Week 20, Valence, France

Bonjour,

This has been a great week! We have been working a lot recently with members to find people to teach. On Tuesday we had lunch with the Gisondas who are an Italian family in the ward. They made us some really amazing lasagna. It was probably the best meal I have ever had other than all the meals my mom has made me. We also met a man who is a member of the church but does not come to church very often. We are going to start working with him more to get him to come back. We are working with another less active member of the church named Fr. Munier. We have been working with him a lot and he has been coming to church a lot more.

Elder Dover and I are planning a music night for the word next week. The missionaries did one in Grenoble and it went well so we decided to do one here in Valence. The new sister missionary is really good at playing the violin and sister Russell is a really good singer so it should be a good show. We also have some members of the ward that are going to participate. We are hoping we can get a lot of people to come and that people can bring their friends.

On Wednesday we went to a villa called Alex to visit the Pruniers. The Pruniers have 3 boys that live at home and two other kids that are married and have their own kids. The Prunier family makes up a big part of the ward in Valence. While we where there we did some archery which was a lot of fun.

Archery with the Pruniers

On Thursday I did an exchange in Grenoble with Elder Lemihz who went to high school with my cousin Elder Ririe. While I was in Grenoble we helped the young men in the word with an activity. I talked with a man in the ward there who was an actor in some Mormon movies. He is somewhat famous for being the actor of Joseph Smith in a video called the Restoration. We use this video a lot as missionaries so it was funny to see him now that he is an adult.
www.lds.org/media-library/video/2008-06-01-the-restoration

On Saturday we went to the Giberst home for dinner. While we were there I was telling one of the sons that I liked his hair cut and that I needed to get one some time. Then he volunteered his brother to cut my hair and I said ok so he cut my hair right then and there. It turned out pretty good and was free so I was happy.

We worked a lot with our ami Michel this week. He has some health problems because he is old so a nurse comes to his house every morning to check up on him. This means that he cannot come to church because church is in the morning. Yesterday he was able to come for the last hour of church which was really exiting.

I almost forgot to mention, on Saturday Elder Dover and I were in a neighborhood not too far from our apartment and as we were on our way home it started raining a little bit. Then it started raining a lot and we decided to take a short cut home that I found with Elder Davis. Then it started raining really hard and hailing. The short cut ended up being a bad idea because it led through a forest and the trail turned into a river. We got really wet but it was also pretty fun.

This week I have been studying a lot about faith and how I can strengthen it. I have learned that as I keep the commandments and study the scriptures my faith will grow little by little until it becomes very strong. In order for it to grow I have to be making a big effort to constantly be working on it.

I love you all,

Elder Bake

Miracle of the Week

We got Michel to come to church

Fun French Fact of the Week

The toilets have two buttons on the top instead of a handle on the side. One of the buttons is big and the other one is small

Pictures and note sent from Anders ward mission leader:

This afternoon, the elders and I visited a place called "Palais Idéal du facteur Cheval". Mr Cheval was a mailman ("facteur" in French) in Hauterives, some 15 miles from my home. From 1879 to 1912, he colected stones, and in his free time build a rather uncommon house he called his "Ideal Palace". It's now one of the major attractions in the area

 These are pictures Anders sent.  I'm guessing that they are from his p-day last week when he took a trip to the village, Grignan (Castel) and Pierrelatte region (alligators)

Insert holy hand grenade here