Week 76: Is my sector Geneva or Annecy....no wait Annemasse?

So for the fourth pday this transfer I am not in Annecy!! 

It's wonderfully....tiring to travel so much haha but today we got the permission to come up to Annemasse and spend the pday all together as a district which ended up with the elders going up hiking the mountain Saleve while we slowly caught up by going the quicker way...with the cable car:) It was wonderful haha and probably a lot less tiring;) we still did some hiking and me a blue Sister Wood went around the top a little bit and found what are probably some homeless peoples homes all made up fine and dandy with big branches and leaves and even some stone walls in some areas haha it was funny but we didn't stay for too long because there was too much to see and not enough time! It was beautiful though because basically you can see the entire Geneva city and if you know it well enough you can find the jet as well as the chapel because that's where we spend all of our time as missionaries;)

We went to Geneva twice this week, once for zone conference where I bore my departing testimony and according to Sister Brooksby it was good but I can't remember and can't believe it happened, it's too much like a dream to think I only have one more big email after this and then Soeur Beatty is no more...officially anyways but ahhhh anyhow we then went back again on Thursday for district meeting where we got put in charge of the game so we did a scavenger hunt and one of it was posing in some things we found around our house as you went searching
for new investigators and it was quite a blast:) and funny to see what some of the equipes did!

But yeah we also came to Annemasse last night for a tri-ward fireside about missionary work where right at the end the missionary leader who was involved asked me to bear my testimony since I was leaving and then answer one "really hard" question that a returned missionary could think of (he asked me to explain to a child who is God) who then funny story later came up to me and said his first question that he wanted to ask me was " so you go home in two weeks....single?" I almost fell out of my chair. I didn't know what to do..... we told some of our members after words and they flipped it was funny and awkward and I'm glad I don't live heree.... :)

We also really only had two days of work in our sector because of everything that was going on and all things considered it was not too shabby, we haven't been able to get hold of our referral yet but we are hoping and trying!:)

This week is also a national holiday to celebrate music so the ward had a party where amis came which was so cool and they did karaoke and asked to perform a musical thing the night before...at like nine o'clock so we did the best we can and it wasn't too shabby, sister Brooksby lip synced to In summer while I was flying props above her
head and it went pretty well but the ward members then kept throwing us under the buses and anytime someone picked a song and didn't want to do it they had us do it haha but we bien jammed out to Let it go and got a fun standing ovation xD it was great and we had lots of fun with the young women :) It was also funny because one member took it upon himself to be the censor for the evening and that was great so we didn't have any awkward moments haha but it was so fun and reminded everyone that yes we are still just 20 :)

I think that's it for this crazy week and pas mal and much better than I have done my whole mission so if you don't read it all I understand haha love you all have a great day and here are some photos I know everyone looks at!:)))

Soeur Beatty

Week 75: Every week is different that's for sure

So this week another theme was traveling, we had an exchange in Lyon and then are currently sitting in the Geneva chapel waiting for interviews with our President and trying to concentrate long enough to finish emails before our interview time and voila quoi going to try and type fast!

Today we came early to Geneva.....like nine hours early haha and spent pday going around seeing fun things and visiting the museums! It was really fun and members came and picked us up for lunch and ice cream then took us to CERN which is the Geneva center of the particle accelerator and was super cool and I didn't understand anything but that's okay it was fun:)))) We saw a Russian church as well as the jet and played the pianos by the lake because why not!

This week was fun, we saw quite a lot of members but are getting ready for the next two weeks because the goal is to see everyone before I leave and so excited!

One big miracle that happened an hour ago is we just got a referral from Chile who has already taken the discussions and accepted a baptism date but is moving here to Annecy so going to pray that she is
there when we pass to try and find her and super stoked!! :)

Other than that we did service at a members house and will probably go back again soon to help out, she had surgery on her hand and they were trying to clean her house to get ready for selling it so we went over to scrub everything she couldn't which was fun and we got macdo afterwards as a treat which was kind and it was fun and voila I think that's about it for this week, love you all!

Soeur Beatty

Week 74: sunny days mean sun glasses

This week I made a resolve to try and be better about how bad my emails have gotten so here is my attempt sorry;p

This week was all over the place, It started out in Lyon where we passed pday for our meeting on Tuesday where we had a surprise musical number, everyone who is going home in four weeks they asked to sing and so we did a beautiful arrangement of the EFY medley and that's fun because for these last few weeks we are now the Lords missionaries and we need to do all we can while we are here and voila quoi:)

We then had a wonderful meeting on finding people and helping them make and keep commitments and played a fun game like always thanks to our wonderful mission mom where we went swimming but not really haha we stood in little LITTLE baby swimming pools while did charades and had to be in the pools because why not its summer;) and that was fun and exciting because we won and then paid a little homage to RUDY who we had talked about earlier from Notre Dame football who did what no one thought he could and that was fun:)

Then after that we had to peace to go back to Geneva where I spent the night until my companion could pick me up Wednesday:) We then hit the ground running....so hard that I broke haha not really but I ended up getting sick from all the traveling and the temperature changes (sitting here in a sweater in the middle of June because its so cold!?) that I crashed right as we got back and fell asleep for six hours...it was crazy because I didn't have any problems sleeping that same night and I was very sick but luckily the next day it started leaving which was good because then we went back to Geneva for a district meeting! Haha it was fun though and It was great to see everyone and meet all the new blues in our district, although I realized that most of them I will only ever meet twice which is sad but true and voila.

Other things that happened this week was I ended up eating like fifty mussels because my comp couldn't and the couple said it was up to me to finish them off and that was insane and I don't need anymore mussels for the next like five months, I've eaten enough!

We also helped set up for a ghostbuster themed surprise birthday party because our member had had surgery on her hand and so we stepped in to help and it was fun and it seemed great:) The birthday boy wasn't too happy about it(he hates surprises)  but he thanked us for our help as we had to leave because we had a dinner appointment that same night like an hour away on the other side of our sector, but we made it and luckily weren't too late to it;p It was fun setting up and we may or may not have take a two second break to play with helium;)

That's about it; we also saw a bear but not really just a giant dog on the road the other day and found out his name is poofpoof and I think that's adorable and so funny haha and then I think that's it for this week. Unlike last week I don't know where this week went but we still have four left and I'm excited:)

Love you all have a great week!

Sister Beatty

Week 73: Why Am I On a Train?

So this week I don't remember squat but at the same time it was so long and so much happened and there was lots of laughs and craziness and I guess the craziest part is I am sitting in Lyon companionless and trying to figure out what I am going to do and who the heck can I convince to come with me because everyone else still has their companions and I'm just an awkward floater but its fun and exciting but also weird because this has been such a weird day! I left her in Geneva with the car and took a wonderful train haha luckily it was all calm;)

So this week one funny thing was we are still talking with all the members about the temple and one member said when she was in Paris the hotel staff was like what the heck is going on in Paris its not
normal and like this is Paris and the member said she replied well the Mormons are here haha and then needed to explain what the Mormons are and why there is a temple and she was so excited to share this missionary experience with us it was cute and great:)

Other than that I'm so sorry not much else i cna remember think of and voila quoi!

Love,

Sister Beatty

PS. To make up for this terrible email here are some photos haha also ran into an old mission friend today at the gare!

Week 72: A Temple is Here!

Hey everybody!

well this week was the weirdest quickest but longest week ever that ended with the temple dedication and cultural celebration and it has literally been one of the best weekends of my entire time here in France.

To work backwards, it was so crazy to watch the cultural celebration because I saw friends from Yverdon, Bayonne, Ecully, Bordeaux, and Annecy and it was beautiful and the youth did an incredible job and I got to say that the youth in Geneva did an amazing song and it was wonderful:) we were cheering and laughing and having a blast watching youth use their phones as lighters in songs; listening to Les Mis, watching a Nicean wedding where the funniest part was after a couple gets married the tradition is that the husband gives the key to the house to his wife and so this little couple acting this out did that and it was adorable haha:) we also saw old traditional Swiss dances and french waltzes which included a royal court! It was amazing and I am so grateful to have been here to celebrate this moment with all those I have come to love; literally all of them from around France including a girl I taught in Poitiers who got baptized a week or so ago and she participated and i freaked out when I saw her haha:)

Because we are missionaries we of course went to all three dedication sessions and it was wonderful I loved all the speakers and seeing Elder Eyring who was so funny and during the cornerstone ceremony kept cracking jokes about how sisters do it better and just other cute funny comments it was great because they didn't cut his microphone haha;)

And so that was the highlight of the week which is really the biggest thing other than I got a call from President saying I AM STAYING IN ANNECY TO FINISH WITH SISTER BROOKSBY AND IM SO EXCITED!!!!! I love her so much and we are like the same person and its weird but so fun haha

Saying goodbye to all my friends today was so weird and these next six weeks are going to fly but I'm so happy to be here at this time and so grateful for the beauty of a temple that we now have in this beautiful country.

Love you all have an amazing week!

Sister Beatty

Week 71: Time Flies When You're on Drugs

Well another week flew by but so insanely fast so get ready to read a brain dump haha of week five of this transfer haha and the title of this email comes from the brother of my companion from one of the many stories we had the chance to share this week when and it was probably Wednesday I was super sick and stayed in the apartment all day on the sofa and only got up twice - once to eat and then to go back to bed and sleep for the night xD 

it was funny but not at all and sad because now I've gotten my companion sick and so medicine woohoo;p but also not because we are in France so like herbal and home remedies from members where whats been up chez nous this week with tons and tons of honey. (apparently its a natural antibody or something according to a member) but also good in warm water haha

This week we also did a lot with family history and have been helping one of our members solve her families mysteries and trying to figure out why in the family the stories are one way but in the official documents they are another and figured out there was some escaping the laws going on;) which was fun and detective-y, she was loving it:) It was exciting and fun and then helped us prepare ourselves a little for our zone conference which was on family history, the temples and every missionary's favorite topic, eternal marriage! ha. 

The conference consisted of watching a wonderful clip from the princess bride where we were then called little princess brides by our president as well as the story of how our president and his wife met with some other cute things involving what they wanted in a spouse and how happy they are to be married eternally with some added crazy games involving a scavenger hunt in the chapel and then a provide play doh game where the elders had to do ten push ups each to give us sisters the play doh where we didn't really do anything with it haha ahhh it was awkward and funny and quite interesting watching the elders do sprinting push ups with our president! xD

We also had interviews which was great and then were able to just have a moment all together with our president and his wife and play ping pong and do other fun stuff after lunch, it was great:)

We then went home from branch Council only to return the next day because we had stake conference which was wonderful and then that night had a sleepover all nine of us sisters in Geneva for the rest of stake conference the next morning! That was a crazy crazy night but so fun to see everyone and spend time together:) and funny enough we will be doing it again this weekend for the temple dedication which I am so so so so so so so flipping excited for and where we will be able to go to the temple for the first,last, and only times on our missions in a mission that doesn't have a temple and we will also be watching a cultural celebration that youth around France have been preparing for months now and its so exciting to finish off this transfer this way and to kickoff my last;p

Today we went back down to the gorge to hike and then hiked up to the summit of Mt. Semnoz where you have a wonderful view of the alps, lac d' Annecy and all the cities and villages in our sector and we picnicked up there too! It was crazy, our sandwich bags almost exploded from the pressure of almost 2000 meters;p It was so beautiful and breathtaking to be eye level with the clouds:) But don't be fooled by the 2000 meters, we drove almost all of it except the last 200 to the top haha that we climbed and found some beautiful BLUE flowers and probably chipmunk holes haha:)

I think that is it for this week, it flew but was quite full and this week is a promising one to follow and I can't wait for Friday to know what will happen my last six weeks and then Saturday and Sunday to finally have a temple here in a land I have come to love!

Love you all, have a spectacular week:)

Sister Beatty

Week 70: How Much Room Does Your Brain Have?

Well me and Sister Brooksby have been sitting here trying to remember what we did this week without too much success its been super weird and all blurred together and so I'm going to work backwards and then if I don't arrive I'm sorry, I tried haha

So today it was a rainy gross day and so we played games and attempted a crazy creepy puzzle but lost all desire because it was like all the shades of yellow like my house was before it ever got painted if any of you remember that and it was too much and we messed up somewhere and so we let it go haha and went and ate pizza and played guess who with book of Mormon characters and of course you have to be Korihor at one point and Nephi's wife another;) it was great! We also then played a version of life with planes and boats and islands and it was wonderful and then when the weather cleared up called and found out the summer luge was open so we slid down the mountain! and it dropped 12 degrees to get all the way to the top and it was so flipping cold haha the guy who gave us our tickets was wearing a hat and gloves and scarf and full on winter gear because snow was still up there! it was so crazy and fun and we also fed reindeer because what else you going to do on a mountain;)

Yesterday we had crepe night with some great members and played a game we played at district meeting with string and the family loved it:) Speaking of district meeting that happened this week as well and it was great we talked all about Christ and then how about in the temples we learn of him and how to follow him because we go to the temple for our ancestors but we also go to worship our god:)

This week we had lots of tombez-vous and not too much success ami Wise but we are going on a hunt and hopefully we will find them soon:) Got one cordonnee and also a self referral from the husband of the sister of a daughter of a member somewhere who found our number for him and so hopefully we will set a rendez vous with him this week and see how it goes! If i bien understood our conversation haha it wasn't too clear haha xD but life

we also had an exchange and had the privilege of going to a baptism of a mom and son and ate some bomb African benigets and fried chicken and skewers!

We searched holy water at a spring for one of our less actives who is loosing her memory and really wanted some so we went and filled up twelve 1.5 liters for her and almost died trying to carry them back haha then also passed another sister like a thousand times because someone thought she had maybe died but luckily we finally got a hold of her and told everyone and so everyone was okay and she was too and it was great! Church was great yesterday and is the last time we will have it for two weeks because stake conference this week where we will see president which will be great and then we have the temple dedication for Paris and it will be wonderful!!

Love you all have a great week

Sister Beatty