My Comp Is Going Home

February 2, 2015

Location: Rennes

This week was a fun one! We just lived that GREAT life of a missionary! We wake up at 6:30, go for a nice run in the constant mist/rain of Rennes, get ready for the day, and do some studies! Then we head out for the day! We contact every women you see, complement everyone's shoes or bag that we stand by on the bus... Then, if they look like they could be a student, we ask them if they are a student, and then we somehow sneak in there that we are from the United States!  If we're lucky, they'll ask why we are here in Rennes!!  Then we take our golden opportunity to tell them that we are actually here as a Missionaries to share a message of love and of Jesus Christ! 

This week we had a few more rendezvous than last, so that is ALWAYS FUN!  Then, after all the rendezvous, 1900 hours rolls around and the door tracting begins! There's my week in a wrap...the life of a missionary is always an adventure! I love it!

On Friday we had a Soeur (Sisters) Conference in Paris! Sooo, another trip to Paris! I'm not complaining. It sounds like you all saw the video of us singing the mission song! It's a pretty fun song, I guess, but the Soeur Conference was awesome! It was so fun to be with all the Soeurs again! I finally got to see Soeur Proudfoot- it was a fun little reunion! She is doing great!! 

Soeur Whisler is going home on Wednesday!! It is hard to say bye to my MOM.  She has taught me everything I know!!! I have learned so much from her! She truly was exactly the trainer I needed! She has been such an incredible example! When she testifies of the truth of the Restored Gospel, the people cannot help but listen, because she truly testifies with the Spirit! It is something I admire more than she will ever know! I pray each day for that spiritual gift! This week one of our amis, Marina, came to church and the DMP shared his testimony and thanked all the leaving missionaries.  Marina just started bawling... it was kinda sad! Soeur Whisler truly has made an impact on our amis lives and mine! I hope I have learned all my Heavenly Father wants me to learn from her! I hope I took advantage of every moment I had with such an incredible servant of the Lord! 

I am sad to say goodbye to Soeur Whisler, but I'm very excited for my new companion, Soeur Hansen, to come to Rennes! (Yes, I'm staying here in Rennes). I do not know her, but she is only going into her 3rd transfer... so she is only 1 transfer ahead of me...  We are both young in this mission thing! I think we will learn very fast how to more fully rely on the Lord! It will be an adventure, but I KNOW we will see SO many miracles! I am so excited! 

The work has been a little tougher these last few weeks, but there is always a Miracle in each day! I have so much FAITH that there are GREAT things to come! The Lord has promised us the field is white. He has called me to Rennes at this time and He has commanded me to find, teach, and baptize! I know this is possible! I know we can find, teach, and baptize because the Lord gives no commandment unto the children of men save He shall prepare a way for us to accomplish it! With Him, all things are possible! I have No fear or Doubt! 

President Uchtdorf said, 

"No matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it"

-Of Regrets and Resolutions

I read this quote today and just thought I would share it! Life is not made up of the "Grand Choices," but it is made up of little miracles each day! It’s truly the little things that make us happy; the little acts of service- like holding a door for the person behind you, or my personal favorite - just enjoying all the amazing gifts around you that God has given you!! 

I love you all! 

I challenge you this week to serve others by the petit choses (little choices), to search for the miracle in each day! 

I love you all! Have a great week!  Thank you for your prayers! 

Soeur Back

FRUDGED

Location:  Rennes

Hi Family!! 

If I had one word to sum up this week, it would be, "FRUDGED!" (A mission word that has been around for about 10 plus years.  Now... I will do my best to explain! It is a drink that Africans often make, and typically African amis are the once who don't show up for Rendezvous... So, when your amis doesn't come to a rendezvous... you get FRUDGED!)

Soeur Whisler and I had a ton of rendezvous scheduled for this week! We had members all lined up to teach with us and it was going to be a pretty dang good week! I guess Heavenly Father had another plan... ALL OF OUR AMIS CANCELED! I AM NOT EXAGGERATING! We had 0 progressing AMIS this week, but you know what, I'm not even mad about it! We were able to find some new amis who are awesome! Heavenly Father just needed us out finding this week instead of inside teaching!

Fun story of the week: Prayer works. I think about 3 weeks ago at 7:30 in the morning, I was just getting ready for the day! I have had this small container of my favorite lotion that I have been saving every single drop... It's a little worldly of me, but this lotion just kind of brings me joy! I was at the end of my little bottle, and I knew that Denise was sending me a package soon, so I got on my knees and said a prayer that the best mother on the face would be in tune with the Spirit to know that I NEEDED lotion... (Guys - I know this is worldly, but as a missionary, it's the little things like lotion. Ok.) 

I then patiently waited for my package to come, and on Tuesday it came! I didn't even have to open it. I read on the customs slip: "Lotion." I quickly dropped to my knees and said a prayer of gratitude!! I opened the package, and there were two bottles of my favorite lotion!! THANKS MOM!! So, here is kind of a silly example of prayer, but prayer works! Our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy! He even cares about the little things! 

Among all the Frudgeing this week, we still saw lots of miracles! We had a rendezvous with a young girl at 3 o'clock at the church! This was our first rendezvous with her, so we got there a few minutes early and were making phone calls while we waited. A solid 20 minutes passed, and we just laughed and said, "Well, just add it to the list this week..." 

We decided to go outside and contact near the church and offer to do church tours. We were out there for a couple minutes, and we weren't passing ANY women. So, we went to the bus stop and said a prayer! After we prayed, Soeur Whisler and I just sat there in silence... for a solid 4 minutes! I finally said, "Let's just hop on the next bus and trajet (path/street) contact (sit by people on the bus and just talk to them! haha).  A bus pulled up, and guess who got off?!! OUR AMIS! A whole hour later, and she finally came!! 

If we wouldn't have made phone calls, contacted outside the church, and sat there for 4 minutes in silence, who knows if we would have been there when Mariom came! It usually isn't until after the matter that you realize you were being prompted by the Spirit to do those certain things. Heavenly Father really does bless us and the Spirit really does prompt us! 

This Sunday was awesome. I took the Hi-chews you sent in my package and was sneaking them to members. They don't have those here, so everyone was LOVING them! I think it made me some new friends! One of the Awesome Tahitian families in the ward even passed us a note during Sacrament and invited us to dinner... SCORE! 

During Sunday School I was sitting there, and I had a strong prompting that after Sunday School we needed to go outside, stand in front of the church, and invite EVERYONE who walks by to come and join us for Sacrament Meeting! I told Soeur Whisler, "I know this is weird, but we need to go outside after this and contact for a few minutes!" She was, like, "Okay... we can do that..." So, we went outside and a couple of minutes passed and no one walked by. I was like, "I'm sorry. This was a bad idea." Then, we spotted someone in the distance! We waited until he approached, and Soeur Whisler and I both saw tears in his eyes! We smiled and said "Bonjour," and invited him to church! He smiled back at us and politely thanked us for invite but kept walking! 

Even though he didn't come to church, and we will maybe never see him again, "We made someone feel glad!" Sometimes our mission is simple. Sometimes all we have to do is say "Hi," smile, and cheer up the sad! I often think of this hymn: 

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?

If not, I have failed indeed.

  
I love being a missionary! I love the opportunity I have each day to cheer up the sad and make someone feel glad with this WONDERFUL message: That Christ has restored His Church again today; we have a living Prophet to guide us; and that there is someone who has felt everything we have ever felt, who understands everything we go through! Each day we can build and strengthen our relationship with Him through prayer, scripture study, serving others, and embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ! Through these things, we can find TRUE JOY that will last through the Eternities!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!! Go make some one feel glad! Don't be a scrub, go share some Love!"

Soeur Back

The curly haired one is from France and is a Sister Missionary in the Temple Square Mission! She served here for the last 2 transfers after a surgery! She is finally going back to SLC! She calls herself my French Twin! We were both tom boys when we were little! She goes back the 21st, so I told her you would go to Temple Square and ask for a French tour! Go find her and give her a hug because she is the BEST! She speaks great English too, so don't worry! Her name is Soeur Ficquet!

Shut Your Mouth and Smile!

Location: Rennes

Hi Family!! How are you all?!!! Can you believe that it is the endish of January already?!! Time just flies by way too fast! Sounds like it has been a fun week there!! Eden and all the little kiddos are getting way too big. It is kind of weird!!! Before we know it, there will be another little dude running around!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!! I'm SO EXCITED!!! 

This week has been SO GREAT!!! 

On Tuesday we went to Paris for legality! I am now LEGAL in France!!!! I love PARIS!!! There is the BEST Missionary Spirit there!! For legality, all the Blues (new missionaries) come back together, and we all go to some legality office... It is quite the adventure! We tinkled in a cup, (that one is for you Doug).  Then we got a chest x ray. So, that meant shirt off for some random French doctor... Ha-ha. It was an adventure to say the least! It was so fun to see the MTC crew and share our fun stories!! SO MUCH BLUE FIRE AND LOVE FOR THIS WORK! Needless to say it was a great way to start the week! 

OH, but before that... On Monday night we saw MIRACLES!! 

As you all know, Mondays are our Preparation Days, so we start working at 6 o’clock at night! Usually we only get about one lesson on a Monday, but Soeur Whisler and I on Sunday night felt like we needed to work a little harder, so we set our goals a little higher! We wanted to get 4 lessons! 

Monday started just like a normal P day! We finished emails and then headed out for the night! We were wandering around Republique trying to find a bus to get us home quickly to grab some Law of Chastity pamphlets, but we watched all our buses pull away... Worst deal! We said to our selves, "There is a reason for everything." 

As we were walking to another bus stop, Soeur Whisler and I both had this feeling to stop and talk to this lady smoking a cigarette! We started talking to her, and she was believing. While we shared a little message with her, her daughter walked up! We said a prayer with them and MADE ANOTHER rendezvous!! 2 New Amis!  

We then had a rendezevous with Maelle, but she called us and said she was leaving her house at 6:30 so we had to come before. It was like 6:05 and we were a solid 15 minutes away, and there were no buses coming in time... So we RAN! We ran all the way to Maelle's, and got there just in time to teach a nice lesson on The Law of Chastity. 

After, we were sitting at the bus stop a little unsure what to do, so we prayed! We decided to walk the rest of the way home and just talk to everyone on the way! After we said "Amen," we looked up and there was a young girl walking in our direction! We stopped and started talking to her! We prayed with her and then made another rendezvous with her... NEW AMIS #3!! Then we continued our walk home! 

We passed another young girl who wasn't interested. Ça va... You win some and you lose some, but we just kept walking! 

It was getting later and time was running out, but we had faith we could find one more person! We said a prayer and kept walking! Then a 24 year old girl came around the corner!! Yep, you guessed it. We talked to her!! SHE IS THE COOLEST! She is from England, has the best accent, and is so dang accepting! She told us she grew up in a household where she had never once talked or thought about God! As we bore our testimonies on prayer and God's love for us, she just kept saying, “This all sounds very nice!" We prayed with her and made another rendezvous with her!! New Amis # 4! 

We met with Amy, the one from England, on Wednesday! She loves this Gospel!! She even said her first prayer! It might have been my favorite moment of my mission yet! She started it by saying, "Hello God. It's Amy. This is my first time praying to you!" I felt the Spirit so strongly!! Our Heavenly Father is just waiting for all of us to pray to him! He doesn't care how we do, just as long as we do it!! 

I love this Gospel!!! I love being a missionary!! I love you all. Sorry I don't have much time! Have a great week!!! I’ll send pictures this week!! Don't forget to pray and have faith! With those two things, anything is possible! 

Sueur Back 

I'm Safe Everyone!

Location: Rennes

Hi Family! 

It has kind of been a crazy week here in France, but I honestly think you all know more of what is going on here than me, but I'll tell you my side of the story! 

I believe it was Wednesday evening, we received a vague text from President that said there was an act of terrorism and to contact in safe areas, lock your doors and windows, to be smart, and follow the promptings of the Spirit! 

After we read the text, we all wondered what had happened, but had no way of finding out!  The next morning Soeur Whisler and I were in Republique, and I looked over and there was a bomb squad staked out in the middle of Republique... So, we started to again wonder, "WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON!!!" We began asking all of our amis! 

Between the 8 missionaries in Rennes and thanks to all of our amis, we kind of figured out what had happened!  Everything kind of seemed to be settling down until we started seeing all these "Je suis Charlie" posters and stickers!  Then, on Friday, we received another text from President that the Elders in Aulny could hear gunshots coming from the gare (railway station) and that all missionaries should return home ASAP if they didn't have rendezvous. Luckily we had a rendezvous! 

I feel pretty safe here in Rennes - not too much is happening, other than the manifestation (rally) on Sunday! All the missionaries are safe, and I am alive and doing well!  I will keep you updated though! 

Other than that, this week has been pretty interesting! Lots of miracles, just like always! 

The life of a missionary is kind of crazy. It is full of ups and downs and all sorts of fun things. There is a quote from president Hinckley that I love. He said, "The highs and the lows let us know we are participating not just observing, learning and not just existing!" I love that! It pretty much sums up missionary work and life.

It is not always going to be easy, and it isn't always going to be full of golden investigators. Sometimes, the language will be hard, but through it all, we are progressing! Through the hard times we grow and gain experience that we could have gained in no other way! The hard times make the good times just that much more beautiful! So, if life seems hard sometimes, know you are doing something right! You are participating. You are learning. Know there are better times to come! Maybe not tomorrow or maybe not next month, but for those who live the gospel of Jesus Christ, there are blessings and there are beautiful times to come!  

This week we had an awesome rendezvous with a new amis named CLAIRE!!! Yep, just like you Claire! She is an 18 year old girl who is just SO DANG HAPPY! When we contacted her, I asked her how she finds happiness in this life. She responded, "I really like the SUN!!" I was like, "This is my kind of girl!" 

It was a rainy day, but she was still so happy and was able to recognize that the simple things, such as the sun, are some of the greatest gifts from God!  We had a rendezvous with her on Tuesday night! 2 awesome young women wanted to spend the night with Soeur Whisler and I, so they were there too... We had a awesome rendezvous at the church. Claire had awesome questions and was so excited to go and tell her mom all about the le Livre de Mormon! 

After our rendezvous, we all had to walk a little way to the catch the bus. Claire was just talking and talking to these young women and making them feel like her best friends!  

Claire really made me think that we all need to be a little bit more like her! We need to be grateful for the sun, even on a rainy day. We need to have that desire and excitement to share the Book of Mormon with those we love the most, and we need to make everyone feel our love for them, even if we just met them that night, and even if they are a little different then we are. We are all children of God. No one should have to earn our love and friendship! 

It is amazing to me how much I am learning each day from my trainer, the other missionaries, my Mission President, the members, and those we teach! I LOVE IT! 

Thank you for all your letters. You have no idea how much I love and enjoy them! 

I love you! Have a great week! Say your prayers. Read your scriptures. And don't do drugs!! 

LOVE YOU! 

Soeur Back

HAPPY NEW YEARS!! ALL THE DEMANCHES!!

Location: Rennes

Bonne Année!!!  (Happy New Year!!!)

This week was GREAT!!! Where do I even start?!! 

Let's start with New Years Eve! New Years Eve was a day full of miracles! Soeur Whisler and I made another goal to give away 3 different Books Of Mormon in 3 different languages. Soeur Whisler choose Arabic, English and French... I was a little skeptical about the Arabic BOM but guess what!!?? Yep. Uou guessed right - we gave it away to the most awesome students that we met on campus on our way to a rendezvous! 

We were a few minutes early for our rendezvous, so we decided just to get of the bus a stop early and walk through the campus on our way to our rendezvous! There wasn't anyone really out and about, but right as we were about to cross the street, we saw a boy and girl walking in our direction! SO, we contacted them! Guess what? They spoke Arabic! We gave them the Book Of Mormon, got their numbers, and then prayed with them!! They were so excited to get he Book Of Mormon! We showed them the promise and then Kenza quickly responded, "Okay. I promise I will READ it!!!" Miracle number one of the week! 

Let me tell you about our amis Maelle! Maelle is a 20 year old girl who is GOLDEN and is getting baptized on the 25th of this month!! We have been teaching Maelle since the first week we got here in Rennes! She is AWESOME! She is so open to everything that we teach! She is maybe a little slower, so we teach her very simply, but it is so amazing to see her truly feel the joy of this gospel! The first few times we met with her she was pretty sad and not too excited about life. She couldn't find much joy! I remember the first rendezvous. I asked her "Maelle, what brings you joy in life?" After much thought, her response was "Puzzles and TV..." 

Just before Christmas we really started to see a change in Maelle! She is happier and has a light in her eyes! She may not understand everything perfectly, but I have never met anyone so sensitive to the Spirit! Whenever the Spirit is super strong in a rendezvous, she just kind of sits there and smiles and takes it all in!! After, she tells us how much joy she feels when we come!! So, on Monday night we asked her if she would be Baptized on the 25th of January!! She said "YES!!!" 

I felt so much joy in that moment, I just wanted to give her a BIG hug, but they don't do that here.. We have truly seen a change in her life!!! It is so amazing what this gospel can do for people and what we have already seen it do for Maelle! 

We had a rendezvous with her the next day, we took her to the church to show her the baptismal font! It only made her that much more excited for baptism!! We saw her again on Saturday night and were talking to her about church. She has been very nervous to come to church because she says she is really shy! After our lesson, we talked a little bit about church and then she said, "Can I ask you a question?" She continued to say, "Can I come to church every Sunday? After reading in the Book of Mormon and talking to you, I just want to come to church every Sunday!" 

WHAT??? who says THAT!!! I TOLD you she was gold!!! So, we told her "Of course. COME EVERY SUNDAY. It is a COMMANDMENT!" Haha. She came to Church yesterday!! Whe told everyone she talked to, "YEAH, I'm coming "Tootes les demanches" (All the Sundays)!" She loved it!!! It was so fun to see her feel the joy that this gospel brings! I am so excited for her because there is just more and more joy to come in her life with the aid of this wonderful gospel!!

Listen to this one! I eat SNAILS! On New Years Eve, all the Soeurs went over to the most awesome family's home.  They thought it would be funny to make us try all the fun crazy french foods! So, we played a fun game! For every crazy thing you ate, (oysters, escargot. weird sausage that I still don't know what it was exactly... and smoked trout), you got a ticket to fish for chocolate! So, I bet my New Years was way more crazy than yours!  

We didn't have to work New Years Day... It was so WEIRD. I honestly HATED IT!! Soeur Whisler and I went on a run and ran into a super fun park. We played in the park for a few minutes. Not sure Christ would have done it, but it was pretty fun! After that, we just had a pretty lazy day. I'm not sure how I felt about it! It was good to get back to work the next day! 

I love you all! I hope you all set some awesome New Year goals and fun stuff like that! I know that through faith in our Savior you can accomplish anything!! 

I love you all! I love this Gospel! I Feel so blessed to be a missionary! Have a great week!!! 

Oh - we also have another 19 year old on date for baptism the 31st!! 

Love you!

Christmas Pictures

Location: Rennes

Christmas Miracles and Stuff

Location: Rennes

HI FAMILY!!!

HOW ARE YOU!?? There is NO way it is already the 15th of December! Christmas is in 10 days!!! So exciting! We get to sleep in as long as we want and watch an animated movie. How fun is that?!!!

This week has been AMAZING!! First off, I got the best package EVER (Jake and Matt). Thank you so much for your testimonies. You will never ever know how much that meant to me! I mean, I'm excited to open the presents, but that was the best present I could ever ask for! THANK YOU everyone!! I love you all!

This week I think I felt the true joy of missionary work! I mean, I feel way too much joy everyday, but this week we were working SO hard running around like crazy, and Heavenly Father truly blessed us!  Soeur Whistler and I have decided this transfer to really focus on less active work here in Rennes because none of the other missionaries here really do! We spent one afternoon going through the ward list and marking all the less actives’ addresses on our map. We had some rendezvous that evening, but the next day we decided we were going to see at least 5 of those less actives before dinner. So we packed our lunches, and began our less active search. (On our way out the door we checked the mailbox and there was a letter from DOUG with Nate's email in it!! He talked about having 8 less actives at church. I read it to Soeur Whistler and we both got so excited to go and find our less actives! So, thanks Elder Back!! Also, I really need to learn how you share Graham’s story!!)

Any way... our journey began...On our way, we were contacting everyone we passed.  We talked to some awesome people, and of course the other kind of people... jk. Our first less active on the list no longer lived at that address, so we were on to the next stop! We walked all the way up the rue, searching for this apartment. We walked a little further and decided to say a prayer that we would be guided to find this family! We decided to turned around and go back down the rue! We turned around and there was a lady with her little boy walking up the rue!  So, of course we Christmas contacted her. (Bonjour Madame. je m’appelle  Soeur Back! Je viens des Etats Unis mais je suis ici pour partager un message de la naissance de Jesus-Christ! Comment est-que vous vous souvenez Jesus-Christ pendent cette moment de Noel? “Hello Madame. My name is Sister Back! I come from the US, but I'm here to share a message of the birth of Jesus Christ! How do you remember Jesus Christ hanging at Christmastime?)   We had an awesome conversation and  then she invited us into her apartment right then!!!! She lived just right across the street!

We went and had an awesome lesson about the Plan Du Salut (Plan of Salvation)! We are seeing her on Sunday again!! How cool is that!? She is amazing! I know Heavenly Father blessed us because we were searching for less actives! In fact, after our rendezvous, we went back to find the less active’s home.  It turns out we were standing right outside of it the whole time, and they also didn't live there anymore. We know we weren't there to visit them; we were there to meet Sylvie!

SO, you are all asking about our 2 baptismal dates... Marie-Bernadette's son called us to hang out one night... We had to tell him NO, obviously, but I don’t think Marie-Bernadette was too happy about that, because 2 days later we called to confirm our rendezvous, and she told us she didn't really want to meet with us any more.  She is no longer on date for baptism! It is so sad, because we were really starting to see a change in her countenance. I know she knows these things our true! She even told Soeur Whistler on the phone that she believes all the things we have taught her.  It is okay. She will come around one day - I have faith!

Our other amis (investigator), Rosa, is a law student and is super busy.  She couldn't make it to our rendezvous this week! We talked to her, and she is reading the BOM and praying and doing everything she is supposed to be doing!!! She is awesome! BUT, listen to this AWESOME MIRACLE! Saturday night we decided to make cookies and just take them to Rosa with a cute Christmas note and scripture! So we made cookies during dinner made a cute card with John 3:16 and the website for the video on it! We started the trek to Rosa's and contacted a few awesome people on the way! We got to Rosa's.  She lives in student housing, so we couldn’t get up to her apartment! We decided to port (knock) around her apartment because she wasn't answering our calls. So we ported (knocked) some buildings with little success.

It was getting later, so we checked to see when the next bus came! We had 15 minutes so we said a prayer. We felt like we needed to port (knock) a couple more houses, and then we came across this really cute house! SO, we rang the doorbell! A 23 year-old boy came outside, and we asked if we could sing a Christmas hymn for him! He said "no," but then I offered him a cookie. We started talking, and he became very interested in what we did as missionaries and where we were from! We ended up having an awesome lesson with him, and leaving him the whole plate of cookies, the note and a Book Of Mormon! We asked if we could return, and he said "Why not!" So we went back Sunday night and taught the Plan du Salut to him, his mom, and his step-father!! They are awesome! Totally don't believe in God, but are willing to listen to our message, so we will take it!!! We were supposed to knock on that one last house, and we were supposed to have that plate of cookies for Nicholas and his family!

This week has been so fun and full of Christmas Joy and Christmas Miracles! An awesome single lady in the ward had a Christmas party at her home last night! She invited the Sister Missionaries,2 less active families, 4 non member friends, and then a couple families from the ward! The missionaries gave a spiritual thought, Santa came, and then we ate lots of good food, made rendezvous (appointments) with 2 less active families, and a rendezvous with one of her non member friends!!!! MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE!!!! The members here are amazing!!!! I LOVE it in Rennes!!! This week has been amazing!!

So, fun fact! Everyone, except for me, is sick in our apartment!! Who would have ever guessed I would be the healthy one?! NOT ME!! Heavenly Father is truly blessing me with more and more energy each day. I feel so blessed!! I read "Our Search For Happiness" this past week and came across one of the most true statements! Elder Ballard calls it “an eternal truth.” He said, "You can never do more for the Lord than He can do for you."  How true is that?!!! Here I am in France, just trying to serve Him! But he just keeps serving and blessing me MORE and MORE!!!

I love you all!! I love my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ!  Have the best week or whatever before Christmas!! I LOVE YOU and can not wait to talk to you all!!!

Soeur Back

Castle Mont St. Michel

Location: Rennes

(This letter was transcribed from a letter that Whitney photographed and e-mailed).

December 6, 2014

Hi Family-

How are you all? On Monday we are going to see the Castle Mont St. Michel, so we won’t have tons of time to e-mail and I thought I would just send you a picture letter! Hope that’s cool!

Dad asked for a clarification on Rosa. Rosa is another investigator who is from Africa! The Elders met her on a bus and we planned to meet her at church the next day, our first week here! So, we have been teaching her since week one! She is awesome! Golden, in fact. (People here say “en fait” (French for "In Fact") ALL THE TIME) So, now I just say "in fact" all the time in French and English! Rosa is awesome. She is the investigator who already believes everything before we teach it! We hope to have her on date for Baptism for the 28th! We will keep you updated.

Sara just kind of wants to be friends and hangout. It is hard to say "Sorry. We can’t hang out with you Saturday night, but we we’ll teach you a lesson at church if you want!" Ha ha. I have faith she will come around one day!

Awen is super busy with school, but we run into her everywhere!  She always stops us and talks to us…. You guys - Rennes is not small, you don’t just run into someone 5 times on accident. The last time we saw her, she was a little drunk, but was excited to talk to us on the 20th after exams.

We are teaching a lot more than these three. I will send you a picture of our board! Right now we are teaching this old lady Marie Bernadette! She is older, but so open to everything we teach. It is amazing! She is also Golden. We are hoping she will receive answers to her prayer and be baptized on the 28th also! We met her outside the mental hospital we live across from, but don’t worry! She is not crazy! She has a son who is probably about 20 something, and is always home hanging out and smoking with all of his friends. But, like, I think he might have a little crush on us. It is soooo awkward. We were teaching like, in the middle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he walked out of his room and just started doing pull ups. Then he turned to us, and was like, “Quoi de neuf?” (What’s up?). Marie- Bernadette just starts laughing and Soeur Whistler and I just felt AWK….. Then, last night at midnight we get a text that is like “Hey. What’s up? It is Thomas, the son of Marie-Bernadette." LOL! So, that’s the fun story of the week!

We are teaching lots of awesome people and trying to find new awesome people each day! The work is awesome here in Rennes! We have the hardest working Elders! They are AWESOME!

Another funny story. We were teaching Sikila and her two daughters! (This is a little African family who are awesome. The little girls are so smart and remember everything we teach. They read the Book of Mormon and all the brochures we give them! They are only 5 and 7, but there is no way! They seem like they are 8 and 10, but it is fine. Anyway... in the middle of the lesson, the youngest girl was like “Wait, look at this. What is this?” She pulled out a Jehovah's Witness booklet! We told her that that was a different religion! Shje walked over to the garbage, threw the booklet in, and said “This is not my religion!” Ha ha!

Anyway, life here in Rennes is always great! It is a college type town, so the weekend is always interesting! This morning we got on the bus on our way to church with Book of Mormon in hand, and what did we find? A bunch of possibly still drunk, hung over college kiddos, heading home for the night…. After a few minutes a man smiled at me. He was probably 25! He said something about how I was a beautiful girl and then asked what was in my hand? I quickly responded  “It is the Bible” He then quickly walked away! Ha ha We are not allowed to talk to men, so it is always awkward when they approach us, but I guess I’ll just always have to have my quad in my hands, because the Bible seems to scare them away! Ha ha!

Dad asked about the ward. The ward is awesome. There are about 150 members, but everyone is so involved! There is a good mix of all ages! The old ones, young families, lots of youth and a good little group of young adults! The Bishop is probably in his late 30’s. He and his wife met at BYU! They are awesome!

It is starting to get really, really cold, but ca va! There are Christmas Lights all throughout the town - it is fun! Google Sainte Anne and Republique, Rennes during Christmas! It is so pretty! It is my favorite place to contact because everyone should just be so happy because the lights are so fun….  But, they are not always. Ca Va! It really is so pretty here in Rennes. I feel so lucky to be here each day! 

It is so fun living with four sisters too! I feel so lucky! They are all so awesome! Sometimes I worry we have too much fun together, but it also can get a little emotional sometimes… ha ha. But ,what do you expect! I would like to announce I have not cried yet... minus feeling the Spirit! No tears for me in Rennes. Just feeling the joy each day! Well, I will send you a spiritual thought on Monday. Oh! Listen to how fun this is! Tonight all 8 missionaries are going to sing together in Republique (all 8 together) I will report on all the joy we bring! Ha ha! I love you, I hope this works and is okay! I love you. Have a great week! I love being a missionary. Yes sometimes it is hard, but it is always worth it! I love you all!

Mom- I hope you had the best B-day Ever! Je’T’aime

P.S. I straightened my hair for the 1st time today… yeah, it doesn’t stay straight here just in case you were wondering! Ha ha!

Also will you send me Nate Backs Email?

I LOVE YOU ALL

-Whit

December 7, 2014

Hi!! I love you all!!

So, last night was the best Sunday night ever!!! We gathered in Republique, also known as centre ville! We just started singing, and some people stopped, but it was kinda awkward. So we decided we needed to approach people as they came, and ask if we could sing for them! So, that is what we did! We ended up spreading lots of joy and praying with 3 groups of people! We even got some numbers! It was a great night to be a missionary! There truly is power in hymns and especially Christmas hymns!! It was so fun to spread the message of joy and the birth of Christ through the hymns! I love this time of year! There is not a better time to learn more about our Savior and share it with others!  

I love you all!! Have a great week!!

Soeur Back

Happy Birthday Mom!

Location: Rennes

Hi!! How is everyone?!! How was Thanksgiving!? It’s kind of an American holiday, but don't worry, we still celebrated! On Wednesday we had district meeting and then we ate a nice big Thanksgiving dinner with our district! It was fun! We made a cheesecake! It actually turned out! Everyone was very impressed! Haha. I've actually been quiet domestic this week! While my companion was writing her essays, I slaved away in the kitchen making chicken pot pie and cookies. I also studied the language and read the Book Of Mormon of course!!

This week was awesome! I love being a servant of the Lord!! I try each day to be worthy to be guided by the Spirit! Even though we spent a lot of time inside this week... we still had lots of rendezvous and met lots of people! I have a strong testimony that the Lord truly does concentrate our time and efforts as missionaries!

Sometimes during personal study I look at the time, worried that time is up, and that I won't have time to study everything I want, and then I look at the clock and I still have a solid 30 minutes to study!! It is the best!!  During language study I will learn a certain amount of words for that day and somehow, in some way, those words are put to use that day! Whether it is on a sign on the street, or a member uses it, or I have to use it during a lesson, our Heavenly Father finds a way for me to use and learn those words!! It truly is incredible!! It is a testimony of the importance of this work! WE CAN NOT WASTE A MINUTE!! The language is coming slowly but surely! I can not wait for the day it just clicks! I know if I keep working at it, it will come!! I can always use your prayers! In fact, if you want to pray 3 times a day for me to have the gift of tongues, it would be much appreciated!

So, this week, like I have said was a little different! Sara didn't come to PPP (pancakes, ping pong, and penser spiritual (spiritual thought))! It is a fun activity for all the young adults in the ward on Wednesday night! Sara said she was going to come but then never showed up! I called her and left her a message and she never called us back, and then our other awesome GOLDEN investigator, Rosa, wasn't returning our phone call either!! We were so sad, but just kind of confused more than anything!! We never lost faith! we kept praying for them and thinking about them!! And then, GUESS what?? We woke up Sunday morning with a text from Sara!!! She had to move that week, and was just really busy, but wants to meet with us this week!! SO, we were like super excited about that, and then we were planning that night, and guess who called us! Yep, ROSA! She had been super busy with work!! We are seeing her this week!!! I know our Heavenly Father is preparing them and helping them understand the importance of his message!! I know that if we have faith and righteous desires, and we act upon those righteous desires, he will bless us and those we are praying for!!

I love Gratitude and I love Thanksgiving because it reminds us to be grateful ALL THE TIME! Have you seen that amazing HE IS THE GIFT video!??? I love it!! I know this video will change lives! While I was in the MTC, the head over Mormon Messages came and talked to us about the whole "He is The Gift Initiative." I know it is truly inspired and will bring so many unto Christ! I challenge all of you to share that video with a less active or non member!

This week was Stake Conference, so we got to go to Nantes! It was so beautiful!  We drove with the Alliot's (the one who calls me her daughter and gives me hugs). Haha - they love us!  It was about an hour and half drive through the country during sunrise!!!! It was Heavenly Father's Gift to me that day!! I really needed to see the sun, and, I mean, the sun rise is like the best!! I am so grateful for the beauty of the Earth! It truly is another testimony of God's love for us!!

I love being a missionary!! I am so grateful for my Savior! I want nothing more than for him to fully trust me! I want to show him that I am listening to his promptings! That I will talk to whoever he wants me to talk to! Walk wherever he wants me to walk! I pray each day to let him show me my weaknesses and to help me make them strong! I know through Him anything is possible! I Love you all!! Have the best week ever!!!

LOVE YOU!!

Soeur Back

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!