"Tan pi je suis reparti chez moi."

Well, I don't have a whole lot to say. This week nothing really big happened because it was basically the same every day. Finding and studies. Not bad, just uneventful. We had some great studies though! We've had some really fun discussions as a companionship, always very enlightening. 

We found two new amis this week and one in specific is named Cathy. We met her Tuesday and we had a rendezvous for Thursday morning at 9h30. We prepared so much for her and it was going to be a good lesson. We didn't realize that we had just barely missed our bus, time flies. But we were able to walk with enough time to get to the church right on time. We checked our phone and she had texted at 9h15 saying she was at the church. We didn't hear the text, but we texted her back saying we were here and asked where she was. Emphasizing the fact that she was 15 minutes early. Her response back to our text was, "Tan pi je suis reparti chez moi." Meaning, too bad, I went back to my house. We texted back asking if she was still available to meet, and she said no not possible. LOL ok it's fine, it's the regular life of a missionary. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with her this week. Back tracking on the story of how we met, she stopped us on the road with a religious book of a sort asking us if we were Jehovah’s Witnesses. No. We're not. Anyways, there's our most exciting story of the week. 

Our ward asked JUST, me and Skoozy to sing Called to Serve in English for Estelle’s-going-on-a-mission-ward-activity-thingy. You remember, she's going to the California, Los Angeles Temple Visitor Center Mission.  LOL, I can’t sing. I wish I could, but I can’t. So, we’ll see how this turns out. We’ve been practicing every day since they asked us. HAHAHA. Il faut practiquer (you must practice). 

We had the wonderful opportunity to ride an autobus (bus) to our district meeting in St. Omer instead of riding a train. Thanks to the grèves (the train strike). It was 1 hr 48-minute bus ride. I don't think anyone should ride a bus that long, but the scenery was absolutely amazing. So many farm fields and forests.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Seriously, cameras don't do it justice. Then after D.M. we had to take another autobus back. 

Anyways, I don't have much else to add, except that my scriptures studies have been so much more worthwhile. I can officially say that I have an appreciation for the scriptures now. If you really try to put forth the effort in understanding the history, and background of the people, also the reasons why they did things etc., the scriptures you read will be so much more worthwhile. Now I actually look forward to reading them. I have so much respect for all the prophets who worked so hard to preserve the records for us today. Seriously, if you believe in the Book of Mormon then you'll know everything else is true. You need to know if God is real. Once you know that, then you know when He says to keep his commandments and follow the prophets he's called, is something you actually need to do. All you need to do is what God tells you to. He knows what's best, he knows what we need, and he loves us. That's all he wants, is for us to be happy. I'll follow him.

Have a great week! Love you all!

Soeur Hunt 

Beautiful French apartments

The Calais Lighthouse

You're a Satanist Sect!!!

Hello hello! What a fast week. This week has a few stories that I'm excited to share. This week has been only street contacting, JK we had 2 lessons with our ami Jacques.  Our contacting sessions were really fun and we were able to have some great conversations. I hope to have been able to strengthen their faith in some way.  It's always such a pleasure to be able to meet new people and help them with anything they are going through.  I feel so blessed to be able to talk to so many people in a day. That's my favorite thing about the mission so far. Meeting new people, whether that be companions or members or just people on the street.  It's so enlightening to see things from other’s perspective. I wish I could expound all my thoughts into words, so you could understand what I learn! It's crazy!

There was a fire in centre ville (downtown). It was something different to change things up around here a bit.  I don’t have anything else to say about it, but it was something different. Kinda cool and different, but not because it's sad...

Anyways, we were walking one day, and this guy saw us and stopped us. He was telling us that he was an Evangelist preacher, but he's done with it all now. He doesn't believe anymore. He said it was sad.  He prayed a ton and a ton but got no response. He got angry at God, took a gun and shot multiple times towards the sky.  He said he'd lost family and friends and he didn't think God was there for him, so he gave up. But he thought it was really good that we were young and faithful. He told us to keep it. Never let it go. He said he had no more faith, but I think that's a lie. He has faith because he knew it was important to have faith, I know he feels something even though it's small. I know we were an answer to his prayers in a way, even though we didn't get to go far with him.  It shows that God hears him because we met him and gave him a card and told him to never hesitate to call us. He was very nice, a little interesting.  I was so happy to meet him, and I hope to be able to meet him again or he decides to meet missionaries later. I know God led us to him.

OK moving on to the next story... Haha, we went to the post office to buy some stamps and I guess one of the workers realized I was American because he started speaking English to me... Lol probably because I'm not as familiar with words unless it's gospel related. But then he came back to us and he saw our tags and was like oh Jesus Christ! Oh, I know you... later when we were waiting for our stamps, I heard him whisper to his co-workers... "it's the Mormons..." hahaha I thought it was so funny. I could feel everyone's eyes on us and I was trying to be a good representative of Jesus Christ because for some people it’s the closest thing they'll get to our church in a way. I hope to give our card to the guy who recognized us next time because he seemed intrigued.

One last story I'd like to share is another time we were walking down the street and I stopped this lady.  She seemed nice.  She stopped, I told her we didn't want to take up a lot of her time and that's when she spoke in English to us and said “yes, yes go on.”  I was trying to be friendly, so I said oh wow you speak good English and then she said “yes I do is there a reason you're talking to me?”  I then realized I needed to get talking or nothing was going to happen. So, I told her we were missionaries for our church, immediately she started to play the air violin and at that point I thought something was officially off.  I hesitated but tried to ignore it and continued, she says “no, no I know who you are.”  I asked, “oh what do you know?”  She just started shaking her head and I thought to myself, ok I need to make it clear who we are exactly. I began to explain that we were just Christian, and she stopped me, saying “no you’re not.”  I just stood there waiting for an explanation, then she shook her head again and I tried to continue saying we believe in Christ and... She interrupted saying, “you're a Satanist sect.” LOL, didn't see that coming (I mean I guess we both were wearing red 😉..). So, she started to leave, I let her, I didn't know what else to say, but then I asked if we could give her our card obviously she said no but said before she left, “search and you will find...”  Huh, I’m thinking, I search and find all day long. The scriptures, the people, I know it's true, but alright. Have a nice day!

We also had a cool experience doing calls. We went through our phone and 2nd to last one his name is Vincent and he remembered us and was hoping to get in contact with us. Cool! He met the missionaries 30 years ago from playing baseball. Cool again! He came to church and he stayed the whole time! He got along well with the members.  Ome even remembered him. He also learned lots from our really awesome discussions. His only major problem is that he smokes a ton. Like once an hour. But other than that, lets hope to keep his attention and teach him so he comes closer to Christ!

We met the new district which now consists of, Elder Cox, Elder Nicoll, Elder Cheng, Elder Tropnas, Skoozy and myself. It’s a fun group!

I'm excited for another week to learn more things. Soeur Skouson makes my day.  She's the best. She's so humble and hardworking. I'm so glad I've been able to learn from her.

Have a great week and aren't we all blessed to have the sun?! Il faut profiter! (we must take advantage) Love you all and I'm going to pray for you this week!

Soeur Hunt

Thumbs up for the mission! (How I love her smile)

Made quiche!!

First selfie of the new transfer

Made pie pizza

We love the sunshine.  Finally!

Made salmon with couscous and sauteed veggies

Gotta keep studying

Our sweet member Francoise

We made PIZZA!!

Spring in Calais

Notre Dame of Calais

Memorial to General Charles de Gaulle and Sir Winston Churchill

I spy Soeur Hunt

Another week come and gone

Hello everyone, what a long, wonderful week we just had. I honestly don't have much to say this week, I'm sorry, but I'm sure I'll have more next week. I mean, it's the start of a new transfer, yes today is transfer day and me and Sœur Skoozzy (Skouson) are staying together. SURPRISE! We're going to get Calais started off on a good foot and we hope to leave this place better than we found it. I'm glad I get to stay again because I need another chance to help the ward and the people that live here.

We had another great district meeting. Gotta love Elder Cheng and his efforts in putting together really good formations. I always learn so much from them. We also had the privilege of having the STLs and ZLs attend as well. The reason for that was we were going to have a little finding day, just about 2 hours in Calais. I was on splits with Soeur Nielsen again and boy do I love her to death. She always knows exactly what I need all the time. She saves, teaches and comforts me. I've been so blessed to be able to know her and serve with her. She is now going to reopen the Soeurs in Caen and train. I'm excited for her. She'll do so well.

As for me and my darling, absolutely wonderful, blue daughter (hehe), we will stay in the beginning stages of springtime in Calais.  I love this gospel with all my heart. I thank God every day for the things I am able to experience and learn. I also thank Him for all the people I have had the privilege of meeting. I love them all so much and they have impacted my life forever. I love that I have memories with them that I can keep for as long as I’m alive. 

Sunday I was able to translate for one of our older amis who isn't really an ami anymore, but we were still happy to have him at church.  It was pretty difficult, I now understand how translators feel. It's not easy, I barely can understand, but I did alright haha. Language is coming slowly but surely.

I hope you all have a great week and have fun. Make some more memories and please keep your heart centered on this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement, they're always welcome in my book ;)

Love, Soeur Hunt

"Yummy Chinese buffet"

I love how the only thing Chinese thing on her plate are the egg rolls.  

The sushi is Japanese and the rest is French HAHA Looks tasty!

"I love this gospel"

Our awesome district

Spring time in the Calais park 

It's beginning to look a lot like springtime!

Lots of fun things happened this week! I'm very happy to be here and experience new things. Being in a new country with people you're not used to really broadens your perspective of life.

We had zone conference this week.  It was really fun seeing other missionaries, learning new things, and being edified. They talked a lot about temples and how important it is to invite amis. The temple is seriously such a special place that can do more for the person than anything else can. I miss it! I'm so grateful to have a literal house of the Lord on the earth. So, we're making plans to get people over there!

We had an amazing experience while we were talking to people on the street one day. I stopped this one lady who looked nice, but also kind of sad.  I thought what a perfect moment to talk to her. First off, she didn't really understand a whole lot of what I said, but she understood the parts that I really wanted her to understand. I started by saying that there is a lot of bad in the world, but in my life, I've seen lots of good too. She responded by saying, “well, for you maybe.” I responded by saying, that's because we have this wonderful gospel that gives me a purpose and a goal and of course pure happiness. I then told her another thing that gives me pure happiness is knowing I can live with my family forever after this life. I asked her about her family and she said her husband died and her kids are dispersed. I knew then that I needed to testify again. I told her I knew that she would be able to live with them again. I told her then, that she is a child of God and that he loves her so much. I told her that she had a purpose and a special plan that will bring her happiness. When I said those things, she got teary eyed. That was something she needed to hear. She still wasn't interested in our message, but she excepted a card anyways and it was a fulfilling experience.

Up next was the one and only St. Calakerque (St. Omer, Calais, and Dunkerque) district meeting!! We had a blast and had the wonderful opportunity to celebrate Elder de Geus' birthday! It was really fun and again it was nice seeing other missionaries. Elder Cheng talked about church and making sure your amis understand what it is, so they can come. Making it a good first experience so they'll want to come again and again.

Later that evening we had ward council. But before that, one of the members had just talked with a woman and her friend on the street who was interested in a Christian church. They chatted a little bit, and then ended up coming to the church to introduce us to them. Once the girl saw us, she came close and said, I want to be baptized. WHAT?? First, she was a little drunk. Not super drunk, but drunk enough. She kept saying she wanted to be baptized. She wants to start over and turn the page and forget all the stupid things she'd done. We told her she could totally do that, but she needed to learn the lessons first. We taught her a little but I'm not sure how much she took in.  We ended up setting a baptismal date for May 5th HAHAHAHA. Yeah it was a cool experience. We asked her to come to church and I was able to tell her how church worked like I had practiced a few hours previously during district meeting. Super!

Our progressing ami that I had found two weeks ago, named Guillaume. How I met him was on the street...it was one of my fears to contact a young man but I did.  He's about 25 and he works at the gare. (train station) He’s very busy, but he's super nice and open to hearing our message. He took the first lesson; the whole restoration. It was excellent. We had a member there to testify.  It was powerful.  Because he works so much, we haven't been able to see him a whole lot, but because we have technology we've been able to stay in contact every day making sure he's alright and doing the things we asked him to do. We asked him to start reading the Book of Mormon and to just starting with the introduction. When we got back with him, he had read it and it was incredible! Then just a few days ago when we got back again with his reading, he had read all the way to Laban.  We were absolutely thrilled. He's been asking us good questions, like where did Laban even get the brass plates (answer: 1Nephi 5:16)? He's so independent and hard working. We were afraid that he wasn’t been reading because he's so busy, but he is!!! I know that if he continues the way he is he'll gain a great testimony and then more doors will open for him. Pray for him!

At church we had a fun little surprise. An American family was visiting, and it was quite funny. First, the two little kids came in by themselves and we asked them what their names were in French.  They looked so confused and scared, the little girl squeaked out, English? Lol I understood that, we then said, oh you speak English? Cool where are you from? Massachusetts. They're doing a world tour of a sort as a family. Then as members were coming in two members in particular saw them and stopped to bis (kiss) them. Boy oh boy was that 10-year-old boy as red a tomato! They looked so uncomfortable and like they had no idea why two old ladies were kissing their cheeks!! We told the members they were American and they all laughed. It was incredibly funny. Why are Americans so awkward? Pff. LOL it was fun. ;)

Anyways, that was my week and I'm excited for another fun week of miracles and blessing from the Lord. Hope you all have a great week! Read your scriptures! ;)

Soeur Hunt

Volunteering at L'auberge, the British warehouse where they sort clothing

Happy Birthday Elder de Geus

A snack in the rain while singing Star Wars and marching

But first, let me take a selfie

Soeur Skouson made bread!!

The Power of Our Gospel

I want to start out saying I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE. whenever you're struggling or feeling lost or angry or anything. THIS GOSPEL CAN FIX THAT. I think to myself that if this gospel gives us real hope, gives us real happiness, real peace, a real chance, then how can it be bad? even if there wasn't something after this life, I’d still want to follow its teachings because it teaches me to become a better person. Love your neighbor, have a positive attitude, do some good in a day and serve someone. But I’ll tell you, I know that there is life after this that were all striving for.

I meet so many people in a day. Some responses just never cease to surprise me. Why wouldn’t you want to have a full knowledge of what God has to offer you? Don’t you want pure happiness? Don’t you want the hope of living with your family forever in everlasting peace? It’s the same response every time. “No, I already have what I need.” FALSE. There is soooo much more your loving Heavenly Father has and wants to offer you. It makes me so sad when people say they don’t need God. They don’t need Christ. why is that I ask? “All they've done is made things worse, they haven't done anything for me.” You’ve got the wrong perspective. Those are sayings of the world, that’s what the world wants you to think. God has given you a life to find out for yourself what you want. He's given you a way to have real happiness. I love how Uchtdorf explained it: It is impossible for us to live with God because of our sins... but Jesus Christ has provided a way. Its because of HIM we can have another chance and live again, we celebrate LIFE on Easter.

There were too many talks that I loved from this year’s Conference. I felt the spirit without a doubt throughout the whole thing, and right there is proof that I have God’s promise that I can have his spirit as my constant companion. I seriously can’t choose whose I liked better. All the men are such strong leaders who really speak by the power of God. President Nelson really is inspired by God. I'm so excited for these changes. I'm excited to be a part of such an amazing plan. We, all of us, are building the Kingdom of God. I would say though, I really liked the Sunday Morning session when we had Eyring, Oaks and Nelson in a row. They really spoke according to the needs of those like our amis who are searching for truth. We had the wonderful chance to sit in on a couple sessions in French with 3 of our amis. It's incredibly hard to get amis to church, but thanks to God we were able to make our goals. Our amis were able to feel the spirit and be edified. Although Elder Eyring, Oaks' and Nelson's talks were the fundamentals of our gospel I was able to still apply what was taught for myself because like Elder Oaks said, it’s the little things that matter. It’s the basics that matter. President Nelson finished very strong. His talk at the end almost made me cry. He said, "... you don’t have to wonder...through personal revelation you can receive YOUR OWN witness... regardless of what others may say or do, NO ONE can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true." I believe that wholeheartedly. It touched me so much because there really are so many influences in the world that tell you otherwise. You are important to God and he wants to tell you all things. Like Elder Brian K. Taylor said, "You’re a child of God" and NO ONE can tell you otherwise. I don’t want people to take that hope, that knowledge away from me. I love my Father and I know He loves me. I love the prophets. I sustain them all. I know they will help guide and direct us to eternal life.  There’s so much more I want to say about the conference, but you saw it for yourself and you know, and I’ve already said plenty I think ha-ha...

Life here in Calais is difficult sometimes, but I have this gospel to keep me happy, on track and with the right perspective of my purpose. The work is really picking up here and we're seeing a lot of miracles. I'm doing missionary work, not only to see immediate success from helping others, not only to help strengthen their relationship with God, but also to prepare myself for the Lord, for the work after this life and for my future kids. This is what this gospel means to me. This is why I am following my Heavenly Father and my brother Jesus Christ. They love me, they give me joy, and eternal life.

"I am a real Christian that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ." -Thomas Jefferson

Have a great week! Love you all!

Soeur Hunt

Easter Breakfast

Happy Easter (package)

We sent Sarah in her Easter package her little stuffed dog that she's had since she was 2.  She was sad when we told her we had to put our sweet little Maddie down and we knew having her little stuffed dog would be of some comfort.

The beach at Calais

Local Bakery