15th P-Day (8th in France)

Hey, everyone! This week was VERY eventful, so buckle up for a long email haha. 

So on Monday we had our first district meeting with our new district. I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH. They are great! We have two sets of Sister Missionaries in Nancy (where we do district meetings), so they have double the money and skill to make some bomb food for district meals following the meetings. They made huge quiches and the Elders in St. Die made a really good dessert. They're great people too, but they're also great cooks and that's really where my love for them comes from. After district meeting, we had exchanges in Strasbourg with the Zone Leaders. By the time we got to Strasbourg, it was almost bed time so we went straight to their apartment and got ready for the next day.

Exchanges were GREAT! I love the Zone Leaders. They are so fun! Strasbourg is freezing right now and there is fog everywhere, all day long. It's so cool! Me and one of the ZLs went on an exchange to go talk to an investigator in a local park. He was an African man who was really cool. He only speaks English and Afrikaans, so I was able to teach him in English. It was a weird feeling to do it all in my native tongue, but also very cool. We got him committed to baptism and even set up a date for him! It was amazing! On the way back from that teaching visit, the ZL I was with let me get some O'Tacos. These are the original French Tacos that everyone raves about here. Elder Asato never would've let me get a taco from them because of the price, so I decided to get it while we were on exchanges. It was delicious! I'll send pics of it as well! We then had a meeting with an investigator at the local bibliotheque. He was also African, but didn't speak English. He was really nice, but the conversation didn't really go anywhere. He wanted a Book of Mormon in Arabic, so we got him one... But he was really only interested in talking about Muhammad and his own beliefs. It was a cool conversation, but it wasn't about our religion at all, even though we tried to talk about it. Later that night, me and Elder Asato got on a late train back to Epinal. 

On Thursday we finally went PORTING! My first time ever! Porting is essentially knocking on doors (as they dipict most missionaries doing in the movies/broadway musicals lol). This is because of that phone call from the Mission President last week about how our stats are low. Because of that phone call, Elder Asato was scared that he'd get moved and wanted to raise our stats so that the President would keep him in Epinal. Honestly, this was 93 days into my mission and we were just now starting to work haha. It's ridiculous! But I was happy, nonetheless. We went porting for a couple of hours with no luck. Then the last house we went to actually let us in! It was this old man (about mid 80s) who lives all alone, named Jacques. I didn't understand most of what he said, but he's apparently a little blind, has memory loss problems, and loves having people over. He asked if we were from America and said that he has a daughter who lives in the New York area. Jacques apparently used to have missionaries visit him, but that was over 20 years ago. He's Catholic and believes in his religion very strongly. Jacques doesn't want us to talk about religion when we go over, he just wants friends because he's lonely. He also invited us over for a huge Christmas feast when his American daughter is in town with her family. Even though we can't talk religion with him, we can always help him and be his friend. HOW NICE! He literally just lets us in his house and invites us to all these things, without even knowing us or being able to see us that well. And who knows, maybe one of his family members will be interested in our message at the Christmas feast and will want to hear from us! SO technically we got a new investigator this week, even though he isn't interested in hearing about our church right now. This is what happens when you actually work in Epinal haha. The branch here is just going to grow so much now. I can feel it. 

After Jacques' house, we had a rendez-vous with Soeur LaForge who wanted us to help her with family history work. We got her 10 more names from her family tree to take to the temple next time she goes! I was so happy. She was in a time crunch, but promised to buy us food another time to thank us haha. She's so nice. I love her. This branch is amazing to us. Then after her, we had Alhin's house for our weekly rendez-vous. Because of the weird vibes we've been getting from him recently, we were determined to cut down on time. Instead of spending 4+ hours at his house, we were aiming for 2! And that's exactly what we did! It was the perfect amount of time there, even though he was still a little creepy haha. He fed us tons of bread and cheese fondu (so much--I thought that if I'd eat it fast enough that we'd be done quicker... I was so wrong. He just brought out more loafs of bread and I was stuffed!). He also fed us escargot... I had about 20 total. I was eating those bad boys like candy. SO GOOD! Anyway, after dinner he took us back home for the night. It was ultimately a really good, productive day and I LOVED it. Me and Elder Asato were on fire and work was getting done!

THE NEXT DAY I FOUND OUT THAT ONE OF MY PRE-MISSION BFFs, MAYA ETHINGTON, GOT CALLED TO MY MISSION! I was on cloud 9! What a great surprise (I secretly knew that this is where she'd be called, tbh). Honestly, this was a great way to start off another great day. Then Frere Cuche called us and said that he was in Epinal for work and wanted to take us out to lunch. We walked around aimlessly, trying to find a place to eat (all restaurants here are packed 24/7... It's all people can do in Epinal) that wasn't full. Eventually, we found a neat little place, suggested by me. I didn't know how expensive it was going to be! I felt so bad! But Frere Cuche was more than happy to take us somewhere "posh". Pictures of this meal will be sent out, so look for them. He dropped 70 euros on the three of us, but it was worth every penny. After that, Elder Asato felt "sick" and didn't want to do anything the rest of the day. Surprisingly enough, I was okay with it at this point. We had a great, productive day yesterday... And today had a great first half. I was honestly the happiest I have been yet. That night, however, we got a call from the Mission President again. He said that Elder Asato was being "midnighted out". For those of you who don't know, when you're "midnighted out", it's a bad thing. That means that you did something bad. If you're "midnighted in" it's apparently good. So this means that I was getting a new companion the next day, but first we had to get all the way to Paris to get our new companions. That was a lot to throw on us at 9:30 the night before. Elder Asato was LIVID. He was punching walls and everything. I was obviously fine with it... But at the same time, he was finally starting to want to work. This should've happened sooner, because this was the worst time the President could've done this. Elder Asato was finally getting better. Oh well. Elder Asato kept me up with him until like 2 or 3 and then we woke up early to finish everything. 

On Saturday we ended up missing our early morning train to Paris because Elder Asato was purposely going slow so that we would miss it. He was still so mad he was being moved. It was pretty embarrassing to have to call the Assistants to the President and tell them that we missed it so that they could get us tickets for a new train. The next train was 2 hours later. Then we had a 1 hour layover in Nancy. While there, we said "bye" to the Soeurs. Elder Asato had a crush on all of them, so he was determined to hug them as a "goodbye". I knew that they would reject the hug (it's against missionary rules for guys and girls to hug), but didn't stop him because it was going to be so funny. He attempted with both of them and they both SWERVED out of the way! HAHAAH. I was DEAD. I wish I got it on camera. Elder Asato was talking about how embarrassed he was of that the rest of the way to Paris. The train to Paris from Nancy is 2 hours. Elder Asato needed some stress relief, so he demanded that we sit in 1st class. While there, a mysterious couple sat in front of us, speaking English. They were wearing sunglasses the whole ride too, as to not reveal their identities. But because they were speaking English, I eavesdropped on them. I never found out who they were, but they seemed like famous people. They apparently hang out with Harvey Weinstein and Julia Roberts. I wish I would've seen their faces without the sunglasses. It was bugging me the whole ride haha. After we got to Paris, we found that my new companion missed his train too, so they were going to be an hour later than us. For this hour, we waited with some Paris missionaries in a cafe in the gare with one of their investigators. This was one of the best investigators I've ever met! He's from Johannesburg, so he speaks English. He is very flamboyant and is a theatre director in Paris. He saw that Elder Asato was angry/depressed and tried to cheer him up. Elder Asato wasn't having it. It was so awkward. But the guy was hilarious and cursed like a sailor. He said, "because you guys can't swear, I do it for you". I love this man haha. Parisians are so funny (at least the ones I've met) and they're big city people, just like me, so we get along. I hope to serve in Paris one day, if that's the type of people I'll be meeting with. After that, I met my new companion, Elder Payne. The train back to Epinal was long... but we got back just in time to grab a bite to eat. At 9 o'clock, Elder Payne says, "what time is it?!" I said, "it's 9 o'clock"... Yeah. He was mad that I had us go get food because we were late for curfew. I hadn't eaten all day though because I was traveling. This guy is the complete opposite of Elder Asato haha. Oh boy. This change is gonna be HUGE! 

I was not excited for Sunday. I had to tell all the Branch members (including Alhin) that Elder Asato had been switched. Not something I was looking forward to. On top of that, as I was taking a shower, Elder Payne blew our electric fuse so our power went out. So, we had to get ready in the dark. At church Frere Courage was going to give a talk, but his mom is dying so him and his wife flew to England to see her one last time. In a turn of events, me and Elder Payne were assigned talks. As if this Sunday wasn't stressful enough haha. My talk was all about how much I love the branch and it went alright. Alhin left early and didn't invite us over this week. I think he's depressed that Elder Asato isn't here anymore. I hope he doesn't stop all contact with the missionaries now. After church, we went back to the apartment and did some planning in the dark, cold apartment. What a great time to lose power, in the Winter. After that, we went to the church and did our studies. It was awful. Then we went back to the apartment and got in bed. It was freezing all night, but it was ultimately fine. 

Today, we finally got the power back on. That was our first priority. We bought a new fuse. Then we went out shopping and running errands. This new companion of mine is nice, but he's something else haha. He only likes to talk about either Pokemon or missionary work. He also says that he's the Mission President's favorite missionary and is a shoe-in for the Assistant position. I know he's going to over work me, but I guess it's better than Elder Asato? I don't know. I'm trying to be positive about this, it's just hard. Especially when Elder Asato was finally starting to get better. But I guess it is better to be working as hard as I can, I'm just going to be a lot more tired now haha. He's also only been out on the mission for like 2 transfers longer than me (12 weeks) and his French isn't that great either! That's what's so scary! Like now I can't just rely on my trainer to talk when I don't know what to say, because he doesn't know either! This is going to be an interesting transfer, I can tell you that. He also won't allow me to wear regular clothes on P-Day, because "President says it's bad"... So it looks like I'm dressing up in my suit to go on hikes, etc. every P-Day from now on. He also wants to drop the Cuche family, because going over to their house every Saturday for service and lunch/dinner is "wasteful of time that we could be finding new investigators during". That one probably makes me the most mad. They're a great family and there's no way that I'm going to stop seeing them. They need the missionaries going over there to help them out and be their friends. It's also been a traditional thing for missionaries to do every Saturday the past 25 years. They're even having us over for Christmas. I don't know how to change his mind about them. He hasn't even met them yet and wants to drop them. He also almost had the boulangerie lady turn off the TV because they were playing a "naughty music video" which really wasn't bad at all. It was kind of embarrassing how he was reacting tbh. Wish me luck haha. Hopefully one of these days I get a good companion that's a mix of hardworking and fun. This transition, man. I don't know how to feel about it. Hope all of you are praying for me! Haha.

So long story short, this week kept getting better and better and then finally took a turn for the worst! Thankfully, I think I'll get used to my companion. It's easier to find the negative traits in a person than the good, so once I can dwell on the good ones I'll be happy. I know it! Thanks for all the love and support every week. I love you all! Remember to keep me updated on everything! Until next week!

Elder Anderson

canderson@myldsmail.net

Package from Mom

Raclette & Pastry

Another package from Mom

Me in front of Palais du Rhin in Strasbourg

Me and Elder Asato with Frere Cuche at Le Bistrot Gourmand

Me in front of Palais du Rhin in Strasbourg

Me in front of Palais du Rhin in Strasbourg

 O'Tacos

 O'Tacos

 Me and Elder Asato with Frere Cuche at Le Bistrot Gourmand

14th P-Day (7th in France)

Hey, everyone! This was an interesting week, but not necessarily in a good way. 

Last P-day after we went to the art gallery with Alhin, Alhin took us rug shopping under the direction of Elder Asato who really wanted rugs for our apartment. Apparently, the mission will refund us for any "household" items bought, but they have to be under 40 Euros. Well, all of the rugs under 40 Euros were HIDEOUS! Anyway, he found two rugs that he liked that were 20 Euros each and he wanted me to buy one of them while he bought the other. I'll put the pictures in the google album to share with you. Tell me what you think LOL! I promise I have a lot better taste... These were all ones that he liked haha. 

The next day was the same as most days last week... We didn't have anything planned and he just wanted to sit inside. Honestly, I am so done with this laziness. I came up with a list of things I needed to buy again, and reluctantly he went. Maybe this is the way to get him out, but it's still not doing missionary work which is why I am here. The funny thing is that on this night he said, "we need to step it up this transfer".... It's literally all you, buddy. I'm doing everything I can. What makes it funnier is that his bad behavior continued the rest of the week. Can't wait to see when this "step up" is going to happen.

On Wednesday Elder Asato said that he was really tired and needed to catch up on sleep. Yeah, he woke up at 11... I honestly don't know how anyone would still need sleep if they slept in that long, but somehow he does. So, therefore, he didn't want to do anything today because he was too "tired". SO, I brought out cookie mix from America that my mom sent me, and I said that I wanted to bake them in order to get him outside with me to get ingredients. He proceeded to pull out all the ingredients we needed from the pantry. They were all expired and moldy. No way am I putting anything like that in these cookies. I didn't know what reason I'd give him next, but... Lo and behold, we didn't have a cookie sheet to bake them on and that's what got him out. 

Thursday was probably the most interesting day this week... The typical things happened in the morning (i.e. Elder Asato sleeping in till noon), but we had our weekly rendez-vous with Alhin at night. Recently, Alhin has gotten a bit creepy with me and Elder Asato. He just compliments us a lot and gets really close when he talks to us. He also stares at me pretty often and that's definitely something that makes me uncomfortable. Anyway, Alhin's also been a lot happier since his baptism and wants to see us more. We don't know how to feel about this, because we love him and we want to help him stay active and happy with the church... But where do we draw the line? So anyway, we still go over once a week and it's just been getting weirder each time. This week he cooked a very very German meal. Literally like 6 different types of meats and mountains of sauerkraut. Oh well, now I can say that I've really eaten a German meal. But yeah, on top of that Alhin was a little creepy still and it was just a bad night. There was actually so much sauerkraut too, that I almost threw up. Then we didn't get home until super late.  

The next day we again didn't have any plans, but Elder Asato was more than happy to get out because the dinner last night made both of us gain like 6 pounds haha. Anyway, we were out for about 2 hours which was the longest we've been out recently and I loved every second of it. I could have stayed out all day, but of course he wanted to come back. I even bought myself a delicious burger at this "American" 50s Diner in town and Elder Asato reprimanded me for it. He told me that I can't be "foolishly wasting money like that... that was a 10 Euro meal"... Let me tell you one thing, Elder Asato, that meal was worth every penny! It was so good. I highly recommend it to everyone visiting Epinal haha. So dumb that he doesn't let me spend my own money. Who does he think he is? Oh well, at least I got out more. This day was going bad, but then a member called us to give her a blessing and then she payed us back by buying us pizza and cake. HOW SWEET! I love the members here with a passion and she made the day so good for me and helped me feel the spirit. 

On Saturday, Elder Asato actually wanted to go out finding! I was thrilled, for I have been pushing him to do so for weeks! Anyway, upon getting outside we realized literally no one was out! It was pouring rain, but we were in downtown Epinal. A little bad weather can't stop literally everyone from shopping. Why was no one out? All the shops were closed (literally, all of them... Even the pharmacies and important places) and we probably saw about 10 people on the street total for a whole 45 minutes. We later found out that it was because it was a holiday, Armistice Day. Since there was no way that we'd have success doing this, I suggested that we try porting (going door to door). He refused to do so because he hates it. So basically the one day that he's actually willing to work is the worst day of the week. That was a bummer. 

Sunday was decent. I gave another "parfait" sacrament prayer en Francais and I understood a lot of the Sacrament talks. So there is a lot of improvement in my comprehension. The members of the Branch are as nice as ever, but Alhin is maybe a little too nice haha. After church, however, Elder Asato had a terrible headache and took some medicine which knocked him out for several hours. He literally slept until nighttime and then played on his tablet until 3 AM. No wonder he sleeps in so late. He goes to bed as late as possible! 

Today was decent. I had to secretly run to the dumpster outside the apartment to throw away most of our "moldy/expired" ingredients while Elder Asato was showering so that he'd let me buy new ingredients. I just told him we were out of different food items and when he tried to prove me wrong, all the boxes/containers were EMPTY. HAHAHA. My scheming is great! After we got out and bought a few things, Elder Asato received a phone call from the Mission President! YES! He was basically interrogating him on why our statistics in Epinal are so low. Definitely, the phone call he needed to get, because now he's scared for Zone Conference and thinks the President might transfer him out because he's not accurately training me! BEST PHONE CALL EVER. Something had to be done! And Elder Asato just said that he wants to go Porting on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday! Yes! We have at least 3 days this week that he's willing to work. Now I just have to find a way to keep his motivation up. Maybe the best way is through phone calls from the Mission President? Haha. Hopefully my next companion is better. Only 5 more weeks of suffering LOL. 

Again, I want to touch on the power of prayer. I've been praying so much these past few weeks, because of the circumstance with my companion. Even though most of the days have been overall bad, there has always been a light at the end of the tunnel and I really think it's because God has been looking out for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pushing for better days and doing everything I can to have them... But God makes the bad ones a little better. The people in the town, the members, other missionaries, etc. Every person I talk to on the bad days with my companion just make me happier and are really what keep me positive. I'm so grateful for that. God's love is so real and such a blessing. 

Thanks again for all of your love and support. It means the World to me. Especially when my weeks have been pretty rough recently. I'm so blessed to have you guys in my life. Please email me whenever you get a second. I love hearing from each and every one of you! Until next Monday! 

Love, Elder Anderson

The food Soeur LaForge bought us after her blessing

British Flag rug (this is the one he made me buy. haha)

Ugly geometric rug

Foggy day by the banks

The Chinese tower in Epinal

Strange historical mural

Another shot of the mural

Me in front of the basilica

Me on a historical street in Epinal

Historical street sans moi!

13th P-Day (6th in France)

Hey, everyone! I've officially been in France longer than I was in the MTC, so that's cool! 

Today is "Transfer Day" where we find out whether or not we're moving to a new place and whether or not we get a new companion. Most of the time new missionaries are with their trainers for at least 2 transfers (12 weeks), so I wasn't expecting to move or get a new companion. I was right. I'm in the same place with the same companion until December 17th(another 6 weeks/1 transfer). But my whole district changed, so there will be new missionaries for me to interact with each week which will be nice. 

This week was overall more laid back which was nice and will in turn make this email a lot shorter than previous weeks. So all of you lazy readers are really lucky this week.

This past week started with Halloween. Not much happened, kind of a bummer because I love Halloween with a passion. It's the one day a year that it's socially acceptable to dress up and scare little kids without being branded a psychopath. I also love candy and everything scary. My Halloween consisted of an extremely long district meeting. Afterwards, we took district photos and we were all wearing scarfs. We were taking the pics underneath a painting of Mary on a donkey. For some of the pics they all wanted to put our scarfs on our heads to resemble Mary, which I kinda thought was sac-religious but participated anyway. 

The next day was the worst day of the week. We had nothing planned (the first time this has ever happened) so my companion saw it as a day to do nothing. He woke up at 11:30 (I had been ready for the day for four hours already) and took 2 hours to get ready. Then he just wanted to sit on his tablet for hours. It got to the point where I suggested that we should at least get outside and walk around. He argued with me on this, but I eventually won. So we walked around for 45 minutes and went right back to the apartment and did nothing the rest of the day. It was awful. I felt so unproductive but I didn't want to fight with him again. I feel like a parent with a rebellious teenager that I literally can't control. I felt really helpless this day. 

The next two days were pretty scheduled out, but those plans fell through. Again, my companion wanted to sit in our apartment all day and play on his tablet. I was not about to let this happen again and worked up the courage to make him walk around the town with me a little. It's so pathetic that I have to fight him to get out, but it's the only thing that works. One of the days we had a rendezvous at Alhin's house. That was the most productive the week had been up until that point. Alhin said that I've made a lot of French progress, so that made me feel good. Hopefully, it's true. 

On Saturdays we usually go to the Cuche's home, but they canceled on us last minute. Again, I was not going to let this be a lazy day stuck in the apartment. I've regained some weight that I had lost prior to the mission and I wasn't about to let those pounds come back. Sitting inside for basically this whole week obviously didn't help. Anyway, Elder Asato wasn't about to go contacting on the streets or anything like that (he refuses), but we still needed to get out. So, I came up with a list of all these things I needed to buy and really made it sound more important than it was. I was able to get him outside and stay walking around for several hours! We didn't do any missionary work, but that was the only way I could get him outside again. I even bought him lunch to make him happy and he just talked about how the horrible the food tasted. I'll admit, it wasn't good... But it was my money and that kind of made me mad that he was complaining. Oh well. At least we were outside most of the day. 

Yesterday was the best day of this whole week and probably the best day I have had in a while. The Branch President said that I was "parfait" with the sacrament prayers and that made me feel so good. Then I bore my testimony and it was really bad, but at least I tried. After church, we had a rendezvous with a young family in the Branch. They have two little kids and a really cute dog. Their house was small, but really updated and futuristic, so that was cool. The parents prepared the food while we played with their kids-- And they made a TON of food. We had Raclettes again, with chips, bread, salad, etc. The mom also made a huge feast for dessert which was really good. At first, I was worried because the dad and the mom both talk really fast and I didn't understand anything for a couple of hours. But then I learned that the mom served a mission in Los Angeles and had to learn English and Spanish. She's not good at either, but I could kind of communicate to her that way. Elder Asato left to play with the kids and I stayed and talked to the parents-- Entirely in Franglais (French/English). The conversation was hard because we were both saying things in French and English and my mind had to switch languages quite a bit. BUT, I ended up talking to them by myself for like 4ish hours. We were at their house basically all Sunday. I felt kind of bad, but the mom gave me good advice. She also helped me plan for this next transfer and such. The long conversation with them gave me language study, planning, and knowledge about less-actives in the branch all in one! Why can't she be my companion haaha? Elder Asato has been in this branch way longer than I have and even he didn't know people's back stories or the reasons why people went in-active. That's information that we need to have. Especially if we want to get these people back to church, we have to know why they left in the first place. She also showed me a list of all the in-actives in the Branch and wow... If they were all active, this wouldn't even be a Branch anymore... It would be a ward! That's how many in-active people there are here. It was a crucial conversation to have. The husband didn't really talk that much, but chimed in to ask if America's President was Kevin Spacey lol. He says that House of Cards is his favorite show and he updated me on all the controversy. That was fun! The mom also talked to me about the importance of working hard on a mission and said that one time she had a very lazy companion. She said that she was with her for 4 transfers (24 weeks) and finally told the mission president that if he didn't change her companion that she'd go home. She said that there is no point to be on a mission if you're doing no work. I definitely think that this was a sign, because I never even brought up Elder Asato and how he doesn't like to work. I really think she was inspired to bring this conversation up to me. It was really cool. Anyway, my long conversation with the parents which spanned multiple topics over a 4 hour period finally ended and they took us back home. I went to sleep happy that night. 

Today we're going to an art museum with Alhin. I'll for sure take pics there (if they allow us) and put them in the photo album for all of you to see!

So that was my week. Bad start with a happy ending. That long rendez-vous on Sunday really helped me out and I'm so excited to bring a new energy to Epinal and get all these people re-activated. I just got to learn how to deal more efficiently with my companion. Any tips? haha. 

Honestly, the downtime this week did give me a lot of time to study my scriptures. I basically had all day to do so, every day this week. Even though I was annoyed we were in our apartment every day, I will say that my testimony was able to grow from my studies and that is very important. I learned that we need to rely on Christ in everything. I was praying all week that I'd feel like being here wasn't a waste of my time, because we really weren't doing anything and I was feeling extremely hopeless. I know for a FACT that what me and the mom talked about on Sunday was an answer to those prayers. Everything she said was exactly what I needed to hear. That four-hour conversation gave me knowledge, language help, AND reignited my fire for missionary work. That one day made up for this whole week. Heavenly Father definitely needs me to stay here and work as hard as I can. He showed me that through this family. I know that praying in times of need will result in many blessings. It might take time to see, but they'll come if you just ask God for them. 

Anyway, sorry this email was so long! I said I'd make it shorter and I obviously didn't lol. Typical Elder Anderson. Oh well, hope you all enjoyed reading it and my story was able to give you some motivation to get out there and DO something with your life. And if you feel like nothing is going the way it should, pray. It's always the best solution. God will always answer you!

Thanks for all the emails and love again this week. Those definitely helped me as well. All of your words of encouragement mean so much to me. Love you guys!!!

Elder Anderson

canderson@myldsmail.net

Alhin's Baptism

A package my mom sent me with some American snacks

Me & my old district

Me and my old district acting like Mary

The pink bridge from afar

Pink bridge lights in Epinal

It was actually a way cool museum. It was all about the French style of drawing realistically before there were photographs. If you remember the books "Madeleine" about the girl that lives in the Nunery in France, that's the type of drawing. it's actually really cool 

12th P-Day (5th in France)

So crazy to think that I've been out for 12 weeks already!! How weird is that? 3 months down, 21 more to go haha. 

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

canderson@myldsmail.net

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