Brest is amazing. It is about ten or twenty degrees cooler here and always a nice cloud cover so I don't have to worry about the sun, basically my dream come true with weather. It is very very nice. My companion is Elder Weight from Montana. We get along very well and it is a lot of fun in the apartment even though it is just two of us in the city. Our area covers the northern west part of france and we are the closest to Great Britain, we are actually in Britain, since it is Bretagne and Great Britain is Grande Bretagne, but the British just call it Brittany, anyway. It is a good sized area and just a small branch. But I like the branch since I pretty much know everyone now and it is very close. Also, I got into town and found out I had a talk to give as well. That was an adventure, just prepared a few notes on how we do receive answers to our prayers and got up and spoke like a frenchman giving a talk. Talk about the gift of tongues, that was truly one of those moments, especially since I seem to be having a hard time speaking to people in French right now, could just be nervousness, not sure. And we cover most of the small villes between us and Quimper and a bit more east. The transfer by myself went better than I expected. I had help in Le Mans getting my bags off and on from one of the elders there and then got off the train at brest just fine and am glad I didn't have more stops or have to go through Paris. The internet arrangement is not the same, we are actually in a gaming center right now emailing since the library was closed, but it will be in on of those two each week since there aren't any computers at the church to use. The branch is a lot smaller since it is a branch, but it is just as good I think. Really nice members and I like it a lot.
The reason that I haven't emailed is because well on monday evening we went out to renne to stay the night. Tuesday Elder Weight had a district leader meeting in Angers, I didn't get to go and did exchanges with Elder Weber (from Germany) instead in Rennes. We got to teach a really cool guy named Araphat Muhammad the first lesson. It was really cool since we got on the bus and sat in a four man seat area. He came and sat across from us and we didn't talk. then we got off at the same stop and he left. We passbacked an ami who was sleeping and went to our other passback we planned. Well we didn't know the name and this Mauri guy let us in the bat (building) as he was going in. We go to the top and decide to port the bat because we didn't know which was there apartment. We get to a door and the guy from the bus answers and the guy who let us in was on the couch. Coincidence? I think not. So we taught them and it was really good. Then on Wednesday I went to St. Briec to do an exchange with Elder Schaunig (from Austria). It was pretty good and we did some more porting before a rendez vous and talked to two evangelicals for an hour and got a return appointment. Really good days. I also got a new suit from E. Schaunig that he bought in Austria but is too big now. Fit pretty nicely. Then we got back today and viola.
Thank you for the prayers and thoughts, I'll attest that they are truly answered and the Lord does help us. You are in my prayers too and I hope that everything is going good.
Love always
Elder Sanborn
July 18, 2010
June 20, 2010
June 2010
June 7th email: -Merci pour les corrections, et oui, j'ai compris qu'est-ce que vous ditez. Je sais aussi que vous etes mes parents mais comme un missionaire, je droit utiliser le vousvouyer.
That last bit was probably bad french too, anyway.
It has been a really good week, we made most of our weekly goals for starters and have four new investigators!! YAY!!! Today we did have fun stuff planned, we went to the castle YAY!!!! So I can now say I have been in a castle, it was really cool and the masterpiece of it was this huge tapestry of the book of revelations, amazing stuff. I bought a book on it so I can study.
The weather here is going crazy too, Saturday it was burning hot out but then it rained big thunderstorms that night and cooled down a lot, and now it is just overcast and supposed to get rain. But we will see, it is good weather except that I wore a suit out in the rain and the jacket got ruined a bit, so I need to take it in to see if they can fix it. It is my suit I bought from Mr. Mac back in April of last year or whenever that was.
Things are going a lot better than before and the work is picking up, partly because we are working more, funny how that works... The district leader is my companion Elder Gohier, so each week I get to do exchanges with another elder in the district so he can go visit them all. Last week we both went to Cholet and I forgot my quad there, but should be getting it tomorrow from them at Zone Conference. Zone Conference is once a transfer but usually it is just in Angers for my area, the only reason it was in Paris last time was because we had a 70 with us. Or something like that. French is going good, I beg to differ but my companion, members at church, and Grant Emery (my MTC teacher who was visiting Angers last week) say it is good, so I guess it is. I can understand a lot, but my speech is still not very strong. Makes it hard to talk in rendez-vous and on the street. I don't talk much over the pulpit, but I got to when I got here and will again when I leave. It is a hard mission, but we do find a lot of good people to teach and talk to. Like the two drunks on the street who decided to say that Jesus never said to dress up in costumes (white shirts and ties, suit is called a costume) and preach his word to people, that and other stuff like that. No fight but got to talk to them for a good 30 minutes after a good rendez-vous.
This week we had a really good experience with member referrals actually. So if you don't know, they are the best way to find people and this is why. We have a Chinese Recent Convert, Long Long, that we invited to come to our Saturday Ping Pong and Pancakes along with his friend Huai Xi, they both came and Long Long brought two of his friends that we are now teaching. They had a good time so we talked to them about coming to church and they both came and liked it. It was really cool to see new investigators that we didn't even plan on coming to church. Hopefully more news on them. Now we are teaching 4 chinese (Huai Xi and Long Long's friends, I think named Cheng and Fei, ---Huai Xi's GF Lei actually moved to Paris sudddenly so that was sad--, and trying to teach Wei Wei) 1 Angolese lady, and her Portuguese Husband. And no french people. It is very interesting. Never expected to teach that diverse to be honest.
June 14th--
Things are going good here. Had a zone conference with President last tuesday that was really good, all about putting off the youthful lusts. Kind of a rough subject to talk with a bunch of missionaries, but it was really good. His wife gave a good lesson on pride and how we need to get rid of all our pride.It was a really good conference. We also had stake conference on sunday with a broadcast from Elder Bednar and Packer. I understood none of it because they had it translated and no room for just english, but I got the shorthand notes from my comp after...I do have problems with going slow, but I am getting slower with each day and trying to relax. I learned that you can speak slow and no one will bite your head off, I always just tried to talk fast like a frenchman so i'd blend in. But I realized I can talk slow. I am stumbling and stuttereing a lot less though which is good.
Thanks for the package and I will keep my eye out for it, should only be about a week or two, so I shouldn't be gone by that time. And I'm going to try to stay in Angers for one more transfer, just going to tell my DL to put on the report that I want to say and president puts that into consideration when he moves people, but you can't change the Lord's will in anything, so we will see.
Missionary work is going really good, we actually have 4 new investigators, well 3 now since one moved on Sunday, so that is fun. Two are friends of a recent convert (one that left) and the other two are a husband to a lady we teach (the angolese) and someone from our area book we called (Chinese girl named Jing). So it gives us more lessons a week and it is all good and fun. We actually were sad this week because our best investigators Huai Xi and Lei moved to China and Paris respectively. Huai Xi will be back in three months, but unless I spend 5 transfers in Angers, I won't see him again. Was kinda sad but it's life. We are doing good with the lessons and trying our best to get our investigators to progress, but it is hard sometimes. We did go see the castle last week but besides that we haven't been able to see many others.
That last bit was probably bad french too, anyway.
It has been a really good week, we made most of our weekly goals for starters and have four new investigators!! YAY!!! Today we did have fun stuff planned, we went to the castle YAY!!!! So I can now say I have been in a castle, it was really cool and the masterpiece of it was this huge tapestry of the book of revelations, amazing stuff. I bought a book on it so I can study.
The weather here is going crazy too, Saturday it was burning hot out but then it rained big thunderstorms that night and cooled down a lot, and now it is just overcast and supposed to get rain. But we will see, it is good weather except that I wore a suit out in the rain and the jacket got ruined a bit, so I need to take it in to see if they can fix it. It is my suit I bought from Mr. Mac back in April of last year or whenever that was.
Things are going a lot better than before and the work is picking up, partly because we are working more, funny how that works... The district leader is my companion Elder Gohier, so each week I get to do exchanges with another elder in the district so he can go visit them all. Last week we both went to Cholet and I forgot my quad there, but should be getting it tomorrow from them at Zone Conference. Zone Conference is once a transfer but usually it is just in Angers for my area, the only reason it was in Paris last time was because we had a 70 with us. Or something like that. French is going good, I beg to differ but my companion, members at church, and Grant Emery (my MTC teacher who was visiting Angers last week) say it is good, so I guess it is. I can understand a lot, but my speech is still not very strong. Makes it hard to talk in rendez-vous and on the street. I don't talk much over the pulpit, but I got to when I got here and will again when I leave. It is a hard mission, but we do find a lot of good people to teach and talk to. Like the two drunks on the street who decided to say that Jesus never said to dress up in costumes (white shirts and ties, suit is called a costume) and preach his word to people, that and other stuff like that. No fight but got to talk to them for a good 30 minutes after a good rendez-vous.
This week we had a really good experience with member referrals actually. So if you don't know, they are the best way to find people and this is why. We have a Chinese Recent Convert, Long Long, that we invited to come to our Saturday Ping Pong and Pancakes along with his friend Huai Xi, they both came and Long Long brought two of his friends that we are now teaching. They had a good time so we talked to them about coming to church and they both came and liked it. It was really cool to see new investigators that we didn't even plan on coming to church. Hopefully more news on them. Now we are teaching 4 chinese (Huai Xi and Long Long's friends, I think named Cheng and Fei, ---Huai Xi's GF Lei actually moved to Paris sudddenly so that was sad--, and trying to teach Wei Wei) 1 Angolese lady, and her Portuguese Husband. And no french people. It is very interesting. Never expected to teach that diverse to be honest.
June 14th--
Things are going good here. Had a zone conference with President last tuesday that was really good, all about putting off the youthful lusts. Kind of a rough subject to talk with a bunch of missionaries, but it was really good. His wife gave a good lesson on pride and how we need to get rid of all our pride.It was a really good conference. We also had stake conference on sunday with a broadcast from Elder Bednar and Packer. I understood none of it because they had it translated and no room for just english, but I got the shorthand notes from my comp after...I do have problems with going slow, but I am getting slower with each day and trying to relax. I learned that you can speak slow and no one will bite your head off, I always just tried to talk fast like a frenchman so i'd blend in. But I realized I can talk slow. I am stumbling and stuttereing a lot less though which is good.
Thanks for the package and I will keep my eye out for it, should only be about a week or two, so I shouldn't be gone by that time. And I'm going to try to stay in Angers for one more transfer, just going to tell my DL to put on the report that I want to say and president puts that into consideration when he moves people, but you can't change the Lord's will in anything, so we will see.
Missionary work is going really good, we actually have 4 new investigators, well 3 now since one moved on Sunday, so that is fun. Two are friends of a recent convert (one that left) and the other two are a husband to a lady we teach (the angolese) and someone from our area book we called (Chinese girl named Jing). So it gives us more lessons a week and it is all good and fun. We actually were sad this week because our best investigators Huai Xi and Lei moved to China and Paris respectively. Huai Xi will be back in three months, but unless I spend 5 transfers in Angers, I won't see him again. Was kinda sad but it's life. We are doing good with the lessons and trying our best to get our investigators to progress, but it is hard sometimes. We did go see the castle last week but besides that we haven't been able to see many others.
May 16, 2010
May 4th email
The week has been good. We had a few rendez vous with less actives and new investigators as well as a fun day of service. We drove half an hour out of Angers and ate a big lunch. The cammembert is really good too. Then we moved some boxes out and waited for the truck. It came after four hours... But we got some good games of rock boules in and stuff. Elder Williams also has had the hiccups for the past five or six days so we spent a long night at the hospital this last week. And nothing came out of it. So ya, it was pretty intersting. France is amazing and I am glad to be out here.
Haven't been able to teach music or play it for the ward but it is all good. The day with the DL was good, walked around a lot and talke to people. Got my first chance at knocking doors. That was a whole lot of fun. I got to do one door and they understood me and then rejected me right away, but alteast they understood me.
The week has been weird. The work has been slow and haven't had a lot to do, but hopefully that will pick up soon. We had a really hot day here earlier in the week followed by a cold day today and rain yesterday, so the weather is all over the place, but it is still good. It is kinda dreary today and we didn't go play sports because of it, lots of clouds and wind. But we have a rendez vous tonight that hopefully goes through and if not we are going to pass by some old names in the area book. Hopefully something comes out of it.
I have gotten to drive and it isn't too bad, just weird driving on some of the really small streets that people park on so it is really a two lane but we use one and both directions use it, takes some getting used to. I generally yield the driving to another missionary but when it is just me and my comp, I get to take the wheel.
In Paris we didn't have time to do much besides take a picture of the eiffel tower and catch our trains. I did get to see my district which was good along with the rest of the missionaries which was cool. Mission conferences are once every few transfers I think. Not really sure. I hope you can get the money saved because that will be a really fun trip wth you here.
But life is pretty good for the most part. After church we generally have lunch with a member so they drive us there and then home and members are pertty good with giving us rides from the church after activities and such. I have had a few meals with members and had one with some people we did service for. A full french meal with wine and everything. Yes we denied the wine, and the cafe too. The ward is good and it is basically our whole area, still not sure of the cities in the area though. But it is pretty big. Just look at the surronding areas and you should find most of it.
Until the phone call
Elder Sanborn
Post Mother's Day call
Happy Mother's Day! The meeting went pretty good, we just answered a question that they had about which church is the true church then we told them how we knew of the truth, that you don't need to see God but you can feel the peace about it. And then their question about Noah's ark being found in Turkey as well I answered. But besides that it was pretty normal. Missed the bus by a few minutes and were forced to walk home in the slight rain so it wasn't too bad. Talked about our phone calls and other stuff comme ca. (like that). We are really trying to get this couple baptized but they aren't making the step to come to church like they need to before we can commit them to baptism and Huai Xi leaves at the end of the month to go back to China for three months, so hopefully we can either get him ready this month or teach Lei while he is gone and she how interested she is alone. Hopefully it all works out. We had a rendez-vous earlier today but got frujed so now we are emailing. (to get frujed means to have an appointment or an investigator and then it falls through. I guess there is a drink called Fruji that tastes good at first but the aftertaste is really bad. So when someone doesn't show up for an appointment we say we got frujed. anyways...) So not much happened today because of the rain too.
I remember reading or hearing something from one of the apostles of prophets that funerals aren't sad for us but more a celebration of life and it sounds like they really got that down at the funeral. Huai Xi and Lei actually asked that question; if we are sad or happy at a funeral. I made the comment that when grandad died I was sad because I won't get to see him again on the Earth but happy to know that I will be with him together after this life and that he can truly be free and happy now. I'm glad our church has that perspecitve on life.
I have learned to have fun out here, at times it is hard but I just realize the mission is what I make it, so why not make it good? and it works usually.
(This email was sent to us the Monday after our Mother's Day call--so this is just an exerpt of his email)
I remember reading or hearing something from one of the apostles of prophets that funerals aren't sad for us but more a celebration of life and it sounds like they really got that down at the funeral. Huai Xi and Lei actually asked that question; if we are sad or happy at a funeral. I made the comment that when grandad died I was sad because I won't get to see him again on the Earth but happy to know that I will be with him together after this life and that he can truly be free and happy now. I'm glad our church has that perspecitve on life.
I have learned to have fun out here, at times it is hard but I just realize the mission is what I make it, so why not make it good? and it works usually.
(This email was sent to us the Monday after our Mother's Day call--so this is just an exerpt of his email)
April 20, 2010
Bonjour from France
So we didn't get enough time at the church yesterday, my companion got none in fact i was the only one who had time, so we came by a internet cafe to email a bit more for them. So I decided to send a short note.
We have mission conference on wednesday which will be a lot of fun. Except that we have to wake up at like 5 so we can get ready and be on the bus at 6:15 to get to the gare for our train to Paris that leaves at like 7 or something. But the good news is, I will get to see Elder Ellsworth and Elder Lee there along with the rest of the Elders in the mission. Which will be way cool. Elder Ellsworth actually called me on thursday I think and we talked for a bit, we are both excited to see eachother again so that will be awesome. Also, I will get to go around Paris a bit after conference and probably see the Eifel Tower and maybe Notre Dame. Interesting fact, Notre Dame is actually white. They cleaned it in the past few months and it came up white not grey, so expect some pictures of that one of these days.
All is well here, I am very happy and am throwing myself in the work. It is still slow with the language but I am picking things up pretty quickly. It is nice having another equipe in the apartment to talk to and get advice on the American side, like calling cards and things like that. So that is nice to have.
But it is a lot of fun here and I am glad to be out. It was a hard decision at first and a lot of things came up that I could have just quit and stayed home, but I am glad that I came out. I have no regrets from leaving. I am glad that I don't have emotional baggage back home. School is always in the back of my mind but I don't worry about it. Life will be there when I get back so why should I rush it? I get two years to serve the Lord and live in France, what else could I ask for? Life is good for me now and I just don't want to lose that. Just thought I would let you know that I am enjoying everything and that life is good. Wish you could be here to enjoy it but maybe in two years you can.
Things are really beautiful here and I will try to get more pictures of Angers itself for next week so you can see the things like the Cathedral and the Castle and just the natural things as well.
Love, Elder Sanborn
We have mission conference on wednesday which will be a lot of fun. Except that we have to wake up at like 5 so we can get ready and be on the bus at 6:15 to get to the gare for our train to Paris that leaves at like 7 or something. But the good news is, I will get to see Elder Ellsworth and Elder Lee there along with the rest of the Elders in the mission. Which will be way cool. Elder Ellsworth actually called me on thursday I think and we talked for a bit, we are both excited to see eachother again so that will be awesome. Also, I will get to go around Paris a bit after conference and probably see the Eifel Tower and maybe Notre Dame. Interesting fact, Notre Dame is actually white. They cleaned it in the past few months and it came up white not grey, so expect some pictures of that one of these days.
All is well here, I am very happy and am throwing myself in the work. It is still slow with the language but I am picking things up pretty quickly. It is nice having another equipe in the apartment to talk to and get advice on the American side, like calling cards and things like that. So that is nice to have.
But it is a lot of fun here and I am glad to be out. It was a hard decision at first and a lot of things came up that I could have just quit and stayed home, but I am glad that I came out. I have no regrets from leaving. I am glad that I don't have emotional baggage back home. School is always in the back of my mind but I don't worry about it. Life will be there when I get back so why should I rush it? I get two years to serve the Lord and live in France, what else could I ask for? Life is good for me now and I just don't want to lose that. Just thought I would let you know that I am enjoying everything and that life is good. Wish you could be here to enjoy it but maybe in two years you can.
Things are really beautiful here and I will try to get more pictures of Angers itself for next week so you can see the things like the Cathedral and the Castle and just the natural things as well.
Love, Elder Sanborn
Elder Sanborn emails from Angers France
Bonjour from France and French keyboards, so if you see letters words messed up, it is not me. ok nevermind, I found the english button so it should be fine now.
Anyways, I am loving it here in Anger (Ahn-jay). It is amazing. We have a castle and a large catholic cathedrel in town which are really cool to see. We made it in okay with the volcano and the ones leaving left just in time from what I hear. I am not sure of my address here to be honest, but you seem to know the address since you googled it. It is on a street with a boulangerie/pattiserie right on the corner which is pretty cool.
The trip was good, they fed us a decent dinner and a pretty good breakfast so that wasn't bad. It was just long but I did get to sit by myself which helped my legs. And thanks again for the plane pillow you sent for my birthday, it was amazing. I got all my stuff in my bags which amazed me since before all my books I was under the weight limit by like 15 pounds. Really weird. I got to sleep for a few hours and experienced no jet lag afterwards which was really nice.
So, the first few days. We got off the plane and met the Assistants and president who led us to a car outside for our bags. After our bags were safely delivered we were lead to a large parking building in the airport and were met by the president again with pain du chocolat. They were absolutely amazing. Much better than anything here that is for sure. So then we took a train to downtown paris with the Assistants. I got to talk to a crazy frenchman who gave us a map to heaven. Ya, don't ask me either it was weird. But then we got off and were led to the church where our "moms" were. (The person that takes us out contacting is called our mom). My "mom" is Elder Walter, who "died" (getting ready to go home)last week so he won't be in the mission anymore. Me and him went out with a book of mormon and went contacting for about a half an hour. It wasn't too bad and we placed a pamphlet with a lady from Congo but that was it.
So after that we were led back to the church and the assistants took us to the mission home. We showered, relaxed, ate dinner, and then after a brief testimony meeting we went to bed. The next morning president woke us up at the normal time and we went up to a good breakfast of cold cereal. After that he took us into this office and we watched a short video and then he announced our first areas and our "dads" (trainers). My "dad" is Elder Boudet, yes he is French-the south of France. He is awesome and really good for me. So we then got into cars and drove to a place called Consecration point by the missionaries, Right outside a castle were Louis XIV lived. Which was cool to see. So we went there and got to meet our trainers and take a picture with them, which I will send to you in a different email probably. So then we got to go back to the mission home to get our bags and go off to our areas.
Our first stop was in Paris to get a Pizza Kebab (You will see the picture, basically a cheese pizza covered in tomatoes, lettuce, onions, kebab meat, and some sauce on the side. Really good) and a father/son tie. So we got that then headed off to a train to Angers. Long train ride but when we got there the other two missionaries in Angers, Elder Tom and Williams met us and we drove a bus to the church building. Yes it is an actual building about as big as the seminary wing on the stake center plus the gym. It is nice.
So we went there and had an english class which we hold each wednesday. After that we had a rendez-vous with a young chinese couple who seem very interested. Huai Xi and Lei. They are progressing pretty well so we will see what happens. Then finally after that the DMP (Dirigent de Mission de Paroisse - Ward mission leader) gave us a ride home. He is British and served in France so it was nice to speak english. After that I got to see the apartment and unpack. Long first day. The next day started a normal day with another rendez-vous and some contacting as well as buying my proslyting bag, yes i bought one and i like it. I saw some of the sights and that has been most days. We ride the bus everywhere which is pretty nice. Sunday I had a nice big headache. Got to the ward, which normally has around 80-100 members I think, and I got asked a lot of questions in a language i don't know, so i stayed close to Elder Boudet and let him talk. A lot of members made fun of our name because it sounds both like Sans Borne and Sans Born (withot limits/born) So they liked that. But it is pretty good.
After we had a mangez-vous (lunch appointment) with some members which literally blew my head because of all the French. But I lived. After we went on a nice walk with one of the members and he showed us the cathedrel. We went in while they were having a mass and it was interesting to see/hear. The organ was amazing to hear especially. It was just cool to see how big it was. Haven't gone into the castle yet, but i will. We see it most days.
I didn't write down where everyone is going. But I do remember that Elder Dykstra (the only missionary who was assigned to Belgium mission) is assigned to Brussels. Elder Ellis is going to Brest. And Elder Horne is in a suburb of Paris. But we are pretty much scattered all over. I think Elder Collette went to Normandy. The apartment is small, about the size of our living room and kitchen, maybe smaller. We have a washing machine and dryer in the kitchen, our beds in the main room, and the other two elders closet is our dining room. So it is compact, but I like it that way. First week has been good and tiring. I haven't had a crepe yet but I have had a pizza kebab, like I said, and a french apple pastry which was good. I do plan on having more when I get money..Speaking of money...
So they give us a JP Morgan chase card for our mission money. I went to take out some money from it so I could have some and it said the pin was wrong. Ok..so later that day I checked my pin and wrote it down so i could get some out later. When I went back i used the pin and it didn't work again. I looked at what i wrote down but still nothing. Now, in America the card would just get blocked. But in France, they detain your card. So the post office kept my card. We went back later and asked for it, (they didnt like my drivers license either) and they said because i used the pin wrong to many times they have to give it to the bank and cant give it back. Joyful so for the next week or so i dont have a french card. But I have been using my card when I need to. If you can, can you check the balance and send me the number every week. I want to do it, but it is hard to translate the dollars into euros...Anyways.
Elder Boudet is very helpful in teaching me the language and helping me when I need help. Although after bearing my testimony on sunday he said my french is very good, but i still can't talk much. And am lost in most conversations and lessons. My area is Huge. I thought it was just the city of angers but it is a big area. I don't know the exacts but I am sure you could figure out. We had to take an hour long car ride with the bishop to get to one of the members for a lesson.
Speaking of cars... We are a car misson. SUPRISE! Our area gets a car every 3rd week and since the French License costs about 3000 dollars and you need 6 months of class to get one, Elder Boudet doesn't have one, so in 3 weeks guess who gets to drive the streets of Angers. Yes me, and I am not excited. They are really good drivers here and the roads aren't too bad. But we will see. They are called Clios and are all stick shifts. So we will see how that works out.
Just so you know, we normally email from 4-6 but today we were playing sports for later than we wanted so we are at the chruch emailing. Usually we go to a internet cafe for it.
Things are well and i hope i answered all your questions and concerncs.
Oh i almost forgot. I need you to email my mtc teacher Frere Emery with the list of missionaries in Lille. He is doing and internship there and wanted to know. Here is the list
Dalton-Perez, Dungan-Neidhart, Curran-Pubst, Durhman-Porter, Carson-Christensen, Holcombe-Fanise, Hayes-Clark, Maxwell-Zarbock, Clauson-Hann, Perdue-Kirkland, Hood-Woyak, Scott-Nelson. His email is GrantPaulEmery@gmail.com. I would do it but he doesnt want us emailing him.
Also, can i get the recipe for chicken annalee, I am going to try to make it.
I love you lots and am happy to be out here. Until next week.
Elder Sanborn
Anyways, I am loving it here in Anger (Ahn-jay). It is amazing. We have a castle and a large catholic cathedrel in town which are really cool to see. We made it in okay with the volcano and the ones leaving left just in time from what I hear. I am not sure of my address here to be honest, but you seem to know the address since you googled it. It is on a street with a boulangerie/pattiserie right on the corner which is pretty cool.
The trip was good, they fed us a decent dinner and a pretty good breakfast so that wasn't bad. It was just long but I did get to sit by myself which helped my legs. And thanks again for the plane pillow you sent for my birthday, it was amazing. I got all my stuff in my bags which amazed me since before all my books I was under the weight limit by like 15 pounds. Really weird. I got to sleep for a few hours and experienced no jet lag afterwards which was really nice.
So, the first few days. We got off the plane and met the Assistants and president who led us to a car outside for our bags. After our bags were safely delivered we were lead to a large parking building in the airport and were met by the president again with pain du chocolat. They were absolutely amazing. Much better than anything here that is for sure. So then we took a train to downtown paris with the Assistants. I got to talk to a crazy frenchman who gave us a map to heaven. Ya, don't ask me either it was weird. But then we got off and were led to the church where our "moms" were. (The person that takes us out contacting is called our mom). My "mom" is Elder Walter, who "died" (getting ready to go home)last week so he won't be in the mission anymore. Me and him went out with a book of mormon and went contacting for about a half an hour. It wasn't too bad and we placed a pamphlet with a lady from Congo but that was it.
So after that we were led back to the church and the assistants took us to the mission home. We showered, relaxed, ate dinner, and then after a brief testimony meeting we went to bed. The next morning president woke us up at the normal time and we went up to a good breakfast of cold cereal. After that he took us into this office and we watched a short video and then he announced our first areas and our "dads" (trainers). My "dad" is Elder Boudet, yes he is French-the south of France. He is awesome and really good for me. So we then got into cars and drove to a place called Consecration point by the missionaries, Right outside a castle were Louis XIV lived. Which was cool to see. So we went there and got to meet our trainers and take a picture with them, which I will send to you in a different email probably. So then we got to go back to the mission home to get our bags and go off to our areas.
Our first stop was in Paris to get a Pizza Kebab (You will see the picture, basically a cheese pizza covered in tomatoes, lettuce, onions, kebab meat, and some sauce on the side. Really good) and a father/son tie. So we got that then headed off to a train to Angers. Long train ride but when we got there the other two missionaries in Angers, Elder Tom and Williams met us and we drove a bus to the church building. Yes it is an actual building about as big as the seminary wing on the stake center plus the gym. It is nice.
So we went there and had an english class which we hold each wednesday. After that we had a rendez-vous with a young chinese couple who seem very interested. Huai Xi and Lei. They are progressing pretty well so we will see what happens. Then finally after that the DMP (Dirigent de Mission de Paroisse - Ward mission leader) gave us a ride home. He is British and served in France so it was nice to speak english. After that I got to see the apartment and unpack. Long first day. The next day started a normal day with another rendez-vous and some contacting as well as buying my proslyting bag, yes i bought one and i like it. I saw some of the sights and that has been most days. We ride the bus everywhere which is pretty nice. Sunday I had a nice big headache. Got to the ward, which normally has around 80-100 members I think, and I got asked a lot of questions in a language i don't know, so i stayed close to Elder Boudet and let him talk. A lot of members made fun of our name because it sounds both like Sans Borne and Sans Born (withot limits/born) So they liked that. But it is pretty good.
After we had a mangez-vous (lunch appointment) with some members which literally blew my head because of all the French. But I lived. After we went on a nice walk with one of the members and he showed us the cathedrel. We went in while they were having a mass and it was interesting to see/hear. The organ was amazing to hear especially. It was just cool to see how big it was. Haven't gone into the castle yet, but i will. We see it most days.
I didn't write down where everyone is going. But I do remember that Elder Dykstra (the only missionary who was assigned to Belgium mission) is assigned to Brussels. Elder Ellis is going to Brest. And Elder Horne is in a suburb of Paris. But we are pretty much scattered all over. I think Elder Collette went to Normandy. The apartment is small, about the size of our living room and kitchen, maybe smaller. We have a washing machine and dryer in the kitchen, our beds in the main room, and the other two elders closet is our dining room. So it is compact, but I like it that way. First week has been good and tiring. I haven't had a crepe yet but I have had a pizza kebab, like I said, and a french apple pastry which was good. I do plan on having more when I get money..Speaking of money...
So they give us a JP Morgan chase card for our mission money. I went to take out some money from it so I could have some and it said the pin was wrong. Ok..so later that day I checked my pin and wrote it down so i could get some out later. When I went back i used the pin and it didn't work again. I looked at what i wrote down but still nothing. Now, in America the card would just get blocked. But in France, they detain your card. So the post office kept my card. We went back later and asked for it, (they didnt like my drivers license either) and they said because i used the pin wrong to many times they have to give it to the bank and cant give it back. Joyful so for the next week or so i dont have a french card. But I have been using my card when I need to. If you can, can you check the balance and send me the number every week. I want to do it, but it is hard to translate the dollars into euros...Anyways.
Elder Boudet is very helpful in teaching me the language and helping me when I need help. Although after bearing my testimony on sunday he said my french is very good, but i still can't talk much. And am lost in most conversations and lessons. My area is Huge. I thought it was just the city of angers but it is a big area. I don't know the exacts but I am sure you could figure out. We had to take an hour long car ride with the bishop to get to one of the members for a lesson.
Speaking of cars... We are a car misson. SUPRISE! Our area gets a car every 3rd week and since the French License costs about 3000 dollars and you need 6 months of class to get one, Elder Boudet doesn't have one, so in 3 weeks guess who gets to drive the streets of Angers. Yes me, and I am not excited. They are really good drivers here and the roads aren't too bad. But we will see. They are called Clios and are all stick shifts. So we will see how that works out.
Just so you know, we normally email from 4-6 but today we were playing sports for later than we wanted so we are at the chruch emailing. Usually we go to a internet cafe for it.
Things are well and i hope i answered all your questions and concerncs.
Oh i almost forgot. I need you to email my mtc teacher Frere Emery with the list of missionaries in Lille. He is doing and internship there and wanted to know. Here is the list
Dalton-Perez, Dungan-Neidhart, Curran-Pubst, Durhman-Porter, Carson-Christensen, Holcombe-Fanise, Hayes-Clark, Maxwell-Zarbock, Clauson-Hann, Perdue-Kirkland, Hood-Woyak, Scott-Nelson. His email is GrantPaulEmery@gmail.com. I would do it but he doesnt want us emailing him.
Also, can i get the recipe for chicken annalee, I am going to try to make it.
I love you lots and am happy to be out here. Until next week.
Elder Sanborn
April 17, 2010
Made it to France
Jonathan left for France on April 12 and arrived at the Paris mission home on April 13. We received a note from the Mission President, President Stahlei and he said that the missionaries arrived and spent the first day eating home cooked food, napping, visting with the President, contacting non-members in the heart of Paris and sharing testimonies in the mission home.
The next morning, April 14th, Elder Sanborn left for his first assignment to work in the Angers Area with Elder Boudet, Guilhem, who will be his trainer. Their apartment address is:
Elder Sanborn
Les Missionnaires
6, Square Alexandre 1er
49100 ANGERS
FRANCE
Letters would be great for him (though with the planes not flying--not sure how mail gets through). His mission president sent this scripture: Proverbs 25:25: As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
We will update his blog as soon as we here from him, which hopefully will be Monday as that is the P-day for the missionaries in Paris France mission.
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