The end...to the beginning!

Psych!! Hehe I have one last email to send out! I just had to with these last few days which were just so awesome I couldn't keep it to myself 😉don't worry I don't have enough time to make it too long. I just wanted to share some of the miracles I have seen.

I'll just start off by recapping a little of what I said last week. We were in the process of preparing for Samantan's baptism but we realized that we wouldn't be able to be here these next 4 days leading up to his baptism because we would be in different sectors to do exchanges with other Sœurs! So that was a little stressful, but the exchanges were so fun and I absolutely love the Sœurs in our zone. They're literally so on top of things and just hard workers. We went to Tour first with the wonderful équipe Sœurs Kennington and Newsom who are just a riot and down to earth. I learned that they always make the work fun and have a good attitude about everything. Then we went to Évry which is a little bit more south of Paris to visit the Sœurs Johnson and Stucki! They're crazy cool and so inspiring to me! Very hard workers, they're always making sure they are helping their amis progress and find people to teach. They don't let go of people easily haha. Had a blast with them 🙂

Friday we came back home and went straight to our DMPs house (our ward mission leader) so that we could prepare for the baptism the day after. Haha.

I'll say that everything with this baptism came together last minute, but it all turned out amazingly. He was baptized by one of his friends in the young men's class and it was so special. The spirit was so strong, it was true happiness. I loved every second of it, especially when it was all done... Took a load off my shoulders haha.

We were able to do service for the soup kitchen which was wrapping presents for those who wanted their gifts wrapped. I was so stressed, I didn't want them to wait too long while I wrapped and I wanted it to be nicely wrapped, let's just say that now I’m a pro at wrapping presents. I did that for 2 hours haha. It was super fun though.

Saturday night we had some good amount of venez & voyez invites left over (venez et voyez is an opportunity for members to invite their friends, less actives to come back, and visitors to come feel and see what we believe and just to learn more about our Savior Jesus Christ), so we wanted to do our best with giving out the rest of our invites. We got at least 141 invites that night... Pretty sure we gave out way more invites than that but we couldn't keep up counting them all. So it was so, so awesome and we felt super accomplished.

Samantan needed to be to the church on time for his confirmation Sunday... Well, it turned out that he slept in late and was going to be about 30 minutes late to church and so that would've been too late for him to be confirmed so he would need to do it the next Sunday. Samantan felt so bad and was doing his best to still hurry. I personally was so, so sad. So discouraged that my one job was to get my recent convert confirmed, and he wouldn't. It made it seem like we weren't on top of things and it was so hard. So as the brother conducting was about to announce the sacrament he paused for like a good 10 seconds. We were ready to give him the shake of the head saying he wasn't here to do it. But then right at that moment Samantan walks right in.  If he was a second later, he would've missed his chance. He had run all the way from the tram stop to the church. He was asked to come up and be confirmed and you have no idea how loud our sigh of relief was to know that it worked out. I literally cried because I was so happy that we were blessed with that miracle. Lol... Again everything regarding his baptism was last minute/second, but it all turned out so good.

The Venez & Voyez was so good! What a success. We had a 100 people come and usually on average we have 80 people attend. We also were able to have another miracle where out of the 141 invites we extended last night one person came!! She was so sweet and was happy we invited her and that she came. We were able to exchange numbers and we look forward to seeing her again soon!!

At the end of the church meeting. The bishop announced that the ward had a tradition they did every Christmas. They called us to the front and boy were we nervous. Then they brought us two big red bags filled with candy and food in thanking us for our service to their ward and the bags also representing all the other missionaries who served here in the past. It was so touching and so kind. I told you the members are amazing here. On top of that, the members made sure that we were taken care of for Christmas. We were stuffed, had lots of laughs and just had a great time. I’m so sad to say goodbye to them.

God is a God of miracles. He loves us so much. He knows the efforts and sacrifices we make and he adds his power on to our efforts to make great things happen. I'm again so grateful for this amazing work I was able to be apart of. I wouldn't have had it any other way. It's a blessing in my life and has changed me so much. I'm not the same as I was before. If we place ourselves in His hands then he make us into someone we never thought possible. Don't get me wrong though... I’m still not where I want be yet. I'm working on it still.

I love you all. Take care the rest of this week.

It's been a pleasure being a full time missionary for the Lord and humankind.

À plus ✌🏻 ( till later)

Je vous aime!! (I love you)

Sœur Hunt

Exchanges with Soeur Kennington

Exchanges with the Soeurs from Tour

Gift wrapping for our service

Christmas in the city of Tour

Gifts from the ward

From our amazing ward!

Saying goodbye to some of the best people!

Our ami (investigator)

I still have time

Wow. This might be my last weekly email from my mission. I mean I could write next week, but I'm not sure how next week will go so I don't want to take any chances. 😉

It's hard to tell you what a mission is like. There are wayyyy too many things I could say. I don't think anyone can totally understand what a mission is like unless you have served yourself. But I guess that's the same thing with just about everything in life. You never know until you've experienced it. So, I’ll share what I've learned to give you a taste of what it's like!

--- We can't do anything without God, so pray all the time and for anything. I promise with all my heart he hears and answers them. We are LITERALLY his children and he loves us so, so much.

I'll just say personally, I know God answers prayers. He has a great sense of humor. There was a time where I wanted to be pushed. I wanted to see where my weaknesses were, so I could work on them. Well, let's say when you ask to overcome your weaknesses, he'll give you a reason for overcoming them... if that makes sense. God is in every moment of our life and everything we have is thanks to him. We can't do things alone. Try asking him humbly for help and he can turn you into someone you could never have imagined before. There are times that I felt so incredibly sad, scared, alone, but God, I know for a fact was with me every step of the way.

---Trials and change make us stronger.

President Kimball said “…if you knew what adversity does for you, you would pray for it!” Well, it's true. We know that the only way we progress is if we have something that gives us a reason to be pushed. I have such a strong testimony that the trials and challenges of life really do help us grow. They may seem like it's the worst thing ever, you may have the hardest time, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.  In the end you always look back and those experiences usually end up being the best thing that have ever happened to you. Your most favorite memory because you'll look back and think, I made it. I'm better today because of it!!

---We are all imperfect, so we have NO RIGHT to judge other people. Work on fixing yourself first, so you can help someone else become better.

We have no idea what people go through. We all have our different trials and different lives and different paths and again we're no better than anyone else. We are all on the same path together and we need to help build each other up and not point out what we know we're doing wrong already. You need to love them, try to understand them and you learn more about yourself in the process. You feel better about yourself knowing that you served someone and were able to help them and do something good. True happiness is when you lose yourself in the service of others.

---There are ALWAYS people around who will love you and will help you overcome your hard times.

Every time I was going through a hard time, there were people that showed me true kindness, who showed that they really cared about me. We need people who will be sincere, loving, and someone who will listen to what you have to say. I appreciate everyone who helped me grow, made me laugh and cried when I cried. We are all doing our best in life to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. The ultimate person who loves with a pure perfect love.

A mission is hard, but it is the BEST thing you could ever do in your life!!!! Please, the most important thing you can do in your life is to help others come unto Jesus Christ leading by example. By living his gospel to its extent, you change dramatically for the better. I'm still not where I want to be, but that's why I have so many more days ahead of me. I still have lots of time to learn and grow and be a missionary when I get back home.

A mission is a miracle worker. Even just these past two days were full of miracles. God was all over it. I was able to work with a young man named Samantan (Sam) who is 17 years old who has been preparing for baptism for a little while. Friday night we decided to make sure that he would be baptized by the 22nd. So, we planned and told him our plans, and everything worked out perfectly. He agreed with everything and was so excited. He has a really rough family history, but he passed his baptismal interview the next day, Saturday night, and now he’s moving forward to baptism for this Saturday!!! I'm so blessed to be able to see one more baptism before I go home.

One other person I've been able to know is a tender, very humble man who is from Pakistan. His name is Raja and he has become one of my best friends. He too has decided that leaving his family and culture to follow Jesus Christ is the true and best path he could ever choose. He wants to be baptized and if it weren't for the lessons we still need to teach him he'd be baptized tomorrow. But his date for baptism is scheduled for January 12th. I'm sad I can't be there in person but I'm so happy for his desire and willingness to make the right and best choice. Don't worry I'll have to Skype him ;)

This ward is literally the most charitable ward I've ever met and I'm going to miss these members so badly. They have taught me so much on what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. They really apply the gospel in their life and they are a light to everyone around them.

The gospel changes people's lives. Christ changes people's lives. He and his gospel gives us reasons to have hope and peace. They make the quality of your life better!

I love my mission. I love the people I've met. I love the language I've been able to learn and speak. I love France. I love the work I've been able to do. I love My Savior and his perfect plan of Happiness. I will miss this life, but it's not the end. I will always testify of our Savior Jesus Christ because that is what I promised when I was baptized. I will keep his name in my heart forever. I will be his disciple preaching his gospel for the rest of my life because that's where I find most joy. True happiness is what I'm searching for.

I love you all and À bientôt (see you soon) 😉

Sœur Hunt

District P-day

Night time in Orleans

The view from our apartment

Paris Saint-Germain is the Paris pro soccer team

We made fries!

Fun Times!

Hello family and friends :) I hope your week has been great! Here’s a quick rundown of my life this last week!

Last Wednesday we had the pleasure of going to Paris again for our interviews with president! He’s an amazing man who leads very well and I admire him a lot.  Afterwards we stayed so that we could go to the temple with our ami Gabriel! He’s so, so awesome.  He said he loved the experience and felt the spirit very strong.  After that we went to catch our train but missed it by 2 minutes. So, we slept over at the Paris STLs apartment :) I got to see Sœur Bell again, I love her to death!

Friday was fun. There was a huge rain storm and we also got frudged (our ami canceled on us) so we ended up making cookies and then visited a less active family who we will be seeing tonight!

Saturday, we helped another missionary equipe (companionship) in Chartre with their baptism. It was great. It was with a 9-year-old girl who is now the only member in her family. The rest of her family are still taking the lessons. They moved here from Egypt! So great.

We also had the chance to meet with Nicolas who asked great questions.  It’s so awesome to see him starting to progress! He might even come to church next Sunday!

Then we had a Skype call with Kokou who is so cool. He is very smart and wants to find out if this is true! We just hope to see him more often! He works a lot.

All in all, our amis are great and they teach me so many things. I love them all so much!

On Sunday we had a less active come to church who hasn’t been for a long time! We even had an ami and two random people who moved here from Pakistan! So many miracles and I know God helped us a lot. We will be meeting with the two new men on Tuesday.  They’re super cool!

Anyways that’s my week in a nutshell. I love you all lots and maybe I’ll talk more next week ;)

Keep on that Light the World program, I’ve seen so many great things come from it!

Avec amour, (with love)

Sœur Hunt

Merry Christmas Season!!!

Our kind of section - sans alcool (alcohol-free)

Sushi! I've finally learned to use chopsticks... kind of.

Soeur Packer

Soeur Barraclough

Back and Forth!

Hey folks! I did not realize what this past week was holding for me. It was a doozy! Let’s just say we skipped a lot of dinners and spent a lot of money on trains. But all the same I loved it a lot! It was so much fun!

Let’s starts with Tuesday, we woke up, got ready and then we received an email that we were heading to Paris that night at 6pm (it’s a good thing we read our emails...). Anyways we had to change our plans and fix things at the last second so that we could get a train. I was able to meet with the district as well and they're awesome!

First thing that went crazy: and I’ll start with a little back story. The Sœurs in Anthony invited all the Sœurs to sleep over Wednesday night so that we wouldn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn for our wonderful mission conference (with Elder Johnson of the area 70). It was Wednesday and Thursday. We had the conference Wednesday and so we were asked to come down Tuesday night. Well as we went, we decided it might've been a good idea to let the Anthony Sœurs know that we would be a little late. They responded very confused and so it turned out that they had no idea that we were supposed to be at their place Tuesday night instead of Wednesday night. So, as we wandered about Versailles trying to find their apartment, we ended up going to their old address which was on the mission repertoire, and we found ourselves at a senior couple’s apartment far away from where we wanted to be ha-ha. Don’t worry the Sœurs came and got us and we made it home safely.

Wednesday was amazing. It was a very spiritual experience and we all learned a lot. Our mission President and his wife are amazing, and they lead us so well. They and the mission couples of the mission made us a very cute Christmas feast to help us all feel more at home. It was so nice of them all. I also had the opportunity to give my going home testimony which ended up good. The spirit was very strong as we listened to all the missionaries going home speak. Elder Johnson is also very inspiring, and he helped answer a lot of my questions.  It ended up being a very edifying experience.

After the conference we had an amazing opportunity to visit the temple for a few minutes. It was the first time I had been back since my very first day here in France. It was nice to be at the temple again. But we couldn't stay for long because we had to catch a train before, we missed it.  We ended up going as fast as we could running through metros, while caring a box full of invitations for venez & voyez (Come and See) which was kind of heavy, with some Elders going to the same place as us. At one point we got lost and so ended up asking a man (because there was 7 minutes left until our train left), where to find our right gare. He told us to go straight, go down 2 flights of stairs, cross the busy street, then go across the bridge and through a mall and then we would get there... yup. We gave up and tried to find the Elders that lost us amidst the chaos of the metros. Lol what an adventure. So, we exchanged our tickets and got back home eventually.

Thursday was nice because we actually had time to be in our sector and catch up on the work. Although we had another mission conference with all the leaders in Versailles again, on Friday so we had to get another train. They forgot to make our train ticket order, so we ended up getting it at the last second. We should've taken the train the night before, but we didn’t because we didn’t think about it... so next morning (Friday) we wake up at 4h30 in the morning to be at the conference by 9h am. We made our train but realized that I had left my tickets at home... it was a blessing that no one came checked us! so we had to buy me another one.... but the conference was awesome! It was very insightful for me to see how things work in the mission and how they make goals and plans. I was glad to be able to take a little part in it :) Elder Johnson was there again as well and we were able to talk about new things being added on to the mission. We are gaining two new key indicators (our weekly missionary goals) which will be focusing on less actives. So, on top of working with our amis that we teach and find on the street we also are focusing on reactivating the less active members! It’s really cool considering, sadly, that there are a lot of less active members over here, so it’ll be a really good thing that we are right this second implementing it. A lot more things happened, and it was great!

For coming back home we had bought our tickets for later, but the conference had ended earlier than expected, so again we had to exchange our tickets, so we could get back home even on time for our ward council! We got home late because our train was delayed 45 minutes, but we got home and went straight to the church :) Speaking of the ward, they're amazing (I just had to say it again) and they're so willing to help us with missionary work! They're going to help us with reactivating the less active members and promote the Venez & voyez (Come and See) program for the 23^rd of December! We hope it all turns out very successful :)

Amidst all the craziness back and forth from here and Paris we did have some great rendezvous with our amis. Gabriel is awesome and is searching. He preaches with his dad at their church, but he loves meeting with us and he’s so curious in learning so much about what we believe! We've asked him if he would be willing to join the church and he said he would think about it because it would really change his life. We plan to go to the temple with him on Wednesday, we hope if all goes according to plan, it should be a great experience!

Then we had another call with an ami who we taught the word of wisdom to over the phone because we hadn't seen him all week. It went well, and it was fun!

Anyways not much else! It’s getting long so I won’t keep you too much longer! Just one more thing, to Éclairez le Monde! (Light the World!) Lets all join together to make the world better by lighting the world, our community, our family and our faith!

I’m very surprised that I’ve still been able to write a weekly. I guess I just really love you all ;)

Anyways talk later and have a blessed first week of December!

Love,

Sœur Sarah Hunt

The gorgeous city of Orléans 

Joan of Arc's home

I spy the Eiffel Tower in the distance from the speeding train window

Paris Temple

Merry Christmas

Soeur Bell

ORLÉANS

Holy Cow! I’m so happy to be here! I thought I’d never make it to the Paris area! This place is AMAZING. The ward is so tender and incredible. The people we talk to everyday are so nice (even when rejecting us). God has really blessed me so much! He’s also blessed me with an awesome companion!

Voici, (here is) Sœur Rudolph:

From: Wyoming

Talent: everything

Something she loves: store bought cakes

Life Ambition: to go cross country skiing in Norway

Fun Fact: loves climbing pine trees

This is going to be FUN!!! Bring it on! Ha

This last week feels like it was actually two weeks ago. So much to do in a day with such little time, but its amazing work and I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Recap before transfers. It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to my friends in Nantes, Favor and Ruth. They made us another goodbye dinner which was the exact same thing as last time, but this time they put "less" chili pepper in it. LOL, even the size of a spec of dust is too much for me!! Favor wanted me to finish this time so that’s why she put less spice in it. Just for the record I DID FINISH IT the last time and the second time haha. I just had an ulcer afterwards. Other than the spice, it was yummy African food. It was so sweet of them to do that for us though. I hope to come back and visit them!

Then we moved on to transfers and I said goodbye to the wonderful Sœur Franklin. She will be missed.  I really enjoyed being her companion :) We learned lots together and experienced so much!

Sœur Rudolph et moi (and I) have had so many great things happen to us together so far. First person we met was an African man who was super intrigued in learning more! Until we found out he was actually interested in basically just being our boyfriend. Well, he has a Book of Mormon and then he'll wait until Elders come 👍🏻

We had ward conference on Sunday and the members are literally so awesome! Maybe I’ve already said that, but I don’t mind saying it again! I introduced myself in front of basically two wards because the Blois ward was combined with us. We had great food afterwards. Soeur Rudolph and I packed our plates and got really full. Then while we were sitting outside the gym a member came up to us and asked us if we got food. We said of course, it was delicious! She asked if we had gotten the hot meal. We got a little confused. She saw the look of confusion and began explaining how there was the cold meal with all the salads and appetizers and then there's the actual meal and then the dessert.... well. You would think that for as long as I have been in France, I’d be used to how many meals the people here have, but apparently not. Someday I’ll get used to the mission ha-ha.

En tout cas, (in any case,) I don’t have a whole lot of time, so I’ll run for now, but hey there's next week! Love you all tons and I hope you have a great week!

Don’t forget to start Light the World! Service is starting this Saturday! Find something you can do light up the world a bit. It needs it :)

Love you all

Bisous, (kisses)

Soeur Hunt

Soeur Rudolph!!

Thanksgiving dinner!

Our apartment in Orleans

Our little Christmas tree 

Study room

Sitting room

Kitchen

My study area

Two views from our study room

Cathedral in Orleans

Joan of Arc home 

Downtown Orleans

Great to see Soeur Morrison again!