What a Week
Hi everybody! P-Day has now arrived and that means another weekly email from the one and only Sœur Hopkinson! (or Hops because French people can't say my last name).
Last Tuesday there was a tri-zone conference with all of the zone in the Paris area (Paris, Paris-Est, et Paris-Sud). That lasted about 6 hours total but we had time to stretch, eat, and talk with other fellow missionaries. I had the opportunity to see my wonderful MTC comp, Sœur Schade, and to see my amazing cousin, Sœur Nielsen! In that zone conference, we were introduced to another way we will be sharing the gospel...through Facebook...that's right folks, my mission has been approved to use Facebook now to reach out to our amis, find new people, and share anything mission related. I made a missionary account on Facebook, it's not my old account that says Sœur Hopkinson. Type in Sami Hopkinson and you'll see my new missionary account. My true feelings about having Facebook on the mission...let's just say that after not having kind of social media for nearly 5 months (which has been a huge blessing to me) it made me feel a little uncomfortable just downloading the app. I know that it will definitely help us as missionaries reach out to our amis when in-person rendezvous can't happen and other stuff. It will be an interesting experience for the rest of my mission having to use Facebook.
My new district is pretty awesome! We were able to meet up all together in Le Mans for our first district meeting and I can pretty much say that this transfer with everyone is going to be a fun one! We all get along super well which is a good things because we're stuck with each other for the next 4 weeks. Elder Thomas is our new district leader and he is such a caring guy. Sometimes, I think he puts himself under too much stress because he thinks he's not doing enough when in reality, he's doing a good job as a DL. Elder Crane is Elder Lloyd's new comp and he is quite the character. He actually looks similar to that one character with round glasses in that Disney movie called Atlantis haha! Sœur Gallant is also new to the district and she is just loving her time here in Tours. She's been stuck in the Paris Temple Visitors Center for the last 6 months so she feels like she's free out here in the mission field.
Saturday was another busy day. We started out our day with our normal studies and then we went out to our rendezvous for the day. We were able to meet with V____ and help him learn more English! He has a goal of wanting to go on a mission next year and he hopes to be going to Canada or Africa! It's super neat to see how much he's changed and how badly he wants to share the happiness of the gospel with other people. Sœur Gallant and I even talked to him about going to the temple in Paris to do baptisms! Of course he said yes but we first need to make sure he receives the priesthood and help him stop smoking. We gave him the date of October 28 to go to the temple and he said that he will need our help with his smoking habits so that he can stop and be worthy to go into the temple! He is by far one of my favorite people here in Tours!
Today for P-Day, we went to Chateau de Chenonceau which became my most favorite castle I've been to so far. It was foggy but that made views of the castle pretty neat! I'll send pics for you all to see! Afterwards we went back to Tours and did a little shopping. Along the way Elder Lloyd ran into a pole while getting excited about seeing a baritone in a store. I gave into peer pressure and finally bought myself a soeur book for missionaries to sign in. It's been one of the funnest P-Days on the mission so far!
To close this email I'll explain a brief spiritual experience. I was only able to watch one session of conference in English and one session in French because the broadcast here in Tours was having trouble so I had to wait for all of the talks to be put on the Gospel Library app in order for me to read them all. Luckily I was able to download them all and read them throughout the week. One talk I was reading literally gave me a spiritual slap to the face haha! I know Heavenly Father has been aware of my situation and it's funny how I read that talk on the day I most needed it. The talk is called "I Have Work For Thee" by Elder John C. Pingree Jr. and it is such a wonderful talk! I know that I am here on a mission in France because Heavenly Father has work for me to do. I am thankful to be a missionary each and everyday. I encourage everyone to read the conference talks again and I'd love to hear which talks were your favorite and why they are your favorite!
Shout out to my brother Spencer on getting his mission call last week! I was completely convinced that he'd be called somewhere either Dutch or German speaking! The people of the Santa Maria Brazil mission will be so lucky to have an elder like my brother and I know that he'll get the hang out the Portuguese language!
I love and miss you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Sœur Hopkinson
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