#newguyintown - Letter 01/26/15

Hey!

So this week was a little more laid back over all, just getting ready to leave the Office! I'm bouncing a week from Wednesday, so we're making some final preparations right now. Essentially, Elder Busson (the husband of the French couple that replaced the Bousseaus) is taking the responsibility of the apartments after I leave. So, I'm definitely out next week. My replacement, as far as Elder Bates' new comp, is here now, but I'll explain in a minute ;)

Last Monday, we had a pretty laid back P day. We did our shopping near where we live, and we didn't go into Paris at all. When you serve around Paris, you need to take at least one P Day a transfer to just stay home and relax or you get worn out :) We really didn't do much. I got my solid winter coat and a new camera for pretty good prices, they were each about half off :)

Tuesday was District Meeting! The APs were in charge of main meal, so they cooked it that morning and we drove in to the church in Versailles together. We got to the church, got out... and the APs realized they had left their food next to their desk at the bureau. Party Foul! So we got back in the car, drove the 25 minutes back home, and came back. We ended up being almost an hour late for District Meeting. But, the very end of the training was pretty good! Our District Leader right now is Elder Faura, a Tahitian :) I love Tahitians! I want my last comp to be Tahitian actually ;) The meal was good (maybe not worth the hour drive, but good). We spent the afternoon in the Office then, after dinner, went to Paris to pick up Soeur Ficquet from the train station. She was in the Temple Square Mission, had some medical stuff she had to come home for, then served in our mission for two transfers before heading back out. So, we got her all ready to head back out! 

Wednesday morning we took Soeur Ficquet to the airport. Everything went super smoothly, so no problems! Right after, we went on exchanges with the Versailles Elders. I was with Elder Rigsby, this was our last exchange together! I kinda know where he may be going too, and we will both be finishing our missions on opposite ends from each other. We had a pretty good time! We visited a lot of members. We saw Frère Ya, a cool African guy on our High Council. For dinner, Rigsby made me some super good Perogis (?). I don't know if I've told you much about him, but he was born in Poland, lived in Russia, then moved to the States in high school. He used to be Orthodox and joined the church about 2 years before coming on his mission. So, needless to say, best perogis of my life haha. After, we went and saw a less active member from Brazil who's coming back to activity right now. After chasing our bus and missing it, we walked home and got back pretty late. 

Thursday we went and saw Soeur Sopi, a member that Rigsby knew when he served in Troyes, who lives half time here in Versailles. So this was crazy... she lives here half time taking care of a super old lady in this really nice house. She's allowed by the family to have visitors, she just can't tell the old lady because she's losing it and freaks out whenever there are people in the house. So we had to sneak in and hide upstairs for about 30 minutes until she got the woman put to bed before we could share our message. She made us a super good lunch, then we bounced and went back with our comps. The rest of the day was just office then porting in the evening. 

Friday was interesting. We had decided that, since my replacement wasn't going to handle apartments, he didn't need to come in until transfers. But, President decided that with the situation he was in where he was serving, it was better to pull him out and bring him here on Friday. So, that afternoon after studies and office work, we brought in Elder Edmunds! He's a couple transfers younger than me, and he's great for the job. I've actually known that he would be my replacement ever since I came into the office (long story), so it's cool to finally have him here. Naturally, we took him out to sushi to welcome him ;) We showed him the ropes a little bit the rest of the day then went out porting that night. 

Saturday we had a fun little trip:) We had an emergency transfer between 2 companionships. Elder Moffit is in the Visitor's Center for his hip problems, and Elder Beck, who was serving in Paris, is having a foot operation and some serious problems. So, we drove into Paris, picked up Elder Beck (who is actually Elder Bates' bleu) and his comp Elder Young (who was in Elder Rafanomezana's group) and drove them to Bussy Saint Georges, where the Visitor Center Elders live. We grabbed a bite to eat all together, then drove Elder Young and Elder Weston (Moffit's old comp, Young's new one) back into Paris, then drove home. 

Church was pretty good on Sunday. We introduced Elder Edmunds to everyone and tried to set up appointments with my favorite members for my last week. I'm praying we can see the Guittons, they've only been to church once in the past month, and they never call us back. After eating curry, we spent the whole day in Poissy, our main proselyting area. We just barely found out this week that Poissy is where King Louis I was born. It's like the most royal city in France besides Versailles... which is also our Ward!

I started packing this week, which was wierd. I've been in this apartment about a month longer than any of my other apartments, so I really had some roots laid down. Six months is a long time to live somewhere non stop, that's longer than a semester of school! So, I'm having a little bit of trouble detaching from it and from the office. My desk is empty and 2 of my suitcases are already packed and ready to go. The wierdest part will be saying goodbye to Elder Bates. We've been together for 5 months now, longer than anyone else in our mission has EVER done. So, it's tough, we've gotten really tight. Unless I break something in my next apartment, I might not see him before he goes home. But, I'm trying not to think about it. I've already seen Elder Stucki, Mattson, Sikich, Nielsen, and Soeur Whisler for the last times before they die... so wierd! Leaving the office will be a huge transition, and I know it'll be wierd to not have my own cell phone that's ringing non stop, to not be at the computer or the steering wheel all day every day, and to not be at the center of everything that happens in the Mission. But, I'll be good :)

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

Love,

Elder Martin

 

King Louis of Poissy!

District round 13!

With Elder Sikich

The Three Amigos!

Creative Teaching - Take 2

Creative Teaching with Elder Bates

 

 

 

#180degreeturns - Letter 01/19/15

Hello!

As you can tell, it's not Saturday! No, we didn't have a project or a trip or anything this weekend to keep us from having a P-day... Our P-Day got changed back to Monday! I'll explain more later, but we personally made a lot of changes in the office this week. 

Monday we drove out to Bussy Saint Georges, just on the opposite end of Paris, to set up some beds for the Visitor's Center Elders that just got there last week. On our way home, President Babin texted me saying that we were going to receive a Visa waiter from Blois, and he would need us to put an extra bed in Alençon. We were down, so we just asked when in the next couple weeks he would show up. And the answer was...in 2 days. So, we went home, loaded up a bed frame, bought a mattress at IKEA, and drove to Alençon that afternoon! We dropped off the bed, stopped at the church to say hello to some of Elder Bates' members that were there for an FHE, and bounced back home that night. 

Tuesday was OFII again, so we spent the whole day in Paris. The trainings went well, and the wait in the office was about the same as usual. But, I got to hang out with some of the Bleus and just relax for a few hours, which was kind of nice. The security at the office was out the roof with everything happening here, and technically Elder Bates and I shouldn't have even gotten in because we weren't applying for legality. But, we made friends with the security guard over the past couple months that we've been taking Bleus there, so he not only let us in but also ushered all the Bleus to the front of the line and we got in super quickly. Tuesday night was back to the office and preparing for our trip to Arras.

Wednesday was our trip! We drove the 2ish hours to Arras and starting moving first thing in the morning. It was a lot harder in the Combo, because it's a lot smaller than our van. But, we were able to get EVERYTHING into the new apartment in 4 or 5 loads. We didn't end up leaving till later in the evening, but we got home at a decent time, so it was OK. Most everything was just Elder Bates and I, because the Sisters had lessons (and we didn't want to make them cancel them) and the Elders didn't show up till the end and didn't even help, they just went home after looking at the new apartment for a couple minutes. It wasn't a super big deal though, we're used to it ;)

Thursday was an interesting day. When we got home Wednesday night, we quickly read our office emails. One of them had a pretty big miscommunication error in it that made it seem like our work and our integrity was in question, and we got a little ticked haha. So Thursday we gave up on the office and went proselyting all day! It felt really good to be out doing missionary work, because that's really what we're called to do. Anyways, that night the miscommunication got cleared up and we cooled down, but we decided it was a good time to make some big changes.

President told us this week that next transfer, Elder Busson (who just got here with his wife to replace the Bousseaus) will be taking over my job. So my replacement will come in with the transfer, instead of today. So I'll be training Elder Busson and next transfer Elder Bates will train the new couple to take his job and whatever Elder Busson asks them to do. This means the office elders will be 90% proselyting. So, we decided to prepare for that. Now, we go porting every night, no matter what. We've wanted to do it for a long time, but there's just so much to do that it doesn't always work like that. Now we have to let some things fall, but we get to go proselyting. Essentially, that's how it should be. So, every night since then we've been out proselyting!

We met a cool guy named Smith the other night. We knocked on his door and... nothing. We knocked one more time and thought we heard running water and voices behind the door. But still nothing. So.... we knocked a third time! Finally, a little girl answered the door. We asked to talk to her dad, and she went to look for him. He came out and apologized for not answering, he'd been in the shower. We presented our message, and he said he'd love to hear it, but he had just gotten home from a full day of work. But, he asked us to pass by another time! So we'll see him later this week. 

We taught Mdm Banda again. She fell off the face of the Earth for a while, but we got back in to teach her the past couple weeks. She feels like what we teach is true, and she has nothing against it. Her big worry is she doesn't think she can be rebaptized, even if she things that our church is true and has the right authority. So we told her to pray and ask God what He wanted her to do (because that's all that really counts). Hopefully she'll be coming to church next week!

To answer your questions:

The body work on the van isn't my fault haha, don't get any ideas. It's actually about a year's worth of office elders that didn't report the accidents they had to insurance, so it all got heaped on Elder Bates' and I's heads. So we're just getting all of that repaired right now. 

We said goodbye the the Bousseaus on Thursday morning, it was pretty rough haha. They're from Cholet, which is about 4 hours from Paris. It's a tiny ville right by Angers. It's hard, because I don't think I'll see them again during my mission :( But, I'm spending time with them when I come back for Josua and Laura's wedding! 

That's about it for this week, I love you guys so much! Have a great week, talk to you soon!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 

We got creative with our Practice Teaching...

We had a pretty big toilet paper roll tower... and great was the fall thereof.

We found it... Old Person Crossing

Catching Snowflakes in Arras!

Goodbye Bousseaus :(

 

 

 

 

Letter - 01/10/15

Hey!

I've gotta be quick, this week was nuts! 

Sunday after church, (after making one of our best curries yet) we hit the open road for Mulhouse, in the far Southeast corner of the mission. It was a pretty hefty drive, we actually had to drive out of the mission for a little while before jumping up into Mulhouse to follow the highway. Other than that it was a pretty chill night.

Monday we were supposed to have meetings with the agencies for both of the new apartments there, but they both cancelled and got moved to the next day. We didn't have access to either apartment. So we broke down ALL the furniture in the Elders and Soeurs apartments and loaded up the van. It was a little slow, but we made it haha. And, we did the Mardi Fou (pizza) challenge with the Elders haha. I don't think I done that since I was with Elder Mattson, it was so gross haha.

Tuesday we went to District Meeting in Mulhouse, so that shook things up a bit. After that I went straight to one meeting with Elder Smith, one of the Mulhouse Elders, to sign the lease and do the opening condition inspection on the Sisters' apartment. After, Elder Bates started moving everything in with all the other missionaries while I booked it to the other meeting across town for the Elders' apartment. We got everything signed, got the keys, and got the Sisters' all moved in by the end of the night. 

Wednesday morning we got up early and started moving the Elders. We had the Zone Leaders from Nancy there on exchanges, so we had 6 hands helping out the whole time. That took most of the day, but they are both officially moved in! We went and helped the Sisters assemble furniture for a couple hours, then hit the road to get home that night. 

Thursday, I cleaned out the garage! It's been super crowded and full of garbage since before I got here, you couldn't even get all the way inside. So I spent a couple hours out there, covered in dust and cobwebs, and cleaned out the whole thing. We have a ton of stuff we're throwing away, and found some nice hidden treasures :) That afternoon we took our van into the garage to get some body work done, so we won't see her again for about 2 weeks :( But, for now we're using the Combo (the AP's car) since neither of them has a valid license. 

Yesterday was office work all day. I'm making some solid progress on some of my stuff for my replacement, so hopefully his transition into the office will be a little easier than mine was :) One way or another, there's no way to avoid being overwhelmed at first, but he'll do great! The Bousseau's had us over for dinner, and we sat and talked with them forever! With the incidents in Paris, we've been on lockdown, so we couldn't go out and work anyways. So we just stayed with them for a while :) I'm so sad to see them go this week!

 

Today we took the Walls to the airport to pick up their daughter then dropped them back off at home. We're going shopping for the Soldes later, hopefully we find some cool stuff! It was awesome hearing from President Waite, his granddaughter is one of my good friends here in the mission haha. And his neighbor, Elder Traue, and I got really close during our trip to Mulhouse this week. Go figure, put two Idaho boys together and we become tight just like that haha.

I'm doing good. Worried for the missionaries in Paris, but everyone is fine. It's been a little stressful in the office because of it, but we're far from the actual incidents. 

Charlie Hebdo was in central Paris, but the one in Vincennes is on the opposite end of Paris. Mostly we've just been hanging low. There are about 30 missionaries in Paris right now. 

I love you all so much, thanks for your thoughts and prayers! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 

Le Louvre!

The Last Supper

David and Goliath

Mona Lisa

A Mummy

The Sphinx

Shredding the Gold Card!!  (It was expired)

Maple Bacon Cake

YUM!

 

 

 

 

#frozenround2 - Letter 01/03/15

Bonne Année!

Well, here it is, 2015! My blackout year is over and we're jumping into the New Year :)

Last Monday we dropped of Sister David at the airport. She finally got her visa and is heading to the MTC to serve in the Temple Square Mission. After that, we dropped some packages off at the Visitor's Center and headed in to look at an apartment for the Paris Elders (we're trying to move them by the end of the transfer) It was a nice apartment, but it is fully stocked and decorated, there's an office inside of it that the landlord regularly uses, and it's just 2 blocks from the Moulin Rouge... so, not gonna happen. So we're starting over the search in Paris, which is definitely one of the hardest villes to find apartments in. The rest of the day, we went crazy in the office :)

Tuesday was District Meeting. Elder Faura gave a solid training then he and I went on exchanges here in the office. We did some normal office stuff and he made CDs for the Bleus for next transfer (it's hard finding things for people to do when they come on exchanges here). We went and picked up the Gionet couple at the train station in Paris, because they decided to not drive their car in to the Mission Home at the end of their mission. That means that Elder Bates and I will have to go out to Nancy to bring the car back eventually. Président Babin invited us to have a Raclette dinner with him, his wife, and the Gionets, since we were too late to make it to Coordination Meeting and we would miss it by the time we got there... but we knew that if we didn't go, the APs wouldn't have a ride back home. So, we passed on the best offer of the month to save them haha. But, they bought us kebabs after, so it worked out :)

Wednesday morning Elder Faura and I went out to Cergy, just northwest of Paris, to drop off some stuff that we bought for them. We got another kebab (I felt terrible afterwards) and headed back to re-exchange with our comps at the church while the APs gave a church tour to a Chinese lady who's gonna get baptized next month :) We headed back to the bureau, then that night we went to the Bourgeois family. They are pretty nice, but totally crazy :) They gave us each a cachemire sweater, a tie, and cans of Dr. Pepper and A&W Root Beer! :) We had an intense fondue party with some crazy French cheeses, it just about killed all 4 Elders (we were with the Versailles Elders) :)  

Thursday we had a lunch party with the APs, the Bussons, and the Bousseaus. It was pretty chill, and we ate pretty well :) We went to the church after to watch a movie with all 3 Elders équipes from our ward. We tried to get Dragons 2 but couldn't find it... so it ended up being Frozen...again... :) But we all loved it, so it's all good haha. Our Ward Mission Leader invited all the missionaries over for a little meeting and party. We had this dish that his wife made that's just like Annie's Chicken, but it was made with lamb :) I thought I was gonna die, it was so good. After we had a Galette des Rois, which is a simple pastry that you cut in slices. Inside one of the slices is a little ceramic Baby Jesus, or some other ceramic thing having to do with the Nativity. If you get that, you win, and they give you a paper crown and stuff :) Kind of  a fun tradition :) I was one of the winners, I got a little ceramic thing of a stained glass window picture of one of the shepherds at the stable. I think I might bring this tradition home :)

 

Yesterday was the office... all day. I got a ton of work done, but it was murder haha. We made chili dawgs for lunch, and for dinner we were bored with normal cous cous and ratatouille. So, we made a Mexican cous cous with the taco mix you sent and some left over beans and chili haha. 

Overall, a super awesome week. We definitely got spoiled (and a little fat) and got to just enjoy being where we are. Hopefully I can bring you guys here someday. I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Tyler Martin

 

Sacré Coeur with the APs (Elder Bates, Elder Lam, Elder Christiansen)

Arc de Triomphe at night

Huge sweaters we got from members :)

New Year's Lunch

The cheese plate :)

Chili Dawgs!