Elder Chase Player: Chateau's and men who follow us home!

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis! I hope all is well with you. We have had another great week here in Nogent! Even with vacances/vacations we've been able to meet some really cool people and have some great lessons. We had another exchange and a super zone conference with President and Soeur Babin. Here's the week in review...

Last week after emails we headed for the gare to catch our train and see the Chateau de Fontainebleau but we missed the train by 2 minutes. C'est la vie (such is life) and had to wait 30 minutes for the next train. We wandered around the gare and found a boulangerie that was open and got some sandwiches and caught our train. After a short 45 minute ride and a short bus ride we arrived at Fontainebleau! Man, was it cool! It was my first real chateau that I was able to walk around in. I'd get lost if I lived in a place like that but it was cool! We walked around for a few hours and then got some mango sorbet by the lake, took some pictures and then went back to the train. I took a nap on the way home and when we got back in Paris we went back to work. It was a great P-Day!

Tuesday morning I had an exchange with Elder Ruttan, who is from Canada, and we had a great day. The things planned fell through so we went porting, contacting, did passbys and taught the Vasile Family. We had good success. While we were waiting for the bus to come a guy next to us turned and said I think you've contacted me before. Sure enough when he said his name I could recall him. He said, "You have my number...come see me this week!" It was cool to have him reach out to us. He remembered what he had read in the brochure we had given him. We met another guy, Anderson, and were able to teach a great lesson on the street to him and give him a Book of Mormon. He's being taught by the elders in Orleans now, so that was awesome!

This week we really tried to work with members and part member families. One experience we had was really great. One family we have been trying to get in contact with for the 4 months I have been here finally ANSWERED and said to come over on Wednesday. On Wednesday we arrived and her husband, who's not a member, let us in and we were able to talk to the family and get to know them better. The wife is so ready for her family to be active and I think her husband is ready too. We made a plan that after they get back from vacation in September we'll see them a few times a week and help her two boys, who hold the priesthood, set good goals and make some good habits. Their mom would love them to have good examples and prepare to go on missions so she wants us to re-teach them all the lessons. We are super excited about that!

Another crazy experience was after we went and taught a recent convert we walked outside and it was pouring rain. We "booked" it to the bus station and then realized we were on the wrong side so we ran to the other side. A man saw my name tag and said,"Jesus" and I said "Oui" Then Elder Meng run up a few seconds later and he said, "Oh! Two of you for Jesus!" We started talking to him and telling him we were missionaries when the bus came. He got on with us and said, "I'll come along!" So he tagged along and when we got to our bus stop we kept talking. At the end point we had to retake the bus back and he said, "I'll come again!" By the time we got to our bus stop we had given him a Book of Mormon and had a little lesson and a prayer with him. He wanted to keep talking and learn more so he came with us on the metro till we transferred to another metro. We were starting to think he was going to come home with us. We talked to him for a good hour and hope he'll read the book and come to church!

On Friday we had our first Zone Conference with President and Soeur Babin. Man, it was awesome! The whole focus was on Consecration and how we can take what is good in us and make us into the best we can be. The spirit was so strong. At the start President had a question and answer time and we could ask whatever we wanted. iPads came up and we found out that between September and December we will get iPads for our mission. President Babin is cool and really wants us to use our strengths. After Zone Conference one of the couples gave a training in French. He has 2 PHD's in French and taught for 22 years. It was so good and President Babin is trying to get a new language study thing going for us all. It would be great to have scriptures, French music, Preach my Gospel open to us for language study so that we can really improve our French and become great speakers. I'm so excited to see what happens in the coming months. This coming weekend we will find out about transfers and that's always exciting to see if I'm staying or going.

HIGHLIGHTS:

*Had a super cool lesson with a guy, Yannic, and then met his friend when they rescued us from being stuck in the rain. They gave us a ride home and his friend Joel had a lesson yesterday with the missionaries where he lives.
*Started teaching a 16 year old, Jean, who live in New Jersey for 5 years. He speaks great English and we had some fun Franglais lessons!
*Yesterday we got to go to the Allanics and eat Waffles and talk with their family...always super fun!
*Romain is doing good and we had a lesson with him on Wednesday, answering his questions about baptism.
*Found another chateau in our area and ported some of the houses by it and ate some delicious pastries.
*Cooked a chicken with potatoes to end weekly planning!

That's about it. I hope you know how much I love all of you and I'm so grateful for your support. Today we are off to the Palais Royal, La Place de Le Concorde and L'adoret patisserie. Maybe the Opera House if there is time. I've got to make sure if I get transfered I saw all the big things here. Have a great week!

Love...Elder Player