So many mission calls! When I heard about all of them I think I almost passed out. Brazil and London!? Don't mission calls just rock your socks? They rock mine.
Anyway.
WE HAVE OUR TRAVEL ITINERARY!
Some other French sisters had their plans when we passed them and we sprinted to the mailbox and THERE THEY WERE! So we are leaving the MTC at 7:30 next Monday morning. Our flight is at 11:15 from Salt Lake and we'll go to Chicago, then to London and then LYON! It'll be a long flight but I'm still excited. We're flying British Airways which obviously I know nothing about but a lot of people are pretty jealous. Our elders are going to Paris and they have a direct flight SLC to Paris a few hours after us and they're flying Delta. Our travel group is 27 people, and that is final destination Lyon... we met some Russian sisters who are going all the way to London with us before parting ways and their group is 40? Basically our plane will only be missionaries.
This week is really fun. I decided to be a total creep and found out when the Finnish TRC was so I could say hello to Brennan's dad. Sure enough, there he was! We got to talk for a little while but it really was the highlight of my week. Not just saying that, either :) Then every floor in our building has a sharing shelf (for food) and giveaway boxes (for everything else). One day we just went raiding and found all these clothes and restocked our treat supply for the district. I remember walking off one of the floors with all this stuff and saying, "Is this what it's like to be a Gadianton robber? I think I like it." :) Our district also made a goal of singing more. I think we achieved it! We taught a few people how to do the cup game (yes, like in Pitch Perfect) and we sang Called to Serve in French while doing it. Additional study time, what?
So this week we got to know our new teachers. The first is Sœur Worsham who is very kind but I don't think she... gets us. Haha, she is new and we are her first district so we are trying to figure out what we can do to make sure she loves us the most. Then, Frère Magré! Oh he is just the best. So he is legitimately French. Like, grew up in France before moving to the United States. I mean, his name is Raphaël Magré. Anyway, he served in Canada so basically his French is legit and I feel that even after a week my French has improved drastically just from listening to him speak. Plus he loves us. In a meeting S. Worsham said she told everyone that we think we're the best district (because we don't have any drama or trouble) and Frère Magré says, "Because they are!" That's when we knew that he loved us. I love our teachers even though I do miss the others. They're obviously just trying to get us used to constant change. It's working.
This week pretty much 2/3 of our zone left to the field (Africa and Canada) so for a few days we were lonely but then we got new missionaries! It was so much fun. They are all so different and I think they'll end up being pretty cool too :) I don't think any of them are going to France, maybe Madagascar and some more Canada? But a lot of them already speak pretty well. But they all had a hard time teaching the first time and I just wanted to hug them, stroke their hair and say, "Now, now, it gets better, fear not." Haha, because I wish someone had done that for me after our first lesson. We had a French fast and testimony meeting and I was so impressed because the two older districts were like, "Okay, they won't want to say much so we all have to be ready to go up," but I think most of the people that got up were the new ones! They're so brave. I would not have gotten up my first Sunday to speak in French. This week our disctict was selected to host the new missionaries. So we get to pick up the new arrivals and help them get their books and find their way around. I. Am. So. Excited.
Yesterday we had mission conference, which was just a two hour long MTC-wide meeting. At the end the president of the MTC decided to call on two random missionaries to bear testimony. Pressure! Well, the two people he selected were surprised and it turns out both of them had lost their father to a heart attack within the last few months and bore a strong testimony of families. I was completely blown away. The work is so real! How inspired was President Nally to call those two people that he didn't know. The elder he called he said, "I don't even know your name, but you're sitting behind these three sisters, will you come up?" It was a really cool meeting.
Since the weather might actually be breaking, I'm happy. Warm weather! My district has gone outside for gym time and played four square for probably almost a week. It's intense. It's hilarious. It's majestic. I'll really miss my district when we all leave. I knew this would happen! I knew I'd love my district and that when our time was up we would all have to leave and my heart would get ripped out. Yeah, it's going to happen. But we have one more week together and we're going to live it up! Mostly by speaking only in French. Not an English fast, but a French feast. French. All day every day. Toujour, chaque jour. It's going to be really hard. Bring it on.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for letters! I'm excited to write you all back. Thank you to Lisa for telling me about Rolex :) Some poor elder made the mistake of asking me how three-day eventing works. Yeah, he got pictures and diagrams and everything. Oh, and last night Chad Lewis spoke at our Sunday night devotional. Obviously I don't know anything about him but maybe you football likers will. He's a cool cat and he told some really cool stories, so I liked it.
Thanks to everyone for everything! Remember that this is my last week here so send me mail while you still can :) Take advantage of that DearElder business while it's still free! They don't print them on the weekend so use it before Friday and I'll love you forever and always. Have a super great week. The Church is true and the book is blue!
Sœur Loder
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
