Transfers! Toulouse!

Bonjour tout le monde !

Sorry for not writing last week, I was too busy and too lazy. This week had some fun stuff though! I'll try to sum up the last couple of weeks. We have a lot of really cool amis, but they were pretty flaky this week, so we didn't see as many as we would have liked. Our members are awesome though - I love Toulouse! 

Highlights! 

We visited a sister in our ward named Sœur Bonbon! I think I've talked about her before. She's got two cute little girls and lives an hour and a half bus ride away, but we've been meaning to visit her for two transfers now, as she's a little isolated. We had a great time out in the boonies, then walked for an hour and a half to the nearest town and took a forty minute train ride home. I'd do it again in a heartbeat - she was so happy to see someone from the church and the first thing she asked is if we could help her pay her tithing! 

Later in the week we visited a Columbian couple and their adorable daughter and ate arepas, which are like sandwiches but Columbian and fantastic. 

This week! 

We had a movie night at the chapel and watched Meet the Mormons. Five people showed up, but we had a blast quand même :) 

Friday we had transfer calls! Everyone's staying in Toulouse! I'm staying with Elder Keir, and none of the Sœur équipes are changing. We asked why and Président Giraud-Carrier was like "if it's not broken, don't fix it!" We're pretty excited for this transfer! 

We visited another Spanish speaking family on Friday, and I had the chance to practice my high-school Spanish. It could use some work, but I understood just about everything! They only laughed at me a little haha

Anywho, this week was busy, with some highs and lows. We did a lot of service and made a lot of rescue trips to visit members, and I'm so grateful for everyone I meet! I've realized that I have never ever regretted an act of service. Service makes us happy and helps others. There are really no cons, so go serve someone this week! I promise you'll be grateful you did!

Elder Suisse

Pics :

Dinner chez Fara with the crew! 

View of Toulouse from the ferris wheel 

Us with Sœur Bertea, who we visited this week

Elder Keir took pictures of me while I was walking, and I actually liked this one

Me and Jaelia, one Soeur Bonbon's daughters. She always dances and shouts "les missionnaires!" whenever she sees us

Pau and lightening!

Bonjour !

This week was awesome! Basically the subject line says it all. It's starting to cool off here and we're hoping it stays like that because Toulouse in the summer is pretty toasty. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we were in Pau for an exchange with our chèrs Elders de Pau ! I was with Elder Hunter and it was a party! Actually everything went wrong but it was so funny. Rain and getting lost and rendezvous getting canceled and phones no longer working, it was chaotic. But Elder Hunter handled it great and we laughed very hard all day long. Plus I got to do a baptismal interview with their awesome ami who had more faith than just about anyone I've ever met. 

Friday we had an activity at the church and advertised it as a "Soirée Fraîcheur" with watermelon and air-conditioning and games, and tons of people showed up! It was tons of fun :)

Saturday we ate fancy Italian ice cream and then visited this old lady in the ward with the Sœurs and sang songs with her and ate cookies and it was great. 

Last night we were walking back from the church with a large metal bowl and an umbrella, and it started raining and all the sudden there was lightning everywhere and it was crazy but we made it! 

Today we had our district into Toulouse for a district pday! Sœur Curzola made us Italian pizza and we played games and chilled. Good times! 

Overall a very successful week, I'd say. Lots of good times and a few harder times, and laughed pretty much the whole week. I'm realizing that that's not what effects our happiness - it's our attitude. Smiling is so much easier than frowning, and it's contagious :)

Merci pour tout ce que vous faites, je vous aime ! 

Elder Suisse

Pics:

District pday: chairs = number of transfers 

Mercedes and Maria Dupre and us! 

Exchange photo with Elder Hunter - Pau is so beautiful! 

Heat wave and zone conference

Bonjour !

The subject line kind of says it all. It was so hot and humid this week! We've been asked to not go outside more than necessary and to always be drinking water. So lots of planning. Every air conditioned breath is a tender mercy. Besides that it was a pretty sweet week! 

Thursday we had our zone conference! Elder Keir and I had a fun time presenting and playing games with our fantastic zone. Hopefully I'll have the group picture for next week. Side note: I love Président and Sœur Giraud-Carrier! They're so funny and it was great to have them in Toulouse. 

Right after conference we had our exchange with assistants, which went really well. Elder Schulzke and I got to teach some really cool people and we saw some real progression in a few of our amis! We taught our friend Joseph at the patriarch's house, and the lesson couldn't have gone better. We taught about a bunch of stuff, but Joseph probably taught us more. Cool how that usually ends up being the case. 

Friday we went to IKEA, which is always an adventure. Now that we're the only Elders in Toulouse, all the Elders in south-western France will be sleeping in our apartment when a big conference comes around, so we're remodeling to withstand anything. 

Today we made spaghetti with all the équipes in Toulouse and had lunch, and now we're taking a train to Pau for an exchange - should be good! 

This week was really good. Toulouse is great, Elder Keir is awesome and I love being a missionary. I'm learning a lot about being happy with the cards you're dealt. This gospel is one of joy! Yes we're trying to become better and we're always going to mess up, but if you're a practicing Christian and are not happy, something's wrong. We are that we might have joy, even when things don't go how we've planned. So take my advice and smile until you're happy, then help other people to smile too. God will be grateful for the effort and so will you! 

Je vous aime !!! 

Elder Suisse

Pics:

Spaghetti and garlic bread! 

Quick exchange photo before the APs kicked us into the blazing sun

The Capitole