As you are all aware, my stay in Valenciennes has extended another transfer haha. By the end, this will end up having been 7 1/2 months here. Possibly 9 months, if I stay another after this. It's unlikely, but we can't deny the possibility.
Because Elder Swensen was leaving, our priorities on Tuesday were to visit all of the people he knows and loves, to say goodbye to them. Our first person was Chantal, AKA: my favorite member here. She was so sweet and made us lunch, because she thought that I was leaving haha... But if she would've known that it was Swensen leaving, she wouldn't have made us anything so we decided not to tell her. It was really good and a great start to the day. Elder Swensen planned to see Sylvain and Aline, but they ended up not being home, which was really hard on Elder Swensen. We also had a goodbye rendez-vous with Zineb and her children. After all of this, we went up to Mons and had dinner with the Kabongo family. It was a really good day.
Wednesday was transfer day! Transfer days are always so long and tiring, but it's whatever. My new companion, Elder Crockett, is from Santa Clarita, California. We all know that I love Southern California and the people there, so that was an easy thing for me to connect with him on. He also wants to go to the University of Utah when he's back, so that was another connecting point. Although I don't know a lot about him, things are going well so far, so that's positive! Thanks for all of your prayers! I know that they helped this time around!
The next day involved a near death experience that I think was really a bonding experience for us. The Sister Training Sisters in Lille needed a new bunkbed, so the office ordered them one at Ikea. Well, because we have a car, the office just assumed that we could deliver it to the Sister's apartment for free. They obviously overestimated the size of our car. Check this week's album for pics. We had no other choice than to sit like that. Then we had to make a 25 minute drive on both the freeway and through downtown Lille like that. Talk about a panic attack. Especially now that I'm the driver again, so both of our lives are in my hands. I couldn't see behind me at all, so I was relying on soley what I saw ahead of us and the power of prayer. We had to even divert ourselves away from a police car. And don't get me started on how many pedestrians could have lost their lives if God hadn't been helping us. And the parallel parking was a no-no... Especially with me not being able to see behind the car. I had to rely on the car's sensory beeping. After about 15 minutes of not being able to park correctly (and causing a huge traffic jam on the tiny road), a young Asian woman came up to my window and started hand signaling. Then the carrying of it up the 4 flights of stairs, because their elevator wasn't working, was just the cherry on top. Oh the things we'll do for Sister missionaries. Then we had district meeting and came home for the night.
Friday wasn't anything too special. Sylvain and Aline were still unreachable and not home, so I'm a little worried about them. They've been MIA for 2 weeks now and I'm hoping that we can establish contact with them soon.
The next day I drove two guys from the Ward up to Mons for their home teaching assignment with a sister named, Marie-Laurence (aka: Whoppie Goldberg). It went well and she cooked us a huge feast. Then we drove down to Aniche and had a rendez-vous with Margrate, who also fed us haha. I also feel like we are getting her close to baptism, so that's a perk. Later that night, I baked a cake for the next day, because our ward always breaks our fast together with a huge meal. I used one of the American cake mixes I got, but substituted water for sweetened condensed milk and added vanilla extract and vanilla sugar. It baked alright, but was super dense and heavy haha. I'll attach pics of it in the album. Definitely too much for French people to stomach, I'll tell you that!
Sunday was a whirlwind, that kind of made me wish that I had gotten transferred somewhere else. So much ward drama was uncovered. People were crying and friendships were broken. For instance, Brother Rousseaux in our bishopric asked for a divorce from his wife, because he fell in love with Zineb (our recent convert) and they've been dating! So the ward is all picking sides on who they support. The recent convert and the guy in the bishopric or his wife and their kids. There is also a love triangle within the young adults that reached a boiling point yesterday, in a plot twist that no one was expecting and is too long to go into detail about, but it is juicy, let me tell ya. And on top of it all, we still have David to deal with. He has been on one recently and has actually made threats against me and the ward, so I'm just praying that we all make it out of this transfer alive. This whole experience would make for a great television show. Maybe it'd be called "Survive the Transfer" or "Keeping up with Valenciennes?" Either way, it would be a must-watch and highly suspenseful. Just keep those prayers coming through. I'm going to need them all the way up until the fateful season finale at the end of this transfer. #PrayForElderAnderson #PrayForValenciennes.
Today we're going up to Lille to start exchanges! I'm so excited to be with my district again and get out of my dangerous area haha.
As I mentioned earlier, all of your prayers helped out a lot for me this transfer. I want to thank you all so much for thinking of me. I also wanted to testify of the power of prayer. I know that I have done this many times, but it's something that I can never stop testifying of, because I know it's true. if we ask God for something, He will deliver. God knows us and is here for us. Pray in times of need. I know you will get what you need and that he will bless you, as He has done to me.
Thanks for the emails as well. Love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Connor Anderson
I was driving on the freeway and through Lille's downtown in very unsafe circumstances... delivering a bunk bed to the Sister missionaries. The Lord was definitely protecting us.
A package that Rachael sent me... Filled with Australian treats. I've missed my TimTams! Had them in Fiji originally and they're so good! Even the Sour Patch Kids were better than the American ones
Home teaching at a members house
Our Venez and Voyez (Come & See) invitations. America needs to start doing things like this
French car wash
Boxed cake that I made for the ward on Saturday night, thanks to Adam who can get us that stuff at the American commissary. However, I decided to take a risk and substitute the water for sweetened condensed milk to make it more of a creamy and delicious cake... It actually baked... But was so, so denseI also added vanilla sugar (a French thing, so good) and vanilla extract. Super vanilla-ey. The French people could not handle that much sugar lol
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