the start of something new!

haha like my subject? couldn't resist. anyway!

hi everyone! how are you? here in mulhouse, things are going just peachy. and they will be for the next couple of days. until wednesday, then i'll be in charge of everything. then i'm expecting everything to explode. yay! so i don't know how much anyone really knows right now, or if my last little email even got blogged or forwarded or whatever, but for anyone that didn't know yet, i will officially be training next transfer. ummmmmm. yeah. i know right. so this will sure be a new experience. i went from being completely new and knowing nothing, and now i'm gonna be a daddy. went from no responsibility to being completely responsable for what happens in mulhouse and what becomes of this new missionary that's coming in. so to say i'm freaking out a little would be an understatement haha. no it actually hasn't really completely hit me yet. soon though. on one side, i am so nervous. but then on the other hand, i'm so excited to get to train. and super grateful. because although i may be crying for the next 6 weeks because i'm going to be doing everything (unless i get a french companion, which i can't decide if i want or not. because on one hand, it would make life so much easier for me, but then on the other hand, it's so much easier to connect and become like best friends with an american when there isn't a language barrier or anything, and just because americans and french people are different. just different mindsets.) i will be learning so much too. hip hip hoorah for forcing me to speak french and such ha.

 

so anyway, elder coleman is leaving! sad huh? we're super sad to be parting, but on the other hand super excited for what's ahead. he got called to Torcy, a suburb of paris, as a zone leader. what a stud right? he went trainer, district leader and then zone leader in 3 transfers. exciting. but yeah, our last couple of days together are just crazy. we have a lot of RDVs with our amis, and then rdvs with members too. oh and district meeting on tuesday, which we are going to the gare right after to hop on our train to paris, so i can pick up newby the next day. oh là là. but yeah, i'll give you all the information about my little tyke next week, when i have actually met him. so we're gonna be busy next week. and poor little newby is going to be so shocked. the first week was so hard. so he'll have fun ha.

 

so this week, guess what we did? we might have set a baptismal date! for the 7th of January! cool huh? her name is elizabeth gustave, and she is the daughter of a less active member, who is becoming completely active now, since he's been to church for the last 4 sundays. but she is 14, and she is from guadaloupe, and she comes to church all the time with her dad, and she has become friends with the girls in the ward and the young womens president. so last week, in church, she just walked up the bishop and told him that she wanted to be baptized. haha so we set up some rdvs with her and now we just have to teach her the lessons and voilà! she's super great though, she knows most of the stuff we teach her, and she already has a good support group at church and stuff. so next time, we're going to teach her with the young women's president, and it'll be just stellar. so yeah, although we didn't really do anything to find this girl or get her integrated, it's still cool to see things like this happen. this was completely our ward, and that's how things should be. go ward!

 

so PAM update. well. nothing really has happened with them yet. last week we had a RDV with them on monday, and marie, the mom, said to come at 7 o clock and then we can eat with the girls, and she'll get home at 8. so we asked to bring a friend since 2+2=bad haha and she said sure. so we brought aline, an 18 year old in our ward. we went and ate and such, and then it's 8, and she isn't home yet. 8:15, still no. 8:30 nope. she didn't end up showing up until 9... so we just sat around talking for two hours, and by the time that she got home, we didn't even have time to teach a lesson... it was a super bummer. so we have a RDV with them tonight again, with the same situation, but we're coming at 730 and hopefully she'll actually show up this time. i think we're just going to teach the girls if she doesn't show up by 830.. but we'll see. so cross those fingers. they were also going to come to church yesterday, but had to bail last minute, cause their ride fell through, but at least they are still making an effort.

 

but yeah, that's about the highlights of my week. it was a good week overall. so yeah. i'll update you about how bad i've corrupted this new missionary soon haha. jokes. but i hope everyone is doing well and having fun! love you all!

--

Elder Matthew Meyers

2 rue Guillaume Tell

68100 Mulhouse

La France

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TRANSFER

salut!

 

okay. so. here's the deal. we just got the transfer email, and guess what? welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. i'm training next transfer. so. yeah. pray for me haha. but i'm staying here in mulhouse! so i'll be here for at least 2 more transfers! and for christmas! so i'm super excited about that. but yeah. so. i'll find out who he is on wednesday! so i'll tell you next monday or something. but yeah. i'm freaking out a little right now, but it's fine. mais voilà! so i love you all and hope everyone is doing stellar. i'll write more on monday maybe! je vous aime!

-- 

Elder Matthew Meyers

2 rue Guillaume Tell

68100 Mulhouse

La France

transfers be a coming....

so it's super weird to think about the fact that transfers are in like a week. i will find out saturday what the deal is in dear old mulhouse and if i'm going to get to stay or be shipped off for somewhere else. do you want me to tell you what i hope? well. i either want to stay here in mulhouse, because i really love our ward here. they are all just super great. and the work is starting to get going here too. orrr. i'd like to go to paris or something for christmas. but we will see. it's not my decision, so i'll go where the Lord wants me to go and not complain. c'est la vie.  i'm sad to leave elder coleman too. but i don't really think that there is a chance that we are going to stay together... but we can still cross our fingers right?

so let's see. this week was honestly crazy. just fou. just to give you a quick glimpse of what we did this week, we spent 22 hours on trains this week. 22. it was just out of control. story. so this week was zone conference, and president kopischke, the president of the europe presidentcy, was giving the training. but he was only doing it 3 times, so there were multiple zones going to each conference. and it was in paris. so we, living all the way out in mulhouse, had to go in the day before. but on the bright side, the APs called us to stay with them, so that was actually super fun. anyway, so we got on our 3 hour TGV train to head into paris on wednesday night. we get in and the APs come pick us up, and just a side story, we went to Carrefour, a walmart type store, and got sushi, because it was Elder Hall's 6 month left mark. so we got that and ate it that night, and it was really good. they surprisingly have really good sushi there as it turns out. and yes, i may have eaten some octopus. it's super chewy. not the best. anyway, back to the story, so then we went to zone conference the next day, which was super good. but by the time it was over, there weren't any trains to get home. and it didn't help that it was a holiday the next day (armistice day 11/11). so anyway, instead, we had to get a train in the morning at 8 o clock, but since it was a holiday, all of the fast trains were full, so we got to take an intercité aka the slowest train in existence because it stops at like every city along the way. so that took 6 hours. ew. so we finally got home and then we unpacked and took a potty break, and we ready to get some work done, when guess who calls? president! he calls us and tells us that there is a mission counsel meeting, (the meeting that is usually just for zone leaders) and elder kopischke had asked him to invite a couple of other companionships to come too. so he invited us to come, and we said okay when is it? yup. tomorrow. so he tells us to go the gare (train station) right now and get tickets haha. so we hurry and pack and get our stuff together and head to the gare! we buy our tickets and hop on the train 30 minutes later. we had honestly been home for an 1 and now we were off to paris. AGAIN. haha. but anyway, we got on the train, and we actually got the chance to teach this guy from new zealand, in english even, while on the train. we started off just talking normal, but by the end, we had taught the whole plan of salvation. it was super good. and so great to be able to teach in english. so anyway, we went to the meeting the next day, which was just a greaaaat meeting, and then turned around and came home again. and we got to take an intercité again. 5 more hours. woo woo! so if we are counting RERs in paris and METRO times, we count 22 hours of train transit. haha. oh boy. it was a super great experience, and i'm really glad that president called us to come to the meeting, it was just that trains killed us this week. so anyway, we were in, or in transit from paris from wednesday to saturday at 9:45 when we got in. so our whole week was honestly wasted. we taught one lesson and that's it this week. but still, we had a super uplifting and spiritually (draining) week haha. i loved it.

but sunday, on the bright side, there is this less active, that is names frère gustave, who is slowly reactivating, and his daughter elizabeth is 11 and not baptized yet. but she is really good friends with the young women in the ward, and she is pretty much active, because she comes with her dad every week. so with the help of our bishop and our ward, we found out that she wants to get baptized now! and her mom is okay with it too (frere gustave is divorced). so we set up a rendezvous for saturday, and we're gonna set a baptismal date then! we are so excited. it's gonna be stellar. so now we just have to teach her the lessons, and then she gets to be baptized! it's gonna be great.

but yeah, that's pretty much my week this week. super crazy, and busy, but good. i hope everyone at home is doing well! je vous aime tous! à bientôt!

bises!

--

Elder Matthew Meyers

2 rue Guillaume Tell

68100 Mulhouse

La France

mormons aren't amish!

hi everyone!

 

so just to start off this email, why is it that everyone confuses mormons for amish!!! it's unreal. it's not even kind of the same thing. but everyone. they think that amish = mormon. and you want to hear the crowning jewel on this whole thing? well everyone knows that we're american cause we're just beaux gars (haha or maybe it's our outrageous accent), but the funny thing is, that they think that amish is an american thing too, when in all reality, it comes from alsace. yes. the very region that they are living in. incredible, france. well done haha. golly goodness people. get your facts straight. it doesn't even sound similar haha.

also, funny random fact. guess what the word for cotton candy is in french? yeah, barbe à papa, aka papa's beard haha. that sure is something that i want to eat. num num.

 

so anyyyyyyway. this week was honestly just terrific. so good.  first off, we had a mangez vous almost every day this week. it was stellar and it all tastes so good. the only bad thing is the fact that after each time that we eat with a member, all we want to do is explode. they just keep shoving food down our throats, and i'm still not sure how to politely say  <if i eat any more food i will probably die>. ps, those are french quotation marks. cool huh? right. so second reason, we had the coolest thing happen this week. so we got a call this week from an elder in the office of the lyon mission. and his name is elder prunin. and i'd seen this name before, and as it turns out, he had served in this very city just a little while ago. this was his blue ville, so he was trained here just like me. so that was a precious little moment that we shared. but anyway, so after he asked a little about how mulhouse was doing, he gave us this referral. it was from a member in perpignon (a city in the south) who had a cousin here in the mulhouse that was super nice and liked the church and so the member in perpignon gave us here address so we could go talk to her. so we said can do. so the day that we were doing it, we were on exchanges with the ZLs, and so me and elder coburn went on out. we found the house, and we rang the sonnet, and a girl pokes her head out the window of the apartment building, and said who is it? so we say we're missionaries! and she freaked out! it was so cool. and this was a good freak out mind you haha. she said wait wait i'm coming i'm coming! so she ran down the stairs, and she was actually genuinely happy to see us! and that does not happen often. so we come in, and the girl that answered the door is called pearl. she is 16, and she has a 17-18 year old sister named amour and their mom. and their mom was super happy to see us too! so we got to know them for awhile and then we asked if we could teach a lesson. and they said sure! so we pulled out our books of mormon, and she said wait let me get mine, and she pulled out this triple combination that her cousin had given her! it was just great. so then we proceeded to teach them the first lesson about joseph smith and the restoration. and it was honestly the best experience ever. when we got to the story of joseph smith, i told recounted his story, and then i got the first vision, and i recited it to them, and i've honestly never felt the spirit stronger. i don't know if it was just me that felt it, because God knew that i needed that confirmation, but either way, i can no longer doubt that joseph smith was a prophet or that this is his church. i know that he was called of God to restore the very same church that Jesus Christ established when he was here on the earth. but anyway, so we taught the rest of the lesson, and it went super well i think. we commited them to read the book of mormon together and the two girls said they would come to church, but the mom couldn't this week because she works, but she said she could and wanted to in 3. so we just get to wait for her a little. but that's fine, because the two girls came to church! and i think they actually had a good time and hopefully felt the spirit. we had a really great testimony meeting and all of our members and super great, so i hope they could at least feel something. so yeah, we're going to teach them again this week, and i honestly can't wait.

 

so another fun thing that happened this week, is that we got to put on a fireside where we watched the joseph smith movie. and that was really cool. except for the fact that none of our amis came and there was only about 10 members there, but all in all, it was a good experience for the people that came and i at least know that their testimony grew.

 

um. so yeah. that was about the extent of our week. so hopefully we'll have some good news about this family next week. we are going to try to set baptismal dates with them, but we'll see. so yeah. if you want to pray for us/them, that'd be fun. just pray for PAM. haha that's what we call them. Pearl, Amour, and Marie. pam. haha. anyway. so yeah! that's my life. everyone remember that this week is 11/11/11. don't forget to make a wish at 11:11. okay cool. je vous aime! bonne semaine!

 

--

Elder Matthew Meyers

2 rue Guillaume Tell

68100 Mulhouse

La France

hallloooowwwweennn!!!

so if i'm going to be honest right now, halloween is such a let down. i don't even know if it's a real holiday here in france. i've seen a total of like 4 kids dressed up today. how lame right? i was pretty disappointed to say the least. but anyway, how is everyone??? so first question of the day, how cold does it usually get in utah?? because i honestly have no idea what the weather is like in comparison to utah here. because it feels pretty same, but i don't remember what the temperature is at all. so that's good right? wrong.

 

well, this week was pretty good. we didn't do too many exciting things, we had a total of 3 lessons this week, so that should explain a little how it was. but still, press along press along right? and honestly, we love being missionaries. me and elder coleman have so much fun. we just joke and have fun the whole time that we are contacting and porting and stuff, and it really makes being a missionary so much better. because it's not really a chore at all to go do contacting or porting or anything. it's super good. i love being a missionary! oh also, we have this member in our ward, he just moved here from canada, and he's super cool. he's like a black belt in kung fu (i know that doesn't exist, but still) and he was showing us some stuff. so i'm just going to warn you right now that i'm like a professional fighter now. it's like dragon ball z fighting too. and yes, we do still kind of hurt from when he was demonstrating on us. goku vs him would be a good fight for sure haha. anyway, back to real life.

 

so you want to hear the miracle for the week??? it was so great. we'll see if it actually follows through, but it was terrific either way. so we had to do elder coleman's legality, so we got all of his important papers, like his whole identity, and went to the prefecture to do it. but guess what? yup, it was closed. lame. so we were kind of bummed, but we only had like 30 minutes until dinner, so we decided to just keep working instead of go home and put his whole identity back where it was safe. and honestly, the very first person we talked to, we had like a 30 minute conversation with. she told us that her first love was mormon! and he went to utah! crazy huh? and she said that she really like the mormon religion, but she didn't know it was here in france, so we told her all about it and then gave her un livre de mormon and she took it and she said she would read before our rendezvous and she was excited and everything! it was soo cool. so i'll keep you updated for if this actually comes to anything, but it was just a miracle that it even happened. hoorah for mulhouse haha.

 

okay well time is short today because i have to still write president and we were out with a member like the whole day today, so we have to hurry super fast. so i love you all, and i hope you are all just having the time of your life. je vous aime!

 

elder meyers

--

Elder Matthew Meyers

2 Rue Guillaume Tell

68100 Mulhouse

La France