Road Trips - Letter 08/30/14

Well, here's another week in the office!

Monday was pretty laid back actually, we didn't have too much going on. We spent a lot of time in the office, just working on some things, prepping to be gone all week. After I emailed you guys we drove out to Mantes, another city outside of Paris, to replace their washer.

Tuesday got crazier. We had Week 2 District Meeting in Paris, which was a blast! The best thing about having meetings in Paris is that there are sooo many missionaries there, so you see lots of people! I got to hang out with Elder Christiansen, which was a BLAST!!! We have been so tight ever since the MTC, so it was cool kickin it with him. After, we drove out to Arras to drop off a dryer for the Soeurs. We decided to go and sleep in St. Quentin, since we had to pick up a dryer from them in the morning anyways so it wasn't worth it to go home and come back. So that was a blast, I got to meet Elder Sikich, who may well be my new best friend haha. We hit it off super well and had an Elder Sleepover haha, staying up SUPER late.

Wednesday we left St. Quentin and drove home so tired. After some McDonald's Breakfast we were back up to speed and went back to the office for the day. That night we had dinner with a Tahitian member that just moved in, it was AMAZING!!! I love Tahitians, they are so friendly and warm, and we shared a super fun dinner with him and his wife. He has a coworker that he's inviting to dinner with us next week so he can start meeting with us. 

Thursday was road trip day! We got in our big ol' van and got on the road to a little ville called Brest, which is straight up the end of the world (at least the French think so). It is true though that it's the end of France, it's not possible to go any farther west than that. It's deep into Bretagne, the craziest, proudest part of France, right on the beach. And in said ville, there are two missionaries, one of which is named ELDER STUCKI!!! We didn't get there until about 11h30 that night, but Elder Stucki and I stayed up talking until 3 in the morning haha. It's been about 9 months since we've seen each other, so we had a lot to catch up on. We write each other a lot, but we haven't seen each other in sooo long! So that was a little piece of heaven.

The next morning we left Brest and started the long drive home. We did stop for gas and lunch at the Mont St. Michel, one of the most famous castles in France (they actually designed the castle in Tangled after it) and got some pictures. We stopped in St. Quentin to drop off the replacement dryer and took Elder Sikich and his comp out to dinner, then made the trip home.

Today was a packed but fun P Day! This morning we had a Young Single Adult activity called Saturday Sports. Basically, we just played volleyball in the gardens of the Versailles Castle. We're so picked on in this mission ;) I've thought a lot about that lately, how blessed I am to be where I am and see the things I see, most people don't do this in their entire lives. So that was tight. We had a good turn out, including several amis and less active members. This afternoon we went shopping for the first time in two weeks, which was really nice :) We were going a little hungry haha. Welcome to the office!

Now that you've guilt-tripped me... answers to all your questions! ;)

I didn't see Ben on transfer day, he was only in Paris for an hour, and it was while I was trapped at St Merri loading luggage. But, in 4 weeks we'll definitely see each other and go to dinner together :) Yes, Président Babin trusted me with his car haha :) About the Poz's... he didn't take the position in Germany. Everything was signed and official, and it fell through mysteriously at the last minute. Then he spent several weeks in Utah and is planning to go back in October... So I think he's going General Authority haha. We'll find out soon! But for right now they're staying in Angers. Elder Platt and I get along soooooo well! We're almost the same person, with just enough differences to keep things fun haha. He's one of my best friends, and I'm praying we do two transfers together. It's just the two of us in the apartment, but the Assistants live right next door to us, so it's kind of like being in a four-man haha. We eat with them several times a week. The two of us have a big office in the mission office, which is a blast! I noticed how weird it is this week that a 19 year old American kid has his own office and calls agencies all day to take care of the 130 apartments across France, Belgium, and Luxembourg that he manages. Can I put that on a resumé? ;)

Tell Tristan I'm so pumped for him right now! Senior year was my favorite year, and he'll have a little bro there just like I did! That really was the time when we became the best friends that school ever saw haha. Hopefully Kaden gets the trumpet/braces thing down! Tell C-Mack that I'm praying for him. I know how he's feeling right now, and it's not fun :( We just have weak knees! Tell him to be so careful and take good care of it (btw you would be so proud of me, I wore my brace for volleyball this morning.) He'll be ok, and everything will work out. 

I love you guys! Tell Grandpa congrats on retirement, that's so exciting! It's a full on sprint to the mission from here! Have a great week!

Love & Bisous,

Elder Tyler Martin

Elder Stucki and I

Mont St. Michel ("Tangled" Castle)

Me and Mont St. Michel

Bridge over the Ocean

Sleepover in Brest

Sleepover in St. Quentin

Road Trip!

The Guys!

The Party Van! Letter 08/25/14

So I could definitely say that this week was the craziest of my entire mission haha. So fun, so hectic, and SOOO tiring.

Monday was more or less calm. In the morning we had a staff meeting to get ready for transfers, to get organized all together. That afternoon we had lunch with an African member in our ward. She had this jar of crazy African spice that we all put on our food, but she freaked out when she saw how much I put on. She just kept saying "White Elder, you can't do that! You can't handle that!" And so my pride kicked in, so I ate all of it without any water haha. Needless to say, I regretted that choice for DAYS, but at least I wasn't the weakest link. That night we had dinner with our Ward Mission Leader with all of the missionaries in the ward as kind of a last hoorah, which was pretty fun. 

Tuesday, life got crazy. We got up and picked up a big old moving van for all of the luggage for the bleus, then drove into the airport to pick them up. It was pretty exciting to see them all coming out of security looking like deer in the headlights! They were all pretty excited but kind of scared out of their minds. There were 31 of them, so this is one of the biggest groups we've gotten since last year. There ended up being two Sisters that lost luggage and had to get 'rescued' by President Babin as well as an Elder that grabbed the wrong suitcase when he got off the plane. But, it all got taken care of and soon we put them all on the RER (the inner-city train in Paris) and drove back to St. Merri, the church in Paris. There we had to just park and block off the entire road while we did a bucket train of bags into the courtyard. After taking the van back to Versailles, we hopped an RER back to Paris and took some of the bleus out contacting in Paris! It was awesome, I got to take an Elder named Elder Gaule, from the UK. Elder and Soeur Bousseau (one of the couples here in the office, they're French) drove us home, and we took bleus to their hotel and got them settled in for the night. Then we stayed up late finishing some last touches for them before they got to their trainers the next day.

Wednesday I (finally) got to go to Consecration Hill! Usually everyone does it when they first come into the mission, but it was pouring rain the day I came in, so we're the only group in years that hasn't done it. But, we went with the bleus on Wednesday! I also got the pleasure of driving our big old van through Paris! This time, I got to go around the Arc de Triomphe! (Twice!) Everyone says it's the most dangerous round a bout in the world, but I honestly didn't think it was that bad haha. We took the van in to pick up all the luggage of the 'dying' missionaries, and then we got to see the bleus get matched up with their trainers! When we got home that night we had to organize missionaries for the airport the next day and didn't get home until about midnight. 

Thursday was the day for goodbyes! Lots of my really good mission friends finished this transfer, and we took them all to the airport. The hardest ones were Elder Pilling, because we were super close, and Elder Mckechnie because he was my trainer! I actually got to drive Président Babin's car to the airport, which was a lot of pressure haha. Just imagine driving your Mission President's car down the highway through Paris at 5 in the morning. Sketchy. But, everything went well and we got everyone on their way safely. After we just took it easy all day, doing some bureau work to try and relax. 

Friday we were on the road again, heading out to St. Nazaire, on the west coast of France. We had to stop in Le Mans to drop off a few things they asked for, and I got to see Elder Rafanomezana and his new comp. Then we were driving by Angers and texted the Poznanskis, just to let them know that we were passing by their city and were thinking about them and loved them. Right away they texted back saying that we couldn't pass through without stopping to say hi! And so we stopped there and spent about an hour with their whole family! Unfortunately, we still had a LONG drive ahead of us and had to head out. We stopped in Nantes to drop off some supplies and got to see Elder Nielsen, which was great! Finally, we got to St. Nazaire in time to take a load of stuff from the Elders' old apartment to the new one before going to bed.

Saturday we finished hauling everything and closing out the St. Nazaire apartment, so that is all taken care of. We stopped in Nantes again to fix the sink for the Sisters, in Le Mans to pick up a drill we had forgotten, and finally got home about 10h30. LONG DAYS!!!

Yesterday was calm, which is really lucky, because this week will be super long! Church was really good, and we got to hang out with some amis of the AP's who came to church. It's a dad and his daughter that are getting ready to get baptized soon, so they were a lot of fun to talk to. 

Today we have just been doing office work haha. We didn't go shopping or anything this week, so we'll see how long we can make it this week. We'll be gone most of the week, so it should be fine. For lunch we went to the same sushi buffet we went to with Président Babin, but this time we took the Bousseaus! They are such a great couple, we love them so much! They aren't really sushi people, but we introduced them to the awesome world of sushi buffets!

OK, it is CRAZY! that Kayla (Adams) is marrying that guy! Their last name is actually Dalmer, with an A, and I knew Elder Dalmer! He and I were pretty tight, I was in his zone when he finished his mission. He is such a great guy, so I'm sure his brother is too! 

That's about it this week, it was pretty exciting! So for the pics, we've got some blue tongues from the cake in the package (thank you!), the Poznanskis, some pics with dying missionaries, and a video from dinner with the dying missionaries on Wednesday. The two elders are Elder Dussère, who's from Elder Rafanomezana's ward, and Elder Wallace. They wrote it for language study the past 2 weeks (even though Elder Dussère is already French haha). It's all in French, but if you understood it would be pretty funny haha. 

I love you guys, sorry this email is a little shorter than last week! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

At Consecration Hill

Blue tongues from the Funfetti Frosting (thanks mom!)

The Salon Pas pain pad helped my knee, but it ripped all my leg hair out..ha..ha..

Notre Dame

Sushi with the Bousseaus - we love them!

Sushi buffet with Elder Platt

Elder Nelsen and Elder Platt

Matchy ties for the Office Elders

Visiting with Poznanskis

Perks of Being an Office Elder - Letter 08/16/14

So this week was a little more laid back, a lot less traveling. I got a lot more training on the greffier (clerk) part of my job, so hopefully I'll be a little better prepared when Elder Nielsen leaves on Wednesday!

So, last Sunday was my first week in the Versailles ward. It is a super cool ward with lots of members. It's also really weird going to church with my Mission President and his wife and son haha, but it's a lot of fun! I got to start meeting some of the members and working on remembering all their names! After church we went back home and had curry with the Assistants. We have a tradition that we eat curry with them every Sunday after church. They live right across the hall from us, so we are like one big family, and our motto is that a family who eats together stays together! So, that means lots of meals together :) Afterwards we went finding! This was actually my first time since showing up here, so I was super excited. While we were out contacting we met a lady named Gérda-Pierre. She has actually been taught by missionaries before when she lived in Versailles, but now she lives in a little ville outside of Versailles and lost contact with the missionaries. We're supposed to have a rendevous with her tomorrow night, so I'm really excited to see where that goes! 

It was really weird on Monday to not be doing my P Day. We went to the bureau and organized everything, since it was a disaster after the last flood we had. So we put that all back together and ordered a new dryer for our Zone Leaders. For lunch, we convinced Président Babin to go to sushi with us! (It wasn't hard, he loves sushi and the restaurant is just down the road). And so we had a sushi buffet lunch with Président and Soeur Babin and the Assistants! It was cool, I realized that not many people get that opportunity, so I was pretty lucky! After that it was all office work again, trying to get everything organized in some of our housing spreadsheets. 

Tuesday we had a really good District Meeting! I love having Elder Nelson as my District Leader, he gave a really good training about sacrifice. For district lunch we had french toast, potatoes, and COCONUTS!! We drank all the juice out then cracked them open and ate them. It was a blast! Afterwards we drove out to Torcy, on the other side of Paris, to give them a new dryer and haul away their old one. After that it was back to the bureau!

Wednesday was such a fun day! So you remember how I had to work on my second year legality in Alençon, just north of Le Mans? Well, they finally got my card, so we had to go back to pick that up! It was actually perfect the way it all worked out. We caught a train from Paris to Le Mans, and had enough of a layover to eat some breakfast in front of the cathedral there. When we went to go get on our next train, Josua was there! (One of the Young Adults from the Le Mans ward). We talked for a couple minutes, then got on our train for Alençon. We got my card just fine, and when we got back to Le Mans we had about an hour and a half to eat lunch. So, we got Mega Pitta's! It's basically a Muslim burrito haha. It's just like a kebab, but it's wrapped in something kind of like a tortilla. I ate them all the time with Elder Mattson, so we went back for old time's sake to the same restaurant :) We finally got back to the bureau at like 5 o clock that day.

Thursday was another normal work day. I had to call the whole mission to find a place where we can put an evacuation dryer, because right now it's in an apartment without a dryer vent and it's just blowing back into their living room. So that took forever haha. After lunch we went to Paris Lilas, a super African part of Paris where the Elders were having a problem with their stove. It was cool, we got invited to play soccer in the middle of the street with a bunch of big African guys, but we couldn't stick around for it. We (kind of) fixed the stove and headed home, and President met us on the front porch of the bureau. He said he had finished transfer decisions and wanted us to come look! So yes, we get a sneak preview of 2 or 3 days on transfer decisions, because they send them out on Saturday now instead of Monday. For us, the only big news is where Elder Nielsen is going! He got transferred to Nantes, in western France, by the beach! He's gonna go be District Leader out there, he could finish out his mission there. 

Friday was tons of office stuff. We had to order washers and dryers left and right it seemed like, we just have lots of appliances going out right now. I also had some projects the Président gave me to help him better understand my job since he's new. I also worked on the training that we give to the bleus on their first day, to give them an idea of how to take care of their apartments. Right now Président has me working with a bishop in Cergy (just north of us) because he wants to move the Elders to a different place. So I spent most of the day on the phone with him and the Zone Leaders and the missionaries serving there to figure out if it's actually necessary for them to move, or if it's just what the bishop would like. We were at the office super late, because Elder Platt had to finish the Repertoire that night so they could send it out to all the missionaries this morning.

Today was a pretty good PDay. We woke up and got everything done, then headed into Paris. We went and got companionship ties, since we're the Office Elders haha. Then we tried to go see the catacombs, but the line was 2 hours long. One of the workers said that they would be closed before half the people in line got in, so it wasn't worth waiting around. Maybe another day, we'll try earlier in the morning! Other than that it was pretty relaxed, just taking it easy before transfers. Next week will be crazy! So I'm excited but a little nervous for it haha.  We are getting 31 new bleus in on Wednesday, 15 Soeurs and 16 Elders. So everyone and their dog is training right now.

I really love being here in the bureau. It's really hard sometimes to not be doing regular missionary work, but we are still serving and keeping the mission running smoothly. I love being in such constant contact with the Babins, they are such an amazing couple. I've learned a lot from them already, and it's obvious that they were so specifically called to serve here. They're so much fun to be around. Like you said, we're always doing things like singing for missionaries birthdays and taking sushi trips, and he's always down to hang out with us and encourage us everyday. 

To answer your Q's.... Yes, IKEA is where we buy a lot of things like shelves, desks, beds, chairs, etc. I can understand how dad can just walk through for hours, it's pretty impressive the stuff they have in there! I think the stores are bigger in the states though, because the one we go to isn't big enough to wander for hours haha. P.S. Driving in Paris isn't even that bad, don't worry :)

For the iPad, it's us (you me and dad) that need to pay for it. We don't have any information on exactly when we'll have them or when and how to pay, but we should be getting that soon enough. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything. As far as the package, I know other missionaries have gotten medication shipped in just fine, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. 

For your talk tomorrow with Brother Lawrence... It's kind of goofy, and is definitely affected by my new job, but there's a huge level of temporal preparation people have to do for a mission. We have to be able to do our own laundry, cook, clean, do dishes, clean the bathroom, shop for ourselves, basically become autonome as 19 ish year old kids. There's definitely a connection between being prepped temporally and feeling more prepped spiritually. But of course, most importantly is having a real testimony. Surprisingly, lots of missionaries don't when they hit the MTC, or even the mission field. We are totally incapable of telling people that the story of Joseph Smith is true if we don't know it for ourselves. Lots of people believe it, but that's not really enough. You have to get on your knees and plead for a confirmation of that belief. That's what God demands, and if someone hasn't done that, they are missing out on the greater level of testimony that they could have. It is essential! Anyways, there's my little soapbox, hopefully that helps with your talk :) 

Have a great week, you guys are great! Can't wait to hear back about your great week!

Elder Tyler Martin

District Meeting

Me and Elder Nelson

Number of transfers in the Mission

Number 9 for me!

With Elder Nelson

Cathedral in Le Mans

With Elder Nielsen and Elder Platt

Legality Card

Eating Mega Pittas in Le Mans

Notre Dame

Life on the Road - Letter 08/09/14

Hey!

OK, first off, I understand about the rain. It's been raining like crazy, and the office got flooded this week. So, we got to use a hyper vacuum and suck all the water out of our carpets all week! Our office is still crazy because of the chaos this week, but that's our project for Monday!

So, I'm gonna have to do a daily rundown of my week, cuz it was CRAZY!

Monday I finished out my last P-Day with Elder Rafanomezana! It was pretty sad, but we had fun. The best was, we spent about and hour and a half with Josua and Laura, two of our Young Adults in the ward. They were so bummed to see me leave, I already miss them so much!  After that, I put Elder R on a train to go to Tours, along with all of our extra food from the apartment. The Soeurs (sisters) babysat me for a while, then I got on my train for Paris! It was really weird riding the train alone for over an hour haha, I felt so naked! Maybe that's why missionaries call it 'riding naked'. Anyways, so I got to Paris and couldn't find Elders Platt and Nielsen... So I waited for about 30 minutes with no phone or anything. Finally, I saw two white shirts and plaques on the other side of the gare and RAN with all my luggage to catch up to them! So then we caught a metro and an RER back to Versailles (Technically, it's le Vesinet, just outside of Versailles) and I got to my new apartment! It's 5 minutes from the mission home, on the sixth floor, and just across the hall from the Assistants! From our window we can just barely see the tip of the Eiffel Tower, and it's spotlight flashes in our window at night. LOWDOWN ON NEW COMPS: Elder Nielsen is in his 11th transfer, he's the one I'm replacing. He's Ben's (Anderson) bleu, from Tremonton, UT. Super cool guy, very laid back and speaks French really well. He's usually the voice of reason in the office, just calm and composed. Elder Platt is in his 13th transfer. He was my Zone Leader in Bruxelles for a transfer, and we became really good friends. He's the one I'll be spending at least the next transfer with. 

Tuesday, there was a group of missionaries that headed home in order to catch the beginning of the next semester. So, we loaded up their luggage and took them to the airport. I helped people check luggage, payed for it with the Bleu card, and put people on their planes. Then we had to go buy things for some missionaries at IKEA (apparently I'll get to know that store REALLY well). We also had Ward Mission Leader meeting, and I got to see Elder Nelson, from my MTC group! He's my district leader for at least the next two weeks. He started training the same time I did, so he'll probably leave next transfer. 

Wednesday we suited up for a road trip! Plus, it was my day to drive! So we started out at the office to make some final arrangements, then drove to help the Soeurs in St Ouen with a flooding problem. Then I got to drive through the heart of Paris in our huge 12 passenger van! I almost got to drive around the famous round about at the Arc de Triomphe, but the GPS took me through the tunnel underneath it. Then it was on to Mons, in Belgium! We were going up to clean out the apartment to close it out. We got there, and realized we didn't have the keys to the apartment! So, we had to drive to Bruxelles, another hour north, to get them from the senior couple there. Then we went back to Mons and loaded everything in the van. After, we had to go back to Bruxelles to spend the night with the Zone Leaders there! So, I got to sleep in my old apartment for a night! We didn't get to their apartment until about midnight.

Thursday we went around and helped some other companionships with their apartments and got some classic Belgium food before leaving. We went out to Dunkerque, which is right on the ocean, to drop off desks. Then by the time we got home we just ate dinner and went to bed. We were exhausted!

Yesterday was Zone Conference, so we were back in Paris at St Merri for the day. I had already had the training in my last zone a few weeks ago, but it was really good! President announced that we'll be getting iPads between September and the end of the year, that our mission was selected to test run for western Europe. So, we need to start saving for that, he said it's about 400 dollars, but after the mission I get to keep it. That is going to save my life here in the office! After Conference we took a new bed back out to the St Ouen Soeurs and then had dinner with the Walls, the couple that works here in the office with us. They are so cool! He was an Area Seventy at one point, and helped open the Ghana MTC as one of the counselors in the Presidency. He served as a temple sealer in the Ghana temple and is now the mission accountant here! He also has like two doctorates in French and helps us out all the time haha.

Today was an awesome P day! We went jogging this morning, and actually passed by Bishop Caussé's house, from the Presiding Bishopric! We went to a Star Wars Exposition in Paris! Basically it was a study on human behavior and identity, applied to the Star Wars universe haha. You went through and studied different elements that affect identity and watch how George Lucas actually incorporated those things in his movies. It was so cool! It also created our identity in Star Wars based on our responses and stuff throughout the exposition. Super geeky, super fun! There's a link for my 'character', but I can't go to it. But you can! So here it is: sw-id.com/53e61e73f1168

It may be all in French, I don't really know haha. Anyways, there's my week! To answer your questions:  

My knee and stomach are doing really well.  The work we're doing is helping strengthen my knee, so that helps a ton. I'm feeling pretty good, just exhausted! My position is basically to handle all of the housing for the Mission. Leaks, damages, new appliances, closing old apartments and finding new ones, all of that passes through me. That's just the clerk part, the Office Elder part includes helping with transfers, repairing apartments, transporting missionaries (and General Authorities when they come), picking up new missionaries and taking the dying ones to the airport, stuff like that. Basically, we're the pack mules :)

I found out you can send the meds, no worries! Also, Elder Platt and I were wondering if you can send Funfetti cake mix? Also, could you send me a pair of American Eagle jeans? Waist 28 or 29 and length like 28 or 30. We wear jeans a lot more here, and my service pants aren't enough. As well as maybe a bag of black Nike socks? They aren't too expensive, but those would work much better than my dress socks for hauling stuff and clearing out apartments. Thank you so much, I love you!

I love you so much, and I hope you have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 

Star Wars "Character" description:

 

"I was raised on the forest moon of Endor, where members of my community made their living building space stations for visiting despots. On holidays my two close friends and I would traditionally cheer on our favourite pilots at the speeder bike races.
My parents required discipline from me but gave me support when I needed it, and I inherited my strong set of intellectual abilities from them. Later on I spent some time with the wise Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, whose guidance left me with knowledge I still use every day in my job as a senator.
I remember this one time when I crash-landed on a strange planet. This had a pretty big influence on me, I guess, because after that I eked out a living entertaining wandering Tusken Raiders with stories from home.
People often tell me I’m a generally adventurous and curious person, I also tend to be altruistic and accommodating. But the most important thing to me is achievement: I believe that excellence deserves recognition and respect.
I am moderately sensitive to the Force; I guess that's why the Emperor took an interest in me. When he offered me limitless power in exchange for my allegiance, I fought the urge to join him and his evil minions and rejected his offer."

Goodbye to Josua and Laura

Goodbye to our apartment in Le Mans

Goodbye to my Bleu (Elder Rafanomezana)

Goodbye to the Soeurs

Belgium Road Trip!

Late night road trips = not happy missionaries:)

Us and the Bruxelles Soeurs after replacing their dryer and fixing their sink

I saw the ocean in Dunkerque!

Huge ship in Dunkerque

Reunited at Zone Conference with Elder Christensen!

Us with Chewbacca!

Darth Vader at the Star Wars Exposition in Paris

Our Star Wars identities

.

 

Surprises!!! Letter 08/04/14

OK first off, I think it's hilarious that Air Force One came in for some Kansas City Ribs. I guess if I was president, that would be on the to do list too haha.

It's so cool that everybody is going on missions! The flow of missionaries just isn't slowing down haha. Our mission is starting to shrink a little, because the sisters from the line of huge groups started going home this week. In 7 months the huge group two transfers above me goes home, and the mission will shrink a ton! But for now, we're steady. 

Our work is going this week haha. Lots of things have slowed down. We were finally able to see Ferrid on Friday. He called us in the middle of weekly planning and said he had 45 minutes if we could meet him in town right then. So we threw on shoes and booked it into town. We had a good lesson, we're teaching the Plan of Salvation right now. He really likes that, especially the part about the pre-earth life. We bumped his baptismal date to the 27th of September, but I won't be here for it. That's been kind of the story of my mission haha. I teach and set lots of baptismal dates, but I bump out of the ville before the baptism. My trainer did the same thing for most of his mission, it's the McKechnie Curse! ;)

Also, big surprises this week!

So normally, our transfer is supposed to end in 2 weeks. I figured that I was going to leave Le Mans, since I'm finishing training and this is my 4th transfer here. But, I planned on leaving in 2 weeks. So yesterday, the Assistants call me as we're walking home from church. They said that Président Babin had decided to call me as the new mission Clerk. But, that requires two weeks of training from the current Clerk before I can take over. So, instead of leaving in 2 weeks, like I was planning on, I'll get on a train for Paris TONIGHT! I'll spend two weeks there in training in Versailles then take over managing all of the housing for the mission. Elder Rafanomezana will catch a train tonight to go to Tours, where our Zone Leaders are at. They'll finish up his training, and in two weeks he'll come back to Le Mans with a new companion. So, for 2 weeks there won't be any Elders here! Our Ward Mission Leader was really disappointed, and Josua, one of our Young Adults, was pretty crushed when I texted him. We're gonna go say goodbye to him this afternoon, and Ferrid is coming to say goodbye tonight.

It's gonna be a really fun new calling! I spend a lot of time in the office, but we also drive all over the mission to fix up apartments and stuff like that. This week I'm going to Mons, in Belgium. Next week I'm going somewhere in northern France, then out to Metz, in the east near my first ville. Exciting! Since I'm in the office, my P-Day will be on Saturday from now on, so I'll write about our Belgium road trip on Saturday! 

Other than that, nothing big. The assistants scheduled a later train for me tonight so I can have one last P-Day with my Bleu before we leave, so we're taking advantage of that all day today! :)

Have a great week, love you so much!

Elder Tyler Martin

Elder Humphreys playing Abraham for our training at Zone Conference

We found Bruno Mars' French brother!

Our HUMONGOUS cathedral

Mega Pitta! (It tastes like a Crunchwrap supreme from Taco Bell)

Me and Elder Miller on exchanges

Elevator mirror pictures after the storm... soaked!

Biggest rainstorm of my mission! 

(You know it was bad, cuz it's the first time I've gotten water inside my zombie stomper shoes in over a year)

Elder Andrino and I, exchanges

Found this cool little waterfall thing while contacting in a park!