Weird Luck

Bonjour! This week went by so fast but slow at the same time. Not sure how that works but it's weird on the mission ha-ha. I don't have a ton of time this week sadly because there’s lots to do!

But jumping right in, we were finding people to teach on the rue, (street) and when we were about to head in for the night, we had the feeling that we needed to talk to one more person. So, we took this weird street home and there was literally one single soul on this street, so of course we talked to her... and she ended up being the coolest lady!! Her name is Mary and she's got a whole backpack full of trials weighing her down. She has this weird health issue where she could die at quite literally any second. We had a first rendezvous with her and we actually set a baptismal date with her for the second week in July... we might have to push that back ha-ha but might as well try so be praying for that please:)

There's 2 ladies named Jennifer that both happened to have babies at the same time and they happen to both be our amis who wanted to fix rendezvous this last week... but we were super confused and thought it was the same person ha-ha! So, we had a rendezvous with one of them and we talked about stories she told us about her baby... but the stories ended up being from the other Jennifer and we were like... waiiittt.... there’s TWO Jennifer’s who want rendezvous with us!?!?! So ya, that was cool, so we have two Jennifer amis now ha-ha!! Last time I talked about Jennifer she actually didn't loser her baby it was the other one. So, we’ll see how all this works out.

We currently have 3 progressing amis with a baptismal date who are doing awesome, so we almost accomplished our goal of 5 by July 7th!!!! We had to drop one of our really awesome amis because apparently, he fell in love with my companion Sœur Dorton...that was super awkward.  When we said we could pass him to the Elders in a different sector, he never responded again.  I hate it when that happens. But don’t worry folks, the works continues.

Well, I hope your day is amazing and life is treating you all well. Thank you all for the birthday wishes, it's much appreciated! I woke up to my companion ripping my covers off and spraying me with silly string. Boy do I love her so much.

Thanks again for everything and sorry I couldn't write more!

Love Soeur Hunt 

Exchanges with Soeur Bennett.  These two were MTC companions

There's nothing like simple French pastries

What's with the people in Calais?

GOOOOOOOD MORNING CALAIS!!!

Wow aren't we just so blessed to be alive and serving our wonderful Father in Heaven! I absolutely love serving the people here. It's weird for as long as I've been here you'd think I'd get bored or annoyed or anything but happy.  But I'm so happy to be here with my wonderful, talented, beautiful, stunning ray of sunshine of a companion!!!

Last week Sœur Dorton was manhandling the vacuum trying to get the jungle of a carpet in our bedroom clean (all those who have served in Calais would know about this carpet). I told her that it would be hard and that I've tried (not super hard) to get it cleaned. But she said she'd try and well after much perspiration and determination she finally got everything cleaned. It was absolutely beautiful. I almost cried because I was so happy. Anyways I'm telling you this story because she said that while she was cleaning the carpet she got a revelation saying that this carpet is like Calais. It's tough and a little dirty, but if you work hard and stay diligent then you will get it cleaned or find those who are ready, and you will see the miracles. I keep this story in the back of my brain as a reminder of what can happen when you work hard and always keep a good perspective, ready to see the miracles. And speaking of miracles we saw a lot this week!

First my wonderful District Leader gave Sœur Dorton and I great advice during our weekly call. He said that once we hit our goals for new amis and baptismal dates then we can just take a nap the rest of the week. Brilliant huh?! Well, on Tuesday we got 7 new amis which meant that we had hit our goal all at once! Good news we can take a nap the rest of the week!! ...I’m kidding, we ended up getting 12 more amis this week.  A total of 19!!! Crazy but holy cow it was exhausting. But I'm glad I was able to finish everyday knowing that I did my best.  Still there were days where not a whole lot happened, and we didn't find anyone, or it was really relaxed but I still always ended my day knowing I did my best. That's the best way you can find happiness on the mission.

You also must wonder what kind of people I meet here in Calais... Well let me tell ya:
People don't particularly enjoy the name Jesus Christ. So, when we mention that we are here to share a message about Him or that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, they come up with any excuse to get out of there for example-

• we contacted a man who ended up being homeless and didn't have a job, he wasn't studying at school, and he said he didn't do much, but when we said we have a message about Jesus Christ that could help him, he replied, "I'm actually really busy right now" and as he swiftly walked away, I literally called after him asking, "with what?"

• another lady loved everything about our message and was super into it and was ready to meet with us, but as soon as she saw the Book of Mormon, she's said, "oh you're the Mormons! Okay, I can't meet with you because I have a friend whose boyfriend was Mormon, and he broke up with her and I don't like how he broke up with her, so I can't listen to your message." So apparently Mormons can't have relationships if they don't lead to marriage, and if you're iffy about it, don't even bother.

• lastly, there was a man who was atheist who was really interested in finding God and was really interested in our message about who is God and Jesus Christ and how to apply that to his life, but then, again, when he found out our church's nickname was "the Mormons" he said, "oh I'm sorry, I can't listen to that message because you do service for mean people." So that’s another very valuable piece of advice... if you do service for another person, make sure they're not mean first. If you see someone on the street who dropped something, before you pick it up for them, make sure to ask if they're nice. If they reply that they're mean, just walk away.

Next, so, last week we set 2 baptismal dates with our amis Arlette and Ranjit, and they're doing well. However, Ranjit left for Paris for a month so that will be a little tricky to figure out ha-ha. And we have a really cool progressing ami named Oumar who is just so ready for this message. He doesn't want to set a baptismal date yet even though we've talked about it in every rendezvous we've had (4 in the past week!!!) But he's opening up a lot more, so we hope to set a date soon with him :) we've found some pretty solid amis lately, we just need them to come to church and to keep coming to rendezvous.

Something I've learned this week from all these contacts that I've done is that people usually blame religion if they're having a problem. For example, someone says God is not real because there was a death in the family or someone’s boyfriend broke up with them... making it seem like if God were real then he wouldn't allow this to happen. All in all, people don't like religion because they think that with God or Christ that there isn't supposed to be problems. False. Just because you have God in your life or you go to church or read your scriptures etc. then you're not supposed to have problems. I've found that in my life, which isn't perfect, I too have struggles and hardships and sadness, but I believe in Jesus Christ because I know that because of him I can overcome all my suffering and hardships. I read my scriptures because I can find peace and a purpose for my life. I go to church, so I can see members who will support me and love me as well as being able to feel the spirit by partaking of the sacrament. I do these things because it's a rock I can lean on when I'm having a hard time. It's not going to get rid of all my problems, but it will help me face the crazy whirlwinds of life. I'm so incredibly grateful for our loving father who takes care of us by giving us these things, these blessings so that we can be safe and learn and grow so that we can get the most that we can out of this life.

Anyways, I love this gospel and I love this church and everything it gives me and my family.

Love you! Have an amazing week!

Soeur Hunt

Mission life is the best

Our ami, Ranjit and his cute little son

P-day fun!!

Traditional "tag photos"

Boulogne, France

Beautiful streets of Boulogne

A super quaint mall

Such cute sisters

Our poor over packed shelf needed help (before)

Bookshelf (after)

Soeur Dorton got cold

"Hell's Angels" dessert

Start of something new

My New Companion!!

»SOEUR DORTON«

From: Missouri

Served in: Nogent

Been out: 7 months

Life Ambition: To be a spy

Fun Fact: She can belly dance

Other Info: She's “The princess of the world, perfect, light of my life and hilarious” (not my own words)

Basically, we're the same person except she has the “energy of a sparkly-rainbow-bubbly-unicorn-hippopotamus with 3 Red Bulls on crack” (not my own words). I thought Sœur Daines had a lot of energy... But nope! I'm so incredibly blessed to have her in my life. We've seen so many miracles in just 3 days.

Before I continue, I want to say that I loved every minute with my wonderful companion Sœur Skouson and I wish her again luck in Rennes. Life moves us on to new and greater adventures, making more memories with new people around you.

Here in Calais we've been incredibly busy. BUSY WITH MIRACLES!! Soeur Dorton and I have set up a great plan for the ward and have made amazing goals for our amis which has progressed the work along immensely and quite quickly.

First, I'll explain our goals and then tell you of 3 miracles that have happened in just 3 days. I'll tell you everything I'm about to say would not be possible if it wasn't for the Lord. He blessed us for our hard work. I owe everything to him and my heart is full of gratitude.

We set a goal of finding 7 new amis per week.  Every first lesson we’re going to ask them to be baptized even if we don't think they're super ready, and by July 7th to have 5 baptismal dates. Wednesday, we spent the whole day making plans and setting goals, so Thursday was when the action started. We went finding for 3 hours straight. The next day we went finding for 3 hours and Saturday for 2 and Sunday 3 hours again (bear with me I'm getting somewhere with this). I've never been finding straight for more than 2 hours. So, it really pushed me.

My first miracle of the transfer. Thursday, we went finding for 3 hours and we found a couple of amis. But mostly just rejections. Friday as we were finding and were about to head in with 49 invites.  My comp didn't want to end on an odd number, so we were going to find one more person to talk to. I saw this lady across the street, the sun was shining on her and I just knew we had to talk to her. We did, and she was so sweet. She was engaged and was really interested in learning more. We gave her a reestablishment brochure and a Book of Mormon and asked to have her number, but she didn't have her number memorized and she didn't have her phone with her. We didn't have a way of meeting with her again because no contact but also, she didn't know her schedule to tell us when she was available.  She said she would call us the next morning. We were going to pray real hard that she would... Next morning rolls around and no call. We were really sad but didn't lose hope. Now it's Saturday and we went to do service at L'Auberge, but it was supposed to be Friday that we went. We also missed the bus while talking to someone, so service was on a day we don't normally do it and at a time we don't normally go at.  Timing worked perfectly. As we were walking back we saw the lady in the exact same spot that we met her the night before! We talked to her and she asked if we could meet at 14h and it was 13h. We said sure and went home to eat quickly and then went to the church. She showed up right on time! We gave her a church tour and then taught her the whole Reestablishment lesson. Soeur Dorton and I were very united in teaching and it went so smoothly. The spirit was real strong, and we knew it was a great time to ask her to be baptized. She said she would!! Our new ami, Arlette, gave a wonderful prayer to finish off. It was amazing and wouldn't not have happened without the Lord!!

Second miracle happened when we were finding less actives and regular finding in between on Sunday. We spent 3 hours and got to this apartment building that this less active lived in but didn't know which apartment, so we just started pressing buttons trying to find the right place. This Indian man came to the door. We asked him if he was Patrick (the less active we were looking for) he said he wasn't. Soeur Dorton and I just looked at each other and then back to him, "En fait nous sommes les missionnaires pour...." (In fact, we are missionaries for…) we just talked about the church like regular porting. He turned out to be really interested.  It was a great contact.  We asked to explain more about our message and he said, “Yeah sure come in!” We went in but couldn't go into his apartment because there was no other woman. So, we talked outside his door. He, Ranjit, has one little boy and his wife left him recently. He is just going through some rough situations. When we went into his place for a few seconds Soeur Dorton told me she felt really good with inviting him to baptism right on the spot. So, we did. He agreed!  He was going to meet with us again and work with us towards baptism!! To finish up he asked us to pray for him and his little boy. We told him we would and that he could also pray for himself too! We taught him how and then demonstrated a prayer for him. I gave the prayer, just super simple and when I finished we look up at him and he was crying.  Tears just streaming down his face. It was such a spiritual experience. We could tell he could feel this connection with God and the love of God for his child. He was so grateful. We testified of the spirit that he felt and told him that he could feel that all the time after he is baptized. The little boy was like our best friend right away.  I was grateful to find this man and his little boy in that moment at the right time in his life. I'm so grateful to have been able to give him that.

Another goal we are working on together is to say gratitude prayers after each miracle we see. In the prayer I said all we were grateful for and then I asked for the sun to come out soon because this whole week has been pretty chilly and dreary. 3 hours later we had the sun out and we could feel God's love for us.  I just knew he was there and that he was proud of us. Again, nothing would've been possible if it wasn't for our Loving Heavenly Father.

A couple other things I'd like to say is that Vincent came to church and is in chapter 11 in 1nephi! He even took notes.  I'm so happy to see him engaged and trying to learn new things to come closer to Christ!

One other thing is Jennifer who had the 3 girls (the one lady who I thought had 2 girls and a boy, but she had 3 girl...) and one child on the way. She's from Cameroon if you remember. We called a couple weeks ago, and she said she'd meet with us after she had her baby. So, we decided to call a couple nights ago, and she just texted us back saying that she lost the baby. That was a shock for us and quite sad.  We hope everything is going well for her and we hope to be able to help her with anything in the future. On another note, she said she's been reading the Book of Mormon and is now in Helaman!?!? Wow. So proud of her.

Anyways, to sum up our week. We got 8 new amis and have 2 baptismal dates and everyone is progressing amazingly! Calais is coming along so well and again, I owe it all to my Heavenly Father for leading us to the places that we will best help the people here in Calais. Also, I'm so blessed to have Sœur Dorton with me every step of the way.


Love you lots and have an amazing week!!

Sœur Hunt

Goodbye Soeur Skouson

New companion, Soeur Dorton

She cut my hair!

Porting

New decorations

French store

Fancy French buffet

Calais, round 4

Well I've been in the great Nord Pas-de-Calais (the North) for 3 transfers and now going on my 4th. Soeur Skouson is leaving me for Rennes. Boy are they lucky to get her. Rennes needs someone like her, she's going to be amazing. As for me, well that is yet to be discovered.

Missions are hard. But missions are worth it. There is no other thing you could do than serve a mission at this age. It's hard to describe the joy you get from serving. I could say a bunch of cliché things, but it doesn't do it justice. You'll never be able to experience the feelings you get on your mission anywhere else. Ever. It’s not the same. It is the absolute worst mistake of your life if you choose not to. It may be easy for me to say this because I'm on my mission right now and I have no idea what your life is like, but I've changed so much. I'm not the same person I was before. It changes you for the better and the people you serve for the better. What better joy can you have in your life then helping someone realize that they're a child of God. That they have a purpose. That you can literally change the quality of their life to something they cannot possibly imagine.

Since being on the mission I find that it is very hard, yet how am I so happy doing it? I realized that literally everything Christ has taught is true. I’m experiencing it firsthand. He is the light and life of the world. This is his gospel and when you put the natural man aside and follow him then you will literally never find any other peace, no other happiness than being his disciple, his representative, living his gospel 24/7. Its life changing. It's real and it's the perfect way to go about life. Even if we're having doubts or having the worst trials on the mission or life, remember that God knows all. He knows what we need to make us stronger. He knows what we can handle. Put your trust in him who has infinite love for every single one of us. Have patience that your suffering will not last forever, but move on with a smile, because a good attitude makes all the difference. Move on with faith and trust in him who is always there right next to your side.

I met an older woman while porting a few days ago and her name is Anne. She was a very sweet woman. Before meeting Anne, I had knocked on a door right next to her. The woman who answered lasted 3 seconds. She took one glance and said, “I'm Catholic and Christian, I don't need you, bye.” Slam. Knocked on Anne’s door and she has no family and believes in nothing. We had a really good 20-minute conversation about why she didn't believe. She had said that there was too much suffering in the world for her to believe that there is a God who would allow these things to happen. In the end we both agreed that trials are good because they strengthen us, and we would never be able to learn otherwise. Her point was, where does it end? There needs to be a stopping point. At that point you need to have faith and trust that God knows all and is aware of you and everything else in this world. He does not control our choices, but only encourages us to make good choices. She apologized 80 times for saying she didn't believe in God because she knows that we get a lot of people who don't. She said 30 times that she really admired our courage for going around talking about God when it's such a sensitive subject for people now days. She was even kinder by inviting us inside her home and giving us fruit and asking us if we wanted coffee or tea. We politely declined and said just water. We ended up talking for about 10 minutes about our families and ended up finishing by asking if we could stop by and talk a little bit more in depth about God's plan for us. She declined and with sad hearts we moved on our way. Move on to bigger and better things.

Other than my random thoughts and my story about Anne nothing else has happened. We had district p-day last Monday and it was a blast. We went to an Asian buffet which was delicious. We spent 4 hours at the beach doing drawings in the sand, throwing a frisbee back and forth and stunt tricks. We ended by playing a game called signs which was very entertaining. I love my district and I'm sad to see Elder Cheng, my DL, leave but Elder Parkinson is awesome too, can't complain.

Have an amazing week. I love you all very much.

Soeur Hunt

Our district at church

Our amazing district

District p-day at the Chinese buffet

P-day at the beach

Confetti to celebrate mission life

Somewhere in France.  She didn't say where this time