Bonjour!

Salut famille et mes amis! I can't believe it's already p-day again. It's been a semi-eventful week (which for the MTC is pretty good haha). We lost our teacher Sister Lindsey this week since she's getting married soon. She was a big blessing to the district (and she served in Montreal so she knows what she's talking about). She wrote me and the rest of the Elders a nice letter before she left with some good advice on it. Her fiance also served a French speaking mission and they met at the MTC since they both worked here haha. It was great to hear from all the cousins and family this week. I miss you all (especially since as I write this you're fearlessly battling massive rapids on the untameable Snake River). Last week we got 40 new Elders in our zone. To help manage this, the MTC presidency called another counseler for our branch president so now he has three. It's been cool having more French speaking missionaries. We also lost three missionaries this week. They were the Haitian Creole speaking elders, called to serve in Florida. 2 left Monday, and 1 this morning. Since the one who left this morning didn't have a companion yesterday, I (being in a trio) became his companion for the day, bring my grand total number of MTC companions to 5 haha. But I guess he doesn't really count that much. So I had to sleep in his room last night, and he was supposed to wake up at 2:00 this morning, but at 3:30 a knock on the door came and he woke up and had to hustle haha. After he washed his hair in the sink, grabbed his bags and left, I trudged back over to my room and went back to sleep. On sunday we had an awesome fireside. It was given by Jenny Oaks Baker, who is the Daughter of Dallin H. Oaks. She is also one of the best violin players in the world, having held the first chair position in the National Symphony Orchestra. She said getting into this is like getting into the NBA for a basketball player. She also has recorded various movie soundtracks and solo albums. She would share a personal spiritual experience, and how her testimony grew from it, and then she would play a song that went along with it. She was incredible to listen to. She played Amazing Grace, I need Thee Every Hour, This is The Christ, and I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Her kids were also there and the four of them played I am a Child of God together. They were incredible especially for how young they were. Her three daughters played cello, violin, and piano; and her son played the classical guitar. Her son was the youngest at four years old and he got excited each time he was showed on the screen haha. It was awesome. I finally ran into my cousin KJ Guard today, although I didn't remember what he looked like at all cause I'm pretty sure I haven't seen him since before I can remember, but I knew his last name so I asked his first and it was him so we talked for a few minutes before heading to the next thing on my list. He's going to the Phillippines and seems to be enjoying his time here. The language is coming along better and better. I'm still nervous for the field though (I think I've gotten used to the fact that my investigators and people I "contact" are just my teachers haha). But nevertheless I'm still super excited to get to Montreal. I finally get to host the incoming missionaries tomorrow! I'm excited haha. It's gonna be cool to see it from a different perspective now that I've been here for a while. Outta time gotta go. Love you all! Elder Brenden Oxborrow

Week 3: "Sometimes I close my eyes and picture myself in a fireside when I want to sleep"

Dear Family and friends,

Three weeks down and only six more to go... It's going so fast yet so slow. It's been a fast week since last Tuesday. The days are starting to go faster and faster. It's also been a pretty eventful week. About last Wednesday, my companion Elder Rice had started having some appointments with a doctor here. Just a few days later on Friday, he found out he was being sent home so he could get taken care of. We were both pretty shocked. He had been such a blessing for me since I arrived here. He had great study habits which were exemplary for me and exactly what I needed. He flew back out to Oregon Saturday morning. The district misses him. As for me I got put into a triple companionship for a couple days, and this morning I was paired up with a new companion, Elder Garcia. He's a cool guy and I think we'll get along pretty well. He's from St. George (Desert Hills HS), and did a semester at Dixie before coming on his mission. He has been here three weeks longer than I have, but his old district got here three weeks before he did, so they all just left for the field. He will be serving in New Caladonia, and from pictures I've seen, I'm pretty jealous. His only concern is the spiders there which grow larger than a person's hand haha. I've been continuing to teach discussions in French about six times a week. Our two "Amis en progres" (progressing investigators) are played by our teachers, Brother Sybrowski, and Sister Lindsey. They both served in Montreal. The roles they play are from investigators they taught from their missions. The other lessons we teach are to volunteers who happen to know french (usually RM's). I haven't taught with my new companion yet since he's been my companion since this morning and it's P-day. I'm not yet sure what level his french is at but hopefully we'll work well together. It's been pretty hot this week. I kinda wish it would rain, but it does feel good in the morning and at night (for the 30 seconds it takes us to walk from our classroom to our residence hall). I'm realizing that for me the biggest sacrifice of coming on a mission is music. I miss music haha. We're not allowed to even listen to Motab or anything like that until we get to the field. Still enjoying it and taking it all in. Feel free to write!

Elder Brenden Oxborrow