Serve, Serve, SERVE!

Last week was somewhat of a slow going week. Since there were no changes between my comp and I, it was pretty much the same routine. PLOT TWIST: My comp and I got sick! For the first half of the week, Sœur Gallant was fighting a cold and then for the second half of the week not only did I catch the cold, I had a fever too. Being sick on the mission is not fun at all! Luckily the fever lasted a day only since I was taking medicine like crazy and I didn't want to be stuck in the apartment. Now begins the adventures of being out and about in the cold while I was sick.

On the bright side, we had a branch FHE last Monday night and it was pretty fun! My comp and I planned it out and we chose to do Minute to Win It. Not a lot of people were able to come but we had a family show up, V____, and one other member. Apparently, that game is not well known here in France so they all found the challenges very amusing! Towards the end we had dinner and were on our way home.

During the week, we had a couple of rendezvous but for the most part we spent it trying to find new people, pass out invitations for a special Sunday we called "Venez et Voyez" (that happened yesterday so I'll get to the details on that later on in the email), and lots of service. Finding and the invitation part was a little discouraging because for the most part no one would listen and I felt like people would accept the invitations to just get rid of us. That happened for about an hour and a half so we decided to end it and do some language study at the church. At this point I was just super discouraged that no one really needed anything from us. Before we left the area we were in, I had a strong impression to drop off an invitation to an amie that we haven't seen in a long time because she was so busy with her kids. We arrived at her apartment building and rang her doorbell, no answer. So we put an invitation in her mailbox and were on our way until just around the corner, there she was! She said hello to us and I introduced her to my companion because she hasn't met her yet. We talked for a bit to see how she was doing and she was talking to me about how better my French has gotten. Then she asked us the address for our church! I was stunned just a little...maybe stunned to the point where I forgot that I had the address for the church in my hands so my companion had to step in and hand an invitation to her! She told us that she would come to church with her husband on Sunday!

I know I've said this before a lot in my previous emails but guys, Heavenly Father seriously is so aware of us! He knows when we need miracles and He will place them at such a good and convenient time! In this case the miracles I needed were coming one after the other because right after we talked to that amie we get a text from a member in the branch inviting us over for lunch the next day. This member has the cutest family ever! Her name is Rachael and she's American! She married a French man so her kids are half French and half American. There are two boys (6 and 8) and she has twins (boy and girl)! We had lunch with all her kids and her oldest son was going to have a birthday party soon because he recently just turned 8. This kid is insanely obsessed with hockey so of course he chose a hockey themed party. This is where Rachael turned to us and said, "Sisters I may need your help in decorating for a hockey party. Would you be able to help me out?" Of course we offered our service for her enthusiastically and spent another day with Rachael and her adorable twins! She fed us again too which was a bonus because she made this creamy cheddar cheese, potato, and carrot soup that I was instantly obsessed with. I asked her for the recipe and I think Soeur Gallant and I may need to go on a hunt for cheddar cheese next P-Day! In a country that's full of cheese, we need the one cheese that's actually a little hard to find, go figure.

Our service doesn't end there. We had a rendezvous with another member who is actually learning French! Her native language is Malagasy and it' such a cool language! She even taught us a couple of words and phrases to say! So neat! A little bit about her, she is from Madagascar, has 9 kids, loves the church and the gospel, and is pretty much the cutest, sweetest Malagasy lady I've ever met! This tiny branch in Tours literally has the most amazing members I've been with and she is one of those members!

Last little bit of service that we did was help V_____ with his English homework, another bonus for me! He was to write a paper on someone who changed the world and read it outloud to the class. His speech would be graded along with his writing so since I’m not a good writer we asked Herve if he could come and help us best phrase sentences for V_____ to write. Spending time with him is so much fun! He learns more from us and the change in him is growing very fast. Almost everytime we're with V_____, he'll ask if we can study a couple of chapters from the scriptures! I swear this guy will be one of Heavenly Father's strongest soldiers on a mission! We had lunch with him and his family on Sunday after church. His mother has missed us so much and told us to keep coming more often.

Ok, now on to the Venez et Voyez. In English that translate into "Come and See". It was a day for us and our members to bring friends who were interested in the church. It was happening all around my mission. We had passed out so many invitations too. We had two amis show up and a member had brought one of their friends. Even though there weren't many people there, the Spirit was strong. Our amis did come to us for some questions and the members were now asking us to do some service for them. Talk about miracles folks! I love Tours!

This week I decided to focus on service. One of the best examples of service was our Savior Jesus Christ. From the beginning, He was the one who offered Himself to the service of Heavenly Father. He came to Earth, served in any way He could, and never complained about it. As I served those members last week I was able to get to know them better and I could feel the love that Heavenly Father has for each one of them. It's amazing what service for others can do. The best kind of service I'm doing right now is serving a mission. I am giving up 18 months of my life to serve my Heavenly Father and His children here in France. There may be hard times on the mission but as I lose myself in the service of Heavenly Father, I know that He will bless me for my efforts. Find any way to serve those around you whether it be your parents, siblings, friends, or even a stranger!

I love and miss you all! Passez une bonne semaine!

Love,

Sœur Hopkinson

samantha.hopkinson@myldsmail.net