Elder Bronson Cox Jorgensen: Week 56 --- Canadians ...

MONDAY
Tonight we went and visited Sister Blanquart to say goodbye. She asked me to give her a blessing before we left. It always amazes me how easily the words come to me as I pronounce the blessing the Lord would give to His children. Then we went to say goodbye to Mike. It was so weird saying goodbye. I saw him the second night I was in Dunkerque, it was weird to think that was 6 months ago... Mike and I got super close, so it was tough to say goodbye to him. I stood in the circle as he got confirmed, received the Aaronic, and then Melchizedek priesthoods. I couldn't express to him how grateful I was to have been with him through all that.

TUESDAY
This afternoon we went to President Duez' house. They made us lunch, and we spent some time together just chatting, and having a super spiritual conversation about temples. Tonight Sister Mado invited us over for homemade chili and to say goodbye. We also stopped by Jean-Paul's. That was super sad to say goodbye to him. He's such a cute old guy! Haha

WEDNESDAY
Transfer day!!! We took a train into Paris, said goodbye to Elder Libby, talked with most of my mission friends, and then met Elder Shaver! He's from Vancouver, Canada, he's in his 15th transfer (we have 16 transfers total), and he's freaking weird....haha in the good way!

It took us a long time to get into Le Havre. We got in around 5:00 ate real quick and then went out porting for the night. This town is sick! I'm right on the coast again haha, but it's super green and also it's a lot bigger than my other towns. We have trams and everything! Haha

SATURDAY
Today we went into Paris again because I had a training meeting for this new transfer. The 4 DL's in our zone the ZL's and the STL's all got together to talk about the mission vision and goals for this transfer. It was super cool, and I also got an individual training from the ZL's about my duty as a District Leader. "Thankfully" this transfer they are putting a lot more responsibility on the DL's because they doubled the size of all of the zones and the ZL's can't do as much with the individual missionaries. Also, I have a really big district. There are 5 companionships and I have to do exchanges with all the Elders and the ZL's. So starting this week I'll be doing two exchanges a week for like 4 weeks. After the training, Elder Shaver and I went and got lunch at this famous missionary spot called Panini Crêpe. You get a panini, Nutella crêpe, and drink for 5 bucks! Then we looked around at some shops because we had a couple hours before our train. We ran into a member family from Texas on the street and they were typical Texans: loud, culturally inconsiderate, etc. haha! When they found out that Elder Shaver was from Canada the mom yelled,"oh Canada eh!" In a stereotypical Canadian accent...it was pretty darn funny

SUNDAY
Today at church I got to meet about 2/3 of the branch. There were a ton of people sick and stuff. In fact, nobody in the branch presidency was there so the branch mission leader had to preside and conduct on the fly. It actually didn't turn out too bad :) Then we went and taught a super cool less active and his nonmember wife and daughter. It was super chill, and they both really liked us, and invited us back over! We are totally going to activate him and dunk her!

Tonight I had my first taste of Sunday night calls. Every week I have to collect all the stats from the district and then spend some time talking with each missionary to make sure all is well, give them praise for their hard work, etc., then pass all that info to the ZL's. I was gathering info, and on the phone from 9:00-10:30.......it was exhausting haha, but super fun. :).

All in all a super great week!

Love you guys!

Bronson