MIRACLE MOVE IN MARSEILLE

This will be short and I don't have a lot of pictures this week. But ça va!

Life is going well. We're super busy and traveling all over the place.
I don't think I shared this before, but Elder Hutch can't drive 
because he doesn't have a license in France. 
So I do all the driving haha so I have some long days. We've had some 
good experiences in this equipe; doing the move in Marseille went very well for us. 
It's stressful and I'm  definitely now more tired than before
 being an office Elder, but it's going well. 

FRIBOURG
So our first part of the week we were still in Fribourg. We kind of
had to sacrifice our Pday, but it all went well. We finished moving
stuff and taking stuff all over. Wednesday evening we were finally
able to return to Lyon! We took the two elders from Fribourg with us
to Lyon because we had conference the next day.

FRIBOURG

LA CONFERENCE AVEC ELDER ADLER
We had a multi-zone conference in Lyon with Elder Adler! I believe
he's in the third quorum of the seventy. It was a really good
conference; it felt a little all over place on the theme or the
subject. But we talked about our testimony of Christ, the influence of
the Spirit, obedience, and other stuff. They gave us a lot of
challenges to strengthen our testimony of Christ! So that was super
cool! I got to see a couple people from my MTC group. We were like a
family there so it was nice seeing them again!

MULTI ZONE CONFERENCE

MARSEILLE
After the conference on Thursday, Elder Hutchinson and I headed
straight out to Vitrolles. We stayed in Vitrolles for the night.
Vitrolles is just a 20 minute drive out to Marseille. This move was
super interesting; there were sister missionaries living in Marseille,
but the mission wants them living in a ville called Aubagne. Marseille
is a pretty dangerous place for them to be living in (that's where
Elder Johnson, my last comp, got stabbed). Random fact,
Aubagne is a communist-run ville, so all the public transportation is
free there haha.

The hard part about the Marseille move was the fact that we had to be
completely out of the apartment by 4:30PM but we could only start
moving in the other one at 2:30PM. So essentially we had two hours to
complete an entire move. For just Elder Hutch and I, that would be
impossible. So our friend from the office, Elder Taylor, hired 3 guys
to come help us move. They had a big van for it too! We saw lots of
simple miracles such as parking spots and just the effectiveness of
everyone working on the move. We got everything done and moved within
a few hours. It was super cool!

L'ÉCHANGE
I did an exchange yesterday. We had to do it on Sunday because our
equipe is never in Lyon, so it was super interesting to do it on
Sunday. I did my exchange with Elder Bleak (pronounced like steak).
He's in the same ward so it still worked out. We got to do some actual
missionary work though! We went to this brother in our ward and gave
him a blessing! Elder Bleak is a Chinese speaking elder, so we got to
do some work with his Chinese Amis.

D'AUTRES CHOSES
Today we had zone Pday so that was fun. We played some American
football, soccer, ultimate frisbee, and werewolf. Next week is
presidents Pday, where we all go to presidents house for P-day. So it
should be sick!

This week we might be going to Cannes, or we'll be doing a bunch of
errands for the mission. So we'll see!

Have a good week! Love you!

SATISFYING SEASON IN SWITZERLAND!

View of Lyon

Hey Family and friends!

This week was super sick! I got to meet a bunch of people and do some
cool things, all while in Switzerland! I got a lot of cool photos as
well..

FOURVIÈRE
Last P-day we were in Lyon (for once haha) and so we did some touristy
things during the day! We went with the other trio equipe in our ward.
In the trio, one of the three is Elder Lindsey; he was in my apartment
in my first transfer in Avignon. But Fourvière is interesting! It's
this old Catholic cathedral. I'm not sure what it technically
is, but it was cool. The architecture of it was amazing, and the spot
that it's on overlooks all of Lyon! Also, while we were there, they
started a Catholic mass and we were able to stay for a little bit to
see it. It was very interesting! When they sing in the cathedral it
sounds really good because of the largeness of it.

Fourvière Cathedral

Fourvière with other Elders

GENÈVE
We had to make a couple trips earlier in the week to take some stuff
to people in Annemasse, which is in France but on the border, and also
Geneva! This was my first time visiting Geneva. It's a super cool
city! I wasn't able to get any photos while there, but it was cool
going. There are a lot of English speakers in Geneva, so it was
interesting! They even have an English speaking ward there. While we
were there, we ate at this place called "Holy Cow" and they make
gourmet burgers. It was anything like a 5 guys burger, but it was
still really good!

L'ÉGLISE A FRIBOURG ET LES FAMILLES
So the majority of this week has been spent in Fribourg. Fribourg has
to be out of there apartment because the proprietor wants to the
renovations In the whole building. So for the moment, Fribourg Elders
are going to live in Neuchatel with those elders. We were able to see
a lot of cool places just driving around. Driving in Swizterland is
the best driving you could do in the world.
So yeah I forgot to say.. Elder Hutch and I wear service clothing if
we're moving stuff.. so we move stuff almost everyday but Sunday, so
we're in shorts and t shirt most of the time!
This week I got to see a lot of Switzerland. We even got to take a
hike with a family. 

The wife was saying that in the winter, her
husband snowshoes the same hike and then just snowboards down! Haha  I
was dying when she was telling me this hahah I wanna come snowboarding
in Suisse so bad!

Driving in Switzerland

Fribourg is this super cool Suisse ville! It's a pretty old place and
super pretty. There are a lot of German speakers! Elder Hutchinson
started his mission here, so he was already familiar with it. But
because of the short amount of time we have to do this move, we have
been in Fribourg since last Thursday. So we stayed here for church!
(We got it cleared by the assistants). Suisse people are super
different from French people haha they speak differently (better in my
opinion) and they just act differently!

Fribourg

Because Elder Hutchinson served here, he wanted to visit a couple
families in our spare time. So we were able to visit two families. One
of them was the family Rigaudon; they invited us to come on a hike
with them! It was super dope. We actually  they told us to bring
tupperware; But we picked blueberries on some
mountain with that family! The wife of the family is American! Hahah
she's super American so it was great. She said she doesn't see
Americans very often either cause they live in Suisse! 
We picked blueberries with the Rigaudons and then finished off the
beautiful hike. She made jam and gave it to us!

We had dinner with the Bolognesy family; he's the branch president in
Fribourg and he's Italian. He made us pizza! Haha I never thought a
true Italian would make me pizza. So that was fun!

Murten (between Fribourg and Neuchatel)

Also I forgot to mention that I got asked to bear my testimony at
church in Fribourg during sacrament meeting. Both Elder Hutch and I
were asked so that was cool!

But Sunday's here. Our church starts at 1:30, so in the morning we do
studies, eat lunch, then contact a little bit. Then church for 3
hours, then we stay at church for a little bit after and talk with
members. Then we go home and eat. Then we usually contact or work in the evening,  or plan out our week. I really enjoy being back in a ward; 

for the moment it's difficult because we don't have time to visit the members 

during the week because we're never in Lyon.. But hopefully next transfer I'll be able

to work a bit more in Lyon and get closer with the members!

Neuchatel

But our weeks are super interesting. We never know what our exact
plans are; we literally play it all by ear. This week we have a
conference in Lyon with a 70, then we're going straight to Marseille.
Haha it will be interesting for us.. Marseille is where Elder Johnson
got stabbed! Hahah we're moving some sisters from Marseille to an
outer ville that's more safe for them.

One thing that I have been learning and seeing lately are families and
how they function. I'm learning what I want to have in my family, and
the things I want to avoid in my family. Families are a gift from God
and I'm super thankful for them! I love you, family!

Have a great week! 

Love you all!

NICE IS NICE!

Ay What's up!

Okay so those not familiar with the city Nice, it's pronounced "Neece"

so it rhymes with fleece. Just to get that out there :)

Also I'm short on time.. So this will be brief.

CETTE SEMAINE A NICE

So I spent my week in Nice. Nice is a super pretty place in our

mission! Its right on the Côte d'Azur. We left last Monday night and

made it to St. Raphael (4ish hours away) and we slept there for the

night. I went to st. Raphael for a couple days in my very first

transfer. It's also a nice little place on the coast! We stayed with

Elder Barben and Whitmer. Elder Whitmer was my MTC comp! It's been

like 6 months since I've seen him so it was fun seeing him and

catching up!

Hutch and I

We went to Nice the next day. In Nice, there's a ward with 4 elders

and 2 Sisters. Theres a lot of English speakers in the ward! It's

super cool. But on Tuesday we played some soccer in the morning with

the elders, some members, and some other people. It was super fun!

Even though I'm terrible at soccer, it was super fun!

So for the move this week, there are three apartments in Nice. Elders

apartment, sisters apartment, and an empty senior couple apartment

from the couple that just finished. We moved the sisters to the couple

apartment, then all four elders to the sisters old apartment, then

closed down the elders apartment. This was my first time closing an

apartment, and it was an adventure!

Our moving car "The Dutchess"

Also this elders apartment was bed bug infested... I've we only saw

one of them that was alive, but we were able to get all done cleanly.

We started out by getting rid of stuff. The elders took all the stuff

they wanted, and then we took care of the rest. It's cool because in

this apartment, there have been missionaries for years, so a lot of

stuff has been left there! Long story short, none of the four elders

wanted the ukulele that was left there, so this week I acquired a

ukulele :)

Our entire week was taking down that apartment and doing stuff for

that. We were driving all around Nice taking stuff places. Nice is one

of the most interesting places I've driven in! I'd say it's comparable

to the aggressiveness of California, the stupidity of Utah drivers,

but worse haha. People literally double up park on the side of the

road because there isn't a lot of parking. Haha it was a crazy week

for driving!

But on Saturday we played some ball with the elders and some members

at the Nice church. It's a super pretty church! We did that for an

hour or two, then finished up the apartments. Before returning to

Lyon, we took some pictures in Nice. We can't go on the beaches, but

we did take this 5 minute hike to this spot where we can see all of

Nice. It was super pretty!!

NICE IS NICE

After that, I drove 6 hours back to Lyon, and we made it in safely :)

D'AUTRES CHOSES

Again, I don't have a lot to say this week. But this next week we

might be going to Marseilles or Cannes. We're not sure yet. Today

we're going to go get fish and chips in Lyon. Should be sick :)

Have a great week everyone! Love you :)

INTERESTING ITINERARY AND IKEA

Salut! So I think this week has doubled the amount of times I've ever
gone to IKEA... But we ate IKEA meatballs, so that was pretty cool.
Let me explain why...

L'ÉQUIPE DE CONFLUENCE (OU BIEN LES ESCLAVES DES ESCLAVES)

So this week has been super interesting! I mentioned last week how our
equipe (companionship, direct translation is team) is the equipe for
closing down and setting up missionary apartments. So again, we're
kind of office elders, but we don't work in the office usually.. We go
there sometimes to figure stuff out with the actual office elders, and
then we do what is needed. Elder Hutchinson is a cool bro; he's from
Wales. It's his last transfer but fortunately he's not too trunky! He
still works hard. Now for the most part of the week we aren't doing
actual missionary work, but we're doing work for missionaries. I
titled this saying we're slaves of the slaves; about 4 transfers ago,
President Roney spoke at a stake conference and told bishops and
presidents that we, as missionaries, are their slaves and we will do
whatever needs to be done. So we joke that we are slaves of the
slaves! But slave has a pretty negative air to it; this assignment is
actually super fun! We're having a good time but still doing what
needs to be done.

We set transfer goals this last week; we decided that because we don't
have as much time to proselytize and contact, we want to focus on the
service we can render for other missionaries. So this transfer we want
to try to do as much as possible to all the places we go to, and we
want to serve them!

NOS VOYAGES

So we started off this week and we helped set up and apartment in
Beziers! It's an apartment for a new senior couple, the Metcalfe
couple! So we took some stuff from the garage in Lyon and drove to
Beziers. It was about a 4ish or 5ish hour drive! We arrived and
dropped some stuff off for them. We dropped the stuff off, then made a
quick run to Montpellier (1 hour) and hit up IKEA! We got stuff from
there, then took it back to Beziers. After that we drove back to
Montpellier so we could sleep. We slept at the zone leaders apartment!
Montpellier is a pretty nice place that sits on the coast; we didn't
have a chance to take pictures, sorry! Fun fact: Remi Gaillard, my
favorite Frenchman ever, is from Montpellier. Look him up on YouTube
if you don't know who he is. Maybe I'll meet him someday.

The next day we went to IKEA in the morning, and bought a couch, a
bed, a table, and chairs. It was probably the biggest purchase I've
made in my life (well, it's not even my money). We squeezed all the
stuff into our car, then went back to Beziers. The Metcalfes had
prepared some lunch for us (I flippin love senior couples) and we got
to work in their apartment. They helped us out, and we were able to do
it pretty quickly!

That night we drove to Toulouse and had some time to eat dinner before
sleeping at some elders apartment. In this equipe, I like seeing all
these missionaries from all over. We just have a bunch of sleepovers
and it's fun haha! But after Elder Hutchinson and I had been spending
hours in IKEA getting stuff, we decided to get some meatballs from
IKEA in Toulouse! Haha after we spent the night in Toulouse..

Foot built on top of a Hill

The next day we made a trip back to Albi! Haha I didn't even leave a
week and I already returned... But it was great! Because Albi is a
trio now, they needed another desk. So we brought one to them and ate
some lunch with them. Elder Johnson is really enjoying the trio! After
Albi we returned for Lyon, it was about a 5 hour drive. But it was
sick! We got to drive through some really cool places and see a lot!

Return to Albi

There's this place called "Le Puy en Velay." It's this cool valley and
in the middle of it is a big rock and they've built stuff on it. We
stopped and ate some dinner there. I didn't get a very good picture of
it, but it's a super cool place!

Le Puy En Velay

L'HÔPITAL FRANÇAIS ET LA FOOT

So this last Saturday was a first for me... We went to a French
hospital! Haha but don't worry mom.. I wasn't injured.. So last
Saturday we had a samedi sportif! We went and played some soccer.
There were about 20 Africans there (a couple of them are members), a
French guy, and like 13 missionaries! Haha we split up and made four
teams and played like that.. So that was pretty fun! But near the end,
after a bunch of missionaries had left, there were 4 of us and still
20 Africans. One missionary, elder  kelsey, went up to head the ball
but collided heads with one of the guys.. And so he split his eyebrow
open and was bleeding. Elder Hutchinson and I went with him and his
comp to the hospital. He got stitches! And while we were at the
hospital, Hutch wanted to get his leg checked out cause he hurt it
last week. So we did that! Haha it was an adventure.. But it went
smoothly, and we finished it off by all getting some McDonald's
together :)

Hospital trip (that's Elder Hutchinson)

D'AUTRES CHOSES

We went to church yesterday.. It's weird being in a ward again! Haha
there's so many people.. In a branch it's super easy to learn
everyone's names in a week or two, but here it's gonna take a transfer
or two haha! But I met some really cool members! I'm excited to be
here!

Tonight we're heading off to Nice for moving some apartments... Should
be dope 😎

I love you all! Have a great week!!