Rain

picture 1: Isabelle, a member taught by Rich Harris, a family friend who served in France a "few" years ago.

picture 2: My former comps Sr. Bowman, Sr Russell & then Sr. Warren and I.

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hello everyone!

So this week was a little less sunny than in the past but i am still so grateful that it doesn't last and that its not permanent! this week I went on my first exchanges as Sister Training Leader with the sisters from Carcassonne and Aix en Provence which means… yes, I got to see two former comps. Sister Bowman and Sister Russell! It was soooo great! 

So my exchange with Sister Caldwell (Carcasonne) was awesome, it was here in Montpellier and ALL of our rdv's feel through that day... we had like 5 planned... that is unreal!:) haha but they all fell through!:( But it was sunny and Sr. Caldwell is awesome so we contacted and passed people all day and it was wonderful! We found super cool people that unfortunately are busy until after the holidays (which is everyone's excuse) but it's a good one so I will take it:)  But then the next day we went to zone conference in Aix and it was our big Christmas one... it was AMAZING!! I have the coolest mission president... just saying! He bought us all watches which say... Lyon France Mission... "Watch" us Baptize… unreal right? Oh my gosh sooo cool! We ate burritos for our meal because Aix has like the only burrito shop in all of France and every missionary knows about it! The guy got his idea from Utah and has a Utah license plate in his shop; love that! So we ate burritos and they were soooo good! I got all of the packages from my loved ones. Thank you all so so so much! I feel so spoiled! I am still trying not to open them... my boyfriend was smart and wrote... Don't open until Christmas... knowing that I may open it to see if it was wrapped:) I didn't open anything Beau... don't freak out:) I am excited to open them all Christmas morning! 

Then we stayed in Aix and I did an exchange with Sister Russell... It was cool to see how much we had both grown since being with each other... She is a WONDERFUL missionary! Oh my gosh! Unfortunately they are not having the success they deserve but we met some really cool people and we tried to find different ways to get the work going! She is sooo awesome! Only bad thing, it rained the WHOLE time we were there! We were in Aix for Thursday, Friday and then left Saturday morningand it never stopped raining! haha I dislike the rain but it was still super fun! I didn't bring my umbrella and I slept on the floor for a couple of nights... (hashtag) life of an STL haha but so fun! 

Then Saturday we had our Christmas party for the ward and we were informed that we had a solo... Sr Warren and I... thankfully we pulled the "we have been sick" card and didn't have to do it... so one of the elders sang and played the piano and I was amazed! Then a member gets up there and sings and plays the piano and looks just like Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles and I was DYING!!! I was thinking "oh my gosh you are too cool!" I think it was a great success! Church the next day was just wonderful... our sacrament water was spiked with some sugary substance... they do it a little differently here in France but the church is still true:) Like I said, church was great and there was a family from St. Etienne that was visitng family in Montpellier and they surprised me and I started crying I was so happy to see them! It was like seeing my real family… oh life of the mission! This week was great! We weren't able to do a lot and I still don't know Montpellier very well but it will come! 

I can't wait to see you my cute family in a couple of days! It doesn't even seem real… it's crazy! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and know that the meaning of this day is literally the best thing that ever happened to this world... our Savior was born! 

love you!

Sister Mod... the one in France and on the beach:)

Tomber Malade:(

Well.. my first sickness on my whole mission... it's the worst!!!! Ahhh I think I just have a cold but my oh my was church MISERABLE yesterday! oh la la! My companion got sick at the beginning of last week. Then our apartment was Hotel Montpellier for everyone going to blue's conference and leadership council so we had 12 sisters in our apartment for 3 nights in a row so she didn't have anytime to recover:(   Then voila... I fell sick too! My voice was/is completely gone... try contacting people in french with no voice... every response was "je n'ai pas compris" (I don't understand) I said yah, I know. :(

Butttttttt Tuesday we went around trying to pass (contact) tons of people and help me get used to the ville and we got like 10 numbers that day! Soooo many people were open and wanted to talk more! it was crazy!! People are much more open and nicer here in Montpellier! And this city is GORGEOUS!!! oh my gosh! And soooo sunny and soooo warm! I am in such a better mood when I contact people! With every person I talk to I say "il fait beau aujourd' hui n'est pas?" (its beautiful today isn't it?)  They say welcome to the south! haha So we ended up passing no one really on Tuesday because every person we stopped, talked to us for like 20 minutes! It was crazy! It was the fastest day of contacting ever and my companion is the BOMB at contacting! Oh my gosh she is an incredible missionary! I have much to learn from her!

Then Wednesday we stayed inside all day because my comp was super sick and she slept most of the day. I played in our apartment... it was a longgggg day! I could never be disobedient... that was the longest day of my mission because we didn't' get to do any work! When my comp woke up, we planned our exchanges for the transfer... we are sooo busy!!  oh my gosh! We have plans to do 2 exchanges a week! I feel really weird doing exchanges with missionaries my same age or older because I feel we know just about the same about being missionaries but I am going on exchanges with Sister Russell this week:) We are in charge of the Aix sisters which means I will see my baby blue Sister Bowman and Sister Russell, my two old comps! It will be so fun! 

Then Thursday was Leadership Council so we went to Lyon and I got to see Sr. Stevens!! You know I love her! She actually stayed at our apartment along with a million other sisters this week!:)  Leadership Council was amazing! President and the assistants trained us for the whole day and shared with us the vision for the mission next year and how we will change our secteurs.  It was so cool to be apart of; but kinda weird because it was me and Soeur Stevens surrounded by all of the greatest missionaries in the mission... all of our heroes!!  I felt very under qualified but it really was so amazing.

The weekend was me falling sick and us trying to keep working but failing because we were a mess! we were like coughing and sneezing and trying to talk to people and they were thinking "you are a petri dish, please stay away from me"... haha i was like ya i know:( sorry! 

So unfortunately my first Sunday... which should be the best because you want to meet all the members you can... was miserable. It was the worst day so far of this sickness. On top of that, an Area Seventy came to our ward and spoke to us and he was incredible!! He then talked with the missionaries and told us we should be teaching 15 to 20 lessons a week... I was like what??? That is soooo many! So we are trying to do that! Unfortunately  after that little meeting, I really felt SOOO SICK! A member took us home and I slept the rest of the day. Then we set up our week! So not a super productive week unfortunately but I feel a little better today so that's good! I got my doterra oils going and that is good:) It's helping a lot! Anyway that's my week!

Sorry it's not too exciting but just know I LOVE Montpellier!! The people are soooo wonderful and it's beautiful here and sooo warm! It's just where I need to be for the winter... we all know how much I love the cold... :) Anyway, I love you all!! Have a good week!

Sister Mod

Repands du soleil (pour thé sun!)

Transferred….

Yes, you heard me... I left Zion and I came to paradise.... literally soooo sunny here I need my shades! I haven't seen blue skies like this in.... 6 months:) as long as i was in St. Etienne! I can't believe I left! It seems very surreal like i am just on an exchange or something but it's for real! The first sister to come to St. Etienne in ten years has left! This weekend was so incredible saying good bye to all of the members but we will get to that!

So the deets: I am not training:) Yay! I love training but it's very tiring after 4 transfers:) and I finally got a companion older than me on the mission. She only has two transfers left and her name is Soeur Warren. She is really really cool. We are the sister training leaders (STL) in Montpellier. We have 4 equipes of sister training leaders in our mission and Sister Stevens is another one in Bordeaux... so I will be seeing her at Leadership Council this weekend... whatever that is... on verra bien (we will see)!! But yes I am in the south of France... literally on the beach and this town is soooo beautiful from what I have seen! I will have more details next week after I have spent more than 3 hours in the city! Some of you might remember.. this is the city that I went to my first transfer for an exchange and I almost got arrested... so hopefully my warrant is up!!!  #mcfellan:) 

So some fun facts from my last week in St. Etienne... we found and committed another Chinese guy to baptism.. #january18.   But I don't know how much he truly understands the commitment... he understands the importance but maybe not the commitment.. but he will soon see #wordofwisdom:) Our DMP asked me if I was trying to start a Chinese ward and I said yes because French is too hard to speak:) That was fun for my last week there! His name is Yangdon or Justin... they pick English names because they think we can't say their names:) 

Then on Thursday we were in Lyon for our last district meeting before transfer calls.  After that I met up with a girl that Nichel met on study abroad to give her Crest Whitening Strips (thank you mom!) and she is DARLING! She is engaged with a MASSIVE ring! Beau, I told you I want a simple ring... but I've changed my mind! This thing was beautiful! #katemiddleton Anyway, we got hot chocolate and chatted and unfortunately she is very Catholic but she is really cool and we are going to keep in contact.  So I have a cool Catholic friend in Lyon who one day will convert, I know it! Nich.. you started the preparation process! way to go! 

After we got transfer calls, we basically just went around to members and said bye.  I told them they'd changed my life and they told me I had done good work here... which as a missionary is like THEE best compliment to get.  Especially with the Chrystelle thing... I was worried they would remember me as the missionary who brought in the Antichrist but it was not so:) I had my last meeting with the Elders and the ward missionaries and our ward mission leader.  One of the ward missionaries, her name is Lisa, was like can I say something really quick?  We said sure! She bore her testimony about how I changed St. Etienne and that her first experience with sisters was me and that her life has been changed because of it.  She said that I push her to be better and that she WANTS to serve a mission now... she was baptized a year ago! I was dying!! It was so sweet! She is incredible and we both started crying. It was probably one of the most magical moments on my mission.  It's crazy the spirit we have as missionaries that we don't even realize... I am going to miss that when this is all over!  Anyway the members were more than incredible and when they asked me to share my testimony before I left they said, "and we are turning the time over to one of our own, Sister Mod." ahhhh ya my testimony was a cry fest... I don't know if they understood any of what I said but it was great!

Mom I passed out those cards you made... I have to admit.. you're right... they are pretty cool! (this is Sandy #toldyaso) and everyone loved them! And we also have a place to stay when we go to st. Etienne after my mission... we will have to spend the night at each member's house though... to spread it around.  And Beau... they all know who you are and they have crept us on Facebook... so they told me to bring our cute kids back after the mission too:) hahahaha I love St. Etienne! je suis stepanoise:) (English translation: I am Etienne!) Anyway! thats it! I am pumped to be in Montpellier I will update more next week!

Love you all and miss you!

Sister Mod... the one that eats snails instead of raw meat:) 

(s/o to Sister AKMod)

Qian and Bei.. they made me chinese dumplings before I left! (new converts)

Yves.. one of our VERY catholic amis! he cried when he found out i was leaving and then he gave me a stuffed dog that i had to leave in st. etienne

me and sophie... the friend of nichel's! she was sooo pumped about her crest whitening strips:)

eating my last dinner with my grandpas.. frere professo

The family cadet! and luc and gabby

Saying good bye!

A week of thanks!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! It is actually really funny because none of us knew if Thanksgiving was this last Thursday or the one before it... so many things you actually don't know before your mission.  Anyways we had Thanksgiving at the church with a bunch of members and it was awesome! minus that Frere Professo told us that he would bring the turkey... well ya so he did which was great but it literally could have fed me and thats it... it was TINY!  We brought mashed potatoes but more people showed up than we were expecting and moral of the story.. we had one tiny turkey (which i am pretty sure it was chicken) and some mashed potatoes and some sweet potatoe thing that this lady in our ward made... not sure what it was.  And some cookies... to feed like 20 people! haha so ya I was STARVING! There is a first for everything... first Thanksgiving that I have gone hungry… it's good for me! I eat way too much French chocolate and nutella!:)

But to start from the beginning.. I slipped running this week and have a gnarly bruise on my forearm! Reflexes from snowboarding... never fall forward and try to catch yourself with your hands... just fall flat:) That's what I did and if I wouldn't have, I would have broken my wrist for sure... I fell hard!!!  It doesn't really hurt surprisingly... it looks worse than it is. I then had lunch with Heidi Heras and her awesome husband! It helped so much to have a fun lunch and just chat... I needed a little break like that and it was perfect and I was so grateful!!! After that we went out and worked and we found two more cool interested Chinese people! haha I think if China would have been opened when I got my call, the Lord would have sent me there... but since it's not, I am trying to convert all the Chinese people here in Sainte!:)  Needless to say, we had lots of miracles this week and it was much needed! The sun is still hidden a lot of the time and it's FREEZING, but I had some retail therapy this week and I am happy and warm:) Thank you H&M and Zara! (and Big B):)

Friday I was on exchanges with Sr. Sarmiento from Valence and Sr. Cherry went to Valence! It was a good exchange and I profited from her help.  I took her to see Chrystelle! She pretty much took over the lesson and was really bold with her and it was good.  She didn't change but it was nice not to have to respond to the same hard questions... I let sr sarmiento do it:) She is really cool though we had a good exchange! When Sr Cherry came back I said, "How was your exchange?" and she said ".... good"  After talking for awhile, she told me how grateful she was for me because their styles were very different.  I said well exchanges are good for something... you realize i am not that bad:) but in all seriousness, she and I get a long REALLY well and we have the same desire for the work.  I am forever grateful for the support she has given me this transfer!!! I couldn't have been with anyone else.  She was so perfect and so inspired... if we split this next transfer I will be really sad! 

Saturday we were really really busy and we taught lessons and we ate with a member who is just awesome! Her son showed us pictures of his girlfriend so I naturally shared mine of my cute Beau and we may have gotten home at like 10:45... oops! I called the zone leaders and they were like again? I am said "sorry I am just trying to do the work of the Lord and that goes past 10:30sometimes:)" Sunday we had no heating in our chapelle soooooo they cut church short... which means we work more outside... fun:) #fastsunday! We were busy though and we didn't eat until 10 that night! I love being busy and being a missionary!!! The Lord blessed us with lots to do to get my mind on other things and I feel much better now!  So for all of you who may have thought I was suicidal based on my emails to Sandy Mod,  I am doing much better:) Thank you for ALL for the notes and love!! They have helped so so so much!! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! With it being Thanksgiving, I want you all to know that I am so grateful for each of you and for all the prayers in my behalf and in Chrystelle's. They were much needed! I am grateful to be a missionary and to be here in France amongst the strongest members you will ever meet. My eyes have been completely opened to a new world in the church and it has changed me forever!!

Love you all!

Sister Mod 

Pic 1: Dr. Heidi Heras taking McCall and Soeur Cherry to lunch in St. Etienne

Pic 2: Too cold to have much more excitement than this.

Pic 3: November Zone Conference

Snow globes

Dear Family and Friends!

So i literally feel like I live in a snow globe... there have been clouds soooo thick covering this entire city for a whole week and it SNOWED! it snowed so so so much... well for st. Etienne.  In utah, we all would have been going to school and work but here in Sainte they stopped all buses and trams so we ended up walking everywhere:) oh the joys of being a missionary.  With the weeks I have been having, I was only willing to be out in the cold for so long so we did lots of member work this week which was just what I needed!!! 

Thankfully the worst day of the storm was when we were in Lyon on an exchange with the STL's...which was sooooo great! Last minute I got switched to be with Sister Vidal!  It was awesome because I did an exchange with her my first transfer and she has been one of my heroes ever since! She had a very similar story to mine and Chrystelle's so during lunch she let me cry and vent and then at the end she said... I know eactly how you feel and it SUCKS! haha probably not a great missionary word but it was nice to be with someone who understood.  This exchange was much much needed.  And Beau you will be so proud! We gave a lesson in Spanish because Sister Vidal is Mexican and one of their recent converts speaks spanish.  i actually understood most of it.  We practiced in comp study and language study so i could follow along... it was so great! i am totally learning spanish when i get home so i can understand everything you say.:) So ya that day was fun.  we were so busy and had so many things to do.  It was fun to be with someone who was in charge... haha being in charge of everything all the time is exhausting so it was fun to just follow and be led!

Then we came back to the winter wonderland and spent a lot of time at members houses asking for referrals and practicing the lessons with them.  It was helpful and it was  great to feel the spirit again as I testified of Joseph Smith... he gets me everytime.  We spent most of the afternoon with Sister Cadet and her cute kids because it was such bad weather.  she was like you are not going back out!  So we ported her building. She came along with her cute little girls and sang christmas songs and we made them banana bread:) It was great! It was fun and so great to be with a member.  She is such a wonderful person. I seriously love her and her family.  I will use them as my role models for the rest of my life! so that was really fun!

Then Saturday was Chrystelle's birthday party that she has been planning for over a month and she had invited lots of members to come as well as us.  Even the Elder's investigator she invited... she called me on Friday and told me it was cancelled.  I said oh because of the weather? and she was said no for personal reasons... so i said is everything ok? are you ok Chrystelle? and she said ya ya no worries its just cancelled.  So I had a feeling that wasn't what happened but i said ok let us know if we can do anything for you and she said thanks call you in a couple of days.! ok... then she calls back like 15 minutes later sobbing! and i am like Chrystelle what is wrong? and she says "i lied... my birthday isn't cancelled but my family won't come if you guys are there..."  ouch. i said, "ok. thats ok we won't come then and you can have a good night with your family."  She said "I feel really bad that i lied. You are my friends too and i feel bad.  I want you guys to be able to come too... but my family said if they come and you are there they will leave" ... ouch again. So I said "no worries Chrystelle. we do not want to create a division in your family. have a good night with them and we can celebrate with you another time.  and then i hung up... I am trying so hard to put on a brave face but i just don't understand.  Her family was soooo great at the baptism and they were crying through her whole service.  I don't know what to believe.. the tithing problem, the family problem and or where the problem even started? Chrystelle or her family? I don't know... its heartbreaking.  We passed her last week to just give a spiritual thought and she brought up tithing again and I was like really? Chrystelle, i know you have a problem about tithing. i don't want to talk about that. i want to talk about Jesus... I lost that argument.  I found out this week that because she didn't sign her paper of baptism, she is not even considered a member of the church technically.. but spiritually she kind of is... so ya lots of fun in sainte right now:) haha but its ok we are doing well and we have lots of cool things happening too! 

We have two other investigators named Patricia and Yves and they are super cool! i hope things keep moving along for them! I hope you all have a wonderful week and be EVER so grateful for supportive families:) I know i am!

Love you!

Sister Mod

Peaks and Valleys Nov. 18

<<<<You know it's not been a great week when she doesn't send pics…She's a Mod; we LOVE pictures. Please keep Chrystelle in your prayers; such a bummer that Satan is real. >>>>

•note from the mom•

hello everyone!

I am sure you are all wondering... "What did you do after all your amis got baptized?" haha its a very good question... we worked harder then we did to get them baptized and the Lord blessed us with very promising people! We had some really awesome lessons this week and we had zone conference. It was the "interview tour" so I had my interview with President Roney, which was great! I told him that lately I have been really tired. After training for 4 transfers, I am exhausted!  Training is hard work but it is rewarding.  Then he basically told me that I am weeks away from even more responsibility.. and I said uhh thanks? Literally I said, "Are you trying to kill me of exhaustion? haha I tried to be flattered but I just told him if that happens I am sleeping in the day after transfer calls:)  No I am kidding and I have no idea if he was being serious or not but we will cross that tiring bridge if we get there! So that was fun to meet with him.  I also got to see Sister Stevens too which was wonderful! I love her so much! Every time I see her it's  the best day ever! 

We went for a follow-up lesson with the Chinese girls and we taught them about the temple and Bei cried when we talked about doing the work for the dead.  She was really close to her grandpa and she wants to do his work.  They are incredible! We are working on finding a time to go to the temple and to find names so that we can take them when we go.  I should say "they" go... unfortunately the temple is out of mission boundaries... If they go while i am still here, I am soooooooo asking if i can go!:)  It was a really great lesson!

Our lesson after baptism for Chrystelle did not go nearly as well. Unfortunately she read some anti-mormon junk online and her testimony has been shaken a bit.  It was a really difficult lesson and I left feeling completely hopeless.  It was probably one of the lowest points I have ever felt in my life. We went with Frère Professo, our ward mission leader, and after the lesson he said "well now you have a real taste of how it is to be a member here in France." He wasn't saying it in a mean way but it made me even more sad because its true... If you all are wondering why people say "Oh France... that will be a hard mission!!" It's because these members are very new to the gospel and they are attacked for their beliefs every single day.  I couldn't believe the change I saw in Chrystelle. The whole atmosphere of her home was different.  Darkness just hung in her apartment and through tears I asked her..."Do you feel this? This darkness that is here as you talk about the prophet like that?" By the end of our lesson, I couldn't choke out anything because I was so sad and she wouldn't let me... she kept cutting me off.  But I just bore my simple testimony and said.. Chrystelle you can attack my beliefs all you want and you can tell me that everything isn't "normal" but I can tell you that it won't make any difference for me.  I KNOW this church is true! I know my life is better because of it.  I didn't leave my beautiful family, awesome boyfriend, amazing friends, and my studies that I LOVE if I didn't know without a doubt that this was true.  I will not let you continue to talk about the prophet in this way so we are going to go... and with a prayer, we left.  So I am trying to figure out what we will do now... so if you can pray for me and for her that would be great:) Moral of the story... satan is the worst! and I am starting to think the internet was the worst invention ever haha! 

Other than that, we have an awesome new ami, Patricia, who came to church and she is literally every definition of GOLDEN!! Her boyfriend is going to come with her next time.  She is one of the coolest people I have ever met! The Lord blessed us with really nice people this week because He knew I was down.  Everyone we met was extremely nice to us this week; it was amazing! The members were amazing too! Word travelled fast about Chrystelle and pretty soon every sister in the Relief Society had called and wanted to see if I was ok.  This ward is unreal and they are literally my family.  My family, I will be homesick for this ward family through my whole mission i know it! I love sainte:) 

Anyway sorry for the downer email but just be sooooooo grateful to have grown up in the church around lots of members!!! I know I am! And if you don't fall into that category... I praise you for your faith and example and your diligence!!! Seriously, people like you inspire me to be a better missionary!!!

Have a good week everyone!

Love sister Mod

November 4th Encore!

So I spent most of the week in Lyon with Sister stevens and I am tempted to say it was one of the funnest couple of days of my mission!  I love her so much and president told us that we would for sure be serving together soon so we were both pumped! I love getting blues; they are so full of drive and light and they have so much positive energy! My new companion Soeur Cherry is the best.  She is ready to work hard and she is exactly what I needed at this time! I am excited! She is from Tennessee and is just so nice! I can't believe President asked me to train again.  On the phone I was like... you really trust me with another one but it truly is a very flattering and rewarding experience. 

So we had a crazy weekend trying to see everyone the last couple of days that we finally got back to st. etienne! we had a halloween party on friday night that i literally planned by myself because the elders were at a conference all day and couldn't even come! So stressful but very worth it! the members said they loved it so i will send pictures! Chrystel came with celia and she was soooo happy.  Not her daughter... But Chrystel said this is sooo great! haha i said ya happy halloween!  this is how we do it in america!:)  Anyway that was great and then we taught like 4 or 5 lessons on saturday! CRAZY!! we have 3 baptisms coming up this saturday.... like for sure they are happening... As in clothes have been tried on and food is being prepared and family has been invited... happening! i am dying i could cry! my first one!!! after 5 months of hard work here in st. etienne The Lord let me stay to see the fruits of our labors! i am sooo excited! I met some awesome people last week as well! We are in the process of finding people so that after our baptisms we will still have people to teach.  Pray we find people! other than that i don't have a lot to update because I was barely in my sector! my pictures will explain more! 

Chrystel: we taught her tithing and i was super nervous because she works and is a single mom but we took an awesome member and she was like "oui, pas de soucis" which means ya not a problem i can pay that... show me how to do it tomorrow at church! i said ok cool! 

To Qian and Bei we taught fasting and they said "How many lessons do we have left?  You're going to come by everyday this week to prepare us for baptism right?" i said yes don't worry and then Qian said "ummm sister mod... i can't swim" I said don't worry you won't be swimming:) haha Yes everything is going sooo well! we are having a chinese meal for them after the baptism. It's going to be SO great! stay tuned for the details next week i am so happy i could die! 

Anyway...my spritual thought for this week is this: The missionaries do more than plant seeds... we plant and harvest:) we are fortunate enough to be harvesting this weekend! love you all!

Sister Mod

The B word.. BAPTISM:) November 11

aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!! seriously the best week of my mission!!! 

I can't even describe to you how great it was... i tried to write it in my journal but i couldn't and everytime i talk about it with someone i cry because it was SOOOO GOOD! ahhh one of those things you have to be there to know... so everyone try to find someone to baptize so you can understand my joy:) haha so ya Qian, Bei and Chrystelle were all baptized this weekend and I pretty much just cried through all of the services because i was sooo happy! 

Qian and Bei were first at 10 and their service was in English.  Seeing our members participate the best they could was sooo sweet. After they were baptized we sang I Know My Redeemer Lives because Sister Bowman and I love that song and we woud sing it all the time.  I was really sad she couldn't come and i know she was really sad too.  So when i introduced the song I started crying so A... not a singer and B... crying... bad combo... good thing the spirit was there:) haha 

Chrystelle was next at 11. We started late because the Chinese girls' service went over but it was perfect.. it happened just the way it was supposed to! Chrystelle's sister came and she is soooo great.  She was there for our song and I'm not trying to brag…but really I'm not because it was sooo bad... but our musical number made everyone cry... that song is just so wonderful!!! No matter what language you sing it in! But for Chrystelle, I sat next to her during her service and she held my hand the whole time.  The member that spoke about baptism is like her best friend now and she talked about how she KNEW that she knew Chrystelle in th pre-existance and that they were destined to meet on earth and how the next step is the temple and she knows that she will find someone because she is the definition of charity... which is sooo true! she is the best! oh my gosh the spirit was sooo strong and then it was my turn to give my talk about the holy ghost... i got up there... crying already and read a text Sister Bowman sent for me to read over the pulpit... and was crying so hard I couldn't even read it... haha so embarassing! My talk was VERY short: A... because i wrote it the night before at 10:25 before lights have to be out and B.... because I was too emotional to go on very long.  I explained the Holy Ghost and then just told her how much I loved her! Everyone was crying again! Right before she entered the font we hugged... which is so not a French thing to do and we both cried for like a minute.  I was said "Je vous aime... et vous avez change ma vie" ( I love you and you have changed my life) and she through tears said "no... you changed mine." AHHH i am crying right now! it was the best thing ever! the spirit was so present you could literally taste it.  So i sat on the side crying as she was baptized.  One of the greatest moments of my whole life.  

So anyway there is my week in a nutshell.  We tried to work super hard during the week but we were absorbed my baptism stuff but they were so perfect so it was worth it.  This week we are really trying to find more people to baptize too because this weekend was so good I want every weekend to be like that! BAPTISMS!!! soo good! All the missionaries in our district came too and that was awesome. One of the elders kept my camera all day so he could get all the photos... so nice! Oh it was Tyler Johnson's MTC comp, Elder Peterson! haha he is my zone leader! small world! Anyway if you want to see photos, I've got them:)  I have to go! love you all!

Sister Mod

Just before Chrsytelle was baptized... i look terrible because i have been crying! how cute is her little girl? ahhh Celia is soo cute

before the service started.. they kept their clothes on underneath because they were cold:) haha they weigh like 70 pounds at most!

just before they were baptized! ahhh they are sooo cute

Us singing!!

looking into the font... qian is afraid of water! haha

Nelly!! I love her.

Entering the waters of salvation:). Cheesy but true!!

cute little bei sooo ready!

qian is nervous because of the water!!

Staaaaying and training again!! Oct. 28 2013

hahah sooooo big news for the transfers... I am staying in St. Etienne and I am training a brand new missionary again! I told President Roney on the phone... "Really... your trusting me with another?" I couldn't believe it! I was so sure I was moving! But my little blue, Sister Bowman, is heading to Aix and is with Sister Russell... my first come in this area! I was like you two can just reminice... can't spell that word... about St. Etienne!:) she was really really sad to leave! I said "are you crazy? Aix is beautiful and its warm... stop crying!":) I will cry when i leave st. etienne too! I love it.  And its been sunny and soooo sooo warm and I have received tons of cards and packages from my wonderful family this week so it was great!!

I don't have a lot of time today because I had a lot of emails and a SUPER cool video of my cute boyfriend and amazing roommate…and I may have watched it like 2 or 5 times... who was counting:) anyways love hearing and seeing the people I love. 

So this week... I can't think of anything substantial.. but we teach steadily our amis and that is the greatest thing you could ask for. We found this new girl who is super awesome and its been awhile since we have found someone sincerely interested.  We taught a lot for a couple of weeks but it was a lot of single lessons, no 2nd ones and that is really sad.  I hate when that happens! Our new gal's name is Patricia and she is really cool so pray that she stays interested.  There is a lot of bad media in Europe about Mormons... I am sure Ally, Sister Beck, Elder J can back me up on that one.  So sometimes I feel like my job is just to help people see that we are normal:) not that I am that normal... i am getting sooo awkward... ahhh! but we passed by a member this week that can't come to church because she works. She has to work because her husband died a couple of years ago. Let me just tell you, she is the coolest strongest women I have ever heard! (Remind me to tell you all about her after my mission... She has literally forever changed my life.  When the work gets hard here, I just go visit a really strong member and then I think they are soooo cool I have to keep working to find more people that can help them!!!  I learned this week that everyone lives very very difficult lives.  French people are very private so it takes a long time to get to know them and understand their situation but when I know their full story I just look at them in awe and think... how are you still active?? The church has struggled SO much here in France and then you see these strong members and I think "you are just amazing! how do I be like you?" I have been using the journal Beau sent me and just filling it up with all these lessons I am learning from members and it has really helped me to have a better week the next week.  Just looking at the people around me and thinking... "what can I learn from you" anyways that was that:)

My farewell with Sister Bowman was really good, although she cried haha. She is a very quiet person; very shy and timid.  We are sooooo different but I loved her so so much. I told her before she left that this new start in Aix will be perfect for her and just to go into it guns blazing! I was like "sr bowman... you were meant to be more than living in someone else's shadow... you were meant to be in the spotlight!" We struggled a little bit with that because when we were alone she was soooo funny and cool and great. But then she would get sooo quiet around people and I was like "come on let everyone see what I see!" haha the whole world sees too much of me anway!

We also had stake conference this week which is soooo great because you get to see everyone in our stake which means loads of missionaries! And best part about this whole thing.... SR STEVENS IS MY COMP FOR THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS!!! ahhhh best thing ever! she is training too so we are hanging out in lyon together again until our new blues arrive fresh from the MTC! I hope we serve together; she is my favorite thing about mission life after converting people to the gospel and stuff:) anyways have a good week all and I love you!!

Sister Mod

Leeettts go to Church:)

Ok so this week was fun:) We spent a lot of time at the church! This week was a little harder because we didn't have as much to do this week which means more tracting and contacting.. ahhhh so fun.. not always. but it was beautiful this week. the sun was shining and I was just in a better mood! When the sun is out nothing can get me down! I am afraid i might have seasonal depression with all this rain:) hah just kidding 

But Tuesday night the sister from Grenoble came and did a split with us.. we were supposed to do an exchange but it was too expensive so they just stayed with us for part of wednesday and went home.. it wasn't much of an exchange except that they brought scissors so i could cut my hair and i totally BOTCHED it! haha oh my gosh i blew it!! sooooo long story short my hair is decently short now because we had to fix it! but it was fun having them here and i got to go on a nice long run the next morning with sister smith! she is soooo cool and has only been a convert for like 2 or 3 years! 

Then on Thursday we taught qian, bei, and liu our chinese amis and it was really awesome! liu has a problem with green tea and was dying through the word of wisdom. she said i just don't understand! haha but she said she was going to try. so we will have to be more bold next time! She asked us if she could just be done when her tea was out and I said... ask God and see what he thinks:) She just laughed and said I'll take that as a no.:) We had dinner with the Passe family and they are super funny and cool! Brother Passe is a HUGE jokester and was making fun of americans and their diets... he is kind of large so its funny he points the finger at us.  I told him how much i love Speculoos.. it's this amazing spread they have here and its sooo good! Its like the Delta cookies in a spread! He bought me this huge packet of speculoos cookies and brought them to church on Sunday:) haha 

Then on Friday we had a young single adult activity because we have a big primary and a decent sized young men and young women but we have about 3 single adults! They are the ones that will get married soon and start families of their own to grow the church here in france, so we are trying to strenthen them! We had a game night which was really fun! we played around the world ping pong! we didn't have an incredible turn out but we are going to try and plan something every week. We are planning this AWESOME Halloween party for next week so lets hope i don't get transferred since calls are this week! 

Saturday was crazy! We got to the church really early so we could do studies (we live really far away from the church) and then we cleaned the church from all the festivities the night before.  We went and contacted for a couple of hours and grabbed a dominos pizza :) Its a speciality here and then we headed back to the church for the geneology activity that Chrystel came too and LOVED! We had a going away party for this girl in our ward who is going to the states to get married! her fiance is from louisianna! she is sooo cool! i am really sad she is leaving.  The wife of the guy that got baptized like 2 weeks ago got baptized at 6 pm on saturday night! we were literally at the church all day! it was SOOO GREAT! 

Then sunday was just crazy! Our ward is getting so so so big! we are up to like 80 or 90 people there every week! and a less active we have been working wtih came her 2nd time in a row:) soooo awesome! Chrystel came as well and so did the chinese girls! we had soooo many things to manage yesterday it unfortunately was not a very relaxing spiritually uplifting sunday for us... note to self... i only want like 3 kids! i helped in the nursery yesterday and I was like oHHHHHH my gosh these kids have a lot of energy! haha That may have been against the rules but there is only one nursery lady and she said i am desperate! I said ok i will stay with you! Then we (the elders too) took Chrystel and their ami Cederic to Frere's Professo's for lunch and raclette... again!!! (oh my gosh i never want to eat raclette again!) but it was really really fun! we went and worked for a little and went home.  So ya it was a good week! nothing toooo eventful except my hair is mega short now and like no one mentions it! my DMP told me he liked it but it was better before.. haha thank you french bluntness! i will send pics and you can all let me know!

Anyways love you all! have a good week! Who knows if i will be writing you next week from sainte or from another ville... on verra??! (we will see)

Sister Mod

We went to McDonald's for P-day last week. It was a one time thing...

So... we gave me a haircut, everything looked good until you put some in the front and it was uneven.. to short in the front compared to the back:) back to blueprints 

Time to start evening it!! 

A lot more was cut then planned:) #Missionarylife

Somewhat straight across look:) 

Now i curl my hair everyday to cover up the unevenness:) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY:)

Marriage is what brings us together!!

So for all of you who are wondering if anyone got baptized this weekend.. the answer unfortunately is no.  But the wife of the guy who got baptized like 2 weeks ago is getting baptized this saturday! keep in mind, she didn't want to get baptized until next year. After the baptism of her husband, she is like OK my turn! So that is really cool! The only problem was Jean's baptism, or not getting baptised! Jean is our African ami who is a referral from someone in the ward.  So here's the bad news: he didn't come to church yesterday and he cancelled 2 times last week at the last minute! So we did everything we could to see him yesterday. After church we met him out side this small train station at 7:30 at night so it was COLD! We met him and started talking about his baptism and after about 30 minutes he asked me to marry him after my mission... he is like 40 years old keep in mind.  I was pretty bummed and completely weirded out last night. We have been working with him for months and now I am sitting there thinking "what have been your intentions this whole time?' So.. we are passing him to the elders.  I wish African men didn't keep letting me down.  I thought a 20 year age gap would be sufficient but for the Africans it doesn't matter apparently.:(  So we refixed his date for the 2 of november which means unless a miracle happens (which it totally could) I will see no one be baptized this transfer again. BUT... if I stay here next transfer I will get to ee 4:) As long as they are baptized is what I have to remind myself:) So there you go... 

This week was kind of weird because Francois Holland came to St. Etienne... yes, President of France came to our medium sized little ville and no one even cared except public transportation! i was  freaking out... not because i am a fan of him... he is not my party (according to the members of the ward:) but i was like still... he is your president, this is sooo cool! Anyway, so tuesday was just hard to do anything because everyone was on strike! We went to Lyon on Wednesday for zone training which was INCREDIBLE! as always! President Roney is sooo inspiring and I am going to work 10 times harder this week! we labled this week "monster week" so i am excited for the miracles that will come! Then the assistants were kind of joking (but we're not really sure) that everyone next transfer would be white washing... which means you and your comp are brand new to the ville. I literally started crying thinking of leaving St. Etienne and starting fresh somewhere else! The assistants were like ok... that wasn't a funny joke... I said no it wasn't! Not when you're already in zion! hahah but anyway the strike moved from sainte to Lyon soooo we were stuck in Lyon for the day but it was fun because i got to be with Sister Stevens, always a treat! We spent the night there and it was fun! The rest of the week was really good! 

We taught Chrystel the word of wisdom on Saturday and the first thing she said when we walked in because it had literally been raining ALL week, was "do you want a coffee" haha we said no. Then she said "do you want some tea" haha no. so i just started praying... please don't make YOURSELF a cup of coffee before our lesson! And..she didn't but right after that when we told her about coffee i was sooo scared and she just started laughing! haha she said really? and we said.. uhhh ya really.  Then she said "Ca sera duuuuuurrrrrrrrr" (that will be haaaaaarrrd) but she sang the last word and it was SOOO FUNNY! we were all laughing and by the end she said "ya of course i will keep it!" perfect!

Then yesterday was the primary program.... fun fact... primary programs are universal and french children are maybe a little funnier than american children.  seriouly i had tears streaming down my face! We have a really big primary too and each family has like 5 kids, all of whom are in primary.  They would sing a song and bare their testimonies by families, if that makes sense.  I can't even describe to you how funny it was but then being in french was just that much funnier! ah man! i wish you all would have been there! 

Then a big group of us all went to our DMP's house and ate raclette! Its a really french thing... go look it up!! Family we ate it one time when I was dating Will... do you remember? With the potatoes and the cheese? and the meat? Anyway it was sooo fun! With full bellies we went out and worked:) so kind of an uneventful week because we lost a lot of days but this next week is monster week:) be prepared for miracles next week!

Thought from zone conference: (This is my new theme for contacting and for working)  If you put your line in the water to catch some fish for only a couple of hours, how many fish will you catch? If you put your line in for most of the day, how many will you catch? If you leave your line in the water all day, all week... how many fish will you catch? My line will always be in the water.  When contacting on the tram seems SOOOO awkward... line in the water.  When calling a member last minute for a lesson seems soooo impolite.. which it is but we do it anyway... LINE in the water... when contacting and porting in the rain seems like that last thing i want to do... LINE IN THE WATER! Here is my covenant to you for the week! love you all! hope you all have a good week! 

Sister Mod

Starbucks!! .... missionary style:)

Conference= Christmas!!!

Ok what a week friends and family!!

For those of you who haven't heard our two chinese investigators texted us after they watched conference at their apartment in chinese that they want to be baptized!!!! we talked to them about it last week and they were like "we only met God a month ago" haha #Buddhism and we were like ya but God has known you forever and he wants you to return to Him!!! and after conference they were like YUP! we want to be baptized! they have been working with my dad to get into byu because they want to go to school in a good environment with people "who know God too" AHHH they are a light in my life!

So this week we taught 9 lessons in the presence of a member which is better than last week:) and we ate at tons of members houses sooo i was STUFFED all week of food.  But it was good because we were at the church on sunday for almost 12 hours for conference without a break because we had 9 amis come to conference... half of the people who came to church to watch conference were our amis! and can all of you go watch Gerald Causse's talk from priesthood session... ya he is french... and ya racism is a problem here in france so his talk was PERFECT!!! our ward is good at welcoming our amis but they could be better... everyone can be better at making EVERYONE feel welcome at church!  Jean is one of our amis who is getting baptized in 2 weeks and he came to two sessions of conference and took notes!! #proudmommoment! seriously i was like "look members, he took notes at conference did you?" haha it was sooo great! Nelly... I am really sad about her right now... I don't know how engaged she is to the church as she is to us.  We are good, good friends but i don't think she understands that this is the KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH not just another church.  So she headed back to le puy today and is coming back next week so we will keep in touch with her through phone.  She has had a rough week this week... the job that she thought she had landed called and told her they couldn't hire her becasue she wasn't french... stupid! so ya that was a bummer! but anyways pray she finds a job in st. etienne! 

Another hilarious thing that happened! We teach so much we barely have anytime to contact so we are always contacting the 5 normal people on our way home at like 8 at night.  Everytime we do we meet really cool people that seem sooo golden! But then the Lord is giving us so many people, we sometimes forget or get them mixed up soooo.. the other night we met this woman and her son and she said ya i am catholic but i have so many questions that are not answered at the catholic church and my son LOVEs God.  We were like ok... golden!! we gave a quick retab and got her number... that same night we met a women and her daughter who was like you are here all alone with no family? come over to my house and we can eat and chat and we were like ok she isn't interested in our lesson... but was really nice... so Corrine is the catholic, Karima is muslim and has the daughter. so Soeur Bowman messes us their names and numbers and sets a rdv with Karima, the muslim. we get a member and everything; we are waiting at the tram stop with our member and she doesn't show so we call and call and call (Corinne- because that is who we thought we set the rdv with) and no answer.  Then we get a message from karima saying are you there yet? haha we were like ya!! so she said ok i will come and get you! she turns the corner to get us and we thought ohhhh noo... that is not corinne... i look at soeur bowman and said 

what is going on? She said i have no idea! haha so we go and give her a lesson and she actually seems REALLY cool! it was a really great lesson and our member was super great but after she said  she didn't have a son that was a daughter and she is not catholic she is muslim... you sisters must not have understood... hahahahahah sooo embarassing we just said ya long story but thanks for coming:) how hilarious is that? we were sooo confused! but anyways this is getting long and I have no time buttttt we have 4 amis with a baptismal date:)))))) 

Jean- oct. 19th 

Chrystel- Nov 2

Qian and Bei- middle of november probably! 

Life is good here in Sainte!! but its getting really cold! pray that it doesn't rain everyday this week... contacting is the worst in the rain! hahah anyways love you all

Sister Mod

Yayay for Birthdays and lessons in presence

Bonjour a tous!!

What a week! before I forget! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE BEAR AND KY KY RACK! hope you both had great days! 16 and 21! license and boozzzz haha NOT! sorry ky kind of anticlimatic for you! but anways I hope you recieved my card and you are doing well!

So this week was AWESOME! we taught 8 lessons in the presence of a member! our goal was 11 but things happen and people have the agency :) so we didn't quite hit it but we really tried! by the way 8 is A LOT for france ok! we made it on the inspration team which is like this email they send out showing people who had the highest numbers in certain areas! We had so much to do this week we had to do a split with two girls in our ward to make two of our rdv's happen! it was sooo fun! I went with Lisa this 19 year old recent convert and she is INCREDIBLE!! sooo cool! 

So first of all we taught family home evening last monday and both of our amis came (jean and chrystel) so we taught about the godhead so they both would get it.  hopefully our members got stuff out of it too! it was a really good lesson and chrystel called us after and told us how much she loved and appreciated the lesson.  She is like it makes so much sense like that! i am like I know! In the bible my friend it clearly shows that they are 3 distinct people! Matt. 3 at the end #lookitup so ya take that catholics! 

Then Tuesday We taught a lesson to this really cool girl names anne love from Gabon and she is beautiful and asked lots of really intersting questions!! We taught her friends later in the week with Lisa and it was probably the best first lesson we have ever given.  We divided the lesson up WITH lisa and she is a great job! it was bouncing back and forth to all of us so not just one of us was talking and the testimonies at the end were just so so great! love bearing my testimony! especially of joseph smith... it gets me everytime. but ya our friends were like ya can we see you on monday which was in like a couple of days i was like ya sure! 

Then Wednesday we were on exchanges with the sister training leaders and I was with sister koefed this time... she is super cool and super crazy! soooo not my style but I had a ton of fun learning different ways to do the work! She helped me  A TON! we had the best lessons that day too! We taught Chrystel at a members house and we actually didn't get to teach a lesson because they talked the whole time about their lives and they lived like practically the same life so now they are like the best of friends:) soooo great but we are moving really slowly with her so we will have to move her date back unfortunately! but then we had a really goo lesson with Max and he finally committed to read the book of mormon! He was attacking the book of mormon a little at the end just say things like, "Every religion thinks their right and they all have books and stuff that "proves" they are right this is just another one of those" and the spirit was just so bad... and i just felt darkness around us like I could see it feel it and taste it and I was like I don't like this so i started baring my testimony that this book wasn't going to convice you the spirit of God will and that I wasn't here to convice him and that i won't waste one more sentence trying to tell him it is true if he doesn't want to know its true.  And then I just said Max this book is the best thing that ever came into your life because when you read it the spirit of GOD works in your heart and you feel His love. I can't even remember exactly what i said i just know the darkness dissapated instantly and the spirit was so strong so he said ok I will start reading! YYYAAAA!!

Then we had the baptism of the Grondin family this weekend! Just the dad got baptized so he can baptize his family but it was awesome! our whole district came and it was just incredible! then we went out to the country side to this members house! they literally live in like the hills! Like grandma and grandpa style... no cell service or anything! and it was WAY too long to be out there but the train only came every so often so we had to kill time but they were really nice and fun! SOOOO typical french house and countryside it was beautiful! 

Then SUNDAY.... the one and only frogman came and surprised me at church! BEST THING EVER!!!!! i was in gospel principles sitting next to jean and elder nye comes in and is like someone out there says he knows you and I am like yaaaaa someone we invited to church came! so i go out there and i see this BIG BURLEY guy and i just started crying!!! i was like frogmann??????????? and he goes to hug me and I just freaked out and got so awkward and i was like I CAN'T! haha i am sorry! so we shook hands and it was great! i bore my testimony for him in french and he bore his and it was just perfect! he still speaks french SO WELL! and then after the members just embraced him with love it was soooo great to see.  And I was just crying the whole meeting because I was sooo happy and it was soooo weird to see someone from home i was sooo not expecting it! and all the members came up and just gave me big hugs which is not a french thing to do.  They do the little kiss your cheek thing and that is it.  It was cool! best day ever! best surprise!

Anyway a really good week! i am running out of time but i hope you all have a good week! love you guys!

A bientot :)

Sister Mod

We made cookies:)

DInner!

These odd looking noodles that werent very good...

yeah... maybe not..