The Days are Long but the Weeks are Short - August 26, 2013

I feel like I start all of these the same. There's really not a whole lot to say about what goes on in here, except that we work hard, speak a lot of French, eat a lot of food, and feel the spirit a ton. I could pretty much leave my letter at that and it would summarize my whole week. But I won't, cause I know mom would hate me for it. :)

Nothing super special happened this week. The thunderstorm the other night was cool, did you guys see that? A bunch of foreign people were standing around outside like they had never seen a thunderstorm before. . .which I suppose is possible for some of them. 

Weekly Walk to the Provo Temple

I've been running every gym period, and trying to do some pushups and situps every day and all that, and so far I've only gained like 2 pounds, which I think is pretty good, considering the food and everything. My companion and I finally taught a couple good lessons this week, in my opinion. I really felt the spirit as we taught, and I we were able to communicate pretty well. We got to teach some members this week, being themselves instead of pretend investigators, and that was great because I felt like we could really get into the lesson. I have the First Vision memorized, and it is such a powerful tool in testifying of the restoration and just the reality of the Book of Mormon. 

Just over three weeks until I get to go to France! I can't tell you how exciting that is. It's also really nerve wracking. I mean, I'm gonna get there and suddenly, if I don't know how to say something, I won't be able to just ask in English. People won't just suddenly speak English if I need them to, the signs won't turn into English signs when I can't read them. It's kind of scary. BUT, I still have a few weeks to learn, and at this rate, I'm gonna be quite good at the language by the time I get there. There are a whole bunch of native French speakers here (Francophones) and they're super helpful to talk to. 

Speaking of that, it continues to blow my mind how diverse this place is. Per capita, we are probably the most diverse group of 4,000 people ever (religion aside). There are people from all over the world, speaking so many different languages I can't even keep track of it. It's awesome.

Missionaries on the Move

I have a bunch of other things to write (I keep track of things I want to write), but I don't have my notebook with me, so they're all gonna be at the end of the letter this week. 

You guys should watch the "Dare to Stand Alone" Mormon message. It's really good, and it has dear old AF high in it! Also "Mountains to Climb" as well. I can't quite remember specifically what it was about it, but that made me write down with an arrow pointing to it "that's why I'm here". It really touched me. 

A couple random thoughts I had this week: First, "you know you're on a mission when..." jokes could be really funny. Like, you know you're on a mission (or in the MTC) when you have Called to Serve stuck in your head before 7:00 AM. That happens pretty much every day. I don't think I've gone more than two hours here without hearing that octave jump at the beginning of that song.

Second, I think living at Snow this last year, eating that nasty food all the time really prepared me for the MTC. I'm gaining much less weight that everyone else, controlling my eating, and just not feeling like the food is slowing me down. Now, granted, that's probably not the best thing, to be adapted to such unhealthy food, but so far it seems like a blessing. :)

Adam with his District Elder Qwang from Singapore

Third, I learned a little lesson about attitude yesterday from my companion. On Sundays, we can only have cereal for breakfast. He's a bit picky about his food, and he was commenting on how they need to have more options here, instead of just offering cereal for breakfast. Meanwhile, I was thinking how awesome it was that they offered like, 12 different types of cereal for breakfast, on top of having a few different types of muffins. I don't mean for this story to come out self-righteous, if that's how it sounds. It just helped me to realize how much better our lives can be just by having a good attitude and looking on the bright side. Life's great, why complain? :) I'm so excited to be out here serving and doing what I know is right. 

Also, I saw Richard Flores this week. He said the band is doing great, which it sounds like they are based off those letters. I forgot to tell him to say hi to you guys though. . .my bad. I will if I see him again though.

My letter this week has been super scattered. . .it's hard to gather my thoughts in such a short amount of time when all I've really been thinking about is how many words I need to learn or what to teach in my lessons or which white shirt to wear (hahaha). I guess I'll just end this week with my super simple French testimony (have fun translating).

Je sais que le Livre de Mormon est vrai et que Joseph Smith a été un prophète de Dieu. Je sais que Jésus-Christ a expié pour nos péchés et que nous pouvons vivre avec il encore. Je suis remercie pour l'occasion a servir un mission pour Dieu. J'ai reçu beaucoup des bénédictions, et je vais reçu plus. Mon Français n'est pas tres bon, mais je sais, avec tout de mon coeur que Jésus est le Christ et que cette évangile est son évangile. Je vous aime. Au nom de Jésus-Chirst, amen.

Elder Bigler