81st email from France (Albi)

Hey Everyone, I hope you had a good week. Everything is pretty good here. Um, I didn’t email yesterday cause I was on the train. I was pretty sure that I would just stay in Cannes until the end but I guess President wanted me elsewhere. I’m in Albi now. It’s a town about an hour north of Toulouse that so far seems pretty nice and has a little branch with about thirty people. We did service this morning so I got to meet the branch president and some other members. Also, there is one of the two mission couples here in Albi so it’s super cool to go and work with them. They are at the very end of their mission and are pretty excited to help us with whatever we need. When President called me he said the work was going slowly so he was counting on me to pick it up a little. I’m sure he says that to almost everyone but we will see how it goes. I thought I would be sad to leave Cannes but actually this move will help me work hard until the end. I’m still district leader just with a much bigger district than ever before. I’m kinda nervous but it shouldn’t be too bad. Also, I have Elder Hill and Gunter from the bureau so I should get to go on exchanges there and see some old amis. There should be us then four more companionships so that will be one of the bigger districts in the mission. So you know this Saturday we have our mission conference with Elder Holland. I’m really excited. The cool part is that now I’ve moved into the Toulouse stake again so we get to go to the stake conference which is the real reason he is coming. So yeah, Albi seems to be pretty cool. I’m sure it’s gonna be freezing by Christmas time but hopefully I’ll be able to get through it. I’m sure a new ville will make the next few weeks fly by cause there is always alot to learn with the investigators and just to get to know the town always takes a while. I’m with an Elder Butler. He’s from Chicago but kinda went to high school in Seattle- just kinda moved around a lot. He’s alot younger in the mission, I think sixth transfer. He’s cool. Right now he has some knee problems and has a hard time walking around a lot. It’s really cool having a senior couple here. We had a fhe last night at their house with another member and one of our amis that came also. This morning they drove us to service then they taught with us today at four. We had a really good rendez vous with an old African lady name Amandine. We were actually able to set a baptismal date for the 21 Novembre which is cool and it seems pretty solid. We didn’t do very much, it’s mostly the Arnolds (senior couple) that really want to see a baptism before they go home in December but anyways, it’s a baptism and that’s awesome. We also have another lesson at their apartment tonight with another one of our amis so things are going pretty good. So thanks for doing all that school stuff for me.Cannes was cool just to go back for a while and see everyone. I kinda realized we didn’t have much going on with our amis or anything so I wasn’t too sad to leave. Well, I don’t have alot of time. I think I might send you some pictures from the Arnolds computer if I can. We have to go back to our apartment now then go over to the rv. I hope you have a good week. Love y’all, Taylor

80th email from France (Cannes)

Hey Everyone, So we have had a pretty good week starting with last week. We went to Nice. It was really cool to see everyone. We had a couple of hours to play. We started with soccer then ultimate Frisbee and yeah, as expected we creamed them. Also, this week we had our zone development meeting which was cool. We had to wake up early and drive to Aix en Provence to meet up with everyone but it was cool to see President and Soeur Carter again. Then after they just ordered like two hundred Euros worth of pizza so everyone got to chill for a while with President. In our interviews he said that I would probably stay here in Cannes for a while. I think we are going to be in a trio for one transfer then just me and someone else until I leave which I’m pretty excited about. It’s really cool having the car. We are actually the only missionaries with one in the mission that aren’t zone leaders or assistants. Our week went by pretty fast. We were able to see a few people and even had someone that came to church. It was a black girl named Precious that only speaks English but she liked it. This coming week should be cool. I get to go back to Toulouse for a big meeting for all the district leaders so I’m looking forward to that. I also talked to President about my foot he took a picture on his blackberry then emailed it to the regional doctor guy then the doc called me the next day and said it was a fungus thing but wasn’t that bad and shouldn’t spread or anything. He said just to wait till I’m home then ask a doctor about it so I guess I’ll just do that even though it seems better to just do it now. Yeah, I got Whitney’s letter. I'll try to send some more pictures. I have a bunch of sweet car pictures. There are just really nice cars everywhere here- Ferraris and Lamborghinis, Porsche, Lotus, Benz, BMW- they are everywhere.For school, I think that would be cool to go for three semesters then get back on the normal track but yeah I really don’t want to wait until August. I got an email from Soeur Daun today. She is up there with Sister Spencer the one from my mtc district that went to New Caledonia. They are roomies now. It’s weird that they are already back in school. You know today I have exactly three months till I’ll be there with y'all! Sorry but this week I didn’t make my list of things from the week and my emails aren’t nearly as good without them. This morning we went on a huge hunt for Elder Diamond’s wallet. He left it at this tobac like drug store when we were buying a map last week then the guy brought it to the police but that’s where we had to go to like four different places to finally find it. But he got it back which is cool. I gained a few pounds this week but not like fat, just from walking around and stuff so that’s good. That bureau was killing me. We should get transfer calls this week so next Monday I’ll know exactly what’s happening but I think Elder Hansen will go home cause he is at the end- then we will have three from the two groups there are here now and we will stay together and just dominate the whole French Riviera in the car- well at least from Antibes to St. Tropez. It’s cool that me and Elder Diamond have these few weeks to try and find some people in Cannes we have been able to see. It’s been great to see some people I taught while I was here but it’s still been kinda hard- we haven’t had a whole lot of rendez vous this week. Elder Diamond is cool. He’s from Provo and he is the same age in the mission I was the first time I was here, just before his year mark. Thanks for Aaron’s address and stuff. I don’t know why they need it. I think Pres. might send the bishops emails to say if we did good or not. He seems to really like me for some reason though I’m not sure why. St. Raph was cool but all the members we passed by weren’t there. Today I think we’re going to go bowling again so that should be pretty fun. Also, Elder Hansen dies so he wanted to buy some stuff for his family so we will probably chill in centreville for a while. Well, I don’t have much else to say. Sorry today’s email wasn’t structured very well. I’ll try to write stuff down this week. Love y’all, Taylor

79th email from France (back in Cannes!)

Hey everyone, Sorry I don’t have a whole lot of time to talk. We’re about to catch the train to Nice. We’re gonna kick their trash in ultimate Frisbee. It’s cool to be back here. What happened is before here in Cannes there was a trio, so President kinda wanted to start up two teams again so I said I would like to come back. It’s been really good so far. Most people remembered me even though it’s been about a year since I came the first time. One thing is for sure, I kinda forgot that the missionary work is a little harder here than in Toulouse! I kinda miss all the college students and people that were willing to listen but so far it hasn’t been too bad. We have fixed three rendez vous for this week just by talking to people on the streets. Also I’ve been trying to contact all the people I taught while I was here but we haven’t had much luck but being here also I'll be able to work a little in Saint Raphael. Actually tonight we have a rendez vous with a St. Ralph family. We’re gonna eat so it should be awesome. I will miss the bureau and all the cool stuff we did there but it’s cool to be out here. I’m back emailing you from this dumb cyber cafe but nothing too bad.I’m working with Elder Diamond. He’s alot younger in the mission but we’re doing good together. He is really cool and I can tell were gonna be friends even if it’s only been a few days. There are two more in the apartment both from Utah. One is going home in two weeks so he’s trying not to be too trunky. So, I was with Frère Paya, you know the French mark Morris? He’s still really funny but I was with him in the hall and he said to someone "yeah, if you don’t remember him its cause he had more hair the first time" I, to say the least, did not think his joke was very funny and now I’m more paranoid than ever about my hairline, even though it’s really not that bad. Last night we had a little rv with a member family. We just all talked and ate a bunch of crepes. It was cool. It’s still pretty hot here in Cannes and people are still in summer mode- not too bad, just kinda crazy down town near the beach and stuff. This week is zone development so its gonna be cool to see everyone then we only have about two more weeks until Elder Holland comes. Everyone is pretty excited about that. I’m gonna try to send a few pics then I’ll write more. Hey, I hope you got all those pics. There are some pretty cool ones. There are so many cool cars here. Hopefully soon we can go to Monaco since I didn’t the last time I was here. But today Nice should be fun. Love y’all, Taylor

78th email from France (the Bureau)

Hey, I’ll write more later. I'll be busy all morning playing golf with President C. Happy birthday to me! Pray that I play good!
Hey Everyone,This week went by pretty fast. We seemed to do alot of different things but I haven’t made the list I normally do so I hope I can remember everything. Well first off, this morning we went golfing with president! Awesome! It was just me, him and Elder Hill. We had joked about going together a few weeks ago then he really wanted to so we did. I played pretty bad which was kinda annoying but it was still fun. The course was nice but pretty hard with skinny fairways, water and lots of sand. The clubs we rented were really old and crappy but we had fun.

Conference was so cool. We had four amis that ended up coming so we were pretty excited about that. They seemed to like it and the translations weren’t too bad either. We didn’t get to watch Sunday night until this morning on the computers. Elder Holland’s was pretty powerful like always. It’s so cool that he is coming here to talk to all of us in a few weeks. I just hope he goes easy on us cause of our lack of baptisms. I’m sure he knows it’s hard. President told everyone that when he comes it will be a mission reunion with everyone from every city- probably the only time that will happen in President’s three years of serving here. Normally when apostles come they make do a tour of the mission but since he only has time for one conference before stake conference, everyone gets to come. It will be cool to see everyone but I’m not sure if we will have time to chat and take pictures. Probably just back to the train stations as fast as possible. Even the elders from Nice are going to rent a car to make it back the next day. So, I’m still in the bureau. I don’t know when I’ll be leaving. President didn’t say anything today. I get the feeling he wants me to stay a little more than I want to be here but anyways. Elder Hill can do everything that’s necessary so probably sometime this week. This week I got to go test drive a new car. That was cool. We met President at a dealership then worked out some stuff with a dealer then me and him went and drove around town for a while. I figured he would have wanted to drive but he told me to. Then just asked questions about how it handled and stuff. We should be getting at least one new one this week. It will be a pretty big change because we are changing from Renault to Opel. The ones we looked at are Opel Merivas which aren’t quite as cool as the Clios we have now, but not too bad. I won’t be driving one very much either way. Thanks for all the happy birthday stuff! Golfing was kinda like my gift. Write back when you get this. Also, I will send you some pictures I took this week. I’m trying to keep my camera with me every day before I leave Toulouse. Love y’all, Taylor