PAU!!!! (Week 30)

I feel like I'm on exchange, it hasn't really hit me that I'm not going back to Carcassonne tomorrow... I don't really feel like Pau is home yet, but I know it will. :) IT IS GORGEOUS HERE! AND HUGE!!!! There are buses (I can't tell you how excited I am about this).

My favorite crepe stand in Carcassonne

Last sunset in Carcassonne

Mural

Carcassonne

Birds over Carc

View of the Fortress

Ok seriously where do I start! (Emails are such a stressful time haha). We had the most amazing week EVER!!! First and foremost our equipe got the most people contacted this week in the whole mission!! Whoohoo! We contacted 702 people. :) Also at church on Sunday we had 5 amis!!! I don't know what my record is, but I don't know if its more than that! I was so happy on Sunday.

Soeur Reichelt

Soeur Reichelt on bridge

She makes the best crepes ever...

So this week while we were out contacting I contacted this lady who was completely not interested - she gave me the finger wag and everything. Right afterwards I hear (in English) "Why didn't she want to talk to you?" I turn around and there's ROMAIN!!!! I was so happy to see him, it had been so long. He was definitely placed back into our path for a reason because I hadn't even thought to start teaching him again. And I think he is way more ready this time around. We went over to his house the next day and we talked about the nature of God. He is one of the most Christlike people I've ever met and he doesn't believe in Christ. He loves to make people happy and he's such a wholesome person who brings light wherever he is. Something really sparked in him as we talked about God. He's willing to find out if he's there. And HE CAME TO CHURCH and he brought his girlfriend!!

Romain et Julia

Romain playing accordian

Romain performing on street

So while we were at church I went over and said hi to him and he said "I have a present for you." We follow him out to the hall and he gives me a beret!!! (Not just any beret - its authentic basque, made in France, 100% wool, and very expensive.) I cried.

Lost on the way to a less active's house

Walking on highway to Soeur Devloos

Oh my goodness, leaving everyone was so hard... I translated for the Andersons for the last time... cute Azure and Meleani were both crying during my testimony. :'( Bishop's last words to me were "Soeur Everett I love you just like I do my daughters. I can't hug you, but the feeling is there." I MISS HIM ALREADY. He did so much for us and he really holds Carcassonne together. I don't know what they would do without him. AND FRERE VITAL. As soon as he left us from the gare me and Soeur Caldwell just started sobbing. Neither of us talked to each other for like 5 minutes, we just cried. (Our goodbye was super sad too... I miss her!) Man this is the worst part of missions is having to leave everyone. But the great thing about it too is that now I've met people that mean so much to me and I'm going to be able to see them again!!

Bishop et Soeur Martin

Frere Vital

HUGE NEWS ABOUT PHELIPES. We were there on Sunday and Anderson says "Oh, I got my papers." WHATTTTT. AND Nice has been watching her friends kids on Sundays while her friend goes to work (her friend is Muslim so the kids can't come to our church with her), so Nice hasn't been to church in ages. But on Sunday Anderson told us that SHE MOVED so now Nice can come to church!!!!! Super huge miracles!!! Baptism is soon!!!! :)

Meleani et Azure 

Okay a little something about my blue. :) Soeur Reichelt is incredible. I have never met a missionary who was more determined than her. She works SO HARD and we've seen so much come from it. She is so willing to try everything - nothing scares her, not french, not contacting, nothing! She is just always ready to work and become better. She has progressed so much as a missionary and in her french since we've been together and I know that the Lord is blessing her for her righteous desires. She gave me so much hope during our time and taught me more than I can express. We went through so much together, good and bad and we have become so close because of it! Training is such a funny thing. I barely feel like I did anything... She taught me just as much as I taught her. But I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to serve with her, she will do great things on her mission!!

I am also SOOO PUMPED to work with Soeur Bagley!!! We are going to have an amazing transfer!!!

My new companion Soeur Bagley!

I love you family!!

xoxo Soeur Everett

Mark 9:49-50 - had super cool studies on these verses this morning but I don't have time to write about it. do some research, you'll love it!!!

Soeur Segui

Colette

La famille Viellard

Frère Vanaquer!! He is so awesome!

Ann-May (bishops daughter) et Soeur Fouti-Makaya

Devloos!!

Mosiah 21:15

I think this week I'm going to mostly focus on my thoughts. I wouldn't say that this week was bad. We saw so many miracles and touched a lot of people, and I never feel like a failure, but missions aren't easy and I don't think they were ever meant to be.

Another sunset in Carcassonne

I feel like my whole mission it's been easy for me to find success. I'm not saying that we haven't seen miracles this week, because we have, its just been harder than I'm used to. Our recent convert Jean Phillipe took a complete 180 from wanting to serve a mission to being completely against the church. I know that God is looking out for him, but its hard for me right now to see everything happen. I really care a lot about him so its hard for me to see him use his agency like he is.

Our district leader made a pinata with his face on it...

I'm really lucky to be with Soeur Reichelt - she is absolutely incredible. She has SUCH a desire to work hard and I've really loved how hard we've worked this transfer! There is really no better way to be happy than to WORK. I really don't know what I would have done this transfer without her. She has taught me so much and I've progressed a lot as a person because of her. I really am so blessed to be learning all that I am because of her. I wish you all knew her like I do. (It's amazing how much the Lord has blessed me with the companions I've had!!)

Perpignan

I know everything is going to be fine, I've been blessed with amazing people here who love me and during this transfer I've really felt the power of the Atonement in my life - its really carried me through a lot. In a way I'm glad I have these experiences because I'm learning so much about the love of God. Our bishop here has really helped me, I will always be grateful for the genuine love he has for us. He is one of the most Christlike people I have ever met. He has cried with me and he has taken such careful care of this ward who needs him so much even when they may not realize it or appreciate all he does. I admire him.

Frere Vital gives us gifts literally every week

Anyway, enough with the rambling! Thanks for reading my problems haha. I really am doing alright, I promise!! Definitely not losing hope, but I think I'm ready for the transfer change. And I'm anxious to see what the Lord has in store from me!

HEY!!! Here's a great thing! We got a member referral from Colette (she's amazing, I love her so much), they are a GERMAN family!! We are going to go over to her house this week with them, cook a dinner and then teach a lesson. I'm stoked. :)

Also dad - what you said about the spirit of Elijah is real!! The other day we got this call from a random number who asked us if we were the church who did family history. We asked him if he wanted help with his geneology work and he said "yes, how about tomorrow??" It's so cool how people who may have never otherwise come to church get to come and feel the spirit there as they search for their ancestors. Super cool miracle.

Contemplating the weightier issues of life.

Ok one more - last night Soeur Reichelt and I were out contacting (oh we also got the number of a professional italian opera singer WHATTT), and we met this couple from England who are living here in Carcassonne!! We talked to them for so long (this was a blessing for Soeur Reichelt, she did amazingly while we were talking); the whole time it was super iffy whether they were going to be interested in learning more or not, but at the end the wife said, "You know what, I'll give it 3 months to see if this will really make me happier." YES!!!! This family will be baptized for sure.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Know I'm really doing well and that I'm happy.

I love you so much!
Soeur Everett

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (Week 28)

Oh my heck I can't believe how fast time is flying!!! It's already 2014 - so crazy. What. A. Week. This week has felt super long and super short at the same time. Sooo much has happened.

Well on Wednesday it the birthday of one of our less active families. We made her cream puffs for her birthday and then didn't end up having time to go out to her house because we missed the bus. It just so happened that she was going to the castle for dinner that night with her husband (perfect date? yes..). So we ended up walking to the castle (great excuse to go up there huh?) and we gave her the cream puffs!! But the best part of all this is that we were in a part of Carcassonne that we hardly ever go to, especially to contact people. We could feel that there was a reason we were up there so we said a prayer to find a miracle and started walking. I'm not kidding you, the first person we stop on the street was with his 2 kids and said that he has a friend who is mormon and has always wanted to learn about the religion! He asked US if we had time that night to teach him and his family. So voila, we taught him the restoration, gave him a Book of Mormon and now him and his family are going to meet with the missionaries in Paris. :)

Another miracle.. the other day we stopped by Sooana (the old tahitian man) - we couldn't go in because he was sick and he couldn't come out because he was sick... so we talked in the doorway. Afterwards we asked him to pray for us while we porte-ed the neighborhood. Backtrack to earlier that day when Soeur Reichelt and I were doing some good old 12 week. We watched a bunch of cheesy videos on family history and missionary work and then went out and started working. So while we were porte-ing we met this woman named "Anne Marie" - she's portuguese but wasn't interested in the gospel (yet). So just as she was saying she didn't want to hear more Soeur Reichelt asks her if she wanted to search for her ancestors. Everything changed...it was the coolest thing. She all of the sudden opened up to us and said that interested her. Then we talked for a while more and she asked if we wanted to come and speak English with her son. YESS. I love these kinds of service opportunities. After that we've been using genealogy pass-along cards and asking people if they want to search for their ancestors like crazy and its working so well!!! I guess 12 weeks is inspired or something haha

So on Friday - Saturday we did an exchange with Aix-en-Provence (literally on the other side of France - not sure who came up with the idea to put us together). But we had such a great exchange!!! I got to work with Soeur Pape, who I have heard so much about but have never actually really met. We are so similar and we worked SO well together! I loved doing missionary work with her. So on Friday Frère Vanaquer set up an entire day for us and drove us everywhere. He's so awesome. He brought us to a less active's house that lives really far, but really really needed us. And then he brought us to a non-member couple's house!! These friends of his that he really wants to accept the gospel (they aren't ready yet, but it was a good chance to talk a bit!!) Then on Saturday I literally got on a train at 1030 in the morning and we arrived back in Carcassonne at 9:45 at night.. traveled ALL DAY. I'm exhausted again just thinking about it haha

I've been thinking a lot about why people don't accept the gospel - especially when I know how much joy it brings me. Here is a SUPER cheesy analogy. This morning all of us sisters were looking out the window at the GORGEOUS sunrise that we get to see every single morning and we were just in awe. We looked down at the street and literally no one was even noticing that it was there. Soeur Caldwell yelled down from the window at a random man walking by "REGARDEZ" and then pointed at the sky, he glanced for a second and then laughed and walked away. Then I think about all the people who won't even stop to listen to us to see if MAYBE this is true. It's kind of like the beautiful sunrise. We can see SO clearly that this is the most beautiful part of our lives and we know what joy it brings but some people just aren't ready right now to receive it. All we can do is keep yelling at people down below to look at the sunrise until someone finally sees it how we do. :) SOOO cheesy, but I wanted to share it anyway!

Well family, I pray for you!! Pray for us that we will find a family who lives here that we can teach (we've passed 5 families that we've found to other missionaries so far this transfer haha). 

Love you so much!!

Soeur Everett

Carc-carc-​carcassonn​e

Today I realized that I've seriously been here for so long..... it hit me that its been about 5 months since I arrived. CRAZY. But I just love this place so much. I can't wait for you all to come and visit. :) Oh in regards to the Skype call! It was SO good to talk to all of you, I feel like we never have enough time to talk during emails, so it was nice to catch up a little. :) But be assured I'm not homesick!! Don't take it the wrong way... but I've never been homesick on my mission really. Of course there are moments when I wish I could see you all, but I don't have time to think about home, wayyy too much work to do!

Marcos

WOW this has just about been the weirdest week ever...but there have also been soo many miracles! We're just extremely blessed. I'm mostly just grateful for this time to be companions with Soeur Reichelt. She is absolutely incredible. I have learned SO much from being with her just for these few weeks! She is so willing to do everything, and her french is getting better SO quickly. Its the best thing to see her street contacting. She literally has NO fear. She will contact anyone, no problem! You should have seen her last night running after people and following them if they wouldn't respond - and she never lost any energy or motivation. I can learn so much from her.

Contents of Christmas package from the fam

So speaking of last night... we have made it a tradition to go contacting Sunday night all 4 of us, and its been incredible the amount of miracles we've seen!! There is serious power when the 4 of us are out working together.  Last night (to summarize briefly): we found a woman (Anne) who I had contacted with Soeur Vidal way back when, who said that she was open now to take our lessons; we ended up praying with her in the street and the spirit was so strong. She will be baptized I know it. Later we contacted a man with a huge backpack - he told us that he had taken missionary lessons before in Spain and that he had stopped, but we asked him if he wanted to start again and he said that he wanted to!! Miracle is this: he was in Carcassonne for a total of 30 minutes that night because his train had a short lay-over here, he decided to take a short walk around by the gare and it just so happened that we ran into him during that short time. We passed his number to Spain! Okay lastly (there were way more but these are just a few) - so normally we don't contact people who are working just because its impolite to distract people from their work.. but we were feeling really bold. Soeur Buonanotte said to me "Soeur Everett you should really contact the Dominos guy"; I didn't even hesitate - when else would I get to say that I contacted someone in the middle of delivering pizza to someone else? So voila, I did it. And he wants to learn more. Woohoo!!

Ooh La La

Ahhh there were so many miracles this week!! I guess I'll go to the biggest one of all next... I think it was Saturday when we get a text from the other sisters that said "You'll never believe what just happened" "President was right" - I was scared to know what happened actually; then I got another text that said "Yeller lady wants to be friends" WHAT. This is the lady who yells at us every other night for "sounding like an army of children marching around the apartment" every other day (even though we don't wear shoes in the apartment) among many other false accusations and police involvements (don't get me started). Anyway so while we were at zone conference we showed President the letter we got in the mail saying that we were facing serious problems if the amount of noise we were making continued and he basically just laughed and said to make her cookies. Thanks for the help President...haha. But there we were Christmas Eve after having visited lots of less actives and amis bringing cookies and caroling when I had a thought to leave yeller lady some cookies on her doorstep with a note that said "Joyeux Noel! Que dieu vous bénisse <3" This was a bold move (its hard to fully convey our situation in words haha). Well anyway apparently the soeurs saw yeller lady a couple days later and instead of her usual temper tantrum she throws everytime she sees us, she was kind and said that she really loved the cookies and she SMILED. Wow.

Family I can't believe how fast time is flying. It's weird to see so many good mission friends die all the time!! Soeur Vidal dies in TWO TRANSFERS (after this one) - I don't know what I'm going to do without her.... But thats the funny thing (like you were saying on Skype Mom) - the work always keeps going forward, it doesn't stop! I know when I leave Carcassonne that I will leave my amis and my ward in good hands and that I don't need to worry. It will be one of the hardest things I have to do to leave Carcassonne, but I'm just glad I've had so much time to grow so close to it!! (I'm writing like I'm about to leave...haha). Nah I'm just rambling. I guess that's about all I have to say about this week! Miracles are happening here (as always) - keep praying for us and the other sisters!

Beaucoup d'amour!!!!

Soeur Everett

I was reading this morning in the last conference ensign (since we still haven't gotten the new ones...) from the talk "Followers of Christ" - there was a quote that really stuck out to me: "Following Christ is not a casual or occasional practice but a continuous commitment and way of life that applies at all times and in all places."

Simple as that. Following Christ is a way of life. You can't really be "Catholique non-practicante" like most French people claim they are; following Christ requires us to devote our lives completely to him and change our lives to be more in harmony with his teachings. Its not casual and its not occasional. I love my Savior - that's why I'm here.

Don't forget to share the gospel! Oh and teach with the missionaries. :)