Hi! I'm starting to freak out about byu stuff. I'm not sure what to do about where to live. I emailed a friend from freshman year to talk about maybe rooming together, but overall I just feel helpless. Isn't the whole housing rush kind of going on right now? Probably I'm just going to have to trust you (mom) and hope for the best. My main thing is living close to campus. I'm also kind of scared about ending up in a ward full of really old people. So... Let me know what to do about all that. You are the best :)

I've been talking to Pascale from time to time and she likes to send me little text messages :) She is one of the biggest reasons that I love my mission. If all goes well she should be sending a letter to mom very shortly. This week she told me how much, and why, she loves me. She said that for her I am the replacement for one of her sons that died very young. She has had all this love stored up for so long that she wasn't able to give to him, and so that is why she has so much to give to me. And then in addition to all that she expressed thanks for me helping her come back to church after a point where she thought she was finished with religion in her life. I have it all written in my journal. Anne-Marie in Lille got baptized this weekend (yay!!!!) and at the baptism Pascale decided on a date (March 31) and asked Elder Godfrey to baptise her :) I'm so sad I'll miss it, but mainly just happy that it is happening.

Okay, now back to real life in Nantes: we had one of those teeth-grittin' weeks where everything keeps falling through and you just have to keep working through disappointment. We had a lot of rdv's fixed with new people, but it seems like the majority didn't go through. Our little family that we found last week told us that they weren't interested anymore after we told them that the church couldn't buy them a train ticket to belgium. We met a really cool guy on the tram that said he would come to church, then didn't, then fixed a rdv, then didn't show up. We fixed another rdv with a different guy, but when we showed up there were just a bunch of his hippie friends smoking and listening to loud music, and then for 15 minutes one of them gave us the "alma the younger sales pitch" telling us to eat, drink, and party and that god understand because we're 'only humans.' We fixed another rdv with a guy that lives about 30 away, and right before we got on the train to go see him he called and canceled it. We had a different rdv with a less active girl and she called to cancel it right as we got to the bottom of her apartment building. Blech, blech, BLECH!! So, we didn't have any new amis this week, which is just about the only thing that we need. It's a good thing I have Elder Murdock here. He is hilarious and makes everything seem better.

Being a trainer is teaching me so much about how I'm actually going to raise my real children. It's all about leading by example. Elder Murdock follows me like white on rice. I sneak a cookie out of the fridge at church? He sneaks a cookie out of the fridge at church. I start my studies a little late? He starts his studies a little late (not that I ever do that). It's amazing to me how much I'm learning. I can't expect him (or my future kids) to do anything that I don't do. I'm realizing how dang good my own parents are! It also helping me realize everytime I do something that I think only affects me, but that Heavenly Father sees. I mean that if I notice how much imperfect stuff I do because of Elder Murdock innocently following my example, then how many of my imperfections does Heavenly Father see, and then forgive me of. Thank goodness that we believe in a merciful Father :) How can one not be filled with a love for God when he thinks of that?

This morning we went to the Museum of Naturel History with the other companionship. It was so cool. They had tons of dead animals, fossils, skeletons, shiny rocks and minerals, and a live snake exhibit. I felt slightly queezy while watching videos of snakes striking, strangling, and eating rats. Those things are scary. I also know can tell the difference in between venemous and non-venemous snakes. At the museum there was also an exhibit called "très toucher." It was a giant hands on exhibit. I layed on a bed of nails, among other things.

Well, that's about all for now. It has been exceptionally beautiful weather here. I think that the first few days of warmth are when people are the happiest during the entire year. Yesterday I didn't even were my coat! What a scandal!

I love you!

Elder Coburn