tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57869657526492355432024-03-19T01:41:56.515-07:00Sister Alisa HulmeFrance Lyon Mission
January 2013 to July 2014Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-88281816405617875512014-11-24T16:21:00.004-08:002016-05-19T10:29:34.764-07:00"My mission has been the most incredible experience that I don't feel words can accurately express. Among other things, it has truly been an experience for me to "build my foundation" on Christ (Helaman 5:12). I feel that I have truly come to know my Savior better in serving Him, "for how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served?" (Mosiah 5:13). I know that He lives. I have loved my mission."<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcnn25ksnbJhMpXY97RGRCbhOhfa6j8r2_tsL337tixzp8FhAGn3p8j3sYI3229wBgcnuwcHGzZ9v_dePfZ2Y84jAqKIYw1BOqd3NzZpP4bIbH2p1CsyrpvpUaoYCx-asBwYQohKrs_4/s1600/P1010913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMcnn25ksnbJhMpXY97RGRCbhOhfa6j8r2_tsL337tixzp8FhAGn3p8j3sYI3229wBgcnuwcHGzZ9v_dePfZ2Y84jAqKIYw1BOqd3NzZpP4bIbH2p1CsyrpvpUaoYCx-asBwYQohKrs_4/s320/P1010913.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bonjour Ma Famille,<br /><br />Wow, where to begin? This week has been wonderful, but you should expect nothing less from your happy missionary in France. We are seeing so many miracles in Nice and I am so stoked to be a part of them.<br /><br />First and foremost, Sabrine. We hit a couple roadblocks this week, but take a deep breath. All is well, and we are happily preparing for her baptism this coming Saturday. It is going to be incredible. We just got back from a lesson with her where we ran through all of the interview questions to practice. I have to say, this is one of my favorite lessons to do with amis, I love hearing them testify. She's so cute, when we asked her the question about whether or not Jesus in our Savior her response was, "What kind of question is that? Who would say 'no' to that?" Love her, she is so so ready. I cannot wait for her baptism, I feel beyond blessed to be spending my last Saturday in France witnessing the baptism of such an amazing amie. God is too good to me, I'm literally in awe that He would give me this opportunity to finish out my mission. In addition, she has asked me to speak at the baptism, I'm so honored and happy. I cannot wait for the day to arrive.<br /><br />We found several more really cool amis this week...<br /><br />We got a call out of the blue the other day from this woman (Rachelle). She told us that we had contacted her several weeks ago and that she wanted the DVD advertised one card. We went and met with her. Come to find out, after we had talked to her on the street, she couldn't stop thinking about us. The day she actually called us back, she woke up from a nap and a "voice in her head" (know what that was) told her that she had to call us. So she did. She's an incredible, extremely believing, African woman who is currently battling cancer and is turning her whole life over to God. I can't wait to work with her more.<br /><br />Several weeks ago we contacted this guy (Francois) and were finally able to see him this week. Oh my gosh, I love him. He's a totally normal, French man, around the age of 35 (a rare find). Sometimes you have these amis and you just click. He's one of those amis. I love him. While we were meeting with him, he explained that he had searched all over for the truth but felt that he was too logical and wouldn't find it. Then, things started coming out of my mouth that were not planned. I felt inspired to tell him that the reason he had come to Nice was to find us (because he's from Lyon but recently moved here and doesn't like it). I told him the reason that he had never settled down with a religion was because he had never found the truth, and that it was worth giving our message a try-- that if it wasn't true, his life would continue as usual, but that if it was true, his entire life would change. It was a bit bold for my style the first lesson, but it worked. He sat there for a second and then responded, "You're right, everything happens for a reason." He promised to read the Book of Mormon.<br /><br />We also received three member referrals that we have started working with this last week. The members are so incredible here, the more I'm with them, the more I love them. I wish that I would have gotten more time with them. Oh my gosh, our companionship is exploding. God is blessing us so much. It's incredible to see how He makes miracles happen.<br /><br />Well, that was the week. I'm excited to kill it this last week, we are literally buying nothing but stuff to make sandwiches so that we can be on the road at all times.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />I am so grateful for my mission, I have loved it so much. Thank you for all of your love and support. I am so grateful and could not have done it without each one of you. My mission has been the most incredible experience that I don't feel words can accurately express. Among other things, it has truly been an experience for me to "build my foundation" on Christ (Helaman 5:12). I feel that I have truly come to know my Savior better in serving Him, "for how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served?" (Mosiah 5:13). I know that He lives. I have loved my mission.<br /><br />I love...<br /><br />the beautiful architecture<br />hearing my amis testify<br />speaking French<br />running along city streets, rivers, and the sea<br />sparking people on buses<br />making friends with members<br />learning from companions<br />eating baguettes<br />seeing miracles daily<br />feeling angels in the room during lessons<br />taking trains<br />my four mission daughters<br />wearing a plaque<br />never having to do my hair<br />marking my scriptues in lots of colors<br />seeing lives change through the gospel<br />French gardens<br />being busy 24/7<br />when God's words come out of your mouth<br />playing the piano<br />funny foot tanlines<br />always having a Book of Mormon in my hands<br />President Roney<br />hearing member's conversion stories<br />adventures when you're lost in little villes<br />running the wards on Sundays<br />collapsing into bed after a long day<br />when people ask the questions that the gospel answers<br />castles<br />writing weekly emails<br />dark chocolate</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"Angels We Have Heard on High"<br />contacting in the rain<br />crafty planner covers<br />exchanges with tons of sisters</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">being called "Soeur Hulme"</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">all of the people...too many to list</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">mission conferences</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">when amis have "click" moments</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">letters and packages from home<br />tartelette au citron</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">beautiful vineyards<br />feeling the spirit all the time</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">teaching the restoration<br />the feeling you get when you realize that you just did something inspired<br />keeping a daily journal<br />cobblestone streets and windy roads lined with trees<br />Preach My Gospel<br />nightly prayers<br /><br />...being a missionary.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Je vous aime,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-22706919802066019612014-11-19T11:33:00.000-08:002017-10-18T15:10:16.492-07:00He (Elder Andersen) explained that all missions in the world are hard in different ways and stretch us in different ways, but faith building was the blessing of France." 6/14/14<div style="background-color: #fdfdfd;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokiCgdfopzmK0DXFKdLC1KDA9yVFNWa90f2OJighl-lOmRNdNM3frf-WLcpaudcDdDWo0KIA_phyNmMTbfO4BCI0qyVKuPSYh_wrMdW_38rs_ww-WAHre5tEOGJ-wuj9_j29tRYLbOb8/s1600/P1010862.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjokiCgdfopzmK0DXFKdLC1KDA9yVFNWa90f2OJighl-lOmRNdNM3frf-WLcpaudcDdDWo0KIA_phyNmMTbfO4BCI0qyVKuPSYh_wrMdW_38rs_ww-WAHre5tEOGJ-wuj9_j29tRYLbOb8/s320/P1010862.JPG" width="240" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">What a wonderful week, but what else could be expected? Especially after having been visited by Elder Andersen. I guess I can start with that. Oh my gosh, it was absolutely incredible--better than I could have imagined. The spirit was unreal. It was a truly unearthly experience that all started with spiritual preparation. Our mission has been preparing for nearly a transfer--with every conference, meeting, and effort pointed toward preparing for Elder Andersen. We studied every talk he has ever given, drafted questions, stepped-up diligence, prayed unceasingly, etc. Everything was set in a way that would invite the spirit to the max. Just as an example to show you how far we went... the conference was in Nice, therefore, I was extremely blessed. As for the rest of the 260+ missionaries, they took buses from all over the country, Bordeaux being the farthest at 12 hours (dodged that bullet). These bus rides were done in complete silence and reverence, with nothing permitted but sleeping and studying. Once at the conference, no one was allowed to talk, hug, or even shake hands. Otherwise, it would have turned into a mission reunion. Complete and total respect was shown at all times. Although it was incredible to see all of my friends and mission heros, it didn't even seem to matter. I've never experienced such an example of the importance of spiritually preparing. And, we definitely reaped the rewards. Elder Andersen later commented to President Roney that out of the thousands of missionary events that he has been to, we were the most prepared and impressive group he had ever seen. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0OVTKuatT9FoNvGeniXuEFbAf-e5qXfGZgWcCZptAtvwac9N2WpGPE8kwxH4ajflBFmp125OZGf16kGg1CXREDcK0N-W3h74aSwiinuI_pqw4QXzyy6Vas_UAfKxp0ZE2SHaZczNxvA/s1600/10403293_10204204327769141_8934597180155800842_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz0OVTKuatT9FoNvGeniXuEFbAf-e5qXfGZgWcCZptAtvwac9N2WpGPE8kwxH4ajflBFmp125OZGf16kGg1CXREDcK0N-W3h74aSwiinuI_pqw4QXzyy6Vas_UAfKxp0ZE2SHaZczNxvA/s320/10403293_10204204327769141_8934597180155800842_n.jpg" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Okay, probably the most amazing part of the whole meeting for me was when we sang our mission song, "Angels We Have Heard on High". It was the most beautiful rendition ever--with violins, solos, beautiful choir parts, and sections where pieces of "Bring Him Home" were played. Oh my gosh. So, usually it's a rather emotional thing to sing the mission song in your last zone conference... add to that the fact that it was the first time it had been sung by the whole mission together and that it was done for an apostle of the Lord. Basically, I cried through the entire thing. Definitely didn't sing. That's okay, there were angels there making up for me.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All of the talks that were given were also incredible. Elder Andersen focused mostly on the importance of faith. Having served as a missionary and a mission president in our mission, Elder Andersen had truly amazing insight and felt connected personally to the work here. He said that one of the most wonderful things about being a missionary in France is that it requires such a substantial amount of faith. He explained that all missions in the world are hard in different ways and stretch us in different ways, but faith building was the blessing of France. I agree. I obviously took pages upon pages of notes and would love to fill you in on more of it later.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">If not having to take long, hot buses wasn't good enough, another blessing of being in Nice is that we also got to go to the member session of the conference in the evening. Very good also, but not comparable. Anyways, it was so cool because Elder Andersen gave his whole talk in French. Loved it. Also, getting to be there in the evening, Soeur Patrick and I were hostesses to greet all of the members. I got to see all of my friends from Aix. It was so great, I love them all.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Cool side note, Elder Andersen was accompanied by Elder Kearon of the Seventy and his wife...who is apparently a Hulme. Crazy right? Got to talk to them for a bit...special privileges.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">As for the rest of the week...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sabrine is doing incredible. For example, yesterday she came to church and brought her completely less-active sister. Also, we had been planning on calling the bishop this week to plan stuff for the baptism (it will be at his home in his pool because our chapel is under construction). No problem, Sabrine went up to him in church and talked to him about it herself. She also asked him if it was okay if she invited all of her non-member friends...who are now invited and coming. Love her.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Later in the week, we were meant to be headed to Montpelier for an exchange with the STL's. But, there is currently a huge train strike going on in the south. So, it was canceled. We were left with two days with completely nothing planned. That's the worst...but not really because we were determined to find miracles. Which we did. We were able to have a lesson with a less-active sister that went so great that she gave us referrals. Come to find out afterwards, this same woman's husband, who had been working with the elders to come back to church, had recently informed them that they were not invited in his home and that he was done with the church. We were able to really touch his wife in the perfect moment. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">On the way home, we planned on doing some porting. We didn't know where to go. So we prayed, of course. The first building we went into, we found a cute girl named Claire. We taught her, left her with a Book of Mormon, and will be heading back in a few weeks after she gets home from vacation.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">In other miracles, God has sent me some lovely summer showers to break up the dreaded heatwave. Haha, it really confuses people on the buses when I comment on how beautiful the weather is during a rainstorm. They are usually in Nice for the sun... Speaking of sun, have a wonderful week in Lake Powell. I love you all!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-51146551975739311082014-06-30T06:24:00.000-07:002017-10-18T15:05:29.356-07:00"I'm sorry this one is really sporatic, emails are really freaking me out right now. I think I'm in some sort of state of denial." 6/23/14<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8loin4pEinTeLVc6gkL31ZrVHmM7zZ9jGDaWs-5QYTsHm5B2M8MYRhuxLjDPr847DWLufCPbR91GZWyW32hikng6YwEIhEFKomzEHX85yw_Sr1G5fXAAK9zzoaSaKHBB6x6YwsvXq5Rc/s1600/P1010900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8loin4pEinTeLVc6gkL31ZrVHmM7zZ9jGDaWs-5QYTsHm5B2M8MYRhuxLjDPr847DWLufCPbR91GZWyW32hikng6YwEIhEFKomzEHX85yw_Sr1G5fXAAK9zzoaSaKHBB6x6YwsvXq5Rc/s320/P1010900.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I hope that everything is going wonderfully. This week was great, here are some of the updates..</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4t49jQfDwo-ptlsN5qX0GNJ-39DaDMcCBGTYlAQRwe7UnSyD9HiWZ43mA2VdoG2ni2vH_QVLpiJfp9gxTpoVhOIyptG88tZ3EHFwcwuslqdJJ-m-tJ81yt3BYnX5dSzaRIkT0OsJMOo/s1600/10460363_10203374056386247_6904250826442217725_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4t49jQfDwo-ptlsN5qX0GNJ-39DaDMcCBGTYlAQRwe7UnSyD9HiWZ43mA2VdoG2ni2vH_QVLpiJfp9gxTpoVhOIyptG88tZ3EHFwcwuslqdJJ-m-tJ81yt3BYnX5dSzaRIkT0OsJMOo/s320/10460363_10203374056386247_6904250826442217725_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5dfRSlr1HsLL2d_EBuNSsPYF3fgqQA80p5LSEitvZoGZXxvysod2gfPclj7GgJwwJl-C4c6bCSN9Ok5U6pt_ezl6_uxKtx73j8-K5BLm3Wu1vAuwed0rJHQfh4HtIsn_SSSK-ixAowU/s1600/P1010908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ5dfRSlr1HsLL2d_EBuNSsPYF3fgqQA80p5LSEitvZoGZXxvysod2gfPclj7GgJwwJl-C4c6bCSN9Ok5U6pt_ezl6_uxKtx73j8-K5BLm3Wu1vAuwed0rJHQfh4HtIsn_SSSK-ixAowU/s320/P1010908.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We have a new ami named Dieu Donné, this is literally translated as "God Given". Funny. He is really fantastic, is from Cameroon, and has four kids. He loves the Book of Mormon.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I gave a talk in church this week. It went well. I spoke on conversion with a little help from my friend Elder Bednar.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There was an exchange in Montpelier that was fun, it was crazy with the train strike still going on-- we got stuck in Marseille for a while...sketchy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are so many tourists in Nice right now. I'm pretty sure half of the people at church on Sunday were from Utah...definitely could have given my talk in English. We had little miracles throughout the week where we would run into them-- meaning someone would start yelling "sisters!" at us and we were able to tell them the change of address so they could come to church.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6DsVzaDKvpIGMpCjHQZQbmou3KUkGlfcbfqUpQLzgAsEHQX_xXEHyQTxmP5vt3PMQc9mDlxo_JdIhf6GRReoD-3rcmaTcSxbyYuMl2djkLSnxfd10G3f-L1QyEQE7wuDBgWHnb2XuOFE/s1600/P1010899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn4t49jQfDwo-ptlsN5qX0GNJ-39DaDMcCBGTYlAQRwe7UnSyD9HiWZ43mA2VdoG2ni2vH_QVLpiJfp9gxTpoVhOIyptG88tZ3EHFwcwuslqdJJ-m-tJ81yt3BYnX5dSzaRIkT0OsJMOo/s1600/10460363_10203374056386247_6904250826442217725_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKw5L8yVsPiw6PalinWNuYrljeOCVx56kcjzsK3nagct9waWaLB3dH6OXfR31aXfyEMcyg1bA5VcPolgmIgPZWSkTxepvKva9cvYM77q82gv6R3UfnkIBrzeBYcBCi7sz6V6WL2JdLGk/s1600/IMG_0091.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdKw5L8yVsPiw6PalinWNuYrljeOCVx56kcjzsK3nagct9waWaLB3dH6OXfR31aXfyEMcyg1bA5VcPolgmIgPZWSkTxepvKva9cvYM77q82gv6R3UfnkIBrzeBYcBCi7sz6V6WL2JdLGk/s320/IMG_0091.JPG" width="320" /></a><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6DsVzaDKvpIGMpCjHQZQbmou3KUkGlfcbfqUpQLzgAsEHQX_xXEHyQTxmP5vt3PMQc9mDlxo_JdIhf6GRReoD-3rcmaTcSxbyYuMl2djkLSnxfd10G3f-L1QyEQE7wuDBgWHnb2XuOFE/s320/P1010899.jpg" width="240" /><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sabrine is doing wonderful, of course. Such a miracle.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We saw lots of members, they are great here in Nice.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I'm sorry this one is really sporatic, emails are really freaking me out right now. I th</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ink I'm in some sort of state of denial. I'll send a good one next week, I promise. Love you all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Soeur Hulme</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-64625479877818561252014-06-09T17:23:00.000-07:002017-10-18T15:09:47.536-07:00 "Sabrine commented on how wonderful it was that God would give everyone a chance to hear and accept the message. It was a testimony to her of His love. The Spirit was palpable. It was as though the room was filled with spirits testifying of the truthfulness of this work. And, I'm sure there were." 6/9/2014<span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlK8uGAQbjHqjinwInxeSFy7Sbf5-qBBHp73O8Vi6tKgFomZx8x3Rfly1iw3XwmiKn92VaLSpyBEG8uxyQKJEKNGvWiG_godUGKlOvYpvCXieMzDug_skt1hChcKjbtvRHtvDMylhvJb0/s1600/P1010872.JPG" width="300" /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">What a great week! Everything is going wonderful in Nice, I love being a missionary. Let me give you some of the highlights of the week. Hey, and I'm finally sending a picture of Soeur Patrick...</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fdfdfd; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Sabrine! Oh my gosh, she is incredible and absolutely ready for her baptism on the last Saturday of the transfer. Haha, she's going around planning the day without us even asking her to. We've been seeing her several times a week and have had some amazing lessons. The one that we had about the plan of salvation this week was one of the strongest ones I've had when teaching this subject. As she had already been taught the lesson, we reviewed it while placing specific emphasis on the Spirit World. We talked all about ordinances for the dead and genealogy. Sabrine commented on how wonderful it was that God would give everyone a chance to hear and accept the message. It was a testimony to her of His love. The Spirit was palpable. It was as though the room was filled with spirits testifying of the truthfulness of this work. And, I'm sure there were. Sabrine can't wait to start doing baptisms for her ancestors. And after talking to her mom about the lesson, her mom expressed her feelings about temple work, rekindling her desire to become reactivated in the church. Incredible!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We taught her another lesson today, in which she bore powerful testimony of the changes that she has seen in her life thanks to Christ. She shared how amazing it has been to see her entire character change-- being kinder and more patient, turning to the Lord in struggles, having purpose in life...not to mention things like quitting smoking! It's unreal to see the changes that the gospel makes in lives. I was telling her today in the lesson, that it's one of my favorite parts of being a missionary. Many people look for signs, they want a heavenly messanger to come down and tell them that God exists and the Jesus is the Christ. While these types of signs aren't at all common occurrences, seeing the fruits of living the gospel are. They are just as real and undeniable, if not more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We did some work in Monaco this week. That was cool, except a little bit terrible. We were visiting some members out there, but could not do any missionary work other than that. We had to take off our plaques because it's against the country's laws to wear them. Ahh, I freaked out a little bit. My heart physically hurt the whole time we were there. Plus side, the members were incredible and it was beautiful. We're going the for P-Day today.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">With Elder Andersen coming tomorrow we have been doing lots of advertising with the other missionaries in Nice. We made this huge board with a picture of him that says "Do you want to meet an Apostle of the Lord?" We set it up in the heart of the ville and all went to contact everyone and invite them to the conference. It's so cool to see all eight of us out on the streets together preaching the word. Haha, it makes me feel like one of the Book of Mormon heroes preparing people for the coming of the Lord...except the only enemy we have is the sun and not arrows!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This week was a little bizarre, in that I gave my "dying testimony". We were in Antibes for zone training and it was my turn to get up and do it. It was really surreal. But it went well. And, the best part was there was no need to get all sentimental because, the second I finished, I headed back out to work knowing that I still had several weeks left.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Funny note... Remember the woman that took us to the seafood restaurant last summer? We went to her house last night for dinner and she recreated the same meal.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I hope that everything is going well for you all have a great week. Thanks for everything!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-57366963380689600292014-06-09T17:07:00.004-07:002016-06-21T10:59:13.150-07:00"Basically, she is Giselle from "Enchanted" 6/2/2014<div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I hope that you have all had an incredible week. I sure have.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Maybe I'll start by telling you a little about my new companion (all of the pictures you've seen are actually not with her...more legitimate companionship photos to come...). Soeur Patrick is great. She is from Florida, but kind of Canada because her dad is serving as the mission president there for the Montreal Quebec Mission. She's really happy, loves singing, and musical theater. Basically, she is Giselle from "Enchanted". Exactly like her. She really loves people and is a hard worker. We are having a good time together.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">It's a really incredible time to be serving in Nice. Next week, Elder Andersen of the Twelve will be coming here for our zone conference. And, every missionary from our entire mission will be congregated here in Nice to see it (big deal, this never happens). There are lots of preparations to be made, but it's clear that our ville is about to explode with miracles after it is visited by an apostle of the Lord. We've been working a lot with members, less-actives, amis, and even people on the street to prepare them for this amazing experience.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">As far as teaching goes, we are teaching this really amazing girl named Sabrine. She is 18 years old and the sisters found her about a transfer ago. Get this... Her mom is a less-active returned missionary who married a muslim. She was contacted by the missionaries and now is the coolest, most solid amie. She comes to institute all the time (even giving the spiritual thoughts), has had lots of spiritual experiences, and has a baptismal date set for later this transfer. There are obviously some hurdles that we are going to have to get over (but what else is new). In any case, she is super prepared for the gospel and bore powerful testimony of how her relationship with Christ has grown this last lesson. I'm excited to be working with her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Our sector is needing a lot of building at the moment. It has been great, we hit the streets all week, talking to everyone in our path. It's so crazy, if I'm not talking to every person that I pass, I don't feel like a missionary. The Lord really has a way of inspiring us to find his children. We found some cool potentials and also saw many miracles-- lots of people who were taught in the past randomly called us asking to start meeting with us again. There tons of things already set up for this week.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I hope you all have a fantastic week! Good luck (Maddy with graduation, Mary with student government elections, and Liv with her performance)! You will all be great. Love you, talk to you soon!</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-88537291610568030612014-05-28T07:37:00.001-07:002016-06-21T10:59:24.727-07:00"I have been transfered to Nice. AHHHHH! I'm thoroughly convinced that this is the most beautiful place in the entire world (despite the sea food...I will not be going there again)." 5/26/14<div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Oh my gosh, I am so happy. I've literally been walking around freaking out all day (except for this morning when the freaking out was done while running along the boardwalk by the sea!!!). For those who haven't heard the spoiler, I have been transfered to Nice. AHHHHH! I'm thoroughly convinced that this is the most beautiful place in the entire world (despite the sea food...I will not be going there again). Although I was sad to be leaving my beautiful city of Bordeaux, I am excited to be hitting another ville (6 villes in 12 transfers, not bad). I'm convinced that God is trying to help me with my shortcomings by having me move so much...maps, memorizing names, and in this case, overcoming my whiteness with the crazy sun (and heat...yikes). It will be fantastic too because I will not be an STL nor a trainer. No extra responsibilities--only us, in our perfect ville, working really hard. I'll be serving with Soeur Patrick (haven't met her yet, but she will be great). We are going to kill it this transfer. Oh my gosh, we're going to work so hard, I'm absolutely thrilled.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">"Oh my, look at the view from where I had lunch today!"</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I guess I should tell you a little about my week (as I still love Talence and it holds a special place in my heart)...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Hutchins and I went to Bayonne and Pau on exchanges this week--both of which are gorgeous and were full of incredible experiences (sorry, don't think I only like my mission because I'm traveling Southern France...definitely not the important part). I got to do an exchange with Soeur Brimhall, it was so great. She is doing fabulous. We went to a cute little outerville and stumbled upon a Lindt chocolate factory. Yum. So, Soeur Hutchins and I celebrated the last of our exchanges for the transfer by eating delicious chocolate on the long train home.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'm so cultured! Okay, not really. But, we did have a ward activity this week in which three members of the Bordeaux Opera came and put on a concert (only in France, right?!). It also helped that one of the performers is a member in Talence. It was such a success. There were more non-members there than members. Score. There will be so many new amis out of that.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'm so thrilled, both Alain and Sonia set baptism dates this last week. They will both be baptized later next month. I loved getting to find and teach them, they are incredible! Cool sidenote: Soeur Luthi will be replacing me, so she will be there for them.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Speaking of baptism, I have another story. Five transfers ago, when I was up in Besancon with Soeur Pagano, we had a miracle day...that we're only coming to realize was actually a miracle. There was a really long day when we had no lessons, we were outside talking to people all day, and it was raining. I kid you not, after four hours on the streets, we had talked to 20 people (Besancon is small, but it was definitely affected by the rain too). We ended the day talking to this man who was cool and left us with his number. Unfortunately, he never responded to calls. Guess what? Soeur Ronndahl and her companion finally got a hold of him and Nicolas was baptized this last week. So incredible! None of our efforts are ever in vain.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Crazy story of the week... We were porting one day and were let in by these nice people...who ended up being slightly crazy. I will demonstrate this by including an excerpt from the brochure they left us with at our departure, "All life on earth had been scientifically created in laboratories by people from space...(those who created us) are being kept alive on their planet thanks to cloning and will officially return very soon to their embassy on earth...this is the largest UFO-related, non-profit organization in the world." Haha, that was interesting. There was an awkward prayer at the end where they insisted on holding our hands (gross) and then we booked it out of there.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I really love being a missionary, it is the absolute best experience. I love you all, have a great week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-310732371887448182014-05-28T07:35:00.001-07:002016-06-21T10:59:36.625-07:00 "I can't think of another time in my life when I felt so much love for and so strongly the power of the Book of Mormon." 5/19/14 <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Typical week in the life of a missionary, it was great. Haha, have you ever gone home at night and your jaw hurt because you had been smiling so much during the day? I'm convinced that all returned missionaries are bound to have wrinkles at least ten years earlier in life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cool experience this week... </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">At district meeting we were focusing on the Book of Mormon. Nothing new, I have one in my hands about 90% of the time (unless I'm sleeping). But, the spirit was so strong when during the meeting. There was a point when we all went around and shared our testimonies/how we gained our testimonies of the book. I can't think of another time in my life when I felt so much love for and so strongly the power of the Book of Mormon. It was so incredible.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Later that same day, I was on exchange and we had a lesson with Alain. He is so cool. After being super inspired in the meeting, we focused the lesson on the Book of Mormon. At the end of the rendez-vous, he recounted to us the changes he is seeing in his life. He said that he was talking to his wife (athiest and against him being baptized), and asked her if she had remarked a difference in him since he had started meeting with us. She confirmed that she had. Even his kids commented that he was a happier, kinder, and more patient person now than he was a few months ago. It was kind of a "click" moment for him. He and his family are seeing the gospel take root in his life. At the end of the lesson, we testified of the Book of Mormon and that it has the power to change lives. He stopped us there and affirmed, acknowledging that we had been claiming this for months but that he finally agreed with us. Then, he testified back to us and proclaimed his love for the book and the principles taught in it. He said that he even loved it more than the bible (a major statement for a devoted Catholic). It was such a cool experience, this book is powerful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Nothing else too crazy this week...three exchanges, really great meals from the members I adore, and several of our sisters' amis getting baptized. Everything is going well. Soeur Hutchins is great and I really love working with her. I love Talence too. Transfer calls are this week, donc, on verra. Have a wonderful week!</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-37543617379370982232014-05-28T07:16:00.001-07:002016-05-19T08:25:23.925-07:00"There is nothing like strengthening companionship unity than through performing lice treatments on the other person at 2 AM." 5/12/14<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">It was so wonderful to get to talk to you on Sunday! Let me tell you a bit about the week...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">With our apartment becoming a hotel for all of the sisters coming in for exchanges, it was only a matter of time before it became contaminated with lice. Yep my friends, some of the sisters that came in this week brought us lice. Specifically, brought me lice. It was a slightly (I maybe freaked out a little bit...) traumatic and dramatic situation that is currently under control. Lesson learned-- there is nothing like strengthening companionship unity than through performing lice treatments on the other person at 2 AM.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We had a cool lesson this week with one of our new amis. His name is Baba and is from Senegal (sidenote: listen to the names of some of our amis/potentials... Baba, Babakar, Fodabalba, Mamadou, Magda, Zenaida. You'd think I was serving in Africa or something). Anyways, he came in and was so open, he said he was searching for the truth. We explained to him about our purpose as missionaries and what he would need to do to know for himself. He said that he was will to try "to the end" (until he gets an answer).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Lots of our amis are great, but dropping off the face of the planet, going out of town for long periods of time, or facing hardcore oppostion. It's really sad. We're kind of in the "finding stage" at the moment.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sis Hulme with Sister Hutchins</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We ported into a woman this week who is 103 years old! She lived by herself, wasn't on any medication, and could walk, talk, and hear. Oh my gosh, my mind was blown.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Apparently we have this other cool amie that I've never met. At the beginning of last transfer we contacted this lady who was muslim and not interested. So, we asked her if she knew anyone else who could be. She gave us the name of her friend but we were never able to make contact with her. (this is where the story gets a bit fuzzy for me) A couple weeks ago, Soeur Hutchins called this friend and set up a rendez-vous. Her name is Sonia, she's 40 and has four kids. She understands everything taught and cries every time we pray. Today there was another lesson with her where she brought one of her friends. I'm super excited about her...if she is real. Soeur Hutchins and I joke that she's a made up amie because she has been taught four times but I have never been there because they've all been on exchanges. For all I know, Soeur Hutchins could be just pretending that we have amis. Haha, probably not true. Maybe I'll meet my amie on her baptism day...maybe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'm really grateful for my mission and all of the opportunities I have to grow. There's nothing like a mission to point out and make you blatantly aware of all your weaknesses, while also giving you the motivation, the desire, and the tools needed to change. In 1 Corinthians 12 it says, "For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me...for when I am weak, then am I strong." The Lord is working hard with me and allowing me to make the very most out of this short experience. I'm so happy and grateful. I love being a missionary!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I love you all. Congrats Ben on receiving your Eagle, so cool! Have a great week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-81778167043366827492014-05-05T12:51:00.001-07:002016-06-21T10:59:57.440-07:00"we tried out new ways to "trick" people into listening to us" 5/5/14 <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">We had a great week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Miracles...we tried out new ways to "trick" people into listening to us. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(role play with strangers) We had a lesson coming up in the day but hadn't had time to do a role play and practice it. So, we sat by a guy on the tram, told him we were missionaries, and asked him if we could role play one of our upcoming lessons with him (and threw in that he could correct our French...no French person can refuse that). Haha, it totally worked. After a 45 minute lesson, we decided that we needed to do this more often.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(port in the pouring rain) It rained a lot this week. Not complaining, it wasn't hot. Plus, we saw miracles because of it. I was on exchange and we were out contacting for only one hour and got let into two houses (mostly out of pity, but still...). We had some great conversations and have new potential amis.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(show up early for rendez-vous) We had a rendez-vous fixed with an older lady in the ward to share a short spiritual message. There was a miscommunication somewhere and we ended up being there an hour before she expected. Not a problem, her non-member grandson was at her house and was willing to sit in on our lesson (conveniently switched to the restoration).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Other news this week, the relief society bailed on making food for our huge zone conference the day before. Hence, we spent several hours that night baking a million banana bars. Waste of time, yes. Necessary, unfortunately. Good thing they were delicious.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">We planned another ward activity this last week. I know it seems that we do this every couple weeks...that's because we do. But, we're supposed to and they work really well. Luckily, this one was way low key. We had everyone bring food, board games, and their non-member friends. Listen how weird French people are... I tried to explain to them the simple art of placing all of the food on a huge table, sharing it between everyone, and eating while playing the games. This, of course, was an unimaginable proposal. The French way... everyone brings their own food, plates, utinsels, drinks, and even table cloths, they set up camp on their separate family table, eat for an hour, and then move on to games. Haha, oh well. Let them be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">We had several really incredible lessons with amis this week, specifically with Alain and Jeremy. This are becoming more and more clear for them and they are feeling the Spirit. I love teaching and watching people change. We are working really hard and seeing lots of miracles. I love being a missionary! Have a wonderful week, talk to you soon!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-12849781140878577982014-04-28T15:48:00.001-07:002016-05-19T08:26:39.354-07:00"At this specific point in her life, she can't become a member of the church. But, after the short moment that we spent together this week, she expressed the hope that she received and the faith that it would all work out one day. I know it will." 4/28/14<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Must start with a clarification for last week's letter... They do not sell duct tape in France. Yes, this was our first plan of action and I'm thoroughly convinced that it would have worked to fix the light, but it was not an option.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">What a crazy, great week... traveled to 2 villes across the country, 2 conferences, 2 exchanges, 2 new amis engaged to baptism, and getting to see all 4 of my mission daughters. Guess what we are doing all P-Day? Sleeping in our appartment.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">The week started with Jedi Council in Lyon. It was fantastic, as always. It was probably one of the most spiritual meetings I've had on my mission. It's so incredible being there with President and all of the leaders. Love them. Mostly, we learned how to inspire all of the other missionaries. We also talked about a new mission goal they'll be presenting this transfer. They want a huge mission-wide baptism on the 5th of July (talk about me going out with a bang), so we'll be setting goals and making plans for that. Cool moment, I heard President Roney pray for the first time (clarification: the first time I have heard it...that would be weird otherwise). Anyways, at the end of the meeting he said a beautiful prayer and blessed us all. So powerful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Right after the council, we took a train up to Besancon to pick up my legality...finally (now they can't kick me out of the country). I was so excited. I can't even explain how happy I was to be there, I love that place with all my heart. I feel like it is "my ville". We went to a ward FHE and I got to see some of my friends then we spent the night with the sisters. I got to see Soeur Ronndahl, who is great and just as Swedish as ever. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Best part of going to Besancon, we got to teach Sandrine (yes, even though we were traveling most of the week and bouncing between conferences, we made sure to fill every other waking second with lessons in the sectors). It was so amazing to see Sandrine, I have never had an amie like her, I love her so much. Unfortunately, it has been really difficult with her husband since I left, she hasn't been to church for months and is starting to question her testimony (but not really, that's just what her husband wants her to think). She explained how us coming was a miracle. She said that last weekend, out of the blue, she kept getting the feeling that she needed to write me and felt really bad that she didn't. Then, on Monday, she got the call from the sisters setting up a rendez-vous for us. She was so happy and picked up the Book of Mormon for the first time in over a month. So basically, the Spirit was really strong in the lesson, we talked about spiritual experiences we had had together, read scriptures, and bore powerful testimony. I cried. At this specific point in her life, she can't become a member of the church. But, after the short moment that we spent together this week, she expressed the hope that she received and the faith that it would all work out one day. I know it will.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Back in Bordeaux, we presented at zone training. That went well... I really love speaking and it is so much easier to do big presentations in English, so that was nice. There I got to see Soeur Pagano and Soeur Brimhall (finishing out the rest of my daughters for the week). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We were able to have our first rendez-vous with Dominique since she has been back in town. It went really well and, by the end of the lesson, she was insisting on resetting her baptismal date.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Random... We contacted a guy this week who lived in Provo, UT for a year and a half, with his member friend's family, and worked in the French classes at BYU. What?! Not baptized yet and not super interested at the moment. But, needless to say, I did stand there with my mouth open in shock for a measurable amount of time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">So, it was a really great week. Isn't being a missionary the best? I love you all, have a great week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-56054690727316984742014-04-21T06:20:00.005-07:002016-05-19T08:26:58.196-07:00"In the safest, least dumb blonde way possible, we stood on a chair and hit it with a hammer" 4/21/14<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Such a great week. I'm writing this email from the comfort of my mission home, Lyon (in an internet cafe that is playing the techno version of Pirates of the Caribbean songs and in the company of my lovely Soeur Luthi). We flew in this morning so that we'd be here for Jedi Council tomorrow. Love it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Meet my new companion, Soeur Hutchins. She is the best. She's from Connecticut, has 9 siblings, is 6 ft tall, and is studying athletic training at BYU. She plays every sport known to man (and would kill me at all of them)...except she fell twice during our runs in one week. She's a really great missionary, even though nearly every appointment we set all week fell through, we had the best time contacting for over 20 hours together. She brought the two most important things with her when coming to Bordeaux...a blender and a blue card (a mission card with unlimited funds). Funny... (her observations of me at the end of the week) "You wear lots of colors, are good at washing dishes, run every morning, and are too weird to go home." We get along so well.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">The whole week started with a big mess with the appartment. So, the light hanging in our living room was terrible. It had this huge, red lampshade over it that made the whole room look orange. Attempting to be pratical, we decided to take off the outer lamp shade. In the safest, least dumb blonde way possible, we stood on a chair and hit it with a hammer. Unfortunately, this execution revealed the fact that the light was not connected well to the ceiling (note that the light was already broken and would have tragically fallen on one of us at one point or another if we had not discovered this fault). So, we spent a good amount of time in the only Home Depot-like store in France, learned a lot of crazy vocab, and attempted to become a electricians, and then had the elders come fix it. Moment of shame. Memories.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Like I mentioned earlier, basically everything fell through this week. Even members canceled on us. Example... We took an hour-long bus to the middle of nowhere to meet a member and teach a lesson. She bailed, which left us in the desert with no returning buses for hours. Eventually, we found food and then got pick up by another member.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We found 20 euros on the ground and got to eat really great pastries as a result. This was not the only miracle this week, don't worry. We found some cool people, Dominique finally came back from Paris, and Talence has the most incredible members. Love them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Easter was great, I hope you enjoyed it... although I'm not sure how you were able to celebrate it without the Ten Commandments or coconut cake. I leave and this is what happens, everything gets ruined. Glad I wasn't there for that. I love you all, have a great week.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-28838211430820884382014-04-18T07:34:00.002-07:002016-05-19T08:27:19.321-07:00"There were five baptisms between our district and our sisters…that's basically double our mission's weekly average!" 4/14/14<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">The news... I'm devistated. Soeur Stevens is getting moved all the way across the country to Annemasse. I am so sad, she was the greatest. I am happy though, I'll be staying here in Talence for another transfer. I love it so much, I can't even imagine leaving. My new companion is Soeur Hutchins, her train will come in later today. She's a great missionary, really funny, but she is crazy. My life is about to get turned up-side-down, stay-tuned for hilarious updates. I'm also really happy because we got to keep all of our companionships of sisters. Let the transfer begin...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Scary fact... Apparently Bordeaux summers are always hotter than Aix-en-Provence summers. This is potentially fatal. I already have a good tan line.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Member moment... How to be a good member, take some advice from the Geney's. You invite the missionaries over for a delicious lunch and then take them to your incredible, Scottish neighbor and let them teach her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Funny miracle... One night we were out porting for a couple hours. Everyone answered the door (weird...that never happens), but no one would talk to us. Sometimes it surprises me how people can be so mean to people that are so happy. Haha, don't worry, it didn't phase me, I was just utterly confused. So, we got to the last door and this lady answered and the first thing that she said was, "Ah, you're so cute." That was a shocker. In short, we talked to her and her young daughter for a little bit. They were so nice. She wasn't really interested, but we left her with a Book of Mormon and she left us with two huge bottles of expensive make-up remover (she sells make-up for a living). Random, but it was great. I love little tender mercies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Baptisms... This week was so incredible. There were five baptisms between our district and our sisters. That's crazy, that's basically double our mission's weekly average! I was so excited, we were able to attend two of them. Even though the baptisms of our amis didn't work out this transfer, I'm pretty sure that I couldn't have been happier to see all of the others. And, we were able to have four of our amis in attendance! So many cool people just came closer to Christ!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Weird sidenote... Since I have been in Bordeaux, none of the computers that we've used have had the option to change the keyboard to the English setting...explains the shorter letters (did you know that on the French keyboard you have to shift to use a period but not an explanation point...French people are so dramatic). Anyways, we're using a different place today and I switched it to English and I can't type anymore. Quickly changed it back to French. Such a struggle.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ward activities... After the sucess of our American Night, we have spent this last transfer planning another ward activity. We did an International/Olympics Night, full of games and food from around the world. It was incredible. At first, we were kind of disappointed because there wasn't a huge turnout. But, as the night went on, we realized that it was exactly what was needed. The majority of the people there were amis and less-actives. That meant that all of the people that would normally be the quite ones in the back were on center stage and really came out of their shells (two cliches in one sentence...dang it). It was a fantastic night, with mostly good but occasionally bizarre food and tons of laughter. Ward activities are a winner.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">So basically, it was a great week and I love being a missionary. But what else is new? I love you all, have a great Easter!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-51785223944028664512014-04-18T07:25:00.002-07:002016-05-19T08:27:44.361-07:00"Loud messages (from Conference)--Be covenant-keeping-loving, use times of trial to show and fortify faith, be a true disciple of Christ--not separating your worldly and spiritual lives, and to love, listen to, and be patient with others." 4/7/14<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">This week was so wonderful, I love being a missionary so so much. It's the greatest thing in the entire world. Nothing super crazy to report, but I will give you some updates...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We have been teaching this guy named Jeremy, he's really cool. He is dating a member from Perpignan and is set on becoming a member himself. Though he doesn't have much of a religious background, Matilde (his girlfriend) has told him basically everything about the church. While his whole objective behind meeting with us originally was for her, it's incredible to see his intentions slowly turn more towards himself and his personal relationship with God. We're excited because Matilde will be coming into town this week and will be helping us with some lessons.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cool miracle-- We started teaching a Bulgarian family this week and got to use it as an excuse to have a less-active Bulgarian member help us teach. Even though they ended up being slightly crazy Bulgarian gypsies who had met with TJ's (Jehovah's Witnesses) and weren't interested in our message, it was a good experience for the member.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">It's really great right now because we have lots of people to teach, we found another guy this week who we saw nearly every day and who came to conference. Everything is going well, we're working hard and we are happy. I was super excited about conference, of course, and was so inspired by all of my favorites. Loud messages (keeping in mind that I haven't seen the whole thing)-- Be covenant-keeping/covenant-loving, use times of trial to show and fortify faith, be a true disciple of Christ--not separating your worldly and spiritual lives, and to love, listen to, and be patient with others. I love general conference and have some newly-vamped goals for the upcoming transfer (pray that Soeur Stevens and I get to stay in Talence).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Happy Birthday Mom! Isn't it so perfect that your birthday is smack dab in the middle of the month when all the flowers bloom? I'm taking pictures of the ones in France for you. You are the greatest and such an inspiration to me. You're always so thoughtful, your letters make me laugh and they strengthen my testimony. Cheesy, but it will be better in the letter I'm sending. Love you!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-83318876671589672062014-03-31T07:06:00.003-07:002016-05-19T08:28:00.465-07:00"Wow, I think this is the start of something new and really great in my life." an investigator <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">How are you all? I am wonderful, like always. I don't have tons of time to write today because we are headed off to a castle (what a life...), but I'll give you a few highlights of the week.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">This week was kind of weird, with conference on Monday and P-Day on Tuesday, it seemed that our week was cut really short. Wednesday we had a quick exchange with Eysing, which was great, and then took a train out to Pau for another one with those sisters. We got back and Soeur Stevens was sick all day Friday, she's better now, no worries. So, by Saturday, our sector had been seriously neglected and we had taught a grand total of one lesson during the week. Rough. But, we worked really hard Saturday and Sunday, actually finishing the week rather strong.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We had four (rather international) new amis... Wei Li (China), Zenaida (Cape Vert), Nabil (Morroco), and Jeremy (France). And, they're all just as different as the countries they come from... non-practicing muslim with sincere questions, confused agnostic that doesn't speak good French or English (and may or may not be in love with my companion), a referral who is currently dating a member, and a mom with a young family who is believing but searching for a church. I'm really grateful that God is going to help us out and that He knows all of these people perfectly, otherwise this young, blonde, mormon from Utah would be totally lost. The gospel can bless them all. At the end of one of these lessons, the amie commented, "Wow, I think this is the start of something new and really great in my life." She was right.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I hope that you all have a great week. Enjoy general conference and cross your fingers that Elder Bednar doesn't speak in the Sunday afternoon session (the only one I won't be able to watch). Thanks. Love you all!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime, </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-12701574589941636012014-03-27T13:20:00.005-07:002016-05-19T08:28:17.229-07:00"God's hand is really in this work and He has an active plan to get each of His children back to Him" 2/25<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5rgZtoRHioVhhD4rCbElPIEE4pl637eIrKvFULoGrqfmcUIY8ZjS8u27GxvLRLwu5R1UJAObrsslHMfPFklFk4c3WhdvWWVhmNrTQjny-bNbvU7OU7QNiI6K0q0Ob_H7jILpR0HgABE/s1600/P1010740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK5rgZtoRHioVhhD4rCbElPIEE4pl637eIrKvFULoGrqfmcUIY8ZjS8u27GxvLRLwu5R1UJAObrsslHMfPFklFk4c3WhdvWWVhmNrTQjny-bNbvU7OU7QNiI6K0q0Ob_H7jILpR0HgABE/s1600/P1010740.JPG" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">This week was wonderful, probably the hardest one in my mission that I can think of at the moment. There were lots of things going on with amis and our sisters that were difficult, but I'm so grateful for the experiences. I learned so much. And, Heavenly Father is really great, he threw in a few miracles at the end...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">After church on Sunday, the relief society president came up to us and said that her non-member husband was ready to start receiving the missionary lessons. We start teaching him soon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Dominique is fantastic and actively working towards her baptism. She is accepting everything really well and is so honest in her intent. We learned more of her backstory this week that made her even more of a miracle. Normally, Dominique lives in Paris with her husband and the rest of her family. But, as of the end of January, she spends the majority of the time here in Bordeaux helping take care of her daughter and young granddaughters because the father is in the military. About once a month, she spends a week in Paris--which is great, but was a little stressful for us trying to get her prepared for the baptism. We called the Paris sisters this week and found out that Dominique had first met the missionaries in 2010. After quickly losing contact, she was "refound" this last October. The missionaries had been seeing her off and on since then, but she wasn't really progressing. The last entry about her was at the end of January, explaining that she would be coming to Bordeaux. This is where we come in-- we ported into her on Fevrier 1st-- two days later! (I literally debated whether it was "February" or "Febuary" for several minutes before going with the French word). Anyways, such a miracle. The missionaries in Paris are currently teaching her granddaughter, who is to be baptized the day after her, and have agreed to visit Dominique during her vacation in Paris this week. God's hand is really in this work and He has an active plan to get each of His children back to Him.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Like I said earlier, this week was a little rough. Just as an update-- we were working with Joseph and a lot of things came up that made it impossible for him to be baptized or for us to continue teaching him. Everything is fine now, we know that it all turned out the way it was supposed to and we feel peace moving forward.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I really felt the atonement working in my life this week as we found our way through all of the struggles, stress, and tears. I'm not sure that I have ever felt so small and incapable of the things that I was put up against. But, I know that the Lord is mindful of us and gives us the strength that we need to overcome the trials of our faith. Missions are faith builders. There is a reason that it is the first principle of the gospel, it's the initiatory precursor to the other crucial steps. I'm really happy to have had a week that built my faith and made me more easily see the atonement's power. I have been praying to strengthen this testimony so that I can more powerfully share it with others. I'm excited to see the miracles that will follow this coming week after the boost in faith that I just received. I love the scripture in Alma 29, "Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?" I love being a missionary.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Have a wonderful week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-75203142715043447572014-03-18T18:53:00.001-07:002016-05-19T08:28:35.959-07:00"We climbed the biggest sand dune in Europe, and sat on top of it looking out at the Atlantic. It was basically incredible." 3/18/14<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8GpBh09TD-Ln_5K14t5gH15AXbFh3kUWOY2B7MiuqK-AQ18eJUZIOCAXYaLwgH9aNrysi6Y2-Y14o_oiYJN35M9TddwFsafaoCc0VgrJb25z3_i5c_87KXR73cCbootjdviVSRaZm8Y/s1600/P1010729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF8GpBh09TD-Ln_5K14t5gH15AXbFh3kUWOY2B7MiuqK-AQ18eJUZIOCAXYaLwgH9aNrysi6Y2-Y14o_oiYJN35M9TddwFsafaoCc0VgrJb25z3_i5c_87KXR73cCbootjdviVSRaZm8Y/s1600/P1010729.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Hey, sorry it's a little late this week. But it's fine, I had a good excuse. Yesterday we went to Acharcon, climbed the biggest sand dune in Europe, and sat on top of it looking out at the Atlantic. It was basically incredible. Even though the pictures don't give it justice, assume that it is a billion times bigger than the biggest sand dune you've ever seen and that it's a crazy good work-out to run up.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Wow, what a week. Haha, I thought that I would maybe give you a sneak peek into my life by telling you the itinery for the first half of the week...</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Monday (supposedly P-day), we did grocery shopping and emails (the regulars) and then had approximately 20 to ourselves--so we ate fresh strawberries and drank diet coke on a bench in the sun. It was fantastic. After our little moment of relaxation, we sprinted off to a rendez-vous with Dominique (who is doing wonderful and testified of how much she loves the Book of Mormon). We finished the lesson and headed straight to the airport with the zone leaders to catch the plane for Jedi Council (leadership conference) in Lyon. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">It was a really great meeting, topped off by the fact that Soeur Bentley and Soeur Luthi are the newest STL's (my MTC companion and my baby bleue, couldn't be more proud). At the council, President revealed his newest tactic for converting (if you can call it that...haha, although that makes it sound really secret and epic). He's changing the face of contacting for the mission by turning it into a questionnaire. At first, it seemed like a bizarre idea, like we were salesman or something. But, it totally works (of course, because it was inspired). A good portion of the council was spent testing it out and putting it into practice. Way more people stopped to talk to us and it gave us time to actually teach and testify. With us all contacting hundreds of people a week, this is really going to help the efficiency of it by creating conversations. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">The way home was the biggest adventure, as we ended up being extremely late for the plane, sprinting through the whole airport, getting momentarily stopped at security because there were about 40 bobby pins in my hair and it set of the detector (don't worry, it was fine...), and missing the plane by ten minutes (just to clarify, not caused by my hair). As a result, we had to spend another night in Lyon, woke up at 4 AM the next morning, and by the time we got back to our apartment in Bordeaux around 8 AM, we had two sisters waiting at the door ready for an exchange. Not a problem. We did the exchange, everything went great. The next morning we got up, planned our presentation for 20 minutes, and ran off to zone training to give it....and played the ultimate hosts for all of the sisters that came in for the training (running around chatting with and sparking everyone).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cool moment of the week... We taught Alain the word of wisdom. He totally understood it all and at the end of the lesson profusely thanked us for teaching him about it (even though he had a problem with several of the parts). He said that this commandment was exactly the next thing that he needed to push his spirituality to the next level and make him closer to God. Isn't that how it should be? The more we love God and the more converted we are, the more happily and anxiously we accept His counsel. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">French culture moment of the week... So the main meal every day here is lunch. Literally, I'm pretty sure that the whole French culture revolves around their "midi repas". For two hours, from 12 PM to 2 PM, everything in the country closes (including most food places...that part never made sense to me), everyone goes home from work and school, and they all eat their big, coursed meal together. It's a really great concept as far as family togetherness goes, although the pratical side of me still can't wrap my mind around it. But, I guess it's just one of those cultural things to make me laugh, we have actually turned it into a game. If we are out contacting during this time, we have a contest to see how many people use the excuse that they have to go eat as the reason not to talk to us. Even if it seems ridiculous to us, it's a REALLY big deal.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9Vd6v1cIxo9LYhrpuvBLesHj71V8NHMD3ugml86TmCvmAgOjtB_GNPGn87AKhbc1sk9BM67OsNgYssgDvJrndh7OMyVaG8VX2zvVbSGAE-VIy5mLtdWWRJz_dVIPmcIWn8pQO7S8Y7Q/s1600/P1010724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU9Vd6v1cIxo9LYhrpuvBLesHj71V8NHMD3ugml86TmCvmAgOjtB_GNPGn87AKhbc1sk9BM67OsNgYssgDvJrndh7OMyVaG8VX2zvVbSGAE-VIy5mLtdWWRJz_dVIPmcIWn8pQO7S8Y7Q/s1600/P1010724.JPG" width="300" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Joseph has been facing a lot of opposition this week in preparation for his baptism. It's kind of a day to day thing with him, but we are still working towards it. It's stressful, but it's actually really cool to be working with someone that could be such an enormous miracle. I'll keep you updated.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Other than that, my life is really great. I absolutely love being a missionary. I love you all, have a great week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-87371167673486466992014-03-14T14:28:00.001-07:002016-05-19T08:28:54.444-07:00"Summer is coming so early…bring on the red-faced photos." 3/10/14<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wow, it's a beautiful day in France... a little hot for my taste, but the average human says that it's a nice temperature. This last week has been the first time that I have seen the sun since being in Bordeaux. Summer is coming so early. Haha, bring on the red-faced photos.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Wonderful week...as usual. (sometimes I wonder if this is normal for other missionaries, I must just be really blessed)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We did some service for a family in the ward this week who is preparing to move. I was able to use my random talent of packing and organizing boxes. In the least prideful way possible, I can comfortably say that I am an expert. We really helped them out and had a fantastic time doing it.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We're seeing a miracle with Joseph. He bought an electronic cigarette which only has water vapor in it and he has QUIT SMOKING as of Friday! Wow! We will see how it goes, but that is a miracle in and of itself. He is still really set on being baptized quick--right now the struggle is making sure that he really understands everything and he is going to stay in the church. That is a missionary's worst fear and there are a lot of inactives in France... But he is really progressing and even though he's a little werid, we sure love him! We're so blessed to have the Spirit to know how to help people and to direct us in the work. Whatever happens, we can have peace knowing that it is inspired.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Another miracle this week is with our new ami, Prince. He is from Africa but has spent a lot of time in the States. He was found during our missionary day with the youth. In 2006, he met the missionaries and went to the Talence ward for five month, but somehow lost contact. He is cool, really sincere and wants to know the truth. He recently got divorced and has two sons- one is 8 and the other is 3. So cute! We taught him twice this week and it went really well. It's fun teaching in English and I feel like I'm more myself. The only problem is that he is going out of town for two months in April. It's a little frustrating because he wants to get baptized, we will keep working with him!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A couple weeks ago we contacted this really cool man from Serbia who was here in France a few weeks for work. It was a really good conversation and at the end he told us that we had convinced him to visit our church when he returned home. This last week, we saw some members from Bordeaux (who are American) who recounted to us that they had met this man. They said that they were on a train and, while talking to the man next to them, told him that they were American. Immediately the man answered, "Oh, I have two American friends, Sister Stevens and Sister Hulme." Haha, how cool is that? Then they got to talking about the gospel. He'll be a member one day. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our sector is really crazy right now and we have so much work. It literally blows my mind that it was dead so recently. We're teaching lots and we are working lots with members (getting into at least two of their homes a day). I really really love Bordeaux and I'm so happy with what I'm doing. It's even more fun being an STL this transfer because I feel like I'm best friends with all of the twenty sisters. Crazy, but true. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I hope you all have a great week. Hey, this week Maddy becomes a legal adult. That's weird. I hope you have the most fantastic birthday. I'm so glad that we are friends, even from our littlest days when we played Barbie's (sorry that I always stole the good ones...). You are really dedicated, loving, and patient. Haha, you are also funny and are just an overall fun person to be around. Love you!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Je vous aime,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-22533002420761506162014-03-03T14:36:00.001-08:002016-05-19T08:29:17.083-07:00"Oh well, bring it on." 3/3/14<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First and foremost, no one needs to fret, I'm staying in Bordeaux with Soeur Stevens. So, basically everything is the same, except we were given more sisters to be over. Haha, we almost have double the other STL companionships. I think this may have slipped their minds as they made the new assignments, this is what happens when they you're in the corner of the mission. Oh well, bring it on. We're excited.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm glad that you got my journal and are enjoying it....I forgot about all of those crazy things that I didn't tell you about in letters. Oh my days in Aix...no need to stress now!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This week was a crazy week of ups and downs. The biggest miracle was with Joseph, he is an old ami that was taught in the summer (he was actually first taught by Soeur Pfost--my mission mom). Unfortuately, he got super sick and was in the hospital for 6 months but now is BACK and wants to get baptized! He is 56 years old, French (this actually must be a qualifier) and a concert pianist (he is INCREDIBLE). Problem... he has also been smoking almost a pack a day for 40 years. Luckily, he hs a lot of support. The biggest part of this miracle is that there was a member Frere Cadeau, who called Joseph every single day for 6 months and visited him too. He is the reason that Joseph is back! Members are the greatest. We met with him twice this week and he told us how badly he wants to get baptized. We tried to set a practical date with him in order to make sure that he is totally ready. But, he was not having it and wants to be baptized immediately--now we're going to be seeing him nearly daily for the next few weeks and pray for a miracle.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One of the craziest things that happened this week was the lock on our front door broke and we were locked both out of our apartment and in our apartment at various times of the week. Positive-- I got to improve my French vocabulary and now know the word for "locksmith". It really wasted a lot of time and was infuriating. It is still not fixed so we have to leave a side window cracked open so we can crawl through it...just in case.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Nothing else really, slower week. It was "les vacances", meaning that everything in France was closed and everyone was out of town. Luckily, we got to meet with some fantastic members and had a great time with them.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I hope you all have a wonderful week, I love being a missionary!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Je vous aime,</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-6825012247226054592014-03-02T21:11:00.003-08:002016-05-19T08:29:41.252-07:00"…the littlest daughter saying the prayer and thanking God for 'the pretty ladies who came to talk about You.'" 2/24/13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">(Haha, do you like how uniform the subject, the intro, and the closing off all my emails have been? I'm only trying to make sure that you don't forget me and the sometimes crazy lengths that I go to to make things perfectly organized...)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">What a wonderful week. It all started with an exchange in Montauban, a cute French ville next to Toulouse. Loved it! When we came back Wednesday, the week was lined up with tons of teaching and miracles...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">A couple weeks ago, I was porting with a sister on exchange (this seems to be the start of many of my stories). We found this lady who told us to come back later to teach her. And, despite the fact that she didn't confirm the rendez-vous, we decided to give it a try anyway and pray for a miracle. Flash foreward to an exchange this week with a different sister, we go to her house and she was there with her three beautiful children (ages 13, 8, and 6). Miracle. Sandrine (appreciate the irony) is a non-practicing Christian and really wants her children to learn about God. So, we taught a simple lesson about Jesus and talked about the Book of Mormon. It was golden. Picture three little kids, sitting on short chairs in a line, attentively listening to our lesson (I've never seen primary go so well). They all loved it and Sandrine was really excited about the Book of Mormon and living prophets. The lesson ended with the littlest daughter saying the prayer and thanking God for "the pretty ladies who came to talk about You," and her and her sister putting on a mini performance for us by singing American songs. Oh my gosh, so cool. We're finding families!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Let me tell you more about one of my favorite amis, remember Alain (scroll back three weeks if not...)? He is progressing so well. He went from not wanting to meet with us only weeks ago to excitingly coming to lessons to share with us how the gospel is changing his life. He is so dedicated to learning and is sincerely studying between rendez-vous. There is such a light about him, a literal physical difference. Good and bad news this week, we found out what is holding him back from becoming a member-- he has a beautiful family, a wife and two teenage children. Problem-- His wife is completely athiest and wants nothing to do with the church. Why is this always the catch? Obviously families are essential to the gospel, the major unit--I think this makes them the biggest blessing but also an extremely difficult obstacle for some. Luckily, we are sure that Alain's wife's heart will be softened and that this perfect family of four will soon be assembled on the benches of our chapel (random fact--our chapel was the second one ever built in France and the only one I've ever seen with benches...benches are better for families, you can always squeeze to find more room.) Anyways, he is fantastic and, in his own words, is ready to "daily live the gospel".</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">One of the greatest parts of this week was an awesome activity we organized with the young men and young women (okay, the young mens president did most of it...but we helped)! It was a whole missionary day. The youth came to the church Friday night and slept at the member's homes. They woke up at 6:30 the next day, worked-out, etc. That's when we came into the picture. We did studies with them, had a few presentations, and took them out contacting! Soeur Stevens and I took 4 young women with us. We went to a big, open part in the heart of Bordeaux and they were terrified (as they rightfully should have been). But, once they started doing it, they loved it! We gave out 3 Book of Mormons and got 3 numbers in 30 minutes! They were really pumped, it was so cute. The rest of the day we took them to a lesson and then to our DMP's house. They loved the whole day. When we were walking to our DMP's house it started pouring rain and we all got soaked-- it was a real mission experience. The testimony meeting at the end was fantastic, as all of the youth involved expressed their desires to serve missions. Success.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I love hearing from you all and am so proud of your many successes. I have the best family in the world! Thank you for all of your love and support. I love you and I love being a missionary!</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-74937347151777626482014-02-18T17:47:00.003-08:002016-05-19T08:30:41.964-07:00"The miracles…" 2/17/14<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">My life is so fun, I love it. So much stuff to do, there is never a dull moment. In the last three weeks, there have only been TWO days (Sundays) that have been solely Soeur Stevens and me without any other sisters. It's a little bit bizarre and sometimes makes me a little sad that I don't get to spend more time with my friend. That's okay, I have come up with a solution...now I've printed a picture of Soeur Stevens and stuck it in my scriptures next to the picture of my family...because I almost see her as much as them.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">After spending time last week in the city of Pao (a cool city down south surrounded by mountains with glaciers), we had an adventure up north in Limoges. This city is beautiful and is known throughout the world as the City of Porcelaine. All of the buildings and streets literally glitter!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br />Last week I had ported into this lady and taught her on an exchange, so we went to see her for the second lesson. We knocked on her door and her sister opened and was not happy to see us, she said come back in 10 minutes. We were with a member so we decided to do some porting for ten minutes! And literally the second door we knocked on opened. It was the cutest lady in the world who we are teaching next week, she's Armanian! The member was SO excited. Even better, there is an Armanian sister in our ward who is going to come to the lesson with us next week and she thinks that she knows her! Isn't it incredible how God puts people in our paths?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Dominique accepted a baptismal date this week.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">So the other day I was running and hurt my leg. It was kind of not a big deal but then it got worse. I woke up one morning after an exchange and literally couldn't walk. I just had pulled a muscle or something, but I couldn't put any pressure on my right leg (kind of a necessity for walking). So, we traveled a lot that day and everything worked out being fine, but I was really nervous for what I would do the next day on exchange. We tend to walk...A LOT. The next day, I woke up and my leg didn't hurt at all. Throughout the day, I could tell that it was really tight and should have been in pain, but I didn't feel anything. Such a miracle, that became even more evident as I came home that night. As I took off my shoes and placed that foot on the floor, it immediately restarted with the pain felt the day before. God really helped me be capable to do the work that He needed me to. (my leg is fine, don't stress)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We got a call from a lady this week who essentially told us that she had been taught by the sisters in the past, lost contact when she went on vacation, and wants to start meeting with us again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We have the coolest new amie! We contacted Lisha on the street and she came to church (this really nearly ever happens). She is 19, is from China, and is studying here. Haha, sound familiar? Who knew I would be serving my mission in Asia while still getting to eat French bread? Cool part, her parents and grandparents are Christians from China. I'm no expert, but I don't think that is very common. We are teaching her this week and are super excited. The Relief Society just adored her, it was the cutest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I read a scripture this week that I really like. I'm sorry I don't send spiritual thoughts more often, I just really feel like I would rather spend time telling you miracles. Christ taught in stories and I find them inspirational, so there's my reasoning. Anyways, we'll break the trend this week. In Alma 10:6, Amulek explains that at one point in his life he "knew concerning these things (the gospel), yet (he) would not know..." I thought this was interesting because there are times when we know the teachings of the gospel, but they're not understood or embedded enough in our heart that we experience change because of it. I'm really greatful that the gospel is not just an institution where action equals reward. While it's true that when you keep the commandments you are blessed, I feel that the greatest blessing we receive is the change within ourselves. The gospel is all about who we become through the things that we do. I have seen this principle time and time again on my mission, including within myself. While I still have a long ways to go, I can already see that I am a very different person than I was when I started, all because of the application of the gospel. Isn't it amazing that Christ permits us to do this?</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I love you all, have a fantastic week. Thanks for all of the support.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-46513956087780231752014-02-10T12:19:00.003-08:002014-02-10T12:25:42.230-08:00"So we prayed and picked a random building…and the fourth door we knocked was her's." 2/10/14<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bordeaux </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Isn't being a missionary the best? Awesome week that all started with zone conference. Two highlights (not necessarily the spiritual ones...) First, President started his presentation by showing us Super Bowl commercials (I'm not really sure if that would be a good highlight, but I really enjoyed it). Isn't President Roney the best? Second, his quote of the conference... We were talking about love and how it is important to love all of the people on the street and he explained, "If you're really having a hard time loving the French people, just remind yourself that they gave us the Statue of Liberty, and that was very nice of them." Voila, a peek into zone conference.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Other than that, we saw so many miracles this week, let me share a few...</i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO5ZCyM3nZCtsN97oAitHmoM-XdN4NWz4CIkkn686IJfobrZSUpFBG7wclvqoNLWQi5dcZjKb_HHxmEeGJ1RmEOM6Z9flCXzs3IZyyOumhYY92sQcSzD5VmMd0G8UcYUJ2tJjyQyBtRFg/s1600/P1010667.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO5ZCyM3nZCtsN97oAitHmoM-XdN4NWz4CIkkn686IJfobrZSUpFBG7wclvqoNLWQi5dcZjKb_HHxmEeGJ1RmEOM6Z9flCXzs3IZyyOumhYY92sQcSzD5VmMd0G8UcYUJ2tJjyQyBtRFg/s1600/P1010667.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sister Hulme and Sister Stevens</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">On Monday, we decided to spend some of our P-day with this family in the ward. They've been through a lot this last year, including losing their dad, and we thought they were in need of some love. So, we went shopping with the mom and her 14 year old daughter, Lauralie. In one of the stores, the salesman remarked that Lauralie was speaking English (because she had been practicing with us). Immediately she turned the conversation into a moment to share the gospel. The contact ended with her leaving him with our card and a Book of Mormon. She did the entire thing, I'm not sure that we said anything. It was really incredible and she was so touched. She couldn't stop talking about how amazing the experience was for the rest of the night. She wants to serve a mission. God knew that she needed that moment.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">We had contacted a young mom with her son about a week ago and had set up a rendez-vous for this week. The problem was, she wanted to meet at her house and we didn't exactly have her address. When we had originally talked to her, she pointed to the building across from the bus stop. So, we gave it a try. But when we got there, to our horror (I use this word not to be dramatic, but to show how terribly disturbing this was to someone who is directionally challenged), there were about ten huge buildings with at least seven entrances for each. And, on top of that, we didn't have her last name so we couldn't find it on the lists. And, she didn't answer the phone. We didn't lose all hope, but the chances of us finding her were seeming really slim and the rendez-vous was to start ten minutes later. So, we prayed and picked a random building to port. And, naturally, someone showed up that minute to let us in and the fourth door that we knocked was her's. We were early, the lesson went great, and we will be seeing Stella again this week.</i></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHC2TdrtGOOVUvYGIwaaEeKNfHZz9WKwSPnRu-N52dsw75VzpC7GTCXm6WRXxLDPKlFApKEgNhrUvRqnf4ncvHQYO9cyyQAPf7aK6rm74N8jAGLi-e9hAHiXmBCwuWHrsfkMBCnxYrFU/s1600/P1010669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifHC2TdrtGOOVUvYGIwaaEeKNfHZz9WKwSPnRu-N52dsw75VzpC7GTCXm6WRXxLDPKlFApKEgNhrUvRqnf4ncvHQYO9cyyQAPf7aK6rm74N8jAGLi-e9hAHiXmBCwuWHrsfkMBCnxYrFU/s1600/P1010669.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former Companion, Sister Pagano</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Isn't it the best moment in the world when your new amie has an incredible time her first day at church? Dominique, the grandma we ported into last week, came to church, became very best friends with the sister we've been teaching with, and cried. She kepted saying things like, "I feel so good here", "I never want to leave", "If I'm crying, it's because I'm happy." Such an incredible experience.</i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darling Lancelot Kids</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Member missionary work... Soeur Lancelot, this awesome sister in the ward, really felt like she needed to do more missionary work. She mustered up all of the courage that she had and called her best friend in the world, asking if she could stop by with us. Unfortunately, her friend wasn't available, but she worked with us anyway. She came with us and ported every door in her neighborhood. It was such a touching experience. She was so scared and embarrassed, but she did it. Every single person said no, it was really sad. But, I was still so impressed with her courage and desire to share the gospel. If only every member could be like her. Could you imagine? Afterwards we stayed out porting for a few more hours in the hail and freezing weather. No success for us either but it was still a great learning experience for me and showed me the person I want to be after my mission. We spent the rest of the night with Soeur Lancelot's adorable family.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Soeur Teruhia, the less active Tahitian lady, came to church again! Another miracle happened with her because of this Tahitian lady in the ward, Soeur Velma. She is a super strong member but lives so far away she has to stay with people on Saturday nights because there are no trains early enough Sunday. Soeur Teruhia volunteered to have her stay with her every Saturday and they can go to church together on Sundays!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Oh, and we have a new ami, Mikael, that accepted a baptismal date this week.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Sorry, I feel like these have gotten rather long lately, I just want to share everything. I love my companion, our ward, our amis, our sector, and all of the incredible sisters that I've been serving and doing exchanges with. I love you all too, have a great week!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</i></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-67948092312286028862014-02-04T19:03:00.002-08:002016-05-19T08:31:03.637-07:00"It was like 10 minutes of pure gold." 2/3/14<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Oh my gosh, I feel like my life just got crazy. I completely crash every night when I go to bed. I've really got to work on not turning into one of those people who sleep through all of the meetings in church...haha yesterday seems a bit hazy. But, it's because we have been working so hard. This last week was wonderful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">First off, Jedi Council was fantastic. Loved it. Flying was really weird, we both had these really freaky "deja vu" (French word...)/looking foreward moments when the plane was landing. I was defnintely not ready for that and would prefer not to have any other flights that would remind me of my eminent fate this summer. I felt like I learned so much at the conference and was thrilled to be counseling with many of my missionary idols. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I received so much amazing revelation during the conference. People always say that inspiration comes through the Spirit and not necessarily the words that come out of the mouth of the speaker. I had such a cool experience with that. I remember at one point in the conference getting all of this revelation for worries and questions that I had. Haha, it was like 10 minutes of pure gold. I thought the assistants were the most inspired people in the world (maybe they are, but...) and was writing down every word I was "hearing". After a while, I "clicked" back into the conversation and was super super confused. None of the comments made sense. No one knew what the real topic of the conversation was. Haha, then I realized that it was just me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Our mission is really putting an emphasis on love this coming year, this is the main thing that we are to be teaching other missionaries. President explained that if we can truly teach others to love, we will change the entire mission. It was incredible to recognize what a profound statement that was while working with our sisters this week. There were several companionships that saw unreal miracles, going from 0 to up to 5 amis with set baptism dates (even in some of the smallest, most struggling villes of the mission). As Soeur Stevens and I were reflecting on this, it dawned on us that these sisters who were seeing so much success were the strongest companionships in our zones. While they are all wonderful missionaries, these companionships were the ones that worked so well together and clearly have so much love between them. We have seen the same thing in our own companionship, we saw so many miracles this week and really feel that it had a lot to do with the strength of our relationship. We love each other and have such a genuine friendship. I could not be happier with the companion that I have. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">One of the coolest miracles this week was when we had about 30 minutes before another rendez-vous. So we decided to go porting! I've never had much success porting my whole mission, but it's fantastic in Talence. We did almost a whole building with no success, then a lady opened up! Her name is Dominique, she is from Africa and maybe in her 60s. She was with her three beautiful granddaughters, literally the cutest little girls I have ever seen in my life. Turns out, Dominique has been taking the lessons from the missionaries in Paris where she lives. And her daughter, Catherine, had a Book of Mormon in the apartment so we think she has been taught before! It was incredible. At the end, we all knelt down together in this little apartment, and Dominique offered the prayer and CRIED! It was so powerful. We are going back on Wednesday! Miracle!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">The next miracle this week was with this guy named Alain! So he randomly came to church about two weeks ago because his cousin is a member. We got his number but he wasn't really interested in meeting with us and a member told us he just wanted to come to church to learn how to teach his students better (apparently he is a Catholic teacher to young children). But, we set up a rendez-vous and taught him right after church and it was incredible! He said he reads the Liahona during every lunch break and he has been finding all the answers to his questions... He pulled out about 4 church manuals from his bag and explained that he has so much to learn and doesn't know where to start. Haha, we knew he had come to the right place. We just testified about the importance of starting from the beginning and learning the basics and the spirit was so strong. The member with us just kept testifying like a boss and kept telling him to listen to exactly what we tell him. Now we are teaching him again this week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">One of the biggest miracles of this week was Soeur Teruhia came to church! She is the Tahitian lady we have been working with for the last three weeks. She called us because she wanted to come back but there was lots of drama so she was scared. We have been seeing her a lot and teaching her. It was her first time in forever coming to church! We think about 20 years. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Other than that, we had several awesome exchanges. We found so so many people to teach. Up until this week, our sector has been nearly dead for months. After all of the numbers we received and things that have set last week, this coming week is going to be insane. For example, we have one day with an exchange coming up where we have 10 rendez-vous set, WITH AMIS! That one day will more than double our weekly total last week. Crazy, the Lord is in this work and it is Talence's time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Oh, funny moment... We were porting one day and knocked on this door. It took about three minutes for all of the different locks to open and then the door swung open. No one was there. Automatic door. I thought I had seen everything. The guy talked to us from one of the back rooms, wasn't interested, and then the door closed (and very securely shut all twenty locks). Haha, it took a second to get the confused looks off our faces and to move on.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Well, as you can tell, I'm loving life and everything is great. Thanks for everything, I love you all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Soeur Alisa Hul</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-style: italic;">me</span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-78199591362059681832014-01-27T14:36:00.003-08:002016-05-19T08:31:29.475-07:00"No wonder our mission is the second most expensive mission in the world." 1/27/14<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Oh my goodness, what a wonderful and crazy week. I feel like I'm just trying to get my feet under me. But, I'm very happy and am loving life...as usual. I guess I'll start by answering some of your questions. Soeur Stevens and I are over all the West and Southwestern parts of the mission. I can give you villes, but I'm not sure they'll mean anything to you... Bordeaux, Angouleme, Limoges, Toulouse, Montauban, Pau, Tarbes, and Bayonne. We do exchanges with about twenty sisters every transfer which will keep us super busy. But, we still have our own sector that we're over, which is Talence (the subsurbs of Bordeaux). We'll be traveling quite a bit but are still expected to keep up everything here. Talence is really great and has an extremely strong ward. It's not as beautiful as the city itself, but our appartment is only a ten minute walk from the heart of Bordeaux. All of our P-Days will definitely be spent there. It's incredible! I absolutely love my companion. We get along so so well and have already become great friends. It's really cool to work with someone who has been out longer, I feel like I'm learning so much from her and am getting tons of new ideas. And, I finally have a companion who runs with me every morning so there is no more running circles in parks.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I'm super excited because when we finish here today we're going out to Lyon for Jedi Council (AKA: Leadership Conference) with the other STL's and zone leaders. And...WE'RE FLYING! Crazy, right? I thought the next plane I'd be on would be back to Salt Lake. But, apparently they always fly the leaders from Bordeaux out to this conference because it's far. Should be sweet. No wonder our mission is the second most expensive mission in the world (next to Tokyo). Oh well, I'll let you know how it goes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">This week was lots of planning and organizing for the transfer, but there were some great highlights. First and foremost, American Night! We had this huge ward activity that the missionaries have been planning for weeks and it was all focused on, yes, America. French people are obsessed with America, so it was perfect. There were tons of American classics, including Coke floats (in place of rootbeer because they don't sell it here in France). All of the members thought they were super bizarre. I guess it never hit me what a strange concept it was. There was also square dancing, which we were all kind of against (because no one in America really does that). But, apparently French people all think that is what we do at all our dances. It ended up being a total hit, I've never seen people get more into it. Musical chairs, karoke, guessing famous American movies, a pizza contest (since Americans eat lots of it and we kind of just steal everyone else's food ideas), etc. All of the prizes were authentic American classics, including the million, perfectly soft cookies that Soeur Stevens and I made (when we realized that the other person was a master at the delicate art, we knew we would have a successful companionship). The night was perfect, a total success. We sparked all of the members, who said that it was the best ward activity they could remember. In addition, we had 10 amis there who members had invited. Such a miracle and we're starting to work with some of them.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cool sidenote miracles, Besancon basically exploded yesterday. Three of the chronic less-actives that we had been working with for months came to church yesterday. I had never seen any of them in the building and neither had anyone else for years. I LOVE less-active work and we did so much of it there. It's cool to get to hear of some results even if I was never there to witness the reactivation.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">We started teaching several new people this week as well. Miracles are happening all over the place. I love being a missionary and feel so so blessed to be serving here. This will be a fantastic transfer. I love you all, have a great week!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-78113006023950992412014-01-21T13:50:00.001-08:002016-05-19T08:31:52.416-07:00"Training Leaders are…kind of like Zone Leaders, but we're over three zones of sisters." 1/21/14<div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Not much time, but I'll update you</span>…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">"Soeur Hulme, are you tired of training?" Dang it, that's not what I wanted to hear over the phone transfer call morning. Not only has my lovely run as a trainer come to an end, I have also left my beautiful ville of Besancon. I am currently writing you from Bordeaux, the second biggest city in the mission and on the completely other end of the country...hence me writing this a day late (as I was traveling for 12 hours yesterday). But, the city is beautiful and I had been hoping to serve here for a while now. My new companion is Soeur Stevens, she is wonderful. She's 23, is from California, studies phychology at BYU, and loves volleyball. I'm super excited to be working with her. We will be serving as the Sister Training Leaders here. Not so sure how I feel about that, I really just want to go and pick up another baby bleue. But, I'm sure it'll be great. Sister <br />
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Training Leaders are sort of a newish thing, since a couple months into my mission, and every mission does them a little bit different. In our mission, we're kind of like zone leaders, but we're over three zones of sisters. It's crazy, we spend nearly the whole transfer on exchanges. Should be...fun? Cool-- I'll be Soeur Brimhall and Soeur Pagano's STL (still get to do stuff with my bleues). Other than that, Bordeaux is cool. I'll be serving in the Talence ward...which had 140 people at church this last week (not sure how to deal with that after our intimate 15 person meetings in Besancon) and I love the missionaries here. Time to start a new adventure. Apparently our sector is...less than booming, but I'm excited to help it turn around.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">However, I'm really really sad to be leaving. So much has happened in Besancon and I can't express how much I love it. All of Sunday was spent at several different member's homes, I gave a talk...it was decent until I cried at the very end. Wasn't bad. I will miss them so much, I feel like I had a great relationship with every person there (helps when there aren't many).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">During one of the trains on my long journey yesterday, I had about five hours all by myself...that was weird. Anyways, I had nothing to do so I decided to read over my journal from Besancon, literally took all five hours (will be sent home in the next month). So many miracles. I feel so so blessed to have met all of these incredible people, but in particular, Sandrine. She has literally changed my life. We are currently still kind of playing the waiting game with her husband, but she is so strong. She knows it's true and can't deny it. She will be a member one day. As I was reading through my journal, I read this enrty and knew it was about her... 15 September 2013 (the day before leaving Aix) "I don't know what it is, but I really feel like someone is waiting for me in Besancon. I know that there are people you're suppose to touch in every ville, but this time it feels different. I don't know whether it will be a member, a less-active, or an ami, but I can't wait to find this person." Met her. Now we're really close and will be friends for life.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Ben, it's your birthday this week. My awesome and only brother (and my worst writer...kidding, I'm getting over it), happy birthday! I hope you have the most incredible day. You are smart, witty, and a total stud. Win. Have a great week, I love you all. Thanks for everything!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl0ILVA_PMSDqgkLDP4ughgkzrfKbD4IR3SBK3CuTR1wjVFyk_1fc8GuWcbKzJy6x_a4EM6RmMMzigF6maS59IdRXWPnEOlSdEbJhdqfk4x0Vq3Y8CsJyiD49uBoFplR22HsusbOSEjtQ/s1600/P1010629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: white; clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl0ILVA_PMSDqgkLDP4ughgkzrfKbD4IR3SBK3CuTR1wjVFyk_1fc8GuWcbKzJy6x_a4EM6RmMMzigF6maS59IdRXWPnEOlSdEbJhdqfk4x0Vq3Y8CsJyiD49uBoFplR22HsusbOSEjtQ/s1600/P1010629.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white;">Threw away my first pair of shoes.</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5786965752649235543.post-55113408392631954432014-01-13T15:11:00.004-08:002016-05-19T08:32:18.973-07:00There's a static…that the average recent convert runs into the missionaries seven times before being baptized. We just easily knocked out her first three. 1/13/13<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Bonjour Ma Famille,</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">It's been a great week, just kind of normal. Working hard as usual. I guess the only unusual thing here was the weather. Oh my gosh, it feels like summer. Okay, not an Aix-en-Provence summer, but maybe a colder summer night in Utah. It has been in the 60's nearly all week. Wait, what? I thought I was sent up north for the winter--no gloves, no coat, and most mornings I can't even see my breath. Hmm, something tells me it's too good to be true, it will be freezing again soon, but for now I'm enjoying it. I think all of the cold weather must have been saved for the States. Thank you very much.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Other than that, the only other bizarre thing was having to renew my French legality (the joys of hitting your year mark). Talk about a language test...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Crazy news of the week, our branch president got released after 19 years of service (Okay, so as I thought about this, I realized that maybe you wouldn't think this was super cool or a big deal. But, I totally think it is and it's going to completely change the branch. Haha, oh the things that shake the world of missionaries...). He really served with everything that he had, but it was time to give him a little break (seeing as he has held the calling since only months after his own baptism). Our new branch president is awesome, I'm so excited to see what's going to happen here. He's a 25 year old student, returned missionary, and is a convert himself of only a few years. He loves missionary work and has been one of our closest allies since arriving in Besancon this last semester. Things are going to change here, I can feel it. Cool sidenote: since we had the whole stake presidency in our branch yesterday we over tripled the regular sacrament meeting attendance (again, sorry for the things that shake the world of missionaries).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">I absolutely love Besancon...not sure if you're allowed to have favorite villes, but this one is mine. It's so incredible to see a sector and a branch grow so much in only a few months. It's seriously exploding, I'm not sure that I have ever had so many amis to teach...only one of which was here when we arrived. There are tons of potentials too and member referrals that we are just getting to start working with. I love seeing how God works.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Cool miracle: We contacted this girl earlier on in the week who knew us. Turns out that she had helped Soeur Pagano and I with our bags when we first arrived back in September. Apparently we aren't too easy to forget...two blonde Americans, 6 huge suitcases, and nothing but scribbled out instructions to get us to our new appartment...or maybe it was the Spirit. Either way, she remembered us. Although she wasn't interested in learning more about the gospel, it was a nice coversation. Several days later we met her again on the bus when we were headed to the gare to take a train. Then, she ended up taking the same train as us and we talked to her for nearly an hour. She's awesome. There's a stastic (not sure if it's worldwide or just in Europe), but that the average recent convert runs into the missionaries seven times before being baptized. We just easily knocked out her first three. One day she'll be a member...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Everything is wonderful, I love you all. I love being a missionary.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Je vous aime,</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">Soeur Alisa Hulme</span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18243202488893221164noreply@blogger.com0