Week 2 in Pau!! (Week 32)

Holy moly is this going to be one miraculous transfer... because the opposition is HUGE. I don't even know what to write about this week seeing as we couldn't do much because I felt like dying most of it...

Soaking wet.  It rains every single day.

I've been sick the entire week.  Boooo....

I got sick on Tuesday night (after being out ALL day long and having everything except our last rdv fall through) and I have felt sick ever since. I think its starting to get better, but I'm so worn out from being sick that any physical exercise I exort brings me back to feeling terrible. (I thought I was completely healed on Sunday, then after church all of my energy was completely drained and I was back to feeling sick again.) Its been horrible - but can I just say how lucky I am to be with Soeur Bagley?? She is an angel. I will now devote an entire paragraph to her.

Our favorite food

My dearest companion

Soeur Bagley is sent to me from heaven. We were best friends in the pre-existence, I'm sure of it. She knows exactly what I need to be happy and she is so sensitive to my needs. This week as I've been sick she has cleaned the apartment, cooked for me, and she's been on-the-minute obedient with the morning schedule, even while I've been sleeping (WHAT - talk about virtue). She even does comp study opening song and prays for the prayer list alone. She is wonderful. She also knows how to crack me up... she says and does the funniest things, it keeps our spirits up. :) She has been so good to me this past week, she knows how I feel because when she first got to Pau she got sick too.  We can talk for hours, and we never get tired of each other! I just love her. The other day she said the funniest thing.. I have no idea what we were even talking about but I suggested that we go and do something and she responds "There is no way in the Telestial Kingdom that I'm doing that." I laughed for about 10 minutes (still laughing about it). The members love her too. Man I could go on forever..

Zone Training!!!! (I love Soeur Bayles!!!!)

So good to see Soeur Beeny!

Ok let me talk about the Leangs. I LOVE this family - they are definitely a tender mercy for me because I miss my old DMP Frère Vital who would always make us nems. And now I have a new family to make me nems! I feel right at home with them. This week we spent a lot of time with them because they invited us to dinner, we went over and helped them make nems for the ward party, and then the ward party that was a HUGE hit!!! We had SOO many potential amis there it was incredible! The ward is on fire with missionary work, let me tell you. Sooo many people brought their friends. It was a really really good activity - best I think I've ever been to! And they're having another in February (like a talent show thingy, I'm so pumped!!)

The Leangs making 600 nems for Chinese New Year

We love nems!

As far as amis go I don't really know who to talk about. We say a few people this week, but I don't have a TON to say! Things will really pick up this week, I assure you all!!!! I'm feeling progressively better, so Pau is going to explode I know it!!

As for a thought this week I've been thinking about D&C 84:88 - we should all notice better the angels that are surrounding us! The Lord promises to send them to help us, and I can definitely feel them near.

Love you!!!

Soeur Everett

I'M STAYING IN CARCASSONNE!!!

I AM SO HAPPY!!!!! I really really wanted to stay here for another transfer and I'm SO GLAD that this is Heavenly Father's plan for me!!! I am going to KILL IT this transfer in Carcassonne. I can just feel the miracles waiting for me and Soeur Richardson! :) (No I haven't met her yet, she gets to Carcassonne at 5:30!) Soeur Bayles is off to Tarbes and Soeur Beeny is staying here with me!!! She's getting a sister coming from Chambery and my companion is coming from Dijon! We are sooo excited to meet them!!

Weekly planning from my favorite spot in the apartment

Since Soeur Vidal is now not my companion anymore, I want to make a little "Ode to Soeur Vidal." Soeur Vidal is definitely one of the best missionaries I have ever seen (and I'm not just saying that because she's my mom). Everywhere she goes the people LOVE her!! She is so real with everyone, she's not afraid to be bold, but she has such a loving heart and ALWAYS finds opportunities to serve. She was only here for 6 weeks but the ward here loves her so much and they really do trust her! I'm so glad that I got to serve with her so that I could better learn how to gain the trust of members and also our amis! I'm really sad that I only had Soeur Vidal for one transfer but I know she is going to be a phenomenal Sister Training Leader and that she is going to bless the lives of so many sisters. :)

Soeurs Vidal et Everett on train

WATCH OUT LYON. Oh one more thing for Soeur Vidal. We were in Montpellier teaching an ami of the sisters there and Soeur Vidal was SO happy to be there (she served 6 months in Montpellier). After we taught the lesson we got to go streetboarding with all the missionaries that are in Montpellier (there were like 6 equipes there, it was way fun). While we were there I was just contacting people left and right (streetboarding is pretty much my favorite thing to do as a missionary so I get super energized when I get to do it!!) One of the Elders came up to me and said "Wait a second Soeur Everett...you're a blue!?!?" and then he turned to Soeur Vidal and said "Great job Soeur Vidal." HAHA!! So true! The missionary I am now is all thanks to her!!

I really don't remember if I've talked about Kristi before, but a few weeks ago I contacted him on a bus coming back from Limoux. We had a really really good conversation and I talked a lot about the plan of salvation and he absolutely LOVED it!! After he got off the bus, Soeur Vidal turned to me and asked "did you give him our card?" I FORGOT TO GIVE HIM A CARD (super shameful). So on Tuesday we were on exchanges and Soeur Bayles and I were walking through Centreville and she turns to me and says "is that the man you contacted on the bus back from Limoux?" I FREAKED OUT and practically ran after him (haha I'm super embarrassing sometimes), he was really happy to see me and I had my second chance to give him my card!!! I'll let you know what happens with him. :)

Piñata (made by Elders, destroyed by Sister)

Wow we have quite a few miracles this week, but I can just give you one more?? There is this wonderful Brazilian family in our ward - the Bentos. They have been inactive for quite a while because their house is so far away from the church. But Soeur Vidal and I had the idea to call them and see if there was a time when we could get together with them and the Phelipes (the Brazilian family that we teach). We all got together and it was SO GOOD. The Bentos and the Phelipes are now BEST FRIENDS! So now we reactivated a wonderful family AND our amis have really good friends at church!!!! :)))
 

Well family, its been a crazy week and I am sooo excited to see what next week brings with a brand new companion!!! I'll be sure to tell you all about her next week!!! I just have one request! I have really learned the power of prayer since I've been on my mission. Every morning, we pray for all the investigators in our mission that have a baptismal date, its a really cool experience. So I was wondering if during your family prayers at night you could pray for my amis! I can give you their names and what to pray for, and I know I'll see miracles when you are all praying for them by name as well!!

Here's the scripture for this week!! D&C 130:2. I've been thinking a lot about eternal families since being away from you, and what I love about this scripture is that it says that the same family we have here now will be together in eternity, but will be coupled with "eternal glory." How wonderful is that! I love that I know I will be with my family forever one day with eternal glory, and that as a missionary I can help others have this same blessing that I do!

Train station in Perpignan (where mom had her kidney stone in 1989)

I love you all so much!! Keep teaching with the missionaries and giving them people to teach!! :)

Soeur Everett

I LOVE CARCASSONNE (Week 11)

Soeurs Vidal et Everett

BONJOUR!!!

I am sooooo scared because this week is TRANSFER CALLS!!!!! However, I will start off the letter with huge news..... on Saturday President called us and talked to Sister Vidal. I was DYING the whole time we were teaching English class to know what he said, but she wouldn't tell me until after!!! Afterwards she told me that the reason why President called early was because he wouldn't be making the calls this coming week, and he wanted to tell Soeur Vidal personally that she was going to be a SISTER TRAINING LEADER IN LYON!!!! I HAVE THE BEST MOM EVER!!! Really though, I've been sooooo blessed to be with Soeur Vidal and I know sooo many more Sisters need her in their lives as well, so I guess I'll have to share. :( But now I'm even more nervous for calls because I know for sure my companion is leaving, but I have no idea if I'll be leaving too! (President Roney loves white-washing villes...)



Bezier District: Elder Peel and Elder Wolfenstein are our Zone Leaders (Montpellier) Elder Bowers (DL) and Elder Davis (Bezier) Soeur Sarmiento, Soeur Floisand, Soeur Receveur, Soeur Schultes (Perpignan) and of course me, Soeur Vidal, Soeur Bayles, and Soeur Beeny!!

This week was filled with so many miracles!!! I don't even know which ones to share or where to begin!!! I'll start with my wonderful Brazilian family, the Phelipes. :) Last week we went over to their house and were teaching them a little bit about the life of Christ. (They've already had all the lessons since they've been seeing the missionaries for a long time so now we teach them from the gospel principles manual.) When we got to the part about baptism we had to be bold. We told them how important baptism was and that they needed to be married first. Soeur Vidal even pointed out to them that they were living in sin right now. Our boldness really got to them. They told us that all they had to do was wait for Andersons papers to leave the army to come through and they could probably get married in a few weeks!!!!!!!!!!! That means they can be baptized RIGHT AFTER. Originally they were going to wait until next summer so they could have a huge wedding in Brazil with all their family, but after talking with them they realized that they really needed to get baptized and that they could still have their big wedding in Brazil after they get married here!! Seriously, we were going crazy with excitement.

Soeurs Vidal and Everett with Elder Bowers (and the thrift store tie we bought him)

Miracle TWO!!! Yesterday we were out contacting (we needed 114 people to reach our weekly contacting goal). We had already been contacting for a long time, since it was raining yesterday and its not vacation time anymore. But we decided that instead of taking a break we would reach our goal first! (Thats always when Heavenly Father really works miracles, isn't it?) We came across one of our eternal amis, Christian! He stopped letting the missionaries come over a while ago, but he comes to church every sunday faithfully for about 7 years and he just won't get baptized! But while we were talking he really softened his heart because we were just helping him resolve his concerns about baptism. I think the reason why he doesn't want to get baptized really revolves around him feeling too pressured by the members to be baptized and he wants to decided for himself! But of course Soeur Vidal says, "Well, we knox you're ready to get baptized, so how about this weekend?" AND HE SAID MAYBE. This man has been seeing the missionaries for 7 YEARS. So tonight at FHE we are going to try to confirm the baptism!! PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM!!

The Awesome Equipe of Awesomeness!

Well I don't have too much more time so I'll just stop with 2 miracles! Things are so wonderful here in Carcassonne!! I don't know what the Lord has in store for me for next transfer, but one thing I know is that if I stay here, I will be extremely happy. :)

Alma 13:24 - I LOVE THIS SCRIPTURE. It's true that the Lord is truly preparing the hearts of His children to receive the message of the gospel!! But it's up to US to share what we know with everyone that we can! Please please please go out and teach with the missionaries!! I know how much they'll appreciate it. :)

Je vous aime ma famille!!!

Soeur Everett

Living the Dream!!! (Week 10)

Wow I feel like I have so much to tell you and once again SO LITTLE TIME!!! I'll do my best :)

So this week we got to go on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders! It was super fun and I absolutely LOVE travelling!! I learned a ton from Soeur Mata! I think the most important thing she taught me is to talk to everyone! She told me something that stuck out to me. It was that she hated to see people pass by without talking to them because she wants to give EVERYONE a chance to have this happiness that we have! How great is she!? So I did a lot of chatting with people even when it was in awkward situations like on buses (I don't know why bus contacting is so awkward for me!)



Personal Scripture Study

So here's our miracle this week!!! We were calling numbers in our area book under "potential investigators" and everyone who has been on a mission knows that usually there is not a whole lot of success that comes from that. So we were calling numbers and the second person we called said "sure you can come over!!!" We were shocked. When we went over we found out shes moving to Normandie soon (bummer) but we offered to help her clean up her house before she moved and she ACCEPTED (French people never accept service...ever). I think she was super touched by our service and we're hoping she can get baptized before she moves!!! If not I know she'll get baptized soon, she's so ready!




Cassoulet!  Yum!

Okay a couple side notes. Last Sunday I had to be the ward pianist in Sacrament meeting for the first time EVER. And I realized that I don't know how to play any Sacrament hymns because I've never had to know them!!! So I sight-read one...but it went well!! I didn't have any before-notice that I was playing last Sunday, so now I'll be ready for next week!!!!


We ate CASSULET!!!! It was SO good!! I couldn't believe I liked it since it was mainly beans, but I DID!!! (Thank you Dad!!)

Another funny thing... apparently since being on a mission I've started sleep-walking and sleep-talking? On Saturday I woke up not feeling well at all and Soeur Vidal demanded that I take a little nap. Afterwards we were talking and she mentioned something about me going to the bathroom in the middle of my nap and I told her that I didn't. She told me that she heard me get out of bed (from the other room) and heard the toilet flush and everything! I was the only other person in the apartment sooo it had to be me. And I have ZERO recollection! (I'm turning into a sleep-walker like John!!!!!) :O

Feria Carcassonne this weekend!!!!!! (we didn't go but we got free bandanas!!)

 

Soeur Vidal always wants to take pictures of me... (by the way, most of the pictures I send come from her camera because her camera is SUPER nice and takes amazing pictures... plus she's always the one wanting to take pictures anyway!) 

 

Another side note.  The other sisters in our apartment are awesome!  Soeur Beeny (19) goes to BYU and she is SOOOO FUNNY!!! We have so much fun whenever shes around. She loves singing and cooking and she did theatre all growing up. Shes in her second transfer but her french is so good and shes super confident. I just love her!!  Soeur Bayles is 25 and she finished college in England before coming on her mission! Shes been out a little over a year and she is SOOO NICE and so genuine. I feel like nothing bothers her at all... She is so wonderful.



This picture was was taken on the Ferris Wheel!!! Which they just took down today :(

Oh my goodness thank you SOO much for sending your talk to me dad!! Pleeeease post it on my blog!! I read it this morning and I was just crying!! I can't believe I missed it!!

Side note for Lizzie, Johnny, Anna, and Will: you should realize now that you have the best parents EVER. I don't think I fully realized how amazing they were until I was out here on a mission! They really know what they're talking about, so my advice is to trust them. :) (And no they didn't bribe me to write that.)



I made the most BEAUTIFUL planner yesterday before bed!!! I'm in love with it!!

Well I love you and miss you family!! Thanks for all your letters!! They seriously make me SOO happy when I get them, I LOVE hearing from you!!!

Je vous aime!!
Soeur Everett

P.S. Almost forgot to add these scriptures!!! They're INCREDIBLE, you're all going to love them. Moroni 7:28-32

Carcassonne!! (Week 7)

Bonjour ma famille!!

Oh my goodness, life is CRAZY!! I honestly can't believe how perfect my life is. Everything about it is more than I could have ever hoped for or imagined. First of all, here's my new address!

49 Rue Marceau Perrutel
F-11000 Carcassonne
France

Alright, now to talk about my amazing life!!! I was super sad to leave North Carolina - I had the most wonderful experience there and I couldn't have been more lucky to have the companions that I had! They are just the greatest sisters and I learned so much from them! By the way, I snatched the ONLY American keyboard in this whole café - IM SO LUCKY!! This means I can write more. :)

I am incredibly blessed with the best mission president/fellow missionaries IN THE WORLD. They are absolutely incredible! The bleus are merveilleux - they are confident and are such good examples to me! I have a lot to learn from these missionaries here! My friend Elder Pettingill is literally the best at contacting. I have NO idea how he does it but somehow he gets into a friendly conversation with everyone who passes by! I've been getting better though! The other day we went street-boarding with the elders in Lyon (we had to stay in Lyon for 5 days because my companion is having knee problems and needed to see a doctor there). I never thought I would say that I love street-boarding but....I LOVE STREET-BOARDING! I think its so fun! I don't really care if people say rude things to me because honestly most of the time I have no idea what they're saying.

View of the castle from our apartment at night 

It's all worth it when there is that one person who has been searching for the truth, but didn't know where to find it, and we share it with them!! It's the most amazing thing. I've actually had quite a few one-on-one conversations with French people. Its pretty hard especially when they think I'm better at French than I am and start talking super fast, but I usually get the idea of what they're saying! On Thursday I contacted this young lady from Camaroon while we were waiting at a bus stop. She was so nice to me! She literally talked to me for like 20 minutes and she told me I had really good French! (She was probably just being nice, but hey I'll take the compliment!!) I gave her a Book of Mormon and the address of the church. Hopefully she'll go! (This was in Lyon so its not my area...super sad about that!).

Soeurs Vidal et Everett

Ok President Roney is the greatest!!! Now I know why everyone says they know him, because he is so friendly!! He is hilarious and I haven't heard one negative thing about him the whole time I've been here. Everyone thinks he is just the greatest mission president to have ever walked the earth (probably because he is!!). In our first interview he shined my shoes! And I told him all the villes that Mom served in so that he can keep those in mind. :) I heard him whisper to Soeur Vidal while we were leaving the church building after meeting our companions for the first time: "You got a good one." Ah, I just love President Roney!!!

 

 

in la cité (old walled Carcassonne)

Let me talk a little bit about Soeur Vidal!! Ok I don't know what it is about having the best life in the entire world, but the streak continues!! Soeur Vidal is INCREDIBLE! She was born in Mexico and raised in Montreal, Canada so she speaks Spanish, French, and English fluently. I am so blessed to have a native French speaker as a companion because she is literally a walking dictionary! She is hilarious too! We laugh alllll the time. I can tell we're going to have one amazing transfer! I'm a little worried though because she thinks that I will be a trainer next transfer....ah! The other two sisters in our apartment (Soeur Bayles and Soeur Beeny) here in Carcassonne are SO FUN! We seriously just love each other. Also the first night they made Soeur Vidal and I these delicious taco things rolled in a croissant - not sure if its French or not, but either way it was so good.



View from inside la cité

Oh that's something I want to talk about. FOOD. I am literally obsessed with pains aux chocolats. Obsessed. I had like 4 in one day on Friday. They are delicious! But honestly everything food-wise is better in France. The paninis here, oh myyyy...so good! But the only down-side is that everything is expensive!!! Bottled water is like 2,50 euros!! And that's not even $2.50, that's like $3 or something crazy...for water!! Its ok though, everything is worth it since I get to be in France. Honestly I wouldn't rather be anywhere else in the entire world right now than Carcassonne. Nowhere! This is better than I could've ever imagined. I can't wait to get to know our amies (the equipe before us had amies already that they left behind, since we're white-washing this area!!) but I also just want to contact some more and work on my French!

Well I love you all! Bisous!! (Oh by the way, they do 2 bisous here! I still forget that people do it, so I need to get used to that...)

Avec beaucoup d'amour,

Soeur Everett

Soeurs Beeny, Bayles, Vidal, Everett

P.S. Here's some lingo if I ever say something confusing.
amies = investigators
equipes = companionship
white-washing = both missionaries in the companionship are new to the area
bleus = same as "greenies" or new to the mission field

P.P.S. Oh another thing. They do this weird family tree thing in the mission. So right now I am a baby and I was born in Carcassonne to my mother Soeur Vidal!! Her other baby is my sister, which is Soeur Reynolds (je pense...) and Soeur Reynolds has a baby too, so my mom is now a grandma! And when people go home they say "oh yeah, sister so-and-so died last transfer". I know its super confusing, so if I ever say that someone died, they didn't actually die!!! Or if I say something about my mom or my sister or something. Kind of fun huh?



This is our "It's so hot" picture

P.P.P.S. HAHA! Of course I eat real food dad! But its hard for me to pass up pain aux chocolats... don't worry, I eat healthy. I'm going to be the ward pianist. HA! (You were right mom.) You can put that on my blog to as another "P.S."