"Heavenly Father, don't let me be the one to mess this up." 7/23/13

Bonjour Ma Famille,

So much to write about this week, where do I begin?  Maybe with a couple funny, odd, different experiences...

We stopped this cute girl on the road the other day.  She wasn't super interested in our message, but I complimented her on her earrings at the end of the contact (because I still wanted to make her smile and they actually were really cute).  She was like, "Oh, you can have them.  I got them in Marseille and have another pair."  Haha, she took them off and gave them to me.  I really like them.  Word to future missionaries, compliment jewelry...but be careful what else you compliment because people might just give it to you.

Breaking news... I ate my first crepe in France this week.  It was fantastic, funny that it took me this long to have one.

I translated in church yesterday for visitors from Belgium and Switzerland.  That was crazy, translating is so much harder than I thought it would be.

The elders decided that we should do something to endear the ward this week (AKA: public relations).  They wanted us all to make cookies.  Cool, right?  I've got this.  Hmmm, not really.  The elders that lived in our appartment before thought that it would be the best idea ever to buy a microwave that was also an oven.  Not the coolest idea ever.  It's tiny and, for some strange reason, I don't feel like cookies should EVER be baked in a microwave.  Oh well.  So, we baked about 3 dozen cookies in a bundt cake pan (the only pan that would fit), and could only do about four at a time.  That was an adventure.  Then, when it came to bringing the cookies to the church, the only paper plates that we had were the American flag ones that my mom sent in a package for the 4th of July.  Haha, the members had fun with that one.

Someone went off this week during a contact about how we were criminals because all major wars were started by religion.  That was funny.  I'm definitely grateful for the fact that I don't get offended very easily.  Maybe it's bad, but when people are crazy and mean on the street, I just end up laughing (not to their face, of course).

There you go, now on to some of the miracles...

So we had zone conference this week, wonderful as always.  The best part-- I got to talk to Soeur Fairchild and get caught up on Carcassonne.  Oh my gosh, I was so happy that I started crying in the middle of the conference.  That's embarrassing.  The ward and area are doing so well.  New amis are popping up everywhere, they are teaching so many people.  When I got there about four months ago, the average church attendance was 65 people.  It has been gradually improving until this last week when they were in the mid-90's. Best of all, most of that increase is coming from reactivations and investigators at church.  There were also several incredible families that just moved in.  Everything that is going on there is such a miracle when you look and see where the ward has progressed from.  People have no idea.  Also, Carcassonne had a BAPTISM last week!  Wait, what?  In Carcassonne?  Yes, apparently that happens.  They haven't seen a baptism in forever and any that can be remembered have fallen inactive and off the face of the earth.  His name is Isaac, he is wonderful.  He has awesome faith and understands that gospel so simple yet perfectly.  I was able to get to know him a little bit before I left.  Miracle-- he asked Frere Martin, the fantastic bishop, to baptize him.  Let's be honest, that's where I lost it and started crying in the conversation.  He has worked endlessly for this ward for years and he is finally seeing change.  I am so happy for him to be able to realize these results.  There is a family from Brazil that is lined up to be baptized there in the near future and lots of amis right on their tails.  I am so happy.  It's like I said in previous letters, while I was there, the ward was not ready.  God was not going to give amis and new members to a ward that could not support them and help them continue to progress.  As the ward has improved, missionary work has exploded in a way that they have not seen in forever.  I am so grateful for the chance to be part of this miracle.

This week we had an awesome miracle ourselves.  Well, to start, our only ami here in Aix left us a message during zone conference saying that she was dropping us.  That was rough.  But, we just picked ourselves back up and went back to work looking for more people.  Sunday night we had several member rendez-vous fall through.  Miracle-- the member's house that we tried to stop by was right next to the pizza shop where we met that guy the other week.  Remember him?  Turns out that he is the owner and we found him sitting outside with one of his employees as we walked by.  We asked him how the wedding went, one thing led to another, and we ended up teaching him and his employee for about an hour.  So cool!  We have another rendez-vous with both of them scheduled for later this week, they both have copies of the Book of Mormon (which they're so excited about and referred to as a "precious gift"...Wait, what?  When does that happen?), and they're both very interested in coming to church.  Honestly, that was probably one of the best lessons that I have had my entire mission.  Everything that was said was so inspired, not one thing that left my mouth came from myself.  I have never explained things so clearly in my life.  The entire lesson I just kept praying, "Heavenly Father, dont let me be the one to mess this up."  And, He didn't let me.  These guys, especially that shop owner, are so elect.  God has prepared him, I know it.  He asked tons of questions--- we covered everything from the virgin Mary to the three kingdoms of glory to the apostacy, Book of Mormon, church services, free agency, goal of life, eternal families, prophets, role of Christ.  It was crazy.  I am so excited to see where that contact takes us, God has blessed us with two new amis.

A couple more awesome notes from church... There is this inactive lady that the missionaries in the ward have been working with lately.  She took the sacrament for the first time since coming back yesterday and started crying.  She said that she has never felt so clean.  Isn't that how that Atonement should be?  Also, the four sister missionaries in the ward did a special musical number.  The Spirit was so strong.  One of the members came up to us afterwards and said that the beginning was pretty but that there was a point in the song when there was more than just us up there testifying.  She said that she had only seen that one other time in her life.  God touches people through His missionaries and I am so blessed to be one.

I love being here in Aix!  Our zone is on fire right now and is blowing everyone else in the misison out of the water with our numbers.  It is so amazing and humbling to see what God can do through us.  I hope that you all have a great week and I love you!  I love being a missionary.

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"Everything is color-coded, mapped out, organized into different notebooks, etc." 7/15/13

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Another great week here, like always.  The work is picking up and it's wonderful.  We were actually able to have quite a few member visits this week, which is always the greatest.  It's so important for us to be working through members, especially since it's summer and everyone here is on vacation and most of the people on the street are tourists.  Every time we meet with different members, I'm blown away.  They are all so strong.  Nearly everyone here is a convert and, for many, they are the only members in their family.  They travel long distances for all service in the church and have so much less support around them than I am used to.  There are a lot of awesome recent converts in our ward that we have been working with.  For example, we had a rendez-vous with this amazing young couple in our ward this week.  She served a misison at temple square and came back to marry a nonmember.  Two years later, he took lessons from the missionaries, went to temple square and felt the Spirit, came back and got baptized last May, was ordained an elder in January, and they were sealed this last May.  They are extremely strong even though lots of their family members are struggling.  Haha, we actually had a barbeque at their house.  They absolutely love the missionaries and said that they liked to feed us stuff that we miss from home.  It was the greatest.  That's just one example, literally everyone here has stories like that.  I have so much to learn.

Random cool miracle... We were walking home one day and this guy sitting at a pizza shop with his family stopped us.  He asked us if we were the mormons.  After explaining who we were, he said that he had been invited to his friend's mormon wedding and he had questions for us.  It was awesome to get to explain things.  He seemed pretty interested and we may be able to start working with him.  Haha, and he bought us a huge thing of water because he could tell that we were hot from being outside all day.  It's fun to see how there are little miracles everywhere and the Lord often hands them to you at times when you least expect it.

I read a cool scripture this week that I really like.  PS-- I'm obsessed with my studies on my mission.  Literally, I'm getting the reputation (from exchanges and different companions) as the missionary that people get advice from to improve their studies.  I am getting through so much material and am learning tons.  Haha, I take my studies very seriously.  I literally have them tentatively planned out until the end of my mission so that I can cover everything that I want to.  Everything is color-coded, mapped out, organized into different notebooks, etc.  Love it.  Anyways, Doctrine et Alliances 95:1 "Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you whom I love, and whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you."  I think right here the Lord is showing us two things.  One, that he is a just God.  He has given us the law (the commandments) and if we choose to not keep it, there will be concequences.  But, this is because he wants us to learn and to improve because He loves us.  Two, I think it's an awesome example of how we should help and strengthen others in our lives.  If critique or correcting is necessary, do it in a loving way.  It is often as missionaries that we have to "call people to repentance".  We should be following the example of the Savior in the way that we do it.  Because, in all reality, repentance is a great thing.  We are asking people to simply make change that will relieve them of guilt, bring them closer to Christ, and improve their lives.

So, that about wraps it up.  Lots of work...contacting, doing service, visiting members, teaching lessons.  We're still working on building up our area book with amis, but it's getting there.  I hope you all have another great week.  It was fun to hear about all of your church youth activities this summer...EFY, girls camp, trek, etc.  I always felt so spiritually uplifted and ready for the next school year after a summer full of those awesome experiences.  I hope you feel the same.  I love you so much, thanks for everything!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"I received a marriage proposal this morning..." 7/8/13

Bonjour Ma Famille,
 
I hope that you all had a wonderful week and a great 4th of July.  At first, I thought it would be really odd to be out of the country for the holiday.  Actually, celebrating the birth of America was rather big in France.  They even planned a parade for it...it's called the Tour de France.  Okay, maybe that is a stretch.  There may not have been any huge parades where they throw candy, but we counted it as a parade.  How many people can say that they got to see the Tour de France?  That was really cool.  Also, who can say that they have sung "Battlehymn of the Republic" and done the pledge of allegiance in a zone training (with people from Africa, Ukraine, France, and Canada)?  It was strange, but I felt very patriotic on the other side of the world (despite the fact that there were no barbeques or fireworks).  Oh well, great day anyway.  Definitely unique.
 
This week was great, lots of work.  We are starting to work with some of our potentials, ward members, and are having more rendez-vous.  It is so fun for me to see this success and I feel like I am appreciating it a lot more than I would have after my last few transfers.  Literally, until this last week, I had not taught one lesson to a progressing investigator in over 3 1/2 months.  That is a long time.  This realization has helped me really take advantage of every lesson that we are able to have.  In a way, I think I am better able to appreciate the worth of each person that we teach now.  Our lessons are not turning into just another number on the sheet to get counted with tons of other amis.  Where I think it's easy to sometimes get complacent when your schedule is full of several lessons a day, every lesson that we are blessed to have is just that, a blessing.  I love these people so much.  I don't know how to explain it.  The people we teach, the ward members, the people on the street.  I don't think that I have ever felt love like this in my life.  I know it's a cliche missionary thing, everyone says that you will love the people, but it is so true.  The longer I am out here, the more love that I feel.  I think it's cool because that is what I have been praying for since day one, charity for the people of France.  At the beginning of my mission (six months ago tomorrow, isn't that crazy?), I wrote out goals that I wanted to accomplish.  At the top of my list, the overarching goal, was that I wanted to come to know Christ.  I think that as I have been striving to become more like Him, I am starting to feel His love for these people.  It is amazing to see the correlation between all of these things.  The more I serve the people, the more Christ grants me love them.  The more I love them, the more I love and know Christ.  The mission is awesome!
 
Three random sidenotes of the week...
 
Since being in Aix, I have acquired the best tan of my life...and the absolutely worst tanline.  Haha, my forearms are pretty dark from holding the Book of Mormon all day.
This week we ported into nuns.  That was funny.  We talked about Jesus and then ended by saying we'd pray for each other.
I received a marraige proposal this morning.  That was awkward.  Weirdly enough, that's not an abnormal thing.
 
Well, that's my week.  Sorry if it's a little short.  I am absolutely loving my mission and feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life.  Thank you for everything and I love you all!
 
Je vous aime,
Souer Alisa Hulme

"Yeah, Contacting for six hours at a time can get frustrating, but it's moments like that that make an entire day worth it." 7/1/2013

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Wow, what a crazy, wonderful week!  I absolutely love Aix, I don't even know where to start.  I guess we'll start with my companion.  My new bleue is Soeur Brimhall.  She is awesome, we get along really well.  I'm pretty sure that God only sends me the best missionaries to train (pressure).  A little bit about her... Soeur Brimhall is 19 too (I love being in a companionship with two young missionaries, I feel like we are just bursting with energy for the work). She grew up in Ukraine and lived in an orphanage for most of her life until she was adopted and brought to the States at age 12.  She was adopted into an LDS family and that is where she found the gospel.  Haha, she's funny, loves cleaning and is perfectly fine that I have two huge fans going at all times in the appartment (and strategically place them on chairs, with extension cords, about two feet away from me every night...it is so hot)--- those three things alone will ensure a happy companionship.  But really, she is amazing.  We are different in many ways, which is to be expected with such different backgrounds, but I think we compliment each other really well.  I know that this companionship is inspired and have already learned so much from her. 

A little clarification from last week, we are actually not "whitewashing" in Aix.  As it turns out, we are opening a new companionship.  Basically everything that I described before applies, but we also start with an empty area book, no potentials, and we didn't even have a ward list until Sunday.  Luckily, we did have a map.  Although, I'm pretty sure that reading maps is going to be one of those skills that I acquire this transfer.  I never thought of myself as being bad at directions.  But, I've come to the conclusion that this is because I have lived in Utah my entire life.  French streets are confusing, but I'm starting to get it down.  Let's just say, we've had a couple...adventures the last few days.  On another note, I think I am destined to contact.  Training and opening up new companionships two transfers in a row, bring it on.  So, we're starting from square one again.  It's so exciting!  This week was full of getting organized, filling another empty phone, and yes, contacting.  Good thing I love it so much.  We had some really incredible, powerful discussions on the road this week.  I love the look on someone's face when you know something clicked or that they felt the Spirit.  It is the coolest thing ever, every time we speak we are just restoring truth that they already know.  One contact this week was particularly cool.  We stopped this guy and talked to him for almost an hour.  He was very into theology and spent a good portion of the conversation trying to, well, make us look dumb.  He asked a lot of difficult questions trying to trip us up, using all of this logic to prove that God doesn't exist.  It was tempting to let my "debater side" take over...but I didn't, luckily (If I didn't spell "debater" right, please don't laugh.  I literally tried it 5-6 times different ways.  That's terrible, oh how French can ruin an English major.).  But, all that we could do was testify to him of truths.  It was so cool.  By the end, he was astonished.  He went off for about five minutes about how he wasn't sure that there was a God, but if there was, he was sure that we were His servants.  He talked about the divine power that he felt in our words and went on and on about the light in our eyes.  Yeah, contacting for six hours at a time can get frustrating, but it's moments like that that make an entire day worth it.  That is why I love contacting.  I know that we are going to find people here who are prepared here.

On another note, the ward in Aix is so incredible!  It is large, strong, and everyone is stoked for missionary work.  As much as I love Carcassonne, it is cool to see the opposite end of the spectrum.  I feel like God is rewarding me.  After one day at church I'm totally in love with all of the members.  It's seriously unreal to me.  I cannot wait to start working with them more.  Because of how great the ward is, they have been blessed to actually have 3 companionships of missionaries (we are with the zone leaders and the sister training leaders....no pressure).  We are going to see so many miracles here.  What a perfect situation to put into to practice all of the guidance just given to us by our leaders.  We watched the broadcast yesterday, wasn't it amazing (and not just because I understood all of the French this time, as opposed to General Conference)?  The lines from one of my favorite primary songs have been ringing in my head during my mission, "We hear the words our prophets declare, let each who's worthy go forth and share."  I always felt like that was very applicable to this generation of missionaries.  We were a generation that was brought up in a way that made us worthy to serve when called upon by the prophets of God (quite literally out of the blue).  My mission, as I'm sure it is for many missionaries, has served as a wake-up call, if you will.  It has given me perspective on this life and more of a vision of our purpose.  It's amazing to me that the whole world is getting this "wake-up call" the same time that I am.

I hope that you're all doing great, thanks for all of the love and support.  I love you so much and pray for you often.  I love being a missionary!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

Father's Day Musical Number, "As Sisters in Zion"...wait, what? 6/16 & 6/24/2013

We were out of town last week, so we did not post her June 16th letter.   We posted both today, so please read on...you will not want to miss her report on Father's Day Sunday, it is hilarious.  

Bonjour Ma Famille,

So, guess who just got transferred to the ville with the one "real" Mexican restaurant that exists in our mission?  That's right, I live in Aix-en-Provence.  This must be some kind of joke?  Who lives in Aix-en-Provence?  My mission covers Southern France, I'm pretty sure that no transfer call could be disappointing.  But seriously, you're welcome Mom and Dad.  I have planned the most incredible trip for you when you pick me up...Lyon, Carcassonne, Provence, to be continued...

I actually leave tomorrow and will be stopping by Lyon on the way to pick up, yes, another brand new bleue.  I am training again, which is wonderful because I love it.  I feel like, in my last three transfers, I've covered a huge spectrum of things in the field....biggest city, smallest city, trio, duo, strong ward, struggling ward, being trained, training, opening a new companionship, etc.  How could we step that up more?  Oh yeah, we could have me whitewashing the sector with a new bleue.  This basically means that I will get off the train with a new missionary that speaks no French and is most likely shell-shocked with nothing but a map and keys to the appartment...if they remember to give me those things.  Wish me luck, I'm going into it blind.  Hope I can find the church.  At least I know where to find the Mexican food, we will survive.  I am so excited for this transfer.  Provence is absolutely gorgeous and I've been told that there is a very strong ward.  We are going to see miracles.

Our Bishop and is wife, love them so much!

Sensai and our eveque at our ward cultural activity

My time with Soeur Luthi and Carcassonne is done, I am so sad.  I love Soeur Luthi.  She is the absolute greatest, we got along so well.  She's one of those companions who will definitely be a lifelong friend.  It has been fun to train her and watch her grow.  She will see phenomenal things on her mission.  I feel so blessed to have gotten to serve with her, the Lord sent me one of His best.  Let's be quite honest, my time here in Carcassonne hasn't been the easiest.  There have been many times in the last three months that I would consider trials of my faith.  But, I love it here so much and definitely cried as I said goodbye to the ward on Sunday...half the ward was crying too (that didn't help).  Haha, they lost their pianist and American cookies.  It was especially hard to leave Sensai and our évêque.  Frère Martin (évêque), said that it has never been so hard to say goodbye to missionaries, that we are just like his daughters.  He cried when we told him over the phone.  He couldn't even talk to me, he had to take a day to compose himself.   It's amazing to me how I could fall in love with the people and the place so quickly.  I prayed for members in the ward daily, by name.  Here, most of our effort was focused on strengthening the ward.  I seriously feel like I left my whole heart and soul here.  My life has been changed because of people that I have met and worked with.  I am so blessed.  I cannot imagine my life without having served a mission.

Sister Hulme with Sister Luthi

Last funny note, guess what the closing hymn was this week?  I ended with a bang.  I'm the ward pianist, I can play what I want...I'm also tight with the évêque so he let me choose.  We sang "Angels We Have Heard on High".  That's right, Christmas in June.  So me.  I loved it.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week, I love you so much!  Thanks for all of the support and prayers.  I love my mission so much!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

Bonjour Ma Famille,       7/16/2013

This week was great, like always.  I still love being a missionary.  We were in Aix-en-Provence for three days for a zone conference.  We had Elder Richards from the Seventy come, it was awesome.  He talked a lot about the Atonement, faith, and a new way of teaching.  Cool, three things that I need to work on.  That was perfect.  Our leaders truly are so inspired.  It was a beautiful city and we were able to find the one "real" Mexican restaurant that exists in our mission.  Yes, we would.  It was hilarious, there was a tutorial on how to eat a burrito on the menu.  What?  It's sad that that is necessary.

Honestly, I feel bad, but there is not a ton to report on this week.  Lots of contacting.  We still only have one ami, who just informed us that he is leaving for Northern France in a week and will be gone for two months.  So, the work continues.  We will find people, I know it.  Haha, at least my French is being stretched.  I had an indepth conversation with a muslim man about the conception of Christ and a rather long chat with another guy on the street about our church's opinion on same sex marraige.  Oh wow, interesting week.

Sunday this week was definitely my most insane one I've had yet.  I feel like I literally manned the entire ward.  Let me give you a timeframe... Piano in priesthood, spiritual thought in priesthood, piano in relief society, practice the song with the primary children for Father's Day, taught gospel doctrine (We taught about the word of wisdom and had a rather, hmm...interesting discussion with several ward members who are not exactly...in agreement with the law.  It's okay, it turned out well in the end...when we stopped calling on them for comments.), piano in sacrament meeting, gave a talk, special musical number (All of the women in the ward decided last minute that they wanted to sing a song for Father's Day too.  Cool, right?  Kind of, but there were two problems. 1: I literally had to throw the entire thing together during relief society. 2: They sang "As Sisters in Zion".  Wait, what?  I thought it was Father's Day.  That's awkward.), then there was the primary musical number (That went well, it was actually a song about fathers.), and we ended the day going to a meeting with all of the ward leaders to plan (from square one) the ward activity for this next Saturday (that has been planned and canceled three times in the last five months).  Yup, that's about it.

I am learning so much this transfer.  It has challenged my faith like nothing else.  We will keep working, we are here to do the most incredible work.  I love my mission.  I hope that you all have a wonderful week in Lake Powell.  I love you!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

If the Spirit World is on earth, why would they not want to live in France?! 6/10/13

Bonjour Ma Famille!

Can I just start by talking about how absolutely beautiful my mission is?  Seriously, I'm pretty positive that Southern France is the most beautiful place on the planet (and I'm sure that a lot of people would agree with me...google it and see).  It is unreal, I think I'm in heaven every time I look outside.  We contact and go porting in the most picturesque places.  I'll send you pictures... Every house is adorable--has the stereotypical shutters that are painted the same color as the adorable picket fence, intricate wooden door (I have not seen one yet that is the same), and there are beautiful vines climbing up the sides.  But even more, their gardens are spectacular!  Every flower that you could even imagine is perfectly placed in a yard filled with cute stone pathways, arches to walk under that are covered in ivy, and fountains.  The roses, oh my gosh, the roses.  Every house has at least 50 bushes that are completely covered in roses the size of your face in every color imaginable.  If you can't tell, I'm definitely in heaven.  Mom, you would die.  I compliment the little old ladies on their flowers at every house we port.  At one house, the lady wasn't interested in the Gospel, but she gave me one of her roses--totally made my day.  It was so cute.  I love it here so much, it is gorgeous!  We were talking the other day about how angels work with missionaries and I'm pretty sure that we have the most angels out of any mission because, in the words of Soeur Luthi, "If the Spirit World is on earth, why would they not want to live in France?!"

This is our Italian friend in his beautiful garden...we found him porting.

The weather here is crazy, it finally got hot for a couple days.  It was funny, we were contacting and this guy was really concerned for me. Quote (kind of...a translated quote): "You need to get out of the sun, you're really white.... But that's okay, it's what's in the heart that counts."  After a couple days of sun, I swear we had the Carcassonne version of a tsunami.  It rained so hard that the streets turned into a river with at least 6 inches of water rushing down them.  It was awesome!

I live here!

This week has been a lot of...contacting (if you couldn't tell).  We are still in dire need of amis.  We have set up tons of rendez-vous with potentials this transfer, have gotten lots peoples' contact information, and have placed many copies of the Book of Mormon (sorry I always write "copies of the Book of Mormon"...it's because I know that "Books of Mormon" is technically right, but I think it sounds weird).  Unfortunately, no one will respond to calls and every rendez-vous that we have scheduled with a potential amis has fallen through.  I'm not complaining, we have had a great week and I know that we will continue to see miracles. 

I love his girl!

I'm slightly competitive... big shocker there.  It's one of those "Non-Christlike Attributes" that I am obviously still working on.  We had time on our hands this week and decided that we would just double the mission's standard of excellence for contacting.  Cool, the only équipe of 19 year old sisters, in one of the smallest villes in the mission.  So, we did.  We talked to over 660 people this week.  We calculated that we have walked at least two marathons.  We literally talked to everyone.  It was a good week.  We wanted to show God that we were willing to work hard and give it our all.  It was fantastic.  I swear I say this every week, but this week it has been particularly pertinent...I am coming to know my Savior in a way that I never have before.  I know that this is the mission that I am meant to be serving in, I cannot imagine gaining a relationship this strong in any other circumstance.  My heart literally breaks with every person that chooses to reject the message that we have to share.  I'm not personally offended, I shrug it off easily.  But, I'm so sad for the people and I know that Christ mourns over their decision.

We had a cool miracle this week.  While we were contacting, a lady actually contacted us on the road.  She's an inactive member that I had never met.  She married a non-member and has wanted absolutely nothing to do with the church, refusing all calls from the missionaries.  We had a nice chat with her and then she ended it by inviting us over.  We were stoked and set up the appointment for the next week (tonight).  The best part was, we received a text from her later in the day that explained how great it was for her to see us and to have a second to talk.  She said that that experience on the road made her realize that she wants to get reactivated in the church.  She acknowledged that it would not be easy, but that she was excited.  She's inviting tons of her family to this rendez-vous tonight.  God truly places us in the places that he needs us to be to find the elect and prepared.  We are praying that this is one of the miracles that God has in store for us.

A couple more random, funny things to leave you with...

I can't believe I live here.

Mission life, we all love spicy food and have been craving it since we have been in France.  So, we bought the spiciest African peppers that we could find at the store and put them in everything.  It's basically a contest to see who can make the food that makes your lips numb for the longest after eating it.  I made fajitas the other day that left our mouths on fire for two hours.  It's so funny.

It was a little sunny outside.

Soeur Luthi and I have been asked to teach primary the last two weeks.  The lessons... "The Law of Concencration" and "Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible".  Are you kidding me?  These kids are six.

Well, that's about it.  I'm glad that you are all doing well.  Haha, your letters this week were absolutely fantastic.  I am still laughing.  You may want to print this out for Maddy so she can read it several times (with her short term memory loss and all)...kidding.  I love you all, thanks for everything!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

Another Wonderful Week In France 6/3/2013

Bonjour Ma Famille,

It has been another wonderful week here in France.  I seriously feel like I have the most incredible life ever, I am so blessed.  This week we have again been focusing on finding people.  While our teaching pool remains small at the moment, we have been able to see many miracles while contacting that will transform into tons of people to teach (hopefully sooner rather than later).

We spent tons of this week contacting and porting (my favorites).  It's actually really funny to me that I enjoy these things so much.  I was looking back in my journal at my last entry in the MTC.  I had written that contacting was my biggest fear for my mission, not necessarily because of the language, but because I was scared to think of myself walking up to random people and starting conversations.  I'm not quite sure when the transition for me took place, but I'm so glad it did.  I am only a full-time missionary for a tiny portion of my life, why would I not talk to everyone?  When I am talking to someone, it is literally an out of body experience.  I am not myself, I am a representative of Christ.  It reminds me of a scripture I found this week in D&C 58:59, "And let no man return from this land except he bear record by the way, of that which he knows and most assuredly believes."

We received a lot of contact information from people this week and placed tons of copies of The Book of Mormon.  Let me tell you about one of these cool miracles...  One day we planned to go out to Castelnaudary (a smaller ville outside of Carcassonne).  We had gone through old lists, found all of the addresses of old contacts that lived there, and planned to go and track them all down.  We ended up finding all of the addresses; it was nice because they were all fairly close together in the center of the town.  But, we had one left and decided that we would make the long walk to the other end of town in hopes of finding this last person.  After about an hour of walking, we found the road.  Unfortunately, the house that we were searching for didn't exist on that street.  The only solution that we could come up with was that someone with bad handwriting had written a 15 that looked like an 18.  So, we ported that one house.  It turned out not being the person we were looking for, but an absolute miracle.  It was a lady with a cute young family, she took the Book of Mormon, said she would read it, and gave us her number so that we could set up a rendez-vous.  It was so incredible.  We actually had several similar experiences to this throughout the week.  We are praying now that they work out and we will be able to begin teaching all of these people that we have found.

You asked me to put in a plug for the piano this week.  Perfect, I was going to anyway.  We actually did a special musical number yesterday in church, "How Great Thou Art".  I was able to play while the other sisters sang.  It was beautiful, half of the people in the congregation were in tears.  It really has been amazing for me to touch the people in this ward through bringing them music.  When I came out on my mission, I could play probably five hymns.  Now, I can basically play most of the book.  I have been very grateful for the opportunity to develop this talent and use it in the work of the Lord.

So, that about sums it up for this week.  I am absolutely loving my mission, Soeur Luthi is amazing, and it is incredible to see the hand of the Lord in the work daily.  I hope that you are all doing wonderful, thanks for you thoughts and prayers.  I love you.

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme