Can't I just eat a bowl of cereal?

I hope everyone is safe. My heart goes out for everyone in Costa Rica. I can't imagine. That’s so crazy. I'll be praying for all the people there, especially Mary. When I heard about what happened, I had goose bumps. I know that the Lord kept everyone safe. I'm sorry for all that has to happen, having to move missions and all, but everything, I’m sure will work out.

So, remember when I said, that this week would be better? Well, it was. Most definitely the Lord was answering our prayers.

Tuesday we went to Épinal for district meeting and had a finding day while we were there. It was the best meeting we have had so far. Elder Rollins is leaving this week to go home.  His mission has been completed. He’s such an awesome Elder and we will sure miss him being around here, with all his wisdom and awesomeness. I felt the spirit during the meeting so abundantly. I got teary eyed at some points. We were talking about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. My testimony of the Book of Mormon has developed so dramatically. I read a chapter a day with the manual. I've read the whole introduction and testimonies of the witnesses too. It’s unbelievable how much has been brought to my attention. I believe that this sacred Book is REALLY the word of God. I can’t express it in words what has come to my attention. All I know is, these people really did sacrifice so much for this Book. God is real. Joseph is really the prophet who restored the true and everlasting gospel to the earth. How can I deny what I’ve felt from reading and learning the truth of these things?   Its real, and its important.

Another thing that was brought to my attention was what was said from Elder Currie. He said, "20 year olds can sit in a room all by themselves and feel the Spirit together."   That was pretty cool to think about. I'm literally in a different country expected to speak the language and follow the rules. We have no one who is really taking care of us. We live by ourselves and have decided to share this gospel.  We definitely could just sit at home all day and say we’re doing all these things but we don’t.  I guess there is something to be said about missionaries having a certain kind of power about them. I don’t know, it was just a cool thought.

Epinal is a very small little ville and very beautiful and quaint. After district meeting, we went to a Kebab food joint. According to the missionaries here, you haven’t really adapted to mission life if you haven’t had one yet. So it would be my first and Elder Rollins' last. This is only a treat for special occasions. What is a Kebab? Oh, let me tell you in the words of the all knowing, fantabulous,  7 foot Elder de Geus. "It’s a bunch of fried meet on a rod that just cooks and then is put in some fancy bread.  Bon. "It's soo good you can even taste the grease run down your throat." Now I know why this is only eaten on special occasions. There’s a 90% chance you could die after eating it. I’ll just say it was pretty good, but I don’t want to eat another for a good month.

Afterwards we went finding. We had a couple of good chats with some people, but nothing really crazy came out of it, at least none that I know of. I’m still trying to understand why people think we are devil worshipers. We’re of the devil, teach things of the devil. How can what we say be bad?! I just don’t get it, but imma keep trying.

We came back to Nancy on the train which is a 45 minute ride. I love, love, train rides. It’s always so beautiful to watch the countryside fly by. I always fall asleep though. Elder De Geus usually needs to sit in a row all to himself. He’s literally too big to sit at a table. His knees will get stuck underneath. It’s the most hilarious.. We all have a fun time giving him a hard time. Elder De Geus is such a sarcastic person and he’s such an awesome Elder, always making situations light and fun. Gotta love him.

Once we got back we had an immediate rendezvous with Joseph. We met at a member’s house and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I never want to tech without members again. They add so much and help explains things in ways we never could with only 1-6 months experience. Already it’s hard for Joseph to understand us because his native language is Arabic. But he’s always doing what we ask him to do. He believes everything we tell him and he loves to read the Book of Mormon. He reads a chapter every day.  He’s so awesome. The spirit was definitely in the room. Joseph was so intent in listening to us. At the end, we asked him, “If you gain a testimony and come to know for yourself of these things to be true, will you follow the example of Jesus and be baptised?” He didn’t understand us exactly.  We all got very confused when he started to talk about the Scriptures, but we just went with it. I just kept getting the feeling that we needed to explain better and help him to understand what we were asking him. I know we needed to ask him again. We needed an answer. So I nudge my comp. again, to ask him again. I had to do it a couple times, but eventually she did it again with more carefully  and with pictures. He then understood and said yes he would get baptized. We were so happy! Soeur Giles was very happy that I kept nudging her to ask him again. But do you want to know the saddest news ever? He's moving this week. He's moving to Bordeaux. So we get to see him one more time and then that’s it. But we’ll let the Elders down there know and continue to teach him about things. Don’t worry!

We then went to a member’s house to eat dinner. They’re the most sane and awesome people in the ward. It’s a young couple in the ward and the husband is the 1st counselor in the bishopric. The wife is the organist. Its Enyora and Alex. I asked Enyora, "Est-ce que vous pouvez m'enseigner le francais, sil-vous-plaît?" (Will you teach me French please)then I added the pouty face.  So now she’s giving us little lessons! It’s very helpful learning from someone who lives here how to say things with the right accents. I learn a lot. Alex intimidates me a lot. He has a very particular personality. He just has a lot of expectations. The kind of person who doesn’t want to have a little Halloween party because the holiday derived from the Pagans that worshipped their gods before Christianity took it over... and we only worship one God... So I was very nervous to give a spiritual thought at the end of the dinner. I gave a little prayer in my heart that I would remember the things I needed to say and that I would be comforted. I said everything I needed to say and I was pretty calm and I even said a little more. All I know for sure from that experience is that prayers are answered, and that God really does care about our feelings and concerns. It was a good little message we shared. What was also more intimidating was that they’re both returned missionaries. But they were really nice about everything.

So I think Tuesday was super awesome! We accomplished so, so much. We went to Epinal and went finding, had a lesson with an ami and asked him if he’d get baptized and saw/ visted members. Yeah, we felt very accomplished.

Thursday morning, I made a wonderful bowl of cereal. I was walking over to go sit down and I was very excited to eat it. Then, next second I miss held it, and I just dropped it. I just stood there, like what the heck just happened?? I cleaned it up, and made another bowl and dropped it again... but it wasn’t as bad. I half way caught it. At this point I’m thinking, REALLY?! I really just can’t eat a bowl of cereal?!  I thought today was going to be rough and I was going to have a bad attitude, but it turns out that if you decide right then and there that you're going to be happy, then you will. Crazy huh! Also when you walk the streets of France for hours you also can't help but be happy.

My goals for the week were to give out 3 copies of the Book of Mormon and get a number. Before we went out to go finding, Soeur Giles said she had a prayer in her heart saying, please help us to find someone normal and willing to hear our words. So here we go. Out to find the people of France. We met this girl, her name is Heloise. She is a college student studying right now and she's taking English classes. What a surprise. We gave her a Book of Mormon, got her number and set up another appointment for today with her. We taught her the Restoration and she was super interested in what we had to say. Very enthusiastic to learn more. I'm pretty she was, not exactly scared, but something was up in the middle of our conversation. We felt the Spirit and we know she felt it to. She probably didn’t know what to think of it. But at the end before she left, she said, let me go home and search you guys up on the internet, to make sure this is what I want. I'm thinking, oh no, oh no. you can’t just search us up! You never know what could be on there! So I hurried and gave her a card with our website mormon.org and said that this was our website. We said we were excited to meet with her again and that we were really happy to have this conversation with her. As we walked away we were soo, soo happy. We were going to cry with relief. The Lord really does answer prayers! She was so normal and willing to learn!!! That night, we made dinner and then got a text from her, saying, I’m sorry as I was reading the things you gave me on the internet, I decided that this is not something I want. I must cancel our rendezvous. Thank you for the chat, God bless you. We were devastated. Soeur Giles started crying when she was telling Elder Currie about what happened that night. I really didn’t want to give up on her. So last night I texted her back and said, "Hello were the missionaries you met on the street and we know you probably saw something bad on the internet, but please give us a chance to speak with you about your concerns. We know that this gospel can bless your life, because it blesses ours every day." and then she responded back saying," sisters, I know how this may look, but I was reading the things you gave me, and this is not something I want in my life. I don’t agree and I need you to not ask me again. Please respect my choice. I also enjoyed our chat, but I just don’t want it in my life." CRAZY! But I guess it’s up to her. We then told her, "Alright, well, we will not bother you anymore, but please promise us that the next time you see a missionary companionship like us, give them a chance. Thanks for everything and may God bless you." She finally said, "Thank you infinitely, you as well." that’s it. And we’re devastated. Hopefully things will work out according to Gods plan for her, and of course, I have no doubts.

I’m just starting a tender mercies book and a miracles book. I don’t want to forget the things I feel and experience. I want to look back and remember how I feel with this gospel in my life. And if I were you, I’d do the same. Nothing crazy just simple and short but enough for you to remember what happened!

I'M SO EXCITED FOR GENERAL CONFERENCE! I love these men! They’re prophets of God and they have a special power about them! Write down what the spirit tells you! Not word for word everything they say. Everything the Spirit wants you to remember! Because that’s what’s most important.

We had the repertoire for transfers on Saturday! EVERYONE IS STAYING IN THE DISTRICT! I’m super happy about that. But I’m sure my companion is leaving next transfer. She’s been here for almost half her mission! We have a new blue in our district and it would be pretty cool if it was James!  He would be placed in Epinal if he was... but we’ll see!

On sunday we were celebrating the self reliance program because not a lot of people here have jobs... but anyways, there was food for lunch and it was a little social. We were talking to this senior couple who is lives in Lyon and maybe Lille.  They’re names are Elder and Soeur Geddes. They’re from here but they were working in BYU Idaho. They just retired. Anyways, Soeur Geddes asked me a question in French, and I just froze and tensed up so bad, I broke the plastic spoon in half that I was holding.  She said, "...Oh wow, you’re really good at breaking spoons too!"  They all laughed it off. But I was embarrassed. She was speaking English to me the whole time and then just switched on me! We continued and once we were done, Elder de Geus leaned over to me and asked, "Were you nervous?" I nodded and said yeah I was. he said, "Holly Cow, Soeur, you need to relax. Everything’s fine. People understand that you haven’t been here for a long time and if you don’t understand then just let them know.  Don’t just sit there quietly. It’s not a big deal. Let your pride go and ask for clarification. I’m still in my 7th transfer asking really stupid questions! If you need anything let me know." Once he was done, I got a little teary eyed because he was so nice and sincere about it. He really cared and wanted to help me. He’s so awesome!

Anyways, that’s it for me folks! Stay tuned for more French missionary stories next week. Stay safe and remember, n'ayez pas peur, Dieu est la! (Have no fear, God is there) Love you all and thanks for everything.  As usual, you bless my life in so many ways 24/7. Talk later!

Love Sarah

Which French Calvin and Hobbes should I buy?

a London phone booth in France

Epinal, France

 

"What's up Sisters?"

This week was pretty long. Not a ton happened, but as I always say, there is something you can get out of anything. Today we went mini golfing and did some service for a member and now we're heading to the church to write our emails. Hopefully I'll be able to go fast enough to get it all to you in time! 

This week was rain, rain, and more rain. And it's not light showers; it's like Noah’s Ark showers. As we walk the streets, I just sing to myself, "The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up..." No biggie. I got a cute blue raincoat and I love it. Nobody returned our calls or texts and everything that was already set was canceled. So it was a week of rain, study and walking. And we even didn't find anyone when trying to contact on the streets, because well, #1 who wants to sit and listen to us in a down poor and #2 we have the name Jesus Christ on our chest and here, it seems a curse to know Him.

We were able to eat last Monday at a member’s. She cooked us some quiche.  We had moldy, very moldy, like fur growing on the cheese she gave us, moldy. It was blue cheese, and you eat it with bread and grapes all together. It was pretty good. But the first bite was pretty cringy, a little scary; but it was good after the first bite. Kamila just ate it by itself. Too scary for me still!

The next day was slow, and we decided to fill our hour with contacting, I kept having the impression to go down a certain street that we hadn't been down in a while. So we went and I just kept saying , no I think it's this way and so we would just go because we couldn't remember, but I just kept thinking it was the right way. We kept going and we were looking for the spot we wanted. We stopped and we pulled out a map to see where we were.  In that moment someone walked passed and said, "What's up Sisters?" We both were shocked. We looked at each other and then looked at the guy. You can't just say, "What's up sisters?" AND WALK AWAY! He looked very friendly and sounded very American. NO ONE sounds like THAT here. My first thought was, is he a third Nephite?! I looked at my companion and noticed that the guy stopped a ways down the road. I walked after him.  He was an LDS man with his wife. They live in Germany and are from St. George and Colorado. They were just passing through when their car broke down. We chatted IN ENGLISH!! Full blown American English!!! Gosh I miss hearing that language.  Anyways, we talked and got directions to a car repair shop and they were able to find means to move their car and get it fixed. We were led there for a reason. The Lord knew we needed to help them and he also knew we needed something like that in the moment. It was really awesome.

We had a rendezvous with a less active. We arrived 20 minutes early and she was going to be a little late. So we walked a little while and saw some horses and it was really fun! Horses are so funny and cute! My companion doesn't really like animals, but I do! Then we had a rendezvous and we only had 30 minutes to talk to her before we had to catch our bus. We have to walk 20 minutes to catch the bus because the buses were limited on Tuesday because there was a strike. Anyways while she was talking I was thinking she needs to stop talking because we need to give our lesson and leave on time to the bus. But then I got this feeling. It was so clear and loud. “You're not here to give a lesson and leave. It's NOT ABOUT YOU. It's about her and it's about what she needs in her life now. Even if she just talks the whole time, she probably just needs someone to talk to.”  So immediately, I stopped worrying and trying to figure out ways to stop her so we could give our lesson. I just sat and tried to understand what she had to say. I really enjoyed it. Then we just shared a scripture. We left a little bit late, but we got to the bus on time before the last one left for the night. It would've been a 3 mile walk back, but the Lord had mercy on us! Yay! It was a good night and we saw her again later on with more time.

Another night we were going to go walking for an hour before we had to be back for the night, but instead we decided to get gelato. SOOOOOO GOOD. Don't worry we had already gone contacting for 2 1/2 hours earlier because we had no rendezvous.  The shop we got the gelato in was so cute. Very quaint. They shaped the gelato into a rose and gave you 4 flavors.  I got chocolate (of course), vanilla and chocolate chips, hazelnut chocolate (best one) and then strawberry. It was so, so, so yummy.  I want it again. While we were eating it on a little table outside, the sun was going down and it hadn't rained that day. It was the perfect fall weather. It was such a precious moment. Then these two guys started playing on their guitars in front of us. So we were just eating gelato, with Spanish music playing and a light cool breeze as the sun was going down. I was so happy and I knew the Lord knew we needed that right then. I thank the Lord for all things good because all things good came from God.

Later that same evening, the Elders in our district knew we were having a rough week, so they decided to give us some lovely sugar cookies that they made themselves. It was so awesome and so sweet of them. They are the best Elders ever. Very thoughtful and always willing to help in anyway possible. They tasted like the sugar cookies from Swig. YUM. So it was a good night.

Ok, watch 13 Miracles because it's so powerful if you have not seen it yet.  Also, Braden saw Walker Gentry at the MTC.  Cool connection! And he sent me a cool picture of them! It was great to hear from him!

I run every morning for 15-20 minutes. Well, from Tuesday through Friday's and then do planks for 3 reps of 1 minutes for middle and both sides. It's going well. And I can tell the difference. It's getting much easier to run and not get so tired so easily. I'm likening it more.

Father, every time I walk the streets at night, and I'm just enjoying the breeze and watching people eat in the little outdoor cafes with the French cuisine and I hear people speaking French in the background, I always think of you.  I picture you loving this place and having been here and feeling the exact same way I do.  I love looking at things, because it really is a blessing to be here. Anyways, thought I'd share that with you.

Sorry, I don't have more to talk about. It was a slow week and I only had an hour and a half to write all this. I hope the pictures say more than what I was able to say. Love you all very much and again, as always, I'm so blessed to have you in my life. Love you family and keep up the great work. Remember to always do hard things and to always be better than you already are. Don't settle and be helpful and willing to see the good in all things. Everything always turns out if you do that.

Love you all and talk next week!

Soeur Sarah

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know how to express enough in words how much this gospel means to me.

Well, well, well.  Another fun week in France, a billion miles away from home. This week was pretty cool in the sense that I witnessed and participated in a baptismal ceremony, tried new methods of finding and had stake conference.

I'll start with the finding.  So our mission president gave specific zones a topic to contact with. Ours is Genealogy. So we tried to come up with a finding plan to incorporate genealogy. So we say “Hi we’re missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we are here to help people find their ancestry.”  Because we're trying something new, it means we're not familiar with the vocabulary that the conversation calls for. I kept forgetting what I needed to say and I was getting really frustrated with myself, but I kept trying. I usually had to look to my companion if I forgot the phrase or if I just couldn't go stumbling any further and then she would take over. We came to this older lady and she thought it was interesting but she wasn't really paying attention. At the end, she told us, " Sir is a Catolic church down see road, say give French lessons."  LOL... how nice of her... we then responded in French, "Thank you, you're so nice. Have a good day."  We kept walking and the last person we saw was definitely going to be my last one for the day. I couldn't take it any longer.  I go up to the girl and say, "On est missionaires pour l'Église de Jésus-Christ..." and she cut me off saying, "Sorry I don’t speak very gud Eengleesh..." I stopped, turned to my companion and gestured for her to continue the conversation... We got to our apartment and I was tired and done. I don't know why it bothered me so much, but at the same time it was pretty funny. Like here I am trying to speak French about our church to people who are just living their regular lives.

There was one other time, when we were knocking on doors and this old lady answers and it was my turn to speak. I said everything I needed to and even asked a question to continue the conversation. I didn't stumble and I said everything correctly. The old lady had her granddaughter with her and apparently the lady didn't hear so her granddaughter pretty much repeated exactly what I said then told her granddaughter to respond to me. The old lady said, "She said it in French?" The daughter nodded like obviously... and the old lady gave a surprised look and went to respond to me. HAHAHAHA I give up on this language. Just kidding, but I needed to have a break. I love this language. It's really pretty and I'm butchering it. But I do find that when I try and do my best with the language I understand more because I'm more engaged with the things going on in the situation.

There was a time where we were porting (tracting/knocking on doors) and of course it was the last door before we finished tracting. The old lady let us in. She knows Mormon missionaries and speaks English as well as German and French. She knows of us because her mom owned an apartment in Germany and some Elders lived there. She always respected the missionaries and loved being with them because we're very helpful and nice, but she doesn't like organized religion and wouldn't join anything.  She's Lutheran and doesn't really practice.  She used to attend our English classes and would like to come again. She also invited us to her English game nights with her and her friends at her home. So we'll just be good examples and continue to be nice and visit her and maybe have an opportunity to talk with her friends!

Our zone consists of: Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Mullhouse, Toule, Épinal, Colmar, Bellfort, Tien and us, Nancy. That's everyone who is in our zone. Every ward in these villes came to stake conference. There was about 300 people total. That’s about as much as a normal ward has back home! They need our help and our support. These people are so awesome and I admire their strength and faith. They're funny and I love getting to know them all!

After the meeting, we had a baptism for the Luxembourg Sœurs in our church. The man being baptized asked the Soeurs to sing Glorious by David Archuleta with no music.  LOL! The Sœurs asked me and my comp 2 minutes before to help them because they needed more voices. So we agreed and it was fun. We didn't sound good, but the spirit was very strong and it was fun. The man loved it. He was so excited and more than prepared. I heard he was prepared way before they even found him. The water was very cold because the heater was broken. So he was pretty dang cold coming out. It was fun to watch. Irène, one of our amis, came to the baptism to see what it was like. She really liked it and hopefully we can go further with her now that she's seen those things. After we ate the food they prepared and I chatted with everyone in the zone. I love getting to know everyone.  I've gotten to know so many people! The Elders are all so sweet and nice and willing to help with anything. Same with the Sœurs :)

Now that college students are back in town, the girls studying here actually stop to talk to us and listen for more than 5 seconds. At one point we prayed for someone to stop and talk with us for more than 5 seconds and someone stopped and talked with us for 10 seconds. Anyways, the college girls actually have conversations with us and ask us questions which is really cool and I like it a lot. But we can never get in touch with them again. Hopefully they call us or something.

Well, other than those few things, this week has been nice.  Always a learning experience. I can't express enough how much I’ve learned from reading the Book of Mormon. I've had such great experiences and it has made me so much more excited for the future. Life is supposed to be hard and everything we learn in life is for our eternal gain to make us better and qualify us for the eternal blessings. Never forget that. The Lord is always aware of you. He cries when you cry and feels EXACTLY how you feel. He only wants the best for you. If you put the Lord first, everything will fall into its place. Everything in the sight of the Lord is possible. Put your faith and trust in Him and nothing will go wrong. You will experience hardships, but that's normal. Just never forget to study your scriptures. They will honestly open up great and marvelous things and give you peace in times of hardship. PRAY when you need a constant companion and when you need comfort. He will help you always, when you ask with a sincere and humble heart. I say all this because I KNOW. I'm here in the middle of this gospel. I'm living it here. This is my life for the next year and a half.  I have experienced these things before. They are real, and to be honest, I never thought it was possible. I didn't understand reading the scriptures until I really wanted to learn something and gain a different perspective. I don't know how to express enough in words how much this gospel means to me. I have learned so many things being out here. Granted it's different (the atmosphere), but I know you can seek for these same things there in middle of everything busy. Eternal life is too great to give up for earthly things. I say that a lot, but it seriously is so true. Love the Lord and seek his guidance and he will ALWAYS be with you if you're obedient.

I love this gospel and I can't express enough its importance. You just need to have the desire to find out for yourself. I know there are great things that can come from seeking these things. One thing I did learn this week was how to control my anger. There were a couple of times where I could've gotten angry, and I was really close to exploding, but I took a deep breath and told myself, what's the benefit of getting angry? Will it fix anything? No it will not, so I just continued on and looked at things from a different perspective. So yeah, that was something I was proud of haha.

Thank you all for your support and love and care. You are all in my prayers as usual.  I like hearing from you.  Mother, I love hearing from you especially. You care so much and I've learned all I know from you. Well, at least all the good things... But thank you for everything, it helps a lot and I couldn't be more blessed to have such great loving parents.  Love you family and thanks again for everything.

Talk next week! Oh, and WAY TO GO UTAH

Much Love, Soeur Hunt

 



Lunch with the visiting Sisters (Soeur Bennett on the right was Sarah's MTC companion)

It's getting colder...

Hola! this week has been pretty bizarre. Not a ton of things happened, but there is always something to say!

The weather is shifting. The mornings are chillier and you can see your breath.  The leaves are changing to different colors and people are coming back with their suitcases from vacations.  Things are changing, I can tell that things will be different from here on out.  It’s kind of exciting to see so many people with suitcases.  It means more people to talk to!  A lot of them are coming for college for the winter.  It’ll be nice to have people live here again.  It’s been deserted so I hear.

I'll start out by saying that my companion says that I have major Blue Fire. Lol...(a blue is the French way of saying a greenie) all I want to do is talk to people!  If you’re confused on how a blue is just watch The Best Two Years. I just always want to be doing something.  I just want to speak and I just want to try so many new ideas out.  My companion gets embarrassed or feels awkward easily.  So anytimes we or I want to go knock on a door and there’s a family out so he doesn’t want to go talk to them because its weird, but I say we just do it anyways because we need to! And because we're friendly and because everyone needs the gospel!  For example, there was a couple of brothers playing outside and I said “lets go to this house”, but she says they belong to this other house and it will be awkward to go up when they’re right outside, but I tell her we can just ask them if their parents are home and if they are, great! we say thanks and head to the door or if not we say thanks and have a great day! Not a big deal.  She just doesn’t want to do it... oh well.

Everyone rides scooters/mopeds here.  Even the 80 year olds! Makes sense when you don’t have a car, just ride your child’s scooter! It's just as good as any other transportation! it’s awesome.

Wednesday we had 3 rendezvous.  I got the idea to do a fast so we would be able to stay in tune with the spirit and know what we needed to do for them and our lessons. Right when we went outside and were walking to the tram there was this little business giving out free bits of chocolate, probably a new store and they were having people try it. Yeah well, so she gave it to us and I almost forgot that we were fasting... we were so, so sad to throw away free beautiful milk chocolate.  When she wasn’t looking we chucked it. *cried for days* Anyway, we were heading to a new amis home. He’s married and is from the Congo. His name is Nono and his wife is Silvia from here France.  They just wanted to know what exactly we were telling everyone. We were nervous because we wanted it to go well and not scare him off.  It went pretty well. We gave him a Book of Mormon and talked about the Plan of Salvation. He understood what we were saying and thought it was very interesting. We hope to see him again.

After we went back to our apartment during lunch and to do some studies.  After we finished and left again, we headed back to the tram and the group of ladies were still there giving out chocolate. A new lady came up to us and asked us if we wanted some but we had to tell her no (because we're still fasting).  We headed to Place Stanislas down from our apartment, (it’s a famous sight here in Nancy) for our next rendez-vous, but it was closed. Weird.  I guess there was a party or something going on and someone rented it out... This ami that we were seeing was the one who kissed our hands and told us we were the most beautiful Americans he’d ever seen.  Anyways, we met up with the Elders this time so we could hand over the ami to them to finish the lessons. We met up and now we're all together but we don’t have a place to sit and talk.  So we walked a ways to find a spot.  Eventually we just needed to sit somewhere.  So we sat at some marble stairs at this building. We were about to start with the beginning part of the Restoration. Well, we never actually started. Elder Currie, our district leader,  was with us and was trying to ask him questions, but first of all, Nicolas gets very distracted and second there was major construction going on next to us. We couldn’t even hear each other speaking. I don’t know what they were building but apparently it had to be done RIGHT THIS SECOND. I thought it was quite hilarious. While they were all trying to speak to him, I was smothering a laugh because the situation was so surreal. Here we are trying to be spiritual and serious about our lesson and there’s CONSTRUCTION going on beside us HAHAHAHAHAHA. Every time Elder Currie spoke louder the construction got louder. HAHAHA! So we left after that and honestly we’re not sure what’s going to happen with Nicolas but it was a disaster. To me, a hilarious disaster that couldn’t have gone more wrong.

We were going to meet with Joseph again, the one that we asked to come to church with us last Sunday but didnt,  He said he had to cancel because the park was the best option and we didn’t know where else to meet because we can’t meet with a guy by himself and no member at this time of day were available. Super sad.

We then started to go back to the apartment when we realized that we wanted some of that chocolate we declined twice because were about to finish our fast. So we headed back to them.  We saw this guy handing something out and we noticed it was sandwiches and not chocolate. We were having a heart attack at this point.  At least I was.  We kept looking to see if they were with someone else and then we found this lady selling it. So we went up to her and noticed that it was the same lady that offered it to us earlier but we turned it down. We ask her for some and she stands there and says, "oh you want some...?" I didn’t understand what she was saying, so I just smiled held out my hand and said oui. My companion gave an awkward laugh and smiled. We left and once I found out what she said I felt uncomfortable but still had to laugh about the situation.

Walking back to the apartment, there is this famous spot for all hobos and drunks to go pee! As we pass the famous spot, there is this guy that just dropped his pants and started peeing. Classy! Don’t worry I didn’t see anything. Yeah, Wednesday was just a bizarre day. Lol. But it was great. I learned a lot:)

Thursday we had interviews with the President Sorensen and as we were on our way to the bus to go to the church I realized I forgot my name tag. So we literally ran back to the apartment (blessed that we don’t live too far away from the bus stop) grabbed my tag and ran back to the bus stop before the bus got there. Yup, we did that. I didn’t want to have my first interview in the field with the President with no tag. I had a really good interview with him. I felt the spirit and knew exactly what I needed to say to him. He asked me what I learned recently in my personal studies and I told him I learned a lot about prayer. I’ve been reading in Alma recently and I read with the student manual. READ WITH THE MANUAL!  It helps so much please!  It helps with seeing things from a deeper perspective.  Anyway, I got to a spot of sincere prayer. What I learned was that sometimes you tend to say robotic prayers or prayers where you start to even bore yourself while saying them. Those prayers are barely even heard by the Lord. It said, meditate and really think about the things you’re grateful for before you start to pray. I tried doing this and boys have my prayers changed. I can actually feel his presence and I actually feel like I have a good, strong relationship with him. One time I was praying, in personal study back in Luxembourg and I felt the spirit so strong I got emotional. I have never had an experience where I cried during my personal prayers.  This experience was very testimony building and now I see prayer from a different perspective. Prayer is a direct communication with our Father, and I KNOW he listens.

I met the zone leaders because Friday was our zone conference so missionaries from different cities in our zone were coming up to have their interview and be here for the conference the next day.

Later we had all the Soeurs from Mulhouse (4 sisters) stay with us in our apartment. We were all invited to go to Maités (member) for dinner. We had burritos and they were super good! Then for dessert... we had the Mirabell tart! Yay! It was better this time, because it was a smaller piece because there were 8 of us eating. I was more mentally prepared this time and I only gagged once. But we had delicious cookies that my comp and I brought to help with dessert.

The Sœurs came back to sleep and it was pretty fun! We all chatted and got to know each other very well. Next day we left to help set up for the meeting because we all got ready pretty fast. Once we got to the church we realized our President got there around the same time. He took a taxi. The taxi driver was still waiting and we said hi and chatted for a sec.  When President Sorensen came back out he saw us he asked if we had a book of Mormon.  I said I did, because no else did and I gave it to him.  He was very happy. about that.  I was happy that I was prepared for the president!  I gave the opening prayer in French. It was not by my own free will.  I would not have chosen to pray in French when I've only been here for 2 and a half weeks and there are all these very experienced French speakers... so they asked me, and I did it.  It was ok.  I was introduced and many of the Elders were awed that I was 19 and just graduated high school.  It made them feel very, very old, Haha.  After the meeting President Sorensen said he was very grateful again that I was prepared and ready to give him a Book of Mormon when he really needed it.  So I felt pretty proud of myself.  

In our meeting, I was listening to President Sorensen speak when all of a sudden I see something jerk out of my peripheral vision. I look to see 5 people down from me, Elder De Geuse (the really tall Elder in my district) just waking up. He had fallen asleep and jerked awake. He had this smile on his face and was shaking his head like he couldn't believe what just happened.  After the meeting I asked him if he had a good nap, and he said he was dreaming that he and his companion Elder Currie were knocking on doors when this one lady answers and pulls out a shot gun and shoots Elder Currie in the face. That's the part when he jerked awake. It was pretty funny.

On Saturday we met up with these Pakistani people. They’re the sweetest people. They have a two year old and they’re Catholic and all love Jesus. They speak their own Indian dialect and English. They were persecuted a lot back in Pakistan so they snuck out and snuck into France. They hid for a while and now they just started their legal papers. So now they're waiting and Joseph, the husband, doesn't have work or anything, so yeah.. but they absolutely love having us over and next time they want us to stay longer. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and they were surprised at how much we knew about the afterlife. They had many questions at first and then the Spirit worked through us.  I could feel it.  They started to understand and they really liked it. I can't wait to see them again. They understand the importance and love our messages.

Sunday, we asked Joseph again to come with us to church and that we would meet up with him. He said yes!  He came with us to church and he really, really liked it. He knew lots of people there because we've invited him to many church events and he was able to really get to know some of the members! The members were also very, very nice and came up to him. He wasn't shy, he went up to people and he volunteered to read in class even when he doesn't really know the language! After Sacrament while my comp was talking to someone, Joseph and I were just sitting there so I knew I needed to talk to him. But I wasn't sure if I could do it, my comp wouldn't be able to help me... so I just did it because I knew I needed to just start and go from there.  I asked him how he was doing and if he liked it. He thought it was really good. He was confused on the hymns because we read one verse and start over with the second verse on the same page instead of going on to the next page. I explained it to him and then he understood. I told him we will have another class in a different room and it's a little different but it’s good. He understood most of the time. When I said things he didn't understand, I would repeat it and words I had forgotten came to my mind. Then he would understand. I felt the gift of tongues working there! My first real conversation in French all by myself! Yay! But after we asked him if he wanted to come again and he said he really did. So I'm really excited. He moves down to Bordeaux on the 27th so we won't see him again but he already asked if there were missionaries there he could meet with. So I'm happy he likes the things were teaching him.

On Sundays my comp and I also leave Relief Society early so she can play the piano for singing time in the Primary. Boy oh boy is it fun. It's hilarious to watch and listen. They’re a bunch of crazy, cute kids. I just sit in the back and follow along with the lyrics of the Primary song so I can try and understand the music in French.  It’s fun :) We’re meeting with a bunch of members this week and we’re excited to get to know them better than we already do.

This week was fun, I learned a lot, as usual, and I'm excited for another full week! Thank you all for your support and love. I pray for you all, all the time. This world is very distracting, but always remember what’s most important. Remember why we’re down here in the first place. I'm so incredibly blessed to be out here serving the people of France and my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Talk next week!

 Love,

Sœur Sarah 💙

Fall is here

Some lunch

Sarah's dish that everyone loves

Nancy, France

 

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