Training Tales

Bonjour famille!

I have given birth! Yes, the baby bleu has arrived and she is so
adorable. Her name is Sister Holmgren from South Jordan, Utah. Tuesday
they all arrived and we tried the whole day to keep separate from them
because we're not really allowed to meet and greet until the day we
officially get assigned. All the trainers were in the institute
building and at one point we looked out the window and there were
little baby missionaries everywhere! We spied on them and wondered
which would be ours. That night all the trainers and Lyon leaders went
out to eat together and it was super fun. All the trainers are AWESOME
and it was really fun to get to know them. That night we all hid
ourselves in one room of the apartment because we weren't allowed to
talk with the new sisters who were staying in the other room. We got
creative about how to get to and from the bathroom without showing our
faces...

Wednesday we went to the chapel and had a little bit of trainers
training from the ZLs. The Blues were upstairs getting training from
president. President came down right before we started and gave us a
little bit of advice. He said, "Until you're parents, you will ever
have as much influence over another person in your whole life as much
as you will in about an hour." Ahhh! No pressure there. He emphasized
the importance of trainers in the mission and how though he has only
been in the mission about three weeks, he can almost tell who
everyone's trainer is because of how they act and who they are. Our
influence is huge and we probably have no idea to what extent.

Keeping this in mind, I've been trying my best to incorporate all the
best parts of my past transfers into this training transfer. I've made
a list of things that I loved about other transfers and things that we
did each day that made us more effective and better missionaries, and
I'm committed to reapplying all these things. I just hope to help
start off Sister Holmgren's mission the best way it can be!

She, on the other hand, is amazing. Seriously, she is a golden blue--I
really lucked out. She is so fearless and has so much faith. The first
day we were together we went out contacting and as we approached
someone, she would start talking to them before I could even open my
mouth. She figured out how to say a few sentences about our
questionnaire and she just goes and does it. One particular instance
that made me super proud was Friday when we were back in Cannes. We
were visiting Mami Gentil but we happened to come at the same time as
her visiting teachers, so we joined them. They shared their message
about Christ and even though Sister Holmgren couldn't understand
everything that was being said, she was listening and felt the spirit.
Just as they were about to ask if we could say a closing prayer, she
asked if she could quickly bear her testimony. I was like danggg, you
go girl! I was so impressed! She just wanted to make sure she was
involved and fulfilling her missionary purpose and she didn't even
care if she didn't speak perfect French. She began to bear the
sweetest testimony about coming on a mission, and I think there was
not a dry eye in the room. Such a proud mom moment! I know her real
mother would be so proud too. I'm super excited for this chance to
work with her and I KNOW I'll be learning more from her than she will
from me. Also she speaks really great French already, and she's a fast
learner.  She'll have it in no time.

This week one of my goals is sticking to my planning. Every evening we
make plans for each hour of the next day in order to be very efficient
and wise with our time. When plans fall through, we always have backup
plans. Unfortunately with our lack of exciting work here in Cannes we
often have contacting as our replacement plans. Sometimes when you
have tomber-vous one after the other you have to contact all day in
the heat and suddenly it's really easy to come up with other plans to
do. This transfer that's not going to happen! Sure there are times
when surprise teaching opportunities arise and we have to adjust our
schedule, but other than that, we will be sticking to our original
plans no matter the amount of difficulty or dread. God sees the plans
we make everyday and knows how to place people in our path according
to our plans.

Challenge this week is to follow through with a past goal you've made
or set one this week and carry it out! Follow through with plans. The
last thing you want to be is a human that doesn't follow through with
their plans.

Je vous aime!

Sœur Melissa Hurd

Lyon loves

Three generations!

Game we played at a soirée familiale

Family. Isn't it about...time?