Like My New Wig?

Finally! We are all caught up on the life of Bronte!!

The Fele family. Awesome family. Angelina wants to serve a mission!

And yes, I'm actually turning African and now own a booboo and head wrap.Me and Soeur Ntmag!

My new companion, Soeur Dionne. She's from Virginia, goes to BYU as well and is majoring in studio art and minoring in ballroom dance. Yes, another dancer!

Hey look! There's Elder Jordan Brown from my freshmen ward at BYU!

 Stephanie and her daughter Vivi who got ahold of a wig. It's really a thing here in France for Africans to wear wigs and do all kinds of other cool things with their hair.

And the Renaud family that we met way back in January and visited another time! Such a loving and incredibly kind family. Lord of the rings fans. No joke. They have a map of middle earth hanging up on one of their walls. They grew up in Nantes, met and married there. They have two kids.

 And just because I love pictures...Soeur Tehoiri who introduced us to Candida (she's from Tahiti and the real question is who DOESN'T know her?haha)

Last selfie with Soeur Walker. I love her so much! She's going to do an awesome job in Le Mans!

Dear Family,

And now for the actual email...this week has been pretty fantastic. There have been so many miracles (unexplicabley wonderful events that have transpired that I have no other reason to explain them save that they were put into action by diety).

Soeur Walker left for Le Mans and she has two new compaions! One is a francophone who is waiting for her visa and will then be serving at temple square in salt lake city. And my new companion, Soeur Renee Dionne, is from Virginia and she just finished serving the first 6 months of her mission in Toule (by Nancy, it's pretty tiny). They actually had a car up there, so this past week, I've been acquainting her to Paris, the super fast RER and the crazy bus systems. But she has been such a good sport about it all and is loving Evry. (Because let's face it, Evry is pretty awesome.) And she's teaching me how to knit! And so much more about missionary work.

And for the super exciting news of the week. Drum roll please......Stephanie accepted a baptismal date!!!!!! She is preparing herself to be baptized the 18th of April. So keep her in your prayers because this is a big decision and she'll need lots of loving support along the way.

We went over on Saturday to help her clean up around her apartment and Vivi found a wig and started sporting it around. I turned into such a mom and ran to grab my camera, take pictures and videos. I've never seen her smile like that before. She's just the cutest. 

This week, we've literally been running around and going to almost every corner of our area boundary. Longemeau to Moissy and everywhere in between! While on the train, Soeur Dionne and I sat down not far from this young, Algerian man. He saw our tags and he started asking us in english who we were and what we were doing in France. We started talking to him and I asked him if he was someone religious. His answer totally caught me off guard. He said, "I'm a christian convert refugee. My wife and I are living here with our 2 kids. And I just got my titre de sejour to stay here." Wow. Do you know how hard it is to get a green card to stay here in France?

We talked for about 20 more minutes, he showed us pictures of his family, we talked to her on the phone, he told us about his conversion to christianity and we exchanged phone numbers to talk more. One thing he said that struck me was,"Jesus Christ isn't just a prophet and example to us. He is the Savior of the World." There was so much power and conviction behind his testimony.

We also taught the Renaud family again this week! They are one of the most loving exemplary families I have met before. They are Catholic and very happy with their religion, but pretty open to hearing our message and reading the Book of Mormon. They said that they wanted to read it because they knew how important it was to us. I hope we get to see them again sometime soon!

I've been learning so much about sincere compliment giving. Sometimes we think that if we were to sincerely compliment someone that it might be something "too obvious" or maybe that someone's already told them or we don't want to "give someone a big head." But I think you'd be suprised how much people need to hear it. They need to hear from someone that they are a "good mother" or that they have a specific gift or that they "did that very well." Sincere compliments can help people realize just how valuable they are in the eyes of their Father in Heaven. Never hesitate to say a kind word!

Donc, je vous aime et je vous souhaite une bonne semaine! If you have any questions, comments or concerns, I'd love to hear them at bronte.hopkins@myldsmail.net.

Love,

Soeur Hopkins

Lots of love,

Melissa