Explanation of title - We visited an awesome family with a young autistic daughter who is my buddy. Currently, she is interested in Turtles/Tortoises (same thing in French) and that's about all. Turtles are where it's at. That's a pretty awesome thing to be interested in, but when we're visiting for a lesson, it's a little rough to relate to the Come and See event without accidentally besmudging the good name of Turtles. She wanted to leave and go hang out with said turtle, but we wanted her to get at least the base of the spiritual thought... That's where teamwork comes in. Soeur Montalvo looked up the video while I found an old picture of me with an obese tortoise on a tortoise Saturday in Senegal, and she stayed to admire it. She watched the video and her brother looked up the scripture,
2 Nephi 31:3
"For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding."
We asked what that scripture meant and she beat both of her teenage brothers so the answer, with "He can speak the language of Turtles, too!!" which was a perfect answer. She went to bed right after and challenged her brothers to read up on the Plan of Salvation and know their 3 favorite points so well that they'd be able to teach it to anyone in their own language.
Today was temple Tuesday for the visitors center sisters, which was awesome!!! We have some sort of nasty cold going around the visitors center and the ward, less awesome, and I've avoided it until just today. I blame the cold snap in the weather.
Last night the Versailles missionaries, us and the elders, went out with the 21 day challenge poster to go finding. It was so cool, we gave out two boxes of Books of Mormon in multiple languages again! Twice now I've had someone so excited that another missionary walked over to give me backup if needed, since they just saw flailing arms, and instead they heard "
I also confused the daylights out of a wonderful man when he walked by and I said hi and he said he didn't speak English or French, I asked what he spoke... Wolof. I said" heeeey Naga Def???" And it took him a minute to recover before he could respond. He accepted a Book of Mormon, which I hope he can read since I don't know how to say " hey can I get your phone number so my friends the elders can teach you?" in Wolof.
It was another really busy week, but good as always, and we're assuming this will really truly be my last transfer in Versailles since I've spent a full half of my mission here, so we're trying to get it good and organized before I go.
We're also teaching a new young person learning, S, over WhatsApp, so that's cool. Ever tried to draw the Plan of Salvation in Google keep? I have, and then tried to explain it in text. I have some pretty good misspellings in there. Against all odds and with lots of help from the Spirit, she somehow actually got the concept and likes it. Elle est vraiment magnifique !
I hope somebody missed this...
Missionary invitation!!! : Bishop Causse challenged every member (yes, that is now including you, my beloved friends and family at home) to bring someone without a temple recommend to the temple grounds (or, better yet, a visitors' center!) by the end of the year. It is September 25th, you have 3 months. Have fun!
Song suggestion : Closer, by Kyle Thorn, it's an EFY song from a few years ago that Sœur Montalvo really likes
Speaking of, so excited for conference!!! I'm trying to make conference bingo a thing here for my fellow wiggly - listeners because I may be 22 years old but some things don't change. Bless Sister Campbell for printing some of them for me last April. I'll share them with A and ami B this year.
Okay, after this wonderfully long and mixed up email, I'm going to try to go hunt down a blanket scarf that I can wear in church and at home while we're waiting for them to fix the heaters. It's a bit chilly at the moment. Beautiful fall weather, though, and squash soup isn't too bad, and they're changing the flowers in the gardens at the center, so all is well!
I love you all, have lots of fun, stay warm, bisous!!!
P. S.
I don't know if anyone who reads this knows, but I have chronic anxiety, and it's been an adventure before and all throughout my mission. I feel like I need to write about this today, for somebody, so hey.
I get headaches a lot, or nausea, I can't turn my brain off, I have to meditate and do relaxation exercises and work to read scriptures for myself every day, eat healthy, work out, and be careful not to do too much but also not to get complacent. I don't even notice it's unusual anymore, it's more like an annoying squeaky wheel that just can't get oil. But, I know too that I've been blessed for it to be overshadowed by the good things, and it's something that's given me a better understanding for people and situations around us. Right now I'm writing this in a cold apartment whose heaters are broken with construction outside and cigarette smoke through the window, but my feet are warm with a cute rice pack mom made, I have a green sweater I love, we made turmeric pudding and we just got out of the temple, so things are really, really good.
My screen on my tablet is a quote mom sent me, from a talk, quoting a song, that says "ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything ; that's how the light gets in."
As sister Montalvo loves to hum, there is sunshine in my soul today, and our perfect Savior Jesus Christ hears the songs I cannot sing, and has born my burdens so I can be here right now. He's there for everyone, and he's there for you, specifically. And, as we say in missionary, this is the testimony I leave with you, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Oct 1
So, a few weeks ago we saw a big, tattooed, tough looking guy carrying his little pitbull like a baby to the vets office by the temple, and kissing his head and talking to him. It was sad and we were worried about both of them!! When we were leaving the center I saw him walking again with his wife (like, 8 months pregnant, that's relevant later,) and just holding his head and looking really worried. So, because missionaries get a pass to be weird and socially awkward, I ran up and asked him how his dog was doing. He was so worried but his wife said the dog just got a little sick from basic anesthesia and was fine. We said we'd pray for Leroy (the dog) and told them they were welcome in the gardens anytime they needed to wait or relax, and that God loves little pitbulls too. And then we all prayed for Leroy, and his mom and dad.
Oct 15
A month later... We just saw them at the mall, with Leroy! He's beautiful and healthy! And his dad still carries him everywhere while his wife laughs! His wife is still REALLY pregnant so now we're praying for Leroy's baby brother! They remembered us, and said they were really touched that we'd stop to ask about a dog when so many other people just walked by, and were happy to show us the little guy doing well, and said our prayers must have helped.
And yes, with only 5 minutes to write, that was the single most important thing to write from this week, that our Heavenly Father loves strange little dogs with weird names and their stressed out owners too. And He loves you, and he wants you to listen to his message in General Conference, so your invitation this week is to go buy some snacks and activités and get a friend ans à notebook and get ready for it!
I love you all!!! Give someone a hug and read your scriptures!
Well, everyone I know except other missionaries is gone this week, so I hope somebody reads this email! Also, disclaimer that I am taking public transit (trajet) to Saint Chapelle right now, and I still get fantastically motion sick, so blame any strange phrasing or spelling on that. I'm keeping the Ginger industry in business over here.
So, remember "Oceans," the song about Peter walking to Christ on the water? I know I've brought this song up a few times in emails but a line from it that has been stuck in my head a lot this week is "You call me out upon the water, where oceans rise and feet may fail," because that's a little bit like what this week has felt like.
To be completely honest, I can't really identify one reason why this week has been so weird, but it's been good just the same. No bad weeks on a mission, right ? It's just been a week of repeatedly having to lean completely on inspiration and trust that we've done our best to prepare for it. Our amis and our members have had some interesting needs that they bring to us or open up with, and online teaching has been really busy with people who really engage and want to know deeply how to apply forgiveness or prayer or other principles, and we need to be ready to respond to all of it. A lot of the time, the only first initial response we can give is, "we know our Heavenly Father loves you, and your Savior loves you, so we know there's an answer, we'll hold onto that until we can find that answer."
The week has had several miracles that I want to talk about someday but the funniest part was probably the reactions of the ward members when they realized I'm still around since they all decided to start saying bye two Sundays ago. (I told them not to get their hopes up...)
"Woo-hoo, we're keeping you the whole 18 months, sister!!!"
"... Well, I guess I'm not getting out of having you over this week, am I?"
"We had a missionary once in another ward who stayed for a year, and it was amazing, so we know what we're all praying for!" (American member)
"Oh wow you're still here." - (our awesome ward mission leader)
New-member A bore her testimony for the very first time on the stand yesterday and she waved at me, it was awesome. She gave a unique and exciting testimony and a few young people who I've never seen up there stood to bear their testimonies too, right after her. She's going to be a powerhouse of a missionary someday.
Really, good members who work with the missionaries and help people feel welcome and loved makes an incredible amount of difference to people, they know that they're welcome and that they're loved. They get to feel like they came home, and they're remembered. A few sweet members talked about that when they came into the visitors center last week, that they came into the temple grounds and just felt like for the first time in weeks they knew exactly where they were and that they were safe, and it was peaceful. (We also had a great discussion about Deborah and the book of Judges and I got to show my companion that I'm not the only person who reads the Old Testament with breakfast, but that's not the point.)
Our train is stuck in a very nice little dark tunnel so this email wandered a little, but you found out a lot more about my week!
Songs of the week: Oceans by Elenyi (comme d'habitude) and "It is well with my soul" by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. We were real excited about that being sung.
Alright, one more funny moment. We just ran into a member couple and the wife wanted to talk to us, and her husband said they were going to be late, and as he lovingly hauled her away to their appointment we heard "but I loooove themm..." and yes, she does have a missionary out herself.
I know how blessed we are to know about eternal families, and an eternal Father who can give us guidance anywhere and anytime we need it, and that we have a Savior and older brother who gave everything for us and is there for us too, even when we think we're too big and don't need him. Like with Peter, he's just waiting for us to reach out to him and he's there when our feet may fail.
Have an awesome week, eat some jalapeños for me, be safe and make good choices and send a cheesy picture to your favorite missionaries! (like my baby brother in DC!)
Love you all,
Sœur Amott
Letters:
Sœur Alyssa Amott
La Mission Française de Paris
131 Boulevard Carnot
78113 le vesinet
France
Oct 22
So, if you're ever bored and want something to do, FIRST look up your family history and have fun because some people there might turn out to be pretty cool, AND you can look up my many-greats-grandma, Saint Clotilde, who is depicted as one of the saints at Notre Dame de Paris for converting her husband, Clovis, ancient king of pagan France, to Christianity! Did you guys know about that, mom and dad? Let me tell you, this is a GREAT way to get French people excited about family history.
Speaking of, we started using Family history and our 4 generation charts to contact people after zone conference Tuesday when President Sorensen demonstrated his use of it and told us how effective it was! It worked great in Versailles and were going to try it again on the way home after p-day!
In Mantes - la-jolie sœur Tulieva and I contacted only one person who didn't want to talk about it, and turns out someone in her family had passed away the day before... So she was still touched to hear about eternal families, and that we were ready to help her move boxes or anything she needed. So, we're hoping and praying she's doing well. She was excited to hear my brother had the same name as her son who was there with us!
So, that's all you get this week for an email, but I love you all and I'm so excited to be here and teach people about God's plan for them, eternal families, and I hope you're all learning about it, too. Your invitation this week is to invite someone to do family history with you, and have a great time with them. Pray that they'll be touched by the spirit, too!
Talk to you next week!!
-Sœur Alyssa Amott
I was told by French people that this is the only place to go if you want a really, really good macaron. They were not wrong. One single macaroon in a beautiful bag.
Finally made to to Notre Dame
Evidence of Grandma Nama (Barbara Amott) in Paris...
More evidence, a window hanging from Grandma Nama
I liked the carvings at la Saint Chapelle better than the stained glass...
My first blanket scarf
"oh ya you just turn left at the CASTLE and it's right behind it, no street name. But make sure it's the right castle this time, sœur Amott, I remember you went to the Low Castle last time and got lost..."
My Grandmother...reasons to do your family history
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