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| Chalon Cathedral |
Fun French Fact: Sometimes people laugh while they inhale. It's small, but weird the first few times you hear it. Not everyone does it. Mostly women. But there you have it.
I don't know exactly how to express what I'm feeling in a letter. Oh. La. La. I love France. I love missions. I love this gospel. I love Jesus Christ. I love President Roney. I love Sister Packard. If you thought I was crazy before, you haven't seen anything yet. I do not have enough room in body to contain such immense wealths of joy.
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| Swiss Scenery 8.2013 |
First of all, in Chalon, it's been a little chilly and rainy, so I finally had the opportunity to pull out my Inspector Gadget coat. I love that coat. It's got lots of pockets. One for my planner and pen. One for French cards. One for German. Etc. And I protect my Books of Mormon from the water in the folds of the coat itself. You should see the surprised looks on people's faces when I whip that thing out. What is that?! Oh, only the word of God. We are seriously contacting fiends. We talk to everyone.
The contacting numbers for our whole zone have doubled since I've been here. Honestly, you can't selectively contact! You don't know who's ready! So, naturally, you talk to everyone. I love it. And we have been reaping the blessings as well. Although people aren't as willing to commit to a RDV here, we've met several who have met the missionaries before and want to again and our amis Thierry and Cyrille have baptismal dates for the 28th septembre. We are also blessed to have the Millers here, the couple in Chalon. They are great. It's so nice having them because we're both fairly new, and they have real relationships with our amis. It's wonderful. And I still need to learn how to teach better, and so they are a good example of that.
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| Swiss Scenery 8.2013 |
Okay let me tell you about my favorite day of the week. We had a Zone Conference with interviews. I love these things so much. We start out with President Roney teaching us that we need to call people to repentance more often (see why we get along??), and then we had Soeur Roney tell us how to not be stressed. Which, at the moment, is not something I am at all worried about. Then our Zone Leaders, Elder Olivier and Elder Han (most Christlike person ever) gave us some training. We practiced teaching simply. It was fun. I love being with old missionaries because then I think okay, there's hope yet. I can communicate well enough, and understand reasonably well, but I want a real French accent and to be able to just go with it, you know? French really is a beautiful language. Then we had a delicious four course lunch. The sisters always have to go and sit down and start eating first. So obviously, they sit by other sisters. Then the tables end up ridiculously segregated. Yikes. So, as per usual, I sat on the other end of the tables, so I could chill with the Elders. The Millers thought that was funny. But I got to chill with my fellow brethren in the Lord and so I was happy. No worries, with Elders.
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| Sister Hutchins' feet |
Then I got to have my interview with President. I literally skipped in there, I was so excited. I had a list of questions for him, as I have been studying all the rules we have to follow. Did you know there is a rule to brush your teeth after every meal and right before you leave the house and to floss before bed? Yeah, that's real. I did get permission to put my hands in my pockets, sweep the floor only when it's dirty, and change all the voice mails to my voice. Forty-eight minutes later, I rejoined the rest of the group for the words of the Assistants. Haha. They kept making references to me as the enforcer. Like, and if you feel really tired, you better keep going or Soeur Hutchins will crush your head. They're funny. Elder Emal pegged me as crazy our first Zone Conference. This mission could use a little more ridiculosity! That's why I'm here, I guess. President told me that Soeur Packard said in her interview, You know, I did an exchange with Soeur Hutchins before, but being her companion is...different. It's fun! Well, as Elder Anderson said, this isn't missionary work, it's missionary fun! Also work. But fun work. And I had three other people tell me I was crazy for various reasons. One of them described me as a hurricane. So take that for what you will, build up your food storage, but I'm coming. And this is my new Zone, who have all met each other before and I've literally only met my current companion. So they were really lucky to make my acquaintance. And as you can see, I am still the most humble person here.
Here's another funny experience. Walking to church, this young guy on a bike whizzes past and yells Bonjour, les Soeurs! We were so stunned and confused we didn't even say anything back. Not that he really would have heard because he was really booking it. But later, during weekly planning, we texted an ami, Allan, that neither of us has met, and who planned a RDV with the Millers last week, but didn't show. Anyhow, Allan texts us back and says Hey I said Hi to you this morning and you didn't say hi back. You aren't very nice, so I don't want to meet with you. Have a good mission and thanks anyways. Apparently he's got a pretty dry sense of humor, which I can level with. So I start just being ridiculous. Anyhow, it ends up with me telling him he better come to english class and does he remember where the church is? And he responds (in english): Are you kidding sister! Do you know how big Chalon is! Of course I remember where the church is! I'm not stupid. I've been there many times! And then before I can respond, again in english: Ok that's enough for today. Thx. Have a good night. What? Haha. So I called him a punk and told him to have a good night. Turns out, he called the Millers to find out what a punk was! We were laughing so hard! Maybe it doesn't seem as funny to you. Okay. Awkward. But hopefully he comes to class this week. The Millers say he's really cool and he looks up For the Strength of Youth and other things in his spare time. So I'm psyched. My DL says that's a little unorthodox, but hey! Whatever works! Like I said, ridiculosity. Oh man. I love this gospel. And I love sharing it. And I forgot to remind President about my extension in our interview. Guess we'll have to have another one!
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| Some Amis |
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