, and with the way he looks and talks, you would think that he's a Miller! Logan should come serve out here haha. 

That's crazy that grandma and grandpa are putting in their papers so soon! I'm really excited for them, I know a couple kids serving in the West Indies, and my old DL is from Guadeloupe. Exciting! 

Thanks for the 5 scriptures, those are really cool! I love you guys so much, and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 

Cool angle of the Cathédral St. Julien

Elder Allen and I

Elder Shultz and I playing with Elder Mattson's glasses while he's gone!

Elder Bates (my favorite ginger ever) eating the Tour Réligieuse

Us with the Steenblik couple, serving in Orléans

 

 

 

 

 

Mother's Day Skype

Elder Martin was able to Skype home a week after Mother's Day as Elder Mattson's family was vacationing in Hawaii for Mother's Day.  It was so good to talk and laugh with him.  He bore solid testimony in French and he looks and sounds so amazing!

Miracles, Escargot, and Frog Legs! Letter 05/12/14

Hey Everybody!

This week has been soooo solid! We just got miracle after miracle, it's a nice feeling after all of this work we've been putting in. Monday night we visited Yesmina and Rashid, and we ended up talking about the Word of Wisdom, since Muslim's have a similar health code. We explained that to them, and they thought it was super cool. Then they invited us over for a party on Sunday (I'll explain that one later!)

Tuesday we were running from lesson to lesson like crazy, which was a lot of fun. we taught a guy named Jean-Pierre that we contacted in the rue a few weeks ago, who seemed pretty interested in our church. He's been unsatisfied with other churches his whole life, and when we taught about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, he said, (in my rough English/19 year old Missionary translation) "Well duh, of course the Restoration was necessary! The world was crazy! And of course the Book of Mormon was given to him by God, a 14 year old kid didn't just make it all up or trip over it in a field!" I may have taken a few liberties, but that's mostly correct ;) Sidenote: We saw him again today, and he is totally down with everything we teach. He's finding answers he's looked for his whole life and he agreed to be baptized when he's gotten his answer about if it's true. Yes!

That night we also did something called the Mardi Fou (Crazy Tuesday) Challenge. On Tuesdays, Dominos sells any size pizza for 8 euros, so we bought large pizzas and a large Yop, which is a Yoplait drink that's basically just thin yogurt. The challenge is to finish it all in under and hour. Let me tell you, that was a real struggle haha. But we did it! 

Thursday we had a conference in Angers, where Logan (Miller) is at as a Zone Leader. So we got to hang out and get some more training from Président Poznanski. Then Friday us and the Sisters here in Le Mans had to take a train back to Angers for our interviews with Président and Soeur Poznanski. It's our last one before the end of their Mission! It was really sad but it went really well.

Also, that day we taught Ciddy! We found him when I first got here, taught him once, then lost contact for almost 2 months. Then a week ago we were walking through the park and saw him smoking and crying on a bench. He told us that he just got a bunch of terrible news about his health, that he was worried and homesick (he's from the U.K.) and that he wonders if God is there. We taught him there in the park and set up a rendezvous for last Friday. At that rendezvous, he asked about our views on what happens after death. He's studied with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and his mom was Catholic, but he didn't really like either one of those options haha. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and he said that this was the most hopeful, happy belief that he's ever heard! We invited him to be baptized and he said yes, he would love to be! 

Yesterday was our party with our Algerian family! When we got there, they said they had a surprise for us... Frog legs and escargot! Elder Mattson and I had mentioned that neither of us have had it yet, and we've both been in France about a year. They realized that they had never had it either, so they made it for us! It was actually all really good, and after the super French appetizer they gave us an authentic Algerian dish, couscous with lamb! Couscous is a type of hard grain flower that you cook kind of like rice that is so good! It was an awesome meal overall, and they love us to death. We promised that when we come back to visit France we would both visit them!

This week I learned a lot about the importance of inviting people. I told Soeur Poznanski, during our interview, how much of a change it is making in my Mission right now. I used to think that we would terrify people if we didn't wait long enough to invite them to baptism. But now, we've been challenged to invite people by the end of the first time we teach them, even if it's in the middle of the street. And that has turned around everything! So many people are accepting this invitation that may never have continued seeing us if we didn't invite them. There you go, my lesson of the week! 

For Skype next week I'm going to have to call around 10h your time, sorry it's so late. I'm not sure if I'm calling from the church or a member's home yet, but either way it will be around that time. Tell Gabe and Catherine (Diaz - Friends who just had a baby) and Ty (Poston - who got married on Saturday) and Cami (Birch-Kunz - a friend who is expecting) congrats from me! That is awesome. It feels really weird that people I know are getting married and having kids. That isn't gonna be me for a very long time haha. 

I love you guys, have a great week! Talk to you Sunday!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 

 

We made Chicken Pot Pie!

 

 

Awesome rage dancing guy we saw while waiting for the tram

 

 

Party with our Algerian family!

 

 

 Mardi Fou challenge!

 

 

 

Porting!

 

 

Weekly Planning... With a mustache!

Cinco de Mayo! Letter 05/05/14

I'm pretty bummed that we don't celebrate le Cinq Mai here, but it's all good, Elder Mattson and I just celebrate whatever we want!

So this week the rain let up a little bit at the end of the week, but the beginning was crazy! First off, Thursday was a holiday, so there was no public transportation. Period. We had a rendevous with Just, which is ALL the way across town. So we got to take a nice walk in the pouring rain for 45 minutes! But, it was a lot of fun, I love the rain! 

For my MSF card, what usually happens is the mission just puts that much money back on my MSF, so I can't put it back on my personal debit card. That's usually what I use if I need to buy clothes or something. So it all evens out, and it's not a huge deal.

They're doing like a mid-season Soldes in some stores right now, so I'm trying hard to restrain myself haha. I know the deals will be better in like 2 months, so it's not too bad. Were you able to find my shoes? Just want to make sure, you didn't mention it on the list in your email, but those are like the biggest part for me haha :) If not no worries, I could get some at Soldes, I'd just prefer not to. My old ones have history haha! 

Don't worry about me getting frooged, that's just a part of missionary life. I'm used to it. It's nice because now if I ever get stood up on a date later in life, I'll just shrug it off like I got frooged ;)  

So this week I got to go on an exchange with Elder Bates, from Syracuse UT. He's a super cool ginger elder haha. We had a blast! FYI, being the District Leader's companion is a really sweet gig. Exchanges all the time and not having the responsibility part haha! I've been DL's comp for 5 of my transfers haha! That's a really long time!  

With Frank we have some half sad, half really happy news! So he moved away this week, to a ville just outside of our area. But the good news is, it's in the area of Alençon, where Elder Bates and his comp, Elder Allen are serving. They've been having a rough time finding people to teach, and it's a tiny branch (they're the branch councilors). So they now have a really awesome, solid ami that's getting ready for baptism! Also, they don't have a font there, so he'll have to come here for his baptism anyways! That should be way fun! 

Other than that the week was a little slow. We now have an awesome Muslim surrogate family though! So we ported into this lady named Yesmina (Jasmine in Arabic) and she was super nice but said she wasn't really interested. But, she gave us sodas for the road! The next week we were porting across the street and her and her husband, Rashid, pulled up and told us no one was at the house we had knocked. Then she said she had thought a lot about what we said and was really curious, and the two of them invited us in to chill and drink sodas. We shared part of our message and talked about us and them. They aren't really practicing in their religion, and they're super open. They love Americans! Then the other day we got frooged by Just so we hopped the tram and went out to their house. We knocked on the door and Rashid answered and said "We knew it was you, I'm so glad you're here!" They invited us in, fed us dinner, and we gave them the Book of Mormon! They were pretty excited, and Yesmina even said (only kind of jokingly) "Maybe someday I'll be a Mormon, you guys are awesome!" Then they invited us over for couscous, which is an Algerian dish. They're like our Muslim parents!

Anyways, that's about it for this week! Elder Mattson and I are super tight now! We got along really well last transfer, and staying together for a second one has made us really good friends haha. Have a great week, I love you all so much! Mom, Happy Mother's Day next week!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin