12/30

ATTENTION!!!!!

Seeing you guys on Skype was pretty cool! And its sweet that mom has her hearing aid now!

That's super weird that Bradley and Andrew are growing up so fast. The jump between 12 and 14 is HUGE. and the jump from 10 to 12 is HUGE too! I don't think the jump from 19 to 21 is that big. I don't know if its weirder that I'll be home in 5 months, or that I'll be 21 in 3... SO WEIRD.

So on Christmas we had lunch at a Tahitian family's house and we had TONS of raw fish and caviar. She also made me tartiflette tahiti style and then she pulled out the most cake I have ever seen and then she pulled out waffles and whipped cream. So after I stuffed myself with the food, I ate a whole plate of cake and waffles and ice cream. I had no choice. She was super stubborn and forced us to eat SOOO much.

The next day we went to lunch and it was a seafood buffet! We had shrimp, crawdads, oysters. and other unknown seafood, but the weird thing is that we had sea snails. They were not very good at all. We also had lamb and escargots. I don't know how french peeps eat so much!

Overall it was a pretty awesome week. We also had a super awesome Sunday. We set a baptismal date with Madison for Jan 18th. She's really shy and lives pretty far away. So we have got a lot of work to do. So pray for that.

I bought myself a page-a-day calender and 6 pairs of socks. I'm kinda scared to go spend all my money, but I know I need to, and that mom kinda wants me to. I want to buy a new suit because my suits are gettin toe up, but I want regular clothes too. Its all expensive.

We found quite a few potential amies this week. So things are getting good. People are coming back home from vacation.

Does Bradley still use my dakine backpack? because I want that back when I get home. and all my hats.

 

My friend Kate told me that she watched the video of us skyping.  What did I say in the video? 

Well I don't have that much to say, I talked to you guys half way through the week. 

Its starting to get really really cold, but it hasn't snowed yet. It snowed once while I was in Mantes.

Skype on Christmas Eve

3 Generation Photo

In William's mission if you train someone you are referred to as their "father" and if that person becomes a trainer, that makes you a "grandfather", so this is William and the missionary he trained, with the missionary that elder is now training, so  3 generation photo!

12/23

Hey everyone.. well first of all for the skype call... I need to know if it will work on Christmas Eve again.. around 6:30 here.. so I think like 9:30 there. Srsly let me know asap.. because if Melanee isn't there, or if you guys are going to the airport or something that would be super lame.

So the holiday season is super awesome, but super hard. So the rest of the year everyone says "I'm busy" and now that no one is busy, everyone is either out of town, or super stoked that they are free that they just want to sit around and watch tv. All of the investigators from last transfer are out of town.  So to get in to the spirit of Christmas president has suggested that we go offer to sing Christmas songs with families while we are porting. Pretty much no one wants to here us sing. One time I was getting tired of people not wanting to listen to us sing, so I just said.. "ok elder, this house we are going to straight carol"... as soon as they open the door, start singing "Away in a Manger", so we did that. We got out the first line.. "au loin dans l'étable...." and the woman said "c'est bon, au revoir!!!!" and slammed the door.  She said "that's good, bye." It was sooo funny but sad.

So you know how everyone says don't get into cars with people you don't know? and you know how everyone jokes about people offering people candy... well elder moffitt and I got kidnapped this week. So I asked S**** where the tram line was and all of a sudden we're talking about how he is more christian than us because he follows the law of Moses and stuff like that and then before I knew it we were in a car with them and they shared some candy with us. They were actually pretty nice dudes. They gave us a ride back to centreville. You cant really get mad at them cuz like they were just tryna do some member missionary work. It was just in an aggressive and rude way. They even gave me a coran. 

Another pretty cool thing happened. We met these 2 college guys. One of then was giving me the stink eye from down the road and I was like "wow whats this guy's deal?" and when he finally got in speaking distance he asked if we were Mormon. He was once a foreign exchange student in Utah and stayed at an LDS home. He said he loves them so much. He didn't know that the church was over here. he didn't even believe that we have a chapel. or 60 members. He is going on vacation to Asia, and then when he gets back he said he totally wants to come to church with us and its pretty good because both of the dudes spoke English very well. which is good because elder moffitt is still learning french and its nice when they can understand English too so if you have problems you can just say it in English.

I don't know if I'll buy anything for Christmas, because all of the sales are in January. So I'll just go all out then and by go all out I dont really mean that. I am going to get a couple things. 

This morning we played soccer with a less active member and his friends. I pwned them like noobs but I am really really heavy on my feet now. I'm gonna work on that. 

The ward likes me decently well. I got to give a little testimony/introduction thing on Sunday and everyone liked it. The relief society here gave us a huge bag of presents, but someone told me its all chocolate. haha. That isn't good cuz I'm trying to get fit. wanna here something horrible? last Christmas I was up to 190! Right now I am a lil over 180. I want to get home at 175, so not very much relief society candy for me. 

so I'm having a lot of fun and feeling really good. I have been feeling God's love a lot lately and its just a really good feeling. It fills you up.

so let me know if skype works.

Spud and I email. He's doing good. He's training a thai guy who was waiting for a visa.

I've always thought it was a bad idea to have fish hooks that close to your head.  It's pretty cold but its not that bad. It feels kinda nice.

12/17

yo, don't freak out...

 

so, as you know, yesterday we had the Christmas zone conference and so that means today is our Pday.. sorry I couldn't let you know but we found out Sunday night that is was going to be Monday and we were all kinda like ummm our parents are going to be worried. 

 

Also, don't freak out about the letter, I got it.. so we got letters from our family.. (most of us) and then everyone got a little card from Elder Dussere's mom. She wanted  to send a little card to everyone. so I got my letter and went in the hallway and read it and then put it in my pocket and started reading the little card. That's when she took the picture. As soon as that happened I was like ummm that's going to be a problem, I hope they don't think I didn't read the letter! So I did get it and I loved it. Everyone thinks dad is funny.  I let them read the first sentence. (I asked him if he got our letter.)

 

So at the Christmas conference I was able to get pres to do the endorsement thing for SVU. So now I need the bishop and stake president's address, phone number, and email, then I can fax that to SVU. (and I emailed Camryn Andreason.  She emailed me back.) (He's reapplying for SVU)

 

Yeah I remember Quincy Douby. He was AWFUL. I think about the Kings all the time. haha Remember when Ron Artest wanted to be called Bill Artest, or something like that? What a weird dude.  And then Garcia broke his arm doing pushups. So many funny memories.

 

So Sister Poznanski didn't come to our interviews last transfer, so she wasn't able to take pictures. And then they want to a different Thanksgiving. So I hadn't seen her for a while.  (I had asked why he was never on the mission Facebook site that the mission president's wife puts a lot of pictures on each conference.)

 

So in my new ville (it's awesome) there are some cool things happening. We've got some cool people we're teaching and they are actually progressing and coming to church. I like my comp. He just got finished training. I just want to have a great time because last transfer was really hard for me and he said it was hard for him too.  So like.. we're doing well. He is from Sandy and has played lacrosse his whole life. He just graduated from high school. Today is his birthday! So yeah Elder M***** is my tenth comp and I'm in my 6th ville. I don't really mind moving around often, but its a really big hastle to pack and move and when I've been in villes for 3 transfer I feel like it is a lot easier because you know the members, and they trust you, and you know the area well. When you serve for 2, by time you figure everything out, you're out of there.

 

So, Christmas is really, really awesome. I've always loved Christmas but this is honestly the first year where I've actually felt the spirit of Christmas. I have had a ton of spiritual moments lately. Like not crazy miracles, but moments when I feel God's love. Like I'll be singing a Christmas song or reading the scriptures and I can honestly say that I am feeling God's amazing love for me.. and us.. he loves us SO much and it has been wonderful feeling that so often. I always knew that at Christmas we celebrated Christ's birth but until these last couple weeks I didn't fully understand how much it means that Christ came to earth. God has a perfect plan and the key part is Jesus Christ's atonement. So pretty much the most important event in the universe and in all eternity is Christ's life. So when he was born I am sure that choirs of angels sang. I know that Jesus, our savior, someone who loves us so much that he was willing to suffer and die for us, came to earth, and so obviously, the moment he came to earth was like very very very important.  I love talking to people about that and I am so grateful that I can speak French to these french people so that I can try to help them see how important Christmas is.

 

I really have no clue when we are going to do skype, but I'll let you know. I don't remember my username or password tho. Can you send me those again? (I don't remember them either!)

 

So lately president has been like super joke-y with me. It's getting kinda odd. He does stuff like call me out at zone conference so everyone laughs and looks at me and he'll text me after ten thirty just to try and be funny. He's a really funny guy and I like him a lot. 

 

So everyone did a gift exchange yesterday. The gift I gave was a stress ball. Its not a very nice gift but its a nice thing to have. In the box I wrote some cool quotes and some scriptures about being calm. But anyways, the sister missionary who got it HATED it. She started using it right away. I got a nutella cookbook of all kinds of expensive and complicated things you can do with nutella.

 

I got to see a lot of my old comps at the Christmas conference and a lot of my friends. I liked that.

Special Christmas Zone conference

We didn't get an e mail from Elder Guymon today because he had a special zone conference.  The mission president asked all the parents to write an encouraging letter and send it to him and he would pass them out at this conference.  This first photo is William and his companion reading their letters.






Don't get this look, but do remember he used to always do some kind of look when I'd point a camera at him, so I wont look too much into it and just think he's silly.

 

This is the whole zone with the mission president and his wife.  I can see William right smack in the middle, with a huge smile.  He looks photo shopped in or he just has a huge head.  So good to see him with that awesome smile!!!!

12/9

so GREAT NEWS!  I am not sick anymore!  I feel better for the most part.  Remember last week how I told you that my comp snores really weirdly? He has done that every night since. I use sleeping pills now and they knock me out so fast, but its better than not sleeping (like I have for a week and a half).

 

So other news-  I got transferred. My new ville is Reims. My companion will be Elder Moffitt. My adress is 135, boulevard pommery, 51100 Reims. I'm really excited. I've heard good things from Elder Pieper about that place. All of my friends in the mission are going home.  It makes me sad. I dont really know anyone anymore and the mission is so big that its impossible to see the peeps that I do know.

 

So last night was a choir performance and a baptism for the other equipe here. We have to do them in Versailles cuz there is no font anywhere else. We invited a bunch of amies to the chior performance and baptism. None of them came, but it was a super good concert. I felt the spirit so strong. Since it was a stake performance I got to see everyone from Cergy again. super cool.  At the baptism I was asked to give a talk on the holy ghost AND on baptism.  I was the only talk, so that was weird, but I think it was good. All of the members enjoyed it.

 

I spent 3 euros on an erasable pen and I lost it for 2 weeks, but this week I found it in my drawer. It was one of the highlights of the week just cuz I really like that pen.

 

so Elder Smith is a trainer.. so I am going to have a Grandson in the mission.

 

Our phone didnt have a code one it. I think people just steal phones because you can just put a chip in the phones here and they work. Its not like Verizon.

 

I'm very very happy to be transferred. I have been living in the red zone of stress and no sleep for like this whole transfer.

 

That's cool about all of the SVU stuff. I want the glasses when I get home. I've been talking to max doxey and I'm really exited to go back. I was reading about the elagibility requirements for D3 and it didnt really say anything about 24 crédits. Can you check one more time for me? I haven't talked to my counselor yet..

 

I've been emailing my friend Jefferson Chandler and he said he would be roomies with me.

 

We'll talk more about that for the Christmas call.

 

So I was thinking about Bradley and Andrew and how big they are and I dont like that. I could probably still beat them up tho.

 

 And dad is kind of right about buying all of my clothes here. I'm only going to buy a couple pants.

 

We got the car back and its been really nice because now members invite us over. So that's good, but I'm leaving, so that's bad.

 

For Christmas, can I get a Rudy Gay jersey? I never told you, but he is my favorite current player. Elder Smith and I talked about him all the time so that is mega cool that he's a King! (maybe just a shirsy).

12/2

um yeah its December already WUUUT?

 

So this week was very odd. It started off kinda good.  I finished off my exchanges, so that was good. We did the last one here and we did a double exchange. That means that they both came here. So we had 6 missionaries in our teeny apartment.  Last Monday night our stove broke and our toilet is kinda broken and our floor is broken and we have tons of other problems. So the good news is is that we got permission to get a new apartment. So the hunt is on.  I guess I'll probably be transferred by time we get a new one tho.

 

So I woke up during the exchange with THE WORST THROAT EVERRRR! It felt like I had tonsillitis again.  I had that the rest of the week, even right now, but I also had a fever and a cold this week.

 

So this week was Thanksgiving and we had a potluck thing in Rouen with a bunch of people in the zone. Our zone is too big distance-wise for us to all get together, but it was super hard to make things because of our broken oven and my sickness, but we mashed 12 kilos of potatoes. It was wayyyy too much. There were only 14 people at Thanksgiving. So we counted wrong.

 

On the way home from Thanksgiving I accidentally left the cell phone on the train coming home.  I thought it was in my pocket, but it wasn't. So we had to go to the lost and found in Paris to see if it was there and it wasn't. So we're living without a phone. Every single appointment for the rest of the week fell through because we couldn't call and confirm them. So Elder P got pretty mad at me. Which makes sense.

 

But the good news is that on Sunday we went to see one of our amies who is never home and he was there and let us in and was interested. He works next to where they are building the temple and his boss is Mormon so they've talked a little about it. So that's really good.

 

So the last 3 nights in a row I have been woken up by the SCARIEST noise ever! Its really loud and sounds like a gnome is standing right next to me and squealing. It doesn't sound human. I ask Elder P if he hears it and he says no and that I'm crazy. So that makes me mad. So last night I was hearing the noise and I was wide awake and really scared and I heard Elder P roll over and start scratching himself so I knew he was awake and I heard it again. So I asked him if he heard it and he said no and I was like... theres no way. So then it happened again and he was like...oh, that, that's me... I've been doing that with my mouth and I have no control of that.... so like.. I don't know what I'm going to do bout it. the good thing is that the last 3 nights he hasn't snored.

 

Besides that everything's going good. I am not that cold, but I'm still sick. I have these super fancy cough drops that kinda work.

 

Besides that everything's great. I'm pretty happy!

11/25

So this was like one of the weirdest and busy, but not busiest, weeks ever. I had to do 3 exchanges last week, back to back to back. My first exchange was in Caen. The bus ride took sooooooooooooo long.  It was with the Zone Leaders-  Miles Adams. Don't you know his mom from the internet?  So it was a super short exchange because of really weird train times. We taught a lesson to one of his amies and then went to a huge ward meeting for his ward about the ward mission plan for next year. So I pretty much just sat and listened.  They had some good ideas. Then we spent the night and then went home. Their apartment is like a castle!

 

My second exchange was with Elder Well's companion. He lives in our apartment so I got to stay in Mantes and I already know him pretty well. He is a super super super nice guy. His name is Elder W___. It was a pretty good exchange. We taught pretty well together.

 

My third exchange was in Rouen. It was with Elder C_____. He was in the district last transfer, but it was pretty good. We did a lot of finding together and talked a lot. He is a really good guy too. The cool thing about the finding is that we actually found people, so that's really good.

 

This upcoming week I still have 2 exchanges to do. I wish I wouldn't have gotten so far behind!

 

So French people don't celebrate Thanksgiving. Its an American Holiday.... but so half of our zone is getting together and we are having a big feast together.. and it is IMPOSSIBLE to find turkeys... I don't think they exist here, but its sad because our zone is sooo spread out that we cant physically all get together. So we are in two groups.

 

I really miss Hmong people's egg rolls.  When I was a kid I didn't like them and never ate them and then well I was like 18 I caved and had one and it was SOOO GOOD! I wasted my childhood not eating them. I feel like I did that with a lot of foods. like tortilla soup. and refried beans.

 

I got the Christmas card and it was pretty weird. First of all cuz we have never done that before and  second of all Bradley looks like a man.

 

So of the people we found 2 weeks ago, only one stayed around. When he came to Church he was talking to this one guy a lot and I asked if they knew each other already... the member said "yeah, he was my philosophy professor in college" whaaaaat!

 

So P____, my old ami, who got baptized this week, asked me to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really cool  and he signed up to clean the chapel this week. That was cool that he volunteered to do that.

 

I bought a sweater today. It was 50 percent off. A couple weeks ago I was looking at them at a cheap store and they were just really bad so I ended up not getting one. The one I got today was cheaper than at the cheap store and it is way better. So I'm happy. And warm.

 

That's good about Bradley getting good at bball. I cant wait to get back and play some pick up games at the stake center with him.

 

We don't do anything for Pday cuz its too cold and there's nothing to do.

 

Thanks for everything!

11/18

sooooooo I don't know where to start.

 

This week was pretty good. We found some sweet new people to teach, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them again.

 

This week we had interviews with president. He asked us to bring our planner cuz he said he was going to go through them. So that made me kinda nervous. Not that I don't plan, but I was just pretty scared of him looking at a day and being like... so why didn't you meet your goals for today, did you not have enough faith?" but he ended up not even looking at my planner. We talked for a LONG time and it was mostly him talking to me about me. It was pretty great to know that he knows me very well and cares about me personally, because we have like 250 missionaries now. I really like president.

 

So Sunday was a big day for me. P___(the man whose sister brought him to Church) got baptized. The other equipe taught him this transfer. The night before the baptism was pretty chaotic because we (mostly the other equipe) had to get everyone ride to Versailles. There is not a baptismal font in Mantes so we have to go there and everyone already had rides with everyone else but the only problem was that 5 people didn't have rides- the missionaries and P____, but eventually it worked out and we were able to all get there.

 

Right after the baptism I went to go pull the plug of the font and the Versailles elders were like "oh don't pull the plug, there's going to be another baptism here tonight." I asked who it was and they where like "some guy from A______" and I was like WUUUUUT because the guy in the wheelchair that I taught just moved to Anthony and it was a real bummer because he was all ready to be baptized and then he moved. So I asked them who it was and they said "oh, his name is C______.."  So it was my ami!!! I was so happy. So two people that I taught last transfer got baptized yesterday.

 

So something that our ward started doing that is pretty cool is we have some people sing a prelude before sacrament meeting. Our sacrament meeting is last, so sometimes when people come in there is a lot of noise. When someone is singing everyone is usually quiet and respectful. Yesterday, P____  sang the prelude. He is a Professional singer and what I mean by that is he has a cd, but it was pretty cool that he was willing to get involved already.

 

People in France are very, very worried that France hasn't qualified for the World Cup, but I was walking past a place that had soccer playing and Franck Ribery (that guy with all the scar) scored suuuuuuch an awesome goal.

 

A bunch of French people think that Thanksgiving is a lame Holiday, but it isn't. It was announced that this year we are not going to play turkeybowl, so that means I wont be able to go for back to back titles.

 

I think I am going to have room in my suitcase on the was home because I don't think anyone is going to want socks with holes in the bottoms or stained white shirts or beat up ripped Church pants or worn out Church shoes. There's no way I'm bring those home. And I'm not going to get very many clothes, just a couple pantalon and some shoes. I think I like American stuff better and it would be cheaper to get it there, but if I do a massive shopping spree and get a bunch of stuff at the same time that just wouldn't be good at all.

 

I think for right now my college plan is to go to SVU in July and then that year. Then transfer afterwards. I love SVU so much but I don't really think it is the best option to graduate and get a degree from. If I get some kinda degree at SVU it will be way easier to transfer. I kinda want to go to a CSU or UC just cuz I really like California.

11/11

So it is really, really cold now in Mantes. Today when we went running there was frost on the cars and ground. I feel really bad for my Tahitian companion because he HATES cold. He said it never gets below 20 degrees all year there. So he is miserable and cranks the heater up super high in the middle of the night.

 

So my formation this week was pretty good. The topic I chose was "try your best" I feel like it went pretty good but I was pressed for time. One of the assistants sat in and he said it was really well done. Not that I'm trying to kiss up to Elder Coffey (who is one of my best friends on the mission) but he is someone who gives very good formations.

 

Right now in the mission the assistants to the présidant are my best friend in the mission and my 3rd best friend in the mission. So everything's great.

 

I speak to my comp in French. He really wants me to teach him English so I'm tryna.

 

We found a Tahitian family and it was actually really cool how we did. So we were porting in the freezing and we were like.. umm let's get out of here, so we started walking downhill and he's like nope, so he walked uphill and there was this old man that we talked to and he was like.. "oh I know some Tahitians", so he gave us directions on how to find their  house and we went there and they were super happy to see Elder Piere and they gave us sooooo much food!

 

I pretty much almost never get mail anymore. I got lainie's letter. She didnt tell me you gave her a stamp.. when and how did you do that?

 

I think I'm just gonna start buying some clothes this January, but I don't know what my style is, or what is cool in America...

pictures

 Elder Garner (holding the #3)'s parents sent these photos because they knew Elder Guymon was in them. 

11/4

Hey everyone. So let me tell you about my francophone (only french speaking) companion. He is from Tahiti. He loves surfing and playing ukulele. He is the only active member in is family.  Yeah, he's pretty cool.

 

So at the beginning of the transfer we divided up all of the investigators that we taught and the ones that the old equipe (the people who got transferred out) taught and right when Elder Piere got here pretty much all of our amies dropped us. And all of the amies that Elder Wells has now are progressing. They even fixed a baptismal date with one of them. I'm super happy but I'm super jelly. but whatever. it is good.

 

So since I'm district leader, I have to take in the district's stats and do a little report on Sunday nights and like I had no training or anything. All there is is a little piece of paper in the area book that says "district leader responsibilities." I hope I did everything right. And tomorrow at district meeting I have to give my first formation. I kinda have an idea of what I'm going to do, but I'm so nervous. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I have no clue what happened to my bed sheets. In the MTC they gave us some clean ones every week. The first day we came into France Sister Poznanski gave us new ones. Every apartment has sheets and extra sheets. I use my own pillow case though and french pillows are square, so I have to shove it in a rectangular case and then it puffs up super big. My bed right now has a grove in the middle from where I sleep (and everyone else for the last million years) so I feel like I'm sleeping in a ditch. And I sleep on the top bunk.

 

On Saturday afternoon the zone leaders(who are in Caen) called me and while they where taking to me he asked, "hey is it raining like super hard there?" and it totally wasn't. It was just kinda broken clouds and blue skies. That night we were on  a bus and it started raining, like the hardest I have ever seen in my life. It was like a solid column of water falling on the bus. So I guess that was the storm that he was talking about... It was really impressive how hard it was raining and we were on the bus. The other equipe was up in the hills with no chance of survival and no umbrellas or raincoats, just sweaters. So I felt really bad for them.

 

I don't know if I've already told you about the recent convert already but we saw him twice this week. He kinda has the same problem as mom because he believes everything he reads on Twitter.

 

So this week I was having a normal day, feeling good, and then out of nowhere I sneezed like 20 times in a row and got I gigantic headache and runny nose. It was the strangest thing that ever happened to me and it wasn't snot, it was like clear, cold water.

 

I don't need a Thanksgiving package... but what am I going to do for Christmas? I don't want to be spoiled but should I start buying some clothes for when I come home? You told me that Bradley and Andrew jacked my clothes.

 

 

10/28

hey everybody! This week was pretty awesome. Some good things happened, but it went by really really fast.

 

So there is a man that we have taught a couple times who live in a town called Ho***n. It is like on the other side of the galaxy. It takes like 2 hours to get there. So we don't really go see him that often just cuz its super hard to get out there. I think I've told you about him. He is half paralyzed and his sister joined the church but they didn't know she lived wayyy out there (with her brother) but it is easier for them to get to the A******y ward than to ours cuz there is a train to Paris and there is not a train to Mantes, but anyway he really wants to get baptized and has been taught everything. He is ready and prepared to keep all the commandments. His cell phone doesn't work right now because he ran out of credit, so he cant make calls, he can only answer. His sister has been on vacation all month and doesn't answer or call him because of roaming fees. So this Wednesday we finally called him and asked how its going. He said that it had been going bad. He had not had electricity since that last Saturday and he couldn't really do anything in the dark and his food was going bad. He cant leave his house because of his paralysis, so he said he didn't know what to do so he just prayed and prayed that we would call him so we could come help him. Well, we came by as early as we could the next day and all we had to do was flip the breaker, but it was something he couldn't do because of his wheelchair. (I also think he didn't really know what to do) but long story short.. he prayed for the missionaries to call him and help him, and we did.  It reminds me of the conference talk by Elder Nelson "ask the missionaries, they can help you." I remember so many times our power would go out and dad would say "I'm going to teach you how to flip a breaker" and he would make us go outside and watch him do it. Thanks dad.

 

Another thing that dad taught me really helped this week. Our toilet keeps acting funky. Sometimes its doesn't flush and sometimes it doesn't stop flushing. I remember that dad taught me pretty much how toilets work. He also taught me the 4 rules of plumbing-

 

1)boss is a jerk

2)pay day is on Friday

3)water runs down hill

4)keep your hands out of your mouth.

 

So the dead cat is still there, but it is crushed up against the curb now, but like right next to it today there was a cat sitting there with a blank stare on its face... drooling. It gave me the willies!

 

So, Elder Wells mom sent him an issue of "LDS Living" magazine. There is a big section about the church in France, but there is also a big ad for SVU and there is a big picture with a bunch of my old friends on it. It made me really want to go back!!!

 

 So I got some kinda big news.. its pretty weird. Elder Wells and I are not staying together  =( we're both staying here, but we're each getting new comps. My new comp is named J***n P***e.  Never heard of him. But also weirder news... so as I was reading the transfers I saw something next to my name that said "DL" and I knew that wasn't right. If someone gets called district leader, the night before the Assistants call them and tell them. so when I read that and I called them and said "yo what up with dat?" (I am really good friends with Elder C****y) and he was like "ummmm yeah we didn't call you last night but... yeah..." so I'm district leader now... boo

 

I'm pretty upset that you guys didn't tell me you broke the Jeep....

 

and that's pretty cool about Joseph! I don't really know a lot of missionaries anymore because theres so many new ones... so I'm glad that the ones that he talked to knew me and liked me.. cuz that could have been awkward if not.

 

I want to get a truck, if you don't mind. There are NO trucks in Europe and I miss them so bad. Maybe that could be a homecoming present =p. no jk. 

 

So its pretty crazy that another month has gone by.

 

Would we save money if after I went to SVU I transferred to a UC or CSU?

10-21

 

So this week was good. Things are starting to roll.

 

That's pretty sweet about Bradley scoring the game winning goal, but its too bad he hates soccer. I am going to need him to train with me when I get back from my mission for that month before I go to Virginia. Sorry I didnt say last week but thats super cool that Bradley made the A team, but I could still ham on him. There is no way that he can take me. I'll slam lay up in his face.

 

That's pretty cool that the home teachers came over. We get asked to do people's home teaching all the time and I'm kinda like "... do you want us to find investigators or not?"

 

There is a man that lives 2 hours away in a tiny town. He has been taught by missionaries living in a different sector, but they're like "he's too far and he actually lives in your boundries. " so they passed him to us. He's super nice. He is in a wheelchair because half  of his body is paralyzed. He really wants to be baptized, but he cant because he cant come to church. (He doesnt have a car) but in a couple weeks he is going to move into Paris. He'll be able to go to church there easly because of the metro. So we're going to prepare him to be baptized here but he'll do it in a different ward.

 

The man who came to church last week is really cool. He was a gospel singer and he gave us CDs. He came to stake conference with us in Versailles and he really like it. Tonight we are teaching him at the bishop's house and doing FHE.

 

So yeah stake conference was yesterday and it was pretty cool. It was across the street from the chateau de versailles just like last year and the theme was "the search for excellence." Its was pretty spiritual. There was a choir that had the missionaries who serve in Versailles in it and they sang very VERY high. I was talking to the missionaries after about it and the sisters said that they couldnt go that high? They just opened their mouths, but it was a good choir. It was also cool to see pretty much the whole ward from Cergy. and P_____ and F_______ were there. and F_______ got on one knee and kissed my knuckles. (He said he really missed me) but it was good to see that they're still active and going strong.

 

Also when we were driving there we got to see the area where they have started work on the temple. it is a VERY nice neighborhood. I hope it looks really pretty, but it is also really close to a busy road.

 

The bishop rented a car to drive us there. It was a Renault Clio. It was super super small and we fit 5 huge guys in it. Let's just say there was no air or space or comfort, but it was nice of him to do.

 

There's not much more to say. I'm almost a hundy percent sure that I will be staying here for next transfer.

 

I thought of something really funny that would make you guys laugh really hard, but I dont remember, so now i feel dumb.

 

How do you make dirty shirts white? I feel like if I can do that then I dont need to buy new ones.

 

I feel like I dont even know Andrew or Bradley anymore.

 

So I don't think you understand when I tell you how GHETTO this place is. The other day there was a knife fight out in the streets.  There are some areas that are super nice, like mansions, but most is just not good. I don't know how to beat around the bush--- it just aint pretty or clean. There are  2 dead cats down the street from our apartment... from last week.

 

Don't worry about me. I take multivitamins everyday, so I prob wont get sick and we usually stay away from knife fights. So I feel like it'll all be good.

 

 

10/14

Sooo same thing as last week, our pday got broken up again. We had a pretty good week last week! The reason that it was so good is that it set us up to have a good week THIS week. Also we saw a really cool thing happen. There was a member who was inspired after General Conference and invited her brother to come to church. He was there and during Sunday School.  He asked a lot of questions and was super involved. His questions were really good. The topic was "the goal of life" and he said that he was wondering about that. We told him that we can receive guidance from prophets and apostles and he was like "... I thought those were all done, do you believe that God calls prophets today?" He wanted us to answer his questions but he didn't want to make a scene so we set up an appointment for this week with his nephew (who got home from his mission 2 months ago).

 

So I forgot to tell you last week about what happened at zone conference. Do you remember the show "Scrubs" that Melanee used to watch? The main character JD has these "visions" where he sees a couple seconds into the future and they are USUALLY something really weird happening. Well the night before zone conference I had one of those and it was of me leading the music. When they passed out the programs I opened it up and started reading who would do what and I saw my name for directing the music. I remember when I was like 14 there was a mutual activity with Lisa Griggs and it seemed like they didn't have anything to do so they were like "hey, we can teach everyone how to lead music..." I am sooooooooo glad that that stuck with me because the zone conference was actually a 4 zone conference. So I woulda looked like a noob in front of like a hundy missionaries. I am pretty good friends with one of the assistants to the president, and he is the one who chose me to do it. He claimed that he "thought it would be funny". THANK YOU LISA GRIGGS!!!

 

So this month is super tight on money and I did some unwise spending early in the month (haircut and stamps) and we are at like 0 dollars. We are mega poor. Last week we were going to be ok because a member invited us over to eat... but it ended up falling through not that it was there fault or anything but it was just an unfortunate event. So we had to get super creative with the weird stuff in the back of our cupboards.

 

So every week after district meeting we have a district meal and every equipe brings a part. Last week we were assigned to bring the drinks and it since we have like no money we were like uhhhh what do we do???? Then I remembered that I had kool-aid that I was saving for a rainy day and this was a rainy day (it was raining.) so we used that and everyone was super happy and loved it.

 

So do you remember the Chastons? The senior couple that you love a lot. Elder Chaston had a heart attack on Thursday, but its super lucky because the city that he is in, Nancy, has a super good heart doctor, but just remember to pray for him!!

 

So about the car..... so when I first got here and I was talking to Elder Wells, one of the first things he said to me was "a couple weeks ago our car broke down, but it should be back soon". Welllllll not even a lil bit. We have been playing phone tag between us, the garage, and the office and finally this week they got all the paperwork and code numbers that they need. So now they can order the part. It is pretty frustrating because it has just been sitting there and they haven't been working on it and they hadn't even ordered the part. The reason that they tried to email me a hard copy of the signature was just in case I had to go and give them a hard copy. Somehow I got the duty of being the guy who keeps calling the angry repair man!! but hopefully they get the part soon and fix it soon because then we can be sooo much more mobile!

 

 

Yeah winter is starting to come! It actually snowed this week, but it was weird because it was like a sunny cold day, and then a cloud came over us and it started snowing. It is pretty cold. Elder Wells bought a coat today.

 

I bought some new socks today.

 

I saw Sister Pettingill at zone conference and she said that at the wedding reception you guys like pinned her in a corner and just bragged about how cool I am. I'm pretty sure she was exaggerating tho cuz I was like I bet that dad was just all over the meatballs.

 

So last night I had a dream that Mason was following me around and I petted him and then my hand smelled like his fur oil (in my dream) and then he started running super fast and then slowly started slowing down, then he was walking, then he laid down, then he laid on his side then he stopped breathing and died. It was a super sad nightmare. It made me miss Mason, and Sam.

 

I don't really know what will happen next transfer. I would like to stay with Elder Wells. That'd be cool, but there is for sure someone else who is gonna be in the apartment next transfer cuz Elder Baughan is going home.

 

That's cool bout Dax. Maybe he'll be able to tell me how much my diamond is worth. I hope billions.

 

Well tonight we are going to make tartiflette for the district and Pres and Souer Poznanski will be at our district meeting so I hope its good.

 

Oh, so last week we set a goal as a district to find 10 new amies. there are 5 equipes in our district so that is roughly 2 per equipe.... the sister missionaries found 5!!!! We tried really hard but only found one, but we did see a lot of good things and found a lot of potentials.

10/7

hey everyone.. sorryy this is soooooo late but the reason that it is late is at least a good reason... We had to take time out of our pday to go to some RDVs. One of the guys we are teaching is super difficult. He really wants to get baptized. The missionary that was here before me set a baptismal date with him and then the ami like dropped off the face of the earth. Then on the date that they fixed he showed up, wanting to get baptized... it doesnt work like that! but he is too tired to come to church and by too tired I mean like really really tired. He works nights in downtown Paris unloading trucks. So on Sundays he just sleeps. Its kinda hard to explain that joining our church means coming to our church. I know that if he makes a sacrifice he will get the blessings but he just wont do it, but his faith IS growing at least.

but so yeah that is why this email is so late. but at least this week started off good. Last week was great because of Zone conference and General Conference, but hard because of the same reasons as the week before- buses that dont show up, people that dont show up, etc. but zone conference was really cool! President announced a new mission goal that every equipe brings a family to Christ for Christmas. Last year around the same time it was a goal too, but I feel like this year we have better tools, and we, as a mission, are more committed. President did a really good job of giving us ways to acheive this goal. I really think it is possible if we are diligent enough. The zone conference was a 4 zone conference so there were TONS of missionaries. And Elder Smith was there. I'm really glad to see he's doing well without me! just kidding. But really it was good seeing him. I really like him.

So for General Conference they show some live, but some are recordings. On Saturday night we watched the Saturday morning session live at our church on the computer (in English) and then we spent pretty much all day Sunday at Versailles watching it (in english) and it was a really good conference! I totally agree with what President Monson said about how inspiring it was. I feel like the theme of conference was: 1. the atonement and 2. charity, patience, and acceptance and 3. missionary work. The Lord is really hastening his work and ESPECIALLY is France. It really is a great time to be a missionary. I love conference soooo much. I think my favorite talk was by Elder Dube.  I also liked Elder Caussé's talk. He's French!

 

But I think the best part about conference wasnt seeing the General Authorities, but it was seeing one of the converts that I found, taught, and helped to be baptized! She is still active and I could feel her testimony just by looking at her. I really wanted to break the rules and give her a big bear hug! Do you remember when I was in Cergy and a girl tried to kiss me and I ducked out of the way and then we went porting and 3 houses in a row were opened to us?   P________ was the first door that we knocked on and her and her daughter were baptized. Blessings of obediance! but it was so great to see her and talk to her!!!! I got to see some of the fruits of my labor during the mission and that was such a blessing.

 

I kinda want to buy some new white shirts and socks. My shoes are still holding up, but I'm pretty sure they are going to need to get bronzed after the mission, but I can get shirts and socks pretty easily.. should I just buy them?  I feel bad using personal money.

 

Yeah you should ask someone to make the owl tie!! but I dont think ill need it on the mission. Its not very professional, but I have been thinking a lot and I think I want to be like dad and only wear ties with animals on them when I get home.

 

You can/should totally send me updates, but like if a whole letter is "pavs to boyle to vlasic to patty ROOFER!!!!" then like that isnt very good, but  I want to know about what's going on! And that's crazy about Shaq! Do you think he'll go to the games?  I want to meet him!

 

Well, I really miss you guys, but I'm not homesick. I wish we would have been the type of family that says "I love you" and hugged. but really, you guys are like the best family ever. Everyone used to say "your dad is sooo cool!" and I was like "not even a little." but really I dont think that any of the times that dad and I got in a fight I was ever right. I really am blessed to be a Guymon =)

 

What did you put in the crêpes?

 

 

9/30

Sorry, my emails are going to be a lot later from now on. My companion likes doing his later in the day.

 

So when I was in St Omer my mission starting getting pretty hard... I felt like I was becomong more and more charitable and a much better teacher, but I have been finding less and less amies and the amies that I do find do not really progress. I told president that I want to be the best missionary that I can be, and ever since then things have been very, very hard. I'm not discouraéged or trying to complain, but things are very slow.  I think that God is really putting me to the test, and I hope I pass. But when I got my mission call to here I never really expected it to be easy. (not that any missions are easy)

 

We do help this man who is a recent convert. We mowed his lawn last week and this week we are cleaning his kitchen. I feel really good when I teach, and because we dont really have any amies right now it feels good to teach him and to be able to help his faith still grow.

 

This week was ward conference and it was pretty weird because there were a lot of visitors from the stake and some visitors from Cergy. Every single member from Cergy remembered me, and my name. They were all happy to see me and how I was doing.  I am really glad that I left a lasting impression on them because when I was at Cergy I was a noob! I was really happy to see them.

 

I dont want to send a short email but I dont really have any stories to tell this week. It was quite a boring week.

 

The bishop told us to visit every member in the ward (that we can) and so we set up a lot of rendez-vous with the members. I have heard that this ward is really good at doing missionary work. So hopefully we can see some fruits from doing that.

 

I haven't met anyone with Guymon as a last name, but a lot of other missionaries ask me if I know Guymons that I dont know.

 

I dont know any famous facts about the town I am in. I heard that it was voted "most ghetto town in europe"... (I really have from several semi-reliables sources)

 

 

 

Can you guys search for the curriculum for the french test so that I can know what to study in my language study. We study french for an hour a day.

9/23

my oh my I have a lot of news! So my new area is pretty sweet.  There is not a lot of french people in this ville, but it is touching Cergy so I still use the same bus pass that I had a year ago! The ward is very excited to do missionary work right. Right now like ALL of our amies have came from referrals. There are a lot of good things happening here. Yesterday at church we had to sit in a different room because there wasnt enough room in the chapel.

My new comp Elder We... is a balla shot calla! He is SWOLL. Srsly, Arney has nothing on him. He wakes up early to drink like protein energy drinks before he works out. He was trained in Cergy and he loved it. He's in his 4th transfer and he did 2 there and this is his 2nd here.  This is my 3rd young comp in a row and its really good because they have a lot of good ideas. Sometimes I go into robot mode and young missionaries are great because they rely on training and not really just repetition likes sometimes I do.

 Our apartment is very very very small. Its not like too small to function but if we dont keep clean then it is just not even good at all. I kinda knew one of the elders just from being a missionary for so long and seeing him around. He is from North Carolina and went to SVU for EFY and he is training a missionary from Ontario who is a Spanish speaker.

Elder Smith LOVED the NBA rosters and he hated all of the trades involving the nugs.

So there is a recent convert in the ward who got baptized like 3 weeks ago. He has a HUGE rock and fossil collection and he gave me a GIGANTIC diamond. It is like bigger than an american grape. (I say that because grapes here are much bigger)

That's way good that the truck got fixed and that they got to got to Alturas. I'm happy that they got some ducks. I never shot a banded duck. and I'm also happy that Andrew didnt throw up. But I'm sad about dad's shoulder. How long will it take to heal?

We live like one second away from a bball court and let me tell you, Brad is going down when I get home.

hey mom, I'm sad you had a bad week. There is something that cheers me up a lot when I'm kinda depressed and that is listening to the song "you melt the madness" by jericho road. I remember when I was young we went to a concert and they were so cool. and then when I was at svu they were less cool but still awesome. Srsly a bunch of 40 year olds who are trying to be nsync can only entertain a certain audience. but their slow stuff is really really good. and I also think about the words to the 2nd verse of "come come ye saints". but praying also works. I'm glad it got better.

Thats really awesome that Cameron is back out on his mission. Can I get his address? If he's anything like me he needs all the letters he can get. It's pretty sad. 

I'm pretty weirded out because I'm going to be able to watch hockey from this season. Well at least the playoffs. Did melanee ever buy a Lids Sharks hat?

so you know how a little while ago I was really sick of wearing church clothes. Well its way worse. I love being a missionary, but i am just so uncomfortable. I dread getting dressed in the morning.

I think it would be great for me to go to SVU at the julymester. First of all because isnt it cheaper? and also I might as well get back at school instead of sitting around on the couch in Chico dreaming about being on a mission. I dont want to be one of those guys. Do you think I could maybe even get a  job for like a month before I go out? so I can get some monayyyy?

New Area

I just looked up William's new area on Google Map and this is what popped up when I typed in his address....but the photo was taken in Oct 2012, and there is a lot of construction going on, so I think this is the apartment across the street and William lives in the new places in the photo below, which is dated 2013. 

Then I looked for the nearest Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which was only a few blocks away and looks like this-

9/16

wow this week was soooo close to being so awesome! but it was actually not very awesome. Winter hit this week. hard. Its really wet and rainy. One night we were porting in a hurricane and Elder Smith was just wearing a cotton sweater. He didn't have a umbrella or hood or anything. I had my rain coat but it had soaked through so I can only imagine that he was FREEZING. It looked like he had just came out of a swimming pool. We ported for sooo long that night and everyone was pretty nice but no one let us in or really let us talk to them.  We kept going and going and praying but it just never happened. It would have been such a cool story to be able to say that finally, at the end of the night, that we found someone, but we didn't. BUT the next night we were porting and 3 houses on the same road all told us to come back another time. We had sooo many people who had said that we could come back again and this week was when we had planned to do it every single house had somebody else (another member of there family) answer the door and send us away. I feel really good about how hard we worked and how much faith we showed, so I don't really think that this week was a complete failure. 

That is really scary about dad's truck. I'm pretty glad that we didn't sell the Jeep, but i hope its a good vehicle for him. And that's also scary about surgery. If its gotta be done, its gotta be done.

 

I tried a new food this week- pinecone. Yeah that's right. Well not the actual pine cones but the little seed inside of them. The lady who gave it to us told us told us that it tasted like they had been on the floor. That was true, but it was pretty good!

Yesterday at church someone stepped in poo and then marched alllll around the church. So Elder Smith and I spent most of Sunday school mopping up the church. It was pretty disgusting and it smelled so bad. The actually mopping didn't take that long but we made a pretty big mess with all the cleaners and buckets and stuff. and we had to mops stairs. and dry the floor.

What else? Oh I got the package. The cream didn't spill at all and I started using the razors. They fit on the handle I have.

The lady that called you used to live here and we have ported into her family before. It was pretty weird. The lady was like "I have a cousin who is Mormon who is in town, she moved to the United States" and then we saw her at church and told her about that. She was super nice. She was like "give me your parents email address, address, and phone number and write a little note." She is actually in the same ward as a sister in the mission who was in Angers at the same time as me.

So we just got transfer emails and I got transferred to Mantes. my address is 5, rue des Brouets 78711 MANTES-LA-VILLE. I'm going to be in another 4 man. I'm going to miss Elder Smith!

I'm not homesick. 

I don't want to be negative but really the Kings don't stand a chance. 

I kind of had an idea but idk if it would work. Is there any way that I could do some credits at Butte during the summer and then transfer those to SVU and the go there? or should i really just go out in 4 days? or just give up soccer? I really want to know your opinions. 

hey

 

his district:
 the numbers represent
how many transfers that have
 happened since they've been out
on their mission

so to start things off the potentially almost worst thing ever happened.  I lost my memory card for like 3 days. I looked EVERYWHERE for it. I didn't know how I was going to tell you guys on the email because we had already lost one memory card, but a person who works downstairs waved us over and was like, "hey this is yours", I looked at the pictures and it was you. I was super glad that he was an honest guy. I felt so happy that I wanted to kill the fatted calf (bible joke). I felt like buying him a pastry, but I have no money...

 

This week we got invited over to a member's house for dinner. They live in Thionville. We had to take a train. They were super nice and they made us tartiflette!! Their 19 year old son is like a professional juggler and he did a show for us. It was like the craziest thing I've ever seen. And their less active son came over and brought his girlfriend. It was a really fun night. The train ride home was pretty weird. The train only had one car. It looked like a Jelly bean on the tracks.

 

So not very many of our investigators are very well. They keep either dropping us or are never home when we have appointment. We do a lot of porting and we're hoping something good will happen. We found a really really cool neighborhood, but we kinda have to walk up a couple mountains to get there, but i like it because there is a big dog that always runs out to see us and I pet him a lot.

 

So recently there has been spiders EVERYWHERE and they are the creepy kind with 2 legs forward and 2 legs back on each side. Elder Smith and I are very very cautious. I think the longer I've been on my mission the more I've been scared of spiders and snakes. Isn't that the opposite of what is supposed to happen?

 

This week the weather has been pretty strange. There are really random 20 minute storms where the whole sky is grey but then when it blows past its pretty muggy and hot. Today is sunny though and there's a slight breeze.

 

 I don't really know still about college. Maybe we could *apply* for BYU just to see if I can get in.  I kinda don't know why but I get the feeling that I want to eventually go to school in Utah.  I love SVU and really want to go back. but would it really be the best thing? I don't know if I could come home and then go straight to summer school.  I probably could. Aren't  I supposed to register for summer school during this fall semester?

 

I didn't get a package.

 

I pretty much almost puked in front of an old lady. So I had a HUGE kebab for lunch and then we went door to door. I was feeling ILL. So I was just bouncing around in a daze, feeling BAD. One super nice lady who had a gate was like "no way I'm catholic" so we were walking away and I went to push the gate open (but the gate was a pull-to-open) so I just gave myself the Heimlich maneuver and i let out a super loud gaggy-groany noise and turned around and saw Elder Smith and the old lady just roaring laughing at me. I was super embarrassed.

 

so for transfers we have no idea who is staying. There are a lot of variables. We are BOTH getting new comps and one of us is leaving. I hope we get cool comps, but chances are pretty good because most of the missionaries are really cool.

9/2

hey everyone. So this day (and month) has started out pretty lame. So every month we have to renew our bus passes and the bus lines are all messed up right now and there is only one machine in town for everyone. So there is like a 3 hour wait to charge our passes. So we haven't done that today. Because we don't have our bus passes we have to walk everywhere and we cant buy groceries. Today Elder Smith and I woke up and we were super excited to have a great p-day. The other elders went to Paris early this morning. We woke up and studied and cleaned our house and then we went and checked our mailbox. NOTHING and then the mail lady came and we watched her put every letter in every box, but nothing in ours! and then we walked back upstairs to get ready to go and play basketball. We had to walk cuz we don't have bus passes. We were going to play dunk ball. There is a court with rims that are 8 and a half feet. So we walked like a half hour out there and when we got there, we notice that the court that we were looking forward to playing on since we came to Metz had gotten torn out. So we walked to a different court and played for like a half hour. Elder Smith dominated me. And then we went and got a kebab. I said no tomatoes. I got tomatoes. And they also gave me the wrong sauce. Pretty frustrating haha.

 

But last week was great! We saw some really cool things and we found a new ami. We also saw someone that we have been trying to see since last transfer. So overall it was a good week. The other equipe had a baptism. So that was cool. I got to teach him the law of chastity while I was on exchanges. The only bad part was after the baptism, when we pulled the plug, the font didn't drain, it just flooded the whole room. Elder Smith and I cleaned it up with sponges and buckets.

 

I'm sad. The family that we found told us that they don't want to leave their church. So they don't want to see us anymore.

 

You could look into buying a razor. I kinda need one. Its hard to shave my chin with an electric one tho. Most all missionaries use an electric.

 

Why did Bradley wear a Red Lobster shirt? What is the musical about?

 

I don't think I could get into BYU. They prob don't accept transfer students with so little credits. I'm pretty sure that I want to go back to SVU, but I also don't know ANYONE who will be going there. I would love to be roommates with Josh again. And I talked to prez about doing an ecclesiastical endorsement and he said he'd do it, but i don't really know what he would have to do.

 

Should I move to Texas?

 

Remember when you sent the rosters of the NBA teams? You should do that again sometime.  I've heard some crazy rumors and I wanna know if they're true, but I cant really check Twitter (and you cant believe ANYTHING on Twitter)

8/26

Hey, so this week was really awesome. It was the best week so far in Metz! It started out really cool. Monday night when we went to a partially non member non active family's house. They were cool and nice. Have you ever tried to freeze a soda?  because of the carbonation it doesn't freeze correctly and it makes like a slurpee. (not in cans because they just explode) and they gave us that. It was soo good. We also played uno with them and it reminded me of when Andrew and I would play 1v1 uno but it never ended because we were missing a bunch of cards, but it was really fun! (the dad was kinda a cheater tho haha)

The next day we went to another less active's house and he got pretty mad. He was offended, but he was nice enough and we were able to bear testimony and feel the spirit.

On Wednesday, we went to Nancy for interviews with president. It was a pretty good day. We also had some trainings. Its really fun to see missionaries that you don't see very often. So back when I was a young missionary I didn't know anyone... but now I still don't really know anyone because there are so many new missionaries and everyone I knew is dead.. (finished with their mission)

We also taught a bunch of lessons and were able to find some families. Whenever the ward hears that we taught a family they get pumped. Our objective is to find families and its great that we are now doing that. 

So we were porting in a neighborhood and it was kinda hard, then all of a sudden a man opened the door and the most annoying little snowball dog ran out and tried to rip off mine and Elder Smith's pants. Then it was barking its head off and running and spinning in circles.  I have never been so annoyed by a dog, but the owner of the dog was a little bit less than nice. So we walked out to the sidewalk where a man said, "You'll never convert anyone, just go home" and it was just super depressing. We didn't wanna give up, but we were feeling pretty down. I said a silent prayer and we walked to the next house. A lady and her teenage daughter answered and a little toddler came out. She said we couldn't come in because her husband wasn't home, but before we had time to leave the husband pulled up in the driveway and walked up with another kid. So they let us in. We were able to tell them about God's plan for the family and how we can be together forever. It was super spiritual. It was one of the awesomest things of my mission and it was also super cool cuz it was on Elder Smith's birthday. 

There's a lot of road construction going on here in Metz, so the bus times and bus stops are all messed up. 

Yesterday in Centreville there was a huge parade. It was crazy. It was also pretty tough because everyone from miles around was watching the parade and everyone who was watching the parade wanted to watch and not talk. There was a couple punks running around and throwing confetti in peoples faces. I'm super glad it didn't happen to me!

I didn't take the brown Snuggie. Elder Horton gave me his before he went home. It is a BYU Snuggie. It's super cozy and good because its gray and cold and rainy right now! Anytime I get a chance I am wearing my Snuggie.

Last week I bought some new cheap disposable razors and I think it would be safer if I tried to shave with a chainsaw! I cut myself every morning. But I don't want to buy new blades for my fusion because they are worth their weight in gold. But yeah, I had been using the same disposible razor for about a month and a half. It was pretty good because it didn't cut me. I am a big fan of number 2 pencils because I make a lot of mistakes, but I can just erase them and also they are the most popular and number 1 and number 3 pencils are either too hard or too soft.

The thing I'm thinking about is- is there a "July-mester"? because would it be a good idea to come and then go straight to Virginia? Wouldn't you guys miss me? Would I be able to get everything I need in time?

Hey mom do you remember when at Melanee's wedding the man was quoting Rick Astley?

So Elder Smith and I are going to be together for 3 more weeks and then the big question is am I leaving or is he? We dont know. I kinda have the feeling in my bones that I will.

District/Zone meeting

Elder Guymon's district

the Zone

Lunchtime.

From a Sr. Missionary Couple

I received this in my e mail today---

Hi Missionary Families

Elder Chaston and I had the chance to visit briefly at your son's apartment and also see them at Zone Conference this past week.  What a double treat!

These young men are great missionaries!  We love the opportunities that we get to see them and their strong testimonies!

Just wanted to let you know how great they are!

I have attached a picture to prove it.

Sincerely,

Elder and Sister Chaston

8/19

hey everyone! So this week was pretty awesome, but was also kind of crazy. I had to go do some legality stuff, so I had to go back to St. Omer. We spent hours and hours in trains just for me to walk up to a desk and say "Hey, my name is William Guymon, I need my papers." and then she handed them to me. We were in and out of that office in under 3 minutes, but it was kinda strange being back in St. Omer. It was like deja vu! Elder Smith was kinda like "umm, you served here?"

We also had to go to Luxembourg the next day for week 2 district meeting. Our companionship was in change of district meal. so Elder Smith and I made lasagna. I felt kinda bad because there is a real Italian in our district and I bet he wasn't too pleased, but everyone else said it was good...
This week we taught a family that has many concerns and question. They have a difficult family situation. We brought a member of the relief society with us to teach and she was a BOSS! When she talked, they listened. When we talked, they cut us off and went off topic. She pretty much taught the most awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon ever! It was really cool.

Last night we also had a really cool thing happen. On Sunday nights we send our weekly stats to our district leader via text. We usually do it at 8:55. Last night at like 8:49 we were like "umm ok lets send them in" and I looked at the clock and we were both kinda like  "were going to contact for the rest of the night!" We prayed so that we could teach someone who wants to know about God. We looked around and saw NOBODY so we walked around. and the first man we talked to was a drunk hobo and so moved on. We then walked around and saw one man. We talked to him for a long time. He works in the trains. He says he sees missionaries all the time and every time he does he asks himself if God exists. We were able to testify and teach him. I am so glad we were diligent and worked until the last minute!

So I gave my talk this week. The topic was the gospel of Jesus Christ. I totally forgot that I was giving the talk but luckily I had it in my bag from the week before. I also had to teach Young Mens again. The topic was "a mighty change of heart."

So our mission has a goal. Starting a couple months ago we were going to get 100 baptisms by the time that Elder Oaks comes to visit us (mid September) and as of today we are at 81. Last year around the same time we had the same type of goal. We were going to get 78 baptisms before Elder Anderson came and we got 81. Its pretty awesome that we are achieving our goals and baptizing. We (as a mission) are teaching and baptizing families. and its really great.

So about the test, if i did that, could I play soccer that fall? If yes then I should start gettin in shape. Not that I'm fat or anything but like I'm super out of shape and have 0 muscle. Do you guys feel like that is the best thing to do? I really want to know your opinions.

Was the fishing trip like the same boat? because that was super fun. and easy. 

And that's cool that Bradley went brute during the tournament. Maybe he should shoot more instead of passing.

a new picture

8/12

hey!

 

so another week went by. wow. I really dont know how time goes so fast! This week was pretty slow. It started out prety sad, our bball popped right when Elder Smith and I were about to win, so we couldn't use it anymore. (Sometimes in the mornings we run to a bball court and shoot for like 10 minutes, (but its ok because we use the frisbee that Sister Norris sent in the packages in the mornings now). It's a whole lot better than doing push ups for a half hour on the cold floor. 

So the new elder who lives with us now is from Orem. So many missionaries are from Utah!! 

Yeah, it is pretty frustrating that people agree to show up to a rdv, and then you call and confirm,  and they just dont show up. Its pretty much the biggest waste of time ever. I have a lot more respect for people who just say "im not interested". It happened a lot this week and a lot last transfer. This week we studied patience and we really really tried to obtain more patience. and God tried to give it to us by giving us a super trying week, but it made us realize that God really is in control and he grants us according to our desires... in his own ways.

So you know at the beginning of my mission how a bunch of people thought that I look like Arnold Swartznegger? Someone was like "I knew that you are American the second I saw you because you look just like Mick Jagger." Isnt Mick Jagger that ugly guy from the Rolling Stones? If he is then that's pretty mean.  

We went over to a member's house this week, and she made us tartiflette! It was super good. They used potatos and onions that they grew in their own yard. She has been to Chico and Paradise! She helped teach a french class at Paradise High. We were talking about Chico and she was like, "oh I've been there. I visited my friends in Paradise for a while!" Super weird, but her dad is kinda a troll, lol. He is in the bishopric and on the ride home he asked me to give a talk. Then Saturday morning he called and was like. "you prob wont give a talk but prepare one anyway" and then Sunday he was like "ok, you're doing it next week." aaaaaaaaaaand then Sunday morning in priesthood, none of the young men leaders where there so he's like, "ummm Elder Guymon, can you occupy the young men whenever there are no leaders here?"  So I taught Young Mens this Sunday.

In France, EVERYONE goes on vaction in the summer. So right now the ward is pretty small. A lot of people are out of town. 

So Metz has a soccer team. It's called FC Metz. Apparently they are pretty bad, but I guess they are doing well this season. They are maroon like Chico State.

That's really gross about the Jack in the Box burger. (Scott bit into a bone in his burger and chipped his tooth the other day.) I bit into bone the other day, too. It was super loud, but hambugers in France are pretty sad. and McDonalds here is like 11 euros for a full meal. That is super expensive in dollars.  I'm really excited to try to make the fish. I didnt want to buy pancake mix for 5 euros, so I bought crepe mix instead. I'm pretty sure it'll be a lil different but good still. I cook a lotttt now. Its hard to eat good on a small budget. Do you remember the show that we used to watch "Take Home Chef"? Sometimes I wish that that would happen to me. That;s why I was saying that Bradley and Andrew should learn how to cook BEFORE the mission.  And also play piano. That's a skill I wish I had. 

I wish Bradley liked me, but i dont know what he cares about. All I know is that he skateboards now and that hes not fat and all I know about Andrew is that he plays baseball.

I didnt know that Wally Herger had a ranch, but that's exciting that is exciting that you have a better place to hunt. I haven't been hunting in a LONG time!

What is mom going to do while everyone is fishing? Just sit around in the camper? Does mom still play Words with Friends? and Twitter (which can kill you)? Too bad there's no wifi. She should get a smartphone.

Elder Smith wants to know if you can mail us a picture of the Baron Davis dunk on AK47 the year that the Warriors beat the Jazz 1st round. Apparently it is a good dunk. 

Is the Jeep still running? Have you found out anything about colleges? Should I go to SVU? You said I can take the test there?  How is Melanee doing? How is Dax doing?

So I dont know what else to say. It's going prettty slow here but I'm having a lot of good times. Elder Smith is cool. We knock on a TON of doors and we contact a TON of peeps. Things are starting to look up.