Miracles on Sunday

Bonjour ma famille!

I'll get the questions done, that I can.

I am sure that I will be able to Skype on Christmas Eve, I haven't actually gotten permission yet but I there have been people that needed to do it on other days in the past.  Also because French Mother's Day is another day then American, they call on different days.

I have absolutely no idea what to get. Elder Drennan says he wants some cool-aid haha!  I really want those temple photos.  Some more socks would be good, church and regular kind, my socks have started disappearing recently.  And also, believe it or not, it has been getting a little chilly at nights... I was thinking that it would be nice to have a thin blanket of some kind.  Yes, yes, I know, its going to be pretty tough trying to get used to Utah weather again

This week went by pretty quickly, but we saw some pretty great miracles on Sunday!  This week as usual we saw the Pommier family and they said that they would come to church again, but this time they did!  It was so great!  I was so happy seeing them come into the church!!  Then the best part was how everyone in the group went up and hugged them and welcomed them back.  Fr. Potan is going to get the Melchizedek Priesthood in December as well, and we had enough priesthood holders at church that I didn't have to bless the sacrament, all I had to do in the meeting was give a talk, which went alright.  Not the best one, but I wasn't at all nervous, so I am getting better!  Funny story, I forgot about it until my morning prayer Sunday morning.  So I didn't write a whole bunch, I just found scriptures and got up and talked about my subject for 20 min.  It went by pretty quickly, I was talking about missionary work so it wasn't too hard.

I have been really enjoying me some origami recently, thanks mom! haha  I got the temple done, doesn't look to great and I don't have a photo of it sadly, but maybe I'll get it next week.

I also got two letters from Bro.and Sis. Olsen in the ward this week.  If you could thank them from me that would be great!

I am sorry about the length of the letter but I had a lot of other people that I needed to write this week, which was unusual.  Hopefully I will be able to have more time next week.  I feel great and am very hopeful, and I feel like we are going to see a lot more miracles coming to  Basse-Terre soon!

je vous aime tous!
avec amour,
Elder Call

I made some snacks while everyone was in the shower today. I felt very French!  Sr. Telcide taught me how to make them on Martinique, they're really good...

And yes, as you can see in the picture I got very sun burnt today.  We played soccer.  It was SOOO fun though.  Very muddy, very hot, but we had a good time!

One day vacation to Martinique

Bonjour ma famille!

So this week was indeed, pretty crazy.  Of course, the best part was my
one day vacation to Martinique.  While I was still serving in Martinique I
filled out my application for my carte de séjour (residence license)
and was waiting for them to get it made and prepared or whatever, when
I left.  And they don't like sending it by mail up to Guadeloupe.  So I
went down to go get it. Shucks.... ;)  It was great!  Elder Glover
picked me up from the airport, because they are working in Lamentin
now (they are closing the Ste. Luce area, which is pretty sad, but
makes sense) But I got to call everyone and say hello!  I called Dana,
who came to church again, I even called Tania!  Yes!  I did see her
before I left!  I actually found her a little while before I left, I
believe I mentioned her.... But she was incredibly prepared for the
gospel!  I had some of the greatest lessons with her!  And she
remembered me! Man, I was so happy when I heard she was baptized! I was there to teach her at least
the first 3 lessons and set a baptismal date with her, she had a
problem getting to church so she couldn't get baptized the week after I
left like she was going to, but she now goes to church every week and
he daughter is going to get baptized the 29 of November as well!!!  I
called Fr. Coiné, I saw Fr. Occulier at a coordination meeting (he
didn't even know that I had left haha) but I didn't get a hold of the
Martial family because their phone wasn't working.

This week we also did the District service project.  We went to the
Food Bank and cleaned it up and repainted it.  We were supposed to
clean out a river somewhere but didn't get permission or something and
last minute we did this, it worked out just great.  It was up in
Lamentin (the Guadeloupe one) and sadly we couldn't get very many
people up from Basse-Terre, but it was a lot of fun to talk to all the
other members on the island.  I was in charge of cleaning the windows.

Well I had some time to think about it, and there are a couple other
things that I wouldn't mind getting for my birthday:  I would like some
photos of temples, as many as you care to give me.  I want to be able
to hang them up places, give them to people, whatever.  I could also
use some more CD's, classical music or hymns (I don't think I can have
to much music), and its a little weird but I want an apron, just for
protecting my white shirt and tie while eat.  Other than that I have no
ideas

I love you all so very much, have a great week!!
avec amour,
Elder Call

Exchange with Elder Santos

(Did he know he was taking a picture??)

Halloween candy eye

The sandcastle I built last week

Working of Fr.Nirelep's kitchen

Feeding chickens with Fr. Duflo and Elder Drennen

No Monday letter?

Bonjour!

Well, sorry I was unable to get a letter out to you yesterday, and I
realize that I told you that I would be emailing on Wednesday,
(Nope, he failed to mention that) 
and that today is Tuesday... But this was the only time that we could find
to email.  Pday was rough.  We went up to Deshaies to do a zone
devotional.  So we drove a good hour and a half up to a beach and
everybody else got stuck in traffic.  By the time they got there we had
to leave, but as we were waiting I did build a pretty awesome
sandcastle that I took pictures of that I hopefully will send next
week.  Then we got stuck in traffic going back down and we had to go
shopping, and the car battery died so we had to fix that in order to
work the rest of the week. It was stressful, Pdays always are, and in
all of that the email time got left out.

This week we had a hard time getting lessons, but we did a ton of
service.  We helped Fr. Nirelep (inactive) remodel his kitchen, which
meant that we got to take a sledge hammer and go at it.  Elder Drennan
had a lot of fun with that.  I used the crowbar to chisel the edges,
sculpting finally came in handy!  Fr. Nirelep is also a pianist, so
Elder Drennan and him would play the piano afterwards.  We went three
time this week to go help him. It was really fun, Fr. Nrelep is a
really funny guy but hasn't been to church in a really long time and
doesn't desire to.  But it was great spending time with him.

I went on an exchange with Elder Santos this week.  He works at Baie
Mahault.  It was great.  We talked a lot about the good old days in
Guyane.  He is going home at the end of this transfer, crazy.  4 weeks
to go!  We also took Elder Drennan's camera with us for the day (Elder
Drennan doesn't really take very many photos)  Elder Santos and I, we
took quite a bit.  He'll sure remember this day very well hahaha!

I am trying really hard to think of what to write, but I am at a loss.
Sorry. I'm glad you finally got my letter!

The Cyber base is going to close in 5 minutes so I gotta go.  As for
Elder Miyasaki, he is on St. Vincent now, English side.  As for my
birthday, I could use a replacement of socks, a purple pen or marking
crayon and there was something else but I can not remember to save my
life, the lady is getting mad at me that I am not getting off and its
not helping.... well I should go.

love ya!
Elder Call

Feeding chickens and goats

Bonjour ma famille!

This week went by pretty well.  It was the travel time for the
transfers, but well, that didn't affect me to much, still in
Basse-Terre!  I did have an amazing surprise though, two counting
today!  I got some great packages from my wonderful family!  I just
opened Grandma's today!  Thank you so much Grandma!!  Everybody went
crazy when I shared it with them.  Who knew that Reese's Peanut Butter
Cups would be such a delicacy?  Only when you haven't seen them for a
year or so. Haha  Thank you so much, I love you!

This week we fixed a baptismal date with Ferdinand for the 29 of Nov.
We are going to fast with him as well this Sunday to help him overcome
his struggle with smoking.  We still play basketball with him on
Saturdays.

The group leader Fr. Abenzoar left to Santo Domingo to got the temple
with his family, so yesterday Elder Drennan presided over the
sacrament meeting.  That was an interesting experience.  There were
only 13 people at church but Ferdinand came as well as Fr. Ludgio, a
young less active that we invited to come back!  Nothing too crazy
happened with the sacrament meeting, we only had one person bless (Fr.
Potan, who is preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, he was
really nervous to do it by himself) and then I passed the Sacrament.
It was the shortest sacrament meeting I think I have ever been to.

With Fr. Abenzoar away we also have to feed his chickens and goats and
get the eggs every morning. Haha  Its so funny.  As soon as the chickens
see one of us show up they go crazy and start chasing us around until
we give them food.  The goat isn't very nice to the chickens either, he
steals their food.  I'll send a picture next week, I'm pretty excited
for you to see it.

We saw the Famille Pommier this week as well and had a great lesson
about the love of Christ through his Atonement.  The spirit was so
strong and they are going to start putting up reminders to help them
get back into good habits.  Sadly they couldn't make it to church this
week.

I have no clue what to have you send me for a package. I could use a
good power converter. (not trying to quote Star Wars in anyway) the
old ones you sent with me died and I haven't had the chance to look for a
new one yet.  I really need a purple scripture marker, it was the only
color I really needed, and it wasn't in the new one you sent me... I
couldn't tell you anything else, I'm at a loss!  If you haven't sent it by
next week I'll make a list of things I could use.

I'm really out of time, sorry its a short letter.  I have to go write a
one page report to the mission pres. about what I have learned in the
Book of Mormon this last week.

avec amour,
Elder Call

Another transfer gone by...

Bonjour ma famille!

Another week and another transfer gone by, only six more transfers!  I
only know that because President Mehr reminded me.  Thats crazy!  Its
going too fast!  I'm going to be staying in Basse-Terre with Elder
Drennan again.

First off I did get that letter and package thank you very much!
Everyone got a kick out of the letter and we had a good round of
telling stories! haha  I wrote some stories down in my letter that I
am going to send, I am determined to get it off today!

This week went by really quickly for me.  I had a lot of exchanges.  One
with both the zone leaders, one on Tuesday/Wednesday and another
Thursday/Friday.  They were really good, but it takes forever to get
them going.  We have to drive an hour up to Lamentin and another hour
back plus more with traffic.

During the week we saw Ferdinand pretty frequently, we try to see him
everyday if we can just to keep following up and reading the Book of
Mormon with him.  We saw him last on Saturday, he worked the entire day
with Fr. Abenzoar, the group leader in Basse-Terre . Its so cool that
he is mingling well with the members!  He didn't smoke at all on
Saturday!  I was so happy, but sadly he didn't make it up to Capesterre
for church.  When Elder Peterson and I went to see him, his neighbor,
who is completly Rastafarian and listens to Bob Marley all day every
day (its the same stuff on repeat everyday, its not even music, its mostly
just Bob Marley talking to an interviewer), anyway the guy was outside
checking on his pots of Marijuana that he planted outside his door.
Elder Peterson got a good laugh out of that. haha

While I was with Elder Christensen on Tuesday we were knocking doors
and found one of the Ladies that came to our English class that we
have every Wednesday.  She is really nice and has 3 kids, the oldest
daughter is about 9 and comes to the kids session of the English class
as well.  We gave her a BOM and she read the first couple introduction
pages by the time we came back. She is really nice and she seems
really interested in the church.  We plan on inviting her to be
baptised the next time we see her.

I'm not sure if I told you about our English classes before.  But we
have an hour for kids and an hour for adults every Wednesday.  We hold
it at a residence assosiation building in the middle of an apartment
complex that Fr. Abenzoar works for.  The kids class is insane, they
are so crazy.  Once we learned colors so Elder Drennan and I pumped up
ballons and passed them around to name the colors. That lesson didn't
actually get TOO out of hand haha!

Well I am out of time again, I love you all so much and I can't wait to
hear from you again!  I am doing great and love being here!  Have a
great week!

avec amour,
Elder Call

Pictures from our waterfall hike last week

Goats in the river

Chocolate milkshakes for district meeting

Not much of a tropical storm

Bonjour ma famille!

This week was really good actually!  But I am exhausted!  Saturday
morning we played basketball with our new investigator, our most progressing
investigator at this time. We are trying to play sports with him to
keep him from breaking the word of wisdom.  It was so much fun. Haha
But I was so dead afterwords.  He is my favorite.  I love that
guy.  He is an old gang member that is turning a new leaf and wants to
be baptised. We see him everyday when we can.  So far he has received
all the lessons and comes to church every week, he came to conference
and he even introduceed us to his friends. (very interesting guys) We
are planning on a baptismal date for the 1st of November.

On Monday we hiked up to the 3rd Chute de Carbet, a waterfall,in the
middle of a rain storm, well it wasn't really a rainstorm, but it was
raining at the time.  It was really cool. Because of the rain the fall
was huge and we got soaked from the spray. Sorry I would have loved to
have sent pictures but they are really taking a long time to load on
the computer.
Carbet Falls is a series of waterfalls on the Carbet River in Guadeloupe.  Its three cascades are set amid the tropical rainforests on the lower slopes of the volcano La Soufrière. The falls are one of the most popular visitor sites in Guadeloupe, with approximately 400,000 visitors annually. In 1493, Christopher Columbus noted Carbet Falls in his log.

Sundays we usually stop by the Duflo familly and sing hymns with them.
I was reminded about that because you talked about The Walking Dead.
haha Soeur Duflo asked me if I knew what it was, and told me she was crazy
about it. haha She kept trying to spoil it for me but I wouldn't let
her.  And everybody else kept saying she was just making it up.  I told
her that I hooked you on it too.  Obviously you still are haha!

I had to go on an exchange this week in Basse-Terre with Elder Ehlert.
It was my first time leading the area and having to find my way around
on my own.  But I didn't even get lost once haha! Ok, I did once, but it
was only because all the roads were one way and I couldn't find a road
that was going the way I wanted it.  Then Elder Ehlert and I bought
bokits and 10 euros fell out of my pocket and a homeless guy got to it
before I did. ... I was a little upset about that, but I guess he needed it more
than I did.

I am in the middle of writting a letter to you, hopefully I can finish
it today to send it to you. I've been writting it for some time now.
Every other Monday or so for the last couple months.  I'll finish it
sometime... Hopefully it will make up for my lack of detail in my
emails.

That hole in dads head is lookin' pretty nasty.  I hope he's got some
canonball wound ointment for that.... :) (Hope you haven't fogotten
all the Brian Regan jokes since I've been gone) And I plan on getting
a wedding announcement for Jordan soon, I'd better be on the invite
list!  They look awesome together.

I'm glad you have been noticing so many miracles lately.  I have been keeping a
spiritual journal so that I notice these moments a lot more. I know
that God answeres prayers and that there is not many things or nothing
stronger than the prayers of rightious mothers.

I love you guys so much! You are in my prayers and I can feel the
power from yours!
je vous aime!
avec amour,
Elder Call

That's right...it's a baguette vending machine!  Only in France can one not get his baguette quick enough!

General Conference

Bonjour!

I am going to get right into your questions first:

Yes I did watch conference, I mean come on, its not like I would miss it! haha!  Saturday we were at the branch in Capesterre for all three sessions.  They were all in French for us because the internet was too slow to have more than stream going.  I actually took a ton of notes. The 70's were hard to understand because they talk really fast and the translators were dying to catch up to them haha, which meant I understood very little.  But I did love the ones I understood.  The Sister's talk about the sacrament was actually really, really good.  The Sunday session we went up to Abymes where everybody else on the island was for conference. We got to watch that in English, but we couldn't go anywhere to eat between sessions because it was Sunday and none of the missionary apartments near by had enough food for all the missionaries haha.  I loved conference.  Some themes I noticed were sustaining the prophet, revelation (I LOVED Elder Eyring's talks), and the Sacrament.  What did you notice?

I did enjoy Elder Bednar's talk to the non-members.  At this moment I am not sure who came to the Sunday session, they would have gone to the Capesterre building, so I don't know if we had any investigators there. Ferdinand would have been the only one to have made it I think.

Yes, I saw the missionary choir at the priesthood session.  I made a comment to the others that I bet there were some moms frantically searching the choir for their son to show up on TV.

I think I know what Noni fruit is, but it's probably called something else in French.   I have never eaten it, but if we find them, the missionaries throw them at each other sometimes haha!  In Guyane I stuffed one down Elder Fraley's shirt during our volleyball night.  He showered a lot that night.
Jordan and I were talking the other night about some of the foods he ate in Mexico.  He ate some pretty awful stuff!  But the only thing he refused to eat was a fruit called Noni.  He said it smelled and tasted like vomit.

I did get your letter, so I guess the mail system works!

This week was great with General Conference!  During the week we didn't get too much time to work, which was a little frustrating.  We had to drive up to Baie-Mahault on Tuesday to get our car fixed after our district meeting.  They said that they couldn't do it until Wednesday, so we had to drive all the way back down to Capesterre to go to CEP (PEC in English?) and that was the whole day other than studies.  So early Wednesday morning we got up and drove back up to have it fixed.  We had to  walk 30 min. to the Baie-Mahault apartment to study for most the day while we waited.  Then we walked back when they called us and they hadn't really fixed anything in that time. Friday was the only day we got of full working.  We did some service for a sister, we had to pull all the vines off her flowers.  There were a ton of vines.  Then we visited a recent convert lady, Sr. Agnes.  We talked about temple work with her because a family member died recently and soon she'll be able to go to the temple for herself.  The rest of the day was studies and contacting because the rest of the our appointments fell through.  It was the first real time that I went contacting, it felt strange.  But I felt like I was getting some work done.

The highlight of the week was easily General Conference.  My studies too.  I have been having some pretty good studies.  I bought a binder to put all my notes in, I get too OCD about my notes being out of order and I can't find them, but now I can write whatever, whenever, and move the pages around, its the best.  I love studying the gospel now!  Also there was that talk in General Conference from Elder Scott about family home evenings. I want to have some awesome family home evenings when I get back.  So I am pretty excited about that.

I keep trying to write handwritten letters to send to you that talk more in depth about what happens and whats going on with me.  I have started maybe 5 of them, but I can never finish them.  One of these times I'll get one to you!  They keep getting out of date by the time I can finish them.

Well I love you a lot!
Have a great week!
avec amour,
Elder Call