I'm transferring to Calais, it's on the English Channel, next to Dunkirk and near Belgium!!!

The saddest news in the whole entire world... I accidentally deleted my weekly email to you. Now I'm writing it all again!!!

This was a week of realizing that I'm not alone, God answers prayers, and that faith and miracles work differently than I thought. Last week I prayed to have my faith tested. I wanted to be tested because I felt like I was going in circles and not going anywhere. I asked that so that I would see what I should work on and how I could improve. Looking back, I wonder what I was even looking for. I was expecting something grand! When I was in a little low spot, I received an email from my father which said, "…Hence, while the world is merely tempted, you are viciously attacked. Why are you so ruthlessly confronted?  Your eternal perspective is the answer.  You... are meant to be a disturber in Satan’s kingdom. Never underestimate that! Anticipate it, don’t become a victim of it. Know you must be on the right path and very close to some great miracles, otherwise the adversary wouldn’t be working so hard on you and your companion."  It was something I needed and something that changed my perspective. While doing my personal studies I found my answer. I was reading in Helaman 10:13-15 and reading in the manual and it said, "the prophet Joseph Smith taught that miracles are the fruits of faith, some people seek faith through miracles; however, that is contrary to the order of heaven. Faith precedes the miracle-- it does not follow it... The miracle failed to convert them because faith cometh not by signs, but signs follow those that believe..." that was exactly me! I was looking for a miracle. I needed to act first and do the best I could with a better attitude. Right after I asked my companion about this subject trying to get her point of view on things and while talking a realization hit me. I prayed for my faith to be tried and here I am looking for something amazing, but things were a little tough and I felt like nothing was working! Now looking back, God was definitely answering my prayers! After I saw God's hand in my life my attitude changed, and I saw it for what it was and made sure I learned from then on out. Now I know what I need to improve on! Sorry for the rant, I hope you understand what I was saying ha-ha.

Now let me tell you what miracle we found after our trial! We went over to the Chretien’s house to teach their son Brian again. To be honest I haven’t really looked forward to recent lessons with him because I never knew what to teach him. He's someone who has a hard time acting upon the things we ask him to do. I was at a loss for what to teach him. Finally, I asked Sœur Durant for suggestions and she said to show a video which is called The Hope of God's Light, if you haven't seen it, watch it. It's amazing. After I saw it I just knew it was exactly what he needed to hear. I was no longer apprehensive to go over there. I was, in fact, very excited. We really wanted it to be good. We usually plan a decently long lesson, but this time we barely planned anything. We planned to show the video and then speak a little and then have the spirit take it away. That video was so powerful. It was describing exactly his situation and it said everything he needed to know. The spirit was so strong. After the video Soeur McBride said a little something then I knew it was my turn to say something. I took a little pause, I didn't know what to say and I waited till I got inspiration. Then it hit me so strong. I got very emotional and I was speaking directly to Brian. I saw that he had tears in his eyes too and I knew he felt the spirit. He knew what he was learning was true. In that moment I felt like I was really doing my job. In that moment I felt real love for him. He knows what he needs to do, he just needs to do it. I've never had that good of a lesson with him since I was with Sœur Giles teaching him for the first time. Even his parents needed it and felt like it was exactly what they're son needed. Please go watch it, that's my challenge for you this week. Mormon messages, Hope of God's Light.

Another great lesson was with Luc! We taught him the priesthood and it went very well. We had members with us and he came to church and he understood everything. Thank you for the prayers, they work. Next time we’ll be teaching him the Plan of Salvation. He always keeps his commitments and he's so on top of things. I’ve been blessed to be able to teach him for a while.

Here's something kind of funny that happened this week. So, us Sœurs, we've been talking about this challenge that's called the Wilford Woodruff (I think that’s how you spell it) Challenge. Not sure if it's even a real thing ha-ha but basically what you do is wake up at 5:30am, which is an hour earlier than normal, finish all your studies and such in the morning, and then from 10am - 9pm and you don't come back to the apartment. Anyways I set my alarm for 5:30 as a joke for the other companionship. We're so mean. I'm the one who sets the alarm for all of us so...  the other morning the alarm goes off and we get up get and going like usual. Then we see the other Sœurs get start like it’s a regular day. Then when Sœur Durant gets out of bed too I say, "wait you're doing the Wilford Woodruff with us?" Then she just looks at us and says, “you're kidding,” goes into the other room and checks the time and then tells Sœur Bell and they both come back in and we’re dying of laughter and they were SO angry. But the next day it was just something they thought was very clever and hilarious. Sleep is very important to missionaries LOL! 

English class is getting bigger everyone! We had about 7 people and it was very fun. Two were Asian and they're super good at freaking English already. They're sweet and it was fun teaching with more people again. Hope they don't hate how bad at teaching we are. They're in college studying chemical engineering and they need to know English because all of it is in English.... freak, here I am as a 19-year-old and they're expecting something grand... psych!

Well, Now I'm moving on to even bigger things ahead of me! That’s right I'm transferring to Calais everyone! It's in the Lille zone. I'm by the Ocean and by Dunkirk! I'm so incredibly excited and I can't wait for the adventures up ahead.  See you around Nancy!

Love you all very much and thanks for the prayers and love. Have a great week!

Love always
Sœur Hunt

Quintessential France, She will miss this beautiful city

4 favorite treats for the 4 Soeurs while they're together one last time

                       

         North of Old Town Nancy is the door of the Craffe its an important vestige of the ancient fortification of the city

Erected in the 14th century.  Decorated with a giant Lorraine cross

St.Epvre Basilica Church -  Nancy, France

Soeur Hunt and Soeur McBride

They got along so well, I'm sure Sarah will have great memories

Soeurs Durant, Bell, McBride and Hunt

Soeurs Durant, Bell, McBride and Hunt

Soeur McBride with their English class

This week's forecast; rain, rain and more rain

Well, this transfer feels like it was split into two. When I look back, it feels like it's been going on forever, but surprisingly the weeks go by swiftly. My days consist of waking up before the rooster and exercising after I've finished my crying session from a lack of sleep. Don't be alarmed I'm doing just fine, I've learned how to maybe get rid of the bags under my eyes. Then we get ready and spend an hour doing our personal studies. I love personal studies. Lately I've been reading the Book of Mormon more and I find that when I read it, I get lost pondering about my life and faith and how it all connects. If you don't mind terribly, I'd like to share one of my thoughts that maybe might be a little bit interesting for you this time.

While reading the scriptures I was thinking about my death. I asked myself, if I died right now, how would I feel? Prepared? Scared? Excited? I would say definitely not scared. Lately I've met with a lot of people from different denominations. I’ll be honest, those experiences make you think and ask questions. I ask myself, what if this church isn't true? What if there hasn't been a restoration yet or what if I haven't found the right church? Then I look back on my life. It’s not a bad life at all. I realize that I have good feelings with me all the time, I have hope, and a goal. I'm treating my body well, I go to church every Sunday. I have made and keep sacred covenants, and I'm always striving to be a better person. Everything I'm doing is good. So, no, if I died right now, it's just another adventure. I’ll see you on the other side. Even if there were nothing after this life, I wouldn't think I had wasted anything. I'm not sheltered, I'm not deprived of having fun. I'm living my life well and I have no regrets. We live in the dispensation of the fullness of times, we have the fullness of the gospel and all our questions can be answered, we can receive personal revelation directly from the Lord. So, when I think about all that I realize that I know this church is true.

I hope I didn't alarm anyone. I don't think about death that much, I promise. It’s just a thought that I had when reading and I thought I’d share it with you. I love reading the Book of Mormon because I get wonderful thoughts and insights. I say read and take a minute to think. You never know what your mind will come to next when guided by the Spirit.

Moving on to my super exciting week. There were a lot of people/amis that fell through. Tough life. I guess you just move on and go finding. That’s what we do. But lately it's been a little more tough finding. It's hard when 30-degree winds are blowing at 60 mph in your face. When it's times like that, it's hard to keep going. The weeks have been about the same, study, find, teach. But no one really stays. It's difficult, but like I always say, you learn so much about yourself, and how to handle situations. It’s not all that bad after all. You’re figuring out who you are and why you're doing the things you do. Like I said before, "missions help us find out if we can be happy being disciples of Jesus Christ..."

The STLs helped us find one of our pretty cool amis. His name is Luc and he's about 50 something. He is very Catholic... he loves everything we've taught him. He agrees with pretty much everything we've taught him. He believes the Book of Mormon and has come to church. He talks a lot, but it's good! He is understanding, and I would ask you to pray for me and my companion to know how we can best help him to progress and understand. I really want to help him and see it spark. I want to see him change and thrive in the gospel. I'm excited to see him again this week and help him come closer to our Heavenly Father.

Our ami that is having the affair with the married man with five kids is a different story indeed. We finally were able to see her after 4 weeks. We were going to teach her the law of chastity and holy cow it would've been a doozy.  Instead we decided to ask her if her baptism was still something she wanted and then talked about repentance and the atonement.  We asked her and she said, “I was already baptized and I don’t understand why I need to again.” We felt like we were in the film "The District." feeling awkward and not knowing what to do. Except we do know what to say, but how to say it without hurting her feelings?  I figured I had to say the truth as nicely as I could with boldness. I told her the process of authority again and then told her, that her intentions with getting baptized were very good, but that it wasn't with the proper authority. That is why she needed to be baptized again. Well, I'm pretty sure she didn't like that. Afterwards she left her house, with us still in it chilling on her couch, for 10 minutes while she went to get her son... it was very weird, and we didn't know what to do. We decided to finish up quickly once she came back. We asked her if she wanted to act upon the things we've taught her then she could call us. We told her to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.  She said she had prayed about it but hadn't had a response yet. Afterwards, when we were walking back to the bus stop, I realized she hadn't received an answer because she hadn't even started reading it! Fact for the future: If you want to know if something is true, you must test it first. Well, the lesson was a train wreck, but we have no regrets and we taught the truth.

Narek is Armenian and is 21 years old. We had our very first lesson with him and we've never met or seen him before. We were going in blind. What we did know was that he's Pentecostal/orthodox and worked somewhat like a pastor in Belgium before he came here for school! Yeah, we taught him. Or I should say we tried to. It was more like he was teaching us. There is no way we can change his mind. His mind is set on the Bible and Christ. His life he is living is very good. Props to him. He said we fulfilled one of his dreams for him. His dream was to be a missionary and teach like us. Well I realize now why he said that, because he literally taught us. It was hard to get a single words in. There was no bashing. There were just a lot of opinions from him. It was nice meeting him, but sadly we won't be going anywhere with him.

To finish up about my week, we had English class again and this time it was 3 new men that show up. It was really fun, we taught some cool things and they really liked it. They gave us certain things they specifically wanted to work on for next time, so now we have a little more prepared for them. Yay!

So, that's all folks! Love you and I hope to maybe hear some of your adventures from back home! Thanks for your prayers and love. I feel it and you all keep me going every day. Stay strong 😊

Sœur Sarah Hunt 💙

The Classic Art Museum

Hot chocolate from her favorite place

I love her weekly photo of one of her latest  meal creations. This week's is salmons with Brussels sprouts, avocado and much more...

Spiritual moments

This week was a week of realizing how crazy this work is. It really is a bunch of teens to 20-year olds running around the city having appointments about religion with random people right off the street. It’s so weird when you really think about it. But I'm glad to be that person running around talking about salvation!

It's fun seeing other missionaries do this work. You can learn so much about a person by how they do this wonderful work. It was just very enlightening for me this week. They're doing the same work as I am, helping someone receive blessings from this gospel. I love the people I serve with, they're dedicated and hard working. I feel honored to be working alongside them.

To start off the week, we had zone conference and it was the best one for me thus far. Before the meeting started we were preparing the lunch. I was cutting lettuce, and someone put bags on top of the stove... minutes later there was smoke filling up the room. Someone must have turned on the stove with the bags still on it. So I turn around to see Sœur Bell screaming/laughing with Sœur McBride taking the bags off. An Elder came in confused as ever and was trying to help us put out the almost fire. Boy was it the funniest sight. At the end the bag had a huge hole in it and there was goo all over the stove. Well moving on to our meeting. Our new President is starting to get the hang of things. He's very hard working and is always trying to do what's best for us. I learn a lot of things from him. At the end of the meeting I felt very inspired and ready to go full force. So yeah other than almost burning down the church the conference was great!  

We had exchanges right after that and it was a good learning experience. The STLs help us a lot with getting new amis and seeing things from a different perspective. I love picking out different qualities from other missionaries. As my time here as a missionary progresses, I watch other missionaries doing the work just so that I can adopt some of the things I admire about them. I'm trying to figure out what kind of missionary I am. I guess that's part of the fun. Getting to decide who you are and what you want to become. Again, it's very enlightening.

Anyways, we had a very crazy Facebook experience. Whoever thought that posting about a free English class every Friday, on a college student Facebook group, was a good idea, was not thinking about the consequences. LOL us. I posted about coming from the united states with a few of my friends, being here to provide a public service and help with free English classes for an hour every Friday evening. Well I wasn't at all expecting anyone to really respond. Maybe like 5 people would be interested. No, instead we had 110 likes, 89 comments and I got 65 personal messages on messenger asking for more details. Holy cow we were all a mess. We sent that out Thursday and the next day was our first class. We didn't even think through what we were planning to do. Boy oh boy. It was so funny and stupid of us. Good thing we believe in a loving, merciful Heavenly Father. He knew we were not prepared for these people. So, we show up to the church waiting for all these people, but it turned out that only 2 people showed up in total. One who was pretty much fluent and the other who only spoke 5 words. Yup!  In the end they were SO cool. One guy said he'd bring his friends next time AND he'd pick up the other dude who he knew nothing about! Wow! We had good conversations and were able to get to know each other and have a good time.  I think a few people got the wrong impression of our English class too... one girl messaged me asking if I'd help correct her resume paper (that was in English) for her job or something. Her paper was about the European Union. I helped correct it. So basically, I helped her get into the European Union. Yeah, stressful so I'm not ever doing that again. Freak! Ha-ha this week was a doozy with Facebook, but that was our fault in the first place.

​​​​Anyways, this week was pretty chill, but we had some really cool finding experiences. We've been finding a lot of people during the week. The language is improving, and I am forever learning so many things 24/7. Love you all a ton and I am forever grateful for you all. Thanks for everything you do for me!

Avec Amour

Soeur Hunt

Soeur Hunt with  Soeur Durant

Another creative breakfast meal

Peace on Earth

Church side cemetery many hundreds of  years old

Midnight changes

Well, well, well, where to start. Maybe I’ll start by saying Sœur Coleman-James left us to go home early today because she was sick and needed help in America. So now Sœur Bell has another companion who is Sœur Durrant who was an STL in Belgium but she’s only staying for 3 weeks and then heading back. If she wants. Then Sœur Bell would have another companion and more things would change. Weird huh. Oh well, life goes on and the work stays the same. We’re out here saving people and bringing peace and happiness. I love it! Life here is now going super, super fast. It's crazy!

Raphaël, our recently baptized convert has a calling in the church! He's a counselor in the young men's.  It's perfect for him. It makes me so, so happy to see how his life is changing. I love having front row seats to conversion. Seriously he looks so happy.  I'm so happy to have been able to participate in helping him have this gospel in his life. I'm excited to see how his future turns out, I know it'll be amazing.

On Friday morning we went to leave for district meeting in a hurry. We didn't grab another set of keys because we were all leaving together and the other Sœurs had a set. Later in the day we split up, so we came back with no keys. It wasn't really a big deal, but we couldn't go in to do studies. Then Sœur McBride said she did have a feeling to go finding, but she pushed it away. I told her, well let's go then! We had no other choice till the other Sœurs came back. So, we went finding and the first person we saw was the person we were supposed to meet. She was 61 and she was speaking English to us and she told us a story of when she went and visited the Americas when she was 16/17. She met the Elders there and she fell in love with one of them, obviously nothing happened. But she said all her memories of it were nothing but good and happy. So, she's thrilled to have us back. That was a really cool experience. We can't wait to get to know her and teach her.

We met a girl the other day going batting (knocking on doors in a sketchy apartment building). Her name is Rosemary, cute name huh.  She speaks Creole and has two little boys. Really cool. Yesterday we taught her the whole restoration and she liked it. We'll be seeing her again on Friday!

Our investigator, who has a baptismal date, is at the moment having an affair with a man who has a wife and 5 kids. She isn't answering our calls or texts and when we stopped by to give her cookies she didn't answer but we dropped them off at the door anyway.  Well, I hope later we can help her if she lets us...

Two days ago, I saw a lady on the bus and I stopped and talked to her. I found out that she's from Congo and she knows the Mormons and wants to learn English. She tried talking to me in English and I talked to her in French. It was really fun. I told her we held English classes and she'd have to stop by, so I can help her. She's also seen our church before. Her name is Jane. I got her number and before we got off the bus she stopped me and said, “wait, you'll call me, right?!” I said I would for sure. She's so sweet. We'll be seeing her soon, I'm excited!

Anyways, nothing else is really happening this week, so this is all I got for you. Thanks again for your love and support and I'll chat next week! Again, I'm grateful to be here and the language is getting there, and it's all fun and we’re learning lots!


Love you all

Sœur Sarah Hunt 💙

Sarah's latest meal creation

Happy New Year

Well today marks 6 months. I have exactly 1 year left?! Weird, time flies. Well, I don't have a ton of things to say this week, sadly. Sorry, but what I do have to say is pretty darn awesome. Stay tuned.

This week was a week of crazy weather. Snow, rain, wind, sun. I thought I was in France, not Utah... oh well, the work goes on. Literally. Sœur McBride and I pumped each other up so much to go finding. We were so excited. We read some quotes and gave a good prayer and out the door we went. We were going to talk to 20 people. When we got outside, it was snowing pretty good. We look at each other and we shrug. THE WORK GOES ON! We keep going and we’re talking to people, no one's really interested, but we're handing out our cards for when they someday want to give us a chance. We keep going and by now it's snowing harder and the wind has picked up a lot more. We're walking and trying to talk to people, FACT, it’s hard to see anything when you have snow going into your face and its is melting into your eyes. I wonder what people were thinking when they saw us. “Geez what's wrong with them?” Well, we kept going through the blizzard and we turn a corner and see this lady. We stop her and say Bonjour and she stops us and says, do you speak English? HAHAHAHA, of course! She then said, ok then I can help you. Then I asked her where she was from and she said she's from here, but she was in school in Scotland this past year. I don't understand why she can't speak French, but I'm not complaining. So, then I started again introducing ourselves and I was able to testify with ease and with feeling which I was very happy about. I was on a roll, I wish I sounded like that in French. She stopped me in the middle of my thought process and she said, “I need to stop you there, I need to tell you something before you go any further, I mean I feel your enthusiasm and your love for what you do, I mean it’s inspiring, but you need to know this... I'm gay.”  ZOINKS! C'est pas grave...? Well, I told her we weren't here to judge and that we love everyone the same and so does God, sounds cheesy, but it's true. She was very nice, and we got her email. We ended up heading back because by then we were soaked, I had to keep wiping the water from my face. By the time we got back to the apartment my makeup was running down my face. It was a good night!

At church I gave my 8-and-a-half-minute talk.  I felt pretty ok about it. I had a member correct for grammar mistakes beforehand, so I wouldn't make a fool of myself.  They also asked me to conduct the hymns because the chorister wasn't there. Good! because it got my jitters out before I gave my talk. Soo… it was good.

After church Soeur McBride and I decided to go trajat contacting (on the tram) for 2 hours. Warning; it will make you very tired and a little dizzy... on the way back home, we realized that we forgot the champagne (I don't need to explain myself) and we were so sad. IT'S NOT A NEW YEAR'S CELEBRATION WITHOUT MARTINELLIS! We joked about saying a prayer that someone random would hand us a Sprite on the road before we got back to the apartment. But to be honest, I said a real prayer, I know, silly, but if it matters to me it matters to my father in heaven so long as it's according to his will. So, I prayed. Later that night, the STLs (Sister Training Leaders) came for exchanges with the other Sœurs and THEY BROUGHT MARTINELLIS! It was absolutely crazy but a literal answer to my prayer. Holy cow, guys, God is there, and he really watches and hears us all the time.

Since its a new year we've tried changing some stuff up... We've been rearranging the apartment and it's looking good. We decided to hang some stuff up to make it look all nice. We found a hammer and nails and we were good to go.  As we hammered in the nails. Soeur Coleman came out from the other room and said that we had broken through into the other room... We covered it with a picture of the temple and called it good.

Well, the new year is here, and I'm pumped and ready to go and start this year off with a bang. I know this year will be one of the most important and most memorable years I'll ever experience. BRING IT ON!

Love you all and HAPPY NEW YEAR'S 💙

Sœur Sarah Hunt

My new companion

My 4th transfer

Happy New Year

FONDU! our New Year's dinner

Love this city

Nancy France

After going finding in a blizzard