"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

Bonjour Ma Famille,

I hope that everything is going wonderfully.  This week was great, here are some of the updates...

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.

I gave a talk in church this week.  It went well.  I spoke on conversion with a little help from my friend Elder Bednar.

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.

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.

Sabrine is doing wonderful, of course.  Such a miracle.

We saw lots of members, they are great here in Nice.

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.  I'll send a good one next week, I promise.  Love you all.

Je vous aime,

Soeur Hulme

"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

Bonjour Ma Famille,

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...
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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

I hope that everything is going well for you all have a great week.  Thanks for everything!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"Basically, she is Giselle from "Enchanted" 6/2/2014

Bonjour Ma Famille,

I hope that you have all had an incredible week.  I sure have.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme