I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of the pictures you sent this week! How fun that the Giants are doing so well! Haha Dad I loved the play by plays. Mom, your hair is getting so long and I love it! And the boys' Halloween costumes are awesome. Did y'all get loads of candy? I attached a couple of pictures today. One is just a terrible picture of our apartment. I took it from the doorway of our 'kitchen' and you can see pretty much the whole apartment. Mine is the bottom bunk and the desk on the right. You can see the Christmas chain that I made too, it's right on the doorway of the kitchen. Home sweet home! Haha. The other picture is me and Soeur Metro on Halloween. We decided to be detectives because it was a costume, but we could totally say we weren't dressing up at the same time. We took that at the gare (train station) on our way to the mission home. There was a fireside there Sunday night for the missionaries with recent converts and investigators. President Murdock spoke and President Bonny, our Stake President, spoke. It was SO good. They both just talked about the simplicity of the gospel, and how it boils down to Jesus Christ. It was perfect for our investigators. And we ate homemade pumpkin soup afterwards, which was so so delicious. Mmm.
I'm so glad that the package finally got there! That white chocolate crème brulée kind is my favorite. I really like Lindt chocolate too, but you can get that in the states, so I didn't send any.
Thank you always for all of your emails. And thank you for the letters this week Daniel and Will and Grace! One of these preparation days, I'm just going to sit down and write a bunch of letters, so I promise I will write you back soon. I hope my emails suffice in the mean time :) Grace I loved your story about sticking up for Deeb. And you wrote that Mom said 'well played' so I figured I would teach you how to say that in French. It is 'Bien joué.' So there you go haha. Oh also Mom, you asked the other day about how we get around. We mostly take the public transportation and then walk a lot too. Geneva has a really good bus and tram system that goes all over the city. We pay 45 francs a month for a transportation card, and that works for everything, including the train up to Chambésy (where the mission home is). Plus we get that 45 francs reimbursed, so even better. It's really confusing trying to remember all of the bus lines and tram lines and where they connect and what not, but I'm getting better and better at it. We walk a lot too, which actually is really nice. And the weather has actually been really nice the last few days, so it's not too bad.
So it snowed at home this week? Booo! How is your Breath Thermo Dad? Also do you have a lot of good winter stuff in at the store? I'm excited for the first snowfall here, but that's all I want. After that, I want it to be sunny and nice all winter long. I will keep dreaming though I suppose.
So we set another baptismal date this week. The woman's name is Martha, and I can't remember if I have told you about her. She is from Dominican Republic and she was being taught before I got here. Apparently she was super excited to get baptized but her husband, who lives in Spain, is not ok with it at all. He thinks we're a cult, yadda yadda yadda. Gah it's so sad when this happens because if these people really knew how happy the gospel made their spouses, then they would be so happy with their decision to be baptized, you know? Anyways, when I got to Geneva, Martha had gone to Spain to get permission from her husband to be baptized. She was only supposed to be gone for a week, but then we didn't hear from her and couldn't get ahold of her for a few weeks. We fasted for her a few weeks ago, and then one day (actually the day of Paola's baptism) she just comes waltzing into French class, like she hadn't even been gone. It was so great! She speaks Spanish of course, so I can't communicate with her very well, but I love her. We set a date for November 20, but it turns out we are having stake conference that weekend, so we changed it for November 27. This woman is seriously amazing. Even though her husband is not ok with her getting baptized, she is SO faithful and so excited because she knows that it's right. I am confident that her faith and her prayers will help him to eventually soften his heart. She's also really encouraging with my Spanish too haha. I usually just say some super simple, one sentence tesimony in our meetings with her, and she always says 'how cute' or something like that haha. Ugggh I just want to be able to speak. But it's coming along. I can understand more and more every day, both in Spanish and French, and the speaking part is coming slowly but surely too. My goal for next transfer is to be really comfortable with French. I almost said fluent, but that will take lots of time, I'm sure.
So Dakota went into the MTC this week, right? How did that go? He will love it and do so well, I know it. Will he be in there for Christmas, or will he leave right before? Hmm. Also, how cool is that that Daniel might get to be in the Rosebowl? When in 2012 is that? I can't remember. Maybe I will be home for it? It's weird to think that by this time next year, I will be almost home. That's still a long tmie away, but not that long.
Oh I just got an email from Soeur Gabriel, my MTC teacher about that magazine article I am in. Have you seen it yet? She sent some pages via email from it, and I only read my little blurb. The reporter put weird things in there. Well I said all of those weird things, but she just picked weird things to put in there. Oh well. The picture is decent, so that's all that really matters, right?
I went on my first set of exchanges this week. We went with the other sisters in Geneva, and I got to spend the day with Soeur Cockerham from West Valley or West Jordan, I don't really remember. But she made me (gave me the opportunity to) give pretty much the whole lesson of the Plan of Salvation all by myself, and it was actually really good! That was the first time since I've been here that I felt really ok about my French teaching abilities. I was really glad she made me do that. Then we also went to my bishop's family's house for dinner. They live out in France, which is way cool. This family, the Junods, is amazing. Soeur Junod is the sister of Soeur Gabriel, my MTC teacher. Frère Junod, the bishop is so so wonderful. He is also so encouraging and is just a really cool guy. And their kids love me, so that was fun too. But I gave pretty much the whole lesson there too, which was awesome. We talked about Enos and his incredible example of prayer. We talked about how we can pray for ourselves, our families, and even our enemies, and by doing that, we can feel more charity and be closer to Christ. Love that famille Junod.
I also made my first real French phone call this week! Well, I had made one before, but it was dumb and I don't count it. But I called this woman Gwenael, who is a friend of a member in the ward, and I set up an appointment to meet with her. She told me her address, and I wrote it down almost correctly haha... But we got there all the same. It was a rush, calling in French. It's hard to understand everything they say, and then to know what to say right away, but I suppose I just have to practice.
Well, we are heading out right about now to head up to the mission home. Sister Murdock invited us and the other sisters over to make pumpkin pies yummmm! I'm sure they are going to be amazing, but I will still miss your pies this year Mom! I love you all so much and am so grateful for everything! Sorry if I didn't respond to everything in your letters and emails, but I will read them more thoroughly and respond next week...and I'll try to write letters too. I love you so so much! Happy November! Only 53 days until Christmas! I LOVE YOU!
Love,
ALLIE
No comments:
Post a Comment