The Beautiful Mantes and Utah Baguettes

a street in my new sector! 

This week we have seen a LOT of things, and I keep saying I'll send a real email so I figure I owe one at this point.

TRANSFERS. 

First things first, after 7 transfers and 11 months.... I'm actually leaving Versailles ward and I am really, really sad about it, since I love all the people there, our sweet new member M just started bringing her extended family to the temple, the bishops wife just had a baby I haven't seen yet, and an amazing member invited us over for Christmas eve more than a month early so we'd know we had someone to visit! This is the BEST ward!

And next week I'll say the exact same thing about Mantes-La-Jolie, my new ward and sector! I'll be in the Paris district with the Zone leaders and my old district leader, Elder Cheng! Plus it means "the beautiful Mantis," so that's neat. 

I'm switching stl companions, so I'm staying in the same apartment and still at the temple visitors center half the day, which is interesting since the edge of Mantes ward is at least a 45 minute drive from the center. We'll spend a lot of time in the car, but I've met Mantes ward members and most of their amis already on exchanges and they're awesome! It's where we had that really interesting Bible discussion. They've also only had sisters in the sector for less than a year, so I'm the first Utah sister to serve there.

THE REAL BAGUETTE. 

Speaking of Utah. Yesterday in Relief Society a sister gave us a wonderful analogy.

"One time I went to visit Utah. There were baguettes in the grocery store, and people were so happy to buy them! They felt so French! They'd buy these baguettes and bring them home and cut them for their family and they were very satisfied and happy, they thought they had the real thing. They'd never had a real baguette! They were tough, like they were four days old, and strange and puffy and *shivers* but you'd never know if you hadn't been given a real baguette, and you'd never seek for one if you thought you knew a real one already! But once you've had a real one, and tasted the real happiness, the real joy, of a warm, fresh, true baguette, you can't go back! You know the truth, it's right before your eyes and you can't deny it! Americans can't be blamed for eating fake baguettes, nobody has ever shown them the better way! Sisters, it's like people and their faith. They're proud of it, they love it, they're satisfied, but they've never tasted the real baguette, the true gospel of Jesus Christ. We can show them that real joy, the good bread, and invite them to taste it. 

My apologies to any American sisters, but you know it's true..."

I couldn't even get down the whole thought and people were shouting agreements like a revival camp. Nothing impassions our ward like food analogies. It was hilarious, but everyone (especially the Americans) agreed that the thought was accurate. The Gospel is the real baguette. As soon as you really bite in, you can taste it.

AMI B AND HER BEST FELLOWSHIPPER

Our ami, B, has a slow and steady progression. We've seen some quiet miracles with her lately, and à consistent change that is amazing to see. 

She also has this 6th sense that every time Bishop Causse of the presiding bishopric is at the temple, she somehow gets there too. This has happened every time he's come, at least 3 or 4 times. She has no idea who he is besides that he's her new buddy and she's offered to tell him about the church and introduce him to the missionaries. I love ami B. 

Anyways, yesterday B came to the correct sacrament meeting for the first time in months. She was a little nervous, very shy and didn't know many people and looked like she might slip out... When who comes in? Her buddy. She waved at him on the stand and really enjoyed his talk about service, charity, the pure love of Christ, his testimony, and the importance of baptism. Normally she's a little lost during talks, but this one she listened to the whole thing! She was also happy to know he's already a member, and that she knows his grandkids. 

It was a strange but cool proof that the Lord knows all of us and will give us little presents like seeing the one person you know at church if that's what helps you stay. 

I told Bishop Causse that he's accidentally becoming part of her fellowshipping family and he seemed pretty happy, though he's usually in Salt Lake. It was a good day. 

A REFUGE AGAINST THE STORM

I really enjoyed Bishop Causse's talk, which is good since I was the one translating it. He talks REAL FAST so the missionaries played hot potato with the microphone and it landed with me, which turned into a blessing since I understood a lot more than I should have, even country names that just made sense while I was translating, or phrases that don't have a direct translation. 

He just got back from visiting refugees on the Syrian border and a few other places. He talked about what our fast offerings go to, from rebuilding the inside of bombed out children's hospitals and wards for premature babies, to English classes that give hope to people who didn't have any left, to schools and daycare that allows kids to have a moment of a normal childhood in the middle of war and chaos. 

He talked a lot about the senior couples that are the face of the church there, and by extension the representatives of Jesus Christ. 

There is no proselytizing there, but that's not what's important right now for these people. What's important is food, and band-aids, and à place to sleep that won't fall down, and vaccines, and to live our religion by loving and serving those who are in need. The senior missionary couples are there to serve as Christ would, and many are on their 3rd or 4th mission! 

He talked about Israel, and BYU Jerusalem center, and the hundreds of people that come to listen to the couple called just to play music when they give organ concerts. He talked about the district conference that had 15 people there that came across borders and paid bribes and sometimes risked their lives so they could see other latter - day saints, and how they usually met by themselves in their apartment since they could be arrested or worse if they're seen meeting. There are latter-day saints in Syria, and they're all still children of God. 

We serve where we're called, lift where we stand, and do whatever we can. So, my invitation for this week is to go to "iwasastranger.lds.org" and find something you or your family can do. It might be big, it might be small, but it does make a difference. Pennies make a difference, paying your fast offerings makes a difference, caring for your neighbors makes a difference, donating your old stuff to Di instead of throwing it out makes a difference. We might not always see it ourselves, but somebody does. 

So: https://www.lds.org/refugees?lang=eng

And also this video is really good: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2016-09-3000-refuge-from-the-storm?lang=eng

And song of the week, if mom can find a really good version of "a poor wayfaring man of grief?" 

OH! And one more important fact: we met a wonderful little pomeranian named Joyce who barks very conversationally every time we pass her until her owner stops. She doesn't bark aggressively, it's literally a conversation.

" Bonjour, Joyce ! "

" Aif ! "

"comment ça va ?" 

"Aif !" 

And so forth. 

And there's a pomeranian named Domino next door. 

And "Bonjour Dog," the little terrier who drags on her leash to say hi. 

And Donut. 

And Cookie. 

And Leroy. 

The dogs here are determined to get their owners contacted. 

Alors, love you all, have fun, make good choices, say your prayers, read your scriptures, give somebody a hug, etc. And I'll see you soon!! 

Pictures : the cake the elders made, the day the elders spotted a rat and surrounded it, and a picture of a street in my new sector! 

the day the elders spotted a rat and surrounded it,

the cake the elders made

Apparently I need to learn how to write better

Hello everyone exclamation point I am using speech to text for the first time, so we'll see how this goes.

 

 Ok that works pretty well.

Sister Montalvo, my english my companion is listening to my whole email. So, she's pretty awesome.

 

 This week, on Thursday, we met sister Sharon Eubank (I can't believe voice to text actually spelt that correctly but it can't spell parentheses.) It was awesome! She is the head of LDS charities , and she is the first counselor for the relief Society in our church. She just came to the Visitors Centre because she heard we taught about the temple in a new different way with our model wheels. We found out a few weeks ago that we are part of a pilot programme using new vocabulary and missionary training to teach about the temple, what we do inside of it, and why this is so important for our lives.

 She came right after our Thursday morning meeting and she only had a few minutes so we sang as sisters in Zion , we shook her hand, and then we all took a picture in front of the christus Statue in the garden. She does everything that I want to do Sunday, so I asked her what her major in college was. She said it was English and she was in English as a Second Language teacher before she got her job with LDS charities! We had to leave right after that but it was the coolest thing that has happened so far outside of missionary lessons. It really was an answer to really random prayers.

I am actually already out of time today, but my invitation for everyone today and for this week is to not be afraid to accept service from someone. Being able to graciously and humbly accept service and love from someone else allows them to have the blessings of serving serving and the blessings of being able to give love. I've learnt that being able to let go of Pride, ask for help, and then thank the person who is willing to help blesses  both people in the end even if it's  really hard sometimes to be the one asking for help. As Missionaries we have to ask a lot of lot of people for help and we actively search for chances to do service but most people don't want to accept that so instead we end up surprising them with cookies and hoping we can do something so we can share a little bit of that spirit with them. We've got big plans for Christmas!

Next week I'll know what happens next transfer, we've got to go now since p-day is ending early again and we're driving an hour away but have an awesome week! Listen to good Christmas songs! 

Microwave Dinners Never Change

Meaning a microwaved one-euro French "Gratin Dauphinois au Jambon" tastes exactly like you'd expect... I'm not sure what the taste is supposed to be (something around a salty beige, maybe?) but it's what you'd expect. Choices and concequences in action right there.

BUT the reason I got to test out the aforementioned microwave-plat-du-goo was because today is the best p-day of the transfer, temple day!! We got to go to a session in the temple and it was so beautiful and clean and awesome and all the temple sœurs and the Versailles elders were with us since it's a district p-day too, so this email will be a little short. We're going to (in theory) be going to some of the auxiliary buildings at the Versailles Château again (if we can remember our passports) which was pretty cool last time we went. To save time, we had lunch together as a district in the kitchen behind the temple and all just got something at the super bargain grocery store next door. Unique experience.

This week was AWESOME, and I know I say that almost every week but it's true! 

-I was on exchanges with Sœur Tulieva a few days in a row and got to go to a baptism in Mantes-la-jolie, teach in two sectors, teach a lesson to an 8 year old who has time-line issues and very narrowly missed him believing that apostasy happens when one doesn't eat their vegetables (meant to teach: when they don't want to do things that are good for them...) 

-on that same day, Sœur T and I went to a lesson with a woman I've never met before, since she's not in my sector. Her cousin decided to come to the lesson and he had some interesting questions for us that he was pretty certain he knew the answer to. (the Amie:"tell him, sisters!) and instead of the planned lesson we ended up having a very unique and fast-paced Bible and Gospel Doctrine discussion which made me really glad I'd brushed up on my Bible references and BofM cross-references. Apparently it went well, since at the end the amie was happy and the cousin said we should come over for dinner and another lesson and told the amie that he thought we were cool, and most recent update is he told the Mantes sœurs he'll be coming to church on Sunday. 

Also, pink Halloween cupcake dye does not come out of blonde hair. That'll be a long story and a great one someday. 

We had a lesson with ami B and showed her this video, and normally it takes her a while to get things but she got this as soon as she watched it and it was awesome! 

https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/wherefore-didst-thou-doubt?lang=en 

Have a great week, love you all, write down miracles! 

Milagros y Milagros en Francia (on peut voir des miracles...)

Miracle 1 

Sister Fager the Bountiful HS librarian came to the temple and I was still here since 2 families cancelled at the absolute last second (which was weird and a little depressing) and it was so late we couldn't schedule anything else. And then someone came into the little online teaching room and said "... A librarian wants to talk to Sœur Amott?" and I was so excited I almost ran into the wall getting out of the room to go see her. She was the BEST teacher at BHS, I loved all my teachers but I got to see her every day and she let up set up the dance club! So, I got to give her a mini tour and talk to her and it was so cool! She's serving in Frankfurt Germany doing family history work and entering information so it can be filmed. Wasn't expecting a disappointment to lead up to a miracle like that.

Miracle 2

Our Spanish speaking ami Rosa got in contact with us! Turns out she'd gone off radar because she didn't have calling credits, which is frankly a very valid excuse. We're meeting with her again this week. She made us drink glasses of shelf stable French milk so we'd get our vitamins...and the whole lesson was in Spanish but I participated, understood almost everything, and prayed in the end all in Spanish, so hey? Milagros! 

Miracles 3 and 4, copy pasted straight from the zone FB chat because no time: "We had 2 temple miracles yesterday night that we want to share with everyone! First, a man walked into the temple and asked for a tour, but ended up getting distracted by asking a bunch of awesome questions about baptism, the scriptures, prayer, etc, and then he asked us if he could meet with the Elders and come back to the temple so he can learn more! He was so excited and just kept talking about how special the temple was and how blessed we are to be able to understand the scriptures!

Then, while we were still processing that someone had walked in and asked for the missionaries to teach them... A woman walked in and said she didn't know what made her get on the train and travel hours to get here, but she felt like she'd been pulled... And she asked how she could join the church and serve too, since she'd been visiting visitors centers for years while traveling but just retired and has time to take the lessons, and she asked us when she could start them!

We sent both of their information along to the missionaries where they live, but seeing two miracles with wonderful people, one right after the other, was incredible and a huge testimony to how the temple is changing the lives and attitudes of people here in France and all around, we're so excited to see people's lives change through the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that are so apparent on the temple grounds."

And then miracle 5, today was a little nuts because the transit to the mission office for interviews took 2 hours there and 2 back but when we arrived there were 2 letters with exactly the advice I needed to hear, I even shared part with président! It was an answer to a prayer and really cool. Merci beaucoup, tout le monde !

Song of the week : I can't remember the name, but the One Voice Children's Choir rendition of "when you believe" from the prince of Egypt soundtrack. Part of it is in French since it was filmed at Normandy Beach.

I love you all, thanks for being awesome, read your scriptures and write down miracles, make good choices, I'll see you all soon! Stay warm!