Soeur Sarah Hunt France Paris Mission: Back and Forth!

Hey folks! I did not realize what this past week was holding for me. It was a doozy! Let’s just say we skipped a lot of dinners and spent a lot of money on trains. But all the same I loved it a lot! It was so much fun!

Let’s starts with Tuesday, we woke up, got ready and then we received an email that we were heading to Paris that night at 6pm (it’s a good thing we read our emails...). Anyways we had to change our plans and fix things at the last second so that we could get a train. I was able to meet with the district as well and they're awesome!

First thing that went crazy: and I’ll start with a little back story. The Sœurs in Anthony invited all the Sœurs to sleep over Wednesday night so that we wouldn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn for our wonderful mission conference (with Elder Johnson of the area 70). It was Wednesday and Thursday. We had the conference Wednesday and so we were asked to come down Tuesday night. Well as we went, we decided it might've been a good idea to let the Anthony Sœurs know that we would be a little late. They responded very confused and so it turned out that they had no idea that we were supposed to be at their place Tuesday night instead of Wednesday night. So, as we wandered about Versailles trying to find their apartment, we ended up going to their old address which was on the mission repertoire, and we found ourselves at a senior couple’s apartment far away from where we wanted to be ha-ha. Don’t worry the Sœurs came and got us and we made it home safely.

Wednesday was amazing. It was a very spiritual experience and we all learned a lot. Our mission President and his wife are amazing, and they lead us so well. They and the mission couples of the mission made us a very cute Christmas feast to help us all feel more at home. It was so nice of them all. I also had the opportunity to give my going home testimony which ended up good. The spirit was very strong as we listened to all the missionaries going home speak. Elder Johnson is also very inspiring, and he helped answer a lot of my questions. It ended up being a very edifying experience.

After the conference we had an amazing opportunity to visit the temple for a few minutes. It was the first time I had been back since my very first day here in France. It was nice to be at the temple again. But we couldn't stay for long because we had to catch a train before, we missed it. We ended up going as fast as we could running through metros, while caring a box full of invitations for venez & voyez (Come and See) which was kind of heavy, with some Elders going to the same place as us. At one point we got lost and so ended up asking a man (because there was 7 minutes left until our train left), where to find our right gare. He told us to go straight, go down 2 flights of stairs, cross the busy street, then go across the bridge and through a mall and then we would get there... yup. We gave up and tried to find the Elders that lost us amidst the chaos of the metros. Lol what an adventure. So, we exchanged our tickets and got back home eventually.

Thursday was nice because we actually had time to be in our sector and catch up on the work. Although we had another mission conference with all the leaders in Versailles again, on Friday so we had to get another train. They forgot to make our train ticket order, so we ended up getting it at the last second. We should've taken the train the night before, but we didn’t because we didn’t think about it... so next morning (Friday) we wake up at 4h30 in the morning to be at the conference by 9h am. We made our train but realized that I had left my tickets at home... it was a blessing that no one came checked us! so we had to buy me another one.... but the conference was awesome! It was very insightful for me to see how things work in the mission and how they make goals and plans. I was glad to be able to take a little part in it :) Elder Johnson was there again as well and we were able to talk about new things being added on to the mission. We are gaining two new key indicators (our weekly missionary goals) which will be focusing on less actives. So, on top of working with our amis that we teach and find on the street we also are focusing on reactivating the less active members! It’s really cool considering, sadly, that there are a lot of less active members over here, so it’ll be a really good thing that we are right this second implementing it. A lot more things happened, and it was great!

For coming back home we had bought our tickets for later, but the conference had ended earlier than expected, so again we had to exchange our tickets, so we could get back home even on time for our ward council! We got home late because our train was delayed 45 minutes, but we got home and went straight to the church :) Speaking of the ward, they're amazing (I just had to say it again) and they're so willing to help us with missionary work! They're going to help us with reactivating the less active members and promote the Venez & voyez (Come and See) program for the 23^rd of December! We hope it all turns out very successful :)

Amidst all the craziness back and forth from here and Paris we did have some great rendezvous with our amis. Gabriel is awesome and is searching. He preaches with his dad at their church, but he loves meeting with us and he’s so curious in learning so much about what we believe! We've asked him if he would be willing to join the church and he said he would think about it because it would really change his life. We plan to go to the temple with him on Wednesday, we hope if all goes according to plan, it should be a great experience!

Then we had another call with an ami who we taught the word of wisdom to over the phone because we hadn't seen him all week. It went well, and it was fun!

Anyways not much else! It’s getting long so I won’t keep you too much longer! Just one more thing, to Éclairez le Monde! (Light the World!) Lets all join together to make the world better by lighting the world, our community, our family and our faith!

I’m very surprised that I’ve still been able to write a weekly. I guess I just really love you all ;)

Anyways talk later and have a blessed first week of December!

Love,

Sœur Sarah Hunt