Well, another week in Rouen...
Tuesday consisted of a district meeting here in Rouen which went quite well. :) then elder sumrak (another elder in the district) and I headed off to Le Havre for exchanges there, while our companions stayed here. we got there and had english class to teach there, followed by a meeting that didnt happen. haha so we did a lil contacting and went back to their apt. (not appt... haha) I started learning a rubik's cube that nite, too. :) i was disappointed that i went to Le havre though, because we had an appt with Shi-Lin that afternoon, which i missed. lame.
The next morning, we got up and did our studies. a little after finishing, Elder Barton and Wakatsuki came to Le Havre, we had a district meal, then we headed back to rouen. We taught a man (the boyfriend of an inactive...) the first lesson and he seemed to be alright with all that we were saying and things. I had so much hope for him! then we showed him a plan de salut pamphlet at the end and said that we wanted to teach him Gods plan for us next time. he said we were welcome to, just as long as we knew he wouldnt agree w it. awww... lame. then we went and taught english class which went well. :)
thursday... we had an empty day for the most part. LOTS OF CONTACTING! yay. such a blast.
friday is swear the river was gonna overflow! haha it is usually a good 20 30 feet under the side wall of the river and it was 4 feet from the top in the morning! i was so disappointed when it hadnt gone over by the time we had to go out, and when we came back home later in the day, it was lower than before. lame. haha But we left to contact and teach a man who we thought was an old investigator. it turns out that he is inactive and has been for 30 years! but he is really nice and open with us. we have a return visit planned to help him refind his testimony! he seems so cool! im excited for him. Our DMB (branch miss leader), Tarolin, is out of town right now, so we had to go to branch priesthood counsil this week. I felt we got alot accomplished, as opposed to the week before. (the week before was the same people as this week, but plus primary, YW, and RS pres's... what are these 2 dif meetings called??)
sat we went out in the morning contacting and some guy got mad about something or another and took our names down. im not exactly sure what he plans on doing with our names... call the cops on us for being legal i guess! haha we didnt do anything wrong or close to being wrong. but anyways, that afternoon we played soccer with some members for our "samedi (/saturday) sports". Well, i tweaked my hamstring or something cuz i dont play soccer! haha. and cuz it was my first real athletics since the mtc, too. when i was walking back home, my left foot, rather than lifting front to back, was lifting right to left! and it hurt to try and flex my toes up on that foot. I called up the mission doctor and he told me some stretches to do and stuff, and im walking relatively normal again. haha. its still a bit tight though. It also made it so we had to stay in for the evening. :/ oh, and sat was also my 4 month mark... :)
Yesterday we had church. Shi-Lin is down in Paris right now for the chinese new year with some friends. so he wasnt there. But He went to church down in Paris! nice! (i am so disappointed in French!! they dont have a good word for nice in this context! lame. the closest is "Bravo!"- yes- it is spelled with the exclamation point in the dictionary... haha) and they have chinese elders there, too, so it was prob good for him. :) the only other interesting thing that happened was our phone stopped working and we were waiting for a member to call us. Well, that evening we got 5 messages from him looking for us! i felt so bad. sometimes technology can work against us. :/
Today we taught another less active in the morning (cutting into our prep day!... thats a devoted missionary there!!! jk...) and then went to the joan of arc museum in the afternoon. this is the city where she was murdered, btw. idk if i have said that before. but its a fact. :)
some other stuff: I told you a while ago i had an old insurance card. i lied. its actually the new card.
I enjoyed reading nathans version of the weekly letter. haha especially when he brought up the tuxes at the wedding! so funny.
It sounds like Kate and Chuck are doing well in arkansas... (haha... arkansas! :p jk) and your trip there was good.
Everyone here in France wants to talk about Obama! they are in love with him! hes on all the newsstands and stuff. i think he will do a good job though...
ok, well, just thought id throw in another story for you to look up. its the power of laughter in the sept 07 ensign. its a good story, and i think it goes well with the Families FHE theme. ok. sounds good. i will close for this week. the church is true. :)
peace.
Elder Jergensen
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Bonjour Family!
Well- Things are great here in France! What an awesome week!!!
Ill start from cool event number one. We had a successful baptism this past week! yay. I'll send the program in another Email cuz attachments are killer on myldsmail.net But yeah, He had his interview on friday with a chinese speaking elder from paris, and he passed! yay. so on saturday we had the baptism. it was interesting having a french program with a chinese speaker getting baptized! the first speaker asked him a question, and he didnt realize it was a question. that was a little funny. but he was baptized by Elder Collins, who actually was the person to find him, (i replaced him when i got here...) After the baptism, he bore his testimony in french which was the neatest thing ever. He is such a humble guy. The Branch has done such a good job at welcoming him and fellowshipping too! he was invited randomly yest with us by a member to come have lunch and teach a lesson. i love our branch, and im afraid that when i leave Rouen, the next branch wont be as awesome! oh yeah, he was also confirmed in church by elder Barton yest.
the next cool thing that happened this week was Zone conference down in paris. Sister staheli told us a parable about chocolate cake and red clothes. it was such a good story that i suggest finding a reading... i actually thought about dads seminary class when she read it and how they could use it. it is by sharon larsen and in her sisters book. I walk by faith by Ardeth Kapp. but i didnt catch the name of the parable. Ill do what i can to get it from her, but look for it yourself online if you have time, mom. :)
after Sis Staheli, the assistants talked and used a bit of shakespeare from Henry V. they used a speech henry delivered just before going to battle against the french, being outnumbered 5 to 1, yet they still won the battle.
President then had 3 different talks that afternoon (he kept pologizing for being on the program so much! i dont think anyone was complaining to hear from him though!)
the first one was on planning, and used the story of the bro of jared and the stones. and talked about how specific he was in his requests in ether 3:4.
the second one, he talked about the first vision and how Joseph had been prepared his whole life for the restoration. One thing he said, but i had never really thought about before in this way, is that Joseph did not go into the grove, or come out planning on starting a new church, or knowing of the plates. He just went to his "secret place" to find out his standing before the lord, and to get his sins forgiven.
The last talk was on testimony and was money also. I forgot my notes- so thats as specific as i can get on that one right now! haha
I love Zone conferences!!
alright, now for the rest of the week:
tuesday we made the baptismal program, i gave myself a haircut, and did some good ole contacting and taught seminary, since our teacher is gone for a few weeks. that was just grand.
Wed we spent the morning contacting, the afternoon contacting, and the evening teaching english class. We went to do a pass back at a house wewent to last week. The guy was interested last week, but now he doesnt even believe in God. Ok...? haha silly french.
Thursday was the already mentioned zone conference, friday morning we went contacting with a member. i really liked it, outside of the 2 times he got a little defensive and started arguing. we had to tell him to calm down a lil. haha after that, we had the already mentioned interview for Shi-lins baptism. We had two different appts cancel in the evening, so we went to branch council as a back up plan. Wow. that is a boring meeting. ESPECIALLY in a language i barely understand! haha.
sat was the baptism.
Sunday we had church, then taught Marie (the 11 year old recent convert) for the last time. since they invited Shi-Lin over, it was also our first time teaching him as a member of the Church! YAY! Last night we went contacting and stopped a guy who attends a society of people who discuss religious things. About 20-25 potential investigators in my eyes! Im so excited and hope things work out, although we plan on telling president and letting him research the society a little before we do it. We will see what happens.
And then today, we went looking for a bulletin board at a home store, and came home with the most amazing rug ever!!! for only 9 euros! nice! and on the bus on the way back, this is what happened, in elder bartons words:
Earlier today, while we were on the bus, some random punk stole Elder Jergensen's nametag and walked off. I walked after him and kept telling him to give it back, but he wouldn't answer. I tried to pull it out of his hand, but his friend got in between us and tried to separate us. The first guy then just snapped the nametag, dropped it in the street, and they both just walked off. The first guy pulled out a cross necklace and showed it to me and said, "don't betray my God". I'm not going to lie, when the second guy was pushing us apart, I was really, really tempted to fight them, and I don't think I would have had much trouble with either of them, but I listened to the voice of reason which said it wasn't worth it. But I'm still pretty mad about it. But no french punks are in the hospital, and I'm not in any legal trouble for getting in a fight, so I guess it's all right.
Well, i was chucking alot in the letters to me this week (FHE, the office bathroom, moms braces, cancun, camping, golddigging :p, KATIE LIVING IN ARK!!, beandrop, the egosque "trick".... haha). and was also a little nervous or however youd say it reading about the accident and the plane in NYC. what a cool story! i always laugh when i look at the emergency exit plans on a plane for a perfectly safe water landing. its good to see that it actually can happen that way, and that it works.
I didnt realize JR is already leaving! tell him good luck for me and to really use the MTC wisely... cuz i regret every second i wasted in there now!! haha
alright, that seems to be it! ill send that program and a few pics! til next week!
- Elder Jergensen
Pictures from the email:
the 4 elders who taught Shi-Lin
Shi-Lin and Me
Elder Barton, Shi-Lin And Me
all the Elders at the Baptism with Shi-Lin, plus a member, peaking over my shoulder... WHY!?
Well- Things are great here in France! What an awesome week!!!
Ill start from cool event number one. We had a successful baptism this past week! yay. I'll send the program in another Email cuz attachments are killer on myldsmail.net But yeah, He had his interview on friday with a chinese speaking elder from paris, and he passed! yay. so on saturday we had the baptism. it was interesting having a french program with a chinese speaker getting baptized! the first speaker asked him a question, and he didnt realize it was a question. that was a little funny. but he was baptized by Elder Collins, who actually was the person to find him, (i replaced him when i got here...) After the baptism, he bore his testimony in french which was the neatest thing ever. He is such a humble guy. The Branch has done such a good job at welcoming him and fellowshipping too! he was invited randomly yest with us by a member to come have lunch and teach a lesson. i love our branch, and im afraid that when i leave Rouen, the next branch wont be as awesome! oh yeah, he was also confirmed in church by elder Barton yest.
the next cool thing that happened this week was Zone conference down in paris. Sister staheli told us a parable about chocolate cake and red clothes. it was such a good story that i suggest finding a reading... i actually thought about dads seminary class when she read it and how they could use it. it is by sharon larsen and in her sisters book. I walk by faith by Ardeth Kapp. but i didnt catch the name of the parable. Ill do what i can to get it from her, but look for it yourself online if you have time, mom. :)
after Sis Staheli, the assistants talked and used a bit of shakespeare from Henry V. they used a speech henry delivered just before going to battle against the french, being outnumbered 5 to 1, yet they still won the battle.
President then had 3 different talks that afternoon (he kept pologizing for being on the program so much! i dont think anyone was complaining to hear from him though!)
the first one was on planning, and used the story of the bro of jared and the stones. and talked about how specific he was in his requests in ether 3:4.
the second one, he talked about the first vision and how Joseph had been prepared his whole life for the restoration. One thing he said, but i had never really thought about before in this way, is that Joseph did not go into the grove, or come out planning on starting a new church, or knowing of the plates. He just went to his "secret place" to find out his standing before the lord, and to get his sins forgiven.
The last talk was on testimony and was money also. I forgot my notes- so thats as specific as i can get on that one right now! haha
I love Zone conferences!!
alright, now for the rest of the week:
tuesday we made the baptismal program, i gave myself a haircut, and did some good ole contacting and taught seminary, since our teacher is gone for a few weeks. that was just grand.
Wed we spent the morning contacting, the afternoon contacting, and the evening teaching english class. We went to do a pass back at a house wewent to last week. The guy was interested last week, but now he doesnt even believe in God. Ok...? haha silly french.
Thursday was the already mentioned zone conference, friday morning we went contacting with a member. i really liked it, outside of the 2 times he got a little defensive and started arguing. we had to tell him to calm down a lil. haha after that, we had the already mentioned interview for Shi-lins baptism. We had two different appts cancel in the evening, so we went to branch council as a back up plan. Wow. that is a boring meeting. ESPECIALLY in a language i barely understand! haha.
sat was the baptism.
Sunday we had church, then taught Marie (the 11 year old recent convert) for the last time. since they invited Shi-Lin over, it was also our first time teaching him as a member of the Church! YAY! Last night we went contacting and stopped a guy who attends a society of people who discuss religious things. About 20-25 potential investigators in my eyes! Im so excited and hope things work out, although we plan on telling president and letting him research the society a little before we do it. We will see what happens.
And then today, we went looking for a bulletin board at a home store, and came home with the most amazing rug ever!!! for only 9 euros! nice! and on the bus on the way back, this is what happened, in elder bartons words:
Earlier today, while we were on the bus, some random punk stole Elder Jergensen's nametag and walked off. I walked after him and kept telling him to give it back, but he wouldn't answer. I tried to pull it out of his hand, but his friend got in between us and tried to separate us. The first guy then just snapped the nametag, dropped it in the street, and they both just walked off. The first guy pulled out a cross necklace and showed it to me and said, "don't betray my God". I'm not going to lie, when the second guy was pushing us apart, I was really, really tempted to fight them, and I don't think I would have had much trouble with either of them, but I listened to the voice of reason which said it wasn't worth it. But I'm still pretty mad about it. But no french punks are in the hospital, and I'm not in any legal trouble for getting in a fight, so I guess it's all right.
Well, i was chucking alot in the letters to me this week (FHE, the office bathroom, moms braces, cancun, camping, golddigging :p, KATIE LIVING IN ARK!!, beandrop, the egosque "trick".... haha). and was also a little nervous or however youd say it reading about the accident and the plane in NYC. what a cool story! i always laugh when i look at the emergency exit plans on a plane for a perfectly safe water landing. its good to see that it actually can happen that way, and that it works.
I didnt realize JR is already leaving! tell him good luck for me and to really use the MTC wisely... cuz i regret every second i wasted in there now!! haha
alright, that seems to be it! ill send that program and a few pics! til next week!
- Elder Jergensen
Pictures from the email:
the 4 elders who taught Shi-Lin
Shi-Lin and Me
Elder Barton, Shi-Lin And Me
all the Elders at the Baptism with Shi-Lin, plus a member, peaking over my shoulder... WHY!?
Elder Collins and Shi-Lin in the font
Monday, January 12, 2009
Well, another week rushes past!! Wow. I hate the joke that time is always playing on us in making time so relative!!
tuesday Morning we treated as Preparation day, because the way exchanges worked out, we had to use or normal prep day to do that. In the afternoon, we taught our friend Shi-Lin. Shi-Lin had been out of town for the holidays a lot recently, so we were about to have to push his baptismal date back. But he didn’t want that, so we scheduled three more appts that week!! He is so dynamite!
We met our other investigator that night, too. He is the man who is going to Ivory Coast for 2 months, starting this past week. So we went to talk to him and had a good discussion on what the Book of Mormon is. We rechallenged him to read the Book of Mormon, and also to search out the missionaries in Africa. He accepted, and we got his information down there to send to the mission. Hopefully they continue teaching him and things go well! I really like Joseph, and he is just a good guy! He’ll get back from Africa before I leave Rouen (hopefully… I don’t actually know how long I’m here, but were assuming I should be here 2 more transfers) so I should see him again! : )
Wednesday marked the official start of my second transfer, making me no longer the youngest group missionaries in Paris! Such an accomplishment!! Haha We did our deep cleaning, which is a couple hours at the beginning of each transfer to make the apartment look super good. Elder barton and I had decided to change the room around to make it more functionable with some of our deep cleaning time! Such a Mitch thing to do, I know!! But it looks a lot better and the best improvements were bookshelves put on our dsks and bunkbeds!! So much space, too!! We did some contacting and taught English class that night. The first time in 3 weeks, due to the holidays. The conversation actually led to teaching one of the students the Joseph Smith story. My companion was in the other corner of the room teaching his group, so it was me teaching alone. It was hard, but I got the message acrossed! Im so glad that the French govt a litlle while ago told the mission we need to teach with church materials! They felt we were using English class as a finding tool, but not telling the students we were and it was deceitful. Well, we were using it as a finding tool. They were right!! And they just made bringing the gospel to those students easier for us! Thank you!
(oh, the church is officially a business in France. We are not a religion, but trying to be, so that’s why the govt is involved, as they are auditing all aspects of the church to make sure we qualify…)
Thursday We did a lot of contacting. A couple hours of that, and also taught a less active lesson. Nothing too exciting, but necessary.
Friday we did transfer and weekly planning in the morning. Set goals for the coming 6 weeks and week and stuff. Then we had an appointment with Shi-Lin. We had scheduled the baptism for a time that didn’t work for the branch president, so had to change it. When we told Shi-Lin, he was a little hesitant and we asked if there was a conflict. There obviously was, but he didn’t tell us and left it at “this is more important”. WOW!!! I love Him. He is such the man!! We had three member (one less act fam, one recently reactivated member, and a recent convert) appts that evening, but for one reason or another, none of them worked out!! Haha It was a let down, but we went out and contacted instead. At the end, we found the best deal for a Kebab Elder Barton has seen in 2 years here, so we stopped there before going home. Kebabs are SO DELICIOUS!!! Haha
Sat we taugh Shi Lin our last Commandments lesson and it went well, outside of him misinterpreting a sentence: “if you obey Gods commandments, you don’t have need to disobey the law of the land” or something like that which was written awkwardly. Haha, he interpreted disobey as obey! Haha he was so confused, but we eventually figured it out. We went and did some porting that afternoon, and will go back soon to talk to one guy that said he was interested. Then we had a branch party where we also met with our Branch mission leader and set up a potential baptism program for Shi-lin.
Sun We had church and confirmed speakers and stuff for the baptism, taught Shi Lin (who had to walk and hour to church because there weren’t any buses coming that morning! WHAT A MAN!!) and prepped him for his interview this Tuesday. The Baptism is sat the 17th at 5 pm. Im so excited!! And the elder I replaced here is coming back to baptize him! Itll be a great day. We had 2 member appts on Sunday, and the 2nd one was awesome. First off, on the way we climbed on a bus and Shi-lin was there!! So we talked to him for a while on the bus! He was going to a friends for dinner. Then at the appt- this is just one of those stellar families- we had FHE and it reminded me so much of home! They had a little chart and everything like us! Even the side comments. : p Their little girl just got baptized 2weeks ago, and she gave a lesson! She is so cute and reminds me so much of Lindsey!
It was good to read about Ian coming Home! Like I said about time before, it doesnt seem like hes already been gone for 2 years!!
As to sports: just one question, who is QB in Arizona, Warner or Leinart? I hope its not the old man… I think he makes even Favre look young!! Haha
Utah, it sounds did great and deserves a great ranking. Im surprised others didn’t vote for them. Like Bronco, for example… But I think they are asked as coaches to vote for the nat champ game winner… I’m not sure.
I finally know what trip you have been referring to going on!! You haven’t said what trip it was til this letter.
I had sent Mikey Scott a letter before I reported and was sorta sad I didn’t ever get anything back!! That’s great to hear about him, and ill def write him. Thanks!
The girls should have burned hank… haha
My daily schedule consists of one hour pers study, one hour comp, and half hour language. One hour lunch, then we come in at 8 for dinner, planning and getting ready for bed at 1030. we are supposed to get in one hour at least of contacting a day. Other than that, we don’t have any rules regarding use of time really… other than using it wisely obviously. There Is a phone chain each night to report all missionaries in- call your District leader, who calls the zone leaders, who calls the assistants, who report to president. And presidents interviews and zone conference each are once a transfer. And that’s our contact with president, unless we have things we need to talk to him about( such as baptism interviews… :p).
Things are good here in Rouen! We cant wait for our Baptism! The Church is true and im excited to be here! Til next week!
-Elder J
tuesday Morning we treated as Preparation day, because the way exchanges worked out, we had to use or normal prep day to do that. In the afternoon, we taught our friend Shi-Lin. Shi-Lin had been out of town for the holidays a lot recently, so we were about to have to push his baptismal date back. But he didn’t want that, so we scheduled three more appts that week!! He is so dynamite!
We met our other investigator that night, too. He is the man who is going to Ivory Coast for 2 months, starting this past week. So we went to talk to him and had a good discussion on what the Book of Mormon is. We rechallenged him to read the Book of Mormon, and also to search out the missionaries in Africa. He accepted, and we got his information down there to send to the mission. Hopefully they continue teaching him and things go well! I really like Joseph, and he is just a good guy! He’ll get back from Africa before I leave Rouen (hopefully… I don’t actually know how long I’m here, but were assuming I should be here 2 more transfers) so I should see him again! : )
Wednesday marked the official start of my second transfer, making me no longer the youngest group missionaries in Paris! Such an accomplishment!! Haha We did our deep cleaning, which is a couple hours at the beginning of each transfer to make the apartment look super good. Elder barton and I had decided to change the room around to make it more functionable with some of our deep cleaning time! Such a Mitch thing to do, I know!! But it looks a lot better and the best improvements were bookshelves put on our dsks and bunkbeds!! So much space, too!! We did some contacting and taught English class that night. The first time in 3 weeks, due to the holidays. The conversation actually led to teaching one of the students the Joseph Smith story. My companion was in the other corner of the room teaching his group, so it was me teaching alone. It was hard, but I got the message acrossed! Im so glad that the French govt a litlle while ago told the mission we need to teach with church materials! They felt we were using English class as a finding tool, but not telling the students we were and it was deceitful. Well, we were using it as a finding tool. They were right!! And they just made bringing the gospel to those students easier for us! Thank you!
(oh, the church is officially a business in France. We are not a religion, but trying to be, so that’s why the govt is involved, as they are auditing all aspects of the church to make sure we qualify…)
Thursday We did a lot of contacting. A couple hours of that, and also taught a less active lesson. Nothing too exciting, but necessary.
Friday we did transfer and weekly planning in the morning. Set goals for the coming 6 weeks and week and stuff. Then we had an appointment with Shi-Lin. We had scheduled the baptism for a time that didn’t work for the branch president, so had to change it. When we told Shi-Lin, he was a little hesitant and we asked if there was a conflict. There obviously was, but he didn’t tell us and left it at “this is more important”. WOW!!! I love Him. He is such the man!! We had three member (one less act fam, one recently reactivated member, and a recent convert) appts that evening, but for one reason or another, none of them worked out!! Haha It was a let down, but we went out and contacted instead. At the end, we found the best deal for a Kebab Elder Barton has seen in 2 years here, so we stopped there before going home. Kebabs are SO DELICIOUS!!! Haha
Sat we taugh Shi Lin our last Commandments lesson and it went well, outside of him misinterpreting a sentence: “if you obey Gods commandments, you don’t have need to disobey the law of the land” or something like that which was written awkwardly. Haha, he interpreted disobey as obey! Haha he was so confused, but we eventually figured it out. We went and did some porting that afternoon, and will go back soon to talk to one guy that said he was interested. Then we had a branch party where we also met with our Branch mission leader and set up a potential baptism program for Shi-lin.
Sun We had church and confirmed speakers and stuff for the baptism, taught Shi Lin (who had to walk and hour to church because there weren’t any buses coming that morning! WHAT A MAN!!) and prepped him for his interview this Tuesday. The Baptism is sat the 17th at 5 pm. Im so excited!! And the elder I replaced here is coming back to baptize him! Itll be a great day. We had 2 member appts on Sunday, and the 2nd one was awesome. First off, on the way we climbed on a bus and Shi-lin was there!! So we talked to him for a while on the bus! He was going to a friends for dinner. Then at the appt- this is just one of those stellar families- we had FHE and it reminded me so much of home! They had a little chart and everything like us! Even the side comments. : p Their little girl just got baptized 2weeks ago, and she gave a lesson! She is so cute and reminds me so much of Lindsey!
It was good to read about Ian coming Home! Like I said about time before, it doesnt seem like hes already been gone for 2 years!!
As to sports: just one question, who is QB in Arizona, Warner or Leinart? I hope its not the old man… I think he makes even Favre look young!! Haha
Utah, it sounds did great and deserves a great ranking. Im surprised others didn’t vote for them. Like Bronco, for example… But I think they are asked as coaches to vote for the nat champ game winner… I’m not sure.
I finally know what trip you have been referring to going on!! You haven’t said what trip it was til this letter.
I had sent Mikey Scott a letter before I reported and was sorta sad I didn’t ever get anything back!! That’s great to hear about him, and ill def write him. Thanks!
The girls should have burned hank… haha
My daily schedule consists of one hour pers study, one hour comp, and half hour language. One hour lunch, then we come in at 8 for dinner, planning and getting ready for bed at 1030. we are supposed to get in one hour at least of contacting a day. Other than that, we don’t have any rules regarding use of time really… other than using it wisely obviously. There Is a phone chain each night to report all missionaries in- call your District leader, who calls the zone leaders, who calls the assistants, who report to president. And presidents interviews and zone conference each are once a transfer. And that’s our contact with president, unless we have things we need to talk to him about( such as baptism interviews… :p).
Things are good here in Rouen! We cant wait for our Baptism! The Church is true and im excited to be here! Til next week!
-Elder J
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