I'M GOING TO BE A MOM!

Yes, that selfie with Allison was deceiving as we are not companions
again. But we are hanging out together in Lyon because I'm going to
have a baby! I will be training this next transfer!! So we are
gathering in Lyon and luckily Alison's equipe is the one that hosts
all the incoming sisters and trainers in their apartment while we're
all here. Ahhh!! President called Friday and I immediately called
Allison and she just starts squealing and says "I'm a grandmother, I'm
a grandmother!" Both of us were super excited. We get to hang out for
the next few days! Three generations!

I'm so excited to be getting a bleu this transfer! Also terrified! I
feel highly inadequate seeing as how it seems just yesterday I stopped
being a bleu myself. President said on the phone "You have the
responsibility to make this new sister the best she can be." So that
didn't terrify me more or anything, no pressure... But I do know that
if its what the Lord wants me to do then he will help me. I pray that
I will be able to be all that this sister needs in her trainer and
make her feel loved and welcome in the mission. I already know she is
fantastic!! We have some sort of conference tomorrow for the trainers
and then we'll meet our new companions Wednesday. We will take a
grandmother/mother/daughter picture then. 👶🏻👩🏽👵🏼

Sister Holmes is leaving me and going to be an STL in Toulouse! She
will be so great there. She wanted to serve in Toulouse before the end
of her mission so now she will be able to! She has four transfers left
so she may just finish there. I'm definitely sad to see her go but I
know here are people there in need of her cute little spirit. She's
adorable! I've had such a blast with her the past transfer and both of
us just knew it was too much fun to keep us together for another. She
will be able to do exchanges with the sisters in Perpignan too! They
will love her.

PRAYERS WORK. We just got a baptismal date for one of our old amis!
His name is Claude and Sister Holmes started teaching him her first
transfer. He got really sick and was in Paris for a while and so we
didn't teach him for a long time. I had my first lesson with him last
Friday and he is amazing! He believes everything we've taught him is
true and wants to be baptized. His date is the first weekend in
October. It would be nice if it were sooner but with vacances he will
be gone for a while, so we won't be able to see him. But anyways,
YESSSS. The best part about it is it was the day we found out Sister
Holmes would be leaving, so it was the perfect way for her to end her
transfer here. She's been working so hard here in Cannes since March
and hasn't seen really any fruits of her labors. I'm so happy she was
able to see Claude's faith and commitment to change his life.

Another miracle happened this week: we contacted a lady on a bus one
day that wasn't really interested in what we had to say, but as we
were talking I notice a young man nearby listening in to the
conversation. After a bit he interrupts and asks if we are "bonnes
soeurs," which are nuns, and we said no and explained who we are and
our church. He said he was born Catholic but doesn't at all agree with
some of the things in the Catholic Church and has been really
interested in finding out more about different religions. He was
enthusiastic about setting up a rdv with us and said he was free all
the month July! That's HUGE because in France during the vacances it's
basically impossible to see anyone at all. At all. Sister Holmes told
me later that she has seen that guy all the time and always thought to
talk to him but never did. It was also a miracle because the bus we
had originally wanted to take we barely missed by a minute and we were
so upset because we were going to be twenty minutes late for our
English class. Now we know why we had to miss it and catch the next
one. It's amazing how God really does plant prepared people in our
path!

We had a really great district meeting this week in Nice. We talked
about going and doing and listening to the Spirit. I learned a lot and
will be trying to make my daily actions and work better with what I
learned. Our district is awesome! They are putting sisters back in
Nice and one of them is also going to be a blue! That will be fun--two
blue sisters and two half-blue elders in our district all together.

I can't wait to tell you all about my baby bleu next Monday! I'm
excited to meet her. Je vous aime beaucoup, et passez une bonne
semaine!

Sœur Melissa Hurd