"The only things that have changed in a year are that Ben's voice is lower and Liv's seems to have gotten higher." 12/30/13

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Christmas Eve Christmas Jammies! 

How are you?  I hope that you all had the most wonderful Christmas, I definitely had a great one.  And, despite the fact that I was on the other side of the world as a missionary, I didn't sleep on Christmas Eve.  I think this might be a lifelong plague.  Oh well.  Christmas here was lovely, thanks for all of the thoughtful gifts and for the great hour that we got to spend chatting.  Basically, the only things that have changed in a year are that Ben's voice is lower and  Liv's seems to have gotten higher (both of which were to my delight).

It was crazy to spend the holiday in France, I finally can say that I have tasted the creepy French delicacies (which they all save for Christmas).  Now on to the menu... (dish, translation, verdict)

Salty black licorice...supposedly candy (okay, not French, but courtesy of my Swedish companion)...nasty.

Caviar...little fishy eggs smothered on dry bread...not absolutely dreadful, but the texture killed it for me.

Escargot...snail...actually, surprisingly so good.  It's a little different but I totally liked it and ate tons of them.  Now I feel like a true French missionary.  The members were impressed because they said the elders could never get them down.  Win.

Foie gras...literal translation- "liver grease", basically they overfeed a duck until its liver explodes and then they eat it on bread...it was swallowed so quickly that I never really got to the taste.  The thought of it killed me.

Cuisses de grenouille...frog legs...isn't bad, it tastes like chicken.  But, it's ridiculous because there is so little meat and you have to eat around tons of tiny bones and creepy frog feet.

Other than that, the food was fairly normal--turkey/pork, vegetables, bread.  Oh, some of the members accidently bought the cake with rum in it.  That was awkward.  It did taste a little strange.  Voila, your typical French Christmas.  Oh, for trivia-sake, the French general eat some type of shellfish for the holidays too.  But, I was spared (already more than took care of that obligation in Nice).

Last funny sidenote, we were allowed to watch a Disney movie with members on Christmas.  We watched "Ice Age", so perfect, it made me think of Dad.  But, I have to say, Syd the sloth is REALLY hard to understand when he is speaking French.  Haha, I can imagine there was a lot of spit involved in that voiceover.

We spent some wonderful time with members this week and really felt of the Christmas spirit.  Besides dining with members, we were able to do service as well.

Cool experience-- So was Christmas morning, and I was settling down to open my packages after my nearly sleepless night (a little pathetic, I know).  Before opening anything, I had a cute nostalgic moment. I pictured our family all sitting aroung ready to open gifts and remembered my Dad's annual little phrase/message.  Before opening any gifts, he has always given us a couple minutes to think about and reflect on the service that we've given--often referring to "Sub for Santa" things or other projects that we have done during the season.  We always get so excited as we think about the joy that we have brought others.  Those few moments placed before the highly anticipated opening of gifts has always infused the meaning of the holiday into our Christmas mornings.  We feel gratitude and love for the Savior.  It was a tender mercy that this memory, that I had never given much thought to, came to me that morning. It brought a tear to my eye as I thought of all of the incredible people that I have worked diligently to serve this year.  As my mind flashed back and forth through all of their faces, I was overwhelmed with love and gratitude.  What a wonderful opportunity that I have to give the gift of service to my Savior.

I love being a missionary and I love you all!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

Aaaahhhh, beautiful!

"I'm loving every minute that I get to spend here with these members." 12/23/13

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Hope everything is absolutely wonderful for you as you're gearing up for your big Christmas week...the most important part being talking to me on Wednesday (...and remembering the Savior).  Can't wait!

This week has been great.  We met with lots of less-actives, several amis, and members.  It's interesting now that it's vacation and they're all going out of town, but it works.  We are seeing numbers slowly moving up in sacrament meeting attendance and I'm loving every minute that I get to spend here with these members.

The highlight of the week was definitely our Christmas conference in Lyon.  Loved it!  The best part (...next to remembering the Savior): Soeur Bentley, my cute little MTC companion is back in the mission and I got to see her at the conference.  Ah, I love her.  She went home months ago with really serious health problems.  After weeks in the hospital, several surgeries, and lots of prayers, she was cleared to come back out.  Without getting into tons of detail, it's a miracle that she is back and it was not expected by anyone.  I'm so excited to have my cute friend here again.  Also, I just found out that my other wonderful MTC companion, Soeur Anderson, underwent serious brain surgery this past week.  Everything seems to have gone well, and, as far as I know, she's still in Paris.  Pray for her.  

I've decided that one of the greatest things I'm grateful for this year is my health.  In light of these experiences with my companions, as well as others with my family at home, I can't even express how thankful I am that I have been able to serve my mission with absolutely no health problems to this point.  Literally, I've probably had the best health of my life.  There has not been one hour in the last year that I have had to sit out working.  Thank you so much for your prayers in my behalf, I know that they have been a huge support to me.  I'm so grateful that the Lord would let me work without the disabilitating symptoms of sickness.  It makes me want to work even harder, knowing that there are no health problems holding me back.  I'm so blessed.

I love being a missionary.  I love serving my Savior and I love Him.  I love you all, Joyeux Noel!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

Investigators comment, "my role models are God, Jesus, and John Stockton." (Too bad he's retired, we could use him).

Bonjour Ma Famille!

I hope you are all doing wonderful and enjoying the best part of the year.  I had a fantastic week...as always...can't really remember the last time that I didn't. My birthday was good, kind of just another day of work.  But, it was fun.  Although, I'm kind of sad to not be a 19 year old sister missionary anymore.  I really liked being the super young one.  Oh well, I guess I'll still always hold the title of being the first one in our mission.

So, we'll start with the basics.  My new companion in Sister Ronndahl.  She is from Sweden.  It's really cool because we have been receiving basically no new American missionaries.  They are mostly European now.  So great.  Anyways, she's 20, is funny, and really likes art and food.  Speaking of, that is one of the funniest struggles of having companions from other countries.  Example--last night we were making a grocery list.  She eats a lot of bizarre things and makes fun of the English names for food.  She was especially confused when she found out that we call the meat we put on sandwiches "lunchmeat".  Haha, "Why?  Do you have "dinnermeat" too?"  ...never thought about that before.  Anyways, she's fun and really dedicated.  I'm excited to work with her.

Funny moment of the week-- 

One of our amis said that his role models are God, Jesus, and John Stockton.  It took a second to compose myself before continuing the lesson because I was laughing so hard.  Haha, sounds like he's a Utah mormon already.

Texts of the week-- 

(an ami) "I just wanted to thank you for the time that you give me.  I really feel something special during our lessons."

(random number) "Hi, I'm not sure you remember me, but you gave me a Book of Mormon a few weeks ago.  Is there a time we can get together this week and talk about it?"

Other miracles--

So this week we had our Branch Christmas Party.  It was unreal.  There were more less-actives and nonmembers there than members.  Are you kidding me?  It was fantastic to spend the whole night running around and sparking everyone.  Examples...

Severine (our amie) came and brought three of her children.

A less-active/partial member family came.  They have not stepped foot in the church for years (some of the super offended ones).  But, you would never know because they stayed after for hours and chatted with all of the members.

Another less-active came, brought a friend, came to church the next day, and payed her tithing (I've only seen her at church once in three months).

Hsuan also came and brought a non-member friend (such an incredible missionary!).

And then, there were several other members that invited friends and less-actives that randomly showed up.  It was so so cool.  It really was a night of miracles...and really yummy food.

Oh, so remember several weeks ago when Severine was in the hospital and we set-up for the priesthood to go and give her a blessing?  End of the story... While they were there, they ended up giving a blessing also to a lady that was staying in the same room as Severine.  She was an old lady who was really sick and was told that she would be in the hospital for months until they could figure out what was wrong with her.  Nope, the day after she went home in perfect health.  Power of the priesthood.

Sandrine is doing well too.  Oh my gosh, I love her so much.  She is so incredible.  It has been difficult lately with her husband because he is so so against the church.  But, she was at church yesterday with all four of her kids.  She has such a strong testimony.  Probably one of my favorite amies ever!

Other than that...we have a new ami from Colombia, all of the buses were on strike this week (apparently strikes are the national sport in France), and our new phone broke.  Um, good week.  Love you all!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"Jesus got a great birthday present - Migo was baptized!" 12/9/13

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Last picture of Soeur Hulme with Soeur Pagano

Oh my gosh, so much stuff to talk about this week.  I guess we can start with transfer calls so that you know where I am.  I'm very excited to announce that I will be staying in my very perfect little ville of Besancon for Christmas.  Soeur Pagano is being shipped down south to spend the winter in the warm weather of Tarbes.  And, I'll let you guess who my new companion is...  Right, I don't know either.  I'll be picking up my new bleue on Wednesday.  I'm currently waiting in Chalon-sur-Saone (a little ville almost as cute as mine...there is Josh Groban Christmas music playing in the streets right now) before going down to Lyon tomorrow,  I'm kind of wondering if I'll ever receive a "normal" companion.  Oh well, I'm super excited--training is all that I know.  Which is great because I love it.  Maybe this time I'll get it right (haha, who does that sound like?).

We'll save the most important things for last and now move on to the funny moment--probably the most embarrassing experience in my life that I can recall.  So, here you go...  This transfer, there was a small group of elders called to put together a musical performance that they would perform all over the mission.  Basically, they just travel everywhere and bring the Spirit with their incredible musical talents.  This last week, they came to Dijon, which means us and the surrounding wards were all invited.  Cool, right?  Yes, that's not the bad part.  Bad part-- "Soeur Hulme, would you help us with a musical number?"  Okay, let's see about this...  I don't sing.  Not even like a little.  I did choir in elementary school and got turned down all of the solos I tried-out for (imagine that) and have been a strictly "car radio singer" ever since.  Nearly all of my companions, without fail, have commented on how "fun" it is to sing hymns with me because I can't read the music or count.  You get the picture.  After rather convincingly, I thought, explaining this dilemma and asking every other sister if they would be willing to do it, they were insistent that I perform in the number.  Okay, fine.  I'm a missionary, I can't say "no" to something like that.  But, they were given more than fair warning.  But, it was fine, right?  There were other people who were singing my part so that I could just blend with them.  Nope.  It was definitely a duet with the lead singer of the group, an elder with the most beautiful voice, and it was full of solos.  Haha, funny.  That was embarrassing.  It was so bad.  Every time I think about it, I just laugh in a "I kind of just want to curl up under a rock and die" kind of way.  There you go, missions stretch you.  Warning--this is not a hidden talent I will be coming back with.

Best miracle of the week, Migo was baptized!  It was absolutely perfect.  It's kind of crazy because I thought that there would be a lot of things to tell you about this, but I can't really describe it.  The service was incredible and so sweet.  She was beaming the whole night and teared up several times.  I feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of this miracle.  Crazy, but it was one of those that I got to see from start to finish.  She is doing wonderful and is looking forward to visiting the temples and the "forest in New York" (sacred grove) in the coming weeks (hopefully she doesn't get a tick).  This experience really strengthened my testimony of member missionary work.  It started with her best friend bringing her to church.  She was alongside her the whole way, coming to every lesson and responding to questions.  It made our work easy and so much fun.  I know this is the way missionary work should be done.  Jesus got a great birthday present and I got two new friends that I got to help come closer to Him.  So great!

Member missionary work!

Random sidenote-- I decided that I was going to practice my Chinese this week.  So, I drew this character on the board that I thought looked pretty authentic.  Turns out, it meant potato.  See, I know Chinese.  Ironically enough, today we went to a "pataterie" (a restaurant that only serves different potato dishes).  It was great.

Other random sidenote--A nun stopped us this week and congratulated us on our choice of lifestyle, explaining that she made the same choice when she was about our age.  Awkward, not sure she understood....

Well, I think that about sums it up.  Awesome end to a wonderful transfer.  I love being a missionary!  I love you all, be sure to eat Cafe Rio and something mint chocolate for me this week!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"I prayed a lot to the God Father last night" - an investigator

Christmas Lights in Centreville…Aaaahhh!

Bonjour Ma Famille,

I'm so busy and so happy.  Oh my gosh, this week has been crazy.  We taught more lessons with amis/members/less-actives this week than I have in a single week my whole mission.  It was insane...our numbers rivaled some of my totals from whole transfers.  Not that any of that matters, we were just very booked.  Loved it! 

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you all had a wonderful day with the family.  It was pretty great here too.  We were very blessed to have a senior couple in our district who made us a great dinner after our meeting on Thursday.  (plug for senior missionaries) You should all be senior missionaries one day.  We all love you and you do so much to help the work...and to make a bunch of American missionaries very happy on the holidays.  Anyways, that meal was great...but I'm thinking that we need to instigate a new tradition in our family.  So, the night of Thanksgiving, we were invited over to the Branch President's house for fondue.  Oh my gosh, I can't even explain how good it was.  What is France known for?  Bread and cheese.  Take a moment here and just imagine how good it would be in fondue form....got it?  So, as a precursor to Black Friday, we have fondue...from France.  Deal?

Okay, for miracles this week, let's start with Migo.  So, I could go on and on about how wonderful she is and how much I love her, but I thought I'd give you several "Migo Moments" of the week that will make you laugh/melt your heart/make you really jealous that you are not blessed to teach her...

(while discussing her readings in the Book of Mormon) "I really like in the tree of life when it talks about the juicy fruit.  It makes me feel magical."

"Do you maybe think that I could see you and have lessons every day until my baptism?" ("Hmm...let me check my schedule...OF COURSE!")

"After my baptism I will be going to the United States for a couple weeks.  Are there chruches of mormon there that I can go to?"

"I prayed a lot to the God Father last night."

"I really really like your lessons.  But, do you think you could make them much longer so that I can learn more?"

(in all of her prayers) "Thank you for sending me these three friends (referring to us and Hsuan (her member friend)) so that I can learn more about You."

Okay, so I probably had the coolest experience of my entire mission yesterday.  I've had some pretty incredible ones, but from what I can recall, this one is my favorite.  Yesterday, Migo bore her testimony at church and she asked me to come up and translate for her.  She had written out everything that she wanted to share, I cannot even explain how beautiful and sincere it was.  It was the most amazing thing ever to be standing up there next to her, repeating all of the beautiful things that she has learned and that we have helped in teaching.  This cute girl that knew nothing of God only months ago when we starting teaching her, who we heard pray for the first time, was expressing how much joy she feels in the church and her love of her Heavenly Father.  (last line of her testimony) "After all the classes learning about this church, I am sure I had heard the sound from my deep heart that is "I'm ready for baptism and excited about that I am on the way of God's plan for us."" And then she invited the whole branch to come to the service.  It was unreal.  Definitely cried.

We had another super cool miracle this week... So last week, we were given the number of a less-active lady that had apparently been trying to get ahold of us.  We didn't know who she was and couldn't find her number on the ward list, but called and set up and rendez-vous anyway.  She was super nice.  Several days later, before the rendez-vous, we received a call from her husband saying that she was in the hospital and needed a priesthood blessing.  We called the Branch President and worked everything out for the priesthood to go and give her one.  The blessing went really well.  Upon them returning to tell us how it went, we were shocked to find out that Severine was actually not a member of the church.  She had been taught over a year ago in a different ville.  She had received all of the lessons and even had a baptismal date, which unfortunately fell through at the last minute.  After moving, she lost contact with the missionaries and the church.  But, she suddenly had the desire to come back and be baptized (hence her calling us).  So, we met with her this week, she is absolutely incredible, and we're starting to reteach her the lessons and prepare her for her baptism in the future.

Basically, the rest of the week was like this.  It was a great week to be a missionary.  Other amis continue to progress well.  Unfortunately, we are having some struggles with Sandrine right now because of her husband's intolerance of the church.  We're working through it, God will make it work out when and how it is supposed to.

Thank you for all of your love and prayers.  Congrats Maddy on making sterling scholar, that is fantastic.  I'm so proud.  Love you all, have a great week, I love being a missionary!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

One of the first editions of Le Mis at Victor Hugo's home

Zone Conference

"I got to work with my "granddaughter", Sister Bragg" 11/25/13

Bonjour Ma Famille!

Crazy, crazy week.  I ended up only being in Besancon for about three days of it.  We had two exchanges in Lyon, so basically I lived there.  Cool part-- one of the exchanges was with Soeur Luthi's companionship.  Loved it!  One, two of my bleues worked together for a day.  Cool, right?  Two, I got to work with my "granddaughter", Soeur Bragg (meaning that Soeur Luthi...my bleue: AKA daughter...is her trainer).  Confusing family ties.  But, to put it simply, I had a fun week with most of my mission posterity.  Basically, they're all clones of me.  Aren't they lucky? (not prideful...just a joke)  

Random moment from one of the exchanges... So I was working in my first ward of the mission and we got to do service at the bishop's house.  It was cool that I could officially meet him as a somewhat more capable French speaker.  The project: Scrubbing and chipping paint off of the walls and floors of their house.  They recently moved in and the painter did probably the worst job I've ever seen in my life.  I definitely could have done better at the age of eight.  Anyway, we spent hours scrubbing all of the extra paint off of the doorframes and tile.  Interesting experience...maybe next time they'll just ask the missionaries to paint the house from the start.

My beautiful ville of Besancon welcomed it's first snow this week.  Oh my goodness, so incredible.  Seriously, a winter wonderland with all of the trees twinkling with the freshly fallen snow.  And, to add to that, they've turned on all of the Christmas lights in town...the giant tree, the city hall that is wrapped in a huge, red ribbon, and the snowflakes and wreaths hanging between the streets.  Cutest thing that I've ever seen.  Don't worry, Mom, I'll be sure to film myself walking down the cobblestone streets so you can see it all.

Today I had a weird realization.  So, a little while ago I wrote home asking my mom to send me sheet music for the piano.  #1: Who would have ever thought that I would be asking for piano music that I would have to carry with me the rest of my mission?  I'm stoked whenever I finish a chapstick that won't add weight anymore to my luggage.  #2: Um, pretty sure I never played the piano before my mission and considered it the bane of my existance for a good portion of my life.  #3: I received the music this week and looked forward to nothing else this P-day than playing while Soeur Pagano wrote her emails to her family.  So basically, it took my mission to get me to love the piano.  Look what's happening to me.  

So this week, there were also lots of miracles.  One night we were out contacting and it was getting late.  We only had a couple more minutes before going home and only needed one more person to make our daily goal for contacts.  Okay, you see where this is going...typical missionary story, but it was cool anyway.  We were walking through this neighborhood and literally couldn't find anyone so felt that we should start going back another way.  And, of course, there was a girl.  Sadly, she wasn't interested.  Oh well, we got our contacting goal.  But then, there was one more guy behind her and, of course, we passed him because we already had our contacting goal.  Whatever, we totally talked to him and taught him a lesson right there on the street and prayed with him and testified and left him with a Book of Mormon.  There you go, an end of the day miracle.

Also, we had the most incredible lessons with Migo (our wonderful Taiwanese amie).  Love her!  We talked to her about Christ, which was really cool because we had to start from square one and, did I mention that it's all in English?  Luckily that wasn't a problem because we speak English.  Except, it's kind of embarrassing when you get to the first vision and realize that you don't know it in your native language.  Awkward.  Anyways, the lesson was great and the Spirit was so strong.  At the end  she told us how she knows that God answers her prayers and that she feels peace and happiness when she reads the Book of Mormon and comes to church.  Miracle!  Guess who has a baptismal date now?  What an awesome Christmas present for the Savior.  She is seriously the most sincere and sweet person ever and we're so excited to be helping her prepare to follow Christ.  Also, what an cool thing for our little branch.  The last baptism they saw was over 1 1/2 years ago and now that person is completely inactive.  I can't even track back to the baptism before that.  I love miracles!

Everything is great and I'm loving my mission.  There is no better way to spend my favorite time of the year!

On a sidenote, are you kidding me?  Mom, you have literally been stuck in bed for 10 months because a tick from New York bit you and the dentist gave you too much numbing medicine during a root canal?  That sounds like the start of a joke.  Well, I'm definitely glad they finally figured it out.  I'm praying for a miraculous recovery before your trip to France.

Have a wonderful week!

Je vous aime, 

Soeur Alisa Hulme 

(Votre missionnaire préférée)  

"The rest of the conversation we went by Sara and Elodie" 11/18/13

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Well, another wonderful week here in the lovely Besancon.  As a disclaimer....This was going to be a good letter, I had one of the funniest, best stories of my entire mission....but, to maintain companionship relations, I have graciously chosen to omit it.  But, it will be in the journal I send home in a month.  Then, you can consider this a good letter and have a good laugh.

Anyways, I guess I can tell you two other highlights of the week...

1) Soeur Pelot made us part of a nativity set.  Now I will always have one of her "little muslim dolls".  Love it!

2) We contacted this lady this week, she was cool.  But, she was really confused when we wouldn't tell her our first names.  So, as to not make it "awkward" by calling us Soeur Hulme and Soeur Pagano, she made up first names for us.  The rest of the conversation we went by Sara and Elodie. 

It has been super interesting on my mission working with all of these different people and situations.  It's easy to see that we are just a part of God's huge missionary force.  There are missionaries here in my mission and all over the world who are doing the exact same thing.  And, it's not about us at all.  Missions are short, especially when you consider the amount of time that you spend in each ville (for me, never more than three months).  Rarely do you see the beginning to the end of a story.  You go in and work hard.  You find people to teach, prepare and give lessons, help less-actives, work with members, etc.  And, of course, you see miracles.  But, it's not always in the ways that you expect and it's not always in the ways that "look good in the books".  Change takes time.  And, it's often not one person that makes all the difference.  It's the consistancy and the power of the Lord's army that is going to bring about His will.  I guess, it's just really humbling.  You can do a lot as a missionary and give it your all, but it all depends on the Lord's timing and not necessarily "one specific missionary".  If the missionary force is constant in their faith and worthiness, the Lord cannot withhold His miracles. 

I love working here with all of these wonderful people.  Our amis are doing well, we're still working with tons of less-actives, and strengthening our tiny branch.  I love my companion.  I'm learning so much in all of my studies.  I love all of the amazing missionaries I serve with and the beautiful places I see.  I love you all and am so grateful to be part of the Lord's army.  Have a wonderful week!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme