The week I chopped my hair off, and other stories

Aug 21
So, first off, my hair got stuck in one car door too many and it had to go. Not too short (don't worry, mom!) but its just about shoulder length. This is probably one of the best practical choices I've made on my mission, since I no longer have to brush it and it got crazy curly from the humidity, never been like this before, so I'm not dying in the heat and I can handle the poof instead of looking like the Lion King. 10/10 would cut it off again. 

This week will be a short email (I know I say that every time, but for real this time) since we're on our way to Notre Dame and our p-day got cut in a few different directions with meetings and such, along with being moved over a day, but it's been a good week! Even crazier than before and I'm expecting changes, but still a good week. 

Remember the clock lady from last week? We had another rendezvous with her and she's still awesome! Her little grandbaby was hanging out for the day, too, and it was the hardest thing not to pick her up when she asked for a hug! They both loved the plan of salvation and were just awesome. 

Next week is going to be nuts, too, since it's transfers. I've been here in Versailles 5 and would love to stay a 6th, but only Soeur Oulès has managed to do that so far. We'll see what happens! I'll know by the next email where I'll be. In any case, I'll almost definitely still be at the Visitors Center so only half of my day and possibly a companion would change! 

Oh! Online teaching got REALLY cool since a whole bunch of people we talked with, and then sent to missionaries who taught them in person, got baptised! Some of them were people we'd been keeping in touch with so we got to know them and see their progress, and it was the coolest thing ever since they brought themselves to the missionaries! 

This is something I've seen a lot of, we REALLY need the members as missionaries, especially in areas like this, since most people who have actually been baptised or are serious about learning were a referral or brought themselves to us. We have a few from finding but referrals they have so much more support and confirmation thst they're doing something good. 

Scriptures of the week: 2 Nephi 2:25, And song "Adam ondi ahman" since it's really pretty and stuck in my head. 

I've got to go, we're trying to get to Notre Dame and we've got lessons tonight, but I love you all and I hope you have an awesome week!!! 

Aug 27

Quote of the week, from a five year old in our ward. We were over at the home of a family in our ward, and it was really cool! They're Americans, and have a bunch of kids, so we got to be creative in English which isn't very common for us. One is getting baptised soon, and another is turning 12, so we went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an origami butterfly, and challenged them to bring someone to the Come and See event that's happening soon across French speaking Europe. 

As missionaries, we can pray for and with the families we visit, and we've been taught a few times that we can call down blessings for the family, and specify that they will be blessed by our faith, and promise those blessings. It's something I never really thought of before Mark told me about it just before the mission and then our mission president and visitors center directors have been over it a few times! 

Anyways, we did that with this family. It's surprisingly easy to forget how special it is, until...

Kid: "I feel like I just got out of the movies," with a big comfy smile and happy closed eyes. 

His siblings: "...?"

His mom: "...do you mean you feel good, and happy?"

Kid: "ya, like when we just got out of the movies, I dunno! It just feels good." 

His mom: "oooooooh okay. That's the spirit, buddy! You can feel the spirit when she prayed for us." 

Those kids were SO CUTE and had a whole list of people to talk to. Another great quote was when we were talking about repentance, and used the analogy of a really nasty sliver. It often isn't comfy to start the repentance process, and can be down right painful, but it feels so much better afterwards. So...

Me: "How does it feel when you start to pull out a really bad sliver?"

Kid, with passion: "it STINKS." 

Apparently living in an old French house made that particular analogy unusually relatable that day.... They all agreed that getting the sliver out, even if it means admitting to mom that you were messing around with the floors, is worth the "this stinks!" Of pulling out the sliver. Same with repentance, and even the five year old gets it. 

Oh hey, I guess I should probably tell all y'all where I'm going for transfers! 

DRUM ROLL. 

After 5 transfers in Versailles, starting in January, I am at long last going to...

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STAY IN VERSAILLES!!! Whoooo best area in the mission!! My halfway mark is September 13th, so I will carry on the tradition set by Soeur Oulès of spending a full half the mission  in one spot. I'm honestly psyched. Because I've been here so long, I get to see the ward progression and keep in regular contact with new converts! I know names, the primary kids recognise me from family home evening (that's our missionaries! What?? They're our missionaries too!! Whoaaa!!!) and we can build a better relationship with the ward even with hundreds of people there and leaving for vacations or work trips. 

I just can't wait to see the bishops reaction when I show up again on Sunday. He just learned my name when he found out I like Montana and rodeos, and his kids figured out I knew the dogs on paw patrol. 

The one sad thing... Soeur Sedrick is getting transferred out. She's going to be a Sister Training Leader in Nogent, which isn't in our Zone, but she's so amazing they needed her there. She's with Soeur Johnson who was in the MTC with me!! 

My new companion will be Soeur Montalvo, another native French speaker from Canada. She's also fluent in Spanish, so this will be an adventure! She's the new temple sister training leader. 

Today we went to sacre coeur for p-day and talked to a lot of beautiful people on the bus and train and invited them to the temple, and it was cool because we got to see a Catholic mass while we were there. I felt bad for them trying to focus while a bunch of tourists stared at them, it was a beautiful building and I love the stained glass and the stories they put into them. I'm glad for the peaceful feeling in the Temple, with nobody staring at us and taking pictures, and the visitors center on the outside. 

Okay, that was super chaotic again but the favorite song of the week is probably "stained glass" or whatever it's called by Cherie Call, and the invitation is... learn a little more about someone else's perspective, so you can have compassion the next time they see yours. Mom went to a Buddhist temple this week with her new exchange student and now she can go to temple square and meet Thai sisters! It's awesome! 

I love you all, have an amazing week and say your prayers. 

-Soeur Alyssa Amott 

My new companion, Soeur Montalvo, and Soeur Ilizarbe, Soeur Bush, and me. French Canada/El Salvador, Peru, France... Utah

Our poor French missionary version of bangers and mash

What I wanted to eat for breakfast

what I ate for breakfast

Grandma Nama would love the Faberge Eggs

Thankfully, my life is not as chaotic as this email will be.

August 6

Short weekly this week, sorry!!

Fun stuff of the week: A member fed us "Head Cheese" which is not cheese and I never thought I'd eat that, but she was pretty happy we did and said we were "Good brave eaters" and would grow up strong and healthy and all that, and M and B are on date for baptism, with a few more people we're starting to teach. We got drafted to teach the youth class again yesterday which was combined for a whole lot of youth, and since we're sister missionaries and the surprise topic was marriage and families, we taught about family history and the temple. They seemed to like it, I hope? And honestly, it was cool working with them. 

See the Eiffel tower out the window of the train? Just an "everyday" ride.

I really loved a song I heard this week. I think it was called Oceans, covered by Elenyi. Ward members like to play american Christian music during service projects or when they're driving places so we hear some interesting stuff, but this was REALLY good. It's from he perspective of Peter with the walking on water thing. 

So, this email will be a little Peter-heavy, but I've liked all these things a lot. The Bible video of Peter and Christ walking on water is here:  https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/wherefore-didst-thou-doubt?lang=eng

I love the stories of Peter, especially since reading "Jesus the Christ," because I can relate to him. He didn't get everything right. He was rebuked repeatedly, sometimes harshly, and publicly, but he responded with humility and meekness. He got things wrong, he got scared, he was arrested and persecuted could have thrown in the towel and said "I'm not good enough" and left following Christ to somebody else. But, he didn't. When he saw Christ walking on water, he asked to come to Him, and he did. Nobody else ever tried walking on water, but as soon as he saw his Lord walking on water he wanted to go to him, even if it was a storm. 

And he fell in the water, but he walked on it first, and even when he was scared he reached for Christ. That's something I love in this specific bible video, is the smile the actor for Christ gives when he pulls Peter out of the water. He looks really, really happy that his friend tried!  

So, basically, I want to be more like Peter. I want to take any kind of little failure and correction and change I need to make, and make it. I know I'm going to mess up, and some things are big and scary and overwhelming, and so are oceans. Christ walked on water, and when Peter made it a few steps and tried his best, Christ caught him and got him where he needed to be. We've got our big scary things we've been called to do or want to do, and when we take a few big scary steps, He'll get us where we need to be if we reach out too.

One of those things is reaching out to people around us. There are a lot of refugees in our mission, and worldwide right now. Another video this week (we have tech for a reason, right?) Is here: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-09-3000-refuge-from-the-storm?lang=eng

We've got an ocean of people, and we're one person, but that can still do something. 

Senegalese millet lach

Missionary invitation this week: get on iwasastranger.lds.org and see if there's something you can do. I was surprised to see all the things that were needed, from supplies to somebody to teach them how grocery stores work sometimes. We might feel like we're trying to walk on water when we share with other people, whether we're sharing the gospel or our knowledge of public transportation, but if we're called to be a light and we try our best we can always reach out for help. 

Say your prayers and read your scriptures, you're all awesome, I love you all trip, and be awesome!

Paper crane on the sidewalk

-Soeur Alyssa Amott 

Also my blog is "Grace is Sufficient" on Blogspot if anyone has internet access, mom posts these on there, I think. Bye! <3

August 14

We had exchanges this week (again, but for me this time and not my companion!) and we went to a little city called Chateaufort and it was AMAZING. Like, first time in my mission that everyone in a city has been cool with seeing us! It's  been a long, long time since missionaries of any religion made it down there (took us a little while by car, too) but we found 2 new people who want to learn, and a few potential. 

When I looked at our map on area book that morning I saw a city I swear I've never noticed before, that's on the very border of our sector and our zone and has no direct bus routes anywhere near, and we felt like we needed to go to it.

3 specific amazing things happened. The first was, we went to go knock on doors and this one woman was sitting on the floor assembling a clock, and her door was open. So, we just said hi, and told her we had a message about Jesus Christ to share and asked if we could come back sometime since she was busy... She said "Can you come in now? That's much more important than what I'm doing!" And so we got to teach the whole restoration lesson and long story short, we're going back Saturday! 

The second was right after that. I'd already given away the French Book of Mormon I'd brought, Sr Sorena had more but I held a Spanish one just so I'd be holding one. I've gotten into that habit since a lot of people I meet seem to speak Spanish, but I'm not usually carrying it. So, the very next door we knock on opens... He's from Mexico and just got back from vacation. We stood there for a minute and I gave him the spanish Book of Mormon and said "This is for you, then," and he took it, but I got to tell him that I'd felt I needed to bring this Spanish book of Mormon to the middle of a little French Village, in France, and he was why. His little daughter was hiding behind him and looked very impressed. 

Roman aquaduct

The third was, we were headed to our car and this little old lady hollered to us and we chatted for a minute. She didn't want the restoration pamphlet but thought "Temples and Families" looked interesting, so... We have a lesson Saturday with her, too. 

"Paris-Brest" so rich it will make you sick but awesome for the first two bites.

We also saw a lot of wonderful, fluffy dogs, including this little derpy pug that faceplanted into my knees while I was asking if I could pet him. His tongue couldn't fit into his mouth, it was great. French people think it's really funny if we say "Can I say hello to your dog" instead of "Can I pet him?" and that works for us... we can talk to the owners more, too! 

We found a mote!

M is home with her family in a different mission and will be getting baptised soon, we're psyched for her! And B is getting ready to be baptised soon, too. A is going to do baptisms at the temple this week with us. it's busy, but awesome! I'm using that word a lot, but, I'm forgetting other adjectives in English that work as well. C'est trop bien, ça! 

Today we celebrated Soeur Ackroyd's birthday by going to a bagel sandwich store and it was amazing, I didn't realize how much I missed american bagels until then. Probably wasn't super healthy, but it had peppers, at least! We've gotten really good at killing hornets, too. Soeur Sedrick killed one with her fork in the middle of a lunch with a member and nobody else noticed, which was impressive. 

VIDEO FOR THE WEEK: https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/true-christianity I love the message from this video, with "What were you doing with all that time when you weren't at church?" SO. Missionary Invitation! I don't know if anyone who reads this is taking these but I can still hope, right? Invitation for this week is to write down, right when you read this (so, like, right now,) an act of service you can do this week. (Did you do it? Good job!) and then post it somewhere you'll actually remember it. (Inside of the fridge or in my sock drawer works pretty well for me.) And then, do it! And then, write down what you did and how it felt! And then, tell a missionary or a spouse or a kid about it, and share the experience to help someone else do it too. 

Song of the week: Come thou fount // If you could hie to Kolob by Elenyi. Some Visitors' Center sisters covered it in French and it was awesome, but we lost our temple Pianist. (Soeur Seely, we miss you!) 

Okay, that's all the time I've got for this week but I love you all, read your scriptures, be good, and have fun! 

hotel de invalids

Visitor Center at the Paris temple

"The Indestructibles"

toilet

flight school

Home ward: #6289

alyssa.amott@myldsmail.net

La Mission Francaise de Paris

Soeur Alyssa Grace Amott

131 Boulevard Carnot

78110 Le Vesinet, France

France has huge customs fees that will be billed to the missionaries if they receive a package listed at a value of more than $15. Please do not send anything by mail with a value of more than this. A package can be upward of $65 extra charged to the missionaries to pick it up from customs.

If you send items from Amazon.UK or Amazon.FR these fees do not apply. The mission home suggests if you would like to send something nice, that rather we can add money onto her personal account and you send a letter or email saying what to use it for.