April 22, 2013

Hello everyone,

Another good week here. The weather changed again. It's been cold and rainy everyday. I think that it has rained more here these past 3 weeks more than the past year in Utah. I miss the hot weather because it feels nicer and there are people outside on the streets. The other day me and Elder Jackson were on a bus and we had to stop because there was this fire truck in the way. There was apparantly somebody who was stuck or injured or something in their apartment and the doors were locked so the fire men went up to their balcony in the lift thing on the truck and we got to watch as they smashed the glass door with an axe to get inside. There were a ton of people watching because there were like 3 or 4 buses lined up in the traffic jam plus all of the people walking by stopped to watch. Any way i thought it was pretty interesting.

This past little bit we have been teaching a 13 year old boy whose dad used to be a member and step mom isn't so the kids haven't been baptized. They still come to church though because they have an aunt and a grandma in the ward. Any way so the dad finally gave permission for him to be baptized and soon after his little sister got permission too. They are getting baptized this week and are super excited. We have been going through all of the lessons this past week and they are both super awesome kids. I know that they are making the right decision. There are 8 kids in the family and i know they are setting a good example for their siblings. The dad is even starting to put his life more in line with the gospel and from what we've heard might be working toward coming back to church. I love the family. They are are super nice and we have been put through food torture on more than one occasion at their grandmas house.

(Food torture is what we call it when you have huge portions of food and then you finally finish what you have on your plate and you are at the point of not being able to eat any more and then they say oh here elder have some more and pile a heinous amount of food on your plate. You are smiling and saying thank you on the outside but are crying and pleading for it to stop on the inside. By the time you finally finish and make it out of the house you feel like you're going to die the for the next few hours.) French people love food.

Anyway I hope that all is going well back at home, especially with the new baby. I hope that the weather over there is nicer than it is here. I love you all and pray for you.

Elder Swenson