April 22, 2013

Another mormon acrynom to add to your vocab...

STL. More on that later.

Ma chère famille!

Je vous aime tous! J’espère que tout va bien chez vous! I love you all!  I hope that everything is going well for you!You are in my prayers! I love and miss you. But, I am soooo happy and thrilled and blessed to be a missionary at this special time. C'EST LE MEILLEUR!!  It's the best! But seriously. 

So, this week. The big things. ZONE CONFERENCE!! My birthday. Finding miracles. And Voila, the pics. Comme d'hab. As usual.

Picture number one: Moi et Soeur Lamb.Me and Sister Lamb. With our PIZZA!! Which, if you're wondering, is about 6x as much as it is chez nous.at home We got the fin bon. crème fraiche, pommes de terres, bacon, œufs, fromage, deliciousness. It was FIN BON. J'aime biennnn.(I have nary a clue what "fin bon" means...it must be an idiomatic expression...?  "fin" means end, and "bon" means "good"...but good end doesn't make much sense...so...I dunno?  This pizza sounds like it has: cream (like whipped cream?), potatoes, bacon, eggs, cheese.  Sounds interesting...but she said she liked it a lot.)  

And Picture two. Me with my happy pb family. I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER!! Merci mom, dad, et Soeur Lamb. This may all be gone in a month though. We've almost killed off one of the big ones.

Bon bannn, je commence. (Don't know this one either...good something?  Don't know what "ban" is...?  Maybe it's like, "anyway, I begin/start"...I'm kinda feeling like a failure this time around!)  This is where the alternate suggestion on google translate comes in, I think she just spells it different. It should be oh well, I begin. Zone conference was this week. And it was wonderful! Comme d'hab, quoi. As usual.  I learned lots and Soeur Lamb and I gave a formation, (my second formation at my second zone conference...) And I learned lots and I want to change lots!! And, the coolest part, was President Brewer talking about the mission and how it's gonna grow and fast. We have about 100 missionaries in the mission right now. He said that we're gonna double that in these upcoming months. And a lot of these missionaries are going to be SOEURS! Which, ya know, I'm pretty stoked about. And then he started talking about the leadership in the mission fields and how that's gonna change. One of the things that'll change is the Soeurs and the leadership for them. And that's where my fun little acronym comes in. STL. Or Sister Training Leader. Or leaders. But right now it's just leader. Cause there's only one of them. So, he talked about that and the changes that would come. And it was great! Then interviews came. And, just to preface a bit, we're getting 3 more Soeurs at the end of this week. And two of the Soeurs are leaving, Soeur Madsen tomorrow, and Soeur Bellais the day after that. So, at the end of this week there will be 11 of us. And Soeur Kailiponi will be the oldest, just 6 weeks older than me. Anyways, I was kinda expecting to train walking into the interview, I thought I might get a birthday baby. But! The Lord had something different in mind. As He usually does. Cause I walked in there and President asked me to be New Caledonia's first STL (It's the equivalent of a zone leader, but for the Soeurs.) And I'm STOKED. I really am, but I'm also a little bit scared. Mostly because I don't even know exactly what this calling entails cause it's brand new. But. I know that it will be great! And I'm excited to serve the Soeurs of New Cal. I'm sure it will be quite the learning and growing experience. I'll let you know more about it as I learn more about it. Cause I honestly don't know a lot now. He said something about coordination meetings with the zone leaders and himself, which I think are done over skype, and yah. But yah. Prayers please!! Lots and lots. I'm gonna need some serious divine help for this. But I am excited! That being said! Soeur Lamb's training! And I will be staying in 6eme with her and the baby for one more transfer, and then I'll probs move. It's funny. Before the mission, my biggest fear was trios. I've had 12 weeks of not being in one. I'm a trio magnet. If there's a trio in the field, I will be in it. But, it's good. lots of learning. And it's not as bad as I once thought.

Birthday!! I'm 22! KRAY KRAY. But, I could not have asked for a better birthday. It was wonderful! I was so blessed to be with Soeur Lamb! Cause she honestly made it the best birthday EVERRR. She decorated my wall above my desk and she did a 22 reasons I love you thing with post it's and she made me crepes for breakfast! We got pizza and ice cream for lunch, and were too full to eat dinner. And we had lots of good lessons throughout the day. It was grand planning that day, so that was mid day. But yah. It was a wonderful birthday! The best yet, in fact. But everything's better when you're a missionary, so I'm not surprised.

And finally, the Lord is helping us find people to teach. Just these last couple days, we've have finding MIRACLES. We found Danielle Friday night. hah. And that's a funny story, but I'm outta time. Karaoke was almost involved... And Yolina yesterday at church! A coordinee referral  from a member!! 

Anyways, sorry, I'm outta time, but I love you! Thank you for all your love and support and prayers! I LOVE this work! So much! And I'm sooo happy to be here! You're in my prayers! Je vous aime!! I love you!

L'evangile est vrai!!

Love, Soeur Santos

April 14, 2013

APRIL 19th is temple dayyyy!

Ma chère famille, 

GENERAL CONFERENCE WAS SOOO GOOD!! And you are all crazies. I can't believe not one of you said ANYTHING about MY BYU singing at conference. Seriously. Let me give you a visual. We're sitting in the salle pour la société de secours,Relief Society room and they announce that BYU is singing. And then I start kinda freaking out. And then they start panning around, and I realize that I know like EVERY SINGLE ONE of the people sitting on the stand. And then I started mildly hyperventilating. Elder Hosea was sitting right behind me and he was like, "is that your choir?" And I was like, "yeppp." And Soeur Lamb was sitting next to me and trying to help me not freak out. I was actually wondering what choir they used, but I think it was just the gang... Cause I say people from every single choir. Including Hillary Jones, who I sat next to in women's chorus, and I probably woulda been right there. It was weird to watch. But cool at the same time. And then when they did Dr. Stalhli's 6/8 arrangement of More Holiness Give Me, I was like, "I've SUNG THISSS." It was weird. But cool. And kinda surreal to be watching. But! I did love it. And hopefully pup and I will have a chance when we get back. On verra bien.We'll see! Oh! But, all the missionaries in New Cal were STOKED to see Frere Sybrowsky, (My MTC teacher,) cause he's in Men's Chorus and everyone was like Frere Sybrowsky! hah. It's just funny. Cause I even just got a letter from one of my friend's in Men's Chorus, and he said nothing about it. I was so surprised! And happy. Bien sur. Of course. But! I know that I'm supposed to be here right now, so I'm happy!

This week was good. The highlight was conference for sure. I LOVED it. I wrote a few questions before conference started, and I knew it was gonna be a good conference, because all of my questions were answered after the first session. But! It just got better and better after that. I LOVED all the talks, but I loved how a lot of them were on obedience and faith. It seemed like this conference theme was keeping the commandments and obedience. It was great! I lovedd Elder Perry's talk. "Obedience to law is liberty." That is such a truth. And President Monson's was good too. I still love fire :]  I thought of Jack during Elder Uchtdorf's talk. And Elder Holland's was a big answer to my questions. So was the 70's talk. The one that Pup talked about on forgiveness. Ah they were all sooo good! I didn't want it to end. 

Also this week, in the pics. That's french toast. I made that for us one morning this week. It was delish. The catch? Syrup and powder sugar do not exist here. It was a bummer... But, we ate it with jam, and it was good. The second picture was taken when Soeur Lamb and I were helping Soeur Hotere, a member, set up for Jessica's baby shower, an inactive member. And! Don't worry, I'm still as OCD as always... But seriously. Quelle honteWhat a shame.. Soeur Hotere, who speaks perfect french and english, was like, "Someone's a perfectionist" as I was doing this plate. It was pretty. And the last. The bridge of death! That's what we cross twice or three times a week to do to Riviere Sallee to do internet, church, and district meeting. Le meilleur.The best. It's kinda sketch. But we've gotten pretty good at it. J'aime biennn! I luh it a lot!

We did lots of service again this week. Cours d'anglais and desherb-ing.English lessons and weeding. I will be the master at that when I get home. We went to a members house, and pulled out weeds that were taller than me. I felt super strong. 

Also, It's my birthday this week!! Your birthday gift to me? Go to the temple. Sérieusement.Seriously.  There is not a temple within a thousand miles of me, and I always went on my birthday. Well, for the last three years, since I've been in Utah, but it's a tradish, quoi.what (not sure what she's getting at...or if this is correct grammar...?) Last year, I went with Becs and Laura!! My two married friends now!! And it was great. So, if you get a chance, go to the temple. Parce qu'il me manque. Plus que je peux dire.  Because I miss it, more than I can say.

And! Invitation of the week! Mosiah 26:33. The Lord has just talked to Alma, and what does he do? he WRITES THEM DOWN. This has always been a struggle for me. But! I've been doing this for the last two weeks! Taking a piece of paper with me when I say my night prayer and writing down revelation. And writing down what I receive during personal study in my journal too. It's the best! I am a big fan. So. Faites-le.  Do it.  Cause it's the best!

Anyways, I love you all! Thanks for your love and support! You are the best! Have a good week! 

L'evangile est vrai!

Love, Soeur Santos

1. Soeur Lamb and I. Cooking! In our monogrammed aaprons. Thank you Soeur Cuthbert's mom!!
2. Happy Easters! Us with quelques a few chocolate eggs.
3. Moi and Soeur Blucker at the Easter concert! She sang. I love herrr!!

April 7, 2013

une grande sieste kanaki.

Ma chere famille, 

Bonjour a tous! Hello All I hope that general conference was good for errbod! I'm SUPER jel, cause we have to wait another 5 and 6 days to watch it. They watch it the next weekend here, altogether. (Is that one word or two? that looks weird.) But I think I'm doing pretty good at my English still, cause Elder Dymock just asked me how to spell "wand." He's been out for awhile... Anyways, yah, I'll getta watch it in a bit. Which I'm stoked for. I LOVE CONFERENCE. And! The best news of all, we, (all the American mishs) getta watch it in English. Which I'm stoked about cause french is great and all, and I could probs even understand it now. But, it's better in English. I like there voices. Oh! Speaking of which. If someone wants to send me an Ensign for conference in English Des que when it comes out, that would be great! I like reading the talks again. I actually read all of this last ensign. Every single talk. And it was good!

Well, this week was good. We did lots of teaching, the gospel and English, and we had exchanges! Which were fun. I went on a 24 hour adventure to Magenta with Soeur Hall, who was one of Soeur Lamb's old companions. It was super great! I wanna serve in Magenta, it's beautiful! The ocean is right outside of their apt. You just walk out of the parking lot, turn left and bam. Right there. It's gorg. I died! But yah, it was good. Soeur Hall was also in the MTC with Elder Santos, so that's kinda fun, cause he just went on exchanges with Elder Porterfield, who was in the MTC and even in my district for his last week there with me. The second picture is Soeur Hall and me trying to cook the night we were together. But here's the blague joke. We only pretend to cook. It's usually Soeur Madsen, her comp, and Soeur Lamb, my comp, that do the real cooking. But! Merci Père Céleste thank heaven, we didn't burn the place down. It was great though! And the thing that mostly freaked me out was that I was the oldest. That's never happened before... And it felt weird. But I like it! It's just weird to think I'm as old as I am, mission age. And it's about to happen a lot. Cause we're getting at least 3 more Soeurs this transfer, right after my bday, and two more the transfer after that. So I may be training by June. Which kinda freaks me out, mais on verra. but we'll see

Before I forget, pics one and three are me budgeting!! Soeur Lamb showed me how! And the third one's me and my bff, Soeur Kailiponi. I love that crazy. We have way too much fun together.

Anyways, this week was good. And I really like teaching English in french! It's quite fun. I got to do that a couple times this week, but the first time was actually mostly teaching English in English. Because I was teaching Fanny, who's from France, but she already speaks English really well. So it was easy. But the cool thing with her was that I started teaching her English, but we started talking about the church! Specifically Sundays and church and all that jazz. And it was great! So we talked about that for about half of her lesson. Soeur Lamb was sitting just a few feet over teaching her little girl, Clea. She also has a little boy, named Sasha. But I love her and her little family! They're adorable! And Soeur Lamb and I are hoping that we'll be able to start lessons with her in the next month. Because she's sooo great!! Oh I love her. She actually kind of reminds me of a French version of Tamie Ard... I dunno why. But yah. She's fantastic!

Oh, subject line's a quote from church. Kamalu actually mentioned it in his email, so I'm wondering if it's pareil chez lui, but EVERYONE and there dog takes a sieste here. Like EVERY DAY. Things just close in the middle of the day so that people can take their naps. It's KRAY KRAY. And I'm never taking a nap when I get home again cause I don't like it so muchhh. 

Anyways, times up, but I hope that you are all doing well! I love you family! And happy Birthday this weekend mom! I'll be thinking of you! And watching conference to celebrate! Yay!! I love you all! Sachez que vous êtes dans mes prières!! Know that you are in my prayers

Je vous aime!!

L'evangile est vrai!

Love, Soeur Santos

April 2, 2013

Easter Monday?

 Ma chère famille,  Dear family,
>
> Ay Bonjour! Sooo, sorry for the 24 hour delay, but here La Pâques c’était
> hier et tout était fermer.  Easter was yesterday and everything was closed. Like EVERYTHING. We didn't even get to do our
> grocery shopping cause nothing was open. It was kind of a bizarre day, and
> it kinda makes me happy to know that I only have one Easter here, cause
> franchement, c'était nulle. frankly, it was dead.  (as in there was nothing going on at all.) Je n'aime pas. I don't like it.  But, Soeur Lamb and I just
> pretended Easter was on Sunday comme chez nous and we ate our weight in
> chocolate eggs and all that jazz Sunday. So it was good! Also, there was an
> Easter concert Sunday! Which was great!! Cause some little kid played "This
> is the Christ" on the violin and I almost lost it cause I haven't seen any
> string instruments since I've been here, so a violin was exciting. There are
> still no cellos on this island. But, it's still on my New Years Resolutions
> to find one. On verra... We'll see...  Also, they sang my fave easter hymn! the emo one.
> and I can play it on the piano, "Ce matin la" en francais, j'ai oublie le
> nom en anglais. "That morning" in French; I forgot the name in English.  (She's referring to "That Easter Morn", #198 in the English hymnbook...I think it's hilarious that she calls it "the emo one", because the hymn is in a minor key...except for the last chord of the last verse, in which there is a Picardy third, creating a major chord!) But yah, it was exciting. It's funny how excited I get when
> something with music happens. I'm like a kid in a candy shop. But I like
> that Pup's easter caroling at peoples doors to get in. Maybs Soeur Lamb and
> I should start that up.
>
> This last week was better than last week, as far as finding people to teach
> goes! We found a couple amis investigators and we now have 2 amis en progrès!  investigators who are progressing Which is
> very exciting. One we found this week. Her name is Mary. And the timing was
> actually perfect. We had just been talking at the door with a potentiel ami
> de l’église potential investigator, and then we left her to walk down the stairs. We were supposed
> to have a lesson with her, but she couldn't that night, so we walked down
> the stairs and pulled out our planners to look at our backup plan when this
> lady is coming back from her walk and says, "Bonjour Les Soeurs!" Well, we
> started talking to her, cause she knew who we were from far away. And she's
> the mom of one of the members in Rivière Salée. She's been taking the
> lessons off and on for quite some time now and she has read most of the Book
> of Mormon and knows that it's true. She's blocked because of the Law of
> Chastity. She has a copain boyfriend that is actually trying to get a divorce (I'm assuming from his former spouse), but it
> takes quite awhile here, cause they want to get married and she wants to be
> baptized. So that is the problem. But we are teaching her every day now and
> she is fantastic!
>
> We also scheduled lots of lessons for this week and the next so, we're
> starting to get busy and it's sooo exciting!! I love teaching and that's
> what we're starting to do more and more, so it's great!!
>
> Also, something new, I get to teach English in French starting this week,
> tomorrow and Thursday, so that'll be fun. hah. Hopefully it'll go well. I've
> never tried teaching another language in not my native tongue before, but
> I'm excited, none the less.
>
> Anyways, I got one more story to tell before I run out of time, cause it's
> hilarious and also kinda scarring. But mostly just funny. So, Soeur Lamb and
> I were walking back from a lesson that fell through, looking for
> opportunities to serve. (I think this was last Wednesday.) And we saw this
> cute little family in the jardin yard/garden doing some jardinage yardwork. So, we stopped to ask
> if they needed some help. They said non merci no thank you, but we left them a pass along
> card with our number in case they need something later on. So we turn to
> walk away. Soeur Lamb was in front of me and I was just behind and we're
> walking down the sidewalk. I think we took like 5 steps when I walked onto a
> loose sewer lid (the round metal ones) And FELL INTO THE SEWER. It was
> gross. It was like the entire left half of my body. And Then the sewer
> started to like explode you know what out of it. I was laughing at the time
> and so was Soeur Lamb, but we were writing in our journals that night about
> it, and looking back, it's kind of distressing. But yes. That happened this
> week. Something that doesn't even happen in the movies happened to me.
>
> Anyways, that's about it for this week. I love you family! You are the best!
> Apparently phil's playing Rite of Spring right now for the end of year
> concert. (BYU Philharmonic- the orchestra she was playing in at BYU) Can't say I'm sad about missing Stravinsky though... They can get
> him and Hindemith outta the way while I'm gone. But yes. I love you family!
> Thanks for your love and support and prayers! I need every one of them! Know
> that you are in mine as well! Je vous aime!!  I love you!
>
> L'evangile est vrai!  The Church is true!
>
> Love, Soeur Santos