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

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

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 9)

Bonjour famille!!!!

 

Oh my Carcassonne is such a dream!! (No American keyboard today so forgive me if there are errors and such...) But honestly I feel like I couldn't be more lucky!! I love it here!! The other day we were street-boarding on the bridge by the castle and we contacted 135 people in an hour - SO FUN!! Even when they say "Je ne parle pas anglais" :) 

 

Oh I almost forgot, TODAY IS MY 2 MOIS ANNIVERSSAIRE (of being a missionary) - whoohoooooo!!!



Soeur Everett - tres chic!

I guess I'll start off with the miracle of the week!!! We have a muslim ami whose name is Mohammed. He is so kind and so wonderful! He told us that he would read the Book of Mormon and he says he really loves meeting with us! However, Mohammed isn't the miracle. One day we were walking around Carcassonne and we ran into him! He was with a friend of his named Veronique. She told us she really wanted to meet with us because she has been searching for the truth. The very first time we met with her she was with her son Alexandre (he is incredible - soooo much faith for such a little boy!!) They accepted baptism in our first meeting!! I think that Veronique could just tell that there was something different about us. She even told us "Everytime I walk by your church I feel something." AH she's so great!! She's on schedule to get baptized next month, so pray for her and her son!!

 

Ok I guess I need to clarify that I am not the pianist yet. The bishops daughter plays the piano but she is only here for vacation, so I will probably be the pianist starting in October I think!! (Oh by the way I sang in church with Sœur Beeny on Sunday! It was super fun!)

 



Bee sting - get thee hence abeille!

Another story for you! :) So the other day we went over to a members house for lunch (I have mangez-vous at least twice a week since I've been here, which is apparently not normal? But WOW the food is so good here!!!) Anyway, so we go to the Mudarras and they bring out this DELICIOUS tomato salad and bread and what not and I just ate and ate... After she cleared our plates she came back in with AN ENOURMOUS CHICKEN! I was already full!!! (I know I've been warned about this so many times....) We then proceeded to have I think 4 more courses... I dont think I ate again for another 24 hours. I ate so much food. And they kept wanting me to eat more and more and more!! Its ok I did it!! Suprisingly, I lost the weight I gained in North Carolina!! I think its because I walk more, not because I eat less..:)

 



Soeurs Vidal et Everett

The work is just going so well here and we are seeing sooo many miracles!! I have been incredibly blessed to be companions with Sœur Vidal, she is absolutely incredible, I don't know what I'm going to do without her!! Keep us in your prayers, I have SUCH a testimony of prayer and I know every prayer helps us see miracles!

 

One last little thought. So I've been reading in the Book of Mormon about Alma the Younger, Amulek, and the sons of Mosiah lately and I've just been absolutely amazed at their missionary work!!! They are probably some of the best missionaries that there ever were! But what really struck me was Abish! There aren't too many stories about the women in the Book of Mormon, but I just love Abish! After King Lamoni and his servants had all fallen to the earth praising God, Abish seeing this desired that everyone should see this sight so that their faith could be strengthened too! In Alma 19:17 it says she RAN from house to house telling everyone to come because she desired so much for everyone to know the truth! How great is she!? As a missionary, at times it is really difficult to maintain stamina and to continue being diligent throughout the entire day, but I have found that the more diligent we are, the more miracles we see!

 

I love you all so very much! I pray for you everyday! Keep reading the Book of Mormon! :)

 

Bissous!

 

Sœur Everett

Carcassonne - First Full Week (Week 8)

Oh my, what an incredible first week in Carcassonne!! (Scored the American keyboard again, so I can type more!! Woohoo!!) I can't even begin to describe how blessed I feel to be here at this time in my life! Being in Carcassonne is a dream come true and every time I sit by the window looking at the sunset or sunrise from my apartment I still wonder how I ever got so lucky to be here! I have seen SO many miracles this week, I don't even know where to begin!!





Sunset from the Apartment

It's incredible how much the Lord is helping me with my French! I have no idea how I'm pulling out my French grammar and vocab from 3 years back or more, but somehow I'm doing it! Soeur Vidal and I have been working on contacting a lot this week. At first I was super timid, because stopping random French people is quite terrifying (especially when most of them keep walking by saying "Je ne suis pas croyant" - you were right mom). [TRANSLATION: "I'm not a believer"] But honestly, I have grown to LOVE contacting. Soeur Vidal taught me something that really struck me. She said, "Well how can you know whether someone wants to hear the gospel if you don't talk to them first?" SHE'S RIGHT. I have seen so many miracles in street contacting this week and I know its because we have been working hard at it! I think its truly incredible when she leaves me to contact people while she goes across the street to contact someone else, and for some reason I understand everything the person is saying to me and I know exactly what to say back! I know that there is no way I am doing this by myself because even when I was taking French in high school I wasn't as good at understanding as I am now. I'm so grateful for the Lord's help! I don't know where I would be right now without it!

Soeurs Vidal et Everett at Church in Carcassonne

So you guessed it, on Sunday I had to give a talk last minute! It was only a 5 minute talk, but still...a 5 minute talk in Sacrament Meeting without advanced notice, in FRENCH. I couldn't tell you everything I said if I tried. But somehow I got through and had all the words I wanted to say! Afterwards people came up to me saying "This is your first week in France? Your French is so good!" Wow, I felt like crying I was so happy haha. So yes, French is coming along great! I am so blessed to have a native French speaker as a companion! She helps me sooo much!



Quick update on the ankle! It's doing PERFECT. It is completely healed! The doctors in North Carolina told me I just had to wear it for about 2 weeks and longer if I felt like I needed to, but it is doing great and it doesn't hurt when I don't wear the brace! And Soeur Vidal's knee is doing great as well! I haven't heard her say anything about it hurting the past few days so I think she's just fine too! :)

Alright, now to talk about a few miracles and our amies!! We are teaching this wonderful Brazilian family, the Philipe's. They are seriously THE BEST. The only thing holding them back from baptism is the fact that they are not legally married here in France because there are complications with it. And they are also very poor and just can't afford it. So we're just praying for a miracle and that they'll be able to be married and then baptized! They are so strong and I can see how much the gospel has truly brought their family together. Nice (the mother) told us that the Book of Mormon is her favorite book, and she diligently reads everything we assign to her! Their son Marcos (9) is super shy, but absolutely adorable! And the father Anderson travels a lot since he's in the military so we've only met with him once, but his French is really good and he has such a strong testimony of the gospel! I only wish that I knew more Portuguese so I could speak some Portuguese with them haha.

I haven't met any of our other amies from the Sisters before us because they are all on vacation, but we've found some on our own this week! I want to share a quick miracle! While we were on our way home for the night, we were walking by a fountain about a 2 minutes walk away from our apartment. Soeur Vidal was contacting someone else close by and I approached this middle-aged man and started speaking to him in French. He gave me this super confused look and said "Je ne parle pas francais." HE SPOKE ENGLISH. I was so excited (it actually probably freaked him out a little how excited I was to speak English with someone). He told me he was on the Carcassonne rugby team and that he had just moved here from South Africa. I asked him what his religious beliefs were and he told us that he was a Christian but didn't really have a church that he went to. I asked him if he'd like for us to teach him about our religion and he said yes!!!!! We got his number, but it still hadn't changed from his South African number and we aren't allowed to call out of country numbers. So a couple days later Andre came to mind and we decided to call the office elders to see if they could connect us to him so that we could set up a time to come and see him! They told us that we could go to the church and that the telephone there should work. As we were walking over to the church we literally didn't pass a single person to contact. The streets were 100% empty. We began to wonder if we should really walk all the way to the church right then to call one person if he might not even answer and we had so much to do that day! But we both felt like we needed to call him so we kept going. When we were almost to the church I saw this man in sunglasses and went up to him because I was so excited to finally contact someone!! For some reason he seemed super excited to see us, and then I realized IT WAS ANDRE!!! We were in literal shock. WHAT A MIRACLE. We got his address and he told us to stop by sometime this week, so I'll let you know how it goes! I don't know if you all understand that you never just "run into people" here in Carcassonne. But I have noticed that if we do, it was because the Lord put them in our path for a reason! Alright I don't have much time left, but this was the biggest miracle this week! We have several more miracle investigators as well and we are keeping very busy! The Lord really has put people in our path that are ready to accept the gospel!

 

Limoux!! (it's in our area, but we have to take a train/bus to get there) :)

I wanted to just share a quick testimony about the Atonement and the Book of Mormon. As I've been on my mission, I have grown such a strong testimony of both of them. Now more than ever as I frequently bare testimony of the power of the Atonement, I have seen lives change as they realize that as members of the church we have the unique opportunity to partake of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and that we have the opportunity to be truly and fully healed - physically and spiritually. I have learned over and over how inadequate I am for the work I am called to do. But the beautiful blessing of the Atonement is that I don't have to be good enough on my own! When I put in everything I have into being the best missionary I can be, the Lord makes up the rest, and I am able to experience miracles and do things that I never dreamed were possible! The Book of Mormon honestly changes people's lives. It truly is the keystone of our religion and if we didn't have the Book of Mormon, our gospel would be incomplete. I have learned on my mission that the Book of Mormon truly answers every question we have! What Joseph Smith said is true, "qu'un homme se rapprocherait davantage de Dieu en en suivant les preceptes que par n'importe quel autre livre." (Sorry I only have a French Book of Mormon on me, you'll have to translate that!)

[TRANSLATION: "...that a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” (from Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith)]

I love being a missionary and I love you all so much! Read the Book of Mormon more, I can absolutely promise you in reading it, your life will be better than it is right now.

Bissous!

Soeur Everett


P.S. Read Mosiah 24:14-15. I read these verses this morning and I absolutely love them!

 

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."