Joyeux Noël à tous ! C'est finalement la saison de Noël et j'ai hâte !
This week has been crazy but soooo fun! We had about three district councils in a row, two exchanges back to back, lots of cheese and potatoes, lots of miracles, and an overwhelming amount of Christmas Spirit! ☃️ En bref, I just hope I can fit it all in one email! 😂
In my district, we had our in person district council! It was so fun! The ZLs even decided to join in too! (As leadership we like to do a tour of all the districts in the zone and join in on their councils, so that's why they were there, as well as why we had three in a row.) It was such a good reunion! This week we talked about The Book of Mormon, and Elder Mayfield (our district leader) had us each bare testimony of the Book of Mormon and our own conversion, which was incredibly powerful! It was so inspiring to hear the conversion stories from each of the other missionaries. Afterwards, we all shared some raclette! For those of you who may not remember what raclette is, it is pretty much THE winter food of France! It is boiled potatoes with melted raclette cheese (melted by using a machine) and topped with a variety of toppings, such as meat, onions etc. It was soooo fun, and although our stomachs felt a little funny after, it was well worth it! 😉 Later that evening we of course did the flan suck - and you all already know who won! To be honest, the flan suck is probably my new favorite party trick! 😜
#Miracle
This week we were also able to see SO MANY miracles! What an awesome way to kick off the Christmas season! Soeur Smith and I were invited to our Bishop's house for dinner, and wow was it fun! Buuuuut, it was a bit of a miraculous adventure getting there! The plan was to take the train to a particular stop where they would pick us up. However, when someone comes up to you to talk about the gospel and you are a missionary, you can't say no! Umm, of course! We were sitting on the train, waiting for it to get rolling and trying to send out some texts when a young man boarded the train. Soeur Smith and I both smile at him and then a few minutes later he asks if he can sit by us. Of course! Now, this train was full of people! There was actually a member sitting diagonally to our left and a Jewish man who was not too far from us listening in as well. The man's name is Augustine and he is really cool! He lives in Valenciennes but goes to Calais often to visit family. He saw our plaques first and that is what initiated the conversation! We talked the entire train ride and he was sooooo incredibly interested! The whole conversation centered around the Book of Mormon and simply what we believe. At the end we offered him a Book of Mormon and he was so excited about it! He even asked us to sign it! 😀 Sadly, he doesn't live in our secteur so we wrote the number of the Elders in his secteur in the Book as well. He was even interested in learning English too!
As our stop came and we said goodbye to Augustine, we moved to make our way to the door to descend. but suddenly we were stuck behind a bunch of bikes blocking the door! In the midst of not knowing where to go we saw the doors slowly closing. NOOOO! We were stuck on the train! We quickly ran to the other end but it was too late, the train had started moving. Mince ! We got off at the next stop and immediately called the Bishop's wife. Luckily we got rescued in the Tesla! The Bishop asked us if we had seen the moon that night, and as we leaned to look out the window, the Bishop hit the accelerator, and as the car quickly shot forward we both flew back against the seat with a grunt! He got a good laugh out of that! 😂
We shared a meal and a spiritual thought with their family regarding the Church's Light the World initiative! It was so fun, especially with their three kids! I love them! The Bishop knows English too, so every now and then he would randomly bust out a quote or a song in English and it was hilarious!
This week we did two exchanges back to back! It was a bit tiring - OK maybe a lot - but it was so fun! We started with the Lille Soeurs and Sœur Stevens and I worked in Lille for the day! We had a super tender interaction with these sweet older ladies that turned out to be sisters! We were the last ones off a train we had taken to a member's house. As we were descending, and after the smoke of the crowd died down, we found these two ladies trying to make their way down the stairs with a heavy bag and a caddie full of groceries. We stopped to ask if they needed help and they were so astonished! They told us that we were very charming! 😂 They explained that plenty of other youth had passed by, mainly young men, and no one offered to help. We helped them get to the street they were going to and they were just adorable! They asked where we were from and were shocked that we were "nice" Americans! 😂 I guess that's a stereotype? LOL They said our French was really good and they were very impressed, which was really nice! They then asked what we do and we told them about our missionary work. Sadly, they weren't too interested but we had such a cute conversation with them and they absolutely made my day! As we left they shared how much they loved talking to us, thanking us for the help, and telling us we were pretty. 😂 All four of us left smiling! Sooooo cute! 
That night Soeur Smith and I took the Soeurs to the Christmas market in Lille and it was so fun! We all got a giant corn dog with maroilles on it. Maroilles is actually a really really stinky cheese unique to the North. But once you get past the smell the cheese itself is actually really good. 😂By the way, what they say is true - the stinkier the cheese, the better it is! 😉 
The next day we took a train to Arras where I had the opportunity to work with Soeur Morgan again! We had some incredible lessons with some of their amis! Arras is doing some incredible work! Overall, both exchanges went sooo well and I absolutely love the soeurs in the zone! The next day we were set to take the train back to Lille. As usual, we were running through the gare, bags in tow, only to find out our train was delayed 30 minutes! We had another train we had to take to visit some members in Belgium, and luckily had just enough time to barely run and catch the next train, which was also delayed 30 minutes! 😅 We did eventually make it to Belgium and enjoyed an incredible moment with our members.
Okay, so recently Vd'ascq has been in a period of waiting with our friends. We haven't had too many to teach, which has been a bit hard. Yesterday, Soeur Smith and I decided to individually fast for specific needs. Without telling each other, we both ended up fasting to find a friend, and for a miracle in our area. 5 minutes before church started on Sunday a man walked into church, came straight to us and asked us when the reunion started. We said in 5 minutes and he said, "Oh great! I am looking to prepare myself for baptism!" Soeur Smith and I were dumbfounded! We replied with a "That is incredible," and introduced who we were. We invited him to sit with us during the meeting and he did! It was fast and testimony meeting, which meant that members could go to the front as they felt so inclined to bare testimony of Christ. The testimonies shared were incredible! In the middle our visiter, Hervé, leaned over and whispered that he had some questions and would love to talk after. The reunion ended and we asked what his thoughts were and he said he absolutely loved it! He said he couldn't fully explain what he was feeling and that he loved being there and he wants to come again! He then told us that he was originally looking for the Catholic church, but found himself in front of our building with something pushing him forward and telling him he needed to go in! How incredible is that! We explained again who we were as missionaries and that we offer free lessons to help prepare those interested for baptism and he enthusiastically showed interest! We exchanged numbers and we plan to teach him this week! Soeur Smith and I had no idea that we had each individually fasted and prayed for this miracle! 
GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!
This week it even snowed! I can't explain to you how much I have missed the snow!
Spiritual Thought
This week I read this scripture in John that I want you all to ponder:
I love you all ! À bientôt ! ❤️
-Soeur Hansen
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