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)