uhh hello elders! :)

ooo first week with the elders...  weird! It's so weird to go from 4 sisters to 2 sisters and 2 elders! We miss our friends:( but the elders are cool and the ward is really happy to have them. We have Elder Packer who is training Elder Kellogg... and Elder kellogg is literally like Elder Calhoon from the Best Two Years! So funny! He is SO full of energy and the spirit and he talks REALLY loud and wants to speak French all the time and broke his luggage the first night here and literally I could go off for like 20 minutes about how hilarious Elder Kellogg is... he makes me laugh everyday. I am excited to serve with him my last transfer! He is just what I need to spark me up... going home is weird.... it's weird to think that in a couple weeks I will see the people I love the very most in this whole world in the very place I love with my whole heart and at the same time that I am going to leave a culture, a language, people, and friends that I also love with my whole heart.  In a couple weeks, I won't have the tag as an excuse to talk to people about God and what they think about Him. I feel very torn. Some days I want to just cry because I never want this to be over and then other days I think of seeing my sister for the first time and I want to cry.  I am just a mess. We taught Sed about temples this week and let's just say... he knows the importance of families from our testimonies:) haha We were both crying and saying how much we loved our families and how he will have a beautiful one; one day all sealed in these beautiful buildings we call temples.  It was a great lesson and then we started his geneology.  Well kind of... I realized I am kind of lame with familysearch.org so I will need help figuring that out when I get home.... next question..you know it's coming.

have ya'll done your family history?? haha how is that coming?? 

We went to blue's conference and it was really good! We lost like 3 whole days in our sector so I acutally don't have a lot of news for you this week.  Unfortunately we have weeded out the amis that are not too interested and the rest are on vacation we teach Sed very regularly and contact lots:) I am also still trying to get bikes for this area so that takes up some time. 

Sorry not a lot of news for you this week and I have like no time! But anyway I love you all sooo much! have a great day and good first week of school!

love soeur mod

Sooo as Dad put it today... I am in the last leg of the race... I cannot believe I am in my last transfer... literally the fastest year and a half of my life!  I can't even describe to you the way I am feeling. Part of me never wants to leave and the other part of me is so excited to see my family! Oh man such a blur of emotions.  And for those who haven't heard, I am staying in beautiful Carcassonne with my blue... so I will finish training her and she will... finish me:) haha That is exactly what I wanted to happen so I am beyond thrilled.  My cute blue Soeur Wiseman is literally an angel! I love her so much! The other sister equipe was replaced by elders.... it will be nice to have them to help out with the less active men but we were SO close with the other sister equipe... it was soooo fun! Oh man...we miss those two little Scandanavians already! they are great! What an AMAZING transfer!

So highlights of the week because I don't have a lot of time today... comme d'habitude. (as usual) Remember Sed... he has a baptismal date for the 27th of September:) which is right before I go home! He is literally the coolest greatest person I have ever met... we put his date for farther back becasuuuussseeee he doesn't know who Peter, James, and John are... #muslimprobs #neverreadthebible  We were thinking of asking permission to watch Veggie Tales so he can learn the Bible stories simply:) I've never seen it but Soeur Wiseman says they're great:) So we taught him the law of chastity this week and found out he has a girlfriend... wasn't expecting that! haha oh the intimate details you find out about people's lives through the missionary lessons... #tbm (throw back monday) to ally's investigator telling her she does illegal drugs! kind of hilarious. #noshame 

Then both of our equipes fasted for our ward that we can find out how to motivate the leaders to fulfill their callings... starting with home teaching:) We prayed for some ideas and we also fasted for our own specific reasons. It was really poweful and great. Still trying to brainstorm ideas... so if you have any feel free to help us out:)

On Saturday, we rented bikes to see if getting bikes here in Carcassonne would be helpful... we had an AMAZING day visiting members and fixing plans to meet their friends! Members are so willing to do missionary work here... you just have to get to their house to find that out and you can only get there if you walk about an hour or two OR ride a bike:) The bike is much faster and we had a blast! My butt is so sore today though... Lori's cycling class is going to kick my butt... literally:) can't wait:) s/0 to COACH LOR!

After church on Sunday, we taught a member's friend and her son! Her son went to EFY here in France and now knows the church is true! He loves it and reads the BOM every night... he is like 14! His mom is hardcore Catholic... like has the keys to the Catholic cathedral in their small village.  She cried through our whole lessons yesterday and was like... I don't know what to do. I don't want my son to come here and me go there... but at this point I don't even know what is right. She is sooo confused because she hasn't recieved an answer yet... but I also think she is not ready to get an answer yet. She will have to make loads of choices.  Poor thing I felt so bad for her.  She is the first practicing Catholic I have taught in a long time and but yet she is still so open.  She is really cool I am excited to keep working with her.  I shared my testimony of Joseph Smith and cried... as always! Shout out to Ally's email today... the first vision is sooo powerful... it gets me everytime! And family prayer.  She is divorced and she says it's really hard to be dad and mom... I said well "my dad worked a lot and he was rarely home... he was only home a couple of days during the month but he was always home on Sundays and we always had family prayer when he was home and he always said it because he didn't get to throughout the week." I then explained to her how special it was to hear what my dad prayed for. The specific things he knew about our lives and the specific things he blessed us with. We invited her to pray with her son as often as they were together. I think that will be special for her to see what her son prays for. It was a great lesson... moral of the story... keep doing family prayer... if you haven't been having it.repent and start:) 

love you have a great week!

soeur mod

Pic one: Saying goodbye to the sisters on the ends….

Pic two: Biking…or struggling biker.

officially 22:)

thank you for all the love that was sent to me for my birthday! my mom spoiled me rotten... and I spoiled myself with a few new dresses... thanks to my cute family who put money in my account:) Money in a card just doesn't work the same when I use different currency:) so that was great!

So this week wasssss obviously my birthday! We contacted a lot this week in the heat:) It was super fun and we met lots of really cool people but no really solid new amis:( But it's still fun to get out there everyday and work for the Lord...I will be happy when vacation season is over here:) For my birthday, we went out and contacted for about 3 hours and then we went with a member to visit a less-active in the mental hospital... Happy birthday Soeur Mod :) Apparently he wanted a Book of Mormon but he had already left the hospital… hopefully healthy. So we just visited his sister who is in there too:)  #carcassonne Then we came back later and we had a little spiritual thought with her where we talked about..oh let's see; how we will practice polygamy in the next life because there will be more women than men in heaven...#girlpower HAHAHAH k but seriously no wonder noone has been baptized here for awhile. You can't go around throwing that kind of information around! haha so hilarious. then we talked about how many RM's go less-active after their missions because the adjustment is so terrible... I was like "ok well!!!! on the note, can we leave you with a prayer before we go:)???" haha This member is sooo hilarious. I was happy to be back on the streets to contact at that point!:) Then we ran into a Spanish family who was SOOOO cool! So in France, we do the bise thing right... but as sisters we don't do it with men and elders don't do it with women…not missionary appropriate. (it's the kiss kiss thing on each cheek) so I received a package from my mom the day OF my birthday! sooo perfect! The poste man had dropped off a few packages already and he bised me for my birthday... I didn't even know what was happening and then I was like "soeur wiseman that was against the rules… haha!!! " but I tell you this because when I met this older Spanish man and his family, he found out I was mormon and he said, "you are mormon???" and I said yes.... oh no what next or here IT comes... that is always what I think because the Mormon name has a terrible reputation here. BUT he HUGS me haha like full-on hugs me and my arms just stay at my side as he squeezes the daylights out of me! He was like 65 to 70 ok; so not like a creeper guy my age:) haha I was like uhhh are you... Mormon? He starts laughing and he said, " I LOVE MORMONS! They are the nicest people on the planet! Salt Lake City is heaven on earth. When I was there you Mormons were soooo nice to me! They helped me with my geneology and they made me feel like I was the only person who was important!" It was great; for 15 minutes we talked about how much he loved Mormons and how much he loved us because all Mormons are the same... we are happy and smile a lot.  Then the couple with him told me I remind them of their daughter and pretty soon we were exchanging emails and he told me when I finish my mission he will teach me Spanish over skype:) hahaha He was sooo awesome! His name was Carlos:) and…. I got a birthday hug.... oops:) 

We ate pizza, salad, orangina (so good) and the cake mom sent me and we partied (mormon style) at the other sister's apartment.  And we had a sleepover! It was sooo great! 

The rest of the week was really good! Saturday we had a baptism of a cute little girl in our ward and it was a family that has a family member in each ward in the south of France.... I had served amongst all of their family:) haha #southside and then the other side of the family is from Lyon.... so I knew practically everyone at the baptism #oldmissionary It was sooo fun to see all of them! I found out my old bishop in Montpellier had fallen into a coma and then I found out right before church started on Sunday that he had died.... can you believe that? He was on vacation with his wife in Spain and he died within 2 days. He was like 60 to 65 maybe... so young! It was sooo sad.  I had to give a talk that day and I just cried through all of church. Most of this man's kids are all less active and he has done nothing but serve in the church. When he wasn't bishop, he was the stake president. He just barely got released after 8 years of being bishop and... gone. I am going to try and go to his funeral this week.  LIFE IS SHORT PEOPLE. don't waste it and don't procrastinate. 

Then on sunday we went out to the bishop's home in this tiny little village... it is SOOOO GORGEOUS! Seriously paradise.  We toured his garden and ate all the food from his garden. It was so great. He taught me how to garden and I am going to have a my own garden when I FINALLY don't live in an apartment. 

Now I am going to do a follow up.... who created their accounts on familysearch.org?? If you are thinking, "Oh crap, I forgot."  then repent and exit out of your email and start one right now:) Love you all! That is my spiritual thought for you... FAITES VOTRE GENEALOGIE :) (do your genealogy)

Have a great week and thank you again for all the birthday love!!! 

soeur mod

By small and simple things

FW: by small and s

so first of all thank you for all the birthday love I have received from you all:) My mom knows me so well and sent me the latest Ensign:) best present yet... no one can top that!:) haha #missionaryprobs and then there was a packet of notes from all of the people I love the most! Thank you all for your kind words! Soooo fun to read notes from people I only hear from randomly in the mission! Like you linds!!! (Chase) sooo good to hear from him! I can't wait to meet his cute wife! The best birthday present you all could give me is to start on your geneology... I am a total addict! It's terrible! I am almost distracted in my missionary work because I just want to do it sooo bad! I challenge you ALL to start an account and get going... our Modersitzki line is sooo sad; we have done nothing! So get on it my friends:) those poor Germans are waiting!:):)

To start of the week we went on exchanges with the sisters from Cannes! It was great. Since we hadn't been in our secteur, it was good for a blitz in our area to get our work going.  We found lots of super cool people and we taught a lot this week!

First we have Sed: He is 22 and he is from Mayotte and he is like my brother! He is sooo hilarious; literally so great! He is Muslim but is going to be Mormon soon:) He prays in the name of Jesus Christ and with a guy we were teaching on the street the other day he asked if he was going to come to "OUR" church... as if he were a member :) He sat down with us and finished the lesson and then prayed that this guy Moussa would feel the confirmation that what WE taught was true... how cool is he? He also blessed that he would have a good faith in Jesus:) haha This guy supposedly doesn't believe that Jesus is the Son of God… ??? He just hasn't connected the dots yet as to what this all means. When he does he will be baptized toute de suite:) 

Moussa: Muslim from Guinea…not sure how to spell it. He is cool too and he asks good questions... not sure really how interested he is but he said he prayed he would have a good faith in Christ... soooo I am putting my faith in that prayer.

Then we have Aurlie and her 3 kids! They are sooo great! We finally make contact with her... she was taught by the sisters before us but she dropped them right before we got here. Butttttt she came to church yesterday, with her kids, for all 3 hours and her kids are the sweetest things! Literally if it works out that they can get baptized, even if she doesn't, they will change the world.  Literally her son is like a future prophet; he is that cool.  

Elder Phelps' grandma came to church yesterday and bore her testimony about missionaries and told the ward to invite us over more:) (Sandy: Elder Phelps is serving in the same mission as McCall and his maternal grandparents live in Carcassonne where McCall is serving) haha She is sooo cute! She was like "I am finally not the only member in Europe now that Elder Phelps is here." She is really cute and she adores him! She has reason; he is sooo great and such a great missionary and a good friend of mine. We have to baptize his grandpa if it's the last thing I do before I leave this place… Elder Phelps told me about his family on our flight to get our visa's in San Fran like a year and a half ago and it still touches me everytime. 

Saturday was supposed to be a miraculous day for our zone and it rained on us all day... and people were soooo mean. And because there are so many tourists, we kept getting rejected in English and it hurts WAY more than French! #thankyouforaforeignlanguage This women said a phrase in English that was sooooo mean and soooo bad that I was like WOW!! I have only heard that in movies!!  So I kind of laughed it off and thought wow lady have some manners. But I keep contacting and I look over and poor Sister Wiseman is crying.... I was like "crap soeur mod! pay attention to your comp!!" So we sit down and she said, "I have never felt so hated for trying to do a good thing." That phrase hit me soooo hard.  And it took me back to the Bible when Jesus tells his apostles that they will suffer "shame for the name". The work we do here is not easy. A lot of the times I only tell the good things about our week and to be honest, at the end of a week the good things are always the only things that stick out. As an older missionary you have learned to let lots of things roll off your back and not get to you. It's been such an eye opener to be with a new missionary where this is all new to her.  The poor apostles had only been converted a short time when Jesus died and had to leave them with just the Holy Ghost to guide them... recent converts were directing the church of God for a time... can you believe that? If he qualified them why can't he qualify us? whatever it maybe... your geneology :) inviting a friend to church, sharing a gospel principle with someone who needs some comfort, helping someone fufill a church calling, or inviting a wayward friend to come back to church... do it. The Lord has qualified each one of us to carry out a specific work... inviting someone to come closer to Christ is easier than directing the church of God I would assume:) So count your blessings and get inviting.  

This part is just for you Grandpa... please come back to church... you know this is the church of God and that we will all live happily ever after with our master and creator... don't miss that. Please just make those last necessary steps to be worthy to enter the House of the Lord... I want you there in the sealing room with me. I won't get married until you can be there... please don't make me wait:) I love you with all my heart and I just want you with us for always. 

Everyone have a good week!

I love you all so very much and appreciate the love I feel from all of you on my 22nd birthday!

soeur Mod