Best Week of the Transfer!

This week has been the best of the transfer.  The first thing I want to say is a big THANK YOU, mom and dad, for all the prayers for Soeur Holmgren and me.  Prayers work and so does fasting.  It's really easy during the mission sometimes to forget that you're not alone.  Sometimes it feels like just me and my companion laboring and wrestling with the Lord in prayer for the people here.

But not only is the Lord always mindful of you, there are so many leaders and family back home that haven't forgotten you in their prayers.  Thank you!  They work. 

Just one day before you told me you and dad started a fast, we had received a text from a man who got our number from the church and wanted to know more.  At first I was super hesitant because I've known of some missionaries to play jokes on the sisters about people being interested and it's just all n'importe quoi.  So my first reaction was like, yeah right.  Ignore.  Then after asking the elders about it we decided that we'll go along.  So we ended up setting up a RDV and we concluded that his French was more advanced than a 19 year old missionary's so we believed it.  

That was Wednesday, and Thursday right before we went to Aix on an exchange we realized I had left our phone on a bus.  Being that we only have one phone as a companionship, we had no way to get in touch with ANYONE so we just went to Aix for our exchange and hoped to solve the problem when we got back.  We came back Friday night and had no way to confirm our appointments for Saturday, so we were just hoping and praying that the man who had contacted us would show up for our RDV the next day.  We waited at the church and HE SHOWED UP.  Not only that but he is TOTALLY COOL.  We sat down to talk and he pretty much taught us the Restoration.  He was baptized Catholic as a baby but thinks that perhaps there were some things changed or lost from the Catholic church--he realizes something is missing.  Ah, bon?  Well yes, let us tell you more!  It was incredible!  He had always been interested in the Mormon church and obviously had looked at our website before.  When we started to talk about Joseph Smith he had already known a little about what happened.  We were able to expound on what he knew and give him a Book of Mormon.  

After he left, Soeur Holmgren and I looked at each other with our jaws dropped.  Our first sit-down lesson together as a companionship, her first one at all in the field, and it had gone so well!  We committed him to start the Book of Mormon, pray to God that night, and then come to church the next morning.  He came to church!!  Unfortunately he had to work later so he was only able to stay for the first meeting (Priesthood), so we were just able to talk a little bit at the beginning and then left him to the elders.  The whole night before we prayed that the teacher for Priesthood would bring in the spirit to his lesson and ask inspired questions and that it would be a good experience for our ami (the elders had previously expressed concern that sometimes they want their amis to avoid the elders quorum because it's not always...as focused and spirit-driven as general conference we could say :))  Apparently he had a good experience in the end.  He said he would be able to attend all three hours next week and we also have a RDV set up with him for Tuesday.  AHH!!  

I'm fully aware that I'm raving about something that could very well be a complete flop a week from now.  I've seen that a lot.  But we just got really good feelings about this man and he reminds me a lot of a recent convert in Perpignan who is fairly close to being translated, he's so amazing in his testimony.  So if he's anything like this man, he will keep his commitments.  He will gain a testimony.

At the beginning of our transfer our DL promised us that Soeur Holmgren and I would have more opportunities to have sit down lessons and teach people this transfer than what had been happening.  It's been getting close to the end of this transfer and I thought about that promise often.  Now we've seen the beginning of what he talked about.  

Apart from that huge miracle I don't even know what else to talk about.  We are still without a phone and I honestly have NO idea how missionaries did work before phones.  It is quite a hindrance actually.  But the office is mailing us a phone hopefully today. 

Our exchange with the STLs in Aix was super fun, as always.  The two sisters are just so fun to be around and it's always a party.  It was really a party this time because it was Sister Haws' birthday and so we celebrated with too many sweets and glow sticks.  Sister Scruggs and I went contacting for pretty much all our exchange, but we had some really cool conversations with people talking about the temple.  She is a great missionary and I always have good contacting experiences with her.  

There are so many amazing things happening in Cannes right now!  A family in our ward also wants us to teach their daughter to prepare her for baptism, so that will give us someone else to teach!  Her baptism situation is a little different because her real mother is a nonmember in Portugal.  She's on vacances with her right now but when she comes back we'll start preparing her for baptism.  She's SO CUTE.  Also, our ami Claude should be coming back from Paris and so we'll be able to prepare him for his baptism too.  I've never been so excited in my life for vacation time to be over.  

Sister Holmgren and I are hoping to stay together for next transfer.  I will be so sad if I have to leave Cannes right now, and I doubt Soeur Holmgren would do a one and done.  So we have to stay here together.  We will know Friday!  

I called Allison for her year mark.  We sang to her.  She's right about what she said in her letter--I don't think she'll appreciate if you remind her she only has six months left :)  Only six months to be her companion again!  I hope to be her last one.  

Commitment follow-up: Who actually read "Focus and Priorities" by Dallin H. Oaks?  Tell me what you learned.  

JUNA LEAVES FOR MISSION TODAY AHHHH BON COURAGE

Je vous aime!  

Soeur Hurd

Basketball day in Nice

We've made the Antibes diamond. Cannes elders are gone so we're taking
over Antibes and Antibes elders are taking over Cannes. Then the nice
elders ditched their own nice diamond and wanted to apply to be in the
Antibes hexagon. We accepted. So here is the Antibes hexagon, taking
over nice. Also, we took a nice Etoile photo. Also there was the
cutest little old lady balling by the beach so naturally elder wade
sparked her with basketball. She was so little and cute!

Head, shoulders, knees, and toes in French with Portuguese members