Hello!

That's right, I can still speak English! Barely. I mix it up all the time and it's horrible. Most of the people in my ward speak English so they do it too. I'm sure to anyone listening from the outside it sounds ridiculous. 

Also, transfer calls are this week. I'm banking on one more transfer in Nice but send letters to the mission home just in case :)

So this week... nobody had cleaned our dead neighbor's apartment. It was terrible. Our guardian gave us some stuff to cover up the smell but it got to the point that they started smelling the same and all the chemical and body smell was making us sick. Elder Bria made some calls and we got direction from President Roney to pack our bags! They moved us into a four star hotel. WITH AIR CONDITIONING. It was heaven, and they gave us chocolate every day. And it smelled like fruit :) 

Also, they made us throw away all our food. So the bishop exhorted the ward to feed us each day and treat us like daughters. Yes, lunch and dinner appointments for a week! The ward was immediately in action and our schedule filled up the first night. I have had so much good food this week... really and truly. But I'm excited because I have eaten so much. I can't remember what it feels like to be hungry... we need a break. But what a ward! They love the missionaries here. I love them :) 

Honestly, the last couple of weeks had been terrible. Mean people and little success, then Friday happened. I met tons of really sweet people on the street (which never happens). I was pleading to Heavenly Father to just give me one person that would be nice to me... and walked up to a lady who put her hand in my face. I was like, what?! I just prayed for a nice person! I talked to several more people... but finally found my nice people. They are real! I love it. There was my little lesson for the week. He's just trying to let me know that I have to be patient. 

Friday we went to the Bria's home for dinner and they asked us to invite an ami. Awkwardly enough... we didn't have any. But we thought of an inactive member of our ward at the same time. We invited him over and over until he finally called and said he couldn't come. Bummer! But a member talked him into it and told him to take his friend... and he did. Elder Bria opens the elevator and says, good news... he wants to learn more! We had an amazing dinner and taught him a lot. He prayed. He is incredible. He is probably elect. He was at church and despite our members deciding to be crazy this week, he liked it and wants to come back :) Expect miracles! 

This week we have obviously spent a lot of time with members... and most of them are converts. All week I have listened to miraculous conversion stories from our best members and I was in awe. I want to be just like them! I love the members here and admire their strength so much. Some of them travel long distances just for church and hold down multiple callings. They are incredible people. Hard to find, but when you do, they stay faithful! I love it so much. Nice is miracle ville! 

We just moved back into our apartment... it's pretty hot. Someone finally cleaned it so it smells clean again! But I sure miss that air conditioning and chocolate :) Haha, it was a fun little vacation of sorts. 

I love you all!

Sœur Loder 

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Bonjour Bonjour

Hello dear friends and happy birthday to Paul :) 

We had quite the week. It's been so incredibly exhausting because of the heat but that's okay. Somehow July is half over! Time flies when you're preaching the Gospel. 

Lyon has seen miracles. Each week we receive the list of people with a baptismal date and these last few weeks, the size of the list has doubled. DOUBLED! It's incredible to see how many people are prepared to meet the missionaries. 

We had a lot of lessons fall through this week and we barely taught at all! It was still good. We have been able to organize the apartment and talk to tons and tons of people. We meet lots of mean people, but the nice ones make up for it :) Even though nothing big happened, I still felt like it was a really good week. Jared's e-mail talked about looking for the little things because out here, there aren't really tons of baptisms or anything. It's so true. My eyes have been opened to how many good things happen here in France despite the work being a little slow :) 

This week we had an interesting experience. A guy we had seen around was spotted again in the cute little alleys of Nice. Was it creepy or is he an elect trying to tell us he wants to be baptized? Well, probably creepy. We talked with him for a bit before excusing ourselves for a "rendez-vous" but he showed up at church. No good! The elders helped us out because he clearly wasn't there for Jesus... and turns out he considers his mission to be the opposite of ours. Going and destroying the faith of Christians. Yeah... I hope we don't see him around anymore. 

Other than that, we have worked with the members a lot and I just love them more and more. I have a talk this Sunday and they have been helping me translate into French. Most of them are converts so I've gotten to hear lots of great and inspiring stories! I love it. Being able to speak French really helps too. 

I love all of you! I like hearing all the random details of your lives. Send pictures, send anything :) 

The church is true. We have a Savior and He loves us. Don't forget that!

Sœur Loder 

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#baptize50

Hello again. Just a warning, I forgot my card reader so no pictures this week. I'm pretty disappointed in myself because this week I had pictures of Xavier's baptism and Tour de France! Bummer. But now you can all look forward to next week! 

RACHEL HAS A MISSION CALL! Oh I'm so pleased :) Denver is a cool place. Lucky girl! 

So yes. We had the opportunity to attend the Tour de France! They had a huge festival type thing going on down by the coast. It was super fun and crazy but I loved it. We saw two or three teams come by so that was awesome! I just cannot believe I was in Nice for the Tour de France. 

Crazy week! President Roney called our phone and asked to talk to Sœur Bentley to tell her her new missionary finally had her visa so we were excited! Then President tells her that she is moving somewhere by Toulouse and will be taking her bleu with her... so now Sœur Witt and I have Sœur Young! Really, I wonder how things could get any stranger in the mission field but I'm not going to tempt President. 

Here in France, instead of having sales whenever... everyone does a huge sale for 4 or 5 weeks called Soldes. Pretty much everything goes on crazy sale and keeps getting better and better! Why doesn't America do that? I'd like it a lot better! But Nice is crazy with tourists because of it... really hard to talk to people. It's always an adventure though. You have to love it. 

I should explain my subject line. President knows we're a bunch of miracle workers here so he has high goals for us. At a conference he explained that he wants our mission to have 50 baptisms in the month of July... a goal that has not been accomplished in many years. Is it impossible, he asked us? Then he quoted Mark Twain, "They didn't know it was impossible, so they did it anyway." :) Our zone is really close and we're all hardworkers! The zone leaders (they are in Nice too) have come up with our little reminder. #baptize50 ... and we will! Speaking of which... 

XAVIER IS BAPTIZED! I cannot describe the smallest part of how I feel! The service was incredible. The talks were spiritual, the baptism even better! Tahiana and I sang an arrangement of Abide With Me in English. He and I rocked it! I've received compliments several days later thanking me for having the voice of an angel. Our ward is too kind! Xavier's dad was able to come and he was such a nice man. Yesterday Xavier was confirmed and I cried. I'm not ashamed either. The change in him is incredible. You can just feel his spirit. The bishop gave him some scriptures and he told me after church how excited he is to share his old Book of Mormon with others who want to learn about the church. Isn't he super? :) I think the Bria's uploaded some pictures so look out for those! 

I'm excited to work. There is so much to be done here and every day I feel an urgency like no other! There are people to find and teach, who need the Gospel more than ever. We have to find them and show them the way! I just love being here on a mission and I am astounded at how fast the time goes. There is just too much to do! But that isn't a bad thing :) We love the work. 

I love all of you!

Sœur Loder 

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Hello bonjour!

I was going to include Italien but I can't remember how to spell it... but I did contact someone this week and he spoke Italien. It wasn't a great contact but he was happy I could at least say the Church's name. He took the card. I'm sure he'll get baptized someday :) 

Hello again from beautiful Nice! My companion is Sœur Witt from Salt Lake City, Utah :) She's a gem and I love her! We get along like best friends already and we both are just passionate about the work so we're for sure expecting MIRACLES this transfer. It's going to be good. 

This week has been insane with transfers and then going to Lyon for Bleu's Conference. Basically they bring all the new missionaries back after their first transfer for a huge reunion. It was the absolute best to see everyone again! The crazy part is that Lyon public transport went crazy so long story short... everyone missed their trains to go home. And by everyone I mean like, 30 or more missionaries. So they were in a panic to get us new tickets and we had to stay another night... it was a long weekend. So crazy but I loved it. There's never a boring day as a missionary!

Since this week was mostly travel, not much has happened. So I'll keep it short and tell you some things I think are funny and awesome about France:

Right now they have tons and tons of fresh produce. There are markets everywhere and I'm just loving it! I pretty much live off cherries and nectarines and apples and also Freeze Pops. Yes France has those and they are perfect for those long, hot missionary days. 

Here they can't make H sounds very well. I tell people I'm from O'io. Ohio without the H sound. French people are so funny! They call me, "Sœur... Lo-DAIR." I love it. I love them. 

I often ask people how they are doing to start a conversation and most of them ask me why I want to know and I respond, why not? Generally they think it's weird and funny enough to let me talk to them :) French people are either really talkative or want nothing to do with you. 

The work is so good. I'm especially excited for our baptism this Friday! I just can't wait :) But just you wait for the rest of the miracles. They're coming! The Church is so true. I love you all! 

Sœur Loder 

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