Called to Serve. Paris, France: Time Warp Effect, Couch Moving, Baptism, French Plateau

Hey hey hey!

Honestly, some weeks I just have trouble thinking of anything to write in these letters. And trouble remembering what I even did this last week. It gets harder and harder to tell the weeks apart as the mission goes on. It kind of has a weird time warp effect, being out here. I catch myself saying things like "I got a guitar last year for Christmas" when really that was almost two years ago. I realize that I've been here in Lorient for 4 months, and that has only felt like a few weeks. "Time" just has become a pretty relative term.

This week I had my exhcange with Elder Stucki, which was super fun. We pretty much just talked about American Fork the whole time. It really is cool to be able to talk about specific people from back home with somebody like that. During our talking, we found out that we had had a crush on the same girl at the same time once... Good times. :)

Thursday we were surprised to get a knock from one of our members asking her to help move a couch. We were free, so off we went. Turned out that she lived on the fourth floor of her building however, and that it wasn't just a couch, but a whole futon hide-a-bed situation. As Elder Lloyd and I started hauling it up the stairs, we quickly learned that the staircase turned too sharply to carry the couch normally and that the only other option was to carry it vertically up all the stairs. But hey, big strong AMERICAN missionaries have no problem with that. :)

Saturday was the baptism of the Vannes branch, which was awesome! Lots of people there, and we were even able to get David to come! He seemed to enjoy it, and it was a nice time for him to meet a few members. We even tried to play matchmaker a little bit with him and this 22 year old girl in our ward. ;)

We had a whole ton of other exciting stuff happen, but, as I said to Président Babin, it was all just kind of a blur this week. Maybe it's just the crazy heat we've been having this week, but I'm really struggling to think of anything else specific to share with you guys. This is most likely my last full week in Lorient, and, if I still have my guessing skills going for me, I'm pretty sure I'll be heading out a little more east in about 9 days. But, nothing's sure yet, so I'll just leave it at that. :)

Mom, you asked about my French. Honestly, I haven't felt much improvement in the last few months. I've been really trying to work on my accent with Elder Lloyd, who is really gifted with accents (people often ask him where he's from in France and are shocked when he says he's from Texas), and I've feel like I've made some progress there. Comprehension is still sometimes difficult when it's really crowded or the person talks slurred, but I pretty much understand it all. But on the language itself, just little improvements here and there. On the other hand, only improving a little bit is fine, since I really feel pretty confident overall. I have no fear to communicate in French, or make phone calls in French (which are probably the hardest part). I can confidently explain whatever I need to just fine and without any help or any pauses that wouldn't be there in English. So, short answer, I'm kind of at a plateau, which most missionaries hit, but I'm pretty confident with where I'm at. :)

Anyway, sorry that's not the most exciting letter, I'll try to organize my thoughts a little more for next week. :) In the meantime though, have an awesome week! It sounds like you guys have a lot planned. Keep up the good work!

Elder Bigler

Random Photos