week three in france: MIRACLES

Bonjour!! Wow time is flying here in Tarbes! Seriously. Ok everyone imagine how hot it is in like the middle of June.. that's how hot it is here! We in the South ma friends and it is HOT. I also discovered that I have curly hair?? Humidity does that. Anyway this week has been full of good things!

So on Tuesday we did an exchange with the Sister Training Leaders and it was awesome! I was with Soeur Luthi, she is from Cali and is returning home this transfer! She is such a good example to me and I defintely learned a lot from here. We had a goal that day between the other equipe of sisters and our assistants to fix 8 rdv's for the week and we did it!! So cool!! We also had a really great lesson that day with our amie (investigator) Julio! He had a baptisimal date but could not stop smoking, BUT he has been coming to church again and meeting with us twice a week so he is on the road to success! Also on Tuesday our DL gave us blessings and it was amazing, I am so grateful for the Priesthood, it said everything I needed to hear and more. Heavenly Father is os aware of our circumstances, we are blessed beyond measure.

Wednesday we went porting and had a lot of really great conversations with people, met some nice atheists haha they are always funny to talk to. So we mostly just contacted all day and it was really hot but it's weird cause I didn't want to go home, I just wanted to keep talking to people; like accept the Gospel already gash. 

Thursday we traveled allllllllllllllll day to Lyon so I could become legal! You are looking at a legal citizen of France my friends. 

Friday we got to Lyon and it was 1000 day! We combined with the Paris mission and every 30 minutes from 9 am to 9 pm we stopped and prayed that between our two missions we could find 1000 new people to teach. It was such a cool experience to be so unified with everyone for an amazing cause.

Saturday we traveled back to Tarbes and as soon as we got off the train we got straight to work! We met with Frere Pho like we do everysaturday for juice and a spiritual thought and it was great as always, if I could have half the faith this man has I would be GOLD. I have never met anyone with so much Faith. Then we saw a miracle qfter Frere Pho's. So we had a lesson with Julio but we were running late and so we texted and called him but he didn't reply, so we show up at the church 35 minutes late and he gets there at the exact same time!!! It wasa miracle, we taught the Restoration to him again and even though my french struggles hard core I know the spirit was there, and really the Spirit is the one teaching, not me. So that was a really cool experience! 

Sunday was great as well, my first fast sunday in France!! The branch gave some awesome testimonies and Soeur Caldwell and I taughtSunday school! We taught the first chapter of Preachez mon Evangile and it went really well, the branch struggles a lot and I think this will really help them by learining from Preachez mon Evangile. After church we took a train to an outer ville to teach an amie, but she didn't show.. not shocking cause it happens everyday here haha you just have to get over it and move on. So we went ot a members house in that ville to study while we waited for our train. Their name is the Polteau family, Soeur Polteau served a mission in England so she speaks english really well. They are awesome members and I always learn a lot from them. 

Well sorry that is really long but it was just a great week!! We have a train to Toulouse in an hour so I am out of time, I love you all. This Gospel is true. Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith. God will never leave you alone, He loves you far too much. Serve someone this week, and smilleeeee. Love you!!!

Love,

Soeur Holmes

Also read the New Testament cause its bomb

week two in France

Bonjour ma famille! 

Wow this week has been so good! Like a lot better than the first week for sure! It's defintely still really hard, BUT I am beginning to more fully understand what it means to be a missionary.

So this week was good, we had Zone Training in Bordeaux and that was a blast cause I got to see a lot of my mtc friends! So good! The thing with zone training or district meeting etc, means that we have to travel for a couple days at a time, which is kinda fun/annoying cause I'm like I JUST WANT TO TEACH ALL THE WORLD. haha but it's good:)

So we saw miracles this week! Soeur Caldwell and I prayed for a miracle annnd we got not one but TWO! So we were out contacting when we both had the strongest feeling to stop this women, so ze did. Her name is Selestina and she is so cool! She is going to college here and is jsut really open and willing to listen. That is something that is hard to find here, no one wants to listen to two teenage American girls talk about religion. It especially doesn't help that they thing we are Jehovahs Witnesses (french is messing up my english sorrry) JW's are everywhere here. Anyway so we are going to teach her next week!

Then about 10 minutes later we met this women named Sonia and she is just the best. She is this little old lady from Italy who is searching for the Gospel. She said she has been praying to know if God is there and aware of her, HE IS. We testified of eternal families and she just got so excited and said she hoped it was true because she really wanted that for her and her family especially since her dad has passed away! She has also been to an LDS church before, but she just didn't know that it existed here! So we are going to teach her next week too! 

I know that the Lord is so so so aware of us and our situations! I have felt His love so much this past week. Through sincere prayer and faith anything is possible. He loves us so much!

So some fun facts about France:

1. Everyone smokes, way gross

2. Everyone has a dog, dog poop is EVERYWHERE

3. French treats are the best

4. French people take a second to warm up to you, but once you get them talking they are so nice!

I love you all and I am grateful for your love and support! Garde la foi!

Love,

Soeur Holmes

First week in France!

Wow words can't describe this week! Disclaimer: French keyboards are weird so I am just warning you ahead of time for all the typos this email will have haha

It's been a tough week. On a mission you feel the highest highs and the lowest lows. But we choose to be happy, miserable, scared, sad, etc. Of course this is hard, I would never expect it to be easy, but it's the Lord's work and it's really important. 

I don't have a lot of time so this will be quick! France is really pretty and different. No one here believes in God, which is so strange. And everyone smokes it's way nasty haha I am in an area called Tarbes pronounced Tarbe. It's cute and for the most part people seem to be friendly! My comp is Soeur Caldwell and she is also really nice!

The best thing about this mission is the branch! They have so much faith and it's really hard to be a member here, some travel hours to get to church. They are amazing. 

We are teaching a family right now who is progressing really well, I know they'll get baptized:)

I have so much to say but I am out of time. I love you all and if I didn't reply to any of your individual emails know I am sorry and that I love you and I'll reply next week! You are amazing. Keep the faith!

Love,

Sister Holmes

She made it!!

After a long day and night of travel she finally arrived In Lyon!

President and Sister Roney sent a picture of her with them when she arrived .

Pictures, pictures and more pictures!!

week 5

France Bound On Monday!
Holy cow I have no time today because I was replying to a lot of mission stuff from Pres and Sister Roney. So sorry that this isn't going to be very long!

How are we all doing?! I hope everyone is happy and doing well. Thanks for your letters and packages this week, I am one spoiled missionary!

This week has been so good! I honestly feel like I got here yesterday and now I'm leaving. I'm way sad to leave everyone but I am pumped to get to work in France! I know they need us there and I am just itching to talk to them about the Gospel! 

This week consisted of a lot of studying, prayers, and teaching. And it was great! We have invited Michel to be baptized twice now and he finally said "probably" so that's better than no! He has made so much progress in just 5 weeks. I can't wait to see what it's really like in the field. 

We also had the amazing opportunity to sing in sacrament this week. Our district sang Come thou fount and it was bomb. The spirit was so strong and people in the audience were crying. I love sharing my testimony with music, I hope I will be able to do that in France:)

We went to the temple for the last time today for 17 months. It was amazing. I'll miss it so much. Go as much as you can for me!

That's honestly about it for the week. Just a lot of last minute preparations to leave on Monday. Sorry this is short. I know the Gospel is true and I know that if we are obedient to what God has asked of us we will be blessed in so many ways. I know He loves us and cares about us so deeply. I am so grateful to be a missionary!!!

Love you all! Next time you hear from me, I'll be in France!!

Love,

Soeur Holmes

Funny story:

So French is really hard sometimes and sometimes you try and say things and they come out soooo wrong. We were practicing French in groups in class and I tried to ask and Elder in my district if he wanted to be with his family forever, but I accidentally asked him if he wanted to be with ME forever!! So funny. We were all dying. Gotta love learning a new language:)

week 4

Bonjour ma famille et amies!

This week has been a good one! I can't believe I am leaving the mtc in just less than 2 weeks! What?! It honestly feels like I got here yesterday! Where does the time go? The mtc has been such a great experience for me! I have learned and grown so much in just a small amount of time! I am loving it here, I kinda don't want to leave! But I do cause France needs some Sister Holmes up in there life! 

This week has consisted of a lot of hard core studying. I mean we are always hard core studying but this week was insane. I have never studied so much in my life. French is crazy hard, but it is coming along quickly so that's good. I know I'll get to France and it'll get 10 times harder, but that's ok!

So we taught Michel and Bridgette this week and all of our lessons went fabulous!! Even though they are not really investigators, I feel like I am addressing their needs and concerns as a person and it's really cool. Making sure we teach with the spirit is so so vital! We cannot teach without the Spirit, because we are not the teachers here, we are just the instrument in the Lord's hands. It's so cool to be part of this great work. I love being a missionary! It makes me sad to think I only have 17 months left!! 

So this week I have been thinking about Patriarchal blessings a lot this week and how they bring so much comfort and guidance to our lives! I encourage everyone to read over their blessing this week and really just ponder the blessings it promises you. I find something new every time I read mine:)

We've been doing this thing every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday called "English Fast" it's where we can only speak French all day! It's really hard, but really cool. It forces you to try. Which is something I kind of struggle with sometimes, I get frustrated and just give up sometimes, but we can't do that! We have to keep trying and keep pushing forward, even when it's hard! Whenever we English fast we always end up saying things so wrong and we use a lot of Franglais. It's pretty funny. 

On Sunday Soeur Baggs said the prayer at our devotional so we both had to sit on the stand! Kinda scary, cause I really didn't want to fall asleep! She did great though as usual, I love being her companion!

So yesterday it poured buckets in Provo so during gym time we just ran through the rain, it was a blast, it was our pre p day party:)

Sorry this is kind of all over the place, but that's about it for the week! I love you all and I love being a missionary. I know He lives and loves us and wants us to be happy on this Earth. The Gospel is the key to happiness in this life and the next. We are so privileged to be part of this wonderful Gospel. Reach out to someone this week. Invite a friend to an activity or church! You never know what it might do:) Be safe, do something crazy, and I love you all!

Love,

Soeur Holmes