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. :)

Crazy Week!!

What a week!!!! It is always such a party whenever we get to go to Lyon. The train ride there was like 4 hours long so we had tons of time to relax, have fun, and of course spark some French people. :) I sat next to a really cool girl on the train and she was asking me all sorts of questions about the elders because she speaks English pretty well and she wanted to know what they were talking about haha. The first thing when we got off the train I see Soeur Vidal from a distance screaming and running towards me. She didn't leave my side the entire rest of the day - I love my mommy!
So that night after we all went out to dinner, some of the trainers went back to the STL's apartment. They have about 20 beds there - that place is HUGE. TRIPLE BUNK BEDS. Just imagine that for a second. It was basically a hotel. But since its tradition that the trainers dont see the blues before we get assigned we all hid in a back room of the apartment (the blues had no clue we were even there). It was fun to be up there and see some old friends and make some new ones!! There are so many sisters that I'm dying to get to know better!! But I have time for that later. :)

Soeur Reichelt and I hit the ground running. We contacted some really great people while we were in Lyon (she literally has no fear of contacting, its incredible). On the train ride home we taught the entire first lesson to the man sitting across from us on the train (Gerome). Neither one of us had a copy of the Book of Mormon so we had to search the train asking missionaries if they had one. Finally we found one!! So we get back and tell him all about the Book of Mormon and he is really excited to learn more about our church - he has a big family too! (You're welcome Perpignan elders haha.) Then I noticed the man sitting across the aisle was listening in and I asked if he wanted a Book of Mormon too - he said yes - so we searched again for another copy. The missionaries were like "are you baptizing the whole train or what?" - yes :)

It's been crazy how amazing the work is going since we got back to Carcassonne. I feel like every other person we contact on the street is interested in learning more. (Perks of having a blue.) The work is exploding here I'm so excited to see what this transfer brings!!

Ok a little about my blue! :) I have the most amazing daughter I could ever ask for!!! She is incredible. Soeur Reichelt is from Freiberg, Germany - she speaks English REALLY well and she just started learning French 6 weeks ago...but she learns so fast!! And French people love when people are just starting to learn their language, it makes them feel proud that their language is so hard haha. She is 24 - so a whole lot older than me, but she never makes me feel younger!! She completely respects me as her trainer, which is really nice because its not always like that with such a big age difference!! She is HILARIOUS. We have so much fun together and I love being around her. She is really really confident too! Absolutely no fear. When I first picked her up we were at the metro stop waiting to get on and I told her to go contact a lady standing by herself. She said "Sure, why not." She said bonjour and smiled and then had no clue what the lady said after that haha. I remember when I first got here and I was SO scared to contact people!! But she has no problem!! You should've seen her in Sacrament meeting our first Sunday. Last minute Bishop asked us all to give talks and she wasn't even nervous. She just went up and did it! She never complains, she works really hard, she's really obedient and loving and she just lights up a room. I'm so lucky to have her! I just love my daughter!

3 Generations - Soeurs Vidal, Everett et Reichelt

The other night we had a RDV with Phillipe (Remember him from a few weeks ago? The one who missed his bus twice to talk to us?) We finally had a chance to see him on Friday! We asked him if he had read from the Book of Mormon yet and he said, "I'm so sorry I haven't finished yet. I only read about a third." WHAT. He told us that he feels something different when he reads it and that he really wants to come to church and find out if all of this is true. WHOOO

And of course the Phelipes... they are just the most wonderful family - I love them!!! We decided that we needed to cook dinner for them because they are always having us over and giving us herbal tea haha. So we cooked homemade mac and cheese - except switched the macaroni for potatoes (of course - you all know me). They loved it!! I was laughing so hard that night I thought I was gonna die. Pray for Nice to come to church! She watches her friends kids on Sunday morning and hasn't found a way to get to church. She needs lots of prayers!

Last but not least - JEAN PHILLIPE!!! He is basically the best ami on the face of the earth. The most prepared person I think I've ever taught. there hasn't been one since problem with ANYTHING the entire time I've taught him! We taught law of chastity and tithing and word of wisdom and there were no problems... and he's good to go for his baptism on Saturday! I'm so excited!!

Well family, I am doing so well. I am the happiest I've ever been! Don't forget that its our duty to share the gospel with our friends. Everyone deserves a chance to be as happy as we are.

I love you!

Soeur Everett

Alma 26:35-37

Pure Joy

I honestly feel elated, I'm SO happy!! This has been another INCREDIBLE week. First of all... TRANSFER CALLS!!! The morning of calls we were all freaking out a bit (but that's normal...) President called about 10 minutes later than he did last transfer so I was starting to get a little worried. But eventually our phones rang and we all screamed. Sorry vosine (neighbor). Soeur Mann talked first...then Soeur Caldwell....then me. We didn't tell each other what happened until after I hung up. I have no recollection of my conversation with President because I was so stressed out. But he told me that IM STAYING IN CARCASSONNE AND TRAINING!!!! At first I cried because I was so happy, and then I realized that I had to TRAIN someone and then got really nervous... now I'm not sure how I feel now - all I know is I'm leaving tomorrow to go get my new bleue!!!

Marcos and Soeurs Caldwell, Mann et Everett

WOW so much happened this week, I don't even know where to start!! I'll start with Deborah. Remember Deborah? Her dad is inactive and the rest of her family aren't members, but about 2 months ago Soeur Richardson and I were able to go meet with her and she accepted baptism?? Well, she never came to church after that so the baptismal date passed and we just met with her here and there. The thought occurred to us that we should make her an American dinner! After our dinner we had a lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end I asked her what she thought about baptism. She told us that she really wants to get baptized and asked her how soon she could. We suggested January and she asked if we could do it sooner!! (We can't because she needs to come to church first..) but this is the first time she has been so committed!! We're way excited!!!!!



Le Pere Noel.  Evidence that Santa Claus is Catholic!

Sorry my emails are always all over the place, I just always have so much to tell you and no time to do it!!! PHELIPES. They are just some of my absolute favorite people. I told the other soeurs that they're my best friends I just don't tell them. :) On Saturday we all went to the foire and we had SO MUCH FUN. It was one of my favorite moments of my entire mission. We played bumper cars, ate crepes, we rode the enormous Ferris Wheel that overlooks all of Carcassonne, and just laughed all night! And they invited us over to their house for dinner the next day. They kept teasing me that they were going to make TONS of fish (because I told them once that I don't like fish...) When we got there Sunday night they brought out a lasagna and they told me it was FISH LASAGNA. Of course I ate it anyway... at the end they brought it up again and I said "hey, I don't even like fish and I ate all of that lasagna" and they told me "oh we were kidding its ham!!" WHAT. I'm so gullible...

Soeur Caldwell and I decided that we're officially in a band because we have now performed at TWO venues together. Last night we performed at a Christmas Concert and afterwards bishop told us that he was so proud to call us his own and that everyone he talked to were wanting us to sing more than one song (encore in France??? WHAT'S UP.)

At the faire

One last thing I guess.... JEAN PHILLIPE IS SO GREAT. I feel so lucky that Heavenly Father trusted me to teach him because he is just amazing. We taught him the Word of Wisdom the other day and the whole time he was talking about how great it was that we had this and how important he thought it was to maintain good health to have the Spirit with us. The other day I texted him and asked him if we could meet that Friday and he responded "Of course I'll be there. The gospel is way too important to me!!" Oh and when he talks to us he uses "vous"... hardly any amis catch on to that. Ok I'm done now, he's just awesome!

Carcassonne is just one of my favorite places on earth. I am SO LUCKY to be staying here and I know my bleue is going to love it just as much as me.

Je vous aime!!!
Soeur Everett

Matthew 6:22 - This is my transfer scripture. I found it the other day in personal study and I can't get over how much I love it. Read it carefully. :)

Good 'ole Carc

Hi fam!!!

Ooh là là, WHAT A WEEK. It has had plenty of ups and downs, but let's just focus on the ups, eh? :) The work is still on fire here!! Carcassonne is just a ville of miracles, that's for sure!! I just love this little ville. I would be content staying here my entire mission.

So on Friday we had a lesson set up with a potential ami named Jean-Phillipe. In all honesty, I wasn't expecting him to come because tombez-vous (no shows. literally "drop you") are just way too common now-a-days. But HE CAME. We had a wonderful first lesson. The Spirit was just burning in the room and you could tell that he felt it because he accepted everything we said. He thanked us for the free copy of the Book of Mormon and agreed that he would start reading it and that he would be at church on Sunday. Maybe I just need more faith or something, but I wasn't sure if I was expecting him to be at church either. There's just WAY too many people who promise to be there and then don't come!! But HE WAS THERE. Our amazing DMP (ward mission leader), Frère Vital immediately took Jean-Phillipe under his wing and stayed with him all of church. Jean-Phillipe said to me after how much he loved it!! But wait it gets better. So after church Bishop goes up to him and asks him if he could meet with him really quickly. So they go up to his office and have an interview. When they came out Bishop told me that he invited Jean-Phillipe to come to his house for dinner. So all 4 missionaries, Jean François (the other soeurs' recent convert), and Jean Phillipe all went to the Martin's for dinner! It was the most AMAZING day. We had a little Family Home Evening with everyone and on the car ride home (they live about 40 minutes outside of Carcassonne), all of us got to hear the Martin's life story. Including how they were converted to the gospel. I literally wept as Bishop bore his testimony of how the gospel has changed his life and how SURE he is that this is the true church. As we dropped Jean-Phillipe off, Bishop said he hoped to see him again. And Jean-Phillipe said "toujours" (always).  Again... I cried. It was seriously one of the best days of my mission. I am just so grateful that Heavenly Father is trusting Soeur Richardson and I with Jean-Phillipe. He is so prepared for the gospel. About as elect as a person can get.

Wow, everything else from this week dulls in comparison to Jean-Phillipe. But I'll just share one more miracle!! Does everyone remember Nicolas who just out of nowhere moved to Lyon?? Soeur Richardson and I had the impression that we should see how he was doing and if he had gotten in contact with the missionaries up there. When he texted back he told us that he hadn't had time to meet with the missionaries but that he was coming back to Carcassonne this week and would love to meet with us again. Wait, can I just repeat that? HE'S COMING BACK TO CARCASSONNE THIS WEEK AND WANTS TO MEET WITH US AGAIN. I literally jumped up from my chair and screamed. (Sorry neighbors...)

We have a lot of progressing people right now!! Things are just going really really well!! I couldn't be happier with the people that the Lord has trusted us with!! I just hope I am doing everything he expects me to do! Keep all of these people in your prayers!!

Love you SO much family!!

Soeur Everett

Instead of a scripture this week I have a quote. It's from a talk about how to be the best missionary possible, but it applies to everyone. Read it carefully.

"Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God."
-Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

BONJOUR!!

I have so much to talk about so I'll just get going!!

On Tuesday our ami Romain invited us over to dinner with him and his friends. Since I had never had rabbit before he promised me that he would make it for me for my first time and that he would have all of the missionaries over - he kept his promise!! We had so much fun!! Romain is really cool but he isn't progressing towards baptism at all.. So for now we'll just wait until he shows a little more interest in the gospel rather than just our friendship before meeting with him again! But hey!! He made us a delicious meal!! (Thank goodness he didn't show us the head of the rabbit before we ate it... I don't know if I could have stomached that!)



Romain and his friends

The only thing left was the rabbit head...

Christian update!!!! We had a really really good rendez-vous this week where we just talked about everything that hadn't been communicated well. He told us that he knows that the church is true--if he didn't he wouldn't be coming to church still. He just feels like everyone is putting too much pressure on him to get baptized and he doesn't want to get baptized just so we can have another baptism for our numbers. Thank GOODNESS he brought that up because Soeur Richardson and I could care less how many baptisms we have, we just care about Christian!! We told him that we respected the timing that he wants and that we would let him tell US when he wants to get baptized. The spirit was strong and our friendship is renewed!!! So I'm happy. :) OH and he came to church. :)

Yes, the French celebrate Halloween

Ok time for a little ode to Soeur Caldwell. Even though we are the exact same age in the mission, I don't think I've ever talked to her for longer than 5 minutes. She is SO COOL. She is a design major at BYU and she's 21 so she is practically finished with her undergraduate and she's already accepted to the masters program. She has really high ambitions!! She is so relaxed about everything - I love this about her because I tend to stress out over things, so its really nice to have someone there who just takes things slowly! She is just hilarious - we all DIE laughing when we're with her. I'm so excited to have her here in Carcassonne and get to know her better!!!

Soeur Caldwell

Super huge miracle from this week!!! So about 4 weeks ago I contacted this woman on the street named Mireille. We contact a lot of people who give us their number and then we never hear from them again so I kind of forgot about her since she wouldn't answer our calls! Well one day we decided to call again and she ANSWERED. She gave us her address and we ended up having a rendezvous with her and her kids!! They are practicing Catholic, but are very open to meeting with us and finding out for themselves if what we are sharing is true!! I'm super pumped about them!!

Ok one last thing I guess...there's just so much!! So 2 days ago Soeur Richardson and I were out contacting!! We were passing a bus stop and usually I don't contact people who are sitting there but somehow I ended up contacting this man who was sitting waiting for his bus. I don't even remember deciding to contact him. Anyway we ended up talking to him for about 30 minutes and he missed his bus TWICE to keep talking to us. He told me I had a lot of "heart" :) It was SUCH  good conversation completely led by the spirit!! He really opened up to us and now we will be meeting with him on Wednesday!!! :)


I love you all, thanks for all your support, love, and prayers! I can feel it. :)

Soeur Everett

P.S. Look up Luke 6:2-5 and then go to the Bible Dictionary under "shewbread" - REALLY great studies this morning; hope you like this as much as I do!!

Carcassonne!! (Week 17)

I greatly fear that my time in Carcassonne will be over after this week... Carcassonne feels like HOME now, I don't want to be taken away!!!! But wherever the Lord wants me, I'll go! I just hope the Lord wants me in Carcassonne for awhile longer. :)

 



Lovely Soeur Mann

This has been quite an interesting week. Just about everything and anything we planned fell through. Even our ami that was supposed to get baptized on Saturday called bishop 2 days before the baptism and said he needed some space for awhile because he felt too pressured. But even though this week has been hard I've seen SO many tender mercies from the Lord. On Tuesday we had 4 member-present lessons scheduled and ALL of them fell through. BUT as we left the chapel we decided we weren't going to be discouraged and we went out and contacted like crazy!!! We did this everytime something fell through this week and because of all of the things that fell through we have been able to find SO many people who have been looking for the truth!! Moral of the story is that God knows whats best!! It's not our fault if people use their agency as long as we did our best! Plus, God knew that all of this would happen, and he knows who he wants us to teach right now and its our job to allign our will with God's! So even though it was a hard week, I still find peace and joy in knowing that I am at hand to do what God wants me to do. :)



Flowers from Nadia (a member of the ward)

Now all of the GREAT things that happened this week!!! President has been encouraging us to go to members houses and practice our missionary lessons for them and have them correct our French. This week we got to go to Dior's house (bishop's daughter) and eat lunch and visit with her and her sister Adhna (I LOVE THEM.) The Martin family is SO cool and so humble about it. Dior is a fashion designer. She used to work for Chanel, but then she decided to move to Australia where she met her husband and she now lives there with her two ADORABLE children. She is staying in Carcassonne for about another month so she is renting a home for the next month (that's where we went for lunch). Adhna is just as cool. She speaks English fluently because she decided to self-immerse herself in English by going to LDSBC right out of high school. Now she speaks without a French accent and sometimes I think she speaks English better than me haha. Anyway, it was SO fun to have lunch over there and teaching them a lesson was SO helpful for our French - we'll definitely be doing that more often!!


Soeurs Mann, Everett et Beeny

I think I've told you in past letters that we teach the Andersons French every week (a less-active family in our ward). This week especially I have seen how much they've progressed since we've started teaching them!! The 16 year old daughter has never learned a word of French before in her life and at our last rendezvous she gave the closing prayer IN FRENCH. I was so proud of her. :))


Jean François, the ami of Soeur Mann and Soeur Beeny

Anyway, things are going really well!!! I know tons fell through this week, but I really am so happy!! There are so many people in Carcassonne just waiting for us to find them and bring them the truth and I feel blessed that I am one of the people that gets to do it!! I can't wait to e-mail you next week about all of the new people that we are going to teach this week!!!

I love you all so much!!! I miss you and pray for you!!

Soeur Everett

P.S. Mosiah 4:9 - so much better in French, but English is good too. :)

Another wonderful week in Carcassonne :)

What a week!!! SO much travelling this week, but it was so much fun!!! First of all I want to reiterate a little bit what I was saying last week, but I absolutely love the sisters in my apartment, they are some of the biggest blessings of my mission right now, they are incredible!

Sensei is the Best DMP (Ward Mission Leader) in the Church

Sensei in his younger days (yes he is a karate teacher)

We got to go to Aix for Zone Conference and it was AMAZING. And.... I got personally invited by President to sit by him during lunch (that makes 3 conferences IN A ROW - yesss). It's always fun to catch up with missionaries that you haven't seen in a while!! Conferences are just the best, so uplifting. The other place we went to this week was Bordeaux!!! We got to see do exchanges with our amazinggg sister training leaders. They are the absolute greatest, I love them!! Exchanges are always so much fun. It's just fun to do something a little out of routine sometimes. :)

Soeur Mann et Soeur Everett

Soeur Everett et Richardson

Ok right now I am in a "hat phase" so if in ever picture I am wearing a hat, don't be too surprised. Also, if anyone wants to send me a hat in the mail, feel free to do so. :)

 

So this week we went over to the Anderson's house (the less-active family from New Zealand who speaks English). We go over once a week to help them learn French and it is seriously so much fun every time!! I absolutely love this family - mostly because they remind me so much of you all. While we were there Sister Anderson invited us to go to a rugby game with them sometime (because Brother Anderson plays for the Carcassonne rugby team) - we asked President for approval and......HE SAID YES!!!!! I'll let you know how fun it was!!!!!

Soeurs Everett et Beeny ("The Look")

Ok now for the MIRACLE!!!!!! About a week ago we contacted this man on the street named Nicolas. He immediately told us he was sorry but he was atheist. BUT I persevered (thank goodness) and I told him that our message was for everyone regardless of their previous religious beliefs. We started teaching him a little bit about the restoration and the plan of salvation (he had a lot of questions) and told us that he would love to meet with us and talk more because he was really curious. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him he could start to read it. On Wednesday we had a rendezvous with him (which HE called to confirm) and he started off by saying "its been way too long!! sorry I've been super busy." We asked him if he had read any of the Book of Mormon and he said "Yeah but not very much, only to about the end of Nephi." He read 60 PAGES!!! And he came with questions!!!!! We extended a soft baptismal invitation (an invitation without a date) and he agreed!! I'll let you know how things go with him, but he is super great!!

One last thing. I am getting really comfortable with conversational contacting. I can strike up conversations with people at bus stops, on trains, on buses, and its fun!! The other day I asked a girl what the French word was for phone case (by pointing at it and asking "qu'est-ce que c'est?") and from there we had a wonderful conversation about the Book of Mormon!! Being a missionary is one of the most fun things ever, I am absolutely in LOVE with missionary work - it really is fun when you make it fun!!)

Well that's about all the time I have for today to write to you, so I'm going to end it here. I love you and pray for you every day!! Keep sharing the gospel, its your most important job!!

Love,
Soeur Everett