30th P-Day (23rd in France)

Hey, everyone! I wanted to start off by saying thank you for all the love and support. I just passed my 200th day mark, and I know that I couldn't have gotten here without all of you! Thanks for everything, it really means a lot!

So last Monday was really fun and really cold. Me and Elder Payne took all of our stuff with us to St. Die to have a P-day with the St. Die Elders and then exchanges the following day. After a very windy bus ride through the mountains, we finally arrived in St. Die. Upon arrival, the St. Die Elders picked us up with their car and we were off. First we stopped and got some French Tacos for lunch, and then we visited two Alsacian villages, Riquewhir and Ribeauville. Riquewhir was super beautiful and we shopped around there. The town was the inspiration for Disney's Beauty and the Beast, so that was cool. They had a really good cheese/wine factory that gave tons of good cheese samples, but was unfortunately super expensive haha. Then we went to Ribeauville to hike up to some of the castle ruins that they have, which apparently inspired the Beast's castle in Beauty and the Beast as well. The hike was a hard one, but it was worth it! To get there and back, we had to drive through the longest tunnel in all of France, so that was an experience too. The drive was actually really enjoyable, however, and Elder Longman (my District Leader) brought his ukelele and played lots of songs for us to sing along to. It was a freezing day, but honestly a really cool experience. Look for the pics in my album this week!

Tuesday was a fun day of exchanges. I was put with Elder Longman, which I was really excited for. Our first rendez-vous was with one of their investigators who is progressing but really addicted to cocaine and other drugs. After some small talk, Elder Longman surprised me and had me give the WHOLE lesson to the investigator. I actually did pretty good and he understood everything, thankfully. The investigator actually has a lot of brothers in the hospital for drugs as well, and I told him that we could give his brothers blessings in the future, because they are so sick. He was really touched by this and really wants them to receive blessings. His brothers, now, might become new investigators in St. Die because of this, so that's cool. Later this day we went finding. We went to some big apartments and started ringing the front doors in hopes that someone would be kind enough to let us in. The first person that we talked to (a Whitney Houston look-a-like) was really nice and we set up a time with her for a rendez-vous, so we were off to a good start. After that, however, not much success was found. One lady almost immediately closed her door on us when she saw our name tags, but she had a pillow on her door, so I said, "I like your cushion." To which she re-opened the door, looked at both of us, and said, "there are so many better things that you could be doing with your life." LOL. After our finding, we went to another rendez-vous and then returned home. Me and Elder Longman made a dang good Tartiflette for everyone from scratch (look it up, it's good), so I guess you could call me Gordon Ramsay now. It was a good exchange tbh. 

On Wednesday we woke up early and brought all of our stuff with us for district meeting in Nancy. It was one of the coldest days I've experienced yet. Typically, the weather here is around 0 right now, but it's really the wind that makes it unbearable. Apparently, the winds we get here are from Russia, so everyone is told to brace for the "Russian winds"... Guess you could say that it was awful haha. At least most of our day was spent traveling, so the cold didn't really bother me too much.

The next day I got a haircut (you're welcome, mother). Later, we had another rendez-vous with Jose. It went pretty well and he said that once he is 100% sure that our church is true, he will get baptized, so that was cool. I was also approached by an African guy at the bus stop who said "hello" in English. I turned around and he asked me where I was from. I said, "Utah," to which he replied, "ah, the Utah Jazz." Like what? He also proceeded to list all of our Presidents in order and said that Jimmy Carter is his favorite. It was overall a really odd experience, but we set up a time to meet him in the future, so maybe he'll become a new investigator? We're hopeful. 

Friday we had a rendez-vous with Sylvie and her family, where we watched "Meet the Mormons" with them and gave them a lesson. It was really cool. Sylvie pulled all the strings for us and went around town looking at all the stores for Dr. Pepper, because she remembered that I like it. She also bought chips and fed us dinner with tons of desserts. Like, who is this woman? Lol. But it went really well and we're hoping that they'll continue to progress. It would honestly be devastating if they don't, because we'd have to stop going over. Please pray that they do. We could use all the help we can get with them!

My 200th day, Saturday, was decent. We had our rendez-vous with the Nikocevics (one of the in-active Serbian families in our branch) which was probably the highlight of the day. For weeks, they have been "too busy" to have us over. Me and Elder Payne think that it's because the last 2 times we went over we mentioned teaching their 8 year old daughter and preparing her for baptism, and we don't think that they were too fond of that idea. Anyway, when we were setting up this rendez-vous, they were doing the same thing.... Saying that they were "too busy"... But then Elder Payne mentioned how I'm probably leaving this next week. The crazy wife (who loves me), Afrodita, said, "oh, we are so free! Come when you can." LOL! Their schedule magically opened #TrueLove. But the rendez-vous was honestly not that great. Because of France's new immigration laws, all of our immigrant investigators/members are having to become legal and they are FURIOUS. Well, turns out that the Nikocevics have 2 weeks until they are getting deported back to Montenegro, so they are pretty upset. So yeah, the whole rendez-vous was just them ranting to us which wasn't the best. But Afrodita did send us back with a HUGE bag of their food storage. It took both me and Elder Payne to carry it, and ended up not even being worth it, because half of the food went bad 2 years ago. Afrodita also assured me that we'd stay in contact over Facebook and that I will hopefully get her to Canada one day LOL. Oh, boy. 

Sunday was fast Sunday, just not for our branch. We had Branch conference, so lots of the stake from Strasbourg came. Afterward, we had a small feast. One woman from the stake went out of her way to tell me that my suit was "elegant" and that she really liked it. Another asked where I am from, and when I replied with, "Utah," she said, "there are blonde people in Utah?" And she was being dead serious LOL. Yes, California isn't the only state with blonde people, trust me haha. After all that, me and Elder Payne went finding on the streets. For the first time since I've gotten here, people were actually outside! It was warm and sunny! We didn't have any success there, but I did take pics, so look out for those. 

Today we're doing a district P-day. It's sure to be a blast. I have secretly been planning a surprise party for one of the Elders in my district, Elder Ludwig. It's his first birthday away from home and he was in my MTC group too, so I know him pretty well. Sylvie is helping us out and I'm sure it's going to be great. Stay tuned for next week, where I'll update you on how all of this goes.

Thanks for all the love and support, again! I've been reading a lot out of the "Teachings of Presidents" section in Gospel Library. One Prophet wrote about having an "Enthusiastic Desire to Share the Gospel." The chapter was really good and I encourage you all to read it. It made me realize the importance of not only sharing the gospel, but to do it with the right attitude. After reading, I encourage you all to get out and share a spiritual message or something to that extent with someone else. I promise that your testimony will grow from doing so, as mine sure has. 

Love you all! Till next week! 

Elder Connor Anderson

Several pics of the two Alsacian villages, Riquewhir and Ribeauville

Driving through the longest tunnel in France

Wine & Cheese Factory

Sylvie's cat hiding in my bag

29th P-Day (22nd in France)

Hey, everyone! What's up? 

First off, sorry if I don't respond to your emails this week. I've had to pre-write all of my emails Sunday night, because my district is having a district P-day in some Germanic villes. One of which being a ville that Disney's Beauty and the Beast is supposedly set in, so that's pretty cool. Stay tuned for pictures of that next week. Anyway, I won't have wifi all day today, and will therefore have no time to respond to lots of emails. I promise I'll respond next week though, so don't worry!

This week was filled with events, so get ready! 

On Tuesday I made Leslie Lawson's cookies (again) for that wealthy young woman, Isabelle, who lives in Epinal.  Our goal with doing this was to get her to invite us back over to thank us for the cookies because she hasn't contacted us in a while. This is a valuable life lesson for everyone. For example, to those of you who have a crush that doesn't notice you, bake cookies for them... Then they definitely will. It's that simple. We also took some cookies to Jacques and his daughter. They were really grateful and super nice to us. The cookies actually turned out to be a success, because Isabelle messaged me on Facebook that night and invited us over for dinner on Saturday night. 

Wednesday we had a really good district meeting in Nancy (I love my district, tbh) and then a Family Home Evening with the people in our Branch that night. Both of the Alhins in the Branch made crepes and gaufrettes for everyone and Elder Payne and I prepared the spiritual message. It went really well and I really think the Branch likes us a lot. Wednesday was honestly just a really good day. 

The next day we taught our investigator, Jose, the Plan of Salvation. I used the puzzle depiction that my sister had sent me during the lesson and it went really well. This guy is progressing fast! I'm so happy.  

Friday we went to Bobby and Salome's to return their container to them and set up another rendez-vous, because they have been ignoring us over messenger. When we showed up, we were shook. Salome let us in and was really nice, as per usual... But upon entering, we saw Bobby literally completely naked on his couch with one of Salome's co-workers on the ground, watching tv. It was so awkward and we were just like, "okay, we don't have a lot of time, but is there a time we can come back?" And surprisingly, they don't hate us and they're fine with us coming back. They have stopped coming to church though, and they ignore us now, so I don't know if we're going to continue visiting with them after this next visit. 

Then we came back and Isabelle messaged me, canceling our dinner for Saturday. NO! I was so excited to have dinner in a French mansion with a really cool family haha, but it's fine. She said she's going on a vacation to the south of France for 2 weeks, but she'll have us over when she gets back. I really hope I don't get transferred out of Epinal this next transfer, or else I'll never see her again! Pray for me. After that, we had a second rendez-vous with Eva (the Armanian woman) and her son. They were really nice and fed us. To our surprise, she knows both of the Serbian families who are inactive in our Branch and was 100% positive that they are Muslim and not Mormon, so we showed her our records. Seems like they're embarrassed to be Mormon and tell everyone that they're Muslim... Hmmm... Anyway, she actually hates Afrodita (the Serbian woman who loves me haha) and says that Afrodita was her neighbor years ago. Eva had cancer and would ask Afrodita for help with things and Afrodita would always lie and never go over. She also got Afrodita a job, working as a maid, from which she was soon fired from for using the rich people's houses as her own lounging pad and wearing all of their clothes haha. That's Afrodita for you. But we ended up having a really good lesson with Eva, but she still thinks that we're a little culty, so if anyone has some advice on that it'd be much appreciated. 

On Saturday we went to the Cuche's house for service. The whole family was in a bad mood, because their son, Emmanuel, got invited to play piano for an Irish children's choir in Disneyland Paris for St. Patrick's Day. Maria really wants to attend, because she's Irish and she's never been to Disneyland Paris. She also wants to see her son perform. The kids also really want to go. The dad, however, refused because of the cost. They were arguing for quite some time. Eventually, Maria decided to go behind her husband's back and in-directly ask his rich Parisian uncle to pay for all 9 of them to go to Disneyland and pay for the Disneyland hotel, to which he agreed. What a woman. After that the arguing stopped and the family was happy as ever. She definitely knows how to get her way haha, especially with a free trip to Disney! ;) After service, we got a text, asking us to give the Sacrament talks on Sunday. Because of this, we came back and wrote our talks. Let me tell ya, writing a talk in French is hard... Especially when Google Translate isn't always right haha. 

Sunday was great! We woke up and got ready early, because Alhin was coming to pick us up and take us to our investigator, Jose's, house to take him to church. I felt bad for Jose, because after we arrived at church no one really talked to him and he sat alone. Right before sacrament, Sylvie and her family came and everyone was talking to them. It was great to see them, but I felt worse for Jose because of this. Then I gave my sacrament talk. Because I had written mine out, I had to worry about pronunciation and stuff like that. When I don't write anything out and I just speak from the head, I pronounce everything correctly, because I only use the limited vocabulary I know. So long story short, pre-writing my talk was good in terms of length-- I took over 15 minutes of time... But bad for the congregation to understand. Afterwards, they all came up to me and said that my talk was really good from the few parts that they could actually understand and that I was speaking "too fast" to keep up with lol. 

Then all of our investigators stayed for the 2nd hour, so that was nice. Sylvie asked why we don't have any crosses anywhere, so that was fun to explain. Although, because of this question, me and Elder Payne looked around. Our church doesn't even have 1 depiction of Christ ANYWHERE. That's not good. I promise we're Christian, Sylvie haha. Alhin drove Jose back home afterwards, while me, Elder Payne, and Frere Courage gave Soeur LaForge a blessing. Then me and Elder Payne went home with Sylvie and her kids. After we got to Sylvie's house, we ate Raclette. She literally went all out. She had like 15 different meats, tons of different vegetables, and sauces. You name it, she had it. She also prepared a huge brownie cake, which was really yummy. We had planned to watch a church film with them and share a spiritual message, but we got carried away with a full-on game night! We played Uno, Sorry, and a bunch of other French games. it was really fun. Then she gave us a lot of different things to take back home. She really takes care of us. What a good investigator. She also said that she wants to take us and her family to Paris to see the temple in the next month or two!!! I could not be more excited for that, I just hope I don't leave before this happens. I really just need to stay one more transfer. For both Isabelle and Sylvie. Me and Elder Payne also haven't told Sylvie that I'll probably be transferred because she'd be devastated. Everyone, please pray that I stay here just one more transfer haha. 

This week really was good and we can finally see a lot of the fruits of our labors. I'm hoping I stay just one more transfer to really see some big success here. The Branch finally trusts the missionaries and they know that we're actually working now. It's amazing. Everything is going good. This has definitely strengthened my testimony that if you work hard and give something your all, that God will show you success. It might not be immediate success, as it definitely wasn't in my case, but it will come eventually. I've been here since September and I'm finally seeing progress. I couldn't be happier and I know that God really has played a role in this. 

Thanks to everyone who writes/thinks/prays about me. It really means a lot. I hope you all take care and have a great week. Love you all! 

Elder Connor Anderson

Playing UNO with Sylvie & her family

Some of the things Sylvie gave us

Our investigator, Jose

Me & Roxy (Sylvie's dog)

28th P-Day (21st in France)

In case you all didn't hear it already, I am already to my 6 month mark on my mission! I'm 1/4 of the way done! That's crazy to me. Sometimes it feels like I've been gone forever, but others it seems like I was home just yesterday. 6 months... Can't believe it! 

This week was crazy to say the least. I'll try to summarize it as best as I can, but it might still be a longer email haha. 

So this new member of the church in Mulhouse, Jeremie, has some friends in mine and my comp's sector who he wants to share the gospel with. He took 3 Book of Mormons and wrote personal notes in each one for each of his friends. Then the missionaries in Mulhouse got those to us. Tuesday we decided to go give one of those to one of the friends. The friend, Jose, lived in a ville called Thaon and was way cool. He opened up to us and said that he's been a member of many different religions throughout his life, and he was still searching for a true religion. We gave him the whole Restoration lesson and then scheduled another rendez-vous with him, making him a new investigator!

Valentine's Day was a hoot and a half. We had district meeting in the middle of the day in Nancy, and then we had to come back for our Valentine's date with Sylvie Blanchard (one of our investigators). Me and Elder Payne were a little nervous for this, because we didn't know whether or not her 2 adults children would be present also. She's really nice, but crazy women (and men) have their way of finding us here in Epinal, so naturally we were a little worried. Luckily, her kids were there! They came and picked us up to take us to a restaurant called, "Buffalo Grill" here in Epinal. I had horse which was surprisingly good (sorry to the horse lovers out there; I'm talking specifically to all you Bluffdale kids). I kind of felt bad for Elder Payne though, because Sylvie said, "the only reason I let you guys into my house when we met was because of Elder Anderson and his smile." And, "Elder Anderson is really happy and sociable, and you're very timid and quiet." Elder Payne was pretty irritated, so that kinda sucked. After dinner, Sylvie took us all back to her house for a chocolate cake she had made and some Coke as well. It was actually really nice and fun (for me at least haha). I'll attach some pics from this as well. Valentine's Day was a lot better than I thought it would be and I'm so grateful for that!

Thursday was really long and slow, but thankfully we had dinner with Alhin to end it off! After a brief spiritual message, Alhin took us to a really good Chinese Buffet, Wok 88. All you can eat and cheap! The people here have been great recently. Two restaurants, two days in a row? Wow. We really are blessed. 

Friday was my 6th month milestone on my mission. Our Branch President, Gottscheck, had the day off work, so he drove down to Epinal to go to some rendez-vous with us. For the first time in a while, the missionaries in Epinal have investigators, so I think he was really relieved that he didn't have to plan a rendez-vous with an in-active member as he usually does. Our first rendez-vous was with Bobby and Salome. President Gottscheck was honestly a blessing to have during this. His French made it a lot easier to explain things and I think Bobby got our message a little clearer. He didn't really try to bash us this time, but I think it was all an act with President Gottscheck being there. I guess only time will tell. They didn't come to church on Sunday and they haven't messaged us since, so maybe they're done with us? I guess we'll be finding out soon enough. Then President Gottscheck made us a really good lunch at the church. After lunch, he drove us to Thaon for another rendez-vous with Jose. It went really well and I honestly think Jose could get baptised really soon (I hope so)! Then President Gottscheck dropped us back at our apartment and we had another rendez-vous with a member of the Branch. It was definitely a long day haha. 

The next day, Elder Payne and I were off to Remiremont to find the other two people who Jeremie gave us Book of Mormons for. The first was this woman named Helene, who worked at a perfume store named, "Nocibe." He didn't give us her address or anything. Just the store she worked at. So we walked to the store from the train station. It was really awkward because we didn't know who she was or what to say if we found her. We finally found her and we gave her the book. The whole store (similar to Bath & Body Works) went silent and everyone looked at us as we tried to explain why we were there to give her a book. It turns out that Helene is Jeremie's younger sister. She didn't seem too interested when we gave it to her, but I wonder if she was playing it off because all of her co-workers were staring at her. It was an awkward situation, but I'm hoping that there will be success there!

The next person was named Eva, and lived at the top of the mountain in an old apartment complex. Upon treking up the whole mountain and arriving at the complex, we found out that she had moved... To EPINAL! It was annoying that she moved, but great that she moved closer to us. We called her and planned to give the book to her at a later date. 

Sunday was also a long day. Church had a really small turnout, but what's new? After church me and Elder Payne went to the Cuche's house for Family Home Evening. We were excited for this, because it was the perfect time to be religious with them and bring that spirit into their house, unlike the other times we see them when we just do service. The night before me and Elder Payne planned out the whole lesson, the activity, and all that stuff. When we got there, Brother Cuche was on one! Basically he was "roasting" us the whole time. His family was irritated, but didn't say anything haha. The mom made us Raclettes for lunch and then banana splits with the Lehi Roller Mills raspberry muffins my mom sent her for dessert. After lunch and dessert, all the kids went into their rooms and we were just with the parents. Yup, we definitely didn't end up doing our family home evening which we planned so well. I think the kids were honestly avoiding it (and their dad, who was really in an insulting mood haha). Oh well. Then we cleaned up and the parents drove us back to the train station. 

At the train station, this 17-year-old guy heard me and Elder Payne speaking English to each other. He was so curious that he asked us where we are from. That got us talking and then we ended up sitting with him on the train. He was way cool. He loves weed quite a bit, so I guess you could say that he was really "chill". Anyway, we were able to have a really good discussion and he shared some of his snacks with us. After getting back to Epinal, we went to go find Eva (the last of Jeremie's friends) and give her the Book of Mormon. This was probably my favorite part of the day! Her apartment is right in downtown Epinal and much better than her apartment in Remiremont was. She's Armenian and speaks three languages: Armenian, French, and Russian. All of which have different alphabets, so congrats to her. She then fed us cake and tea as we taught her. Just like Sylvie and Isabelle, Eva has an adult kid living with her, so we don't have to worry about visiting her when she's alone. I guess having adult kids living with you isn't such a bad thing haha. Her 25-ish year old son speaks 4 languages, including English, but is super shy and has schizophrenic psychosis. They are also from Armenia and are seeking refuge here because her ex-husband is one of the most wanted men in Armenia. She says that France's President, Emmanuel Macron, just passed a law that makes all illegal immigrants become legal or else they'll be deported. She says that if she's deported bad things will happen to her in Armenia. She is ultimately really interested in us and our religion. She also wants us to come over to talk to her son and break him out of his shell, as well as help her with her immigration papers. Honestly, Jeremie has been a true homie and we don't even know him! Through him, we've gotten 2 new investigators and his sister is a potential investigator, which is really cool. 

I know for a fact that your prayers are what have gotten me to this point. The first 6 months of the mission (as I've been told) are the hardest and I truly couldn't have gotten here without all of you and your prayers. Because of you, my testimony has been strengthened so much and I have even more of a desire to share this gospel than I ever have before. I encourage all of you to pray for any missionaries you may know. They really do help, I promise. Thanks again!

Thanks for all the love and support. Each week, every day. I love you all! I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Connor Anderson

Us with the Blanchard family for Valentine's Day

The 17-year old who talked with us on the train

Sylvie's daughter doing a French tongue twister. Listen to how fast she goes! Wow! 

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

A cool Mill mansion in Dogneville

A cool doorknob in Dogneville haha

Selfie in Dogneville

Cookies I made this week

The food the Blanchard family made us 

The Blanchard family

 Memphis: my burger and the free sundae I got from eating all of it

Jour de St. Valentin Door (thanks mom)

26th P-Day (19th in France)

Hey everyone! What a week!

Last Monday night, we had dinner with Jacques (the really old man who isn't interested in religion but just wants to be our friend). His two adult daughters were home and greeted us. Upon arriving, me and Elder Payne realized 3 more unoccupied seats around the table. As we wondered who they were for, we soon heard a knock on the door. It was a trap! Jacques, being the very social and outgoing guy he is, had invited three 20-year-old women to the dinner to set us up with them! He had only met these women once or twice before and they still accepted his invite. Little did they know that we were going to be there. Jacques is literally the Hugh Hefner of Epinal, let me tell you. Jacques' daughters tried to warn us beforehand, but it was too late. Luckily the girls were nice and polite. The dinner was also really good, so we were all grateful for that. Anyway, although it was a trap, Elder Payne and I ended the night with some new friends, so that was nice. Jacques was just doing what he thought was a nice gesture for his "two American friends", and I applaud him for that. What a man!

The next day we met back with one of the rich ladies whose door we had knocked on last week. At first, she said she was busy and could only talk for 15 minutes. The time limit was obviously a lie, for as we continued talking with her, her time limit disappeared. We were at her house for quite a long time. She is the first person to ever ask us if we have a Facebook and she is the one who suggested us friending her! That never happens! She speaks 5 languages fluently and is very accomplished, so we were able to have a nice, educated conversation with her inside her beautiful home. She then invited us back in the future for dinner with her family. I'm excited for that, let me tell ya! They also have a house in the south of France that she says we're invited to stay at after our missions when we come back with our future families. Having connections rocks, let me tell ya hah! Her name is Isabelle Belmonte and she is a wonderful person.  

The next day, we met back with the Balthazard family (one of the rich families we met; they live down the street from Isabelle). The sweet mom had made us an apple tart and provided us with drinks. The dad and their 25-year-old YouTuber son ("Vexios" is his YouTube channel. I think he's a gamer, but idk haha) were also present. As we sat around their dining room table, we taught them about our church and our country. Elder Payne wanted to leave a Book of Mormon with them, but they refused it. It was kinda cringey, because Elder Payne kept insisting that they keep it, after them telling us multiple times that they're not interested in changing religions. They are willing to have us over because we do good things and they want to help reward us for that. We ended up talking with them for over 2 hours! I'll attach the pics I got with them to my picture album, so jump over there right after you read this! 

Thursday kinda sucked. We had a rendez-vous with Bobby and Salome that wasn't that good. He didn't like our message about the "3 Kingdoms of Glory" and wanted proof. To give him proof, we found some verses in the BIBLE to show him. Because he loves the Bible, this made him really mad. He started becoming defensive and ranted on about how our interpretation is wrong for nearly 2 hours as we both said nothing. We just let him rant because there is no use arguing with him... Especially because he is our one investigator with the most hope of baptism, so we didn't want to make him even angrier. He then declared that from now on we don't go over to his house with a preplanned lesson and he gets to pick what he wants us to discuss with him/teach him. We agreed, but it kind of ruined our day. There is very small hope that either of them will progress now if we're not allowed to teach them things that they don't want to hear. Any ideas on how to better this situation? E-mail me and let me know!

The next day we traveled to a small city called "Rambervillers" to find an inactive member. Well, the traveling was difficult. What's only a 26-minute drive via car ended up being a 3 hour (one way) trip via 2 trains and a bus. The person wasn't home, so we left a message in their mailbox and started on our 3-hour journey back. 6 hours of travel time later, we went to Alhin's house for our weekly dinner. He was mad that we were late and kinda whined about it for a while. He then told us that there is a bus that takes us directly to Rambervillers in only 30 mins. That was great to know after the fact haha!

Saturday was really a blessing! 2 bad days in a row thankfully resulted in a good day! We found some old investigators from like 4 years ago. They were really nice and told us to come back next week for a real rendez-vous. The parents looked like the identical twins of my friend, Sammy Wardle's, parents. So that was funny! Then we knocked on some doors to find some new investigators. The first lady that actually answered wasn't interested until we reassured her that we don't practice polygamy and aren't a sect. Then she let us in. She had her two adult children at home with her (the daughter looking spot on with Britney Spears, no joke haha) and we all sat around the table and discussed. She fed us crepes and beignets as we taught them the message of the Restoration. They, too, weren't interested in the Book of Mormon at the moment... But they said, "maybe in the future," and that gave us hope! Since then she has been messaging us and wanting us to come back and discuss more religion with them ASAP. So we're hopeful with them! 

Sunday was decent. We had to give the lesson for second hour again, two Sundays in a row :( Luckily it wasn't too bad and the Branch participated in the discussion. They also seemed to be happy that I'm staying here for at least another 6 weeks, so that was good!

This morning the Branch President's wife was in town and bought me and Elder Payne a TON of food at the local boulangerie. What a woman :) And me and Elder Payne just went on a little walk in the snowy mountains today, so look out for some pics from that too! 

Thanks for all of your prayers! I really do feel them in my life. Some days are hard, but I always feel comforted and I know that's because of all of you! It means the World to me!

Anyway, that's my mass email for this week. Thanks for all the love and support! Love you all! 

Elder Connor Anderson

Dinner with Jacques, his daughters, and the women from the store

The Balthazard family w/ the YouTuber son

Cool monuments in Rambervillers

Valentine's package from my mom

Raclette Pizza from Domino's

Snowy P-Day hike

Me and Elder Payne teaching Sunday school (secretly taken by the Branch President)

Dinner with Jacques, his daughters, and the women from the store