Here is Bethany's latest email. My clarifying notes are in italics.  Hey, hey, Hey! It's great to hear about Lauren!  (A friend serving a mission in San Diego, CA) Sis. Roberts wrote to me and told me how Lauren and the rest of the family is doing. Glad everyone in that family is doing well. I wrote to Lauren a few weeks ago and I can't wait to hear back.  I'm so glad they're updating the Facebook page so much (the Paris France Mission Facebook page-check it out). I was supposed to help the new sisters (who just arrived in the Mission) go contacting for the first time, but we were told the wrong time and missed it. However I did get to say hi to them and hug them all. I've asked a few people about the temple (the newly announced Paris France temple) and it's still going to happen, but the church's lawyers are still haggling out the details for the land. Too bad about BYU! (BYU lost to Utah in football) Oh well, at least it happened during a year I wasn't there. Who's QB? Wow! Camp Hulaco has air conditioners now? Lucky (with my best Napoleon Dynamite impression)! We have two new Elders in our district. Elder Szuch from Idaho is the new Zone Leader and Elder Richard-Brulé (I barely saw his name tag so that could totally be wrong) is from French Canada. Sis. Dremeaux isn't going to have surgery anymore because she would have had to go home to recuperate for a transfer or two. She told me Thursday night that she was leaving on Saturday and I was totally thrown. It was a sad night. Then the next morning she said "I've prayed about it and the surgery can wait, but the Lord can't!" It was an emotional rollercoaster, but it turned out ok in the end. I have my legality (medical test, etc. for her Visa) this Wednesday, which is right in the middle of Zone Conference, boo! At least we'll get to go for two hours. This week we had several miracles, but I only have time for my favorites. Tuesday night we went "porting" (porting=porte a porte =door to door). Despite the fact it was pretty cold we were able to have some good conversations though no one let us in or made an appointment. Finally a man answered, but wasn’t interested at first. He's (from another religion), but had questioned God ever since his mother died 30 yrs. ago from a drunk driver. He's felt it was a punishment from God. We assured him no and told him that God has a plan for everyone and that he could find out that plan if he asked God and read the scriptures. By then his wife was there too. I offered them the Book of Mormon and they said no, but I knew I had to continue testifying of its truthfulness.  As we testified (btw, my French skills were un-ordinarily good and I'll swear until I die that only Heavenly Father could do that) you could see their faces change. The spirit was so strong and my love for the Book of Mormon grew so much. I know it is true! Finally, after offering it to them two more times they took it and said we could come back in two days to teach them!!!!!!!!! When we did come back we were late because Sr. Dremeaux had just found out that she was leaving (or at least we thought so). They were nice about it and the Book of Mormon was laying on the table. They were expecting us! The husband had researched us and had some questions, but all of them were the ones we like to answer: first vision, tithing, word of wisdom, temples, eternal marriage, etc. He also asked about polygamy, but no surprise there and he seemed satisfied with my answers. It was a good lesson where we taught about turning to Christ and using the Atonement. They reacted very well. Then we testified again of the Book of Mormon and asked them if they would read and pray about it. His wife, who is open and very close with God already, said yes, in fact she seemed excited. The husband (actually, they told us they aren’t married) said no, but only out of loyalty to his mother who was Catholic. I had the distinct impression that he would change his mind though. They didn't set another appointment, but we have faith. We finally had a break through with Mireille! Although she said she would be baptized she wouldn't set a date. We decided that she really needed to know if the Book of Mormon is true, she knows it isn't false, but not that it is true. When we brought this up to her she was a little affronted (we predicted this and hoped for the best because we knew it had to be done). She asked if we thought she didn't think this was important. Technically, we weren’t sure, which is why we asked her to pray about the Book of Mormon, but to be nice we said we did know for sure. It made me so happy to know that she did! Also, she herself brought up why she won’t set a date to be baptized. Turns out she just wants to know more, which we helped her with. She's going to Africa for the funeral of her uncle, but promised to read and pray while she's gone. I hope she's ready for baptism when she gets back! I don't remember if I've mentioned Sarah before, but she's a former investigator who was referred to us by a former missionary. We spoke with her a few weeks ago about faith and went back to see how she was doing. She said she hadn't gotten around to reading and praying so we taught her about real intent. And.....we asked her to be baptized and she said yes!!!! The funny thing is, I didn't even know it had happened until later when Sr. Dremeaux was celebrating. I was like "what's so great?" When she told me, I was like "WHAT!!!!???" My French wasn't doing so well that day and I missed the whole commitment even though I was right there! Haha! That's all for now! Bethany P.S. 1. The last district meeting before transfers. I tried to get them to be normal, but....;) 2. A funny sign on someone's door (It says “Gentle dog.Crazy master”) 3. An escargot, we've seen a lot of them lately. They're a weird tennis ball green. At least they aren't like the ones in Seattle, eh mom?

Just a note before reading Bethany’s e-mail: A “transfer” is a 6 -7 week period that a missionary is assigned to an area. Usually a missionary will be in an area for about 2 to 4 transfer periods. At the end of a transfer period, a missionary can stay where they are, be sent (or transferred) to a new area, or assigned a new companion in their current area. 

Also, in a letter we received last week, Bethany gave us news about her mission completion date. She said that because she was able to come out into the Mission field early due to her language skills, she had the option of returning home a little earlier. She has chosen to come home early in time for Christmas 2013. She’ll also be able to start the next semester at BYU on time. It was a nice surprise.

Hello! 

Second transfer already? Whoa! Wednesday starts the next transfer and I'll definitely still be in Torcy because all new missionaries follow a new 12 week training program with our trainers. It means an extra hour of companionship study in the morning, watching and discussing the (Church Training Videos) District 1 and 2. In order to complete the 12 weeks you have to stay in the same area for two transfers.

The Ponzanskis told us about the (Mission) Facebook page. I remember Sister Ponzanski filming us on her I-Phone now that I think about it. The song is the Mission Anthem; we sing it every day right before companionship study until we have it memorized. Afterwards, we only sing it a couple times a week and at large mission meetings. It's a great motivator when you're sad. I'll sing it for you when we Skype at Christmas.

Today was a crazy day! I was indeed able to see the Millers/McCauley's (Friends of ours from our Ward in Huntsville that were visiting in Paris) (I got the package thanks for everything, especially the socks),  but not with my companion. She has been struggling with a toe injury since she started her mission 9 months ago and was only able to get an appointment at the hospital today. So we got permission from the President to go on a temporary exchange with the two sisters in our Apartment. Soeur Dremeaux found out she will have to have another appointment Wednesday and then surgery the following week. Pray for her!

Sister Alley went with me which was good because I think she's been homesick for the U.S. the past few weeks. The Miller/McCauleys were very nice to her and took us out for crepes. We had about an hour to talk and eat before we had to leave. We promised President that we would only be on exchange for 3 hours.

Funny/sad/frustrating experience: on the way back Soeur Alley didn't get through one of the metro gates in time and had to squeeze through. The Metro guards saw her and made her show them her pass so she could prove it wasn’t her fault she didn’t get through. Sure enough her pass was valid, but she hadn't got a picture on it yet so she was fined 30 euros!!! Sooo dumb! Right after having such a good time too.

I found out that tomorrow that I get to greet the incoming missionaries (from the MTC in Provo) and take them contacting in Paris for the first time!!! We call that being their Papa. Your trainer is your Maman.  I hope I can understand what people say to me while I show the “greenies” the ropes (we actually call them "bleus" in France). These are the same sisters who went to San Francisco with me (to get her Visa at the consulate). I'm excited to see them again. President said that by the next transfer we'll have more sister missionaries in this mission then ever before! That also means I'll probably be training by my third transfer. Yikes!

I also found out that I have to start my legality stuff next week. All of us who have been here for a transfer will go to a doctor together. Then in a couple of weeks I have to go to Belgium to do the same thing. The whole legality process takes several months. The day I go next week is the same day as Soeur Dremeaux's surgery so we'll have to go on exchange again.

Mireille's uncle died and she was really stressed this week because her whole family came over to her house, so we weren't able to teach a lesson this week. However, despite traveling quite a ways to the funeral Saturday night she still came to church the next morning and saw Alban get confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost! That made us so happy!!!!!

Soeur Dremeaux and I taught Sunday School on doing Genealogy work. Alban was fascinated the whole time. I got to tell about how Dad's family was sealed and bear my testimony about how families can be together forever. I love how bearing your testimony reaffirms its truthfulness.

Miracles: 103 contacts this week!

We decided to look up some old investigators and found a woman named Sarah who had been wondering how to improve her faith when we came along. She committed to reading the scriptures everyday and praying to have faith that her life could change. However, she didn’t come to church.

Christine, the woman who lost her husband, had earlier told us that while she appreciated our attempts to comfort her she didn’t want another lesson. But Soeur Dremeaux is amazing and kept sending her words of comfort and now Christine says she'll see us again!

While doing the “Montana Way”, (offering to pray with the family and leave a blessing on the household rather than just a lesson, it actually kind of works!) and while doing Port-a-Ports (door to door) we ran into a woman playing with her grandchild outside. When we offered to pray with her, she said she needed our prayers because her husband left her for another woman 4 years ago. She began crying and telling us how she still loved him. We comforted her and talked for 45 minutes. We gave her two pamphlets and left a note of encouragement two days later. She called and said she appreciated it and might come to church next week!

Whew! Long letter! Well, can't wait to hear from you next week!

Sister Paxton

P.S. pictures are 1. Millers/McCauley's and Me. 2. Soeur Alley and Moi. 3. Elder Tahaai's last Sunday 4. An awesome car we saw. 5. The car wash next to the church called l'Elephant Bleu. It peers at us through the window during District Meeting, but is great for giving people directions to the church.6. Beth with a Sister at the MTC

Labor Day

We have had some requests for Bethany’s address. She will be at this address until about October 24th.

Soeur Paxton

Les Missionaires

33, rue Maximilien Robespierre

94120 Fontenay-Sous-Bois

FRANCE

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoo Hooo!!!!!!

Glad to hear that both BYU and Alabama won their games and that Laura got to be with Scott and Sadie in Provo.

Congratz to Leslie Burnside on her new baby! What's her name?

Also, to answer your question Mom, the Ward (congregation) we are in is called the Torcy Ward and we share it (and the area) with two Elders, Elders Foley (Virginia) and Tahaai (can you guess where...Tahiti!). This is Elder Tahaai's last transfer. They're also the Zone Leaders. The Ward is rather large, not as big as Byrd Springs, but definitely not small. And they are super supportive of the missionaries. It's pretty easy to find a member to attend a lesson with us. Another ward meets in the same building as us and it's called Meaux. They're pretty big too.

I recieved Laura's second letter and she told me you got Droids instead of IPhones. It might be changed when I get back...;) Do you have the internet on them all the time or just when you're in an area with wifi?

Way cool about Mitt Romney!. We actually just got a letter from the area presidency telling us that because of Mitt Romney many journalists are interested in interviewing the missionaries in Europe, but they told us we can't give interviews without permission of the church first. Actually, Soeur Dremeaux and Soeur Worsham gave an interview to ELLE MAGAZINE!!!!!!! Photo shoot and everything! That was back in July, but it comes out this month. We're going to look for it in the stores in the RER stations today.

Thanks for Lauren's address. I was going to ask for it. Tell Sister Roberts that I love her to pieces. But not literally pieces because that wouldn’t be good. :)

No new amis, but we're still going strong with Mireille. The Elders had a baptism yesterday of a man named Alban. Mireille attended and was very interested in watching him go under water. If only we could commit her to a date (for baptism)! We're worried that she doesn't want to set a date because she feels unworthy of Heavenly Father's love and forgiveness. Soeur Dremeaux and I talked about it, but had no idea what to say or how to bring the subject up. We decided to teach “Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy” with a member that Mireille had grown close to, Soeur Achi (wonderful woman and family, wish I could tell you more about her).

Right before starting the lesson I told Mireille I needed to tell her something. I asked if she knew why we were serving missions. She said to teach the word of God. I said that's true but the point is to preach it to God's children. Suddenly I burst out and began telling her how Heavenly Father created her with many talents and abilities and that she is His precious, unique daughter. I told her some of the qualities I notice like her smile, hard work and her determination to sing every hymn with us even thought she doesn't know a single song from our hymnbook. Then I said Heavenly Father knows her even better than that. She smiled and said thank you. I hope it helped her know how much she is loved.

We contacted 101 people this week! It's so much easier now that vacations are over. We only got one appointment and we have it today. She's a Cambodian woman who seemed interested in the fact that the Book of Mormon can help her raise her young children. That will be the focus of our lesson today. We pray that she isn't frujy (mission lingo for flaky, meaning that she might not show up). We tried to get a Cambodian Book of Mormon, but no one was able to get it to us. At least she reads French.

We're hoping to call all of our amis from before the vacations and see if they still want to hear more from us.

My French is getting better. I can understand way better than when I first got here. It's come down to me not knowing individual words rather than whole phrases. I'm also becoming braver when speaking to people on the street. I used to only speak during lessons when I had time to prepare beforehand, then I worked on introducing myself and our purpose (but would have Soeur Dremeaux take it from there). Now I'm actually contributing on the street and being able to answer people's questions. I still have a LONG way to go, but it feels good knowing I have the Lord on my side.

I've been thinking lately about how despite all the hardships Joseph Smith had he always, from the very beginning had the full support of his family. I'm grateful for that same support from my family and friends. Some missionaries' families have totally forsaken them for joining the church and then "wasting" 18 months or 2 years on a mission. Although sometimes I envy their obvious sacrifice for the Lord (I need to work on that, NO ENVY) I feel so blessed to have support coming from home.

I'm grateful for a worthy, priesthood holding father who also served a mission, for a mother who took the time to teach me gospel principles no matter where or when and for a sister who was there with me every step of the way. I'm also thankful for friends, Mormon and non-Mormon, who are praying for me. Thank you so much.

Soeur Paxton

Pictures: 1 Alban's baptism! He's the African on the right. 2 My watch tan two weeks ago. 3 Soeurs Alley and Emilcy 4 My good friend Elder Fransen! We used to volunteer together at the MTC before his mission. 5 My companion and I with our district leader who was leaving to work in the Mission Office :(

Aug 27th

Wow! I didn't think Laura was going to be back at school so soon, but I guess it is the end of the month. Glad to know that she was able to meet up with family. Dad, I was so sad to see that Euro Disney is literally ten minutes outside of my area! So close!!!! (Larry proselyted at DisneyWorld while on his mission in Florida and his brother Charlie did the same at DisneyLand while on his mission to California. It would have been a world wide Disney mission effort by the Paxtons! – Vicki) The weather is much cooler now so I probably won’t need a fan until next summer, but thanks for the offer mom and dad. We don’t have to take a bus to the train station, but we walk just the way that you described Dad, around the Round-About. However, we do sometimes have to take a bus from the station to other areas farther away when we do contacting. This week we had a Sisters conference in Paris. It was great to meet all of the Sister missionaries and to be spiritually uplifted. I learned so much and am now working on having more desire and faith. Also, President told us that we can’t contact men any more. It was ironic because Sis. Dremeaux and I are usually too scared to. However, the day before we finally contacted quite a few men who seemed interested in our message. And then we we're told we couldn't do that anymore. Oh well! Last Monday we taught a woman who was distraught over the death of her beloved husband 18 months ago. She appreciated our concern for her, but absolutely refused to turn to god for help because she blames him. It was a little frustrating because she basically refused to be happy. Even atheists will tell you that you can choose to be happy and our message in even greater because we know the lord is there, just waiting for us to turn to him. She also kept saying that even other women who lost their husbands couldn’t relate to her because they weren’t her. In my mind I kept thinking, exactly! But the Savior does understand. Perfectly! Sadly I could see that she wouldn't listen so I prayed to know what words I should leave her with. I could tell sister Dremeaux did the same thing because we both, without consulting each other, left her with the thought that she has a choice, a choice to be happy, a choice to turn to a loving and waiting God. I hope she realizes that one day. It was interesting because then on Friday we contacted a woman on the street who had just lost her parents and was upset too. But she was willing to listen to what we had to say. Her attitude was better because she chose to think of fond memories of them rather than be angry. Sister Dremeaux told her about how our church was into genealogy and that caught the woman’s interest. I was really mad that I didn’t have my Pedigree chart with me even though I had been prompted earlier that week to do so. However, I was able to help because I was the only one who knew the website address. Both of those experiences have had me thinking about the scripture that says the hearts of the fathers will be turned to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Also, I thought of how someone told me that missionaries leave their families for a little while, so other families can be together for eternity. That's why I'm here! Love, Bethany