Monday, September 10, 2012

September 10, 2012

Bonjour mes Amis! 

Man, this week has been great!! Haha, I have to tell you about our last P-Day.

After we sent our emails we went out to go shopping and we needed to go to the bank too. Well, I assume it was Labor Day weekend back at home too, but I'm not sure. Something you learn about Labor Day in small towns is that it actually is a day for EVERYONE to not work. All of the grocery stores were closed. All of the banks were closed. Everything! It was kind of funny! But then we did nothing all day, because we couldn't go shopping or get our banking done. We just sat in the apartment and cleaned and played Frisbee. So Tuesday morning we ran to the "Maxi" (Quebec's version on Super Store) and did our grocery shopping. Then we headed down Tuesday evening to Quebec for Zone Study. Elder Heder and I had to give a training, and all of the other new missionaries too. And by new missionaries I mean the ones who aren't going home in this transfer or the next. We ate at a buffet, and I think I gained like 10 pounds. I eat way to much at buffets because I go, PFH, if I'm going to spend my money, I'm going to get my moneys worth! So literally 4 or 5 plates of food, then 2 plates of desert and a bowl or two of ice cream. Then you sit in the truck for 3 hours and drive back up to Alma. You just feel so great after! And to be honest, it usually takes a day or two before you are able to poop too. But that might just be because I eat a lot of Chinese food at the Buffet. We were back Wednesday in time to work a bit that night. Ah, we also had 3 Dinner Appointments this week. We had crepes at one of them, which were super good, but the only thing we had to put on them was maple syrup and brown sugar. Which normally isn't that bad, but when you eat like 4 or 5 crepes, you just start to buzz with all the sugar in your system. But I love maple syrup, so I didn't complain! 

Saturday night we had a dinner with a non member family, actually with the Evangelists! And we went to help the husband move a piano. He said "5, 10 minutes tops!". Wrong. But, everyone is always wrong when they say things like that. It was a 1200 lbs piano, and we ended up having 5 of us to move the dang thing. Elder Heder and I were in our dress clothes, and it was raining, and the piano was dirty, so we basically destroyed our clothing. And it took like 30 minutes to move this piano. It was retarded, but we had tons of fun! And then we ate Tacos. So that was great.

So, I didn't bring a rain jacket with me on my mission. Don't ask me why, I think I though I would have more time during P-Days to go out and buy one, or that I would be somewhere that there were stores that I could find a rain jacket at. But I don't, so I wear one of Elder Heder's spare jackets. We aren't the same size, so I really don't fit in it. It looks hilarious. But I don't have a picture. Anyways, We were out knocking on doors the other day, and it was raining, and we were soaking wet. And in Alma, there are TONS of people who don't have doorbells, but they have the wires sticking out of the wall still, so if you are lucky, you can actually still ring the doorbell, by rubbing the wires together! We do it all the time. But anyways, it was raining, and we came to a house without a doorbell, and so I grabbed the wires and I went to ring the doorbell, but I hadn't realized that the parts that I had grabbed were not covered in the plastic wire coating, and so when I got the doorbell to ring, what actually happened was that I totally zapped myself. It didn't hurt, but I was so not expecting it that it made the shock a little worse than it was. It was funny though.

Saturday night we received transfer calls. Big changes. We lost 13 missionaries, and 18 new missionaries are coming in to Quebec. With 16 last transfer and 18 this transfer we have 34 new missionaries. that means there are a lot of people training. And people who aren't training or being trained, are in leadership positions. So everyone has a job. Everyone. Elder Heder got called out of Alma, and is going to Montreal. As a Zone leader! 5 transfers in and he is headed off to be a ZONE LEADER!! And, even crazier than that, he is being sent to a Chinese Branch! He gets to learn a little bit of Chinese!!! And go to church in Chinese once every two weeks! Hehehe! That's so cool!! As for myself, I am training!! I get a brand new missionary, and I decide his fate. MWAHAHAH!! No, I'm actually a little bit terrified. This is a big deal! His first impression of real missionary work is resting on my shoulders! I show him that we study hard, work hard, and play hard. And in that order too. But I know that if I wasn't ready for this responsibility, then I wouldn't be training, so the Lord knows I can do it, and that is very reassuring! I'm not super super worried, but there are somethings that I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to deal with them. I hope he can speak french though, because that is something we do a lot of up here in Alma. =D 

Anyways, our area is doing very well. We are always teaching lessons, always doing our best, and always seeing the miracles from the Lord. He is watching over us, and he is watching over this area. It's like Elder Heder says, Alma is booming because of the strength of the Members here. They really do have some of the strongest members that I have ever seen, it is amazing.

I love you all, and I hope that you have a good weekend!!

Love,

Elder Austen Oviatt

P.S. Because I'm training, that means I'm the senior companion, which means that I get to drive the truck!!!!! So excited for that!!!!

 Portes De L'Enfer. That means The Doors of Hell. Cool, hey?! I want to go visit it, but it's a little to far away to just drive down to for the afternoon. 
I had a whole bunch of other pictures, but by camera deleted them all?!?!? So chapped. Maybe Elder Heder can send me some of the ones I want to send to you...


 Trying to take a beautiful shot of the scenery. This strange black think kept getting in my way, I had no idea what it was. It was the antenna. Good for me. Hehe, why did I ever think I was smart?

Elder Heders huge rain jacket.

Huge leaf. It made me feel like an Ewok.

No comments:

Post a Comment