A Fantastic End of an 8 Week Transfer

Emails are some of my favorite things!

Dear Family and Friends,

Life is good--oh so good. And it only gets better and sweeter every day. We are coming to an end of an 8 week transfer that has been one of the best yet.

I have been learning so much about how to do and NOT to do missionary work. How to really Help others. But so as to not make this a journal entry or a pep talk, I will only talk about amis.

 

We just started teaching this young Haitian girl named Stephanie. She has 3 small kids. Apparently Soeur Walker and Tippett had first met her and had been trying to get into contact with her for weeks. But one day, we were passing by with one of the members, and she told us to come back in 10 minutes. SHE LET US IN!! And since then, we've been seeing her 2 to 3 times a week. It. is. awesome. We had the mission president's wife call us up to come and study with us one morning in the past week. And she taught us sooo much about teaching really well. Our lessons with Stephanie have been going soooo well and she is really loving to learn. It is sweet--so sweet.

 

Beatrice is a friend of the Lukojis, our ward mission leader and his wife. Their kids go to the same school and one day while Sr. Lukoji was talking to her about a difficult situtation she was dealing with, she shared a scripture with her from the Book of Mormon. Beatrice became curious. She asked for a Book of Mormon and three other copies to give to her friends. WHAT? :) Since then she's been coming to church and practically monopolizing the gospel principles class haha. She's wonderful. And she has a gift for loving people. Whenever we see her, she just makes me feel like the BEST person in the world!

 

And then there's ward members like Soeur Stevine that make you want to get up everymorning and go share the gospel with everyone in the world, their cat and next door neighbor. She goes out with us teaching, calls amis for us, shares the gospel with her friends, invites everyone to church and activities and is all-around one of the most loving and understanding and bold people I know. And she's hilarious! If only she knew just how awesome she is. These kind of people make it all so much more worth.

 

Meanwhile, the biggest challenge of all is getting our amis to come to church! And I'm sure all of you returned missionaries know exactly what I'm talking about...I feel like I have to coordinate some fantastic circus feat trying to find people rides, help them wake up or even sometimes show up at their front door step the morning of. Help out a sista-friend, set an alarm and go to bed ontime! I could read you all the scriptures I can find, but, really, the only way to get the blessings of church and keeping the sabbath holy is to do it! Monday is our real day of rest as missionaries, actually ;)

 

Mais voilà, there is a bird's eye view of things from here in Evry.

 

Fun Fact: Elizabeth Smart served her mission here back in 2010. Her name's all over the area book and a member showed me a picture of her. Pretty cool, huh?

 

Bonne semaine à tous! Stay warm. ;)

 

Soeur Hopkins

"It snowed! And that does't usually ever happen in Paris!

The missionaries of Evry: moi, Soeur Walker, Elder Ireland, Elder Jacobsen, Elder Carson and Elder Empy. Like our classic 90's boyband stances?"

The gospel is true and Jesus is the Christ :)

Much love,

Melissa