First Sunday..

A plate of crusty bread, stinky cheese, and juicy pears on my lap, does it get better? Let alone the fact that I am in the most beautiful country in the world.
This morning I set off to church and though I’d been given directions from an old missionary here, they weren’t correct. I ended up asking a bus driver for help and thankfully he had heard of our church and gave me great directions from the next metro stop. When Kami and I finally arrived, a half an hour late, there was a group of people standing outside the church. A couple missionary greeted us and we found out right away that they were Americans! They are in charge of all the young adults in the stake, which comprises everyone under age 30 whether you’re married or not. They said that we had arrived just on time because every three months, there is a stake-wide conference and today was that day. They invited us to come along so we hopped in the missionaries’ car, there names are Elder and Sister Ahretz. We drove through the gorgeous northern countryside for about 45 minutes until we arrived to a city called Arras. There, we rejoined about 30 young adults who welcomed us with big smiles and lots of conversation! Relief Society was wonderful though due to the extra people we had to sit on primary chairs. The lesson was given by a sweet girl Natacha and afterward I discovered a lot of connections. Aurélie Coppens, the girl I sat next to, is the cousin of Melanie Babin and Valentine Caussé! Two of my friends from Paris! She also lived in my roommate Lydia’s homeward in Bordeaux. Then, we discovered that I knew several of her friends that have gone to BYU. I really enjoyed meeting these northern French girls; we then went to sacrament meeting and listened to a wonderful program! Two recent converts bore their testimonies which were touching, and then there were several short talks and a beautiful musical number. After church, the stake prepared a lovely meal of tuna and cucumber crudités with radishes, then a salad course, and thirdly a course of mushroom meat over wild rice. I ate with a few of the girls I’d met earlier and had a fabulous time talking with them. I discovered that Aurélie actually lives on the same street as I do! Only I’m number 10 and she’s number 125, so technically we’re ten minutes apart. They invited me to institute, family home evening, Friday night get-togethers, everything! It was such a good feeling to be around members; I can’t believe how much I’d missed it! At 4pm we watched Elder Bednar’s broadcast that America got last week. It was a fabulous talk on keeping our minds and bodies pure. One of the ya’s commented that since I had to concentrate to listen, I was the only one that didn’t fall asleep during it. Haha, I think he didn’t believe me when I said I really enjoyed it. Well, the end of a great weekend has come and it’s back to work tomorrow. I guess I have to earn my stay somehow :) À bientôt xo