Wednesday we went to IKEA to get dishes and furniture with the
Mahaffeys, one of the office couples who are the BEST, and then moved
in Thursday. The shower is my favorite part. It has jets. I'll take a
video tour of the apartment when it's finally all set up. Sister Grant
has been sick the past few days, so I've had some time to organize
things and get everything unloaded and put away. The office / moving
elders have been a big help to us as they've moved all our stuff, set
up beds, and continue to keep everything running. Last night we came
home to notice our trash had been taken out and the mountain of boxes
had disappeared from the hallway. Slightly disconcerting to think they
had been there while we were gone, but we appreciate it.
With all that we had to do with our apartment, this week hasn't been
the most productive as far as teaching everyone we wanted to. However,
we were able to accomplish much with the time that we had, especially
member missionary work. Monday and Wednesday we visited two families
in the ward to help them with their own missionary work. Children are
powerful tools in sharing the light and happiness that the gospel
brings, and we know that there are families that are touched by these
two particular families in our ward. We had our first skype lesson
with Marsha this week and we taught with Soeur Pratique, an amazing
woman in our ward. We talked about the plan of salvation and she
really helped Marsha find personal application. We'll be doing another
one this week and teaching with another member.
We had zone conference on Friday and it was wonderful! During the
first half we were privileged to hear from President and Sister Brown,
the assistants, and President Lepore who is the stake president in
Lyon. We talked about the apostasy and how it is one of the keys for
people's understanding here in France. So many people are bitter about
religion and it's because of all the wrongs that corrupted religion
has done in Europe since the early apostles were killed. There had to
be a restoration of the truth, not just a reformation of what already
existed. Fortunately our Heavenly Father prepared a Seer and a sacred
record far in advance so that truth could be restored and another
witness of Jesus Christ came forth. The second half of the conference,
president surprised us by taking us to some Roman ruins that date to a
few years before the birth of Christ. There we had a testimony meeting
in an ancient amphitheater in which all the departing missionaries
gave their last testimonies. Allison included! I can't believe that
was her last zone conference and that the end of her mission is
actually drawing to a close. I will miss her.
Two weeks ago during zone training our zone made a goal to pass out
250 family proclamations before conference, and we reached the goal!
President was super SPARCed and we're excited to see the fruits of
these seeds that have been planted.
Saturday was Sister Grant's birthday but she was kind of sick so we
didn't get to celebrate like we wanted to. But she did have enough
energy to have another great rdv with Maman Helene. I'm always so
impressed by Maman's knowledge of the scriptures and the lessons she
gleans from her study of the Book of Mormon. We had a brief discussion
in which she insisted she is the posterity of the lamanites because
her skin is dark (we read 2 Nephi 5) and she wasn't even offended by
it cause she knows the promises of God are to all his children. She
always gives the best prayers, too, in which she blesses us and all
our posterity and our flocks and our herds (if we had them). She calls
down the angels of heaven to walk beside us and protect us. Then she
asks God to tell her if the Book of Mormon is really from Him. She
will get an answer! Her desire has grown more sincere since I've known
her and I know that the Lord is anxious to welcome her into his fold.
After her prayer while she was serving us some very African juice, she
bore her testimony to us that God is real and that we can know if He
is too. I almost forgot I was the missionary for a sec there.
Je vous aime !
Soeur Melissa Hurd
Exchange in St. Etienne!
IKEA with the Mahaffeys!
Zone conference field trip! I'm represented by the peace sign
Surprise from President - testimony meeting at the Roman ruins during zone conference
Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters
Two daughters and our mother
"Are you keeddingg?"
Best family photo
Mountain of boxes in our new apartment...seems we will never have access to the south wing
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