ONE MONTH DOWN.. 10 DAYS TO GO :)

WOW WOW WOW I am one month in and lovin it and I have 10 days or less until Franceeeeee. We get our travel plans TODAY.  I heard the Paris missionaries get a direct flight so hopefully that’s true. It makes me sad that I have to be separated from Sœur Spotts, she’s going to Lyon so we may not even travel together. :( Mais i am so ready to leave the MTC and go to France, I need better food. Cabin fever c'est vrai.

This last week we said goodbye to our Canadians. I already miss them so much!! It was so sad saying goodbye it’s so crazy we are the next ones to go. Ahhhh the MTC has been such a blessing and I love everyone here.

I have almost nothing to say this week, it was crazy but I don't know how to convey any of my experiences to you guys. Our investigator Hospice committed to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized, he is praying and pondering about a date. :') What a guy. Our investigator Nelly is progressing amazingly and is so sweet. :'). Oh, haha Nelly greets us with the cheek kisses and says goodbye to us with cheek kisses and it freaks me out real bad. Oh man I’m not going to fit in in Paris.

If you didn’t realize already, my first Sunday in France will be on Easter. I AM SO EXCITED. I’ve been trying to study Catholicism so I’m not ignorant ha-ha.

I am super excited about conference, but really pray for me because while you're all chillin on the couch in sweats I will be sitting in a tiny bleacher seat literally ALL DAY for TWO DAYS and we can’t bring treats or drinks. WHYYY MARIAAA WHYYY. (ha-ha you wouldn’t get it sorry) I’ve been told that the two things I will discuss the most when I get to France are the temple and what our living prophets have told us recently. So, the pressure is kind of on to understand and remember the things we hear at conference.

Okay that’s all, pray I don’t lose my mind this week knowing it’s my last. If you’re not nervous for me to go to France you should be, ha-ha I’m so underprepared. C'EST BON. I’M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

Je t'aime

Soeur Nay

*She did receive her travel plans today.  She flies out April 10th in the evening and arrives in France mid-morning on April 11th.  Soeur Spotts leaves one hour before her because she is going to the Lyon mission and she is so sad to say goodbye to her but her traveling companion is Soeur McDonald and she’s happy to be reunited with her. :)
Thanks for all the love and support she has received!

Another Temple Pic :)

Beautiful!

C'est Bon

What a week. Je ne sais pas.
This week flew by, it seriously felt like a day. But so much has happened. HOW IS THIS MY 4TH WEEK!?
French is good. I’m definitely not going to understand anything when I get to France but hey C’est bon. It’s SO weird to hear prayers in English. It honestly takes me just as long to say them in English now as in French, I can no longer speak any language ha-ha.
Sacrament is SO amazing here. We pray in French, sing in French give talks in French, and the sacrament prayers are said in French. It’s the most amazing thing to hear. The language is so beautiful... when it’s not me speaking it. I also received a calling on Sunday, I’m the new media person. So, I basically just have to lecture the new missionaries on how to use computers and tablets properly.

Scariest thing happened in gym yesterday. Our zone was playing basketball and another zone was playing volleyball, and an Elder clotheslined himself on the volleyball net, fell, hit his face and started having a seizure. When he regained consciousness, he started throwing up blood and it was traumatizing. He is in the hospital now with a concussion and a broken eye socket. :( Right after it happened though it was amazing to see around fifty 19-year olds on their knees on the gym floor in prayer, praying he would be okay. The gym was completely silent except for the noise the Elder in pain was making. The spirit was so strong, probably the most I've ever felt it.

Okay so remember how I said I would be grumpy if we got new roommates, WE GOT NEW ROOMMATES. There are six of us in a room now.  Haha it actually hasn’t been bad and I love them all. One of them has strep though so that’s sad. Their first night, one of them was having a really hard time because she was the only one that didn’t know any French (doesn’t that sound familiar) and it was so great to comfort her because it was like a reassurance to me that hey look I’m fine and happy and I’ve gained 5lbs of fat and spiritual and language knowledge. C’EST BON.  They asked how many melt downs a day we have and I said I actually haven’t cried since I got here and then WHOAH last night I literally had a break down. Our lessons with Hospice have gone downhill so that’s really been frustrating and then in class last night we were practicing teaching only using scriptures to answer our amis de l'eglise questions and Frere Ritchie kept on making me dig deeper and deeper until the doctrine wasn’t even making sense in English so I couldn’t say it in French blah blah blah. After class, he asked if I was okay and I melted down.  BUT I AM FEELING GREAT NOW and now I know I should really express my feelings and not let them explode on someone, like Frere Ritchie. For some reason, I just think I’m stronger than I really am and I can handle all this stress just fine. Even yesterday when I could not stop crying, there is nowhere I would rather be.  I am a 19 yr old girl whose maturity level is at like a 14 yr old and I’m learning a new language and in two weeks I will be in a foreign country trying to convert people unto Jesus Christ. There is no way I am good enough on my own, but with His help I am going to be enough and I am going to make it. C’est bon!  Even though it’s hard and frustrating sometimes, I am so happy I’m here. And I know that Heavenly Father is shaping me into who he needs me to be.

I’m getting more and more excited to get to France. I hate not knowing what to expect so I kind of wish I could just go right now and learn and grow from the trials of being submerged in the language and culture. Vous sais?

Love you guys lots and lots.

-Sœur Nay

New District

Soeur Nay and Soeur Spotts

Two and a half lbs. of Gospel Fat

So yeah, I’ve gained two and a half lbs. since I’ve been here. I blame it on the omelet guy at the temple, whose sole purpose is to turn me into a chunkster.  Ugh, love him.

Last Sunday we were told by President Mackay that he was changing our districts. He figured since we hadn’t been here that long we wouldn’t be that upset. I was very upset. Sœur McDonald moved out of our dorm Monday night, and in with her new companions. :(  Me and Sœur Spotts have the room to ourselves and it’s kinda sweet but we miss our colleague lots. Elder Hill was also moved into the other district. :( In my district we are the only two Sœurs, and there are 8 elders. Kind of intimidating but kinda sweet since I love them all. Elder Malonari, Elder Obering, and Elder Masterson are now in our district. I don’t have a picture with them yet but I will Sunday

We started TRC this week which is two 20 minute lessons to members that volunteer and that can speak French. Our first lesson was with an African gent who mumbled everything and couldn’t hear me and it was a little strange but our second one went well and I felt really confident with my Franglais (frong-glay) I have to tell you, we have thee amazing Sœur Jeun in our zone who is also going to Montreal. She has been in the MTC for 3 months. She is from Korea, so she learned English for 12 weeks before she started learning French. She is my role model and she is also the most hilarious person ever and tells the greatest ghost stories ever. I’ll see if she will let me record her saying the ghost story of McDonalds.  She is just so great and makes me think I can learn French for sure, I’ve got this!!

Me and my colleague got to take a couple of field trips this week. She got in a car crash before she came so we get to go off campus to the physical therapist. We took the shuttle down and holy cow it was so foreign to be in a car!!! And cars would pass by blasting Avril Lavigne and me and my innocent self had like an anxiety attack. I could not wait to get back to the MTC hahahaha. Who would’ve thought? I am actually terrified of leaving. I’m excited but I know I am going to be so in shock when I get there. Before my mission I thought of the MTC as just 6 weeks, not even a part of my mission, I just saw myself walking around France chompin on cheese but now I can’t even imagine myself in France. I have no idea what to expect!!

I also got to host this week! Luckily the girl I hosted was a light packer and only had two bags hahaha. She was way sweet, way nervous but she was so ready to be here. She is going to Houston, Texas Spanish Speaking. I hope we get to do it again this week because we are getting a new district in our zone!!! More Tahitians, yay!! We have three people leaving Sunday from our zone and then I think there are eight in the new district!! It will be cool to be an example to them like the Sœurs here have been to me! And our zone seriously rocks so they should be so excited, they are in for a treat. Hopefully none of them are put in my room though, that might make me grumpy.

We did family names at the temple today. The sisters going to Canada were so excited to help. Also, Linda K. Burton spoke at the devotional on Tuesday!! Pretty cool. Everyday you’re surrounded by the spirit, the most frustrating thing is when you’re not feeling it as strong as usual.  I seriously say about 15 prayers a day, depending on what we are doing.

So much happens every day, I mean we are moving constantly from 6:30 am till 10:30 pm but it’s so hard to pack everything I learn here into an email. Just know I’m doing great, I haven’t repeated an outfit yet woot woot, and French is hard. Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Soeur Nay

Before we got the tragic news that we were being separated. :(

LOVING IT

First things first I love my district, I love my companions, I love everyone around me. Our district has become so close and I am so grateful for all of them. It's just so much fun to have a little family of Frenchie’s who do everything together. We go to the temple every Friday at 6:30 am, we sit at the same table all together for meals, we all stay together at gym time and get the most competitive game of revenge going. (I'm learning how to shoot a basketball he he) oh the Soeurs play hallway bowling and dinosaur launching in our hallway (see pics) it’s just so much fun! The MTC is like West Side Story. You have us, the French who are all very nice and close and say ‘Merci’ one too many times a day, the Italians who are creepy and try to get into our zones business and then there’s the Spanish speaking missionaries that are irrelevant (ouch! Except, for her friends Abby, Taryn and Kenna 😊) I’M HAVING FUN!

Our STL's always leave treats and notes for us, they're the bomb and will be with us until the end because they are going to Tahiti. Love them so much. So, if you see any little weird wacky games, send them our way.

Sometimes I forget that I'm going to France.  I feel like the MTC is my mission and that's it, this has become my life so fast.   The food stinks (literally) so that's why we go to the temple, their food rocks. 😉

We have taught Hospice four lessons now. We stunk at it the first three times... like it was BAD. Teaching is hard enough as is but then you’re supposed to ask them questions so you nail the questions in French so they can feel the spirit but then they answer you sincerely and you just "D'accord" or "oui oui", ha ha poor guy. The last lesson we taught the restoration and wow!  It just went so well, we showed him a clip of the Joseph Smith Video and even though I could barely understand it, it was overwhelming. Starting tonight we will have two investigators, Nelly and Hospice. KIND OF OVERWHELMING.

French is frustrating but here is something I memorized today:

"Et par le pouvoir du Saint-Esprit, vous pouvez connaître le vérité de toutes choses."  (Moroni 10:5)

I also have the missionary objective down in French, UH-HUH!!

I love you all a ton!

Soeur Nay

The Elders  put a Coke in my bag 😂 They were trying to bribe me to tell them who ratted them out for playing UNO. 

District

Soeur Spotts (L), Me, Soeur McDonald (R)

French Soeurs

Hallway Bowling

PACKAGES!!!

Sunday Cookies.. Happy Tears (:

STL Treats

My favorite picture. I LOVE my name tag!!

My District (L-R)
Elder Epicc (Layton), Elder Greenland (Virginia), Elder Tropnas (Miami), Elder Leavitt (Las Vegas), Elder Hill (South Jordan), Elder Seaman (London)
Soeur Spotts (Colorado), Soeur McDonald (Hurricane), Soeur Nay 

WEEK ONE

Like I said in mon petite email on mercredi, everything is good I'm alive yay yay yay.

My companions are Sister McDonald from Hurricane and Sister Spotts from Colorado Springs. We are all completely different people but we get along great. We are the only sisters in our district and then there are 6 Elders. They are the funniest group of Elders here I'm sure of it. I don't know all their names. There is Elder Epicc from Layton (he went to Northridge) Elder Seeman who is from London England (his accent is the most adorable thing ever, and he gets called on quite a lot because the teachers love his voice, he is so so funny) Elder Hill is our district leader...and I need to find him because he has our mail. Half the group are smart alicks (I have no idea how to spell that but you get the idea) and the other half are goof balls so it makes for some interesting conversations. Our zone is SO AMAZING. We walked together to the temple this morning at 6:30 and did an endowment session.   And then we did some service in the laundry portion of the temple. The other Soeurs have been serving us and surprising us with treats. Our zone likes to do choir together too so I guess I have to get into that. OH and I saw Charly McAllister at the temple!! I cried, I haven't seen one familiar face yet so that was great.

My French is awful and everyone in my class is literally almost fluent except for Elder Seeman and myself...soooooo I need lots of prayers or I might just die drowning in my tears. You get jealous of people that have English speaking missions, like wow can I go to Boise Idaho instead BUT then I realize I am going to Paris France, I'm going to speak French and if I don't speak French I'll go door to door hoping I can just bring the spirit. We teach our first investigator tonight, Hospice. In French mind you. 

The most repetitive advice you get here is "Just last till Sunday" haha yeah even my branch president said it. So I guess I'll stick it out but I better receive the gift of tongues come Monday morning. 

-Soeur Nay

Soeur Nay and her zone at the temple