This week (just like all others) had its ups and downs. I'll try to be briefer with my stories this week, but we'll see just how much shorter this actually is lol.
We started this week with another set of exchanges, in which I wasn't excited for at all. At first I was super pumped for all the opportunities to be with other companions that I could get, but because we've had so many in such a short period of time it is just turning into a hassle haha. It feels so nice to be back in your own apartment with your own bed after 2 days of being somewhere else, sleeping on the floor lol. Oh well, that's definitely a first world problem, so I can't complain too much.
Fun fact: France has their own style of tacos. They're called, "French Tacos" look them up! The most popular French taco place is called, "O'Tacos", and they are delicious! Even though it's called a taco, it's essentially a chicken burrito, stuffed with French fries, cheese, and sauce. The first night of exchanges this week we got some from a place called, "Tacos King" or something like that. My companion said that it's not nearly as good as "O'Tacos" but that they're practically the same thing. So good. I'll attach pics below.
Second day of exchanges we went out finding. We stopped this man who talked to us for a good hour out on the street. He wasn't interested, but he was really nice. He was an older man with long hair, so I decided to tell him that he had good hair. Instead I said that he had good horses. The word "Hair" in French is "Cheveux", whereas the word "Horses" in French is "Chevaux". Oh well, we had a good laugh because of it. After that my exchange companion wanted to do a language study with me because I told him that my comp never helps me out with the language. I was excited to get more training in! Wanna know how he went about language study? He had me read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon (en Francais), and everytime I would mispronounce a word he'd help me out. Sounds good, right? WRONG. We spent an HOUR reading 1 short chapter because even if my pronounciation of a word was good, he'd grill me on not having the accent down. I told him that while both are important, I am trying to focus right now on the pronounciation and not the accent. The accent will come from living here and trying at it, but I couldn't handle him throwing both things on me at once. It was very frustrating, but oh well. At least I learned how to pronounce a few things.
When I got back from exchanges me and Elder Asato opened the mailbox. To our surprise, both of us had received package slips so we needed to go to the post office and pick them up. I also received a letter from CASSIE KNIGHT. How sweet of her. If any of you wanna write me actual letters, feel free to! I love them. Thanks, Cassie (love ya). Anyway, my package was at a post office about an hour away from our apartment for some reason and my comps was at the one right next to us. Both closed in 2 hours. My companion refused to go get mine that night, but I convinced him. We were beating the clock, as we got mine first and then got his literally 2 minutes before the post closed. How lucky!
The next day me and my companion got haircuts! I was nervous about telling her what to do to my hair in French, so I typed it all out on Google Translate for her. The two salon ladies are really nice and seem to enjoy our company. My lady gave me a good cut, but thinned my hair which I'm not a fan of. For those of you who don't know, my hair is lowkey thicc (yes, mom. I meant to spell it that way). The way it should be for nice, full, voluminous hair. But for some reason the ladies at the hair salon always want to thin it. Oh well, at least I got away from that horrible MTC haircut I had.
We met with Alhin the next day and got him even more excited for his baptism. That was cool. The only thing that bugs me about having appointments with people is that when I don't understand what they say to me, my companion REFUSES to translate for me. It makes the situation really awkward and he only tells me what they asked/said to me after they tell him to. If I don't understand something, I can't progress unless someone helps me out and he's refusing to do just that. Oh well, people say that on missions you learn to get comfortable with the uncomfortable situations, and I feel like I've done just that haha.
The next day we went to the Cuche's house for service (the semi-famous family I told you about). The dad picked us up from the train station and took us to his son's piano teacher's house in Nancy. She's this sweet old French woman. She had 3 grand pianos in her house and a bunch of other instruments. Because in France they build "up", her house was big but not the American way. It's big height wise. She had four stories (five including an attic) and each floor had a bunch of old French decor. Really cool to see actually. The house itself is probably at least 100 years old. We fixed some wiring in 2 of her chandeliers and then pruned a HUGE rose bush of hers. It took a few hours and it was cold, but she was so happy she got help. Afterwards, she invited us in for orange juice and those Madeleine cakes I talked about last week. We then left her with a Book of Mormon that she promised she'd read.
After her house, the Cuche dad took us back to their house. They had friends over so there was a big feast. We had "Raclettes". Raclettes are a type of cheese here, but if you're talking about Raclettes as a meal it's a little different. A Raclette meal is when you have a few potatoes and you have your own fondu machine. You melt the raclette cheese and pour it over your potatoes. The fondu machines also have a top piece to cook meats, so then you can put Canadian bacon and stuff on too. It's actually really good. The family and the mom are really nice, but I don't understand French at all and because of that the dad makes fun of me in French, and I don't understand what he's saying. At first it annoyed me that he is kinda rude, but he's like that to my companion too. And his kids say that he's like that to all the missionaries they've had over the past 25 years. It's just his personality, so I don't take it offensively anymore. He calls my companion Elder Pocahontas (even though he's Asian, not Native American) and he calls me Elder Ken (like the Barbie). The kindness of his family totally makes up for his personality, so I could honestly care less what he says haha. It was too cold after lunch to continue our service outside, so instead we played Foosball inside. For around 4 or 5 hours haha. Even though it's not a real sport, you get tired if you play it that long. Trust me. Then we went back.
Church the next day was alright. I messed up on the Sacrament prayer and had to do it over again, but ca va. We taught the Stake President's son for 2nd hour and it was really awkward because he just sat on his phone and didn't listen to us. After that we got ready for Alhin's baptism!!! Alhin picked us up with another man in the Branch also named Alhin haha. The second Alhin looks a lot like Danny DeVito (I'll attach pics, don't worry). They drove us to Nancy for the baptism along with Alhin's annoying little dog that both smells bad and jumps all over you. I'm pretty sure the dog also peed on my suit a little. If you've ever seen a really pampered dog, this beats them all. If you don't pet it, it will immediately start SCREAMING until you do. Anyway, after the hour long drive we got to the church and got everything set up. Several missionaries who served in Epinal were Skyping in and were able to see it. It was really cool. After the baptism, we drove with the Alhins back to Alhin's house for a late dinner. The food wasn't that good, but he was in a great mood because he was just baptized! Then they drove us back home. It was a long day, but definitely a good one!
Today was just like any other. We went grocery shopping and I was able to buy myself some candy for Halloween (I'll attach pics below). So happy about that. Lots of my fav Canadian candies were on sale so I obviously snatched them, even though my companion fought me on it because they're "unhealthy"... It's freaking Halloween, man! Live a little haha.
Anyway, thanks everyone for your love and support throughout all these weeks. It really means a lot to me. Sorry that my emails are really long, I just like making my stories so detailed that you feel like you're there. I'm sure most of you guys skim my emails, but I appreciate you emailing me nonetheless.
Thanks again to Cassie Knight for the handwritten letter! If any of you guys ever want a shoutout, now you know how to get one haha. Anyway, I love you all and your emails make me so happy (especially when my companion doesn't), so you guys are very important to me. Thanks for everything! Till next week! :)
Elder Anderson
A French taco with a nice Cherry Cola
Flowers in a park in Nancy
Letters from home (including Cassie Knight's)
My mom sent me a Thanksgiving box, how sweet :')
A little bag of candy some kids from nursery in the branch gave me
Me & Alhin #2
Alhin wanted me to (jokingly) do his dishes. The 'Danny DeVito' Alhin is in the background
The Halloween candy I picked myself up. "Redband" is the company that makes the Canadian Sour Keys. Here they make Cola Keys haha.
Me under my initials in Nancy, France
A courtyard in Nancy, France
Me in the courtyard in front of the gate
Some cool architecture in Nancy
A small park in Nancy
No comments:
Post a Comment