Soeur Sarah Hunt France Paris Mission: Merry Christmas

First off, thank you Reva, Betty and Colleen for the wonderful Christmas cards and package. It was very sweet, and I really appreciated it. I hope your Christmas was amazing!

Thank you for the wonderful Christmas package mom. You are literally the best. I wasn't really expecting any gifts and to be honest I wouldn't have minded if I didn't get any gifts. Again, thank you to infinity and back

It's crazy just how many great people there is in the world who can touch your life if you just take the time to get to know them. How much they will come to mean to you. I'm glad to know amazing people from California and Utah and Maine and everywhere else. Each person I meet in life, helps me to improve, to become my better self. I just want to thank them all and I love them with all my heart. Specific shout out to Mamma Giles! (my last companion and trainer)

I've learned since being out here that I need to rely more on the Lord. To be honest, that's my only option. In times faced with teaching and speaking and being the only person who knows what’s going on in the area, of course makes things a bit stressful. So, I’ve come to rely on the Lord for everything. I have also followed the words of my wise father who just recently emailed me some words of encouragement. "...Doing what needs to be done may not always make you happy, but it will make you great... Invest in yourself and have some fun. Do something important. Love somebody extra. You may do the work badly. You may do the work too slow, or end up doing it fearfully. Do it any way you have to, but just do it! Whatever happens, however, never look back on a lost opportunity where an imagined concern kept you from even trying—lose or win. Learn that there is no regret in a brave attempt, only in cowering to fear. A mission is all about having what you have never had, and having the courage to do what you have never done." I notice when I just do the work without holding myself back or swimming in my frustrations; I hold on to what I know and embrace whatever comes my way. I have full confidence that the Lord will guide me to the places I'll do the most good, as well as shape me into the person he wants me to become. I've found that when I do that, I feel calm. I feel like I can do anything. This, is a time for me to find out what kind of missionary I want to be. This is a time for me to find out how happy I can be being a disciple of Jesus Christ... I need to do it well and the best I can, always looking forward.

Alright, enough of my own thoughts, I'll move on to my crazy week that I'm sure you've all been dying to hear about. First, we had transfers and I had the opportunity to receive a new companion. Her name is Sœur McBride and she's from Virginia. She came from serving in Nivelle, Belgium and has only been out 5 transfers which is only one more than me. "CAN WE PANIC NOW??!" Well, it's not terrible, it's just a very sweet kick into progression. So now that everyone in our apartment, reminding you that we are living in a four man, is new, I’m the oldest in this area. Which means, I'm the only one who knows where things are as well as the members and my amis. But again, I'm alright and I'm working hard and excited to learn new things from a different perspective. I know I need this.

So, the next day after transfers I was thrown back into the swing of missionary work. We had two rendezvous with first, Emine and then Oceane. Reminding you once again how terrified I was to go to these people’s house to teach for the first time without my amazing trainer. We got there, and we chatted, and my comp was able to ask questions to get to know her. Emine asked me if we cooked or baked, I said I could a little, but my companion doesn't cook at all. So Emine had me bake a cake for us to eat. It went well, and It was fun. Then I asked her if she had the chance to read the Book of Mormon, but I don't think she understood me because she said, yes one sec and then we can do the lesson. I didn't exactly mean to push it on to her like that, but I wasn't complaining. Glad to know that she was expecting something like this. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and it went surprisingly well. She didn't remember what the Atonement was, so I explained it again. At the end she said that she likes talking about these things, but going to church is too big of a step for her. She's not looking for that kind of change. She also said she hasn't started reading but she will eventually. Her boyfriend doesn't exactly like these kinds of things, so she does it when he's not around I guess. Afterwards, she asked us if we would help her put up pictures in her kid’s bedroom because her kids would be coming over for the weekend. It was fun, and we lost track of time and realized that we only had 3 minutes till our bus came. Sadly, we had to ask for the cake to go and just sprint out of there. She's always giving us food and I always feel bad because were always leaving in a hurry. In our rush, I forgot to ask for another day to see each other, but before we left she asked what day would work best for us to come back and see her again. Looks like she still wants to see us. So, we’ll see her Thursday again :)

Oceane we saw her right afterwards. I called her a couple of times to see if she was still good to see us, but she never answered. To be honest I was ok with that. Because it's incredibly scary to have rendezvous when you don't speak the language very well. But I knew that I needed to do my job and stop by her house and see if she was still able to meet with us just in case. Well, there she was, home and willing to meet with us. Well it's good, but crap because now I must teach her, IN FRENCH. I asked her how she liked church because she went last time and she said she really liked it. I explained a little bit more about church, so she'd understand better. We taught her the first three commandments and she understood me and agreed with the things that I, we, were saying. I wish I could express myself better to help them understand, but right now I'm doing the best I can. I really tried to help her to understand the Book of Mormon again so that she would start reading by herself. I asked her to read that evening, the testimony of Joseph Smith and pray afterwards. I hope she starts keeping her commitments. She said that she would, and I hope when I see her tonight that she did it. Pray that she did.

Then the next day we saw Brian who is awesome. He said he read the scripture we told him to read, but he didn't really understand. So, I told them to read it together as a family again and pray afterwards. He said he totally forgot to pray so I told him I'd send a text to remind him to pray ;) well, we taught the next two commandments. He understood and had no problems. Things are going well there. Afterwards, their family fed us dinner and it was very yummy. They're so sweet and they complimented me on my French. Again, they said I've progressed so much and it does make me happy when they say that. I need to hear that sometimes. We talked a lot and laughed a lot and it was very fun.

Sœur Bell’s companion has been sick lately, so I’ve been going on splits with her to help her with her rendezvous, so she doesn't have to cancel. Good thing it was Mike the Asian who speaks ENGLISH. It went very well and we both were very proud of ourselves. Sœur Bell said it was the best rendezvous they've had with him so far. He's progressed so much. I was happy to hear that. Afterwards, we went and had DMP meeting. (Ward Mission Leader) It was going to be just me and Sœur Bell. I was a bit nervous because again I didn’t have my trainer to talk and Sœur Bell doesn’t talk a whole lot and I thought it was going to be awkward and very short. It was very much the opposite. We both said everything we needed to say, and I talked a lot. I surprised my DMP. He said I've progressed so much. I remember the second day I arrived in France when I had DMP with him. I'm sure he remembers how I didn't really speak, I'm sure now it's different for him to see me like this ha-ha. But it went well and he's so nice and helpful to us.

Sunday was a crazy fun awesome day. First, we went to one-hour church service and Raphaël, our newly baptized convert, blessed the sacrament!! He's so awesome and I got teary eyed when I saw him doing it. It makes me so happy. His mom came too! It was so cool.

Afterwards the Houmeaux family invited us over for the day... we sang and danced and played games. It was super-duper fun. The food we had was, first, appetizer, then oysters, smoked salmon, frog legs, snails, foie gras, mushrooms, clams, cheese and bread with salad, and then finished with desert which was a Bouche de Noël. I'm so happy I was able to try all that. It wasn't that bad! But I wouldn’t eat it on my own spare time :) Then Caroline gave us such cute presents. They're family is the best. So, so fun and awesome.

Anyways, that was my week and my fun Christmas. I've already learned so much this transfer. Thanks for all your support and love as always. Keep being awesome and working hard and make sure to remember what's most important in your life. If any of you have questions or concerns, I know I'm not always available, but I'll do my best to respond back and help at any chance I get.

Avec Amour,
Sœur Sarah Hunt