85th email from France (Albi)

Hey Everyone,
So this week was pretty good, just kinda normal. I can’t believe it’s already Monday. Church yesterday went well. We had one ami that came, Veridienne. It was cool to have her there. She seemed to really like it. Getting her there was kinda hard. Saturday night she said she wanted to come so we started calling all the members for someone to come pick her up. Finally we got a single soeur but she wasn’t from Albi so she wouldn’t have know where to go so we wanted to go with her but then we realized that we couldn’t go cause it would be just her so finally we called someone else to meet us at church early to go with us. Then go with the soeur to pick her up, it was pretty complicated and took alot of phone calls but it all ended up pretty well. Also at church we had to teach like the class for the kids so like from ages twelve to sixteen. It went well, I think they liked it. This week I did an exchange in Toulouse. I was pretty excited to go see people I knew when I was there but we ended up not having a whole lot of time. We had to go do service for a frère in the other ward but it was fun and he really needed help so it felt good to help him. We were with the other missionary equipe also so it ended up being a pretty good day. We did insulation which made me think of the elders a long time ago at our house doing the same thing except it wasn’t exactly the same work. I would call where we worked more like a stable or barn just with super old rock and brick walls- way out in the French countryside. They cooked for us also which was nice. His wife made a huge lasagna but it was different cause all the meat was salmon which tasted kinda weird at first but I really liked it. Before I’ve eaten spaghetti with salmon and caviar mixed in so it’s kinda the same idea- same taste anyways. We were also able to go and finish painting with our amis David and Aurore so that was fun. They want to invite us to eat with the Arnolds before they leave. I hope we can. They already have their whole last two weeks planned out- everyone wants to see them before they leave but thankfully with all of that the members aren’t forgetting us. We have two things planned this week where we should eat so we are looking forward to that. The only problem is here no one that comes to church lives in Albi so it takes us a long time to get where they live either on the busses or trains. There is an American family here because he plays professional rugby. We were hoping to get invited for Thanksgiving but that didn’t work out. I think we might go eat at a Thailand place though.
So we got the flight plans! That’s cool! I heard the Margret Sales has been talking to dad to try and figure something out. Ohh, I just realized that was the other email you were talking about yeah I got that but didn’t look at it yet- sorry. Yeah, so the bureau knows it’s all worked out now. Yeah, those first plans looked bad-flying in at 6:00 in the morning. These are much better. I talked to Elder Sellers in the bureau about the first flight plans and all he could say was ‘man, that sucks’. Are you taking your good camera to Thailand? OK, well I have to go. Thanks- have a good week and a great trip! Really try and email me from there. That would suck if I didn’t have anything!
Love y’all,
Taylor

84th email from France (Albi)

This first one is me and Elder Page. That's probably the last time I'll see him for a while- he dies this transfer!

Us with Samuel at the baptism...

Us, Samuel and the Arnolds...

Hey Everyone,
So we had a good week. I'll start out talking about the baptism- it went really well. It was kinda shocking being there and realizing that someone was actually going to get baptized. I figured it out and it’s been like sixteen months since the last time one of our investigators went all the way without having opposition or any problems but it was really, really good! There were alot more people that came from the branch. We were only expecting a few to come but then more and more kept showing up. They were pretty happy to have someone else and since he is a really cool, funny guy there shouldn’t be any problems with integration in the branch so that’s awesome. The confirmation was really cool too. One of the members brought her neighbor to the baptism and she seemed to be pretty touched. She had alot of questions after and we even got to sit and talk to her a little. I hope we can see her again. So today is p-day but we just got back from a rendez vous. I thought about trying to fix it for another day to not waste any of our free time but I’m glad we went. It was a good rendez vous with a guy named Mr. Zaradzki. He’s older and has alot of health problems but I think it helps him alot to talk to us. I hope we can see him more often. Today was the second time since I’ve been here. Church went well yesterday. There were actually over fifty people so that was exciting. It was kinda crazy at first- we were in our classes and they had just kids everywhere mostly in the hall running up and down. They were supposed to be practicing for their primary program that was later on but they were just making alot of noise and I’ve been having an ear ache thing so I was trying to hear but just couldn’t so by the end I was just super mad at all these kids. But then later for their program they actually did a really good job and I ended up really liking it so I was able to forgive them a little. So this Wednesday we had our zone conference. It was really good. We pretty much just went over all the things that Elder Holland taught us while he was here. We do this thing every conference where everyone prepares little like five minute talks and then the zone leaders choose someone randomly to give theirs. Well, I have avoided this little talk my whole mission but sure enough very unexpectedly they called my name. I hadn’t prepared much at all cause I thought there would be no way I would be the one cause it normally falls on elders the zl's know aren’t working very hard or the greenie, stuff like that- so I kinda winged it but it ended up really good and even President and Soeur Carter were making references to stuff I said for the rest of the conference. I compared missionary work to the old Nintendo 64 game, NFL Blitz and if we do good work without messing up for a while we can become “on fire” then having the power to pretty much do whatever we want. You just dominate the opponent, so that was cool. This week will probably go by really fast. Tomorrow morning we have our district meeting then after that I’ll stay in Montauban for an exchange then we have service with our amis Wednesday then after that the zone leaders are coming for another exchange then another exchange Saturday where I will go back to Toulouse. I’m pretty excited for that one- to go back and work in the area I was when I was in the bureau.
You never sent pictures of anything. The rock concert seems pretty cool. I’m glad that the passport worked out with no problems also you made me scared when you said I would have to go to the embassy here to do some final stuff. French people always make stuff like that super complicated and I’m sure it would have taken alot longer than expected.
In the mtc I took a picture of me flexing- you don’t happen to have that saved anywhere? If so, I want it. I made the bureau buy me a curl bar and send it for zone conference so I’m trying to kinda start doing a few exercises every day.
I’ll send some pictures now! Love y'all, Taylor

83rd email from France (Albi)

Hey Everyone,
So we had a pretty good week. Everything seems to be going by so fast. Every week seems faster and faster. I was pretty sick also which didn’t really help but it’s a little better now. I went and bought some medications that helped then some strong cheese and French mustard kind of helped for the sinuses. I’m just not used to the cold here. The temperature dropped alot this week and I’m kinda getting scared for December and January cause I don’t do very well when it’s really cold. Well, I’ve been here for two weeks now but yesterday was the first time I really met the members with the stake conference being last weekend. It was good, lots of people kinda crammed in our little meetinghouse. It actually reminded me alot of St. Raphael. It had the same feeling with kids running around. We spent the whole hour of priesthood planning out a service project, just things like that but there was a good family-like spirit and they all seem very willing to help us with missionary work so that’s good. We’re going to need help especially after the Arnolds leave in December. So we have a baptism this Saturday! It’s kinda crazy but I’m pretty excited also. It’s a guy around 40 years old that has known the church over ten years and has been an on and off investigator. He hadn’t seen the missionaries in a few months. Three weeks ago he came to church, then the next day to the family home evening, then we saw him during the week and then he came Saturday and Sunday for stake conference. He was really touched and then pretty much had no problems when we asked him to be baptized. We will see him again tonight for the fhe at the Arnolds then he has a little interview with the zone leaders that have to come up Thursday night; then if all goes well, the baptism will be in Toulouse Saturday at two o’clock. The branch is pretty excited to have a new member also. I think it’s been a while since they have had a baptism. The district meeting went well, better than I thought. I was pretty nervous having so many people but it kinda just made it easier cause there were more people answering and helping with roll playing activities and stuff like that. I just need to be sure to be really prepared cause it’s alot harder to wing it in front of that many people than it was with just one or two other companionships back at the bureau. Another cool thing about Albi is that Frere Moukilou is here.’ I dont know if I ever said anything about him but he was a member in Toulouse when I was there. He helped us alot and was the assistant to our dmp, the missionary coordinator person but a while back he was searching pretty seriously for a wife. That was like six months ago but a while back he got married to a recent convert here in Albi then they moved here just a few weeks before I came. I was pretty happy to see him here when I came. We also taught the coolest couple this week. Their names are David and Aurore. They are both school teachers and probably the coolest, smartest people I’ve ever met. They were asking some questions about the Book of Mormon like how Nephi knew the word gentile and just some other things no one ever thinks about. They are in the middle of building a house kinda in the middle of nowhere so it’s kinda hard to go see them but hopefully they will keep reading and searching with open hearts.
So I sent all the papers and passport to Houston. It’s going to take like six or seven days. I think they had a two day service but it would have been 60 Euros so I chose the next one for like 15 that took a week. I hope it gets there ok. There aren’t any really reputable mailing places here. There is only la poste which is like the UPS for France but it shouldn’t have any problems. I had a question at the top of dad’s work. Is it owned by like a royal family of Saudi Arabia or is just like a normal CEO? As for buying me clothes- if you want you can. I’ve been kinda thinking about what style I’m going to go back to. I think it’s going to be mostly polo shirts. They don’t have to be polo polo but just polo style then just jeans or whatever. I came with two pairs of jeans- one was kinda loose before and now it’s just impossible to wear then the other which was tight is loose. The ones that are loose now are like 30’s but don’t really buy alot of stuff like that because they all fit differently. I’m just gonna have to go shopping but that will be fun. Also I think don’t worry about Christmas stuff. I’ll be back right after where I will need real stuff and it costs so much to send stuff. I would say just don’t worry about it just some letters or something. Love y’all,Taylor

82nd email from France (Albi)

Hey Everyone, So we had a pretty good week. Ahh, so I just looked in my agenda for the list of cool stuff during the week that I had written down but I guess I grabbed an old agenda so I don’t have it but anyways we had a lot of cool stuff that happened so I should be able to remember. I guess we can start with this weekend. We were mostly in Toulouse. We left early Saturday morning with the Arnold’s for the mission conference. We got there pretty early and it was really cool to see everyone. After a while we all just kinda sat down waiting for Elder Holland and President to arrive. Finally they came, him and his wife, Elder and Soeur Holland then also Elder Kopischke. We started by going up and shaking his hand. He was asking everyone where they came from so I thought Saudi Arabia would be a better conversation starter than Louisiana so I told him that. Just like I knew he would, he said that he had been there earlier in the year then we talked for a few seconds. Still pretty short but cool. Anyway, the meeting started as normal- his wife talked which was really good. She kinda made us all feel good by saying that Europe will bloom when it’s day comes and we’re all doing a really good job and not to worry too much about the outcomes just as long as we’re doing our part. She said to just to keep faith and obedience and we will be protected and see miracles. She didn’t talk for very long just a few minutes leaving most of the two hours for the two authorities. Next was Kopischke who also had a really good talk. He kinda checked up on some of the engagements he had given us a year ago when he made the tour to all of our zone conferences so that was cool. I probably liked it more than others seeing there weren’t a whole lot that were even there a year ago. Then Elder Holland spoke. It was pretty powerful but he wasn’t exactly feeling as sorry for us as his wife was. He talked alot about how he is sick of seeing returned missionaries from France becoming inactive because of how the people here use their free agency. He told us to just learn the gospel, use faith and then what happens happens but there aren’t any excuses to say it’s harder than anywhere else in the world. He also talked alot about the urgency of our callings not only for the people here but for us as future members of the church. It was all very good. We spent the day in Toulouse. I wanted to do an exchange with Elder Gunter and Hill from the bureau but since there was a new soeur coming from the mtc they had to stay and do their presentations for the new missionaries so me and Elder Butler took their car and went and saw a few of our old amis. We actually ended up teaching two of them. We didn’t have much time before we had to meet the Arnold’s who came with two of our amis from Albi back at the church for the Saturday night session. This was good. Also Soeur Carter spoke then a few others and then Elder Holland who talked about Christ much more calmly than the morning conference was. It ended with some kind of a primary program song thing which was weird cause it’s the adult session. Then a ten year old kid gave the closing prayer- just not something you would see in America but whatever. Then apparently some guy went crazy trying to go after Elder Holland and had to get taken out. I didn’t see anything but some random member was pulling us up to the front for backup. I don’t think it was a big deal though. We stayed Saturday night in the bureau then went at ten for the big session. That was right next to the bureau in a big building we had rented so that was cool. We had to meet one of our amis early that came from Albi on the train then we went and found our seats. There were tons of people there. I got to take some pictures with a few Toulouse people I had missed before I left. Tonight we have our fhe again. There should be a few amis that are coming so that should be cool. We don’t have many things planned for the week yet but I think we should be able to find some people to see. Tomorrow morning is the district meeting in Montauban which I’m kinda nervous about but I’m sure it will go pretty good. I told the bureau about the big envelope that should be coming. They should send it right away then I’ll try to get it back pretty fast. If I have question we can just stop by the email place really fast or do it from the Arnold’s. I had some questions for you:
What are the days your going to Thailand?
Are you going to be home for Christmas? If so, what days?
About Dad- that stinks. I hope it’s nothing too bad and he gets better soon. I’ve been pretty tired lately but I think it’s just going to be like this until I come home. I’ve had a cold, too. I bought these pills I thought would help. It had one for the morning, noon and night then before you go to bed so I did that for four days. It’s what the pharmacy gave me but it didn’t seem to help a whole lot.
Why does Chelsea go to a groomer? Sorry I don’t have my camera with me today. I will try to send some next time for sure.
Love y’all,
Taylor