I really think that I finally fell in love with Paris...it's really starting to feel like home here.

Hey everybody! From what I can tell, it sounds like it was a pretty good week back in American Fork! We had a pretty good week here ourselves, although it was pretty slow too. A lot of our amis were super busy this week, so we didn't teach that many real lessons. We still worked hard though, as usual. :)

After I emailed you guys last week, we went to the Louvre! HOLY COW. That place blew my mind. I said "wow" like a hundred times in there. It's so huge and so amazing. Art and all that aside, just the building itself is incredible. Part of it is built on the foundation of an old castle, and you can go underneath and walk around in what used to be the moat. We went right into the dungeon of the castle as well, which was pretty intense. But then the art! Just amazing. It goes on and on and on and on. I'm not really much of an art person, but I still could appreciate it. I saw the La Jaconte (the Mona Lisa). As everyone says, not really that impressive, but it was actually a little bigger than I thought it would be based off of people's descriptions. Compared to the MASSIVE picture of Christ turning water into wine on the opposite wall however, it was pretty dinky. Then we headed to the antiquities wing. WOW. Just crazy. They had like, everything. Literally about 30 Egyptian sarcophagi all lined up in one room. A bunch of weapons, a few sphinx, and all sorts of artifacts and statues and stuff. Unbelievable really. We were there for about 3 and a half hours, going through everything way fast, and we only saw maybe a fourth of the stuff. Just really really cool. Unfortunately, we're at the sketchy internet café again this week, and we can't send pictures from here, so I'll have to get them to you next week, I hope, with a few others.

That evening we went porting (door to door stuff, if I haven't explained that before) and were able to find a nice woman named Andrea. She's an artist and she has a little studio sort of thing set up in her apartment. She introduced herself as Buddhist (which is odd for a white French woman) but if you ask me she's more Catholic, based on the discussion we had with her. She was really nice and open to talking with us, but not very interested in acting and wouldn't set up another rendez-vous. Good evening though, and a good chance for me to practice my French a little more. She was really patient and good at letting me figure out what I wanted to say.

I also want to add, this was a cool day for me. After we left the Louvre, we had to walk back our gare (train station) because there was apparently an armed bank robber hiding out in the metro. We were told to avoid the metros for a while. So we walked back to the center of Paris from the Louvre, right along the Seine. Oh man, it was just a beautiful evening. I really think that I finally fell in love with Paris that night. The cool air, the obscure little shops, the river, the Eiffel Tower in the distance, having just come from the Louvre. Like I wrote in my journal, it's really starting to feel like home here. I'm becoming comfortable and more, just really loving the area and the people. It was a cool little experience for me.

Tuesday we had district meeting as usual and then an exchange out in Auxerre again. I was with Elder Tryon this time. He reminds me a lot of Kalin (you know, our cousin), except Texan. It was fun being with him for a while. That night we were also able to watch the film 17 Miracles (it's approved, don't worry). Really cool movie, you guys should definitely check it out. All of it is based off of real things that happened to the pioneers.

Wednesday morning we did our studies quick (well, as quick as you can do 2 and a half hours of studies) and Elder Evans and I headed back to Nogent. We had a rendez-vous with Lipasa, a guy we met on the street, but he turned out to not be there. So we headed home, got some dinner, and then headed out into what was a quite cold night. No real success, but a lot of rain. Not too bad though.

Thursday was kind of regular, til the evening. We had a 4 hour block of contacting during the day, which is a very long time. People were pretty nice though, and it was a nice day. That evening, however, we had planned to give a blessing to one of our members. She's an American, here working as a nanny. She had been having some struggles lately, so we gave her a blessing with Frère Kusseling and then he invited her to dinner with us. It was a sweet evening, as usual with the Kusseling family. Sœur Kusseling served duck for dinner (yeah, duck. Pretty good, but not THAT great. Really fancy though. I talked to one of there relatives a lot, who served his mission in England and spoke really good English. Turns out that he served with the famous Richard Flores (AF Band Alumnus) for a transfer! Seriously a small world. After dinner we shared a quick thought about the importance of inviting people to church and then headed home for the evening.

Friday ended up being pretty boring us. We have our 3 hour weekly planning session on Fridays, se we use up a lot of our time there. None of our amis were available, so still no lessons with any of them.

Saturday now...Oh boy. Yesterday (Friday) we got the call saying that it was time to move. So, that night and Saturday morning we frantically packed up all our things and cleaned up our apartment as much as we could for the Sœurs. Somehow, I got my stuff more organized than when I left the MTC and actually ended up with some extra space! So, we gathered all of our things and headed to Val-de-Fontenay, where they lived, and dropped off all our stuff, then took the Sœurs over to our apartment with theirs. I am starting to be more and more thankful for that crazy luggage lady. I pack my clothes how she taught us every time. It's just awesome. And I'm super thankful for this luggage. It's just perfect. I'm never worried about it breaking or anything, where others' are already pretty beat up. It's just so great not worrying about that. Moving is stressful enough without worrying if your clothes are going to spill all over the street.

Anyway, we got our stuff into the apartment and had to go directly to our DMP meeting (ward mission leader meeting) where we talked about our Dimanche Missionnaire that was planned for tomorrow (as in Sunday). I didn't mention it, but on top of all of this crazy moving business, I was also assigned to give a talk. Which meant I had to write a talk. And as everyone knows, missionaries have a ton of free time.......Um, no. It was quite a time crunch to get it done. I could send pictures of it to you so you can read it, but it's all in French, so I don't know how much that'll do...maybe I'll translate it sometime for you if you really want it.

Anyway, I'm kind of skipping ahead to Sunday. Saturday still. We finally got a hold of Yannick, and taught a really good lesson with him, clarifying (like I said we would do last week) why were there and what he expects from us. We were bold but loving and he's now currently praying to know a baptismal date, as are we. We'll be discussing it this week.

Finally, Sunday came. I didn't really get a whole lot out of church, being stressed about my talk and being a little sick and all of that. It was rough for me. But I got up and gave my talk alright, and I think it was okay. Nothing too special. I gave it with one of our members standing right next to me at the pulpit, then he gave his with me standing there to signify togetherness I suppose. It was our DMP's idea. It was a little weird, but it was kind of nice. After church we got a little more settled into our apartment (it's just us right now, the other two Elders will be coming tomorrow probably) and then headed back out for some more porting. Not a too eventful night. Nobody was too mean. Met Pascal, who was Catholic and really nice. We talked a little with him, despite him saying that he was about to eat, so it was really cool.

Then our week kind of just ended. It's amazing how fast they fly by. I only have Elder Evans for 2 more weeks. And I'll be officially trained, so I'm supposed to know what I'm doing...Haha but I feel like I'm pretty ready for it.

Slow week statistically, but good overall. 

I'm gonna miss having thanksgiving with you guys, and being there for Dad's birthday, but it's okay. There's no place I'd rather be at this time in my life. I'm learning so much and having lots of fun along the way. I love you all! Have a great Thanksgiving and happy birthday Dad! Your present should be on it's way soon. Still getting there...

Until next week!

Elder Bigler

Responses to Mom's Email Questions

We actually will be having Thanksgiving! It's like a second P-day, minus email. We'll be at the Nogent chapel all day basically, just us missionaries, hanging out eating some food. Probably chickens instead of a turkey though.

Christmas is spent with members, for sure. Maximum of 4 hours with each family, and a lot of rules kind of go out the window from what I hear (like getting back on time) We don't really have a Christmas tree, but we'll see what happens... And that (if Santa were to send presents, will you get them?) depends on where he sends it. I can get packages at my apartment or the mission home (new apartment address coming next week). 

I still would like some recipes. Maybe for the rib sauce. And I REALLY would like to get my jambox sent to me, with the CD's that Tyler is going to be making for me. (preferably before christmas so I can listen to christmas music. The CD's are what I really want. and the sooner the better. Ask him about them. I sent him list of a ton of music that i'd like. Christmas music is the priority for now. I can listen to it on our DVD player if I need to, but I'd really like, eventually to have my jambox and my own CD player so I can have it be a little more personal (and sound better). I can buy a CD player though. But that's really what I want for Christmas. That, and maybe a BYU sweater (We think he means sweatshirt. He has never worn a sweater in his life). And then those family pictures! Even some paper ones would be nice, but you could send a ton with that memory card...

Hahaha I laughed about that red plate thing (Our family's "You Are Special Today" Red Plate Tradition given to Tyler for doing his homework after school without being asked. Something about going to a movie with a girl served as motivator). You guys are funny. :) Good to hear that Tyler is doing well though. :) That's pretty sweet with Ben, how's he doing? I haven't heard anything from him. I'd like to email him too from time to time. (Ben Busath is a friend and fellow missionary from our ward. He got a special visit in the mission field of Indiana from his current and previous Bishops who were in town for the BYU/Notre Dame football game.)

I hadn't heard about the lights (the Christmas lights were turned on last Saturday in Paris all around the Eiffel Tower), but we'll be in Paris about when it gets dark tonight (5 ish), so maybe we'll see them! (Mom wants to know if he is able to go to Disneyland Paris) And Disneyland is prohibited actually... I might try to go the downtown Disney part of it sometime (we just can't actually go into the park) and maybe find some cool presents.......

And no, it's not too cold yet. But I'd take the cold over the heat anyday, so I like it for now. It gets hot in the summer...

Also, you said call home (Mom asking about our Christmas call)?  We're a modern mission, we Skype home! For 1 hour. So, better start practicing how to use Skype! :)

Well, my time's up for today, gotta go. We're going to Les Invalides, the war museum. It should be pretty cool. Have a great day and week! Let everyone know I miss them and pray for them all the time. I love you!

Adam

Normal But Great!

Hey everybody!

American Fork Marching Band at Grand Nationals

Well, first off, it's rough to hear about the band. I know how it goes. From what I've heard though, it sounds like you guys did your very best. That's really all that matters. You had a practically perfect year, especially with a really tough regionals group, and you should be proud of the work you put in. Judges make it tough. It's not always the best groups that really win. I'm currently working on a way to see the show, so hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to check it out. Maybe even semi-finals eventually. But don't feel too bad about it. Woodlands, Carmel, Avon, Marcus, L.D. Bell, Ayala, Harrison, are all AMAZING band programs. You shouldn't feel bad at all. From what I can tell, this year was one of AF's best ever. Keep your heads high.

I'm glad to hear that you guys are working with the missionaries a little bit. Just so you know the differences out here, we schedule our own meetings with members. We become friends with them, get to know them, and tell them that we'd like to come over sometime to share a message and do our best to bring the Spirit into their homes. Then we go and teach them a real lesson. You could call it practice teaching, because it's with the members and we know that their salvation isn't on the line if we teach something a little bit incorrectly, so it's a bit less pressure, but we do it on our own, really trying to help them and edify them. I'm a little sad to hear that this missionary got distracted so easily. I hope that doesn't normally happen, cause there are a lot more distracting things than barking dogs. It's hard to keep the people you're teaching focused if you can't stay focused yourself. And actually, I think about Kevin every time I bear my testimony or teach about Joseph Smith. A boy as young as that was able to sincerely follow his heart and simply ask God for knowledge that he lacked, and God answered. I know that He does still today, and I'm so thankful to be hear to testify of that to others. Also, don't feel too bad about that missionary. It sounds kind of like he was trying to be funny, but it was rather unsensitive (just so you know, our problem here in France is trying to not get bise'd - kissed). But, it's not really all his fault. In the MTC, they really drill hugging people of the opposite gender out of you. Another thing I love about our mission is that we hug. Well, only our gender, but when we're greeting other Elders, it's gotta be with a hug. It's really good for morale and all that and just for helping us be closer as a mission. So don't worry, plenty of hugs here. But you do have a point about how we need to be careful. It's tricky, and some missionaries really just aren't good at not offending people, to put it bluntly. And it's extra sad that it kind of drove the Spirit away, since that's the opposite of our goal as missionaries. Anyway, the point of this big long paragraph is just that, don't worry, I get hugs, I think about you guys a lot, and we honestly care about and love our members here.

Now, to get started on my weekly summary. :) Long letter this week!

Lundi - started off the week pretty well! We were able to meet a guy whose information we received the other night. His name is Patrice, his wife is Fifi, and his 4-year-old daughter's name is Meggie. He comes from a Muslim background, but he's been checking out other religions for a long time, and he feels like he hasn't really found the truth yet. He's kind of complicated to teach because of this, since Muslims believe that Christ was just a prophet (well, some of them, others believe that he was the Son of God but that he wasn't actually crucified), while Christians believe he was the Son of God. But he's open and ready to learn. He also speaks English very well, so the lessons are a breeze. He's an awesome guy. He got a Livre de Mormon from the Elders in Lyon (where he was contacted) and in less than a week had read all the way to Omni (over 150 pages)! They're just a solid family that we're really excited to teach. 

Mardi - Kind of a regular day. The highlight was that on the bus one time, Elder Evans and I got a little separated, and I talked to this woman about what we believe (all in French) and was able to give her a Livre de Mormon, and she accepted to read it! It was extra cool just because I did it without any of Elder Evans' help. I'm getting close to being able to hold my own in French now.

Mercredi - We were able to teach our Haitian Preacher ami, Frère Regis, along with his brother in law Paulimus (yes, pronounced poly-moose). We talked about Joseph Smith and how he was able to recieve an answer despite his young age and inexperience. They're really cool guys, but unfortunately they're not too interested in acting to know right now, so we aren't able to visit them very often.

Jeudi - We taught our Cameroonian ami Yannick. We're still trying to get through the Plan of Salvation with him. We're currently stuck on The Fall. He's into all this really deep doctrinal stuff. He asks really good questions. For example, if you were Adam, what would you have done? Would you have eaten the fruit and allowed all sin, pain, and evil to come into the world? It's pretty deep stuff. Elder Evans and I have already come to our own conclusion, but it's still pretty interesting to think about. Anyway, really cool guy. He'll be baptized someday, he just needs to understand that he doesn't have to understand everything to know that our message is true. We're working on it.

Vendredi - Kind of just a regular day for us. We taught a lesson about the Restoration to Jimmy. He seems genuinely interested and we feel like he's really going to progress. The tricky part is that his girlfriend is a recent convert and she ALWAYS comes to the lessons. It's good to have her there, but we're worried that he's going to try to convert just for her. So, it's a tender situation, but we're really excited for him. Personally, I feel really...invested with Jimmy. We've been talking a lot about trying to have true charity for our amis, and just everybody. I feel like I have that for Jimmy. I really want what's best for him, and I know that the Gospel will help him to have that.

Samedi - Crazy day! We did essentially no real missionary work, but I learned a lot. We had a surprise conference in Versailles (other side of Paris) with Elders Osguthorpe (General President of Sunday School) and Ridd (2nd counselor in the General Young Men's Presidency). Really cool guys. They talked a lot about being axiously engaged in a good cause, being dedicated and devoted to what we're doing, doing GOOD work, not just working, and just about having the desire and determination to continue. It was a lot of missionary pump-up type stuff. At the end, Elder Evans and I got to just hang out and talk with Elder Osguthorpe for a while about wht it's like to speak in General Conference and all that. It was a really cool experience. Apparently, Elder Holland says to everyone after their talk "That was the best talk on (subject) ever given in the church!" and he truly means it sincerely. It sounds like just so much building up that goes on with the Apostles.

After that little conference, we headed to the other side of Paris, Torcy, for our Stake Conference adult session. It was centered on missionary work of all things! It was awesome. President Poznanski spoke, and he mentioned how he wanted toys for Christmas but woke up on Christmas morning to an illustrated bible. And read in my other email what he said afterwards... (for Brian's sake "And that's when I knew that Santa Claus didn't exist!")  Anyway, that day ended well, with us boarding two other Elders, Utahia and Wootton. Elder Utahia is from Tahiti. It was cool having a French speaker in our apartment. It gave me lots of good practice and helped me really build my confidence with French. I'm learning quite quickly.

Dimanche - Kind of a regular Sunday, just busy busy busy. Stake Conference in the morning. No tabernacles here, so we had it in a movie theater! I got a picture with superman while I was there (I'll send it next week). It felt really weird to be in a movie theater, but it was a nice meeting with (too comfy) comfy seats. No cup holders here in France though... After that, we had a nice evening with a member family, the Allanic's, and talked a lot about missionary work. They're really just wonderful members. 

Overall, a great, but normal week. As missionaries, "normal" IS great! :) Lots of fun and lots of hard work. I love you guys so much! Dad, I'm working on your present, it might be a little late. We're just way busy right now. Tyler and Kevin, keep those heads high! You did amazing this year. Keep working hard even though marching band is over. Brian, keep studying all that Knowledge bowl stuff! Someday I hope to be as smart as you. :) And keep reading your scriptures everybody! There really is power in reading the scriptures. I can't tell you how many times I've found answers in there. And you'll realize how cool they are too! I had no idea how cool the stories in the Book of Mormon are until now. Anyway, it's about time to go. I wish you all a good week! Have fun and be good!

Elder Adam Bigler

Il Fait Froid Maintenant! (It's Cold Now!)

Well, hey everybody! Everything's going great here, despite finally starting to get cold. it's not too bad though, for now. I hope everything's going well, getting ready for nationals and all. It's gonna be nuts. You guys will be blown away at some of the bands, Tyler and Kevin.

Now, I've gotta jump into my email.

Monday turned out alright after I emailed. I got a little down, realizing how much I miss you guys, but Elder Evans and I were able to have a good talk and I felt better.

Tuesday we had our District Meeting and interviews with President, so we ended up just hanging out at St. Merri for most of the day. Sœur Posnanski complemented my French accent, and I learned about those couple rules I explained earlier from President. It was just a good day, getting some positive feedback on my French. I've felt really confident with it overall this week. I understand a lot more than when I got here, and I can almost hold my own with speaking.

Wednesday was a quick exchange with Elders Tryon and Sughroue. We did some really good contacting with them, and I was able to practice being without Elder Evans a little. 

(i'm rushing through this to get to the good part)

Thursday and Friday were kind of bland.

Saturday was windy! My umbrella is currently broken...working on getting a new one.

Now Sunday...that's where it all happened. 

We passed a scary looking guy, and said bonsoir, but he kept going past. for whatever reason, Elder Evans turned around and decided to contact him, which I thought was pretty awkward. But he did and the guy came up to us rather toughly and just pulled off his hood. Elder Evans said that he was here in France to tell him that God was there and that he loves him. After he said that, this big tough man just said "Really?" kind of shocked, and Elder Evans said yes and repeated it. At this, this man pulled his shirt collar down and showed us his crazy tattoos and just said "really" again. Elder Evans said "Really." and the guy looked at us and started to cry.

He went on to tell us that his wife has left him and that he's trying to get over his alcoholism and just his life is just REALLY hard. Elder Evans asked if we could say a prayer with him right htere and he agreed. After the prayer he was crying again. As Elder Evans got a BoM out of his bag, Joffrey (that was his name) said something about how he didn't believe in miracles, but we had to be sent from God. We explained the Book of Mormon to him and he went to offer us money for it, because he wanted it so badly he said. Of course, we gave it to him free of charge and set up a rendez-vous with him. We gave him hugs as we left. It was a truly powerful, powerful experience. Just seeing how the Spirit led us to be there at that moment. The person who we had intended to contact last night wasn't even there. Joffrey was why we needed to be there. It's really hard to explain all at once like this, but he needed us last night. And we were there.

Amazing stuff, being a missionary. 

Good luck at nationals guys! Don't win too many trophies! :)

Elder Bigler

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Other tidbits of information and answers to questions shared during some real time email exchanges.

Adam was featured with his companion, Elder Evans, in a video on his Mission's Facebook page. He wrote of the experience last week. They reported of the great experience being lead to a family that invited them to dinner and all were blessed by the visit. The video is on Facebook - France Paris Mission Poznanski. Here is the link - Elder Bigler and Elder Evans Share a Wonderful Experience during Zone Conference

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Got my haircut this week, free from one of the members, Jerome Kusseling. It actually turned out really good! I'm not really sure why his shirt is inside out...
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Are you technically not in Paris?

I'm in Paris, but I'm not. It's confusing. "Paris" itself is technically just west of us. But the city has outgrown its boundaries and has essentially engulfed all the surrounding cities. The Parisienne area goes a ways past us. So, you could argue that we're in the city of Nogent in the Paris area, or in Paris in the Nogent area. It's all one massive, 12 million people strong area, that's not really one city or multiple cities.

Do you guys have phones?  Are you going to get iPads?  We have heard talk about that.

Yeah, we have phones. They're VERY useful as missionaries. Nothing said about iPads yet. And no Facebook, at this point.

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ADAM: We did a lot of cleaning today, cause we found out that we're swapping apartments with the Sisters?

MOM: Why are you trading apartments with the sisters? Will you still be in the same area-ish? You never sent us a picture of your apartment.  You better take a couple if you want pictures of all the places you live during your mission. When are you moving?  

ADAM: There was a new area opened up/split so there are some Elders who need a place to live. We're not totally sure how it's all going down, but we just know that apparently trading with them is the easiest way to do it. Same sector, just kind of across town sort of thing.I'll get you some pictures, don't worry. :) And we think it might be this weekend, but it could also be next weekend. We're not sure yet. We'll pretty much get the call and have to be out in a day.

MOM: Nice of you to clean things up for the sisters. 
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MOM: You seem to be emailing about this same time lately.  Do you think you will continue to do that?  Even after you move?  It's a pretty good time since we can talk a bit but we worry about taking up your letter writing time.

ADAM: We usually email at the end of the day if we aren't going to Paris to check anything out. The next few weeks are probably going to be used checking out stuff, since Elder Evans will probably be leaving in about a month, so I'll probably be on earlier. So, for the next while, probably not. If you really wanted to talk, I could send an email text to your phone to wake you up, but I figure you guys need your sleep. And we actually found out this week that with the changes of missionary happening, not only do we not have to wear our suit jackets all the time, but we're allowed to email as long as we want on P-day! There's no time limit. Except that P-day ends at 6, so I've got about 50 minutes left. Plenty of time to write my stuff this week.
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MOM: Do you ever get to watch tv or read the news so you know what's going on in the world?

ADAM: Nope. I really have no idea. I heard from a newer Elder that the government shut down for a while again and stuff, but that's pretty much all the news I've heard, other than from you guys.
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Tuesday Was Our Big Miracle Day!

Utah State and Regional Champions with their Mom

I've gotta keep this short this week, running out of time again...

Great news all around from the band world! My predictions totally came true, and you guys totally owned! Great work! I expect big things at nationals. :) (Adam's brothers Tyler and Kevin marched with the American Fork High School Marching Band over the weekend and the Band won both the Utah State 5A Championships and the St George Regional Championships!!)

This week really flew by. I made a commitment to myself a while back to write in my journal every day, and I've been doing really well with it. So I've got a lot I could say. Also, my handwriting has gotten way better out here.

Monday I bought my French coat! I think it looks pretty nice. You guys will get to see it a lot, considering how cold it gets here. Just kind of a regular P-day. And if you had thought some of our neighbors' kids are crazy, you should've seen the members we visited...almost literally bouncing off the walls.

Tuesday was our big miracle day. I summarized it in my letter to President:

Nous faisions du port à port le Mardi soir, et nous avons sonné et parlé avec la femme et elle a dit <<Non, on est Catholique pratiquant, on est pas très intéressé.>> Nous avons dit bon soirée et tout ça et quitté. Après juste quelque seconds, elle a retourné. Nous avons pensé elle vas dire <<ils sont pas là>> (parce que nous avons sonné à la prochain maison), mais je peut témoigner, le pouvoir du Saint-Esprit est réelle. Quelle surpris quand elle a dit <<est-ce que vous voulez dîner avec nous?>> Bien sûr, nous avons dit oui! Nous avons passé une très bonne soirée avec eux. Ils ont trois fils, et ils ont tous demandé des bons questions à propos de nos croyances et l'évangile. Aussi, ils ont dit que nous pouvons retourner! L'Esprit est réelle et il change les cœur des hommes. Cette belle expérience nous a aidé de continuer de garder la foi et travailler dur. J'aime d'être un missionnaire!

Oh, that's French isn't it? :) Please don't show that to anyone who actually speaks French, it's probably pretty bad... but the story goes like this:

We were out just doing some regular door to door stuff. We came across this nice woman, a practicing catholic, who said that her family didn't really have time. So we headed off to the next house. All of a sudden, here she comes back out of the gate, walking up to us. Now, normally when this happens its cause people are gonna tell us to give up or that the person isn't there or something like that. What NEVER happens is the following. She walked up to us and said "would you like to join us for dinner?" WHAT?! THAT blew our minds. Of course, we said yes and headed in. She's married and has three nice young boys (kind of like the brothers back at home). We ate with them and they asked some really good questions. Like I said to President, the power of the Holy Ghost is real and it does change peoples' hearts. It was an amazing experience and ended with them saying we could come back. We'll see what happens.

Wednesday was busy as we helped out with transfers at a HUGE train station, Gare de l'Est. I met Elder Jared Hall and talked to him for a minute. He seemed to be doing well, although he hadn't been dumped into too much French yet. :) 

Thursday was Halloween. It's not too big here in France, but some kids still do it. We ended up going home a little early cause we just didn't feel right out there.

I'm skipping Friday just for time. Not much exciting happened there.

Saturday was cool. We had a rather hilarious lesson with Alberto that night. For one reason or another, he started going off on a rant about modern medicine and how when he was a kid, if he got a cut, he'd just slap some dirt on it and be good and then something about how he was born in a field that I didn't really understand. He was just being really goofy. Then he had a question about a scripture. Now, he speaks portuguese, so his scriptures are in portuguese. After reading about a half a chapter to us (in portuguese), he stopped and summarized (we think) and then asked a really long question, but still speaking portuguese! After about 10 seconds of looking qt us he was all "oh, I spoke portuguese..." It was so funny.

And nothing too exciting happened Sunday. Overall, a good week. The language is coming along well. Like I said to mom: The language is actually coming along quite well! I can usually express what I need to say, almost always. I've got a decent vocabulary. The hard part right now has become understanding people. some times I'm really good at it, other times, not so much. It's a work in progress. I feel like about the 6 month mark is where I'll feel fully comfortable with it, but I'm pushing myself enough that I think I'll be able to hold my own in another month or two.

Anyway, I've really gotta go. Keep working hard everybody, and thanks so much for all the love!

Elder Bigler