The Canadian and the American

Hello, salut, and bonjour tout le monde! Another week has flown by on the mission and today is P-Day so you know what that means...sending you guys this weekly email! Last week was full of ups and downs, pretty rough on some days, and smooth sailing on other days. It was probably one of the most challenging weeks so far on my mission.

Even before the repertoire came out, I knew Sœur Bishop was leaving but I refused to accept it and was in a huge state of denial about it. Seeing her pack on Monday and Tuesday was so unreal and it put me in another state of loneliness. As much as I didn't want Wednesday to happen, the day came for Sœur Bishop and I to bring her luggage to Paris where we would say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. While I was in Paris I was able to meet my new companion Sœur Gallant, who I will introduce later on in the email. I was able to see some MTC buddies at the gare too (Elder Pettus and Sœur Gardanier). When I said goodbye to Sœur Bishop and watch her leave it was at that point where I felt a huge cold feeling inside of myself. I felt lost and pressured at the fact that I was now taking over my ville. The train ride home for me was agonizing and it took a lot of willpower keep myself from crying, so instead of bawling my eyes out I decided to take the time on the way back to Tours to get to know Sœur Gallant better.

Sœur Gallant is a Francophone meaning that she is someone who is born French speaking. She is from Canada, more specifically Quebec and she has been on her mission for nearly a year now! Her first ville on the mission was a city called Nivelles in Belgium, then she went to Versailles, and now she is in Tours! I'm excited for what's in store for the both of us these next six weeks and my French is sure to improve with her as my companion haha! She did tell me that my French is very impressive and that I'm one of the few Anglophones (English-speaking missionaries) she's met that can really nail a French accent when I speak! She and I both get along super well and since we are in the sector that has the most castles, we pretty much made a goal that we'll be queens of all of them heehee

Taking over the ville is a piece of cake...just kidding it stresses me out. I pretty much lost it the next morning. I woke up and poured out all of my tears to Sœur Gallant, great welcoming present am I right? I cried because I felt so alone and lost, I was feeling so much weight on my shoulders because I couldn't let this sector fall apart, and also because was missing Sœur Bishop. It had only been one day without Sœur Bishop and I already felt like I was failing this ville. After about an hour and a half of leaking water from my eyes, Sœur Gallant gave me a good encouraging pep talk and I was ready to seize the day. Sure I was still scared but I knew that if I let my fears and worries get the best of me, this sector would for sure fall apart and I wasn't going to let that happen. I also knew that I wasn't alone in helping this sector grow, I had my comp, I had Bradley to also help us out, I had members of the branch making sure I was doing ok, and even our amis were checking up on me to see of there was anything they could do. This transfer has already started to be a huge testimony builder on how much our Heavenly Father is aware of us. I know that He has heard my prayers, He knows how I'm feeling, and He knows what miracles I need in order to grow my faith in trust in Him.

Speaking of miracles, have I got a miracle for you guys! A couple of weeks ago the elders from Bourges gave us a referral for one of their amis. This last week, we were able to meet up with this ami and he is just amazing! He loves reading the Book of Mormon, loves the lessons that we have with him, and he really loves missionary work! Last Friday, we meet up with him and our member Herve and we explain to him what general conference is. He promised us that he would come and watch conference with us! During our lesson with him there was an institute class happening and my comp had the impression to ask him if we wanted to see what it was. He said yes so we took him upstairs to the class. There was only one other person and that was V_____ which really surprised me because I didn't even know that he was interested in the classes. We stayed with the both of them and it was so amazing to see an ami and a recent convert of ours begin to gain testimonies of the Book of Mormon! God is good everyone!

All right folks I hate to say this but I'm running out of email time so as my spiritual thought I will bear a quick testimony. I'm so thankful that I was able to watch conference this past weekend! Even though it was in a different language I still felt the spirit (plus I can read the talks in English on Gospel Library haha). I love being a missionary and I love this church.

I love and miss you all! Thank you for your prayers! I probably won't get around to sending pics until possibly tomorrow so hang in there! I took a lot! Have a great week!

Love,

Sœur Hopkinson

samantha.hopkinson@myldsmail.net