Greetings from Reims. You guys are the best.

This week's awesomeness didn't exactly measure up to last week's awesomeness, but we're we're still breathing. We had to push back both of our baptismal dates. Fred is pushed back 3 weeks and we're not sure about Ivan. It's super frustrating. It's super humbling.

However. Why was it a great week? Lot's of reasons.

-Elder Pieper, Adam (recent convert), and I are all going to read the Book of Mormon in 4 weeks. Today is day one. I'm excited.
-The tram in Reims opened this weekend. It is way neat. There were lots of creepy entertainers on stilts all over town. We laughed so much. In the evening we watched the fireworks from our balcony.
-I found a Pokémon card in the street.
-We celebrated my 10 month mark
-Even when we had really bad days we could just look at each other and laugh about it.
-We had a rendez-vous with a man that referred himself to the church.
-We both tasted champagne for the first time. Just kidding.
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-My testimony was strengthened.

So... you know that little rule that says missionaries aren't allowed to have pets? Well. I accidently bought a goldfish at an open market last Pday. It was only 2 euros. I named it Schtroumpfie ("smurf" in french) and put it in an old pretzel container with a bunch of shells and stuff. So Schtroumpfie chilled on top of the fridge all week. Awesome right? No- no no no. Schtroumpfie was bad news bears. From the moment we got him everything started going wrong. Like, everything. So by the time friday rolled around we decided to get rid of him. We called Guillaume, a recent convert, and asked if he likes goldfish. He does. So the next morning Schtroumpfie found a new home. And wouldn't you know it? As soon as we gave away that stupid fish the week started getting better again. And that's where we are now. Devil fish.

I don't think I'll ever have a goldfish again in my life.

We've talked a lot this week about trials and adversity. I think that this week was necessary for us. It led us to reconsecrate our efforts. Even though everything kept falling through this week, I think we got the tiniest taste of the dissappointment that Christ feels when we choose not to follow him. We love our amis so much and it literally hurts us when they make bad decisions that push them further from Christ and baptism.

I also learned that miracles come into our lives when we believe and act, not just when we expect. The moment we become casual in our work, miracles can cease. I think that is a becoming a problem in our mission. We want to be great, but we expect it to come for free.

I love Reims. I love Elder Pieper. This may be are last full week together if he gets transfered. We're praying that he doesn't. This transfer has gone by faster than anything. ever.

I love you.
I smile when I think about our family.

Elder Benny Boy C.

I never ever ever ever want to leave the moment I'm in right now. This has been the most MIND BLOWING WEEK. True or False: La vie est trop belle...... TRUUUUE!!!!!

I had a VERY happy birthday. Why? I didn't have a single second to think about myself. All the plans and fun stuff I wanted to do got completely pushed aside because we had SIX lessons in one day. We are pooped, sunburned, and smiling. I still haven't even had time go to a french restaurant for my birthday... maybe I'll have time next week.

Before I came to Reims I had only ever had 10 lessons in one week. I found this is one of my old emails: "I don't even know where to start. Let's get the big picture first: This whole transfer the zone of Bretagne has been trying to get all the companionships to have 10 lessons a week. Impossible right? We're in France and nobody believes in God, right? We had ten lessons last week! We are teaching more than I have been my whole mission."

Well that was a month ago in Brest. This past week we had... 22 Lessons. We don't have time to breath. Next week we are going for 30. We have two amis that are getting baptised in two weeks on April 23. First, Fred. He is the African student that speaks english. He has changed his life more than anyone I have ever personally seen. He has come so far. He signed a paper for us telling us that he is never going to smoke or drink again. Then there is Ivan. A 25 year old student from Russia. He has been an ami for a long time and we invited him to baptized a couple weeks ago. At first we weren't sure if he was serious, but after this week we see that he definitely is. So, in two weeks they will both be getting baptized at the same baptismal service. IF THAT DOESN'T MAKE ONE HAPPY, then I got another phone call from Michel in Brest this week, and he set his baptismal for May 8. I'm thinking about going out to Brest for that but I'm not sure if I want to spend that much of my personal money on train tickets. Then you remember Sony from Evry? He is apparently getting really close to baptism.

I LOVE IT. God has a direct hand in this work. I bore my testimony at church yesterday about that. I told the ward that I have never seen as many miracles as I have seen here. I said that NOW is the time that Heavenly Father invites us to take part in His work. NOW is the time to take hold of his mercy and stretch a hand out to others. I said "Behold, Reims is white, already to harvest..."

Otherwise, we had an fabulous first lesson with Yiping, a young Taiwanese single mother who knows a member. She gave me chocolate for my birthday. The better birthday present though was when she said she "wants the life the we have in the church." We gave our ami Sinclair a priesthood blessing in his little apartment because he was really sick. The next day he was completely better after being bed-ridden for a week. He know has a testimony of the Priesthood. We played basketball saturday morning with Ivan and Fred so they could meet each other and we could talk about their baptisms. We found a note in the church mailbox that said "My name is François, I'm interested in your church. How can I be taught?" So he is driving from his home in Epernay (30 minutes away) again to see us on thursday night. I really feel like he'll get baptized soon just from talking to him.

MIRACLES.

The sun is shining, and it's been GORGEOUS for two weeks straight. Reims is a beautiful city. I'm twenty years old. We made a pizza last night. The COOLEST PERSON is in this ward. His name is Adam. He is going to go on a mission soon. I assoshiate with him. We slept out on our balcony last night. We have more food than we know what to do with. Last week was touché week. The tram in Reims opens this week. The cathedral is celebrating its 800th birthday in a couple weeks. Elder Pieper is one of my best friends ever. The church is true. I'm in France.

I love you. I really really do.

Elder Ben

Alors. Elle est belle, la vie. On se lêve, on travaille, on se couche. Tu répètes. Donc, c'est poulet blanc et blanc poulet. Il ne faut pas chercher midi à quatorze heure.

Last week was like a New Years Eve Party... This week was like a hangover.

Well, actually no, I was just sick for half of it. NO FUN. It was like a sore throat on day, and feverish stuff the next few days. One night I was teaching English class and I almost passed out while writing on the board. I had to go sit down. It was the first time I've really been sick on my mission. The thing is, is that even though I was sick I just felt like a worthless piece of crap sleeping around in the apartment, so for the most part I kept up our hectic schedule. We had another sweet week with tons of lessons and tons of success, but it was just really hard at the beginning of it. But, I'm all better now.

Some funny things this week:

Elder Pieper and I both chose 6 apostles for our "general conference fantasy team."
The bishop tried to give us the tithing records when we asked for a ward list. "just close your eyes" he said.
April Fools Day. Period.
We gave Fred a Snow White sticker. It relates to his baptism because of the scripture "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow."
A african woman came up to us at a bus stop and kept whispering in our ears "I have a secret!" She wouldn't tell us though. She told us she wanted us to call the prophet so she could tell him.


General Conference rocked. It never fails to lift me up. It also never fails to make me really miss home :)

This week we taught Fred the Word of Wisdom in preparation for his baptism. We were kind of scared because he is a young college kid, so obviously he is probably not going to be perfect on the whole "don't drink, don't smoke" thing. Well, we taught it and he told us that it was something he really wanted to do. The next night he called me and told me that he had resisted going to the party with all his friends because he knew there was going to be drugs and alcohol there. Fred! He said "I want to see you guys like as much as possible because everytime I do it gives me so much strength to be better." He is legitly one of my heros.

I remember when I was back in Evry I would always be jealous of the sisters because they had so many people to teach. I said to myself "If I could have so many people to teach, I would be SO happy." Well, right now on my mission I AM that happy. We teach so much! It's exhausting but I'm infinitely more satisfied than I ever was in Evry. Next week we are going to try to have 20 lessons.

One reason why Elder Pieper and I are a good companionship is because we are both huge optimists. For us, everything in the world is "awesome," "sweet," or "chouette." We're like two guys from the South and everything we see is "peachy, just peachy." As if that's not enough we actaully do speak with Southern accents. I don't know why, but his accent brings out my southern accent and we just have a peachy old time.

Oh! I got a phone call this week from Michel in Brest. He finally talked to his advisors and he will be getting baptized in a couple weeks :) That makes me feel like everything in Brest was worth it :)

Our Heavenly Father is watching us. He loves us. He has sent angels to be all around us. The world may change and degrade as it will, but His work with go on unhindered. That is something I have come to now. I love you guys. Sorry this email is kind of scatterbrained. I hope you have a sweet action week :) You're the best :)

Love,
Elder Coburn

OKAY. There is no where to start.

I have never ever been this busy. I love Reims. Here is some cool stuff that has happened this last week:

We had 16 lessons.
We set a baptismal date.
We went to Paris 3 times.
I went to Troyes 1 time, Elder Pieper went to Brussels 1 time.
I got a free baguette from a restaurant when all the bakeries were closed.
We used the baguette to eat swiss fondue.
We found a french 24 year old on the street and went to the church with him and had a first lesson.
The 24 year old prayed for the first time in his life.
We met an african 27 year old at a bus stop.
We told the 27 year old the Joseph Smith story in his apartment the next day.
My daily planner had disney princess stickers on it.
I got up and sat by a lady on a bus that was crying.
The lady has a rendez-vous scheduled for tomorrow to learn about God's plan for us.
We started an English Class
4 people came to the first class.
We've eaten with members two many times to count. No joke.
We had interviews with President and both of us begged him to leave us here another transfer.

So... you could say we're happy. Our baptismal date is with a man named Fred. He is African, 25 years old, he speaks perfect english, and he is studying computer science. We've only had 3 lessons with him, and we set his baptismal date in the 2nd. He is amazing. He came to church this week and loved it. He feels and recognizes the Spirit when he is with us and that has given him a desire to change. When we told him that we had prayed and chosen to 23 of April for his baptism, he said it was a miracle because that's his brothers birthday and his brother has always wanted him to change and be better. What a perfect birthday present. It's clear though that it is something he is doing for himself, not just his family.

The whole thing about sitting by the crying lady on the bus goes like this: I was on a bus in Troyes during exchanges for about a 30 minute ride across town. About 3 seats behind me there was a middle aged African lady that was crying. She was like, CRYING. She could hardly control herself and her sobs echoed throughout the bus. Everyone in that bus (even me) just kept looking at her. You could tell that everyone was getting annoyed and irritated and just wanted her to stop. But cried she did, and there was no stopping her. I wanted to help her, but what on earth could I do? As the bus ride went on I started thinking about Christ. I though a lot about Alma's words when he says "mourn with those who mourn; yea comfort those who stand in need of comfort." Is that what Christ would have done? Didn't I covenant to be like Christ when I decided to be baptized? So, after about 15 mintues I pulled a sticky note out of my planner and wrote in french "I don't speak french, but I know how to cry." My companion saw me writing it and was like "what are you doing?" I said "I'm about to do something I don't want to do." Then, as the whole bus watched me, I stood up and walked back to the African lady. I could literally feel the entire bus looking at me. I was scared to death and didn't know what to do, but I sat down by her, gave her the sticky note, and put my hand on hers. The rest of the bus then seemed to disappear and all that was left was me and her. She pulled out a pen and scribbled "my mom just died." I wrote back that I know she will see her again. I asked if I could call her later and through her tears she gave me her number. Then she got off the bus.

If my entire life has led me to the point where I could perform one single Christian act like that, it was worth it. If every sunday school class, every sacrament meeting, and every early morning seminary class is what it took for me to learn to be like Christ even for just a split second, they were all worth it. Jesus Christ was always the one to be counted on when everybody else backed down. Christ was the one to bear the burdens of others, even when he was spit of and rejected for doing so. Our mission now is so simple: Live like Christ.

As soon as we got back to the little apartment in Troyes I fell on my knees and thanked Heavenly Father for the experience he had given me, as one of his servants. I realized however, that there was one little part of the story that wasn't quite right. Back on the bus when I told my companion that "I was about to do something I didn't want to do," it was a lie. Of course it was something that I wanted to do! It is what I yearn for! Satan has such a way of holding us back everytime we are about to make a good decision. He is the author of fear and he will do anything he can to instill it in us. The only way to get rid of the fear is by turning to the author of light, Christ.

I did end up calling her during the weekend. We talked for several minutes and fixed a rendez-vous for the missionaries of Troyes to go teach her the Plan of Salvation this week. I pray that the Spirit will be there.

So... Is anyone else as excited for General Conference as I am?!? It is basically the equivelant of the super bowl for missionaries, only better. I don't even like the superbowl anyway.

I know that you guys are currently CRUISING THE CARIBBEAN WITHOUT ME, but: the weather here has been an absolute dream as well. 60s and 70s and sunny every single day. Not that we have much time to chill outside and enjoy it, but still. It's a dream.

I love you guys a lot. Even if you're getting tan on a cruise.

Love,
Elder Coburn

HOLY CRAP I'M HAPPY.

Reims is my favorite city, Elder Pieper is my favorite companion, and we have my new favorite investigators. The past four days have been literal bliss. We have been working our tails off and having SO MUCH FUN. Elder Pieper basically a mix of Richie and Kirby. He is from Kentucky and also went to BYU. We talk nonstop.

Our lives are basically running in between lessons, buying patisseries, eating at members houses. Reims has a ward of about 70 people. It's kind of sad though because in this city there used to be 400 members, and 10 missionaries. I'm not really sure what happened, but it is starting to look better again. They just had two baptisms here the week before I came.

We found a new investigator this week named Fred. He is African and speaks English. He reminds me a lot of Sony who we found back in Evry (who is getting ready to get baptized!!). We had our first lesson with Fred two days ago. It was one of the most spiritual lessons on my mission. I cried during the rendez-vous for no apparent reason. It was just that good. He sent us a text afterwards thanking us for everything he felt, and then he ended it with a african-like, "Be Blessed." We found another new ami this week who is in college to be a blacksmith. Hah, yeah. His little apartment is full of swords and midevil stuff. There are lots of other amazing people here too.

Once again: can I tell you how much I love life? IT IS SO GOOD. And if that's not enough, it has been warm beautiful spring weather all week. There are flowers blooming everywhere. Reims is the champagne capital of the world so it is surrounded by grape vinyards. The are going to be GORGEOUS when they all start getting leaves here soon.

For district meeting we go into Paris every week. We have sisters in our district which just makes everything better. The elders are just more.. mature. Our district is sweet.

Well, don't you dare worry about me. Life rawks. Reims rawks.

Elder Benjamin Coburn

REIMS :)

Well the transfer email came today and I am leaving Brest!

I am going to Reims!!! It is in between Paris and Belgium. It's really hard to pronounce. Its kind of like "ramce" and you don't pronounce the m.

Umm... I've never been there but I'm reallllllly excited. Apparently it is huge and has one of the prettiest cathedrals in France. Look it up.

I'm am going senior companion! I'm excited/scared, but mainly excited. My companion is Elder Pieper (pronounced piper). He is going into his 3rd transfer. I can't wait to meet him. I heard he is exactly like me. He is from Kentucky (closer to home than anyone else in the mission) and went to BYU. Yesssss :)

I'll be sad to leave a lot of specific things in Brest, but I wanted to go and Elder Huff wanted to stay, so we're all happy :)

I leave on wednesday. I'm sooooo excited.

My new address is

Elder Benjamin Coburn
Les Missionaires
135 Boulevard Pommery
51100 REIMS
France

Love you!!!!

Elder Ben Coburn

Crazy week. We went to Angers again for another conference. This time we drove our car to Rennes (about 3.5 hours) and then rode trains to Angers (about 2 hours). Our mission is gigantic. It is going to expand again in June to include Nancy and Strasbourg. So... basically it's over 8 hours to get across the mission on the world's fastest train. Apparently it's about the equivalent of driving from Salt Lake City to Vancouver. Yeah...

This week we had two really neat lessons with an African named Mounmom (almost like Mormon, huh?) He lives an hour away from us so we saw him on the way to, and on the way back from Rennes. He is single with 3 grown up kids. We actually had one rendez-vous with him a few weeks ago but didn't think he was going to go anywhere. But so this week we saw him again and spent almost our entire lesson on prayer. He said that he couldn't pray. He is a lifelong long Christian, he just has never been able to pray in his life. He says that the words don't come as soon as he opens his mouth. SO, that rendez-vous passed without him praying and us telling him we wanted him to pray next time we saw him.

The next time we saw him we had one of the most spiritual lessons I've had on my mission. We could see him changing during the lesson as he began to feel the Spirit. At the beginning he was closed and stuck on his ways, but he just slowly opened up the whole time and by the end we were all almost crying. It came time for the closing prayer and I said "well, have you succeeded in your prayers since last time?" Then he was just like "let's pray." And... he said a prayer for the first time in his life. It was one of the best I've ever heard.

During weekly planning last week I made the goal to be able to play the mission song on piano by zone conference. And well, zone conference came and I hopped my little self up on that piano bench and pounded out my own little rendition of our mission song complete with key slides down the piano and everything :) Shannon was kinda my inspiration for that one because I remember her playing it one time for the Columbus mission's song. Our's is better though ;)

There's a ton more stuff that I should tell you but I don't really have time. Time is a funny thing. It's kinda frustrating. I just want to talk to you guys for real. Speaking of talking however... phone call in two months!

I miss you guys. You are the best family ever. I like to brag about you.

Love, Elder Coburn... the 4th?