Week # 15- Bordeaux

Happy New Year!

Dear Family, 

How is life after Christmas? This week was a lovely Christmas week. I told you a bit about it. One funny thing. Did I tell you about out Lunch with B last Monday? She almost fed us raw chicken and then, while trying to cut through the bone with a very dull knife, hits the chicken and gets chicken grease all over Soeur M. It was hilarious to say the least! We wanted to get the knife away from her but she insisted.  

I told you about bringing Christmas to B and D on Christmas Eve. Still one of the best experiences. D is  eyes light up and her smile so big was a tender mercy from the Lord. It was such a blessing to be able to do that for them. We also visited a less active from Bulgaria and she told us the history of her country and made us a traditional Bulgarian meal on Christmas with beans, pickles, bread and this cake with cheese stuff on it. 

Christmas Day of course was wonderful because I got to talk to you! You are all so wonderful and I love you! We chilled with the T's most of the day. I love them :) It was a really nice, peaceful day. 

On to the cool stuff! Actually there isn't a whole lot. We had quite a few lessons that fell through. People are just too busy with the Holidays I suppose. But we decided to go knocking on some doors. We found the address of an old ami, but the number of his home was missing! So we ported the whole street looking for B. Everyone said no and then told us how terrible we were for trying to give them Salvation. It's fine. BUT we get to a small apartment building and Soeur M beeps the button of this one apartment three times on accident. But someone answers! "Hello?" "Hi do you know anyone named B who lives around here?" "Yes." "You do!!!????" "Yes" "Wait are you B??" "Yes." So we get in! We found him!! Unfortunately we lacked another woman, so instead we set up a lesson for next week :) We were so happy though! We hope we can help B progress :) 

We finished the Plan of Salvation with S! He is doing really well. Understand everything, but one thing he struggles with is knowing for himself if it's actually true. So we told him to pray about it and that we'd follow up on him on Wednesday. Also, we told him we really want him to meet with the sisters in Angouleme so that he can continue progressing. He agreed so hopefully we can move his date up earlier because he is not going to be in Eysines for another three weeks! boo!

Anyway, that's about it. Yesterday there was a lesson on the Hastening of the work and the members got really excited. We hope we can really help get them excited about sharing the gospel with their friends. They can do it. Just because they live in France doesn't mean there aren't people ready to accept. Also I ate frog thighs yesterday. And ostrich and kangaroo. 

I love you all so much! You are in my prayers. EVERYDAY. The gospel is true and it is more and more clear to me every day I'm here. I love you! 

Love, Soeur Roberts

Week 12 Bordeaux!

 Eating Escargot for the first time! I love the fancy bowls they have for them!

 Birthday breakfast!  Mom sent over Bisquick for her.  She loves her Dad's pancakes!

Great news! I'm having Christmas in Bordeaux with Soeur M :) there were no changes except we moved apartments. So the new address is... 

99 Léon Blum

33700 Merignac

France

It's way nicer and bigger. Elders took our old place. I feel bad for them... I will miss our tiny home and good ol' Stalingrad. But last week was a bit crazy moving and building furniture. I don't really like doing that I decided. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we went on exchanges with Limoges, which is where Soeur L is serving so I got to be reunited! It was great. We just did a lot of contacting, but Limoges is so pretty. It is so clean and there is no dog droppings anywhere! It's all over in Bordeaux. And Yes. I did step in some. But only once. Anyways, it felt like old times. I love contacting with Soeur L. She's great. 

Thursday was crazy because we had district meeting, taught English, then went to the apartment and started building stuff. It is super far away so the travel was long.

Friday we were going to have a lesson with A, but she keeps standing us up or canceling last minute. She keeps saying she wants to get baptized, but if she doesn't put forth effort we aren't going to waste our time. We'll see with her. Anyway, we built a lot on Friday too, and had a Lesson with a recent convert in our ward who is just wonderful. 

Saturday, we finished building almost everything except for one bed, but had a lesson with A :) The thing with A is that she just wants to go slow, which is fine except when your salvation depends on it!  We often get on the subject of faith because she loves it and that is what she struggles with most. She actually also brought up this time how she wants better prayers. We talked about specifying things, instead of being so broad. But she also doesn't want to ask for a million things all at once. So we compromised :) she is going to pray to ask if there is a life after this, more specifically, what we taught her in the Plan of Salvation. She will do that. We are winding down with time though. She leaves next Saturday, so we are sad. She wants to follow Christ but she is scared. She has faith, she doesn't know how to use it yet though. Anyway, we are going to have as many lessons as we can with her before she goes. 

Sunday we went to a less active members house for a little piano recital. It was great and we were surrounded by non members and they liked us :) mostly because we told them how great their kids were and talented and gave them chocolate. So that was fun :) Anyway, sorry this week was so boring. I decided moving is the worst! I can't wait to be settled in and get back on schedule again. 

It is the Christmas season. Remember our Savior Jesus Christ and everything He has done for us. I love Him and I am so grateful for everything I have. For YOU, this GOSPEL. We are so blessed to have the truthfulness in our lives. I love you all so much and I hope you know that!

Love, Soeur Roberts

Bordeaux, Week #11

Dear Family,

I hope that you all had a lovely Thanksgiving! If it was anything like the past, I'm sure it was great. We got to do our coordination meeting at the Senior Couple's home with the WML who is from Idaho and his family, with the other elders in our ward and had a wonderful feast :) Sister D made some really good potatoes and super good gravy and Sister T made us a delicious pumpkin pie and apple pie. It was really fun :) We didn't have an actual turkey because France doesn't roll like that, but we had slices that sufficed :) 

Anyway, this past week was super busy and packed and I'm still exhausted from the after effects. It's great. Tuesday we went to pass by an old ami who wasn't there, but L answered and let us in! She is from Nigeria and I guess a few years ago was taught by elders. But we met her cousin and gave a mini lesson on the Restoration. We set a time to go back, but they weren't there. We'll keep trying and see where it goes. It was super funny because while Soeur M was praying, they kept saying amen. They agreed with a lot of the things she said I guess.

Tuesday night was our ami activity that an American couple put on for all the missionaries and our amis, and some YSA. A came and had a great time, and also Al. Al is is an old ami, she has been taught twice already before and she actually had a date before I got here, but was dropped because she didn't keep her commitments. She came up to me and said she wanted to work towards baptism again for Christmas. Cool. So we had a lesson with her on Friday. She remembered a bit, but somehow thought that we believe Joseph Smith was the creator and that baptism is so you can have more friends... Yes we have a bit of work to do. If she keeps her commitments and makes an effort we of course will help her get to baptism, but we are concerned that she only wants it for the company because she is quite lonely. I don't think we'll give her a date for a while. But that Thanksgiving activity was fun and all the missionaries had at least one ami there.

The Talence Sisters gave us a referral for this older man, B who takes care of his sister, who has some mental disabilities. We went and visited them and he was the sweetest old man ever. You know ho you can just tell when people are lonely? I think it was nice for him to have company. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he was so grateful. Hopefully he reads and gets so overtaken by the spirit that he wants to get baptized. Right now. 

A is doing good. She is reading and praying, coming to church. She really is just lacking faith, or courage. She feels peace when she prays. She likes church and loves the lessons we have, but she is afraid to make the leap. We asked her what is holding her back, and she said she just doesn't feel like she knows enough to make a decision like that. She came to the baptism of a little girl in our ward and was touched. We don't know how to help her see that sometimes you just need to take that leap of faith and trust that God will be there. Hopefully this week she'll receive an answer and recognize that there is only on true church and there is only one way to reach Salvation. 

S now has a date for baptism! :) The 15th of February. It's a ways away, but now he has something to work towards. We wanted to do it sooner, but he is going to be in Angoulame for like the next 3 weeks so we can't teach him. and then gone some in January. BOO. But he understands so much, and so well too. Soeur M asked him to be baptized and he was a little confused/shocked. It was great. After he understood, he said it was a Christmas surprise! ha ha awesome. He reads everything we ask. He says he prays and comes to church when he is in Bordeaux. So we are grateful for him. He is doing really well and progressing so much. 

Anyway, sorry for the length. This week was so full of just lessons and visiting people. It was fantastic! Sunday I just want you to know that I ate foie gras aka exploded goose liver, escargot, aka snails, sea snails, duck heart, duck stomach, and oysters. It was an adventure to say the least. I have pictures for proof too! 

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for the wonderful blessings that Heavenly Father gives us everyday. This gospel is true and it is the only way to be truly happy. I know that with all my heart. I love you!

Love, Soeur Roberts

Week #10 Bordeaux

Hello,

How are you? Who is ready for Thanksgiving? THIS GIRL. The Senior couple from England insisted on making us Americans a "proper thanksgiving meal" although Sister D is pretty irritated with the lack of turkey's here. She said she is finding pieces though. So that will be our District Thanksgiving meeting. I'M EXCITED!

Anyway, another great week. Still cold, but I'm not wearing gloves typing this time so that's good! Ha ha We were able to wee A three times this week. Tuesday we were going to out to dinner with the Elders and members and their ami, but things got a bit mis-communicated, so it was just us girls. It was okay because we had a nice spiritual thought on Faith.We asked her to read Ether 12 and Hebrews 11. She loved it. She marked Ether all up and really seemed to understand the concept of "after the trial of your faith." She really wanted to meet again, so Friday we went to her place. She made us hot chocolate, so sweet. We gave a nice lesson on Baptism. She expressed how she didn't really understand why baptism was so important, or what it meant really. She said she has known people who were "baptized" but it didn't seem like it meant anything, because, for example, they lied, were mean, basically hypocritical when they should've been taking on the name of Christ. We explained how baptism, when done by the proper authority, is not the end. You must endure to the end, 2 Nephi 31:20. So after the lesson she was better able to understand baptism, what it means, etc. We asked her if she believed she received answers to her prayers and she said she feels like He has always answered. For example, she said meeting us was an example to her prayers. We challenged her to pray to know if the things we say are true. She's going to then she'll get baptized. Sunday she came to Stake Conference. Earlier in the week when we asked if she wanted to come again, she said "I thought I was already coming?" Love her. We plan on getting her a date for baptism this week.

M is a tough one. We are running into a couple tricky things, mostly due to his strong Muslim Background. We are worried that it is too dangerous for him to get baptized, so we are in a bit of a pickle. I won't go into detail, but we are praying for inspiration to know what to do. It is really honestly sad. We love him though. Such a good guy.

S continues to progress. It may take a while for him, the only reason being that he lives in Angoulame, about an hour from us, but he is here in Bordeaux almost every weekend with M, in our ward. So we can only teach him once a week, which stinks! We're going to give him a date the next time we teach him, because he is so ready. He asked M how church would work after baptism. We just need to give him a goal to work towards, and he's golden :)

Those are our progressing Ami's :) They are all wonderful. The rest of the week was good. We teach this woman C English. It's a long story, but before she thought we were a cult and was a bit afraid of us, but she's warmed up and now we are going to HER house (we used to go to a members house) so her boyfriend is warming up to us too. I see a baptism in the future for them :) Her boyfriend has really fluffy hair. Reminds me of that movie the scarlet pimpernel?..... And we passed by an old ami who was home with her husband! They are catholic. She said usually she is not home at the time we stopped by but today she was. She said maybe it's a sign. I think YES. So we'll see where that goes. They are very religious and practicing, we just need to help them understand the restoration. They said they'd pray to know if there's a living prophet :)

 My companion is so awesome, she saved my life and pulled me out of the almost departing tram. And she is obsessed with the otters by our bus stop to church. She takes a picture of them every time. I love her! OHHH! Also! Sorry this is so long, but yesterday after church we were discouraged because this great family that we wanted to teach the restored gospel, didn't exist. Well they do, but they don't live at the address anymore. BUT MIRACLE. This guy we contacted last transfer called us and wanted to meet! He is so cool. Muslim, but he accepted the Book of Mormon and is going to read. Super nice guy. It was a tender mercy for sure.

Anyway, sorry again for the length. I love you all, look for the Tender Mercies of the Lord. They are all over the place. Be grateful! I'm so grateful for you all and your support and love. I wouldn't be able to do this without you. I love you. The gospel is true.

Love, Soeur Roberts

Bordeaux Week #9

Apartment front door.

Dear Family, 

This week went fast! I feel like I just emailed you yesterday! First things first. It is freezing here. Like 5° Celsius. So like 37°F. And our apartment is as big as my room at home and has no heating so you'd think the small space would heat up quicker when we open our mini oven to give us heat. The other day I put on my sweat pants under my skirt and leggings and socks and wore my big wool jacket during studies because it was so cold in our home! And I'm typing right now with mittens on. It's kind of great!  I can't imagine what it's like up more north..... 

So we had our lesson with M on Monday with a couple in our ward. We focused all on Prophets. Luckily, Muslims believe in Prophets after Jesus but they are just confused as to who it is. So we talked about Joseph Smith. Basically he took everything we said and agreed with it. Then he started explaining how a prophet needs to have evidence. BINGO. Good thing we have the Book of Mormon. So we testified that the Book of Mormon is evidence that there is a prophet today. He was pretty excited to get the Book of Mormon in Arabic so that was good. He is going to read it. Our member gave him a chapter to read. We couldn't meet with him again this week, but on Saturday we are and are going to focus on Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost and why they are necessary. It'll be a tough, heavy lesson for him, but with the Spirit and faith we can do it.  M is really great though. One of the most gracious people I have ever met. 

A is still incredible and doing great. On Tuesday we had this music night that some elders in the mission are doing for all the stakes and some wards. She came to that and really loved it. She loved "Savior Redeemer of My Soul". Everyone loves that song. But it was a great night. A young adult came up and talked to her and just testified. He's great and she loved it. Then we had a lesson with her on Friday before the YA activity with Ar the same YA. We talked about the plan of Salvation. The first part of it. She really liked what we said about Adam and how we are here THANKS to him. She said it makes sense that yes we have suffering because of the fall, but we also have happiness. Loved the idea of opposition in all things. We talked then about why we are here on earth and the Atonement. She expressed how she feels like God must be so "done" with her after always making mistakes. Remember when Elder Holland said that God has been working with imperfect people since forever? I told her that. She loved that. We testified that the atonement is here for us because we are imperfect, God knows that and He knew we were going to make a million mistakes. We needed someone to save us from our sins. And someone to understand our struggles. She had never known that the Atonement was for our pains and afflictions too and so that really touched her. She asked what would happen without the Atonement, to which I shared Alma 34. Perfect. Anyway, Ar was such a great addition to our testimonies and the spirit was so strong. She said that when she know it's true she will get baptized. OH! She told us about her fear to really make the first step, to have that faith because she is so afraid of "what if." Anyway. It was incredible. After she told us how this week she had been feeling bad and had been thinking a lot of the things we talked about and was just so grateful and we helped her so much and answered so many questions. I LOVE A. She leaves for Paris for the rest of her studies here in France on the 21 December. I'm so sad. She came to church too and liked that a lot. She is so great. 

Remember S? He is progressing too! Doing so good. His friend got baptized a few weeks ago and he has been really moving forward. He lives like one hour away, but he is always here on the weekends and that is why we teach him every Sunday. But I wish we could teach him more often! We had a lesson after church on the Doctrine of Christ, He read 2 Nephi 31 and really liked it, he understood it well and even read the gospel principles book to help him understand better. Soeur M was able to testify too. She is doing so good! French is hard for her but I am so proud of her. It was a good lesson. Anyway, we'll keep teaching him once a week until his baptism, I just wish we could do it quicker. WE NEED SALVATION NOW! But he's doing so good.

At church yesterday in Relief Society I was sitting by a sister and she was trying to open this medicine bottle and then finally got it open and then dabbed it on her hands and then rubbed her hands together and then took like a 10 second sniff of her hands and then shoved her hands into my face and said it is good for colds. I was so funny I wanted to burst out laughing right there. This member is so funny! She makes me laugh. Then when we were contacting this guy came up to us and said he was Muslim, offered us free cigarettes and alcohol, and while that was happening this other guy came up to us to ask for money, said he was Jewish, then said "mosque, synagogue, church. Ciao!" and then left. It was bizarre but funny! I love France and the people here.  Also I’m doing a lot better with reading maps :) We ate at this members home and it was such a great time! they are a wonderful couple and said they were so happy to have sister missionaries over :) Yay for us! Anyway, it was a great week. This next week will be even better. 

I love you all. The church is true and I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World. God loves us. Remember to be grateful for everything you have.

Love, Soeur Roberts

Cooking onions hence the glasses. I love seeing her living conditions!
Jiffy PB on the shelf I sent her in the background!

Bordeaux Week #8

Dear Family, 

Hello. This week was great. We did this M-Week thing so each day we had things to study and challenges to do. It was fun :) 

I'll start with Tuesday. We had a challenge to give out 5 Books of Mormon, and Soeur M and I were so ready! So we went out on the bridge to contact for as long as we could to give out Books of Mormon. It was the most faith led, prayer filled contacting experience I have ever had! So we were walking and Bordeaux is super rainy and gloomy lately, but I had my hood on and scarf and it was great! We prayed. No one coming towards us. Prayed again. First guy Muslim, super excited about something, but kept walking. Finally we met B. A Muslim who said he wishes we had more modern day things to help us. Well lucky for him we have modern day prophets and a Book of Mormon that totally applies to our day. Bingo. He accepted and set up a lesson. About twenty minutes pass and no one. We say another prayer, this time in Finnish :) still no one. We turn around. Pray again. Meet L! He was so nice, so genuine. Was a little rushed, but was super excited about the Book of Mormon and gave us his number :) of course we prayed again to say thank you! Then right after we met J, who told us he was Christian and I just about exploded because I was like Oh my goodness then you're going to love this book because it's another Testament of Jesus Christ!  I gave him the book and he was so happy. He was like can we meet again?? Yeah duh. Another prayer. Then we had to go home, one because Soeur M's scarf was shedding and getting into her eyes because of all the rain and it looked like she had a black fuzz beard, but we also had to meet the senior couple. Let me tell you. Prayer works. Faith works. Because the Lord works through those that demonstrate faith. Even though we didn't give out 5 Books of Mormon, we were able to meet more of God's children who may be prepared to accept the fullness of His Gospel. Then we contacted a referral with the senior couple who lived like an hour away and wasn't super ready to accept so that was a bummer but I don't care because it was a splendid day!

Wednesday was exchanges! I was with Soeur M and we had a great day. We actually weren't able to teach any lessons because they all fell through, but it was still good. We met this cool atheist, used to be Muslim who had questions that we of course had answers to, so we set up that for next week :) 

Thursday was the best day ever! We had zone training, which was just about serving members and having members serve you. It was good, but the really good part was our lesson with A! Did I talk about her last week? We met her our first night back in Bordeaux and she said meeting us was divine intervention because she was looking for a church. So we were able to have a lesson with her and it was the best first lesson i have ever had. She is Kenyan, Muslim dad, christian mom, said she always wished she had grown up with a faith, but realized that everyone kinda needs to have their own spiritual journey/finding anyway. She talked about how she wishes she had more faith, but she was always drawn to the Bible. We started with Ephesians 4:5. She totally got that there is only one true church. Then we went down to vs 11-14 which talks about prophets and apostles and she just soaked that right up. She totally understood and it totally made sense for her. We need prophets today. Then we went into the apostasy, Joseph Smith and Soeur M asked her what she would ask God if He appeared to Her she said she'd ask why she is here? What is the point to life? Great discussion. We were able to testify of the Savior and His atonement and gave her a Book of Mormon and she loved it. She said it was so beautiful. She loved how we do believe in miracles still, and that God still talks to His children and we do receive revelation. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. She really wants to come to church but she'll be in London this week. Anyway, she is a miracle and we love her so much. 

Friday was our monster, work all day skip meals day! We had two lessons with potential amis, and searched for old amis and we were so tired. It was fantastic. We actually weren't able to find anyone at home, which was a bummer. We felt a little unsuccessful that day, and like we didn't work hard because we didn't see success, but it was still  good.

Saturday we had another lesson with M. It was mostly him asking about our lifestyle, but at the end we asked him why he was meeting with us, because he is pretty Muslim and we don't want to be wasting our time, even though he is one of the nicest, most gracious people I've met. But he said he is trying to find truth with what we are saying and what he knows. He said he wants to know truth and essentially he said if he starts to have the same beliefs as us, that wouldn't be bad. It's interesting because there are so many connections with what we believe and what they believe, except for their Prophet Mohammad and Jesus Christ. It is very interesting. So we decided to not drop him, as long as he keeps commitments and he asked to see us again Monday, which is today, but I'll tell you about our lesson today next week! Saturday night we had a ward Tahitian party and it was a blast! :) 

Sunday we were able to set up some great dinner appointments with families with less active kids and they were so excited to have the sisters over! so we are excited :) and sacrament meeting was all about the law of chastity and same gender attraction. awkward. 

Great week. We are doing so good and finding such great people. I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week and don't forget to smile! 

Love, Soeur Roberts

Week 7-Bordeaux

Hellooo!!

This past week was wonderful! I was in Lyon and Toulouse for the first half, and then back to good ol' Bordeaux :) I dropped Soeur G off, chilled on P-Day with Soaur P, who is awesome, and then Tuesday I got on a train to Lyon. That night all the trainers ate at McDonald's and we stayed in a hotel. The next morning we did a training which was very helpful! Then we went to a chapel and we met our new missionaries! Sister M is my blue and she is from Finland! She is so fun and so willing to put forth effort. We went contacting for a bit and said "Bonsoir" to almost every person we passed, even though she can't speak very well. I already love her so much :) 

Thursday we got on a train back to Bordeaux and that night got straight to work! One thing that really helped me as a new missionary was contacting, and so we went on the lovely bridge and contacted for a bit. We met a few really great people! One in particular is A from Kenya. She is here to learn French and all we had said was that we were missionaries. She said she had been looking for a church to go to and so bumping into us was divine intervention! Soeur M was so excited. She couldn't come to church on Sunday because she had plans already, but she wants to come to institute classes. She is so nice and we are really hoping things go far with her. Far as in she is going to be baptized :) Friday we were getting off one of the trams and this guy says Hello! And starts talking to us. He asked us if we could meet so that he could learn more about our beliefs. His name is Mohammad. Yes, he is Muslim. But we set up a lesson on Sunday, so that was exciting!!!!!!!!!! 

Saturday was a super busy, super full day of kinda a lot of disappointments. But never fear because it was worth it anyway :) We contacted this guy who was Muslim and he talked a lot about how he felt sorry for us and that we were blind and one day when we are older we'll know the truth and we are so young, etc. I must say I felt bad for about half a second, then I didn't. In fact, that experience strengthened my testimony even more of the Savior, of Prophets, and of the very real ability we have to pray and receive answers to prayers. So thank you Muslim man. After we went to the Baptism of arc, the zone leader ami and S came! :) N was out of town, and we found out that he is planning on moving very soon to morocco so that was really sad. He is so ready, so I know that he'll find the gospel again if he doesn't stay here. S seemed to really enjoy the baptism. Our only concern with him is that he will get baptized to please the other people around him. He has to know for himself! The rest of the day was raining, which I like rain so it was totes fine, but everyone we tried to visit either lived at an abandoned house, or weren't there. But we tracted and did other productive things. Soeur M was very positive so I was grateful for her willingness to try other things.

Sunday S came to church, but we couldn't teach him because he had to go fast. He sits with M and a family and one of the daughters always sits by him and totally distracts him during sacrament and he's like 22 and she is like 15 so I'm like what the heck? Let him feel the spirit please. We'll get it. After church we had our lesson with M. He asked some super deep questions. Luckily Brother and Sister T were there from Utah and they helped loads! He asked why wasn't Christ the first person on the earth if he is so important and is He like us or like God? Who are we like, why do we need a Christ if we can just pray to God? So I studied this morning....

.... I studied the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which I will tell you right now the incredible light that I received. I'm sure you all know this, but Christ is THE ONLY PERSON that could atone for us. Mosiah 3:17 Why? Because He is perfect and you have to be perfect to take on the imperfections of every other human in the world. We are imperfect and in order to live with God again, we need to have someone pay the price, someone perfect because no unclean thing can dwell with God. That's why we need Jesus Christ. We need a savior because there is no way possible that we can save ourselves. I love how in Luke it talks about how an Angel came to strengthen Jesus in the garden during His suffering. Jesus Christ is more than that to us. He strengthens us everyday if we let Him. He inherited the ability to die through His mortal mother and the Godly qualities from God. He overcame spiritual death in the Garden and physical death on the cross. He died so that we could live. It is such a beautiful, incredible blessing that we have. Words will never be able to describe the feelings I have of the Atonement, and of my Savior. Through Him all things are possible, through Him we can know the way to true, eternal, everlasting happiness. Happy forever. We can make little sacrifices in this life to have ETERNAL happiness. That is what I want. Anyway, He lives. Just like Joseph Smith testified. He lives and He stands on the right hand of God. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I love you too :) The Gospel is true.

Love, Soeur Roberts

Bordeaux Week #6

                                                                  "Eating my last Pastry!"

Hello! :)

First, great week. Second, I am staying in Bordeaux(duh) and I am receiving a new companion on Wednesday I believe :) I am pretty stoked. She is going to be wonderful, I just know it. And even if she isn't, she's still wonderful to Heavenly father, so she is to me! 

Anyway, I got to go on exchanges again with the sister training leaders, except this time with Soeur R! I swear, those sisters are miracle workers. Back up story: So Monday, Soeur R told me to try to set up as many lessons as I could because we were going to have a "monster day." What is that you ask? A day that is so full of productive activities that at the end you basically pass out! It was a great day. Anyway, so that night I call some people that we're teaching but none of them could meet with me. So I start to go to old numbers in the area book from like early 2012 and late 2011. No luck. I get to this name that said she was already an investigator. I think what if she is baptized and I just don't know it? I call her anyway, and she starts to go on and on about how happy she is that I called and sets up a lesson! I look to see if I can find her progress record and I turn right to it! She had a baptismal date at one point but lost contact with the sisters. This was like two years ago. Miracle? I think yes. Unfortunately, she worked longer than she expected so we had to reschedule. But still. It was a miracle I found her again! So monster day comes and we have a few lessons with members and we are running from place to place and we skipped lunch and it was probably my favorite day on the mission so far. We met incredible people! I got 6 numbers, set up a lesson and someone wants to come to church. Such a great day. Truly. That is what missionary work is about.

That leads me to N. I met him on the beautiful bridge of Bordeaux, born Muslim, then protestant, now agnostic, super cool, hipster, glasses and everything. Super super super nice too. He is like super interested to learn more. Sorry for saying super, super often. So Friday we have our lesson with a great member from Utah who served his mission here actually. Cool. So N loves it. He wanted to come to church. He understood so much, wants to read the Book of Mormon. I love this guy. So Saturday night, he asks if he can bring a friend to church. OF COURSE YES. So Sunday comes, our phone stops working we don't know where he is! ahh! But sacrament he walks in! yay!!!!! After he met all these members and loved church and is going to come to the baptism of the zone leaders this Saturday!! N is incredible. Truly a miracle. 

Saturday we had a lesson with O, finally. He was home my first day in Bordeaux. He is great and loved what we had to say and agreed with it all. Actually our member that came taught a lot of it. He was incredible. Best first lesson i have ever heard in my life. But O seems to be one that just loves to talk about God and Jesus Christ, which is wonderful, but he doesn't understand why our gospel is important, or different. We'll get him though. He will get it :) And then after church we met with S again and taught him the first lesson, which he remembered pretty well from when he was taught earlier this year. It went really well. Our members testified and I got this strong impression to invite him to baptism. He said yes. :) So if we continue to prepare him, I think he will get baptized. Good news: his friend M is actually the one getting baptized on Friday :) niiiice. 

Anyway, this end of the week was great! Oh District conference! All about health and safety. I guess there have been problems lately. Ironically we ate peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches as a district for lunch. That's not very healthy. but it was good :) 

Anyway, new transfer, new adventures, can't wait. This gospel is true everyone. So true and I love it so much. We are so blessed to have the fullness of the gospel in our lives. I love you all! :) 

Love, Soeur Roberts

 (ps O calls me Soeur Ribbits. I am not a frog but i think he does it on accident)

Bordeaux Week #5 Oct 21st!

Friday, we had a lesson with this sweet recent convert in the other ward. She's moving into our ward, so we get to help her and take her under our wing from now on :) 

Saturday was the day of huge change for me. We went to visit a less active from Bangladesh. She told us she didn't want to do the "Mormon thing" anymore, but that the Mormons are always continuing to get her. It was funny because the night before in planning we weren't going to visit her, but I felt like we should. I said we have to visit B! So we did. At the end of the lesson she came back and expressed how she knows she needs to go to church, she knows she needs to read the scriptures. She is so sweet and is just in a bad, sad situation. 

A couple weeks ago, on my exchange with the Sister training leaders, I contacted this guy on a tram, he was Muslim but very nice. I gave him our card and that was that. he called us a week later and wanted to have a lesson. We tried to set it up, but it didn't work out. Then on Wednesday, I decided to call him again. He answered and  said yes I am so sorry, can we meet on Saturday at this time, this place? Kinda cool. So we met him on Saturday. He had questions and they were really great questions. We talked about prophets and how God will continue to give us His words, because He works the same. He really liked that. We shared with him Moroni's promise and he really liked that too! He said that makes complete sense. Of course God will answer if you pray to Him. It started from the beginning as just a informational thing, to being a lesson where he asked if he could have a Book of Mormon in Arab, and wants to see us again this week. Super cool. The spirit was so strong. 

Then we went street boarding and I talked to this guy literally for 40 minutes. Nice guy, not really interested.

We had another lesson with a recent convert. It was good. On our way back we contacted across the bridge. It was a miracle bridge that night. The first person I contacted was a young man, not believing, but I asked him what the most important thing to him was and he said his family! I love that response. We testified of Eternal families and he wants to learn more. I truly felt led by the Spirit. Next person. Guy from Fresno, went to church with his LDS friends for three years before getting married. His wife is atheist and scared of religion. He described how that is how a lot of french people are. They are scared of religion because of all  the bad it has done to their country. He was so cool and just told us how he believes and he wants his daughters to believe but it is tough. Next guy I contacted looked like a hippie so naturally I wanted to contact him, right?? He was cool. Then I contacted a kid named after Micheal Jordan. Super cool. Said he believes, not practicing, also wants to learn about our message. And another kid also interested.

Sunday We had a lesson with this old investigator, S, from like April. He was great and basically set up our next rendezvous. Then we went contacting again and got another number from M who met with missionaries before! That night we had a lesson with a potential I contacted after general conference, wearing a star wars shirt. He was so sincere, expressed how right now his priority is soccer and if he gets into a religion he wants to be completely faithful. He said he will start reading the Book of Mormon though because he wants to learn more, and he totally connected with our member. It was a great day! 

I have learned that I can get things done.This is the Lord's work.  Anyway, this gospel is true. IT BLESSES YOU. I love it so much. My knowledge and understanding has expanded enormously. I love you so much. I don't know if I have time to write you this week. I'll try! I love you Mom; and Dad. I know this church is true. 

Love; Soeur Roberts

Bordeaux Week #4

Hellllooooo!!!

This week was great! Probably better than yours. Doesn't matter, can't compare.

We are starting to do this cool thing with members where we go to their house during the day when we want to get some contacting done. So we say hello! tell them about how we are going contacting in their neighborhood, ask them to pray with us before we go, pray for us during the contacting and then come back to share with them miracle contacts! So we did that on Monday. The members gave us chocolate caramel cake, which was a miracle in itself. However, we prayed, then went out! We didn't talk to a whole lot of people and one women told me she didn't want to live with her baby forever and another started running away from me, which of course I started to run with her and successfully gave her a pass along card. Besides that we met this lovely lady from Asia who had met with the missionaries like 10 years ago. She wouldn't give us her number, but she asked us if she could have a Book of Mormon because she loved the picture of Christ in the front of it. It was pretty cool :) Then we went back and shared our mini miracle with the members who gave us cake.

Tuesday was FIFA, aka Former investigators  Found again. I went through all the old investigators
papers and called for like an hour straight. People who had been to church at least once. I set up 2 lessons, and scheduled later times to set up rendezvous for next week. Sad, but I felt the most successful that day than I had my entire transfer here! It was great I was so happy. Kinda like in the Movie Annie when they sing who cares what you're wearing as long as you have clothes... you're never fully dressed without a smile! So i was fully dressed that day.

Wednesday was a bummer because I was on a train all day going to Pau and then back for exchanges. We didn't get home until 10:12! But then Thursday was wonderful. I was with Soeur D and she is great! Her first area was Bordeaux so she was excited to be back. We went to visit an inactive, who we decided needs the missionary lessons again because she has forgotten or didn't understand in the first place basic principles. Then we went to find another inactive who wasn't home but we left a nice note for them. And after we had a lesson with a YA who is a little over a year baptized. We helped him decide whether a mission is good or not. We also contacted great people on the tram and bus. I met this Portuguese kid who took a book of Mormon and was super excited. He doesn't have a phone so I couldn't get his number. BOO. But it was great. Literally we were going from place to place and our time was filled with productive things and I was so exhausted at the end and happy again.

Friday I was reunited with my companion and we had a lesson with M. She expressed her concern with the Book of Mormon being of the devil because it is not written like the Bible. I explained to her that it wasn't written by the same people in the Bible, so it was going to sound different. They are different people having different experiences. Then i shared Ezekiel 37:15-17. She doesn't know. She wants to read the Bible first, the only problem is, she isn't worried about finding an answer right now. Kinda eventually, which we tried to also urge her to read the Book of Mormon as soon as she can and pray because she can and will know sooner than she thinks. That was M.

Saturday we had a rendezvous with E, an old Ami. It was all over the place. First he told us how our church was no different than any other christian church. It took about 15 minutes for him to understand that no other church has the BOOK of Mormon and we have Prophets and Apostles. We then went into why we needed those things. I went over Eph 4:11-14 (thank you Calvin!) and he answered all the questions we had correctly to help him understand, but it was like he didn't want to understand, and then started throwing out why did he need to be rebaptized. Holy Moly. So we said look, we can explain that later. Finally we closed. Our member was great, but it was just with someone who refused to listen. Tough.

That night, X called to ask about church! So he came on Sunday. He was very well integrated into the ward, the members were great! He went to all three hours and after he said he liked it, but he definitely likes catholic mass better. He said the churches are more sacred. It is a very superficial thing that is keeping him now. So X is coming along, we'll see. He has little concerns that really don't matter. Still cool guy though :)

Anyway, this week was really good :) K who we taught on exchanges wants us to come teach his mom and family so we are going on Tuesday to do a family lesson, so I'll use your plan Calvin, thanks again! :) And O finally set up another lesson with us from like my first week! Anyway, I learned how hard work gets you happier. There is no way to be truly happy if you don't work hard on a mission, especially for the Lord. I do not want to sit back and think about people that aren't getting the Gospel because I am not doing enough. I love this Gospel and I know it is the only way to eternal happiness. I love my mission, i love the people of France even if sometimes they smell bad and have a hard time smiling. I love my Savior and my Father in Heaven. The gospel has been restored in it's fullness! I love you all!

Love, Soeur Roberts

Bordeaux, Eysines Week #3

Famille,

Wow. I cannot begin to express to you how much I enjoyed conference. If you didn't get enough member missionary work talks in the Saturday afternoon session, I don't know where else you would! Are you taking Elder Ballard's advice? Do it! :)

So on Monday we were able to meet with M. It was short and we ate lunch too. She asked us about the Word of Wisdom, specifically coffee and tea. She, like many people, struggled with completely giving coffee up. She admitted that she likes her coffee and understands that it can be addictive but she believes it should be okay every once and a while. We testified that you can't know or understand why we have these commandments unless you act and then pray about them. She said she would do that and  also read a couple pages in the Book of Mormon :) she has a lot of potential. M is so logical and willing, but we haven't been able to see her since then, which makes me worried. It is so easy to get lost after the first couple lessons. Satan works hard on the people like M. We'll see.

Tuesday we were able to teach an investigator from like 2 transfers ago, X. He is 37 years old and went into the film/comedy career path when he was in college. He expresses to us how he regrets that. He yearns for a family and for happiness. He has guilt that he want to be gone. he told us how he just wants peace in his life and happiness. Golden. We have all the answers. So we discussed a lot. We told him about the Atonement, and read in Alma 7 and 34. He asked why Christ had to suffer. He seems to understand a lot, but he also seems to lack the desire to really change. He is catholic, had is first communion, everything, but obviously he hasn't been satisfied with that. He wants to be happy, but I fear he doesn't have the motivation to make the necessary changes to get that complete happiness he so earnestly wants. I guess the first lessons he had before he was completely against baptism. Now he is slowly easing into it. He is a  very logical person. he is afraid of "feeling" the spirit because he said that is why he regrets so many of his choices. He is a complicated guy, very intelligent, we just need to help him undertsand  the need for a restoration, the need to be baptized into THIS church. He actually came to General Conference. He talked to us about Dallin H. Oaks talk and wants to rewatch President Monson's talk. X will get there. Slowly, maybe, but he will.

I met an old ami on Monday at English class named L that they dropped just a week before I got here. I asked her if we could see her Wednesday. We met with her on wednesday anyway and I shared with her a spiritual thought on 2 Nephi 25:26. She was touched. L knows the church is true, but she doesn't want to change. She feels comfortable staying catholic because it's like home for her. She is from el salvador so it's pretty foreign here. The catholic church reminds her of home.

We also were able to meet with a recent convert R and I, who are on the edge of  becoming less active. I want to continue working with them and hopefully teach their friends! who knows!

Zone conference was friday and was really great.President Roney talked about having conversations with people. He said just go and talk to them with the mind set that you just want to become their friend, then bring in the gospel. Be personable and loving. The Paris mission tripled their baptisms this past transfer. Why? Are they better than us? No. But they don't let stereotypes of a tough European mission get them down. I feel like that is a big reason why European missions don't baptize as much. Because we assume we won't be able to as much anyway. Open your mouth and have faith. It's like what Elder Dyches said in conference. Faith precedes the miracles. Faith is absolutely neccessary. It was a great conference.

Speaking of conference, general conference was incredible. I had never been so excited for something in my life. To hear the words of a living Prophet. I loved what President Monson said. I loved all the talks. We are so so blessed to have this wonderful opportunity.

I also finished the Book of Mormon like I had wanted. When i read the last words of Moroni and closed the book, i was overwhelmed with the assurance that that book is true; it is the most true book in all the world. I know it is true. Read it. Treasure its words. It is an incredible blessing to have it.

I want you all to know that I know Thomas S. Monson is a prophet. I know that this church is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. It is His church and we teach His principles and doctrines. I love my Savior. Like President Monson said, He is there when we are happy and sad. He is there always, wanting to help us. He loves us. We are so important to him. "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your fears." I love you all so much. the Gospel is true.

Love Soeur Roberts

Bordeaux Week #2

Helllooo!

This week went good :) We actually spent half of it in Grenoble because Sister G needed to do her legality there, so we were out of our sector for three days, which was kinda a big bummer. But I ate a stuffed waffle and a bagel sandwich which was really yummy :) But we had quite a few member moments which was great!

Wednesday night we went to our WML's house. Him and his wife are from Idaho and super nice. It's odd to have a dinner appointment in all English! haha But they are both awesome. Brother T is a little awkward so he makes me laugh... :)

Then Thursday we were able to get back to work! We had zone training and we discussed a lot about goal making and accountability.  We have the youngest missoinary in our district. He turned 18 in June and got his mission call before he graduated! Crazy! He's a nice elder though. So we made goals as a zone. We focused on how many baptisms we want and a lot on getting members involved in our work.

Friday was great because we had exchanges and I love exchanges. I went with Soeur M from Nevada. We worked worked worked which always makes days better, like 100% better. We had a lesson with one of her investigators who wants to get baptized sooo bad. She said I don't want to wait I need salvation now! So cool. She is a very sweet woman but she kinda has some mental disabilities so they have to be careful and make sure she is ready. After that we went and visited a less active. She is very old, like 70's but she literally dresses and wears make up like she is 17 years old. It kinda scared me when I first saw her, but  i love her. She is lonely she said and I guess has had some problems in her life. She loves to sing hymns and so we sang Be Still My Soul with her and then we gave her a lesson on her divine potential and how she is not alone. It really touched her.

On Saturday me and Souer M were on our way to visit another less active in my ward and we were contacting on the way and we had a miracle! We contacted M. A student here in Bordeaux. She is Christian, french canadian and super nice. We asked her what brings her happiness and she said the Sun! And then we got to talking. She told us how she is Christian and we talked about the restored Gospel. She asked about prophets and she said I think it isn't neccessary to have a prophet because we can go directly to God for questions. She asked me how I know, how I came to find out. I told her how I prayed. I told her I read a scripture in 2 Nephi 29:9. God is the same Yesterday today and forever. Just because we have one word doesn't mean we can't have more. Then we gave her the first lesson on a bench, I gave her a Book of Mormon that she promised she would read, and we exchanged numbers. And I called her last night and we are meeting her today for lunch! I am so excited. I hope she is prepared to accept this gospel.

Sunday was good. I am getting more into the ward. I love them. We got to teach YW's. There were only four girls, but it was a great lesson. One girl who is a little on the edge really opened up. It's hard for the kids here. They are surrounded, literally surrounded by atheists, smoking, drinking, immorality. It's tough to be LDS in high school here in France. They are often the only one. So the girls really talked about those struggles and we testified to them that they are never alone, even when they are. It was great.

We also had another young american couple move in. They are on internship here. The wife is terrified but so sweet. She can't speak french but the husband served his mission here so it's good :) Anyway I love Bordeaux so much.

Also I am almost done with the Book of Mormon. I am going to finish by conference and also I CAN'T WAIT FOR CONFERENCE. I cannot wait. I know that we have a living prophet today and that he leads and directs Christ's only true church. I know this gospel is true. I love you all so much :)

Love, Soeur Roberts

Bordeaux Week #1

Hello from Bordeaux!

Bordeaux is beautiful and great! I love it here already. Paris was actually modeled after the city lay out so Bordeaux is called "Little Paris" :) Anyway, the week was good.

We had two lessons and quite a few less active member visits which was nice because I really want to get to know the ward. On Tuesday we had a lesson with a man named O. I guess the sisters before had contacted him last transfer but he was super busy so we finally were able to get to teach him an intro lesson! It went well. He is evangelist and had a lot of questions, and they were good questions. Like about prophets and the Book of Mormon. He told us he would pray and read the Book of Mormon to know it is true so we are excited to see where things go with him :) He was really great. 

The ward is great! It is quite a bit different than Gex just because there are a lot less people, but the Eysines ward is very wonderful.  The bishop is gone a lot with work I guess but the other counselors are great. There aren't very many youth either. About two active Young Woman and four Young men. About 80 people come every Sunday out of 300 or so members. So a lot of work to do with the less actives. Anyway, I'm really excited to get to know them and work with the ward! 

In Gex we had a car so it is different here being all on public transportation. It is scary because I need to remember all the bus/tram lines now! It is okay though :) Anyway, I love you all. I was reading 3 Nephi chapter one and the last verse talks about how the people were losing faith because of the wickedness of the rising generation. Don't get discouraged or lose faith because of the bad things happening around us. I love you all so much! I know this Gospel is true. 

Love, Sister Roberts

New Area! Bordeaux

Okay First, New address:

Les Missionnaires

Soeur Roberts

47 Rue de la Bénauge

33100 Bordeaux

FRANCE

Yes I changed villes! All four sisters in Gex are now replaced by four elders. I am now in the Eysines ward in Bordeaux. It is Beautiful. Probably the most beautiful city I have ever seen! It is big and so pretty! But yeah. My new companion is Soeur G from Texas. This is her last transfer so that's kinda sad, but it'll still be a great transfer! :)

My last week in Gex was great! I had an exchange in Geneva with the English Companionship, Soeur E from Germany. She is soooo sweet. We didn't do a whole bunch but we had a couple lessons in English which was so strange for me! haha but it was fun. Geneva is really a nice city.

We have English class every Wednesday and M comes to that. We were able to talk to her after and she asked me if I was leaving and I told her I didn't know yet. She said Please don't leave! I love you and you're so nice! So at least she thinks I'm nice :) Then she invited us over for dinner on Saturday for an African meal! It was delicious. It was like chicken and sauce with tomatoes and shrimp and onions and curry powder. It was great. We talked about the priesthood and our member explained it very well. She asked about the role of men and women in our church and she really seemed to understand how we are equal, but we have different roles in the church. We were able to share a short message too about enduring to the end which I hope she does! She was quite sad to hear that we were ALL leaving. And she didn't seem too excited about Elders, so I hope she hangs on. I love her and I am going to miss her so much.

Thursday we had a "finding day." We prayed every half hour and contacted! First we actually went to a members house to help her with cleaning her house and then we contacted. The other sisters had the car though so we walked to the nearest bus stop to go to a town where people actually exist. Unfortunately the bus went all the way through Geneva! Which we didn't know until after the fact we had crossed the border. Oops haha but it was okay because T came on to the bus! We hadn't been able to contact him for like a few weeks. I guess he has been working a lot lately. But he is still reading so it was a miracle to run into him. Also, We met a really cool guy T who took a book of Mormon and wants to learn more. And every other person we met was just sooooo nice. It was great. We were able to really contact successfully. Even though it was pouring rain. Contacting in the rain is fun :)

Transfers calls were crazy. We couldn't believe all of us were leaving. And I got sent to the other side of the country! I'm sooooo excited to be here. It was definitely very hard to say goodbye to members though. The Ps who live just above us invited us over for her homemade italian pizza which was heavenly. They're Italian... And then the C's had us over for one last dinner. I was so sad to say goodbye to the P daughters and the C daughters. When we left the C's, i gave their mom a hug who is less active and doesn't speak french. But she started to cry. It was so touching. I know that having the missionaries in their lives was really a blessing. I will miss them, but I left my mark. Now I'm off to a new adventure in Bordeaux!

I love you all. The church is true no matter where you are in the world. No matter what anyone says. I want you all to know that I know the Gospel is true. I love you again!

Love, Soeur Roberts

Gex, Week 11

Family, 

This week was in fact a wonderful week! Tuesday I got to go on another exchange, but with Sister R! Who is in the other companionship in Gex with me. The two senior companions went to Lyon and so we got to go around by ourselves for a day and a half, and boy did I LOVE IT! ha-ha but really. Sister R is just wonderful. So I'll tell you a few cool things that happened, aka miracles. First I had to drive stick shift to Geneva so the other girls could get their train and I was scared. I just learned barely! I was mostly scared because on the way home from Geneva there are a lot of steep hills and I was scared of rolling back and hitting someone or stalling the car. So they get out of the car, we plug in the address to the GPS and off we go. But you know what? The GPS took us a way that was mostly downhill! You can say what you want, but I felt pretty protected and blessed by the Lord. It was small but it was a miracle. Also that night, we realized the sisters left us with no gas! and you have to have a special card to buy gas and they don't have cash like the US. So yikes. We were luckily meeting up with a member that night so we pulled some cash out to give to him so he could use his card, but unfortunately he left it in his other car. Yes. I was like cool. We're dead! But Sister R and I decided to say a prayer. We just barely had enough gas to get to a gas station where there was a car. I got out and asked him if we gave him the right amount, would he let us use his car and he said yes! That was another miracle. The Lord protects His missionaries. So we were safe and sound and all was well. But our exchange went really well.

I was also able to set up a FHE with a family in our ward with M. I found out that Sister A also smoked before her baptism, was divorced, and has a daughter from her first marriage... all like M. She is from Ireland and super cool. M loved her. Absolutely loved her. And She is now coming to church because of Sister A next week. We hadn't been able to get her to come this entire time! She talked to M about her conversion story and how she knew and how she finally quit smoking and talked about getting a priesthood blessing. We are trying to really get M to know the members in our ward because she only knows JC and... yeah. Nuff said. So it was really wonderful. M is still really struggling with smoking, and it may take a while before she is able to really quit but I know that if we just love and encouraging her, she will get there. Maybe not while I'm here, but someday. I know it. 

The Open Doors thing went well! Yes I saw Jackson (see her picture on my Facebook, Friend of Calvin's who just happened to be in France!) there who actually was the nurse at the hospital when I got my stitches in my lip. It was soooo fun to see a familiar face and to see someone from BYU. But anyway, at the beginning not many people came. So we decided to take flyers and invite people on the streets. It was fun, but no one really came. But one guy I was like "Hey we're having a BBQ and you can come! It'll be so fun!" I didn't think anything of it, but he came! I was like, "Hey, you came!" And so we gave him a tour and he really liked it. I know where he lives now so I want to go visit him :) It was so cool. Another woman came too, named M and she said she is catholic but ready to change. WOW. I showed her around too and she really liked it. She said she wanted to come to church too the next day and guess what? She did. She really liked it and asked to set up a lesson for Friday. I'm so happy. She was wonderful! We'll see where things go  :) Another girl came with a member and I was able to get her number too and she is coming next week to church. YES. So although there were about seven non members that came the whole day, I was able to have some pretty great experiences. 

We had district meeting too which was good. And we got to teach the lesson in Relief Society on Missionary Work. It was good and the women participated quite a bit. I was nervous because I don't speak French super good. But it went great! :) We have a great missionary game for the ward coming up soon so we are trying to really get the members excited. Really, Members are so important to the work of salvation. You really are! Go to hasteningthework.lds.org and watch those videos. That is your challenge for the week. I'll follow up next Monday :) 

But good week. We met this cool old lady contacting and walked her home. She wants us to come back too. Really the work in France is tough. And there is a lot of disappointment, but it goes. You can't give up or let all the bad things get you down because if you do, your entire mission will be unhappy. I love it here and I have so much I want to accomplish. "Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way." I love this work even through the countless trials. I love you all so much. Our Savior lives and He loves us. Have faith and carry on. Last week of the transfer! Going strong!

Love, Sister Roberts