Elder Chase Player: Water or Wine?

Lady Liberty in France

French Statue of Lady Liberty!

Paris Letters with a good-looking
missionary in front of them!

Bonjour! Tout le Monde! Here it is the last Monday in June. It has been a good week here with some great rendez-vous with amis. I'll start with Sebastien!

This week we were able to see Sebastien twice and hopefully more this week. His exams are over for becoming a butcher. Last Monday we went to their home and the whole family was there. His sister, brother, Cedre and the two kids. It was a little crazy but we were able to teach a few points of the Restoration and ate with them. We talked about the church to his siblings, who are all for the church and for Sebastien becoming a member. So, that was awesome. Sebastien asked us if you could go on a mission when you are older. We said, "Ya, as a couple!" He proceeded to tell Cedre that he wanted to go on a mission when they are older. So cool!. On Saturday we were able to have another rendez-vous with Sebastien at the church. Joe helped teach and we watched the Restoration film. It went great. At the end we looked over and asked Sebastien what he was feeling and he said he couldn't really describe it but it felt good. He said he always feels good when he comes to the church and so he knows that it is true. The spirit was so strong and I'm so excited because he'll be on vacation the next two weeks and can come to church.

Teaching with Joe is great. He testified so strongly of the gospel and told about his conversion. He is so excited for Sebastien. We were able to teach Joe a few times this week as well. He is such a great example of a great member. He asked if he could come and teach with us more often and gave us his schedule. We were able to teach him about temples and genealogy. Woah...he was so excited to be able to go to the temple and be baptized for his father but asked if he had to pick just one ancestor to be baptized for because he wants to do it for all his family. When we explained he could be baptized for all his family he was so happy and wanted to get started on his genealogy right away!

Highlights:
The Vasile family...we are taking a new approach with them and we think the restoration finally clicked. We are excited to go back and see them this week. They did tell us that they have a hard time coming to church because the mom doesn't understand anything. We don't have any Romanian speakers in the ward so our new task is to find a Romanian/French person soon!

We were able to eat with Jackie. When we arrived he had bought each of us a rotisserie chicken, fries, coke, watermelon and cherries. So delicious and he seriously feels like he's a father to us!

Made homemade pizza dough and scones this week. It was a hit!

Saw the French Statue of Liberty. Pretty cool but the American one still wins!

Saw Jean yesterday and he is doing great. We asked what he was doing for the week and he said, "I don't plan ahead anymore because I don't know if I'll have tomorrow!" He has a funny sense of humor!

President and Soeur Poznanski left on Friday and President and Soeur Babin arrived. This week we will have a "meet them" conference and interviews for our zone. It's on the 4th of July so that'll be fun. I heard from Elder Davis that President Babin got here and asked them what they were doing. When they said going porting for three hours President Babin said OK I'm coming too and went knocking on doors with them the whole night! So cool and it sounds like he has the fire, vision and energy for the mission. I'm excited to meet them.

That's a wrap for this past week. Soldes started and so today we are off to the La Defense to do some shopping. Super excited. Love you all and thank you for your letters and emails. They are the best and seriously mean so much! Have a great week and I'll email again next Monday.

Love...
Elder Player

* This week we were asked, "Why do you use water instead of wine?" more times than ever before. That's always fun to explain so that was why I picked that as my title for this week!