Back in the Game

Last week was pretty tough because Soeur Bishop and I were sick ALL WEEK LONG! It was terrible! Soeur Bishop started out with the sickness and then it passed on to me. She had the worst of it though: sore throat, fever, stuffed nose, weak body,  cough, and all. I was lucky enough to only get a sore throat, stuffed nose, and a cough.

Last Sunday we were only able to stay for sacrament meeting and watch Valentin be welcomed into the ward and blessed with the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We had to leave right after sacrament and head back home for the sake of everybody's health in the branch. Once we got home, we did some planning for the week and then began to rest because our health was not at its best. We slept for a couple of hours and we got a call from Bradley asking if we needed anything. She stopped by and brought us this super good herbal tea that helped our throats. The next day, we had the elders come down from Le Mans and give us blessings. We spent last P-Day resting as well.

Tuesday, we had to travel to Paris for a zone conference! Sadly, that was when our sicknesses hit us the most. Both Soeur Bishop and I were not feeling well at all. My throat was super sore that day and Soeur Bishop was fighting a fever. We were so miserable during the conference and no one would dare come near us! That conference felt like it took forever because I was ready to end the day.

My district were the last ones to be interviewed by the mission president so we didn't leave the chapel until 8:30 in the evening. I was so ready to end the day and I was lucky enough to be staying the night in Paris at Soeur Nielsen's apartment! On the way to her apartment, my district took a detour on the metro and I ended up seeing something that I dreamed about seeing since the day I landed here in France, the Eiffel Tower! I had to wait a few stops first before I could see it and I was getting super antsy about it. Finally we had one more stop before we would be speeding passed the magnificent tower. Once we came up from the underground there it was. The Eiffel Tower was so amazing at night and super beautiful! Definitely bigger than I thought it was and I could've stared at it all night long! I got a good enough look at it to see it all lit up at night! It was such a dream! Soeur Bishop and I made our way to the apartment and it was so much fun to catch up with Soeur Nielsen and talk with the others soeurs in the apartment! I really hope that I get to serve with her for a few transfers! And I hope and pray that Soeur Bishop and I didn't get any of those soeurs sick haha!

The next day we woke up and went back home to good old Tours. We were still both sick and we could not risk our amies getting sick as well so we had to move a few rendezvous around. More planning was done and more resting was happening too. Thursday was the same, planning and resting. Let me tell ya, being stuck in  an apartment all day is not the funnest thing. Sure I was able to get my studies done, read 14+ chapters in the Book of Mormon, and catch up in my journal but during all of that, just imagine me staring out of the window with dramatic music in the background, longing to be free in the outside world doing missionary work. Soeur Bishop and I were still sick to the bone but we told each other that the next day, we were going out.

Friday comes along and lucky enough for us we had a district meeting in Le Mans and when we came home, we went and bought a birthday present for Herve, the member in our branch who loves to spoil us. After that we had a rendezvous with an amie but ended up not having a lesson with her because she wasn't there. So for the rest of the day we were able to spend it with Herve for his birthday and he took us out for dinner. We gave him his present and he loved it (a Game of Thrones mug).

On Saturday we had a rendezvous with this African mama we found in our area book! She is so amazing! She made us this African dish that was so good! It was basically some tomato sauce with fish on rice served with plantain bananas! SUPER DELICIOUS! I was coughing all over the place and she immediately whips up this African tea that helps soothes throats and coughs. As she was walking into the kitchen she says something in French along the lines of "you tell your mama back at home that I'm taking care of you and that she has nothing to worry about". I love this lady!

Yesterday we were able to stay for all of church which felt pretty good. We saw V____ there and he was doing so good! Ever since his baptism he has definitely gone through a huge transformation because he was very clean and dressed up super nicely! He even brought his mother to church! Soeur Bishop and  I prayed for a miracle because we felt so awful that we didn't do much missionary work last week! We were able to talk with V_____’s  mom and now she wants to meet with us more! This next week we have a goal to be out and about as much as possible to make up for what we missed the week before.

As of right now, I'm feeling a lot better but I do still have a lingering cough and a runny nose. Soeur Bishop has the same thing but she still feels a little weak once in awhile. Over all this week, we're going to be out as much as we can! Pray that we can find more people to teach the gospel to!

Thought of the week:

For district meeting last week we talked about the importance of listening to others as we teach them. That has been somewhat of a problem to me because I worry so much about what I'm going to say after the person has spoken. I decided to study the listening section in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel. One quote that stood out to me was by Jeffrey R. Holland, "More important than speaking is listening. These people are not lifeless objects disguised as a baptismal statistic. They are children of God, our brothers and sisters, and they need what we have. Be genuine. Reach out sincerely. Ask these friends what matters most to them. What do they cherish, and what do they hold dear? And then listen. If the setting is right, you might ask what their fears are, what they yearn for, or what they feel is missing in their lives. I promise you that something in what they say will always highlight a truth of the gospel about which you can bear testimony and about which you can then offer more. … If we listen with love, we won’t need to wonder what to say. It will be given to us—by the Spirit and by our friends".

At our next rendezvous I challenged myself to do nothing but listen. I told myself to not worry about what to say, just listen to what's being said and pay attention to the Spirit. As our ami was speaking, he told us his confusion about the prophets in the church. I listened and listened, then oddly enough he looked to me for an answer. When we made eye contact I was able to truly speak from my heart. I gave him my testimony about what I knew to be true about our prophets and how they function in our church. Soeur Bishop did a small demonstration about how the prophet leads our church and this man came to have a better understanding of what we taught. I also told him that every 6 months we have the chance to hear from the prophet and he asked how that works so that lead to another discussion about general conference! I am so excited to be watching it here in France! Hopefully I'll get a lot from it since it'll be in French! I love being a missionary here in Tours, France! Funnest place to be in for my first couple of transfers!

I love and miss you all! I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you to everyone who has sent me letters!

-Soeur Hopkinson

samantha.hopkinson@myldsmail.net