Soeur Hurd in Lyon: Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

This week has been so crazy! I said goodbye to Soeur Skalka this
morning, who has finished her mission and will be going home! She's so
cute and I was sad to see her go! I'm staying here in Aix and getting
Soeur McClellan, who has been in Aubagne in our zone so we've gotten
to know each other pretty well. She's adorable and just the same
little size as Soeur Skalka, so it will be fun :).

We had our sisters finding day in Cannes with all of our sisters
equipes from Cannes, Montpellier, and Aubagne. It went really well! We
spent pday together and the next day had several breakout sessions of
contacting. We had a combined comp study and Soeur Skalka and I led a
little discussion about what it means to be an elect lady and then we
did a pump up song aka Royals but changing the lyrics. Then Soeur
Skalka and I made them lunch and decorated the table with individual
crowns. Yes, sometimes I can adopt the tacky girlishness of relief
society. But I think the sisters really liked getting all together for
once! Sometimes you just need a girls night.

We found out then about the attacks in Belgium. We have no
restrictions except metros are not allowed--for once I'm grateful not
to be in Lyon. Work is almost impossible without those. We were
saddened to hear about the missionaries injured in the bombing in
Brussels. Soeur Clain, the sister mildly injured, is that one girl I
went on exchange with for a day! I don't know if you remember. But she
was my comp for a transfer day before heading up to Paris. That was
the day there were explosions in the Lyon gare too and we went running
for it. So her first day in the field turned out to be foreshadowing
of further events :(. She's the sweetest little missionary and will
serve a quiet mission in Ohio when she gets there :). We only just
barely saw a clip of the elder's interview on tv. Keep praying for
these people! Not just the missionaries, but all those involved. Every
soul is a child of God. As long as the work in the Paris mission
progresses as the temple goes up, there will always be opposition. But
God is watching over His children and protecting them, as we've seen.
Truth and light always prevail.

This week we went to two wonderful district meetings (perks of being
STL) and I just love each time we have these types of things. Our
leaders pray over what we should discuss and the spirit comes to teach
us. We talked a lot about what our next step is after the
Christofferson conference. We are putting new emphasis on the Book of
Mormon, and since then Soeur Skalka and I have had a few opportunities
to really do that. The Book of Mormon is true! Every time I read it I
learn lots of new things. Every morning I read a chapter and it
doesn't matter how many times I've read it, I always learn something
and feel more edified.

Easter was a great day! Although we ate SO MUCH FOOD. OMG. The members
fed us so much! We went to a family's home, the Myldermans, right
after church. THEY ARE THE COOLEST COUPLE. She's American and an
architect and designed their house. Their house is all glass! You can
see everything from outside and I mean everyyyything. The walls move.
Everything is so modern. It's so legit. I'll show pics. The husband is
from Belgium but has been living in France for several years and is a
doctor in radiology/oncology. They told us their meeting story and
they're just the most adorable couple. They're so nice too, they hid
chocolate all over the house so Soeur Skalka and I could go on an
Easter egg hunt! I have a video so you can see more of the house. We
had the classiest lunch with lots of healthy Mediterranean food and
the best chocolate for dessert. Let me tell you, you know the gross
cheap chocolate everyone gets for Easter that no one actually likes?
Cute wrapper with bunnies and stuff on it but the inside chocolate is
just gross? K so the equivalent to that in France is still better
chocolate than Hershey's. Chocolate is just so dang good here. Soeur
Skalka and I would know...the past couple weeks we've been going to
every chocolate place we see and sampling. It shows on my chubby face.
After spending a luxurious lunch date at their home, we went to
another members home and they fed us cheese fondu. No!! It was way
good, but we were already STUFFED. Then we kept getting served meat
and dessert. They even knew that we had just come from a big lunch!
Somehow we were able to survive but I seriously couldn't move
afterwards and the whole night sleeping I felt like a balloon and like
I was going to die. I don't think I've ever been so stuffed in my
life. They were so nice thought only wanting to make us happy.
Needless to say Soeur Skalka bien profitéd from the last day on her
mission. Sorry the majority of this letter is food but it's still so
fresh in my mind.

This week I lost my clip missionary name tag :((((((. I didn't expect
to be this sad about it but it must have just fallen off my coat. I've
had it my whole mission and I can order a new one, but it's not the
same. I've been praying that someone finds it and is miraculously led
to the church and to conversion.

How excited for general conference are you?? I can't believe it's that
time of year again! I'm so, so, so excited. This is just like
Christmas all over again. I still have yet to see the women's session
and the face to face with Elder Holland. I heard it was the bomb.
Everyone prepare for conference this week by rereading all of last
conference's talks! It's possible. You have all this week. I'm so
excited!!

Je vous aime !

Soeur Hurd