Tuesday last week was a day of "goodbyes" for Elder Paxman. We ate lunch at a creperie in town and I can now attest to the fact that potato based galettes are much better tasting than the famous black wheat ones. So, if you're ever in Brittany, France and are looking to try some good dinner or lunch galettes, you now know which ones you should get. After our good lunch we met up with Monique. Later we went to Fali and Sarah's home with Yvan for dinner, as it was Elder Paxman's final request.
The next day we went to Paris to drop Elder Paxman off and for me to get my new companion, Elder Schombs. This was a long day! Once back, I gave him a chapel tour as well as a run-down on all of our investigators.
On Thursday we went with Jean-Cristophe to Sister Champion's house and ended up giving her a Priesthood blessing. It was a great time and was actually very edifying. Jean Cristophe told us afterwards that it was a very spiritual time for him and thanked us for it. Then we met up with Emmanuel and Stella, and guess who was present? Emmanuel's sister, Blessing. She was the one who originally halted their progression and always brought up anti information in our lessons. She had moved away for a short time, but now is officially moved back. And just when we had gotten rid of her and everything was going well lol. Oh well, at least she likes us and tries to be nice. Afterwards we had a really good rendez-vous with Yvan. He's progressing well and we're very happy for him.
The next day was both my birthday, the first day of Summer, and the National Day of Music in France. It was warm and people were happy! A perfect way to celebrate. I made myself a cake and then took it over to Emmanuel and Stella's house to celebrate with them. He even made us some turkey and spicy rice and it was very good. Afterwards we taught Nicolas at the church. To finish the day, we ate at a popular seafood place in town with outdoor seating. It was quite nice, actually, because we had our own personal DJ for the day of music. We ate good food to good tunes.
On Saturday we had lunch with Brother Bergera at a chain restaurant here called the Pataterie. I was taken there once when I was in Epinal, but hadn't gone since. It was so good! Basically it's a restaurant for potatoes and every dish includes them. Afterwards he took us on a balade through some pretty trails and it was amazing! To finish our day, we handed out 200 invitations to our Come and See sunday, which took many hours.
The next day was good. Church went well, even though no one came from our invitations. The branch here is so good and I'm so excited to be staying with them. For my birthday I got a cake, some socks from Sweden, and a temple recommend holder. This branch is amazing!! Later we visited Sister Champion again with Jean-Cristophe and taught her a little message. It was a good day.
Today we can finally take it nice and easy. A little relaxation is good and I'm excited for it.
To leave you with a spiritual thought, I would like to share the overall message of what we taught Sister Champion, which I'm sure you've all heard: We should be IN the World, but not OF the World. There is a very big contrast there. The natural man inside all of us gravitates towards the World. It takes work and effort to resist temptation and to draw nearer to Christ, but I testify that if we do so, that we will truly find happiness. Worldly things only bring temporary happiness, but how much would we like to be happy not only right now, for eternity? It's an important question we should all ask ourselves. Life is not an easy voyage, but it's a beautiful one.
Thanks for all of your emails and love. 5 more weeks and I'll be back!
Elder Connor Anderson
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