68th email from France (the Bureau)

Hey, sorry it’s so late! We just got back from Carcassonne -the coolest place ever! We had to take a train about an hour away to go but it was way worth it. It’s just a huge medieval castle and city filled with knights and jousting stuff. Look at it on the internet when you get the chance cause its really awesome. We went with the Soeurs and another ysa from the other ward. Also, it was fun talking to Soeur Daun cause she’s leaving Monday..weird. So our week went well, pretty fast like always. We had quite a few lessons and stayed pretty busy. President Carter’s son came back from his mission this week so that’s kind of exciting though I haven’t met him yet. Hopefully he will come around one day or maybe to church Sunday.We went and had a fhe with this one family and it ended up being pretty fun. They must have liked it cause they invited us back tomorrow. Tomorrow morning is our district meeting so I’m kind of worried about that cause it’s not really prepared or anything. Well, it is just not enough so I’ll need to work on that some more.This week I did an exchange with a much younger missionary, Elder Keadle. He’s from Rexburg, Idaho so it was cool to talk about all that. The coolest part was we spent pretty much the whole day teaching and seeing amis so it was cool. He liked it a lot especially because the week before they had taught a lower number of lessons than we did in this one day. They are in a little town called Colomiers right outside of Toulouse and they kind of struggle sometimes but we had a good day together.Also Sunday was a kind of missionary based sacrament meeting, the talks and all which wasn’t really planned but there were so many members on vacation they figured they could rely on us for the talks and stuff. I didn’t really do much but we did sing which I wasn’t super excited for but it ended up ok. I forgot to tell you though that a few weeks ago I gave like a 10 -15 minute talk at a baptism which I though ended up really good. Baptism talks are always the hardest because there’s always that weird tradition where the talks and stuff are more personal and touchy so in French it makes it even harder but I think I did pretty good. That’s about it. We have a pretty good week planned. We’re gonna be pretty busy until Thursday or Friday but we’ll probably find stuff for then, too. We’re doing an exchange with the "chef de zones" or ZL's this week also. It should be good. So next week is the transfer so everyone will be leaving and coming. We’ll probably be super busy trying to bring everyone around even more than normal cause there are I think 13 leaving.I hope you have a fun time when Dad gets back. Ok, we got to go. We have a few people to see tonight. Have a good week. Love y’all, Taylor

67th email from France (the Bureau)

Hey Everyone, So our week was really amazing! We did SO much cool stuff. You know how I was saying how tired I was last week? So we found the perfect solution...a huge road trip to help move in the couple missionary that came last week. Yeah, we were assigned to go all over France- over 2500 kilometers- and spend three days away from Toulouse. We were pretty busy working and moving things but it was very relaxing. It all started Tuesday morning with our réunion de district, which went very well. The assistants were also there and seemed to like it. Right after it was over I went to Tarbes which is about two hours away for an exchange, which was awesome. The next morning Elder Wright took the big truck and came to pick me up and we headed off to Pau, which is in the south west corner near the Pyrenees Mountains. After we had moved some things and filled up the car again we headed off to Aix en Provence where we had to meet with another missionary couple. Then we headed up into Gap, the one little city in our mission up in the Alps. It was a really nice drive up there through the mountains. That night we met with the family Giles and gave them all that we had collected over the day. But that wasn’t it because we still had a couch and bed in Antibes that we had to pick up and bring back to Gap the next day. We woke up early Thursday and headed back down to the Riviera. We got to see the Antibes chapel which is closed now since about a year and a half but is kind of a legend in our mission- not many have seen it. It’s a huge villa in a way nice neighborhood that was converted into a church. After picking up all that was there we hit the road again for Gap which took us almost all day to get back. We unloaded the bed and put it together with the help of the other missionaries serving there; then we’re back on the road again just trying to make it as close to Toulouse before nightfall. We ended up staying in Aix en Provence again then heading back to Toulouse Friday morning. It was amazing. Maybe the best part of it was the food! There are a few towns that are known for their specialties and we had to stop seeing as they were just "en route". First off was Castelnaudary where we ate the best casoulet ever- which is a pot with beans and meat mixed in. I had a duck leg and also a huge sausage then for the second big stop; a town near Gap called Sisterone where we ate les coté d'agneaux or lamb ribs from a really nice restaurant. Honestly, we kind of splurged spending over 85 Euros on two meals but they were both amazing so pretty much from Wednesday till Friday we took turns driving. On top of all that we had a really good week with teaching and finding people! We ended up having ten lessons that were all pretty good and Monday we found and taught someone that came to church yesterday! Me and Elder Wright were pretty excited about that.Your week sounded pretty good, too. I bet Arkansas was fun to see everyone and all. I was going to ask you if you saw Harry Potter. It came out here and everyone’s been kind of crazy about it. There was a girl from Vitrolles at church Sunday! It was cool talking to her about how everyone is doing. It made me really miss everyone there and now I’ve been thinking about them a lot. It’s been almost a year since I was there. Well, that’s about it. Oh, I’m glad Dad had a good time diving. The Red Sea seems cool! Say hey to everyone for me. Taylor

66th email from France (the Bureau)

Hey Everyone, We kind of had a good week. It started off kind of slow. We had our zone conference Wednesday which went well. It’s always really good to see everyone and they talked a lot about stuff that hasn’t been very clear for everyone such as how to contact, like how to introduce ourselves. They kind of made a new mission standard which will help a lot after receiving different instructions on how to do things over the last year. We had two 70’s come and teach us completely different techniques then when President Carter came he had his new way, then we still have others trying to hold on to President Merrill’s teachings- so it feels really good to have it all set straight. The weirdest part about zone conference- well, you need to know that every time we have a conference, the new and leaving elders and sisters bear testimony- well, this time it’s the Soeurs from our mtc district already going home! Their 18 months are over and they’re gone in a few weeks after this transfer! I couldn’t even believe that it finished so fast for them but it was cool to have them (Soeur Oliver et Daun) in the Toulouse zone and also I’ll get to see them as they pass by the bureau the day of transfers. It’s just too weird how fast it’s going. This Saturday the ward did an activity. We just all got together and played soccer. Not that many came but it was still fun and we had one of our investigators come so that worked out really well. He seemed to like it. This week in the bureau has been a little hectic. Elder Wright has been pretty busy closing apartments and stuff then last week the sisters in Nimes left their cell phone at the place they did their emails so I’ve been running all over trying to get a new phone and sim card and getting it to them. This week should be really good. It’s the 14 Juillet tomorrow like the French Fourth of July. It was last year when we did the big parade and party with Robert. I’m going to go to Tarbes for an exchange so that should be fun then Wednesday we’re going to be going to Pau, another town down at the bottom of our mission to drop off a fridge. Also, next week there’s a big possibility we could go to Gap. I’m praying that works because it’s the one town in our mission in the Alps so it would be a cool change. We got a new couple missionary this week. They were in the bureau for a few hours. They are really nice and excited to be here. Thanks a lot for the notes you sent me from the setting apart blessing. That helps a lot especially the part about being happy and all. It’s been kind of hard lately. I feel like there are really people that we could find to be baptized, it’s just going pretty slowly even when we work really hard. I haven’t been feeling super good either; not sick but just really tired all the time and I’ve been losing weight. I’m way more skinny that I ever have been before. I think I just need to sleep for about two weeks but I just can’t! Hey, you’re going to be proud of me. So, Elder Mak here can see how much money people have on their mission cards for like the mission money and there are always people that go from month to month just barely making it and running out at the end or always calling us at the bureau to look online to see if they have enough to buy food and whatnot; so I guess I must have learned to be trendy (I think he means “thrifty”) or something because I have the second most money out of the whole mission. It’s true I’ve been kind of budgety, I’m not sure why though. It’s weird for me. Hey, I finally found a suit. I’m super excited for that. It was 70 percent off. It’s a super nice one from a store called Devred. I also bought shoes for really cheap and a new belt. The suit with a really nice tie cost 48 Euros then the shoes 27 and the belt like 12- so it all worked out really nice! Love y’all, Taylor

65th email from France (the Bureau)

Hey Everyone, Thanks for all your pictures! Seems like you having a good time. I forgot that Ivy was coming back. I guess I knew, I just forgot it was this week. We had an ok week, I was convinced it would be the best week ever then slowly it kind of fell apart but we did a lot of cool things. It just ended up with lots of rendez-vous that didn’t work out. Everything in the bureau is going fine. Time flies by here. This week I had the car reports to send in so that took a lot of time also I went to president’s house again to do the car inspections. That went well; it was just really hot going from car to car in the heat. Also, we have been trying to get ready for the zone conferences this week so we have been all over buying things for the apartments that Elder Wright takes care of. We ended up spending 300 Euros just on fans. I don’t know if there were actually that many that broke since last summer or all the missionaries just wanted more- it has been hot though. During these summer months in France is when all the old people die because nobody has air conditioning like in the states. We also took our trip to Brive- it was cool to be on the Bordeaux side that we don’t see very often. Also we've been to all kinds of car dealerships and phone stores just running errands- it’s kind of good to get out of the bureau but annoying at the same time. We had the elders come that had visa problems. I think it was Tuesday that three of them came then left for their new villes! I’m really happy because the new phone contract is set finally, they signed Tuesday. We negotiated it then passed it to toiry, the church offices in France to do all the paperwork but it ended up being really, really good. We changed it from just our mission to all the church phones in France and should save around fifty thousand Euros in the next two years! We have been talking to a few different companies and one SFR offered us 8 months free service which kind of shows how much they will do when you have companies working against each other. Hopefully we will get the new phones soon because I have a huge list of people that need them. The 14 juillet or the 4th of July for France is coming up soon. The French will probably take all week off for that. Most everyone left for vacation for a few months like they all do every year. These weasels pretty much took vacation days for the death of Michael Jackson- not really- but its amazing how affected they seemed to be by it. ha We were in a rendez-vous last week and our ami told us that he died and we didn’t really have anything to say, just kind of a loss of words because we didn’t really care that much. Then she got all sad and apologetic for telling us the bad news, thinking that we were hurt deep down. It was kind of funny. We need to go pick up someone at the gar bring him to the carte de sejour place then later on back to the gar(train station). The tour de France has started! Everyone is pretty excited for that. I guess it starts in Monaco then makes its way up through France. Elder P. was going to go get to go with members in Perpignan then was super mad when he found out zone conference was the same day. Everything is good. I’m hoping to go shopping a little today. I still really need a few things and it’s all so cheap if I don’t do it now it’s kind of a waste. The only problem is that I hate to drag Elder W. around because he doesn’t want to go at all. Hopefully I can work something out with Elder M. So I’ve just been rambling- you can take most of this! Love y’all, Taylor

64th email from France (the Bureau)

Hey Everyone, Sorry I didn’t write back Thursday. Actually what happened was we only had one hour before going to president’s house so we decided to take advantage of the soldes. Remember the big sales that are twice a year? They just started last week. We also went this morning- so far I haven’t found that much stuff I had to have, just a few ties and some really cool cuff links.This week was really good. It went by fast; first off do you know I’m on my eleventh transfer! I have a nice stack of planners on my desk I’m pretty proud of. It’s amazing how fast time flies by. Our sports day at President’s was really fun and ended up being pretty relaxing also. We all played volleyball and ping pong also some other random games. Everyone was doing their own thing then we all ate together, a big barbecue with hamburgers and sausages. Thursday night I went with Elder Chlarson to Colomiers, a little town outside of Toulouse. We had a little exchange then we went to see their ami for the baptismal interview. It went really well and was pretty edifying for both of us. His baptism Saturday went really well, there was quite a few members that came. We also had an investigator that we met at the metro then walked to the chapel together so it was nice for him to come to church for the first time. Also this Sunday Denise and her family came to church for the first time since moving from Agen. They had come for one activity but never for a Sunday. This next week is going to be a little crazy also, it’s already super packed until Friday. We’re also taking a little trip down to Brive to help the elders move into another apartment so that should be fun. I’ve never been down to this part of the mission, also I have to go do all the car inspections at president’s house and that should take a few hours. Tomorrow morning I have our district meeting. I’m not that worried about it but I hope it goes well. I have it planned almost to the minute so nothing could go too wrong. I just don’t want it to be boring. I think motivation is one of the most important parts. I’m really looking to buy a suit. I tried on a few today that were 50 percent off but still I just haven’t found the right one. Also, I really need to buy shoes and a belt. I think I should have enough money on my card. It shouldn’t be that expensive, these soldes are really cool. I wish they would do this in America- it’s like going shopping and everything is on sale, not just the junky stuff no one wants. I just bought 3 thirty dollar ties for about five then some today twenty five euro cuff links for six.I hope your having a good time at home. Has Dad been calling a lot? That’s cool that Alex is doing so good in the mtc. I miss that place! It is really cool but also a lot different than what we’re doing here. It would be nice to go back for a few weeks for a little boost! Love y’all, Taylor

63rd email from France (the Bureau)

Hey everyone, That’s really cool that you’re home now. I’m sure it was really good to get to see everyone. Today is kind of crazy. We’re all doing the transfers. We’ve been back and forth from the train station all morning trying to get missionaries where they need to be. Now we’re back at the bureau trying to take care of some work but its really hard because all the missionaries that are leaving tomorrow are here being wild and excited. We’re actually not doing much of a preparation day today but President invited us to his house Thursday and we’re going to play sports and stuff. He didn’t tell us why but we found out that it’s probably to celebrate his one year mark so that should be fun. This week was good, it was nice to know the transfers before everyone else. As far as our rendez vous it wasn’t the best week. We had a hard time seeing people- we really have this routine of good weeks and bad weeks. I can’t really understand why, however I hope we can snap out of it because the bad ones are always tiring. We went to Tarbes for an exchange this week so that was fun. We did it during the week and skipped a day of bureau work. Tonight we’re invited to our ward mission leaders house. He’s really cool- him and his wife just moved here a while back- he speaks really good English cause he served in Ireland. That will be a nice relaxing end to a pretty hectic day. For right now the bureau elders are staying the same but we think that will change in a few weeks when a few straggling elders come from the mtc that couldn't get their visas in time to come tomorrow with the other greenies. Another good thing with the transfer, I guess, is that I’m the district leader now, which I’m pretty excited about. I’ll get to go do all the exchanges and the district meetings. I’ll do exchanges with the zone leaders and I’ll talk to them every week about how everyone is doing so that will all be exciting. It’s more work but I’m pretty excited about it all, but a little nervous too. This week I have to do a baptismal interview for an ami of the Colomiers elders here in Toulouse. I’m kind of worried about that but I’m sure it will be ok. Umm..I don’t have a lot to say, Ill be able to write a little Thursday before going to President’s so write back when you get this. Be sure to tell me how everyone is doing and all that. Ask Melanie if she got my letter in French. Did you ever email the Steven guy? Was yesterday father’s day for you too? So we’re set up to have a good week. We have stuff almost every day lots of activities with church people; it should go by pretty fast. I hope you make it to Houston and back good. Sorry I don’t have a lot to say; there’s a lot going on here right now so it’s kind of hard to concentrate but I love y’all. Have a good week and I’ll try to write more Thursday. Love y’all, Taylor

62nd letter from France (the Bureau)

Hey,Thanks for your email. It seems like everything is going good. I hope you have a good trip back home. I’ll try not to think about y’all being back there too much but it might be hard. Well it’s the last week of the transfer. This has been easily the fastest week since I’ve been here in Toulouse. I guess for a few reasons; there’s always a lot to look forward to for the new transfers. Then also we had lots of lessons and we were able to fill up almost every day teaching, which makes everything much more enjoyable. And it’s been pretty calm in the office so no one has been stressing over anything which makes it nice. I’m sure this week won’t be at all the same but at least we’re relaxed now, recharged and ready to work hard! As for our rendez-vous’, they all went well. We were able to fine a few new people also so that’s good. We’ve been teaching this lady, Denise from Trinidad. She was baptized in Agen then moved here to Toulouse about three years ago but hasn’t ever come in contact with the church here. Her number was given to us by a French missionary that taught her then came back just to see how things were going. We’ve seen her and her family a few times now but she has always been reluctant to come to church. We invited her to a barbeque and movie night our ward had Friday night and she came with her family. That was one cool thing of the week. Elder Wright’s brother got his mission call this week for Rome, Italy so he’s pretty excited about that. He also has another brother that’s in South America somewhere. He won’t see either of them until a while after he gets back. Tonight we have a rendez-vous with an African guy named éluge. I really, really hope he’s there because we turned down a FHE with a really cool family to see him and it’s not like were invited over that often. Oh yeah, there was this American guy at church from Washington DC, so we were talking and he said he kind of had some friends down in Louisiana. So ends up its Jeff and Debbie B.! He was saying that it’s been a really long time since they’ve been in contact and he wanted there address or number or just whatever. So I have his email. This guy said that M. was named after one of their daughters but they haven’t really talked to them since then. Actually I told him you could email him with whatever information you could get. He’s a really nice guy so just send him an email. He will be happy to hear from you. So that was kind of cool. It’s always a little weird to speak with Americans in English. This week we had to drive to Montauban to drop off some things for their apartment. It was just another little old French town but kind of cool. It was hard driving our big van around their little centre ville but we made it. I was driving. I guess that was probably the most stressful part of the week. Other than that everything is good! I’ll start getting a package ready to send home when you get there. That will be better. I’ll talk to you later! Love y’all, Taylor