Happy February Everyone!

Here are a few notes Bethany wrote to the family: I haven't been able to practice the stick (car) yet, but Sr. Alves keeps saying that we should. The real thing that worries me is driving in France. It's not that much different, just more one-ways and round-abouts, but it still scares me. There is a DVD called “How to Drive in France” that I'm supposed to watch, but we loaned it out to someone and I need to remember to get it back. I might feel better about it all once I watch that. BTW, I just found out that we get the car for three weeks and then Lorient gets it for three as well. I thought they only got it for one week. That means that we give it to them for the first three weeks of next transfer. Suddenly I have a lot more of a desire to hit those farther away cities than I did before! Thanks mom for fasting for Quimper! It may take some time for things to get going, but I'm prepared for it. It took nearly two transfers for Torcy to get on its feet after I arrived so I'm used to it. Happy February Everyone! And Happy Late Birthday to my little sister Laura!! 21!!! You can go on a mission now, oh, wait.... ;) Well, we thought that the big group of sisters (new missionaries) was coming in next transfer, but it turns out it won't be until the one after. We're only getting one new Soeur. That means I won't be training next time, and that when I do it won't be in Quimper because it wouldn't make sense for me to get a new companion and then kick her out after one transfer just so I can train. Zone Conference was this week as well as interviews with the President. We traveled nearly 3 hours by train to Rennes for the conference. The chapel in Rennes actually looks like an American LDS chapel. All of us Americans were a little homesick when we saw. One Elder said, "It’s almost perfect except there's too much green grass." He's from Arizona and I said, "It's not too green for Alabama!!!" Interviews went well. I expressed my fears of being too robotic when I'm contacting people. He and discussed that for a little bit. We also talked about the strategy of Sr. Alves and me for “porting” earlier in the day. President turned it down and said that we shouldn't be scared by darkened houses with the blinds down. People are home and awake, even if it doesn't look like it. He explained it in such a positive way that made me not so afraid of porting at night. I love our President! Right after the conference we started our exchanges. I was in Quimper with Sr. Pymm. She also served with Sr. Soares and we enjoyed exchanging crazy Sr. Soares stories. She was the exact answer to my prayer of having someone teach me how to be less afraid of porting and being less robotic. We worked really well together and even got several referrals for other missionaries is Bretagne. One hung-over lady gave us her number, but when I called she hung up. Haha! She probably thought she had made a horrible drunken mistake. Our miracle this week happened yesterday. A woman named Molly came to church because she was doing a report of other Christian denominations in Bretagne, other than Catholicism. She's American, but has been living in France since she was 10. She prefers speaking French. It was a fabulous testimony meeting in the Branch and I could see a big smile on her face the whole time. Afterward I saw her leaving and I ran to talk to her. She really enjoyed church and asked us to come speak to her American History class that she teaches, since Mormonism is definitely a part of that history. She said she's not sure if it can happen though because the French really don't like mixing education and religion. I told her I was going to be a History teacher and I knew how to keep it secular-ish if she needed. We have to get President's permission though to do it. Then she surprised me by asking if we could meet her for lunch. I was surprised because I figured anything else she might want to know she look up on the Internet. But then I realized that it wasn't THAT kind of information that she wanted. She was touched and wanted to know more from us in a spiritual way, not an educational one. I'm going to call her tomorrow to set up a rendez-vous!!! BTW, N___ didn't get baptized last week because the Elders weren't able to see her for two weeks to give her the rest of the lessons. However, Sr. Soares told me that N___ was at church two Sundays ago (and maybe this week for all I know) and she looked super happy! Have a wonderful week everyone!! Bethany