Week 47 (12/23/19): Another week in paradise

Bonjour tout le monde !

We had exchanges this week, which was pretty fun . We contacted a bunch of people and bought delicious pâtisseries, so I really can't complain ! Then the next day we went up to Geneva for the Christmas conference, which was so much fun ! We prepared a bunch of food all together and laughed and talked and caught up. And then ate a bunch. European chocolates are rapidly becoming my favorite weakness. There was actually a really cool moment for me when we had a cute little secret Santa, and the sister who got my name handed me a little package. It had a purple bracelet with a sea turtle charm on it. And my family has a story about baby sea turtles, how they have to fight through a hard shell, dig their way up though the sand, cross a long beach exposed to multiple predators, and then into waves they have no idea how to swim though. But they're made for it. And we're the same. We're made to do hard things and overcome trials, and become bigger and stronger because of it. That's God's plan. And it's not something she could possibly know about me (nor that my nickname in college was Violet, and it was a purple bracelet). It's kinda crazy how God lines up little blessings like that. I very much felt loved and cared for by my heavenly father, and I know He knows us personally.

In other news, we were contacting in a hailstorm, which is a new fabulous thing I can add to then cross off of my mission bucket list.

Today we went to a christmas market for p day, which was a pretty magical experience. Basically, imagine being outside with a bunch of adorable little booths selling everything from mousse to wood worked things to soap to leather notebooks and purses. Christmas music is playing, the air is filled with smells of hot chocolate, apple cider, tartiflette, pretzels, and more other delicious things than I can list. The buildings behind the shops are old European style, with a cathedral every block or so. And then when we walked back to the bus stop afterwards, we passed a lake and canal with swans and a double rainbow. If any of you want to shoot a movie, I have found your set.

I wanted to quickly echo the thought I mentioned earlier that God knows us. In this christmas season, I appreciate him that much more, because He really did make this entire plan for us. He knows all of our strengths and weaknesses, and has designed a way for us to have the experiences we need to to become like Him. He sent His son Jesus Christ to give us a way to make mistakes, but still be able to return to live with Him again. I know God lives, and that He loves us perfectly. I hope you all are able to feel a bit of that spirit this special week !

Love you ALL, and Joyeux Noël !!!

Sœur Cate

There's even a double rainbow!

Week 45 (12/9/19): I'M LIVING IN A ROMAN CITY, WHAT ???

Hello everybody !

So we had transfers this week and I got a new companion - Soeur Gagon ! We went to go pick her up in Lyon (about two hours away from Annecy), and then got stuck in wild traffic on the way back. We got to Annecy at about 20h20, and the local buses stop at 20h, so we started calling members. Most unfortunately, no one was available that last minute, so we walked home 45 minutes with broken luggage. I have a new appreciation for the Egyptians who dragged stones up ramps to build the pyramids. That must have been an experience.

Nerd alert.
My companion and I did a cathedral and castle run today, and we managed to hit 2 cathedrals and a castle. The castle has been turned into a museum, which is full of archaeological stuff. Did you know that Annecy was an ancient Roman city ? Now you do. And all those weird Roman names for places ? It's because there were actually Roman baths and temples and forums there. They had a map that showed where the ancient city lines up with the modern city, and it's so cool ! Consider me educated ! I love history so much, which made today an absolute joy, because I was literally learning about the Roman history (starting circa 25 AD, from what I could understand) in a 13th and 14th century castle. I'm writing this from a window seat in a castle ballroom, which is every bit as picturesque and magical as it sounds. And the best part ? The view from the castle showed us several more cool looking buildings, so p day next week also promises to be full of adventure 😁🇫🇷

Overall, this week has been really good ! We've taught a couple of lessons, seen a few members, had a couple of service opportunities (my favorite was helping the primary kids make Christmas cookies, because they needed extra adults there to help them), and eaten a stack of crêpes with some very kind members. I really can't complain !

Thanks for all your messages, and I'm sorry I don't always respond !
Love you tons !
Soeur Cate

Week 46 (12/16/19): *blows giant raspberry against chapel floor*

HELLO EVERYBODY !!
For that title, i'm just gonna say that sacrament meeting yesterday was hilarious, and some kids are lawless in the most entertaining way possible.

So it's been a great week ! It has rained a bit, but that's just kind of life in Annecy. I'm just glad I have boots now !

We have a member family that is doing improvements on their house, so we painted a room. I'd never painted a ceiling before, so that was an experience, but the end result looked really nice ! I was slightly covered in paint though, so it's a good thing we had some time to clean up afterwards. I really enjoy having service projects to do, it's a fun way to get to know the members and follow the savior's example of helping others

We went to see la Visitation. I'm not gonna lie, half the motivation to visit it was because she saw my ladybug nativity that I got at the gift shop there, and decided she needed one. She's obviously right, everyone needs one.

We had our christmas party this saturday, and it was awesome to see how many families came out, and how many friends came to it ! It was fun to see everyone eating together, playing games, and watching the primary's shadow puppet show (which included a soundtrack made up with songs from random movies, including les mis and star wars, which just made it better !). And there was an older member of our branch whose wife wasn't able to come because she was sick (which we didn't know beforehand), but my companion had gotten the prompting from the spirit to bring the soup leftover from our lunch. So she put it in a cute jar and put a card on it- still not knowing who for- and then it ended up being the perfect present for him ! You never know how the spirit is going to use you, so don't be afraid to follow a prompting, even if it seems a little weird.

We also went cookie caroling yesterday. Sœur Gagon made cookies (I washed the dishes, so I helped too), and then delivered them to a member in a retirement home, a less active member, a sick member, and then a family we were eating dinner with. It's so cool to see the joy that christmas songs bring, there's a spirit that comes with them that just lights people up ! I was grateful to be able to bring that light 😊

Anyways, sorry this is short, but i'm out of time ! Love you all !
Sœur Cate

Week 42 (11/18/19): HALF THE WEEK IN SWITZERLAND

Hello everybody!
It's been a lovely week ! We spent like half of it in Geneva (which is still somewhat surreal for me, because like, GENEVA, but ya know) for zone conference, exchanges, and stake conference, so there's not much news from Annecy this week, but I promise we're still working here too 😜

Zone conference was so cool ! I had decided at the beginning of last week that I wanted to study joy, and then they had a whole presentation about joy at our conference ! One of my favorite points was taken from 1 Néphi 11: 21-23, where Néphi is learning about the tree of life. He states that the love of God is "the most desirable above all things." The angel adds, "Yea, and the most joyous to the soul." True joy comes from understanding God's love. We won't understand His love or be able to receive all the blessings He wants to give us if we aren't trying to follow Him and grow closer to Him. The gospel really is designed to help us be happy.
Right after conference we had an exchange with the STLs, which was SUPER fun. Soeur Worden and I didn't have any rendez-vous, so we just went out and talked to strangers about Jésus for 4 hours (I feel like that kind of sums up missionary work). We just got to wander around Geneva, it was so great ! We were both feeling pretty fearless, so we talked to a BUNCH of people, and ended up getting 8 new numbers, 3 future rendez-vous fixed with a few of those people, we got cursed at by a homeless guy, and one of the numbers was from a naked guy (gotta love going door to door in France), but luckily he was hiding behind the door. Missions are so insane 😂
Then we had stake conference yesterday, which was amazing ! The final speaker was really inspiring. He talked about a lighthouse built off the coast of Scotland where the sea is really rough. To build it, they took 2 years to build the first meter and a half (the foundation), and then 2 more years to build the next 33 meters. He talked about the importance of having a strong foundation in Christ- believing in Him, trusting Him, learning who He is and following His example. He encouraged all of us to strengthen our foundations- to get to know Christ better- and I wanted to pass that challenge along to you. Whether it's praying, or listening for answers after your prayers, or reading scriptures, or pondering them, I know there is a real power available to us when we are rooted in Christ.
I love y'all, and hope you have freaking awesome weeks - especially for you guys still in school, trying to survive the final round of tests and projects before Thanksgiving break 😅
Until next week!
Soeur Cate

Pictures of my district at zone conference
BEAUTIFUL GIANT OLD BRIDGE IN THE SNOW, WHAT AN AESTHETIC
This isn't even my picture, but my companion rode a tram on exchange that was entirely pink, and I felt like it was important.

Week 44 (12/2/19): A lovely not transferred week 😊

Hey everybody !
Guess what ? I'm staying- no moving for me this transfer. I'm so excited to stay in Annecy ! I mean, I wasn't really expecting either me or my companion to leave, but it's nice to know 😊

1) So this is one of my favorite miracle from this week. We had a friend that was all but dropped. Like, he spent the entire first lesson hitting on me, so we were like, just kinda going through the motions to show God we tried. But this week's lesson was amazing ! He didn't hit on us at all, he'd read in the book of Mormon and had a bunch of questions, he'd brought the book along and everything, and was pointing out specific lines he didn't understand. And he actually listened to the answers and discussed them with us ! It ended up being such a great lesson, we were completely taken by surprise !

2) Another favorite miracle ! We went to Lyon to get my Visa extended (good news, I'm legal ! 😁), and literally ten minutes after we arrived in Lyon, we ran into Wonder, a recent convert from Écully, the first area I served in ! It was so great to see him ! Like, we were in a city with millions of people, but God lined it up so we'd run into each other, because he knew it'd make both our nights ! 😊

3) We also met with our favorite ami Stephane, and we taught the 10 commandments and he's like, totally adding deep thoughts to the lesson and testifying along with us, and sharing his personal experiences and testimony about God. And he had a super important presentation coming up for school, and we were like, "maybe you should get a blessing" and he was like, "ah yeah, I got one of those on Sunday." While we were in a meeting, some members had started talking with him and another ami, and then they both got blessings ! Go members !!!

4) I had the coolest experience with a goal this week ! I decided to write down any little revelations I received. And can I just testify, when you let God know that you're interested and invested in communicating, He responds !!! I've been directed more closely than I've ever been in my life, which has been a huge blessing. I know God is there, and that He listens and responds to us. If you want to start having more revelation in your life, don't hesitate to start writing down the little things you already feel, and then asking for more ! There's also a really good talk about receiving revelation by Russel M. Nelson in the April 2018 general conference, so if you're looking for answers, it's got some !

I love y'all, and hope you have AMAZING weeks!
Love,
Soeur Cate

Me and Wonder

My cute companion with delicious pretzels

The decorations in Bonlieu, a cultural center in Annecy

My companion did my makeup, WHOA

Week 43 (11/25/19): Dark matter and antimatter and multi dimensional gravity oh my!

Hey everybody !

1) Today was a district p day, so we went to Geneva ! We visited the CERN museum, which tried to teach us about particle accelerators, properties of protons and electrons, dark matter, antimatter, and more stuff I can't remember. My brain was like, in shock, because it's been a while since I thought intensively about stuff like that, but it was a lot of fun ! And I did learn / remember some stuff.

2) Also, here is your cultural education for the day. The senior couple taught us about a Swiss holiday- heck, not even Swiss, like, Genevan- called Escalade (which is like, the action of climbing, in this case, ladders). Apparently in the 1600s, the city was attacked by the French to try to force them to be catholic, but a woman making soup on the city wall dumped it out on some of those soldiers climbing ladders, and then the alarm was sounded and the city was saved. To celebrate this, they have candy shaped like vegetables that they put inside a chocolate cauldron, which is then smashed while they all say death to tyrants. I love Switzerland. The vegetable shaped candy is called marzipan / massepain (languages depend), and the cauldron is marmite. You can use that as a conversation topic at Thanksgiving if there's a lull in the conversation or you're tired of talking current politics and would like to discuss 16th century Genevan politics instead.

3) A fun moment this week was when we contacted around the lake in the evening because we got to a rdv half an hour early. The scenery of the lake in the evening with mist and snow on the mountains, and swans (one of which flew past us) was kinda unbeatable. The water was like, a clear turquoise close to us, then a bit deeper blue further or, then the close mountains were blue, and the far ones were purple. So that was pretty magnificent ! And the high we got from talking to people about what matters most, even if most people didn't want to talk much, got us really well set up for a lesson. Just a pretty, picturesque moment 😊

4) This week we worked really hard on calling the numbers in our phone's contacts - people that have been interested in the gospel in the past. We were almost done one evening, and we had every intention of finishing calling all the numbers... but then one guy talked for like, an hour and a half. The first half hour was good, I fit 4 scriptures into the discussion, and he's interested in meeting with us. He just also wanted to talk a lot. 35 minutes into our dinner hour, Soeur Grindstaff rang the doorbell to give us an out 🤣 ... we small talked a bit too well at the beginning 😅

5) We had some really good lessons with our friend Stephane, and he's making some really cool progress ! He brought a friend to one rendez-vous, and we were able to teach him some too. I don't know how much he'll accept it, but he learned and got invited to be baptized, right along with Stephane ! Stephane prayed for the first time in one of our lessons (he didn't feel comfortable up until now), and it was so cool to hear him talking to God for himself. He's asking with such sincerity that I'm sure he'll get answers soon (and he's already starting to !). It was so cool, he told us that if he missed his first bus, he usually just didn't come to church, because with Sunday bus schedules he'd be really late. We told him if he missed a bus, there's a member that drives us, and could probably drive him. He missed the bus yesterday, but we'd checked our phone right before he texted, and then we were greeting people. So we found our right before church started. We apologized and told him to come late anyways. I got the distinct prompting that it was okay, everything was going according to God's plan. We didn't see him until the end of church, when he walked out of priesthood (the men's class for the second hour of church). It was REALLY good, apparently the teacher invited them to share their experiences, and it was a super well planned and well executed lesson. He stayed afterwards talking to other amis and members while we were in a missionary coordination meeting. He's starting to feel at home, which is AWESOME!!! So that was our favorite miracle this week- his journey.

I hope all of you have great weeks, and sorry this email was a bit all over the place !
❤ Soeur Cate

Week 41 (11/11/19): ☀️THERE IS A SUN HERE AFTER ALL

Hello everyone !
Oh my gosh, we just sprinted a half hour walk in about 15 minutes to catch a train, there was definitely divine intervention. Pro tip, there are very seldom buses on holidays in France, which requires either more planning or lots of sprinting. I would advise the former, but unfortunately I do a lot of the latter. This is a do as I say, not as I do moment.
It was a really good week ! I don't have a ton of time to write, but I'll hit a few highlights:
1) some of our friends took us out to eat Mexican tacos, which was the first time I've had Mexican food in 9 months. But it was super good ! And the Mexicans running the place spoke English, which made the conversation entertaining because one of our two friends spoke English, and the other didn't. The one who didn't is European, and his complete intolerance for any spice whatsoever was hilarious.
2) I contacted a man who initially wasn't interested in talking to us, claiming he was more of a scientist. I said, "my whole family too ! They love astronomy and physics and stuff." Lo and behold, he was an astronomy fanatic, so we had a highly scientific conversation in French. Not vocabulary I ever planned on needing, but it ended up being really fun, and he asked if he could meet with us again, so that was cool !
3) It finally stopped raining. It rained all day every day for the first 2 and a half weeks that I was here, but this week we finally got a couple sunny days ! And suddenly I understand why everyone freaks out about how stunning Annecy is, because it's amazing. And a member took us to a store that's a little further away (hard for us to reach with buses), so I was able to buy some ankle rain boots, which are cute, comfortable, and will finally keep my socks dry.
4) we had a beautiful lesson with one of our amis this week, where we just read 2 Néphi 31, and used it to teach the Gospel of Jésus-Christ. And honestly, it's such simple doctrine, but it's SO POWERFUL. And the spirit was so present, testifying of the truth and helping him understand it- because he was open, and really wanted to understand ! At the end, he summed it all up in his own words, and I was stunned at how well he'd grasped it- not just the intellectual aspect of it, but the real spirit of what it means. I know that gospel is true, and that it's open to all of us- freely offered, though the price paid was more than we can imagine. I encourage all of you to look for ways to accept that gift more fully in your lives. I know it will bless you !
Thanks for all your emails, and sorry I didn't respond much this week, we were exploring the lake and a couple nearby castles ! But hopefully I'll be back on the job next week.
Love you guys !
Soeur Cate

Week 40 (11/4/19): A normal old week of weird and random miracles

Hello everybody !

I hope y'all are doing well !

1) We had the coolest Halloween miracle ! My companion said, "it's Halloween. Let's make a goal to find 2 new people to teach." I'll be honest, I was pretty skeptical, but I responded, "sure, let's do it !" Well, we headed out to buy bus tickets to go to Geneva the next day, and then got ready to take our usual bus home. At the bus stop was a man that my companion had talked to before in English, so she said hi to him. He was excited to hear English, and asked us if we had a bit of time to go grab coffee with him and his friend (who did not speak English, but did speak French). Why the heck not ? We're missionaries, we can turn practically any discussion into one about the gospel. So we went to this café and had an hour long discussion (mostly in English, but also partially in French) about who God is, and the purpose of life, and what our church believes. It was really cool because we were being really respectful and open to their thoughts, which led them to ask us a lot of questions about our beliefs. The French speaker was tuned out about half the time, but my companion pulled out a book of mormon about halfway through, and he started reading that. It was so cool at the end, when he said, "we've gotta go, but that's a really cool read" and we said "you can keep it !" "Seriously ???" "Yep !" "Seriously ???" "Yeah, it's all yours" *immediately pockets book*. And then the English speaker asked us if we could get him one in English. We didn't have one on us, but my companion was prompted to grab one when we got home, and then later that day we just happened (miracles) to be on the same bus as them, and she gave him the English book ! And they asked if they could have our number and see us again, so that was pretty incredible. My companion is kind of the best 😁

2) We went to Geneva for district council ! Honestly, I love that I can say "we'll just pop over to Geneva tomorrow" like, what is my life ? It was super fun getting to know my district though. The senior couple is awesome, they've got some great stories, and the Elders were both in my previous district (that's weird), so we're bros. The other sœurs are so cool !!! They're from Italy and Switzerland, though the Swiss sister spent the last ten years of her life in Dubai. I responded, "I don't even know where that is" and one of our zone leaders, who served with me in Écully before literally everything in my brain that doesn't relate to Jésus was deleted said, "Yes you do !" with very exasperated incredulity, and basically, mission brain is real. On a completely related topic, I hit my halfway point this past week, so that's traumatic.

3) Church yesterday was absolutely amazing. An American guy was visiting from Idaho, and guess what ? He said he served in Portugal, so I introduced him to our Portuguese member, and lo and behold they'd served in the same mission almost 30 years ago, at the same time ! So that recognized each other's names, even if they didn't recognize each other. But that made her day, and was pretty cool for him to have a friend while he's in a foreign country. I was translating for two of our English speaking friends during Sunday school, and he was sitting behind us so he could hear it too, and oh my gosh. They derailed hard core right in the middle of the lesson, "Why is there so much suffering ????" So we had an impromptu lesson about God's plan and all that, in English in the middle of a French Sunday school. The american guy was an excellent co-teacher, thank goodness for random visitors. And then those two amis, who have never tried to meet with us before, were asking to meet with us during the week to ask more questions, which is awesome !! And one of our other amis totally came to church early, and read the book of mormon until it started. It's beautiful to see his desire to learn from the scriptures !

4) Other than all that, it was a pretty chill week. We had a lot of rendez-vous that canceled, but we got a fair amount of contacting done. I'll be honest, I way prefer teaching to contacting (most missionaries would agree), but it's been good to push me outside of my comfort zone and force me to rely on the Lord more. I've been reading Jesus the Christ this week (even though I told myself not to... because it's hard to put down, but I haven't let it interrupt my normal studies yet), which has been really beautiful. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to learn more about my savior, and then put it into practice every day as we do our very best to follow him. I am so grateful for the blessing of a pretty miraculous Sunday after a kinda slow week- God has blessings and miracles ready for us ! It's just not always exactly when we want them 😅. He has promised us that they will come though, and I trust in that.

I love y'all, and hope you have great weeks !

Sœur Cate 

Week 39 (10/21/19): We live on a hallmark movie set

Hello everybody !!!
So when I said I was going straight from summer to winter, I thought I was kidding. Nope ! I literally went from summery dresses to tights and coats and scarves in one week. Which was definitely a shock to my body (I'm just finally adjusting to the cold), but by some lovely miracle I avoided getting sick ! Annecy is incredible. I'm living in the middle of the Rhône Alpes, which means the mountains are as tall or taller than the ones in Utah, but covered in trees like the ones in Virginia. Which is a pretty spectacular result, particularly in autumn ! Though the sun goes down pretty fast, which meant we only had like, twenty minutes of daylight left when I thought we had an hour... oops. 😂 We have canals all throughout the city (sadly unused), which all drain into the lovely lake that Anncey is built on. Which has swans. This led to Soeur Grindstaff's comment that we live on a hallmark movie set. She ain't wrong ! We went and visited a member (who is the aunt of a French girl who lived in the foreign language housing with me- the world is so small within the church sometimes !!!), and she lives in this wildly aesthetic little cabin in the mountains. The ride over in the bus was absolutely amazing, it's almost surreal how pretty it is. I thought of the quote "What are men to rocks and mountains ?" from Pride and Prejudice and had to laugh.
Sunday was super fun, the branch is a really inspiring group of people and I feel honored to get to work with them. I have a lot to learn from their selfless examples, I can't wait to get to know them better ! One family even invited us over for Sunday dinner, and it was such a wonderful tender mercy. I used to have Sunday dinners with my family, so it just felt right. And their home is such a spiritual powerhouse, it felt like a privilege to visit them !
I hope you all have had great weeks. I'm not gonna say mine was easy- moving is usually disorienting- but it's been incredible to see in a few small ways that I'm supposed to be here. I don't know all the reasons, but I know a few. And I have faith that over time, God will help me find the rest. I know that the same is true for each of you, so if you have challenges or circumstances that you don't understand, I'd invite you to look for God's hand in it, and if you don't see it, ask Him. I know He's there, and I know He answers.
Have a great week, and don't forget to smile 😁
Love,
Soeur Cate

Week 38 (10/21/19): Going Out With A Bang

Hey everybody !

1) we had 5 lesson 0's. This means we taught five new people and they had there first lesson with us. It was crazy cause usually we are lucky if we get one or two, but we had 5!! The work in perpignan is progressing rapidly! And last week was a little sad, but this week was great ! It was like 1 step backwards 2 steps forward ! We literally hit or surpassed every single goal we set. It was so good.

2) So every week we do weekly planning. One part of weekly planning is setting goals. We set a goal to have one engagé (someone with a baptismal date). We had no idea who it would be as we didnt think any of our amis were really ready. But as we were at a members house I got a text that read something along the lines of "hey. I'm wanting to meet with you and have the missionary lessons to prepare for Sunday. I've always known the church was true and have been wanting to join it for a while and my circumstances just allowed me to do it." We were soooo shocked. We set up a lesson with her but the time she wanted we already had a lesson planned. So we asked the elders to teach it. They taught it, engaged her to baptism, and then gave her to us to teach ! We are so excited and she will be baptized the 9th of November. But it was so cool to see how our faith to put 1 for engagé brought results even if it wasnt in a way we were expecting. Our engagé is 23 and has been watching general conference for years and reads and prays. She speaks English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and lingua. She is sooo cool and I'm so excited for her to make covenants with the Lord !

3) Transfer calls !! So I'm actually in a train right now. The first train of... 3 ? And then multiple buses and possible car rides, shoot me. 😂 I'm headed to Annecy, a city in eastern France, not too far from Switzerland ! Apparently it's really pretty (I've obviously never been there), so I'm excited to see what happens ! My new companion is named Sœur Grindstaff, and she's just finished being trained. I've never been the senior companion before, so that'll be weird !

4) Our ami Bruno, called us ! He explained how he has been struggling a little with school and stuff. He said good bye, and then we read 1 Nephi chapter 10 in the book of mormon. It was a really good chapter and at the end we asked him what he liked. He said "all of it. I just want to read the entire book!" And we were shocked. We thought he was about to drop us but now he says he wants to read it all ! We are hoping this progress will continue and that everything continues to go well !

I'm so grateful for the time I got to have in Perpignan. I feel like I grew a lot as a person while I was there, thanks to incredible members and missionaries. My French has DEFINITELY improved. My understanding of God's plan has increased exponentially, and I'm a lot more willing to trust Him and accept whatever comes. It will always be a special place for me.

Love y'all ! And next week I'll be writing from ANNECY !
Sœur Cate

Week 37 (10/14/19): Zen, rain or shine

Hey everybody !!!

1)it was a kinda rough week actually. We had a lot of people fall through or putting off meeting with us. Most the time, missions aren't just sunshine and rainbows. But it meant that we did a bunch of contacting this week, because we had a goal to contact for an hour every day, and it really showed me how much I've grown. I used to be really nervous to talk to strangers, but now it's become second nature ! And we ended up having some really fun conversations though people that we might end up teaching, you never know !

2) we had a really fun service project. We got to paint someone's house and the other missionaries had some fun with paint (while I cleaned the windows, because I'd rather do that than paint). But it was super fun. When we went home we took off our clothes and threw them in the washer. My companion realized that she'd left her watch in her pocket 10 minutes into the cycle, but by some miracle it was fine when she killed it out. It's not supposed to be waterproof, but it's impressively indestructible !

3) we were on our way to a members house when I realized we missed our stop. We got off and the members had to come get us from where we were. We were waiting in the parking lot when this Van across the parking lot starts honking and the people inside it are waving us over out the window. Me and sœur Cate thought it looked like them so we start walking over to the van. We then realized it wasn't. So we stopped and they kept waving and screaming at us to come over. They got out of the car and started coming to us. I prayed and was like "yo heavenly father.... save us" and they got closer and closer and they were about to get close enough talk to us and right then the member pulled up and we hopped in his car vite fait (with the mom also #notapostate) and drove off. Exciting stuff. Thank goodness for members !

4) It wasn't an easy week for the work, but I'm feeling fine. I'm feeling totally balanced and stable, very zen. The atonement definitely supports us as missionaries, and the recent theme in general conference of trusting in God and His plan and His timing has made it so I'm actually doing just fine ! And then we had several members feed us, and the family atmosphere is really amazing, we're so blessed to have them.

5) my favorite spiritual moment of the week was at a member's house, when we talked about John 15 : 13-14.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

In french, the translation says "...that a man GIVE his life for his friends." The mom talked about how Jésus gave his life for us, not just when he died on the cross, but ever since the premortal council when He decided to be our savior, and He helped create the earth and when He sent prophets, and then taught His gospel. Every time He resisted temptation, every time He gave up what He wanted to give us what we need... the gift He gave us was infinitely more than just a few days of suffering, and it continues today, right now, and will always be there for us. That is the friend Jésus has chosen to be for us. And we ended up discussing what we could do to be better friends to him, and it's one of my favorite spiritual discussions that I've ever had. So my little challenge for y'all this week- how can you be a better friend to Jésus ?

I love y'all, and hope you have insanely good weeks !
~Soeur Cate

Painting fun 😂
AND CASTLE PICTURES FROM LAST WEEK (because obviously i'm still freaking out)

Week 36 (10/7/19): CARCASSONNE round 2 cause I love castles

Hello everybody !
I feel bad for y'all, I'm not gonna get the good pictures of today until later (because I'm not a particularly gifted photographer), so the pictures of visiting Carcassonne again will be lower quality. My apologies...
So this week was super busy again, which is honestly really fun as a missionary !
1) we had a "calm before the storm" moment on Wednesday, and we were able to do a BUNCH of contacting. We'd made pass along cards specifically for conference, and we handed out a whole bunch ! We met one man who spoke perfect English, and though he's not available this weekend, we're meeting with him this week, and I'm super stoked !!!
2) We had some members invite us and one of our friends, Bruno, over for dinner, which was AMAZING !!! It was so nice to have a less formal time for him to get to know them, and we talked food (we are in france after all...), which was super fun. The dinner was amazing, oh my goodness. I need to learn to cook.
3) Conference was incredible ! One of our friends came, and it was his first time ever going to church. That kind of blows my mind, but it just made me stop and think how grateful I am to have the complete gospel of Jésus Christ at the center of my life. I had a really good time listening to conference, and I know that I'm a better person for it. Even if it is a bit of a struggle sometimes, especially when I'm listening to it in french, or when they asked us to translate Jeffrey R. Holland into french (do not try to translate that man, just say no).
4) We went and saw the Carcassonne fortified city again, and honestly, it's such an experience ! I could go back a dozen times and not get bored, because it's just so incredibly impressive. Massive towers, extensive walls, a complex history... the nerd in me can't get enough !!!

I love y'all, and hope you guys got a bunch out of general conference, and that you have great weeks as you start applying what you learned!
❤Soeur Cate

Week 35 (9/30/19): The missionary version of a day at the beach..

Salut tout le monde !
This week was pretty normal. We had some good contacts and good lessons. Nothing too crazy happening at the moment, but lots of good things !

1) we got a referral from some missionaries in Nimes. Apparently they met a guy who lives in our sector. So we texted him and set up a rendez-vous. We had a lesson with him a couple days later, which actually went really well. He was curious about how people saw life so we taught the plan of salvation. At the end he said "how do I get to the celestial kindgom?" So we taught the gospel of jesus christ; faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and persevering to the end. The entire lesson was on a bench not too far from the beach, so we could see the ocean. Where he lives, the mountains go right up to the ocean, and it's ridiculously pretty. It was funny, because he was just like, "yeah, for me that's normal, but the tourists do seem to find it quite stunning." I got a laugh out of that 😂

2) We've been doing a lot of less active work here recently. And it's going really well! We had 8 less actives come to church yesterday and it was amazing ! It's cool to see so many people making their way back towards God. I love seeing the people become more and more... light? as they realize what they have been missing.

3) We went contacting one day and we stopped a man. He said in French "I'm English. Do you speak English?" Luckily, we do. 😂 So we had a good conversation in English and talked about life and missions and all that fun stuff and we invited him to church ! It was a super fun contact. And less than a minute after that, we were walking and Soeur Flora heard two people in front of us speaking broken English. She spoke louder, so they would hear her speaking English. Sure enough, they turned around, stopped us, and said "where are you from?" We talked to them and they were Nigerian and were speaking pigeon (broken english is so much fun), and we got to have a conversation with them and invite them to church too !

4) the new book of mormon videos are amazing ! We've been using them to teach people and the visual element has been so helpful. It helps them see the book of mormon as a real event and not just scriptures. It's also changed my perspective a bit- I have way more sympathy for Laman and Lemuel. They really were going through hard stuff, and like, I've complained way more about stuff less difficult. Néphi really was next level. 😅

5) we are so excited for conference ! We are making cards to invite anyone and everyone to come watch some so they can be inspired too !

I wanted to invite everyone here to do 2 things this week, because they've made me really happy 😊
1) watch the book of mormon videos that have come out (they release a new one every friday)
2) prepare yourself for conference. Ponder questions, pray, and ask God to give you answers to whatever you're wondering about. Conference is an incredible blessing as we got to listen to people called of God to guide us in our day.

Love you all and have a great week!!!
-Sœur Cate

The sign i'm next to says "bravo, you looked up from your phone." We couldn't resist staging that.

The lake we go running at

Me and Soeur Flora 😊

My companion organizing... all I heard was a crash 😆

The beach across the street from where we taught a lesson