Wow...

Well it was great to talk to you yesterday. It was good to hear everyone and hear that dad still has trouble talking and that Clint is still queer... We had a good week searching for new people. We met some neat people and had some good experiences. The Sisters had contacted this guy named Jean Claude and they gave him a Book of Mormon card and then a couple of days later he called them wanting a Book of Mormon. So the Sisters asked us if we would go give it to him and teach him. We did and it went pretty good. He is an older guy and very intelligent and a little special to say the least. He is a little crazy. But it was really neat how interested he was. We will continue to teach him and see what happens. The other cool thing is that I had an exchange with the Zone Leaders and Elder Berlin, my wonderful little friend, came here to Charleroi to work with me. It was a great day. We stopped by to see this guy that we had contacted on the road a few days earlier and he wasn't there, but his friend answered the door told us he wasn't there and we said,  "Oh it is ok, we talked to him a few days ago and wanted to come and teach him today,  but we would love to teach you the same thing"... and he said,  "Ya sure, come on up."  So we taught him and half way through the lesson one of his friends walked in and we started teaching him also. They were both really great and we really hope to start seeing them more so we can invite them to come to church and to start working towards baptism.  So we saw the hand of the Lord in the work for sure. Also we have a lot of people that we haven't been able to get a hold of and surprisingly we ran into all of them on the street... I love how God works. Other than that we have been doing a lot of porting and a lot of finding...
I was going to tell you a story yesterday when I was talking to you... but I forgot, but since I don't have too much to say, I can just tell you now... So we were porting.. and we knock on this door and a big burly guy answers the door. He sees us and says... "No, I am not interested"... and starts to shut the door... then I was in a joking mood and felt like being a smartelic and said,  "What?  Is it our ties or the way we are dressed, that doesn't interest you?"  So he opens the door and says... "Listen... we don't have the same beliefs" and so I say,  "Well, that is ok, that is why we are here."  He says... "I am a member of Satanism... and have been for thirteen years... look at my ring." (he had some Gothic looking ring on) So at this point I didn't know if he was kidding or not... so I just kept on joking with him... SO... I say very sarcastically.. "Ohhh cool... so does that bring you joy or... happiness?" and then I realized that he wasn't actually trying to come up with a dumb excuse to get us to leave his house but that he was actually part of Satanism.. He said.. "Listen, we don't follow the same master... it isn't about joy... it's about knowing who you serve."  At this point I am still being nice and sarcastic... I don't know if he appreciated it or not but it was fun... SO...I said, "Well.. you are right we don't have the same master... but we know who our master is and it brings us lots of joy to serve him and he loves us."  He goes off on the same kind of thing... and then says... "Listen... You need to know that very soon there is going to be a Big battle between Satan and God".... and he says... "and I know which side I am on and will fight for my master."  I replied... "Well, we do too... and we completely agree with you...very soon there will be a war... in fact we are already in that war right now.. and that is why we are here."  So he says... "Well, I am glad you know who your master is."  And I said, "me too.. but I guess that we will see each other on the battlefield then?"  He replied, "Yep".. and he says... "I respect you, and what you do, but just know when I see you on that battlefield... I WILL KILL YOU!"  And I said,  "Alright, we'll see."... and then he closed the door.  Then I just started laughing.. and turned to my companion and said... "Oh my gosh, I can't believe that just happened!" haha.. so I was pretty much threatened.  I thought it was funny.. the kind of people you meet on a mission is quite amusing.. anyway.. dumb, but fun little story.
As for the job thing.. all I have to say is.. I AM DOWN... I would love a job for the month that I wait to go to school.   Like you said that is an answer and a blessing from Heavenly Father.. and I can already see the blessings that are coming after the mission. Heavenly Father is just so great.. he spoils the crap out of us... and Europeans say that there is no God because there is so much bad in the world... HA.. what do they know.. anyway.. that is all I really have to say. I love you all lots and hope that you aren't all getting too trunky to see my beautiful face and be graced with my wonderful presence ... I love you and I will talk to you soon.
PS I just attached some pics from Paris...
Elder Von Simonson

Hooray for babies!

Dear Family and Friends.

This week has been a really great one. The last couple of weeks we really haven't had much going on... but this week we started changing that. We had a lot of porting and finding and contacting old investigators to see if they were interested... we really put our faith and effort into it.. and the Lord, in turn, blessed us...
Last week doing our planning, we really just wanted to break out of the rut and start teaching more lessons. Elder Teixeira had invited everyone to stop putting a cap on our faith and our work and to just go out and do it, and that we could teach 21 lessons a week if we wanted. So last week Elder Receveur and I had 4 lessons in total which is not too hot... so we decided we were sick of this crap, so Elder Receveur, with his faith said, "I want to teach 20 lessons.." and me and my pescimistic/realistic self said, "Well, we don't have any investigators and last week we taught 4 lessons, so I don't see how we could teach 20 lessons.." and there was the problem... I didn't have the faith to begin with and I was already putting a cap on what the Lord could make come to pass.... So together we set a goal of 17 total lessons.. and we worked really hard to accomplish that... Well the Lord blessed us and we were able to get things going this week.. We ended up teaching 11 lessons and we found 3 new investigators Which is a whole lot better than last week... so we didn't quite get 17 but we were very satisfied with 11.
One guy we found has been an investigator for years and he is a Theologist and so he knows everything about the church. We went and visited him and he was great.. so we will begin meeting with him and just see if he is ready now to join the church. The reason he hasn't joined yet is because he said he has already converted too many times.. but he had realized some real key points about the church... such as (his words) "the Mormon Church is the only church that the ordinances are for after this life..." he said, "you have such a Celestial view of things..." so i thought that was cool.
Another lady we found was near the church. We were just doing some porting and we knocked on her door and she came out and started talking to us like she knew us, she told us, "No, sorry I don't have time to meet with you today.." we were a little confused, but then she explained that the Sisters used to come and teach her.. then she says to us.. "But I want you to come by and teach me the differences between the Catholic Church and your church because I never understood the difference when the Sisters would come and teach me.." So we took Patrick with us and he just told her straight up all the good differences that he really liked and bore strong testimony of why he changed.. it was perfect.. She is busy for the next week or so, but then she really wanted to come to a baptism and there is a Baptism in Charleroi 2 in a couple of weeks.... so we are hoping and praying that she will come and love it and have the desire to start coming to church and meeting with us regularly... She is something special, I feel that she is very prepared.. I wouldn't be surprised in the near future...and plus she is Belge and has a family, car, etc... she is just a nice normal person.. Just the way I like em
The other person that we found was really cool also. We saw a cute little black family so we ran to them and contacted them.. we were talking and and then their bus came and they started getting on, but we hadn't gotten their number or address or anything.. and as they are getting on the bus, the mom says, "Pass by sometime..." and the little kid yells out the address! After they had gone.. Elder Receveur turned to me and told me that Elder Stowers and him had contacted her the begining of last transfer but she had given them a bad number and they were never able to get a hold of her.. we stopped by her house last night and taught them a short lesson and will be stopping by this next Tuesday.. they are a beautiful family from Rwanda..

So all in all that was my week... We had two exchanges this week.. I went to Namur... it was beautiful as always.. but on the train ride over I had my overnight bag with my scripturess, and my personal journal and my study journal from my whole mission and .... we got talking with a guy and then when we got into Namur, I got off the Train and realized I had left my bag on the train.. so I ran back downstairs to try and catch the train but it was already taking off.. SO I was really sick to my stomach.. I figured I would never see it again.. but I called the Elders in Liege and told them which train I was on and asked them if they would go to the station and jump on the train and try and find my bag.. they did and they found it! So I got my bag with everything in it back... WHEW.. Thank goodness.. I was praying my heart out.. because it was things that you just can't replace...
Anyway that was my week... all is great... my feet don't hurt too bad.. I just like complaining and it was more just to emphasize how much we walk... haha.. so the other funny thing is that in the morning for exercises we have been doing competitions like how many push ups we can do etc.... so for example I would start and do one pushup then the others would do one... then I would do two and everyone would do two.. and we continue until you can't do anymore... and each time it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.. so we did that with pushups and I was sooooo sore for 3 days and then we did situps and I was sore forever... then we did lunges... let's just say I won.. but at the end I had done 351 lunges and let's just say I have never had legs this sore in my life.. it has been poop walking around.. but it was fun... and it entertained Elder Receveur.. so it was worth it.. Love you lots talk to you later...

Elder Simonson

P.S. Congrats Clint and Katie!

Hey there!

Hello Hello, The week blew by as always. It is crazy. Things are going very well. This week was a fun one. We did a lot of finding and a lot of walking. My feet are killing me and my companion is just running circles around me. I just got spoiled with that car. Things are going great. This week we have been passing by a few old and former investigators to see if they are interested still. A lot of them are very nice but not to interested in joining the church. Most of them told us to come by whenever. They all like us but none of them take us serious as teachers. So that was that.
Another great thing and highlight of the week was that we had Zone Conference. It was really good. We had a mission tour with Elder Texeira and his wife. He is part of the Area Presidency. So that was a real treat. He is Portuguese and of course speaks perfect English. President Staheli and Elder Texeira both really tried to get everyone excited and tried to reset and change the mind set of... oh its hard its Europe, we can't do much. It was sooooo perfect.. that is what everyone needed to hear. That way the BBN missionaries didn't pick up on the bad mindset and some of the Paris missionaries got a mindset boost. It was really powerful and it got me excited to go out and work and helped me boost my faith that we can do more than we have been doing.
I don't know what to tell you really... the other night we were working with Patrick and we just needed to stop by an inactive member and then he ended up not being there and so instead of trying to look up more people we just said go home Patrick have a good evening and we are going to do some more finding. Because we really don't have any investigators. So we just started looking for people to teach. We were out in a nice neighborhood and did some porting and not much success. Then we were walking and I see this nice little Belge couple and I said to Elder Receveur alright this one is yours. He stops them and asks them if they believe in a life after death and they just open up and , she began telling us how she used to be really believing and how she is not really believing anymore but that she would like to get back to going to church and what not... So we set up an appointment with them for the next week and they seemed pretty interested.. That was our miracle for the week... something small and dumb but is usually those ones that end up being the biggest miracles in the end... We'll see.. Well I really don't have to much else to tell you. I am doing great and having fun and am happy so that is all that matters right.
Love, Elder Simonson...
P.S. I sent a letter home with my 2 gig card with it.... I hope that it gets there if not... it is just 2 gigs of photos down the drain... but we have never had problems before.

Promised Land

Well, I can't explain to you how stinking happy I am to be back in Belgium, the real and true PROMISED LAND.  I like to tease everyone and say that I had to repent and spend some time down in France, but luckily I repented very quickly and made it back after one transfer. I am only teasing.  I like France also, but I just love Belgium, mainly because I have spent pretty much all of my mission here. It is just easier and more familiar to me. Coming back to Charleroi after being in Versailles, the richest area of France, was a big shock. Man, I forgot how freaking Ghetto this place is, but OHH does it bring me joy. I was freaking out on the Train into Charleroi.. I was so excited to be back. People are just nice and awesome in Belgium.

Elder Receveur is pretty much one of the coolest companions I have had. It is a little weird having such a young companion. He is on his fourth transfer, he just got in the field December 7th. I just keep expecting him to jump in the lesson and make decisions and wait for his input. It is fun. He is probably the happiest person I have ever met. He has the best attitude about everything and he is super humble. He is just a dream...The last few days we have been a little lost because I don't know the Charleroi 1 area, so we have been walking a lot and I am used to 7 months of a car. So, of course I was complaining about how my feet hurt and he just kept saying... "It's fun, its companionship bonding time."...and he just kept finding all the good things in our being lost and walking kilometer after kilometer.
This will help you understand a little bit what Elder Receveur is like. First of all he is from New York, he grew up all over the East coast. He too, just like me and the rest of the Simonson family, loves playing.... "your team"... so we get along just fine. It has been really funny because we are in CHARLEROI where playing that game is like neverending fun. Let's just say that we would be better to pick out those that aren't weird or ghetto.

Anyway.. so that is me and my new life, I am loving it. I am happy to spend the last months of my mission here... though missionary work-wise, it is a little slow. This Ward just came from having 6 baptisms in the last 3 months which is INSANE (that is more than they had all last year), so that is good, but now we are just a little low on investigators because they baptized all the ones they were teaching. The Ward is really great. I already knew a lot of the members becasue of 6 months in the other ward. So all the members yesterday kept saying "have we already met? Where have we seen each other before?" So that was cool. It is however soooooo great to be with a firery new companion that loves to work and that is a hard worker and gets my old fat butt moving. It just feels good to go out all day and work hard... finding and teaching all day.. I love it.

It was good to hear from Mom, Dad and Trish.. I hope all goes well with Katie and her baby... Happy "having baby day," Katie.

As for the converts from before and old contacts... I called and talked to Esther and Dylan. They are not active at all. She seems a little busy and weird, but she said that she might have time for me to come over and visit this week. As for Daniel, he left for Africa in March. He has some business going down in Cameroon. So he is not here and no one is really sure when he will be back. I hope he will be back before I leave. Daniel is great and I hope he is still strong in the Gospel, because he was doing really great before he left.. As for Fatiha, I called her because no one has had contact with her pretty much since I left. Well, she didn't answer and then she called back later and I answered it but didn't know who it was and said,  "Hey, it's the missionaries."  She told me "erase this number from your phone and never call back." That made me really sad because she was so solid before. So I texted her that night and said, "Hey, it was me Elder Simonson that called you, I am back in Charleroi.. call me if you want."  She did write back and said "ohhh, ok yes.. how are you.. I will call you as soon as I can."
So that is that. We are working hard and loving life. In the apartment we have Elder Broadway(from England), Elder Walker (newer missionary), Elder Winkler (swiss), and Elder Crump(newer missionary also). So it is not really people I have been around on my mission but it is all good. They are all great. ELder Broadway is pretty interesting.. and Elder Winkler is just awesome like all Swiss people.

Well that is pretty much it for me... Love you lots. Have fun having baby, going on a cruise and whatever else you are going to do.
Elder Simonson

Transfer news and Paris P-day

GOTCHA.... you thought I had already left.. but not yet.. You are right however, I am going back out to the field. I'm done being AP... AWWWWww which is a big sigh of relief, but it was such a great opportunity. I learned a heck of a lot. I really was called to be Assistant just so I could learn how to be a missionary... Heavenly Father had to force me to study and learn by having me teach 'Preach My Gospel' to other missionaries... But I am sooooooo excited to go back and apply all that I learned and just work my butt off... The reason I didn't email you earlier was because we had a Paris P-day so we have been in Paris all day seeing the sights. It was fun, but really tiring. We saw the Arche de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and Sacré coeur. It was cool, but SOOOOOOOO many tourists and a ton of people trying to get your money..... It was kinda annoying. It was such a beautiful day though... nice and warm and the sun was shining. It was fun. Oh yes, and Elder Schmutz and Elder Ferguson came down to Versailles to the Mission Home to help get all the office stuff in order before transfers. So they are here for the week until Wednesday and then they are going out to their new areas. Elder Schmutz is going to Orléans as a ZL and Elder Ferguson is staying here in Paris as ZL. They are both pumped. As for me..... well it was pretty intense helping President with transfers and knowing that I was leaving and going to my last city... and not knowing where that would be... President asked for my opinion and I gave the only thought that crossed my head and that was, "Well I could go to Liege with Elder Spicer and then my last transfer I could train..." well that is where I was for a little bit and then I was moved around the board for quite awhile.. moving all over... and then we were working on the Ardennes Zone and working on Charleroi.... and we were looking for a great District Leader and to go to Charleroi 1. Well we sat and were looking and thinking.. Elder McKay and I threw out our ideas... President listened, and then we were talking about it and voicing our concerns and the fact that it is the biggest District in the Mission... bigger than some zones ...that fact came up.. and then President said, "I know who is supposed to go there".... and he turned to me and said, "Elder Simonson!"... he asked me what I thought and I said.. "sounds great, I will go wherever..." Sooooo long story short.. I am going back to Charleroi baby...

I don't think many people could say that on their mission they only served in 3 cities but I can ..... !!!!!! Bruxelles, Charleroi, and Versailles. So I am going to be District Leader with Elder Receveur... he is still pretty new in the mission. I think he has been out for 3 or maybe 4 transfers.. He is just amazing though... I have only heard great things about him and everyone loves him. He is from upstate New York, if I am not mistaken...so that will be cool. I will leave on Wednesday afternoon and then my pday's will change back to MONDAYS... so I expect lots of letters and emails... no more of this "I used to write emails on Sunday and I always forget to write and then Saturday comes along" CRAP!!! haha.
Well some news from this week.. something cool and then not so cool happened. Well, you remember Alain... the guy I wrote about last week.. the guy who was fasting to get a testimony? Well we saw him on Wed. and taught him and asked him what he thought and if he had gotten his answer and he said he didn't really know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, but he did tell us how he had pretty much received his answer and how a lot of the Gen. Conf. talks touched him. He told us that he loved the church, he thought the members were amazing, and they all live the Gospel and were true Christians... and he told us how he had the desire to be baptized and follow Jesus Christ ... but that it was going to be a big leap of faith because he wasn't sure what would happen after that and that all of his questions weren't answered yet, but he knew enough to be baptized and he would go from there... Soooo we were obviously freaking out.. because this is a stubborn, prideful man that has been investigating the church for over two years and he finally humbled himself and decided to act by faith and receive his answer from God. So I asked him, "Well, do you want to be baptized on the 24 of April?" and he said he would be on Vacation that week .. so we said, "How about the 8th of May?" and he said that that seemed kinda far away...he said, "I have the desire, I want to do it ... why not as soon as possible?" So we said, "Well how about this week end?" and he said, "Yes, let's go for it!" We were sooo excited... then ... dun dun dun... on Thursday we were going to see him and also talk to his daughter Celia and see if she was down for baptizing... and he called about 2 hours before the baptism and said ... "No...the baptism is off. I can't do it. I didn't sleep all night because I was thinking about all this.. and I just don't think I can." He wouldn't see us on Thursday and so we saw him last night. It was a little sad, but he had kinda gone back to the old Alain. He told us all the wrong things with the church and the things he wasn't quite sure of, but then also he told us all of the good things and all the things he knew where from God and said he had to be baptized, and we said, "Well where else are you going to find these things and a church like this? Nowhere.." Anyway, he told us that he felt like the things that were motivating him to be baptized were not the right things.. and he wouldn't tell us what his problem was, but we just came to the same road block... so we said, "Alain, we can't do much else.. you must get your answer from God or you will never know. You see bad and good and it is impossible for you to decide. You need to have that assurance from God that you can trust." He said while he is gone on his trip that he is going to finally decide .. and when he comes back it will be either yes or no.. and he will either stop coming to church and stop meeting with us, or he will be baptized...
The thing is this... that he has already had confirmations and answers from God... but there will always be the Faith aspect.. he may never know with the assurety that he wants.... when it comes down to it.. he is just going to have to act by faith.... there is no other way. He is going to have to choose to go with his heart and join, even though his questions aren't answered.. and step into the darkness and take a chance. I really think Heavenly Father isn't going to give him much more of an answer this time around. I think he already has had his answer.. or enough of his answer to get baptized, and then after that and through faith he will get the rest..
Well, that was about it this week. It was a great week and I loved serving this transfer in Versailles.. hands down the most beautiful city served in... and the most rich... and now for the change back to the Ghetto of Charleroi with the most poor people.... YAHOO... that means more people to teach and nicer people...
PS... thanks Jakis for the letter.. it was good to hear from your bones. I hope you and Tess find a job.. and I hope Trish and Dan get that sweet house so I can live with them again... thanks you are so kind... :)
just kidding.. and thanks for the pictures.. I liked them a lot..
My address will be the same as it was before 97 Rue de Montigny 6000 Charleroi.. so I am going to be in the other Ward and other area in Charleroi.. so not the same as before.. but the same apartment and the same city.
Love Elder Simonson

Happy Easter!

Greetings.. Happy Easter.!!!
All is going great here in Versailles. Things have been a lot less stressful just because we haven't had to deal with office stuff. It has been great. The last two weeks have been great. We have been out searching for people who are interested. We are doing our best, but still the only people who seem to be promising are the Part member families. Last week we received five inactive families that the Ward wanted us to go and visit. Just so happens that we had felt prompted to begin seeing 3 of them even before they gave us their names. Here in the Europe Area that is one direction that the Europe Area Presidency has given. Every Ward should have a rotating list of five inactive families. It doesn't always get done, but when it does it is really helpful. So we visited them this week and 3 out of the five are part members. One family is a super rich half Phillipino family. I love it. Also the other night we visited a Hatian family, super humble, young family. We started teaching his wife who isn't a member. Her name is Nyasselande. So that is kinda how the work is going. It is definitely different here in the Paris region. People are in such a hurry. I love it though.
I kinda told you about the concert that we had on Sunday. It went really good. The Sisters that put it on were just insane. They are amazing. We had about 250 people there in the Versailles chapel. There were even people that we invited on the street that came. That was a blessing. It was pretty neat. Elder Caussé, the 70, was at church on Sunday and he spoke and then at the concert that night he got up and bore his testimony and it was very powerful. That was good because there were a lot of non members there.. So I think we touched and softened some hearts.
So the week has been great.. not a whole lot of exciting news to tell ya.. One pretty cool thing... I don't know if I have written about Alain and Celia. It is a father/daughter that have been investigating the church for about 2 years. They are French and just the greatest people. Average nice French people. Well, Alain has just had the hardest time.. and he just has soooo many objections yet he comes to church every week, reads the Book of Mormon , Celia is more active than half our young women..; she goes to all the activities; she goes to Seminary, she comes to church... they are just super great, but just need to be baptized... so.. since I have gotten here we have just taught him once a week because he knows everything and what not but he just needs to have a testimony by prayer and needs to just decide... I've taught him a few times and each time he has some question or some scripture that "proves" that he doesn't need to get baptized or that the authority isn't only in the LDS church. He is just super stubborn and prideful... and we have told him over and over... "Alain you need to simply know in your heart that Joseph Smith was a Prophet and when you know that and that answer comes from God, you can know with surety that this is the true church".... so we would invite him to do that and he would say... I am or I don't have to, I already know that the authority was never lost.. It didn't need to be restored etc.. etc... so that has been Alain for the last few weeks and really there was nothing we could do for him...
Well after the concert on Sunday night... a sister missionary that knew him well was talking to him.. I don't know really what they talked about, but she told Alain that he looked like he was weighed down by something and Alain just told here that he was just sick of not knowing and that he just needed to know.. so she told him that she would fast for him on Tuesday so that he might get an answer and that he could get that weight off of his shoulders... He really liked that and he decided to fast as well... so on Sunday night he ate a meal and then began fasting... well we saw him on Wednesday and he was still fasting... he has been drinking but not eating; We taught him on Wed and he was a completely different person... his attitude had changed... He told us that when he would try and prove us wrong and read stuff on the church and just use "facts" to back up that the church wasn't true... that really it didn't bring him any joy and the it really didn't even convince himself... and that he had decided that he just really needs to know.. he said, "I have to know.. I can't go on without knowing..." So we saw him last night and he still hasn't eaten any food; I hope he doesn't die, but I think he is showing his faith.. and I am just hoping with all my heart that he will receive and recognize his answer.. If soo we might have two amazing baptisms coming up soon. So; that was the good news of the week....
So transfers are coming up soon.. which is weird.. that went by fast.. we will be doing transfer decisions this week with President Staheli.. It should go well.. let's just say that I pretty much know what is happening to me :)
As for the travel plans.. that looks great to me.. I hope the hotel is alright; I know the Charleroise Steinweg.. it is a really big long street and there are some nice parts of that street and some super ghetto parts of that street but I think it will be ok... I love that area though and know it well it is right next to the Bruxelles 2 church.. so.. good on ya..
As for the questions you asked me.. the Assistant responsibilities have been fine.. we have really just been working like a normal companionship; sometimes in the mornings we have to do organizational things but .. it is all good. The way things go in this mission is a lot different than the Bxls mission.. and Pres Brubaker and Pres Staheli are different.. a lot.. but I love them both.. and they both get the work done well.. Belgium is a lot more international and a little more poor than France. Things are a lot more expensive here.. or at least I think they are; There is just this different feel to Belgium and France.. the French are a lot more uppity and prideful a little.. The food is about the same; there is more cheese in France.. obviously.. but I like Dutch and Belge cheese better than French cheese... I like the food here but it really isn't much different... you just have a lot less choices here in Europe... but there are some specialties that will be missed. Well, love you lots. Thanks Heather and Jaron for your letter... it was really great to hear from you.. thanks..
Love,
Elder Jacob Von Simonson

Versailles, and Sister Smart...

Hey family... all is going great in Versailles.. I love it lots. We have been starting fresh like I have told you before. So we spend a lot of time finding people. So far we have found some cool people and are on the verge of teaching them and getting them on the path to baptism. The best thing is that it has been just super beautiful here. The weather has just been unbelievable. We haven't been wearing coats or suits, just white shirts. That is enough to make me happy. The work here in Versailles is great, but it is very different than what I have had throughout my mission.. It is not that it is bad, not at all... It is just interesting and sometimes intimidating contacting and teaching rich French people. That and also our area is very different because Versailles itself isn't very big... in fact the center of Versailles is very small... and we have a bunch of little towns like that in a HUGE area and each one of them is about 20-30 minutes apart.. so we spend an hour or more in an area and then you go to another little town for another hour or two etc... etc.. so I'm getting used to that... but it is just beautiful down here..
This week we went and ate at Elder Gerald Caussé house (he is a 70).... just his house... he wasn't there... he actually lives in Frankfort but his two older daughters live here and there are a bunch of young single adults that live there. The oldest Causssé girl is married to a councilor in the Bishopric and he invited us over for Mexican food. It was fun. There is not a whole lot that sticks out in my mind that would interest you that happened this week. This Sunday we are having a classical music concert at the Chapel in Versailles. So we have been porting around the church which is a Rich area... and man.... The French will not get you a time of day if you talk about Jesus Christ but if you are there to invite them to a free classy classical music concert... well.. they are just super excited and all down for it.. Inviting them to the concert has been working like GOLD.... it has been fun... The concert is being put on by three Sister Missionaries that were professional musicians before coming on a mission.. they are way good; Sister Smart is one of them. She plays the harp. A funny story now on that.. We were doing some porting in a super tiny and super rich village and we found an American lady from San Diego.. She was nice and soo we invited her to come and gave her the flyer and she was reading the names of the musicians and she was like, "Elizabeth Smart... wasn't there a girl that got kidnapped with that name?" and we said.. "ya... actually that is her.. she is a member of our church and she is a Missionary here in Paris".. it was funny... Also something that was cool was that we were porting one night in Versailles inviting people to the concert and this beautiful French family (super rich) invited us in and were really nice.. and interested also.. the mom called down all the kids to come and meet us.. it was intimidating.. haha.. also there are some really cool people that we have met in the last couple of days that are just amazing.. you will hear about them later.. Anyway that was pretty much my week.. it was a great week..
That is really cool that Seth came over.. I love him, he is great... that will be cool for him to have dinner with you on Sunday.. Tell him Hi for me... and tell him I miss his bones.. as for the whole travel thing.... we can get around without a car here in Paris.. no problem.. there are trains and metros and we can find our way around here... then we can take a train to Bruxelles... then in Bruxelles we might could use a car; Claire lives about 20 min outside of Brussels and I don't know where it is or if there is a train anywhere close.. If it wasn't for going out there to see her... we wouldn't need one; I know the Brussels transit system like the back of my hand.. I could get us anywhere but... I could also get us there by car, I drove one around for 6 months... as for Charleroi... we can take a train down to Charleroi.. and then in Charleroi we could probably use Patrick's car... He would for sure drive us anywhere we would want... he is like that.. he said if I ever came back, I could stay in his house and he would take off a week and he would drive us anywhere we wanted... When I was there he had a bunch of missionaries come.. and he took them to Brussels, to Liege, to Amsterdam.. you name it.. so I am sure I could work something with Patrick... We will see, just tell me what you are planning on and I can maybe help you modify it if needed.. but as for a car... I don't know which would be cheaper.. to buy metro tickets and train tickets or to just have a car for a couple of days. If you get a car, just make sure you get a GPS.. because Europe is tough without one..
Well... love you lots.. talk to you later
-Elder Simonson