Salut toute le monde ! Ça va ?
I hope your week was a bit less chaotic than la mienne !
#Goodbyesstink!To start the week out with a bang we celebrated a birthday in Lille! It was Elder Lantz's birthday so we were able to celebrate together during our p-day with the Lille district! Although Soeur Smith and I actually lived in Lille, our secteur was outside of the city, but of course we worked with the Lille missionaries all the time. Honestly, I have to say, they have become some of my best friends! It was sad to say goodbye to them all but I know that I'll be seeing them again soon - whether it be on the mission or at school, so it was more of a sad see you later. 🤣
This week I also said goodbye to a lot of the families in the ward and not gonna lie, it was really sad! I had gotten really close to the members in Villeneuve-d'ascq and I can honestly say that a big part of my heart belongs to the Northern France. 💖 I have absolutely adored serving in the North! The feeling, the culture, the people, the architecture are all just so incredible! I love it all! I probably had the most fun there! I was able to say goodbye to the Duez family (our Stake President) and we had dinner together, which was really good! We also went over to the Mangatia's house for dinner where we had roti which is a Mauritanie food and it was soooo good! We had some Mauritanie members there who made it! Sadly Soeur Smith and I had to leave before desert so they threw some cake in Tupperwares for us to eat on the train! 😂 We also stopped by the Hallermayer's and had a mini party! They are literally huge examples to me! We just talked with Louise about mission stuff and life in general, and it was so fun! We then made our way over to Marina's house where we had a mini party with her and her Sister Flora. It was sooooo fun! We chatted, swapped mission stories, and kinda had a girls party! It felt good to be there with them; it felt like I was hanging out with my friends. They are seriously incredible and I love them all so so much!
Last but not least, I had to say goodbye to Naomi! She is a new member who was baptized right before I got to Villeneuve-d'ascq and she is literally joy in a bottle! She was super cute because she learned that I was being transferred along with one of the Lille soeurs, so she pulled all the sisters into an office and told us to close our eyes. She gave us each a gift with the sweetest note ever! And then she began to cry because Soeur Hodson and I were leaving! Ahhhhh! Not gonna lie, I cried a lot this past week too saying goodbye to all these members. 😭 I have met so many people who have become huge examples to me and so many who I have come to truly love! I feel like the grinch where my heart just grew! 💗 🤣
Side note...Before I left Lille the ZLs, Soeur Smith, and I went on a little adventure to help a lady from Belgium switch gares in Lille! There are two big gares right next to each other and a lot of times you have to switch trains between the two. We show up and the lady has a few bags for us to carry. She was an older woman with a few health problems, so she asked us to help, and of course we said yes! She also had a little friend with her... a bunny! Yep, you read that right! We start grabbing her things and one of the bags started moving, (yes, I was a bit concerned) and then she pulled out the biggest bunny I have EVER seen! Not your normal every day experience, but she was the cutest and just loved talking to us! 😂
TRANSFERS...Holy cow this week was transfers too! Yeah, that's kind of an important little tid bit of info! 😉Probably one of the craziest transfers ever!
Thursday morning all of us Lille Soeurs went to the gare to meet up with the Arras Soeurs, along with the Elders from Dunkirk - aka half the zone! I said goodbye to Soeur Smith at the gare, which was so sad, but it's okay because I'll see her next week at MLC ! We then all grabbed the train to Paris and made it to Saint-Merri where I met up with all my friends! It was great!
I also met my new companion, Soeur Stevenson! She is just darling! She is from Canada, which is super cool! Second Canadian Collègue! I've been trying to learn as much as I can from her about Canada. 😂 I'm kind of sad already though, because we will only spend one transfer together as she is ending her mission, but I am so excited for everything we are about to do!
We then trained back to Rennes, but we were not ready for what was about to happen... We get off the metro and were greeted by tons of tractors blocking the road in protest! Yup. Rennes likes to protest! Oh the memories! So, all the buses were pretty messed up. We ended up taking about 5 buses and still not getting where we needed to go, which was crazy! We finally ended up standing at a bus stop, tired of trying to figure out the bus schedule, so we decided to walk to our apartment with all my suitcases. Yea, we were a bit tired by the time we got there. 😅 Then, in the distance we see a woman standing in front of her car waving us down. We go over to her and see that she is a member from the ward! She greeted us by saying that when she saw two missionaries dragging suitcases, she just couldn't leave us and offered to drive us to our apartment! Literally a miracle because we were still not close at all! We didn't even try to do the, "Oh are you sure," thing, we said, "YES" so fast! 🤣 Soeur Lececheur is an angel! Not gonna lie, it has been weird being back in Rennes...All the same old smells, buildings, apartment, people, etc. but it has also been so fun to be back! It's all different, but still familiar all at the same time! At times I feel like I never left, but somehow have memories from other places! 😂 I've been surprised at how many people remember me, specifically the members, as I've been gone for over a year. Ah! I'm so excited for what will happen this transfer!
Missionary momentum never stops and the work began as soon as I arrived, as Saturday there was a stake youth activity about missionary work! It was so cool! The youth were all assigned to various missions and went through the church door knocking, lesson planning, language training, and experiencing almost all the things we do as missionaries! We also had missionaries from the zone come, so it was super fun to meet them! I had such a blast hanging out with the youth! We even performed a musical number with all the missionaries! Was it put together last minute? Yes, yes it was. 🤣 
Sunday was interesting too. Normally, when a missionary is new to the ward you introduce yourself by giving a testimony, but instead a member of the Bishopric asked me if I had a talk prepared. I thought he was kidding, so I was joking back. He then said, "No, we actually have a problem with the talks. Can you give one?" So, there I was, only 30 minutes later giving a talk I had completely winged last minute! I guess I should have taken my father a bit more seriously when he warned me that I should always have a talk prepared just in case. But, everyone liked it so I guess I did ok. 😂 So far Rennes has been great! Even sureal! We have had tons of lessons already and and the work is moving along!
Spiritual Thought
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me."
(1Nephi 21:16)
We are engraven on the hands of Christ, through the marks He bares because of His love!
My heart is full and I love my mission! Have an amazing week! I love you!
À bientôt !
- Soeur Hansen 🥰
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