E-mail 11-12-12

Fam,

Mother, you are a question machine!  But I love you so I’ll try my hardest to answer them all. I’m glad to hear that you are all freezing as well. Its sooooo cold here. Who’s the clown that said all that global warming nonsense? He should get fired eh. But ca va. All weather is good! For example, we get let into houses a lot easier when its way cold and the people feel bad for us. If it was hot that wouldn’t happen. Therefore, I LOVE the cold haha. Its weird how the Lord blesses us in a variety of ways. I have come to learn that IT IS ALWAYS GOOD WEATHER NO MATTER WHAT. 

My comp is legit. He is a spiritual giant. Elder Adams has learned more then he ever thought possible these last few weeks all thanks to him. #Blessed. And no we don’t live with anyone else . The next closest missionaries are in Versaille (Paris) about an hour away. President Andersen will be here on Friday. Pretty excited for that. He was a Mission President here so I guess his French is pretty awesome. That will be neat. The ENTIRE mission will all be together Friday morning. We will all be taking a tram to the Versaille chapel. All 180 or so of us! People are gonna freak when they see us haha. I’m sure we will make the news or something. Missionaries have been all over the news these last few weeks because of the elections. Yesterday we had a guy run up to us because he thought I was Mitt Romney's son? I said yes, haha. We have a rendez-vous with him this week!  Should be legit. And he is reading the Book of Mormon. Who knew politics could be used for good? haha Je blague. And to answer your last question... P Days are pretty uneventful. We just go to the grocery store, the church for emails, eat, write letters, and wander the streets if we have time looking at random stores. Oh and we always look at the Grand Cathedral. Its soooo crazzzy. And sooo BIG. I have seen it a million times already in my short time here but it never gets old. It manages to blow my mind every time. I think I answered most of your questions. I tried anyway.

This last week was a real treat... just like every week. Chartres is the best. I love the people here! There are so many people here interested in the gospel right now. We have talked to soooo many people these last three weeks. The first week we had 8 hour days of finding with an occasional lesson. Now two weeks later all of that finding is really paying off.  We have had lots of lessons these last couple of weeks. Teaching lessons is the best! It’s so fun studying every morning for three hours (personal study, team study, and language study) and then going out and sharing the things that I have learned with the people. These last couple of weeks I have been sleeping like a baby. There is no better feeling in the world than knowing you have worked hard all day and then it’s finally time for bed haha. Sleep is my best friend. My bed is a little to small but I have come to learn that the harder I work, the less I care about the size of my bed because once my head hits the pillow I’m out! #DeepSleep.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this already but our President has given every team of missionaries the goal of finding a family and baptizing them before Christmas. What better gift could a person give then that of the gospel?  Nothing!  How lucky am I? Pretty lucky!  And I have received the confirmation that it is possible so I am pretty excited to see what happens in these coming weeks. Things are really looking up here in Chartres. 

Thanks for all your prayers in my behalf!  I have certainly felt them this week. The powerfulness of prayer is just that, powerfull!  Thanks for all that you do. And know that I’m praying for your success as well. Y’all deserve it!  Keep on keepin on. Stay Awesome.  Stay neat!  Miss y’all to the moon and back.  Sometimes haha.  Je blague! Bon semaine!  Garder un sourir!  Life rocks.

Bises,

Elder Adams

Email 11-5-12

Family,

Sounds like life is swell out there in the real world! That’s good! I’m gettin real sick about hearing about all the fishing y’all been doing. Dang. Why didn’t this happen when I lived there eh?  Ha ha. Je blague. Ca va.  Life rocks here as well. Chaque jour est le meilleur. Vraiement. Je suis content etre ici en Chartre! The election is close huh? It’s about time. I’m getting real sick of it haha. Its everywhereeeeeeeee! Like these people should just move to the US of A or something. I’m pretty sure the election is more important here. About 10 times a day we here, "Mitt’s boyz huh... you don’t stand a chance." haha. Not sure how to exactly translate it from French but it’s something like that.

Well I kinda lied about being right next to Paris. It’s actually about an hour and a half train ride. Its not really considered to be a suburb but then again it kinda is. Tons of people live here and work in Paris. I have seen the Eiffel tour a couple of times but not very often. I get to go to Paris once a week for district meeting. The church is in the heart of Paris so it’s always fun to walk by some of the most famous buildings in the world and to learn how to get around Paris. That place is nuts. My ville is pretty small. Way smaller then Charleroi. My new companion Elder Maxwell is a stud. He is from Vegas and has been out for about 13 months. His French is amazing so I learn a lot from him in that regard. He really knows how to talk and communicate with the people so it’s been awesome learning from him in that regard as well. Life is pretty chouette right now. Can’t complain one bit. And Elder Maxwell is huge into golf so that’s obviously a real treat as well. #Blessingz. I never saw Soeur Poznanski on transfer day because I got to Paris a little earlier than most Elders. I am kinda a little camera shy but that’s not the excuse this time. The members are pretty awesome here. They have feed us twice already I think. Not too bad. Our apartment isn’t the nicest but it gets the job done. Elder Adams has done a lil reconstruction on it as well. I cleaned the stove, sink, and shower with some gnarly chemicals. They be lookin like new again. #YouCouldEvenEatOffOfIt. I can’t stand living in a dirty place. One thing I have learned in my short time here is the power of cleanliness. It’s definitely worth it. Dowmtown is about a five minute walk from the apartment. Not to shabby. We have to walk a TON. Honestly like 20 miles a day. Pas une blague. Safe to say my little tootsies are not in the best of shape. They’re bleeding in about three different spots right now haha. But they will live. We have a foot docteur in our ward and I will be visiting him tonight to get another pair of custom orthotics for free. He did some tests lasts week and I failed miserably haha. He’s not really sure what to do because he has never seen feet like mine but ca va. They still get the job done. I could buy new shoes but I don’t want to s[end the money and I don’t really think they will help. I’ll give you more of an update on that next week. I hope I answered all of your questions mom!  #TriedMyHeartest

This week was nuts!  Without a doubt the best week of the mission and my life.  Miracle after miracle has been taking place. I got let into my first house ever while doing port à port! (door to door). It only took about 500 houses before one finally decided to listen haha. And she loved it! We taught the 1st lesson. It was powerful. She was excited to have her own copy of the Book of Mormon and promised us that she would read it. We’ll see here again on Wednesday so I’m pretty pumped about that. She also has two kids and a husband who will be present in the next lesson. #GospelBlessesFAMILIES. And this week we were getting blessed right and left! We taught a lot of lessons and found a lot of new amis de l'église!  The power of prayer, being obedient, and working hard are irreplaceable.  It’s amazing what can happen when we have a goal in mind and work hard  to achieve it! 

And lastly the Français.  My French has come along way but its still nowhere even close to where it needs to be. I can finally talk with people but it doesn’t sound to hot haha. I struggle most days but with time it can only get better. I study my brains out and pray like a madman every day. I can read French without much of a problem now. It’s just my pronunciation that is horrible haha. I am wayyy to American. I don’t know how to say my R's! Its soooo hard. My big head still hasn’t quite figured out how to do it. Sometimes I get a bit discouraged wiff my Français but when i look back its amazing to see how far I have come and how much I have actually learned. It’s not easy but its definitely worth it! Pray for my Français if you have the time! The power of prayer is amazing. 

Well that’s about all I got time for. I could go on for days about all the things I have learned this last week but I don’t have the time. Oh yeah, Elder Anderson is coming to the mission of the 16th.  Every missionary from the mission will be there.  All 170 or so of us. That will be a real treat. Have a good week. Don’t forget to... "Live each day as if you will live forever, for you surely shall!"  That phrase is a life changer.  Think about it. Lovez y’all. 

XOXO... Bises,

Elder Adamz

 

P.S. I missed your other question. Mrs. Guisti is right. There is a huge Cathedral here. Third biggest in the world.  I can’t get enough of it. Sometimes during study time I get lost within its beauty (we have a perfect view of it from our apartment) Its "untrue" beauty but it is still amazing haha. You can see it from anywhere within 50 miles of Chartre I think.  I can’t even explain it, its too amazzzing. I’ll be sure to send some pics. I’ts like the Super Super Super Walmart of any church on earth haha. HUGEEEE.