BIRTHDAY!!!

Hey Everyone,

This week has been great! My birthday was this past Monday, and I was really feeling the love from everyone. I was sent plenty of presents and treats. Also, a lot of the missionaries in my zones hooked it up with stuff. I was given a lot of candy, cookies, a poster that said "Happy Birthday!" on it, and even a video that the sisters from my district made for me. The only problem is that now I have waaayyy too much candy to eat.... but oh well. 

Each Sunday, we are told to prepare a 5 minute talk in French because one elder and one sister are randomly called on to give talks each week. This week happened to be my turn. The funny thing is that right before I was called up to give a talk I was thinking, "It's so unlikely for me to give a talk because there are like 30 or so elders in my zone and only like 5 of them will have to give a talk." Well the talk went fine, and after, everyone was complimenting me on my French accent. So, that is pretty awesome. 

This past Wednesday, Elder Thorneloe and I did another TRC session. They are honestly pretty fun because we also get to talk to them about their mission or where they are from. It seems like a majority of them either served a mission in Paris or Lyon or were born in France. The first girl I taught was named Rachelle, and she served in Paris. I later came to figure out that she knew my older sister, Miranda from when she served there. Elder Thorneloe and I also taught this one guy who recently got back from the France Lyon Mission. I then figured out that he knew Chase Amerjan who served in Lyon. Apparently they called Papa Amerjan or something like that. This guy also told us about the areas that he served in, and he took of us and got our names to let some of the missionaries in Lyon know that we are coming. 

I heard about the terrorist attack that occurred in Nice on Bastille Day. It is really sad to know that there are people in the world willing to do such an awful thing. As far as I know, there are 84 confirmed deaths and over 100 injured. Although there are such bad things happening in France, I just wanted to let everyone know that I am not worried. I know that God will protect me, and I know that if anything happens to me while I'm there, it is part of God's plan for me. 

Love,
Elder Mason

This is a pic of a majority of my zone. (All French speaking)