Le Mans, Paris, Nogent, and a Hospital

When Sœur Bishop and I committed to being out and about of our apartment, we really did live up to that commitment! Our sicknesses are now gone, but we may have infected some of the other missionaries. Last week consisted of a lot of traveling, I mean A LOT of traveling! Every day we were on a train going somewhere. The total number of train trips we went on was 11.

Last P-Day we went up to Le Mans to hang out with all of the elders. As usual, Sœur Bishop and I were the first to arrive. When we got to the entrance of the building to the elders apartment, I was so focused on finding the doorbell when Sœur Bishop starts freaking out as to what's on the other side of the door. I look and see this cute cat just chilling there! The door was unlocked and I go to pet the cat right away. He starts purring and tries to crawl onto my legs, so I picked it up and took it with me up to the elders apartment. It stayed with us for about 15 minutes then I took it back downstairs and left it where I found it. We waited for the Alençon elders to arrive and when they did, Elder Lloyd brings the cat up again! We ended up naming him Reeses, it just suited him. We did our usual grocery shopping trip and went on to do our activity which was going to a park to play a game of soccer. Once the match started, three against three, I quickly figured out that I have absolutely no coordination when it comes to kicking a ball. I honestly freaked out when my DL, who is 6ft something, came charging at me ready to kick the ball away from my feet. We ended the game at 7 points then we went to the big field in the park and Elder Dunoskovic went and searched for a bunny, he had no luck with that. Lunch was at Subway, super French am I right? Then we went bowling which was super fun! My score was not the best but I bowled the most beautiful spare that will never happen again in my history of bowling. It was funny to see the elders bowl because every time they got a strike or a spare, this cute granny in the lane next to us would give them a thumbs up or a comment. We played two games of bowling then we had to rush to the gare to catch our train back to Tours.

Tuesday we took a train to Paris to get some legality things done for Sœur Bishop. We went with the Orléans equipe, Sœurs Butler and Tuahine. It took us about 2 hours to get to the legality office because we had to pick up Sœur Bishop's passport from the Nogent sœurs. After making sure that my comp was now legal in France, we all went on a walk to the mission bureau to drop things off and pick up some materials we needed. On our way to the office, we went through the Consecration Hill which is where I went three months ago the day after I arrived here in France. It was fun going back there and it was also a peaceful moment because we all stood there looking over at the city of Paris just thinking how blessed we all were to be missionaries in one of the most beautiful cities in France. We planned on going to this place we call Panini-Crepe together, but the Orléans sœurs had to catch their train so we dropped them off at a metro stop and said our goodbyes. Sœur Tuahine was sick so she would just shake our hands and Sœur Butler gave me a hug. As she hugged me she told me to stay strong and keep on going. These three sœurs were almost done with their missions and it made me realize that in 2 weeks I may have a new companion and I will be picking up where Sœur Bishop left off here in Tours, basically I'd be taking over my ville if she is transferred elsewhere for her final 6 weeks. I still find it crazy that next week I will be done with my training! It's kinda scary actually haha! I hope to be with Sœur Bishop for just one more transfer but if not, it'll be sad to say goodbye to her. It's been fun serving with her and she is an amazing missionary.

Wednesday was our district meeting in Le Mans so we were back on a train again. The adventure that day took place after we got home from our district meeting. The night before we had gotten a text from our recent convert, V_____, and he said he needed to talk to us because something bad had happened. We told our DL about the situation and he said to be sure that we had a member with us just in case anything happened. We were able to have our member H_____with us. Sœur Bishop and I went straight to the church and waited there for about 15 minutes until both H_____ and V_____ arrived. We all sat down and as I looked over at V_____, I could tell that there was something off about him. He looked pale and sickly. We asked him what happened and he told us that he injured his leg very badly and lost a lot of blood and that his left arm was also broken. I took a closer look at his arm and it was super swollen. I was in awe that this guy spent the night with so much pain! He showed H_____ his leg wound and we all agreed to take V_____ to the hospital because he really didn't look good. We went to the urgent area which is basically like an ER and waited in the lounge area for him to come out. The wait was longer than we expected it to be. 2 hours in we decided to text V_____ to make sure that he was okay and he texted us back saying that if we hadn't convinced him to come to the hospital, he would've been dead within the next 2-3 days. His leg wound was super infected and on top of that he did lose a lot of blood. The doctors even told him that they were so surprised that he could still even walk on his leg. We waited another 2 hours and he finally comes out with just a sling on his arm and no cast so that confused us. We asked him what happened and he said that his leg was vaccinated and they were going to put a cast on his arm but he was impatient with all the doctors and just basically left the room. We all started to get after him a little bit and he was trying to be macho about not being in pain. H_____ was the one who was giving him a good lecture though! When V_____ got off the bus we all told each other that he would eventually have to go back to the hospital because the pain would be too much for him. Later that night, we get a text from V_____ saying that his arm was in a lot of pain and that he was going back to the hospital for his cast. He also told us that he learned a lesson from that experience and that we both get to sign his blue cast!

Thursday and Friday were exchanges. I went on my second exchange with Sœur Rupper and we went to one rendezvous after I arrived in Paris. They have a baptism scheduled for an 8 year girl in October so we went and taught her about prophets. We first asked her what a prophet is and she was just spouting fire and gives us the whole story of Joseph Smith. I'm pretty sure my jaw was all the way on the ground because this girl was so ready to be baptized! The mom walks in and I tell her "votre fille est intelligente!" During the lessons, the mom made dinner for us all and I had French mac and cheese for the first time! YUM! We went back to the Nogent apartment afterwards and it was fun getting to hang out with the other sœurs. The next day, we had another rendezvous with another one of their amis and we talked about the second half of Le Plan du Salut. He understood super well and he was a super friendly guy!

Finally went home to Tours and hung out with H_____ for a while, did some contacting, and went to the apartment to get some area book done. Saturday, we had a rendezvous with an African mama that the elders found on our finding day. It was probably the most stressful rendezvous because this woman had two young kids that were all over the place. It was so hard to teach her when there's a 2 year old running around throwing shoes all over the place. We were so worried that this lady couldn't feel the Spirit at all because of  the craziness happening but luckily towards the end, the kids began to settle down and be calm when we said the closing prayer. After that we went home and did our studies, had lunch, do some finding, and then went to the adult session of stake conference.

The theme for this conference was on temples. I was able to understand some talks here and there, but for the most part it was tough to understand everything. I turned to Sœur Bishop and joked with her about being doomed for general conference in French. She told me not to worry about it though because my French has come a long way and she says that I'm understanding better because I know how to react to most situations and and respond to questions. Towards the end of the conference we all got to hear from President and Sœur Sorensen. When Sœur Sorensen began to speak in French I almost cried because she spoke so nice and sweetly! Her French was adorable and her testimony was amazing! I just LOVE being a missionary here in France!

Sunday we continued conference with more talks on the temple. At the end, V_____ comes to us saying that he absolutely loved what he heard and said that he wanted to go to the temple as soon as possible! Sœur Bishop and I were just filled with happiness when he said that! The only problem is that he wants the both of us to go with him, but Sœur Bishop might be leaving next week so hopefully she and I will be together for one more transfer and be able to go to the temple together with V_____! Today for P-Day, we had the elders come down to Tours and we went to a chateau called Amboise. It's known for being the burial place of Leonardo Da Vinci! It was my second time going because all of the elders haven't been there and it's the last chateau my DL will visit before he finishes his mission next week.

Thought of the week:

I really loved the topic of stake conference, temples. The temple is one of the places where I can feel complete peace and it's a very special place to me. I made a goal to memorize the primary song "I Love to See the Temple" in French! I love the temple because it has such beauty inside and outside, the peace there is incredible, and above all it's a place where I can be sealed to my future family for all eternity. It has been a year since I have been sealed to my family. I'm grateful for my parents for raising me in a loving environment. I love my brothers and they are my best friends. I am sealed to one of the most wonderful families here on Earth! I'm blessed to have 5 younger brothers who will serve missions of their own when they reach mission age. J'aime ma famille avec tout mon coeur!

I miss you all and I hope everyone has an amazing week!

-Sœur Hopkinson

samantha.hopkinson@myldsmail.net