I Keep Getting Bugged

Hi everybody! I hope you all had a wonderful week! It was pretty eventful for me and I'm not sure where I should start. Maybe I should begin by explaining the subject of my email. It all started two weeks ago when Sœur Erichsen and I were out and about enjoying our P-Day. We were walking down a street and I turned to her wanting to say something but as soon as I opened my mouth a bug flew in so I ended up choking on the bug instead. Two days ago we were out contacting and we decided to take a little break at a park. We were looking over the park and was peaceful. We stayed for about 5 minutes and let me tell ya, I was really in my happy place feeling calm and peaceful. I could see that Sœur Erichsen was about to ask me something but in the corner of my eye I can see this small little object coming at me and I couldn't react fast enough to avoid it. Another bug had come straight into my face and Sœur Erichsen just had to turn and look at me right when that happened. We were laughing for about two minutes and then I decided to contact a man sitting on a bench. Not too long after that little bug experience, another bug flew into my eye! Bugs just keep bugging me here in France!

Last week, I was able to go to Paris twice for zone conference and my interview with the mission president. We had a formation on how we can better use the Book of Mormon as a missionary tool which was perfect for me because for the last couple of weeks, I've been trying to figure that out for myself. We were invited to read a chapter with our investigator if needed. I love reading the Book of Mormon! Towards the end, we finally got our new smartphones on the mission. Just even holding the phone made me feel nervous because I had the terrified feeling of being the first person to drop the phone right after opening the box. Don't worry folks, the phone is still safe...for now at least. The next day was my interview with President Sorensen and he gave me really good advice on working hard and having fun on the mission at the same time. Normally at the end of my interviews with him, I ask if there's anything I can do for him  and his family so he suggested to call his wife because she really wanted to interview the soeurs on the mission as well! The next night Sœur Erichsen and I called Sœur Sorensen and it was a pretty fun interview! Sœur Sorensen is such a wonderful person and I could really feel her love that she has for every single missionary here in the France Paris mission.

We were able to meet with our new ami twice last week and he seems to be progressing really well. He speaks both French and English so if we had a hard time trying to explain something in French he would let us speak English. For the most part, I tried my best to stay mostly in French but there were some points I had to speak in English because it was easier for me to testify of something. We had another lesson with him yesterday right after church. We were hoping he would come to the reunion but instead he came after everything but since yesterday was the ward conference he was able to come and eat at the ward buffet. Ok let me pause right there and say how good French food is! So many kinds of good French pasta, breads, soups, meats, sandwiches, etc! I felt like it was Thanksgiving all over again! Anyway, so after the buffet, we were able to have a member with us to teach our ami so that way his harder questions could be understood and answered with her help. Like in our first rendezvous, he had really good questions again. I wish I could repeat them all word for word because this was a really good lesson with him. Something that touched him was when we told him that God is our loving Heavenly Father and His love for us is always there. When he heard that he sat there and his expression turned a little soft because at the start he was coming up with questions that would make him seem a little stubborn but the answer we gave him made him think. This guy has no religion and I find it really interesting how he called us first to learn more about our beliefs. At the end of the lesson we invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if what we were teaching him is true. He agreed to do that and we closed with a prayer. Afterwards he thanked us for helping him understand God's love for him. We hopefully will have another rendezvous with him sometime this week.

That rendezvous with that specific ami really helped me remember how great God's love is for everyone and that He really is our loving Heavenly Father. It reminds me of when I was in Young Womens for those couple of years and each Sunday we would recite the theme. "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love Him." I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father who loves me and I love Him. I know that God loves each and every one of us. His love is there when you need it most. I have felt it so many times on my mission and I can testify that it is real.

I love and miss you all! Thank you for all the emails, prayers, letters you send! Have a great week!

Love,

Sœur Hopkinson