Week 12: Crazy Old People

Bonjour everyone,

Elder Loveland and I seem to get along very well. He is a super cool companion to have. But, we kind of had a hard week this past week in Manoque mostly because we had so many rendezvous canceled. We had so much prepared but everything kept falling through. So, we have been doing a lot of pass backs lately. Also, our ami, Alice, wouldn't answer any of our texts and calls, and then finally said that she is really stressed and is taking a break from people for a couple of weeks. In my mind, I'm like, "The Gospel can really help you! It is what you need in your life!" But, we just decided that we will try to contact her again in a few weeks. This week, though, we made sure that we are even more prepared, and almost everyday of the week is filled with some sort of rendezvous that we set up, so this should be a good week. Also, this Saturday Elder Loveland and I will be moving to a lot nicer apartment. This apartment is super secure, really nice, and is located a lot closer to the church and the gare.

This past week we ended up meeting some odd old people. One of which was at our ami's (Thien Venn) shop. So, this guy was first of all explaining to us about all of his near death experiences. He said that when he was young, he was doing gymnastics and broke his neck. Then, he told us about when he was hit by a car while on a motorcycle and flew like 100 meters. And finally, he said he fell out of a helicopter. There were a couple of other stories that I can't remember, but you just have to trust me this guy was weird. He also had super bad short term memory, and he was trying to speak to us in English but that wasn't going over so well. Oh and speaking of Thien Venn, she came to church last Sunday.We talked to her about it, and she said that she really enjoyed it. She said our church had a different/better feeling compared to like going to a big cathedral and stuff like that. I believe that the only thing that is holding her back from being baptized is that she believes that God sent us to Earth to not have to be restricted by anything including religion. But, what she doesn't realize is that things like commandments ultimately frees us by protecting us from things like drugs, for example.

The other crazy old people story was when Elder Loveland and I were passing back some people that lived more up in the hills. We ended up meeting this man who was 90 and his wife who was 95. The man in particular was actually a pretty funny guy and joked around a lot but was also very confused. For example, it took him about three tries to actually go grab water from the fridge. Then, he kept on drinking this weird green alcohol, and each time he would take a sip, he would old on to his heart saying that it burned. We just kept thinking, "Dude...you are going to kill yourself!" We ended up telling him that alcohol isn't the best substance for your body, but he kept on drinking.

We finished off the week with Stake Conference in Aubagne which is right by Marseille. It was really good. We got to see all of the missionaries serving in the Nice Stake (so basically everyone in the Nice and Provence areas). We also got to see President and Soeur Brown too. There was this one English man who gave a talk with a translator that was super good. He talked about the importance of having faith in Christ not just in principles and things like that. Jesus Christ  plays such a key role for our salvation. Jesus Christ is the perfect example, and he has payed for each and every one of our sins. I'm grateful for everything that Christ has done for me.

Love,

Elder Mason

Stake Conference