TROP bénie

Wow... I'm going to have to type fast this week. I have a lot of miracles to write about!!!

Our favorite baguettes

Actually using chopsticks!

Let's start off with the beginning of the week!! So we called just about every ancient ami we have in our area book (that's the most ancient ami fiches I've seen in my whole mission....) So we just set rdv after rdv and found SO many people that kind of fell beneath the cracks somewhere along the way. I have a few stories about this for this week. :)

We wanted to porte this one so bad!  Not sure if it's a house though.

Getting artsy with our pictures

Thanks for the cool pic Soeur Bagley

We set a rdv with a woman named Paqueline - she had just had a baby about 3 weeks before and i think she had stopped rdvs because she was nearing the end of her pregnancy. anyway, found her in the middle of all the fiches. She was SO happy to hear from us! She invited us right over. Then we find out she has 3 beautiful daughters and her husband who is interested as well!! A FAMILY!!! We picked up right where I'm sure the last sisters left off. She said she'd been reading the BOM and that she found that it really contained God's plan for us within it. She's studying with the témoins as well, which is always a good sign. I think it means people are really searching diligently to find the truth! She agreed that she would be baptized when she found the truth!! (She couldn't come to church this week because her poor 3 week old baby is sick..... everyone pray for her!!)

Replacement glasses arrived!

Sound check for this weekend's spectacular spectacular

A couple more ancient ami stories.. :) So a few days after we made all the calls, we get a call back from a man named Vako. He's an immigrant from Russia. He took the missionary lessons for a few years and knows the church and the ward very well. It was super unclear on his fiche why the lessons stopped (seriously that's my biggest pet peeve), but I think he might have just been having a hard time and needed a break for a bit. So anyway, he called and told us that he'd love to meet with us again! We set up a rdv for that saturday. He arrived right on time but our member tombez-vous-ed us (haha it's okay she forgot), and it was pouring rain so we couldn't have the lesson outside.. he assured us he would be at church the next day and that we could just meet next week! HE CAME TO CHURCH!! And we had to do literally NOTHING to get him integrated. He went straight into priesthood and started chatting with a bunch of people. He will be baptized.

Train ride to Oloron

The Pyrenees

We went to pass an ancient ami family - the Lumwmba(?)'s (I usually write and say Lulumba because I don't know how to pronounce it or spell it haha). So we passed and they were so excited to see us!! We couldn't go in because the wife wasn't home, but they told us that we could pass whenever we wanted to! Afterwards we decided to porte a bit on that street. Within 20 minutes we found THREE OTHER HOUSES who were interested in learning more!! Can you believe that? Maybe that doesn't sound as awesome as it was, but we are stoked. We'll be going back next week with a member and teaching all 4 families. :)

Mirror selfie

Church in Pau

Michael update: He texted us this week telling us that he wanted to stop lessons and coming to church. Didn't phase me whatsoever. Basically texted back and told him that we weren't giving up on him and that he needed to have patience with himself and God to be able to receive his answer - we reminded him that "ce qui cherche trouve." (seek and ye shall find) Later that night he responded with this Benjamin Franklin quote: "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason. The morning daylight appears plainer when you put out your candle." And he came to church.

I love Oloron!!!

Construction in Oloron is still beautiful

Oloron

Oloron reminds me of home (Carcassonne)

Soeur Bagley

Just an explanation of all of the gorgeous pictures - we went to Oloron this week to visit a family in the ward and a less active (and to do some other work because missionaries hardly ever go there). I cannot WAIT to bring you guys there! It is breath-taking and they have a Lindt chocolate factory there.. it smells like chocolate when you walk around. Seriously its a fairy tale there. Reminded me so much of Carcassonne. :)

While we were porting last night

Let me tell you a little bit about last night. So we had people we wanted to pass and I thought for SURE i knew how to get to certain road without looking at a map (seriously always a bad idea). We started walking and we got sooo lost. We were wayy off from where we needed to be. I stopped and asked a couple if they could tell us the name of the road. They were so willing to help. They told us - "oh just come with us!! we'll go look it up on the computer!!" We followed them to their house but by then we had talked out where the road was. So the wife offered to take us to the road! Seriously, who does that! So nice! She told us that her daughter had just returned from backpacking Costa Rica and thought that she would have wanted someone to help her if she had been lost, so it was the least she could do. They were seriously the nicest people. They thought it was wonderful what we did. We didn't really have much time to talk but we left her with our card! Hopefully we run into her again!

Hey Soeur Richardson, I found cheap sticky notes in France!

Are you proud? Look how much water I drank this week!!!

So after that we porte-ed a bit because we couldn't find the ancient amis house and then we started trying to find a bus to take home. Sunday schedule is the weirdest and there are practically NO buses. We started walking and by then it was dark and we were having such a hard time finding somewhere. We ended up walking in back roads and I started to have the weirdest feeling. Never felt anything like it before. Then I heard a voice speaking to me "Don't get on the bus. Call a member." We checked the bus times and it came in about 30 minutes, I just knew we couldn't be outside, or get on the bus. And there was no way I was ignoring a prompting that strong. My companion at first thought I was just a little bit crazy because I'm always anxious when we're out when its dark. But of course she agreed we should listen to the prompting. We camped out in US Pizza (to avoid being in the streets...) and started calling everyone we could. Seriously no one could come and get us. Finally (bless her heart) Aline (Leang) came to the rescue AGAIN - she always helps us, I seriously love her. Still don't know what would have happened had we been on the bus or outside but as soon as we were in the car with Aline, the horrible feeling went away instantly.

My beautiful companion

Me!!

We wrote her a poem to thank her for everything she does for us that I just have to send home.

Aline, Aline you are so great.

You've picked us up when it was late.

You speak English like a boss.

You probably even know the word "dross" (don't know if that's really a word, but it rhymes...)

When we need google, you're always there.

No one could replace you and they wouldn't dare.

Maintenant on écrit en français,

parce qu'on a pensé que c'était une bonne idée.

On sait que l'église est vrai,

et l'évanglie apporte la paix.

C'est un poème de nos coeurs.

On vous aime sans fin

     -les Soeurs

She responded with this. :)

Chères amies, je vous aime

Tout comme les nems...! :-D

Je ne said pas faire de bon rimes

Mais au moins, ce n'est pas un crime...

I'm glad you called me

So you can go home safely!

Ahhhh we died. I love Aline. I love our ward. I love Pau. I love my life. I love the gospel. And I love being a missionary.

Have a great week family!!!

Je vous aime!!

View from Centre Ville

Soeur Everett

3 Nephi 11:14-15

Carcassonne news: the family Pondela are now ENGAGES (committed) for baptism!!! WHAT!!! I about cried when I saw them on the engagé list this week!!!!

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. :)

Carcassonne: Une compte de fée

This week was literally UNREAL. I can't even begin to describe all of the miracles we saw. It's been really hard not having Soeur Richardson here, we definitely miss everything she brings and its been amazing to see how much all of our amis and our ward love her. All of the prayers I've heard for her have touched my heart. She really left a mark on Carcassonne, that's for sure. (Also Soeur Richardson - Nice was SUPER excited you Facebook messaged her!! And you should've heard them pray for you...might have shed a tear...)



Soeurs Caldwell, Everett et Mann

Can I just start by saying we had 23 LESSONS THIS WEEK!!!! I could barely believe everything we got done this week and how amidst helping all of our old amis we were STILL able to find new people to teach!! It's been incredible to see the hand of God in our lives.



Thanksgiving!

Let me start with the most miraculous day of my entire mission so far. Everyone take note - Wednesday, November 27th. We woke up in the morning and neither of our phones worked. We had been 100% cut off from everyone. We couldn't confirm appointments, we couldn't set up anything, RIEN!! So we went to the church to use the landline so that we would be able to accept a super important call. But the person hadn't been informed that our phones weren't working so naturally he called us on our cell phones. And somehow... WE GOT THE CALL. And right after we hung up... THE PHONES STOPPED WORKING. And they didn't work for THREE DAYS after that. Miracle????? Yes. (Also our phones not working for 3 days was highly annoying, but we still had 23 lessons, so I guess it worked out fine haha.) Then as we were walking on our way to a rendezvous Soeur Caldwell was like "hey is that Nicolas?" and so I yell "NICOLAS" (thinking back on that I should probably calm down a little when I run into people haha). He told us he had just tried calling us but obviously our phones weren't working. So because we say him we were able to set up a rendezvous for that night! When we showed up to our rendezvous we got to meet our amis sister! She happened to be SUPER interested and said that she wanted to get baptized! (She doesn't live in our secteur normally..but still!!!) But wait, there's more. Rewind to Tuesday night when we are having our "5 month on a mission" party and I go to take a picture and realize THERE IS NO MEMORY CARD. I left it in the internet café... and you know people in France - not the most honest people. We went back to the internet café, we walk in and immediately the man who works there (we're good friends but I don't know his name...maybe I should ask!!) he said "attends" and he goes to look for something and COMES BACK WITH MY SD CARD. I literally almost cried. Then later that night we had an amazing rendezvous with Nicolas (grown men cry when they feel the spirit, its true). At the end of the rendezvous we realized it was 9:26 and we had 4 minutes to get all the way back to our apartment...its' NOT close. So of course we ran. And guess what time it was when we unlocked the front door? 9:30. On the dot.



Nicolas

WOW, that was a really big paragraph, but that day we were just SO grateful to God for everything He had done for us. It was just amazing.

Nadia

Something you'll find amusing: At FHE on Monday we had dinner afterwards cooked by Soeur Martin (as usual). She gave us this SUPER good soup. She told us all to guess what was in it. It was green so obviously we guessed normal things. She and the bishop just kind of looked at each other and kept laughing. Finally they told us what the main ingredient was. None of us knew the word and then their son translated it into English... POISON IVY. I ATE POISON IVY SOUP. Apparently its really good for you? Hahaha....

Wow I wish I had SO much more time to write. We had the most incredible week but I have no time to tell you everything that happened!! Things are just going so well! I couldn't ask for better amis or a better ward. Everyone and everything is just amazing. (Except for our crazy neighbor who yells at us for walking too loudly.. we saw her in the street one day and literally ran to avoid talking to her haha. Maybe we'll make her cookies this week :)

Well family I LOVE YOU!! I pray for you all the time. Thank you for all of your prayers, I can feel them and definitely saw many answered prayers this week. :)

Je vous aime!!!
Soeur Everett

3 Nephi 19:9

Crazy Week! (Week 22)

Well I guess I should start off by catching everyone up. This has just been an insanely crazy week. We had Zone Conference this Wednesday where we all had our chance to talk to President. He comforted all of us (like he always does, he is seriously the best President we could have asked for). The next couple days kind of spiraled down after that. Soeur Richardson was suddenly transferred up to Lyon because of some health issues.  I had been with her for 10 WEEKS and she was being taken out of my life completely unexpectedly!  But I took comfort in knowing that this was the will of the Lord and that in the end, this is what Soeur Richardson needs.

I think it’s about that time to give Soeur Richardson gets a little “ode.”  She is an angel - an absolute angel. She is one of the most selfless people I know. All she ever wanted was to make sure I was happy and that I felt like the best person in the world. She is obsessed with sticky notes and loved leaving them for me in unexpected places for me to happen upon. (This is something I'm definitely going to keep doing.) She is so humble, but she is INCREDIBLE with French - someone tells us the word for something or a way to say something and she doesn't forget it! After ONE time!! It’s really amazing. And she is such a great teacher. She explains the gospel eloquently, yet simply. People can just feel the spirit and God's love when she's around them. I am SO lucky that I had 10 weeks with her. She will be someone that I love forever. Whether or not she stays here on her mission, I know that she changed many people’s lives, including my own.

Alright let’s talk about how Carcasssone is on FIRE right now!!!! Now that we are in a trio we have double the people to teach and double the miracles going on! I can't even believe all of the people we have in our teaching pool!! During weekly planning we planned for 23 lessons and 12 amis at church - it sounds crazy, but it’s COMPLETELY possible with all of the people we have here!

Ok I need to tell you a couple miracles. So since Soeur Richardson left on Saturday night we lost our pianist for the primary program which was the NEXT DAY. Soeur Caldwell and I frantically tried to learn all of the songs (there had to be about 12) in just a couple hours... I don't think the ward realized how big of a deal it was that we had to play. We were extremely worried that we were going to mess up! Especially when this program was so important to so many people! Even though we had barely practiced these songs, somehow we made it through the entire program....without ANY noticeable errors. I just about cried for joy when it was over. At times during the program I didn't even know what I was playing. Literally I could feel God leading my hands. Truly a miracle.

Now for something even better... JEAN PHILLIPE!!! He is just about as elect as they come. He now has a baptismal date for December 19th and every time we see him he talks about how excited he is to get baptized! Wow, I'm just about to cry right now writing about it. I feel so lucky to be able to teach him. He understands everything as if knew it all before. After we taught the plan of salvation, he explained it to our recent convert who didn't quite understand it. He is just wonderful. I just pray that I can stay here another transfer and see him be baptized!! But we'll see where the Lord wants me to go.

Well I guess that’s all I have for this week! I hope you're all healthy and happy. Thanks for all the letters you send me!! I have about 10 letters to write today... but more than likely I won't have time so IM SORRY!! Just know that I really appreciate them even if it takes me a while to get back to you. :)

Love you so much!
Soeur Everett

I think I'm going to go with my favorite scripture for this week - 2 Nephi 2:24. Don't forget to give the missionaries people to teach! :)

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

Amazing Week!

This past week was SO good!!!! There was just one day that really stuck out from all the rest so I will probably just focus my letter on that one day!! This week President called "M-week" - all week we worked extra hard as a mission and focus on the same things daily. Friday was planned out to be the most hard-working day of all, and I have to say that I could definitely see the miracles that came from working so hard!!!



Homemade chicken noodle soup

Sadly for me and Soeur Richardson, we were on exchange on monster-day, but hey, DOUBLE THE MIRACLES. I was with Soeur Warren - one of the Sister Training Leaders from Montpellier. We worked SO hard. We started off the day with a visit to a member in our ward and contacted the entire way there (Soeur Warren is just about the best contacted I've ever seen). On our way there we got a coordonnée. Then we had lunch at the church with our DMP - SO GOOD (he used to be a chef but then he changed his job to a karate teacher...aka he's an amazinggg cook).

After lunch with Frère Vital we had planned to have a lesson with Nadia (a less active in our ward), when she showed up she had a man with her. She told us she tricked him into coming and that she got him to come into the church building because she said she "needed to use the restroom" hahaha. Oh well, surprise member-present lesson AND new ami!!!! AND our less active is doing missionary work. Ah, what could be better???

Soeur Caldwell

After our lesson with Michel we had a lesson with a pretty new ami, Mireille. In the middle of our lesson.... DEBORAH PONDELA. She is an old engagé that we haven't seen in about 2 weeks and who knew that she was BFFS with Mireille's son and daughter!! WHAT. She was so happy to see us and said that she had been out of town for a long time and that she wanted to see us next week!!

The mists of darkness

Don't worry it keeps getting better. So we walk outside of their apartment and the first person we contacted was super interested. His name is Fabrice!!! He's a practicing Catholic but he said that recently he has had the thought in his mind about why everyone just assumes the Catholic church is the best and that maybe there was something else out there. He said usually he wouldn't have said yes to us, but he had just barely been thinking about it so he thought to himself "why not!" We ended up having a lesson with him at his apartment THAT NIGHT. He was super grateful for the Book of Mormon and said he would definitely start reading it!

And we had a great lesson with the Phelipes... but you all already know the Phelipes are amazing.

Crazy day huh!? I couldn't believe how much the Lord blessed us that day. But he does when we work hard!!

The work is just going SO well here!! Last week for weekly planning I ran out of room in my planner to plan for all the amis we have. Keep us in your prayers!

Que Dieu vous bénisse!!!

Soeur Everett

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!!

NO LONGER A BLUE

First of all, can I just say how excited Soeur Richardson and I were when we saw the picture of our moms together??? We might have screamed in an internet café... (sorry everyone.) But hey, first things first. IM STAYING IN CARCASSONNE!!!! WITH SOEUR RICHARDSON!!!! We are sooo pumped to keep going. We absolutely love being companions - she is literally the most easy person to get along with in the entire world. She basically has no faults. I just absolutely adore her!! We're going to kill it this transfer, just wait and see!!




(Clockwise) Soeurs Everett, Beeny, Richardson, Mann

I am so sad that Soeur Beeny left us, but I know there are so many people waiting for her in Chambery. Soeur Beeny is just amazing. I can't even begin to describe how much I love her!! We're certain that someday on our missions we will be companions... but until then I'm going to miss her so much!!!!  Soeur Caldwell is Soeur Mann's new companion.  She came into the mission with me.  SHE'S AMAZING!!

Narbonne

This week was FILLED with miracles!!!!! I'll admit last week wasn't the best week in the world, but this week MORE than made up for it!!! I felt like Heavenly Father was putting so many amazing people in my path, letting me know that he doesn't want me to get discouraged, but to keep working hard! And guess what? Hard work ALWAYS brings miracles!!!

I can't even count how many miracles I want to share, so I'm just going to have to write a lot really briefly!!!

First of all, today as we were walking back from the GARE after picking up Soeur Caldwell we ran into CHRISTIAN!!! This is the first time we have talked to him since he decided not to get baptized and he told us that he missed having us over and that he wants to see us this week!!! AH!!!

On Tuesday we had exchanges with the other sisters and I had a chance to work with Soeur Mann - she is just incredible. Together we contacted 226 people and holy cow did we see a ton of success. I think my favorite miracle that we contacted together is named Kilian. He reminds me SO much of Nicolas!!! Another tender mercy from Heavenly Father. He knew how sad I was that I wouldn't be able to teach Nicolas anymore, so he sent me Kilian!!! He is in the army as well and he has had a lot of hard things happen in his life and now he just isn't so sure about God. I told him that God put us in his path for a reason, and that the least he could do was give it a chance. He completely opened up after that. We gave him an overview of the Book of Mormon and he agreed to read it and meet with us!! We're meeting with him tonight, I'm so excited!!!

Next, Max!!! Soeur Richardson and I contacted max a few days ago. He is very curious about religion and told us that everything we were saying to him made sense. We tried to give him a Book of Mormon but he said he didn't feel comfortable taking it before we had met for a little bit (I don't really get that reasoning....). Anyway, so we set up a rendez-vous for a couple days later. I ended up going to this rendez-vous with Soeur Beeny actually. But we went there and waited for him and he didn't show up. After waiting a bit we decided to leave and contact. About 5 minutes into contacting.... WE SEE MAX. He apologized and said he completely forgot but that we could have the rendez-vous right then and there. SO WE DID. We had a wonderful discussion about the Book of Mormon and he told us he would take it and read it! He accepted baptism but said that he needed to read the entire book before he could be baptized. But HEY, I invited someone to baptism in the middle of the street. And he said yes!!

News about the Phelipes!!! Anderson told us that his papers are ALMOST finished!!!! Only about 2 maybe 3 weeks left and they will be able to be baptized!!! IM SO EXCITED!!!! (Soeur Caldwell asked me what the best thing that happened to me on my mission was so far, and I told her the Phelipes - they are my whole life right now, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.)

Ok one other thing. Soeur Richardson has been SOO sick this past week - thank heavens we have angel sisters that live with us and went on exchanges all week so we could all see our amis. But if you could keep her in your prayers, that would be great!! :)

Seriously, this week has been absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see what this next transfer will bring!!!

Love you all so much!!!

Soeur Everett

P.S. John - Marcos is working on his letter to you!!! He is translating it with google translate as he goes... he has been taking english in school so he knows some. Anyway, apparently its a long process, but a return letter is coming soon!!

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

I LOVE MY MISSION!!!

First of all, THANK YOU FOR THE LETTERS EVERYONE. Getting letters as a missionary is SUCH a wonderful feeling, so feel free to keep writing to me!!! :) Also dad, the sheet music??? I almost cried from happiness. And of course right away we had a jam session and sang "Minuit Chretiens" (O Holy Night).  Thank goodness for a companion who plays the piano amazingly, am I right??? But seriously, thanks everyone!!!

This week was AMAZING!!! (As usual.) And of course General Conference made it all the more amazing!! I want to hear all about everyone's favorite talks!! My favorite talk by far was by Elder Richard G. Scott in the Sunday morning session. I felt like it was just for me. :) I can't wait for the Liahona so I can read everything all over again!!!! (Also, I haven't watched Sunday afternoon session yet... maybe there will be something I like more in that one... who knows!)

Sunset from our apartment in Carcassonne

Now for some MIRACLES!!!!! Ok brace yourself for the best miracle ever. So last Wednesday we go over to give Frère Pondela (an inactive member in our ward) a lesson. When we got there he invited his 18 year old daughter to join us. A lesson that we originally planned for Frère Pondela turned into the first lesson for Deborah!!! Everything we said about the church made sense to her. When we talked about modern-day prophets she said "of course that's true." It came to a point in the lesson when I knew we needed to invite her to baptism. I whispered to Soeur Richardson in English that we needed to do it and she told me I could go ahead and do it. All of a sudden the words that we recite every morning were completely erased from my memory so I told Soeur Richardson she had to do it. She invited her to be baptized on November 10th and SHE ACCEPTED. Absolute miracle.

This week is going to be soo much fun. We have a Zone conference in Aix-en-Provence so we will be staying in Montpellier tonight and tomorrow night and spending the day tomorrow out in Aix!!! I'm SO EXCITED!!!! Also we have exchanges with the sister training leaders from Friday to Saturday so we won't be here all that much this week. But I can assure you, miracles are still coming!!!

I just want to dedicate a section of this letter to the amazing sisters I serve with here in Carcassonne. I feel like I don't talk about them nearly enough, so it's about time I express my love!!!

First of all, Soeur Beeny. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. We have been together for about 9 weeks and I've grown really close to her!! She speaks French REALLY well and she is just so enthusiastic about everything! She is really inspiring to me because it seems like she is never down and never out of energy! She is also soo willing to serve us - she always cooks for us and is doing dishes and vacuuming and whatnot all the time. There are so many things I have learned from her and soo many more things I can learn from her as well. She is AMAZING.

Second, Soeur Mann. :)) We haven't spend a whole ton of time together but she has one of the sweetest and most sincere hearts of anyone I have met!! Actually, she reminds me a whole lot of Anna!! She is so incredibly loving and Christlike!!! Whenever anyone needs to talk in the apartment about anything, she is always there to listen and comfort. She definitely has the gift of being able to love people as Christ does.

And of course.... SOEUR RICHARDSON. She is literally an angel sent to me from heaven. I can't even begin to explain how much she means to me and how much I love her!!! She is always looking for ways to make me feel incredibly good about myself. I don't think my self-esteem has ever been higher than it is in this time that I've been with her!! She is so sincere and SO loving. She loves being a missionary and her love of the gospel radiates when she teaches people and invites them to come unto Christ.

Sticky Notes of Encouragement

I AM SO BLESSED to be with these wonderful sisters!!! I'm so glad that I still have these next 3 weeks to live with them and I KNOW that after our missions we will be friends for the rest of our lives. :) Anyway, I know this letter was a little different than usual, but I really wanted to tell you about the wonderful sisters I live with!!

I love you all SO MUCH and I miss you!! Please keep writing me, its soo good to hear from you!!

Love,

Soeur Everett

P.S. Mosiah 2:5-6, 9 I LOVE CONFERENCE.