Soeur Hurd in Lyon: Cannes-not believe it's over...

This week was a crazy and thrilling week. Remember that amazing new
ami that I was raving about last letter? He has a baptismal date! He
really is so prepared. Tuesday we were planning to teach him plan of
salvation but both my companion and I felt like he really needed to be
taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ first. Soeur Holmgren hadn't yet
reached the point in the 12 weeks training of learning how to teach
that lesson, so for comp study we role played like crazy. We taught
with a recent return missionary and she was such a great help. The
lesson ended up being amazing! Soeur Holmgren did SUCH a good job
following and asking questions and teaching. She is already such a
great missionary. The spirit was there all throughout and at the end
we were able to extend the baptismal invitation and even fix a date.
He said he feels that everything he's heard and read is true.
September 26! We're so excited.

Which brings me to my next news...of course, as luck would have it, I
will miss the baptism. We got transfer calls Friday and I'm leaving
Cannes! So sad--I was sure I was going to stay here with Soeur
Holmgren. I was so looking forward to really seeing the work start to
pick up and see all the amazing things happening with our potentials
and others in the ward. But alas, the Lord has other plans for me.

On the plus side, Sisters Hurd will be back together again! Haha, not
really. But I'm going to Lyon! I'll be a STL in the Ecully ward with
Soeur Wallace, who was Allison's STL companion in Nice. I'm terrified,
of course, because the Ecully sisters are literally perfect and how
can I replace one and be companions with the other? I think the Lord
is telling me it's time to step it up a little....haha I've got work
to do. I really am excited though. I know Sister Wallace is amazing
and will help me to become a better missionary. I'll also be in the
same ward as President and Sister Brown, so I'll get to see them
often. I'm excited for that because I LOVE them and you just feel so
great being in their presence. And I'll get to see Allison fairly
often so that will be exciting! It's always fun being in Lyon because
there are so many missionaries there, and now I'll be getting to know
the other sisters in the area since I'll be doing a lot more
exchanges. I think we do exchanges with the sisters in Geneva too so
obviously I'm stoked to go there. 😄

Cannes is an amazing place. I'm so grateful for the chance I had to
serve here and be in this ward. There are so many incredible families
that try to do everything they can to raise their children up in the
Gospel and teach them correct principles. That's the thing that has
touched me the most. I've also had the privilege of getting close to
several of the mothers and elderly women in this ward - I adore them!!
In sacrament meeting they announced the departing missionaries so we
could share our testimonies, and after the meeting several cute
elderly ladies and other mothers came up to me to give me big
hugs/bisous to say goodbye. I never realized how much I had grown
close to them over the last three months. They are special women, and
my memories with them are tender. I have some cute pics I took with
Mami Gentil too haha so I'll send those. LOVE HER. She just came back
from a month in Utah so I was so delighted to see her one last time.

The sister that I'm replacing is actually going to Cannes to finish
training my bleu! So she will just help Soeur Holmgren be the best
missionary EVER. She'll be coming up to Lyon for bleus conference so
I'll get to see her again! The elders in Antibes/Cannes are getting
split up as well--our district leader trained a bleu the two transfers
I've been in Cannes and now the bleu is leaving for Chambery and the
DL is training again! The Antibes diamond we've established will be
broken up. Dommage.

This week I've been studying a lot about the sacrament and the sacred
time the Lord has given us to remember Him and recommit ourselves to
being more like Him. One of my goals for this next transfer is to
really make sacrament meeting more personally sacred and meaningful.
The frequency of this ordinance does not in any way minimize its
significance and sanctity. That's my challenge for you this week: make
a list of three ways you can make the sacrament meeting more
meaningful. I would suggest reading the talk "Taking Upon Us the Name
of Jesus Christ" by Elder Oaks.

Je vous aime beaucoup, and I'm looking forward to getting Juna's first
mission letter this week!

Soeur Melissa Hurd

Love these Cannes people