Ho Ho Hospital!

Ho Ho hello toute le monde ! Comment ça va ? Quelle semaine ! 

First of all I want to tell you all a story from last week that I didn't get a chance to write about in my update. This is to prove that missionaries do have some fun. 😉 

As I quickly mentioned at the end of my update last week, IT SNOWED! Sunday morning, during personal studies before church Soeur Smith and I looked out the window to pleasantly find that it was snowing! As I also mentioned, the snow has been something I have greatly missed, so you can probably imagine how excited I was! As soon as we got to church the Elders came running out with two other members and bombarded us with snowballs! Yup! We had a snowball fight there in the parking lot of the church right before our réunion started! It was Soeur Smith and I against the Elders and 2 members of our ward ...I think maybe we won. 🤣 Our whole ward probably saw us all having our snowball fight, but it was just too fun! 🤣 

OK now onto what happened this week! It was probably one of the craziest weeks ever! Have I said that before?? 😂 I know I say that a lot, so that might just mean that every week is crazy! #Missionarylife! 

The craziness first started on Monday night, but for chronologie et organisation sake I'm going to begin on Tuesday. 😉 Tuesday, we took the early train to Paris for MLC again! For those of you wondering, MLC is "Mission Leadership Conference" where all the mission leadership gets together on the first Tuesday of each month in Paris for a day to talk about the mission: what is going well, what we can improve, and what we can implement. It was so fun! The mission home was all decorated for Christmas, we sang carols, and we talked a lot about goals - goal setting, action plan, and following up. The emphasis of the training focused on our need to always be in a state of growing and improving, we should always be trying to stretch ourselves more each day so that we can become the people we are meant to be. I honestly felt so inspired, even more-so as I don't have too much time left on my mission. There is so much I want to accomplish, and this MLC was an answer to prayer. We also talked about the power of faith. If we want to accomplish our goals and find those who seek the Christ, we have to have the faith to do so. This next transfer I am setting the goal of exercising more faith!

Even with the spiritual high of MLC, sometimes we have to jump off cloud nine for a moment. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, including being with those you love. On the mission I have met so many extraordinary people: missionaries, members, people on the street, etc., who mean so much to me. One of the cool things as a missionary is working with other missionaries, including senior couples. Since the beginning of my mission, way back when I was in Rennes, I've been able to work with the sweet Morrises who have been the senior couple in charge of all the housing issues for the missionary apartments. They have been there to give me French advice and many mom hugs when needed. En bref, they have been there for me numerous times and I cannot express how much I love them. 

Tuesday, at MLC, I sadly had to say goodbye to them as they were returning home from their mission the next day. You know, mission goodbyes are the worst! Crazy enough, it has been harder to say goodbye to the places and people I have loved on the mission than it was before I left. I will say, I did cry as I was saying goodbye to Soeur and Elder Morris, and Elder Morris even gave me a hug. 🤧 But, I know that we will totally see each other after the mission so just one more thing to look forward to!

Wednesday was when things got really interesting! I ended up staying two days in Paris because one, I was suppose to get my titre de séjour, which allows me to stay in France for another extra year, and two, we were suppose to do exchanges with the STLs in Paris. However, we had a huge plot twist... 

Going back to Monday night: after pday Soeur Smith started not feeling very well. Long story short, we thought she had a hernia. We were on the phone with the Mission President's wife and the nurse trying to figure out what to do. We were to be in Paris the next day, so we sat tight through the night and were able to make it to our MLC safely the next day. While in Paris, we decided it would be good if we went to the ER at the American hospital there the next day. On Tuesday night we found out two more Soeurs would be joining us last minute for their titre de séjour aussi appointments as well. So many plot twists! So, there we were on Wednesday, split into trios and doing exchanges; one group going to the préfecture for our residency cards, and the other to the hospital! 😂 As soon as we were done with our appointments we made our way to the hospital to meet up with the other Sœurs while still on our exchange. 😜 

Well, the Paris STLs and I spent most of the early afternoon in the waiting room, waiting for Soeur Smith. No worries, folks, she came out alive and all was well! Turns out it was some weird virus that was just making her feel a bit funky. We finished our our day of exchanges at St. Merri, doing the studies we missed that morning and eating spicy Indian burritos! We took the train home that night and as always, it was a fun time! Craziest exchange ever, but it was definitely memorable! And by the way,  all went well with our residency papers and the location of the préfecture building was in the cutest town ever near Paris!

Christmas activities are in full swing, which means the enlistment of missionary talents! Soeur Smith and I were asked to perform a musical number at an activity in November, and have now been asked to sing at every church activity since! 😂 Friday they held a fancy Christmas dinner for those 60 and older where we helped with the decorations and were also asked to sing. We sang "What Child Is This?" with the guitar and they all loved it! We were then invited to eat with everyone and had a really great time! You will never guess what the dinner conversation was??? We talked about the one and only... John Wayne! 😂 Shout out to you, Grandpa Don! Who would have ever thought that I would be talking about John Wayne at a dinner while in France??  Um... not me! 😂 But I do think I found some of his biggest fans! After dinner, we played a Kahoot game about Christmas and the Bible, and I've never seen older people so competitive! It was hilarious! Honestly one of the best nights ever! 

This week we even had lunch at one of my favorite family's house! The Gouttin's! It is always such a party there! They were so kind and even got us a gift! Soeur Smith and I almost cried it was so so sweet! Definitely a highlight of the week! I love this family so much! As they were taking us back to the church they even let us get in touch with the real world for a second by blasting Wham's, "Last Christmas," and even Maria Carey's, "All I want for Christmas Is You!" Soeur Smith and I enjoyed that glimpse of reality a little too much, but hey, as missionaries we take what we can get! (You all know I'm going to party so hard next Christmas!) 😉

This week we even had another guy show up to church unexpectedly - but I don't think this one quite counts as a miracle since he was drunk! Yup, he was very drunk! 😂 He walked in and a member told us we had a friend show up! Soeur Smith and I were confused, as were weren't expecting anyone. We turned around to find this man sucking a lime and getting a kick out of the fact that we both were named "Soeur"....  um yea, I'm thinking he didn't mean to purposely come to the church that day.  He did join he men's class, but then disappeared quickly and we were left to explain that we had no idea who he was. 😂 Who knows what will happen! 

However, we did have a lesson with the guy that showed up last week! It went so well! He didn't come back to church but we hope to see him again soon! We also went to our friend Julian's again and had a great time! 

We got transfer news this week and I will be staying another transfer in Lille/ Vd'ascq, and I couldn't be happier! First time staying in an area for three transfers and I'm so excited! 

I LOVE it here!

Spiritual Thought

I know this was a long post, but here is a scripture for your week!

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."  (Alma 26:27)

Il est là !  (He is there!)

Love you all! À bientôt ! 

- Soeur Hansen 🥰