I got a call from my Father last night and I missed it so the message said I just wanted to call and tell you where your brother is. And honestly I thought one of my brothers was in the hospital or something! I kind of freaked for a minute and then remembered that Ethan flew out of the MTC! Ethan is now in Marseille, France!!! My Father keeps telling me he is in Marsell but it is pronounced Marsay by the way! I still love you Dad! Anyway, enjoy:
Bonjour,
Well today is not my preparation day but my companion got permission to let us email today. Monday will be my normal P day so expect letters then from now on. Alright so hopefully this wont take me too long because I am typing on a French keyboard and it has already taken me forever to type this little bit not to mention that it is underlining everything since none of these words are words in French. Alright, I will begin with how things have been the last few days, I suppose. To say that things have been busy and a bit of a blur is an understatement. Firstly, the flights were very very long. Although we were able to take a 747 from Atlanta to Paris so that was really cool. Not only that but we were up on the second level! The flight was about 8 and a half hours. Thankfully I was able to get some sleep on the way but of course not enough as expected. Our flights all had enough layovers between them to be able to have a little bit of down time but not too much. Especially in Paris, since we had to wait in line and everything to get our passports stamped. Not only is that airport absolutely gigantic, but it is a cool architectural piece of work as well. (Yikes this French keyboard is kicking my butt!!!)
After Paris, we made it to Toulouse and the mission president and the APs and the office couple were there waiting for us because they knew such a big group was coming, they brought 4 cars to pick us up. The second we walked out of the airport I absolutely fell in love with the weather, it is so beautiful. We went straight to the chapel in Toulouse because there wasn't enough room for us in the mission home. With all of us and our trainers, it was half of all the missionaries in the mission. I was able to ride with President Carter and he told us that no one would be staying the night and that everyone would be leaving to our areas within a couple of hours. That got us all excited because we obviously wanted to know where we were going. We had lunch and President Carter started brief interviews before we all left. We kind of got to know some of the older missionaries as we ate. Most of the trainers were American and there were a couple native french trainers. After we finished eating, he announced where everyone was going and who our companions are. And (drum roll please) I am in Marseille and my trainer is Elder Mayer. He is actually from France. He is from a city farther north and on the eastern border so he is not in the same mssion as where is family lives but I guess he does have a brother in Toulouse who is in one of the Toulouse wards. So interestingly enough I had talked to Elder Mayer before we knew where we were going and I couldn't understand a word that he was saying, even when he was speaking English and definitely not when he was speaking French. When President Carter started to make the announcements, I was hoping I wouldn't be his companion but somehow I just knew that I would be. And of course he called him as my trainer. He really is a very very nice Elder and it will really help me to understand the investigators because honestly, we arrived here and I was thinking, "is this even the same language that I have been learning for the last two months." I have a better understanding of the gospel terminology of course but I seriously understand very little. People speak so quickly and it all sounds exactly the same. I think for the first time, I truly feel like an outsider and a foreigner.
Anyway, after we found everything out, they hurried and passed out stuff that we needed and some Elders had to leave right away because they were going to Nice and Toulon which are on the other side of the mission from Toulouse. Although Marseille is also on the other side of the mission, we were at the chapel for awhile before we caught our train. We went through some orientation type things for a while and then finally we had to leave. We got to the train station and, first of all, I started regretting all of my baggage and I guarantee that my companion started hating them as well! And secondly, I was so ridiculously tired. I felt like a walking zombie. We got on the train and I set some goals, my companion and I talked a bit and I started reading some materials and I just could not keep my eyes open no matter how hard I tried. So I fell asleep but I don't think for too long. The train ride was very very long so we didn't make it to Marseille until well after nine. My companion prepped me and told me that Marseille is probably the dirtiest city in all of France..... and he is right. It is a big city and pretty run down in parts. It is unfortunate because there is some absolutely beautiful architecture and buildings and history but they are just not taken care of.
Two other missionaries met us at the train station and took us to our apartment and I was definitely right about that, it is tiny! And we live with two other Elders too. We have one small room and there are two bunk beds that barely fit in there and a tiny three drawer dresser for all of us. It is old and tiny and we take this mini sized elevator up to it because it is on the sixth floor. Two people barely fit in the elevator and we crammed all of my luggage in it and there was absolutely no room anywhere. It was so squished. I met the two other Elders and I can't remember their names at this exact moment... Anyway, we had to move some stuff around so that we had four desks in there and then we did some planning for today and then we went to bed and I seriously crashed! I was so tired. Actually, I am still very tired. My internal clock is all messed up.
We woke up this morning morning and did our exercises and all of our planning and our studying and we had an appointment at 11 with a man named Abdul. So we headed out to his apartment and of course took the metro (and it has only been a day but I am seriously already sold on Europe's public transportation system).On the Metro we contacted quite a few people and of course my companion did all the talking, which was good because I seriously don't understand anything. We actually made an appointment with a woman for tomorrow and she was trying to explain things to me but I had no idea what she was talking about but she kind of freaked out when we said that we had a modern prophet today.... and I can't be completely sure but I don't think it was in a good way. Ha! Actually the only reason she probably talked to us was because she felt bad for me because I tripped going up the stairs out of the metro because I just feel like I am in this sleepy daze. The mission president says that it takes about the number of days as there are hours that have changed to fully readjust.... which in that case, it is going to take me a week, yikes.
So we met Abdul outside of the metro and he had his little song and he took us to their apartment which was not too far away and of course they were on the top floor so we climbed up this very long winding stairs to get there and he opened up his door to the smallest apartment I have seen. It was very small and meager. So, apparently Abdul is originally from Belgium and is muslim. We taught him the first lesson and he was very interested. He has read the bible before and has a knowledge in it and of Jesus Christ. Of course the message of the restoration and the Book of Mormon was pretty crazy for him, but I definitely can't blame him for that. He took a copy of the Book of Mormon and he said that he would read it and pray and we will be back and teach him again. I think he might even try to go to General Conference with us as well. My companion did the teaching, but I threw in my testimony and such when it was my turn.
After teaching, we headed back so that I could get a metro card while I am in Marseille because we use it a lot. We contacted some more, handed out pamphlets and such and obviously got a lot of "No merci" 's. Rejection sounds a lot more eloquent in French. Ha! We got back to the apartment for lunch, which the other companionship made for us and we cleaned it up. And then we just walked down the street to an internet place and so far that had been my day. We have two more appointments this evening so hopefully those will go well. Hopefully I don't fall asleep!! Well, that's about it. I will write again on Monday. Keep me in your prayers. I need them! French is not my strong suit.
I love you all and are very grateful for your support for me. Have a good week. Au revoir!
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