Soeur Hurd in Lyon: Bonjour!

Bonjour Famille!

So sorry we weren't able to write Monday--we spent a few hours in Collioure and then had to leave early for a train for our exchange in Toulouse. So Collioure is a beautiful coastal town with a fort and a beautiful cathedral and, yeah just so nice. It couldn't have been a more perfect day to go--it was super windy at first but the sun was shining and it was sooo nice! I love being in this part of France because spring comes early :) We walked around a lot and dipped our hands in the Mediterranean (I pretty much fell in the water, of course), took some pics (you will have to excuse us for our appearance) eat delicious food, toured the castle, and walked through the cathedral. I LOVE visiting old cathedrals like that--it was one of my favorite things on my study abroad to pass by a small, plain looking church and walk inside to see the exquisite art and architecture inside. Of course, we had to get gelato because we used to get it three times a day with dad when we were in Europe so naturally...yes. We were excited.

Tuesday we had our exchanges in Toulouse and it was so fun! The STLs there are really sweet and it was good to learn from them. I worked with Sister DeFeo who is from Italy and on her last transfer. She is the sweetest missionary and taught me so much about how to be a good missionary, and she probably didn't even know it. They are coming to Perpignan for a blitz soon so I'm excited to work with them again. We did porte-a-porting which is door to door tracting and it was my first time! It was so much different than I imagine it in America haha. Everyone has a gate in front of their house, so we buzz in at the gate and they open their door or their window shutter and yell out to us to see what we want. We yell back that we're missionaries and we're sharing a message that will strengthen their family and they can never hear us so they just shake their heads and point to their ears and then wave us away as they close their doors/shutters. I laugh and think "you're waving away your salvation!" But we will forgive them. They'll "hear" one day. We had one woman come out and we talked to her about her family and her daughters and even said we could pass by again soon! So that's a plus.

Last Friday we had zone training in Montpellier and it was so great! President has come up with a new program called "Project Elijah." It contains a questionnaire and booklet and also cards we can give out. The point of it is to contact people by talking about their families and bring in the Spirit of Elijah to help them understand the importance of our message for their families. Right after we got off the train back at Perpignan we tried out the questionnaire and fixed two RDVs! We hadn't fixed any the whole week I had been in the city so that was cool. We've started to share the same lessons with members of our ward to get them on board with family history. Everyone talk to the family history person in your ward and get a "My Family" booklet and fill it out! Think about it--how much do you remember about your great-grandparents or even your grandparents? They lived lives just like you are doing right now, and you have a lot of stories of your own to tell! If you don't know anything or only a little about your (great)grandparents, that means that in two or three generations, no one will know anything about you. Voila! See how important it is to discover, remember, preserve, and strengthen your families?

Ok something weird: Remember how Allison was always the picky one growing up and wouldn't eat anything but ketchup sandwiches and sweets? Ok the roles have changed. I am so picky here and Allison has to comfort me and tell me it's ok. Mostly it's just the cheese. I can't. I know it's basically blasphemy to live in France and not enjoy the variety of cheese but it is so hard for me. We went to a home for dinner and they had five beautiful courses, but one was the cheese and I tried a few, the kinds Allison all assured me were mild and good, and I couldn't. Even goat cheese! It was a painful ten minutes for me as I forced it down hahaha. But hey maybe I'll learn to love all of them by the time I come home! We'll see :)

My French is ehh. It's coming, I can tell a teeny tiny bit of difference from when I first got to the field, but it's still hard. I have zero personality and I just sit there and smile and laugh even when it's probably not appropriate for such haha but oh well. C'est la vie!

Allison's birthday is this Saturday and she's going to be 21! I don't know exactly what we'll do to celebrate cause we don't really have down time, but we are going to a recent convert's home for dinner and she knows it's her birthday so she said we will have a nice dessert for her. I'm still working on a few other ideas of things I can do to help her have a nice birthday. Send her letters! She'll love it, even if they're late.

Christopher, Stephen, Lacey, thank you for the emails finally!! I was so happy to read them! I will send you all letters back soon. You are the best little siblings and Allison and I miss you a lot! Oftentimes we reminisce on memories we have with everyone and laugh until it hurts.

Je vous aime!

Soeur Hurd

These photos are all pretty much from the MTC the last couple days.