Pictures

 Milkshakes at the hospital. Waiting for Soeur Cuthbert's tests to be done!

 Puzzle time in the Health Center!

 Soeur Cuthbert's mom sent us aprons with our names on them!

 New Sisters! (Soeurs Hills and Olson with us!)

Rehearsing!! THE BEST.

  I found an HFAC stand. And I was stoked about it. Like I almost cried. THE BEST!

 Autumn! In front of the hospital waiting for our ride back to the MTC.

 Studying in the sunshine!

 For smooz! 

 All the Soeurs! Half of them left.

 Elder Pilling and I! He's the best. Just left for France. And he knows Maia!!

 Comps and Elder Grant. This kid's hilarious. He's in Canada now.

Two of our district's combined! I love all these kids. Half of them are now in Canada. 

October 23, 2012

Ma chere famille!

This week has been great! The best so far. It started with a devotional that changed my life last week. Shayne M. Bowen of the seventy spoke. (I may have made up that middle initial...) Anyway, he spoke at GC too. But he spoke about pretty much every mission related thing under the sun, it was great. But the one thing he said that spiritually punched me in the face was this. He challenged us to have out own Moses experience. From Moses 1. When Moses finds out that man is nothing. "Which thing [he] never had supposed. He challenged us to have one of those. And he challenged us to say something to the effect of, "Heavenly Father, I know I'm not much, but I'm obedient, and I'm teachable." I'm working on it. I've been trying to find more humility and more charity in general this week. So yah, I'd invite each of you to do this same thing and have a Moses experience! Heavenly Father WILL respond! And through His strength and the power of the Atonement, we can be greater than we could ever be alone. 

Smooz, I needed a Portuguese speaker this week. Slash Travis/Lori and everyone else. We had a new sister move into our room, Sister Campbell. She's going to Lori's mish! Sao Paulo North, and she's just here waiting for her visa. But yah, I wanted to make her a welcome sign, but I could only think of how to say welcome in French and Spanish, so I had to ask one of my portuguese volleyball buds. And he told me. Also, I wanna learn Portuguese when I get home. I can actually understand a bit of it. Soeur Campbell, prayed in Portuguese the other night, it's beautiful!! Almost as pretty as French.

This week, me and my comps rubbed shoulders with President Brown, the MTC prez a couple times and it was great. He's super nice! We got to eat lunch with him one day and we were asking him questions about the future MTC with the explosion of missionaries coming and all that. He's super stoked. And they're still figuring out how to deal with it. But the funniest part of all this was that this was the second time he's sat with our district, and Elder Ellis, who just left for Montreal was super jel about this, so he sat right in front of me a table away and was making faces at me the entire time. And then Elder Pilling and Elder Grant joined in. (more frenchies.) So, I was laughing like a fool right in front of President Brown for no apparent reason. Awk. hah. But there wasn't much I could do about it. We're still friends though, cause on Thursday, Soeur Cuthbert, Soeur Olson, and I auditioned to do a musical number here, and he came in and listened to part of it. The audition was good. For some reason, Soeur Olson's piano pages were outta order, so the first run through wasn't fantastic, but we gotta play half of it again for President Brown, and then the whole thing once more cause we explained why it wasn't so good the first time, and there was no one in line. So yah! We got a yes, and they're gonna contact us when they know where they want us. I'm pretty stoked. I love playing cello! I gotta play 3 times this week.

We're still waiting on news for Soeur Cuthbert. She's going in today to talk to the doctor, so pray for her, please! She's the best. She is one of the kindest, most Christ like people I know, and she's already taught me so much. I know that the Lord knows what's best though, and even if she does go home, she has helped bring me closer to Christ, and helped me be better.

This week we learned soooo much. I LOVE LEARNING. It's the best. And I love this kind of learning. It's the mind and heart kind. We learn how to teach, contact, plan, and speak with our mind, but we learn the spiritual things, we learn how to love, how to care, how to become with our heart. I love it. It's the best! My favorite activity of the week was definitely when we practiced contacting with some of our teachers and another zone. It was the best. I LOVE talking to people about this gospel. I know it doesn't feel natural at first, but it really is. When something is that big apart of your life, why would you not talk about it? Cello came up and comes up in every single discussion I have in my life, especially when I'm meeting new people. My goal when I get home is to add the gospel to that "About me" list. 

Sand volleyball this week. I've officially converted my entire district to it!! It's the best. And the quote in the subject line is actually from volleyball. It's what Elder Pilling and I shout whenever we dive. Literally translated, it means "In the sand!!" hah. And it's the best. I love volleyball. But I'm sad cause basically our entire district just left. 48 Missionaries! It's crazy. The missionaries going to France and Africa left yesterday and all the Canadians left early this morning. Now it's just our district, two other french districts, a couple creoles, and the Tahitians. We're pretty little. The missionaries that left sang for us in sacrament. They sang "Souviens-Toi" a french hymn that's to the tune of the second movement of Dvorak's new world symphony. It's the best! And I may or may not have cried. Oh. Also, all the Portuguese elders left today or yesterday too, so I don't have very many friends right now, but I'll make more!

Right now, my district's actually super tight. We've been speaking lots of french together, which has been fun. And! This week, we've been doing nice things (warm fuzzies) every night, and it's the best!! Usually I'm not a huge warm fuzzies fan, but it's been great! I love all 5 of the other sisters and elders in my district. We're bffs.

And I've needed that support lately, cause on Saturday. hah. No one laugh. I had my first slightly big meltdown of the mtc. In class. It was dumb. I don't even have an explanation for my explosion of tears, except for the fact that that's my one spiritual gift. The gift of weeping :] It was fine though. I think I was just super overwhelmed. Cause in class we were talking about teaching to the investigators needs but also teaching the doctrine. And my teacher and a zone teacher did a demonstration on how to do this, and they made it look sooo easy, and I just didn't know how I could ever do it. But! I now know that I can, with the Lord's help. It was funny though, Frere Blosil like didn't know how to deal with my tears. I started crying and he was like, "Are you feeling sick?" Nope. I just have the gift of weeping. (He's from a family of all boys. Surprise!) But he gave me a priesthood blessing. And it was great. He even said my whole name! The priesthood is amazing. I calmed right down. Oh. And that afternoon, our district got put on a bon bon ban. NO CANDY. hah. This made me laugh. I think it had something to do with the fact that we've been eating candy like everyday and the three of us Soeurs had consecutive meltdowns. Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday morning. So yah. Candy is banned, until the end of the mtc. Except Halloween of course. 

We've been teaching our amis de l'eglise about the Plan of Salvaton this week. And I love teaching it! It honestly applies directly to everyone. Cause everyone has and loves their family. And one of our investigators, Claude, had a sister that passed away when she was younger. So I got to bear testimony of Kawehi! And explain with joy that we WILL see them one day and we WILL be able to live with them again, for eternity! It was the best.

Ok family, well I'm outta time, but I love you! You are the best! I hope that you have a fantastic week! Read the Book of Mormon everyday! It is the word of God and it makes life easier when you have that eternal perspective in mind! 

Je vous aime tous!

L'evangile est vrai!

Soeur Santos

October 16, 2012

Ma Chere Famille,
To all, family and friends, thank you so much for all the letters and packages and stuff. I'm pretty sure I can still count on one hand the number of days I haven't gotten mail. You're all amazing. I'm done with my 40 stamps that I brought to the MTC! 

Last week, Elder David A. Bednar spoke at devotional, and it was soooo good! All my frenchies are leaving in a week (48 of them) and they were waiting for an apostle, so I'm glad that they got to see one before they took off. But yah. It was an excellent talk. One thing that he said, he was laughing at us, and all members of the church for speculating on why the missionary age was dropped. Ha. It was actually pretty funny. But he just said of the change, "The Lord can do His work, and He will hasten it in His time." So true! And it's amazing! That's what's happening right now. The work is hastening! And it's incredible! I'm honored to be here in the field (almost) while this explosion is taking place. The man that spoke in the Sunday night fireside said that the MTC is being remodeled and things are being rearranged to fit more missionaries. And one of the things they're changing is that they're cutting time here in the MTC by about a third. So, if you're speaking your native tongue, whether it be English, Spanish, or Portuguese, you'll be in the MTC for 2 weeks instead of 3, and if you're learning a language, you'll be here for 6 weeks instead of 9. KRAY KRAY. But oh so bomb. Heavenly Father trusts his youth. Oh. And by the way, this starts in January, so Pup, you're safe :] hah. But yah. Another thing that Elder Bednar said that I really liked was that faith is a principle of action and power. And it has to happen in that order. We have to ACT and then we will be given power. Example: "Open your mouth and it shall be filled." We have to open our mouths before we will be given utterance. We must have the faith to act! I love that. I'm going to try harder to have that faith to act this week.

Wednesday was my monthaversary! So I've been here for 5 weeks tomorrow. CRAZY. I can't believe it. Time is FLYING. I'll be outta here before I know it. Which I'm actually super stoked about. Went to the hospital on Wednesday again. But that was it for this week. Soeur Cuthbert got a colonoscopy, so I stayed with her in the morning and Soeur Lamb went to class, and then it was just me and the boys at night. That was weird. Also, I feel like a celebrity out of the MTC bubble. Everyone loves you. It's the best. 

I was pretty sick at the beginning of this week, but I started feeling a lot better yesterday, and I think it's because Frere Sybrowsky and I had our little mish one on one conference this week, and I was telling him how I was sick. He's in men's chorus. So of course the first thing he thought of as a cure was gargling Listerine every night. Because Sister Hall ABSOLUTELY swears by it. Like she hasn't gotten sick in 16 years, and she credits the Listerine for her health. So I did it this week. And now I'm almost back to normal! Yay! It's the best. Also, the bottle of Dayquil I downed this week mighta helped too...

We were reunited as a complete district on Thursday and our teachers were so happy! Also, we started a competition, called "Qui est le vrai francais" Basically, someone's name gets picked outta a hat, and they have to speak the most french the next day. I was mean and threw the competition the first day, and just didn't speak English all day. hah. Mean. But we're actually trying to PVL everyday now (parlez votre langue.) And it's sooo fun! I LOVE speaking french. Chaque jour Toujours. And it's the best! Some of the others in my district are a little less enthusiastic, but I think it's great! 

Friday was a good day for teaching. We taught both Michel and Claude, and we challenged both of them to be baptized! It was the best!! Claude said yes, and we're still working on Michel. hah. We asked him the next day too, but he's still unsure. Hopefully this week though. Our lesson with Claude was incredible! Soeur Cuthbert shared a personal story and bore testimony about the Atonement, and the Spirit was soooo strong. It strengthened my testimony even more that as long as the Spirit is there, miracles can and will happen. So far, the two most spiritual lessons on my mission have been when the french was broken and fragmented, but the Spirit was unrestrained. I want to rely on the Lord like that! I need to be better at that. At letting the Spirit do the talking, and just being the instrument. I love teaching and I love this gospel! I see improvement from where I started, but the end is still nowhere in sight. So please pray for me. I need it! 

I played cello twice this week! And I ran twice this week! Two of my fave things! The best! Soeur Cuthbert, Soeur Olson, and I are going to audition with "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" for a musical number on Thursday. I'm pretty stoked about it. And as always, cello's just the best. 

Well, I'm almost outta time family, but I wanted to leave you with an invitation. Something that we talked about this week in class. Prayer. If you're saying your morning and evening prayers, good job! That's awesome. If you're not, start with that, because praying to our Heavenly Father is soooo important. But something that we talked about in class is pondering and meditating before, during, after your prayer. Especially with the evening prayer. This is something that I've been trying to do lately, and WOW. It is incredible. The things I will feel and hear after I pray. Heavenly Father loves us, more than we can even comprehend and He WANTS to bless us and talk to us. So here's my invite. After your evening prayers, stay on your knees for however long you're willing and just LISTEN. With your heart and your mind. It is THE BEST! I promise, as a representative of Jesus Christ, that if you do this, you will be richly blessed. You will be able to feel that love that Heavenly Father has for you. And you will be able to receive answers to those questions that you have! So do it. Please! For me!

I love you SOOOO MUCH my dear, dear family! There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about each and every one of you. You are constantly in my prayers. I trust that Heavenly Father will take care of you while I am here doing his work. I LOVE this work! It's gonna explode and I can't wait to see the result. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the truth! If you don't know that, pray to know it. And then listen. Have a good week family! Pray for the people of New Caledonia! I can't wait to be there.

L'evangile est vrai!

Love, Soeur Santos

October 9, 2012

Ma Chere Famille,

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS THE BEST!!! I can hardly believe what happened on Saturday morning. When President Monson announced that they were changing the mish age for boys to 18 I started freaking out. And that freaking out turned into hyperventilation when they said that they were changing the girl's age to 19. The MTC EXPLODED!! It was sooooooo cool to be here for that announcement. And then I started crying like a crazy person. I don't even know why... I guess I just thought it was incredible and I'm so thrilled and humbled to be able to Preach His Gospel as a 21 year old crazy. And I can't even imagine all those crazy 18 year old girls that were like me, sitting at home and jumping up and down for joy. I guess it was just mostly that. And I thought of Ganae Osorio! Cause she's the best and she would be THE BEST missionary ever. So yah. A combination of things. But I'm so happy. It's incredible. The Lord trusts His youth sooo much! And I know that this change is inspired. The gospel is rolling forth, to all the earth! How incredible! I LOVE THIS WORK!! And I look forward to seeing several dilligent and excited young 18 and 19 year olds in the field. I'll probs miss them in the MTC, but J-Dawg and Pup will be there with them! Also. This general conference was just great. Overall. Elder Nelson's talk was great, "Ask the missionaries!" And he totally gave a shoutout to Rachel, one of my friends, his grand daughter, who's in Rome serving a mish! And I really liked Elder Holland's talk, about dropping our nets and following, more fully, the Savior. I couldn't help but think about cello that entire talk. I'm doing better, but I can definitely be a more exact and more faithful disciple! So I will do better! The talk about teaching was good too. The one by the 70, who's name started with an O. Anything on the subject of teaching now is so intriguing to me. Cause I'm doing all I can to learn about and become a better teacher! And finally, one quote that really stuck out from R.S. meeting was, "the enemy knows when to attack us, but our Savior is mighty to save!" It's SOOO TRUE. I loved that meeting. We watched it while the elders were at priesthood. I was hoping to have an all girl party, but that was good too :]

A couple cool things have happened this week pertaining to revelation. Last Tuesday, I was taking notes at devotional, and a question popped into my head during it, so I wrote it down not really thinking much of it. But! After the devotional, during our district discussion time, we were talking, and something happened, and I all of the sudden got an answer to my question. It just came to me. It was soooo cool!! And unexpected. But seriously, lightning like struck my brain! It was incredible. So this is my invitation to you, my dear family. If you have a question, gospel related, or life, write it down, and ponder on it, pray about it, search the scriptures, and talk about gospel principles. Heavenly Father will answer us. I promise. He will. Because He loves us, and He wants us to learn and grow! That is one of the major purposes of our mortal life, so do it! And let me know what happens after. I'd love to hear!

Teaching this week. We had a pretty downer lesson with Michel this week. I was probs the most discouraged I've been my whole time here actually. He just wasn't getting it, and he wasn't reading from the Book of Mormon, and he didn't understand, and I don't know if my companions fully understood what question he was asking, so it was just confusing and hard to teach him. I just wanted to tell him to read the book! Cause it'll change your life. But I dunno. it wasn't getting across. Frere Blosil could tell we were a little down after though and talked to us and challenged us to ponder on why the Book of Mormon was so important, so after pondering on that for a couple days, we taught him again, and were able to explain more fully why this book is so important, yesterday! It was good. The Book of Mormon, if read and prayed about, with a sincere heart and real intent, will convert the person because the Holy Ghost will testify of its truthfulness! It is the word of God. and it contains the fullness of the gospel! Oh how I love this book. I thought I loved it before the mission, but I am infatuated! It is incredible, and it testifies of Christ on every page. If you want to strengthen your testimony, read, and truly study the Book of Mormon. 

We have new sisters! Their names are Soeur Hills and Soeur Olson. They are great! S. Hills is from Canada and she's crazy and fun! She's going to Lyon.  And S. Olson plays piano! So we are def gonna be bffs. She's going to Montreal. But yah. They're super cool.

We went back to the Hospital a couple times this week. Once on Thursday and once on yesterday. Soeur Cuthbert's going in for surgery tomorrow, so please keep her in your prayers! Soeur Lamb and I are fasting for her today! Also. This week, my district was like falling apart. Thursday was the worst of it: Soeur Cuthbert was in pain again and going to the hospital, Elder Bledsoe was out with a migraine, and Elder Fletcher and I were like dying of whooping cough. Oh. And Frere Sybrowsky has laringitis. So Elder Grigsby and Soeur Lamb were the only people that weren't like dying. hah. We've gotten better though. hah. A bit. We're on the upward climb.

We also taught Claude a few times this week, and the last couple lessons have been very good! We finally got him to pray this week, cause I'm annoying. Or bold, hahh. whatever you wanna call it. But yah! It was great! I also invited him to watch general conference this weekend, so hopefully he did that! 

Also, this week, Soeur Lamb and I have done quite a bit of studying in the residence hall cause Soeur Cuthbert's been sick, but it's been really good actually. In fact, both of my Soeurs have said they like learning from me, better than in class. hah. But I think they're bluffing. Frere Blosil and Sybrowsky are the best teachers ever. I think they just like learning one on one. or one on two. But I taught Soeur Lamb passe compose this week. And I'm basically a slave driver. hah. Its great though! We get a lot done and we're pretty productive! 

Bonded with the frenchies this week too. A ton of them are going to Montreal, and it almost makes me sad I'm not going there, cause these Elders are soooo cool! But yah. We're bffs now, and it's fun! 

Ok. Well I'm almost outta time, so really fast. People I met this week that know people from home. or BYU. Or that will know people. Pup! So I met 2 Elders that are going to the West Indies!! Elder Porterfield, that's just down the hall from me, and Elder Kabongo, who is FROM Brussels, Belgium, and he knows the OSORIOS!! Super cool. Also. Maia Cook. I found out one of the frenchies is from Nova Scotia this week, so I asked if they knew her, and they do! Elder Blake Pillings! Soooo cool! We're volleyball buds.

Ok, well I'm outta time and I have 6 more letters to write, so I'm gonna go. But I love you all! I am sooo happy! It's crazy busy here, but I love it and wouldn't have it any other way. This work is incredible! I'm, so honored and happy to be apart of it! Pray for Soeur Cuthbert and the people of New Caledonia!

L'evangile est vrai!

Je T'aime! Soeur Santos

October 2, 2012

Ma chere famille!

Wow whadda week. So. This week, I've been outside of the MTC bubble (MTC and temple) not one time, but twice. Because one of my comps has been falling apart. It's quite unfortunate, but it was a cool little adventure. Both times! So here's the story on that... On Friday, Soeur Cuthbert, the one from Utah, was feeling sickly, and had been for a week, but she hadn't said anything to me or Soeur Lamb. So, Friday, we went to the Health Center with her. Soeur Lamb and I worked on the puzzle that was out, (side note: puzzles are the best. I'm gonna do them ALL THE TIME when I get home.) And Soeur Cuthbert went back to find out what was wrong. They couldn't figure it out, so they sent her back with some pills and said take these and come back in a week. Well, Saturday rolled around, the morning, and Soeur Cuthbert was still in a lot of pain. More even. So, we were at breakfast, but not for long, cause she started getting these shooting pains in her right lower abdomanin (I can't spell.) So, the three of us leave immediately, and are walking down the main hall of 1M, when outta nowhere, Soeur Cuthbert says, "I think I'm gonna pass out." And, not more than a nanosecond later, she begins to fall towards me. Thanks to her warning, I was able to catch her. So I stay with her, cause she regains conciousness really fast, and Soeur Lamb takes off running towards the front desk. (Cause the Health Clinic is closed on Saturdays.) So, we talked to a doctor on the phone and about 10 mins later we were on our way to the ER. They ran all sorts of tests, blood stuff, an ultrasound, and a catscan, and we were there til late-ish afternoon, but they couldn't find anything. So yah. We went to rite aid on the way home, grabbed her perscription, and then Soeur Lamb and I were in class later that afternoon. (Cause we found another sick sister to do splits with.) And Sunday morning she got anti nausea pills, but those ended up not working, so Sunday night, we ended up going back. Soeur Lamb and I broke our fast with vending machines that night. hah. The doctors seemed a bit more knowledgeable that night, and we found out that she has a stomach ulcer, yesterday. So yah. That was the excitement of the week. It was kray kray. So yah. Soeur Lamb and I missed some class these last couple days, but it was fine. And we studied on our own at home, so it was good. I dunno what's gonna happen with Soeur Cuthbert yet, but I hope she gets better, she's still pretty bed bound though, so yah. Keep her in your prayers please!

Teaching this week. hah. It was kinda funny. I taught on Wednesday and Thursday with Soeur Kailiponi. We were supposed to teach together on Saturday too, but then the Hospital incident happened. And she's gone now :( I miss that little crazy. She's THE BEST!! But yah. We taught Michel on Wednesday and prayed with him and got him to pray!! So that was very exciting! And we also taught Katherine for the last time. And then on Thursday, we taught two awesome lessons. hah. Claude. So this was our first time teaching him. The rest of my district had contacted him earlier on in the week, but I was teaching with Soeur K that night. So, Soeur K and I had not talked to him yet. For some reason, I thought he was gonna just pretend that we had, but no such luck. The two of us knocked on the door and said, "Hi Claude, we're Soeur Santos and Soeur Kailiponi" (en francais) and then realizing that he wasn't gonna invite us in, I said, "and we're missionaries from the church of Jesus-Christ of latter-day Saints and we have a message for you!" To which he responded, "Oh, I'm not really that interested in religion." hah. And then I just stood there. Shocked. Luckily, Soeur Kailiponi started talking before he shut the door. But that little crazy made us get through the door! Oh. And I guess I should explain this too. After your first investigator in the MTC, you teach your teachers. So Frere Blosil is playing Michel, and Frere Sybrowsky is being Claude. So yah. It was kinda funny. And then once we got through the door, forgetting that we weren't supposed to know who he was, Soeur K said his name and he was like, "how do you know my name?!" hah. Luckily, she thought fast and was like, "we got your name from a referral!" hahh. That was a crazy lesson. It was good though. Despite the false start. I love teaching with Soeur Kailiponi! I can't wait to get to New Cal, cause I wanna be comps with her again! Thursday afternoon we taught in TRC, and we got this super old cool man Frere Perrez who speaks 5 languages fluently and reads the Book of Mormon in 10 languages everyday!! I wanna be him when I grow up. I love languages!! That's one of the things I like most about the MTC, everyone speaking their languages! We'll have conversations with the Portuguese elders, us speaking french and them speaking portuguese. It's the best! If I'm horrible at cello when I get home, I'm switching majors to linguistics. 

A couple other cool things from this week, Frere Blosil challenged us to think about the people of the places we're going when things are hard in the MTC. I love that! Everything is so much easier when we're thinking about others. So I wanna do that more. Also. on Sunday, it was fast Sunday, so I got to bare my testimony in French!! And I was being a little crazy. Jumping up and down in my seat like a 5 year old until I finally got up there. It was great!! I LOVE baring my testimony in French. Also, Yesterday!! I taught Michel with Frere Maigre (A teacher here that served in Montreal) And I challenged my first "ami de l'eglise" to be baptized!! It was soooo exciting!! hah. I was smiling like a fool, and you could like hear my smile as I was speaking. But it was great. I love inviting people I love to come closer to Christ! It's the best!! It makes me soooo happy!

Ok, well I'm gonna cut off here, cause I wanna send some pics, but I love you all!!  Thanks! Pray for my companion! And the people of New Caledonia!

L'evangile est vrai!

Love, Soeur Santos

Crap. I don't remember what all these pics are. 

One of them is me with Soeur Kailiponi. And then there's one with the 4 of us. Me, Soeur Kailiponi, Soeur Cuthbert and Soeur Lamb, one with me and the map. One with me and the New Caledonians. (5 of us.) And one with me in front of the temple. One with me in front of the puzzle Soeur Lamb and I did. And one with us in the hospital.

Ok bye!

Luh, Soeur Santos