FIRST LETTER!

BONJOUR!

The MTC seems to always be such a blur, all week long I've been thinking "I need to remember to write that in my email home" and I'm sure I'll still forget stuff.  If anyone does have any actual questions about the MTC (like friends who are going to be coming here soon....cough cough Emma and Steven) just shoot me an email.  We have a good amount of email time, my zone leaders are pretty relaxed about it.  

I'm in what we've decided to call a tripanionship, so I have two companions, Soeur Cruz and Soeur Torres.  Both of them are gorgeous and fun and impress me every day with their testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They both speak Spanish as their first language, and were called to Montreal Spanish speaking, but are learning French because it's the main language there.  They often "accidentally slip into" Spanish.  I'm relatively sure they're talking about me when this happens.  Haha jk.  But not really, I do think it's a possibility.  It's all good though, I think they like me and I sure love them!  They're reading over my shoulder and laughing right now.  Laughing without denying it.  

We're the only sisters in our district, there are two companionships of Elders as well, so we have a little district of seven.  I LOVE my district!  The Elders are so fun and everyone comes from totally different backgrounds, which is awesome.  Elder Zocca is from Tasmania and speaks Swahili.  Our district really does already have such a tight bond and it's only been a week; I can't fathom how much I'll love them.

.And this is my whole zone...it's small :) (there are some people in the back not in our zone....it's just the twelve of us who(m?) are closest to each other)

(Bummer.. the picture didn't come through!)

Our zone is just made up of two districts and we're still the only sisters, the other district only has five.  (Abby, there's Elder Connell!  How funny is it that we're in the same zone?! And when it's such a small zone!)  Everyone in my district except Elder Zocca is going to Montreal, he's going to DC, and everyone in the other district is going to France.  We have a super chill zone.

My companions and I have been teaching the discussions in French to our investigator, Christophe (The MTC hires people to be our investigators.  Some of them are actual investigators, some are members, some are nonmembers not investigating the church.  We dont know which of those Christophe actually is, but we're pretty sure he really doesn't speak English). This really is an incredible experience.  The spirit is always so strong, and it makes me so excited to serve and teach in French and in such a beautiful country.  We asked him during our last lesson (yesterday) if at the end of the lessons, if he knew our teachings to be true, if he would be baptized and he said yes.  I might have cried.  I definitely cried.  This gospel truly brings me so much joy and nothing makes me happier than the opportunity to share that joy with other people.

My companions and I are all sister training leaders just because there are no other sisters, so before church on Sunday we went to Branch Council.  During that meeting, the Presidency told us we're getting a new sister! Just one (today, actually) and because she's coming in by herself, I'll be taken out of my tripanionship to be her companion until our one other sister comes in the week after that, and then they'll be companions because they're actually learning Creole instead of French, and they're both going to Haiti.  So today's new sister will only be here for two weeks, which means she definitely knows French already.  She's from the Ivory Coast.  So the question is whether or not she speaks English.... I really hope she doesn't.  That would be awesome, and so good for my French.  I'll let y'all know next week, but I'll know in about two hours.

So then after that meeting, a member of the branch presidency asked to meet with just me and in that meeting, I was asked to accept the calling of Branch Music Chair.  So that's been fun!  I have my little french hymn book and i conduct the music and choose all my favorite hymns and I still have to organize some kind of music number for this next Sunday.  And I'm also teaching a lesson (in French) on Sunday on Priesthood ordinances.  Man, this whole thing is awesome. 

I know so much more French, it's amazing.  I'm comfortable praying in French in public, and speaking in French all the time, and when actual French people talk to me I don't catch everything they say, but I get enough to carry on a solid conversation.  It's so cool.  It's actually really hard writing in English right now, I haven't produced this much English at one time for what seems like forever.  I even write in my journal in French just because it's good practice and it's easier than going back and forth between languages.  

I am growing spiritually in a way I didn't expect.  As we learn from Elder Bednar, a testimony is what you know to be true, and a conversion is being true to what you know.  I have a strong testimony of this gospel, and am working now on being converted unto the Lord.  Being here is really hard for so many reasons, and if I didn't know the truth of this gospel, this would be shaping up to be the worst week of my life.  However, because of the faith I have in Jesus Christ, this is absolutely the most wonderful week of my life. At some point I think you have to decide if you're all in or all out, and while I think I will be sleep deprived for about a year,  I'd rather be in.  It's good to be in.   I know missions aren't right for everyone, and everyone has different things to accomplish, but I know for myself that this is the best thing I could be doing right now.  

I really do love you all!  I want to hear from anyone and everyone, if you're reading this then I want to hear from you.  dearelder.com is the best thing ever, or email, or letters, whatever works for you :) 

Bisous,

Soeur Lonas

P.S.  family members: give the little ones squeezes and kisses for me, tell them their Aunt Rebecca loves and misses them so much and that I think about them every day.