Deux Mois

Salut everybody! Time flies by super fast because another P-Day has come. It’s been two months since I've started my mission, and it's been an official month since I've been here in France! I am absolutely loving life right now!

Last week was full of fun adventures! On Monday, Soeur Bishop and I went to Le Mans for a district P-Day and it was super fun! We all met up at our DLs apartment and we did our grocery shopping together, had lunch, then went to the church to play a few rounds of dodgeball, volleyball, ping pong, and did our email session. We came back home to Tours and one of our members in the branch took us out to dinner. We went to this place called Holly's Diner and it was so good! Basically it was this diner themed place that made burgers, fries, and shakes plus more good things. This member absolutely spoils us missionaries!

On Tuesday Soeur Bishop and I had 3 rendezvous with amis. The first one did not work out as well because this guy thought we were making everything up and kept telling us that we were wrong about what we were saying. We left that rendezvous a little discouraged but our next rendezvous turned out to be so much better! If you read my email last week, Soeur Bishop and I met a guy out in the rain and set up another appointment with him, and that was last Tuesday. We met him at a bus stop and we went on a walk with him talking about the church and the gospel. He was super interested and asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon. We gave one to him and he said to give him 2 days and he would be finished with it. We still haven't heard from him since then.

After this ami, we met with our last ami. With this ami, it's been a little tough. He's been taking lessons from us for about a month and he's progressed so much. He loves being with us and with members of the branch. He has smoking and drinking problems so we've been setting goals with him to help him stop drinking and smoking little by little. He's also been reading Le Livre de Mormon so we read a chapter with him and applied to him specifically. He's probably one of my favorite investigators because the change in him has been an amazing process! He looks so much cleaner than he did before and he's happy all the time now!

It was a great day! That night, it was hard to sleep because the next day I would be reunited with my wonderful MTC buddies! Soeur Bishop and I had to wake up early to catch our train that left at 6 in the morning. I was getting so anxious to see everyone again and to see how they're all doing with their bleu villes. We spent the day all together catching up with stories and experiences that we've had over the last month and it was awesome to hear all the good that everyone has been through. That day went by so quickly because the next thing that happens is that we're all saying goodbye to each other again. That would be the last time we'd all be together like that until some of us will be in the same district or zone.

Thursday was our district meeting in Le Mans and it was the same routine as usual, planning, setting goals, sharing thoughts, all that good stuff. Soeur Bishop and I nearly missed our train back to Tours and it was a miracle that we got onto that train. Once we got into the gare in Tours we stayed to download some emails and there was this old man in particular that was in front of us just staring. So the first time we both smiled at him and went back to whatever it was we were doing and 3 minutes pass when we look at him and he's still staring at us. Soeur Bishop started up a conversation and this guy asked us about our missionary badges so we tell him all about ourselves and the church. Turns out that he can speak little French and not understand well because he's actually German. So he walked with us outside of the gare and apparently Soeur Bishop must have said something to this guy that made him put his arm around her, pull her into him, and plant a kiss just on the corner of her mouth! As soon as I saw that happen I walked a little faster because there was no way I was going to let this old man near me and plant one kiss on me! I already don't like all the bisous I get from tons of people and this old man was looking for something more than just bisous! We decided to make this conversation a short one so we asked him if we could set another rendezvous with him and he happily agreed so after we set everything all up, Soeur Bishop and I stuck our hands out for him to shake but what we got instead was so hilarious! He takes our hands and kisses them like we're princesses! We tried so hard not to laugh in front of him! We speed walked all the way back to our apartment and laughed it all out there!

Friday was a miracle for us! We had a rendezvous with the investigator that has the smoking and drinking problems. Earlier in the day he asked us to meet with him because something bad had happened in his family and he wanted to be with us so that we could keep him from doing bad things. We met at a member's house and had a lesson with him about baptism. Before we started, we prayed for his family situation and that we could have the Spirit with us as we had the lesson. About halfway through the lesson, he gets a call from a family member saying that everything was ok! He got off the phone and was completely bewildered and was so thankful for the prayer we gave at the beginning of the lesson. We continued with our lesson about how we can come closer to Christ by being baptized. I had the fun job of testifying and asking him the big question: Allez-vous suivre l'example de Jésus-Christ et vous faire baptiser par quelqu'un qui dètient l'autoritè de la prêtrise de Dieu? He took a minute to think and said yes! We brought out a calendar for him to choose a date and he choose to be baptized on Soeur Bishop's mom's birthday and my brother's birthday too! He set his baptismal date to be on August 30! We were so excited for him and we are doing everything we can to help him be prepared for that day!

The Lord has amazing timing for His children that are searching for the truth and happiness of the gospel. He has blessed us with so many amazing miracles here in Tours! Being a missionary is something I love to do so much! Each day as I put on my mission badge I feel closer to my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ as I go out to find those who are in search of the truth. I challenge all of you to share the message of the gospel with those around you! It is something that is so life changing and can help others so much! I love and miss you all!

-Soeur Hopkinson