August 11th, 2014

August 11, 2014

Ha, ha I just love my family! Your pictures are SO cute! Haha and we have a hamster now!  I love it!

I am so surprised to hear about all the people that have come home!  How fun!  Rachel Davis got her mission call to Washington, D.C. this last week. If you see her, give her a big hug for me!

Such a good week up here in my little Gatineau!  Our Ward Mission leader up here is Frere Allard.  He is the best. He literally does EVERYTHING for us and he has the cutest daughters that are sending their mission papers in in September:  Fanny (21) and Josianne (19). They are just like us, Liz!  They are my friends in the ward...if missionaries are allowed to have friends.  I think we are.  They are so cute to me!  This week Josianne came did a mini mission with us!  She was with us all Thursday, Friday and Saturday and slept over Thursday and Friday night.  It was so much fun and so helpful to have a francophone on hand for all of our French questions.  Fanny is coming on one with us this week!  They are the most amazing girls.  They been through so much, but they have such strong testimonies and they are just the best to teach with!  It sounds like we might be having a mini mission with them every weekend between the two of them.

This is such the miracle area.  We have 14 amis right now.  So since we have so many, and we had Josianne with us, we went on a member split Thursday night.  Sr. Wright and Josianne went together and drove off and left me to lead out three lessons with the Christensons- the Senior couple serving in our ward.  Elder Christenson speaks about as much French as I do... so not a lot.  Sister Christenson doesn`t really speak French at all.  My goodness.  It was the scariest thing I have ever done.  I felt like I was totally on my own!  Ha, ha it was rough, but actually really fun!  Everybody was really understanding with my French.  It really helped me to realize that Heavenly Father won`t ever leave me alone.  He gives me everything I need in order to do this work.  For the lesson with Mary and Theodore that night, He gave me wonderful Plan of Salvation pamphlets that I could use as a tool to help them understand.  For the lesson with Serge (a recent convert) He gave me the BOM that we could read from.  For the lesson with Jim and Isabelle, He gave me Frere Allard! (That one was especially helpful.)  It might seem kind of silly but it was a huge blessing.  I had everything I needed to help me teach and testify of the doctrine in those lessons.  It made me realize that I will really be okay when Sr. Wright leaves at the end of this transfer.

That lesson learned came at the perfect time.  The Sister Training Leaders called this morning, and they want to do double splits with me in my area this transfer because they think I will be assigned a new greenie to train as soon as Sr. Wright goes home in 5 weeks.  If that doesn`t just shake everybody awake I don`t know what would.  It just makes me shake even thinking about it.  But even though that scares me to death, I am really learning that God takes care of His missionaries.  And even though it`s hard, and it feels impossible, He is going to give me everything I need.  If I have learned anything out here, it is how much the Lord loves His children in Gatineau.  This is such a special mission.  Did you know that Quebec was included in the Toronto mission when President Monson was presiding over it?  All of the general authorities always tell us how the Lord is sending His best missionaries here, how special and important President Patrick is, and how this mission is one of the biggest melting pots.  Heavenly Father is taking His most elect children out of the countries where we cannot go yet as missionaries, and He is bringing them here to Quebec.  These people are so special to our Heavenly Father.  And Satan definitely knows how important they are too; he works really hard on them.  I feel so honored to be able to be planting in this section of the vineyard in this 11th hour.  It is such a miracle. 

Thanks so much for everything family!  I am so grateful for your wonderful examples to me!  Thanks so much from your prayers. I can really feel them and they honestly make all the difference in the world.  Please keep praying with me, because I am really going to need it now more than ever!  You guys are best!  I think about you and pray for you all the time!

Lots of love,

Soeur Olsen

P.S.: Congrats on the new place Benjamin and Kirstie!  I want pictures!

August 4, 2014

August 4, 2014

Salut famille!

I am so excited to hear that Liz is finally done with school!  And the Shakespeare sounds like a blast!  Rebecca: you need to send me a picture of your hair!  I want to see this.  I miss Frozen.  But sometimes when we go to teach lessons the kids have it on and are watching it in French; it`s so cute!  Did I ever send you the video of Elder Abbott singing Do You Want to Build a Snowman in French?  Frozen in French is soo much cuter! 

I can`t believe that it has been a week.  It just flew by, I can`t even remember what happened!  Everything was turned upside down.  We had three moves this week and then Zone training meeting, so my schedule was really thrown off.  But I finally got all of your cute letters!  And you have to give Aunt Lollie the biggest hug for me!  Liz, you two are the best!  It made my whole week!  Haha the missionaries hve never seen a package that big.  The APs called to make sure we had a car; they were not sure what to do with it.  The whole zone made me open it up in the parking lot!  It`s was the best!  I miss America so much!  It was so fun!  Sister Wright and I are just going wild with all of our fun treats, and we are going to deck out our apartment with all the fun decoration!  We are excited to get some American pride going because we ran into a couple of American haters this week. Thanks so much!

Things are really crazy up here.  Practically the whole mission is going to be turned over by the end of this year.  Right now Elder Jenkins, Sr. Gentils and I are the only greenies in the zone.  And everybody else is almost done with their mission. We had over seven missionaries going home this week.  And then Sister Wright and others are leaving after this transfer.  It really freaks me out to think about what`s coming. By the end of the year everyone I know we`ll be gone and the zone will be filled with new missionaries in its place!  I can feel Heavenly Father preparing me for some really difficult things.  Each day I feel more and more like this is my time to learn, and pretty soon I am going to be asked to step it up. It`s discouraging because I feel so far from where I feel like I need to be.  But it is amazing to see that the harder things get the more strength Heavenly Father gives me.  I know that He blesses us with everything that we need in order to accomplish the things that He asks us to do.  I am really learning out here how to just turn everything over to the Lord.  To just put all of our fears and inadequacies at his feet and then walk out the door and get to work.

A miracle of the week: So for the last two Tuesday nights we`ve been playing softball! (Well, Sr. Wright has been playing softball, I have been supervising.)  One of our members is a bus driver.  Every Tuesday night the bus drivers and the mechanics get together and play softball.  (Not making that up.  It is hysterical).  But we got permission from President, and it has been the coolest opportunity to work through a member and talk with and get to know all of his coworkers.  It is opening up huge opportunities for him to continue talking about the Church at work now too.  But this week, after the game had finished, one of his coworkers came up to us and told us he was Mormon! He pulled up his sleeve and showed us his CTR tattoo he had on his arm-- a little ironic, but it unbelievable!  It turns out that he is a convert to the church and even had a mission call to Guatemala, but then he met his wife and married her instead.  He loves ``his religion`` and I guess his entire family is active LDS, and he wants to start coming back to Church.  And he had no idea that Frere Morin was LDS, and Frere Morin had no idea he is a member either.  I guess he LOVES Grandpa Hinckley.  As soon as he started telling us his story he just starts talking about how much of an impact President Hinckley has made on his life and how powerful his testimony was to him.  Haha. Immediately Sr. Wright took that as an opportunity and everybody in the ward knows about Grandpa Hinckley.  It was really cool to see Heavenly Father use that to help us make a special connection with this man who has been prepared to return to Church.  He was really, really touched and we are going to see him this week!  So that will be wonderful!  Well thanks so much for all your love and prayers family!  Keep praying for me to receive the gift of tongues please!  The Quebecois have been especially blunt about my language abilities this week so don`t forget!

Love you to the moon and back!

Soeur Olsen

 

 

Pictures:

 

These are the elders that serve in our ward with us- Elder Norman and Elder Jenkins

 

 

Me and all my packages. All the other missionaries are jealous. They think its just ``greenie mail``

 

 

 

Finally went to Parliament last pday!

 

The Downsides of Not Understanding the Language‏ (July 28th)

July 28, 2014

It sounds like you have all been doing really well!  But stop leaving my Dad home alone!  Some of us have to work for a living.  But I am so happy to hear how awesome girl’s camp was and how well all of your talks and testimonies went!  I have the most righteous family in the world! (I honestly think we do; you did such an awesome job mom and dad! I am so grateful to have grown up in such a gospel centered home. You wouldn’t believe what an apparent difference it makes.)

Yes I had poutine the first day!  It`s awesome.  We`ve also had this thing called shwarma.  Look it up.  Other than that we are mostly just scrapping for food on our own.  We don`t get fed very much.

There is one French speaking branch in the Zone of Ottawa.  So there are three teams in our ward that are French speaking (us, the elders, and a senior couple) and we cover all the French speakers in our zone.

Big Adventure for the week:

Last Sunday, I am sitting in Gospel Principles just doing my usual thing- which unfortunately consists of trying not to fall asleep because everything is just gibberish- and all the sudden I hear Sr. Wright volunteer the sister missionaries for something.  The next thing I know she is signing me up for un Donation de sang--Blood Donation.  I honestly about passed out.  I spent the whole week trying the get out of it.  I tried to get other missionaries to take our place, I tried telling them that we had a DA and couldn`t do it anymore.  It was awful.  I honestly paled just thinking about it.  But unfortunately Friday came and it was still on.  I realized that I was going to have to do this.  So I started praying real hard and doing everything I could to live through this experience.  I had heard that donating blood is a lot less painful if you drink lots of water.  I drank 15 water bottles before 4:30 when we had to be there.  I thought I was going to be okay. I was feeling a little calmer about it, until we pulled up and saw a big trailer with the words: The Bloodmobile.  How sick is that?  I don`t know what is wrong with these people.  Anyway, after a lot of waiting and worrying we finally got in there.  They had to do a finger prick to see if my hemoglobin was okay.  The nurse could not get it to stop bleeding.  My blood was so watery, it was running all the way down my arm.  I was so freaked out.  I couldn`t do anything but just stand there while she cleaned me up.  After she got it to stop bleeding they stuck me in the blood sucking room. I really started to panic then.  MIRACLE OF THE WEEK: Apparently you have to know all the shots you have gotten in the last three months.  And I couldn`t say with certainty all the shots that I had gotten just before my mission, or if I had gotten them in May or not.  I never thought I would say this, but I am so so grateful that you have to get immunizations before a mission.  Biggest miracle.  I have never experienced more relief in my entire life.  Prayer is real!  I didn`t have to give blood!  Ha,ha. It ended up being really funny because they wouldn`t let Sr. Wright give blood either because apparently her arms are covered in pustules that would infect the blood.  She was so offended.  She just has these little raised pores on her arms that you would never notice.  She couldn`t believe that she wasn`t able to donate her blood because of so called ``Zitty arms``.  It was hysterical.  She spent the rest of the day comparing her arms with mine and trying to pop the little bumps.  I still catch her examining them all the time.  It is so funny.

Sorry I don`t have more uplifting testimonies today.  It was a long week.  We got smurfed (stood up a lot).  Our baptism didn`t go through.  And even though we haven`t had a lot of visible success I can still feel Heavenly father strengthening us and leading us each day.  I am out of time but I will talk to you again next week!

Lots of love and prayers!

Love,

Soeur Olsen

PS My next zone training is this Friday, so that`s when I`ll receive the letters, packages, etc.  I’ll let you know.  We have them once a month I think.  Love you all!

 

Pictures:

We went to the Civilizations museum last p-day.

Here are the pantoufes that a member in the ward made me.  They are shoes that people keep in there house that you can put on after you enter and take your shoes off, so your feet can stay warm while their house stays clean.  They are beautiful!

 



Spiders!

July 21, 2014

Famille!

Okay, apologies in advance, I am emailing in a French library- I have a French library card!- and the keyboard and punctuations are different.

I am so excited to hear about James Fox`s mission call!  I can`t believe you guys forgot to tell me.  Tell him congratulations from me though; he will be so so amazing!

Sarah is home!  She sounds as funny as ever.  Give her a really big hug, and don`t do any tim tam shots without me!

No sorry, we are actually living in the basement of the member, and it wouldn`t be very polite for us to use their mailbox, so keep sending things to the mission home.  It does take a while because we are about two hours out, so I only get mail once a month, I think, at zone conferences.  Maybe I`ll dig up the address of our home and send it next week just in case you need to get something to me quickly, but don`t plan on using it regularly.

I am so relieved to hear that you didn`t call President Patrick!  I promise, it`s just fine.  My trainer knows what she is doing, and we are always listening for the Spirit.  Yes we ALWAYS have members with us, and yes we are NEVER alone with them.  We can`t even give them rides.  All the rules that are put in place keep us safe.  And they aren`t actually a gang.  That`s just what we call them.  They are really really nice.  And usually the worst thing is that they step out and take a smoke during the lesson.  Don`t worry about me!  We are being smart and following the rules and the Spirit.  Don`t call President.  I have an interview with him this week so I will ask him about it if it makes you feel better.

Thanks so much for going to Diggy farewell!  It`s so fun to hear how everyone is doing. Thanks for snagging me some things from Grandma and Grandpa`s house!

I`m appalled to hear Dad that you don`t like wasabi peas.  I am sure that Anne is not really taller than me.

Sorry I forgot my camera cord today so no pictures!  Although my Elders from the MTC keep sending me ugly pictures of me so maybe I forward some of those along.

This week so awesome!  It was definitely hard, but still full of miracles.  I went on my first split!  It was stressful. They kept me in my own area, so that was really mean.  But it was okay because I went with Sister Craven who was Sister Wright`s companion in this area before me.  So all of her old investigators were excited to see her, but it was stressful having to take the lead with all of our new amis.

Denis and Ines are getting baptized on Saturday!  I think.  They just changed the rule, so now we teach Lesson 5 BEFORE baptism (it includes eternal marriage, temple work, missionary work, etc.)  So we taught about temples and eternal marriage this week.  It was so special because Denis` wife passed away six years ago this week.  The Spirit was unbelievably strong.  I love teaching people about eternal families!  But just before we left Denis and Ines said that they were still kind of on the fence about baptism.  So we are going to go talk to them this week.  Ines is going to girls camp though, so we told her to pray about it then.  She is going to text us Saturday when she gets back from camp to let us know whether or not she is getting baptized that day.  So definitely be praying for out little Cote d`Ivoire family!  They are so prepared and so, so ready.

Hey Badou- Senegal ami- came to a baptism this week!  And then Hydress- Congo ami- came to church!

Okay, worst thing ever this week.  Wednesday night, when we were on splits and Sister Craven was sleeping over, I felt something crawling across my lips, and went to touch them, and there was something there!  I swiped it off and threw my blankets off my bed.  It was so horrible.  Our house has been infested with spiders.  I hate it.  I spent like 30 minutes in the bathroom trying to calm down and make sure it wasn`t in my hair.  I came back and try to subtly examine my bed with the flash light.  Sister Craven thought I was crazy.  I ended up sleeping with a wash cloth on my arm for the rest of the night because my towel was still wet and my covers were infested with spiders I`m sure.  I keep having nightmares about spiders now.

Okay sorry, that`s all I have time for!  I hope you have a wonderful week!  Don`t worry about me, I am happy and healthy and loving everything about being a missionary up here in Canada!  Happy Pioneer Day!

Love,

Soeur Olsen

Oh and p.s. we went to a family`s house for dinner this week.  Look up Val de Mont (ou peut etre Val des Monts).  It was unbelievably gorgeous.  Their house sits on Lac Claire (ou Clair).  Apparently they own like five lakes up there!  It is way cool!



(I'm not sure if this is from the MTC or not)

BAPTISM WEEK

July 14, 2014  BAPTISM WEEK

Oh my goodness famille. It was baptism week! (That's what Sr. Wright and I decided because we kept handing out 2 Nephi 31 for commitments). It turns out that baptism week doesn't actually mean having baptisms but we got four new people with baptisms dates!  We now have six total.  Crazy.  You would not believe the miracles we had up here in Gatineau!  And we got 9 new amis!  Can you believe it?  No way!  We have gotten 14 new amis in the last two weeks!  It is unbelievable.  And I have decided that since we found them on baptism week, it must mean that they are all getting baptized.  No way!  How wonderful is this area?!

Okay let me tell you about these people.  We just laugh every time we think about it.  5 of them consist of a little gang from Senegal.  They are these black, young guys in their 20s with tattoos and piercing; just rough, scary looking people.  Ha,ha they are awesome.  Their names are Badou, Hydress, Bishop (perfect eh? --the eh thing is totally real by the way), Sededrick, Doudou.  It is so unbelievable.  Each time we go they have a new friend there!  And they actually get into it.  They are talking, asking questions, bearing testimony of their beliefs.  It's crazy.  There are usually two or three of them there when we show up.  Badou is the only one that really pretends like he not interest, but he so is!  He is one of my favorite. He's the one that is always inviting us back and bringing his friends.  It was the coolest thing yesterday.  We went over to their building and he had Sederick and Bishop with him.  So we all went upstairs and watched the Restoration with them.  It was sick.  In the middle of the film I looked around the room and I realized that we were watching the Restoration with a bunch of gangsters!  No way!  Ha,ha, maybe you had to be there.  It was so sick.  Unfortunately, Sr. Wright informed me that when Badou got up during the film he came back high on something.  We got a lot of Word of Wisdom work to do with our G amis, but I can hardly wait to see how this gospel and the Atonement will change them.  I got to commit all three of them to baptism last night.  So cool.  They all think my broken French attempts are cute.  They try to let me do it in English cause they all understand English.  So a lot of the testifying was committing was in “franglais” but it was so cool.  The Spirit was so strong.  You could tell that they felt it, especially Bishop.  He was just baptized Christian and he's been looking for the truth and he is not ashamed.  He can't wait to check the BOM out.  They are so cool!  You guys would love them.  And Badou and Bishop are going to come church this week!  So Sr. Wright decided it was going to be Swarm Week this week.  Everybody is going to swarming to the chapel!

We also found a new family this week!  Sydole and Rose are the parents.  We have this miracle building here in Gatineau that we call our golden building.  That is where we found Mary and her husband Theodore.  And Mart. And Solonge. And everybody!  Basically everybody in that building is a potential.  But we went and taught them for the first time this last week and they just ate it up!  We talked about the BOM.  They also had a friend Fernande there.  She was skeptical.  But Rose totally just start testifying about how the BOM could be true and how she needed to just have more faith!  No way right?  I can't believe it.  I cannot wait to go back and teach them.

Okay sorry.  I am way too excited with all our miracles.  I was so excited to hear about the family vacation though!  The pictures are to die for adorable!  I love it!  Especially the three amigos pic with Dad, John, and James.  Ha,ha.  I about died.  And Sarah is coming home!  Tell her I say hi and to shoot me all kinds of mission advice!

Fun fact for the week.  I have a car.  I haven't mentioned that yet.  And it is super nice too.  Sounds like I'll be driving it this week when we go on splits!  We are living the life of luxury here in Gatineau.  Oh and find WASABI PEAS.  You will love them Dad.  I think you should just be able to find them at Walmart.  Okay that's all.  Love you so much!!!

Lots and lots of love,

Soeur Olsen

July 7th, 2014

July 7, 2014

REBECCA! Wow. I am so sorry to hear about your car accident! Yikes. That is so scary! I am so so relieved you are okay though. Congratulations on Zupas. AND your patriarchal blessing! Oh my word! That is so so so wonderful! My blessing has literally been one of the single most beautiful thing in my life. I am so excited for you. Read it all the time! Every time you are feeling down.

Okay famille!  Get ready because I actually have a lot of time today!  (Sorry, I hate to be one of those missionaries that send forever long emails; you are under obligation to read all of it.)

Gatineau is AMAZING! I have decided that it is the miracle area. I have also decided that CMM is the miracle mission. I keep hearing stories about general authorities coming and saying that our mission president is not like other mission presidents. He is special. Apparently they have also been saying that they have sent some of the very best missionaries the Church has ever seen to this mission! Oh my goodness, this place is full of special miracles for these special little Canadians!

Bonne fete Canada! July 1st was Canada Day. Apparently it was a party. I don't really know. The missionaries don't really get to see a lot of party action.  But everybody kept saying what a big deal it was and nobody wanted to see us, so I believe it! We are just outside of Ottawa, the capitol, so I would imagine it would be like being in Washington DC for the 4th of July.  Despite not really having anybody to teach we were actually still really busy. The Quebecois have this beef with the Canadians. They don't want to be a part of Canada. So instead, just to spite the country (Quebecois are so funny), they made the Canada day the day when all the leases expire. So for the Quebecois, Canada day is moving day! The streets are just packed full of moving vans. People here are constantly moving. It sounds like most people move every year or so. They just circulate around the same area. It is odd and really inconvenient. So we spent a lot of the day moving members out of their apartments and into new ones 15 minutes away.

Between moving and missionary work, we were really tired! But this week has been absolutely amazing! When we were first driving to the area, Sr. Wright was telling me about the amazing Amis de l'Eglise we had. She was talking about this wonderful, strong, miraculous teaching pool. Well, I don't know what I did wrong, but since I arrived our teaching pool has disappeared. We have had no one to teach! Even our recent converts (CRs) were skipping out on appointments with us and Sr. Wright kept saying how she really feels like we just need to go out and find people. She says she has never felt this strongly about there being people we need to find in her whole mission. Apparently in all the 9 months that she has been here she has really only gone tracking (porte a porte) once. How exciting is that!  I love it! So we spent a lot of time this week going through formers (former amis). It was so cool! We actually haven't intentionally found any of our formers, but it has led to finding multiple other people to teach. By the end of the week, we had 5 new investigators after street tracking/knocking only about 20 doors! We had a sit down lesson with an opening and closing prayer and set up a return appointment. I guess that never happens! So I am excited about it. Sr. Wright says that's the second most she has ever had on her mission. I love tracking! I feel like such a little missionary! Walking down the street with my French speaking companion: Bonjour! Ca va bien? Nous sommes missionaires pour l'Eglise de Jesus-Christ des Saint des Derniers Jours.... and then they usually respond, at which point Sr. Wright has to take over because I cannot understand a word these people are saying. Everybody hear sounds different. These Quebecois--they are killing me! You have never heard such a thick accent anywhere in the world! I can hardly make bonjour a je m'appelle. Some people have really just nasty sounding Quebecois and others have really cute, twangy Quebecois. It's sick. I am already starting to incorporate it into the way that I speak. I want to be a little Quebecois so badly! One of the best things about Quebecois is that they have so much English incorporated into their language. So occasionally they will just spout out phrases that are one hundred percent perfect English. They don't even realize that they are doing it. It is the funniest thing in the world. They will just be speaking heavy, indiscernible French and then throw out, “That's it, that's all”, like they are an Anglophone. So funny.

Okay so I don't have time to go through all of our amis, mais there are a few that I have to tell you about! Okay so first there is Denis and Ines. They are a father and a 14 year old daughter from Cote d'Ivoire. They are wonderful. Sr. Wright has been working with them for 10 months here in Gatineau and they are so converted. They understand everything so beautifully and they are so converted. They don't feel like they are ready enough to be baptized though yet. But they fasted this last Sunday, and they set up the day to be baptized on July 26! We are soooo excited! Apparently they have fallen through before but Sr. Wright says it is different this time. Second, while tracking this week we had the coolest experience. We were in what we now call our golden building. We ended up setting four appointments in that building but on our way out the first day, I asked Sr. Wright if she wanted to stay and knock or if she was ready to go. She said she felt we really needed to knock the top floor. So we went up and I picked a door. A woman opened and before I could even finish my little French schpill she opened the door and beckoned us in. She came back, and after talking to her for a little while we found out that she had already been taught by one of Sr. Wright's companions just before Sr. Wright had arrived in Gatineau. She left the room and came back with a BoM (LdM) in French and English and with a word of wisdom and tithes and fast offerings pamphlet. What?! Apparently she had gone on vacation almost a year ago to the states for a month, but the missionaries never got back in contact with her. She thought we were finally just back to teach her. No way! We had just been through all of our former records the day before and she wasn't in there. Somehow she got lost. We would have had no way to find her. It was such a miracle. She says she already knows that the LdM and J.S. are true. Her thing is that she doesn't believe it is the only truth and she also has a hard time with the fact that she needs to be baptized again. She is stellar and her name is Mary. We are going back to teach her tomorrow and I am so excited!

Okay that is actually all the people I have time for I guess. But needless to say we had a miracle week. And Sr. Wright said that the reason she thinks we need to track right now is because of me. She says she feels like there are people here that have been prepared for me and we need to find them now while she is still here so she can teach me how to do it and then hand them off. So cool! I love her so much. She is so funny and good to me! She is too nice to make me do anything scary. But I have been trying to put myself out there anyway! 

Love you so much! Have a wonderful week. By the way, this next week is Baptism Week. (Sr. Wright and I decided). So pray that we will have miracles! (And I could still use help with the language too.)

 

The first two pictures are the last ones from the MTC

I miss our little family!  Aren't we so cute?  And the one labeled the Pistorii, I am now serving in his area!  It is so fun!  He was my "French coach" kinda at the MTC, and now I am here and the members talk about him and we are looking up some of his formers.  It's so fun!

These last two are from Canada!

 

 

From last week! Sorry we couldn't make pictures work. Look how cute our little house is! We are living below an English speaking member family! I think we have the nicest place in the whole mission maybe. We enter in through the backyard, and it is a little house all to our selves! Isn't sister Wright so cute? We have the same hair!

June 30, 2014

June 30, 2014

Family!

So much. So little time. Always! I guess that is a missionary thing. I wish someone would have told me that beforehand.

Okay I am in Gatineau West!!! I am so excited! On Wednesday President had all the trainers and all the greenies gather in the mission office and one by one he announced where everyone was going. It was crazy mean. It took forever for him to get to me. So Gatineau is French speaking! I am so happy! I was going to be so disappointed if it was English speaking. Apparently President doesn't move people around hardly ever. So everybody is placing bets on me being in this same area for a year! I had never heard of mission presidents doing that before but I am so, so excited!

Alors, Gatineau is on the very western cusps of Quebec. So we are in the only French-speaking ward in the area. The rest is in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, which is English speaking. It is crazy! One minute I'll feel right at home with all these people that speak my language, and the next, they all simultaneous switch to this weird sounding- supposedly French- language! People weren't kidding about the Quebecois accent. It is thick, and sick. I am already starting to switch my pronunciation. It is awesome.

The crazy thing about being here is that everyone is from a different place. We are teaching people from Haiti, Cameroon, the woods --whatever that means--, everywhere! EVERYBODY'S French sounds so different. It is so hard. It takes me so long to try and figure out what they possibly might be saying. But it is also really cool. Sometimes I understand. And sometimes, I even understand really, really well. The Africans are the best. The have the clearest French. I can almost imagine they are speaking English. I love it! It is really cool but really hard, lots of the people are bilingual, but not all. As of this week, about 1 in every 3 lessons have been in English.

The people here are amazing. I am really not sure how to tell you about them. There are a lot of people that we teach that I still haven't met yet. It is not like what you would expect. We really don't have that much time to teach. We spend all morning studying. It seems like we usually at some kind of ward gathering/meeting/service project in the afternoons because nobody is home for us to meet with. We have an early dinner, and then we finally have a four or five hour block where we can teach. Most of the people we are teaching are less actives or new converts. We also have some investigators. The majority of our investigators have been taking the lessons for at least 5 months or so. They have already had all the lessons multiple times. So I haven't actually taught a PMG lesson yet. We usually just read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with them except for last night. Last night we taught Kadidia and Debare. They have had four or five lessons it sounds like, but it has been a week or two since we have been able to set up another appointment. We spent the lesson just trying to reestablish why we are here. They are from Africa I think. I don't actually know. They have three or four kids I think, but I am not sure because the parents sent them out of the room. I guess that is customary when guests come over. (I want to teach the whole family so hopefully we can get them to stay next time.) We taught it with a 30 year old women in our ward named Caroline. She is awesome. And it sounds like she helps us a lot. It was an awesome lesson. We talked about faith and read in Alma 32. It was way cool! I was like sharing thoughts and testimony in French! It was way cool. They could totally understand me! (I am sure my grammar was all over the place.) I hope we can get in there again soon.

Okay my trainer! Her name is Soeur Wright (It's actually Allie Wright if you want to look her up) She is from South Jordan and she has a twin! She is the best. She reminds me of Kelsey Nelson. So much fun! She is so cute and so funny, and she is so good to me!  he is willing to let me do whatever I want, but she never just throws me under the bus so I am way grateful. She actually has one or two transfers left training me and then she leaves! I am so freaked out about that! Then I'll be in charge. Everybody loved her companion before. Some of our investigators aren't even ready to meet with us yet because they are so sad that Sister Craven is gone. It's so adorable. But it makes me nervous for when she leaves!

Oh and Elder Jenkins that was in my district at the MTC. He is serving in my very same ward! Cool, right? Okay, got to jet! Love you all!