CRAZY STUFF IS HAPPENING!!!! Okay, maybe a little less dramatic than that though. I am currently serving in a tripanionship. It is my first time since the mtc. Here is what happened: at the beginning of this transfer Lille received a second companionship of two Elders that are going home the week before Christmas. They were both going to stay for 3 weeks of power finding mode and then go home together. Well long story short- one of them, Elder Collette, had to go home on a seconds notice because he had to accompany another missionary home that was otherwise incapable of getting himself home. So like President called him at 5, he packed and got on a train for Paris at 8, flew to America the very next morning, and now Elder Wood is with Elder Godfrey and I for 1.5 weeks until he goes home for Christmas like originally planned. So that's kinda crazy. We are pretty sad about him leaving but we are having a good time as three.

Side note: at the internet café where I am there is currently a crazzzzy person yelling some African dialect at the top of his lungs inside one of the phone cabins. I wouldn't be surprised if he punches through the glass on the booth and comes to massacre us with glass shards. Anyway, now back to the show:

The Turkey Bowl turned out really good. A lot of our missionaries told us how much they liked the Brother of Jared training afterwards. The football was good, the touchdowns were many, and the meal was festive and filling. It was 20 missionaries, 4 of which were sisters (they made some good pumpkin pie. We were all super sore for at least three days after the turkey bowl. I am glad to here that BYU's season didn't turn out so bad after all. I'll be excited to hear about their bowl game.

As for mom's email... YOU ARE GOING ON ANOTHER CRUISE???!!??!!?!? Okay, I approve. Good job :) At least you being in the Caribbean will mean that we are a little bit closer to each other during Christmas time. And I have no problem with postponing our phone call to the 28th. It will give me something to look forward to even after Christmas is over. It is the epitomy of "saving the best for last." When are you guys going to open presents then? Before the cruise? After the cruise? On the cruise? Oh la la. Lille is a Christmas Fairytale. Holy Crap. Lights and adorable crap all over the city. So good.

We have been doing a lot of finding lately, but not your normal type of finding. We have been madly searching for apartments for the last couple days. There is a senior missionary couple coming to Lille in 8 days and they need somewhere for them to live... bad. So I am becoming a pro at researching, visiting, and renting apartments in French. It's a fun, new, and stressful experience. We are going to go visit a potential apartment in about an hour.

Mom, what events are you hosting at the house? That sounds chic! The house looks GORGEOUS with all the Christmas decorations. You are a pro. I love the little branches and stuff on the windows. I'm glad you guys got to go see Joseph and the Technicolored Dreamcoat. I closed my eyyyes, drew back the curtain, ah ahah... good one. One of the old ap's and I would always sing that together.

About going to the Olympics in London this summer, I sent Brandon an email to see if he has qualified yet. That would be really cool, but also would be kind of hard to organize so soon after my mission. We'll see how it plays out. Would you rather come to France this coming summer, or wait until like the next Spring? Or another time? It will be wonderful whenever we do it. I have lots of good ideas brainstormed ;)

Oh, and missionary work. AMAZING. Everything is amazing. It feels like we talk about baptism in every single rendez-vous that we have.

Hugs and Kisses,
Elder Coburn

Ps, this week I hit the famous "Six months to sexy." aka, six months to get ready for being back on the market. Hah.