"Évry"thing is Awesome

It hasn't even been a week into my 9th transfer and so much has happened (I mean that in a good way too). I love my new ville and I love my new comps...that's right folks you may have noticed that there is an "s" at the end of "comps" because I'm in a trio for this transfer! There's a lot to say for this email but very little time so I'll get started on that now.

Monday and Tuesday were both spent packing and saying goodbye to my district and ward members. It's been such an adventure in Rouen and I will for sure miss those I've grown close with and worked with. On my last day in Rouen we had double mangezvous which means that we were fed super well haha. A recent convert, Steve, made us some African food called foufou and it was my second time having it on the mission. I'm not sure how I can exactly describe it for those of you at home or in other countries. Basically, it's mashed potatoes that has the consistency of playdough with meat covered in some African made sauce, super good! Right after eating that, we head over to our ward mission leaders house to eat more good food. I really miss that ward now haha but being in Évry has been a blast for the last couple of days!

Let me introduce you to my new companions, Sœur Biggs and Sœur Kabongo! Sœur Biggs is from American Fork, Utah (Utah companion #3) and she is a transfer ahead of me on the mission. She started her mission in Brussels, Belgium then to Cholet in France and has now been in Évry for 4 transfers. She's a hard working missionary and I admire the way she works. Sœur Kabongo is from Brussels! Her family is from Congo but they later moved to Belgium and that's where she was born. She is actually assigned to the St. George, Utah mission in the visitors center but she had some visa problems so she had to stay here in France for the first part of her mission. She was supposed to head for St. George when I arrived since her visa problems were solved but something else came up, so now she'll be with us until July. This sœur also has no fear because she actually was able to give a brochure to a woman waiting at a stop light in her car...I gotta step up my game now and should start contacting people on motorcycles.

Now on to my new sector Évry. Before I came here, I heard so much about how this place is a mini Africa because of the many Africans that live here. The day I arrived I wasn't totally surprised about how many African people I saw but it was really more than what I expected. Évry is part of the Paris region so I have the privilege of owning a Navigo card. This card is able to get you around ANYWHERE within the Paris region and let me tell ya, I feel like I have so much power having a card like that because I can now go anywhere in Paris hahaha don't worry though I'm going to be an obedient missionary and stay in my sector. It's going to be a fun couple of transfers here because that means for P-Day, I can go see some approved sights in Paris. Today we are actually headed to the Louvre so pictures will be sent if I ever have the time today.

The ward is HUGE here! I started my mission in a small branch of about 25 or less people in Tours, then went to a ward of about 70-80 people in Rouen, and now I'm in a ward that consists of...wait for it...about 200 PEOPLE! The Évry ward is very diverse as well. You have your nice French families, tons of African families, a couple of Asian families, and even Tahitian families as well! I'm even in the same ward as President Babin who was the mission president right when I came on to the mission field! We already have so many appointments set with members so we are going to be well fed here.

Life is good on the mission and I love being here in France! Have a great week!

Love,

Sœur Hopkinson

samantha.hopkinson@myldsmail.net