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

May 18, 2015

seriously. Every week goes by faster! its terrifying.

this week started out RIGHT. we went and had fish pedicures, that was super awesome, my feet are so soft! but it was cool, and it tickled SO bad.

on Tuesday we had interviews with President Babin and Sister Babin, those went well, got some great counsel and insights! and on wednesday we had zone conference! that was sweet too! im glad i dont have to prepare Zone Trainings anymore though! its nice to be the recipient of a well planned and prepared message! usually as missionaries we are the givers, not the receivers! :P

  Tuesday night we went and taught Frank, he is seriously the nicest guy! hes just a little kind friendly man, and hes working on marrying Pastora so he can be baptized and married in the temple! WOOT WOOT! in the mean time we teach him and are helping him prepare!

  we went to a less actives house on wendesday after zone conference and there were so many babies and women! i was like "wooah dawg, whats goin on here? is this one of them 'other mormons'?" turns out they just are all really good friends and they live near to eachother. so they eat together like every day. we had already eaten, so we declined, but next time we will be smarter! :P

  thursday we taught another less active, he is really interested in coming back and coming closer to christ, his sister died though so he was unable to come to church, but we mentioned fasting as a way to gain faith, and hes like "ive never done that. will you teach me how?" and were like "heck yeah!" so now were going to do that and do a fast with him to show him the spiritual power of fasting! Yaay! i love fasting so much! :) it also rained. ALOT. we would have gotten soaked, but we were smart and we found shelter-a brand new bird watching dock thing over a lake, it had about 2 feet of coverage that we squished under. dirty? not too bad, but still yes. worth it? also yes. then we went and had dinner at a members house and shared a sweet spiritual thought about keeping your eyes on your priorities. super good, super food!

  Friday unfortunately was a BUST. we went to Compiegne, which is not terribly close to Paris, to pick up elder Earnshaws legal stuff, but the building was closed! so we wasted SO much time! luckily he knew the area very well so we went and made it worth while by going to his favourite kebab shop. said hello to an old friend!

  satuday we went on exchanges. with the elders we live with. who serve in the same area... Yeeeay! well, we split the area so i did get to see a little somethin new, but we had a good time, the buses were SUPER slow though.

  Sunday was good, Kelly got confirmed during sacrament meeting... after the congregation sustained him in recieving the priesthood... so after church we did that too! super cool experience though, after he recieved the priesthood he stood up and he was like "thank you my brethren. this ministry has changed my life. this is the happiest day i have lived, and i promise myself that i will never turn my back on this ministry." it was longer than that, but that was the gist of it. super cool! he is so honest and so humble! i feel like he is going to be a great missionary.

  then today, we went and shot hoops/played some Bball at the eiffel tower! that was super sxeet! i am SO bad at basketball. who let me play that sport for so long? jeepers! i gotta get my game on. well, thats a pretty long email for this week! i did it just for you, because i love you. <3

have a good week! hugs 'n kisses!

Elker Oviatt.-marksman

May 11, 2015

So... Life here in St. Ouen is still in existance, which is a miracle in itself! and we are happy and healthy, so what more could ya ask for!? how about a free baptism? that'd be cool right? well that happened too.

Because me and my comp are both brand-spankin'-new to the area, we just take over the investigators from the other two missionaries that we replaced. normal! but Kelly had a baptismal date set when we arrived, so we taught him 2 times and then, yesterday, he was baptized! it was a super good experience, he invited like 30 family members and friends, none of which are members. this guy is the bomb! he is doing so much misisonary work, being such a good example to those who are around him! i am so glad i got to be a part of his conversion experience!

we are also priveleged to be teaching some other amazing people!

On tuesday we did service for this really old member who has been collecting posters for like 40 years or something... and they are in his apartment on the 4th floor... and we were so very lucky to get to carry them down to his truck! it was actually pretty cool, hes got a LOT of posters. they were rolled up in tubes the size of dessert plates (thats the best description ive got in my mind...) but yeah, that was pretty fun! We also taught Frank, he came to france from colombia and is working on getting married so that he can be baptized, hopefully that happens in the next few months!

we also got to meet some new members this week, that was a good time, the ward took a temple trip to London on thursday fridayand saturday, and we got to teach a member family with a daughter who just got baptized and another daughter that was about to go to the temple! so thats was sweet!

on thursdady we were going to go get my comps legality, but we missed our train and had nothing planned for the day so we went and worked, that was good cause we dont really have any beginner stage investigators, only people that want to be baptized but are waiting to get married first. blegh. so working is good! :)

friday we taught a less active dude basil, and hes super chill, 

saturday we were preparing for the baptism, and we went to another members house, she made us food and it was preeeeetty good! we also got to go there with this 18 year old member who is here for studies, hes super cool and hes planning on servin a misison, so thatll be good!

then on sunday we went to church, had a baptismal service for Kelly afterwards, and then i got to skype my Vunderful family! :)

tahts the week homies, life is good! pray for my protection... <3

this is a cobblestone road they just paved over... Go France!... :l

this is a starwars dude made out of lego, dope.

and this is kellys 'family' :P so boss.