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

The princess has returned :)

Pic: Bastille Day fireworks in Carcassonne

So that week in Montpellier was fun eh?? haha Visiting old members and recent converts was just fabulous! Really exhausting though so I was VERY happy to have returned chez nous:) (home)

So we had zone conference this week and I had my last interview with President Roney until my "dying" interview the interview before I go home... that is sooo scary! I was freaking out... he was like "Ok Soeur Mod calm down... home isn't that bad:)" haha He walked me through how I will do the transition and how to be happy for the rest of my life… it's simple... marry the right person... as if that isn't hard? haha that has hit me so much this week... how important that choice is. Thanks Big B and Sandals for doing it right! Thank you for giving me the best example of love and partnership.  Now.... EVERYONE start praying for me that I find "Big B" just a tad younger:) haha so ya he told me to start preparing for home and life after the mission so I am trying... 

Then we had our pioneer activity... you bet we celebrated here:) haha We had the pioneers of Carcassonne bear their testimonies of how they were converted and it was incredibly powerful! We had 3 amis there and a couple less actives and a bunch of elderly:) haha it was great! Elder Phelps' grandparents came and they are soooo adorable! I love them! I told Elder Phelps I am going to convert his grandparents and he said ok as long as I can dunk them:) haha I said OK CA MARCHE! (it works) Anyway, we have lots of cool things going on in Carcassonne! We are working with lots of member's friends... which still blows my mind because I haven't really been able to do that at all on my mission! 

We/ I taught young womens yesterday and I brought cookies... so they love us! We have to teach next week and I am stressing! President told me work with the youth in Carcassonne because it's a rather "old" ward so teaching young womens is perfect... I can show them I am.... cool? haha Not really I am a weird sister missionary that brings cookies but if they like the cookies maybe they will be my friend and give me their friends to teach?:) I don't know we are going to try it. I am also the ward pianist AND I am giving a talk in a couple of weeks... we are running the show down here:) It's great though; that way we make sure no false doctrine is shared over the pulpit:) Last week we fought over the age for baptism... if it should really be at 8 years old... haha Oh you got to love opinionated french women:) 

I had some really good discussions/therapy sessions with my comp this week so that I didn't freak out about home... it led to some awesome talks about life and how precious it is.  I know that I will be a missionary forever and ever. It is possible to feel the spirit strongly everyday if we try and we look for ways to serve.  I have said it many times but i LOVE being a missionary.  

have a good week

soeur mod

here were my firworks on the 14th:) 

Montpellier Addict

So I am back in Montpellier for those who don't know... there is a sister in Montpellier that has an infection in her foot and her comp needed a companion and I am the only one in the south that knows Montpellier well enough... actually that is just the excuse that president gave but I think it's because we still don't really have an apartment in Carcassonne... #homeless haha so ya I am here and don't know when I am leaving... which means I am missing the Tour de France in Carcassonne today:( so bummed! literally was transferred to Carcassonne at the best time! Fireworks, vacation period, Tour de France, great ward... apparently life was too easy there:) 

But anyway a little bit about my week... I literally have 10 minutes to write this email... soooo we basically shopped for our apartment all week and I tried to explain to the french people that even though it is vacation period we need an electrician to come fix our current to our kitchen... a missionary has to eat.... they don't understand... maybe it's my accent... or socialist ideology... one of the two but en bref (in brief) we have had baguette sandwiches everyday... not complaining… ok, yes I did after my body went into shock with all the white bread I consumed last week.  Anyway we have this AWESOME Vietnamese member who makes us food all the time and it's dang good food.  He calls himself the Jackie Chan of Carcassonne... and he totally is... He is a boss! He is sooo great! This ward is BOOMING right now!! Seriously sooo great! Members are bringing their friends to church and one of their kids went to efy with all the other youth in our ward and he got up and bore his testimony yesterday about how he wants to be baptized... ok ca marche:) (translation: it works!) haha and our muslim ami came to church again yesterday and he prays in the name of jesus christ... #fakemuslim haha jk!!  I acutally don't know how to spell musliman in english... sorry. but ya his name is Sed and he is soooooo cool! We had 4 less actives at church yesterday and two who we met with this week... super cool stories but I will have to tell them.... when I get home?? ahhhh freaky! 

Also this week I was on exchanges in Montpellier... and then came back one day later for zone training... went home and came back one day later for... still not quite sure yet. but exchanges were sooo great! i saw Josy, Francine and Fanny... and then I set up a rdv with someone in Carcassonne that lived in Montpellier. so we saw her... miracle! sooo cool!

Anyways this week was soooo great! Unfortunately we have been doing bureatic stuff all week but it was still good and I have no time to tell all the miracles but I am well and healthy and ALWAYS SOOO HAPPY! 

love you all have a good week!

ps the fireworks in carcassonne were SOOOOO INCREDIBLE!!! bucketlist item family... we have to do it next summer! i will send pictures next week!

love you!

soeur mod

When you wish upon a star

Pic one: Sister Wiseman, McCall, Elder Frost and his blue. Fun fact of France: Elder Frost's sister is serving in Bulgaria with McCall's sister Ally. They were companions but aren't anymore…such a small and crazy world.

Pic two: McCall's trainee

Pic three: the stairs to a cathedral on the hill. She captioned this one "butt was sore for days!"

Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 09:56:21 +0200

Subject: when you wish upon a star
From:mccall.modersitzki@myldsmail.net

So I moved from the beautiful big city of Lyon to a quiet quaint little town with a HUGE castle! Our new apartment has two floors soooo I really feel like a princess right now:) haha minus the part that we didn't get a fridge or an oven until 2 days ago. 

My week was not that exciting because it was spent in Lyon picking up my AWESOME blue! Seriously she is sooo cool! Her name is Sister Crystal Wiseman and she is from Bountiful and she speaks BEAUTIFUL French! She studied it a little bit before and her accent is GREAT for a blue.  This new group of missionaries is REALLY impressive.  You can tell they prepared themselves for a year before coming out here.  Instead of the sisters that came out with me who were like YAAAA MISSION; sounds fun and everyone is doing it! haha #wewereunderprepared! You can see such a difference.  Sister Richardson and I were like wowwwww how much better of missionaries would we have been if we would have prepared like they did:) They are amazing! 

Tuesday night and Wednesday morningwe are not allowed to talk to the blues or meet them... but we stay in the same apartment with them so we have to do all this tricky stuff so that we don't cross paths... well I did not want to sit in our room for an hour and a half while they got ready for the day until we could leave the room and start getting ready.  I knew I couldn't study in my bed; I would fall asleep because living in the apartment in Lyon you are up all hours sending people home or receiving new missionaries so our apartment is like a revolving door.  I asked a sister if she wanted to work out with me for an hour and a half:) haha and she was like "I will try"... so we woke up, took our cameras and left:) We ran and toured the city for 90 minutes... in the rain:) It was great! I have cool pictures I will send to you! I was sore all week because I have not worked out like that in such a long time. My body is sooo programmed to 30 minutes.  It felt really good... and to think I ran a marathon pre mission life... sad. I can't wait to get back into shape:) The blues got in on Tuesday and we said bye to our family of 4 that we are teaching on Tuesday:( well I did because I was leaving but they want to meet you all when you come in September. We ate with the trainers at this pizza place that we ALWAYS eat at haha. Wednesday we picked up our blues at the Ecully chapel and had our training meetings there with President and the assistants.  It was great. Then we all went out to dinner and then we went home.  

Thursday we hung out in the office all day while our blues got their legality done.... that was a long boring day! I just talked to Elder Phelps practically the whole time... he broke his ankle or something so he is in the office… it's really bad.  We are praying he doesn't have to go home and get surgery. He is such a great missionary; it would be such a bummer if he had to go home:( we watched mormong.org videos all afternoon. haha That night we finally left for Carcassonne and we have been putting an apartment together ever since... you guys would be soooo amazed.  The handy jobs I can do now.... with the explanations given to me in French!!!!  We put together desks and we had to buy a cord for our oven and I had to hook it into the wall. I actually don't know how to say any of these things in English only French ahah but this apartment has been a little bit of a nightmare to put together.  We are missing a fuze and the fuze little box thing is broken... long story. A member brought me a fuze to church and President and Sister Roney were in our ward with their family because they are here for the Bastille day fireworks. (Apparently they are the best in all of France... I AM SOOO STOKED FOR TONIGHT!)  Anyway Sister Roney was like... Is that a fuze? haha I said ya... she said something like "why are members giving you fuzes?"  I laughed and said don't ask... our apartment is not done. so president when he left was like "please don't shock yourself;)" haha I said I'll try my best not to! 

Church was really great! I am the ward pianist and they send me the hymns the night before at midnight:) haha this will be interesting:) 

I love Carcassonne, I really do! It is such a small town feel and it's just wonderful! Everyone is soooo nice and friendly! When you move here, you are part of the neighborhood.  It's great! I am sooo excited to meet our amis and just light this place up! We scheduled a cool activity about geneology for Pioneer Day (July 24th) so if you any of your could send me stories about our families pioneers that would be great! Also... I need a recipe for homemade ice cream that we can make ourselves like in the bags you know? the kind you make at like girls camp and stuff?? ya I need that ASAP!! 

Anyway gotta go this is long! love you all! bye!

sister/ princess mod.. in France

My new address: 

17 rue victor hugo 

110000 France 
aka. castle:)

Transfered back to paradise:)

Hey Everyone! I wanted to add a few details that might make this more understandable.  She mentions Elder Andersen. He did indeed come to France again this weekend.  He came to marry President Roney's daughter in the Bern, Switzerland temple. That's why the missionaries knew about transfers for the whole week because they notified them early due to the wedding. Elder Andersen not only spoke in a combined sacrament meeting in Lyon, but I heard he stood in the circle while new converts received the Holy Ghost after their baptisms on Saturday.  I'm sure many won't recognize the significance of that for awhile. McCall has lucked out getting to hear from him twice in a month in FRANCE where he was mission president and a missionary. I am attaching the picture my sweet friend Luann (she's president's sister-in-law and was there attending the wedding) sent me this morning. She made this email even more special to me. Thanks LUANN! Travel safely;) Also I'm attaching a picture of Fanny; her investigator in Montpellier she talks about at the end of her email! Lastly, I'm attaching a part of my personal email from her this afternoon:

I am ready to give everything I have for the next 12 weeks in carcassonne and just finish soooo strong! I have had lots of people pump me up and say things to me like "oh you are the best missionary to go there....or you will change that place....or carcassonne needs a sister mod..." they are sooo nice!!!! now I just have to live up to it! it is the most beautiful place ever! i am sooo excited! love you mom!!

We're pretty sure she's up to the task; we are grateful for her can-do spirit! Enjoy! 

Sandy

---

Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2014 18:56:07 +0200
Subject: transferred back to paradise:)
From:mccall.modersitzki@myldsmail.net

well I know you ALL already know but I am going back to the south:) Carcassonne to be exact! One of the PRETTIEST places in our mission and apparently the best fireworks in all of france for bastille day #scored So I am pumped! I am training and white washing! so for those of you who don't know what that is... it's where you completely replace the previous equipe.  I am excited for the challenge! Carcassonne is kind of a hard area so we are going to go in with my "dying fire" and her "blue fire" and just... light it on fire:) haha for lack of a better phrase! 

This week was really great but kind of weird because we knew about our transfers the whole week so it just felt kind of weird! AND, really cool; we are finally getting a teaching pool and then I leave... boo! it's kind of funny that I have served in the Montpellier zone for the majority of my mission! literally have stayed in two regions my whole mission.  It will be easy to visit family:) 

Some awesome things... our family of 4 came to church on Sunday which was a combined sacrament meeting with Elder Anderson! talk about cool! and she and her little girls just loved it! you should have gotten photos from Sister Watson; she took one!:)  they are sooo cute and sat so reverently. the meeting was really powerful and I realized I LOVE church in French! it will be so weird to go home to church in English. 

we have been working with loads of less actives here and recent converts which has been our main source of lessons! we have started the lessons with lots of part member families and things and it has been really cool.  I will miss this place a lot! this ward is just great! we had a lesson with a less active's wife (the one who wants jergen's lotion) and it went really well. Ally's email about remembering... that was such a powerful email and its SOOOOO true!!!! we have seen about 2 or 3 less actives this week that used to be SOOO ACTIVE! and they just forget... hard things come and they remember only the hard things instead of ALLL the other blessing the Lord has bestowed upon them.  I am trying to be more positive all the time! especially with my new area... I want to be really positive and remember all the little things.  I KNOW I will see big miracles in Carcassonne... I can feel it:) I am pretty sure I will die there; so the next 12 weeks... carcassonne... you are mine:) 

We got to watch France versus Germany this week... haha our mission president is sooo cool! we had to have an ami and a member and then we could watch it.  So we are really trying to teach member's friends in our mission so we were like ok we are going to set up a little soiree with this young adult who is like the COOLEST person in the world. We were like we can watch the game if you invite a friend so she tried all week... and no one:(  so we were like ok contacting and less actives it is:) Right after we said that we pass this member on the metro and he is SOOO cool too and he is like "what are you going to do?" and we explained what happened and what we were about to do. and he was like, "you just need an ami (investigator)? I am going to watch the game with my friend right now come with me." we go to this kebob place and watch the game and eat our kebobs with all these muslims who are doing ramadan HAHAHAH! it was hilarious! but this girl, this ami, is from equador and she was taught by the elders like 2 years ago and she is practicing catholic.  She is SOOOO cool! literally we have lived the same life.  She is going into nutrition and her pathway of getting to nutrition was the exact same as mine! it was crazy! we clicked soooo well! and she wants to study in the states and ya she is my new best friend and she will get batpized one day... she is sooo cool! hahah have I said that? anyway we totally cracked her... we didn't even care about the game... well I didn't... sister richardson did:) haha we just wanted to talk to her.  france played terrible anyway.  germany deserved it darn it! shout out to the USA getting to round 8:) 

anyways a really good week! too short of a time in Lyon! this city is BEAUTIFUL! and just so great! the members here are incredible! oh man my bishop here is incredible too; I love him and his family! for the 1,000th time... I am moving back here and I will change these French people:) I love it here... I never want to leave. this church is sooo true.

ps... remember that woman in montpellier who was with her drunk boyfriend and her really WILD friends with her two kids and I left her apartment crying?? ya she got batpized last saturday... I can't wait to tell you that story when I get home!!!!! and I will get to see her on exchanges when I am BACK IN MONTPELLIER:) haha can't wait! the church is soooo true and it changes people! it really changes them. and it can change us. e.v.e.r.y.d.a.y if we let it:. i love you guys have a great week!

soeur mod

June 30th

Pic 1: President Roney's backyard (I've heard it is MASSIVE by European standards!)

Pic 2: Soeur McCall and Soeur Lauren with kids

Sooooo it was a good week:) haha like always!

I wish I was as creative as Ally when writing these letters but I am just not. soooo here it goes....

So we had an interesting FHE with some members and their one friend that they invited... the conversation about our church started off with polygamy... always a solid start.  I wish I could say it got better but it actually just spiraled out of control from there... we, as missionaries, didn't get a word in and the members began to discuss/fight/argue/interrupt each other until the bitter end. We thankfully had a curfew and had to excuse ourselves. We were dying when we left. We were like... no wonder noone is baptized.  No just kidding!! I have had some really cool experiences with members and their friends. This was just a "special experience" that I wrote in my journal about to recount to you all later!;)  It was a good start to the week... apparently after we left he agreed to come to church in the next couple of weeks! We will see if he comes:) 

Then I was on exchanges with Soeur Londono... she is amazing! Oh man, she is great and she is French so I spoke in French the whole day!! It was sooo fun! We had such a miraculous day of contacting:) but really it was good! 

We did end up teaching the woman named Elize and her two little girls! It was the BEST lesson! We were a little worried she was so nice to us because we were American but when we got there she said, "Ok girls; these are the sisters and you HAVE to call them by Sister because they are special servants sent from God." It was so cute! They couldn't say our last names so they called us Soeur McCall (more like michael) and Soeur Lauren:) haha it was hilarious! We taught them about prayer and told them it's like writing a letter! So we all wrote a letter to God and then we all prayed at the end! They committed to pray as a family at night.  We took pictures that I am sure Sister Richardson has sent home so mom....find her email for them:) Her little girl made us the cutest bracelets and they are actually really in-style so everyone comments on them:) Too bad she is also leaving on vacation and doesn't actually live in our boundaries:( big bummer.  We are going to keep teaching her for the moment until we feel like we can pass her. Later that night I ate KFC for the first time... in... I think my whole life... yes Jake Cooper I ate KFC... we vowed we never would!!!! It was for the cause of a member so we did it! It was fun and we found out that the TWO COOLEST PEOPLE in our ward are dating... we were stoked!!!!!!!!! ahhh they are just sooo cute! We are totally in on their inner dating circle as well so thats cool:) 

Friday we had our geneology activity and it was a total hit! We met the coolest peole ever! Seriously the coolest people! We had loads of activities and it got me super interested in my geneology! I can't wait to start that when I get home! I found my hobbies for home... running and geneology! That night we taught a part member family with president's son who just got back from Spain! He helped us with our lesson because they speak Spanish! It was such a good lesson and they are coming to church together this week...soooo excited! 

Sorry but I am out of time but the weekend was fun! We had loads of miracles as always!:) One of which was finding a whole family of a less active that are willing to meet with us:) so that is great! The wife is out of Jergen's lotion and she would like our "American families" to send us some to give to her and she will pay us back! She was pretty hilarious! We are excited to try and teach her this week! 

Today we went to President Roney's and played games! It was sooo fun hence the reason why I am emailing later! I also got to see Brother Saguibo (he was my MTC French teacher!) who is now engaged to President's daughter! That was a blast from the past! crazy! Anyway gotta go! The church is true! Love you all! 

Shout out to my family who is in Europe! We are all on the same time zone... I think:) I love you guys!

DO YOUR GENEOLOGY! 

sister mod

Alma 26:12

Finally the picture from McCall meeting Elder Andersen! He sent a letter with it and said he had the pleasure to meet her and that we should be very proud of our daughter; that she is a faith-filled and courageous missionary. Blake and I both commented that it will be our only letter from an apostle:) 

SO I will explain this subject line later:) but to start out I had two exchanges this week which went well! we did loads of contacting... because that is our work at the moment:) but we had some COOL miracles! always happens when soeur richardson and I are together soooo I WISH we were together more often! but we will start with Wednesday.

I have been doing loads of area bookwork.  Meaning I am going through people that have been taught or contacted and I call and try and set up a rdv with them.  So I contacted Carlos... carlos is cool! we met him for about 15 minutes before he left on vacation to give him a book of mormon and he seemed super stoked.  He was like "I love religious literature" I was like well then you will love this book.:) so he is going to read it on his 2 MONTHS LONG vacation... ya I am over it lol and we will see him in september... That is the problem with a lot of people right now... it's vacation season:( but his response was really cool! he is sincerely interested and was like I promise I will read this book and we downloaded gospel library on his phone so now he can read anything he could ever want about the church:) 

Then we went contacting for 3 hours... sooo long! I was dead after that! We were talking about how hard it is to find normal interested people on the road... and I stop this woman and we started asking her questions and then she takes our planner and writes Alma 26:12.. we were like "ARE YOU A MEMBER??" we think we have found this long lost less-active you know... but no she found a book of mormon in the library and she read the whole thing and that is HER very verse... along with all of Moroni... Say WHAT?? ya so we asked do you have a book of mormon? and she says  "no I am from Spain and I can't find it anywhere here in France." So then I asked "have you met missionaries?" and she said no.. I said  "it's your lucky day:) we have that book for you" unfortunately she left on vacation the next day so we will see her in two weeks.  We were just dying!!!!!! it was the coolest experience ever.  I haven't had something like that on my mission before! Then two seconds after that... another lady comments on my glasses #wearthemloud #wearthemproud  and we contact her. We set up a lesson and find out she has two little girls and wants to come to church:) we have a lesson with her in a couple of days to meet her daughters:) sooo cool! then we had a lesson that night with this girl named Aya who Soeur Richardson thought was Christian (she met her on exchanges) but she was not... she was Muslim.. I wish we could have recorded our faces when she told us that... we were like crap... what do we do... where do we start.. haha I never know if they want to bash or learn. She was polite but our lesson was just us testifying that Jesus really is the Christ... a couple of days later we saw her buying vodka for the fete de la musique.... at least she isn't practicing right?? haha maybe there is a chance:) 

Thursday I was on exchanges with Soeur Bentley and it was soooo fun! Sooo cool to be together! she is SUCH A GREAT MISSIONARY! (Sister Bentley is from Alpine and went to Lone Peak High School with McCall and Ally) Oh my gosh I learned sooo much from her! I love going on exchanges with former STL's. We had lessons and visits all day so she could visit people she knew because she just served here… I also love good excuses like that:) We also taught Deogene which was an ami of ours that we had to pass to her because he doesn't live in our secteur.  He is really! We had to teach chastity... cool... not awkward...I much prefer all woman amis when teaching that lesson:) 

Friday we ate with a recent convert named Suin at this Koren bbq place.  It was sooo yummy but it's all you can eat and we had quite a few lessons that day where people were ALWAYS feeding us juice and treats... we were in a food coma all day! We ran our guts out the next morning and I am still recovering from my byu-athletic-olympic-cross country-runner companion:) 

Saturday... was fete de la musique... which is like this big music festival once a year! So we had this zumba class going on right outside our window all morning hahah hello babylonian music! haha we were trying so hard not to just go down and join:) haha guilty pleasure:) Then we were filmed by the office elders because we are making our own version of The District for our mission so they needed examples of missionaries teaching lessons. We were chosen to do plan of salvation with baptismal engagement... hardest one! haha All in French! I mean I know I do that all the time but on camera I was very nervous! I am just sweating and shaking the whole film. It was good though.. the spirit was there.:) We just taught a member on camera but she asked all the hard questions people do if they are really thinking and taking in the lessons.. I have studied the plan of salvation my whole mission and but still! Study the plan of salvation this week... it is no easy lesson:) Later we went to Bellecour... this big plaza and streetboarded with all the missionaries in Lyon.  Because it was the music festival we had violins, ukelele's and singers and then people contacting in front of them! it was sooo great! My comp took loads of pics:) find her email with them:) it was great! 

I am running out of time so Sunday was super great! I love church!!!

have a good week everyone! love you!

Soeur Mod 

Notre foyer ici bas!

Attached is McCall's email. I wanted to just note that if she moves back to France, the Mod pod will be purchasing a second home….a French bungalow….on the beach….to entice her to visit. When she isn't "building the kingdom" of course:)

 So the title is French:) it's the name of a hymn that I love that talks about eternal families. I am going to talk to you about eternal families today:) but first... happy birthday tater and nichel!! and congrats on the wedding matt and kenzie... can't believe I missed that! so the work here.... is non-existant so unfortunately I don't have a lot to tell you except for finding miracles that turned into nothing... so we are in major finding mode right now:) But it's all good! 

On Friday I got to meet up with Fheann (the girl who is getting married at the end of my mission) at the gare.  It was SOOOOOO great to see her! Oh man it had been soooo long! We caught up on life and St. Etienne and my life and it was sooo great! She is a friend for life! I love her and her family! That same day I got to see Nelly which was really cool! It was St. Etienne day for me:) I haven't seen Nelly in ages! Then we ate with the Lepore family.... this is where my world was changed... for like the millionth time on my mission!:)

So this weekend we visited the Lepore's (bishop's family) and the Lecordroch family (daughter of a member in St. Etienne who lives in our secteur) and they both are just SOLID families.  Like the spirit just hits you like a wave when you enter into their home. Soeur Lecordroch served a mission and so did her husband and you can totally tell because they are sooo missionary oriented.  They invited us back for their family night yesterday and cute Sister Lecordroch had planned just the cutest thought for her kids... so age appropriate and then we played this fun card game. Such a sense of love and unity.  Then her kids started playing and we just started asking them how life is after the mission and what we need to do to be a family like them.  It was soooo great! I was just about crying because I am finally to that point where I really actually don't want to go home….. my life is so great here:) real life is soooo scary... not ready for that! I love waking up everyday knowing the only thing I have to do that day is do the work of the Lord.... never again in my life will it be like this... even if I get my dream and I move back as a couple missionary or my husband is a mission president or something... We will still have other things to worry about.  This 18 months is the most unique time I will ever have to do soley this.... ahhhhh I can't come home in 3 months! so we left their house just on a cloud and began contacting everyone on the tram being like "you need this... I promise you need this!" haha we talked to this hilarious old guy that told us "I am Italian... that's why I am so handsome" haha he was HILARIOUS!!! Him looking just like my great- Grandpa barney and was probably the same age as him when he died, 99!... haha so funny!

Then the family Lepore... well they are just perfect and soooo cool! He is French and she is American.. their love story is one for the books! I will tell it when I get home but basically they felt they needed to move back to France and so they picked up their four children and their VERY settled life in Utah and moved to Lyon, France and now he is our bishop.  They all speak French... the wife speaks really well but is still learning... she is in the relief society presidency and gives GREAT lessons! They are just living their life and inviting all of their friends to learn about the gospel and we met some of them and it was wonderful! They are just such a great family; I can't even explain it enough in words but I hope that is my calling sometime in life.  Come back to France and "work" "live" "be normal" but really just build the kingdom:) it's gotta happen! Now I have to find a guy that is on the same inspiration brain wave-length as me:) haha anyway families are eternal. Talking to the Lepore's made me think of my cute little eternal family at home and how cute my future one will be:) haha I love my family so much!!! So proud of them and all their doing!!!! I have a rock star sister in Bulgaria and a literal rock star sister in utah/ vegas/ broadway... I don't even know I can't keep up! haha 

Anyways I love you all so much! Have a great week and help other families be eternal like ours:) 

Soeur mod

Pics with apostles:)

Pic One: Elder Andersen on stage

Pic two: Soeur Mod at the top, looking like she's the only female, but she wasn't of course.

Pic three: Off the stage, taking questions and requesting input.

Sandy note: None of these pictures came from Soeur Mod but it's because the missionaries were given pretty strict guidelines of reverence during Elder Andersen's visit. The Bria's, a Sr. couple serving in Nice, took these. They said Elder Andersen came off the stage and wandered amongst the missionaries and it was a very sacred experience. Sister Bria said, we as parents, should be so proud of our kids; she said it brought tears to her eyes to see and hear the sound of them.

To my non-member friends, Elder Neil Andersen is an apostle in our church. Apostles are special witnesses of Jesus Christ, called to teach and testify of Him throughout the world. They travel frequently, addressing and encouraging large congregations of members and interested nonmembers, as well as meeting with local leaders. It is rare to have all the missionaries brought into one city in the mission to hear from one. McCall's mission has 270 missionaries.

Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 17:17:50 +0200

Subject: Pics with apostles:)
From:mccall.modersitzki@myldsmail.net

So I would like to declare my gratitude for my companion and the position her dad holds in the church, well now BYU... because of her I got to take a picture with Elder Andersen!!! ya we are cool! (why it isn't attached, no one knows!)

Anyways I am sure you are allllllll curious as to how the conference went and it was great! Sooooo great! and SOOOOOO hott! Oh my gosh France right now is ridiculously hot for June. Everyone is like freaking out that its this hott this soon and Nice was no better! So unfortunately we didn't really sleep at all the night before the conference in our budget little hotel room but it doesn't matter it was all worth it!!! And somehow the Elders left our suitcase in Nice... so we should be getting our make up and ALLL our supplies to get ready TOMORROW.... Elders. It's fine.. we are over it! The experience is what counts:) 

For a recap of the week... we teach a recent convert named Tams about twice a week! He was found by Soeur Richardson and was baptized in like 4 weeks or something crazy! He is SOOOO legit! He is working on getting the priesthood! His lessons are just great.  I love teaching with Soeur Richardson... she is such a better teacher than I am... I am learning so much! I can't even describe to you how much fun we have... President definitely won't let us stay together:) haha 

Unfortunately a lot of our super cool amis have to go to the other wards in Lyon so we are in finding mode right now but we have had loads of miracles and I know we will see more! We have been working tons with recent converts because Lyon actually baptizes people so there are lots of people to do follow up lessons with and get to the temple! 

Sunday was our stake conference and crazily enough two kids from the BYU dorms were there visiting their brother who is here going to culinary school.  We were trying to figure out how we knew them during the conference and then after they were like "Hey McCall... I mean Sister Mod and Hey Lauren I mean Sister Richardson"... we were like oh my gosh Ryan and Preston!!! soooo crazy! Then they were said "ya remember we met at area 51 that one night?".... how embarassing... we met at 80's dancing night in slc! haha But we all ran around with the same group in Provo in the dorms! It was crazy to see them and they got us all up to date with the latest make-ups and break-ups in Provo... oh the life we have to return to:) I might just stay on a mission!! 

Then that night we passed a family just to get to know them and we find out they are doing like crazy missionary work! Like even there little 7 year old daughter is inviting her friends to church! She kept asking this one friend to come to church over and over and over again. So finally she was on the phone with her and she was like what religion are you? and her friend was like ummmm one second... "mooooommmmmm what religion am I?" hhahaa and the mom comes back with "Je ne sais pas... I don't know" haha #francemissionprobs hahah sooooo hilarious! So we are trying to work with this family so these invitations turn into actions:) 

Then Monday we left for Nice on a bus and we were on the bus for 6 hours!! Talk about Heritage Tours all over again! It was great though; I read talks by Elder Andersen and just prepared... the bus was really reverant.. it was great! Then the conference was just FABULOUS!!! Having the whole mission together was incredible!!! Those occasions like never happen.  And Elder Cairns (spelling?) and his wife were just incredible as well! Oh my such an uplifting meeting.  Elder Anderson basically told us that we need more faith to baptize in this "hard mission". He was like "Your mission is no harder or easier than other missions." So I am trying not to let myself think that anymore... because we always make jokes about how much easier other missions are than our non-believing, God-hating country that we work in:) but it's true each mission is hard for it's own reasons and ours is because the people here have lost their faith... and if we are not careful we will too.  He said baptisms are few and far between but with more faith you can all baptize more.... so we are trying to build are faith back up and fufill this promise!! It really was sooo great hearing from him! It's crazy; you think..an apostle will come here... one that was a mission president in your mission.. and you think "oh he is going to give us the tricks of the trade to do the work here in France" and he talks about the first principle and ordinance of the gospel... for like 2 hours!! crazy! it's soooo simple! Everything boils down to faith....

Do we have faith that we can succeed in our studies?

Do we have faith that we can raise our children in truth and righteousness?

Do we have faith that we can find our eternal companion?

Do we have faith that the food I make us for lunch won't kill us:)?

Do we have faith that everything will be ok in the end?

Do we have faith that with the Savior's help everything is possible?

Everything boils down to faith... everything... and people don't realize that they exercise faith on a daily basis. I encourage all of you to grow in your faith.  Always put your faith in Jesus Christ... he will never lead you astray.  Life will always be ok when we have faith in him who made all possible.

I love you all so much! have a wonderful week!

soeur mod

Oh Lyon!!

Pic 1: Beautiful Lyon from our hike

Pic 2: My St. Etienne peeps! Frere Professo on left:)

Pic 3: Not by the beach anymore but still pretty!

Sooo yes I am in Lyon and it is the GREATEST!!! OH man and my comp is just encore mieux! (Even better) She is the best! We are having a blast! This last week was really different. We were helping with new missionaries coming in and conferences and stuff so we didn't do a ton of missionary work.  Soeur Bentley got kidney stones so we were up with her one morning at 5 to take her to the hospital! that was fun:( Apparently the water in France is terrible! Tons of people have gotten kidney stones and Soeur Warren, one of my comps in Montpellier, wrote and told me she had a bug inside her from the water... like I said... 2nd world country over here! 

But let me get to the exciting news! So Saturday we had a huge stake activity where we played soccer in the park with EVERYONE from St. Etienne!!!!!!!!!!! ahhhhhh it was sooo great! I literally felt like I was seeing my family at the airport I was sooo excited! They all thought I had finished my mission so they were trying to bisous me and Frere Professo (Sandy note: he is the ward mission leader in St. Etienne who adores McCall. He Facebook messages me at least once a week) just straight up hugged me! haha I was like uhhhh ok whatever! I love that man and I was on such a high seriously! It was wonderful to see them all! Then we played soccer.... ya what? Haha my companion was her soccer club's star and then you have Soeur Mod who could run for days but kick a ball into a net with a bunch of black dudes all up in my grill to get it back from me... ya I am not very good a soccer en bref:) We probably broke a few white handbook rules fighting for the death to win... we came in 2nd:) it was sooo fun!

Sunday we went on this cool hike with these forever amis but it was sooo beautiful! I will send some pictures! OUR WARD IS THE BEST!!! Oh my gosh this ward is incredible! They are inviting their friends to stuff and everyone is sharing the gospel all the time! I feel soooo much pressure here; I am kind of nervous! President Roney told me "we can baptize here and we do!" I have felt pressure my whole mission but when you don't baptize you can just say "oh that is France" haha but not here... Lyon is magical! We already have like 2 amis that will get baptized in the next couple of weeks and Soeur Richardson and I are going to find loads more! We are going to live up to that "power couple" status I've heard we've been given...we promise you:) sooo great to be with her; she has been a breath a fresh air! 

I saw the one and only TJ haws:) He looks great Tiff... I'm not worried about him at all:) He will be AN AMAZING missionary! He has a great trainer and he is in a great ward! His French is soooo good! Seriously president has big plans for him:) be proud not worried! This mission is so great:) Then I saw Armand Overstreet! That was fun! He looks great!!! So fun to catch up with him and he served in St. Etienne so that was fun to chat about people we knew in common! It's crazy all the people you see in Lyon all the time! There are always people here! But anyway I have to go but I LOVE MY LIFE!!! Being a missionary is the best! AND they are playing Rihanna in the internet cafe!... haha oh home:) love you all!!

soeur mod

Birthday's and Books of Mormon :)

this was the best week ever!!!

oh man so much to tell and sooo little time! So I will start with Eric... I am on exchanges with soeur bailey right and we decide to go porting because we really want to find french people and families... hey they both start with f:) so the first house we see... there is a man standing outside and we start talking about our church and soeur b (my comp for the day) was like bringing up the book of mormon so awkwardly and i was like stop it i am talking about the apostasy we are not there yet! haha but she was inspired and he was intrigued about the book of mormon... then he says, "so you are going to lend me this book and then we are going to talk about it later... is that how this works?" i said yes.. lets talk saturday! so we found a member and we talked to him on saturday and had a GREAT gospel discussion with him and sr clark in the park because he actucally lives in his car right now... he is totally french but he is voyaging around the world running races and swimming races... he is sooo fit! he is like this short little ripped dude but he is like a dad he is like late forties and just cool! sooo cool! and he came to church on Sunday all three hours... incredible! 

Then there is Dudu... she is from south africa and she will probably add mom on facebook soon:) she is like our new best friend! we contacted her on wednesday and we tried to contact her in french and she is like nooo i am in a hurry in english and we were like wait we speak english! haha so we ended up talking to her for 45 minutes on the road about God's timing and His plan for us... she is catholic but hasn't been going to church lately because she feels its too much of a routine at the catholic church and she wants to know why she is going to church and not to just go to go through the motions.  She is sooo ready! we have a get to know you lesson on saturday and she tells us its her birthday and so we invite her to come to church with us and then we will have a birthday party that night at the clarks! so she comes to church with us and relief society turned into a bash the catholic church session... it was TERRIBLE! oh my gosh we were dying! thanksfully dudu is anglophone and understands enough french but maybe just the right amount for this fight to have gone over her head! it was sooo terrible but the rest of the day was pretty good.  But she told us she LOVED IT! we were like really? haha but it shows you that the spirit teaches you what you need to learn from lessons and she was touched! then we went to the clarks that night and ate raclette! haha i have eaten that sooo many times on my mission! yikes.  but its yummy! and we talked about how she liked church and she told us how she could feel a change happening in her life since she met us and she can't figure it out... but for the first time in her life she is just going to see where it takes her.  she told us a really personal story from her life and then we gave her a book of mormon with our testimonies inside and a cute bracelet! she was sobbing and I was sobbing and I said, "Dudu.. that peace you felt at church and with us can always be with you if you read this book everyday.  this book with help this change that you feel to keep happenning to become a better person. Its a peace that you can hold in your hands and pray about.  This book WILL change your life." and at that point we were all in tears, my comp, the Clarks... Dudu... everyone! it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had on my mission.  The best copy of the book of mormon I have ever given away.  she is sooo cool! 

Then Celine! She comes to sport extreme and one of our members offered her a book of mormon and she promised to read it.  so after church we went to her house on the beach:) haha totally want to live there... maybe i will be her roommate when i get home! haha sorry guys i think i am moving back here! ky you in?? haha sorry nich you and scotty can come visit us:) and we had a REALLy great convo about God's love and how to make the best with what we have. it was so great! she is aethist... she thinks.... but she says that everyone has to believe in something and she doesn't know what that is... i was like well we do... so we turned to alma 22 the story about king lamoni praying to see if god is there.... powerful prayer right there. verse 18,,, everyone go read that verse right now! We testified of how God always responds to our prayers! it was good... we finally got to have like a lesson with her and i realized something this week.  The first point in the first lesson is really important and I skip over it all the time. "God is our loving Heavenly Father" so many people don't believe that and their idea of God is sooo messed up.. Even believing people think he is some dictator king but NO he is our father! our literal father who cares for us in a fatherlike manner.  He wants our best... he loves us... he will run to our sides when we need help... he is our biggest cheerleader encouraging us to keep changing and becoming better.  He never stops.  He loves us.  He is the best.  i LOVE my job.  it is the BEST thing i have ever decided to do.  I am so glad i went on a mission. my life has forever changed... and i mean forever.  I love you all

soeur mod