Week 5: FLIGHT PLANS!!!!!

But first, a funny story from last night:

Soeur Vogel and I went in to teach our investigator Guillaume about the Book of Mormon (we've been teaching the first lesson for like 5 lessons just because he has so many questions but it's awesome and we have good discussions!) We asked him to pray and then in his prayer he was like, "Thank you for the Book of Mormon and the blessing it is in our lives." Soeur Vogel bust out laughing and I laughed too but we felt bad because Guillaume thought he said something bad in his prayer. We were like "Oh no! Definitely not! But we haven't talked with you about the Book of Mormon yet...." And he was like, "But I've been reading the copy you gave me..." and we were like, "We didn't give you a Book of Mormon yet...." HAHAHA Frere Keenan forgot which Guillaume he was supposed to be (you know, because each companion teaches the same investigator but each equipe teaches differently and in different orders.) Keenan had just received a lesson about the Book of Mormon from Soeur Casuga and Soeur Flake and he was still in that thought process. It was hilarious because he finally realized what was wrong and then just suddenly wiped Guillaume's mind of anything to do with the Book of Mormon. It was a funny experience and brightened my day a lot. Haha, we have to remember that mistakes happen and there's going to be awkward experiences during our lessons, but if we can be positive and laugh it off, it'll all be okay!

And now here's what you've all been waiting for: FLIGHT PLANS!!! WOO HOO!! I'm going to NEW ZEALAND! AND FIJI! AND VANUATU! AND NEW CAL!!!!!!!! We report to the travel office at 1pm on SUNDAY!!! We're all super pumped! (Plus none of our district has to speak in Sacrament Meeting because church starts at 1 for us haha!)We get to  have another (partial) P-Day on Saturday night, so look for another email from me that night!! 

[Note: On Thursday they have an in-field orientation all day, and Friday and Saturday will be spent packing.]

Dad, I'm sure you'll be wanting to track my flights, and you can see that flight numbers in the picture :) What are your thoughts on the super short connection time in San Fran to New Zealand??

We got to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional on Sunday night! It was really good and I highly recommend that y'all watch it. The theme of it was that Christ is the reason for our hope and why we have no need to fear. Jesus Christ is the Savior and because of Him we can have hope in the Gospel and in the Plan of Salvation. I also liked how President Utchdorf talked about being grateful to "the generous one," which is our Heavenly Father. And that as we try to fulfill our purpose in life, which is to become like God, we can seek opportunities to serve and to give of what we've been given. This Christmas season, remember to be grateful and to be giving!!

We had Skype TRC on Wednesday. That's where we get to Skype with a member from somewhere that speaks French and teach them a little lesson like what the missionaries would share if they came over for dinner or something. Soeur Vogel and I were going to teach a sister from Belgium, but she didn't answer and then she was "away"... But they had back-up people and we talked with a lady from Ottawa, Canada. She spoke English and French, but her French was definitely Quebecois, which is like French but with weird slang and some English words thrown in... It was a good experience except for the fact that the call kept dropping because she was walking around her house and she was using her phone to Skype... Haha it was entertaining and she corrected our French (except some of the corrections were Quebecois, not French, but oh well!)

The rest of our week was the usual thing: class all day long, teaching our investigators, learning and reviewing French. The days really fly by!! And in only 5 days I'll be on a plane!!

Other Conversations: 

Karen: I guess this means you got your visa! I had a nightmare last night that it didn't come, and it was like Megan all over again. So you will be at the mission home from the 15-18th. Cool!
Laura: Actually, we got info saying that we don't need visas anymore... They said we don't need them to get into New Cal... I'm trusting the Church travel office on this!!

Karen: You will want to buy snacks for the plane and have them in your bag unopened. Can you buy stuff like that at the MTC? If not, get some at the airport. The long flights should have food, but you have lots of short connections and may not have time to eat meals in airports.
Laura: Soeur Casuga's mom sent us some trail mix :)

Laura: Quoi de neuf? means "What's up?"

Laura: I did get the card with the New Cal article! I shared it with my district and we loved it and we're really excited to leave now!

Laura: He [Dad] really looks like Santa!!! That's so hilarious!!

 

Pics: 

1. Me with President and Sister Dowling, my branch president.

2. Les Congos sont partis heir soir! Elder Freshour and Elder Dorson are going to the Republic of the Congo and other central African countries that speak French!

3. This is a pic of all the sisters that came in on the same day as me! We're going to New Cal, Montreal, Barbados, and Tahiti!

"Ou Est Votre Collegue?"
These are some elders in our Zone. They got these T-shirts made and we got a laugh out of it! "Where's your companion?" is actually heard a lot in the MTC because people are still getting used to being stuck with someone 24/7.

"Ou est votre collegue?"