what a great week!

Best ice cream ever!!!

Bonjour ma famille!

So transfer calls came and I have been transferred to Poitiers! And let me tell you, it's GORGEOUS! And the best part is that Soeur Caldwell and I are staying together! We are white washing here in Poitiers, it used to be part of the Paris Mission, but now it's in ours and they haven't had sisters here in over 10 years!!! Crazy right?! So we kinda have no idea what is going on cause we are the only missionaries here, but I am sure we'll get the hang of things soon! I'm sad I won't get to finish watching Henriette progress to baptism, but I know she'll be in good hands.

So this last week was a tiny bit crazy haha but it was good! We did a lot of contacting which is pretty normal cause France, but it was a miracle week! We contacted so many people who were actually interested! That never happens. But we set up some really great rendezvous' but then we had to end up going to Pau from Thursday to Monday! So we didn't get to meet with any of the people we set up meetings with! Sad right?? But the new elders in Tarbes should be able to meet with all of them and take care of them!

So we spent from Thursday to Monday in Pau. We had district meeting and just a bunch of other stuff so it was easiest that we just spent the rest of the week in Pau instead of Tarbes. Pau is so pretty and big! Tarbes was pretty small so it was kinda fun to get a taste of a bigger city and to be in a place with other missionaries! So it was really great. District meeting was great as usual as we continued to learn how to be master teachers and to treasure up the word. We also practiced teaching the lessons which was good, cause I could use all the help I can get with French. And one of the best parts was that we had Taco Thursday! My district knows how much I miss Taco Tuesday so our DL decided that we would have Taco Thursday! Ahh it was so great!!

The rest of the week in Pau was great as well, we contacted quite a bit and actually found a new amie! Her name is Effigenie and she is from Synagogue and so cool. She just moved to Pau and was looking for some comfort and friends! (Know of any churches that offer that???) BOOM I DO!!!! So we taught her and she agreed to continue meeting with the sisters in Pau!! It was so great!

On Saturday we had Samedi Sport which is so fun!! It's where each Saturday they play soccer with their investigators and members in Pau. Ok let's all take a second to remember how good I am at sports hahahahaha Oh my goodness it was hilarious. I was wearing my Usu shirt so a bunch of the amies just kept saying "Utah!! Hey Utah!!" In their cute little French accents, every time I missed the ball or did something funny. It was so much fun and so great to meet so many cool people. Then that night we went street boarding with the Pau elders. Pretty much street boarding just means that you have a big board that says something cool on it about our church and you just contact EVERYONE. It was a lot of fun and we taught some great lessons. Then after we all went and got ice cream THE BEST ICE CREAM I HAVE EVER HAD at this cute little blue van behind this gorgeous cathederal. It was great.

Sunday we attended church in Pau and it was so good. Their ward was awesome and so cool! They even fed us after! We then just repacked a bunch of stuff to get read to head here to Poitiers!

We arrived here yesterday and I already love it! I guess when the branch found out that sisters were coming they just cheered and went nuts!! We have had so many members already call and text us to welcome us! I am so pumped to serve her. Today we had a lesson with a two recent converts Christian and Catherine! They got baptized a few months ago and are going to get married in the temple in a year! They are awesome and so kind! I actually understood most of what was happening in the lesson so that was great news! I can tell I will love it here.

Thanks for all you prayers and love and support! I am so happy to be here on a mission and to witness miracles all the time! Have a good week everyone and get ready for conference! I am so pumped!!

Love you,

Sister Holmes 

a week of many miracles

Wow this week has been INSANE. One, the mission is the absolute best, I would not want to be anywhere else but here. This is seriously the most life changing best experience.

So this week. It started off rocky, Soeur Caldwell was sick with the flu so 3 out of the 7 days we were in our apartment cause she was so sick, it made me so sad and I just wanted her to feel better so we could go out and do some work!! Studying from 8 am to 9 pm was just too much. haha you really know you're becoming a missionary when all you want to do is tell people about the Gospel, honestly being stuck inside was torture I just wanted to be out working!!

So once Soeur Caldwell was feeling up to par we got straight to work! I'll back up, so on Monday before she was sick we had a really cool FHE with one of our members named Blanca and her family. Her brother is inactive and the girl he is dating is also inactive and they are just kinda a mess so we taught them a lesson on The Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went so well! Blanca told us about a dream she had where she saw her whole family (none of them are members except her inactive brother) in Heaven and they were all in white and Christ was just saying "Come, come." Wow. It was so cool. It gave her a lot of hope for her family, maybe they won't except the Gospel now, but with time I think they will, even if it is not in this life. 

So that was great, now fast forward to Thursday. We went to Pau for district meeting, it's about a 40 minute train ride. And it is soooo pretty there. It's really close to Spain. Anyway district meeting was great and we talked a lot about what Elder Ballard taught when he came to our mission a few weeks ago, just really teaching simply for understanding and treasuring up the word. So that's exactly what we did and we saw many miracles.

Miracle 1: On our way back from Pau we were sitting on a bench at the train station when the women next to us said "excuse me, is this train going to Lourdes?" She said it in ENGLISH!! So we answered her question and asked how she knew we spoke english and she replied "I didn't I just kinda felt like you might..." So she is from Canada and is on vacation in Lourdes (look up Lourdes it is like world famous and has an amazing cathederal and people come from all over the world to see this giant cathederal and get healed by the holy fountain inside) so we got on the train with her and taught her the Restoration and we are meeting up with her in Lourdes this week to give her a Book of Mormon in English and teach her again!! So cool! It was so nice to teach a lesson in English, I felt like I could really express myself and the spirit was so strong.

Miracle 2:   So we have an amie (investigator) named Henriette and her daughter's family is in our Branch. When her daughter Soeur Bordieux joined the church like 20 years ago Henriette was really angry cause she thought we were just a weird sect (everyone here thinks that) but as time has gone on and her husband has died and her heart has been softened she doesn't think that anymore. So we took a train ride to her house to teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she loved it! During the lesson she just sobbed and talked about how she know's this is true. She showed us the BoM that her friend gave her with a testimony written inside and she was like Yeah I want to be baptized!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! So we have officially engaged her to be baptized!! She just needs to finish the lessons, stop drinking coffee and she will be gold!! I am so pumped! It was a miracle indeed.

Miracle 3: We show up to church on Sunday and we walk into Sacrament meeting and this cute little blonde lady is like "Hi, I'm here for work from UTAH and I don't speak French could you translate Sacrament meeting for me??" It was so cool!!! It is a rare occassion to see someone from Utah who isn't a missionary! Now this one was a miracle because I was feeling pretty fed up with French this week, learning a language is a very humbling process, you just have to accept that you don't really know anything and rely on the Lord to help you teach. But I was feeling down and I was thinking I wasn't a good teacher and I wasn't really contributing cause I don't speak French all that well, but helping Jennifer in Sacrament was cool. I translated for a little bit and yeah it was not perfect but I know more than I think. I just felt peace and comfort. Heavenly Father is truly aware of our needs and really loves us so much. We can't do anything without Him. We need Him every hour to guide our path, whether we are on a mission or not. We can't do this alone. I love this Gospel, I love being a missionary, I love seeing people change their lives for the Gospel.

I hope you all have a great week and that you really reach out to as many people as you can! Thank you for your love and support! Love you!

Love,

Sister Holmes

Ps: I may be getting transferred so stay tuned.........

FUN FACTS

Everyone and their dog here drives a BMW it's like driving Ford in America haha

Everyone wears shirt's with English phrases on them that always sound so funny. For example "Your style is who you're." ummmm what. So funny. 

LOVE YOU

Lots of fun Pictures!!

Here I am!

Zone Conference

Love this place

Such a beautiful Country

week four in France "Zone Conference"

Bonjour!!

Ok so when you're a new missionary in France you're called "blue" I guess in some missions you're called a "greenie" no idea. But I only have one week left of this transfer! Can you believe it?? I'm technically still "blue" for the next transfer too but hopefully by next transfer I'll have a better hold on things haha

This week was great! We had Zone Conference! We had 4 different zone's there and it was awesome! Elder Ballard came to our mission, but he spoke in Geneva so we didn't get to be there physically so at zone conference we got to watch it! It was so great, he reminded us the importance of teaching for understanding and to remember to teach simply. The Gosepl really is so simple and I feel like as missionaries we like to over complicate it sometimes, but it really is so simple. President and Sister Roney also spoke to us and man can I just say I have the best mission president ever. Like really he is so cool! He says things like, "are you tired of being wimpy?? Put on your game face smile and go to work!" I love it. It's so true, this isn't an easy mission, not is any mission easy by any means, but everyday I just have to forget myself and go to work. Because this isn't about me. It's about bringing others to Christ, you never know who you might touch.

So I went on an exchange this week in Montabon and it was great, it is really cool to see how other missionaries work and their different techniques and styles. It was really fun and it was beautful! We taught a Tahitian family and they were so cool, the wife was a member but he wasn't and I just had the strongest feeling that he would except the Gospel someday. He was so nice and seemed really interested in what we were teaching. He even said the prayer! It was so cool. We also taught another woman named Caty, she just called the missionaries one day and said "Hi yes I would like to be baptized!!" WHAT. That is not something you see everyday, especially in France. But she was so cool, we visited her in the hospital cause she might have cancer and is really sick. We testified that even though she is sick now, that one day she will be resurrected perfectly and everything will work out and she will be healthy. She just started to sob. The spirit was so strong. It was a miracle for sure, I testify that miracles exist today; I witness them. They aren't always big, but they exist. It was really cool.

When I got back from my exchange Soeur Caldwell and I did a lot of less active and recent convert work. Our branch has a lot of those so we are trying to just help them strengthen their faith and remember WHY they got baptized in the first place. They all know it is true, they just need a little push ya know. It breaks my heart to see people turn away from the thing that will make them the absolute happiest if they would just let them.

I love being a missionary everyone. It is by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I thought I was somewhat humble then I came on a mission and realized I was wrong. Before my mission I wasn't a bad person by anymeans, but on a mission you really learn to rely on the Lord and just be so humble, this work isn't for the proud. I've learned I need my Savior every second of every day. He's the one working miracles here, not me. It's just really humbling to know that we are nothing without Him.

The Gospel is true. 100 percent true. I love it. Thanks for all you do!! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Soeur Holmes

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