These are a few notes for the family that Bethany sent along before she wrote her “public” email.

I did get the package and it was great. We loved listening to the “All-star” song! (A musical birthday card). Haha! Soeur Emilcy sang it all day, on a Sunday!!! It's so great having the black boots. I bought a dark gray jacket from H&M. Good quality and very warm, maybe even warmer than my long coat. I returned the brown skirt I bought.  However, the Sister I did exchanges with gave me a long brown one. Long skirts are allowed now on missions and everybody who saw me wear it Friday night said it looked good. I kinda like it even though I feel sort of like the gypsy beggars on the Metro. Haha!

Soeur Dremeaux has been in Torcy for almost 6 months so she'll probably be leaving on the next Transfer and I'll probably be staying. For awhile we thought there was going to be another huge group of “bleu” sisters (new missionaries) coming and everybody joked that I would have to train since I already knew French. However, recently we heard there will only be 2 coming, so I probably won't train (soooooo glad). However, I'm pretty sure I'm staying in Torcy.

I just mailed off my ballot. I think it should get there in time to be valid. I was able to print off my license and put it in there. The funny thing was that I needed two Americans to witness the envelope and I only had one living in the apartment. I had to wait a couple of days to get one of the Zone Leaders to witness it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bonjour tout le monde!!!!!

This week was THE craziest, best week of my mission ever!!!!!

Quick thing before the really exciting stuff, there is one town where we serve where there are a million businesses, hotels, etc named Paxton. They were pretty ritzy looking too. So weird, right? Paxton is an English name. I enjoyed pointing to my nametag to the people we contacted on the bus while passing the Paxton hotel. I took some pictures and will try to send them later.

Tuesday was crazy because we had to do a lesson, district meeting and exchanges. Our lesson was with a woman we had never met before and we didn't have much hope for because she had already rescheduled twice. However when we got there she (Severine) welcomed us openly and introduced us to her husband and children. A young family!!!! We taught a great lesson on the family which she said really touched her. Her 8 yr old daughter was very interested and was excited when we invited them to tour the church. They forgot to some on Saturday, but we made another appointment with them.

Then we went to District meeting and were seriously spiritually uplifted. The Elders in our District are amazing! Then the sisters from Rouen arrived for exchanges. I went with Soeur Alves (from Tahiti) to Rouen and her companion Soeur Barrero stayed with Sr. Dremeaux. Soeur Alves is very exuberant and fun to be with. We taught a new member and her non-member mother in English which was fun for me. It was also very spiritual. The new member was so happy to have found the gospel. And then the next morning we taught a less-active member of the Church. She was upset with people in her Ward (congregation) and it was hard to get her to forgive them. I hope one day she can move on. I soooooooo want to serve in Rouen sometime.

While I was gone, Sr. Dremeaux had a great lesson with Delphine which made me glad. Then we had another lesson with her on Saturday and she brought a friend, who we had met before. After the lesson, her friend, Mailyse, said she felt the spirit despite the fact that she's always been a skeptic. She said she wanted to cry during the lesson. Who knew a lesson on fasting could cause so much joy?! The Lord did. She says she wants to be baptized, but wants to finish the book she is writing first. We'll have to see about that…. Also, Delphine quit her job so she doesn't have to work on Sundays anymore!!!!!! Unfortunately we had to move Delphine's baptism to November during her vacation from school, but as long as it happens right?

So Saturday night I got a call from a man in the Torcy ward who also works as the church's Public Relations person in France. He said a journalist was going to be coming to church the next day to take pictures of Sacrament meeting and then interview the Sister missionaries. Then he had to go over a few things with me so I would be prepared, like "what is the church's stance on the election in the U.S?" (Answer: there isn't one, vote your own conscience.) Stuff like that.

The interview was pretty simple, especially since I'm not fluent in French. She asked where I was from and if I thought that the church was growing slower in France than in the U.S. I said yes, but really only because the church hasn't been here as long. I just hope she doesn't twist that into me saying that France will be overrun with Mormons in 30 years. Haha!  She kept asking if being a missionary was hard, but we kept saying, “a little of course, but the blessings outweigh it by so much”.  It was funny when she asked if we lived with the Elders. Our enthusiastic “NO!” startled her and she asked if we didn't like them or something. Hahaha! So funny!

Also, the Elle magazine article with Sr. Dremeaux came out Friday. I'm not sure if it will be in the American one though so I'll try to send pictures of the article.

They announced my birthday in Relief Society and everybody kept saying “Joyeux Anniversaire” all day. It was really great. Then after I broke my fast, we ate the amazing birthday cake Sr. Dremeaux made and s'mores with the graham crackers Mom sent. It was a pear and chocolate cake. Mmmmm!

Whew! I think that's all. I hope everyone had a great week.

Bethany