Week 51, Aix en Provence

This boy loves his begets

 

Bonjour,

This week was great. W are working really hard to talk to people about their families and it is a lot of fun. We spent a good amount of time this week taking to people on the road which I also enjoy. I have not been doing this as much recently because we have been really busy but I really like doing it. We meet some really great people this way and have some fun conversations. A lot of people gave us their numbers too so that we could stay in contact with them. Then our phone stopped getting txts so it made this really hard for a few days but it's all good now. We met one really cool guy earlier in the week who is a student here and he came to church on Sunday!

 

Miracle of the week:

We were at the church one morning because we were helping to set up for a Valentine activity and this guy showed up and the church asking to see the bishop. The bishop was not there but luckily we were and we got to talk to him. He is from South America. He has a girlfriend who just joined the church and he wanted to know more about us. We gave him a Book of Mormon in Spanish and had a really great conversation with him. He already knows a lot about the church and said so much about how he loves our principals and how we think the family is important. Unfortunately he was on his way back to South America. Then the next day we were on the bus and we look over and he happened to be on the same bus as us! It was a one in a million chance that that happened. We gave him our email so hopfuly he will email us when he gets baptized.

 

I hope you all have a great week. Bonne semaine!

Elder Bake

 

Fun French fact of the week: French people almost only use grid paper and it is really hard to find lined paper anywhere. 

Week 50, Aix en Provence, Rogne and Pertuis

Bonjour,

 

Last week I got a package from my family with my valentines bag in it. I think this is the only time I will be celebrating a holiday for the first and last time on my mission. Soon I will be going through everything for the 2nd and last time! We had a great week this week and have been teaching a lot more. On Tuesday I did an exchange in Aix with Elder Thompson who was at BYU at the same time as me. It was fun to remember some of the things we used to do at school.

Miracle of the week:

On Tuesday we taught our English class, which we do every week, and then we taught an ami and we had another ami help us! At the end of the lesson a man came into the church and asked for help with his genealogy and for a book of Mormon. I told him we could help him! We had a great lesson with him and then set up a time the next day to do genealogy with him and a member. 

 

Wednesday was our zone meeting and we had I had a great time. I got to see Elder Fisk from the MTC and my first companion Elder Davis who I have not seen for almost a year now. He is the Assistant to the president now and it was really great to see him again. It was good to catch up on good times.

 

We went to Rogne again to see our ami Wayne who is doing well and we also went to a ville called Pertuis to visit two members who live there. It is really fun to visit small towns that are so old and out in the middle of the country. In Pertuis we visited a member family who owns a bakery. They took us back to the kitchen and showed us around. They are a super funny family and we had a great time. It does not get much better then getting a private tour from some French people in their family bakery.

 

Church was really great this week. We had a lot of amis come to church. One of our amis invited her friend to come to church and they both had a great time.

 

I home you all have a great week

Love,

Elder Bake

Fun French fact of the week:

I found out this week that in France they do celebrate Valentines day but unfortunately they overlook Oregon's birthday which is also the 14th.  

Elder Johnson and Elder Fisk

Elder Whiting and his Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day to me

Um, Ian's Valentine to me

Elder Bake, Cueva, Thompson, Whiting

Week 49, Aix en Provence

Elder Bake and Elder Arts next to an advertisement for Elder Art's home town in The Netherlands

 

Hello Everyone,

This week was the first week of the new transfer and my new companion Elder Whiting. Elder Whiting is great! He is from Texas and comes from a family of 8. He is really great at speaking French, he works hard, is good at talking to everyone and is a great teacher. He has been serving for about 1 month. I am really exited to continue working with him. I am also really happy to be staying here in Aix-en-Provence. It is probably the favorite place I have served.

 

So this week I got my new companion on Monday and said goodbye to Elder Arts. Then on Tuesday we had a packed day with an English class and then a lesson in Rhone with Wayne. Later we went to see Fr. Fernandez because it was his birthday! We sang to him and had a great time. Fr.Fernandez is a really old guy that I like a lot. He was building a model boat that he just finished. I'll have to send a photo of it.

 

We also did a lot of service this week for members and had a good time making people happy. We went outside of Aix a lot. It is fun to see new things. We went to a ville called Trets which is pretty and saw a member there. 

 

Miracle of the Week: 

This week we went to visit a member in Aix who has not been to church in a long time.  She is a single mom with three kids and was happy to have us over and then she came to church on Sunday. What was even more great was that after church almost all the members went and talked to her and were so happy to see her again. I really like our ward here. There is a lady, Sr. Sirieix, that teaches the class for investigators that reminds me of you mom.  She is always talking with everyone at church especially those who have problems.  She helps and comforts them. She is also really welcoming to the amis and always asking us about them. She used to be Muslim.

 

On Sunday we had a really great time at church. My companion was really exited to see all the members because he came from Narbonne where there are only 4 members so it was fun for him to be in a big ward. After church we talked to people on the road and met some great people. 

Have a great week,

 

 

Elder Bake

Fun French fact of the week:

The Kebab: a kebab is a sandwich thing with a lot of meat in it and is a missionary favorite. It comes from Turkey I think but there are a lot of Kebab restaurants in France. 

 

Disclaimer: some of the fun French facts of the week are not entirely true. I just sort of make them up as I go.   

Fr. Hitoto

 

Apartment

 



 

Fr. Laben's home - "unique for France"

Train Station

Week 48; Aix en Provence, Manosque, Gap, Digne, Rogne and Saint-Cannat

Aix en Provence



Gap
 

Bonjour mes amis,

This week was very long but in a good way you know. On Monday we taught a great lesson with a lady. We planned to teach about the plan of salvation but ended up talking a lot about faith and how she can have more faith and a better relationship with God. On Tuesday we went to Manosque and were out of Aix until Thursday night. We did an exchange with Elder Dover and Dunn in Manosque and is was a lot of fun. Elder Dunn and I were together in a town called Digne where we talked to a lot of people. I don't think that town has seen very many missionaries.

 

This week our district decided to do a crepe challenge in which we ate crepes for every meal. We had some interesting things while we were in Manosque and Gap including many different variations of crepe burritos, crepes with mangoes and pizza rapped in a crepe. Some Elders had crepes with mac and cheese and a burger rapped in a crepe.  I got pretty good at making crepes and also a little sick of it but it was fun.

After staying in Manosque we went to Gap. We were with Elder Zenger the whole time because his companion was in the hospital. Don't worry he is out now and doing well. I had a good time up in Gap in the snow. Even though Elder Brown was in the hospital their amis came to see him and he was able to get out in time for their baptism on Saturday. When we left Gap on Thursday it was snowing, when we passed through Manosque it was raining and when we got back to Aix it was nice and sunny. We met up with Elder Olsen who stayed with us for the weekend because his companion had to leave him early to be the assistant to the president. We got our calls from the president the next morning and found out that I will be staying here in Aix and getting Elder Whiting as my new companion. Elder Arts is going to Lyon.

 

On Saturday we helped a family move, who are friends with a member family, and then we went straight to Rogne to teach Wayne and then Saint-Cannat to teach Charmain. We were in jeans and shorts the whole day from the move which felt a little wired but it was a great day.

 

Miracle of the Week: We had 7 amis come to church on Sunday. They all had a great time and I was especially happy to have July there who was really welcomed by everyone.

 

So right now I am with my new companion Elder Whiting. We have met before and I am really exited to be serving with him. He is my second companion from Texas!!!!  Sorry I forgot to bring my cord this week to send pictures.

 

Have a great week 

Elder Bake 

Fun French Fact of the week: 

Everyone in France knows and loves Texas. At church on Sunday I told everyone my new companion is from Texas and they are all so exited.