Sister Surprises!

This letter is going to be lame but here goes: So this week started
off kind of complicated as we learned that our zone conference was
moved from Thursday to Friday because of transportation strikes
(typical France). As we had planned to do exchanges with our sisters
before and after the conference, we had to take some time to rearrange
everything! Because it was really complicated to change train tickets
for three zones, Montpellier and Perpignan came in a day early anyways
so we had surprise sleepovers! Cannes sisters were already in Aubagne
doing an exchange with them, so luckily we only had 4 extra sisters
with us each night. We REALLY had to get our exchange with Cannes in,
so on Thursday they came up from Aubagne and we had a triple exchange
with us, them, and Montpellier sisters. We sent Perpignan sisters down
to Aubagne to do a surprise exchange with them that day. These few
days were full of improvise planning, meals at the chapel, and trying
to herd 20 elders away from the kitchen (there were tons of elders
whose trains also came in early...the poor ZLs...trying to fit that
many teenage boys into an apartment AND finding things to keep them
busy is rough).

It's been really fun to get to know each of them better. Especially
talking to Perpignan sisters, who are not under our allotments so we
rarely see them. Let me tell you, I love being an STL and hanging with
all the sisters! But, alas, I would be lying if I said I wasn't
relieved we don't have to play hostess everyday. We were exhausted
afterwards haha.

Zone conference was absolutely wonderful! It's weird to see the Browns
only once or twice each transfer, I miss them! So it's just the
biggest burst of sunshine when I get to see them again. We talked
about baptisms the whole time. Soeur McClellan and I performed our
musical number again. We talked a lot about building the faith to
baptize 91 people this transfer and how it's not a question of whether
or not it's possible. We know the Lord has extended this challenge to
us and it's up to us to do all we can to reach it. I'm not sure what
our current number is but I know that pretty much everyone on our
engage list has a date for May 7 or 8. Our engage jocelyne was set for
that date, but she hasn't come to church at all so she can't be
baptized that date :(. Pray a ton for us that our mission will
accomplish this goal!

We had a cool lesson with one of our amis, Sadin, who is really
stubborn but on my exchange with Soeur McKeon, we taught him the
beginning of plan of salvation and about halfway through the lesson a
cool change came over him and he opened up and told us why his faith
was lost and his current worries. It was cool! He totally needed to
hear about the plan of salvation and eternal families. At the end he
prayed and it was way sincere! Soeur McKeon did an awesome job. She's
a blue from Provo, currently in Cannes, and is such an awesome
teacher! I really liked spending the day with her and she's just so
cool. Also did the same study abroad program I did but the semester
right after so I was sparked by that.

Par contre, we had a lesson Saturday with our new ami Abdoulaye and we
actually had it with a member this time and she totally bombed it! I
knowwwwwww we're supposed to teach with members all the time but
sometimes it's just hard when you're sitting in the lesson and
realizing that you're the one called of God to testify and yet you
can't get a word in. She was totally missing the mark on everything.
But you know, it's ok. We showed our faith by having a member there,
and I hope the Lord will be able to compensate for the damage done. It
was bad haha. He's still a way cool ami so I don't think it's over.

Yesterday the ironman came through Aix! It made our walk to and from
church very interesting. So many champions!

This week I'm deepening my study of the Atonement. All transfer I've
been studying talks on it as one of transfer goals, and I've had a few
questions come to mind from my studies. This week I'll be prayerfully
meditating and studying to further understand these questions and the
infinite sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to take a few
minutes each day this week to prayerfully consider this atoning
sacrifice for you personally. I love Elder Ballard's questions to
youth and young adults a few conferences ago: "Do you think deeply
about the Savior and His atoning sacrifice for you?"

Je vous aime!
Soeur Hurd

Surprise sleepover with Perpignan and Montpellier

Loveliest ladies around

Lovely day in Aix! Sunday walk home was serenaded by cheers and music of the Ironman that took place.

FHE with Soeur Connessa! Soeur McClellan's dad's famous red sauce was our meal

There's no place like home...or at least your old apartment

Yes, we're back in our old apartment, which is now completely bed bug
free! Honestly we don't even know if there ever were bed bugs but
whatever attacked Soeur McClellan is gone. So we're home again and
it's been wonderful. Soeur Allanic has been there to help us through
it all and even though she was pulling the typical
too-exasperated-to-help-us-but-does-it-for-service thing the whole
time, but it just proves that when you serve people, you love them!
Because now she loves us! And she was just called to be a new ward
missionary. Haha so that was timely. This week on exchange we went
over to help her with her garden. Then she taught us how to make
chocolate mousse.

Speaking of our exchange, we got the chance to do an exchange with
Toulouse sisters. Soeur McClellan and one of her old companions, who
is currently in Toulouse, had an idea to record a certain song in
French. We always show this short video in lessons called "Strength
Beyond my Own" which is a slideshow of temples and plays a song but
the words are in English. So Soeur McClellan sings wonderfully and
there's a family in the Toulouse ward with a recording studio so we
got permission from president to do an exchange with the Toulouse
sisters. Soeur McClellan went there to record the song in French and
Soeur Vandroux came here! It was cool because I already know her so
well since she was trained by Allison and since we lived together for
so long when we were homeless in Ecully. I think she was really
excited to see a familiar face because it's been hard for her in
Toulouse. She was really sad to leave Lyon at the end of last
transfer. And we had such a fun time on the exchange! We had a lesson
with an old amie Jocelyn and engaged her to baptism! Thank goodness we
had Soeur Vandroux's native French because she was able to clarify all
these things that she was unsure about and she could understand her
through the Ile Maurice accent. So now we have two engages! Cyrille is
still technically our other one but he's still off the radar :( we're
still praying for him to get back in contact with us!

Saturday I was on the train for ten hours. Good thing I love to sleep
and read. We had to take the train all the way to Toulouse (NOT close
to Aix) and then make the switch and then Soeur McClellan and I rode
back. I got to hear the finished recording of the song and it sounds
so wonderful! So wonderful to use it with the video as we prepare amis
for the temple :).  That night after getting back we had a lesson with
an old potential named Abdoulaye and he's so cool! It was a first
lesson and he's so prepared! He's originally from Tunisia but is here
studying law. He seems so normal and that's awesome because it's quite
normal to have unstable amis haha. But he's legit. The best part about
it was after the lesson he asked if he could bring his Christian
friends to the next one so they could also talk with us. Bah ouaiii!
So cool!

The work here in Aix is finally picking up! In addition to these cool
people, we've found another new ami who is the brother in law of a
member. The cool thing about it is that all these people we've started
to meet with have been found from our area book, old potential lists
or old Amis. Just goes to show the importance of area book work AND
never giving up! You never know when a person will be ready to hear
the fullness of the restored gospel, and I'm grateful to know that all
the seeds I've planted on my mission could turn to something better
one day. So grateful for the work the sisters here in Aix have started
long ago!

Speaking of which, one cool thing that happened this week was one
night we were at the church and Carla, an Amie I taught in Cannes
(just one lesson until she disappeared due to vacances) just showed up
at the chapel with her husband. When I was in Cannes, he was just her
boyfriend and they were living together and he's a member, but now
they're married! He was completely reactivated and was at the chapel
because he had an interview with the stake president to go to the
temple (our chapel is the place for stake meetings) and he and Carla
came together. She is still not baptized but that should he coming
soon, as she's still seeing the sisters and I know they will have
goals to be sealed eventually. So that was cool! She remembered me and
we got to talk and she seemed really happy. They want to have a baby
soon too! Cute! I hope she will continue to progress and eventually be
able to join her husband in the temple one day :).

I love my missionnnnn! Everyday is exhausting and I don't know what's
wrong with me but I'm tired all the time and happy all the time. Haha
pray for me. OH MY GOSH the pollen here is atrocious. Pray for my
eyes.

Anyways I know that I'm here where the Lord wants me to be and doing
his will and I'm so happy to be an instrument in his hands. The
mission is so wonderful! We get to learn so many things! I'm so
excited for my brothers to serve missions and see the Lord's hand in
their lives! Everyone read the Young Adult fireside talk given by
President Nelson in January called millennials or something like that.
It's wonderful!

Je vous aime !
Soeur Hurd

Reunited with Soeur Vandroux!

Exchange with my sister/niece :)

Zone P-day bowling!

Buggin

Oh my gosh. This week has just been a whirlwind of weird things. So
remember when we stayed in Lyon two weeks ago for leadership
conference? The apartment we stayed in had previously had bed bugs
like three weeks before, but the sisters there assured us that it was
all finished. En plus we were all in a different room than the bugs
apparently. Welllll about a week later Soeur McClellan finds bites on
her arms...then the next night in Montpellier during an exchange she
woke up to find more. We started freaking out. Noooo!! So we had to
come home and take all the precautions and wash EVERYTHING in our
apartment and go to a laundromat to do all our laundry and get an
extermination in Friday and we've been in a hotel since Thursday and
are moving back later this week. It's been crazy. But we've had some
wonderful members that have been kind and helped us, as exhausting as
it was making so many trips to and from places, but they've been kind.
We've really bonded with this older woman in the ward. I think she
misses having to do things like this for her kids. We've basically
been living in the chapel because all our food is here and our hotel
room is a closet so there's no room to do any studies. We don't even
know if it was really bed bugs but we've been going to bed every night
imagining we have itchy skin and nightmares about waking up to more
bites. But alas, we've been ok so far. Anyways that's basically the
gist of our week.

So remember miracle Cyrille last week? Yeahhhhh we lost contact with
him. It's so sad. I don't know what happened but he hasn't answered
our calls or texts and didn't show up to our last rdv nor to church.
We're hoping its because he had to leave the country really fast or
something....we'll keep praying. I really really really hope he hasn't
let the adversary get to him. He needs to stop running and just have
faith!

We finally got to watch the rest of general conference! I loved Elder
Ballard's talk about family councils! I wrote down so many ideas for
my future family. In the last session I really loved talks by Elder
Gong, Elder Kearon (biased...), and of course Elder Holland. I was
really touched by his because he described something that happens a
lot on the mission. We come to these really amazing mission or zone or
leadership conferences every so often and it's like coming together as
a family and we rejoice together and we're so uplifted by the spirit,
the things we learn, and the love of the Savior and the Browns. And
then we have to return to our respective sectors and it's always a bit
depressing (or terrifying, like the dinosaurs chasing us) because it's
back to the grind of endless contacting and being rejected and just
the hard normal things of our work. But at the same time we know that
these are the times that REALLY matter. It's when we really get to
apply everything that happens during this conferences. I feel so
blessed to have Allison to talk to and let me know what it's like
after the mission, so that past two months I've really felt motivated
more than every to use every minute and second I have to be a really
missionary and change and work as hard as I can. I feel energized by
the spirit--I really feel that he's helped me REMEMBER (in the moments
that I need it) the importance of this work and the ways I can be
better. I really have felt the spirit uplifting me in all of these
"tomorrows". Basically, anyone out there praying for me, I feel it,
and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)

Yesterday at church sacrament meeting was focused on missionary work,
and I was the concluding speaker. They told me ten minutes but of
course I had just a few. But it was great because it helped me really
rely on the spirit to know what was the most important to share. The
thought of Christopher fasting and praying to know who to share the
gospel with came to my mind, and I shared that with them. If a sixteen
year old can do it, they can too! Chrissy might like to know that the
ward was touched by his example, and he was talked about in the
following relief society and elders quorum lessons. And mom just has
informed me that he was a missionary for "future day" at school and
even gave out a Book of Mormon! YOU GO, CHRISSY. YOU'RE MY HERO.

I think we need to plan Mother's Day skype soon. What time do you guys
have church and when would you like to skype? It's May 8th right?
Remember I am six hours ahead. Let me know what works for you.

Je vous aime!
Soeur Hurd

Soeur McClellan made banana chicken curry pizza...

Lovely purple flowers we often see overhanging the walls. We have a beautiful mission!

Miracle!

This week has been so wonderful! We had leadership conference on
Tuesday and it was great to be back in Lyon for a day. I saw Soeur
Grant and Soeur Holmgren, who are now companions in Annemasse! They're
so adorable and I feel like we're a trio. They even brought me some
Swiss chocolate (my favorite kind with the pistachio!) because they're
right next to Suisse. So sparked! They're so cute. My companion Soeur
McClellan was also way excited to go because it's her first time at
leadership council and the three other girls that were in her MTC
group are all STLs now too, so it was a great reunion for the four of
them.

At the meeting we talked a lot about the Christofferson conference and
how to take our mission to the next step. President has given is yet
another mission challenge! We just got 223 new people committed to
baptism, and now the goal the Lord has for us is to BAPTIZE 91 of
these people before the end of this TRANSFER. That's a month away!
President wanted to insure us that yes, indeed this goal is
impossible. But we've done the impossible in all these past mission
goals we've had this winter. So we're going to do it again. This time
we can't afford to wait till the last week to get on board, we've got
to get there now. In our mission, we exceed our goals. We're going to
baptize 91 people this transfer.

We talked about the Book of Mormon and the blessing Elder
Christofferson left us--these are tools that we can draw upon to reach
this goal. I know that we're not alone in this work and that the Lord
is directing all of it. I'm so excited for this new emphasis on the
Book of Mormon. With all the family and temple tools we've been using,
it's been only too easy to forget that the Book of Mormon is the
greatest tool we have in conversion. We've planned a game for our zone
to memorize scriptures from the Book of Mormon so that we'll be ready
to always use it in our teaching. I've set some personal goals as well
and I'm already feeling the power that comes! I just love the Book of
Mormon! Everyone needs to read it!

Ok now for the big miracle! Someone named Cyrille called us this week
and said he got our card from sisters a while ago and now he has time
to talk about Jesus Christ. We set up a rdv and prayed that he was a
miracle and HE IS. We were on exchange during the first lesson so I
was with Soeur smith and Soeur Clancy who are in a trio in Aubagne. We
roleplayed the lesson that morning and we planned on beginning with
the end in mind by talking about temples. The rdv went so well!
Prayerful planning precedes perfection. We were able to meet him, talk
about temples, talk about following Jesus Christ through sacred
covenants, and he wants to be baptized! He said he's always been
playing hide and seek with God, but now he wants to follow him. Now
he's ready. HE'S SO PREPARED. We extended the baptismal invite for May
7 (last day of the transfer) and he said it was a little early. Well
today we just barely had a rdv with him and extended the invitation
again, this time for May 21, and he accepted! But we know a miracle
will happen and he'll be ready before then. Sometimes Heavenly Father
hands us miracles on a silver platter. It reminds me a lot of Anthony
in Cannes, who just texted us one day because he was searching for the
truth and is now baptized. We didn't do anything but start the lessons
and invite him. Cyrille's story also gives encourages me because all
he had was a card! I give our cards out ALL THE TIME. With hopes that
mayyyybe someone will call or look at the website. Well apparently it
does work!

Also, yesterday afternoon we were contacting and Soeur McClellan
contacted this girl with punk spiky hair and genie pants and leather
studded gloves. And we had the coolest lesson with her. She said, yes,
I have all the time in the world! Let's go sit down somewhere. We
talked about her spiritual journey, family, and our Heavenly Father.
She was interested in researching but said she won't be ready to
choose a spiritual pathway until she's like 50. Well, she might eat
her words because she accepted our Book of Mormon and she promised us
she would read it and take care of it. Her spirit was so sincere, that
I know she'll read it and I know she'll feel the love Heavenly Father
has for her. She's a little bit of a wanderer, so she said she
wouldn't fix a rdv with us because she just walks around all day and
believes what's supposed to happen will happen, but she agreed that it
was no accident we met her today. I know we'll see her again though
because there are no accidents, and God loves her and wants her to
know and experience everything he has prepared for her. She was so
cool.

Last night we had dinner with our DMP and he's just so legit. I'm
grateful for his vision for the ward and for his efforts to encourage
the members to do all they can to help us with missionary work. At
ward council he was fighting our cause by telling all the council
members of the poor sister missionaries that contact and porte all day
with no fruits and was saying it's all up to the members now haha.
He's got our back. But I'm still giving out our cards like there's no
tomorrow!

Conference talks are all uploaded on gospel library already!! Profitez
bien!! I know I will.

Je vous aime tous !
Soeur Hurd

General Conference!

Conference!! Wasn't it wonderful? So I've only seen two and three
quarters of the sessions but we'll watch the rest this week. I know I
missed talks by Elder Ballard, Elder Holland, and Elder Oaks, so I'm
looking forward to all of those. I heard there were some wonderful
talks in the priesthood session as well. I loved Elder Bednar's talk
explaining the relationship between baptism, the Holy Ghost, and the
sacrament in his usual clear and succinct way. These are all things
I've been studying over and over again throughout my mission so I was
grateful for his words. I was also particularly touched by Elder
Andersen's talk about children and the growing diversity of members
and their circumstances that we have in the church today. I also loved
President Uchtdorf's bold testimony of the Savior's love and sacrifice
for us. I can't wait to go back and read and glean even more from each
of the talks.

This week we've done a lot of (more) finding. Well, trying to find. We
don't know what's wrong but we meet the coolest people and then
nothing comes of it. Sometimes they are so nice and agree with
everything say, but don't want to ever meet with us or come to church.
It's ok though, Aix is so full of wonderful people and I get so
sparked when we have really great conversations with them. One day
they will be a little bit more prepared to receive the gospel. So Juna
in Peru, I feel ya. We're getting so close though! One day we'll find
a family, and they'll be ready. And we'll love them and teach them
(Side note: just read the miracle and president has given us a new
mission goal/challenge--baptize 91 people before the end of this
transfer. I think we'll be hearing more about this at our council
tomorrow).

We met a nice Jehovah's Witness this week. She tried to teach us about
Adam and Eve. I don't think she realized Latter-day Saints have the
whole story in Pearl of Great Price. I'm so grateful for the
scriptures and for the Restoration of the Gospel that restored all the
lost truths! I'm so glad we don't have to guess about our salvation!
It ended up being a really uplifting lesson. I love being Mormon!

The biggest spark of the week was when Soeur Scruggs, who used to be
my STL when I was in Cannes and she was in Aix, came down here with
her parents! She finished her mission this last transfer so she's
planned a couple weeks of traveling and Thursday she called us to tell
us she was coming down to Aix and wanted to take us out to dinner. So
we had a wonderful evening with them, talking about the mission and
laughing as her parents embarrassed her as parents do (they're so cool
btw!) Soeur McClellan and I tried steak tartar for the first time. And
you know, raw ground beef isn't that bad when you eat with a French
fry!

Right now we're headed to Lyon for leadership council! Best day of the
transfer! We're super excited, although we're supposed to do the
musical number so pray for us! President always has very specific
requests for the musical numbers so we've had to do quite a bit of
composing and arranging but it's been fun to have a very musical
companion :) Soeur McClellan sings veryy well and she has the cutest
little jazzy voice! We've been jamming out a lot.

Fun fact: My allergies are getting much worse. I'm dying out here.

Can you find what's wrong in this picture?

Mom, this periwinkle door is for you. French people love this color. And no, they didn't open up to us.

Soeur Scruggs, possibly my favorite person, came back from the dead and took us out to eat!

American Easter treats, courtesy of Soeur Scruggs!

Parmesan cheese, after fermenting for over two years. This is normal for France.

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

Sisters finding day! We made them a princess lunch

Tim tam slams the night before transfer calls - with Aubagne soeurs!

Easter lunch at the Mylderman's glass house

Creative hiding places

Isn't it so legit??

Goodbye Soeur Skalka :(

White people put on bronzer, Filipinos put on whitener...did you know that?