Soeur Sarah Hunt France Paris Mission: Time Flies

December 11, 2017

The message of the gospel is the same no matter where you are called to serve on your mission. No matter what language you speak, no matter the cultural differences, because the feeling is the same. The teachings are the same. It’s pretty incredible.

Yesterday I forgot that today was P day until Sœur N said, it's p-day eve! And then Sunday morning I totally didn't realize that it was Sunday. The week was very full, and the days blurred together.

I'm continually surprised that I am currently living in the country of France. I used to look at it on the map as just a place, but it again hit me during church while singing with the relief society that it's not just a place. It's so much more. There are people here that are so incredible, and I wouldn't have ever known them or had any idea about anyone that I've met without having been able to come here. Now I think the same about every single place in the world. There are so many people that we haven't met, and they're our brothers and sisters. Again, I'm continually grateful for the opportunity I have been given to be here and meet these people.

One thing that I've been really missing is the opportunity to attend the temple. I never thought that I'd miss the temple as much as I do now. It may not make that much sense to you because our lives are different and the things we experience and learn are different right now, but I must tell you how grateful I am to be able to live in an area where I can go to a temple where and whenever I want. I miss the feeling I get from being in the temple. I never realized it before because I was always so distracted by life. I miss the power it holds being in the temple. There really is something to be said about the feeling you get by being there. So please for me, take some time this coming week and go to the temple. The Lord wants you close to him. He loves you and wants you to experience everything He has by His side.

We finally got back in touch with our ami and the reason she didn't answer was because she was sick. (Fact: French people don't inform you of things very much. For example, if they're not showing up to church and they're the ones with the lesson, they won't tell anyone, they just don't show up. So, then someone ends up improvising in place of them (usually us), so I guess because she was sick she couldn't pick up the phone, I don't know I try not to question it.) We finally got to see her, and we were also going to see her little girl too. Her little girl was so, so, so cute. She is 5 years old and when we talked about Jesus and God she didn’t know who they were. So, we taught her who Jesus was and who God was to us. We taught her how to pray and we asked her, how do we talk to him? She said, "uh... ça va?" It was funny. She prayed about 4 times. It was so cute. Her mom thought it was funny and cute too and liked that her daughter was learning these things. At the end we gave her a gift. Can you guess? Yes! A Book of Mormon in Italian! Good guess. She absolutely loved it. We told her that we would be giving it to her once we found it. She hugged it and put it on her dresser and said, oh yay it's all mine. She got the shivers too. Oh, we were so happy. We're very happy she's willing to meet with us and listen. She even asked if we wanted to come over with the rest of her family for the 24th but we already had an invitation from a member family. She's so sweet and awesome.

Speaking of this member family it's just an older gentleman and his daughter. They're both fluent in English. The brother is a member of the high council and is a translator for conference and other books and stuff. He worked in the military as a translator. He knows like 4 languages fluently. He doesn't even have an accent. His daughter has a little bit of an accent, but they're so awesome and so down to earth and fun. He wants us over to eat, take walks and see some cool sights. They're going to give us presents I think ha-ha. They said they want to give us the real French experience. They’re going to make snails, snake, frog legs bread and cheese and then see some war trenches. I'm so excited. I'm not scared to eat those things because I've always wanted to try them for the experience!

Moving on to our other ami. It's been going very well. We've had one other lesson and he's changing. We had a baptism for a little boy in the ward and he came with his family and he looked like he was very happy and having a good time with his friends. The members were so welcoming and excited to see him. His friends that he grew up with in the ward loved seeing him again and chatted up a while. The next day, yesterday, he went to church for the first time and again had a great time. It was so cool to see him there.

Our other ami! We've taught her everything in the first 3 lessons so that's about half of everything. We met her two weeks ago and we see her a lot. She's super cool and has a lot of hardships in her life. But in the second lesson we asked her to be baptized again but with the proper authority. She said no, but then we told her that of course she wasn't sure right now, but we will help her get there. She told us why she didn’t want to, and I'll say right now she's having a hard time with the law of chastity and we’re kind of nervous to teach it. But we set a date as a goal for now and set it for February 16. Were excited for it and were going to do our best to help her get there. We know she can do it. We see her again tonight to start reading the Book of Mormon and help her to gain a testimony of it, because once you have a testimony of the Book of Mormon then everything else will fall into place.

Anyways, love you all. Talk later! Hope your Christmas season is going swell and that you're safe and having fun. I'll pray that you guys get snow because, let's be honest, there's no Christmas without snow. I have to say that to my companion repeatedly, but she just doesn't understand. California girls, am I right? Ha-ha.

Au revoir (bye)

Avec amour (with love)
Sœur Sarah Hunt