Week 19: The week number just keeps growing and its really weird

I can't believe its week 19....thats absolutely insane and at week 26 I hit my six month mark which is absolutely unbelievably insane.... So strange but anyways onto the happenings of this week:)

In a nut shell, I moved to Poitiers, don't understand the buses or anything here for that matter, Had tons of rendezvous, saw tons of parcs, taught two Jehovah Witnesses, and got stuck on a bus!

Poitiers has a small branch of roughly 30 members and it is crazy how strong they all are. They are all basically converts and some for only a year or two and they are amazing:) They are so supportive of missionary work and sharing the gospel and the happiness they have in their lives it is absolutely insane! Its great though I love it so much:) I would love to spend at least the rest of the summer here!

We live in the middle of the city so we live next to all the shops and boulangeries, the big Catholic churches, and media libraries! It's so fun to be near all the hustle and bustle and to see so many people!! Its not like Ecully at all. But they are both good for different reasons:) But here we have the whole city and the surrounding like hour or two outside of it to ourselves to work and to proselyte.

I don't know if I will ever get to know the area or the buses, the systems are different here and its all so confusing but one day I will get it!

One exciting thing this week is I finished the Book of Mormon again! And I only had two conversations in English - both on the phone. With my companion really only speaking French  - we are in French 24/7 and that is confusing my brain - but by the end of this transfer I better be fluent! That's my goal, we'll see.

This week we were porting and we knocked on a door and this older man came and answered and we gave our little spiel and he immediately said; "I know who you are, I am a Jehovah Witness" and then leaned against the door, crossed his arms and looked at us -- it was one of the scariest moments ever because they love to argue and we didn't know what was going to happen or how to leave without being rude. But then his wife came to the door and invited us in to talk a little bit and gave us a drink and then from then on we ended up having a lesson with them and it was so cool!

We discussed our beliefs and he asked us questions and it was amazing and his wife was so kind, she said we were cute and invited us in to give us some courage because she knows porting can be really hard and it was cold and rainy outside and  it was so wonderful, still terrifying but super duper cool:)

We have had tons of rendezvous and I love it, we are meeting all these investigators and members and recent converts and less actives and it is so fun to work here:)

The funniest thing that happened this week was we were on a bus and it started to go around this turn and then it just stopped! And so we look up and there was a car parked in the area the bus needed to turn and so we got stuck because the ebus couldn't just hit the car, so that created this huge backup of cars behind the bus and after about three minutes, all of them started honking at once and all of us on
the bus were laughing because what was honking going to do, and some of the cars started honking different rhythms and it was just super funny but all the honking caught the attention of the guy whose car it was -- so he came out running across the street, unfortunately for him through all the traffic he had caused, to move his car out of our way.

It was funny because someone on the bus was like "is there a wedding?!" Because we weren't by a church and here in France sometimes for weddings all the cars follow the bride and groom and honk there horns in celebration and it just was super comical, the bus driver was even laughing and saying sorry but he was stuck. It was something that is kind of like yup, that sums up our day but it was funny and fun:)

I miss you all. I love France, but it's not home. It's very different, but not bad, just different:)

Have a good week!

Love,
Sister Beatty

Transferred to Poitiers.

Got it all packed and moved.

The view from her apartment.

Tons of beautiful parks there.

Mikayla and Soeur Takotua fro mTahiti

The new apartment

There are media centers all over Poitiers which make for good rendezvous spots.

City center.

No chocolate chips in France - you have to make your own.

Soeur Takotua

Week 18: Paris or Lyon

So I got transferred to Poitiers!!! That's the biggest news of this wonderful week:) Poitiers used to be part of the Paris mission but is now in our mission and is super north for our southern france mission
and I am so excited to be here for the Summer:)

It is absolutely gorgeous and it is basically just the opposite of Ecully. It is far from anything else, goregous, big, hilly, and we are the only missionaries for a good hour or two around our city! It's also a branch but recently has gone from a branch of 20 to a branch of 40 over the past half year and I am so excited to get to work here!

My last week in Ecully was not completely spent in Ecully haha, we had district meeting on Wednesday and after that we went to St Etienne for the rest of Wednesday and basically all of Thursday!

It was so fun and I met this amazing less active lady who is kind of just like mom, She was converted around 18 and has been a member ever since, she only recently went less active and is getting reactivated right now:) But she had the same personality as mom, which was funny:) Exchanges are always miraculous, so it didn't surprise me too much.

Friday we got our transfer calls and that was super duper exciting! I found out about Poitiers and my companion who is Soeur Takotua from Tahiti and she is already one of the best! We really only speak French together so I think after this transfer I could pass the stupid French ap test with flying colors.

She is sweet and super humble and just an amazing missionary! I'm also in the Bordeux Stake now so everything is really different!

Saying goodbye to everyone in Ecully was so sad, everyone was there because of ward conference, We, with the elders, got seven amis to church, and like three less actives which was absolutely wonderful and I got to say goodbye to them all which was sad but its not the last time I will see them and I was even there long enough to be offered housing and meals when I come back!;) Its crazy how much France will be a part of my life and how many friends I've made and people I want and need to stay in touch with.

Life is flying by and I can't believe school is almost over! Skyping was so extremely weird but I loved it and was super sad when I had to say goodbye... Christmas seems far away but since life is flying I guess it'll come before I know it and then when it is Christmas time I will probably be like "I can't believe I get to skype again, it feels like Mother's Day was yesterday!

Have an amazing week! Love you all,

Sister Beatty

Mikayla and Soeur Descoubes 

Mother's Day at the Zinns

Mother's Day

Week 17: 2nd Transfer is Almost Done

This week was crazy fast but we did so much! We had a miracle exchange, I got a package(!), Bo Bun Box, had Mongolian food, walked in the rain, met all the creepers in Ecully haha and had a stake activity with presidents pday to kick off the last week of the transfer! :)

Wednesday we had an exchange with Val de Soane again and this time it was me, a second transfer bleu with two first transfer bleus so that was super duper fun and exciting! :) We had so many miracles and it was really cool. 

We met some of our neighbors and was able to have a lesson with one of them, she is 90 and you could've knocked me over with a feather when she said how old she was, she is so fit and all there I thought she was maybe 70 maybeee!! But it was so fun:) 

We did calls and we were able to have so many conversations on the phone, we fixed a few rendezvous and it was just so wonderfully great:)

I got a package filled with candy, cards and a notebook and it was amazing!:) (Thank you Carrie! Hopefully you read this -- wasn't sure how I could say thank you properly x) )

Bo Bun Box is the name of a Vietnamese restaurant here in Ecully and it was crazy that it exists and that we found it because Ecully is TINY and it was hidden down an alley, but it is quickly becoming a missionary restaurant and it is so good and cute:)

We Had a rendezvous with a less active and she is Mongolian food and I had amazing amazing rice and spicy mongolian food and it was so delishish! No idea how to spell sorry...  But we had spicy chicken and then not spicy chicken because she knows not all missionaries like spice and then a spicy egg dish which was great! she was so cute and sweet :)

This week it just rained and rained and rained so I was constantly in my rain coat and rain boots because you can't trust the weather! It rained for three days straight and  I love the rain but it makes things hard as a missionary....haha and in all black and gray and my companions in all black and gray with our black and white umbrellas we looked like nuns -- which was funny haha but more people smiled at us I think because we looked like that, Ecully has a giant catholic church in the middle of it, thought it was funny :) But yeah haha still kind
of like the rain;p

We ended up meeting ,not actually in person, all the old creepers from the area book when we were doing potential calls, luckily Elder Berry knew the names and we didnt actually meet any of them but yeah

haha, were going to make a list of all the people to not call who are creepy and stick it on the front of the book so some poor sisters don't fix rendezvous with these scary people;p but there's some everywhere and when we want to share with everyone we are bound to find some haha but it's all good :)

The stake activity was fun, the theme was "American" so they all 'made' American desserts and had an American meal of chili dogs - which was funny watching the cute French women attempting to eat with their hands
and then using a fork and knife x) 

It wasn't too bad, and there were a few real American things there thanks to the Americans here and that
was great:) They even had cheddar cheese!!!! I didn't know they sold that here!!!! But that was fun :)

And then last but not least today was presidents pday where we had sloppy joes and got to play games with all the missionaries in Lyon at president's house and just got to spend time to rest and chill with him and our mission mom! It was so fun and went by so fast but it was great, if I do stay another transfer I will be so happy to do that
again :) 

Me and Elder Jensen and Elder Spoors played pétanque against Elder Mendzel, Elder Kelsey, and Elder Thompson and we won! Haha I kind of helped but it was all because Elder Spoors is European and he played all the time in Marseilles. But that was still really fun :) 

We also gave Elder Berry a going away present from all of us, it was a French flag that we all signed and then we sang Love One Another when we gave it to him, it was great, we got a video and I need to find out who has it, but we made him cry, he is so sad to leave but he is great:) It will be weird with him gone because I have only served
really with him for both my transfers and now he is leaving, but it's like that from every transfer from here on out.... Both my trainers leave in two transfers and ah.... Everyone is so old..... In the mission and they all go home :/ its weird but yeah... Just need to get used to it I guess...

One more week and then I get to skype home and I find out if I leave or stay and where I might be going! :) Love and miss you all, have an awesome week!

Love,
Sister Beatty

President's P Day

Week 16: P Day Again!

It is crazy that it is pday again already! We did so much this week but it flew by! We had an exchange, took a trip to the countryside, had a four zone conference as well as a fun little miracle,

We had an exchange with the Val de Soane equipe -- the sisters who are still living with us -- and that was fun because neither of us had to move or pack to do it haha -- but we went and realized that neither of us completely know our area boundries! We walked out of one of the metro stops and Sister Tauira said we were just walking across the street to visit one of their less actives and I just had to stop and stare because across the street and right next door to their less active was one of our members... haha it was funny!

We spent quite a bit trying to figure out whose secteur we were in -- but, it's all good, right? But it was a super fun exchange! And that night we played loups-garous, which is like a french version of mafia, and I'm probably buying it because it is really fun and you need at least 8 people to play and you can go up to like 20! It is really fun though :)

We ended up taking a trip to the countryside with one of our members to visit an elderly lady and help her clean her windows. We ended up going with the three year old granddaughter too and that was just really fun because she was super cute and talkative, and little children speaking French is just so absolutely adorable! She also spoke Russian and already knew the differences between the two languages and that was intense... haha her name is Yeva:)

The conference was amazing -- it the two Swiss zones and the two Lyon zones and that was a blast! We got to watch the missionary parody of Adele and it was absolutely funny and amazing! As well as hear the departing missionaries testimonies.... Their testimonies were amazing and Elder Berry made me cry -- since we have now served together two, my first two transfers and his last two and yeah... Sister Kelley was sitting near me and she cried during his testimony too and it was funny because as she was wiping her tears away she was like "I don't even know him!"

We also did a game where they had all of us go into the parking lot and put on blindfolds and then said follow the sound! So I got with all the sisters and we were a little blob and we were chasing these clanging bells and running around trying to find these bells and it was so frustrating, We chased the bells around the hill and when we got to the bottom we heard a very distinct and different sound.

It was a single chime and all of a sudden we walked into Sister Brown and she took each one of us and our hands and said follow the rope and put us on the rope and had us follow it to the end where President Brown greeted us -- we took of our blind folds and everyone was humming "come come ye saints"... It was super intense because I have planned these before, but never been thrown into one -- but I loved it so much because I am not a convert and I have never been so far away from everything in the church -- but when I realized what was going on -- and I didn't realize any of it until I actually got the rope -- it was incredible because it is the closest I have ever felt like an investigator, who really truly knows nothing about God's plan, who doesn't know we can talk to him and he will listen, that he is there and watching out for us, past the grave. That he gave us a plan and we aren't forgotten.

It was just surreal, because we were so lost without any direction because there had been literally no directions given before our blind folds went on and I loved it. Because even if I can't relate -- I can now understand what you say when it all clicked because that one chime in the middle of all the clanging bells was an instant click in my head.

And our fun little miracle for the week was a few weeks ago we traveled to Dardilly to try and find a less active -- and for the life of us we could not find her house because her address was literally 2\3 rue something or other, and we found 1 and 4 but not 2\3, and we looked everywhere!

So, at ward counsel we told them her house doesn't exist and they were like yes it does, and then proceeded to explain how to get to her house and gave us the code to get in, So we took an afternoon to travel to Dardilly and when we got there the code didn't work -- so we stood there and before we said anything.

Sister Fagg said we were going to pray and ask for someone to come open the door for us so we can at least leave a note on her door. So we prayed and decided we would wait five minutes. And at literally the last second this lady starts walking towards us and it was our less active! She had gotten off work early that day and normally wouldn't have had time, but her meeting that night got cancelled and we were able to meet with her and set up another rendezvous with her! It was absolutely amazing! And she gave us the new code and it just was absolutely great:)

The work has been slowing down a little but we have so many potentials and that little miracle was super great because it's a very easy way to see that God still remembers us here in this little ville in the world trying our hardest to just share what has brought happiness into our lives.

This week was pretty good I hope you all had a good week too!

Love,
Mikayla:)

Mikayla and Soeur Grant

A game they play.

A local Vietnamese restaurant.

Mikayla made Korean food for the sisters.