And a Happy New Year

CHRISTMAS LUNCH:

And now I'm going to tell you what I ate for Christmas:

escargot (snails! Did you know they keep the shells from meal to meal, like dishes, and they just buy the snails separately, marinate them, and stuff them into the shells? Kinda funny/ingenious.)

foie gras (force-fed-goose liver. bleh. sorry France.)

raw salmon

and

(drumroll)

froglegs!!! poor things. not bad though, with a little parsley sauce.

NEW YEARS PHOTOS AND STUFF:

We helped out the young adults of France with their new year's party. It was Venice themed. In between hanging masks from the ceiling, wrapping smoked salmon around crunchy breadsticks, and unfolding and refolding napkins, we took a boat picture.

We saw mega lines outside of every boulangerie on New Year's Eve, as people were buying their baguettes with which to bring in the new year. 

I decided New Year's Eve to cut my own hair. Nothing like starting off the new year with a bad decision. Ha. But that is not what is being displayed in this picture. There is, in fact, a tiny lion sitting atop my head. Hence the look on my face. He he

RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR:

And resolutions for the new year? I am realizing how not much matters more than how close we are to God. We can do a million things and be busy all the day long, but if we aren't going slowly and quietly enough to hear little nudges and ideas from Him, all our best efforts just exhaust us and bear little fruit. And the great thing is that what God nudges us towards is how to love people better, how to be happier, how to think about ourselves and others in a way that is productive and healthful and joyful. Thus, resolutions? Learning to cultivate this spirit of divine quiet. Being quieter and stiller and calmer, instead of hastier and more rushed and more finicky. I'm trading in panic for peace.

the Light of the World

That which is of God is light

and he that receiveth light,

and continueth in God,

receiveth more light;

and that light groweth

brighter and brighter!

until the perfect day.

And again, verily I say unto you,

and I say it that you may know the truth,

that you may chase darkness from among you.

(Doctrine and Covenants 50:24-25)

May your holydays be merry and bright!

love this: What Shall We Give?

Fa la la la la

We went to the funeral of the mother of a woman in the ward. The mother has been sick for a really long time. It was in a cemetery and was only 30 minutes long, very simple. I cried the whole time. I was thinking about Lana, and then about my grandparents and my parents and the others that might go before me into the next room, and I thought about how tender these relationships are to me. I have a family here on earth. They are so good to me.

This week we were office sisters. Meaning we were at the beck and call of the assistants and the office elders. We spent all day Monday helping the new missionaries around. Then Tuesday we got all 11 new missionaries to the office by 7:30 in the morning. Then we went running to the gare to get the trainers who were coming in. That is the 007 part of my job--running up and down train platforms in Europe trying to find lost missionaries--"Her train comes in in 2 minutes? Do we know which platform?!" "Elder, you have 3 minutes to get to your platform! Gooo!" "Has anyone seen Sister Smith? She didn't get off the train, and she doesn't have a cell phone--call her zone leaders and see if they have heard from her!" "The train from Dijon is en retard 20 minutes? That means he'll miss his next train. Is there another that leaves tonight?!" It's all really dramatic (not really, but maybe in the life of a missionary it is.) and all really fun.

We had the ward Christmas party this week. They asked us the missionaries to do the spiritual thought. So naturally we did the nativity scene. Because we are in the apartment with a bazillion beds, we of course have tons and tons of sheets. So we wrapped everyone up like angels and wisemen and shepherds. It's amazing how many different ways you can wrap a sheet :) Soeur Vidal read Luke 2 while I played hymns in the background. And Mary and Joseph came in, ringing a sheep bell, and asking people if they could sit by them (there was really no room, the chapel was STUFFED). And it was actually really touching. The bell made all the difference.

The wise men and shepherds threw candy out at the crowd as they were walking towards Bethlehem (and the audience loved that), and we sang hymns throughout. One of the sisters wrapped herself up in lights and was the star that went before the wisemen. The whole thing was really lovely--the perfect mix of spiritual and delightful. At the end, Soeur Vidal bore her testimony and read Ether 12:41--

And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever.

Then we all ate cheese and sausage and bread and clementine oranges.

This morning I was reading a talk by Elder Christofferson called "Redemption" I think. It was from the April Conference. He talks about the Atonement. I've never really understood when people say, "I made it through that hard time because of the Atonement." Or things like, "Apply the Atonement in your life." How does one do that exactly? Elder Christofferson says:

The Savior’s suffering in Gethsemane and His agony on the cross redeem us from sin by satisfying the demands that justice has upon us. He extends mercy and pardons those who repent. The Atonement also satisfies the debt justice owes to us by healing and compensating us for any suffering we innocently endure. “For behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.”

I realized when I read that that because the Savior experienced the Atonement, he knows how to succor us. Because he suffered what we suffer, he knows exactly what will help in every situation. He knows the antidote to pain, to loneliness, to confusion, to sorrow, to debt, to insecurity, to anger, to embarrassment, to mockery, to all of it. So when we experience those things, He is capable of healing us, because He has been there and He knows what we need to feel better and get better. We apply the Atonement when we believe that He can do that. Seeing the Atonement at work in your life really just means seeing the tender mercies that the Lord gives you, that are specific to you and your situation, and realizing that He is able to know how to specifically succor you because of what he suffered in Gethsemane.

I love the Savior.

Us sisters waiting for our training meeting to start. At first we weren't cold. Then we got really cold. And then an hour later the building was opened and we could go inside (I'm only early when I don't end up needing to be.)

Thankful

It's the last week of the transfer...I've been in Lyon for three (the same amount of time I was in Bayonne), and I've been with Soeur Vidal for two transfers (the most I've ever been with anyone), so I'm thinking something is going to change next transfer. To be honest, what I really want is to go to some tiny village in the mountains and trudge around in the snow and knock on doors for a transfer. all day yesterday, I was thinking, "I don't think I can do this sister training leader thing for another transfer." I feel like I've given all the advice and love I know how to give, and I'm running a little empty. Not so much in a selfish way, but just in "I think my battery has lost its charge" kind of way. Time to recharge before I can be useful to anyone again. Preferably I want to recharge in a little mountain village with lots of snow where we're the only missionaries for miles. Hahaha. But then right after I thought of a story I read about Spencer W Kimball once when he was called to be prophet, and how he battled for a long time with it because he felt he wasn't qualified (obviously this is a bit of a stretch of a comparison.). That's mostly how I feel lately though--that I don't know exactly how to help the sisters I work with, and I feel there are so many other people who really could do a much better job. But then I thought of those stories, and I thought, "Well, if this is where He wants me, then He'll help me do what He needs me to do." I read a scripture in 2 Timothy 1:9 this morning:

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

So that makes me feel better. If I'm called to do this another transfer, He'll teach me what I need to do and how.

This week we've been sharing Mosiah 3:1-9 with a lot of families when we visit them. We're talking and teaching about ministering. I love verse 6, that says that Jesus cast out devils...or in OTHER words, the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men. We see this all the time, in ourselves and in others--evil spirits of loneliness and selfishness and miserliness and worry and frustration and grudge-holding and bitterness and fear and self-consciousness and shame and sorrow... I mean, Coldplay calls these things "death and all of his friends." And this is what the Savior does--He chases all these things out of our hearts. And this is what we have power to do, as his disciples, to chase these things out of people's hearts. This is ministering. And so we're asking people who they know who is sad or weak or lonely or scared and needs healing.

Thanksgiving...well, we had district meeting,; then when to a friend's house and ate...curry and nems! (Nems are like egg rolls. They're super good and French people (or maybe just French Mormons, not sure yet) are OBSESSED with them. We made them at a ward activity a couple weeks ago, and there were HUNDREDS left over, so a bunch of members took them home and froze them. Then this week (hahaha) we've been fed nems every time we go to a member's house. Best.) The day was pretty tranquil...didn't really do anything special, actually. 

Funny story of the week: a man on the metro accused me of being a spy. He was like, "My brother works for Interpol. Do you know that the Mormons are spies? Yep. They have a bio on every person living in Europe. They are SPIES." And I was like, "Actually, Monsieur, that is not true." with a big smile on my face. And he was like, "Well you don't know about it, but it's true. You're a spy." And I was like, "Actually...I'm a missionary." Him: "Well I'm a missionary too. But we don't do missionary work in the same way." Me, laughing: "You're right, you accuse people of being spies! I'm just trying to invite you to learn about Jesus Christ!" Hahahaha the whole conversation was HILARIOUS. And kinda sad that he really believes that. But it's okay, he's going to have a really awesome experience with the Spirit one day and then he'll have a good story to tell his grandchildren.

Merry December!

So this is what it feels like to live in a classy apartment in France

We found out late last night that we were moving apartments. An emergency move. They've been wanting to put us in a big apartment for a while because there are always people staying with us for exchanges, for coming into the mission, for leaving the mission, and we have not the space! So finally last night it happened. We threw all of our stuff into our suitcases as fast as we could and moved a couple of streets over (dramatic, huh) and now live int he classiest apartment in all of France. Let me just describe it, because it is soon going to be filled with 10 triple bunkbeds (TRIPLE. they're turning us into the Lyon Barracks), so I'm gonna enjoy it while it lasts! You walk past a fruitstand and come to tall, thick, double wooden doors. We push those open into a big marble entry way to the building. There's a skinny elevator and cold marble stairs that spiral up into the building and an old wooden handrail. On each floor, there are tall windows, the glass so old it's wobbly and thick in places. Outside there is a chimneyed house with ivy crawling up the side and the red tile roof and the brick chimney. The ivy leaves are changing color with the seasons. And then our apartment--chevronned wooden floors that creak and that have woodworm lines in them. A bedroom with tall Cinderella windows and drapes, a fireplace and marble mantle with a huge mirror above it. Old doorknobs, old keyholes and keys in every room. Beauty-and-the-Beast-tall ceilings, and another fireplace in the parlor. Lovely. A walk-in closet. Parlor room window that open out to lacy wrought iron balconycages and a street beneath lined with big French autumn trees.

That's all, just livin the highlife. :)

Now here are the really beautiful things from this week: 

There's a family that an old missionary recommended we try to go see. We've gone before, but it's impossible to get into their building. They live in an apartment, and to get into the building you have to have a badge that opens the door. In other words there's no way to even ring their apartment and have them let us in. So we kinda gave up on it. Well a few days ago we walked back kinda by their house, and I thought, "Maybe we should just see if the door is open." So we walked by...it wasn't open, but RIGHT AT THAT VERY SECOND, the man who puts magazines in all the mailboxes came by. He opened the door and didn't care that we followed him in :) So we went up all the floors looking for their name on the door. Finally we found it, and they opened and they are wonderful! They were so happy to see us, and they gave us their number and we're going to see them later this week! That really was a miracle though, that of all that night, the one man who would let us in happened to be there at the very second we were pushing on the door trying to get in. Best.

My other favorite part of this week was doing genealogy with a grandpa who is incredible. He called us because he really really wanted to do his geneaology...so we set up a RDV and oh lala he brought a big folder full of pictures and letters and driving licenses from the 1910s, pictures of his school class back in 1940, and better yet, stories. His ancestors were clockmakers in western France, but then they were forced to moved to Switzerland for religious reasons (along with many other clockmakers, apparently), and that's one reason there are so many incredible French clockmakers that are based in Switzerland. He said these ancestors (we're talking around the 1800s) had a family clock on the mantlepiece that got passed from generation to generation, and each generation would inscribe on the back their name and their life dates...so they got a ton of genealogy info from this clock! It had generations and generations of father-son carved into the back of it.

These are my favorite scriptures this week: Doctrine and Covenants 7:

 1 And the Lord said unto me: John, my beloved, what desirest thou? For if you shall ask what you will, it shall be granted unto you.

 2 And I said unto him: Lord, give unto me power over death, that I may live and bring souls unto thee.

 3 And the Lord said unto me: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, because thou desirest this thou shalt tarry until I come in my glory, and shalt prophesy before nations, kindreds, tongues and people.

 4 And for this cause the Lord said unto Peter: If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? For he desired of me that he might bring souls unto me, but thou desiredst that thou mightest speedily come unto me in my kingdom.

 5 I say unto thee, Peter, this was a good desire; but my beloved has desired that he might do more, or a greater work yet among men than what he has before done.

 6 Yea, he has undertaken a greater work; therefore I will make him as flaming fire and a ministering angel; he shall minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation who dwell on the earth.

 7 And I will make thee to minister for him and for thy brother James; and unto you three I will give this power and the keys of this ministry until I come.

8 Verily I say unto you, ye shall both have according to your desires, for ye both joy in that which ye have desired.

I love verse 8--you'll both have according to your desires, because they're both good and they'll both bring you joy! When I first read this chapter, I thought what the Savior was saying in verse 4 and 5 was, "John desired something better than you did, Peter, so he's going to be better off in the end." But actually he's just saying, "Don't compare yourself, Peter! John wanted to do this thing, and he'll have joy in it, and what you asked for is wonderful too, and I'll give you both what you asked for, because you're going to find joy in it!" Looks like we can have our cake and eat it too. Oh how he loves us.

Lyonlily

Cool things that happened:

We got off the bus and went to meet up with a lady, but we were early, so we went back to talk to the lady at the bus stop. The conversation went like this:

"Hi, we're missionaries for Jesus Christ--"

"Jesus Christ! I love Jesus Christ! Okay! Tell me!"

(we start smiling because she's just so enthusiastic and happy to hear who we are.)

"Well, would you like to learn more about our Church?"

"Yes! Do you baptize in your church?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, I really want to get baptized. I am READY. I know I need to be baptized to live with Jesus Christ again, and I want to live with Him. Can I please be baptized?"

(                       )

"Yes! Will you prepare yourself to be baptized?"

"Yes! How long will it take for me to be ready?"

"A month and a half, two months or so, probably."

"Oh good, another church told me I have to wait two and a half years. That is too long."

My companion and I walked away giggling. She was so full of light and happiness.

Another night, we invited our ami over to a member's house to have dinner and a lesson. During the lesson, she says, "I just feel really strange now--during our lessons and when I read the Book of Mormon, I just...want to cry, it's so beautiful! I feel really warm inside!" Then after the lesson, we took a little tour of the house, and in one of the rooms, there was a painting of the second coming of Christ, the one with all the angels around him. And our ami asked about it. We explained, "That's a painting of when Christ comes again to the earth." Ou ami said, "Is it really going to happen like that?"  And we told her yes, and she literally almost fell over laughing for joy and grabbed my arm and said, "Oh, Soeur Carter! C'est trop beau! That makes me want to cry!" and then she got big tears of joy in her eyes. She is wonderful.

Third, I love this scripture and what it teaches us about the character of our Heavenly Father:

Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom.   (D&C 29:5)

I just want you all to know I love this Gospel. It helps us be happy. It helps us live our lives in a way that produces joy and peace.

Here are some pictures too:
1.) Went to a park that had carousels! Oh man I was in heaven.
2.) Then there's some chocolate too. Most beautiful chocolate I've ever seen.
3.) Then one day we were taking the trash out and the bag ripped open and down the stairs went a lot of gross stuff. Bleh. But funny. We laughed a lot.

PS: Sexy Sax Man is playing in the internet cafe where I am. I cannot escape this song.

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Guess what we ate last night. CHESTNUTS ROASTED ON AN OPEN FIRE. People do that here in France!!! You gather chestnuts in parks and forests and sidewalks and wherever else there are chestnut trees and then you stick them in a big pot and put it on the fire. The shells start popping open and turning dark brown, and then you can peel the shells off and eat them with butter. Oh la la. We had dinner at the bishop's house last night and first we ate pumpkin soup with pears and creme fraiche (it's like sour cream but really more like nectar from the gods) and chives on top (delicious) and then they brought out pot after pot of chestnuts and we all sat around shelling and eating chestnuts and butter and drinking apple cider. This is what heaven is. You better believe when I come back I'm bringing this tradition with me.

We also ate at another family's house this week who are wonderful. This is a video about the dad. 

    http://mormon.org/fabrice   ( turn on English captions )

At dinner we talked about Nephi and prayer and how no matter what happens--death even--we have a Father in heaven who loves us and a Savior who has power in him to bring back from the dead and to forgive our sins so we can advance in life.

Our ami came to church this week for the first time and she loved it. She took out her notebook during Sunday School and was taking notes about the temple and the gospel and family history. After sacrament, she couldn't stop smiling and said, "This is amazing. Don't worry, I will be back next Sunday." 

With our other ami we've been reading the Book of Mormon together with him every day almost. He has a hard time understanding the language sometimes, so we read verse by verse and he asks questions. The other day we were reading in 1 Nephi somewhere and he cuts me off and says, "Yeah but, what I wanna know is, how do I have strong enough faith to become like Jesus Christ?" Oh Promise. The question of the century! We were teaching with a member and she bore testimony really simpply and really eloquently that in living the gospel day to day, our hearts are changed, and over time, we become like Jesus Christ. He loves being around the young adults--he came every night this week to institute. (Institute class is in French. He doesn't speak any French. That's how much he loves the spirit at the institute building and the spirit of the young adults there, how warm and welcoming and happy they are.)

Our goal as missionaries is to help turn people away from the devil, to help them change the way they live, so that they can be happier. Because the way we live determines our happiness. There are eternal principles that a loving God in heaven who knows how our spirits and our bodies work better than we do has taught us that lead to happy days and hours lives.

I'm learning this week something called, "If I don't do it, no one will." I found myself very often this week being hesitant to do things--hesitant to talk to people, hesitant to ask for things, hesitant to lead off on things. I was waiting for someone else who is more experienced than I am, wiser than I am, better than I am to lead out. That's meekness after all, right? And I'm working on being more meek. But then I realized it isn't really meekness. I still don't know how meekness and strong leadership work with one another, but I do know this--I need to live in a way where I lead out, on setting examples, on being brave, on getting stuff done. I tell myself, "Well, if I don't do it, no one will." and even though that probably isn't true, it helps me be brave when I am scared. Or when I am lazy. Which maybe after all we'll see are the same things.

Here's a scripture I love this week: John 18:3-4

3 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.

 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?

There's something in this about Christ's character--that he knows beforehand what will happen, andhe goes out to meet them. He's anticipating this horrible, painful, terrifying moment, and he has prepared himself enough that he knows what he will do and say, so that even here in this moment, he can act in a dignified manner. He can act, and not be acted upon. I hope to be like this someday, master of myself enough that when others come to hurt, insult, or attack me, I can remain in control of myself, I can be graceful, I can be dignified. CS Lewis said something like it's in moments of extremity like this that our true selves are revealed. What here is revealed of Christ? Not panic, cowardice, anger, but divinity.

Here's a quote about service that I like:

"The more we serve our fellowmen in appropriate ways, the more substance there is to our souls. We become more significant individuals as we serve others. We become more substantive as we serve others—indeed, it is easier to “find” ourselves because there is so much more of us to find!" (Spencer W Kimball)

Pray for magical things. 

Find people around you and make friends.

People are so quick to smile.