38th email from France (Cannes)

Hey everyone, thanks for all your emails! This week was really good- it went by really fast. First off, I’m glad to hear your doing really good. That’s great that you like everything. I’m sure it will get more and more normal every day. Sounds like the house is really good and the people are nice. I figured they would be and Dad likes work so that’s super cool! Christmas was really good It was great just to be with the members. Christmas Eve was really cool. The family Gonzaco invited us to come eat. We actually got lost trying to find their house and didn’t even have their number. Finally after talking to all the neighbors we found their house but at first we weren’t even on the same street. The food was pretty good, well mostly The first thing we ate were big huge oysters. I didn’t like them that much but a had a few. Then they had a big duck wing- just like a chicken wing but duck. It was really good then just a bunch of other stuff- lots of salmon, then different sausages and cheeses, then to finish a big ice cream cake. I guess ice ream cake is common for Christmas dinners. Then the next day, Christmas Day we went to the church to eat with just whoever wanted to come. There was about 15 of us so that was really fun. This meal was a little more interesting. It started with these cracker things with different types of meat on top; one was some raw ham which was a little weird then tuna and some more salmon- that was really good. Then they brought us some potatoes with the liver in the middle wrapped in some kind of meat that looked like bacon but tasted a lot weirder. The liver wasn’t that bad but I don’t think I would want to eat just a chunk of it. After that we all had a huge steak of duck but this time it was like a real steak! It was really good meat but a little gross because it wasn’t really cooked at all. After I finished I had a huge puddle of blood on my plate then of course more cheese and ice cream cakes. We stayed there most of the day talking to people, it was pretty relaxing. Yesterday we went to St. Raphael for a meeting and when we came back we ran into the bishop and his wife who were getting back from Toulouse and they invited us to eat at their house tonight. They’re pretty young and cool so I’m sure it’s going to be fun. I’m excited. It kind of rained for Christmas so that stunk but it’s been getting better. We had a few days where it was pretty cold in fact I hear that it snowed pretty much all the mission except here on the Riviera but I’m not complaining because I really don’t like the cold. This week should be pretty good too. There’s going to be a big party thing for the New Year. Actually I might be in St. EvRaphael again for an exchange if so I’ll just go to the party at their chapel. Thanks for your Christmas box, all the gifts, money, all the candy! I’ve been eating a lot of it and the money I don’t know what I’m going to buy. How many people were Friday? Are there old people that live their or just workers? How was the mall or whatever? One guy we talked to said that it would be just horrible to live there and that it would be almost impossible but I was just like whatever because I knew he didn’t know the situation and all that. It’s not really like you just moved there like a normal person out in the country somewhere. Are you able to call people or will the internet be coming soon? How is the TV? Does it work with the channels from home? Do you have furniture or not much? Why do you have a yard boy to water was that like part of the deal or something? There are lots of little Arab shops for food like that here too. Was there traces of Christmas or not at all or does everyone just have "vacation"? I hope all the people come back soon. Do you know or have other neighbors? I would really like some pictures but take care of all the other stuff first. I’m sure your pretty busy you could always just email a few. Whitney thanks for the email! How do you like busses? I’m used to them, we take at least 5 every day! So your going to buy a car, what kinds do they have there? Love y'all! Happy New Year! Taylor

37th email from France (Cannes)

Salem hallicom, bonjour, and hello! I guess the family is kind of spread out now. The first one is Arab if you didn’t know. First off, I guess you’re at the new house in Saudi! That’s really cool. I hope everything went pretty smoothly. We had a really good week. Our Christmas night in Marseille went really well. Everyone seemed to like it. There was just a bunch of little movie clips then people read Christmas stories then we would sing. I liked it; at least it’s always just good to be with the other missionaries. It’s kind of like what you said about everyone coming over before yall left -it’s just good to know you have friends, especially when we don’t see each other that often. Things like that are always fun just to talk and see what everyone’s been doing. The best part is that Sonia, Barbara and Laetitia were there. I got to talk to them a lot after it was finished actually. Sonia is getting baptized or I guess she already has last Sunday. I was super excited when she told me so they seem to be doing good. Joelle and Laurent were there also which kind of shocked me. They seemed good too. They really liked the program anyways. Also there were a few other members from Vitrolles but not too many. President and Soeur Carter played and sang this really cool Quebec Christmas song and it was surprisingly very good. A few people invited us to come over for Christmas which is good because I was getting worried. Actually we’ll be with a family tomorrow night for Christmas Eve then the 25th were going to eat at the church with all the single adults but there’s going to be like 20 people there and also just a lot of the younger people that don’t have family around so I’m actually really excited for that. I’m not too sure about the food though. I’m a little scared at what they might try to feed us. Normally the French traditional meals are a little bizarre. I know the main course of the meal at the church is called foie gras which actually is the liver of ducks that have been force-fed so there super fatty so we’ll see. Normally there should be lots of really good stuff, maybe some new cheeses you never know. I’m sure there will be lots of nasty mushrooms and stinky olives but that’s normal and there’s almost no getting around it even in a normal meal. We had a kind of special fhe at the church. Well, not really special we just made sure to invite everyone. This was last night and there was about 15 people who came. It was pretty fun. We just watched a little film about the nativity then played a little game then talked for a while after. Everyone seemed to like it. It was a good change because normally our little Monday night things are pretty dinky and rarely are there more amis than missionaries. Me and Elder Monson finally had one of our investigators at church this Sunday so that was cool. He’s just a normal guy that doesn’t do much and really has no reason not to come every Sunday but still it was cool. But this week we have been teaching a lot of lessons and have been seeing some really cool normal people! So you’re in Saudi! ahh Let me know how it is! I hope you can email me soon maybe some pictures. Tell me how the trip was and all that. I hope Chelsea did ok poor thing on the luggage belt. I hope they didn’t just throw her in there like luggage. MaMa said that they were going to surprise y’all with a tree and some food. I was actually thinking if they even did trees or if Christmas was like a top secret kind of deal. Is everyone open about going to church or just how does that all work? I’m sure you don’t even really know either. Is there a wall around this compound? That’s how I picture it. Do you have a yard? What are the streets and stuff like? I guess it’s green and stuff not just desert. ooh Maybe you will have kebobs the big veal sandwiches. We still eat those all the time and their definitely Arabian! Did we change phone plans and all that? Did the bank stay the same? Tell me about the ward. How’s the house? Does Chelsea like it?
I really hope you have a good first week and get to know everyone. Especially Dad at work. I’m sure that will be all new. Get Whitney and Evan to email me or at least Whitney -Evan just did. Are the kids on vacation there too or are they just starting school when they get there? Let me know how that goes. Did the phone thing work where it transfers and all that or the sling box thing for TV? So do you just not have any furniture or what? I know you didn’t bring any. What is there to do around town? I still don’t know where you’re at exactly. We’re going to go to a book store and find a map or something.
Well cool! Hope everything’s good! Merry Christmas!
Love y’all, Taylor

36th email from France (Cannes)

Hey! This week was pretty good. The transfer ended yesterday. I guess we’re both staying here together so that’s cool. That puts me here until almost my year mark. It’s going by so fast. Really nothing too big is going on here. I don’t have a lot to say. Just the same stuff- looking for people to teach. Sunday we went to watch the First Presidency’s Christmas devotional so that was really good. Finally someone invited us to eat for last night- an older couple, he cooked pizza that was pretty good then had a big plate of different cheeses so that’s always interesting. He has some really strong blue cheese that I ate a lot of. I know you really want to hear all the news about our amis but it’s really going pretty slow right now. Ivy sent me a letter this week so that was cool. It was kind of for my birthday and Christmas with money too so that’s always good! Thank y’all. I’m going to buy some Christmas cards today to send to a few people. For the call- I don’t know- I might be able to do it this week. I would just call from the church. I guess I could give you a time. OK, we figured it out. I will call you Thursday night at 5:30 here so it should be 7 hours ahead for you so the call would come Thursday morning at 10:30. I’ll call president but I figure he won’t have a problem. So I hope you don’t already have the anything planned at that time. If so you can maybe email President giving him a time I can call. So that should work! It might be just hectic to call after your there. I’ll just call from the church then we have our ward missionary meeting after. That’s Thursday, the 18th! Cool. Other things going on- not much! We have our Christmas party this week in Marseille. That should be really good. We are really looking forward to that. Saudi! That is really cool! Y’all have a lot to do I guess. I am super amazed about the garage holding 2 cars. That’s crazy about not letting anything Christian into the country. I still need to find a map because I don’t know where y’all are going to be exactly- that’s been bugging me. It’s cool the ward people have been in touch. I’m sure they will be happy to have a few more people. I guess you probably won’t be able to email this week after you get there. You know I want to know all about what it’s like. I have it all imagined in my mind but I could be way off. I’m sure it will be cool though. How were people at Dad’s work when he said he was leaving?? He’s been there forever. I guess today is his last day Well, I hope everything goes good. I’ll be praying for y’all. Sorry this is a lame email but we’ll talk Thursday. Can’t wait.

Love y’all, Taylor

35th email from France (Cannes)

Hey everyone thanks for your email. Wow that’s really cool that y’all finally made a decision. I’m excited. I think that’s going to be sweet. I bet everyone was pretty shocked! Today was fun. There are a few missionaries in Nice that are finishing so we met them half way in Antibes and we ate on the beach and walked around. It was a lot of fun. The weather wasn’t the best. The sun wasn’t out but there was a lot of sun. It was cool to see all the snow covered Alps. I don’t think I’ve ever seen big mountains and the beach before. It was cool. I took lots of pictures. I’ll try to send them to y’all. That was today. Other than that we also had a pretty good week.-just more normal stuff. I guess I just passed ten months so that’s cool. Time is really going fast. I can’t believe this transfer is almost over. I’m pretty sure that I’ll be staying here in Cannes so whatever. We’ve been around a little this week mostly to St. Raphael. I was there for an exchange which was really cool then also again for a zone meeting. We practiced singing for the big Christmas party at Marseille. It was good to see everyone but you know how I feel about organized singing! I’m getting better -I don’t mind it but anything you have to practice for is just dumb. This Sunday we ate with some members for the first time here so that’s exciting. It was the family Wally. They were super cool and we just joked around. It was a good change from walking around all day. Also we have been meeting some pretty cool people just here and there so we’ll see. The only problem is that no one can come to church so really its lame. Tonight we have a rv with this family that’s pretty cool. We might even eat but I’m not sure. I got a letter from Sonia, Leticia and Barbara from Vitrolles so that was pretty exciting. I’ll have to write them back soon. I’m hoping to see some people I know at the party in Vitrolles cause its not to far. The amis and members are invited so I’m sure a few will come. OK wow Saudi- that’s really sweet- your leaving soon too. What is everybody saying? Were Dad’s work people shocked? He’s been there forever. Just tell me what everyone said- I’m really interested. I have no idea how the phone is going to work. ohhhhh what about the cell phones I would like to keep my number and all that, I hope it doesn’t change. What are you doing with all of our stuff? Cars? House? Who’s going to keep it up and all that? Who’s going to have keys and be there? Are you trying to sell the older truck or what? Or the boat? Don’t you dare! How much stuff can you bring like just suitcases or what? Evan said you can come back every 5 months or so. I guess means summers and Christmas’s. that seems very often. For the visa I don’t know maybe it would be easier from my end. I seem to be at the stupid prefecture place often enough. We’re going next Monday to Nice for Elder Monson- he still isn’t legal and he’s been here over a year.I’m sure your Christmas will be good. Your little ward is going to be so happy to have a new family. Watch Dad will be the bishop in like a month. I guess I’ll come live with yall for awhile after, then school for summer sounds good. I haven’t really even thought about after that much. I still have to decide three weeks earlier or later. I’m waiting for Christmas to open the box. Well that’s about it. You can take out a lot of this stuff. Send me lots of details about everything your doing to get ready to go. Love y’all. Taylor

One other thing: Whitney and Evan get ready because international school is going to kick your butt…don’t forget I called it.

34th email from France (Cannes)

Hey everyone! This week was good- pretty normal, nothing to exciting happened. It’s been kind of nasty weather lately. It’s been raining for the last few days but I think it should be getting better. It’s been a little crazy the last few days. Last Thursday until Sunday night we had 8 staying at our apartment so that was interesting and a little annoying if anything but they’re gone now and its nice and quiet again. Elder Kelley moved to Toulouse to be the new assistant! Now we have Elder Shrotzki with us. He’s German. He’s the same age as me-mission wise- so I know him a little from the mtc. There he didn’t really speak English very well. He’s really cool and funny. I’m going to really miss Elder Kelley. He was the one to always joke with so now its a lot more quiet, but relaxing too. Sunday was cool because there were 10 of us there in church. All the members were like “ahh y’all are in force today!” Our fhe’s at the church are going better too. Last night there was like 9 people there- lots of fun too. It felt really good to leave for the day for Marseille. We went in the car with the zone leaders so it was pretty fast. We stopped in Toulon to pick up the elders from Corsica. It was cool to see them and big boat they come over on. It’s the Corsican ferry but it’s a huge pretty much cruise ship. They have to take to come back but they just closed the area there so it kind of killed everyone’s hopes. It’s the one place everyone dreams about going to. The meeting in Marseille was good! The 70 was super cool and nice. It was a different feeling though- kind of like a board room- we all had tables and it lasted super long and we talked about numbers and stuff. It was not near as interesting and uplifting as usual but still good. It was like that Sunday too. They presented the ward mission plan to the members so it was a huge PowerPoint and all that stuff. We had another class for all the amis watching a church movie I think. But they really discussed what they wanted to do and what they didn’t think would work. It seemed like the bishop was pretty scared because he didn’t know how everyone would take it. They presented all the goals for references and baptisms and percentages for lessons with members and all that. Before he was all like we’re going to ask for 50 referrals for the year- ahh ca fait peur- or that causes fear but he presented it all very well and for the most part they were willing to do a little more. So I hope it all works out for us and them. Getting to know the members is about the same. We did do service for someone Saturday so at least I know where one person lives but after that not much. I hope our Christmas isn’t boring just chilling at our apartment. Thanksgiving was good- we ate pretty good- mashed potatoes, gravy, canned turkey- it wasn’t bad! Of course Elder Kelley and Parker got invited to eat with a family but it wasn’t too bad for us. The old assistant Elder Hill just left. I had an exchange with him his last day so that was cool. He should be home now. I never have thought about me saying “we’ll see” a lot and about it being so different! But I must say it because here we say “on verra” a lot and it’s just the translation. But I’m doing really good on the language. The accent is the hardest part but it’s not a problem- its just obvious that we’re American. With our amis its still going pretty slow. The two people that we see every now and then- one lives on a boat in the port and the other lives in the back room of a snack shop- so if that answers your question. We’re doing ok but no one wants to or can come to church so it’s really lame because that’s what we’re really looking for. And really the only thing that leads to progression is actually coming to church. It’s kind of hard sometimes when just nobody has time to talk but then we have all day just looking for people. It’s going ok though. You didn’t say what you wanted me to do about sending the Christmas box. I did get your package, though. Thanks! Are you already using the laptop? What kind did dad buy? I hope Dad starts feeling better. I’ve been a little sick too but you know I’m like this every year so its normal. Good luck Evan for the basketball tournament. Disney 2010 -yeah I’m in- we’ve been talking about Disney lately. Elder Monson really likes it much more than me but it does bring back good memories talking about it. But yeah that sounds super fun and if Grandpa could get the presidential suite- woo –awesome. I never thought I would break in but last Tuesday I bought a scarf and the second I put it on I lost just a little bit of my American accent! Haha. Lots of people just email a few pictures home from their cameras. I can start that if you want. Y’all asked how I speak. I do well. There’s no more practicing just actual conversations. It’s still getting better though mostly just learning lots of vocab and all the little verbs that aren’t used very often. Please check and see how much money I have on my account. Maybe I should use my card for something so they don’t close it or something like the other time. A lot of this is junk you can take out when you print out my emails- do you print it then change it for the blog? I hope so! (Note- yes I do edit it for the blog but keep the unedited versions as well!) Well, love y’all, Taylor