It's a Wonderful Life: Day 12

Today was a great day. We got up semi-early because we had to meet the ward in Paris at 8h30 to take the train out to Versailles for stake conference. I didn't mind because that meant that I got to spend an hour with Mook!! I sat by him and Elder Gardner on the train. Right as the train was about to leave, who else showed up but our wonderful investigator Esteban!

It was fun to get to know him a little bit better even though neither of us could understand each other to well. Michael translated all of our jokes back and fourth to each other. I got to tell Michael about how one of my best friends Sister Jenae Brett is doing her outbound from temple square in the San Jose mission. I also told him how there is a missionary in the San Jose mission that is visa waiting and will soon be in France. He is companions with Elder Gallette, who was a French elder serving in San Jose that Michael became friends with. It was so fun to have missionary's experiences cross over into our lives.

When we got to stake conference I also got to meet Michael's mission president and his wife. Ally's parents are serving a mission in Riverside CA right now and they were in the MTC at the same time as the Staehlis. So we talked with her for a little bit. She seems really nice and when I told her I was Elder Helvey's sister she said that she could tell because of my smile. I dont know if its true, but almost everyone has said that we look alike.

During the conference Elder Maxwell, Michael's zone leader, was doing half of the English translation. All the English speakers had headsets and Elder Maxwell was in a sound box in the top of the theater. It was so funny to hear him translate. Most the time he is pretty good at it with few hesitations, but the last speaker just about killed him. According to a few of the elders it was a really good talk, but he was using ornate language, which made it very difficult to translate. Most of the time Elder Maxwell was just umming into the mic. Finally he says under his breathe, "You've got to be kidding me..." and then the other translating missionary took over. All of the BYU students were having such a fun time listening to him. I gave him a hard time after the meeting. So fun to see that he stills struggles sometimes with the language.

Another fun moment was after the conference I went to talk to Michael, who was sitting about twenty rows behind me. He was talking to an elder and as I waited to talk to Mook, I realized I knew him. I said to him, "I know you." Then I looked at his name tag and it was Elder Scoville! Michael's second comp, who he loved. Of course I got excited that I was meeting him and told him how much Michael loved being with him. They were so cute together! They could have been brothers the way they acted towards each other. Both were trying to convince me that the other one was the best guy ever. It was so fun. I guess Elder Scoville is the assistant to the mission president now so Michael told me that. When he said that Elder Scoville brushed his shoulder off like he was super cool and then hit Michael saying something like "what the heck?" I guess he doesnt like to be introduced by his title lol He seemed super down to earth and like an awesome guy. Of course I asked him when he was going home and he said December 17th. Elder Gardner nudged me and gave me a face, but Scoville and Michael didn't see. I just laughed.

After that, I saw another sister missionary that I totally recognized, but I could not place her. I went over to her and said, as I seem to say a lot, "I know you." She asked if I went to BYU-I and I said that I use to. I was trying to think of what class I had met her and we realized we sat next to each other last summer in our adolescent development class. She was a super sweet girl and one of the few people I even talked to at BYU-I. We chatted for a minute or two and she told me how nice it was to see a familiar face. She has only been out a few weeks.

The ward was suppose to have a picnic after the conference, but no one really knew what was going on. A few of the missionaries were going to go, including Michael and Elder Gardner. They didn't have food so I told Michael I could accidentally buy some for him. At first he said no, but as I walked about he called after me and motioned me to come back. He decided that as long as I was breaking the Sabbath he might as well get some food out of it too. So I bought him and Elder Gardner sandwiches.

It ended up that there really wasn't an organized picnic and the missionaries decided it would be best for them to head back. I told Michael that I would see him tomorrow and off he went to the train. It is so fun to hang out with him. He has some really exciting news, but he told me that I couldn't tell it, because he never has anything exciting in his letters any more because I spoil it. So you will just have to wait till the morning to find out his awesome news!

Tonight we had dinner with our family. Highlight of the meal I told them that the Monterey Bay Aquarium was close to my man instead of telling them it was close to my house. They laughed at me for quite awhile. It was pretty funny, but I felt dumb lol

That sums up the day. I am so excited to read Michael's letter tomorrow to get his take on the week and so that I can talk to everyone about his news! Mom and Dad you will think it is cool. I'm getting ready for another week of classes. Even in Paris sunday nights aren't really fun...