Elder Connor Anderson: 27th P-Day (20th in France)

Hey everyone! This week was LONG, but I'll recount the series of events as briefly as possible for all of you slow readers. :)

So on Tuesday we went finding in Dogneville, which is a nearby ville. Some members in our Branch prayed about it and said that that is where we should go finding next, so we decided to do it! The walk there was over an hour long, but it was pretty! I'll attach pics of that to the album. We went there in hopes of finding someone special, because of our members' prayers. But at the end of the day, all we found was a nice old couple who let us teach them the whole Restoration lesson, but kept forgetting everything. They kept thinking that the painting of Joseph Smith we held up was Jesus and asked us about it over 10x, as they did most other things. It was really hard to teach them, but we left them with a card. We think that there are still people in that ville that could use our message, so we plan to go back there sometime soon!

The next day we had dinner with the Blanchard family. They are a family whose door we knocked on last week. Elder Payne set up the time with them and everything, but military time confused him and we ended up being 2 hours late without knowing! We both felt so bad, but they welcomed us in. They made a huge French meal for us and it was really nice. Sylvie and her daughter also really like American music, so I bonded with them over that. We also shared more about our religion. Then Sylvie gave us some Catholic souvenirs and taught us some of the Catholic beliefs haha. It was a really good night and they were so kind even though we were really late. I also told her daughter that she looks like a younger Britney Spears and she was flattered. I guess I got lucky with that one, because a lot of people would've probably taken that offensively haha. But it's true. I'll attach pics! They're all really nice and that was a good night!

Thursday we had another rendez-vous with Bobby and Salome... It all went downhill tbh. We got to their apartment early, so we waited in the lobby. While we were waiting, Bobby and Salome came down to leave the apartment complex. We were shook. If we would've been there on time, they wouldn't have been home. I think he might have been trying to leave before we got there. Too bad for him, however, because once Salome stopped us, she told us to come with them. They went shopping as we stayed in the back of his car. Then we came back and gave him a lesson as Salome went to take the car for a carwash (she literally does all the work as he stays at home all day). Elder Payne decided to be bolder this time, which is much needed with Bobby, but it soon turned into an argument. Apparently the bible foretells Bobby's prophet, William Marrion Branham, who is apparently also the 7th Angel foretold of in Revelations. Bobby asked for proof of where the bible foretells Joseph Smith, because he loves the bible and doesn't like the Book of Mormon. Elder Payne pulled out a verse from Ezekiel. Bobby didn't have anything to argue with, so he made up a response and said, "the Old Testament is irrelevant, because it's OLD. The New Testament is the only relevant book in the modern day." Elder Payne clarified that we're not there to argue, but that the Old Testament is also part of the bible and is therefore also important and valid. Bobby didn't care. He then went on a rant for 1 hour straight, without giving either of us time to talk. It was a bad lesson and everyone ended in a bad mood. Salome came back and had made food for us, but we had to leave to get to our weekly dinner with Alhin. The tension in the apartment was really bad, but she was still really kind and gave us to food to go. Me and her are literally the peace-makers of the group. Elder Payne now wants to drop them as investigators, which is sad because they once showed so much promise. We're going to try to have another rendez-vous with them this week, so wish us luck!! It may be our last :(

Friday was Zone Conference. Our mission FINALLY has smartphones which is really nice! Zone Conference itself was really boring and long. The subject everytime is always about reviewing our rules with our technology and we almost never actually talk about missionary work, so it's always really repetitive. Nothing new there haha, but the smartphone was worth it.

On Saturday we visited the Polin family again (they are old amis that the missionaries met 10+ years ago). The parents were leaving for the weekend when we got there, but they let us in anyway and we talked with their 20 and 17 year old sons for about 30 mins. They were really nice and fed us some light snacks as we talked. Sadly, their family is more interested in just being friends with us than in hearing our message, so Elder Payne doesn't want to spend much time trying on them. That night, we went to that restaurant, Memphis, again. We had two sole purposes in doing this: 1) to see Salome and stay on good terms with her, and 2) for me to eat their big "challenge" burger. Both of which were accomplished. Check the photo album for pics of this. Because Salome served us, she said that she'd come to church the next day, so that was nice.

Sunday was overall good. Bobby and Salome came right before Sacrament and he did not look happy at all. I think Salome forced him to come because we went to the restaurant the night before. He, surprisingly so, ended up staying for 2nd hour as well. I think his intention was to bash with the teacher. But, when he found out that the lesson was on serving others (AKA: something that's impossible to bash), he fell asleep. He was snoring the whole time haha. Then he left and there was an uncomfortable interaction between him and Elder Payne. Luckily I was there to ease the tension haha. Oh, wish us luck with seeing him again this week... I'm a little nervous! Later, I made cookies for Sylvie Blanchard's family and for the Saitovics. I also wrote notes for each family, respectively. The Saitovics was the hardest because I wrote it all in Serbian, so I hope they understand it haha! The Saitovics were very happy with their cookies and wanted us to stay, but we told them that we had to go. The other cookies we just left on the Blanchards door. They ended up being really grateful too. Sylvie invited me and Elder Payne out with her family to a restaurant on Valentine's Day to celebrate our friendship ahah. What nice people!

Tonight we're helping out two older women in the Branch with family history. Guess my time as a Family History Consultant really paid off haha.

Thanks again for all of your love and support it really means the World to me! If any of you have tips for me or just want to talk, feel free to email me! I'd love to hear from all of you! :)

Love, Elder Connor Anderson

The way to Dogneville