Hey everyone!!!

Hey everyone!!! It's been a little while since I've written. Things are really getting cold here in La Rochelle. Actually the last couple days it's been very clear and no rain but at the same time it is really cold. I've been sick for the last week with a cold. I just need to wait it out and get better. Despite my sickness, things are going well here. We sort of switched our focus this last week to less actives. Now two less actives will be coming to church this week, which is great. I think that one of them will be bringing a friend also. So things are really going. This last week, La Rochelle set up a bunch of lights throughout the city. It is soo beautiful during the nights. They light up all the cathedrals and the Hotel de Ville (I don't know the translation for that word). I'm going to take some pictures of it and put it up. Anyways, things are going well. I might possibly be leaving La Rochelle because there is a mini transfer because some of the missionaries that end their missions right before Christmas so they have some changes to make before Christmas. So yeah, til next time.
-Elder Jex

Cold and Rainy

Nothing but rain and cold has come down in the last month. Everyday has been that way. That's ok though because we have a car here in La Rochelle. Within the last couple weeks, things have been going pretty well. I have been to many different cities in the area because our secter covers a lot of space seeing that we have a car for our area. We were able to find a new investigator that lives about an hour and a half away from La Rochelle but it's worth it. He said he is ready to learn the Gospel and is very willing. There's just been many things that have been happening in the mission. Many things of the mission changed. OUr Preparation day has been changed, our we count investigators and so on. So it's been a new start for some things here but it's for the better. Anyways, things are going well here. I think we have hit winter already seeing the rain everyday. Gotta go
-Elder Jex

New area

Hey everyone, sorry it's been a little long since I've written but anyways, I am in a new area.  It is called La Rochelle.  It is on the coast just like my 2 other cities that I have served at.  It is just South of St Nazaire.  It is a very beautiful city with cobble stone streets, cathedrals eveywhere, old architecture.  It's really cool.  If you want the new address, just send my letters to the mission office, it is easier to send it there then they will forward it to me.  I think I am a 2 transfer missionary.  Each city I have been in, I have been there for 2 transfers.  It's crazy.  Also, I'm getting close to a year out on a mission, it doesn't feel like it but once after a year everyone says it goes 10 times faster.  I think that depends on the person but anyways.  My new companion's name is Elder Neff.  he is from Salt Lake city Area.  That's all I know about him so far.  But I gotta go, til next week mes amis.
-Love
-Elder Jex

Week 3 Transfer 6

Well, as you can see, I don't have a good title for this week because nothing that big happened.  I think I told everyone about my Paris P-day already.  I'm not sure though.  Well, this last week has just been a steady and slow one.  We always have something to do but at the same time, nothing big is happening.  I did go on Exchanges to Chartres; which is a city about an hour away from Paris.  I went there and for the whole entire day, we did service for this one family that is building a house for their parents.  They were the best though.  We had to paint inbetween the beams of wood and they asked me specifically to do that so of course I did a great job with all of my expertises as being a painter with Warren McCune.  Anyways, we painted for about 4 straight hours then they made us some dinner after I took a shower at there house.  They have about 4 dogs and I was playing around with them also.  They had a pool table and a Ping Pong table, which is always nice to have.  So that was my exchange.  Right now, We just got back from a FHE thingy that we have with a couple of members.  That was fun but what we ate wasn't.  She cooked fish with everything basically still inside.  I spooned out some big piece, not knowing what it was.  It turned out to be the head (where the least amount of meat is).  But anyways, I just had to close my eyes and hopefully I can pull out all the nasty things.  The eyeball was also still there.  Pretty nasty.  Anyways, all is well here in Antony.  No pics for this week because I'm running low on time today but anyways, à la semaine prochaine.
-Elder Jex

Zone conference

Well, this last week has been pretty cool.  Two big things have happened.  This last Friday I was able to go to Zone conference and we were able to have a guest speaker there.  His name is Elder Kopischka.  He is German and he is serving in the Quorum of the 70.  He also served a mission as a mission president in Germany before.  He talked to us about how we can really touch the lives of others out here in France.  And also that miracles will never stop.  That is something that we have discussed multiple times so far during my mission.  Along with President Staheli and Sister Staheli, It was a great zone conference and I think I have learned many things since then on teaching others the Gospel.  Then, two days later we were able to Stake Conference in Versailles, which was awesome because We were able to hear many speakers and also that the Stake President asked that the Elders in the Stake perform a couple songs for the Conference.  We sang "For the beauty of the earth" and also "Praise to the man" (in French of course).  But it was awesome!!  It was a little hard to hear because we were sitting on the stand the whole time so the echo of the speaker was kind of hard to hear.  But anyways, yesterday was our Paris P-day, when we can go around Paris and look at different sites.  This is what I did:  First we went to the eiffel tower and went up it, which was awesome.  Then, we went to le sacré coeur, which is a big church on top of a hill in Paris.  Then we went from that to the front of the Louvre and took some pics.  While being there, we met 2 members from Provo who wanted a pic with us so we took one with them.  After that, we went down to the Arc de Triomphe, which is just soo cool.  I'm gonna try to put as many pics up as I can today.  Anyways, pretty tired right now from yesterday and little sick but thats what happens.  Anyways, ciao
-Love
-Elder Jex

Back to Saint Nazaire

Well, you're probably wondering why I have this title.  Well, I heard that my titre de séjour (the document that says I'm legal) came in finally at Saint Nazaire so I got permission to go back there and pick it up.  It took practically the whole day because it took about 3 hours going there and coming back so it was pretty intense.  I got to see some of the members there because I asked to missionaries there to set something up.  I actually ended up doing to spiritual thought because the members asked that I would do it.  We had a raclette fete if anyone knows what that is.  I know Marshall and Terina do.  Anyways, Hopefully I can get those pics up this time.  I don't know but we'll see.  This last week has been just a bunch of finding.  We do have a hand full of investigators but lately we have received over 6 references of people that live in our area so basically all that my companion and I have done has been finding these new people to get a hold of and see if they would like to start taking the lessons.  So far we have been successful.  We found one person that we were able to set a rendez-vous with and hopefully we'll be able to start teaching his parents also.  Well, I got some more pics to send so I will add one to this and then add a couple others with another e-mail.
-Love
-Elder Jex

New Transfer

Well, it's a new transfer and I have another new companion. His name is Elder Mendenhall. He's from Las Vegas and he actually has a beach house on Newport beach so we have a lot in common. Plus he plays basketball. I've just met him today so we'll see how everything goes. This last week hasn't had too many things happen. We just found out one of our investigators was moving to Canada so that's a bummer but we challenged him to find the missionaries in Calgary when he gets there. I'm finally going to put a picture up. It is actually from the zone activity and one from a huge park that is right next to where we live. For our Zone activity, we had the the olympics but different events of course. Other events happening. OUr stake conference here in the Paris stake is having 2 area seventies come talk to us so that will be really cool plus they will be at our zone conference also. We, as missionaries, were invited to make a missionary choir for the stake so this friday we'll be practicing some songs. Well, thats about it for this week, here are the pics.

1st transfer in antony done

Bonjour tout le monde, I figured I could start typing a little bit in French so the people reading this can learn a little bit for themselves. Alors, cette semaine est bien passé, On a fait beaucoup de chose comme l'activité de la zone ecetera. Yeah, anyways, the zone acitivity was pretty fun, we got to do a bunch of stuff along with doing some good contacting activities around our area. This sunday, the transfer will be finished and there will be many changes in the mission (companion wise) because a lot of missionaries left early to go to school and also another group is leaving at the end of the transfer. All of us in the apartment now think that my comp will be leaving because this is his third transfer in Antony and hs thinks he is done with his time in Antony. Some cool news for the future, this next zone conference that I will be going to will have to 70's that will be there to talk to us about the work here in Paris and in the mission. I think it will be a great experience that I will have to hear from these men. Anyways, the work is going well here and sorry that I haven't posted any pics up lately on the blog, I've been transferring all my photos to a USB drive to store them so I don't have to buy more memory cards for my camera. Anyways, à plus alors.
-Elder Jex

1st Transfer practically done in Antony

Well, I haven't really written lately but honestly not to much has happened in the mission. This last couple weeks, I have had both zone conference and interviews. At zone conference, we were able to talk about strategies that help us understand what people need. We learned the mirroring method, which is basically repeating what the person just told you so that you fully understood and also by asking questions so that the investigator will be able to answer their own questions. I haven't seen to many people these last weeks. We met one man that is actually Muslim. he works at La Défence and he's pretty young. We met with him a little bit and he is interested in listening to our message so thats great!! This last couple weeks, I just realized that I have finished 1/3 of my mission already. It doesn't even feel like I've been out that long but anyways. We also received a new elder in our apartment, he isn't my comp. but he's really cool. His name is Elder Schroeder. He's actually from Germany and he's awesome. I had the proviledge to be in the same room as him in the MTC and to be in the same district. It was kind of a reunion when he came because we haven't really seen eachother for a while since the MTC but anyways. All is going well, not much more to tell. The work is going slowly here in Antony but it's going. Paris is great. It's pretty cool seeing the Eiffel tower almost everyday. See y'all next week.

-Elder Jex

Antony

So far here in Antony, everything has been going well. We have a ward here so it's a little bigger than what I have seen so far on my mission but in some cases, i'd rather still be in a Branch if it was my choice. branches are so united and are alot nicer to the missionaries. Right now we have a african investigator who in my opinion is on the verge of getting baptized. he says he knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. So i think we just need to extend the invitation to get baptized. Other news here, I'm am living in a 4 man apartment. Now I'm living with a missionary from Belgium. he does not speak english at all but thats good, I can really improve my french by speaking with him a lot. My new Companion's name is Elder Chase. He is from West Jordan Utah, what a surprise. So I've either had a foreign comp or a comp from Utah. Oh well, hopefully I get some French person or a missionary from Spain next time. Anyways, all is going well here. Not much more to say other than Paris is awesome. I've been there about 10 times since i've been in my new area. It's cool playing sports when you can see the eiffel tower within walking distance. Anyways, gotta go
-Elder Jex

Real Address

Sorry everyone, the real address is this:
Elder Garrett Jex
Les Missionaires
1 Parvis De La Bièvre, N°003
92160, Antony
France
Notice there is a 1 before the Parvis, you need to put the 1 on the enveloppe. Thanks

Bastille day!!

This last Monday was Bastille day which is like the 4th of July but on the 14th of July in France. It's practically the same, people gather together to watch fireworks and everything. We were invited to 2 different activities to go to. One was to a lake in the countryside and another was on the beach, so Monday was full of play around activities. It was really fun but now I'm tired because we played so much soccer on the beach. Last Friday was my first zone conference with President Staheli. He is a very interesting person. He has a billion stories about him and President Hinckley since he was his secretary for 13? I think. Already with the first transfer he was already knowing a lot of stuff like good teaching advice and all the stuff a President that has been there for a year. Anyways, transfer calls come in on Saturday so I will know if I'm staying for another transfer here or leaving. I know someone is leaving just don't know who. We'll see I guess. It's always fun waiting for transfer calls, it's like Christmas, you don't know what's gonna happen. haha Anyways, gotta go. Til next week
-Elder Jex

Doctor's visit

Well, Today I had to go about an hour away to Nantes and get a doctor's checkup for my titre de séjour, which is basically a thing saying that I am legal in France. Everything turned out perfect, I am in perfect condition. I'm not gonna say that I'm in perfect shape because all the muscle that I had is now gone. But it still looks like I have muscle though. This Friday is zone conference so I will be in Rennes all day. Rennes is about 2 1/2 hours away from Saint Nazaire. Not that much stuff happened this last week. I was able to talk to the new president on the phone. He sounds really nice. I have some pics to send but I can't do it now so I will send them next week. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and is having a great summer. By the way, the beach here is definitely not the same. There are no waves whatsoever. It stinks. Even with wind they are still like 2 feet high. The transfer ends in about 2 weeks so I don't know if I'll be staying or leaving here. Anyways, til next week.
-Elder Jex

New President "Official"

So last Sunday President Staheli replaced President Pond so now we have a new president of the mission. We are told to be prepared for changes because each president works differently so we'll see what he does. That same investigator that I talked about that has the problem with stopping smoking came to Church last Sunday and that was great. We haven't had an investigator come to church in around 2 months. And especially with other people here, you have to be patient. So many people move slowly here because France is not a country to be open to Missionaries like us. More than half of the people here are atheist and the other are Catholic so it's pretty hard here. Just ask Marshall or Terina, they'll tell ya. But that doesn't mean we stop working. I have to think that I am just planting seeds in the hearts of the people that will be harvested in the future. I'm in the middle or learning how to play pétanques, which is a game with big metal balls that you through near a little ball. and the ball closest to the smallest ball get points. I'm already fairly good because I play baseball but anyways, I gotta go. Til next week.
-Elder Jex

more pics

here they are

President Pond's last weeks

Well, last week for district meeting, my mission President Pond came to speak to us. I think he went to all the other districts too because the 29th of June, he leaves and our new President arrives. So I have a picture of them with our district I'll send. Other news, This last week, a member asked me to help him give a blessing to another member and he asked to me to annoint the oil. I was really scared but I did it. We had a rendez-vous with one of our amis and we talked about the word of Wisdom. He resonded with a bunch of worries that he has because smoking cigarettes helps him have friends but we explained to him that it's not worth it to smoke but anyways. Il faut avoir de la patience. Have patience! Anyways, not much else to say. Just that the weather is getting pretty hot now. Yesterday, it was about 32°C, which in Farenheit is about in the 90s. But this morning it rained a little bit. That's just Bretagne. Oh yeah, one other story. We have this one investigator, and we had a rendez-vous with him last week to eat dinner with him. When we got to his place, he wasn't there so we waited and then he drove up in his car and asked us to forgive him. Anyways, after he took us in his car to the beach and to this really nice restaurant right on the beach while we had our rendez-vous with him. He paid around 65 euros for the three of us. I had Salmon and my companions had oysters and some other things. It was like a 3 course meal! It was awesome. And we talked alot about prayer with him because he didn't understand why we have to pray for others. So that took a while. But it was a good night. Anyways, hopefully those pics I tried to send last week will come this time.

Have a great start to Summer

Last week, I sent a couple pics and they didn't come out. This time I didn't bring my camera to upload them again but next week I will send them again. Anyways, This last week has been nice. The first week of another transfer, with an Italien. My conversation skills have improved so much within the last couple weeks because when we are in the bus, I find it alot easier to start talking to people. So far, we've gotten a couple new investigators just because we started up conversations on the bus or something like that. We are also teaching a ladt named Elizabeth. She speaks about 5 languages. And she wanted us to teach her in English so I did most of the teaching being with an Italien Companion. Anyways, we taught her the first lesson and watched the DVD The Restoration. I think we were able to help her feel the spirit then because she usually talks alot during the lesson and this time, she just sat and listened to what we had to say. It was great. Today, I found some peanut butter but I didn't buy it because I don't know if it's is good american Peanut butter or some weird tasting peanut butter that only France makes. We'll see, maybe I'll buy some next week. Yesterday, France played Italy in Soccer for the European Cup. A member invited us (missionaries) to watch it because they knew it was sooo important for my companion to see it. Italy won and so now I have a happy companion on my hands right now. Anyways, all is going well. Hope all is going well over there in the States. Have a great start to Summer.
-Elder Jex

Back up and running

Ok, This is the second time I'm writing this because all these computers are NUL. That's french for crapy. Anyways, the weather here has been good and bad just how France usually is. Rainy one day then burning hot the next day. Oh, thanks for those letters LeeElle and Brooke. :) The transfer has just ended and now but I'm not leaving and neither is my companion so it's nice and tranquille here. Right now is the European Cup of Soccer and all the Europeans are going crazy because soccer is huge here. Now I have a big flag of Italy in my room at because of Elder Petrignani. It's finally come to the point where the switch of the mission presidents will actually happen. They leave in 3 weeks, and the new one comes in the same day so my next zone conference will be with President Staheli or something like that. Here are some pics of Elder Petrignani and I on top of a submarine base and the other is a pic of the District inside our Branch building.

Everything here is going smoothly

Hey everyone. Everything here is going smoothly. Just a little lately I've noticed how much french I can speak and how much I have improved. Within the last couple days we have met about 3 people that we probably will start seeing and start teaching. The weather is like it's usually been. one day it rains, the other it's perfectly nice, and so on. I need to male this short but anyways, I hope everything is going well back home and I hope everyone had a good Memorial day. P.S. the french people have way too many holidays and are really lazy. Just ask Terina or Marshall. I have seen about 4 strikes already since I've been here. It's hilarious and it's for the weirdest reasons. Anyways, have a great week.
-Elder Jex

short sleeved shirts

Well, it's gotten to the point of short sleeved shirts everyday. That's good because I like it when it's hot. But not too hot. Anyways, things are chugging along here in Saint Nazaire. The language is still coming but right now is my French week. A French week is when the whole mission speaks French for one whole week full time (in the apt) (with your comp)(all the time). It's pretty hard for me since I still don't know that language but I think I can get used to it. Just last week, my Italien comp got a dear john. I started laughing because it always happens. That's one of the main reasons that I don't have a girlfriend right now. Also, he has received to other letters from his girlfriend, ex I should say and he doesn't want to open them up. But oh well. Within the last week, we have taught a couple people in the last week. One of them, we asked to be baptized. He hasn't really made up his mind but I think he'll come around. The other is a lady that speaks 4 different languages and she wanted to speak english so basically I taught the lesson. It actually was pretty easy. But anyways, Things are going well here.
-Elder Jex

Saint Nazaire

So this last week has gone by fairly slow but fast enough. I think when you move to another city, things start out slow but once you start getting used to it, it starts to become a lot faster and you don't know where the time went. That is sort of what it starting to feel like. Everyday We have a couple appointments set up and everything just flies by. It was great to talk to everyone in the family. And for some reason, I'm not that home sick. I think that is a good thing. the missionaries say that longer into your mission, you aren't worried about home as mush anymore. But yesterday, I went to Angers for Zone conference. It's about an hour and a half away from Saint Nazaire. Everything went well. This was the last zone conference for my President (Pres. Pond) because next transfer we get a new President. Hopefully he is like Pres Pond because he moves the missionaries around a lot. I like moving around from city to city. For me, 3 transfers (4 1/2 months) in one city is enough, then I want to go to another. But anyways, we had 2 other companionships stay with us this last night because they missed their train for Nantes. Apparently there was some kind of bomb scare on the train so everything got shut down or something. But it was fun though. 6 elders in a 2 man apartment. Crazy!! Everything is going well, I am a little sick but it's going away already. Here are 2 pics. The first one is me in front of the big park with a lake and the other is a castle (with a moat) right next to the beach but you can't see it.
-Elder Jex

Saint Nazaire

So, first week in Saint Nazaire. It's pretty hot down here, just the other day I was doing some service and I got a sunburn on my face. The city is ok, I think Le Havre is better in my opinion. We have a small branch here around the size that Le Havre has. The members are great, I have already had a lesson with an investigator with a member. The beach is better than Le Havre but that's only because there aren't any huge rock anywhere. Also, a little bit about my companion, he is 24 years old. He is from Italy, from a little town about 2 hours from Rome. He's going bald haha. And he is shorter than me, well, all companions have been shorter than me so far. But anyways, the work here is usually porting (door-to-door). Contacting sometimes works, but not really here, there isn't enough people. We did have a car to use but now that a new older couple is coming into the mission, we had to give it up for them. Now we just take the bus everywhere. That's about it for this week, we haven't had to many stories with any investigators, but next week I'm sure of it.

I am now in St Nazaire!!

Well, everyone! I am now in St Nazaire!! It's south west of Le Havre. It took me about 6 hours to get here from Le Havre. I had to go through Paris and try to find where I was going because I was by myself half of the time. It's really hard but it was fun. As for St Nazaire, I don't like as much as Le Havre. It's hard to leave cities after you have served there for a couple months. And now I have a Italian Companion that cannot speak english that well so I have to speak french to understand each other sometimes. My new address is:

Elder Garrett Paul Jex
Les Missionaires
4, rue Mendès-France
44600 St Nazaire

So send everything here and if you're not sure, send it to the Mission office.
So another city right next to the beach. It is a much nicer beach but I still liked the beach in Le Havre even though it is rocky everywhere. So I don't have much time, so til next week.

some more pics

here are some pics

some pics

here are some more pics

more pics

Here's some really cool pics of the beach at sunset in Le Havre

Daylight Savings!! Yes!! They do have it in France

Well, these couple days have been pretty hard only because we lost an hour last weekend and it's so dark in the morning. I'm starting to try to work out more to see if I can get anymore muscle on my body. My companion is a wrestler so he is in shape a lot of the time. He even brought his own weights to the apartment so he could work out. We have gone running a little bit in the mornings down to the beach. My legs killed me after the first time only cause I haven't ran since the MTC. But as for the weather. It's been off and on. Rainy one day then sunny. Not too bad lately. It should be starting to get sunny since it's just about spring. Also, I don't know if I have said this yet, my mission is getting a new President in July. His name is President Staley. I'm not sure if it spelled the right way but he was the Secretary to President Hinckley so we'll see what happens with that. I really want to be sent to one of the out cities right outside Paris even though the city I'm in is one of the best in the mission. Le Havre and Orleans I'm told. Anyway, when we were out porting out in the hills, we came across some old Bunkers from the war and I took some pics of them. They were pretty cool cause the Bunker looked out into the Atlantic right on the cliffs.

Beginning of next transfer and DRIVING!!

Well, this last week has been pretty crazy!! I have sort been feeling like the 1st companion in charge cause a new comp just came a couple weeks ago and its been pretty hard cause I can't talk to everyone but I try. I had to show Elder Barton around the city and introduce him to the members and a bunch of other stuff. This last Tuesday we had the opportunity to go out to a investigator's house out in Fecamp and were able to give a blessing to one of the daughters. Her name is Marlene and she is in the Hospital for having some kind of infection with the heart. I didn't really understand how they described it but they said it wasn't that serious. So Elder Barton and I were able to give her a blessing. It was a very spiritual experience for me and for Elder Barton. Also just yesterday, we saw this couple and the husband is French and the wife is Spanish. They just came from Peru. We call them our Lamanite couple. We thought she wanted to be taught and he would translate but she was actually a member and she wanted us to talk to him about the first lesson. So we taught him the first lesson and she talked with some of the members in our Branch. It was really an awesome experience. Just a couple weeks ago I got the privilege to drive in France. It is crazy here!!! Not everything is different but they have different rules that I think are just weird. Just this last week, it has been pretty rainy. It has rained at least a couple hours each day since Elder Barton has come here so our Contacting activities were cut in half since no one was outside. But the wind is pretty powerful here to so we went to go see how crazy the waves were and we got some crazy pictures of us as the waves hit the barge. But since Elder Mecham left and since the responsibility has fell on me most of the last week, my French has improved so much. I talked to a lady today at Auchan and I didn't have to think of the words to say in english before I said them in French. I think once I start dreaming in French, that's when I'll really know it. Well, anyways I hope everyone has had a Great Easter Holiday and really focused on the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. That's what I've been teaching in the last couple weeks to our members. But here are a couple pics of me and Elder Barton with the crazy waves.

New transfer!!

Well, my first transfer is over and my companion has left and I have gotten a new one. His name is Elder Barton. He's a fairly short guy but he's been out on his mission a little over a year. My other companion that left went to the mission office so that was cool. This past week, we havent had much special things happen. We have this new investigator that knows some people that play for the professional basketball team in Le Havre but whatever. Elder Mecham had to leave around 7 o'clock in the morning for the mission office and about 11 members came to the gare to see him off. Its just that the members here are soo cool. We get about 2 meals on average a week here and I think thats pretty good. Anyways, things are going well, I now have to show my new comp the city and all the investigators that we teach. That'll be fun. I'm putting 2 different pictures on this one. One of them is a pic of my whole zone at District Conference last week and also another one is the coolest thing that I've ever seen. It's a pizza vending machine. Its just right on the side of the street. Its soo cool. Anyways, til next week
-Love
-Elder Jex

Last week of first transfer

Things are going well in Le Havre right now. Except for the weather, the last week it has been pretty rainy and windy. But thats ok, but it's really hard to go contacting in the rain when there is no one outside. Thats why we need to have more appointments so we dont have to go contacting all the time cause it can get pretty boring sometimes. We are working with a less on trying to stop smoking and we were able to give him a plan that will help him in quitting. He was very thankful for our help because he really wants to stop. We also have our Mission leader's sister's family coming to church. They seemed to really like the atmosphere and the people. This last sunday I was able to give the lesson in Gospel Principles class. It was pretty easy I think. When Im talking and no one else is talking its really easy for me to speak but when I have to listen to others and answer them, it gets a little tough sometimes. But here are some pics of Etretat (this great place filled with cliffs right on the shore of the Atlantic) and also some of me on exchanges at a city called Evreux. The city that I went to on exchanges is really small. But the day I was there, We taught a lady the first lesson and I told the part about Joseph Smith. Most of the time I was stubbling on my words but I felt the Spirit strong as I taught it and I think it turned out really well. She came to English class this last week and oh yeah, I almost got bisou'd a couple times. And if you dont know what that means, talk to Marshall or Terina, they'll tell you. Anyways, this Saturday, I'll know if Im being transferred or not so I'll tell ya next time.

Halfway through first transfer

Well it rained for the first time in Le Havre this last Sunday. I knew it was coming but didnt know when. Im sure a lot more will come. My language is coming along and Ive been able to give lessons in Sunday School already so I guess thats a good sign. This last week we were able to have some good rendez-vous here. We taught this guy from Cameroon named Alain. His mom was there and we discussed the Godhead for 30 min cause they just didn't understand. Things turned out well with him and his mom though. We had a couple other nice meetings with some people. A couple weeks ago, we went to this place called Etretat. Its this really beautiful looking coastline in Northern France. I think these cliffs were shown in the movie "the Princess Bride" anyways, My comp took me there and it was awesome, the tide was out when we got there so there was this cave that we went through and were able to go around the coast and see alot of the beauty there. Im going to post some pics for ya to see where I was. Anyways, Just this last Monday we had a Mission conference with a General Authority come. We had to run down to Versailles to see him but it was a nice drive. It was Neil L. Anderson who spoke to us. He is the Presidency of the 70. He went to this mission when he was younger so he talked to us about a bunch of stuff. I also gotta see all my MTC buddies and that was awesome. The mission conference went most of the day so I couldnt do much else with my time when we got back. It took about 2 hours to get to Versailles. And to add to that, I have zone conference this Friday so this week is packed with stuff happening. Anyways, almost time to go. Love you all
-Oh, and if youre wanting to email me, my email now is jinksy_jex21@hotmail.com because my other email doesnt let me do anything anymore.
well, it doesnt look like this computer will let me put these pics on so maybe some other time.

Still no rain!!

Hows everything? Everything here is going pretty well. Weve been doing our usual stuff here. We also have been meeting with this less active guy named Pascal Bounet. He's really cool but he talks soo much. He used to be a Branch President but since He got a divorce, he left the church. But it seems like he's been coming around lately. He came to church last week and came to a couple activities for Valentines day. I really think He's coming around. My french is still workin its way to the top. I still have a lot of improvement. Next monday, we're all going down to Versailles to a mission conference and Neil A Anderson is speaking to us so that will be awesome. Ive only been here for a little over é weeks so Im still getting used to some stuff. As for everything else, my comp and I are getting along great and the work is going on. Here are some pics: one is of me and my comp, the other one is of a cathedral right next to our building in Rouen. Hopefully its not on its side. oh well, Til next week, à bientot.
-Elder Jex

Le Havre

Well now Im in a city called Le Havre. Its right on the coast of France. Very close to the beach. The beach is like a 15 min walk from my apt. And lately it's been pretty nice. Everyone says that it gets pretty bad with rain and everything but since ive been here, i havent seen a cloud in the sky. The work here going ok here. We only have a branch here so it's not to big. There was about 30 people at Sacrament meeting last sunday. I had to present myself to the branch also. Usually they call new missionaries blue but they didn't call me blue at all. Apparently my speaking was a lot better than most new missionaries. I wonder why? :) Anyways, here's my new address if you should want to send me anything,
Elder Jex
Les Missionaires
49 rue Jules Siegfried
76600 Le Havre, France
And put everything there, including Les Missionaires or else it wont get to me. Well, times a flyin like usual here and i need to head out. Til next week.
-Elder Jex

Finally in France!!!!

It's been a while but Im finally in Paris, well not exactly. When I got here I stayed at the Mission President's House for a day then. The day we got in, we were able to go a little siteseeing. I was only able to see Notre Dame and Im gonna try to attach a pic and hopefully it goes through. I did see the Eiffel Tower in the distance but didn't have time to see it. My city that I am called to is Le Havre. It's a city right on the coast in Normandy. I havent seen the beach yet but thats ok. I'm sure Ill have some time to go there while I'm here. I don't really like French keybords. Oh yeah, my first companion's name is Elder Mecham. He's really cool. He's layback and chill like me. We talked to this one man today and I could not understand a word he said. He had the craziest accent than anyone. Even my comp could barely understand him. We talked with him for about 40 min straight. Also, tonight we're goin to teach this less active person. Hopefully I can say some things. Well, anyways, I gotta go. Great to hear from everyone! Til next week.

President Hinckley's Passing

Well, I'm sure most of you already know about President Hinckley's passing last Sunday. Yes, it is a day to be sad but I'm sure he got a great welcoming party in the Spirit World. Well, this last week hasn't been to exciting. Just a couple things, I am still at the MTC once I get to Paris, which is only in a few days, I'll have some good stories to tell ya. I have only 3 days left til I leave and I haven't started packing yet. I'm actually starting right after I finish here with my e-mail. Well, it's still snowing that last time a went outside. No big surprises here. Anyways, Have a great week then when I am in France, there will be a lot of typos in my email only cause here the french keyboard is way different then ours.
-Love
-Elder Jex

New Years!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I have so many New Years resolutions that I can't count them but they're all based on missionary work obviously. It's still pretty cold up here. Everytime the snow goes away for a couple days and I think it's gonna be nice for once, it snows, then it snows some more. Thats ok, I only have a little over a week left here. Then I'll be gone (Thank goodness)!! Things have been going well here. I don't really have any stories cause all the people I teach are just members and it's for practice so you'll have to wait for those miraculous stories until I leave the MTC. A couple weeks ago Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke to us again. This time it was for a bunch of Mission Presidents that were being trained. We were all kind of surprised cause he just came during Christmas but it was still good. The French is coming along as usual and my knowledge is gettig greater and greater each day. My Flight Plans are supposed to come in today so thats gonna be great. Just hopefully my visa has come in. Anyways, Gotta go. Love you all
-Love
-Elder Jex

Less than 3 weeks til I leave the MTC!!!!

Well, as you know from the title, I leave in a little less than 3 weeks from the MTC. I'm soo pumped for it. The french is getting better and better. I'm getting to the point where I can talk all day and my head won't hurt after when I go to bed. Also, in another french zone, they got 2 new elders who are native speakers so that'll be great practice for me. One's from Tahiti, and the other is from France. Both speak french way different but thats good so I can understand all the dialects of french. This last Tuesday, we had Elder L. Tom Perry come speak to us. He talked about the Translation of the Book of Mormon and it was a miracle that it actually happened. It was amazing!!! In my zone we got 24 new missionaries, now it is a mad house in our living quarters. Ohh, Eric and Dawnette, I met this elder whose name was Elder Sabbah. His full name is Norr Sabbah I think. He was here learning Italian cause he's going to Milan Italy for his mission. I think he was in your old ward before you moved. I remember being in the same class as him when we would come. I have about 2 min left on my computer time so yeah. I'm progressing soo much, It's amazing what the Spirit allows you to do in speaking a language. I think I've learned more here than I have in the last 4 years in high school french. I leave for France on Feb 4th, so you can still email me using this email. Anyways, I gotta run. I just got back from doing sealing at the Temple, It was a great experience!!! I love you all and thank you for the letters and everything else.
-Love
-Elder Jex

French!!!

So, how's everything going?? Not much has happened here for the last couple days. Just the same old same old. I did teach my first lesson in French this last Wed. I thought it was pretty easy. I just need some more vocab in my head and be able to understand the investigator I am teaching. We haven't got too many Elders since half our zone left 3 weeks ago but this next week, we'll hopefully be getting 16 newbies. Just so everyone knows, I've neither gained nor lost any weight since I've been here. Everyone said that I'd gain but thats not gonna happen. Anyways, thats all I got for now. Til next week.
-Love
-Elder Jex

New Years!!

Hey, Everyone!! Christmas and New Year's just passed. In here at the MTC, it doesn't feel like it at all!! Only because we don't really don anything other then go back to class and study some more. The MTC did give us little presents and that was pretty nice. And also, My district woke up at midnight New Years day and we had a couple things of Martinelli's. That was really fun. We also had some treats along with playing a rubber band war!! It was awesome. French speaking wise, things arre coming very nice. Because all of my district speaks the language very well, we are focusing more on doctrine and not on grammar. Also, according to our teacher, he said that mostly all of us will be fluent a couple months after we get out to the field. We had a really fun exercise yesterday. OUr other teacher made teach the first and second lesson in french in 3 minutes, then 2 min, then 1 min. It got pretty intense especially when we didn't have to much practice teaching it in french before. But overall, everything is going great!! My french is coming along well and it hasn't snowed in a week I think. Everyday seems to go by so slow but the weeks pass by so fast it's weird. Well, anyways, How did Marshall's wedding go?? or if you're reading this Marshall and Janelle, How did your wedding go. I haven't got too many letters lately but I know why so it's all good. Hope you all had a great Christmas, and had a Happy new Year!!-Love-Elder Jex