All is well that ends well!

well this was a very slow week.

 

it seemed that early in the week every single one of our amis were in paris. they were just all gone. we thought that vacation was over but i guess it wasn't haha. 

 

while i was on an exchange with a missionary from Arras we were walking on this street and found a thug life basketball player named thomas. he was pretty legit and had a tattoo that said, "2pac" on his neck. oh la vache! we taught him a little on a bench and prayed with him. he said he wants to re find his faith but the whole while i was thinking he just wanted to play basketball because that's how the whole convo started. i was totally nice when he invited me to a street basketball game the next day. we are going to play basketball today so i hope he's there to ball with us. 

 

thursday arnaud told us that he was leaning toward budhism as his religion so that was just a punch in the stomach. he agreed to recieve all the lessons so we are hoping that something will change between now and then. 

 

friday we made the trip out to versailles to see our 70's. it was crazy because they were like an hour late so we just sat and socialized and all that which was good. the fact that they were so late left them with only like an hour to talk and there were 6 people who needed to talk. i was surprised at how much they could fit in in one hour. i felt super good after. it was a nice little spiritual booster. 

 

Saturday we got to go to lille to do a little stake activity. Sadly enough i didn't get to see my buff dmp. he is not yet a high priest so i was a little sad about that. it's been a while since i've seen someone as buff as that. we did a thing where we went out and found less actives and i got to go with the bishop of Arras who is a super cool guy and he caught me up on all the b ball news. there was a super bad wreck so we missed our train and it was the last train of the night. we slept in lille which wasn't the best and because of that we had to take an early train and i didn't have my razor so i went to church with a nice beard. at the end of church a sweet thing happened. a cool guy 22 year old guy came to church. elder barr and i talked with him and he told us that he bought a book of mormon on amazon and has been reading it and loving it so much. we fixed a rdv with him and all was well. it was the only way that the week could have ended well and you know what they say, all is well that ends well! this week looks like it will be a good one and hopefully elder barr and i will be able to stay together for another transfer. 

I just LOVE my mission

Another week down. We worked a lot with Arnaud this week to get him back on track to be baptized. he came to church yesterday so that was a good step for him. saturday we spent some time making a cake for a little nigérian girl's birthday. Elder barr pretty much did everything. elder smith made the icing. the branch loved the cake so much and it was all gone instantly. how lucky i am to have someone who can cook. That was one of the highlights of the week along with skyping to the parents for the last time. it was weird that this is the last time i'll see my parents till i get home. man that's just weird. it's weird to realize we are so close. i love my mission so much and i'm so sad for it to be over. i guess i had to have real life hit me sometime. but what will real life be without a boulangerie on every corner. that's not life at all!

 

Otherwise we had some really good stuff happen to us this week. We found a new ami from congo whose name is patience. she has already invited us over for some foufou next week and we are both soo soo excited. We also got super blessed with some african food this week and you could say that elder barr and i were more than pleased. i feel like since i got with elder barr we've just been eating so well. I guess that's what happens when you're with the famous elder barr. he really is so famous. I also had the chance to talk with his family and now i totally understand where the one and only elder barr came from because i saw 4 of them over skype. haha i love it so much. What a talented family. 

 

This week is looking pretty good. we have a chance to go and see some 70's friday in paris and i'm pumped. things are looking almost too good for the next 3 months. well i think if elder barr stays things will be looking almost too good. we'll all cross our fingers for that one. 

elder oliverson

Elder Barr!

I've got 2 blog entries for this week The first is a spotlight for my beloved companion elder barr! Elder Barr is a 21 year old piano playing superstar from rural Kamas. He liked to spend his time doing math, reading, and of course playing piano. University of Utah is where he calls home for the moment. We first met in the MTC where we both nearly went crazy. Luckily we had one another and he helped me through it as I did for him. We now have the chance to serve alongside one another during the real deal. Something you probably didn't know about Elder Barr is that he's an avid sleep talker and loves to cook. He's a man of many hats and there are so many things that I can take from him. What a great guy.

3 Months to Go!

This is the update of the week.

 

Well this week we had our final interiews with president poz and it was super sad. I'm glad that i could've been a missionary with him. he taught me a lot and was a super good example for all of us.

 

after the interviews we had a lesson with arnould and things were all good for the most part. his parents expressed that they weren't really sure why we were teaching their son and it was a little discouraging to see the opposition from the family but arnould is 21 and he told us that he's made his decision and that nothing is going to change. Overall things will probably go a little slower now but that's ok we don't want to rush anyone. He didn't come to church this week but we are seeing him on tuesday. i was freaking out because he didn't come and all that but barr kept his cool so that made things better

 

We found a cool new ami named yrana this week. she's from cape verde. she's super nice and super open to the gospel. she feels bad because she's been away from the gospel for so long and she wants to find her way back. we can totally help her with that! She also has a daughter who is 9 years old and hasn't been baptized. Looks like we need to bring a family to the restored gospel of jesus christ! she's awesome

 

We hit our 3 month mark and i felt a lot of bittersweetness (not sure if that's a word). I'm happy to almost be back as a real person but i'm going to miss the mission so so much. this is just the greatest thing in the world. of course i don't say that everyday but in the end i know it's true. no other thing could have taught me so much and given me so much. i'll never be the same because of it and it's ok with me. i love the mission and i'm glad i get to spend it with a stud like elder barr. hopefully we spend the next 3 months together because that would be ideal.