I Love Evry

I'm so sorry it's been way toooo long!

Dear Family,

So this past Sunday, our bishop got up to announce several young men who had received advancements to become teachers and priests. He also announced that Charlie, one of the recent converts in the ward, would be receiving the priesthood soon. But as he started, somehow all of the phrases got jumbled up and he ended up calling him as "le fils d'Aaron" (the son of Aaron), stopped and then restarted again calling him to "le pretrise d'Aaron et l'office de Pretre (the priesthood of Aaron to the office of a priest)....it's ok, Bishop, you got this! I love it when the Bishop can find a moment to crack a smile and keep going!

This week, Soeur Dionne and I decided to act on the principle of faith, trying to increase our finding efforts and really take opportunities to talk about genealogy work with people. Seriously, we talked to everyone that we crossed paths with and when we got "frudged" (a term we use for an appointment falling through. it's an African drink that when you taste it starts sweet and then goes sour), we talked to all of the neighbors. It was incredible. And I must have driven Soeur Dionne crazy with how many times I asked the question, "Do you like genealogy?!" And the responses varied from a flat out "no" to one lady pulling out a huge 3 foot by 2 foot nine generation chart of her family tree. Uhhh, that's awesome! I TOTALLY was not expecting that.

And this week, we ended up finding 3 new families to teach. One of them we met after contacting a young African woman named Olga on the street. She told us that it was super bright out and to come inside. We found out that was her mother's home and when we came back the next day, we also met her aunt who wants us to come pray with her. Ok, that's pretty amazing!

The other was when we passed by to visit a member and her nine year-old son let us in. He was the only one home so we decided to porte the other floors while we waited. We found a family that let us in! The husband and wife are both named Chardin and their girls names are Delphine, Lynn and Linda. And they invited us back! And they also happen to be pretty good friends with the member that lived in the first floor. She told me the next day that she'd invited them to come to church anyother time. They were so kind and respectful to us. When the husband opened the door, he asked,"What can I do for you mes dames (ladies)?" That was a first.

This week has been wonderful. I love these members so much. Our ward mission leader and his family spent are moving out of our ward and I am so sad to see Soeur and Frere Lukoji leave for Lyon! I have grown so much from their council, influence and love. They are family to me and have blessed my life more than they can imagine. I'm grateful for the chance to have served around them. There was a ward party they held for them before they left. I swear that church events never ever ever start on time. We showed up at, everyone else got there by and by the time we were leaving to go back home, they rolled out the food and started dj-ing music! We left the cookies we made for them there and on Sunday the pan was completely empty and we had members begging for the recipes. :) Soeur Louis was telling us, "Yeah, so last night we eating the cookies and soeur tehoirou looked at me and was like, 'who made this?!' and I was like, 'had to have been the sisters." I wish I could correctly and completely capture just how funny the members are.

I'm so happy and I seriously don't understand why that is. Missionary work is so fun, so exhausting and so fulfilling. We sometimes are on transportation for 3 or more hours a day trying to get to rdvs and other places. But I find that all the best of experiences and miracles come when you just decide to get up, have some faith, go outside and just talk to everyone. You just stop overthinking or over-complicating things. It's beautiful.

"We, in our imperfect view, sometimes focus on our imperfections and then despair because we think we'll never measure up. But our Savior, Jesus Christ, sees us as we can become. As we allow His Atonement to work in our lives, He will shape us into masterpieces who will one day live with the King of Kings."

Have a great week and don't forget to smile!

Soeur Hopkins

For Easter, the Ozaris gave us these ginormous chocolate easter bunnies. thanks! And me with the Coloma family. One of their sons is serving in the Lyon mission. And somehow they too found me in the Ensign.

So, Candida is doing well. Soeur Dionne serenade us all with a performance of Claire de Lune on the piano. It was magical. Soeur and Frere Lukoji at their party (I think she looks a lot like you, Bree (rudd's bree) :)

Soeur Dionne had to get x-rays on her back this week. No matter how many times she explains that the problem is not in her alignment, they just haven't gotten it yet. She can figure out whether to laugh or cry out of frustration...we're working on it!

And this is a sign we found on the inside of a door in a building we were porting. Put that one into google translate!

Lots of love,

Melissa