42nd email from France (St. Raphael)

Hey everyone, I’m transferred to St. Raphael! Yeah, I’m pretty excited to be here. I wasn’t really expecting to come here but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be really good. I took the train early this morning and got here around 7:00. The branch president was there and took us back to our apartment in his car so we didn’t have to walk. I’m with Elder Page. He's really cool. I think it’s going to be really good. It’s a smaller branch with like 50 that come but I would rather that than a big ward where we didn’t really know anybody. Elder Monson left too. He went to Toulouse to be the secretary in the bureau, which is perfect for him. We have our ward mission meeting tonight so I’ll get to meet some more people there. Elder Monson was here just before Cannes so he told me lots of good things. I’ve been here a few days on exchanges also, so I know a little already. We also have a big branch activity this Saturday so that will be good to get to know some people before church. I guess the fact that it’s in St. Tropez doesn’t hurt either! I’m really lucky to still be here on the Riviera. It’s a little smaller here than Cannes but the same beach- town feel. The chapel is pretty nice too. It’s a little smaller but still pretty nice. It’s in a neighborhood not far from the beach just mixed in between big houses. I still don’t know a whole lot, I’ve only been here a few hours! This week we just kind of went by and saw all the people we knew. We actually watched the Testaments with a few of them- that was relaxing -probably not the best use of time but there wasn’t much inspiration to go find new people with us both leaving. Then we’ve been packing and that always takes a while. The ski trip sounds fun. Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t really need that many winter clothes there in Saudi, good thing you could borrow some coats. I wasn’t too far off where I thought y’all were on the map. It’s just a little north of where I was guessing. Dubai would be sweet especially for a big world market even though I can’t think about what you would buy there. Arabic culture class seems cool. The language I think is really hard to learn though. I really don’t have much to say I don’t really know much about St. Raph and don’t have any big things to say about Cannes. I’m glad y’all are doing good. I'll try to get you some more pictures of the new area and stuff. Thanks for the maps! They helped. Oh yeah, I got Whitney’s letter today. We walked in the new apartment for the first time and there it was. Elder Page was like, “What?-that’s junk! It’s your first day here and you already have mail- dang!” I assured him it wasn’t a daily thing but thanks, it was good. Well, that’s about it. I’m sure next week I'll have lots more to write.
Love y’all, Taylor

New Pictures from Cannes

41st email from France (Cannes)

Hey everyone, Thanks for your email and all the info and the pictures even though Evan is wearing all of my clothes! I actually knew what an itouch was- I was just making sure because no one told me they had them- they’re really cool but not as cool as my future iphone! I didn’t know the guitar was a fender, that’s sweet! That makes 3 in the family, we’re just starting our own little collection. Wow, Switzerland, that sounds really cool. Skiing is sweet especially when you’re in the Alps! Dang, when I went snowboarding it was harder than I thought but skiing should be a little better. I remember the 2 weeks after I was super sore and that was just from one day. Whitney, be sure to take pictures. Swiss people are cool, too. I know a few and most of them speak English. Good job breaking your wrist Evan! In a few weeks our pday is going to start being on Mondays just so you know. I really like Tuesday- I think it breaks up the week better. This week went by super fast. We stayed pretty busy. We went to St. Raphael three times for different meetings then we did an exchange also but also we had a pretty hard time finding lessons. We had alot of things planned that didn’t work out just right. We even had members with us for alot of them. That’s the worst because it’s a waste of their time and discouraging for them. Most of them understand that’s just how it is but you still hate to waste their time. We had our meeting with President so that’s always good. There’s gonna be alot of changes this transfer but we’re still not sure what’s going to happen. We really won’t know until Saturday is when he normally calls us. He did say that our companionship will be closing. He just doesn’t know if it will be after this transfer or the next which means that were both gonna leave at the same time and just give whoever we’re teaching to the other missionaries that are there. That’s fine but I’m not sure if I want to stay another one just to close it. There’s not a whole lot of motivation especially because this transfer is the long nine week one. But either way I’m sure it will be ok. Either way if there is a change we’ll be moving next Tuesday so I guess you’ll know in the next email. We were talking with Soeur Carter and she told us that our mission is going to decrease alot by the end of the year. She said that were gonna lose about 40 percent of the missionaries here making it where there’s just 2 for every chapel or branch and the sister missionaries will only be in the wards where they have 2 sacrament meetings at different times during the day. And all that should be changing over the next 6 months or so. We’re just going to start losing the big groups like they came but we’ll only be getting a couple from the mtc so at the end we will only have about 60 or so. She actually said the church is going to start sending more to where they baptize more. Let’s just say this wasn’t the most inspiring discussion. Also we’ve lost quite a few older couple missionaries that no one is really replacing just because it costs alot and stuff but also that means that there will be more work for us to do which is good. Just like here in Cannes there is 7 of us and after there’s gonna be 2 or in Marseille where there’s 6 there will be 2 so I’m sure we will have alot more people to teach and be really blessed to find the people that are really ready to hear our message. Yeah- people speak Arab, that’s cool. I really want to find a book just to learn a little- maybe the alphabet. I think that would be cool because it’s all around here too. I had someone pull up a map of Saudi on the internet but I still couldn’t find where you are but I think I know is it just north of Dubai kinda on the coast? That’s another thing Dubai- do people vacation there because that’s like the sweetest city in the world and the PGA is there every year! I never got the letter from Whitney maybe it will just take a while I hope anyways.How much money do I have in my account? I don’t have any way of seeing. It sounds like you’re doing really good there. I’m always happy to get your emails . How’s Brian Barton doing in Germany? I guess he’s there already. What’s he saying about the language? I need to write Andrew and Clay. I haven’t in a while. Thanks for everything! Love y’all, Taylor

40th email from France (Cannes)

Hey everyone! I’m really sorry about last week’s letter. I know it was pretty lame. I was actually pretty mad. It just completely shut off right before I sent the email then we had our train and our metro to get to the train station so I couldn’t type another one. The weeks seem to be flying by. We’re already in week 5 of the transfer. The changes will be the 20th I think so pretty soon. I don’t know if I’ll stay or go. Either way I wouldn’t mind. I’m legal here though so I’m pretty free to go wherever so I guess we’ll find out next week. It’s still really cold on the other side so I guess I hope I stay down in the south. You know I hate the cold. It’s been pretty hot again today. It was really sunny and warm. From what I hear, everywhere else in the mission got a lot of snow a few days ago, even Marseille. Everyone was pretty shocked but I’d rather be in the sun. I like Cannes though. It seems like we’ve done a lot here. When we came we didn’t know anybody and now we have friends just all over, in pretty much every neighborhood. Yesterday we were in Centre ville and we ran into the soeurs (sisters). Actually there are three of them now. They went to Toulouse last week to pick up a new one from the north of France and there 3 until the end of this transfer making us 7 here which is quite a bit. This week one of their amis was baptized so that’s really cool. There were a lot of people that came and one guy were teaching came so that was cool! We also had our meeting with the ward mission leader and the other leaders to talk about the missionary work. That was good because that was the first time since before Christmas that they actually had the meeting. The big soldes are going on. They’re the big sales that all the stores do twice a year so we might go see what there is since were already in centre ville for the computers. I don’t really need anything. I bought myself one present so far- a huge umbrella. It’s pretty cool! The other little one I had broke and I was sick of being wet so I went to this golf store and bought it. It’s really big so much that it’s even kind of hard to navigate in between poles and down little French roads but it’s nice and dry so I like it. This week we’re going to be in St. Raphael again for our zone development and interviews so that’s pretty exciting. Some more questions and comment:
· First, what’s an itouch?? Which also reminds me, do y’all have phones or when do you think all that is gonna work out?
· Um, have you heard alot of people speaking Arabic? If so, it’s pretty sweet right?
· How dang hot is it going to be there in the summer?
· I really liked the pictures you sent. I’m about to look at them again so if it’s not too hard send me some more. I’ll start sending some in emails too. You need to maybe take more of around town and stuff outside of the house , just all that. Thanks.
· Does Dad still like the job? I tell him to email me about what his day is like and what he’s doing- all that.
· I guess the schools are cool. Sounds like it.
· I never got Whitney’s letter. I hope I do though. We can still email, don’t worry! If we couldn’t I would be really upset. If someone in this mission doesn’t email, it’s a choice. President Carter seems pretty cool about stuff like that. He’s the one that gave us more time to email friends- before it was just family. He thinks it’s important.
· So is there really like just desert all around you?
· I think it’s funny you have a little “yard boy”. (I took out the term he really used and substituted)
· Those people just let you use their car? That’s really sweet! Are they all little cars like that or are there American ones? Here all the cars are standard and they’re all super small. It still surprises me every once and a while we’ll see some old grandma riding on a scooter or something. Just things you would never see at home.
· Have Whitney and Evan been talking to their friends at home?
· Since you seem to want more details about it, we were all throwing up from the food so I guess it was just not cooked or something. I don’t know- it was really good to sleep though.
· That would be weird to have a maid.
· Are there really big houses in the compound for like the big bosses and stuff? You mentioned “the Hills” so I was wondering.
· Tell me more about the other members and that. Are there lots of youth or not really? I know there is more to ask but that’s all I can think of!
Love y’all, Taylor

39th email from France (Cannes)

So this is the third email I’ve tried to type! This computer is stupid….. Thanks for the pictures everything looks really nice and you seem to be all settled in. We’re in Marseille today for the carte de sejour for Elder Monson . I figure we’ll be coming back this week to work some stuff out. It didn’t go all that well today. Our week was pretty good, nothing to special happened. We had a little New Year’s party at the church. The food was pretty good (we thought) but everyone got sick! It was pretty bad. I ended up sleeping all day Friday but I’ve been tired too so that helped anyways but really I didn’t get out of bed for like over 20 hours! Other than that bad thing, we’ve been finding some really cool people so we’ll see. The time has been going by fast. I guess that makes 11 months today. The weathers been nice still -not too cold, a little rain but nothing too bad. Sorry I don’t have much time but it’s good that y’all are doing good. I really liked the pictures! Bye, love y’all! Taylor