Blog

Yeah, I'm not being very clever this week with blog titles.

Update on life: Getting out of a "bleh" phase after five investigators dropping us and finding out that our beloved Sri Lankans have no idea what we're saying (we have to draw and use the scriptures in their language a lot). BUT...thanks to the survey that we received a couple weeks ago, we've been doing some good finding. A couple of creepers came into the picture, but that's why we have modern technology and the ability to block numbers. We have this really awesome ami from the congo who LOVES coming to church and bringing all his friends because we "aren't racist and don't force people to dress in a suit." Whatever works for him, I guess. My French has been pretty terrible lately because we don't teach many native French people and my companion is anti-speak-french-in-the-apartment still. I feel like things are going to start looking up this week. We're crossing our fingers and hoping to baptize.

Facts I Learned: 

• A general authority is coming to our zone conference in Geneva this week. Hollaaa.

• Tahiti is my future home...I don't care if I have to wait until retirement...

• Half our ward here speaks English. When our Sri Lankans walked into church, EVERYBODY was coming up to say, "Allo, velcome to ohua chuch."

Life gets ridiculously hard. That's all I'm going to say. But you know what? It get's easy after you finally realize what God's trying to teach you. Don't waste your time being sad. Love every second of every day that you live, because there isn't a reason to blame yourself or God or anyone for the hard times. IT's just life. We tend to think more emotionally when we get confronted by waves that are too big for us to swim over. Just stay calm and keep your head above the water and God will make sure you have enough air. If we drown, it's because we weren't looking for God's hand to take us up. 

Take care; You all are wonderful, talented, beautiful people. If all else fails, remember that much.

Sœur Green

Let Me Know if This Tickles Your Fancy

So, we had a zone training conference in Lyon this past week and we were given specific direction on how to contact people from now on. At first, to be honest, I kind of hated it. It seemed less efficient and more commercial. It took me several days to realize that it is one of the very few ways you can get an atheist to stop and talk to you instead of giving a variety of offensive gestures. It was written by our mission president and we were asked to use this in every contact that we have. It is a questionnaire that consists of four questions. We have like pocket sized sheets so we can mark down names and responses (and numbers if they are interested in learning more).

LE QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Do you believe there are serious problems in the world today?

2. Do you think that it would be nice to have the help of God today?

3. Do you think that it would be nice if God spoke to people on earth through a prophet today like he did in the times of the Bible? (examples: Moses, Noah, Abraham....)

4. IF GOD SPOKE TO US TODAY, would you like to know what He said?

That pretty much is our message, folks. We have the guidance of God today, because you want to know why? God still loves us. The people that existed during times of the Bible weren't his favorites. If God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, why would His church be different than what it was when Christ was on the earth? It's plain to me, but I do recognize there are many things that delve deeper into this subject. Honestly though, even if people end up rejecting this message entirely, think of how important it is to simply liiiiiisten to what it is. Just listen. The reason I'm sharing this questionnaire is because it actually makes people listen. It doesn't get us more numbers than we got before, but it speaks to people a little bit. The thing I like about it too is that you don't have to be religious or mormon to answer the questions. As missionaries, we hear people rattle off their opinions to us all day and that doesn't really get anyone anywhere. BUT MORE PEOPLE LISTEN NOW. Better understanding can be reached if there is listening going on on both sides. Food for thought when there's nothing on TV or at Redbox. Have a great week! 

Sœur Green

Intense UNO match with some of the Young Adults at FHE. Guess who won the first round...

This building reminds me of R2D2....amongst many other R2D2 buildings in Clermont-Ferrand

Zut, alors....

This week was pretty darn fantastic. We found a beautiful Sri Lankan family that just moved here from Greece who's super interested in learning more about Christ. We have another investigator who could be baptized this transfer and be an amazing member. What did I do to deserve this??

This weekend we had cultural night with the young adults :) Everyone presented a little something about their country or city if they were from France.  We learned about Peru, Albania, Finland, and two small towns in France that are so different from each other! And of course….Georgia was REPRESENTED. I just talked about baseball, Coca-Cola, and overweight people. That's what French people expect.

FACTS I LEARNED:

• Finnish fact: the music from the hymn 'Be Still My Soul' is originally Finnish. It is the tune of their national anthem. 

• Apparently Albania is the coolest country ever and I need to go there immediately after my mission.

• I've been making drastic grammatical errors in my contacting for the past eleven months. Yeah. Thanks Tahitian companion for never correcting that. OHANA MEANS FAMILY. What are we?!?!

Aside from my battle against perfectionism, I have been able to see a lot of change in this past week with how I handle criticism and being compared to Finnish people. Life has been a lot less stressful when I remember and focus on why I'm here. I wasn't called as a missionary to be complimented on looks or be talented at piano or perfect at French or the most confident person or anything other than who I am. It's actually a pretty profound experience stepping back and looking at what motivates a human being to do things. A lot of what we do in life most commonly comes from an extrinsic motivation, especially if you are required to give a weekly report on everything that you have been doing. I think the key to missionary work is to switch that over to intrinsic, especially when you have real investigators. I've been really trying to focus on making that switch. So much easier said. In the process of all this, I've felt very humbled in realizing how much I have to depend on God to help me with these changes. It's something that I want to do for myself, not just as a missionary, but as a person, as a future teacher, a future wife, a future mother, a future traveler. How much better would this world be if we focused on doing good simply for the love of doing good?

I love you. I pray for you. I thank God for you. Prenez soin de vous-meme.

Sœur Green

Culture night! I'm very proud of this photobomb.

Albanians and Peruvians. Welcome to France.

How I Learned to Love MORNINGS. *Queue Angel Voices*

How I Learned to Love MORNINGS. *Queue Angel Voices*

Sœur Hiltunen and I are staying for another six weeks in Clermont-Ferrand, this time ready to baptize. We've been able to get two less-active members out of their homes and to sacrament meeting on Sundays, so we know that God has been hiding a lot of miracles around here. 

I'm truly grateful to stay here another month and a half. There's so much to get done and we're glad to know that none of it will get neglected. This ward is incredible (although there are a couple members that make awkward comments about this one guy in the ward to me..."CAN'T YOU SEE THIS WOMAN IS A NUN?") 

FACTS I LEARNED:

• Maria is going strong and her family is a strong support for her. Thank you for your prayers.

• Finnish Fact: The Finnish language does not use prepositions. For example, my companion will be telling me a lovely story in English about this one time her friend was stressing out and she, "threw up to a bush." Even more common, we will be planning and she will give the great suggestion that we should, "do service to someone." The list goes on.

• I am really good at tripping over the tips of my shoes. God-given talent.

• Another talent I've acquired: saying the wrong things. All the time. Seriously, it's incredible.

Something weird that I've noticed about my daily routine is that I have to really control what I think in the morning. That determines how the entire day is going to go down. True story. I have been giving my brain too much room in the morning to fill itself with all the embarrassing moments, all the regrets, all the stupid things that I've done before and during my mission, all the rude things people have said, all the times I've been judged, compared, hurt, EVERYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY PREVENT ME FROM BEING AN EFFECTIVE, HAPPY MISSIONARY. It's always the morning too. Once I make through studies and lunch without any bad thoughts, I'm home free. Life is good. 

Think about how important it is to prepare yourself in the morning for everything you need to do and the way you need to do it. It's such a great feeling being able to wake up and think of what you get to accomplish. I have dreaded mornings, literally, my entire life. But think about all you can get done in the morning and how that changes the rest of your day. You get to decide how your are going to react to the world and what you get to do in the spectrum of your own power. Mornings really are a blessing. Never in my life did I think I would write that. 

Have a great week! Take care of yourselves.

Sœur Green

More countryside adventures

Frog Legs and Coke

This week was just sad. Sœur Hiltunen and I were afflicted with the common cold and therefore had difficulties contacting people without them knowing we were diseased. Fact about missionary work: If you can't find people to teach, you won't teach anybody. True story. We taught a cumulative of six lessons this week. Hahaha……………….yeah…………

On the bright side, we've seen some cool miracles among the less active members in the Clermont ward. We passed by a woman who hasn't been to church in a couple years and she invited us right in, sat us on her couch, gave us coke and chocolate, and told us her life story and how much she wants to come back to church. Yeah, don't know how I deserved that one.

FACTS I LEARNED:

-Finnish fact: Santa was born in Finland. 

-Frog legs…..taste like chicken. 

-Seriously, who thought to take a frog, cook it, and eat it? 

-Humans are capable of making strange discoveries.

Great scripture: Alma 37:44-46. 

44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land.

45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing? For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.

 46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

Can I just tell you how frustratingly easy it is to get lazy? Lazy in studies, lazy in concentrating on the people, lazy in prayer. I stumbled upon this scripture and immediately was drawn to the phrase, "do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way." 

The first implication to consider is how easy it is to listen to the words of Christ. The other is that is it also easy to fall away. Everything is so EASY, yet it takes initiative on your part to choose which direction you want to go. I have a testimony of both points made by this scripture. We all have a choice in who we are, what we think, what we feel, and what we do. It is an active and simple choice to listen to Christ, and, in the end, makes you happier. The gospel is so SIMPLE, folks. Don't you love that? Makes my job so much easier :) I hope that each of you see the blessings in your life and are happy. Take care this week.

Sœur Green

Adventures in Royat

How I Learned to Love Adaptation

Things are just dandy in the middle of France. Other than the fact that I have a faucet for a nose and a subwoofer for a brain, the work is going well. We ended up having three investigators at church, one being a preacher from a protestant church and two of them being his friends. ALL INTERESTED IN OUR MESSAGE. Strange, but I ain't complaining. Sœur Hiltunen and I are getting all our work organized finally and it seems like things are going a lot smoother. Lots of cool miracles are happening and in the queue as well. God is spoiling us.

FACTS I LEARNED:

• Washing your hands after riding the Lyon Metro is more than necessary. It's unwritten law.

• Clermont has the most amazing young adults. They're teaching me how to be cool. My future husband is totally going to be French. I know that you're just SO excited to hear that, Dad :) Too bad I'm not kidding...

• Finnish Fact: every child in Scandinavia has one of two sweaters when they are young: a strawberry one if you're a girl and a blueberry one if you're a boy. Photo Cred: four year-old Sœur Hiltunen

Clermont was really easy to adapt to. I don't know why, but I feel like I've been living here all my life. Maybe this is God's way of helping His missionaries get more work done. Not only do I feel like I've been living here forever, I feel like I've been a MISSIONARY forever. I feel like this is all I've ever done and will do. I know that, logically, that's not the case. But, something got switched on in my brain during this transfer. I just want to WORK. 

I just want to briefly bear my testimony of what millions of people all over the world, in many different countries, in many different languages, confess to be truth. I know that God exists. I know we are here for a reason. I know that Christ has given us the enabling power to mold ourselves into incredible beings because of his selfless acts he fulfilled on this earth. I know he will come again. I know that prayer is real. I know that God listens. I know that we can all have this same knowledge and capacity in this life. I love you and I pray for you. 

Sœur Green

Creepy statues riddle this city.

Down the street from us. As a film history fan I give this wall my stamp of approval.

Prison Break

Great miracles are happening here in Clermont. We've been having a lot of anti-miracles, but we all know that with anti-miracles comes a learning experience and then something so friggin awesome you can't even type it in words. We've got some new friends we're teaching and two of them are progressing like crazy. See below for details.

FACTS I LEARNED:

• I have lost the ability to type on an American keyboard. I'm typing this like a two year-old right now.

• Finnish Fact of the week: Angry Birds originates from Finland. You're welcome.

• Finnish word of the week: kiitos (kee-toos). Translation: thank you.

I am going to be sharing three stories this week because I can't choose just ONE.

1. We were passing by an older member of our ward here whose wife is in the hospital suffers from all kinds of problems. He's been really lonely, so we thought it'd make him feel better if we paid him a visit. We were simply standing in his doorway singing him hymns and talking about his life when this woman comes up behind us and says, "You don't have the right to be in this apartment building." ...to which we replied, "We're visiting a friend. He's a member of our church.'' ....to which she then contorted, ''Well, explain that to the police when they get here. I already called them five minutes ago." Okay. Since when was it illegal to make old lonely people happy?!?! With that, we left him with a prayer and then booked it the heck out of there.

2. We had just finished having a lesson in an apartment building (where it was legal to be there) and as we were going down the stairs, Sœur Hiltunen turns to me and says, "We have to go knock on the door across the way.'' So we did. And now we are teaching an awesome person.

3. The other day was ridiculous. All four of the lessons we had planned with people fell through within two hours through text messages. I woke up to a bunch of messages on our phone telling us they couldn't make it or weren't interested. So, plan b: walk in the rain and wind all day talking to people on the street who weren't interested either. Around five o'clock, I thought Sœur Hiltunen was going to murder me. We were so tired and had been rejected all day long. We hadn't eaten or sat down for hours. AND THEN WE MEET CHRISTINE. She is an older woman who lost her husband not too long ago and was on her way home with some groceries in her hands. We stopped her and asked her if we could help and then started talking for a long time about religion. She said she had no faith whatsoever (surprise) but that she's still searching. We told her, "Well lucky for you, that's why we're here." She opened right up to us and invited us over for dinner and hot chocolate.......um, WIN???? We sang her hymns until dinner was ready and at the end of the evening, she teared up and said, "thank you for bringing light into my home. I've been sad for years. Will you please come back?"

Church is true. That's all I can tell you after the experiences I had this week. I love you all. Thank you for being wonderful. A la prochaine!

Sœur Green

Family Home Evening at our favorite Tahitian family's place.
Reinacting the story of Daniel. Sœur H was Daniel and I was an evil prince.

And here was our little lion.

And our King Darius

Ua here vau ia oe

Sœur Hiltunen's mom sent us Valentine's gifts. Woot!