Week 14 "EZE"

                   Eze is that tiny little lump of island smack in the middle with the Cathedral on top

Flouerent and Yves took us to the top of the hill where you can see all the Cote d'Azur and some of Italy!

This week we went to a beautiful ville, Eze. It is a Ville just
outside of Monaco and 15 minutes from Nice. My Uncle Dave's friends live there so we went to go visit them. They were seriously the nicest family I have ever met. They fed us quiche lorraine, lasagna with homemade bolonaise sauce, and a tarte de pomme. YUMMM. And there house is on top of a big hill that overlooks the sea.

Eze with dejeuner in their backyard overlooking the sea

Flouerent, Chantal, and Yves....making lunch for us! 

It was fun to hear them talk about how much they love Dave and Erin. And how when Dave came, he just ran to they top of every mountain. We'd drive past a Cathedral and they'd say.. David ran up to this! Or David lovessss France so much. Uncle Dave- we'll have to come back together sometime and visit them! I also gave them a Book of Mormon and we were able to teach them a little bit about it. They want to have us over again in a couple weeks soooo.... that is cool! I dont know if they are interested in learning more, but they were so nice and it was amazing
to share the message of the gospel with them!
 

 Eze

Monaco hats they let us use because it was so sunny..ha ha

Let's talk about how much I love Soeur Shimales. She is probably my favorite person I've met so far on the mission. She is from Ethiopia and was a less active for a long time. But now we are trying to help her get to the temple. Her testimony is FIRE. This week was her birthday. She invited us over for a birthday dinner she made (for her own birthday). She also invited two friends that are not members and a
couple other people in our ward. It was funny to look around and see the diversity of people gathered around the living room with me.

Sour Shimales. She opened her door wearing full on snow gear...in her house cause she was cold. LOL

 There were 3 from the United States, 1 from Ethiopia, 1 from Senegal, 1 from France, 1 from China, 2 from New Caledonia. I thought, "Wow, how cool is this that I am sitting here having a Birthday party with one of my favorite people ever..  with all these different people from around the world... that I didn't even know 2 months ago... IN FRANCE!!"

Soer Shimales' birthday party.

Missions are the best!!! Sarah shared her testimony to her 2 friends and we talked about the Book of Mormon. I love the energy new converts bring! Sarah is too funny... she will call me "My petite American" or she'll say "Oh when you have a financée you can bring him back to my house and you can stay here!" She will sometimes get all dressed up at night
with her sparkley lip gloss and fashion top. I LOVE HER.

Soiree Familial (or Family Home Evening)

We had a ward talent show this week and that was a blast. Soeur Holmgren and I were going to do a cup song to "you are my sunshine" but I think they forgot about us and we never went. Oh well. Also President gave us permission to stay out later since the talent show STARTED at 8:00.... (welcome to France)... So that was so sneaky and not
usual. We stayed out to 11:30!!  That is not usual for a misisonary!

 I loved the dance that the Tahitians in our ward did. With the grass skirts and flower crowns and movin their hips around. We were really hoping some of our ami's would show up, but no one did. Oh well, such a fun night with SUCH
good food. The food that the members make is always tasty!

Tea at Soeur Barras' house. Teaa and crummpettss. Look at me! I am so proper!!

This week we taught a TON of lessons to new potential ami's. On Saturday, we taught 4 lessons to potential amis and amis. I was seriously so excited for Sunday because I was just so sure that we'd have at least 4 ami's show up at church. So we waited and waited and waited for our ami's to show up.... and not even ONE showed up. Sigh.
Life is SOOO full of change and disappointments. It is frustrating as a missionary. Because I know how much the gospel would help these people we teach. How much the Book of Mormon would bless their life if they read it sincerely. But in the end, it is not up to me to decide.
They have their agency just like I have mine.

The Da Silverta family from Peru

We taught our ami "Q" again this week, but he never ended up coming to church. I think one thing I am really started to learn, is that a mission is real. Like one week an ami can be making such good progress, but the next week it feels like they aren't even interested any more. They forget to read, or pray. They sleep in and don't come to church. As much as you want a mission to be that picture perfect mission you imagine in your head, people are human.

Soeur Marot being our Mom and taking us to do groceries. She is literally the most selfless person I have ever met!

 We are teaching REAL people as missionaries. They aren't like some fake cartoon on a computer screen. And I guess I am learning how to be patient with people. That was something that was something that was so hard for me
before my mission. But sometimes as we teach ami's, it feels like I am watching a snail race. Me, being me, I just wanna be like... "WHOOO okay! You prayed, you feel something good when you read the scriptures, you know this message is good... let's get baptized!" But they are human. They make progress when they need to. And it is really
good for me to learn patience.

We hadn't heard from Madame Gazagne in so long so we went to go visit to see if she was home. When we went to her house, her son in law answered the door, and told us that Madame Gazagne passed away on October 20th. It was really sad news for me to hear because I love
her. She was my very first ami on my mission. But I know that she was ready to go to heaven. Because her body wasn't well enough to get baptized, but she was so ready. She wanted to so badly.

Making Tarte de Pomme at Soeur Ranuzi's house

Our ami "M" is reading the Book of Mormon still, but is not
progressing. It is kind of hard to explain. We aren't really sure if we should keep teaching her, or give her some space. Like I said, these people are human. I still see miracles, and there are a lot of amazing parts about a mission. But it is also so real and there are a lot of normal things about a mission.

One thing I would like to say... is how cool it is to watch people experience the spirit for the first time. I feel like a parent watching my child do things for the first time. For example, showing people the Book of Mormon for the very first time. Like how cool is that? I am just in France, and I meet random people on the streets, and give them the Book of Mormon. A book that is so important to me in my life. Wow. Honestly just sharing the gospel is an amazing thing.
And although it I may not seem like at first people care or are
affected by the light of Christ, I know they can feel something! And who cares if people stare at us weird on the bus because we have Jesus Christ written on our name tags, who cares if people say no when we tell them we have a message that we want to share with them, and who
cares if people think we are so strange!? Because I AM HAPPY. I am proud to wear Jesus Christ's name. I know what I have felt by living the gospel of Jesus Christ and I cannot deny it. I may be differentfrom the world, especially here in France, but I am happy.

Love, Soeur Jones


Pday

Baguettes on the beach