Called to Serve. Paris, France: Thanksgiving Week in Luxembourg

Happy December!

What a crazy last week of November we had here in Luxembourg! Life gets pretty busy (and fun, for sure) as the only set of missionaries in the entire country.

I'm gonna kind of skip over Monday and Tuesday because the rest of the week has all the good stuff in it. :)

The Cathedral in Metz, France

Wednesday we had district meeting and exchanges. We did our own little "thanksgiving" as a district, which ended up being breakfast burritos. Our Zone Leaders were there, from Paris, Elder Lam and Elder Cardon. Elder Lam is from my group and he's one of the Mandarin speaking Elders in our mission. And we have a member who's dad only speaks Mandarin, and he wants his dad to be taught by the missionaries, so we set up a quick lesson there that I got to sit in on as Elder Lam's "companion" although I really didn't do anything. Really cool experience, despite the language barriers. Exchanges in Metz went well. I was with Elder Lattin, but he was a little sick, so we weren't able to do a whole lot, just some contacting. The cathedral in Metz is one of the biggest in France, so it wasn't too hard to get a picture of it. :)

Thursday we headed back into Lux for a pretty crazy evening. We had been invited to the Youth activity, which was a Thanksgiving dinner, with a game, provided by the Gilstrap boys. Super awesome Thanksgiving, with all sorts of multicultural dishes, from Tahiti, Portugal, Africa, Spain, France, Germany, America, and Argentina, as far as I can remember. So much good food. Immediately after that, we headed to the other side of the church for our Young Single Adults activity, with all the usual different countries represented, and all the languages that go along with them. Sooo much fun, but so tiring. Good day overall.

Adam on top of the Luxembourg Fortress

The next day turned out to just be a really good day. Elder Pratt and I stumbled into a really pretty area to take pictures, the top of the Luxembourgish fortress, so we got some good shots there.

International Expo of Luxembourg

Saturday was another good but busy day. We got invited to the Stake Single Adults activity, which was a visit to the international expo of Luxembourg! over 60 countries were represented there, and of course, we made a beeline for America! I had forgotten my money, unfortunately, but they have all sorts of American stuff there! Cap'n Crunch, Ranch, Brownies, Hot Dogs, Beef Jerky, BBQ sauce, chips, Pop-Tarts, pretty much all the classic stuff. We were just going crazy looking at it all and reminiscing. :) It was a really cool event, seeing all of those countries together like that. That evening we were invited to the Elenes home for our second Thanksgiving, all american style this time, except that they weren't able to find a turkey in time, so we had goose instead. They're such a nice family, and we walked out feeling pretty full. :)

Sunday was super crazy! Kind of like a big "final exam" for my french skills, we found out right before we taught the young men and young women that we'd have to do everything in French and English. So, I did all the French and Elder Gomez did all the English. It was a lot of translating to do, especially when some of the kids made really long comments. but we were able to share the "He is the Gift" message with them all and get them committed to sharing it with their friends for this Christmas season. Immediately after, the same scenario happened again. We were told, right as we were starting our lesson with the Relief Society and Priesthood that it would have to be in both languages. Round two went a little better than round one as far as the lesson itself goes, but probably a little worse concerning the French... :) But that's alright, the point got across, and we were able to successfully get everyone excited and ready to share the message. Afterwards, we headed to the Oliver's for yet another Thanksgiving dinner, and this one was the biggest of all...I don't think I've ever seen so much food in my life. And when they pulled out the six or so different pies at the end, I thought I was going to die. But, they were SO good that I made it through 5 pieces or so before having to call it quits.

That is one big burger!

And today, to quickly explain those burger pictures, we went to the most highly recommended café in Luxembourg to celebrate the year mark of Elder Gomez. It was easily the best burger I've eaten here in Europe.

So, overall, a heavy, fattening week, but a really good one. :) I've really gotta run, so I'll just say goodbye here. Looks like you guys all had a pretty good thanksgiving yourselves back in the states! I love you all, and until next week!