It sure is fun living next to a mental hospital.

Soeur Johns and Williams with bon bons. 

Hello Everypeoples!
I hope you are all doing fantastic! 'Cause I am. :) Time for me to tell you about this week:
Monday, March 31 -
When we were doing our P-Day shopping last week, I decided that I wanted to try some of the chocolate here, because I hadn't yet. So, I bought some Crème Brûlée flavored chocolate and some Spéculoos (cinnamon cookie-ness) flavored chocolate and they were both really delicious and I probably shouldn't have eaten so much at a time. :D
After P-Day was over, we went and had a family home evening with the Letort family. Soeur Johns had previously asked Soeur Letort to cut her hair, so while she was getting her hair cut, I helped make the dinner - croque monsieurs (pretty much just delicious grilled cheese sandwiches). After Soeur Johns' hair was done, and after we'd eaten, we taught a lesson about how much joy it brings to share the gospel. Then we asked each family member to invite someone to have a family home evening with them on one of the days of the week before Easter, and they said they would. As a side note... Soeur Johns was not happy with her hair. It was a lot shorter than she'd thought it would be (only a few inches past her shoulders instead of halfway down her back) and she is still lamenting the loss of so much hair. Hopefully it will grow back to the length it was before, before she goes back home in six months.
After we got back to our apartment, Lo called and tried to ask Soeur Johns on another date. She asked him if he was coming to our RDV scheduled for the next day, and he didn't seem interested, so we had to tell him to go to the elders if he was serious about learning more about the gospel, and not to call us again. So, I'm pretty sure we're done teaching Lo.

Tuesday, April 1 -
We had District Meeting on Tuesday, as usual. I usually am too afraid to participate very much, but I did a lot more this time. We learned about teaching simply, then practiced. Soeur Johns and I brought zucchini cake and the other sister companionship brought spéculoos cheescake. Both were delicious. And while we were eating, Judas came early to a RDV with the elders and gave the elders all of his ashtrays, because he was determined to quit smoking. He is great! He also took pictures of our district together, because this could be the last time we'll see each other for a while, since the transfer's pretty much over.
After the District Meeting, we went to pick up the Sister Training Leaders at the gare (the train station) for our exchange. I was really worried because since we were staying in Rennes, I had to tell Soeur Hafen (one of the STLs, the one who was my companion for the exchange) about our amis, and I had to lead the way and not get lost going to places. But she was really nice, and I didn't get lost. Yay! We were supposed to teach Frederique, but he wasn't there, so Soeur Hafen and I had a talk on the playground next to his apartment and practiced contacting. Then we contacted on the way home. Soeur Hafen is awesome at contacting, at talking to people in general. She helped me know what to say and to be less afraid of contacting.

Wednesday, April 2 -
Soeur Hafen and I taught Mamie Renaud in the morning. Mamie Renaud is 93 years old, and she's an inactive member only because of her health. She's not allowed to go outside unless the weather is absolutely perfect. She was one of the first three members in Rennes, and she's the coolest old lady ever. We came with a message about faith being an anchor, and about General Conference, and she taught us. She also told me that I needed to only read in French and speak in French, because when I read the article we'd brought from the Liahona out loud (in French) she said I did well. She wouldn't let us leave until we'd eaten some cookies and had some juice. :)
We then went to a neighborhood in our area and put flyers about Easter, about the Resurrection of Christ, that said we would come back later and talk to them about Easter, in the mailboxes. Also, Soeur Hafen made me contact along the way, even though I had no idea what to say and it freaked me out. But I did it. :D She even made me contact a lady who was getting into her car, which was fairly awkward. :)
After our exchange was done, we said goodbye to Soeur Hafen and Soeur Holmes at the gare, then went to teach Sophie. We taught her about Patriarchal Blessings, and at first she wasn't sure she wanted one, but once she understood them more, she decided she did want one. We want to find a way for her to be able to get her blessing in Chinese so she'll understand it better.

Thursday, April 3 -
We did Easter contacting (where we center what we say on Easter and Christ's resurrection) in the morning after studies, and I was able to switch off with Soeur Johns. I didn't make her talk to people that she asked me to talk to. I did it all by myself. :D
Then we met with Nadia, who had met a lot of missionaries, but had never really been taught. She'd met them through an English class taught by missionaries, which we're not supposed to do anymore. She invited us over to eat with her, and she was really great. She only seemed interested in being our friend, however, and not too much in religion, so I'm not sure we'll see her again.

Soeur Cathryn Williams with Nadia. 

After that, Martine (a member who is awesome) took us to find some new boots for Soeur Johns because hers are falling apart. Then Martine came with us to teach Jocelyne, which was a great experience. It was good to have someone there as a friend to Jocelyne, because I think Jocelyne needs to feel wanted and loved. We talked about talents, and Martine talked about Jocelyne's talents and how she could help others with her talents. Martine also offered to help Jocelyne, because Jocelyne is always taking care of her 90 year old mother and hardly ever has time to herself. Martine offered to take her out one day for a little break, and Jocelyne seemed grateful.
When we got back to our apartment, it was pretty late, but not quite time to go back inside, so we went out contacting. There wasn't really anyone outside, so Soeur Johns and I stopped to pray to be able to find someone. We started walking again and there wasn't anyone there, but as we kept walking, we saw a woman and stopped her. She ended up being able to speak English really well, so we spoke English with her. Her name is Victoria and she's from Russia, and she gave us her phone number. I know that Heavenly Father answered our prayer and sent her to us, because there was absolutely no one out, and those who were out were either creepy men or people who didn't want to talk to us. I'm so grateful for the power of prayer.

Friday, April 4 -
We taught Annabelle with a member named Clement, which made it a lot easier because he'd just barely gotten back from his mission and he's a native French speaker, so he was able to explain things a lot better than we can. We taught about the Priesthood, and Annabelle seemed to like it, though she knew most of it already. We just can't seem to help her feel anything. She just thinks very logically and looks at the gospel as another intriguing subject to study. Clement suggested that we talk with Frere Moal, our ward mission president, because he's very much the same way, very logical and philosophical.
We went and taught Sophie again. We had to keep it short because she's really busy preparing for exams. We gave her some more Liahona articles, which she was really excited about, then taught her some scripture masteries from the Book of Mormon.
We went back to our apartment for lunch, but accidentally stayed way too long because our stupid clock is broken :P So, we thought we had an hour left before we had to leave for our next RDV, but when we looked at our phone, we saw that we had stayed 45 minutes longer than we'd planned. So, we hurried to our next RDV with Sasrey, taught a short lesson on praying to confirm our testimonies, then went to our meeting with Frere Moal (which we were 30 minutes late to). Then we went to my first ward council meeting, of which I understood about 50 percent. It was confusing. :P

Saturday, April 5 -
We got to teach Maimouna again! She really is the coolest person ever. She is definitely progressing. We taught her a more in-depth Restoration lesson to make sure she understood. She was really interested and asked all the right questions and had some really good comments. We emphasized the impotance of studying the Book of Mormon, having a real desire to know, and of praying to know the truth for ourselves. She completely agreed that it's important to search for the answer and to pray, and she was excited to really start reading the Book of Mormon. She's a really nice woman with a sincere desire to know, and I love her so much. :) We might try to set a baptismal date with her next time we meet.
Then, after that we went to watch the broadcast of Conference at the church. Thankfully they had a room for us English speakers. We watched the Women's Broadcast and the Saturday Morning Conference session, then we went back home. I love conference so, so much! I'm so glad we have living prophets today.

Sunday, April 6 -
Sunday was pretty much just a continuation of Saturday. We did some planning, then we watched more General Conference. We watched the Saturday Afternoon session and the Sunday Morning session. Sadly, we weren't able to watch the Sunday Afternoon session because we'd have to stay up until midnight, and missionaries aren't allowed to do that. :D Mais, ça va (but, that's okay), 'cause I can just read it when it gets put up on the internets. :) I'm so glad I got to listen to conference. I always feel so much better afterward, spiritually strengthened and uplifted. I can't wait to apply the things I've learned, and I can't wait to read the talks when they come out. :) I especially loved Elder Bednar's talk on how the Savior knows every single thing we go through, how there's nothing he doesn't understand, nothing he can't help us with. I know we can always go to him for strength and succor.
We missed the bus(es) because they don't come very often on Sundays, so we had to walk home. As we got close to our apartment, Soeur Johns pointed out a man dressed in blue who'd jumped behind one of the bus stops. We were wondering why, when a big, white van sped up to the curb by us and stopped. Immediately, two doctors from the mental hospital jumped out and ran to the bus stop, grabbing the blue dude, pulling him into the van, and speeding away. It sure is fun living next to a mental hospital. :D

Here, have a scripture I found, just for you. :D
1 Nephi 2:16 -
"... having great desires to know of the mysteries of God... I did cry unto the Lord; and behold, he did visit me and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father;"
I like this scripture because I know that if we even have just a desire for a testimony, a desire to believe, or if we have a question we want answered, that the Lord will answer our prayers and soften our hearts, helping us believe. He will help us find the answers and the faith we are searching for.

Au revoir! Passez une bonne semaine!
Soeur Williams

I seem to have forgotten to take my camera to yon internet café, so no pictures for you again. Sorry. Maybe next week. :D

Les Printemps en France

Coucou! (Another way of saying hello)
Everyone in the missionary emails I've been getting has been talking about how it's Spring-y feeling and stuff outside, but here in France it's about the same weather as usual. Sunny with rain sometimes. Sometimes meaning for days at a time, with a little bit of sun in between. Yep. That's why it's so green and pretty here. All that rain. :)
Now for the happenings of this week:

Monday, March 24 -
Not much happened on Monday besides a lesson with Frederique, who I'm still not sure about, whether he's interested in the church or in showing how much stuff he knows. Another relative was there this time, so we taught him too and we fixed another RDV with him.
On the way home from the meeting with Frederique, we met that old German guy with flowers again at the bus stop and talked to him. He's pretty awesome. Maybe we'll meet him again at another random bus stop.
We contacted on the way back to our apartment that night, but it was really rainy and there weren't that many people out. I contacted one lady and started with, (in French, of course) "Hello, my name is Soeur Williams, and my companion and I are here to help people..." and she cut me off and told me she didn't need any help. Okie dokie... I guess I didn't even need to get to the religious part of what I was saying for her to reject me. I think she might need the gospel to make her happier. :D

Tuesday, March 25 -
We met with Lo again. I'm not sure that he really wants to know the truth, or if he just wants to ask questions and have a conversation. Apparently after we'd left last time, he looked up "Mormons" on Google, so when we came on Tuesday to teach him he had even more difficult questions. We answered them, but he didn't accept our answers. We told him he needed a base of a testimony, to pray to know the truths of the things we taught, before more complicated things would make sense to him. We told him we weren't there to convince him, that he had to find the truth for himself through study and prayer. We taught him about the Restoration, and I bore a really sincere testimony of Joseph Smith. Right after that, Lo looked at Soeur Johns and said that he'd seen the light too, and it was Soeur Johns. Seriously. He's still been texting Soeur Johns and asking her on dates, but less and less frequently. Thankfully. :D
After meeting with Lo, we had a lesson with Tsenge and Tugsuu. Tugsuu translated the things we were saying into Mongolian for Tsenge, and testified. We talked about baptism, gaining a testimony, and about Jesus Christ. It was Tugsuu that did most of the teaching, though. She bore her testimony and told Tsenge how she'd gained a testimony (b/c she's a recent convert) and Tsenge seemed touched. At the end of the lesson, we asked Tsenge to say the prayer, and she actually said she would. I was happy about that, because it's been hard to get her to pray in the past. We all knelt down, and though Tsenge prayed in Mongolian, I felt the Spirit so strongly, and after she was done, I opened my eyes and saw that there were tears in her eyes. We explained that was the Spirit she was feeling, and that was her confirmation from God. That was probably one of the best lessons I've had so far.

Wednesday, March 26 -
We had a RDV with Annabelle on Wednesday morning. We talked about baptism again and read Alma 32 with her, talking about faith and how we need to just desire to believe, and act on that faith and the Lord will bless us. But Annabelle is still hesitant about baptism and told us she'd tell us when she was ready. I wish there was something I could do to help her see her answer and recognize/feel the Spirit.
Carine and Shaina were after that. Carine's still having a hard time quitting smoking. And... apparently she's pregnant. Gah. Not good. We definitely need to help her stop. We've been praying for her and sending her encouraging texts. In that lesson we taught about the Atonement and how she can be completely cleansed through repentance and Christ can help her do anything. I love her and want her to be happy, so I hope we can help her in the way she needs.
We met with one of our few remaining texting amis named Liliane. But, there was some confusion. When we came, Liliane seemed confused and she said she thought it was the elders who had texted her and called her, but Soeur Johns told her it was us. So, we taught her a small lesson about the Book of Mormon and found out she already had one. At the end of the lesson, someone came up to the doorway of the room and I looked up and saw it was the elders. And they looked very confused. Probably about as confused as Soeur Johns and I did. Apparently the elders had been teaching Liliane and we didn't know about it. So. Liliane got to meet with two sets of missionaries that day. Lucky her. :D The elders will be teaching her from now on.
We met with a member family and talked for a really long time and shared a message about doing missionary work. Then we ate some sausages wrapped in galettes. They were delicious. But, we got home really, really late that night because the family liked to talk and we were relying on them for a ride home.

Thursday, March 27 -
Jocelyne tried to cancel our appointment for that day, but we wouldn't let her. We saw her and we were planning to talk about talents and how we can share them with others, but instead I ended up sharing Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 (Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God) and asked Jocelyne if she thought she had great worth in God's eyes. She said no. :( So, we ended up talking about how God loves all of his children, and that because we are his children we all have great worth, no matter who we are or what we've done or how the world views us. The Lord sees our great potential, and doesn't concentrate on our weaknesses. We told her to pray to know her worth to God, and she said she would. I love her so much and I hope she sees her worth, because it is great! :)
We dropped by the house of an ami named Salwa, who we'd never been able to get a hold of, and she actually answered! We talked to her for a little bit, and she was really kind. We said a prayer with her and left. Hopefully that won't be the last time I see her.
It was really late after that, and I was really hungry so we got a kebab, my first one ever! It was super delcious.

Friday, March 28 -
We saw Tsenge again on Friday! I'd prayed really hard beforehand that she'd be able to understand us, because it's so hard to teach the gospel to her in French and have her understand the gospel words. But, she actually understood! We taught her an in-depth lesson just about Christ, because she doesn't know much about him. Afterward she said she understood better. We asked her more about her experience with the prayer at Tugsuu's and she said she felt really good, that she felt a sort of energy and she loved it. We explained again that that was the Holy Ghost, and that she could feel that way all of the time after baptism. She was so excited, and she for sure wants to be baptized, but she said she needed to study more (we'd given her pamphlets to read about Christ in Mongolian) before telling us which day she'd be comfortable being baptized. I'm so excited! Tsenge is so much different now, happier and more peaceful, with more hope for the future.

Saturday, March 29 -
In the afternoon, we went and met with another texting ami, Maimouna. The elders had met her at a bus stop and she'd given them her information to give to the sister missionaries. Maimouna was fantastically amazing. She has two young kids and her husband is American. He's working in America right now because he doesn't really speak French and was having a hard time finding work. Maimouna's dad is Muslim and her mom is Catholic, so she believes in kind of a mix of the two, but said she was really confused about all of the churches and their different beliefs. We taught her the Restoration, why our church is different, how Joseph Smith had the same question about all of the churches, and how this church is Christ's church restored to the earth. We also taught about the Book of Mormon and asked her to pray to know if these things are true. She said she would, that she knew she would have to work to find the answer herself. We asked her if, when she knew the truth of these things, she would be baptized. She said that she would. I actually talked about the same amount in this lesson as Soeur Johns, and the Spirit was there. Soeur Johns said that was the best first lesson she's ever taught.

Sunday, March 30 -
We ate lunch with a member family, the Bertollas, on Sunday afternoon before church (church was at 3:00 this Sunday because of a Young Adult special sacrament meeting that morning, for all of the YAs in our stake). They have three little kids and they love the gospel. We gave them a challenge to find one person to have a family home evening with the next time we meet with them, and they said they would.
Judas, Tsenge and Jocelyne all came to church on Sunday. Jocelyne came to all three hours and even stayed an hour after to talk to people! I can't even describe how happy that makes me. But, something that makes me even happier is that Judas is getting baptized on April 12th! He is so, so, so amazing! He is so excited to learn the gospel and wants to change his life. He's already quitting smoking, and he came to all three hours of church again this week.
I'm excited for General Conference this next Sunday! It'll be my first General Conference on my mission. :)

Here, have special extra bonus fact that I just thought of-
- Every ami we invite to have a lesson with in the church, or those we invite to come to church, (who actually come) think that Soeur Johns and I live in the church. We have to explain to them that we aren't nuns.

Here is another scripture for you, about Christ inviting others to come to him:
3 Nephi 9:14 -
"Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me you shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me."

With much love and joy-ness,
Soeur Williams

(Sorry, no pictures this week!)

Quoi de neuf?

^ That means what's up in French. Now you can all use it and sound like cool French peoples. Or not. I don't actually know if it's cool to say in France. I just know how to say it. :D

Now for this week's exciting events:


Monday, March 17 -

It was Saint Patrick's Day, so I wore green. But no one else did. Silly French people - don't they know the great importance of Saint Patrick's day? If they do, they should tell me, 'cause I don't, besides that it's Irish and you get to pinch people.

After P-Day was over and we got to work again, we went to visit Frederique (the man we'd talked to before who said his name was Jesus) and Olivia, his wife. Frederique's brother was also there, and his name was Danny. We taught a brief Restoration lesson, because they didn't have much time. I'm not sure if Frederique actually wants to learn about the church or if he just wants to show off his knowledge, because he kept insisting there were no prophets today and he didn't believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. We told him to pray about it, and we'll talk more about prophets next time we meet with him. His brother seems interested and he said he wants to see the missionaries where he lives in Bordeaux, so we'll send them over to him.

I can't remember if I talked about this in my last email, so I'll re-explain it because it's important and awesome. So, last Sunday Soeur Johns texted everyone in the phone that we didn't recognize, and we got a lot of responses and a lot of RDVs (rendez-vous/appointments) fixed for last week. In fact, We found 6 new amis (investigators) last week, which Soeur Johns says is the most she's ever found in a week and she's been on her mission for a year. One of the amis we found by texting was Gweniel. She seemed excited and very willing to meet us. When we met up with her by the metro, she seemed very confused. She told us she'd thought she was meeting with the bonnesoeurs (the nuns...) not the sister missionaries. Apparently Gweniel had just briefly spoken with the elders before, and not with the sisters. It was pretty awkward as we walked to her apartment with her. She'd made a nice meal for us/the nuns, a vegetarian meal because she was giving up meat for Lent. We talked to her a little bit about her beliefs. She's a very devout Catholic, she doesn't have a job because she says she's dedicating her life to serving Jesus, and she has a homeless man living in her apartment because she likes to help people. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon, and she said she'd read it, but she wouldn't come to church because she stayed at her chapel all day on Sundays. Near the end of our visit, she showed us crosses that had been burned into her wrists. She said that God did it to her because she was so faithful and righteous. It was a very interesting RDV... I did learn a lot from her, though. She had a peace about her that comes from putting your complete trust in the Lord and desiring to serve him and do only his will. I admire people that dedicate themselves to doing good, and I want to do that, but maybe not burn crosses into my wrists.


Tuesday, March 18 -

We met with another ami we talked to over texting. She was a bit late getting home from work, so we did a short, quick lesson about the Book of Mormon. She said she's talked to the missionaries a little bit before and gotten a Book of Mormon, but the person living with her (who isn't living with her anymore) threw away the Book of Mormon and wouldn't let her meet with the missionaries anymore. She was really nice and she gave Soeur Johns some cough syrup because she's sick. We set an appointment to meet with her again. Yay!  :D

After that we went to the Ario family's apartment. They had invited a non-member friend to come eat with us and have a little lesson, but that friend never showed up. Sophie unexpectedly came though, so we talked with her and the Arios and ate some food and shared a message on prayer.

Throughout the whole time we were there, another one of the texting amis named Hadeb kept calling. He was supposed to meet with the elders at the church because we're not allowed to teach men unless we have another girl with us, but he kept calling Soeur Johns and saying he didn't know how to get to the church and that he wanted to meet with us and not the elders. The elders ended up having to text him and tell him to stop calling and that if he was really interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and his gospel he could meet with the elders, and he needed to stop calling Soeur Johns. Neither the elders nor Soeur Johns heard from him after that, so I guess he was more interested in the sister missionaries than the gospel.


Wednesday, March 19 -

In the morning we met with yet another texting ami, Judas (pronounced Joolda, for some reason) at the chapel. Pretty much he's the best ami ever, and sadly we had to give him to the elders to teach after the first lesson with him, because we can't teach men. He was really interested in the church, he says he doesn't drink, he's trying to stop smoking, and his sister's really sick in the hospital. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and he says he loves the Bible and was really excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. I love him already and I only taught him once and saw him just a few times after that, and I know the gospel will help him so much with all the trials he is going through in his life.

After that, we had another lesson at the church with Annabelle. We tried to get her to bear her testimony by asking her some questions, and she bore a very strong testimony of God and how much he's helped her in her life, and we had a really good discussion with her. The Spirit was very strong, and we felt impressed to ask her again if she would be baptized. She said she needed to know more still, and she didn't really understand why she needed to be baptized when she already was as a baby. We explained how the power of God/the Priesthood was lost after Jesus and the apostles were killed, and how the Priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith, and how our church is the only church with that authority and you need that authority to be baptized as the Lord has commanded. She seemed very interested by that, and seemed to consider even more before she said she needed more time to think before she could set a date for baptism. We knelt and prayed with her and asked her to keep praying for an answer and she said she would. After the first lesson with Annabelle, I wasn't quite sure what to think, because she's a very different kind of person, but after this lesson, I love her so much and the Spirit helped me understand her so much more. I know without a doubt she's ready to be baptized, (she has faith in all the fundamental, important parts of the gospel, and she's doing everything she should be doing) we just have to help her realize that herself.

We met with Tsenge again and had a very simple lesson completely on baptism to help her realize what it is, what it means, how it's done, why it's done, and what blessings you receive from baptism. It's really hard for us to communicate, though, because she doesn't understand French very well. I think that she understands what baptism is now, though. In our next lessons, we'll have Tugsuu with us to translate everything into Mongolian so Tsenge can understand better.

At the end of the day we met with Sasrey, an inactive member who's not really that inactive, because she's come to church every Sunday for the past 2 months. She's the only active member of the church in her family, so she told us to pray for them to have the desire to go to church, because it's really hard for her to go alone.


Thursday, March 20 -

So, Thursday started out pretty excitingly... Soeur Johns was telling me something but I got distracted looking out the window because there was someone running into the street. Soeur Johns realized I wasn't listening to her, so she turned to see what I was looking at and we both stared out the window, watching as a patient from the mental hospital across the street ran in her straight-jacket (is that how it's even spelled?... I dunno) at cars while a worker at the hospital ran frantically after her, trying to catch her. It was quite entertaining to watch. Luckily no one was hit by the cars because the cars were able to stop in time. I think it will be pretty interesting living next to a mental hospital. :D

After that, we met with a texting ami named Lo. We were under the impression that Lo was a woman, because that sounded like a womanly name to us. So we were very surprised when a tall black man came out to meet us and show us to his apartment. He was very funny and very curious about the church. He asked some interesting questions that we told him we'd study and answer next time. I knew how to answer, but not in French. Stinkin' French. :P But I'm thinking it would be a good idea to pass Lo on to the elders, because during the lesson he kept saying how he had been praying to Jesus, asking to be able to marry a beautiful sister missionary, and there she (Soeur Johns) was. Also, he's been texting Soeur Johns, declaring his love for her. He even asked her if she'd go to a restaurant with him. Yep. I'm so glad I have this natural talent where guys don't generally notice me. Soeur Johns said creepy guys would come up to her all the time when she was with another companion, but so far we've just had one creepy drunk guy come up to us on the street, and the elders were there to protect us.

Jocelyne was next. We had to keep it short because we had someone else to teach soon after her. We showed her we loved her, we talked for a little bit, then we talked about baptism, about how we felt after our baptisms and then we asked how she felt after hers. She was baptised almost two years ago and she says she still remembers how peaceful and joyful she felt, like Heavenly Father was there and that he was taking care of her. It was really awesome hearing her conversion story, as I hadn't heard it before. I always love talking to Jocelyne, and I feel like I relate a lot to her. She's the awesomest. :D

On our way to meet another texting ami named Grace, our bus broke down in the middle of the street. And the streets are not very wide in Europe. There were many people behind us who couldn't get past and who couldn't turn around. One lady even came up to the bus driver and yelled at him and told him to move the bus. Silly lady. 'Tis hard to get a bus to move when it's broken. Another bus came and picked us up while the other bus was being worked on. We were a little bit late to see Grace, but she didn't seem to mind. She was very kind, she had talked to the missionaries before, but hadn't seen them again because she was busy all of the time. She told us she doesn't want to change churches because she wants to stay faithful to hers, but she says she likes to talk to everyone about their churches. So, we shall see how this goes.

The next texting ami we met with was Christelle. She's Vietnamese and she speaks French, English and Vietnamese. It was pretty amusing as we met her at the bus stop, seeing a little Vietnamese lady waddling toward us, a grin on her face. But when she got to us she scowled and hit my arm, and said "Why you not meet at my apartment?". Apparently she was very offended that we'd asked to meet at the church, but since we had no idea who she was we thought that would be best for our first meeting. We told her we'd meet at her apartment next time. As we taught her, she insisted we speak English even though she's not very good at it and didn't really understand what we were saying. We eventually switched to French, and that worked better. We just talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and about God and Christ. She says she's Buddhist and believes in Christ but she's not Christian. I don't think we got anywhere with talking to her this time, but hopefully the next RDV will be better.


Friday, March 21 -

Friday was my very first Zone Conference! Wahoo! It was good, but hard to understand at times because everything was in French. I did learn a lot, like how to simplify our teaching, because if we don't teach simply and the amis don't understand the basics of the gospel, they're not going to gain a testimony. I also felt more motivated to just talk to people, not to think about it but just to do it despite my fear, and the Lord will help me as I do so. As I act in faith in him, my faith will grow and my fear will decrease.

We were given a challenge for this next month called the Easter Challenge. We are supposed to relate everything to Easter (Paque in French), to Christ and his resurrection, as we contact and go porting. People have already tried it and they're seeing a lot of miracles, so I can't wait to start!

Another really fantastic thing about Zone Conference was that I got to see my MTC buddies who are in the same zone as me! I saw Elder Teh, and I was surprised at how exciting it was to see him. I guess it's good to see someone familiar after weeks of meeting strangers. He told me about his adventures in Angers. Apparently he and his companion found a lady in an alleyway who had jumped of the building, pleading for their help and they got her to a hospital. She's doing okay now, but I think Elder Teh is scarred for life. I also got to talk to Soeur Ridd, my awesome MTC companion. We talked about how we were doing and took pictures together. She, Elder Teh and I all talked about how much we miss our MTC district. It's strange how much we all miss them, but not really because they were pretty much the greatest people ever. :)

Elder Teh, Soeur Williams & Soeur Ridd 

Saturday, March 22 -

A lot of our day was taken up by a Relief Society Multicultural Celebration, which we'd invited all of our amis to. But... only Sophie showed up. Because she's amazing.

As the only Americans besides one lady in our ward, Soeur Johns and I were responsible for bringing American food... so we made pancakes. And the other lady made PB&J sandwiches. Yay 'Murica! :D There was a lot of good food there from all sorts of different places, because there's sisters in the ward from all over (Mongolia, China, Belgium, New Caledonia, Tahiti, and lots of other places I can't remember). I tried everything. Twice.

Then there was a talent show based everyone's different cultures. We Americans couldn't think of anything to do, so we recited the Pledge of Allegiance. And Soeur Johns forgot the words. Sophie brought a Chinese scroll and read off of it, other sisters read poems in their language, sang songs from their country, played instruments, etc. It was pretty fun. :)

The little American table. 

The cultural celebration

In the middle of the celebration when things were slow, we went and taught Sophie a small lesson about General Conference and gave her a conference magazine and asked her to read a talk a day every day until Conference. She was so excited and said she'd love to read them. I don't know how such an amazing person can exist. :D

After the activity, we went to teach Carine, finally, after she hadn't shown up once and had cancelled/changed the RDV several times. Her daughter, Shaina, a recent convert who's 9, was there as well. I really love Carine and she seems to want to change but isn't sure she can. We concentrated mostly on showing our love for her and gave her ways she could stop smoking, because she's been trying for a while. I bore my testimony about prayer, and that through prayer we can do anything, even the most difficult things. As we pray sincerely, Heavenly Father gives us the power to do what we need to.

It was interesting, because after seeing Carine, we went to another RDV with the Toribio family, who we haven't taught before. I prayed in my heart on the bus to be able to have the courage to talk to people, the trust in the Lord I needed to do the things he asks of me. When we got to the neighborhood where the Toribios lived, I felt energized and excited to share the gospel. We got there early, so I suggested to Soeur Johns that we go porting (knocking on doors), and we did it and though only one person answered their door and then rejected us, I felt so happy that I had the courage to talk to them, to even suggest that we go porting in the first place, because that was really hard for me. I know that I was able to do so because the Lord had answered my prayer.

After that we went and taught the Toribios. They have three adorable, crazy children. We taught about the Book of Mormon, and I actually talked more than I usually do during a lesson and I felt good about it. They said they didn't have time to read the Book of Mormon, that they barely had time to meet with us at all, but we challenged them to try to read it anyway. They asked us to teach why our church is different, so we taught about the Restoration, too, which we weren't planning to do. I thought it went pretty well, and the Toribios want to see us again.


Sunday, March 23 -

A lot of amis came to church on Sunday, among which were Judas, Tsenge, Annabelle, Marie-Christine and Frederique. That was amazing-awesome-wonderful-fantastic.

So, as I said before, Judas is the best. The elders said he wanted to go to all three hours of church (which isn't normal for an ami) because he figured if he wanted to know the truth he needed to commit all of the way. Then he took notes on everything during church.

The class for amis was really full, of people and of the Spirit. We just had a discussion more than a lesson, talking about the Spirit and how we need to feel the Spirit and find out for ourselves if this church is true. Recent converts testified about how they had found out the truthfulness of what the missionaries had taught. It was an awesome class, and I hope our amis felt the Spirit as much as I did.

After church we met with Marie-Christine (a really faithful ami who goes to church every week and who has a lot of faith in and love for the Lord) at a member's house. The member is named Martine, she's from Belgium and she's really outgoing and hilarious. Also, the Letorts were there as well, which we weren't expecting. We watched the Testaments together and discussed Christ and his Atonement. Then we had a delicious dinner of soup and crepes. And the crepes were the best crepes I've ever had. Ever. I had to stop myself on my third crepe, because I realized other people might want to hav them, too. French people sure know how to make some delicious crepes.


Now that you have endured to the end of my email, you get a prize...

It's a scripture, congratulations!

Hebrews 2:17-18 --

"Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted (or tried/subjected to trial), he is able to succor them that are tempted."


I love those verses because I've been thinking of the Savior and his Atonement a lot lately. Life is hard, a mission is hard, but the Savior understands. He was on our level, he suffered everything we have suffered and will suffer (trials, sorrow, sickness, temptation, pain, all of our weaknesses, our sins... and so much more) so that he knows how to help us. It amazes me that he loves us so much that he would be willing to go through all of that just to help us, when so often we disobey him and do things that cause him sorrow. I'm so grateful for the Savior's Atonement, he's already helped me so much on my mission, giving me comfort and helping me do things I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.


A la prochaine!
Soeur Williams

First full week in France.

Salut, my friends and family!

Since my email wasn't working last week, you get two emails at once! You lucky peoples...

Now, let's see if I can do this with a French keyboard. Last week I was able to change the language for the keyboard, but this week I can't figure out how. I might have to make this email a little shorter.


Tuesday, March 11 -

We had a district meeting for most of the day. I met a lot of new missionaries, but I don't remember any of their names. We had a lesson on receiving revelation through the Book of Mormon, then we split up and practiced teaching about the Book of Mormon. Soeur Johns and I taught Elder Wood, one of the zone leaders, and he said we did really well and that I spoke the language really well for a new missionary. Woot.

Then we went porting (knocking on doors) for the rest of the day. At the first door we went to, a teenager answered and glared at us and told us she wasn't interested. Then at the next door, a nice Catholic lady answered and talked to us for a while. She said she was really busy, but she took the Family: A Proclamation to the World we gave her and said she would read it.


Wednesday, March 12 -

In the morning we had an appointment with a woman named Carine Cornou. Her mom is a member of the church, as is her daughter, but she isn't. She actually requested to meet with us, so we were excited to meet with her and were sure she'd be there when we met her at her mom's house. But it was not so. We went to her mom's house and both her parents were there, but she was not, and her mom said she wouldn't be coming. So instead of teaching Carine, we ended up teaching her parents. Her dad isn't a member, so it worked out. We taught about finding happiness through prayer and asked them if they'd pray together, and they said they would.

We were supposed to have a RDV after that (rendez-vous = meeting) with Marie-Christine, who had been taught all of the lessons and went to church often. Soeur Johns and I were going to talk to her about baptism. We had a really good lesson planned, focusing on how the Lord would give her strength to do the things he asks. When we practiced the lesson, we felt the Spirit and we were so excited to teach her. But... she cancelled.

After that we went to an appartment to find people who we'd tried to call but who weren't answering their phones or had been busy. We knocked on one door, rang the doorbell, and even called them while we stood outside the door. We heard a baby crying and people moving around, but no one answered the door. I'm guessing they didn't want to talk to us. However, we did find another family we were looking for. We talked to the father and he was really funny. Apparently the last time Soeur Johns had talked to him he wouldn't tell her his name. He just said his name was Jesus. We found out this time that his name is Frederique, and we'll be meeting with him again today.

On the way back, we contacted a lady named Annelaure. She really likes cats and she's an artist. It was very interesting talking to her... she seemed like a fun, independent person who does whatever she feels like. She gave us her phone number, so we'll try to get a hold of her.


Thursday, March 13 -

Thursday was a pretty relaxed day. We did some contacting near our apartment and got pastries. I got a tart with caramel and walnuts, and it was pretty darn delicious.

We taught Jocelyne again, discussing a few conference talks about how Christ can give us light and hope in our lives, that he can support and guide us, because it seems like she's struggling to feel happy in her life. She liked it and I enjoyed talking to her, like I did last time.


Friday, March 14 -

We taught Annabelle on Friday morning. She's a very logical woman, she's had all of the lessons taught to her and she goes to church. We tried to ask her what she believes, what she feels, basically we just asked her to bear her testimony, but it was difficult. She doesn't really feel things, she says, she just thinks them. We tried to invite her to be baptized, but she wanted to know everything first. We tried to explain that she doesn't need to know everything, but she still wanted to try. We told her to pray and ask Heavenly Father if she's ready for baptism, and to give her confirmation to know if this is his church. I know that if she does so with a sincere desire to know, the Lord will give her an answer that is clear to her, that makes sense to her.

Then we watched the Joseph Smith Movie with Sophie, who almost cancelled our RDV because she was shopping. Sophie really likes shopping.

After that, Soeur Johns and I went to a RDV we'd made with a 17 year old girl named Marlene. When we got to her apartment, only her mom was there. So we started talking to her mom and found out her name was Chantal and that she's a practicing Catholic. Then Marlene came with a friend named Sarah. Then her dad came. So we ended up teaching the whole family about the Restoration. I was able to explain a large part of it, and I was proud of myself, cause French is hard. We asked them to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true and they said they would.


Saturday, March 15 -

We had another appointment with Tsengee, the woman I taught my first day. She tried to cancel a few times, but Soeur Johns wasn't having it. We set a time later than we'd planned that worked better for Tsengee, then we went and taught her about the Restoration. We had to teach very simply because she doesn't know French very well. We set a date for baptism with her and we'll meet with her more often to help her prepare. She's having a hard time in her life, raising a little boy alone, and it's hard for her to live somewhere where everyone speaks French and she doesn't speak French very well. We promised her that if she prayed, God would strengthen her and help her through the hard times in her life.

We were supposed to teach Maurisio after that, but he cancelled and we won't be seeing him again because he's going back to Mexico.

Soeur Johns and I picked up Sophie and went to a family in the ward that both Soeur Johns and Sophie really love. But before we went to see the Letorts, Sophie made us stop in a store and try some perfume. Like I said, she really loves shopping. The Letorts were kind and asked me a lot of questions and were patient with my French. They told me to make them some American chocolate chip cookies because they don't really have those here, and they love them. So I did, and they were pretty delicious. Soeur Johns is trying to lose weight, so their son Valentin gave her an exercise routine, and she wouldn't eat any cookies. I, however, had three. And a lot of cookie dough. Soeur Letort made delicious galettes for us - galettes are like dinner crepes - and they were really good. They had ham and butter and cheese and egg in them. Mmmm. French food is good. We shared a thought about prayer with them and they shared their testimonies and experiences from their lives and I learned a lot from them.


Sunday, March 16 -

During Relief Society on Sunday, I shared our little miracle for the week about how we met with Marlene's whole family instead of just Marlene, and I did pretty well considering it was in French. I was pulled out of Relief Society to translate for a girl who only spoke English. I was surprised at how much I understood and was able to translate for her.

After church we went to a member family's house to eat lunch with them and their non-member uncle and a non-member friend of one of the recent converts. It was a huge lunch: there were potatoes, sausages, green beans, salad, garbanzo beans and corn, and baguettes. We talked about the importance of going to church, after we ate.

When we went home we called every investigator on our phone who we didn't know, and a lot of people responded. We'll be meeting with the ones who are interested next week, and we deleted the ones who are no longer interested.


Oh, a fun thing that happened on I don't know what day - an old man came up to us on the way to the bus stop and gave us flowers. He spoke to us in English and told us he was German and the flowers were for some sort of German thing. I dunno. But it was awesomely random.

The flower from the German

And that is my week. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Probably you didn't because you didn't get to try all of the delicious food I did or meet the amazing people I did. Sorry. :D


A bientot!

Soeur Williams

Pictures: My companion and I with our delectably wonderful pastries

Last week's happenings (final MTC and first days in France)

Hola amigos!
I've heard too much French this week, so I decided I'd rather greet you in Spanish.
A lot has happened this week, and this keyboard is all French-y and confusing and stuff, so I probably won't be able to tell you everything I want to. But, I shall try.

Sunday, March 2 -
In sacrament meeting, everyone in our district bore our testimonies in French. It was really awesome and spiritual and such-like. Then we all sang Le Premier Prière de Joseph (Joseph Smith's First Prayer) to the tune of Come Thou Fount for the rest of our zone, and it was really beautiful and brought the Spirit in, even though most of the people in our district aren't very good at singing. :D

Monday, March 3 -
This day was a day of much running around and getting things done. We hurried and finished packing and cleaned our residence, then we went and visited the rest of our zone before we had to go to the airport. They sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again in Tahitian for us, then we said our goodbyes.
Then everyone that was leaving (12 people total) got into two vans that took us to the UTA track, shuttle-bus type thing. The missionaries in our van gave the driver dating advice. He was very grateful. I think.
While we were in the train, a man came in and saw that we were missionaries and started talking about how Satan is taking over the world with GMO and robots and Obama. He also started talking about the history of the Word of Wisdom and how important it is. He was a little bit all over the place, but he was a really nice (crazy-ish) guy who seemed like he just wanted to be friendly to everyone and was trying to do the best he could to live what he believed.
When I got to the airport, I got to talk to my family, which was fantastic. Elder Teh couldn't call his family because they live in Malaysia, so I tried to get him to talk to my family. For some reason he didn't want to... oh, well. Anyway, I enjoyed hearing from my family (I love you, family!) and hearing what's been going on while I've been gone.
On the plane, I sat next to some random dude. Even though it scares me to talk to people, I started to talk to the guy I sat next to, because I know I'm going to have to talk to everyone on my mission. He was really nice and he enjoyed talking, so I didn't have to talk as much. I learned that his name is Aaron, he's from South Dakota, he likes acting, he was a chef for a while, and he wants to teach art. Also, he was travelling to Dubai with his parents and two of his brothers, and this was his first time on a plane. He told me he'd never met a Mormon before, so I told him a little bit about why I was going to France, and about some of our beliefs, and apologized that it was me that was the first Mormon he talked to. :D I ended up giving him a pass-along card, and wished him luck on his trip. That was a pretty fun plane ride, but I didn't really get any sleep. But who needs sleep anyway? 'Tis not important.

Tuesday, March 4 -
After we got off the plane, President Poznanski met us and gave us pain chocolate (chocolate filled bread/croissant thingy). YUM! Then he handed out Books of Mormon and pass-along cards and told us we were to start contacting people on the metro.
Soeur Ridd and I were really scared, but when a lady came into the metro looking for a place to sit, I told her she could sit next to us. We started talking to her and learned more about her. We learned that her name was Benedicte, that she loved sports and she was going to Paris for her job. She was curious about our nametags and we started talking to her about why we were in France, and asked her about her beliefs. She was one of the nicest people I've ever met, and it was really easy to talk to her, even in French (she did speak English a little bit, so she was able to help us when we didn't understand/know what to say in French). We ended up asking her if she'd read the Book of Mormon, and she said she would. We gave it to her and bore our testimonies about it, then she had to get off the metro. I'm so grateful for that experience. I know Heavenly Father put Benedicte in our path because she was prepared, and I learned from this experience that I can talk to people and that Heavenly Father will help us if we're willing to do our part and trust in him.
After we got off the metro, we went to an old building in Paris where they hold institute and talk to the new missionaries. President Poznanski, his wife, and their assistants welcomed us and told us some things that I'm sure were really important but I don't remember because I was falling asleep as they spoke. I guess sleep actually is a little bit important. After they spoke to us, Soeur Ridd and I, and Elder Bigelow and Elder Amaya were sent to a hotel and everyone else went and slept in the mission home.

Wednesday, March 5 -
All the new missionaries were herded to a place that the missionaries call Consecration Hill on Wednesday morning. It's a gorgeous park on a hill-ish place overlooking Paris. All new missionaries are taken here to think about what they want to accomplish, who they want to become, on their missions. We all separated to different areas of the park to do so. It was really nice to be able to think and pray and reflect, then write down goals for myself. It helped me have more direction and realize what I need to do to be a better servant of the Lord.
We went to Notre Dame after that and took some pictures. Cool experience. Not much else for me to say. :)
Then we went back to the old building we were in on Tuesday and were assigned our villes (cities/areas) and our companions. The area I'm serving in is called Rennes, which I was really excited about, because I've heard a lot about it. It's really beautiful and they have a cool culture (like a mix of French/Celtic history). My companion is Soeur Johns. She's also from Utah - southern Ogden. I've loved having her as a companion so far. She's really kind and pretty much the exact opposite of me. She's really talkative, confident and outgoing. I'm her first bleu (new missionary) and she's already taught me a lot.
Before we left on the long train ride to Rennes, Soeur Johns and I went with Soeur Ridd and her new companion and Elder Teh and his new companion to take pictures at the Eiffel Tower. Then we went our separate ways to our new villes.

Thursday, March 6 -
On Thursday morning, I taught my first lesson. Happy joy times! We taught a woman from Mongolia named Tsengee who doesn't speak French too well. She has a son, believes in God and loves praying, but also believes in Buddha.  It wasn't too bad of a lesson, considering I've never taught a lesson to a real investigator before. It was mostly Soeur Johns who talked, and I just said a few things, which Tsengee didn't understand, so Soeur Johns had to repeat them for me...
Then we went and visited an inactive member named Jocelyne. I didn't understand her most of the time, but I really grew to love her in the short time we talked to her. She's a little bit shy and insecure, so I was able to share a scripture that's helped me, because I feel that way a lot. We found out that she wasn't going to church because she had a bad back. She told us how much she loves the Lord and how much she wants to go to church and we told her we'd pray for her. I really learned a lot from her, and I'm glad we got to visit her.
Then we went to a member's house for dinner. It was really difficult because the member, Symone, had a Cambodian accent while she spoke French so I had NO idea what she was saying. At all. I pretty much felt like crying. I felt bad because I kept almost falling asleep while she was talking because I was so overwhelmed, so tired, and I didn't understand what was going on.

Friday, March 7 -
I had my first contacting experience on Friday. It was really scary, and I wouldn't be the one to engage the people on the street in conversation at first. But eventually Soeur Johns made me go first in talking to a young woman walking down the street. She was really nice, and could speak English as well as French, and Russian because she's from Russia. She was really nice, and she said she respected what we were doing, but she said she wasn't interested in hearing more. We didn't find anyone to teach, but it was a good experience and helped me be a teeny bit less afraid of talking to random strangers.
Then we went to do "service" at a member family's house. The Pellerins were really nice and we ended up just talking and eating pretty much the whole time. The father was French, but he also spoke English and Thai, and his wife was from Thailand and she spoke French, English, and Thai. They just barely had an adorable baby. We asked them if there was anything we could do to help them, and they said there wasn't really anything they could think of besides the dishes. So we did the dishes and they took us back to our apartment.
In the evening, we went to institute with a recent convert named Sophie, then we taught her a little lesson based on a story in the Liahona. She was really fun and loves the gospel. She tells all of her friends and everyone they meet that they should go to her church.

Saturday, March 8 -
We had a lot of things planned on Saturday, but most of them were cancelled.
We went to the church to meet with a man named Mauricio. He didn't show up, and we waited for an hour and called him, but still nothing came of it, so we went back to the apartment, where we did weekly planning and had a good, sincere companionship talk. Maricio called us six hours after our appointment with him to tell us he was at the church. Soeur Johns was not happy with him. :P We taught the lesson we'd planned earlier, about the Restoration, and we taught fairly well with the Spirit, but Mauricio asked us why he needs to go to a specific church. He believes that God is in his heart, and he just needs to do good things and pray to him and he'll be fine. Soeur Johns and I should have just borne our testimonies and told him to pray, because the only way he'll know this church is true and be convinced of it is through the Holy Ghost, and not through our words. But instead we tried to explain to him and that didn't really help anything. We just ended up going around in circles and told him just to continue praying and reading the Book of Mormon to find the truth. We got a solid "maybe" to meet with him this coming Friday. We'll see.

Sunday, March 9 -
I was a little bit afraid of going to church on Sunday, because I was afraid I wouldn't understand anything that was going on, but it wasn't too bad. I actually understood about 70 percent of what people were saying, and I got something out of it.
I was also really nervous because as a new missionary to this area, I had to bear my testimony in French in front of the ward. It wasn't an especially frightening experience, and the people in the ward said I spoke French pretty well, so I'm happy about that.
Soeur Johns forced me to go and talk to people in the ward, even though talking to people, having conversations with people, is really hard and nerve-wracking for me. But I did it! And I talked to Jocelyne, because she came to church for the first time in a really long time! That was so exciting. :) I can't wait to visit her again on Thursday and see how she's doing.
In the evening Soeur Johns and I went to a part-member family's house to do a family home evening/soiree familial with them. The father (Miguel) isn't a member, but the mother is. They have two little kids, a boy and a girl, and everyone in the family speaks Spanish and French. We did the soiree familial on prayer, did an activity, shared a story from the Liahona, and shared our experiences and testimonies about prayer. We asked Miguel to share how he felt about prayer, and he actually did share some really good experiences, and I felt the Spirit as he did so. He's such a good father, and it's almost like he's a member already: he goes to church with his family, he does family home evening with them, he sang a hymn with us, and he supports his wife in her calling. He's a kind man, and I liked talking to him and getting to know more about him.
After the soiree familial, we ate dinner with the family. They had made some delicious Venezuelan roll-type-things and we made them into sandwiches and had some cookies after. I went home after feeling spiritually and physically fed, and that is always a wonderful thing.

So, that is my long week in a long email. I hope you find something in there that interests you! I wish I could write more details, but I don't gots the time! I will leave you with a scripture I liked and found in my personal study, in Doctrine and Covenants 24:8-
"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for lo, I am with thee, even to the end of days."

Je vous aime! Vous me manquez! Adios!
Soeur Williams

P.S. I just realized, you might want to know about France itself. Um. So. It's green here. The buildings are really old and pretty. I haven't had much actual French food besides that pain du chocolat, so I can't tell you much about the food. And we ride buses everywhere. Lots of people use the bus and the metro.

First Preparation Day in France - and no blog post from Cathryn

Soeur Williams in France!

Well, we got a couple of small personal e-mails from Cathryn, where she just answered questions we'd asked in our e-mails.  According to her, she also wrote a big long letter (the one I have been posting and forwarding to people), but it wouldn't send and she was already out of time and was frustrated with her inability to send the e-mail.  So, she'll try again next week.  So we didn't get much detail on her first week in France from her, but I'll tell you what I can infer from her letter to me, and she did manage to send a few pictures.

First, she rides the buses and walks to get to all of her appointments.  No bikes.

Second, in her own words: "Companion in French is "collègue". You could just say "companion" but that means gay partner. And that would be bad."

Third, again I'll let her speak "Soeur Johns is awesome. She's really outgoing and knows pretty much everyone in our mission and almost everyone in the ward here....She talks a lot. Like, a lot. But that's totally okay with me. She's really caring and helps me feel a little less overwhelmed. "

Soeur Williams and Souer Johns in front of the Eiffel Tower

Souer Williams & Ridd

Oh, and from her e-mail to her mom: "We'll probably go and see Mont St. Michel one of these P-Days, but not this one. We kind of got locked inside our own apartment. Long story, but the elders came and fixed it somehow. They don't even know how they did it. Anyway, we have a little less time than usual."  I guess that's why she ran short of time and couldn't get the long e-mail out this week.  Cross your fingers that they don't get locked in again on their next P-Day! :)

Arrived in France!

Cathryn has officially arrived in France and been assigned her first location and companion. We got an email from the mission president this morning, and here are the relevant parts:

"To the Family of Sister Williams

Sister Poznanski and I were delighted to welcome your daughter , Sister Cathryn Celeste Williams , into the France Paris Mission on 04 Mar 2014. She and her MTC companions were enthusiastic and all arrived in good health. She spent her first day eating some good food, visiting with me, contacting non-members in the heart of Paris, and sharing testimonies. We enjoyed her spirit.

The next morning, after a mission orientation, Sister Williams left for her first assignment to work in the Rennes S Area with Sister Johns, who will be her trainer."

I loved my mission in Germany so much, and am excited to live this one vicariously through my sweet daughter.

There were also pictures of her with the mission president and her whole MTC district and the other newly-arrived France-Paris missionaries.

They also mentioned that there's a mission Facebook page. Search for “France Paris Mission Poznanski” on Facebook and you'll find it. They've got tons of photos there, including the arrival of Cathryn's group, and photos of her being assigned her new companion. Pretty cool. Wish we'd had the Internet way back when I went on my mission!

When we talked to Cathryn at the airport this past Monday, she thought their Preparation day would be on Mondays, so she should write us then. Not sure if she'll have to do snail mail or if she'll have access to a computer. Hopefully the latter!