Jakes Journey to France

L'Entrecôte and GenCon

Bonjour everyone!

So last Monday like I mentioned, we went to dinner at l'entrecôte with Jeff and Paul, the two Americans. Jeff is a member and Paul isn't. Because we translated for them on Sunday they offered to take us out to dinner on Monday. I didn't really know what l'entrecote was (it means like meat from the rib, which I already knew, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into). The restaurant opened up at 7:15PM, and at 6:45 there was already a line. Fortunately on a Monday night there isn't too many people, but apparently on Saturday, there are easily 50 people waiting in line 30 minutes before it opens up. It's a nice restaurant with multiple levels and tables, and it fills up quick. There's only one thing on the menu: steak. The only thing that the waitress asked us was how we want our steak cooked. They start you off with a salad (which was simple yet good) and then they bring out a plate with lots of fries and your initial steak. I can honestly testify that those fries are the best fries in the world! Never before have I tasted fries so good.. it had the perfect combination of crunchy and soft, and the taste was impeccable. The fries are also bottomless, so you can always get more. They put the initial slices of steak on your plate, and then your second steak on a platter in the middle of the table with the buttery sauce that you can pour over your steak and fries... not to mention, we were in line pretty early so we got some good seats on the third level with a nice view of the middle area of Bordeaux. 

 Entrecôte

In the end, it was one of the best dining experiences I've had in France. 

And plus it was such a great evening spent with Jeff and Paul! They're two business men that are here teaching and a private business school, so I really enjoyed talking with them. Paul, who is unfamiliar with a mission, was super impressed at what we do! Haha he was saying that at 20 years old he still was just messing around and not doing much with his life. 

Thank you Jeff and Paul!!

On Tuesday we went with Frere Cadeau to do some work in his garden. We went with him and our Ami Jordan. It was pretty fun! It was great being there with Jordan. I feel like our relationship with him is really good because we do a lot of other good things with him rather than just only sitting down and teaching him. He's getting involved in service in the ward, and this week we might even go get kebabs together haha. 

After that we we got home and went porting in a neighborhood for a little bit. The neighborhood was filled mostly with pessimistic, non-religious old people that just laugh when they open the door. Haha there wasn't too much success, but we did meet a cool college kid. He wasn't super interested to have us come back, but we taught him about God and invited him to ask God if he's there.. so hopefully that he did and that it will make a difference in his life, and he'll see the missionaries again in the future. 

I forgot to mention something in my email from two weeks ago.. when President Brown was talking to us at MLC, he shared a story from his mission. He had written "I can baptize" on a piece of paper and posted it to his wall. His trainer, who was a wise man, came over and crossed out the "can" on the piece of paper and instead wrote "will." President explained to us that this is faith that we need to have in our mission... instead of the "I can" faith we need to have the "I will" faith. I though it was pretty cool! It made me think of young missionaries that have seemingly unrealistic faith, but really it's the young (bleu) missionaries that work so many miracles in our mission because of the great faith that they have! 

On Wednesday we went into ville in the morning to do what we call a "Mount Thou" experience. I think I mentioned it in my email a few weeks ago, but basically we go to  a high spot where we can see our sector and we pray. We pray to be able to have the faith necessary so that we can find a family. President brown promised every area in the mission that we will be able to find a family that will be ready to hear the gospel. So now we're trying our hardest to find that family! 

Later that evening we taught a new guy named Florent. Florent is a really intelligent guy but he's pretty open. And he's also French! He was very respected and he seemed pretty happy that we would give him a  little tour of the chapel. He said that he accepted the Book of Mormon the first time because we gave it with a heartfelt offer. He said he will read it and pray about it. A member named Stephane was there with us and I haven't mentioned much about him.. but Stephane is a really nice member that helps us out so much! He's about 30 and he served a mission. He's been a member for about 6 years. The missionary that found him was one of my MTC teachers so that was cool to see that connection. 

Thursday was district meeting and it was pretty fun. Especially with the nachos for lunch haha. After that we met with Emmanuel to work on some genealogy stuff, then we went out to Lyon on the plane. Lately I've started disliking airports.. I think I take them for granted but I just hate waiting in the lines for what seems like ages haha but the one hour plane ride is not bad. It's better than an 8 hour train ride. 

Random story: when we were getting off plane and headed into ville, Elder Hall was like "what do you want to eat?" So I was like "Mexican!" Haha mostly as a joke because Mexican food in France is rare because these frenchies can't handle any spicy food.. so instead we went to Burger King in the huge Lyon mall, and it turns out that they are putting a real Mexican taco burrito place right next to Burger King! I don't want to be disrespectful or sacrilegious, but I took that as a nice tender mercy from our Heavenly Father! Haha that Mexican place will be frequented often by missionaries. 

Bordeaux with Elder Hall

Friday we had our exchange. Originally we were going to help a family move some stuff like an hour or two, but then we realized the task would take a lot longer. Long story short, my days of being a moving elder were once relived, but instead of moving apartments, we moved a house of a non member family from Ireland, and it took us from 9:30AM to about 9:00PM. It was long and tiring and I'm still sore from the lifting, but it was so much fun! I went on exchange with elder Landry, who is one of the only three missionaries in the mission that are is older than me Haha. I feel so ancient. But it was super fun to do that. By the end of the day, it was elder hall and I, the assistants, the secretary, and the two ZLs in Lyon, plus an American member. So we got the job done and the family was super grateful! The family knows the missionaries and isn't super interested in the gospel.. but service can go a long way! 

Saturday we returned home to Bordeaux, and by the time we finally got back from the airport we went straight to the chapel to go watch general conference! I love general conference. Sunday we spent all at the chapel as well with some members watching conference. We were able to watch all the sessions in English :) no offense to the French, I just naturally prefer it in English because of the tone of the voices!

One of my favorite talks was President Nelsons on joy.. I thought it was so great! It made me reflect on my life and my mission a bit and to think about the joy that I have in this life. The joy I get from living this gospel is great! I was studying more on joy this morning, and I came across the scripture in Luke where he angel announces "good tidings of great joy." This joy is literally Jesus Christ! It can still be a joy in our lives if we just put our faith to the test and try it :) 

McDo with Elder Landry

Love you all, have a great week!!