Mormons! Latter-day Saints!

We were walking around the little town of Ferney when we hear someone shout Mormons! We were a little worried because, usually when people yell at us it isn't good. So we kind of look and keep walking when he shouts Latter-day Saints! What? We decide to go over and talk to him. Well. He is a pretty cool guy. He's a philosophy teacher but he is really into religion and really believeing. We talked to him and his friend a little while and they were pretty cool! Then we turn the corner and some guy says, "Sisters!" What? Oh. Just an RM (South America) from Utah visiting France and randomly ran into the sisters. His name is Chris and he is the COOLEST. How often does that happen? Never.

Contacting has been hard because... in August everybody goes on vacation. Once populated cities become ghost towns. We drove to the other end of our area (about an hour away) and it was literally empty. 2 hours of work and we only saw 3 people. It was creepy... pretty much a scary movie waiting to happen.

In one town we had a really funny experience with a guy we contacted. We said hello and asked how he was doing and he just starts getting REALLY upset. A lot. We were prepared for the worst but he starts asking us the name of our church in a huge rage. Sœur Roberts and I knew we could not say Mormons or he would flip a lid so we just kept repeating the full name of the church even though we knew that wasn't what he meant. Eventually he just yelled UTAH! You're from Utah! We looked at each other and I said, I'm from Ohio and she said, I'm from California? The poor guy was pretty confused. He's like, I've been to Utah and saw your building! The Mormons! We were like, oh yeah, that's us. He must have been a little confused. After that we had a jolly conversation and he bid us farewell with the biggest smile. It was really kind of funny.

Another fun adventure I've been having is driving a stick... in the mountains of France. There is every obstacle that makes your life a nightmare. PLUS driving in the mountains. Basically you have to learn really fast or you will just sit on a hill with people honking at you forever. We turned up this one hill and I accidentally killed it... and could NOT get it up the hill. One time it started but we hit some rocks and the tires spun... and it died. So bitter. It worked out eventually. Once I was basically back at the bottom of the hill from rolling backwards so much. Yeah... it was my first day. I'm better now.

Also, we happened to find a little stable and I got to spend some time with a beautiful horse and her baby! So precious. She's a jumper too... perfect. I love it here.

Right now we are teaching a really sweet girl named Melissa. She has Muslim background but really has a desire to believe in Christ and be baptized. She has a date for September 7 but she is trying to quit smoking. She is incredible, isn't she? I love teaching her. I love being a missionary!

This week at zone conference we talked a lot about faith and missionary work. We watched the Mormon Message, "Mountains to Climb" (watch it if you haven't) and talked about how much we need to have faith and rely on the Savoir even though the hardest times in life and as a missionary. It was really perfect. The mission has been struggling since everybody is gone and there aren't a lot of people, but it's been okay. We keep working :)

I love you all and I hope you have a super week!

Sœur Loder

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