(no subject) [II]

Chaque amis,

I'll let you all step into the shoes of a missionary in France! This week we were spit on, sworn at, yelled at, and of course called Jehovah Witnesses. You might be thinking, why is going through all of that worth it? Well, I'll tell you. Its worth it because i get to walk around all day as a representative of Jesus Christ. Its tough work but I'm proud to bear that name. I also learned one of the reasons why the French dont like Mormons! There is a tv show, apparently, called Les Mormons and it follows around those sects of people who claim to be a part of our church and call themselves Mormon, but they actually aren't. So if you say that you are Mormon in France they all think you are a strange polygamous cult - which is just flat out not true. It's sad to see how much bad one tv show can do, although in actuality it is just Satan trying to stop the gospel from moving forward. Even he can't stop it though and the work is moving forward, slower here than other places, but it is moving forward and I'm glad to be a part of that!

Elder Walton and I only had one rendezvous this week. It was with Maud, who is a 62 year old french woman who knows the church is true but won't be baptized for 2 more years. That Is because she works on Sunday and receives double pay for working weekends and won't really give the option of working on another day a chance. She's ready for baptism though. It was mother days yesterday for France so what we watched the general conference talk "Behold Thy Mother" by elder Holland with her. She was very touched by the talk and the spirit was definitely there. We also gave her some cookies with a little note on it. She was very grateful and have us both the French Biz. 

I'm not sure if this is exciting news or not, but I am the only elder in this mission allowed to wear SNEAKERS with my SUIT. My foot problems have been reoccurring here and to combat the pain the mission nurse authorized me to wear sneakers. So I went and bought some full black nikes, which are super discreet, and have been wearing those. Only two people have noticed, which is good because you get judged super hard in France for what you wear on your feet. Pain is a lot less and I'm super happy about that - now if these blisters could go away... On Wednesday Elder Walton and I went to a podiatrist and he said I needed new inserts. Luckily the mission is paying for those! I get them today, so we will see how comfortable they are and if they help. Maybe I can switch back to a dress shoe! I find it a little amusing because I was a little bit of a fashion guy before my mission and now I'm wearing sneakers and a suit! You can hardly tell though - tender mercy right there!

The only other thing we did this week was bake a lot of cookies. Elder Walton and Sœur Robertson thought it would be a good idea to make cookies for all the active women in the ward for Mothers day. So, that's what we did. It was actually super nice  because out of the 4 or 5 houses Elder Walton and I brought cookies to, we got rendezvous with them and we were able to have nice little chats with the families. One of those rendezvous was lunch yesterday with Nicolas Bourroux and his family. He's in his early 30s and has 6 children, which is A LOT for France. He speaks french, Spanish and English, so it's nice communicating with him. His wife is from Spain and speaks Spanish and French, and understands English completely but doesn't speak it. We had lasagna. It was really nice!

Yesterday we had a 70 come to our ward. I heard he gave great talks, if I understood what he was saying I'd share, we will all just have to believe the members. We also handed out the rest of our cookies to the mothers. I gave some to Giuome and Jessie and when her kids crowded around her she jokingly said to me "pour quoi?!" But then her kids gave me big hugs, that was awesome. 

It's been deathly hot the last few days. Caen has the same weather as Rochester, so I don't really have to explain that. Just imagine walking around in the 80 degree heat, air conditioning doesnt exist, And you're in pants. It's not the best, but I love it any way. 

That's about it!

See you soon,
Elder Molinari


Pictures from a Cathedral from the 11th century

William the Conqueror's tomb

11th century Cathedral

Faith in Christ

Tuesday elder Walton and I had the opportunity to teach Constantine again! It was another really good rendezvous and he asked a lot of important questions. He didn't fully understand how a temple sealing works, so we explained that to him and he expressed some desire to have that one day. Then he asked a question that I think was in reference to him. He asked what if a husband believes and is baptized but his wife isn't interested and doesn't want to be sealed? To me, I think he was referring to himself, but I was excited to help him work through that question. 

At the end of the lesson I challenged him to ask his wife if she was interested in taking the lessons with him. I bore testimony to him that I knew he could find the peace and joy that he wants, for himself and his family, through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the temple ordinances. The spirit is working miracles through Constantine and I'm honored and humbled that I am privileged to see that change of heart in action.

Honestly have no recollection of Wednesday.

Thursday was a day full of rendezvous, we saw Constantine again and talked about temples. (I think I mixed up the lessons I mentioned before with this day. Either way we talked about temples and genealogy.) Then we went to a mangezvous with a member and had beef right off the bone with mushrooms. After we taught our ami, Joel, with a baptismal date and discussed the repentance process and when we would be ready to enter the waters of baptism. Then lastly we went and taught Martihno and his Girlfriend, Precious, about the book of Mormon and I led that discussion.

I fell asleep twice in lessons this week. I'M NOT TRYING TO! I think I'm cursed, as soon as someone turns a conference talk on I fall asleep without realizing it and as soon as the talk ends I wake up; but I don't realize that I was asleep until someone asks me what I thought of the talk and I have zero recollection of it. I'm never going to fall asleep in a lesson again though...hopefully. It's too embarrassing and disrespectful in my opinion. 

On Friday Elder Walton, myself, and the sœurs went to Paris so that we could become French Citizens! My good friend, Elder Tropnas, was also there and it was great to see him again (he was in my MTC district). In just six weeks he has become such an exemplary missionary and is a huge example to me. We had a really good discussion while we traveled to the legality building and back. He gave me a lot of great advice on being myself and how to be the best missionary I can be. He told me if I felt the spirit every day, then I was doing something right. It was super good to see and talk with him, he's a great friend. If there could be one thing I'd change about missions, it would be being able to see the other missionaries a little more often; but it's ok, when we see each other after long periods of time it makes the reunion even better. So just imagine when I get to see all of you who are reading after I have finished my service! That's too far away though, so don't think about it.

Saturday was the finding day in Caen! As I was praying the night before I had a really strong urge to fast, so I fasted that I would be directed to find those who were prepared to hear the gospel. Elder Egbert and I started out the day and found two people! We found an African woman named Barbara and then another man, forgot his name, but the way we found him is super cool. Elder Egbert and I were trying to find a store called Monoprix, so that we could buy a dessert for the lunch break, but we were lost and I couldn't remember where the store was. 

So elder Egbert went and asked a random man where Monoprix was and the man responded that he didn't quite remember, but his wife would probably know. (Funny side note - the man said his wife's name as Madame so and so, and Egbert thought it was a street name. Guess you can never really know the difference between names and words, or streets in this case.) She was buying vegetables, so he said we could go wait for her. We had said nothing about who we were at this point. He noticed Elder Egbert's name tag  and asked if we were evangelists, we said no, and then he said "oh, you're mormons!" Then immediately asked if we had a card for him. We didn't. So he asked for our phone number. Elder Egbert didn't know the Caen number so we just asked for his number instead and he gave it to us! Then he asked if we had anything else, so I pulled out a Book of Mormon and offered it to him. HE TOOK IT! I was so pumped because that was the first book of Mormon that I've handed out the entire mission and it was in such a natural and cool way. Definitely making sure we follow up with him. 

I learned two important lessons that day, one that if you fast with real intent, trusting in the lord, then he will work miracles through you. Second if you are willing to open your mouth and talk with others, the lord will provide those who are ready to hear the gospel. 

Elder Leavitt and I tried contacting in a cemetery, just got a lot of weird stares, but it was fun regardless. We had a nice chat with one old man who didn't believe in God, but still chatted with us.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to watch all three sessions of the temple dedication.  It was a very spiritual experience. The entire temple presidency spoke, area 70 (I think), Elder Anderson and President Eyring. There was a quote that stuck out to me, I didn't get the exact wording but it was something like this, "the gospel of Jesus Christ gives purpose to the living, the temple gives purpose to the dead." Death is not the end, really it is the beginning of a much better life, filled with the joy of being in the presence of our heavenly father and our savior. The covenants we make on the temple are so incredible and I'm glad I get to teach others that they can be with their families forever. President Eyring gave a wonderful talk on eternal marriage. Just being In a temple setting again was so nice. The spirit was so strong and it was so refreshing to be in such a sacred atmosphere again.

The reason I didn't write yesterday was because every missionary in my mission was invited to hear Elder Anderson, of the quorum of the twelve apostles, speak. He only had one meeting while he was in France and this was the meeting. He said some really profound things and I'll share with you the three points he wanted to emphasize.

1. The dedicatory prayer gave France new blessings.
- He blessed the people, the members, and the missionaries. Elder Anderson said it was rather uncommon for missionaries took be blessed in a temple dedication prayer. I thought it was interesting that he said we received blessings that no one else will receive because they were only given to the missionaries at this specific time, in this mission. It makes me wonder why I was privileged enough to be here at this specific point in time.

2. The people are there!
- The people who have been prepared are here in France, we just need to find them. Elder Anderson told us how he knows France is not like Brazil, he doesn't expect us to get hundreds of baptisms a week, but he does know there are people who have been prepared to hear our message and they will listen. "If there are 15, then there are 30." He mentioned baptisms and how we need to view it in a larger scope. Baptism isn't the end, but it's the beginning and it's a part of the entire plan of our father.

3. The temple stands as a beacon to the people of France that the church isn't leaving.
-It took 20 years to make this temple possible and now that it's hear the saints have something to be a little more proud of - to give them a little more confidence. The church is staying until Christ comes again.

My last part I'll mention from elder Anderson was a quote I really liked. "Go home and be the members you are hoping the members here will be." Members in France are much different than they are in America. It's important to remember that you are capable of being that person you have inside your head and can be an effective tool in the Lord's hands. Don't limit yourself to what you are now, life is an eternal progression, so make progress that will benefit you for eternity.

This email is already long, but I wanted to add an entry I made in my journal. To preface this, I have been doing a lot of thinking and self reflection this week. I have been reconsecrating myself to the Lord and to this work and made some important realizations this week. This is one such realization.

From Friday May 19th,
"I've been thinking a lot lately. A lot about the past. The weather in Caen has made me nostalgic for my past. The days where Kristoffer and I would play games together, I would enjoy the warmth of the outdoors, and get to wake up early to go to school and see all of my friends. It's not to say that I'm homesick, but I feel that I am, in a sense, longing for the past and wishing to return there because there was comfort, freedom, security, and lack of responsibility. In my opinion, one feels this way because of the realization of responsibility. They know their life is changing, that the past, although great as it was, is not a reality for them anymore.
 I suppose I'm writing counsel for myself. I think in times like these we glorify the past and belittle our futures. In this situation it is important to look forward with hope and with faith. I do not think we all lived great childhoods to have an adult life of disappointment, sorrow, and uncertainty; but rather, we lived a great childhood to have a great future. Optimism is key in this pursuit. Not only is optimism key, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is central to having an excellent future. The gospel gives direction to our lives, it gives us answers to our questions, it gives us hope in hard times, and most of all, it brings an eternal happiness into our homes that can only be known as you live it and carry the light of Christ in you.
 I like to write as if to an audience, but sometimes that audience is yourself. To understand, personally, that everything is possible through Jesus Christ; It is one of the most important truths we can learn. He is always there at the door, all we have to do is open it. We are children of our Heavenly Father! We have a divine birthright and through his son, Jesus Christ, we can live lives filled with joy and know that our futures are bright and filled with light because we are being guided by him, our savior.
Jesus Christ is the way, he Is the truth, he Is the light. If we come unto him and remember him in every thought, then our futures will shine as brightly as him. We need not dwell on the past, only look ahead with a perfect hope of "[good] things to come.""

Through Jesus Christ we can become perfect. The atonement of Jesus Christ can help each of us and can allow us to become filled with joy, even an eternal and everlasting joy. He is the light in a world of darkness and it is his gospel which brings that light and wonderful blessings. This is my testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I'll see you all next week,

Elder Molinari 

Paris

Tower in Paris that looks like Sarumon's Tower from Lord of the Rings

The Joys of a Mission

Salut Mes Amis!

This week was quite an adventure - I truly experienced the ups and downs that the mission offers.

On Thursday this week my companion and I went to Paris for a mandatory legality meeting. The meeting itself wasn't anything special, but everyone who came into the mission with me had to attend the meeting, so it was super awesome to see them all again. The night before Elder Walton and I slept over at the our Zone leaders apartment, which is in Paris, and it was actually a super nice apartment. Very spacious and it has the best shower in the mission, with jets and everything. After the meeting on Thursday, we went back to Caen and made it in time for Soirée Familiale (Family Night)! Our ami, Constantine, came, which was super awesome, but very difficult to manage because he doesn't speak French and I don't understand anyone so I couldn't translate for him. One of the sisters came and translated for him, but he kept looking at me for a translation of what she was saying! I basically ended up talking to him about the book of mormon and had him read the introduction and then I set up a meeting with him the next day!

On Friday morning, I taught Constantine with Elder Egbert, an Elder from Cherbourg. Him and his companion had stayed the night because we had district meeting on Friday. I told him I wanted to teach the plan of salvation because all of Constantine questions are always centered around what the plan of salvation can answer. The lesson went SUPER well. Every single question that Constantine asked would be a question that we were about to answer using the plan of salvation. It was super cool to watch it all unfold. There was a very clear difference between him in this lesson compared to other lessons. He was super excited and his interest kept growing as we progressed through the plan. He was especially interested in the spirit world because he was very concerned about his parents and if they are in spirit prison, so that concern allowed us to transition into temples! We talked a little about baptism by proxy in the temple and how his parents can be taken out of spirit prison if he does the temple and genealogy work for them. He was very very interested, so we are talking more about temples next lesson.

Saturday was ok. Don't really remember what we did, but It was a productive day. While my companion and I were out contacting we had a little disagreement and I said we could address the issue later during our companion inventory. Well later that night we were talking about everything we were doing well and what needed to be improved upon. I gave him a pretty long list of things he needed to improve on and he didn't take too kindly to that. I had just realized there were things I had no idea how to do and that I didn't really feel like I was being trained. He didn't really talk with me for the rest of the night and not much on Sunday either. There is a happy ending to this story though. On Sunday night I apologized for the way I presented everything he could improve upon and we are chill again, but he was very understanding and agreed he could be doing better. I'm excited to see the growth we will have because of this experience! Missions are great, but you need to make sure you are working effectively with your companion because you are on the Lord's time, not your time. If you are having issues in your companionship that hinders the companionship of the spirit and makes it harder to work effectively.

Sunday was so nice! I talked with our ami, Joel, who doesn't set rendezvous' with us very much, BUT he agreed to a meeting this week and also told us he hasn't smoked in 15 days and that once he is finished with the repentance process he will be baptized!!!! That's soooo exciting, I'm so proud of him and his hard work to overcome the challenges in his life through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I also had the amazing opportunity to video call my parents and my brother! What a blessing, it was soooo good to see them again. Being away from them for so long I realize now how much love I have for them andThat same love goes to everyone back home and to all of you! So many people have had an immensely positive impact on my life and I'm grateful for each of you! I was also able to say talk with my grandma for what little as well and that was such an extraordinary joy as well! Yesterday was an amazing amazing day. I love how it all happened on the Sabbath day as well , as if it was a testimony of what amazing things can be done on the Lord's day. 

The reason this email is being sent so late is because I went to Omaha beach today and also Mont St. Michel! One

of Elder Walton's old mission friends was in Normandy with his mom and they invited us to come with them! They were both super nice and we had a really fun time, I even got a short nap in as well! The American cemetery at Omaha was very humbling to walk around. Just to see the 10,000+ Graves was incredible. It fills me with gratitude of the highest degree to think about how many young men sacrificed their lives to preserve liberty. It was a very peaceful memorial and all who were there, I believe, were filled with respect and thanks to these brave men. Mont St. Michel was SUPER COOL. It was just magnificent to look at and behold it. I was blown away with how cool it was. I'll just let the pictures speak for them self. 

I'll see you all next week!

Love you all,
Elder Molinari 

A Week of Miracles

Salut ma famille!

What an exciting week this has been! 

Tuesday was such a cool day. I've been really struggling with learning the language and it was really starting to bum me out, as a result of that I have been doing a lot of praying and started the Book of Mormon in french. Tuesday was such a testimony builder for me of what prayer and hard work can do. Elder Walton and I went to a rendezvous with our ami, Martinho, and we watched a general conference talk in french, that I couldn't really understand. I hadn't had time to read the talk before the lesson so I was going in pretty blind and to make things even better, as soon as the talk ended, Elder Walton asked me what my thoughts were on the talk. Let me tell you, the palms started sweating, the room got hotter, it was the end of the world for me!! It actually wasn't, I just quickly read the heading of the talk in English and started speaking and as I was bearing testimony I needed the word "better" in French and in front of my eyes, as clear as this email is to you, I saw the word "Meilleur" which is the french words for better. That was super cool for me. BUT WAIT! There's more! After we finished our lesson, Martinho was just chatting with us and asked me a direct question that I wasn't understanding at first and then, all at once, the question clicked and we had an entire conversation in French. Later Elder Walton would tell me that Martinho was asking me questions in kind of slang french and he knew there would be no way I could understand them, but then he said I answered them perfectly every single time, without his help. The gift of tongues is so real. To make this day even better, after that rendezvous, Elder Walton and I walked home and I spoke french the entire way back. It's about a 30 minute walk. The gift of tongues is so real. If you are worthy and willing to put in the work and the effort the language will come and the Lord will bless you for your efforts. Heavenly Father hears and answers all of our prayers and if you ask for help in faith, believing that he will help, then by his power he will make all things possible through you.

Wednesday we had zone conference. That was just all the missionaries in my zone meeting up for a meeting. Super long, semi motivational, it was ok though. After that the zone leaders  came over to Caen and we had an exchange. I spent the whole day of  Thursday with Elder Silva and he was a super cool guy! He is willing to talk to anyone and it really motivated me to talk with everyone. We have had awful success finding new Amis in Caen, but when Elder Silva and I went out we found two new Amis! It was super cool to see what opening your mouth can do. We were also able to teach Constantine, who I think is my favorite investigator  (don't tell anyone, I'm not supposed to like anyone more than anyone else.) He is our Russian investigator, who has lived in France for 17 years and doesn't know any french. He is a Russian tour guide, so he never had to speak French, but France just sanctioned Russians, so he is out of work. Constantine has been asking all the right questions lately and I kind of felt like Elder Walton wasn't doing anything about it, so I told Elder Silva what's up and he was super pumped. So we began teaching and Constantine asked a few questions on the subject of what happened to Christ's church and we explained the apostasy to him and he actually understood it! Then we brought up Joseph Smith and he asked why it took 1800 years to restore the gospel, so I explained to him all the history behind the apostasy and he seemed super exciting. We finished on the first vision and he was super excited to learn more. This was major progress since he has never really showed interest in anything before. Then he taught us some Russian for a half hour or so, which made him even more excited because he loves teaching Russian to others. He even complimented me on my Russian pronunciation!

 A random picture in Cherbourg

Saturday our district went to Cherbourg and had a "finding day" where we devote the whole day to contacting new Amis. Cherbourg has had awful luck with finding new Amis lately, so they really needed this. The zone leaders had gone to Cherbourg after Caen and with their help the Cherbourg elders, Elder Leavitt and Egbert, they found 11 new Amis that day. So the elders there were super excited. I went out with Elder Leavitt and we were super pumped to talk to everyone. It was pouring rain, but we didn't care. We spoke to every single person that walked by us and after 2 hours or so we had found 4 new Amis. When all of the missionaries met up later we had found 9 new Amis in total. That's actually insane. We found 20 total new Amis for Cherbourg in two days. That's almost unheard of in France, but especially in Cherbourg. The hand of the Lord was definitely guiding us and putting those who were prepared to hear our message in our path that day. 

My personal studies this week have been focused on opening my mouth and having the courage to speak to everyone. As well as developing christ like attributes and remembering him more. It has been very difficult for me to just walk up to someone and talk with them. It was difficult for me to do that in English and now I'm doing it in a language I don't know. But as I have been prayerfully studying the scriptures and preach my gospel, I have found my fear to talk with people is disappearing. I can pretty much walk up to anyone now and start a conversation with them. You find that most people are glad to talk with you, until you say you're a missionary, but there are people out there that just like to chat and are willing to help me with my french and that has been a blessing for me. Don't expect me to talk all the time when I get home though, just kidding...maybe.  I have also been studying how to be more Christ-like, which is very difficult. It has been hard for me to just love everyone I meet, mostly because I have no idea who they are! So I have been trying to develop the attitude I need to see everyone through Heavenly Father's eyes. Still working on that, so no success stories yet. But, success stories are coming soon to an email near you! 

That's all for this week. I can't think of a funny story that happened this week, just miracles and that is a good replacement in my opinion.

Until next week! 
Love, 
Elder Molinari 

  

Here is the weekly photo of me sleeping and a great eclair, I don't really have anything else! Actually I'll add another picture of me sleeping this week as well. 

(no subject)

What's going on everyone!

This week, for the most part, wasn't very eventful - BUT, there were some highlights!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Elder walton and I woke up, a little too early if I say so myself, and took a train to Cherbourg for our exchange with Elder Eggbert and Elder Leavitt. Cherbourg is a very cold coastal town where it rains everyday and not many people like hearing religious messages, especially from the Mormons because everyone thinks we are jehovah witnesses. Basically they needed a little Elder Molinari magic... ironically we didn't find any new investigators, but that's OK! My warm smiles and blank stares when they spoke planted a seed.

Thursday started off well - I cut my own hair. I'm not sure if I really need to say any more than that. You know when you try cutting your own hair around age 3 and it goes horribly? Well I don't remember ever trying that, so I decided to do it when I'm almost 19. It was so bad all you could do was laugh. I cut way too high and way too short, realized what I did and just laughed. Then I realized the seriousness of the situation and timidly walked downstairs, found my companion and asked if he could fix my mistake. He couldn't see what I had done until I turned around and then he saw, he laughed as well. THANKFULLY he isn't as bad as I am with cutting hair and he was able to make the rest of my hair blend in pretty well with my semi bald spot. After that adventure we went and taught an Ami named Constantine. He is a Russian man who has been living in France for 15 years. He has a wife, four children, and he gives tours to the Russian tourists in Caen. Recently he has been having a little trouble with work because France sanctioned Russians from coming to France and now he is out of work. To make things worse, he doesn't speak any french and very little English. He understands enough English to comprehend our lessons, but we have to speak very slow and can't use big words. I think he will be a great member. He is asking all of the right questions and is very interested in the plan of salvation, Christ's church today, his ministry, and about prophets. 

After Constantine we went and visited an old lady who cancelled our rendezvous with her but needed us to pick her up some water, so we went and gave her that. In return she awarded us with all of the bread in her house, which was all brioche, so no complaints over here. Afterwards we went to our amis house, Martihno, but we didn't have much time with him, so we just shared a quick spiritual message with him. That night we had a mangez-vous with a family from the ward, the Lefoyers. I had a great time there. Both of the parents love old music, the 60s, 70s, etc, so we got along great because I knew pretty much every singer and band from that era. They have three little kids, the oldest of which was baptized on Saturday. Dinner was excellent. We had pasta with potatoes and beef. They knew how to win my heart. They are such a fun family and every time the kids did something, Brother Lefoyer would tell me not to have kids. We just had a really good time. 

Friday Elder Walton and I walked around for the entire day trying to find better shoes and an athletic sleeve for me because my shinsplints were acting up the whole week. We found absolutely nothing, apparently people in France don't have leg problems. It's all good though, I got some ice packs! On Saturday the Lefoyer daughter was baptized and that was exciting!

Sunday was probably the best day of my mission so far. Church was nice, didn't understand anything, but I was able to take the sacrament and renew my baptismal covenants! After church though, Elder Walton and I were invited over to the Drouins home. They have three small children and live about 40 minutes away in a tiny little town, called Honfleur, in the countryside. Guillame, the father is a 3rd generation alcohol maker. He is not a member, but his wife was when she was younger. They decided they wanted their children to be raised with a good moral and religious background, so when they were thinking of church's, his wife Jessie, suggested the church she used to go to, which is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So they've been coming to church for six months and have never invited missionaries over, until now. I'm sure you will be hearing more about them in the future. 
They live at the grandparents summer home, which is actually two complete houses, with three other larger garage like buildings. The property is enormous and so beautiful. It's by far the nicest place I've been on my mission thus far. They have a small apple orchard there, which is nothing compared to the 1500 trees they have in another orchard, a small garden where they grow corn, artichokes, rhubarb, and a bunch of other things. They have a bee house where they get their own honey, a chicken for eggs, and to top it all off a donkey. It's probably the nicest place I have ever been in my entire life, besides a temple. 

Of course their little 3 year old daughter developed a particular interest in me, for some reason, and was glad to entertain me the entire time we were there. She would eat half of something and then hand me the rest and stare at me until I ate it... what else could I do? Just hoping I don't get sick! I had no idea what she was saying to me the entire time, but it's ok because her parents have no idea what she says either. 
The meal was, mhmm, so so good. Jessie said it was a very french meal. We started out with some melon and then the main dish was Veal and rice with some citrus sauce. Yet again, the people of France knew how to win my heart. The meal was so delicious. Then we had cheese and bread afterwards. There were six cheeses and Guillaume told me I was obligated to try all of them. I tried the Roquefort first, which is a super strong cheese. They were impressed. Roquefort is basically complete blue cheese and wasn't the worst cheese I've tried but it was SUPER SALTY. I tried the rest, they were pretty mild, except one goat cheese that Guillaume told me tasted pretty mild. I had to stifle a gag when I ate that one. The only one I really had a problem with was a cheese that was completely gray from mold. That was some serious mind over matter stuff. It was actually super tasty though! For dessert we had strawberries with raspberry glâce. Pretty much everything I love, food wise, was served at this meal - besides the blocks of mold. It was just a really fun visit where we were able to talk and get to know them a lot better, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Before we had to catch our train home, they brought us down to the town. Honfleur wasn't touched at all by WWll, so it was authentic french buildings, absolutely breathtaking. I forgot to mention the property they live on is from about the 18th century. Sunday was super cool. 

A picture of Honfleur

Today Elder Walton, the two Sisters from Caen, and I went to see the basilica of Saint Thérèse. It was a spectacular basilica devoted to her. I don't know much about her or the basilica, so I'll include some of the information the pamphlet gave me. 
Constructed in 1929, it was blessed in 1937 and consecrated in 1954. It's walls and those of the Crypt are covered with mosaics that illustrate the message of Saint Thérèse. The relics of Saint Thérèse are placed under the dome and the relics of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin (her parents) are kept in the Crypt. 
It was a spectacular building, absolutely enormous.

That's all from me!

Elder Molinari

Pictures of the Bailica

 The front of the basilica

The back of the basilica

Inside the basilica

And then a few photos of Saint Peter's Cathedral from the 12th century

Inside the cathedral