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| Nantes |
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| Tina and Hil (a friend from uni) |
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| this must be me waiting for Dane to get online... I have been told by a few people now that I need to write more on my blog! |
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| Hil and Scott - England Trip 2009 |
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| Nantes Cafe |
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| CAFE! |
First of all, I want to say how proud I am of my brother Scott and my sister Becca for serving missions. I already said goodbye to Scott and it was hard for me to say goodbye because it didn’t seem very real. A goodbye phonecall from France when haven’t seen the person for a few months already just doesn’t seem to do it justice. It is going to be really hard when I come home for Christmas and find that they really are gone. Not having them is going to be different and I hate to say it but not as fun…because we are always silly and we just do fun things together. I will miss everything about them. Last Christmas Becca and I picked each other’s names for stockings and we ended up getting each other almost the exact same things. We think alike and she is my best friend. My brother Scott picked my name and he gave me an i-pod. Instead of wrapping it up like a normal person (which by the way, Scott isn’t—and I love that about him), he hand crafted it with something edible I believe and put it as the star on the Christmas Tree. Haha. Then he said, in his goofy voice…”go and find it!!” How can you not miss your best friends on Christmas!
I will miss them a lot… Good bye Scott.
I have now been at the Garon Family’s home for one week tomorrow. It has gone by so quickly and I feel extremely blessed to be here. They are so kind to me and always make sure that I am okay. We always speak French except for the odd word here and there, and I find myself learning a lot. It is still difficult for me understand everything because it is spoken very quickly, but I am getting along better than when I first arrived in France, or even one month ago! Before, whole sentences sounded like jibberish…now, I am able to hear most of the words. But the problem is that it is still spoken so quickly that I don’t have time in my brain to put them all together to understand it word for word so I get general meanings of sentences and conversations. Time will help…I hope! Every night we eat dinner, and after eat the best bread and cheeses…mmmm…and yogurt. We read the Book of Mormon in French and its really nice because they let me read even though I slow them down and they help me with my pronunciation. They are so kind. Last night we had Family Home Evening and they listened to President Monson’s general conference address in French and were trying to make sure I understood it. I love being here.
School is okay… its just the same everyday, with immersion and exercises to improve grammar, learn more new grammar and listen. It’s difficult somedays but that is to be expected.
We had stake conference this last Sunday in Angers, about 1 hour drive away. There was 2 sessions held and of course it was all in French. I was feeling really dizzy that day and not the greatest, and it made it difficult for me to stay focused and attentive for the speakers. I prayed that I would make it through. It was really nice because they had this huge screen with a picture of the Christus, like the one in Salt Lake City at the Temple Visitor Center. It is one of my favourite places in the world, and just seeing it their with the church name written beside it just made me feel like I was in the right place. I really felt the spirit as the musical numbers were sung in French and I thought how lucky and blessed I was to be a member of the church.
It is getting colder here… so cold that I never feel completely warm. It chills you to the bone and sometimes I wonder how I survived when I served my mission in England.
There are moments when I look around still and cannot believe I’m here. It never seems to get old. I am, however, feeling a really strong desire to see my family again and be at home for Christmas. Somedays I just can’t wait to play the game pick 2 with my parents, eat big bowls of ice cream, make popcorn, wake up to my mom’s pancakes or my dad’s famous omelettes, watch cake decorating and home décor t.v. shows with my mom and tease my nieces and nephews. I miss them. Family is where all the joy in life comes from. I can see that more and more now that I have been away. Being on my mission was different…here I have been able to see things in a very different perspective and I am grateful that Heavenly Father has shown me that.
Today I had to take a test…I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked, but I woke up early after not sleeping well, and took the bus to another place where I have to catch another bus…while there, I was studying and didn’t really notice the bus I got on… It was the right bus number…only the wrong way! So I ended up having to get off on the other end almost and switch buses. Needless to say I was soaked because it was pouring…I had no umbrella…and I was 50 min late for my test!! I told my teacher in french that I was sorry but I took the wrong bus and she was really nice and let me take the test anyways while they other students started to hand theirs in and I just sat there finishing my test while she continued on with class. I hope I did okay. I definitely didn’t know all the answers but I did my best. After class, I tried to register for classes and it took 2 hours because the website was freezing like crazy, making it difficult to find and add the courses I wanted and needed. Alas, after all this it felt good to come home and realize that tomorrow I am going to LONDON, ENGLAND. I am staying with the Nicholls, who are basically family! It will be really great to see them again and also to be able to go to the London temple with them on Saturday morning. I’m really looking forward to it.
Bisous! xx.
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