January 6, 2014

Tokay. bear yourselves. this week was siiiick.

so on tuesday we only had to work till 6 cause of newyears, then we went to this sweet families house, the lopez', they are so much fun we just hung out, but one guy there only speaks english and spanish, his wife only speaks spanish, brother lopez speaks spanish french and a little bit of english, and his wife only speaks spânish and french. so we had the most fun tri-lingual dinner and we were all just havin a good time! then on the first we had the day off so we decided to go into paris and see the sights and whatnot! so we took the train with the sister missionaries that are in the same boundary, then we spit up and me and elder gram went to notre dam and the eiffle tower, but i forgot my camera, so i borrowed one of the sisters', but now i dont have the pictures, theyll come eevntually! (speaking of pictures i have the baptism picture of bertrand) 

this week we have been on fire. we only worked 4 days because i had legality work to do so that took a whole day. but yes, none the less, we got 8 new investigators and had 11 lessons. not tryinbg to sound prideful, but dang we are good. so the reason weve had so many is because we were christmas contacting so like caroling and praying with people, then setting up return appointments but most of them said come back and sing in the new year, so wi did and were seeing huge success from it.

my favourite moment was saturday, we were doing some pasbacks, going to go sing and spread joy and whatnot, and we had finished, we were walking back to the train station and it just started pouring! both our umbrellas broke a while ago and we never bought new ones, after 3 minutes we were soaked, but i have been having a good week, and particularily good day, so i decided not to let the rain get me down, so westarted singing singin in the rain and i was dancing and just singing all my favourite songs, just havin a blast, we went puddle jumping and splashed eachother and we were so soaked! we had such a good time that our train came before we were at the station so we sprinted and barely caught the train, we had so much fun. we were so drenched, jumping in the puddles didnt even change how wet we were.

we have just been packed for time. meetings all over the place. its so much fun, honestly! and last night our ward mission leader called us and told us to come over(he works at a patisserie shop) so we did and yesterday was the night for gallettes des rois, its where they celebrate the day the kings brought presents to jesus, so he made us a little cake thing and theres a little porcelain figurine in it and whoever gets the figurine in their piece is the king, i totes won :) oh man we have been working our tails off but weve also had so much fun this week! i love it!

be smart and stuff, i didnt come up with a spiritual thought so tough luck. i still love you though!

à bientôt!

Elder Puddle-jumpa Oviattay

oh and i saw and pet a wild hedgehog. no big deal.

December 30, 2013

so this week was pretty stellar! firstly christmas and stuff! nice, gotta love the christmas spirit! we went to our ward mission leaders house for dinner on the 24th and he fed us a 6 course meal, oh man. he works at a boulangerie, so he makes bread and desserts for a job, thats pretty much all you need to know. this guy is legit, he knows everybody wants to try the classic french food like escargots and foie gras, so he made it for us, and im not going to lie, snails are dang delicious! the foie gras(goose liver or something?) was alright, id eat it again but i wouldnt buy it myself. we also had oysters at his place and i had 5, they were still alive, it was interesting! i would have never tried oysters or escargot back home. he also bought us scarves for christmas which was nice! they are pretty classy too! then on christmas we slept in and opened presents, had chocolate and candy for breakfast, then for lunch we went to one of the bishoprics houses and ate more foie gras and some strange shelled animal, different than the first time, still pretty good! then we went to this other families house and ate and hung out and this was a good time cause at the other houses we had to be like classy, but this last house they had a table of food and you dish up and walk around and talk and it was chill, i was very at home there, (ironic because thats also where i skyped home) they watched the christmas movie while i was on skype, which kinda sucked cause i missed the whole thing, but they didnt even have time to finish it anyways, so i asked the district leader, and he said we might get to watch our christmas movie on newyears day cause we have the whole day off! sick-nasty right! anywho! whatelse... um OH! right, we did another baptism thing, that was only SUPER LEGIT.(no pictures though, i forgot to bring my camera so the ward mission leader has to email me some copies) this guys name is Bertrand, hes a cop and he gets posted like all over france colonies and stuff. his wife of 15 years has been a member her whole life, so he knows what we believe and stuff, but never was super interested, but his wife and kids moved to africa to increase his chances of getting a job with their family near by, so they were there for like 2 years, and i guess having them gone just made him realize how important his family was, and he knew we believed in eternal families, so he was like, yeah, i want to talk to the missionaries. and yeah! his family came bcak just before christmas and the baptism was on saturday! super cool! the talks and stuff at the baptism were amazing, like the spirit was crazy strong. so cool. then yeah! thats pretty much my week in a nutshell! pretty good! also we have a couple really solid potential investigators, but Miguel Hugo is my favourite investigator, hes a boss, he tries to feed us everytime we go there, hes super in tune with the spirit and hes super cool, he came to church and like talked with the entire ward. Elder Gram was joking that in one sunday Miguel is better friends with the ward than Elder Gram is after 4 months, but its kinda true. Miguel is just such a bro. pray for him to feel the spirit and truthfulness of our message.

spiritual thought for this week is from the Bible Dictionary-Prayer

As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are His children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part (Matt. 7:7–11). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings. Christians are taught to pray in Christ’s name. We pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ... Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent His mind but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart.

till next week,

EVERYONES FAVOURITE MISSIONARY<3

Elder Kaden "The Fat Lard" Oviatt

December 22, 2013

Okay! so this week was fantastic, busy, terrible, amazing, and exciting!

first off, christmas conference was so sweet, i got to see tons of people from the mtc, i got to eat delcicious food, i had 9 letters waiting for me that got sent to the mission home! it was terribly enjoyable and it was so much fun to just relax and be around happy people!

on the way back from that to rennes (we were sleeping there cause the train wouldnt get us home in time) the mission president called me to inform me that i was being emergency transferred to Melun, so i had to pack my bags and get right back on the train to paris, which sucked because i was sick so travelling sucks when your sick, and i had to just pack up and go right before christmas, but i gladly accepted and was really excited to go actually because the trio wasnt working out amazingly, but my new companion is super cool, hes a sick bass so our singing is really fun, we started caroling while we contact which is just a blast!! hes danish so thats cool too! hes sweet. it was really bad when i got here though because i was sick as a dawg, but we went to the doctor, i got medicined up, now im good! i had hand foot mouth or whateever that childrens disease is, but its clearing up and i dont look like i have leprosy anymore! 

now for the amazing part, KADENS FIRST BAPTISM!

i kinda feel like i cheated because i never taught this guy, but calls are inspired, i am supposed to be here right now, i am supposed to have been there. so yeah, and even more good news, we have another baptismal date for 2 weeks, so boom. and ive actually taught this guy, so thatll be cool! one more cool thing, theres this super legit guy who contacted us and he is such a bro, we texted him to set up a lesson and hes like "i can feed you guys" so were like heck to the yes! so before he was even technically an investiator he invited us for dinner, it was ballin', and dinner was good! his name us Miguel Hugo. hes a boss.

and whats exciting is christmas is coming, so yes, obvs thats exciting! we have 5 dinner appointments for this week, so thats sick! im just in a great mood, straight up, christmas is legitimately the best time of year.

i love you all to bits and stuff, merry christmas an all that jazz,

Elder Kaden "Fabio-Salsa" Oviatt

(just an amazing haircut place by Miguels house; why salsa? i dont know, but i love it.) 

December 16, 2013

so this week we picked up the third wheel, hes a pretty sweet guy! and its going to be a sick transfer to say the least! so so on tuesday we found a new investigator, mme foulon, and she is such a boss. like, she has already read like all of first nephi, she did think it was suposed to be the bible but like different, so we had to explain that they are completely different, but one in purpose of course ;) but yeah! shes sweet! we taught her once on the street and once again at her apartment. the new guy, Elder Davis, hes pretty cool, he knows french pretty stellar too. so thats good. lets see, this week we also got in contact with Hélèna, finally, and started teaching her again. things are going well over here in Quimper! everything other than our branch christmas night. that was a total BUST. but yeah! we have a christbas conference in paris this week so we have like 12 hours of trains this week. i actually like them cause i sleep, all the time. GLORIOUS. next weeks email will hopefully be a fun one! its begining to look somewhat like christmas! theres still no snow, mixed feelings...

Au Revoir

Elder Kaden Parsley Oviatt

this is the sweet drawing i did on the back of my planner :)

December 9,2013

A church from my window. I thought it was sweet. 

The same church but foggy

Hello! 

yeah, so this week elder willden was sick. so no work got done, thats not even an exageration, so yeah, killer. so yeah, transfer calls came today and we are getting a third companion, trio life! itll be... interesting!

but on the plus side i read over one hundred pages of the book of mormon, so thats been good! from jacob all the way to alma, im somewhere in the begining of alma, so yeah! the book of mormon actually is epic. ive read it q few times, but never like sped through it, so this is different! a new take on it. its solid. ummm so this week i watched every video we have, some of them in english and french, and we didnt leave the apartment once for over 48 hours straight! so that nearly drove me crazy. but its been good, lots of learning and self reflecting, so todays spiritual thought is pretty good. its on pride, by my man Ezra Benson. here it is,

"most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on top, such as the rich and learned, looking down on the rest of us. there is, however, a far more common ailment among us- and that is pride from the bottom looking up. it is manifested in so many ways, such as faultfinding, gossiping, backbiting, murmuring, living beyond our means, envying, coveting,withholding grattitude and praise that might lift another, and being unforgiving and jealous;" Ezra Taft Benson

i dont know, i really liked that one, its an interesting perspective, and he also says in that talk that the book of mormon is just a warning, a warning of pride, for pride is the destruction of all nations. or something along those lines. so yeah, be humble, pray for humbling experiences, i tried it, it works. haha... yeah,

well i love all of you, <3 be smart 'n stuff. 

Keep Thuggin'

Elder K-Dawg Oviatt

Our Christmas tree

December 2, 2013

 sorry, this week was another boring one... 

so not alot happened, we only had one lesson with an investigator cause all the other investigators just disspeared off the earth... it was all looking so promising, then boom, but whateves, just means we gotta work harder! i also dont have alot of fun pictures for this week... but i have two gooders. so the only thing worth writing about was thursday, (american) thanksgiving. the whole zone got together and every companionship made different food items. me and elder willden, being the STRAIGT UP BOSSES that we are, made pie. yes we did. two apple pies, one blueberry pie, and one sweet potato pie. the apples were alright, pretty delish, the blueberry pie was a bust, but it was still tasty, not really a pie, bore like warm blueberries in a pie shell... but the sweet potato pie. Diggity-Dang. that was delicious. i have pictures.

but yes, other than that, all of our investigators arent answering the doors or the phone calls, except one, a 9 year old girl whos mother is a member. she is actually an all star kid. the lesson went really well, and she really has the desire to be baptised, like with no influence from her mom(she isnt active) soits cool to see that. for now me and elder willden are just going to work in overdrive until we see a christmas miracle, or a new year miracle, or whenever it comes. OVERDRIVE. aint no big deal. but yes, im still in good spirits and all, so no harm done§ i found lights for our christmas tree, so ill put those up, YAY christmas. this letter is really all over the place isnt it? well, whatever, thats all i have to say for this week

Adios Amigos,

Elder Studly Oviatt

November 18, 2013

ooooookay here he go!

so last pday was ridiculous. but we kinda got stuff done. that night i bought a calzone from this little pizza shop that's right up the road from me, that was deeeelish.

Tuesday! alright, so we pretty much just did car stuff all day, trying to get the car fixed. I'm not sure if i mentioned this last time, but elder willden cant drive in france, so his last companion did everything car related, now i do everything car related, but we were confused as to which fuel to use, gazole or sans-plomb. we knew sans plomb was unleaded gas, so we decided to use that one. yeah our car is diesel... so we kinda ruined the car temporarily. but yes, we were inside phoning everybody trying to get the dumb car figured out, then that night we had my first dinner appointment! it was at an american couples house, we had chicken and mashed potatoes and stuff, it was real good. but halfway through we realized we had to make the meal for the district meeting the next morning... so elder willden was pretty exhausted and stressed from dealing with dumb french mechanics all day, so he went to bed and i was up till midnight making crepes. i was not happy, but i was proud of the fat stack of crepes. (pictures to come later)

wednesday was district meeting, other than that not too much happened. 

thursday we got contacted by " seperate people, one of them had talked to the missionaries and was super interested in family history, so we got his info and sent him a quick text to make sure he had our number if he ever needed anything, and this is what he responded with (he was pretty proud of his english, so he texted us in english. this is the exact spelling and stuff) "i hope to see you soon dear brothers in the lord Jesus Christ.I would need your help concerning genealogy. Do not hesitate to call me to share a friendly moment: if i am catholic, i am first of all like you Christian!"it made out day for sure! oh and we got the car back! so that was super great! we also went porting and this lady let us in and we taught about prayer and! she brought out some tarot cards, which kinda sorta freaked me out, but it was all good. we handled it.

Friday we had weekly planning then something come up too so we didnt do too much, we did have family home evening at a members house, with Hélèna, our investigator and her kids, so that was pretty great that she came! 

Saturday we made brownies for the ward meal which was on sunday. we did some contacting and some porting(door to door), finished up the weekly planning and it was good!

yesterday we had church, taught Hélèna again at church, then had the ward "break the fast" cause every month the ward fasts for missionary work. so that's pretty cool. it was really delicious, and there was a ton of people at church, like 30 or 40! hahah,

so that's my week in a nutshell!

the best looking elder anybody knows,

Elder hotstuff Oviatt

these are all the crepes i made, i don't know how many there actually was, but it was alot.

this of my favourite spot in Quimper, its not the greatest picture, but i love the building that hangs over the river, and i love the castle-ish thingy that is on the left side, and i love the graffiti, it just throws a twist on things. best spot so far. 

I freaking love France!

so this is probably one of the cooler things ive just walked past, no idea how long its been there, but its pretty dang cool.