Called to Serve. Paris, France: Christmas is Coming!

Every week when I sit down to do my emails, I start it out pretty simply, writing my letter to my President, mostly just to get it out of the way, then move into my emails, going through those from my mission friends and the few other emails that I get. Then, I start to feel a little bit closer to home as I go through the pictures you guys send me and then finally, since I save the best for last, read the letters you write. Usually, by the time I get to this point, where I've read the letters and am starting to type my letter home, I feel pretty much at home. Although I'm sitting in a relatively sketchy internet café in Luxembourg, I feel no farther from home than I did down in little old Ephraim. It's really a nice experience that I look forward to every week.

It's so nice and warm and familiar to see all those pictures of back home with the tree up (and all the tons of ornaments on it) and the brothers just being...themselves. Basically, I'm just really excited to talk to you guys. :)

Mission Zone Conference Lunch at Paris

This week was a really good one, although we weren't able to teach as much as we had hoped. We had our Christmas conference in Paris, which was really good! I got to talk to Elder Gomez and Elder Lloyd, both who are doing well. Elder Lloyd is serving in Nogent, my hometown here in Europe, and Elder Gomez is learning lots of French with his Tahitian companion. Getting there was a little interesting mainly because we had to wake up at 3 to make it to Versailles on time, but it all worked out in the end.

We got to move 2 couches vertically up a couple of flights of stairs for Paul this last week as well. We tried to do the third, but it was too big for the stairwell. All worth it in the end though, getting paid in American Root Beer. :)

Thursday night was one of the highlights of the week, and of the whole Christmas season so far. We had organized an activity with the youth of our ward to go caroling in the centreville where there is a big marché and tons of people! We gave them each a pass-along card to hand out and started singing right in the middle of it all. They were a little hesitant at first, but in the end, most of them gave out their cards and we all agreed that it was a really spiritual experience to share our testimonies like that.

This week, of course, should be a pretty great one!

I'm gonna keep it a little shorter this week, since I'm gonna be seeing you guys in a few days anyway. Have a good Christmas eve and everything and make me a BBQ pizza! See you on Thursday!

Elder Bigler

P.S. Also saw a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta this week, my favorite one, and then a Lamborghini later on that same day. :)