IT SNOWED!!

It snowed. THREE TIMES. Once it was sleeting and so was the next one, but then the next one was awesome with HUGMONGOUS flakes which only lasted 10 minutes and didn't stick to the ground. Oh well, I'm glad I saw it.

Thanksgiving was awesome. We had our own American Thanksgiving with the district. We made turkey with ash potatoes and sweet potatoes with brown sugar and baguettes and green bean casserole, and finished with the classic pumpkin pie. It was fun. Our district consists of St. Dié, Épinal and us here in Nancy. Two Elder équipés (companionships) and 2 Soeur équipés. So there is 8 instead of 6 now, because they added St. Dié to our area. Anyways, it was fun and it felt like a little American Thanksgiving. That was the day before thanksgiving. So Wednesday.

We saw Emina on Wednesday too. It was way awesome We made sure we left enough time open on our scheduled for her. She had just gotten out of bed when we arrived. Again, she talked more about her life and opened up a lot.  I love hearing about her life because we can understand her better and help her according to her needs. After her stories she said she was going to take a quick shower and be back. Ok... So we're just sitting downstairs waiting and just trying to decided what to do next. We were also going to have lunch with her and we wanted to share the Plan of Salvation and really focus on the Atonement of Christ for her before we ate. We did and it was awesome. We give her things in Italian because she reads better in Italian. She was super focused on what we were saying. She really liked talking about these things. She believes a lot the way we do. It went very well and we will be seeing her again to talk about the restoration! We had a good lunch, she cooks nicely and it tastes very good.  She gave us the leftovers and we ate them the next day.

Thursday we had our lesson with Raphaël.  We were super nervous for it. We just babbled on at the beginning, but then I bore an awesome testimony about missionary work ;) I'm able to speak more and more and come up with my own complete sentences! So, we gave the last lesson of laws and ordinances and just went over it within 30 minutes. He understands everything and is so on top of things. Also, the Elders prepared him very well, so we didn't do much. We talked about his baptism for a little bit, because he had already prepared everything. He has such great support. I mean the family he's most likely marrying into is so awesome and strong in the gospel. They have all helped him get things ready and he's getting more excited. It'll be such an awesome baptism this Saturday! Pray for Raphaël :)

We saw Valerie on the road. I can't remember if I told you already, but we saw her after a long time of not seeing her and scheduled a time to meet. She frudged (ditched) us a lot, so I didn't think I was going to see her again. But we did and we taught the Restoration.  It was very good. I used some really fun visual activities that helped her to understand better. She can't be baptized till she has a legal marriage and is legal in France. So it’s going to be pretty hard. But we really want to help her. She also needs to understand the authority between us and the other religions. But it's going good.

The security guards in our building are the best. Since there used to be just one companionship of Elders living in this building, there is only one set of keys. So... we have only one sensor for the door to the building. We asked for more keys, and we got more but still only have one sensor. So, we have to sometimes coordinate who will be home first so we don't have to wait or just stay locked out. Then we have to wait and have the Sœurs come get us. But the security guards are so nice, they usually let us in unless it's a new guard and doesn't know who we are. But they usually do and they're so nice and sometimes they just laugh at us because we’re a bunch of weirdos and they know that we are "the four American girls." One of them knows me as the one who really needs to pee all the time because I’m always doing the pee pee dance when we get home. He pushes the up button over and over for the elevator to come down for me when he sees me coming.

So, we decided to write a note and deliver brownies to them all. We wrote a funny note in French just saying, hey thanks for always opening the door when we forgot our keys... (even though we have keys just not a door sensor). They loved it. Then next day when we went down to go running at 6:30 two different guards were changing shifts, but they said thank you for the card that it was very nice of us. So, we became the famous four American girls to all the security guards and so now they always open the door and wave at us every time we pass by haha. Then just last night one security guy came up to our room and gave us a note half in French half in English and some amazing cookies that tasted like Almond Joys. It was so awesome haha!

Today was really fun. We met up with the Toul Soeurs and had sushi and went ice skating. It was super fun and the sushi was amazing as usual. They played the Michael Bublé Christmas album as we skated around a fun looking decorated tree thing. It was snowing a tiny bit as we skated too.  It was super-duper fun. It felt like Christmas and we loved it so much.

This week we will be heading down to Paris for a mission conference (Sabin Conference) and also have a baptism. I'm super excited for all the things I'll be able to experience. Love you all so much. Thanks for everything, comme d'habitude ;) (as usual) talk next week! Stay safe and pray that I get more snow!

Love

Sœur Sarah Hunt🎄🎁

Thanksgiving with our little district!

Ice skating with the Soeurs from Toul

Roomies

The cookies and note from the security guards

Was that Portuguese or French?

Its that time of year again, my sweaters are out and my ear muffs are on. I can smell the chocolat chaude in the stinging wind as it passes by my face. My breaths become more visible in the thick chilled night. Boy am I blessed to have a scarf wrapped like a present around my neck. The twinkling lights are coming up. The pine trees are covered in ornaments and tinsel. Weird, it feels like Christmas is coming. Where's the snow?! Where's Thanksgiving?! My brain can only take one holiday at a time! Don't worry I wouldn't ever skip Thanksgiving. We're going to our DMP's house for that! (Ward Mission Leader) 

This week went by incredibly fast. It's weird that it's already the 3rd week into the transfer. The Sœurs and us are handling life here well.  Work is progressing so much. Compared to when I first got here we now have 3 solid amies and even have a baptism next Saturday. The members are so much more involved in our work now too. Like the President has told us, we are here to see the work in Nancy start. I really have seen so many more miracles and things begin. Its changed so much since I've been here. I'm glad I've been able to help with the little French that I know. 

On Wednesday we had a rendezvous with Emina, the girl that I met on exchanges two times ago and who we helped move into her new apartment. So ever since the last time we helped her move, I've constantly been trying keep in touch with her until she either blocked me or told us to buzz off. I just kept thinking we shouldn't let her go even when she already said she wasn't interested. So our idea was to slowly slide in with the gospel the more we helped her, the more we built trust with her and the more she got to know us. So after she said she wasn't interested in the gospel we decided to just become her friend.  We would check up on her every once in a while and see how she was doing. Eventually she asked us to come over to her house some night and have dinner with her! She really likes us. The last time we came over she was going to give us coffee and turn on the TV because I think what she thought we were all going to just relax and chat. So we knew we needed to tell her our rules... we did and she thought it was very surprising and interesting. When she made lunch for us, we asked if we could say a prayer with her because that's what we do. She said sure and it was a good first prayer with her. After we said it, she thought it was very nice! 

Then while we were eating, she opened up about her life so much. She trusts us now. I told you she had kids when she was 16 and has never been married. Her ex boyfriend was a crazy guy. He stabbed her in the thigh, and we know this because she stood up right then and there and pulled down her pants to show us... I wasn't expecting that. Her ex would also give drugs to her kids and now he's in jail because he stole a car. She never wanted to dump him because he threatened to kill her brother. So yes, she's had a very rough life. She doesn't get to see her kids that much anymore, but she just found out from the judge that they can stay with her for 4 days during Christmas. It was such a very cute sight to see her so happy about that. So while she was telling her story about life we would testify about what we believed. She thought what we were saying was really reassuring and sweet. It was a very good moment to be with her for a bit, because she also lives alone a lot. Her boyfriend works so he's not home much. 

While we were heading home together back on the bus, Sœur Giles was showing pictures of her and her family to Emina. I was just watching Emina's face absorb it all. The pictures that Sœur Giles was showing were of her brother getting married in the temple and also just random ones of her family. Overall everyone looked really happy in them. At the end of showing them, she showed the temple to her and explained what we do there. Perform sacred ordinances and we're able to be sealed together forever with your spouse and family. I could definitely tell she wanted something like that with her family. I know she wants to be with her family forever. She loves her kids. At the end she told us that some day she was going to get married. 

Once we got off from the bus, we told her how much we enjoyed being with her and for her stories and for being such an amazing person. She wanted us to come back over this week. We asked if we could share more about our gospel and why we were hear. She then said, she would love to hear more. I just knew that if we kept being her friend and testifying that she would come around. Our story kind of reminds me of the story in Alma. How Ammon befriended the King and eventually by serving and loving him, was able to share this beautiful message. I'm excited to see her on Wednesday to talk more. 

Also, Sœur Bell and I went finding by ourselves and boy was it difficult. I was pretty much the leader and I don't even know exactly what I'm doing! But it was a fun experience. We talked to this one really sweet lady who was probably in her early 20s. She listened to us and I asked her questions and testified. She understood me and it was pretty good. She said she just wasn't interested or even had the time for God. She was very nice for just listening, but it was sad she didn't want to learn more. At the end before she walked away, she told me I had pretty good French. That made me happy. She asked me how long I'd been here and I told her 3 months and she was so shocked. She said I was doing really good and to keep it up. I felt much happier after that. 

This week was a week of figuring our my purpose as a missionary. I'm here to love the people. I haven't been able to figure out how to do that yet. I've been really trying to work on it. So this Thursday and Friday we went to Luxembourg for exchanges. I went with Sœur Miguel to go finding Thursday night before our rendezvous. We met this one lady and I guess I can say she was a bit arrogant. She thought she knew things and just looked like she was humoring us. She had met the missionaries on the street before but didn't stop to listen to them. So I guess this time she decided to stop and listen. Sœur Miguel was talking first and stopped the lady and the lady just listened, She said some thing but I didn't really understand. Then I heard her say, what makes you different from the rest of the other religions. I was thinking, oh wow, that's a tough one, you got it Sœur Miguel. Then I saw Soeur Miguel look at me giving me the cue to answer her question. My heart stopped beating. I think I died for a sec. So I started to answer, "nous croyons.... uh...." Then she said, "you know, I do speak English. I said, "oh good..." she said she likes to see people try and speak a different language to practice... Thanks. Well so I didn't speak still for a good 20 seconds because I wasn't sure where to start and how to actually answer. Then I ended up starting with Christ's earthy ministry all the way to the restoration with Joseph Smith. Towards the end I  felt the spirit and the spirit was putting words in my mouth. I didn't think I did very well. The girl didn't say anything and she kept saying she needed to leave and she didn't want to be rude. She said that we were wasting our time on her because she wasn't really interested. Even though I was pretty frustrated with her and myself, I ended up saying things I didn't even realize I was saying. I testified of the importance of this gospel and how we weren't wasting our time on her. She then said, well isn't this your job to convince others to join your religion? I responded saying, well no, we chose to come here. We chose to help people come closer to Christ, but not by forcing. She was intrigued by that. Then I continued saying, that we were here to help the people find true eternal happiness and strengthen their relationship with God. We know how important this gospel is because we've felt the happiness and experienced true peace and blessings in our lives and we wanted to share it with people here. I felt the spirit at that point. She responded by saying sorry I don't want to be rude, but I really need to go. That was that.  After that I realized what I said was from the spirit. I realized how much I wanted her to understand this gospel and how much we cared for her. But I didn't realize that by myself. The spirit put me through that so that I would learn. It seriously left me utterly perplexed. But I'm very grateful I went through that even if it was very tough and awkward. 

We met one more lady that I just felt love for. I mean, I'm still learning to love the people, but in this moment I was taking a step forward on my way to reaching that goal. She was a pregnant lady who lived all by herself. She is Muslim and had no idea who Jesus Christ is. She was super sweet and was listening to us, but she really wasn't interested. It was just an interesting experience. I barely knew her, and yet I totally understood her life with just a few words that she had told us.  I realized how big and important this gospel is and there are a ton of people who don't know about it. Its like I know these things, but sometimes depending on my situation, it just clicks in a  different perspective. Its so amazing the things you learn and feel being out on a mission. Anyways, I wanted her to know, and I wanted to help her. She wasn't interested and it was actually kind of sad. I know what people are missing out on. I know what I feel and I know what I've learned and I can't deny it's truthfulness. 

Sorry for the ramble. Moving on to our rendezvous later that night after our finding experience. This family spoke Portuguese. We had a member come with us to translate who was related or a family friend, I can't remember. There was a sister who was a member and her daughter as well. But not their mom or their brother. I just realized we were speaking 4 different languages during the lesson. Nothing would've been possible if it wasn't for the spirit. When the sister gave her experience on praying about the Book of Mormon she started to cry. She said when she felt what she did, she said she finally found the true church. She couldn't deny what she felt. She then started crying harder and said she just wanted her family to be with her forever too. I got pretty teary eyed even when I didn't exactly understand what she was saying. I'm telling you when you don't understand if people are speaking Portuguese or even French and you still cry... you know the spirit is real. We asked the brother and mother to be baptized by January and the brother said yes. The mom said she would still be searching. But it was such, such a great experience. During the lesson I just didn't want it to end. I felt so happy and I just didn't want to leave. I felt like I had everything I wanted and that I just didn't need anything else. I felt like I was with my family. I mean I am trying to help God's children find salvation which means I'm helping my siblings. Seriously it felt like true happiness. Then afterwards we ate cake the brother made which was lemon and super good and sang happy birthday and I got teary eyed at that too because everyone felt and looked so happy. It was just a sight I'll never forget. 

Well, one last thing that happened that I'd like to share is our surprise rendezvous with our ami Caroline and her husband Dominique. She was out of town these past few weeks and just got back. She was moving into a new apartment and a new office. We decided to text her to see how she was. She asked us if we wanted to come over to her office and help her rearrange her office to see what would look best. She also texted us back saying if we could set up an appointment for this week to have a lesson and a prayer. We left right away. We got to her place and we had herbal tea and chatted about life and about what we do as missionaries. The whole thing was just to catch up and see each other. They really enjoy us and like our company. She even reached out to us for a lesson. It was really nice just being able to talk with them. When we were done Caroline wanted to finish with a prayer. She absolutely loves our prayers and she always feels something when we pray. She and her husband always give each other this, that was so sweet, look afterwards. 

Anyways, things are going well with her and the rest of our amies. We are getting ready for Raphael's last lesson before his baptism and it's going to be fun. I love the things I learn and the things that are just starting. Its fascinating. This gospel is real. I love what it does to people's lives. I couldn't be happier. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Thank you all for your support, love and prayers. It makes a big difference. I hope everything is going well for you all back home. I pray for you all the time as well. 

Chat next week! and Happy (early) Thanksgiving!

Love, 
Sœur Sarah Hunt 

Finding with Soeur Bell

Exchanges in Luxembourg

 

Exchanges

Avoiding the weird man down the hall

New amis

 

Many Changes

Ok, I'll say this was a very busy week. So much has changed along with so much fun. I'll start with moving all our stuff from our old apartment to the Elders old apartment. No one was here to help us so it was just us and the Elders. The thing with moving stuff here in France is people don’t have moving trucks. Also a lot of buildings here don't have elevators so we end up carrying refrigerators and couches down spiral stairs and down the streets to the new place. It's weird and very hard/inconvienent, but it's all part of the funny memories. 

So here you see 4 young adults carrying chairs, book cases and suitcases through centreville (downtown). Boy what a site it was. I guess here it's not totally out of the normal, but it is, after all, downtown. Then we had to go back for the dryer because the dryer the Elders had didn't spin so it was useless. Ours worked better so we wanted to switch it out. The Elders still needed to pack and so while they were packing we decided we could carry the big thing 4 blocks through downtown Nancy all by ourselves. Regular walking takes about 5 minutes to get to the Elders apartment but this thing took 30 minutes to carry all the way to their place. We would take 30 steps and then take a 3 minute break. Boy I wonder what people were thinking when they see two young girls in dresses carrying a dryer down the street. We're strong. At the same time, it was kind of like a social experiment to see if anyone would stop to offer to help. Only one guy did but we were pretty much already there so we said we were fine. Interesting huh... oh well, it was fun and I'll never forget it. 

Later that night (Tuesday) we all went to the Couturier family’s house. They're such amazing members. They have 3 boys ages 8, 14, and 16. They're so cute. The parents are so relaxed.  On Sunday they invited us four, us and the elders that were leaving, over for the last time since they wouldn't see the Elders again. (the Elders were so sad.) They asked us what we wanted to eat and gave us two options. Tart de flet or Raclette. You can never say no to Raclette. So we had Raclette and of course it was so good. They were so surprised when they found out that I ate Raclette back home. They asked me, “You can buy that cheese there??” I said "yes of course!" They just argued saying that it's not the true French Raclette cheese. They're awesome haha. 

Next day we helped the Elders get to the gare (train station) and they were so, so sad. They absolutely loved this place. Elder Currie was expecting to stay here for the rest of his mission. Elder de Geuse really loved his ami who is getting baptized December 2nd because he started teaching him when he got here 3 transfers ago. Finally when his ami picks a date to be baptized he is transferred but they might be able to come back for the baptism. So now we’re taking over for their ami to get him prepared for the baptism. His name is Rafael. He's 22 and has a girlfriend who is LDS. She introduced him to the church and so he agreed to see the missionaries. He's super excited to go to the temple. The ward does this thing where they travel together to have a temple day. So he picked a date to be baptized before then so she would be able to go. Another thing is when your ami goes to the temple for the first time you're allowed to go with them. So we'll most likely be able to go Paris with him when they decide to go! I miss the temple. Anyways, Rafael is so awesome. I'm excited to get to know him more and help him with anything he might up until his baptismal date. 

So yes the Elders are very, very sad to leave. The Sœurs arrived from Mulhouse and they're the ones who switched places with the Elders. It was a last minute change that the president decided based on security problems down there. It's all good though! So we said goodbye to them and showed the Sœurs the new place and got settled. 

We spent all of Wednesday cleaning and trying to get settled. The place needed deep cleaning. Major deep cleaning. We threw away 9 large trash bags and even filled old suitcases with bags too, to throw away as well. So, so much junk that needed to be thrown away. So we cleaned and rearranged the furniture I mostly rearranged the furniture and I tried to use the skills my mom has taught me ;) I wish I had taken before pictures. It was awful. But today we even got light bulbs, wash clothes, pans, blenders, and a shower head. This place is super, super old, but it's so much homier now. I love it so much better. We also set up decorations. We have Thanksgiving, Christmas and Fourth of July all set up right now. It's pretty festive...

The new Sœur's names are Sœur Neistadt and Sœur Bell. Sœur Neustadt has been here for 17 months now and will be heading home back to Las Vegas after this transfer. She speaks so well, she knows so much and is so, so energetic. She's so awesome and experienced. She's the only member in her family. Her parents are divorced, but her mom is super supportive of her. Anyways, I'm honored to be able to room with her. Now Sœur Bell is from Utah as well and just graduated from Olympus High! We have a lot in common because we have a lot of the same friends. It's really fun getting to know her and to just chat. She's still a blue (a greenie) and this is her 2nd transfer. It’s weird thinking I’m not a blue anymore! Guys I’m a big girl now!

Just today we went to get a little lunch us four.  Sœur Bell and I were laughing at Sœur Niestadt about something and she got fed up in a joking way and told Sœur Giles to leave us and let me and Sœur Bell pay for ourselves and see how we do all on our own. They left to go to another store and I was left with Sœur Bell, the blue, to pay and then head back to the house. It was actually really fun and we had no troubles whatsoever. The cashier even asked me why we were here or what were our name tags about. I told him we were missionaries for our church. It was fun being the older missionary in the situation and do all that. 

Anyways, we're back to work as missionaries after trying to get things rearranged, unpacked and settled. Winter is finally here. Christmas decorations are up. It's windy and it's rainy. Where's the snow?! If you're going to be cold and dark, you might as well snow!! Anyways, yes I miss the snow, it makes Christmas! Anyways, I'll be happy either way because I love Christmas as is. They're starting to set up a big tree in Place Stanislace. I'm so excited! 

Well, it's time to pull out the ear muffs, gloves and sweaters. What's hard here is that it rains a ton. Like, this past week, it rained nonstop, I kid you not. Today it’s finally sunny and the clouds are gone! It's so bright and pretty in our apartment. I'm excited for another week of finding and studying and teaching. I find it not as stressful to go out anymore. Well, I mean now I can speak without having to think a ton about it, I mean, I still have a long ways to go, but I'm saying my language is getting so, so, so much better.

Yesterday during church, I was mostly by myself without my companion around because she plays piano for the primary and they're preparing for their program. So I was in the amies class with three of our amies. I was very stressed and nervous, but it went well. I find now that people are talking to me more. I'm able to understand them so much more and I’m able to speak in return as best as I can. I mean it's not the best, best, but they understand me and I feel very accomplished. People weren't kidding when they said by your 3rd transfer you are able to comprehend so much more. I thought I'd never be able to understand, but ever since this transfer started, it was like a light switch. It just clicked. My confidence is building so much more now too. I find myself speaking more even though I know it won't be the best. But I've come to the point where if I talk more, the more I'll be able to progress... Well yeah duh! I know, I know. It just took a while for me to realize it for myself. But it's getting so much better. 

Anways, love you all, so much, I'll send you my new address! Thanks for all your support. It really means a lot. I love you family, seriously thank you for your love and prayers. I feel the love and I know I'm not alone. Even with all this change in such a short amount of time, I know it's going to be ok and life is going to move on. Of course the Lord is always helping me. He never leaves my side. I found this quote in the Elders apartment and I have it stuck on a sticky note on my tablet to always remember:

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.

 Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon

 as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and

 with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

                                                                                    -Ralph Waldo Emerson 

I live by that now. I love it. Anyways, love you all and talk next week!! 

Love always, 

Sœur Sarah Hunt 

The view from our new 12th floor apartment

  

You never know what you'll find when cleaning out an apartment

Adding some color to the apartment

  

Much better!

Lots of changes

Hello hello! Here I am yet again to email you all! This week has been very fast and good. Although all of our rendezvous have fallen through, we did get three of our most important progressing amies on Saturday in a row. Let's talk about it

Sorry I forgot to mention!! Last, last Saturday evening we had the Halloween party and it was way fun. The Elders were Men in Black and I just wore a streamer thing around my neck, but it was way awesome. Our amies, Caroline and her husband Dominique, came and the members were very welcoming.  I hope Caroline really enjoyed it. It was good.

Tuesday night we went porting in our favorite neighborhood. Tuesday night was also Halloween. So what do you expect when you're knocking on doors during Halloween? I didn't even think about it beforehand. So you can say I went trick or treating. Haha! It was good, but we needed to finish early because we weren’t getting anywhere and people were busy with parties. 

There is this a girl who is from Africa and she was seeing the Sœurs since last November but lost touch these past 5 months. So we were going to call her one last time before we dropped her because she just doesn't answer our calls. So we called and she answered! We set a time to meet and we did and got to know each other.  Then we set another time to meet. So it was going so good! She also really wants to get baptized. But this week we were going to see her on Tuesday but then had to push back to Saturday because she was going to the hospital for a check-up. When we went to her house Saturday she stood us up and didn't come to the rendezvous. I hope to see her again, but she just doesn’t follow through with us. 

This new girl that Sœur Giles and I found on the street was going to meet with us for a church tour.  She even called us back to confirm our rendezvous for Thursday but she didn't show up. It was the ultimate "frudge" or a stand up. So we didn’t do that. Super sad. Pretty much everyone we had planned to see didn't follow through or had to cancel. But it's ok, because we’re here to find those who do want to hear and take this seriously.

Last Monday we also met with this older lady that we met last month when porting.  She's had many experiences with past missionaries. She's not interested but she likes being with us. So she invited us back for her English group with her and her friends. I felt like I was taken back into the 1950s. They asked us questions about what we believed but they kind of already knew about us. So we talked about us and the United States all in English. They also spoke English from England and they were so proper it was so funny to experience. I felt like I needed to always sit up straight and cross my legs being with them. It was fun. Hope to see them again. 

But other than that it was an average week of finding and studying.  It was good and we always do our best, but there's always room to improve. 

We received transfer information today so I'm staying with my companion. This will be her 6th transfer here in her blueville. She's been here the whole time so far. It’ll be fun. Having my trainer also be my polisher. The Elders are leaving this area into a different district in the same zone but staying together. The Elders are being replaced by other Sœurs from the area that the Elders are moving to. So now our apartment is going to be sold so we are moving into the Elders old apartment and making it a four man. So I'm staying here, but have to move to another apartment. Fun! I love adventures.   I’m excited to see what happens next. 

Thank you all for the prayers and love and support. I'll chat with you all next week. It’ll be very different next week.

Love lots,

Sœur Hunt

P.S. Ashlynne Rosenhan happy late birthday and thank you so much for sending me a letter! It meant so much to hear from you. I'm so excited for you to serve. You will absolutely love it. You will be an awesome missionary. Thanks for everything, you're the best! That's cool to hear that Bryce is out now too! Tell him good luck and have fun for me!! Stay safe.