Soeur Sarah Hunt France Paris Mission: 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