Week 14 - Mission Conference and a New Coat

FAM! 

I'm in LOVE. I bought a coat and it's become one of my dearest friends. 

Tuesday we had our plans fall through a bit so we decided to head out in to the BOONIES to track down a member that the branch council gave us to find- her number didn't work so we decided to show up in person. It took forever and a day to get there and no one was home -but- just as we're turning to leave who should pull up outside but the very woman we were looking for. She had no idea who we were/what the church was... So we're not really sure how she ended up on the ward directory but we invited her and talked with her and now one more person in France knows that we are not the Temoins de Jehovah so success for the day! 

Wednesday happened! 

Thursday! Setting the stage: alarm goes off at 4:30 am. Roll out of bed and eat, out the door and walk to the bus stop. Get to the gare at 5:45. Meet up with the Elders. Train leaves for PARIS at 6:10. Get to Gare Montparnasse at 7:30, and meet up with more and more missionaries before leaving on the RER for Versailles for MISSION CONFERENCE!! It was absolutely incredible. The whole mission was together - I got to see my whole MTC district and Soeur Walton and Blackhurst whom I've missed like crazy. Plus it was our three months mark! 

With Soeur Walton

 The APs and office elders were running around like crazy people and probably reminded us 5 times to stand when Elder Cook came in. The energy and anticipation was tangible. Then one of the APs poked his head in the door of the chapel - "Elder Cook has just pulled in!" Soeur Babin was the first to walk in and I saw that she got a little choked up seeing all 280 of us in the chapel. We stood when Elder Cook walked in (we're very obedient) and he just goes "oh sit down, sit down!" with a big smile on his face. Then we all got to go up and shake his hand one by one. 

[Click here for a link to a video posted on the mission Facebook page, showing some of the missionaries shaking hands with Elder Cook. You can see Maren from the back almost at the very end - she's wearing a green skirt.]

President welcomed and introduced Elder Cook - and the coolest thing is that the Versailles chapel is where President Babin grew up going to church. How incredible is that, going from doing your primary programs to introducing an Apostle as a mission president in the same chapel. 

The meeting was so good. Not even just for the messages that we heard but just the spirit and power of being there with Elder Cook and the WHOLE mission. President and Soeur Babin each gave short remarks, and Elder and Sister Teixeira (the area president) and then Elder Cook gave his remarks - interrupted by his wife leading us in singing a simple arrangement of "Hark All Ye Nations." Part of it was question and answer and then he told us about the "four loves" people you should love - your companion, the people, the mission president and his wife and the Lord. He also gave some other last points, and kind of in the middle he stopped and said "I don't always do this but I want to talk about how we assign calls" and then told us that it's either because we need to be with a certain president, a certain culture or people or we need to have experiences or learn things (like a language) for the rest of our lives. It was very very powerful to hear about what it's like when they make those calls and to hear someone who does that personally tell us that we are where we are supposed to be. He closed by giving a very powerful testimony of the Savior.

There were so many good things that there's no way I can really capture (but I took good notes!) and you probably aren't interested in too much more haha but Elder Smith and two other Elders I was in the MTC with did a musical number - Danny Boy- that was INCREDIBLE, they did it in the MTC too and it was so so good. Oregon Pride. 

After the conference we trajet-ed back to Montparnasse and had like 2 hours before our train left sooooo Sr Hopkins and I bought a couple of metro tickets and took a trip to the Eiffel Tower!!! It only took me three months to see it! SOOO fun. Such a good memory. 

Bought "mommy/daughter" scarves

The rest of the week was more just missionary work- traveling all around Tours offering to pray with people. Sometimes I have to remind myself that we're doing something sort of weird. I also have started to forget that wearing a skirt/dress everyday is not normal. 

Friday! Ran all over Tours doing things! Talked with this girl on the bus and naturally the topic of language came up, apparently there's one textbook/course that a lot of French people have and the first thing you learn to say in English is "Where is Brian?" and the response "He's in the kitchen" so if all else fails you can say "where is Brian?" and people will understand haha. 

Saturday night we went and passed by this lady who we've seen two other times. We gave her a LdM and invited her to read the intro and then when we passed by again she'd read it so we invited her to read 1 Nephi 1. She was hesitant to set an appointment, she has a lot of faith but she wasn't really into the idea of being formally taught so we just left it. We passed by last night to check in and asked her how reading went and she gave us a very precise, detailed summary of Lehi having a vision to leave Jerusalem and Laman and Lemuel complaining but Nephi being righteous and I'm over there thinking "this isn't chapter one, this isn't chapter one how much did she read?!?!" She read to chapter 5!!!! Seriously a miracle. We have never had anyone actually really read and comprehend. She also told us a little more about her life and her faith and she's truly just a remarkable person. She let us fix an actual appointment with her but she still seemed a little hesitant hopefully she'll keep reading! It was a wonderful experience. 

Sunday! I understood a solid 60% of what was going on at church! improvement! 

We're getting super excited for Christmas! Apparently it's a magical season for contacting and I'm excited to get started bringing Christmas cheer to Tours! 

With Soeur Taylor from the Tours Branch

That was pretty much my week. It was a good one! 

Love you all! 

Soeur Hansen

Week 13 - But We Are Not Of Them Who Draw Back

"But we are not of them who draw back... but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." (Hebrews 10:39)

FAM

The rest of the scripture says "to perdition" and I've opted to leave that off. I read the talk "cast not away therefore your confidence" by Jeffrey Holland last week and this week and I pretty much just love it. It's great. 

This week we've been doing a lot of finding because we're still struggling to connect with amis or help the ones we have to progress. We've also been trying to track down a few old amis (and do work in their areas) just to have something to focus our finding around. 

Just going to do a super exciting run down of this week.

Monday: Bought scarves and hats and tights at H&M. So cozy this week. Then went porting in a new building, we met a super super old lady who ended up talking to us for about 45 minutes. We couldn't understand much of what she said and she couldn't understand us but somehow we were at her door for 45 minutes. She tried to give us 20 euros to take to a Cathedral (we think...) and called us sinners when we wouldn't take it. In like a crazy french grandmotherly way. Her name is Blanche and she watched us walk down the hall to port her neighbors. It was great. 

Tuesday: Went to a RDV with a member- Marie Agnes, she's AWESOME she's that member who has done everything and does everything and is also a social worker in a really tough neighborhood and she maybe weighs 100 pounds and she's just awesome. The RDV fell through and we were feeling really bad about wasting Marie-Agnes's time but she was so nice about it, when we were leaving to walk back to the tram she told us "tonight I will write in my journal that I did missionary work". She's an angel. 

That night we had our Soiree Familial and a bunch of people came! Like 15! Only two amis, they're both named Myridad and they're from Iran and Sr Hopkins and I see them on the bus all the time and its really awkward usually but they came and we made everyone make gratitude turkeys- "dindes des mains." It was really funny to see a bunch of adult French people make gratitude turkeys. We brought mashed potatoes and a salad for the "thanksgiving dinner" and the potatoes were dang good if I do say so myself. Mom taught me well. We also had some kind of pâté (I think it was duck or something, the kids wouldn't eat the potatoes but they would eat the pâté... France. 

Wednesday: Went porting in a real neighborhood, with houses! We got absolutely rejected and ignored but it was great! Felt super cool. We also met this really cool girl in centre ville! Had branch council that night and it was really inspiring to see how much the branch cares about everyone, we've been working with a recent convert (she joined the church in January so not super recent) and she's been struggling to get to church, she lives really far away and has had some personal issues recently but it was really beautiful to hear them just take over and figure out what to do-what they could do. 

Thursday: We went and visited another less active sister, super super nice, we're making French toast with her and her two cute little girls next week! 

Friday: Tried to track down some pass bys but mostly just spent the day planning and riding the bus and getting a little bit lost. It was great. 

Saturday: The girl we met on Wednesday showed up for our RDV!! We just met at a tram stop and talked on a bench. She came!!! Then we went and re passed by an old ami whose house we finally were able to find, we found out that she had just had a tragedy in her family and we were able to just pray with her and share a scripture and our testimonies about eternal families and it was really a beautiful moment. 

Sunday: Church, food, work, food, work, sleep. 

Spiritual lesson of the week - God knows what my abilities are and what Sr Hopkins' abilities are and His work is too important to let my weaknesses get in the way of that. In fact, He put us here to teach and He promises us that our efforts mean something even if they seem feeble. There is a plan for us to be able to do His work with our weaknesses and not just in spite of them. 

Love you guys so much! thanks for everything! you're AMAZING

soeur hansen

Week 12 - Trip to Paris

Hey hey hey family!

I'm not really sure what to write this week so I'll just try and come up with some good stories. 

First story: Soiree familial [FHE] Tuesday night. We had the opposite problem from last week - no amis and all members. It was the quirky older member whose French I cannot understand and the branch's most recent convert (who got baptized in July I think) and his grandmother. And us and the Elders. We were on the spiritual thought but couldn't come up with anything all day. Finally we landed on sharing parts of Ether 2&3 and talking about how God answers our prayers. To help with the lesson we stopped and picked up 16 small rocks from the side of the road on our way up to the chapel. Some of the rocks were actually pieces of concrete but it was a half formed idea anyway so it worked. Julian, the recent convert and his grandma, Sister Taylor are from England which meant that 6 of the 7 people who were at FHE were native English speakers so we asked if we could teach in English but our quirky French friend immediately said-- "binnn, nous sommes en France...." [well, we are in France] so we taught in French with the Elders translating haha. We got lost on a little bit of a tangent about Adam and Eve and the Apocrypha which I only understood because I could hear Elder Oviatt translating but all in all it went okay. 

The 16 rocks/pieces of concrete have now taken up residence on our balcony. 

Second Story: Paris on Wednesday! We had to get up early which was not super fun but I kept reminding myself that it was to go to PARIS so I shouldn't complain. I got to see a bunch of people from my MTC zone which was SO much fun, they split our group in half by the alphabet though so I didn't see my beloved Sr Walton :( . We pretty much spent the entire time in the OFII office [Office of Immigration and Integration - it's where they have to go for residency permits] but as my wonderful trainer said "a bad day in the OFII office is better than a good day anywhere else" (referencing the quote "a bad day in Paris is better than a good day anywhere else"). I got done third or fourth so I went and sat outside (they kicked us out of the building when we were done) with the other people who were done and ended up talking to this elder from New Zealand who wasn't in my MTC zone. I said I knew two things about New Zealand - Flight of the Conchords and The Lord of the Rings - he spent the next 45 minutes telling me EVERY single thing that could possibly be interesting about New Zealand. My personal favorites- there are four sheep to every person, and a kiwi was actually the first in flight, powered flight too not just a glider like the Wright brothers. Haha it was very very interesting and very entertaining. There's something incredible that happens when people talk about things that they're passionate about. 

Macaroons!

Other good things from Wednesday - had my first macaroon in France!! SO good. I'm afraid I'm going to become an unstoppable macaroon buying machine now. Worth it. 

Third story: we were up in North Tours on Thursday visiting a less active sister-- her name is Soeur Soeur and she's from Tahiti and she's beautiful. And we brought lunch with us because North Tours is an hour and a day away from chez nous so we didn't want to have to go all the way home. We ate lunch in a cemetery. It was nice. 

Fourth story: actually happened on Tuesday but I forgot we did transfer prophecies as a district- the scripture I got (it's a process that I will describe at some point) was Doctrine and Covenants 1:2 and 3. Not sure what its prophesying. Haha let me know if you have any ideas. 

Yeah basically its just blowing my mind that I'm in my second transfer. This week was another uphill battle but its the good fight right?! 

"Our district, with the number of transfers we've completed"

Love you guys so so much thank you for everything! 

soeur hansen 

"Service project with members"

"Sometimes it's a little cold during morning scripture study"

"These circus signs are EVERYWHERE!"

Week 11 - "Hope sweetens the memory of experiences well loved"

FAMMMMM!

Quote for the week:

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey towards it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us.'...Hope sweetens the memory of experiences well loved. It tempers our troubles to our growth and our strength. It befriends us in dark hours, excites us in bright ones. It lends promise to the future and purpose to the past. It turns discouragement to determination." Samuel Smiles (yes, that's really his name)

It's been a crazy last couple of days, but lots of miracles.

Had a great afternoon last P-day, went to the church and listened to some of the talks from the Sunday Afternoon session that we hadn't had the chance to watch and did some crafty stuff. I'm turning into a dorky sister missionary. I have a little scrapbook - Zapbook, excuse me - something Sr Bradley did that she passed on to Sr Hopkins and I've started doing. It's just basically a little book of blank pages that you can just fill with stuff, I got some pictures printed off, and I've been saving train tickets, candy/cheese wrappers, tickets from tourist things, brochures from cathedrals just little stuff that's fun. I'm really excited to see it all come together :)

Sports Night FHE at the Church

Tuesday we had our district meeting, and caught up on a LOT of 12 week. It's our training program that we've been a little too busy to do recently, which is really bad because with the Christmas transfer we have to do 12 weeks in 10. Then we had FHE at the church. They do it Tuesday night because Monday is too complicated apparently...? It was really good, but unfortunately almost no members knew about it, so basically just a bunch of our amis got to hang out together at the church.

Wednesday we had some empty time so we went and explored our area a bunch, just basically rode the bus to the end of the line to check out places on the map that neither of us had been to. Good day, lots of things to go back to when we have time again. That night we had a lesson with Antonia and we had a member with us which was really nice. We also learned that her stage name is Zirka, which means star in Ukrainian. She's so great. 

Thursday we did planning and went to a bat. (bâtiment aka going porting aka door to door) there was this super creepy German man who answered his door with shorts so short we thought he wasn't wearing any at all, and we're pretty sure he wears dentures but had taken them out because he had no teeth and we could not understand ANYTHING he said. Hahaha being a missionary is great.

Finding Day with the whole zone

Friday we had our FINDING DAY! The whole zone came to Tours to just do contacting all day- until 3:30 so that they could all make it back in time for golden hours in their own villes. We did two exchanges, one before lunch and one after. Before lunch I was with another bleu, she's in her second transfer and I forced myself to take charge because this is MY ville and I actually did some contacting and talked to people. No one was really interested which made it a LOT easier because I didn't have to try and hold a conversation but I did it! Success.

After lunch I was with a native French speaker and also probably the most amazing person I've ever met. Her name is Soeur Tehoni (I think, it's something like that) she's from Tahiti and she joined the church about four years ago. She went to the temple dedication with her friend and immediately knew that the temple was holy so she gave her information to the temple workers and said "I want to be a member of your church" but NO missionaries found her for FOUR years. and then they didn't invite her to be baptized, a member did, even though she was reading Preach my Gospel on her own as well as studying everything else. She got cut off from her family for a while, although that's better now, and she said that she'd still call them every holiday, every birthday even though they would hang up on her or tell her to stop calling. She's INCREDIBLE, and she made me feel special because she wants so so bad to have a member family. It made me realize how incredibly blessed I am to have all of you.

Saturday we had a miracle!  A RDV fell through because our ami had forgotten/overslept so we were going to come back later and we just were going to walk back to the bus and go have lunch but it was a little early so we went the other direction and then turned around to go back (let's pretend that made sense) so we ended up on the other side of the street and Sr Hopkins contacted this girl who had headphones in so I was like "no way are we going to get to talk to this girl" but she totally took them out and started listening to us and SPOKE ENGLISH. She's from Tours but she lived in India for 6 months and loves English so she just learned it. But yeah she was super cool and open with us and said that she's honestly feeling a little bit lost right now and we were able to teach her about how much her Heavenly Father loves her and is aware of her and doesn't want her to feel that way. Probably the best thing though was that we were talking about how much hope and joy there is and light there is in the world and she was just like "yeah, you don't even have to say anything I can just see it in your eyes", and she was just like, "I want that." It was AMAZING. I mean because I've grown up hearing stories like that and hearing that there's something that people see, but I'd never had the experience first hand of knowing that someone else could actually see that in us. It was a beautiful beautiful experience. She lives in Rennes so we got her number and passed her to the Soeurs there, we told them to take good care of her.

As you can imagine we were FLOATING for the rest of the day. Which ended up being a really really long day. But that's okay, we broke out the hot chocolate. Actually it's chocolate milk mix but we were out of milk so we heated up water and put in hot chocolate mix. If you put enough mix in you can trick yourself into thinking it's good haha.

Sunday was great, love love Sundays. Antonia was sick though and couldn't come :( Took some time to get a hold of all the contacts we got from the finding day. Super excited about this coming week. We need to go to Paris on Wednesday to do some paperwork, and we're going to be there all day!!

I want to start another thing: Music of the Week!

- Down to the River (as I went down to the river to pray, studying about that good ol' way..)

- Amazing Grace

- Savior, Redeemer of my Soul (we only have it off of 17 Miracles though)

- Come thou Fount (as many versions as possible)

Favorite things:

Soeur Hopkins making flour cakes

- old men in berets. completely without irony. not hipster. just wearing a beret.

- African peanut butter. it's awesome. different but good.

- flour cakes. haha new experience, we were OUT of food. I mean not completely, we had like some spaghetti noodles and this super old can of beans but we were OUT so Sr Hopkins made flour cakes- flour and water and you fry it in a pan and dip them in basalmic vinegar with salt. Remarkably filling. Felt like a pioneer.

Also -- mom don't read this part -- we bought a box of Nougat Pillows and a box of Choco Pillows on Monday and they were both gone by Friday. SOOO good.

Love you guys so so so much thank you for all your amazing support/emails/letters/love!

Soeur Hansen

PS - Soeur Hopkins just sent me this story - you should add it to the blog:

This week I admit to feeding Soeur Hansen flour cakes. Yes, I am the best trainer in the world, right? It's what the pilgrims did! We have been laughing off and embracing some of the experiences that have just been occuring time and time again. This week, we had a member come with us to teach at an ami's house. This ami is very artistic and has portraits hanging all over her house-- even of her 'au naturel.' She was so excited to show the member all around her house and I was somewhat hesitant of walking into that room. But as soon as I walked in, our ami smiled at Soeur Hansen and I because in place of the portrait she normally had hanging up was a lovely painting of a desert camel. 

Miracles happen.

PPS - We saw a hedgehog this week!