gypsy clans, tasteless fish deaths, and ripping up cardboard

Dear family and friends,
 this week, I got inivited to join a gypsy clan!!!!!!!! The story goes like this. Soeur Bowman and I were just finishing up our nutella crepes (that we were having for dinner, we don't do that every day, I promise) on a bench in front of the gorgeous aix fountain, and while I was telling a really exciting story about whitewater rafting, a man walked past, remarked that we spoke english, and asked to speak some english with us in a heavy accent. We find out that he is from greece and I dont remember his name (soeur Bowman and I have nicknamed him esmeraldo) but he started off by asking us about the missionary program and how it works, We explain a bit and try to steer the conversation in a missionary direction with some religous questions. That worked for like 2 minutes and then next thing you know he is telling us about how he lives at a tent down by the river, he doesn't work, he doesn't have any money, but he wants to start a community of gypsies here in aix. He then tried to convince us that we would save more money by becoming gypsies as well. He told us that every two days, he can make a phone call to a certain number, requesting food and telling them where he is and fifteen minutes later, a bus will appear and give him enough food for two days. He didn't go into any detail into who does this or why, but he called that number right there and then a started ordering food for both him and us.  So we excused ourselves and got away, even though we were really curious as to whether a bus really does come. Sounds like secret combinations to me. As missionaries, we really go through some of the strangest situations. This one was really a first for me.
This week we got to see a bunch of members and less actives and new converts. One of the new converts we saw is named Andre. He is an older french man, who loves the church. he loves it more than elvis, which is a lot( he has elvis pictures all over his apartment) He gives all the sister missionaries that teach him nicknames ( the last two sisters were his blonde and pitbull) He hasn't picked a nickname for Soeur Bowman yet but he picked one for me. I actually don't know what it is he said but it started with a B or C and it has something to do with singing. Him and the other recent convert that we are teaching are great. They love the gospel. The other is named Suzanne. She got baptized just a few weeks ago even though she is  afraid of water and she got to go to the temple to do baptisms just a after her baptism.  We had laguage study the other day with a sister over hot chocolate and we were trying to practice teaching The gospel  and one moment we were talking about the holy ghost and next thing I know  the member starts talking about food in asia. And apparently there is a pool somewhere in china or japan that has more fish than water and for some reason they don't have a taste so they add lots of tomato sauce to add flovor to their products and lots of people die. Either I didn't understand part of the conversation or what she was saying made no sense.
We have been able to meet a lot of really cool people lately while contacting. Not all of them were interested but we had some really quality contacts. We have few potentials that we are really excited about. Also this week, we got to teach two diferent amis. Stephen and Abdoulaye. Stephen is interesting, I dont know what to think of him yet. Abdoulaye is muslim, but he is really interested in learning more about the gospel, he has already done some reading out of the book of mormon which is awesome.
We still haven't gotten any electricity, but everything else is going fine. We have finally started ripping up the huge mound of cardboard in the corner of our living room that was left over from unpacking stuff. We have to rip it all up to take to the recycling so we spend a good amount of time every night ripping up cardboard.  Its pretty fun though. I like the thin cardboard because I can rip through it really fast and I feel really strong. Our neighbors must think we are really wierd with the ripping sound going on every night. :)
Je vous aime tous!
Et n'oubliez pas que Dieu vous aime aussi!
Il est la pour nous et Il veut que nous avons la joie dans cette vie!
à bientot!
Soeur Russell