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 :(