So, this week was fun! I did a lot of traveling, sightseeing
and a little bit of chatting with strangers! Just a little bit of chatting...
I always have a hard time wondering where to start. But know that every single day
I learn more and more. I love it. The culture, the people, the language and the
food, all help me in my progression to becoming the person I want to be.
There's so much you can learn once you're outside your well known bubble.
Speaking of the culture, these people have so many cats...
that stereotype for the French is not wrong. Some have anywhere from 2-8 cats.
Good thing I'm not allergic! Well, so long as I don't touch my eyes. The cat
hair is EVERYWHERE. In the food, on the table, on the chairs. One time, I had
my leather bag on the floor by my chair while we were teaching when a cat comes
walking up and decides to sharpen her nails on it. I had to pray right then and
there for the strength not to drop kick the cat. But every time I see a dog, I
pet it:)
I do all the cooking in the apartment. I make an amazing
dish with sauté vegetables and rice or couscous. My comp absolutely loves
it. It's not too bad if I say so myself. She says she hasn't had a good meal
enough to make her want to have it over and over again. So I guess I'm REALLY
good, I just try. She also loves my music which I was able to transfer to my
tablet and play off my blue tooth speaker. Got it! She took some of my music
and I took some of hers. It's awesome.
We had Lunch with Maité who is a member! It smelled good and
it was pretty good, until desert... we had Guinea which is like a pigeon and
had baked vegetables with it. The only part I didn't like from the vegetables
were the cooked tomatoes. I don't like cooked tomatoes but it was fine:) Then
we had Mirabell Tart for dessert. It's this fruit cooked into like a pie of sorts. It
looked super good and smelled good. Then, I took a bite and nope. Nope. It was a blessing to have the ice cream
brought out. So the ice scream helped a
lot with the taste. I had to pray in between each bite so I wouldn’t barf all
over the table and or gag. I ran out of ice cream at the last 3 bites and I had
to just endure. Maité looked over at me and saw me going really slow and said,
"ha-ha, look, she's getting really full." ha-ha yeah, no. In between each bite I had to mentally prepare
myself before I made a fool out of myself by gagging. On the last bite I
couldn't control it. I gagged but I hid it very well. I don't want to eat
another ever again. I told my comp that it was a struggle and she told me I
need to get used to it because that fruit thing is this city’s favorite dessert
dish. Oh great!! But other than that I had a great time. I learned a lot and
had fun with Maité. She's super nice and knows Sœur Wall (Kitchens) mother!😉
(one of my teachers back at the MTC.)
On Thursday we had another rendezvous with Joseph who is
from Sudan and speaks Arabic and enough
French to get by with us but it's still difficult. Anyways, we talked about baptism and the plan
of Salvation and he seemed to understand and believe it! We asked him to come
to church with us and he said he would! We also went to talk with Iman who is a
less active to come to church and help translate for Joseph on certain topics
in case he didn't understand because she knows Arabic too and she said she would come! She hasn't come for a while. She was
just baptized this last April. She
was converted in just a month, very
fast.
Later Thursday night we headed up
to Luxembourg for exchanges with the STLs. (Sister Training Leaders) They asked
us if we wanted to come up or they would come down to us. Of course we’ll come up! Why give up the chance
to go to Luxembourg for a night and a day!? Luxembourg is about 2 hours away by train
ride. The view is so beautiful. I'm not
kidding I cried. I got teary eyed. "I can't help it, it's so
beautiful..." (Name that movie). Who would've thought that Luxembourg is
such a beautiful country? I didn't think so before. I thought it was just a
small country no one ever talked about. On the contrary!!
Once we got there we went straight to the other sister’s
apartment and ate something. They weren't there because they had a rendezvous. It felt like a sleep over that you traveled 2 hours by train to a different country to have. Lol. Anyways, it was really fun. Sœur Staley was my
companion for Friday. She's super nice and goes back home in November. She's
from Boise Idaho. She's super nice and knows a lot of things. First we went
finding and found someone! Her name was Sabrina and she has 3 kids. She doesn't
have a husband and was looking for something different in her life. So she was
open to us and was very nice. We met her in a park (by the way, super beautiful) and
was willing to meet with us again same place the next day. I won't be seeing
her again since I leave that Friday night. We left and made sandwiches back at
the apartment to go.
We made it to the gare (train station) at 1 for our long
ride north because that's where we will be teaching Cynthia, Sœur Staleys ami.
Cynthia lived in Germany and was found by the Elders there. They taught her for
2 weeks until she moved to Wilwerdange Luxembourg. The Elders transferred her
to the Sœur missionaries to keep teaching her. Cynthia is very smart. She knows German, Luxembourgish, and French.
She understands the importance of this gospel. When we talk to her she does
everything we ask her to do, and when I say we, I mean, missionaries because I
haven't met her yet. But I would soon! In about 2 hours! She lives way up North
about 30 minute bus ride from the border of Germany. ISN'T THAT SO COOL?! I
love being so close to so many different countries! Anyways we were going to
finish up talking about the Plan of Salvation and baptism. We started by asking
her if she had any questions. She asked us, "what is baptism and how can I
prepare for it if I think I’m ready?"
We told her that was a perfect question and that we will be talking about
it in our lesson. We asked, " Do you think you're ready?" She said,
"yes!" So that was cool. We told her in preparation for baptism there
are a few more commandments to keep and learn about. She said she knew about
the law of chastity and that her fiancé and her are not living together and
that she knows we also don't drink coffee so she drinks less and less everyday
so she can eventually give it up all together. Look at her!! Her heart has been prepared so much! We gave
the lesson and she understood and really liked it. No one else in her family is
interested, but they respect her. Same with her fiancé. So she'll just have to
be an example for them for now. I testified on everything and I spoke more than
I usually have. After Cynthia told me I
speak very well for only being here a week and a half. YAY! The spirit was very
strong. We asked her when she would like to be baptized and she wants October
1st. So she's going to be baptized then! We might Skype so I can see too. It
was an amazing experience, even if she wasn't my ami. (investigator)
After we finished, we headed back. It was raining with a lot
of fog high up in the mountains. Up north is so much different from the city
part. Well yeah, obviously the country side is different. It was cool to see that drastic change. On
the train ride you get like a huge tour of all Luxembourg. There were many cows
and... "OH, NO...." (sheep), all over the big hills. They're hills to
me because Utah has mountains and I still haven't seen the Swiss Alp’s. Anyways, it was a beautiful ride there and
back and I got amazing pictures. We also totally died (slept) on the way back.
On Saturday we had breakfast with Kenny. She's Tahitian and
has lived here for 5 years. She's been a member for her whole life. She's been
married for 2 years but while they were dating her husband was seeing the
missionaries. They got sealed in the temple 1 month ago. They’re soo nice and
very funny and fun to be around. Her sister Kate had just come in Friday
evening from Tahiti to visit for a week before she goes to school in Spain.
Kate, served a mission in Australia and so she knows English. Kenny is very
jealous that she can't speak that good of English. Her husband Jesse, is a
police officer and wants to be closer to his unit/force so in a month they'll
be moving to Toule. So they won't be in our ward anymore. For breakfast we had,
pancakes with Nutella and Speculoos which is like gingerbread butter and it was
to die for. We also had baguettes with cheese and jams, salami and pain au
chocolate and other raisin filled bread from the bakery. SO GOOD! Then we had hot
chocolate with orange juice and Apple juice and more juice and all I wanted was
water but it all was so good. I was very
full at the end. Afterwards we shared a
message with them. I started the message with a scripture and I
bore my testimony. I like bearing my testimony, it the easiest for me. After
Jesse, her husband, told me that I speak pretty good French for only being here
for a week and a half. YAY again! That's the second time I've heard that now.
Sunday was really relaxing and nice. None of the people we
asked to come to church with us showed. Joseph isn't responding to our
messages. I hope he isn't done with us. He was doing really well. We had a new rendezvous
with a new ami that we met. We noticed that he was a little awkward but he
was managing well. He wasn't homeless or
anything so we knew it would be ok to teach him. We met at the park at 15:00 Sunday to give our
lesson. He got pretty close to Sœur
Giles while talking and noticed she had tan lines on her feet. She said that we walked a lot and then he
offered to give her a massage. Lol. She said no I'm good. When we finished he
got up first and told us that we were the most beautiful Americans he's ever
seen and that we’re angles sent from God. Then he kissed us both on our hands
and walked away. Both of our faces were really red I'm sure. Needless to say we’re
giving him over to the Elders to continue. We have come to the conclusion that
he's looking for a mate and has never had a girlfriend before and doesn't know
how to handle those kinds of situations. HAHA!
I'm doing pretty darn great and have learned a lot. I'm safe
and having fun. We went bowling today and watched a girl fight 7 security
officers on the bus on the way to the grocery store. She kept yelling she was
pregnant and would spit on him and kept hitting him. Boy was it a sight to see.
Geez. They were giving her a citation because she didn’t have a ticket for the
bus. All is good no worries!
Life is awesome. Seriously when you have a good perspective
and a positive outlook everything is so much better. Before my mission I
usually had a bad attitude and was very impatient. But ever since I’ve been trying to work on my
attitude things have been so much better. From the Preach My Gospel book in the
very last section called adjusting to missionary life it says:
As you serve your
mission, prepare to embrace change. Life as a missionary will likely be
different than anything you’ve yet experienced, but if you come with a positive
attitude, exercising faith in the Lord, and anticipating the need for patience
with yourself and others, the Lord will reward and bless you. Remember the
counsel given to the Prophet Joseph Smith at a very difficult time in his life:
“Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall
be for thy good."
Once I read it, I realized that this is very true. I’ve seen
many blessing in my life and I realize that he has rewarded me with happiness and
peace in all things. Seriously, I love
everything here and don't feel coming out here is a sacrifice at all.
Thank you all for everything
Love always Sœur Hunt
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| Bowling on P-day |
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| Wall mural |
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| Luxembourg |
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| Luxembourg |
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| Luxembourg |
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