Mikayla on a Mission: May 2016

So this week in a nutshell -- we had district meeting, an exchange, zone pday, and it was French mothers day! Not in that order.... Haha sorry

So we started off this week with an exchange and I came to Bordeaux with Sister Wilsher from England and it was so fun:) We didn't have any rendezvous but we did contacting and talked with lots of people and ran into less actives and amis on the buses which was super cool:) One less active was from Tahiti and saw me on the bus and we started talking and she asked if I was from Tahiti, and said that she was a member but hadn't been to church since she got to France and we got her information and it was amazing!:) The exchange was so fun, and it's fun to switch things up:)

District meeting was Frida and that was amazing as always:) I love being with everyone else it's so amazing and fun! It's great because in Poitiers we are a little isolated which is good too, because sometimes it's fun just to get back to our own sector to work -- but not seeing everyone is a change from Écully but district meeting was great.

We talked about how to find people and working with members and less actives:)

Which brings me to my talk, which was French mothers day -- but my topic was on the missionary purpose but it's all good because I still got to talk about my momma -- since she's a convert and it involved a lot of missionary work, through members and missionaries and yeah:) It was great to be able to tie that in on mother's day;)

We got roses:) We also wrote cards for all the moms in the branch with quotes from Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk "A plea to my sisters" and they all loved it:)

Also this week we got dropped by our progressing investigator which really sucked but hopefully we will be able to help her still and find some new amis:)

Today was zone Pday in Bordeaux and we did a photo scavenger Hunt and came in third -- which is not too shabby haha we only had an hour and half and it was lots of running and walking but so fun and saw all of
Bordeaux in like that one hour xD I love our zone:)

I love you all I hope you all are having a fabulous memorial day!

Love, sister Beatty:)

Packing for Exchanges.

Soeur Beatty and Soeur Wilsher in Bordeaux

Train Ride

At the hospital in Bordeaux

Canele - a specialty dessert in Bordeaux

District Meeting

They came in 3rd.

French Mother's Day.

Well this week flew by but it was a lot of sitting, on my part. I rolled my ankle for a third time on Thursday and couldn't walk that day -- so I just sat and rested and prayed it would stop hurting so we could get back to work.

Then the next we had an amazing zone training but that took all day, and then Saturday we had a very
big miscommunication and got stuck at our apartment almost all afternoon.

So this week went like normal up until I fell. We started a piano class for some members, recent convert,
and amis, and it was so fun! Its fun to get so many people involved who want to learn and get people into the church and share a message with them at the end! It's funny -- but everyone here wants to learn the
piano. It is great -- but the sole catch is its in French.

So, being who I am and thinking about music, I thought it was the same everywhere because in English we use Italian words so it should be the same for French, right? No. That's a big no. They don't use the alphabet, they
use do-re-mi, but even then it's not our do-re-mi, it's the French do-re-mi which just has to be different.

And all the names for everything is different, because the French created their own music words. But then randomly some words are the same like clef. (But that's the only word that I have found that is still the same!) Luckily it's not too hard to remember, but to be able to just point at a key on the piano and call it re or sol (because they add an L in french) or something like that, I just can't do, but they are all understanding haha:)

We also started an English class and had a whole family of less actives come which was amazing! They have seven kids and love the church and slowly on their way to being reactivated!;) They are really only inactive because for a long time there parents both worked on Sundays because they had too, now they don't but they fell out of the
habit of coming but the children want to so its only a matter of time:) It is great!

I also made cookies because you can't have an English class without a dessert;) It is a great incentive! And this
week we should have even more people coming! :) Another ami and a few more members! I'm excited:)

Thursday just sucked, so I don't need to really talk about that....I am going to a doctor tomorrow to check out my ankle and foot and see if there's anything that I can do to make it better because I know it's just getting worse and worse with each time I have fallen.... But it'll all be okay:)

I just hope I don't keep this rate up or by the end of my mission I will have fallen like 9 more times because I have
fallen once every transfer so far and rolled my ankle :( And these last two times, both times, people came running and gotten out of there cars to see if I am okay (I just fall so "graciously" it lets them know how much help I need...) and it's really sweet -- but in the moment I lose all French and can't talk to them and tell them what it is and that I'm okay but yeah... Ahaha....

This time too with my French companion I just couldn't communicate. It was not good, but eventually the French came back enough. It's funny because some people will say the French don't care but moments like that really show how much they worry about others and are willing to help:)

Zone training was wonderful. We went to Bordeaux for the day and played games and shared the reasons we came on missions, and why we stayed and just got to hear each other bear testimony and it was absolutely wonderful! The spirit was so strong and there were lots of tears, not just among us four sisters either. It was an amazing moment where as a zone we got to come together and be unified.

The focus this transfer is on getting better together, individually. And so we are all going to get a little better and if we each get a little better than as a whole we are going to be way better:) It was great because they didn't make any big goals for us, and they didn't want to, but they wanted us all to fast and figure out what we need to do to
improve individually and focus on that. We will be accountable for what we say we are going to improve and its great:) I love this zone so much, everyone in it is so great:) And we seriously have some of the best in the mission here! Totally biased but I cant help it;p

Saturday we called a member in our ward who was a plumber and asked if he could help us with some issues our apartment has been having. He came right over and went right to work trying to fix this old washing machine in our apartment and was here for forever. It was crazy and we just were all over the place with miscommunication. We just wondered if he could use the old machine for parts but he tried to fix it, which was very kind but yeah it was a little crazy, luckily we didn't have any appointments.

Church was so fun. We had a British family move into the area for the next few months, so we now get to start a French class up! And that is super exciting:) And we also had almost double the amount of people at church, even with the gross rainy weather! Normally when it rains because so many members walk or take buses, church is empty but not here, it was wonderful! We had over 40 members there and it was so fun:) I also translated for the first time which was really weird -- but I have to, I am one of the very very few who know English and French
here.

My French is coming along, and only speaking French with my companion is helping a lot but it is hard and language barriers are so frustrating because you know what you want to say but not how to say
it and then its all like ahhhhhh brain. Work. But its getting easier each day:)

Love and miss you all, have a great week!
Sister Beatty