Sunday

Today was definitely a Sunday, but I feel I probably learned just as much, if not more, today than any other day.
I got up early today to go to church.  The night before I told my host mom about it and she said she wanted to go with me, but when I told her it was 3 hours long she changed her mind.  My professor was going to go though, and since she lives close I wasn't going to have to travel alone.  Last minute though my professor had to do something else so she just gave me some quick directions and a good luck.
I got to the bus stop early, and within a minute or two the right bus number showed up, but not the right name on it.  I was so confused that I just sat there, and it went by without stopping.  I wasn't sure if that was the bus I was supposed to take or not because it was 5 minutes early.  I ended up asking an older lady at the bus stop.  She was very nice and willing to help, but it was kind of hard because I didn't really know where I was going.  I told her I was trying to get to the Mormon Church, and it turns out that she had visited there before. She gave me a bunch of advice on how to get there and mentioned several buses.  She mentioned the bus she was taking too, so I thought I got lucky and I'd be able to travel with her.  Her bus came though and she told me it would be better if I waited the the 22 bus, the one I was supposed to get on before.
So she left and I went to look at the bus schedule because my host mom told me that not many buses came on Sunday.  It turned out that by that time the next 22 bus was only ten minutes away, but then within a minute it was there.  Either all the buses today were really early, or really late.
I got on the bus and knew I had to wait about 20 minutes before my stop.  The trouble was I didn't know where my stop was.  I figured I'd wait about 15 minutes before asking anyone.
A few stops down from me a girl from UVU got on.  She didn't know any better than I where we were going, but at least I had someone to be lost with.
A few minutes later, Laura, my friend from UVU, noticed that there was a couple dressed up and had three kids.  She suggested that maybe they were Mormon and going to the church.  I didn't want to just go up and ask them, so instead I turned my Livre de Mormon I was holding so the words faced them.  The next time I looked at them the lady waved at us, and it turned out we were right.
Two other members of the church got on the bus before me got there.  They were all very friendly with us and willing to help.  They showed us to the church and directed us where to go.
I don't know how it happened, but I ended up with the High Priests for Priesthood.  At first I just assumed that High Priests and Elders were together, because that's how most of the Spanish Branches on my mission did it.  It's not a branch here though, it's a ward, and they have their Elders and High Priests separate.  I didn't realize until a little into the class though.  They didn't seem to mind that I was there though, even though I was a lot younger than they were.
While in church I was reminded of how I had a Spanish institute class when I first went to UVU.  It was my goal in that class to share/say at least one thing each class.  I decided that here I should have the same goal.  In Priesthood I did share a little bit, but in Sunday School it was a little harder.  I had somethings that I felt I could say to contribute, but it was harder to follow the flow of the lesson, and I didn't want to jump to a part of the lesson we had already past.  We were talking about temporal and spiritual riches, but there was this old guy that looked like Bill Cosby that talked a lot, and I couldn't understand him at all.
Obviously in Sacrament meeting I didn't say anything, but I understood all the speakers except for one, who was another old guy.  They also had six missionaries in their ward.  After we talked with the sister missionaries and they invited us to the Young Single Adult FHE they have in the ward every Monday I think.  That might be fun to go to.
Everyone was super nice at church, and very welcoming.  There were a lot of people that spoke English (they even had an English Sunday School class (the idea kind of reminded me of the Spanish Sunday school class we had in Benton City on my mission)).  I wonder if they got enough English speakers that they'd start and English Branch--that's kind of a weird thought.  Mostly everyone spoke to me in French though, and I was glad for that.
My Professor and her daughter ended up making it for Sacrament Meeting.  They, Laura, a girl named Klarissa, and I were the only ones from UVU that came.  It seems kind of strange to me that a group from UVU would only be 50% Mormon, but it is.
After church the five of us went over to Lu Mai Nice Festival that was close to the church.  It was a neat little festival they have every Sunday in May to celebrate Spring.  They had people dressed up in traditional French clothing, traditional music and dancing.  I was getting the nerve up to try to do some of the dances when the others wanted to go.  It remind me a lot of Pirates, even though my Professor said it was traditional French culture and not Pirate culture.
After that I went back home.  I was thinking about going out and trying to find someone at the park playing batanque that would let me play with them, or going to a Catholic Mass, but I ended up falling asleep instead.
This evening Devin said he wanted to go out and do something since he'd been inside all day.  We decided to go for a calk along the promenade, and we invited our host family to come too.  Josie and Jullie came, but Jaque didn't.  It was a beautiful evening walking along the sea.  Josie insisted on getting us ice cream, so we got some ice cream, and walked back home.
I really liked today because I wasn't a tourist, I was more with the people doing what they do.  I liked going around this week and seeing all the different sites, but truthfully it got a little boring after a while. The rest of my time here I'm going to try to spend more with the people, because that's what I'll enjoy most, and that's how I'll learn French.  Looking at how I learned Spanish I realized that I was never immersed in Spanish.  It really has nothing to be with being immersed in it, but what you choose to do, and who you choose to do it with.  I realized you can very easily go to another country and never learn any of the language.  I don't want that to be my experience though.