8-1-16

Hello hello everyone! This week was a blast. What went down:

Monday: Haircut, shopping, I finally got a French suit. It's a pretty conservative one, not too flashy, but it's really nice, I like it. My old blue suit is getting pretty worn. To end the day, we visited the R family and talked about how they can do missionary work.

Tuesday was good. We did some area book work, had every rendezvous fall through, so we passed lots of people and contacted, gave out a few Books of Mormon, fixed three RDVs.

Wednesday was really nice. We started out the day by seeing M at the church, we watched a few Mormon messages in English to help him learn English. He's the nicest guy ever, I love being with him! Then we saw Brother B, a 78 year old man from Martinique who could destroy me in any physical competition. He is super strong.  He has hands like a bear. We asked him about the inter-regional plan, and he gave us a few referrals. I don't know what these people will be like, but I'm excited to meet them. Then we contacted at Garibaldi square, found a lady who was crying over her husband that she lost a year ago, and we taught the plan of salvation. She wasn't interested but at least it helped her a little. Then we tried to pass a few people, couldn't find one address, we ended up around the Nice Musical Conservatory where we met a group of eight aspiring opera singers from Juliard! One was from Portland, OR. We talked a little and whatnot. Then as we walked out, we saw another young lady we had met previously a few weeks ago. She only had time to say hello, but hopefully we can teach her soon. Then we went to the church to teach a guy Elder Sauro found, named F. He loves Greek philosophers, books, photography. He was really touched that we gave him the Book of Mormon for free, and he promised to read it. He said that he's busy but we'll try to see him next week. Upon leaving, he took the bus with us, and I asked him about his taste in photography. He showed me a calendar made with photos he took, but unfortunately they were...bad photos. They were not just bad, they were a little weird. I quickly handed it back to him haha. Getting back to the apartment, I found a package from my siblings! It was full of great stuff, with some very kind notes. It's always a sparc to get one of those. And Skippy Super Chunk might be my favorite food, so I was a happy kid.

Thursday was very unique! Two member RDVs, got fed very well at both. Then other plans fell through, and we tried to visit an old ami. I had the genius idea of taking a shortcut, which led to hiking up a hill, and trying to walk along the train tracks. That for sure would have gotten us killed. So we abandoned that plan and stupidly hiked up the hill for 30 minutes, getting very dusty and falling over a few times. When we finally reached the top, having had to hike through bushes and trees and climb and whatnot, I was so dirty that I looked like a hobo who put on missionary clothes. By far, one of the dumbest choices I have made on my mission. At least it was kinda fun. And the old ami? Wrong address. We did it all for nothing. Hahaha

Friday: TRANSFER CALLS. Elder Sauro and I will stay together, Elder Raherimandimby goes to St. Etienne, and we're getting Elder Tehiva, a cool Tahitian elder. We played soccer with some potentials, and we saw our amie M, finally. Long story short, because two women at church offended M over a piece of pie, she doesn't want to go to church anymore. I think she'll get over it, but for right now, it's
pretty disappointing.   After that, we went up above Nice to St. André, to visit an old ami, named A. He is super cool, we taught a great lesson zero, he's coming to church next week! He's a super cool guy.

Saturday was cool. No time to write about it.

Sunday was a little special, we taught a class to primary kids about the temple. It was so wonderful to watch their enthusiastic faces! I hope to become as enthusiastic as them one day.

What I learned:
I had a lot of learning moments this week, but something I learned came by way of a letter, with the following quote on it: "If you need to choose between being right and being kind, choose kind." I am not the best at this! But I'm getting better, my companions in Nice have helped me tremendously with this. As Mary, the sister of Martha, we should "choose the better part."

(free) Advice I have
"Reflections," a Mormon Message based on a talk by Elder James B. Martino. My favorite Mormon message. Much to the tune of the quote I shared, it talks about turning outwards, not inwards.

I love you all! Merci Merci Merci
Love, Elder MacArthur

With a Portugese family

International apartment

"Nice" views!