Bonjour!
It's insane how fast time goes here. I feel like I have been here only a few days except now I magically know how to teach in French. Yesterday was our halfway mark, can you believe that? In just three weeks we will be flying to FRANCE! Our layovers are in Chicago and London, then we go to Lyon. How neat!
So this last week was pretty cool. Tuesday night we were singing in choir rehearsal and we're watching the people set up for devotional and they're setting up the fancy invisible teleprompters and we were like, they don't just set those up for anyone. But they keep the speakers a secret until the actual devotional. So there we are, singing prelude music before the devo and in walks... Richard G. Scott! AN APOSTLE. It was really cool and he spoke about prayer and how amazing and personal it is. Then he gave those learning a language a blessing that we might be able to study and learn well. It was a really good night.
One of our teachers, Sœur Scott, couldn't come in last Wednesday so we had a subsitute! She's a cute girl who is in training to be a teacher. We didn't have a real plan, so she decided to teach us how to do porte-à-porte, which is knocking on doors. Haha, oh it was hilarious! She would go wait in a room and we would have to knock and give our message and hopefully make an appointment! Sœur Richardson and I did well but she slammed the doors on a few of the elders. We got to do it a few different times and it was a neat thing. Maybe I'll be better when I don't know who is behind the door :) Sadly, our teachers will be leaving us because the BYU semester changes and Utah passed a law about full-time workers gettting benefits. So the MTC has deemed "full time" as 29 hours so they don't have to give benefits. Everything is all mixed up! Frère Glenn is leaving us to go to Texas and work this summer so really, we're just kind of sad about all of that.
We also did our first TRC this week, and it was coooooool. We taught a two different people a message about prayer and faith (they're BYU students and members, so it was less pressure) and got to answer questions. We shared the story in the Book of Mormon about the brother of Jared and how he asks the Lord to touch the stones to light the vessel and how he has such sweet faith! They were able to ask us questions and we could actually answer, in French. So overall it was a good experience.
Frère Glenn has been playing an ami (investigator, don't forget) named Chris, who is someone he actually knew from his mission in Montreal. So we go in pretty blindly and start teaching him and it was really just the sweetest thing. He was receptive and asked questions. So the next time we taught we were pretty excited. His character has a daughter, but he is divorced so he never sees her and it absolutely broke my heart. In the lesson we taught "Chris" how to pray, then knelt and asked him to pray, and even though I KNOW it is my teacher... the prayer was so innocent that when we walked out the door I cried. MISSIONARY WORK IS THE BEST. We taught Chris for the third and last time and he had some really good questions. His father passed away and really wants to know where he is. He is what we call "golden." :) The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone.
Let me tell you about Sacrament meetings here. Every week a topic is assigned and each missionary in the branch is supposed to write a three minute talk in French. On Sunday we come in, opening hymn, announcements, Sacrament and then the conducting person stands and announces two missionaries that will be speaking. Surprise! This Sunday I watched as the bishop announced the two people... everyone sat back in their chairs in relief. Haha, it's so scary! It's only a three minute talk, but it is a complete surprise and also in French. It's all preparatory for the actual field, but my heart stops every time he says "sister."
Oh, Hancocks! So the other day we were walking back to our classroom and I happen to hear someone talking to an elder and out of the corner of my eye recognize... Dallas Beck! Hahaha, it was so funny because he barely remembers me even though I stayed at his house. He went to look at my nametag and I covered it up really fast! I told him I stayed at his house a while back and he obviously didn't believe me and asked where he was from so I said, "Council Bluffs, Iowa" and he was like, "Oh, shoot, you do know me!" So we played a little game until he figured out who I am and how I know him. Now I see him pretty much every day. Fun!
For everyone, get on Mormon Messages and watch the video called "Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them." I just LOVE it! And I encourage you to watch it too because it really is touching and rings true in today's world. Mormon messages are our favorite! They are the perfect thing to wake us up during study time :)
Well, guess what. I love the MTC still! It really is amazing and the weather has become extremely beautiful, so I love being outside. :) Tons of flowers and everyone is in a good mood. Allyson and Laura, I can't wait for you to be here! I hope you just fall in love with this place too :)
Je sais que Jésus-Christ vie. Il a mort pour nos péchés. Joseph Smith est un prophète est il a retablié l'église de Jésus-Christ sur la terre. Notre Père Céleste nous aime beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup.
Have an amazing week! Je vous aime beaucoup (x3) :)
Sœur Loder
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