This last week we had zone conference. It was good. I tried speaking in French in the interviews. When I was with the President, we were speaking French for a bit and then he started speaking in English. But I kept responding in French trying to speak it but he just kept speaking English! So I just went and spoke English too for the rest of the interview. haha It was good, it was a fun day. And like always, my French is like how its always been. But its not about me speaking it, its about me understanding when people talk. It still sounds like jibberish sounds to me.  

My companion has been a member for two years.  I don't really know much of his conversion story, except his mom was really interested and had lessons from missionaries then he had lessons from missionaries. We're trying to find more people all the time because lots of the people we already have are on vacation or something. They have busy lives. Its hard to find time because people work all the time.

Luxembourg has more mountains than France, thats for sure. And I haven't seen an actual mountain like back home. Just really big hills covered by trees. I found out earlier that in our area of Luxembourg, we can go in to Germany and in to Belgium and in to France. So the area covers 4 countries!  We haven't gone outside of Luxembourg yet (except for zone conference) but I want to go to Germany because I'll probably never go there again after the mission, so that'll be cool to just go there some day when we have time! 

I went to the big American Military Cemetary today and I found the grave of George Patten. The cemetary is pretty cool!



                                  Cooper sees many luxurious sports cars everyday in Luxembourg

             

                                   In the world

                                  The grave of General Patten at the American Military Cemetery

Luxembourg is awesome!!! Everything here is so cool! Literally Everyone here in this country speaks at least 2 languages. Most of them can speak Luxembourgoise, French, and usually English. And a ton of other people speak Spanish or Portugese. I would say more people speak Spanish or Portugese than French. Its really weird. And Some of the members in the ward are from the US and only speak English and there are some others that only speak Spanish. Then there are the rest that can speak French and English and another language too... But for me, I feel like my French will go down because its not as needed here... which is bad because I still am not fluent yet...

So my companion's name is Elder Bananier. He's from Guadalupe (an island in the Caribbean). His native language is French but he's fluent in English so thats good. He was actually called to the Paris mission speaking Spanish, so he knows Spanish too. And he's picked up Portugese as well because there are so many people that he's spoken with who speak Portugese. So he's been out on his mission for around 7-8 months. After the MTC, he came here and his first area was Luxembourg.  So he's actually never left here yet. This is his last transfer in Luxembourg. 

I also live with two other Elders. Elder Esparza, who is from Germany but originally from Ecuador. And Elder Dicataldo, who is from Italy. This is Elder dicataldo's last transfer of the mission so I'm with another Elder who's going home in a few weeks. But Elder Esparza is in the group behind me so he's kind of new here. And they both are fluent in English so that makes me happy.

So there are some investigators here who are really close to baptism. So hopefully we'll get a few baptisms in the next few weeks! And I have no idea what's going to happen with Abra in Orléans.

Hi everyone!

Just recently we taught a lesson to this lady who lives close by us. Her name is Abra (just like the Pokemon character) and she is from Africa somewhere. We taught about the Book of Mormon and the first lesson from Preach my Gospel to her. It was kind of hard for her to understand at first but we answered all of her questions and made sure that she understood everything we talked about, like where the book of mormon comes from, what's it about, that it isnt another translation of the Bible, and how there's only one true church. And she loved hearing about all of that and she accepted an invitation to be baptized! She understands that there's only one true church on the earth and she wants to be baptized now! It was really awesome! 

We have another lesson on Tuesday with her so we're going to set up a date for her to prepare for the baptism. However..... This week is the start of the new transfer and I'm packing up and leaving Orléans...

I'm going to Luxembourg!!! It was such a surprise! I thought that someone else would come here but they're going to only have one team of missionaries in Orléans now instead of two. So it's going to be crazy leaving. There's only one area in Luxembourg and it's the whole country haha. My new companions name is Elder Bananier. I dont know anything about him but the others that im with right now say he's really cool and he knows like 5 different languages haha. And Luxembourg is like a huge melting pot of languages. Lots of people there speak French, English, Spanish, German, and the secret Luxembourg language called Luxembourgeoise. I have no idea what that is but everyone there speaks that language and also knows 1 or 2 more extra ones, mostly French. So i'm really excited!

                                                               A Hobbit House!

I was in Paris this past week because they had a big meeting for all of the Zone Leaders and District leaders. My companion's a district leader so we went. And when I was there for legality a few weeks ago, I didn't get to go to the mission home, I've never been to the mission home yet.  The transfer ends next week so my companion will be finished on Wednesday next week. His parents are picking him up and they're going and visiting some cool places he has served in for the week after the transfer, but he won't be a missionary then.  

I haven't eaten anything really cool ever other than that duck... unless you think French cereal is cool.

For language study, its hard to find things to do. I'm still just learning how to speak basic stuff. So what we've been doing lately is watching movies like The Testaments and church stuff like that in French with English or French subtitles. And I also have this book from the MTC that is really helpful. Its like a textbook or workbook, something like that. Its really useful. And another thing to do is to just memorize verbs/words from flashcards. 

That's awesome Kyle's home and that Sam's leaving. I'll find out next week who my new companion will be and if I'm staying or leaving to a new city.

There are a lot of Muslims here. Some of them come up to us and ask about who we are, because we're dressed differently. We tell them that we're missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ and we explain a little bit of what we do. But they're usually never interested in meeting with us. Thats okay though. Have a good week!

When we were in Paris, we stopped by the Louvre just for a second. We didn't go in or anything but I took some pics.

I got the package a couple of days ago, thanks. The deoderant is well needed. I never want to use french deoderant because its disgusting so whenever you send packages, always send some deoderant!!! 

Anyways, when i went to legality in paris i saw a few friends from the MTC, like Elder Eldredge. And we have to go to Paris again this week so maybe we can go see some more cool stuff! I havent seen a mime yet and i want to find that little statue of liberty thats in Paris too. Anyways Orleans doesnt really have any cool things at all to see on Pday. There are lots of castles around but they're all out of our area and it would take all day to go there and back.

The language is fine, i just cant understand people when they talk to me. Its so annoying! But i actually feel better about it than 2 weeks ago. its weird. And in every lesson i share a testimony on whatever it is. We gave some Book of Mormons to two Jehovah Witnesses people the other day haha... No one thinks my name is French. They still cant pronounce it. 

Also, I ate duck a few days ago! It was super good! It tastes like roast beef!

July 15, 2013

On Friday we went to Paris for legality stuff. The train that we were going to go back on had some crash on the tracks or something like that so we couldnt go back home. So for that night we stayed with some missionaries who live in one of the Paris areas. And so the next morning we had lots of free time so we checked out the Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower really quick. Then we got tickets for the train that eventually got us home.  You don't really talk to people on the train but sometimes people talk to us on the bus.

Its been scorching hot the past 2 weeks so theres no need for an umbrella.

And we're supposed to email the president once a week which I do.

And for the Bastille Day thing...  nothing happened at church for it, and later in the evening we went downtown and nothing was there. haha But there were some shops and bands playing by the big river that runs through the city for it. And i heard fireworks go off around 11 at night but I was feeling pretty sick so i just stayed in bed. 

July 1, 2013

Next week I have to go to Paris for some legality stuff so I'll finally be able to see some of Paris...hopefully.

Yeah i saw the broadcast. it was cool. I didnt see hayden but i saw tanner. haha

With Steve, its hard to do anything with him until he can find a job so he can move in to his own apartment so he can come to church. And its hard for members to fellowship him because they dont know english and he doesnt know french.....

I dont have any free time on P day to do anything! We get done with studys at 11 then we have to take the bus which only comes twice an hour to our bus stop to go to the store for shopping and then we have to go to the church for emails or vice versa. So that takes around 5-6 hours to do and then its time for dinner before 6 oclock then Pday is over... And no i havent had to speak in church. 

So in our little house there's this shelf with a ton of Book of Mormons in a lot of different languages, and i was looking through some and i found this one in Norwegian and inside the front cover was this little note. I'll send a picture of it. hahaha

(This is a picture of a family we know.  The little boy in the front on the left was Cooper's Young Men's leader, Steven Ashton).