"Family Council! Family Council..."-from 'What About Bob' 1990

Dear Family,

So just to be informed of the new and newsy...

This Sunday, we will be doing Mother's Day Skyping chez la famille Cadin. We'll be at their home 5pm Paris time. Mom, I believe there's the 9 hour time change where you're at and an 8 hour change where Rudd and Bree are at. I would love to be able to see and talk with everyone in the family (See all of your gorgeous faces) And so if it's possible to work it in with your church schedule, that would make for a wonderful mother's day. Also, if you have any questions in specific to ask me, I'd be happy to answer them, sing for you, n'importe!

I am staying in Evry for my fourth transfer! And Soeur Walker is now training in Le Mans. We did not get our I-Pads last week because they were still being shipped from Germany, but we did have a wonderful training by Elders Nielson and Kearon who came to speak with us about the incredible blessing of using technology in the work. We are so excited to see the work just take off. With the tablets we'll be able to communicate with members and investigators through social media, post videos on Facebook, Skype other missions whose missionaries can teach foreign language speakers...and so much more. Yaaay!

Joy and Brandon, I got your package the other week! Thanks for the magnet from Chitenitza? and for your lovely letter. It was heart-warming. So it turns out that the grand kids of the Fourniers DID in fact come to church one of the Sundays and they sat behind us in church. I only wish I could've gotten a picture to send you. After I told Soeur Fournier about us missing the chance to say hi to them, she just turned to me and in her cute, proper french accent said, "Well, that's dumb!" (I love her...their moving to Melun in 2 weeks to be closer to the kids.) But I'm sure if you ask them about a redheaded sister missionary, they might just remember. ;)

Versailles was incredible! The Chateau is closed on Mondays, so you either have to ask special permission to change your preparation day or you have to happen to have it changed for you! Et voilà, our conference was on Monday! There were so many people lined up outside to see it and we ran into three members while on our way there and in line. It was so gorgeous and the gardens are HUGE! I know that I will have to go back and see the gardens eventually because there just wasn't enough time to explore. It was amazing being able to see it after having made several french presentations on it in high school and seeing Joy's pictures from study abroad. How could I have ever imagined myself 5 years ago sitting in french class struggling to conjugate all of those irregular verbs and then, somehow, (still struggling to conjugate all of those irregular verbs) finding myself all the way here today? It's just goes to show that the possibilities are limitless and I am so humbled...You'll laugh, but I think my favorite part of our time out there might've actually been the antique shop of books and relics that we found in the City of Versailles (postcards sent to Versailles in the 1950's from all over the world. You might call it junk, but I love it!) as well as meeting someone who showed us where the location of the Versailles Temple is being built. 

On Sunday, the Relief Society president, Soeur Gaston, was teaching a lesson on agency and she made this comment, "Does that mean that every time we make a good decision--BOOM! There's a bag of candy?" It was super lively as usual, but I think one of my favorite parts of the meeting was after she finished the lesson and thanked the sisters for their service, Soeur Cadin, in her Brazilian accent and with a little bit of Brazilian attitude asked, "Do we get candy?!" 

I love these people sometimes more than I can capture...haha

This week there were so many miracles--there ALWAYS is. It's just that until you start looking for them, they are hard to see. Like looking at huge painting full of details. Until you understand that you are looking for the yellow brush strokes, they'd probably all go unnoticed. I'll just tell you about one.

Once upon a night, we went out knocking on doors in an apartment complex not too far from here. And this older lady opens her door to us and immediately launches into,"I'm too old to convert to your religion! I'm 70 years old and I've had plenty of time to make up my mind!" And then she just goes on for about 3 minutes. But by then, I've just got this huge grin on my face because she is just absolutely adorable and I made the comment," It sounds like you've talked to A LOT of missionaries..." And with that ice breaker, she opened up to us let us in to talk with her. This wonderful lady's name is Fanny and it turns out that she is protestant, knows about Soeur Dionne's ancestors as well as my Vaudois ancestral history. She talked us about her hobbies, her cat, a little bit of the history of the world, how she loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir...she was just a bundle of joy. And it was incredible how she remembered the last encounter she had with the Elders who prayed with her in the park (sacred grove park) and how she was deeply touched by their example. I felt so much love for this lady and we absolutely adored her. By the end, she thanked us for coming by,"Despite how our conversation first started off." We prayed with her and left her in much better spirits than before. 

I wish you all a great week! Talk to you soon.

Soeur Hopskeens

"We went out to eat french tacos after teaching with two of our young women in the ward!

And that's me positioning all of the awesome trucks that I got in your package. Slightly obsessed."

These pictures are from when Bronte went to Versailles!