"The miracles…" 2/17/14

Bonjour Ma Famille,

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.

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!

The miracles...

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?

Dominique accepted a baptismal date this week.

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)

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.

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.

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?

I love you all, have a fantastic week.  Thanks for all of the support.

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"So we prayed and picked a random building…and the fourth door we knocked was her's." 2/10/14

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Bordeaux 

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.

Other than that, we saw so many miracles this week, let me share a few...

Sister Hulme and Sister Stevens

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.

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.

Former Companion, Sister Pagano

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.

Darling Lancelot Kids

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.

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!

Oh, and we have a new ami, Mikael, that accepted a baptismal date this week.

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!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

At the Airport

Pau

"It was like 10 minutes of pure gold." 2/3/14

Bonjour Ma Famille,

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.

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.  

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.

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. 

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!

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!

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. 

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.

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.

Well, as you can tell, I'm loving life and everything is great.  Thanks for everything, I love you all.

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"No wonder our mission is the second most expensive mission in the world." 1/27/14

Bonjour Ma Famille,

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"Training Leaders are…kind of like Zone Leaders, but we're over three zones of sisters." 1/21/14

Members of the Besancon Branch

Bonjour Ma Famille,

Not much time, but I'll update you…

"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

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.

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).

Sandrine and her darling children.  "She has literally changed my life."

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.

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!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

Threw away my first pair of shoes.

There'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

Bonjour Ma Famille,

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.

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...

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).

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.

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...

Everything is wonderful, I love you all.  I love being a missionary.

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"We decided, for some random reason (meaning inspiration), to take another route."

Bonjour Ma Famille,

I hope that you all had a wonderful week, I did.  Haha, I love my companion.  She is so funny.  Let me give you a glimpse into my life with a Swedish sister...

"Why do all Americans smile with their teeth?"  (because that's how you're supposed to smile)...I'm sending you a picture that I drew of us because she refuses to take a picture with me.

"Why do you not pronounce the 't' when you say 'mountain'?"  (I'm from Utah)

"Do all Americans make weird faces all the time?" (actually, that's just me) 

"Why do Americans make so many prideful, sarcrastic comments?"  (umm...)...funny story about that...we were watching a clip from the District (missionary training videos) and this lady, as a joke, said something like, 

"Yeah, my family is perfect."  My first thought, "Haha, American."

Also, Soeur Ronndahl walks around the house singing the American National Anthem.

Random French Fact of the Week:  They use baguettes for the sacrament.

We have been looking for tons of families to teach this last week, and it seems that they are just falling into our laps.  Here are some examples...

We were contacting one night and stopped this cute lady with her baby (I swear, whenever I see someone with a stroller I head straight for them).  Her name is Joycelyn and she was apparently taught by the elders over two years ago.  But, she agreed to restart the lessons with us and feels that it is time for her to make changes in her life and get closer to God.  Miracle.

Later on, we received a call from some missionaries in Gex.  They gave us a referral for this awesome, young mom with several kids.  She had been contacted in Besancon several years ago on a bus but had since forgotten about the church.  However, this last weekend she was in Gex helping her mother move (into a house that just happened to be across the street from the church).  Out of the blue, she decided to go to the services on Sunday, stayed all three hours, loved it, and gave her contact info to the missionaries to pass to us (because she is still living in Besancon).  We start teaching her later this week.  Miracle.

Finally, we had the most incredible contact.  We had decided, for some random reason (meaning inspiration), to take a different route to our rendez-vous one evening.  On the way, of course, we ran into this young dad and his two sons (ages 5 and 3).  He said that he was completely athiest but was suddenly sparked when we started talking about eternal families.  He admitted that he was scared of death and wanted answers.  He wasn't sure why he didn't believe in God and asked us how we could believe.  Naturally, we taught him how to pray right there on the street and set-up a rendez-vous for the coming week.  Miracle.

God is preparing people for us and putting them in our paths.  The incredible part...he doesn't just do it for missionaries.  Members of the church are put daily in situations where they can express the joy they and their family receive through the restored gospel.  Just share your joy!  There are several members of the branch who have friends we are currently working with aswell.

On a different note, more miracles!  I got an email from Migo this week, she is currently still on vacation in the States.  Here are some highlights... (PS--she got her temple recommend before leaving Besancon)

"...I had gone to the temple and church in Manhattan. There is such a big church. The chorus is very amazing. Children also sang hymn on stage. They were so cute:)...I still pray to dear Heavenly Father, thanks for everything in my live..."  LOVE HER!

Have a great week, I love you all.  Thank you for your love and prayers!

Je vous aime,

Soeur Alisa Hulme

"BEAUTIFUL!"