Last week for p-day we went to see Fourvière, a beautiful cathedral in
Lyon that you've seen in all my pics I think. It's on that big hill by
where I live. I'm pretty sure Allison raved about it a month or so ago
when she went with her old companion. It's AMAZING. One of my favorite
things about Europe is being able to find these ancient cathedrals in
pretty much any ville. You walk in and the busy street outside is
completely shut away and you just feel so reverent and peaceful. These
beautiful quiet places are obviously no where as sacred and empowering
as the temple, but is nice to get a little respite from the world
every now and then. It's an incredible thing to see the devotion these
Christians had and the sacrifices they made to draw closer to God. I
think there are hosts and hosts of them in the heavens waiting for
their work to be done in our sacred temples today. ☺️
Yesterday at church was amazing! We had four amis there. Two of them
had never been before! Nelly, our ami who is starting to really make a
progress but wouldn't come to church forever, finally got the courage
to come! And she even participated in the classes. It was great and we
were so proud of her. Towards the end of sacrament meeting the bishop
spoke and bore strong testimony about the sacrament and the importance
of coming to church each week because of the sacrament. It was PERFECT
for nelly because she has issues with ward members from years and
years ago and we were trying to help her understand that church
attendance is about the sacrament. It's about changing and being
spiritually recharged and having the spirit with us more fully in our
daily lives. Afterwards she looked at me and said that the spirit has
been talking to her and giving her information and now she has a lot
to think about. She is totally getting it! She will have a baptismal
date soon, I'm sure of it.
So we met this amazing woman named Marsha who we had a rdv with
Tuesday. She's the cutest little Peruvian lady that has a BEAUTIFUL
American-esque home with the largest kitchen I've seen on this side of
the Atlantic. It was our first lesson with her and we didn't know if
she was interested in actually learning about our church or just a
bible study. But turns out even though she's a strong catholic, she
kept saying she's very open. She's really interested in us and our
church and she wanted us to come over every week and emailed us all of
her availability. She's a very busy woman, always doing volunteer work
in Peru and here and I guess she helps young people find jobs and
internships and lodging. She says she's always helping people and
doesn't have time to read her bible anymore, but as we explained to
her that we would be extending invitations to her each time we met,
she was excited to make time for it. And she came to church yesterday
too! She was so cute and loved the meetings because so many people
from the ward were speaking and she liked how there are so many
families there. She commented on the vitality of the ward and how we
are real people. And she LOVED the closing song, "Abide With Me, 'Tis
Eventide." She said she wants to memorize all the lyrics and sing it
all the time and wants us to sing it for our husband.
I'm just so excited for the amazing people we're working with! We also
met this really cool girl Marianna from Mexico. She's here enrolled in
an amazing culinary arts school and she's from a strong catholic
family. We met up with her one day and kind of the same
situation--wasn't sure if she was interested in our message or just
having friends. But we ended up talking about how God manifests
himself in our lives all the time, even for the smallest things. He
puts us on the right paths and puts people on our paths to help us to
what he wants us to do. She basically was saying how she knew it was
no mistake she met us and wants to keep meeting with us. She's also
been a little lonely because the people here she works and goes to
school with don't have her same values. She goes to catholic mass
every Sunday but wants to start coming to our services instead. She
also said she would invite us to her place and cook us real Mexican
food. With guacamole. 😍😍😍😍😍😍
Friday we had Skype interviews with president and he is so inspired.
He asked me all the right questions and gave me all the right advice.
He is amazing and we are so lucky to have him. They had to be Skype
interviews because this transfer is supposed to be an interview tour
with each individual zone, but we're having a special conference with
combined zones this time because Elder Adler of the Seventy is coming.
So president wouldn't have time to meet with each of us individually.
I'm so excited for the conference this week and I'm sure I'll have
lots to tell you next week.
Saturday we had a relief society activity at hotel de ville because
it's patrimoine weekend in France which means that all then museums
and monuments were free. We went for a little bit because we had one
of our amis, Gloria, come. We've been really trying to get her
integrated in the ward more, and this was perfect. She's from Spain
and speaks rough French, so she met one of the older woman and her
daughter who both are from Spain as well and they hit it off so
quickly! We were so happy. We had to leave early and we weren't
worried at all about her being lonely because she was making friends
left and right. As we were walking away we heard her telling her new
friends that she was going to the airport early Sunday morning to drop
people off, but that she would be there before 11 for sacrament
meeting. Yes! Member integration is so important!
Plug for the musée des beaux-arts, where we started the relief society
activity: amazing. I miss that kind of thing. I could spend all day in
those kinds of museums. One day when I'm not a missionary and can
visit them at my leisure, I will come back to Lyon and see every art
related thing there. It seems like a punishment that I can live here
in this city and not have every waking moment to take it all in. But
missionary work is more important and the blessings are infinitely
more valuable. :)
Also this past week I hit my halfway mark. I have officially been out
on the mission 9 months and am over the hump. AHHH. I'm so not ready
for that. The thought terrifies me but it's ok because 9 months is
still a long time and there is still lots to do! To celebrate, Allison
met up with me at the institute to give me something. It ended up
being this super cute stuffed camel thing that has apparently been
passed down to several sisters across the mission when they hit their
halfway mark, and now Allison had the pleasure of giving it to me. She
made a cute tag and wrote all the names of the sisters who had it
before.
Today we went to the zoo. We saw the cutest monkeys and a lion and a
leopard. And a giraffe!
Joyeux anniversaire to Lindsey on Friday! Hey, I just realized it's
her golden birthday. Hope you all have a great time together
celebrating!
Je vous aime beaucoup! Bisous!
Sœur Melissa Hurd
Over the hump day
Musée des beaux-arts
Apologize that some of these are over edited photos. They're not mine.
Vieux Lyon
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