Week 10: Did Something I Thought I Would Never Do

I had another great week in France. One thing that I did recently is eat rabbit, and it actually wasn't too bad. Jean-luc (our recent convert) had heard that I had never had rabbit, so he made sure to set a mangez-vous with us. When he was serving the rabbit, he made sure to give me le foi (the liver) which is not to be mistaken with la foi (faith). The liver definitely wasn't my favorite thing to eat though haha.

Elder Peterson and I have recently been trying to set up a service project to do with some French people, so we went to the Mairie (the mayor). After that, we realized that the French just hate service because they wanted us to write up a proposal with a plan and everything. Then, it would have to be approved. Then, we could do the service project. All we wanted to know is if their was any service in the town that needed to be done. But...oh well.

The thing that I never thought I would ever do in my life happened last Wednesday. We woke up that morning thinking we were just going to visit a family named the Debards in Digne-les-Bains. So, we took a bus to Digne. We had a really good, powerful lesson on families and the importance of temple marriage because they are currently preparing to get sealed in the temple. Then, we had a little bit of time before our bus came to take us home. So, we went over to centre ville. There was a big farmers market and a lavender festival. It was all really cool. But then,  we saw something off to the left. So, we went over there and took part in the new guinness world record for longest fougasse aux anchois hahaha. BTW fougasse is pretty much just bread with anchovy paste on top. The bread wasn't too bad, but the whole thing was actually kind of gross. Hahaha.

Last Thursday, I went on my first exchange, and it was with Elder Thorne (one of my zone leaders) in Aix-en-Provence. It went pretty well. We did lots of contacting which was good because I haven't really done much of that yet. I learned a lot, and I wouldn't even consider myself awful at it anymore. Aix-en-Provence was super nice, and I saw a lot of cool cars too because there are a lot of rich French people that live there.

The next day, I had my first zone conference. It was such a great experience. I also got to see President Brown, Soeur Brown, and the AP's again which was super cool. One thing that really stood out to me from the conference was owning our sectors. It reminded me of the importance of Elder Peterson and I in our sector. We are the only missionaries there, and if we aren't willing to share the Gospel with the people there, then no one will. Another thing that stood out to me was about wearing the armor of God everyday and at all times. There is a lot of bad stuff going on in France, so it is so important that we are always prepared for the fiery darts that Satan may shoot at us.

I finished off the week with a 10 min talk in Sacrament meeting. I was kind of nervous because I would be speaking in French for 10 min straight, but it actually went really well. After Sacrament meeting, everyone was so impressed and were surprised about how much my French ability has grown in the last couple of weeks.

Quick French update: I can now understand most of what people say. There are just a bunch of random words that I have never heard that kind of throw me off, but I am just learning them when I hear them. Also, my ability to speak French is improving. It is starting to become more fluid and natural sounding.

Love,

Elder Mason

1. & 2. Digne-les-Bains

3. Longest Fougasse

4. Aix-en-Provence