FORTY-SIX

Bonjour à tous et à toute!

So this isn't a big deal or anything, but I'm

Booya! That's so weird to think about. But I guess it was kind of inevitable. (Catherine made me that for my birthday. Cool, huh? She knows my style!) I had a wonderful birthday! It was definitely different from any one that I've had before and I loved it all the same! I was able to give a talk yesterday on the Book of Mormon and launch a challenge to all of the members of the branch to read Le Livre de Mormon in thirty days! Which was quite funny to me because basically one year ago I launched the same challenge to my friends and readers (okay, that makes it sound like my readers aren't my friends. You guys are my friends. And apparently the only people who send me mail!) But, along with last year's challenge I had put my photoshop skills to the test and made a bookmark to help keep track of the reading. This year I was able to put my photoshop and French skills to use and come up with this:

The French version!

I was quite happy with how it turned out! (And while I was working on it I was able to do a little chatting with my lovely mother through email. That was the best birthday present I could've asked for!) I made one for every member of the branch and few extras to use during the last year of my mission.

Anyways! Back to missionary life! After church we went over to the Dupont's in La Rédemption for dinner. It was pretty funny because we were all joking that we were going to be celebrating France's Independence Day instead of my birthday (to keep it a surprise for me...) and when I got there they were flying the French flag. I love that family! We had the best chicken I have ever eaten... ever! and homemade chocolate eclairs! 

And then! Catherine's sister, Fanny, has had this long-standing tradition to have people write, draw, doodle, paint on her walls and I was honored to be invited to make my mark!

le ciel - the sky

So I got a little bit of photoshop, acrylic paint, and....

...watercolors in this week! Not bad! I haven't painted in years! I really like it!

So that was my birthday! The rest of the week was great! We were able to help Eric and Sheila with some of their computer problems; see Raymond and Rollande and talk about faith (and listen to Raymond play on an organ that he made!); and go to a nice little café for a lesson where we totally got stood up! It was great! At least they had super delicious crêpes! 

I hope you all had a fantastic week! And thank you again for all of the warm birthday wishes! Speaking of warm things and seeing as I don't have a picture of a sunset this week, enjoy this picture of me celebrating my last day as a teenager!

You can always find another reason to celebrate!

Bonne semaine!

Elder Ellis