Transfer 2 and Bleus!

Bonjour Famille!

This week was crazy with transfers, trying to cram in a bunch of lessons before we headed to Lyon for BLEUS conference, and then the rain that has been happening nonstop in Perpignan right now.  Sister Castagno is the complete opposite of Allison in lots of ways, so it's definitely something different to get used to but I also know I've learned so much from her already.  She's still working on the language so that makes two of us, so sometimes we just have no idea what's going on and it's really scary.  Haha but the first few days we were together I felt SO GOOD about the language I think God was helping both of us so we could help each other.  Even though neither of us speak very well, Sister Castagno is amazing at bringing in the spirit to each of her lessons.  You can see the love she has for the people and the work and that's what brings her so much success.  I'm so excited to be working with her and excited for what else I can learn from her.

Our bleus conference in Lyon was awesome!  It was a BLAST seeing all of the other missionaries we were in the MTC with.  We reminisced on old times and talked about news any of us heard from our friends in the Paris mission.  It was so cool seeing how everyone has bloomed into a better missionary--taking initiative in working with their amis and everyone in their respective villes.  We learned a lot from President and the assistants, as always, and did a lot of role plays to help us improve things that are difficult. 

That night all the sisters and our companions stayed with the STLs, and it was a sisters birthday so we had permission to take all the remaining desserts from our lunch to have a little celebration that night in our apartment.  We decided to dress up with clothes from the dead pile (all the clothes sister missionaries leave when they go home) and we had some lovely outfits picked out.  Babes.  I'll send pictures.  I also have lots of fun pics from our conference, including some with my new companion and my MTC companion Sister Christensen! 

This Saturday we came home from Lyon and had a couple RDVs that ended up being cancelled, and we were so bummed.  But then a miracle.  We had another RDV across the town from the church with this lady who we contacted on the street but not really...we tried to do our questionnaire with her and she didn't have time but gave us her phone number and address and told us to come over so we're like....wow ok awesome, we're there.  But Saturday when we had to go find her house, it was pouring rain, and we knew it was across town.  We knew the woman was Muslim and it's usually difficult/near impossible to teach Muslims, and we also didn't know if she'd even be there.  But we braved the storm anyway and went, finally found her house, waited outside for a long time in the pouring rain, waited for her to buy soup at a nearby store, finally were able to sit down in her home and begin teaching.  We figured we would go the family route because we could see she was strong in her Muslim faith, but we started talking about the family and she immediately brings the conversation around to Jesus and what we believed and knew about life.  We were like whaattt this is cool.  So the more we talk we find out she actually used to have the sister missionaries over and became very close with them but there were a lot of things keeping her from keeping commitments and things like that and then they left Perpignan, so she didn't have contact with any missionaries.  She proceeded to basically say that the obstacles before are gone and wanted to know all about the Book of Mormon.  We started teaching a mini Restoration lesson to her and she took time to look at and learn about all the images in the Book and then asked if she could read it!  We were SO EXCITED.  She was practically begging us to give her reading assignments.  It was amazing.  She has three adorable children but said she has tons of time to read and meet with us while the kids are at school.  Ahhh!!!  Seriously the coolest part of my mission so far.  She was the most attentive person I've ever taught, and she had no objections to learning about Jesus Christ and his divine nature even though she is Muslim.  We're seeing her this week and I'm so excited.

Sunday was Soeur Castagno's first time at church and it was great!  People invited us over to eat, one recent convert approached us and wants to be actively involved in helping us teach lessons and contacting, and one recent convert who has been having problems with church lately asked us if we could start the lessons again.  My companion kept saying to me, "Sister, no one does this in our wards back in Lyon.  This is amazing."  I know every missionary claims their ward is the best in the mission, but the Perpignan ward REALLY IS the best ward in the mission.  And multiple other missionaries in other villes that have served here attest to the fact.  I feel so lucky!  I also feel like now there is no excuse to not have members present in our lessons and use them in every aspect of our work. 

This week I want to testify of the power of change and trust in the Lord.  Missionary work and life is hard.  There's no getting around that.  But the second we recognize our inability to accomplish things alone and humble ourselves before the Lord, letting him know that we have a desire to give Him our all and become better, He actually gives us that power to let go of those worries and press forward.  He gives us that power to take that one extra step that we don't want to take.  He gives us power allll along the way, and then He even gives us huge blessings and miracles after the fact just for taking those one or two steps.  And it's a never ending process.  Living the Gospel is always the easier route.  One of my favorite scriptures for this week: Mosiah 4:9.  Look it up! 

I love you all and look forward to your emails every week, even if I don't always get to respond to them individually.  Thank you Christopher, Steve, and Lacey especially for your little paragraphs here and there!  You are the cutest/greatest and I miss you!!

Je vous aime!

Soeur Hurd