Bonjour encore!

Bonjour ma belle famille!

How is everybody this week? It's been a big week with school starting and everything, no? It's been a really nice week here at the MTC. My companions and I had a couple of really good teaching experiences, so that helped my confidence a lot. We have a progressing investigator as well as the TRC to prepare for, so we just sat down and decided what our goal was, what commitments we wanted to extend and what we wanted the investigators to understand by the end of the lesson. Then, instead of making a set lesson plan, we just talked about some principles that might help them, scriptures we could use, experiences, etc. We prayed really hard for the Spirit to help us know what to say and to be on the same page as each other. Both lessons were SO GOOD. We felt the Spirit like crazy, and we only got through like one principle during each lesson, but we answered questions and bore testimony and it was awesome. We were loving life. AND THEN SOMETHING SPECTACULAR HAPPENED.

We have Devotionals every Tuesday night, and since I've been here, they've been replacing the bleachers in the gym (where they hold the devotionals) so there's always been a limited number of missionaries who get to be in there (my zone gets to be in there regardless, so it's good). But this week was the first time they had the bleachers done so we got to be in there with almost all of the missionaries in the MTC. That alone is a pretty powerful experience. For the last 15 minutes before the devotional starts, we sing prelude hymns. Right before that started, one of the head honchos stood up to the pulpit and said something like "We just want to let you missionaries know that we do not stand for the hymns of Zion, but it is appropriate to stand in the presence of the Prophet or a member of the Twelve." They've never said that before, so of course, everyone was all a-buzz. We sang a couple songs, and then we started singing "We'll Bring The World His Truth." AND THEN the doors behind the pulpit opened and Elder Holland walked in! We all stood up and continued to sing and I had the chills and the Spirit was just out of control. It was seriously the coolest thing, besides Elder Holland's talk. My favorite thing that he said was that we are here to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way. It made me realize that this is not about me at all. I am here to focus 100% on the people that I am teaching and I have to prepare my hardest and do my best so that I can follow the promptings of the Spirit. He also told us "Don't you dare think about going home" because he loves us and knows how much this mission will change our lives. He talked about how incredibly important and life-altering his mission was for him and he said how he, the Brethren, and the Lord have so much confidence in us and they have given us everything they could to help us. I can do this! Another amazing thing at the devotional was the musical number before Elder Holland's talk. It was a cello and piano duet of Oh Divine Redeemer and I think it was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. That song is outstanding.

Speaking of music, I love the French hymnbook. There is a cantique (hymn) in there that isn't in the English one and it is so so beautiful. My district loves it and we sing it all the time. It's called "Souviens-toi" and it's so great. Mom you should get a French hymn book and play/sing it because it is lovely. I think you would like it.

Also speaking of music, I tried so hard to hear the band practicing this week but I never did! They are doing some contstruction here, so that might be why. But I really wanted to hear even the drumline or something. Maybe I'll here the football games when those start. Is the first one next week? I'm not going to lie, I'm a little sad that I am going to miss all of them. Did y'all get all sports passes again?

Oh, I ran into Katie Alexander yesterday! I was heading out to the field for gym time and I saw a girl walking with purple Vans on and I thought "Oh, I like her shoes" and then I looked up and I said "Oh, it's my cousin!" It was exciting to see her. She was going to volunteer at the TRC. I gave her two hugs.

So on the note of gym time, I had a pretty good gym week. One of the nights, the Sisters and I switched it up a little and had a girls soccer game (because soccer is the only game where sisters aren't allowed to play with elders). The 5 French Soeurs played against 5 HERMANAS (like real Spanish sisters) and guess who won (even though we aren't supposed to keep score)...yes, we did! I didn't score any goals but I had some wicked footwork (kind of) and made some gnarly assists...haha. It was way fun. We are planning on having a big finals game right before we leave, and all of the Elders are going to make signs and stuff. We'll see haha. I'm still getting really (kind of) good at volleyball though. On Monday night, TWO of the elders in my district hit me in the face. It wasn't even that hard, and I was totally fine, but they felt so badly that they bought me a candy the next day. Then last night, an Elder from the court next to ours threw the ball and it hit me in the head, and once again I was really ok, but he also bought me a candy because he felt so badly. So, I think that I am just going to start throwing my face into the volleyball because obviously it brings great rewards. And I don't have any broken noses or black eyes yet.

Oh, question real quick: Were you driving by the MTC last Saturday around 1:30 or 2? We were out playing softball (I definitely had some base hits...) and I saw a van that looked exactly like ours. I told myself that it was haha.

I just want you to know how exciting it is to be a missionary. I love being here and being able to study about the Savior and his gospel all day, every day. I know that God loves us so so much and I know that Jesus Christ already suffered EVERYTHING for us. We don't have to! All He's asked us to do is follow Him and keep His commandments and He will take any burden off of us. I KNOW that He has that ability, and we can not take that for granted. I love this gospel so much and I love you all so so much. Have a wonderful weekend! I miss you!

Je vous aime beaucoup! Dieu vous aime beacoup aussi! Jesus est le Sauveur! L'evangile est vraie!

Love,

ALLIE