Meugler

French lesson of the week! Meugler: to moo. I found it in the dictionary and backed it up with a real French person so it's legit! You're welcome. 

So this week was a miracle week (... et nous attendons les miracles!) and I had a blast. We finally were able to set up a rendez-vous with a friend of a recent convert in our ward. She is incredible and accepted a baptismal date! She actually didn't at first so I asked why and she was worried that she might change her mind tomorrow. I testified like no other that if she continues to meet with us and pray and do the things we ask that she will be ready. She agreed :) First lesson. Love it. 

My dream finally came true... Wednesday I got to do exchanges with Sœur Anderson! We were in the same MTC district and discovered we are long, lost best friends. We both had the thought (as we were planning the exchange) that our junior companions need to be pushed, given responsibility, and have the opportunity to see that they are capable. So Sœur Anderson and her companion came to Limoges for the day, I scheduled out the day and we turned them loose. For Sœur Patrick, she had to finally learn how to use the bus systems and not just rely on me (since I'm super good at buses and all). It was a great experience for her to see that she CAN do things!

Sœur Anderson took some potentials that the previous elders had left and set out to find them. They were literally on opposite ends of our area so we had several hour-long bus rides. The first one we ended up in not a super great part of town AND got lost trying to find a specific house. We had been wandering for a few hours contacting and such when we see this guy... probably in his 20's standing across the street waiting to cross and smiling at us like a fool. Sœur Anderson says, do you know him? I didn't. WELL turns out he is a recent convert of four months from the Czech Rep. and is currently studying in France and just BARELY found the church in Limoges. Super funny, super wonderful. Craziest part... he worked at Cedar Point in OHIO summer 2011. Mind blown. 

Basically exchanges are always full of miracles so despite all our traveling and wandering, we found some solid referrals and had a wonderful time together. We discovered that we both got our mission calls on the same day, in Provo, and opened them at the exact same time... sunset :) I love missions. I love Sœur Anderson.

This week I received four compliments in under an hour about how pretty my eyes are. Why? I don't know. It's really hard to bring a contact back when French men tell you you're pretty... it's just uncomfortable. I'm counting down the days for elders coming to Limoges! I have lots of referrals for them. Sunday was great except just as sunday school was about to start, the bishop and mission leader come to me and say, we're busy. Will you teach the lesson today? 40 minute class. On two lessons I have not studied or read. In French. Okay. It turned out really well :) I think they weren't really busy they just wanted to put me on the spot. They would do that...

Okay that turned out longer than I expected. But this week I have felt so much love from the Lord as I strive to be worthy and obedient. Miracles have happened and I expect even more. I love being a missionary, the hard and happy times too. As my absolute favorite teacher at BYU would say every day, the Lord lives and He loves you... try a little harder to be a little better :)

Sœur Loder 

Bonjour bonjour!

I seriously cannot think of creative titles for my e-mails. I'll try and be better next week so then when people get my e-mail they will actually want to read them. 

This week was a huge growing week for my dear blue! I informed her that we would be teaching a recent convert family the Restoration (the very first lesson). I also informed her that she would be leading the lesson and she was nervous. BUT she did it! And minus leaving out a few major and important things (like Jesus Christ's ministry and the apostacy... ha), it was very good :) This week we're going to focus on talking to people on the street! Because people on the street are NOT as nice as recent convert families. They also talk faster. She'll get there :)

Unfortunately I was feeling really terrible again so I went to a pharmacy and told them that I think I have sinus troubles and they just handed me medicine. France is pretty cool that way! Most people bypass the doctor and just go into a pharmacy and ask... they'll give it to you. I think I'm mostly better but if I'm not all the way better soon I'll actually visit a doctor even though I don't want to. The good part is that since I had no desire to eat I sought out some soup and France has some pretty good soups! But they're all the cheap packet kind that aren't very filling. That's okay. The pastries make up for it. 

We've been contacting quite a bit and sometimes we meet really nice people (like a couple I had a thirty minute conversation with and taught the first lesson) and the guy who just laughed at me when I asked if he met the missionaries. I don't know why... but it kind of irritated me! So I was like, oh so you have? He just started walking away and I shouted after him, so you don't want to learn more?! and he was like, stop! So I was like, fine GOD LOVES YOU! He gave me a dirty look. But it's true. God loves him so I don't feel bad. Then another man touched my face gently when I asked him if he had met the missionaries and said, no no you are very cute but I really am not interested. ... Well. Okay. 

Zone conference was this weekend in Toulouse and it was SO GOOD. President informed us that he thinks we are holding ourselves back and asked us to stop it. I think I will take his counsel. The mission is really revamping how we go about things and I think it has a lot of potential to be super successful! I'm thrilled. I love the work. I love France. 

Then ACTUAL conference! I was really, really excited even though I couldn't see all of it because of time zones. It was so crazy to see the temple in Salt Lake and realize how far away I am when usually I'm just an hour away. I remembered leaving work at the MTC every day and literally staring straight at the Provo temple. Then realizing there isn't one here and how blessed we are over in the states. I'm so thankful for the insane amounts of things I learned this weekend from the Prophet and his apostles! How blessed we are to have their guidance today :) 

I love you all SO much! Enjoy your week!

Sœur Loder 

HELLO

This has been an action packed week full of miracles and cockroaches and trains. Never a dull week!

 

We had a sweet family home evening with our ward mission leader and we ate TONS of crêpes and they were delicious. They are the funniest little family and their daughter is hilarious. We spent a lot of time talking about how babies and dogs aren't really that different. Maybe I won't be such a bad mom after all... I love dogs! Ha :)

 

So many miracles this week. We met some REALLY awesome people when we were out contacting. An inactive man talked to us at a bus stop and expressed how he wanted to return but he has to work every single Sunday. I was able to fix LOTS of rendez-vous with random people in our area book and we watched people just walk up to missionaries in Bordeaux and ask to learn more. Who says France isn't a good place for missionary work?

 

This week my bishop called and expressed his astonishment at my text message. He was like, did you write that? I said yes, scared that I had used a bad word or something and he went on for several minutes about how my French was perfect and how he thought it was his dad from another phone. We were talking about apartment stuff on Sunday so he probably doesn't think my French is perfect anymore but that's okay! Because it's not.

 

We did a lot of traveling this week and it was super miserable because I am... SICK. With something. My sinuses are going nuts and I have spent a lot of time sleeping this week. It isn't improving that much. Thursday we spent all day on the train and in Bordeaux for a meeting and I was so sick. I cannot remember the last time I was so miserable... I quite literally died in my bed that night when we finally got home. It isn't that bad anymore thank goodness!

 

This week has just been really tough. We haven't been able to buy bus passes yet because we have no money at the end of the month so we have been walking everywhere that we possibly can and we are just eating whatever we can find in the kitchen. Mostly we have a lot of oranges and like six bags of pasta. I think that should work out just fine. We've still had fun. I'm slowly teaching my companion how to behave in public. Some man sneezed twenty feet away from us and she shouted bless you at him... he gave us a dirty look when he walked past. Ha. We contacted this awesome guy too and at the end of our conversation... he stepped in. Bisous? SO CLOSE. I was like, uh... I can't... and it was really awkward. He probably feels worse though.

 

ANYWAY. Really successful week. We will be traveling pretty much all week this week... so we'll see how that goes. Also we will see if I have to go to a French doctor. Fingers crossed that it's NO but let's be real. I probably will. This church is so true. Miracles are real and the angels are working with us every day to find people who are ready to hear our message. I love being a missionary!

 

Je vous aime!

 

Sœur Loder

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Bonjour de Limoges!

I wonder how many times I will have to say hello from a different ville? Probably a lot. This week I was such a HOBO because honestly I was traveling around France for so long. I was in Chambéry and then Lyon and then Toulouse... and finally Limoges. We got off our four hour train ride (which was just after our other four hour train ride) and walked into the most beautiful train station I have EVER seen. Good first impression. 

The week was pretty good though! Wednesday night we went to Lyon and all the missionaries who were training arrived about the same time (5 sisters and 20 elders, approx) and the office elders took us to McDonalds and it rocked. I love not having to pay for my food :) Plus I got to see a bunch of missionaries that I love and missed. So wonderful. 

The next morning we went to a chapel in Lyon and had breakfast and then... got our blues! So what they do is give them a letter and they go up in front of everyone and read the name of their ville and trainer pretty much like a second mission call. None of the trainers know which blue is theirs so basically everyone is excited. So when a sister read LIMOGES I jumped out of my chair and hugged her :) 

My new blue is Sister Patrick! She is the funniest... I love her so much. She is 19 and from Florida and her dad is a mission president in Canada right now so that is pretty cool! She's been really chill through our crazy week so I'm thankful for that. We showed up to our new apartment with no instruction on anybody the previous Paris elders were teaching or anything about the ward. Nothing. Except a map with some marked bus stops. I maybe should have felt more panicked than I did but I've been rather calm :) 

Always an adventure. We were both sneezing like crazy and started inspecting a little closer and found SO much dust. So we spent a long time cleaning the apartment. We also found a cockroach... a baby one! Sister Patrick tried killing it with this thing of salt and it exploded all over the floor. Yep. Plus our showerhead has firehose water pressure so morning number one I pretty much unexpectedly hosed the entire bathroom (in France the showerheads aren't mounted so... yeah). But we're getting along and it's just peachy. 

Limoges is so cool! Really different from Nice and Gex. There aren't any mountains or ocean but it's a big city and I like it a lot! The buildings here are so beautiful I can hardly stand it. I love the history here... it's everywhere. I've seen a lot of blue porcelain and it is very pretty yes :) The ward is wonderful and they are SO excited to have sister missionaries! It has been 12 years that they have had elders so... they're pretty pumped. And I don't plan on disappointing them.

So I'm content :) I love being a missionary here in Limoges. I like my blue (she is passed out asleep right now, jet lag is a killer) :) I can't wait to get working with the ward and the people here. Most of them don't know the missionaries. Haaa. They will soon enough! 

I love you all, have a wonderful week :)

Sœur Loder 

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Transfers!

The assistants called us this time because President was doing something important. I was pretty sure they couldn't surprise me... well. They did. 

Hi Sister Loder! Guess what?

... what?

Your transfer is the most exciting in the mission right now!

That was enough to scare me a little. So what happened is the Paris stake split and two new areas were added to our mission. So I'm going to open a place called Limoges into our mission and I know nothing about it except there is a river and they are famous for blue porcelain! And here's the other exciting news... I'm training a brand new missionary! 

When Elder Fox told be that I think my WHAT echoed through the small town of Gex. Yep. They got me. The other new ville is being opened by an elder that came out with me and he is training too. Should be fun :) So I'm currently in a place called Chambery for a few days until we go to Lyon to pick up our new missionaries. It has been a very exciting week! 

They also are replacing the sisters in Gex with elders so... we had to prepare the apartment for four new elders. Okay. I think hectic is maybe a better way to describe this week. There was so much to do I just found myself standing in the midst of luggage and not knowing what to do. On top of everything else. 

This week wasn't particuarly exciting. I did an exchange with a new sister who is actually from France... so they taught us some French expressions. She is learning English and we started talking in French. She told me she hopes to speak English as well as I speak French. What a great compliment! I don't necessarily believe her but it was nice anyway ;) She is super funny. I love it. 

It has also been really COLD! I just love it. I'm tired of the sun. I want to wear boots and jackets. Bring on fall in the north of France. Another sister in Gex was transferred to Toulon, right on the coast. She's pretty excited. 

Honestly I can't remember much else. We were able to go out and work a lot this week (until calls) and it was really nice. We did discover that we need a car because the buses just don't work. Sœur Roberts and I tried it out and the normally 15 minute drive from Thoiry to Ferney was an hour because the bus went all the way through Geneva. Yep. Well. At least now we know! 

I think this next transfer will be crazy but I think I'll learn a lot. I'm excited to see what Limoges is like! So look forward to next week when I can actually tell you :) Love you all! 

Sœur Loder 

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:)

This week was pretty okay. Really crazy and went by really fast. We get transfer calls this week and we have no idea what will happen so send letters to Lyon, not Crozet. I'll get them soon enough. And also thanks to everyone who writes me! I love letters :)

 

I had exchanges in Lyon this week and Sœur Witt (my last companion in Nice) was there randomly so we got to work together for the night. Pretty neat! We had fun. We met a guy from New York that said he knew I was from Ohio because I had a bouncy Ohio twang. I don't know what that means, but cool! I met lots of really cool converts over there. I love meeting converts. The terrible part of the exchange was being in the mission office and seeing the transfer board. Each missionary has a picture and the ones going home sooner are at the top and the new ones are on the bottom. My picture was halfway up the board (it's also a terrible picture, so that didn't help). Oh man, where is the time going?

 

We had a fun district meeting too. Coming home on the train, Sœur Christensen and I met a really cool guy and we invited him to the end of our zone meeting. Well. He came! And I think he will probably get baptized but he lives in Lausanne, so the elders there will teach him. Coolest miracle. And on the bus we met an Italian man that speaks perfect English and laughs like a stereotypical French man. It was... awesome.

 

We've had so much fun talking to people lately. I like contacting. People are really funny but they are also my brothers and sisters so, basically contacting is the best! Our amie is doing well. She had dinner with one of our members who also smoked before she joined the church and now they are the best of friends :) I just love when that happens. I know she can stop smoking but it will be hard!

 

It has been a beautiful week in Gex and hopefully I can have another 6 weeks here but anything could happen. We'll see :) I love you all and have a great week!

 

Sœur Loder

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Salut les sisters!

Our DMP (ward mission leader) always says that to us. He speaks english really well but we taught him to say "fo shizzle" yesterday and it was probably my favorite part of the week! He's such a great ward mission leader. I love it.

This week was fun. We were going to Lyon and then hit crazy traffic in Geneva so we missed our train ... by probably 3 seconds. So we had to wait two hours for the next one because we have a French phone and it doesn't work in Switwerland. Thankfully the elders there found us... so I bought some nail poilsh and stickers while we waited :) The exchange was nice even though I was sick.

Okay not really "sick" but my sinuses are going crazy and I cough a lot. Then I lost my voice. Kind of all the way... kind of like, my companion has to do all the talking because nothing comes out when I try. The family upstairs gave me some sweet medicine to try and I didn't cough at all last night and I can sing bass now :) It's getting there. I'm fine.

I wrote down to talk about how it was getting cold and then the next day was probably the hottest of my life. Not Nice status, but hot for here! But now it's getting better. It's all downhill from here! I can't wait for summer to be over. I'm tired of it. Bring on fall!

We had zone conference and interviews with President this week and it was so good! I love talking to President. I answered his questions and then he asked if I had concerns and as soon as I asked him, I was sure he was already prepared to answer them. Such an inspired man. I love it! Then he proceeded to change my life as always. He is my hero, pretty much. Then at the end he asked me the capitol of California because he knew I wouldn't know and he didn't want me to pass with 100%. He also photobombs. If you want to know what President Roney is like :)

As for the work here in Gex, it's going. We are really trying to figure out how to get the ward more involved. We have a huge ward and it's a strong ward... so they aren't necessarily excited about missionary work (and it should be the opposite) so yeah. We have been working with the new church website a lot... hasteningthework.lds.org. WATCH THOSE VIDEOS. We are going to start using them with members and I'm really excited!

Our amis. Thiam went missing again but we just found him... so we will try and teach him this week. Sometimes people in France just leave and don't tell anybody. It makes our job really hard but it's okay. Melissa is doing so well! She really wants to stop smoking and we made a plan with her. At the end we proposed throwing away her pack right then and there. At first she was hesitant but she stood up and courageously walked into the kitchen and threw them in the trash and said, arreter de fumer! Stop smoking! Haha. Then we had a little party with her :) Every day we are talking to her and sending scriptures and whatever we can to help her. I love her so much and I know she can do it!

Other than that, all the people are coming back so bring it on! Finally we can start hitting contacting goals and I don't know... teach people maybe? That would be nice :) I like teaching.

Passez une très bonne semaine et je vous aime!

Sœur Loder

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