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| My socks (It was Christmas, don't tell anyone) |
In case you don't have time to read my email (or just don't) I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I would also love to thank all of you for the prayers and support that you have given me over this past year. I have almost been out for an entire year now and it is wonderful to know and to feel the love from all of you. That love has been a very large help for me throughout my time here. I pray for and thank Heavenly Father every night for all of you, so thank you very much - I couldn't do it without you!
As for the week, I'm just going to tell you about Christmas and Christmas Eve because those were easily the best days!
Oh wait - I will introduce my companion as well. His name is Elder Johnson he is from Calgary, Canada! He is age 24 and has only one semester left at College before he graduates. He is major in Theatre and Dance. He is actually super cool and I am really excited to work with him. He is physically older, but younger in the mission (Transfer 5), so he is mature, realistic, and has the energy to work. He is realistic with the way missionary work is and how it should be done so, we are trying something new this transfer as far as missionary work goes, so hopefully it will pay off - I'll talk about it more once we have all the logistics sorted out. Fun facts about him, he can Tap Dance, Jazz, Salsa, and a few others. He can also do this really cool thing where he raises the volume of his voice and he can get it SUPER loud. He gave me a few drills to do so that I can speak in a louder voice - Way fun haha. He has been in a bunch of plays and musicals and was part of BYU's Theater program.
Christmas Eve was super nice, we had dinner with the Family Brialy and to accommodate for President's rule about being home by 9:30 they moved the dinner from their house to the church so that we could be home on time. The meal was wonderful, we had Foie Gras, smoked salmon, lots of different appetizers, cheese, and baguettes of course!!! For the main dish we ate Turkey, potatoes, and vegetables. The turkey was so good, wow, one of the few times in my life where I have actually enjoyed turkey. The dinner was great, but the dessert, WOWEE that was unreal good. We had Bûche de Noël which translates as a Christmas log. I don't really know how to describe it, it had different layers and looked like ice cream but had the consistency of cream. Either way it was WAY good and I told Sister Brialy It was the best dessert I have had in France...because it was. I was honestly overwhelmed by their generosity and love. Not only did they invite four other missionaries but they also invited six other members who did not have any family to spend the holidays with. We didn't originally have any plans for Christmas day and they invited us to have dinner with them if nobody else offered. Like, holy smokes their Christlike love was manifest to me. They gave up their comfortable christmas eve meal at their home to spend it with others and make sure we had a great Christmas season. The Brialy Family is a great example of what the Christmas season is all about.
Christmas day was pretty fun, Elder Johnson and I went handing out cookies in the morning to everyone and we tried visiting some less actives and people we knew wouldn't have anyone to spend the holidays with. I made a vlog of the whole day, but I don't know how to combine all the clips together, so maybe you can see it when I get home. Either way, we had a fun time and it was a pretty beautiful day as well. For our dinner we had been invited over to the Family Boquillon to eat with them. It was super nice of them because it was so last minute and they were kind enough to let us intrude on their Christmas day celebration. I had a great time and the meal was wonderful. I tried oysters for the first time and they were WAY good too. I'm discovering that I like a lot of seafood, no idea why, it just tastes so good. Again I was impressed with the generosity of the members here who offered us their home for the Holidays. The love the Boquillon's and Brialy's showed us over these two days has really had an impact on me and hopefully I will be able to reciprocate their actions one day as well. We had a fun afternoon with them and then we headed to church for our calls with our families.
It was so nice to SEE and TALK with my family! We had a great talk and they just let me talk, which was nice because I had a few things I needed to get out and they gave me great advice. It is very encouraging to know your family is there rooting for you and supporting you. Yeah, that was really nice to see all of them and I was able to talk to my Grandma through the phone, which was extremely special. I just love my family so much, I'm so happy they put up with me because I don't know where I would be without them!
Well that sums up those two days. Thank you again, Merry Christmas and Have a Happy New Year!!
Love,
Elder Molinari
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| Bûche de Noël |
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