Get ready for one especially non-linear weekly email

(December in the Seine Valley)

A year ago I was in the Provo MTC. It was hard in some unexpected ways and easy in others, but mostly it was a whole lot of change. 

Leaving my family right at the beginning of the Christmas season was probably the most challenging part, since my two "Christmas Grandmas" had both passed on the year before, and I really miss them at Christmastime. My Grandpa Petersen got to join them this year and I was missing him too. I'm sure I'll miss him even more when I get back, but I'll get to see them all again someday and I'm sure they're close right now.

A big part of the reason I wanted to serve a mission is because I know families can be together forever, and that they should and can be a blessing and a strength in our lives. I love my family so much that I left them for a while to teach other familes how to stay together and be even better. 

My family has always loved Music, and my Grandma Petersen was especially big on it. Every year we had this Christmas Program where we'd read from the scriptures, sing together, the same things every year, and then have a little talent show and live nativity before eating dinner together. One year my little brother was born a day later! (Happy Birthday, Elder Amott!) He just couldn't make Mom miss the Christmas program. I hope she's happy I finally learned the Alto part to all those songs because of the Musical Soirées at the Visitors' Center the last few weeks. 

So, back on track with that first thought... When I was at the MTC, they talked a LOT about goals. We set goals, planned future goals, developed ways to make better goals and how to set goals for the rest of our lives. I made more goals than a star soccer player, I swear. 

One song my Grandma really liked was one from this movie called 'Goodbye Mr. Chips." I couldn't stand the movie (given, I was five, so don't take my opinion as fact) but I loved the song. She printed out the music for us all to learn. When I was thinking about goal setting I wrote down those words in my study journal. They're the only notes I have from that devotional. 

We can find the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version of that song, 

and sometimes the movie version, 

but we could never find another one and sometimes you want something more simple and less "World's Greatest Choir Singing An Unattainable Arrangement For Your One Voice In The Car" type of situation, you know? But we're not quite that musical, so ça va. I just sung myself, much to the dismay of several roommates. 

I had the flu this week (Soeur Ilizarbe passed it on as an early gift) and I was tired and sneezy during all the Christmas parties and service and generally just feeling a little too scrooge-y for my own liking, but couldn't seem to kick it. I've been actually homesick for the first time in my mission and for things that I couldn't get again even if I did go home, like Great-Grandmas who don't mind if you can't hit quite the right notes or hum along to the Tabernacle Choir. Life is awesome, but the flu makes everything a little blah, right?

Then, an incredibly amazing family in my home ward sent my mom, who passed it on to me, a recording of their daughters singing the words to that song. I shared it with all the sisters who moved too slow to get away (I'll get the rest of them this week) and I think I've listened to it 50 times. 

AAAnd Lyrics, because they're great: 

"In the morning of my life I shall look to the sunrise. At a moment in my life when the world is new. And the blessing I shall ask is that God will grant me, To be brave and strong and true, And to fill the world with love my whole life through. And to fill the world with love And to fill the world with love And to fill the world with love my whole life through In the noontime of my life I shall look to the sunshine, At a moment in my life when the sky is blue. And the blessing I shall ask shall remain unchanging. To be brave and strong and true, And to fill the world with love my whole life through In the evening of my life I shall look to the sunset, At a moment in my life when the night is due. And the question I shall ask only I can answer. Was I brave and strong and true? Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?  "

So, that's my weekly. We did a lot of calling, a lot of decorating chapels, a lot of sneezing, drank a whole lot of orange juice, today we went to the temple, and one family did an especially inspired #LighttheWorld act that helped me kick out those flu blues and motivated us to work a lot harder, call people, and see more miracles. 

Because we're encouraged to respect the privacy of the people we teach and work with I don't often share stories, experiences, or miracles that involve them, because I'm honestly just confused about how to tell a story effectively with 15 fill-in-the-blank mystery spaces, but I've got a few good ones for this week.

The first, we texted that member-who-will-return that we accidentally surprised a few weeks ago when we knocked on a random door, and he just sent us a text saying that we've helped him decide to actually be a returning member and to get to church. It was the cutest text! 

A new person learning brought her baby to the Christmas party and I've never met him before, but as soon as he saw me he squeaked and ran up to give my knees a hug! It was so sweet! He is an absolute little ray of sunshine! 

Our girl with a baptismal date has it paused for now but she still wants to read her Book of Mormon, come to church, keep learning from her family, and keep going until she can be baptized in a few years. She's awesome and we're so proud of her. 

We're grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who wants to help us answer all of our questions, and for Jesus Christ, our Savior and best friend. I got to sing (a.k.a. I Have A Low Voice) "My Little Prayer" with Soeur Tulieva a few times this week and that was really cool. If you want to look it up, that says a lot of things better than I can right now. 

Read your scriptures, say your prayers, it'd be cool if Mom could add "Petit Papa Noel" to the blog since apparently everyone here knows that, and expect the next email on Christmas. I love you all!!! 

the tower and obelisk in the same photo

Soeur I bought me a patisserie for my year out

President had a great idea, sunshine lamps! We brought them to the office because we are there more than the apartments.

Sunshine lamp comp selfie in the office

My first Chinese food in France

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.

One Manly Handshake

Sister Ilizarbe has the flu (guess who got the flu shot? Not me!) so we're at the apartment today while I sanitize everything I can reach and some stuff I can't. You also get an actual email this week.

Miracle of the week/title explanation :

When we're online teaching we rarely if ever get to meet these people in person during our missions. Honestly, we'll probably never meet them in person at all.

A few weeks ago I talked to a man named K and we figured out that he lives in France, in the general area of the temple! I told him in the conversation that we'd make sure the missionaries got him to the temple, and now he has a baptismal date! I can't tell you much about him but he's from a country that usually doesn't encourage Christianity, which is why he came here to learn more, and he speaks English in lessons. 

And last night, at the soirée musicale where all the temple sisters sing three times a week until Christmas, he came with his missionaries! I got to meet him and talk to him and it was so cool!

And when we were leaving and shook hands with everyone, the one thing he said is "WOW, you shake hands like a man! With power!"

Bargain like a man, shake hands like a man, sing like a man (still not over that, Elder Laurie.) I don't know what line defines this. He was cool anyways. I'll just accept my manly handshake and be glad that most of the interaction I have is online or with bisous (cheek kisses) that are a little safer.

The other cool thing from last night is that a few of the elders got to sing with us on some choir numbers. It's been a long time since we had a guy singing with us so it sounded great!

We have a LOT of new people to teach, several we're teaching, and I've just gotten confused enough about online privacy that I'll just tell you the main cool stories or when somebody actually is baptized in our ward. Sorry, everybody. 

And now we get a guest email from My Mom, who figured out the reason why our basement was freezing for years and made a really awesome analogy out of it. 

Now presenting, "The Parable of the Blocked Vent."

"The parable of the blocked vent...

For years, how long have we lived here? 8 years maybe? The basement has always been so cold. We attributed it partly to the fact that it’s a basement but it was still just so cold. And, of course, so dark, because it has few windows. Well, dad decided enough with the dark and he would hang a light. A cheap fix from Costco. Ugly but it had two big LED bars that would do the job. They had to be hung from the ceiling and I didn’t want them to come crashing down so we needed to check the ceiling structure. I suggested we check inside the vent where we could see the ceiling. 

He took out the vent and while the ceiling had some good Sheetrock under the tiles, the vent cover had been saran wrapped shut from behind. For 8 years we have been missing out on half the room heat because who would ever think to check that a heating vent wasn’t invisibly blocked? I’m sure they did it as people moved out and the basement was unused so as to not waste heat. But, we went all those years colder than needed because we didn’t have the whole story. 

How many people are you finding who have blocked heat vents and they just don’t know it. They can’t be comfortable and helped and warmed simply because they don’t know their heater vents have been blocked. You might talk to 50 people who feel fine and it’s their choice to turn off their heat but, then there is that family that just didn’t know. They really wanted heat for years and just didn’t understand what the problem was, why they were cold. You get to be the ones to find the blockage, remove it, and share the warmth of the gospel. 

What a wonderful message that is! Even if many or most are rejecting the comfort. To those who just don’t know, they are so ready to enjoy the warmth. 

Love, Mom"

That's what our friend K decided. He wanted to find the warmth and he asked for help. The missionaries took him to the temple (with members!) and let him see if he wanted that feeling. He does, and he's willing to work and learn to get it. I love working at a visitors center and seeing all these cool things!

And because I'm only at the center half the day and the other half is in the sector... Yes, Paris is doing a great modern re-enactment of "Les Misérables 2," as our Zone Leader described it, and we are in the Paris district, but basically all that means for us is we take the long way to get into our sector and we pay more for toll roads. A few people missed church, which was a shame. For District Meeting we have to drive through the Charles de Gaulle Etoile so we're probably just going to Skype in. That's... Really about it. Gas prices are higher. Our members are really protective of their missionaries and especially the sisters (why its us, I can't tell you. We're 22 and 26, the elders are 18 and 20, and we have a car. Take care of the Elders. Give them a sandwich. They need it.) and our Mission President has been having us come home early if there's a bigger strike planned. 

It's a great opportunity to help some people understand why they have a drive to improve the world and to unblock some heat vents, right?

We went finding with "Light the World" this weekend and got four phone numbers in about an hour, which is amazing! People love this idea of just doing good for the sake of doing good!

This week's challenge : Do one of the "Light the World" activities, share it on social media of your choice to encourage others, tag your local missionaries (and me, if you feel like it) and let's help other people get some ideas to #LighttheWorld! This week I'll be making the other sœurs in my apartment some traditional Christmas treats and we've got a Miracle Tree growing in the hallway.

Matthew 5:16! Let your light so shine! Use the internet! Go! But seriously, we have a young woman here who was converted from watching YouTube videos made by a member and then talking to another member over Instagram. She was all taught by the time she met the missionaries. We have these resources to do more than wish we could do something, you never know who is going to see what you do and want a little more warmth in their life. Unblock those hidden heating vents. 

And if that wasn't enough cheerleading, we have our AWESOME new youth theme song available in lots of languages! Mom, I'm relying on you to link the video since I don't actually have internet right now and I'm not sure when this will send, but if you have the "Lds Music" application it should be on there and on the main page of LDS.org. It's honestly my favorite youth theme song so far. The theme scripture is "if ye love me, keep my commandements." (insert imaginary the greatest commandment Bible video link here.)

(wish granted, mom found it. And, I LOVE it because it reminds me of when she studied in South Korea. She has some of those cute pictures from the vending machines)

2 Nephi 33:6 says " I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." 

This Christmas season is our chance to" Glory in our Jesus" and to try to love like He loves us. We might have manly handshakes or an 8 year heater block or a roadblock with lawn chairs or all sorts of nonsense that sound like excellent excuses to hide under the bed and say someone else can do it better, but I know how much I love these people I work with and how much I love every single person still getting these emails. 

Today is one year since my farewell, three days till one year on the mission, and my departure talk was on service so "we'll go and serve our neighbor with an open heart" (I really do love that song) and we'll be speaking French at home before you know it. I love you all! Have fun and be safe and make good choices and read your scriptures and Light the world! See you soon! 

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.

Room Enough in the Inn(side of our Apartment)

https://www.mormon.org/christmas LIGHT THE WORLD!

Sorry for skipping last week, it got a little busy! 

(mom edit: by a little busy, she means that protests are shutting down their routes, having to pay tolls now, etc. Their new area means a 45 minute drive each way at least from their apartment. She emailed for a second last week. They put a Book of Mormon on the dashboard of their car so when cars are being stopped by the protesters to talk and be questioned, they have never been stopped. Prayers of safety are always appreciated)

Okay, the first exciting thing this week is that a family of four that I met online was just baptized! I want to say more than that, but confidentiality. Suffice it to say that it was miracles on repeat and they were referred by a returning member, so you never know what is going to make a difference.

I realized I talk about field work and the ward a lot, but not so often about all the online missionary work we do. I've taught over twice as many people and contacted more online than in person, which is why we do online teaching, and this week we got to send two people to missionaries in our mission in France. 

Even more exciting for me is that I got to send 3 people in the last few weeks to my brother's mission, and to Spanish speaking missionaries! Hermana Ilizarbe is working a lot with missionaries and members in Venezuela and Nicaragua where there aren't many missionaries right now, so that's also been really cool. 

The second big adventure is that we had a multi-zone conference where the whole mission came to the Versailles chapel over two separate days. We don't fit into one building otherwise. President and Sister Johnson of the area presidency spoke to us, along with President Sorensen, and it was amazing! We're testing out some new things in our mission, like putting more of a focus on returning members and helping them return. With the baptism experience and that lesson in the same week I can see the importance. 

As part of this conference, all the missionaries had to stay somewhere, so for a few exciting days straight we had 8-10 people in our apartment. It was a little cozy. We covered the whole living room floor with mattresses and made a great big pan of bread pudding for breakfast. I made sure to wash my hair a day early since I knew that was the last chance I'd be getting in a while. 

The best part of the whole thing is that every missionary in our entire mission, including Luxembourg and Belgium, got to spend some time in the Visitors' Center! President Johnson and President Sorensen's new objectif is for us to fix two baptismal dates: The day they're baptized themselves, and the day they come to the temple and baptized their ancestors. If Luxembourg can get their amis here, anybody can. (By the way, go Luxembourg sisters/members!) 

Mantes la Jolie is still an adventure, we've done a whole lot of driving and meeting new people. Last week we met and started teaching a family of 5, drove into the Normandy region to visit an elderly couple who can't get to church anymore, saw a five generation family of rats (hope they've recorded that!) and set a baptismal date for a member's granddaughter. We also had a whole bunch of 8 year-olds get baptized in a row and I've gotten much better at fist-bumps. 

Starting tomorrow night we're going to have a thrice-weekly musical performance at the Visitors' Center presented by the Sisters, some members, some of our amis, and whatever Elders couldn't find a good excuse, so wish us all luck. My favorite song that I'm not singing but get to listen to is "O Come, Emmanuel" and there is a version on Mormon Channel (they'll change that eventually) that I can share with you! (Sorry, fellow missionaries) 

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/music-videos/o-come-emmanuel-christmas-version-1

And for a missionary challenge, this is my other favorite Christmas video:  https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-12-009-what-shall-we-give-christmas-music-video?lang=eng 

As most of you know, Light the World has started! This week we're looking for a way to light the whole world, and that can seem big, but what can you do? We're all inviting someone to come to church on the 23rd of December (Right, y'all?) so we can get into that spirit now by serving somebody. I'll make a facebook post highlighting some of the Christian service examples that I've seen, and I challenge you to do the same! Do service yourself, and share one of your examples with someone! It doesn't have to be big. Hold a door, carry a box, talk to a baby, wash dishes, sew a button (thanks, Soeur Munier!) and just love people. Christ talked to toddlers too, not just to his apostles. And accept love and service yourself, because sometimes letting people serve you helps them more than you'd know. (Thank you, sisters who keep eating my cooking.)

I love you all, read your scriptures and have an awesome week! 

Burrito filling in a crepe is not a good thing. In case anyone wondered. But, jalapeno was cool.

hair!

Look up "Charles de Gaulle etoile" sometime

A bakery we visit every other week in the Normandy region that has a really wonderful little dog and heavy fog banks.

Our Congolese ami got us bags to carry scriptures on the street when we go finding

Introducing the Soeurs to corncakes!

Roquefort, a lot better than it looks

The family were spending Christmas Eve with gave us advent calendars. They were baptized this last spring and said "we got them for our daughters but then realized we have two other daughters..."

apparently this is the trend now