Conference Weekend!!

Bonjour Famille! 

AHHHHHH missionary life just makes you obsessed with conference.  I've been counting down to it all week and finally it happened and I was so happy.  Wasn't it fantastic?  I can't wait until we get the next Liahona so I can study all the talks for the next six months.  We are incredibly blessed to have the words of the Lord through modern day prophets and apostles.  I feel like a lot of the talks seemed to talk about marriage and family.  I found it very interesting because this past week in my studies I've been thinking a lot more about families and why they are so essential in all the eternities.  Our families here are on earth are really the pattern of eternity.  I have also been thinking a lot about my own future family that I'll have one day and how I hope to raise them.  It seems to me that there was also the theme of relying on your own testimony and sticking to it.  I didn't get to see all the talks because they don't broadcast the last one here for us, but this morning we watched part of it for our studies and WOW, Elder Pearson's talk just slaps you in the face doesn't it?  He may or may not be the next Elder Holland...  My favorite talk of all might have been Elder Christofferson's.  I think actually most conference sessions he's my favorite talk haha. 

So I love how every conference session in our family we listen as they call the names for the new Seventies and joke around that they'll call President Dudley's name because he is perfect and already speaks like a general authority and we all expect it....and this session I was like, "yeah, I'm listening for a Dudley, it's tradition."  And there it was!  So cool that he is an area seventy now!  He is the greatest. 

This week was great not only because of conference but also because we had zone conference!  We learned so much--check Allison's letter for more specifics.  But it was super awesome and I felt like it was ALL for me.  Everything in it was specific to some of my needs right now.  We also did roleplays, as always, and learned how to improve our conversations with people.  OF COURSE I was chosen to roleplay contacting on a bus which is definitely the worst and they timed us for 60 seconds and I was terrified.  But it was ok.  I have so much to learn.  We also had interviews with President and it was my first one apart from the one I had an hour after we arrived in France.  And unfortunately the last :(  This transfer is the last time he'll be doing interviews before he finishes.  He's the greatest!  He gave my companion and me specific instructions about specific people in our sector so we definitely have our work cut out for us--and potentially only three weeks to do it!  Definitely motivation to work harder.

A funny/horribly embarrassing story about zone conference:  We were eating hot dogs for lunch, French style, and President sat diagonally across from me.  Then one of his assistants came and put his plate right next to me on the other side and walked away to get something.  President told me to hide something in his food while he was gone because they always do that in their family.  The Elder came back before we could, but President kept talking about it.  He pointed to the grenadine sirop container (sirop(?) is this fruity syrup-y stuff that the French put in their water and it gives it a nice fruit flavor) and said, "Oh yeah that would have been good to put on his hot dog."  Sister Castagno really wanted to do it still so she leaned across me and asked the Elder if he could go get her a cup, so he left and President nudged the sirop towards me and said "You have to act fast!"  Naturally I'm thinking well I have to obey President, so I grabbed the sirop container and started to pour slowly but nothing came out so I poured the bottle more and then TONS of sirop GUSHED out and just completely, 100% drenched the hot dog and his plate.  I didn't realize the opening for the sirop was like the size of a quarter and not a tiny opening like a vinegar bottle.  I was mortified.  Just sooooo embarrassed.  Like I just straight up ruined his whole meal and I didn't even know him well enough to be like hahah sorry bud!  Also he is an assistant!  Seriously who does that??  Only mean people deliberately drench someone's meal in sirop!  I felt soooo bad!!  He came back and it was so awkward and people were laughing but he was just like what happened?  And they explained to him because I couldn't speak.  But he was super nice about it haha.  So I got him a new hot dog.  And I came back to sit down and took a bite of my hot dog and detected a slight fruity taste.... what do you know.  He had discreetly poured the perfect amount of sirop into my hot dog for revenge.  I'm still so mortified though when I remember it.

Oh, speaking of additional embarrassing moments, this week I played SOCCER.  Can you believe that?  Yes it happened.  My companion is obsessed with it and heard that the elders play soccer every weekend with members, recent converts, and amis, and she about died.  Sooo I had to humble myself and agreed that we could go play soccer with them if it was counting as time spent with amis and recent converts.  And even though my team won, the experience confirmed to me again that I'm just not cut out for sports with a ball.  And today my body is SOREEE.  Both of us are dead.  I don't know if we'll be doing that again even though my companion might hate me. 

Yesterday between conference sessions we were contacting and walking down this street and I realized just how lucky I am to be working in the sector that I'm in.  I live in the southernmost area of France and it is BEAUTIFUL and it's been in the 70s all week.  I remember in the months before I left people kept telling me I was so lucky to be able to live in the south of France for 18 months and I was like yeah yeah, but it's a mission, so it's not like I'm just chillin on vacation.  And it hasn't felt like vacation at all.  But yesterday for a few minutes as we were walking around I was like yeah.....I'm super lucky.  And I took a picture.  Even though I can't lounge on the beach, I can walk around in sunshine and enjoy the palm trees.  And even the famous Perpignan wind hasn't even been that bad lately. Yay!

Je vous aime and this week I encourage everyone to reread their favorite conference talk and pick something specific to apply directly to your life right now and work on it. :)

Soeur Hurd