Weird Week

This week was good too! this is probably going to be a short one again though, sorry.

First of all keep me updated on marysville pilchuck! thats so scary! also all of you siblings need to keep me updated on your lives because i just got an email from mom saying Julia broke up with her boyfriend that i didnt even know she had.... 

Also sadly france doesn't really do halloween. it's more for like the 5 year olds and under. most french people hate it because it's an "american" holiday. so no haloween over here. they do however celebrate Toussaint november 1st, the day to celebrate all the saints. and france does a lot of vacations, so they get two weeks off just for that one day. its kinda ridiculous

But anyway this week was good. I guess I'll just write about one miracle that happened this week. We were waiting at a bus stop and soeur p started talking to a lady and her son. we missed our bus to give her our card, and got on the same bus as her which really only put us like a two minute walk farther from our apartment. but she didnt continue to talk to us on the bus and it was really sad because soeur p felt we really needed to talk to her, but we didn't get her number. then a few days later we felt like we needed to pass by an old amis, so we did and she wasn't there. but her neighbors below were being really loud, so we decided to ask if the old amis still lives there. We knock, the door opens, and its her! the lady from the bus stop! she was so surprised she asked us how we found her. haha but anyway now we have her address, so a phone number isnt really needed. But yeah that was our miracle this week.

yesterday i heard a new pick-up line. I dont think it really works especially if you say it to missionaries haha. two guys came up to us and asked if we had any cigarettes. We taught them the restoration haha. but it was hilarious because in the middle of the conversation smoking got brought up again and we said again that we don't smoke and then they said neither do we. And then they confessed that they were just trying to start a conversation to talk to us cause we were pretty. Haha, so someone can try that pick up line and see how it goes, but don't try it on a missionary

mimi is progressing still! we went over the baptismal interview questions with her and found out where she stood on the whole law of chastity thing. and we dont know exactly where she stands but we think she's going to brake up with her boyfriend. at first she said she had a dream that she needed to stay with him. But then we were talking about how he can change with the gospel of Jesus Christ and she just kept saying, no he'll never change. he's immature and not good for me and doesnt care about our children and stuff like that. so we think she's breaking up with him but continue to pray for her so she can know what to do and be prepared for her baptism in two weeks.

This week was a good week, but also a weird week. I just was feeling so discouraged for no reason. I was happy with my progress in the language, our lessons, everything, but i still just felt not good inside. So i got a blessing. It was so good, i love the priesthood. It's seriously amazing that the elder who doesn't know anything about whats going on in my mind can have the power to give me a blessing where he basically reads my mind. The funny thing is some of it i didnt even realize i was thinking that until he said it. I didnt even know what to expect from the blessing, but it was perfect. It just talked about how God hears every single one of my prayers, my questions, and pleadings for help. and that right now i'm trying to find out how the Holy Ghost works through me and that God is helping me with that and that I need to "continue to talk to Him and he'll talk to me".  Then he talked about how i'm supposed to be here and that I shouldnt doubt my mission, that i'm doing what the lord wants me to do right now. And that i need to be patient with myself, that's something i really struggle with. I'm actually very patient in a lot of ways, but not at all patient with myself. And then he told me that i'd been given the gift of tongues and that my confidence and such has really helped me through this situation that others wouldnt be able to go through. and he also said I had the gift of kindness and that i bring a light to the room that makes others feel comfortable. but yeh that's all i can remember off the top of my head. it really was a beautiful blessing.  but yeah i didnt even know that i was doubting my mission, but apparently subconsciously i had. also it was really good to hear the first thing come out of his mouth in the blessing was that the Lord hears every single one of my prayers.

Love you all so much, please continue to email me I love hearing from everyone always, so yeah just write me.

Je vous aime tous!!!!!!

~Soeur Farmer

P.S we're finally going to the castle today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lots of photo's next week! also tomorrow we're going to paris (again!) to pick up soeur p's carte de séjour. haha so that'll be fun.

1. our soirée familiale with emma and fei fei

2. someone sticky-noted the tram stop to be pac man

3. I don't know if i've already said this, but there is  a piano in every gare available for people to play whenever they want. Its really cool, i like it when people play it, and are actually good!

cimitière de l'est‏

This week was good! Went by sooooo fast. We had zone conference this past week and it was interviews!!!! I loved it so much! President and Sœur Babin are the best!

We went to the cemetery last pday because we didnt have time to go to the castle. Maybe today... But it was sooooo cool!!! Sounds weird because it's a cemetery, but it was really cool. reading all the names. Here they put "la famille so and so" at the top so people can see what family they're part of. But there is this one that says "la famille gentil". gentil is their last name,but in french it means nice. And because it's an adjective it agree's with the person. So the funny thing is that famille is feminine, so to be grammatically correct it should say la famille gentille. Haha so there's some french humor for you. We also found somebody in the cemetery with the last name babin. so that was cool. 

There's not that much to write.... our amis are doing well. Today we're actually having a soiree familiale with emma and a member that's chinese... so we're having authentic chinese food. I'm so excited. Don't worry i'm taking photo's. 

I'm sorry i dont have really much to write... Its just the same old normal life. Some of our amis arent progressing or calling us back so we're going to have to start finding people again like those first two weeks i was here. That was sooo tough only doing contacting all day. I really hope we don't have to do that again....

We're already half way through the transfer, meaning in three weeks I won't be a bleu anymore. which i'm sad because bleu's get cut a lot of slack. And just because i wont be a bleu anymore doesn't mean i'm going to suddenly be amazing at the language. so that's a little worrisome. but i've still got 3 weeks left. 

The Weather was actually nice this week, a lot of sun, but it's supposed to turn bad this week :\   

Well i hope everything's going well back home. miss you all and love you a lot!!!!!

~Sœur Farmer

1. beautiful stain-glass windows

2. us with the Nantes stl's at zone conference

3.Our beautiful castle

4. Went to the cemetery, it was so beautiful!

5.The beautiful chapel in the cemetery

Baptismal Date

I'll start with the best news. Tuesday we committed Mimi our amis to a baptismal date! She is going to be baptized on Nov. 9th! It so great she really is progressing so fast. However she didnt show up at church this sunday, which she said she would. and her phone was off all day and we stopped by and she wasnt there. so I hope everything is well with her. but we already had a rdv set up with her for tuesday. But it really was great. 

Also we were teaching emma and somehow just mentioned a little bit about baptism and she asked us at what age we were baptized and what it was like. And Soeur P had a picture of her at her baptism so she pulled it out and we both testified of baptism and how we feel afterwards and it was great. And then I looked at Soeur P and she gave me a face that said yes invite her and the spirit was telling me to do it too. So I asked her if she would want to be baptized. And she said that it sounded amazing but she doesnt want to commit to it right now because she realizes how important and sacred it is and doesnt think she's ready. So then we talked about how we set dates as a future goal, but we didnt set a date with her. But just before this we had watched President Uchtdorf's talk from this past general conference about receiving a testimony for yourself. So we committed her to do the things that were in the talk so she could have a testimony for herself. It was a good lesson. And we committed her to come to church the next day, sadly she missed her bus by two minutes and the next one would have gotten her there for the last 30 min. of sacrament meeting. But next week!

On monday we had a little birthday party for our less active friend Camille! It was amazing because she left the church 4 years ago when her parents got divorced. But she used to be best friends with one of the girls in the ward (Juliette Chevé) so we invited her and some other girls the same age in the ward and it was amazing! we basically helped rekindle an old friendship no big deal. They made plans to go out for lunch this past week and it just awesome. Before Camille didnt know if the members really remembered her and such but after that, i think she really felt the love of the ward. It was perfect.

This week was a lot better. I think I just set too high of expectations for myself. Anyway, this is like the first week that actually went by slow. And it didnt even go by that slow, just slower than usual, but still fast.

So I did the math... which was not a good idea haha. And I found out I'll come home Dec. 16th 2015...Each sister gets 12 transfers out in the field and depending on where the transfers fall, usually a sisters mission gets cut short by a month. so its technically only a 17th month mission. There are a lot of ups and downs about this. The down side: I'll only have one christmas in france (i wanted two because it's a once in a life time opportunity), also france has what they call solds twice a year (a month where everything is on sale for up to 50% off). one in the winter and one in the summer. So i'll only have two solds and i was hoping to have three. and last reason because they say its an 18 month mission and then only let me stay for 17 months, whats up with that?! I committed to an 18th month mission, I want a full 18th month mission haha. but the up side: I'll be home for christmas!!!!!! I'll still get to experience  part of the christmas holiday in france. Also I can buy a bunch of france stuff to bring home as presents for people! And lastly at christmas time everyone's home from school so i'll see all my friends and family!

so yeah that's kind of my dilemma right now. I don't know how to feel about it... haha but either way that's forever away so who cares. 

This past week it has rained a lot... the weathers starting to be bad :( but today's weather is really good! So that means today we're going to either one of the cool cemeteries here or the castle. depending on how much time we have after buy groceries and having lunch. 

 And lastly this week is zone conference with President Babin so you'll be seeing pictures of me up on the facebook page. Also i had pistachio ice cream for the first time with soeur richards, it is soooooooo good! may be one of my new favorite flavors! france is like the best place ever. We took one of our morning runs around the castle nbd :P

Well I love you all and miss you so much. I hope everything is well back home. Always know that no matter what is going on in your life, the Lord is always there for you. 

Je vous aime toujours!

~Soeur Farmer

Pictures:
1. We went to a boulangerie for lunch at pday and they had an sandwhich called "the American" It's just thin hamburger patties place in a baguette with fries sauce and some lettuce haha. so basically a hamburger, but in a baguette and the fries aren't on the side they're in the sandwich. But i didnt get that one, i got the chicken version of it. but still, it was a lot but really good. 


2. Camille's 21st birthday! she's on the furthest right

3. Soeur Richards and I after our exchange

4. we had heard that france doesnt do donuts as well as america (besides beignets). and we were craving donuts, so we bought some. They were good, but i think amercia has france beat donut wise. you can only find these donuts or beignets, nothing else.

Conference!!!

I love the new elders in Angers! it's constantly a party when we're around. There is elder Platt who is dying (done with the mission) in two transfers and Elder Toledo is dying in 3 transfers. So they're in there dying ville right now. Then there's Elder Orton the Bleu. he's actually kind of quiet, but i think it's because all the elders only speak french in front of him, even in the apartment. which is kind of mean, but at the same time immersion is good. Elder Ortons story is an interesting one. He actually reported to the mtc end of october a year ago. he went through the mtc got to the mission field and was assigned to serve in Melun (south paris area). served there for two weeks,but then had to go home. But now he's back! it must suck for him, because he didnt have the mtc before this so he's forgotten everything! but its still cool that he came back! 

Conference was the best thing ever!!!!! I still haven't seen the last session, but the rest were really good. We had an amis come for the sunday morning session, so i had to watch it in french.... i understood nothing really. all i understood was that they talked a lot about prophets, priesthood and revelation. which was really good for mimi, because we just finished teaching the restoration. but she was kind of falling asleep toward the last talk before the middle hymn. apparently she'd gotten no sleep the night before, so we told her she didnt have to stay. so she left half way through that session, which is sad, but i was super happy because i was able to go back and watch the rest in english! but conference was so good. I had heard from other missionaries that conference for missionaries is like Christmas. It's so true!!! It was the shortest conference i've ever experienced. The talks went by so fast. And i was disappointed when each session was over. i actually think that the breaks dragged by and were longer than the actual conference.

but yeah i loved it. In between conference was just a party. we spent all day at the church on sunday.  and the breaks with the elders was super fun! i'm worried are district is just going to be a party, but we'll see. 

this week there was a lot of stress with timing of things. we had a lot to do, which is good, but is super stressful at the same time. but it was a good week. I'm just glad that we actually have rdv's now instead of just contacting all day long like my first two weeks were. 

exchanges are this week and i'm so happy because the stl's arent making me stay in angers. so i'll be going to nantes again!

This week i got the phone.... the dreaded phone... i hate it with all my might. everytime it rings i pretty much think i'm going to die. we switch off every other day, but still. I have to answer and talk to people in french. hearing people on the phone in english is hard enough sometimes, its even worse in french. Most the time i answer, they say something, i say "comment" which is like "what?" and then had it to soeur P.... i guess thats kinda cheating, but i literally can't do anything. 

So at this point i can understand pretty much everything. but i still cant speak. and i feel like my speakings gotten worse... I dont know why but each morning we practice teach and i feel like i can do it and then we get into the actual lesson and i cant. i cant say anything i want to say, or it doesnt make sense... it's just terrible. it sucks so much. i'm trying so hard, but at the same time i'm going no where. I just feel like i've lost confidence in my speaking abilities, which is really bad because i feel like i'm losing everything i've already learned.

I gave two soft invites for baptism this week, one was in english so you think that would take off the pressure. nope. i'm pretty sure the invitation was worse than the one in french. This week has been a lot of prayers. and the thing is everythings going well with our amis, we're still seeing miracles and stuff, but i really am just not doing well with teaching in general i feel like. But thats why i'm being trained....  who knows maybe i've started to get lazy, because i have a companion that knows what she's doing. i hope not. maybe it would be good to train next transfer, even though that'd be terrible. i really hope that doesnt happen. but thats not for another 5 weeks. 

speaking of which on the 9th will be my 3 month mark. how are these months going by so fast! it's not even fair! this week i'll have only 15 months left. and then before i know it i'll be at 5 months left. i don't like it at all. especially since sisters actually get cheated with where the transfers fall. so technically i'll only serve for 17 months. but if i had fast tracked i would have served for 18 1/2 months. wish i could have longer. seriously everything goes by so fast.

I really hope you don't think i'm just depressed and having a terrible time. because as i said, its a party in angers with the new elders and we have amis that are progressing and its just always super fun with Soeur P. Its just hard to see my progressing in the language sometimes. But the mission is such a great experience for me because i've really learned to trust in Lord in everything. I really couldn't be able to do anything i'm doing here without the lords help. And i'm truly grateful that he does help us. He's always there for me and it's such a comfort.

I love you all so much and miss you! Genesis 12:13

~Soeur Farmer.

1. The castle, so beautiful!!!!

2. You know just walking past a normal lit up chappel. it's not even the cities grand cathedral...

3.THIS is the cities grand cathedral. you know only a block from my house....

4. so every trainer (mother) and bleu(daughter) always buys something matching. usually sisters buy cute matching scarves or things they can wear as a missionary outside. ours however was an impulse buy.we were shopping last pday and we came across a whole section with giant tiger faces on shirts. it was so ridiculous, we just had to buy them. it's our pj shirts now...