August 31, 2015

HOLY SHAMOLY!

this week was super freaking AWESOME!
we were super busy just running around seeing everyone, we had appointments every night and we were just so busy! hot hot. its been good.

Monday monday we did Pday stuff, and we were supposed to go over to Sister Nikiemas house, but her son wasnt there, so we waited around for him to show up, waited around some more, then told her we had to go home so she packed up dinner and sent us on our way. it was good though, we were way starvin!

Tuesday we started out by helping Brother Micale, you know, i havent mentioned him in a couple weeks! we totally help him in waves. he needs a ton of help like 4 times in a week, then he'll leave us alone for a few weeks, then bam he suddenly relies on us again... its strange! but we helped him move a washing machine into his new apartment, and on the way we stopped at the "association" its pretty much an abandoned office building that the "association"(we dont really know what it is) owns. there are 10 struggling artists that live and do art there, and we just were able to walk around the sketchy hoarders-like building, it was super cool though, we found a movie theater they made, a zebra-print bathtub filled with empty paint cans, a slack line, and a bunch of other dope things, along with a ton of art. it was super cool.

then we went to the Nicolas' place and they took us to their daughters new apartment so we could say a prayer there before they sleep in it, and we had a good afternoon with them! and that night we went over to Franqui and Pastoras house and we had a really good lesson with them, and then we went home!

Wednesday we had District meeting which was pretty great! we ate Raclette after, and that was delicious! then we had a lesson with Ali, this super cool member that was baptized in Japan when he was on vacation! and that night we went to Valentin's house for dinner and a lesson. t'was a good time!

Thursday morning we went and taught Michel, and then brother Micale took us out for lunch at this super sick Italian restorant, we had such good pizza! then we booked it on over to Francois house, we hadnt been able to see him for a few weeks, so that was good. we were able to set a baptismal date with him! so that was super sick! :) then that night we were going to go to Nelsons house but he cancelled so we went and printed a picture of Valentins baptism out and bought a picture frame. its going to be my parting gift :)

Friday we helped Brother Micale again... we moved Posters from his old apartment to the "association" so we got to explore a bit again :P then we had to go into paris to conduct a baptismal interview, but we had a bunch of time, but not enough to run home to eat, so we decided to do the "DOUBLE KEBAB CHALLENGE". two kebabs, two servings of fries. it was killer. bad news bears man. we felt so sick... but we went on over to the paris chapel for the interview and it went really well, the dude was baptized on sunday! then that night we went to one fo the sisters investigators' house and helped her re-do their wall paper. id never done wall paper before... that was fun! :P

on saturday we went all the way to Chriso's house, and he wasnt there. thats an hour and a half ride there. so that was super lame... but we went over to this new players house named Cedric, hes sick! im sad i wont get to teach him more than that, cause hes super cool and ive got no doubt he'll progress really well. and from there we went to a music rehearsal for the Book of Mormon missionary fireside because i sang in 2 songs! then the fireside was that night and i was also asked to bear my testimony! there was like 20 missionaries, i was already singing in 2 numbers, i dont know why they asked me to bear my testimony about the book of mormon, but i am super grateful! it gave me the chance to reflect on my whole life and the role that the book of mormon has had. it was a really good experience and everybody that was at the fireside was really edified. Valentin really liked it too, he actually invited us out for dinner after it wa sover, we had KFC, and it was Delish!

and Sunday was super sick. we had church, where i was able to confirm Valentin and give him the gift of the holy ghost, and the lesson in combined class was super sweet, all about home and visiting teaching and how we can do better in our callings! after church,we went to Valentins (yes i know, we've seen him alot this week, but im really going to miss him!) and we had pasta and played Clue while the food was cookin! i won both rounds somehow... im not sure how to really play that game. then we went back to our place, took of our suits cause its been DANG hot out, and then Sundaynight we went to the Sekyere familys house. this is a family in Aulnay, and their son was baptized while i was there. it was a really good time to go to their place and see those guys again.

i really learned this week how prepared we are, and how lucky we are to have so much access to the scriptures. it wasnt too long ago that very few people had access to the bible, and now we have the bible, the book of mormon, the doctrine and covenants, the pearl of great price, and constant revelation given to the Prophet. there must really be a need for us to read the scriptures, to be nourishing ourselves with the word of God, because we have VERY easy access to it. i think that we will be held responsable if we dont really put this accessability to use in our lives! all those reformers would have killed, and literally were killed, to have the chance to have such an access as we do. The Book of Mormon has blessed my life so much, i cant even begin to describe how much i cherish those scriptures and flourish when i apply them. If any of you havent read the book of mormon, just do it! its such a small thing that will truly tip the scales in your favor.

Love Elder Oviatt

1 it also rained a whole ton, and this road flooded and there was a van that had flooded its engine driving through it, so we figured... well we better help! so we hopped in!

2 this is me and Bro Micale at the pizza place

3 Opoku and Yeboah Sekyere, and me! :)

August 24, 2015

it was such a such a great week it doesnt even need a better title, it was just that good!

    Monday was pretty sweet, an elder that started with me was going home early for school and they stayed in our apartment because Elder Bruno had served here, so we set him up a sweet dinner appointment with his favourite family, and we went there with them on monday night.

    Tuesday was real good, we started it out by having District Meeting, which went well i think. probably my best one this transfer. so thats baller. then i started my exchange with my good buddy Elder Ho, i love that guy so much! we went and got his birth certificate from the "embassary"? cause his old one was just in chinese and th frenchies dont accept chinese characters when you try to get a visa... then after that we went and visited one of his old investigators that we are now teaching, and they all had a very fun happy time! i had a good time to ofcourse, but it was more organized for them! :)

    wonderful Wednesday we taught a less-active guy named Bernard, and, heres a little back story, the movie "the witness" with harrison ford was mis-translated when it was released in france, and they used Mormon instead of Amish, so everybody things when we say mormons, that we ride in carriages and buggies and dont use internet. thats when i pull out our phone and assure people that we are of this century, and that they are mistaking us for Amish. but yes. back to Bernard, he ugh... he might literally be mormonish, cause he doesnt know how to use the internet, doesnt have a dvd player at his house, no cell phone, and a bunch of other things that are outrageous! but yeah, we taught him a lesson using a video on our ipad and he was like "withcraft!" (not really, but he was rather impressed!) After teaching him we went to the church and worked on the Baptismal program and getting pants and other baptism prep.

    Thursday was a FULL day. we started it out by teachin our favourite french cowboy Michel, and from there we went to Steves house, his fiancee and Kellys fiancee were there too, Rose, Kellys "woman" as he calls here, was not happy we were there, she dont exactly love the church. but thats cause kelly is like "you have to be a member of my church if we are getting married" and she doesnt like that. but because shes sorta against the church shes sorta against getting to know us, but we sorta got her to open up, but yeah. still not on the best terms. and from there we went to Nelsons house, and he was super cool as usual!

    Okay, friday things really start to get good. we went contacting in the morning a little bit, then we headed over to the Nicolas familys house, they are SO great! we shared a really good message about Efy because they had a daughter at EFY this week, so we explained how great of an experience it was for us, shared our testimonies, watched a little video of one of the Youth theme songs, and it was really good. they were really touched. and when their daughter came back from EFY she totally had such a good time! it was So awesome! :) after them we went to Basiles house, and he wa doing real good, so we felt like finally, after a month or so of building him up for this, we decided to teach him the Word Of Wisdom. hes a member already, but has been super inactive for who knows how long, but in anycase, he accepted it and we are going there this week to make a plan on how we can help him stop!

then, we went to Kellys house for a lesson, and he wasnt even there! it was just his Fiancee, we were like what they hay!? so we waited for Kelly, and taught Rose in the meantime, and it went super well, she had really opened up to us, and we were able to teach the restoration and she was finally like "OH now i understand why its different! i see why kelly wants me to come so badly!" and kelly arrived right after that and he was like "you guys produced a miracle in her! she hated the church this morning, and now she actually WANTS to come!" it was super cool!

    saturday was sweet, we started the day out by having the sick MASSIVE book of mormon contacting activity again, its seriously such a fun way to contact! then after that President Babin bought us all frozen yogurt! he literally spent around 100€ on our treat... it was super cool of him! and from there we went to Valentins baptismal interview, and then had dinner at his house! we had to do emergency splits though cause the ZLs who were doing the interview had another lesson at the same time, so we did little exchanges! it was a good time though!

    and on sunday we got to have Valentins baptism! it was SOOOO great! there was a sister missionray that jsut returned from her mission so she had her homecoming and then the ward did a buffet thing after sacrament and before the baptism, then we all headed upstairs for the baptism and there were so many Young Singl Adults from other wards that came to support Valentin, it was such a good day for him. :)

   and now its today! we had such a miracle filled week! im so greatful for the experiences the Lord allows his missionaries to be able to be a part of, selfishly i want to say he does it for me, but really he does it for others through me, and by his working though me i am SO blessed. heres a picture! :)

August 17, 2015

sorry, out of time! we were practicing music for an upcoming fireside and i thought id have more time to write you all a lovely email, but alas, no dice! on the other hand i will send some pictures. :)

1 here we have the Pantheon, preeetty dang cool, especially since it has the tomb of the uncle of one of my converts in it, Jean Moulin. he was a war hero. prereeeeetty cool!

2 heres Valentins cigarettes that he gave to us as he committed to quit smoking, (i didnt smoke em, dont worry. they got flushed!)

3 and here is the view from the top of the Montparnasse Tower. 209 meters tall.

August 10, 2015

holla ladies and gents! im going to run ya through this weeks wonderful experiences!

First off, Pday! we went to the Louvre, for the 100000th time, its still stressful, although i am getting to find my way around PREEEEEEtty good! Elder Earnshaw had never been, so like, whateves, cant deny a freee trip to the Louvre museum! we ran into this member and she was with her (non-member) boyfriend, (we know he wasnt a member cause as they walked away she said "those were elders! youre going to talk to them soon!) yay member missionary work! and yay to visiting France! then monday night we were able to try to see Nelson again... he is the one who stood us up last week, and we should have learned from past mistakes... but he stood us up again... so we went home and tried to set up some lessons but nobody answered the dang phone! Let me warn you, the week pretty much went like this the whole time.

then on tuesday we had interviews with our mission president at the Paris chapel, and that went well, they didnt have too much to say, but they told me to think about home more.. huh. didnt think that would be the advice id get, but whateves! they know whats best! then we ran around, had another lesson cancel on us, tried to make some calls to the people we usually see but to our dismay it still didnt work. then we had to go back to the paris chapel to practice the musical number i was a part of for Zone conferene which was on Wendesday!

on to Wednesday! holy hay. So at a missionaries last zone conference, our mission has this tradition of "dying testimonies" so the missionaries that "die" that transfer get to bear their testimony and it was SUPER WEIRD. every zone confence of my mission thats been my favourite part, just learning what all these wonderful old experienced missionaries want to share. they all have this way of handling themselves and just this glow of humility and respect! i really had a tough time being up their in that position... having to give my 'last' words of advice... it was hard! but i think it went okay. i dont feel like i fill that level of respect that i have for all those that bore their dying testimonies in the past, but maybe i was able to touch someone! :) then after that we tried to do calls again, set up some lessons... still not a ton of luck! but that night we went to Valentins house, we were SUPER worried about him because his friends invited him over just to talk about mormonism. we were scared they were just going to try to convince him out of it, but he sait that it was a good time, and that he was able to explain all their questions and worries, and even bear his testimony about why he feels right about being baptized! now his friends want to see us! that was a much better turn out than our wildest dreams had ever imagined!

Thursday we taught Michel then we went on exchanges and i was in Paris, we had a super cool exchange. we went to teach this dude named Pop, but he never showed... then we waited around the visitors center because we left our bags in the teaching room and the sisters had a lesson going on... but after that we went and ate with these 3 philipino ladies, before we sat down they asked "do you want to eat here, or at the park?"  we decided on the park, and we walked about 100 feet and we were at the EIFFLE TOWER! they made SUCH good food, and we got to have a delicious picnic at the eiffle tower! sickest exchange ever! we also noticed this girl (28 years old) that was crying near us, and we had laready started eating dessert, so we figured, hey, lets invite her over for icecream, so she reluctantly came and we cheered her up, then we shared the spiritual thought which was the first presidency message for this month about how we can always be a light and an example to others... it worked out perfectly with Anna(the girl we invited over) and she also really liked the message and was interested in coming to church on sunday!

Friday was BUSY. i had my sleep-over bag from exchanges with me the whole time. first thing we did once we ended the exchange was that we went to our ward mission leaders house because hes really sick, so we gave him a blessing, then he asked us to walk his dog cause hes legit that sick... after that a member called SOS, and we went over to figure what was up, turns out her son had tried putting together a massive ikea type piece of furniture and gave up... so we undid everything he started and had to figure out the puzzle. it was tough. and it wasnt really ikea, so the instructions were deffs sub-par. it was really hard, but they couldnt have done it with out us, and they were very happy with our service! we love service :) then after that we were supposed to have a lesson with i guy i had met at the eiffle tower... but guess what?! he didnt show! so we waited a bit at the church as we hadnt eaten lunch(it was 6pm at this point) and we had a lesson with Valentin who lives next door to the church. so we waited a bit then headed to his place. taught him the Word of Wisdom and he was totally accepting of it! it was sorta suprising how well it went, him being french, and french people enjoy their cigs and wine. we should really stop being suprised by how prepared Valentin is for everything... :P then finally at 9h45 or something we finally made it home and i could finally rid myself of my exchange bag. such a burden! :P

saturday we went to Nelsons, it went well, and then after that we didnt know what to do, so we sought direction and felt we should go to Chrisos house because he had not been answering all week, so we "dropped by" took about an hour to get to his house... a very deliberate dropping by :P and he was home! it was great, he was happy to have us over and he came to church with 2 of his kidson sunday! then after that we got stood up, then went for lunch, then went way out of our way to go teach this dude... such a sketchy neighborhood. i was scared! :P but it was fine, he wasnt home but is a super homie and appologized, were going to see him this week. thena fter that we realized that we hadnt done our transfer planning yet... its the end of week 3... woops! so we did that.

now we have the lovely SUNDAY! :) ive been saying this my whole mission, but sundays are the best days. we went to church, Earnshaw gave a talk, it was really good. i translated again, as usual. :P then we got a call from Kelly, our recent convert, and we ugh... forgot his birthday... awks... but we had appointments so we couldnt go over yet, so we went and gave a blessing to a sick baby and gave the sacrament to a member who cant make it to church often, and then we met up with the sisters to go to Kellys birthday... it was super awkward, just a massive african parkinglot party, with BBQ and tons of people. turns out we had missed kelly proposing to his girlfriend by 30 seconds, so when we showed up everybody was freking out! it was fun though, luckily we could only stay for a few minutes then we had to head home.

 Im greatful for the gospel, im grateful for the change it has brought in my life, and for the light i have seen it bring to me and those i teach. spread the work, and more importantly, work smart .

Love you all! <3

Elder Oviatt

this is our wonderful picnic

and this is the candian flag i gave Kelly for his birthday. he freaked out :P he LOVES canada :P

look at that rock!

August 3, 2015

hello hello!

imma jump right into this!

tuesday we did some sweet exchanges. FunFact. exchanges when youre in the Mandarin companionships are pretty dope, cause you get to run from lesson to lesson, and just sit there the whole time and laugh in your head at how funny chinese sounds! so that was a pretty good day! that night in the apartment it was me and two other guys that were in the mtc with me, and we are the oldest missionaries in the mission. it was a party!

then on wednesday we went to district meeting, and for the first time in 6 months i had to give a training. i wasnt nervous at all, i think it went decently. alot of ideas to juggle, but weve got a smart district so were fine. then we taught a less active at the visitors center in paris, and that night we went to our pal Valetines, and we set a baptismal date with him! we were so pumped! sorry... we are still pumped. hes so cool. there was some difficulties finding a day that balanced well, but we went there last night and figured out all the details. its good for August 22. SIIIIIICK! we are super excited. we sprinted after a bus for literally 550 meters. we caught the bus though; and we were able to burn off some of the baptismaldatesettingexcitement. 

thursday we went to Michels in the morning, it was good, shared a video with him. he always goes way too deep for our spiritual thoughts. whateves... then we went to Basiles and shared a good moment with him. we gave him a talk to read like a month ago and this time he was like "well, i finally read enough to discuss it" so we did that. we wanted to talk about the word of wizdum, but if he was feelin in the mood to share his spiritual experiences with a sweet talk he read, we were more than down! and that night it was our good friend Carlos Guererros birthday, so we went over, had some cake and dinner at their place, shared a message, good stuff! that family is pretty amazing, love em to bits.

on friday we got stood up first thing in the morning, but when we were in paris finding this guys house we got a call from my old companion Tyler Cramer, who had just landed in paris and offered to take us out for lunch, so obvs we took that offer, and we ended up taking him to a less actives house and we had a really good time there. he enjoyed the missionary vibe. think it made him mission-sick. (homesick but for the mish) and later that night we went to Nelsons. an investigator we inherited when the other elders were brutally torn out of the area. hes super chill!

and on saturday we got to do the book of mormon activity again with the HUGE BOM, it was pretty rad! then we went to Chrisos house and tought his kids. they had a cousin over, her name was parisse, she was SUPER cute. she was 3, dont worry. but yeah we showed a video of Christ healing a blind man cause they dont know a whole lot about much, so we are starting at the important parts!

and on sunday we went to church, investigators bursting at the seams. dope. and after church we finished planning for this coming week, went to a member who cant come to sacrament meeting and gave her the sacrament, then we went to Valentines. figured out baptism stuff and ate his delicious food, and this time it was "bio"

its been a great week! at district meeting the zone leaders gave us a huge commitment to read the book of mormon by the end of the transfer. its really hard. we are reading on busses and trains and stuff, but its really helping us stay focused on our purpose. im excited for this transfer! eeeeek(little girlie squeal)

loves yall!

Elder Oviatt

watermelon party,

Cramer,

my future dance hall (itll be in my house) from the opera

July 27, 2015

dang. first week of the transfer went PREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETTY fast! life has changed so much in the last few days, even if neither me nor my companion got transferred.

on monday we had a glorious Pday and then went to a members house. her son is here visiting and hes not a member, so shes been having the missionaries over alot, get dat influence there. not a bad idea! so we shared a message, and he asked for a blessing! i guess his mom asked for a blessing last time she had the other elders over, and he felt like he needed some help! cool stuff!

then on tuesday we went and checked out alot of members that arent on the list anymore, and finished it off by going to Franqui and Pastoras house!

wednesday was transfer day, and since neither of us got transferred and we are in paris we got assigned to stand in a train station giving metro tickets to all the missionaires coming in, not too bad cause you always get to see all your friends! :) then we had a sweet lesson with this muslim guy, his parents raised him muslim but he doesnt believe in God, the idea really interests him though, so we got to share who we believe God to be, and the importance of learning about him, and growing close to Him. it was really great! then that night we went to Valentins house, and that was super awesome! we discussed recieving anwers again and the importance of patience and dilligence in seeking for an answer from God. he really appreciated it!

thursday was our first day without other elders in the apartment... it was super weird... but we taught Michel in the morning, and then that evening we went to the Nicolas familys house. the first people from the other elders that we visited. it is going to be strange having to recreate friendships and trust with all these members and investigators again, but this is the 3rd time ive done it so i guess i can do it again. people seem to open up really fast to me, dont know why! but thats what we need right now.

on friday we got to hang out with out boy Basile, he is seriously so cool! and that night, because it was Pioneer day, the visitors center was showing "legacy", and so we got Valentin to come and watch it with us, he super liked it, and we got to hang out with him more, so cant complain!

on saturday we had the begining-of-the-transfer-district-leader-council, and it was super good, the District leaders of the zone and the zone leaders get together and we discussed our visions and plans for the transfer, what the ZLs want us to do, how we can mix our ideas with theirs. we have the sweetest challenge for this transfer. ill enveil it next week, after the district knows. then we went to Chrisos house and taught his daughter, Elodie, and the other two kids. that family is VERY BUSY. but its a fun time! then after that we went and weekly planned.

sunday was SO LONG. kill me! we left at 8 for church, and didnt get home till 7. church was good, good stuff taught, good stuff learned. all that! when we went to set up a lesson time with Valentin hes like "im free every evening this week, except thursday, im going to institute" we were like DOPE! our investigator is going to institute! :P so sick. that man is seriously so prepared! we are going to try to set a baptismal date with him this week. but after church we had a lesson that fell through, but we couldnt go home cause we had another lesson at the church a couple hours later. and Valentin was like "if youre just going to hang out here you might as well come over" so we did, got to spend some more time with Valentin! hes so cool! and then we visited Ricky, a less active. hes super cool, and he just proposed to his girlfriend! we need to get that lady in the church so he comes back!

and after that we visited Fancois, another of the other elders old investigators. He is so cool, his wife is a super active member in Camaroon, and she referred him to the church, and hes pretty much like "yeah i want to be a member". sweet! and after that we finally made it home. yeash that was a long day, and a long week. but it went by real quick!

this picture is for austen... its one of the only pictures i took this week, and the other ones are boring! sorry! but i love ya!

Elder Kaden Parley Jaques Oviatt

July 21, 2015

Holy cow, it feels like it's been a month, but at the same time it feels like it's been 3 days since I last emailed. So much has happened! This week has been super duper. Where do we start here... Oh! Monday. 'Course,

   So on Monday we did P-day, I bought some corduroy pants. Dope. Then after that we did some calls, we had never finished weekly planning so we took some time to fill the week up!

   Tuesday we had district meeting, as usual, and all of our lessons fell through... Bummer, but still a good day! We went on a search for the ghost list—the ghost list is the list of members that they don't know about. Either they moved, they aren't sure about the address, can't get in contact with them, they died, or they don't want contact with the church. So the ward gave us this "ghost list" to investigate and try to get in contact with these people. I'll refer to it from now on as 'ghost hunting'.

   Wednesday we went contacting for the first time in forever, and then we went for my physiotherapy, which, for the record, I've diminished to once a week cause I'm feeling a lot better! From there we dashed over to Basile's house and had a good lesson with him. He wasn't able to come to church on Sunday though cause he went to his nieces wedding, but that's all good! He should have a good time! He has been keeping us really informed on the Tour de France, it actually is pretty exciting! Later that night we went to the ward council and talked about our needs as missionaries. We goin get some integration in this hood. Dope.

   That Thursday we taught Adolf, a member that recently moved in. He's pretty sweet. Then we helped brother Micale again with moving stuff... That man is a serious hoarder. He has a lot of stuff. And this super dope mint condition Polaroid camera. I covet that thing. I know it's bad to say, but I asked if I could buy it from him and he was like...ugh maybe. I think that's a no. But it's all good, we don't do service to get sweet treasures, even if he has filled his apartments comfortable living capacity by 300%. Then that night we went to the Guerrero's house and ate with their family. They are some of my favorites, :)

   Fridizzle we started out by going to sister Ts house, she's #cray, but we love her. Franqui and Pastora invited us and the other elders and a member family and their neighbors over for dinner and it was super sweet! A really good spiritual thought about faith was exactly what the neighbors needed! So great! :) 

   Saturday we went to Chriso's house and had a super good lesson with him and the kids. We're going to try to see if we can set a date for his daughters baptism, I'm sure it'll go well, but we might have to pass them to the sisters cause it's closer to their house and we are going to be dang busy. The reason for the busyness is that the other set of missionaries is getting taken out, so we have to take our already pretty full schedule and add another pretty full schedule, then our life becomes awesomely busy for my last transfer! I'm also district leader for a district almost 2 times bigger than the last time I was DL about a year ago... It's going to be a super fun way to go out! :) after finding out about the whole transfer shenanigans we got stood up, then we got stood up again, then we went ghost hunting.

   Sunday was pretty good, Valentin came even though he was in Spain all week, he got home Saturday and came to church. He also brought us back fancy Barcelona cheese and ham. I said "it was nice of you to think of us" and he was like "I'm always thinking of my missionaries!" It was really touching :) we also went to sister Ts house again so Weston and Ho could say goodbye. She always gives us brownies, it's real nice :)

Wish me luck with the fist week of this super busy transfer! :) it's going to be super lame not having the other elders in the apartment, but at the same time I think apartments with just 2 elders are more spiritual and quiet. More time to think and reflect, write in the good ol' journal, all that good stuff. Just what I'll need with my final weeks. Plus, we are going to squoosh our bunk beds together to make double size bunk beds. It's going to be off the hook! Hahah, well, it's been good. I'm excited to make trainings for the district again, it's going to be fun! :)

And that's the week!

Elder Oviatt. Kickin' it since 2013.

heres a very cute and colorful french street. couldnt help but appreciate it :P

"road of the babes" (more or less)

and a busted firehydrant all the ghetto kids(and lots of adults) were playing in.

this email looked alot longer on the ipad.

July 6, 2015

This week started out pretty Horribly. Solds shopping was almost a total bust, it would have really failed, except we found sweet wife-beats, normally I'd be like "naw, I can't wear that..." But we have been playing basketball 5 times a week, so we felt justified to get team wife-beats, just like the good ol' days, :)

But Monday night was sweet cause we did a bunch of calling like last week and totally filled out week to the brim! Fun fact, EVERYBODY ANSWERS THE PHONE ON MONDAYS! Okay, not everyone, but enough to fill the week, so what more could ya ask!? Dang hot out though.

Tuesday we had a sick district meeting, we brought baguettes and cheese, which makes our part of the meal super cheap and also no preparation involved. Glorious. Then after that I went on exchanges with my step-brother (he was trained by my second trainer or step-dad) Elder Madsen. All of our appointments for that day weren't super solid cause I knew that I'd be working with ZL Madsen so he'd be down to go hard in contacting with me. That was my favorite thing when I was a ZL, just to come in and tear up an area then leave them with tons of blessings! So I figured I'd give that joy to another :) we had a really good time, went hard in the paint, as expected! The heat started to get bad. I slept with a frozen water bottle, and managed to get through the night.

Wednesday HAPPY CANADA DAY! I was reppin' my sweet Canadian shoelaces while I was frolicking through the the balloons and streamers and other Canada themed articles. But aside from that wondrous event, the day started out poopy... Woke up, got a call from the assistants saying that they could see all the apps, movies, music and websites I've visited/downloaded with my iPad since Friday and that I had to give it back... Just kidding, sorta. So the story goes that half the iPads, so like 150 iPads got stolen out of the mission home, so instead of each missionary getting their own iPad they are doing one iPad per set of missionaries, so they asked for mine back. So first thing Wednesday I had to go deliver my new technology so there's could have he same wonderful tool for their teaching! It's seriously pretty useful! But we had a sweet lesson with Michel, then we went for my physiotherapy, and we finished the day by going to Franqui's house, but we were way late so we shared a message and set up an appointment for Saturday. The heat peaked and warmed up he whole apartment, took a cold shower before going to bed, apps again slept with the frozen water bottle, but it melted and by 3 or 4 I was steamy and wide awake. Bad sleep.

Thursday was sweet, started out by trekking through a big park in the open sun so we could get to a less actives house, Chriso, it went really well, he's a super nice chill dude! We went straight from him to Basile, and you all know how much I love Basile. He is so cool! We showed up today and he was feeling a lot better, and we had a good chat and then he's like, well, where's the message!? He's like 6'6" and 70 something, lanky old black dude, he's so sick. Shortly after that we bounced on over to the wonderful Guerrero's abode, where we gave a sweet message and ate a delicious meal before goin home. Thursday night was the same as Wednesday. Insufferable.

Friday was good, got stood up first thing, but it didn't phase us. Then I went for physio, and after that we had lunch, went to the church and made invitations for the music night, and went home for dinner. Hot sleep=bad sleep

Saturday was that thing in the states, but we didn't do anything to celebrate. I was on exchanges with elder Weston, our district leader. We started out by going to Franqui's house, and we talked about scripture study and faith, and the lesson went super well, he bore his testimony! It was sick! We just need everything to be figured out so they can get married already! After that we had McDo for lunch and then went to soeur Tourets house, she really appreciates when we hang out with her. She's #loco. Then we had our correlation meeting and talked about the music night. And from there we walked 5 meters to Valentin's house and he made an amazing zucchini gratin, it was delish. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ, and invited him to be baptized and he was like "yeah of course, it's deffs something I'm not against" and I got super excited cause he's really legit. but I contained myself. No worries! It was dang hot at night again.

Then yesterday was great, cause it was Earnshaws birthday, and cause it was the wonderful sabbath. It was a good time at church, then after we came back and ate, then we did some weekly planning. The sisters kindly brought us homemade cookies for Earnies birthday. That's the first time since I've been in France that I had homemade cookies that I didn't make. They are oh so good when you just get to eat 'em.

Then it's today! :D

this was a block of butter... then happened the heatwave.

canada day festivities

this is camping-paris style. you can see the entirety of the treed area. and you can see their fire, and the tent. so silly :P

June 29, 2015

Okay, heavenly days this week was filled to the brim! Actually it was over full, but that's a good thing! No week passes faster than one that is full of running from place to place. On manger-Monday we were supposed to go over to a members house...now at this point we probably had about 3 appointments for the week. But the members cancelled on us, so we felt inspired to go home and call everybody we had yet to get in contact with for the week. MONDAYS ARE DIVINELY APPOINTED CALLING DAYS! Holy cow everybody we called was home! Or ableist it felt like it :) it was great. We actually ended up calling an investigator again Tuesdaynight because we didn't get In contact with him on Monday, but we ended up having to say "ugh... We do want to see you, so we are sorry we called, but we have no time to see you... Will you be at church, and can we see you there?" So that was rather humorous! (He came to church by the way)
On topped-up-Tuesday we visited our main-man Basile, I love that guy so much! He is so cool! We talked about the fast offerings and their significance and all that, because we had previously taught him how to fast, logistically. He loved the lesson, and he was way on board! I don't know how long this guy has been inactive, but I think it's been well over 20 years. So when we teach most of it comes to him as new, but he's loving it, he's coming to church, and he is a lot happier! It's AMAZING to see the gospel in action :) we also got to teach Franqui, Didi, and a new investigator named Mama Mireille. She's a peach!
On we-are-weally-busy-Wednesday we taught Michel, he's super super nice, but his wife is so against the church that he doesn't think it's worth it to divorce her...instead he's just waiting till she's passed on so he can come back to church. He's really nice though, just in a super lame situation! We went to the massage place-can't complain!
On technology-Thursday we were bestowed with iPads... #dope if I must say so myself! It's actually Sunday night, and I'm going to save this as a draft, then send it tomorrow! MORE PDAY FUN! It was actually a really good zone conference, and I got 3 packages! One from my mommas, one from Mercedes, and one from Janinja Fisher. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDROUS LOVE AND GIFTS, you are all deeply loved <3 on Thursday night Valintin had us over for Confit-Canard, like, duck thighs, but they are stored in their fat or something.... The point is, it was SO good. Probably one of my favorite meals in France. We also talked more about the restoration and that the world had been preparing for years and years before it really happened, with all the reformations of churches and all, then that America was the one of the only religiously free places at the time. He really enjoyed it, we really enjoyed it. Valentin is So sick!
Full-Friday was flowing with medical stuff... It's all being figured out now! The physiotherapist said that my scoliosis is minor, and that since I'm probably done growing that it won't get worse. He said that it shouldn't even hurt, cause it's not extreme, but the pain is probably a mix of bad sleeps and stress, and walking/running constantly. He said once we get he pain gone, it shouldn't come back! I also got my insoles to fix my uneven legs... Yay! In he midst of all this we also got chance to teach mama Mireille, set up our iPads so they are missionary-proof, and go eat at a members house! We had a pretty dope spiritual thought there!

Bisous! Bisous!

june 15, 2015

yes ladies and gents, i skipped 2 weeks of my general email. i appologize, but to make matters worse, i didnt have a planner cause our apartment ran out. so i have NO idea what we did. but i will be able to remember what we did this week, so that wont be horrible.

heres an update on our investigators, cause yeah...

so the last month we have had this really dope guy come to St. Ouen, his name is Garrett, and he was here couch-surfing, if you dont know what that is its pretty much what it sounds like. theres a forum and you find peoples houses to stay at, and its free! so basically he didnt speak a ton of french, but he wanted to learn, and so he came to live in france to learn the language. hes an RM, and so hes still a gospel boss. anyways, pretty much every place he stayed at he preached the good word, and he got us a ton of referrals. one of them lives 5 meters from the chapel. He is super cool, in 1 week hes already at 2 nephi. he went to FHE in paris last week and we went with him, it was pretty dang awesome. he is going tonight too, so yeah. this guy is PROMISING. he also came to sacrament meeting last week with garrett, but garrett left on tuesday to go to Jerusalem, but even so, Valentin came to all 3 hours! im embarrassed that this is the first time im introducing his name. but yeah, theres him. hes sick!

and theres Franqui, he is SO COOL. hes from Colombia, and his fiancée is from Equador, and shes already a member, but theres a twist. she is still married. she hasnt seen her husband for 14 years cause the situation was bad news bears. but now in order for Franqui to get baptized they need to get married, so shes working with lawyers in equador so she can get divorced. normally it should be finalized un July, then we are planning the wedding for august, and the weekend after that is going to be his baptism. did i mention how much i love Franqui and Pastora? well its alot! (whats up with me not introducing peoples names till im done talking about them?)

and our next progressing investigator is named Fleruane, hes super cool, from Haiti, and he also lives with a lady. BUT they arent married, nor together. they had a family together, but they dont want to be together... but they arent married. "whats the catch" you might say? well, he cant move out cause he has no job, so he is still living there till he gets a contract so he can provide for himself. THEN once he is moved out he is going to get baptized. hes already had the lessons 3 times over(we think. the area book work for him is balogna.) but yeah, thats pretty much whats been going on!

we've been working with a bunch of Less Actives and Recent Converts too, Basile has been Less-Active for who knows how long, like 10 years? but when we arrived here the missionaries we replaced had been teaching him so we just kept it up. and holy cow i Love basile! he is so cool, hes the nicest guy, and for about a month hes been coming to church! theres also Adolf, a member from Ghana that we just got in contact with on thursday. he got baptized 10 years ago, and lived in italy, but lost contact with the church, but hes here now, and hes super cool! he doesnt have a job though, so thats his concern. which leads us into Kelly (recent convert) and Steven Kellys member friend who brought him to church. they dont have jobs either, so we have been spending some time making them resumés, and translating them and all that... its been pretty fun, :P theres also Didi a semi-less-active, hes super cool. theres michel, hes inactive and cant come back till his wife dies, but he totally wants to. THE POINT IS, we are working with a TON of great people! :D

in other news, last transfer i had the idea of doing a musical night! super fun, great oppertunity for people to invite their friends and feel the spirit and have a good time! so Sister Hill and i are the only musical missionaries in our ward, so we put it together, and announced it, then she GOT TRANSFERRED! so now its me, not that musical, trying to organize this entire thing, it goes up in less than a month, and its SUPER stressful! i hate it! but its kinda fun. and i know that itll work out either way. so like, i get sorta stressed, then im like, whateves. and its all good!

and thats my life in a nutshell! :) sorry if is a little long... have a great week!

Loves,

Elder Stankin-Fresh Oviatt

pictures:

this is me in Chateau Fontainebleau, we went there last week with Garrett and one of the other referrals he gave us,

this is us saying goodbye to Garrett at FHE, and Valentin is the one who took this picture!

and today we went to the a prison from the french revolution! Marie Antoinette stayed there for like 72 days or something before she got 'tined

also, my address is probably going to be the same for the rest of my mission. here it is!

Elder Oviatt

Les Missionnaires

164 Avenue Du Président Wilson

93120, Saint Denis La-Plaine

France

or (because where i live isnt the most secure, if youre sending really important things send them to the mission home)

Elder Oviatt

La Mission Française de Paris

131 Blvd Carnot

78110, Le Vésinet

France

June 22, 2015

less actives:
So Basile didn't come to church this week...sad. So we called him and he said his friend or someone was in the hospital or something? it was hard to understand on the phone. But he asked if we were still coming over this week so that was cool! I love that guy.
Didi was supposed to give the lesson for priesthood... turns out it was next week! atleast he was prepared, right? :P hes doing well and found a job, so we didnt get to see him... but hes stabilizing, and that warms my heart! :)
Kelly, Steve and Adolf are all still lookin for jobs, taught em, theyre dope as usual!

investigators:
Franqui worked overtime this week so he was super tired... we werent able to see him, and that was a big rough, but its okay! hes still cool, were seeing him tomorrow.
didnt get in contact with Fleurane, hes a pretty occupied guy
but HOT DANG our rdv with Valentin was so sick!!! ha he made us this really good meal, tomates farcie (stuffed tomatoes) and during the meal we all had the most natural talk about the gospel. he is already in Mosiah probably even Alma by now. He is zooming. So we talked a lot about prayer the last time and hes like guys i have a stupid question...how do you pray? So we were like thats a great question not stupid at all. So we explained it and he said hes going to try it when he reads the bom. So sick! I love this guy. He also came to church and he stayed for the baptism that was happing after wards and Earnshaw sat right next to him and he asked the most golden questions! ha He asked how do i get baptized. So we told him when someone is ready and hes like how doe i get ready? So earnshaw explained that thats exactly why we are here as missionaries, to help people prepare to make the steps toward baptism. He then invited us over this thursday. haha So sick. He is going to Fhe again tonight as well. hes so stinkin COOL!

we also went to the Basilique de Saint Denis, its got like, all the french kings of ever buried there. the oldest is like 300 AD or something. super cool! i bet i have aancestors there, cause like half my family history is french royalty... that would be super cool to look into! its SUPER dang old! and beautiful!

the week wasnt very full, but it wasnt slow either... it was good! :)

eatin with alot of members this week, holla! :P

peace out,

Kadenski

this is one of the kids of the guererro family, we eat at their house almost every week, he wanted me to take the moto for a ride :P

this is a follow up from last weeks pday activity, when we went to the conciergerie, which is the prison that held marie antionette for like 70 somethin days before she was beheadded, and this is a picture of the tomb in which she now lies. dope.

and this is a cool tomb where some queen and king are buried, its just super intriquite and fancy. the 12 apostles are around the base, and 4 muses (patience, humility, strength and someone else or something along those lines) are sitting on the corners, and the band across the bottom is a scene from a war. these tombs are extravagant! :P

have a good week babes and babettes!

June 1, 2015

i still love you! <3

#quickpics

1 beautiful exchange. reminded me of epcot in disneyworld...

2 awesome zone activity, we drew the temple on the sidewalk and contacted people using it!

3 celebrated Elder Earnshaws brothers birthday with a patisserie!

May 25, 2015

We live right beside the stade de france, and there are always big concerts there. On saturday night ACDC played and we could totally hear it from in the apartment. ive heard acdc live baby!

uggh. on to other things, this week was preeeetty uneventful...

i dont really remember what we did... we taught the normal amount of people, our investigators are super sweet, Kelly (the recent convert) is going to italy this week to try and figure out his papers and stuff. poor guy just wants a real job.

as for cool things that happened this week, SO like my whole mission ive never worked with less actives. ive always had a couple that we drop by once and a while, but never a central focus, ya know? but when we got here in st ouen they had a pretty heavy load of less actives they were working with. did you know that having an inactive member come to church is just as (if not more) exciting as having an investigator come to church! we had 2 less actives come to church and it was so cool! i like this life! :) its a good time!

 well... thats pretty much life! its been going good! me and my comp have been working really hard on ourselves, like, personal development and stuff, and its been going really well. im lovin life!

adios amigos!

pictures:

ugh... so there are these guys at the stop st denis, and they sell these shishkababs, and they are cooked on shopping carts... its super sketchy, but we ate them once and we cant stop. we had them 3 days in a row, and the only reason the streak broke is cause sunday happened. gotta keep that day holy.

and this is a picture of the smoke and shopping carts. look close... i think there are 6 bbq carts in this picture. :)

and this is my comp, he fell through Elder Ho's bunk.. it was a good time! :P