Aaaannd transfer 14 begins with a big dose of "sad." Despite subtle hints and bribes of beef jerky to the assistants, Elder Oliverson is leaving Lille and going to Amiens. We all went to a Chinese buffet and ate away our sorrows through a few dozen plates of sugared chicken and beef over noodles. Too bad he's leaving, because we really have a lot of momentum, and, well, don't tell ... we're the ward favorites. Shhhhh ... It'll be okay though, because he'll be with Elder Barr, and we're thinking that they might just be each others' last companion. Dang, Elder Barr has been stealing my thunder since MTC days. As a replacement, I'll be getting Elder Tai from Japan. Stay tuned. Maybe he'll make me sushi and robots?
Elder Oliverson and I got semi-attacked in the metro this week. We sometimes get yelled at or have things thrown at us, but this time, we had a little group of teen punks follow us into the metro. They surrounded us and started asking us stupid questions for a few minutes. "Latter days, huh? When's the apocalypse? Is it tomorrow? Are you Jesus?" Dude, that's a good one. We tried to play off the "Hey bros, chill. We're just cool Americans from New York" card, but a 20ish year old lady next to us got sick of them and just tore the little losers apart with her words. They all thought she was attractive and respected her right away, and they got off the metro. We thanked the lady right after, chatted with her for awhile, found out she's a professional hairstylist, then got her number so we can go get free haircuts from her salon. She said she studies facial structure and style so she can give personalized hair to everyone she cuts for, so we'll be lookin' GOOD. Thanks, Anaise. As far as hair stylists go, she's pretty underground. You've probably never heard of her. (Get it? We were in the metro. Stupid joke.)
In other news, we've been teaching some really awesome people. One is "J" from Malaysia, who is basically the only non-member in his extended family. Chance just happened to smile upon us and Elder Oliverson and I contacted him next to the university a few weeks ago. He's super sweet, gives perfect answers, and is coming with us to the Bishop's house tonight for an FHE. Bishop's a mega boss, so we're excited.
Next in the lineup is "G", the 16 year old I mentioned last week. He's been asking us if he can be baptized and join the church, but his mom doesn't seem to want to give permission. He's willing to ride his bike for 45 minutes or walk for 2 hours to church on Sundays, so he's pretty solid.
Right after the "G-ster" is a French couple named "H" and "D". They live pretty close to the church, and Elder Oliverson found them a while before I came by tracting the neighborhood. Tracting always seems to yield far fewer results, but the few that come are always the most solid. The same is true for this couple. We're hopefully teaching them again this week with some members. Oh, did I mention that some of "H's" family already has members of the church as well? I guess that's what happens when people pray for their extended family to find the gospel.
As I've mentioned before, the Villeneuve D'Ascq ward is known in the mission to be the best ward in terms of involvement with missionary work. Our ward mission leader scheduled family home evenings every night this whole week for both teams of Elders and the Sisters, so we'll be teaching amis (investigators) from members' homes. This week wasn't short on involvement either, and we've already been fed three times in the last week. The members made us a few platters of snails, which I'm growing to really enjoy. Pasal with his sons made us a "surprise dish," which ended up being blood sausage. Meanwhile, we helped another family paint their house on Saturday, and they barbecued with us. We had to run to the church right after and teach "G" in our painting clothes, but it was fun. Before that, we went to a ward priesthood activity, and we all totally caught Elder Oliverson and Elder Walton trying to cheat in the game we were playing. Gotta keep an eye on those two.
Well, time to go buy some more clothes. We'll be going to Paris this Thursday, so we need to look nice. Have a fantastic Easter, and send some peanut butter candy to your favorite local missionaries! Speaking of which, here's a special shout out to Aunt Wendy and the Reynolds. Thanks SO MUCH for the Easter card and pictures! I really appreciate it. I'll be able to eat this month thanks to you. Feel free to come stay at our house, no charge. See you soon!
Elder Wilson
