The Melun Forest - May 20, 2013

So this week we may or may not have stumbled upon an enchanted forest in Melun. Pictures are attached. Get excited. 

P-Day Shot From the Melun Forest

This week was so awesome. We don't have as much time to write emails this week as normal so I'm just going to write a couple highlights and then spend the rest of the time uploading pics.

So last week was CRAZY!! We officially have Elders in our village and it is amazing. Soeur Rhondeau and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. 1) because we feel like we are not in this alone and 2) because there are areas of our zone that we feel a responsibility for but as sisters we probably shouldn't really be going there. With the Elders here, I feel like we have so much more support and that spreading the Gospel in Melun will just explode.

One of the days last week we took half the day as a service day to clean the old apartment for the arrival of the Elders. After we cleaned we went out porting. We were seriously exhausted but Soeur Rhondeau and I were determined to do at least some missionary work that day. We head to a little neighborhood we had our eyes on. We knock on the first door, a woman answers and we introduce ourselves and say we have a message for her about Jesus Christ. "Well ok. I don't have a ton of time but you're welcome to come in". Voila, we went in and taught her a full lesson. Her name is Marie and she is AMAZING! She says beautiful things like "Prayer is the food of my day". Who says that?! Prepared people. That's who. As Soeur Rhondeau and I left, Soeur Rhondeau turns to me and says "I feel like that was almost...too easy." haha But she was so wonderful and she is someone who (based on experiences she shared) has just been prepared for the Gospel. It really is such a blessing.

Another fun story of the week was our good friend Oliver. Saturday night we're walking home and out of the corner of my eye I see this man waving both arms frantically to get our attention. I wave at him and walk over to see what he wants. He asks us about our badges and what church we are for. He asks "are you the mormons?". We start talking about religion and how to him, Religion has always oppressed the people of Europe. Then Soeur Rhondeau asks "Well, who is God to you?" At that moment his face just light up "HE IS THE CREATURE OF ALL THINGS" and he motions in all directions. He went on to share his own beautiful testimony of God and it was amazing to see just how much he lit up talking about God. Afterwards, he leaned in close to us, as if to tell us a secret and said "you know...I used to think you guys were a sect....but after meeting you, and seeing how nice you are...there is just no way. I'm going to try to come to your church tomorrow". I LOVE BEING ON A MISSION! I love the many wonderful people you get to meet EVERY DAY!

On a completely different note, Soeur Rhondeau and I had experienced a serious dry spell as far as letters go. John is the best letter writer so he wins an award but besides him, as a pair, we had not received a letter in like three weeks or so...which I know doesn't sound like that long but it is ok! Haha well then Mama Rhondeau broke the spell and sent us a wonderful package full of goodies! SHE IS THE BEST! She seriously broke the curse because that next day, there were like 6 letters in our mailbox. Mama Rhondeau is da best.

OH! I almost forgot my favorite story. So we're teaching the Lam-yam son because he is getting baptized. (It is a tradition here in Melun that the missionaries teach the 7 year olds just before they turn 8). Last week he asked "How can you be happy all the time?" We then talked about being grateful and how when we realize the wonderful things that God has done for us, we can be more and more happy. We told him that we would buy him a gratitude Journal for that next week. This week, when we were teaching him again (oh and all the lam-yam kids sit in on the lesson so we basically teach the 4 cutest Asian kids on this planet) We all went around the room and said three things that we are grateful for. We get to Lea (5 years old) and she says "umm...I'm grateful for church...and the sister missionaries..." Insert cute little girl smile here. I love those kids so much.

Anyway, I'm going to spend the rest of the time uploading pics. I LOVE YOU ALL

ANNE- HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY!!! So once upon a time, I had planned to send all your stuff and the stuff for mother’s day in one fell swoop...but then today was a holiday and everything is closed so I will send it a.s.a.p. and you will just get a very late birthday love note from me :)

Avec Amour

Soeur Bitter

Too Nice a Backdrop to Miss a Photo Op

Quick Mothers Day Post & Photos - May 13, 2013

Dearest Family,

I call my family...an hour late...and then I forget to wish my own mother Happy Mother's day. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! MOM YOU ARE SO AWESOME! Expect a love note from Paris...but wait patiently because I think it takes a bit. haha

So favorite teaching of the week was definitely Romain. He was the investigator who just walked into church one day...and in case you didn't know...that doesn't really happen often. We taught him on Wednesday and then again on Friday. He really opened up to us and his life is comparable to Job. That is not an exaggeration at all. He has the most beautiful one-liners so I'm just going to include some of them in here. We taught with Soeur Demuynck and I can tell by her interactions that she has decided to take him under her wing and now is kind of like his mom. On Friday we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He would say things like "So what you're saying is that I can see my mother again." or "so does that mean we're a celestial family?" (indicating to the 3 of us). When I asked him to pray about the plan of salvation and to know if God loved him he said "I will pray about it. But I'm pretty sure it's true. Why else would you be here?". He has so much faith in God and he has had such a hard life. He said that he was once taught by Missionaries of another faith but he sent them away because they taught him he could not adore and love God "of course I will love God. He's my father!". He is seriously the sweetest man we have ever met and every time we leave lessons with him, both Soeur Rhondeau and I think "this is why we are on a mission". We have never met anyone who NEEDS the Gospel quite like Romain does. We have already been able to see the magic it's worked in his life and it's amazing.

So I don't know if I told you this...but we've kind of developed a game here in Melun. There are Q-tips...like everywhere. It's very bizarre. Just on the ground. So we have developed a game with a point system and everything. We keep tally of it on our board. I know a lot of you are reading this right now and you're asking yourself, "what the heck". Since we walk a lot we developed a fun game. We were walking in Dammerie one day and I look at the ground and spot a yellow one (first one we've ever seen: 10pts) and then immediately after I spot a red one (5 points). Soeur Rondeau immediately yells "NOOOO!!! IT'S NOT FAIR!!" And then what do I do? I break into a little victory dance. It was fine because no one was watching us right? Wrong. Little did I know, but behind me on the sidewalk is a line of about 8-10 guys ranging in age from about 20-30. They couldn't get past me because the cars park 1/2 on the sidewalk and I was blocking the path with my little victory dance. Soeur Rhondeau looks back at me and just busts up laughing. Because, my happy dance, the one I thought was in solitude, was actually witnessed by a line of men just half laughing at my strange American ways. Oh the life of a missionary.

All in all, it was a fantastic week. We have a lot of really progressing investigators and it is amazing to watch the Gospel bless their life and see the change they go through.

Jon- GOOD LUCK THESE LAST WEEKS! I know you are going to rock it.

Aubrey, Kati and Meredith- If you want this relationship to work, you gotta work for it! Haha just kidding. But the transfer is officially over :) time to write me one of the love letters.

Rachel- How is planning the wedding?? What is going on??

Mayu- When do you go to India (it was india right?) I want to hear about it? Will you have a blog?? Can you send me the blog entries?? I would love to hear about your service there!!

Mindy- My companion just got Japanese stationary from her parents and we loved looking through it and at the funny quotes. It reminded me of my favorite pencil of all time "Happiness Music". It will always hold a dear place in my heart. I miss you so much!! I'll try to send you pictures soon.

I love you all so much. Sorry this letter is shorter. We are short on time today and we're in Paris again today and want to see some things.

I love you mucho!!

Soeur Bitter

More Family Night Fun

Rain is a Big Part of Missionary Life

Family Night Fun - May 6, 2013

So I know the other week I said it was the week of miracles...but maybe that was a lie because THIS week was the week of miracles. Soeur Rhondeau and I are absolutely exhausted. We taught a ton of lessons and have been running from place to place. We have been really blessed with teaching people who are very ready for the Gospel--which is awesome.

Firstly, so with Petula (she is the one who has a baptismal date for the end of May and the photo is with her kids) we had a FHE last Monday. Her husband is super nice and very welcoming but he said early on that he is uninterested and either isn't there or he will leave the room when we are there. So we had FHE with Petula and her kids. It was HILARIOUS! So we taught a quick lesson and we taught them how to play charades. We were trying to think of a game that we could play (with my limited French) and they would enjoy too. Charades it was and they seriously had a blast. Now every time we come, they want to listen in on the lessons and hang out with us. Well after the FHE, her husband started talking to us. It was honestly the first time I had talked to him. He told me that he had actually taken the missionary discussions when he lived in the Congo and that the missionaries just lived next door to him and they would come over a lot. He said that next Sunday, that they should all go to church together. We were floored! What a miracle. I think seeing his family so happy and having fun together made him more curious than before. Oh and the other picture below is when we taught Petula later that week. One of the girls was fascinated by my hair and was playing with it/brushing it the whole time haha.

She Did Wonders for My Hair

Family Night Fun

So we found Prisca this week and I haven't met someone who is more ready for the Gospel. The first lesson, she said that she had been looking for the true church but that she has never been able to find it. Her husband told her that she could pray about it because God promised that he would let us know what was truth (this all happened on splits so I didn't meet her until lesson two). After the first lesson, they asked her to read Alma 32 and the Restoration pamphlet. The next time Soeur Rhondeau and I go back and sure enough she read the entireity of both! And when we asked her how it was she said "I find this book easier to understand than the Bible. It just explains things better" She went on to talk about her favorite parts about how it explained faith. Teaching her is awesome because I really feel that Soeur Rhondeau and I hardly do anything and the spirit does all the work. We are definitely prepared for lessons haha we haven't tried winging anything yet but the lessons just go so smoothly and she is progressing faster than I have seen anyone do so far.

OH! Another miracle this week. We met this wonderful woman named Zwina. We were porting one day and she opened the door and started talking to us about philosophy and how we can know something to be true in this confusing world. She said that a lot of times, religion is tied to hatred and bloodshed (talking about crusades etc). She invited us in and we met her cute little family. She was talking about how she wasn't very sure about Christianity when I had the feeling to give her a Book of Mormon. I usually only keep one or two in my bag but I decided to take it out. As soon as she saw it, she said "you are Mormon?!" And her whole attitude changed. She talked about how she loved the Mormons and that she knows that we are very family oriented people. Next thing I know, we are going to the back of her house and she gave each of us these old (like 18th century) Christian books (including the Bible) as a gift. It was the sweetest thing that I had ever witnessed.

The people of France are incredibly giving. I have seen it time and time again. For example, last week, our key to our old apartment stopped working. We have a key for the door and then a key for the building. The building key is electronic and so the batteries can die. Well...they did. Haha when we went to the agency, they said that we would just have to figure it out for a couple weeks. It got pretty tiring paging people in our building to ask them to buzz us in. One day, this man saw us and he said "oh my friend lives here. Let me page her". We get in and go inside to do planning. Suddenly we hear our doorbell ring. We go to the door and there is this woman there who says "my friend says there are these two English girls who don't have a key anymore! I have two! I knew you were on the 3rd or 4th floor so I have just been ringing every door until I found you. Here! Have my key". People are so nice!

So the other day we had splits and we stayed here in Melun and the Luxemburg sisters came down. THANKFULLY I was with a sister who has already served in the Melun area for a while so she knew the area and we were able to get around just fine. She got really close with the Bishop's family while she was here because they can speak English and I guess her French wasn't very good when she got here. That night the Bishop's family had us over for dinner and the Bishops wife said the sweetest thing (well...to me haha). She put her arm around my shoulders and said "Soeur Hurrell, Soeur Bitter has the gift of tongues...you...do not. But keep working. Not everyone can have the gift of tongues" Whoops haha. But it made me feel good to know my French isn't a complete disaster.

So they have this cool tradition in the Melun ward that whenever an 8 year old is about to be baptized, the missionaries will come and teach them. It's kind of like a ‘rite of passage’ thing for this ward. So the Lam Yams son is getting baptized this next week and so we had a lesson with him on Sunday. We decided that the Gospel of Christ would be good and we could talk about the importance of this next step. It was the best thing ever! He knew every answer to EVERY question. "Michael, what is faith" Answer: "Faith is hope for things which are not seen which are true." BOOM! His response for every question was quoting some scripture. It was amazing! Maybe he can come teach with us sometime.

All in all, this week was amazing. There were definitely more stories but I don't want to make my emails too overwhelmingly long haha.

I'm excited to talk to you on Sunday. Dad and I kind of worked out that it will be at 9 am your time...which is 10 am TX time for you Texans. :) And I'm hoping to do google hangout so we can all be in on it!

Happy Mother's day mom! You are so awesome! I can't wait to talk to you!

Je vous aime beaucoup!!

Soeur Kari Ann Bitter

p.s. The new apartment is great. It makes me smile every day I come home :) And we're really excited to have elders here! So we're not allowed to teach men (unless they have a family or unless we bring either a Sister from the ward or two Brethren) so it's sometimes hard. But with them here, I really feel like we will continue to find people who are searching for the truth. EXCITING!

Graduated From BYU While Living in Paris - April 29, 2013

Dearest People,

I'M GRADUATED. To celebrate such an occasion, we had a graduation party in my honor - French Style. See picture below. It was quite sophisticated and you can all be jealous if you so chose.

Best College of Fine Arts Convocation Ever - Short and to the Point

This week was awesome. Let's start with Romain. Romain was the miracle of last week. He just walked into church and instantly was an ami. Major side note. So new investigators are called "nouveaux amis" or new friends. So sometimes when we are on the train and we're talking to each other or to someone on the phone we'll say "ya! And found two new friends today" and people will look at us like we're really sad and pathetic. Oh those poor girls. Must be so hard for them to find friends. Anyway, so we had an FHE planned with Romain and two guys from the ward on Wednesday. He said that he wanted to meet us at the Train and then we could all go to the church together. We figured he must have forgotten how to get there. Well we are waiting there and we start to think that he has bailed on us. We call him at about 10 past and he says "of course I'm coming". Ya. Duh sister missionaries. Well we are waiting and then we wonder what train he is coming in on because the next one doesn't come for another half hour. Next thing we know, here comes Romain in his car, wearing his aviator sunglasses. Side note: sister missionaries can't ride in cars with anyone but members. He then is like "hop in and we'll head over to the church" we then have to awkwardly say "uhh...we're not allowed". This happened on two separate occasions this week. Our cool new friends will be all nice and offer a ride and we're just awkward little sister missionaries "uhh...we're not allowed" haha it's too much. He was really cool about it. But at this point, we're already 30 minutes late. The other two guys are waiting at the church because we're the only ones who have key's of the 5 of us. He zooms over to the church and we're sprinting there (another mile or so). Soeur Rhondeau and I were thinking "there is no way to recover from this. That was by far too awkward. How do you recover from this??"

Eventually we got to the church though and it turned out to be one of the best lessons EVER. Soeur Rhondeau said that it was probably the best lesson she had had her entire mission. He really opened up and he kept saying "I have been looking for a reason to change" or "my faith is this big" (and makes a mini circle with his hands) "and I just don't know how to make it bigger". He really is the sweetest man. It was a beautiful lesson and he didn't want it to end. We closed and were ready to pray and he just kept wanting to talk about repentance and how to improve your faith. It was awesome. One of my favorite moments though was when Frere Prunin was talking about how they had a soccer team as a ward. He said that Romain should come and play with them. "Do you play Soccer romain" "yeah. In Guadalupe." "Oh are you any good" "Well, I was on the national pro team..." So no big deal. I'm just teaching a retired pro soccer player and he may or may not have offered me a ride. So ya. The sisters are kind of a big deal.

Another awesome miracle happened yesterday. So we got a call from the assistants about a week ago giving us the contact info of someone in our area. They met him in Paris but he lives in our area and wanted to hear about the Gospel. We try to contact him and things just keep falling through. Finally we set an appointment but we come to the apartment building and we can't find him. We proceed to knock on all sorts of doors and no one knows who Cover is. After calling him, he calls his wife who is home (he wasn't) and she comes out and the moment I saw her, I just loved her. Her name is Sephora and she is from the Congo. We decided beforehand to just do a basic overview of the plan of salvation and just get to know her. We have never met either of them before so we just wanted to know more about them and then introduce them to why we were there and what we do as missionaries. The whole time Soeur Rhondeau and I kept wondering if she was starting to cry or just had more glazed eyes. Towards the end of the meeting, Soeur Rhondeau and I talked about how it doesn't matter what your problems, preoccupations or trials are. The Gospel will help you and your family. At this point she broke down and cried. She opened up about her incredibly hard situation. Her story is seriously one of survival and it just made your heart break. Soeur Rondeau and I already love her so much. You can see that she just needs the Gospel and the hope and peace that it can bring. That night the husband called us to apologize that he couldn't be there and asked how the lesson went. We said that we really enjoyed getting to know his wife and son (rufus). He said that he heard it went super. He said he was really excited for our appointment next week.

This week was very humbling. It reminded me of an experience that I had in my marriage prep class. The teacher handed out playing cards at the beginning of class but he told us not to look at our card. At the end of class he gave us permission to look. Mine was the Queen of spades. He went on to say that in this life, each of us is dealt a different card and a different suit. Some of us, from birth, are given a lot. We are born in the church, in a free country, in a loving home. Each of us there had the luxury of a University education. He said that with the higher suit/cards came a higher responsibility. God gave us gifts not just for ourselves but also for his other children. Some are dealt a very low suit and they do the very best they can. This week reminded me of why I am here and why I came in the first place. It reminded me of the things that a truly important and that while this life is sometimes incredibly imperfect and unfair, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect and in the life to come, everything unjust is made perfect.

OH! I almost forgot! We have a new place! I AM SO EXCITED!! We are getting Elder's in our area and Soeur Rhondeau and I have been secretly hoping that we could get the new place. Well at interviews with President on Tuesday he said to Soeur Rhondeau "one more question. Would you like the new place?" Soeur Rhondeau replied very shyly "...maybe..." After he learned of where we had been living (not that it's super bad. It's just above a couffure) he firmly said "you're Soeurs. You're moving." SO WE GET THE BEAUTIFUL BRAND NEW APARTMENT!! It is seriously so nice and it's in a super nice part of town and it's right next to a great little farmers market :). Happy day. I'll attach pics in another email.

New Apartment Includes a Sky-Light

I love you so so much

Soeur Bitter

P.S. I hope you're all doing what the First Presidency asked and opening your mouth about the Gospel once a day! I heard that last week Jon did so he wins the prize!

You know you are a missionary when... - April 22, 2013

Hi,

We had so many awesome moments this week!! And so many funny stories but I don't know if I have time for them all. So let me just start with you know you're a missionary when moments.

You know you're a missionary when:

1. Your purse breaks because your Book of Mormon is so heavy. 
2. When a man comes up to you on the street and says "I like the green you're both wearing. How do I become part of your team? What team are you on?" And you reply "we are missionaries of Jesus Christ" Aka "we're on Jesus's team." 
3. When you become super excited to have an investigator you have never met just walk into church. THAT WAS A MIRACLE! Let's just dwell on this for a moment. So our church is backwards. We start with Relief Society and Priesthood and then Sacrament meeting is last. The missionaries start in Priesthood because we share a missionary moment in the very beginning and then we go down to RS. Well we come in and we see one of our Ami's fathers who is not a member and we become very excited and we sit next to him. Next thing we know, a man walks in who I have never seen before. My first thought "well...I am very new. Maybe I just haven't noticed him before" until Soeur Rhodeau says "I don't know that man". Preface to Soeur Rhondeau: She has been serving here since the end of Dec.. So if she doesn't know them, that means they are not in the ward. We taught 2nd hour (which is like Gospel Essentials) to our two investigators and afterwards he said he really liked it here. We have an FHE set up with him for tonight and he seemed really excited that he was invited...little does he know that the FHE is planned FOR him :) 
4. You keep pictures that little kids draw for you and hang them on your fridge. 
5. You go porting (door-to-door) and a woman opens the door who is brest feeding her child...and not discreetly either. Just teaching a mini lesson about Joseph Smith to a bare chested woman. No big deal 
6. You feel a sense of being accepted when animals are nice to you. 
7. You have dreams about teaching the Gospel. 
8. People ask you why you and your companion have the same first name...at least once a day.
9. You run to the mailbox to see if you're loved at least 3x a day. 
10. When you stalk 10 year olds to make sure they get to the bus safe in the ghetto. 

So our miracles of the week:

Romain coming randomly to church yesterday was an AWESOME MIRACLE! The best was when one of our friend (Stephen) ran into us with him in-between the block. He was getting to know Romain and he asked him "so how do you know the Soeurs" Romain then points to the class and says, "from class". Stephen was so confused.

We taught a man yesterday named Henrie. We met him on Saturday Night while knocking his neighborhood. He has a big family and he is evangelical. He asked us to come back the same time tomorrow (Sunday). We come back and had an AWESOME LESSON. He has such a spirit of love in his home and after starting to teach him he said "I think I should be taking notes" and he proceeded to take notes of the scriptures we used and Joseph Smith's experience. At the bottom he wrote when our next RDV with him was. When he did that, mine and Soeur Rhondeau's hearts just swelled. He won't forget us! (Hopefully)

We went to a couple dinners this week at members’ homes. This first was at the Lusvardi's. They are this beautiful American family (so it was nice to have a break from French). They made us an AMAZING meal but what was the most fantastic was how much warmth was in their home. They had a super cute daughter name Lily (4ish) and a son Jullian (3ish). Let me just preface that lily is the most well-mannered lovely little girl. She's like a mini Audrey Hepburn and she enunciates all her words with such care. Well at one point during dinner she accidentally spilled her milk. She said "oh no. Mommy, look what happened. I'm sorry". At this point I'm thinking "oh no. She didn't mean to! Hopefully she doesn't get in too much trouble" her mom just nonchalantly replied "oh it's not a big deal" and just whipped it up. About 30 minutes later, Lily's friend Carington opened a cupboard and all the books and toys came spilling out. Silence. "Sorry lily" "Don't worry! It wasn't your fault!" -Lily. I just thought of how evident it was how their kids were raised. Things that don't matter--really DO. NOT. MATTER. There was never an unkind word spoken. I'm sure they have their days like everyone else but it definitely wasn't when we were there. Anyway, it was an awesome day and we really felt like we had a little piece of home. We shared a message that "Faith is like a little seed" and we brought a pack of flower seeds to give to Lily and Jullian. When I asked Lily how she waters or gives sun to our faith tree, she said "well sometimes we talk about Jesus" so precious. And we felt so cool because Lily LOVED the seeds we gave her. She said "Umm. Soeur Bitter. Thank you very much for the seeds. I have been wanting to water the flowers outside but mom says their not mine and now I have my own. So thank you very much" I love her.

We went to Maria's house the next day for crepes and she is AWESOME! She is from Russia and has a little boy and girl as well. We shared a lesson with her about God's love for her. Maria has SO MUCH LOVE for everyone. Like SO MUCH. She is looking for opportunities to show her love for others. We just hope she knows that we love her and God loves her too. It was so funny though. Her kids and Soeur Rhondeau and I were coloring before dinner. I didn't know what to draw so I proceeded to draw the Eiffel Tower...one of the few things I can draw quickly. Soon I became a celebrity. :) I can't speak french amazingly but I can at least draw Eiffel Towers for all the kids we visit.

Yesterday, we had a surprise family night. We found out we had it at the end of Sacrament meeting. We hopped in the car and headed over. It was so awesome. They invited over a man who is in our ward who is less active. We were able to talk about how we can see God in all of his creations. He was such a nice man! I hope he is there this Sunday.

Mom: I heard you're really kicking it when it comes to family history. That is so awesome! After coming on a mission I really see the serious importance of family history work...not that I didn't see it before. I think I just have a more proactive attitude towards it now.

Dad: You planted strawberries! The summer I LEAVE?! I feel robbed. Why are you going to CA?  I appreciate your stalking me and giving us weather updates. Sometimes we try to peek at the news and see what the weather will be like the next day...most of the time it doesn't work.

OH ALSO! What in the world is happening over there? Every time people find out I'm from the United States, the proceed to talk to me about the Boston Marathon bombing and another bombing in Chicago? What happened? I feel incredibly out of the loop.

Jon: You're awesome. Way to be the highlight of the week.

Rachel & Mayu--where are you these days?? I want to send you a postcard but I don't dare send it to your old addresses. I never had Rachel’s address in the first place. If you want a postcard, you have to send me your address :)

Mindy: WAY TO BE THE ONLY PERSON TO SEND ME A LETTER THIS WEEK!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!! EXPECT AN EPIC LETTER COMING YOUR WAY..ok...I'm not that cool. It might not be epic. But you'll be getting one :)

I love you all SO MUCH!!

Sœur Bitter

Amazing to have the Eiffel Tower in your area.

Down But Not Out - April 15, 2013

BONJOUR MY FAVORITE AMERICANS!!!

So I have no idea where to start for this week so we'll start with the most important things. THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!! Oh also, I was told, on many accounts, that I utilize the word 'love' or some deviation too much. Therefore, I will expand my vocabulary in cette email.

So Soeur Rhondeau and I actually got really sick this week. I know I'm laughing and the funny thing is even we were laughing at how pathetic we were during our bout with the flu. It was Thursday or so and I woke up so ill. The week earlier, I had been holding back Soeur Rhondeau's hair during conference. Then we thought it was food poisoning...now...we think we got sick from one of our amis (investigators). Anyway, we had an appointment with Petula that morning (the sister who is getting baptized) and so I thought "DON'T JUST LAY THERE SOEUR BITTER! GET YOUR LAZY REAR OUT OF BED. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SALVATION OF OTHERS!" Well finally Soeur Rhondeau told me that she thought it was best if we stayed in. She was right. About 30 minutes later we both became really good friends with our bathroom. It got to the point that I decided to sleep on our tile floor. Because 1) it was closer in proximity to the bathroom than my bed and 2) because it was really cold and it felt good for my fever. BUT despite us getting sick and being down and out, we had an AMAZING WEEK! We saw a lot of miracles and we met some wonderful new people.

Feeling Under the Weather but Still Going Strong

First, I know this doesn't sound like a miracle but it is! So we stopped by Joel's house yesterday. He asked us to stop by in the late afternoon on Sunday. So we head over there and his daughter answers the door and says "OH THE MISSIONARIES! My dad told us you were coming but he just left! He was really excited for you to come but he should be back later! Will you please come back?" Be cool Sr. Rhondeau. Be cool. "Ya...you know what, that might fit in our schedules. We'll try to make that happen". As we round the corner we're clicking our heels. We go back later and his mother answers the door and says "Oh my sweet missionaries. I'm so sorry. He's still not here but he told us all about you!" (we found him porting. so I didn't know there was much to say) She then said "Me and my whole family are so excited to learn about the Gospel. Will you please come back??" JE PENSE OUI!! That was definitely the best way, anyone could hope to end a week. Anyway, so we have an appointment with them later this week.

We taught Denise for the first time yesterday as well. She had TONS of questions about the Plan of Salvation. Like A TON. "If we were with God before, why would he send us here? And who is Jesus Christ? He's different than God? What is his role?" It was awesome because the investigators who ask lots of questions are definitely the ones who learn the fastest. I am really excited to teach her and she has the CUTEST (either) son or brother. During the lesson, he slipped down from her lap and went and picked a flower from Garden. He slowly crept over to where I was and slid it across the table to me and then ran back to his mom. WAAA FRENCH KIDS ARE SO CUTE! Also...they're adorable because they can speak French. Every time I think "whoa how can they speak French so well?!" Anyway so after I turned to him and I said "C'est pour moi??" which he nodded really shyly and hid behind his mom again. He was precious. I wore it in my hair for the rest of the day.

Also, yesterday I had my first meal!!...with a family. A wonderful family in our ward invited us over for dinner. They have 4 kids and they are so funny and full of energy. Both of the parents served missions so they love talking to us about how it is going and they understand if an appointment runs over (which it did). Anyway, so we brought an object lesson relating to the iron rod! Well Soeur Rhondeau's mom sent her 2 big packages of the peel twizzlers. We decided that we would use one for the object lesson. We would hide the candy and blindfold one of the kids and see if they could find it. Then we would provide an iron rod that led straight to the Candy. THE KIDS LOVED IT! Apparently French kids love American candy. They kept asking "Is it American?? Is it American?!" Yup. Kids love us. Anyway, they are the most wonderful family and the husband used to own a bakery and so dessert was FANTASTIC!! Apparently the Soeurs get spoiled in the French mission. The Elders a little bit but President Poznanski said that the members just love the sisters. SUPERB!

Updates on France as a place, the weather has been all over the place. Yesterday (Sunday) it was GORGEOUS! It was about 67ish degrees and just sunny all day. We loved being outside. Well a couple days before that it hailed and then a couple days before that, we had lightning storms. Always an adventure! Anyway, the weather has always helped us in contacting or porting in some way. The other day, Soeur Rhondeau forgot her umbrella, and since I have a brilliant mother who found me a very portable umbrella, I always have mine with me. So we were walking around Avon sharing an umbrella...we looked adorable of course. Every time we talked to someone, if they weren't interested they would say something like "you are very nice, and very cute...but no" Probably my favorite phrase of the week.

Oh I almost forgot! I don't know if you do this in Orem, but I guess all the missionaries share their testimony their first week in the ward. I was secretly hoping they would forget. Well they didn't. EVERYONE was so nice to me after and kept complimenting me on my French and how the MTC is doing a much better job about preparing the missionaries for the language. That made me happy. :) Again, everyone is so nice.

Oh, also, you don't have to worry about our safety as Soeurs. We have a 190 lb black man who is our personal body guard a lot of the time...aka the ward mission leader. He is the NICEST man. He is a convert the church and he has lots of the love for the Missionaries. And I feel he feels this need to protect the Soeurs...especially since neither of us is taller than 5.5 or over 115. Anyway, his conversion story is awesome but what is even more cool to me is that he has given up his ENTIRE past life. He'll say things like "Ya...I heard this talk about media and music and I decided that my music wasn't inviting the spirit. So I wiped my entire iPod and started new". That's just the kind of person he is.

Anyway, we're in Paris again and I'm just itching to go see things so I must go! I send my love and my good wishes!!

Dad-- Yesterday, when it was super sunny I thought, "I bet my dad knows exactly how warm it is today. I bet he has added me to his phone." Sure enough, your next letter says you've been weather stalking me :) Love it. Also, the garden looks good! What did you guys plant this year?

Mom-- I love your thoughts on Elder Kueker's talk! That sounds like it was such a good talk. It reminds me how people say over and over. We are not looking for a final destination. In this life we are not wanting to attain a house on 3421 celestial lane, celestial kingdom. Instead it is about BECOMING and HAVING a celestial life, a celestial marriage etc. I love that idea of becoming.

Jon-- Good luck these next couple weeks! You are in my prayers beaucoup! DON'T FORGET YOUR AWESOMENESS!! I'm excited to hear more about how everything turns out. Also when do you graduate?

Attention HFAC friends: Is Meg in the MTC? What's her mailbox etc? Also what are the details on Rachel's wedding?? Also Mayu, if you're reading this, I have been thinking about you beaucoup! Just how awesome you are and what an influence you have had on me. I was thinking about love and agape and the Shack the other day and I am so grateful for you and opening my mind to these new ideas. I love you so much. I'll write you a letter soon.

Au Revoir!!

Avec tout mon amour,

Soeur Kari Ann Bitter

OH PS!! I almost forgot! Soeur Carter (my comp in the MTC) Said her grandpa served in Norway and he is about the same age as Grandpa Weber. MAYBE THEY KNEW EACH OTHER!

Last one I promise. So I was sitting on the plane to come here and I relalized that I was in the MTC for 40 days and 40 nights. Perfect. I labored in the wilderness of the MTC for 40 days and 40 nights.

First Week in France - April 8, 2013

FAMILY!!!

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

Today I was studying Jesus the Christ and it talked about all the names that are given to Christ. I thought of all the names that are given to God. Then I thought of that awesome quote that was sent by the Quorum of the Twelve. (I will probably butcher this quote) but it said something like "of all the names given to God, denoting his royalty, his glories and power, the name he asks us to call him is Father". I think that is such a beautiful thing. In Preach My Gospel it talks about how one of the first things to be lost during apostasies is the nature of God and our relationship with him. I can see that here in France. I have this desire to share with everyone how much God loves them! He wants to have a relationship with us like a child to a Father. What a beautiful thing. And I get to share that each day. What a blessing.

And now the events of the week:

Sorry you didn't really hear from me last week. Our Preparation days are on Mondays and since I was traveling, No pday for me! Before I start can I just say I LOVE FRANCE!! I LOVE THE PEOPLE! I LOVE THE FOOD! I LOVE THE WEATHER! I LOVE IT! This is such a step up from the MTC. The people here are so nice. There is no other word to describe them than 'lovely'. They really are. Even if they are not interested in our message, every person always tells us how much they respect what we are doing and they respect our faith. They tell us to have courage and keep going. They really value being polite and I think that's just a beautiful thing.

On the very first day, we get off of the plane and we immediately meet President and Soeur Poznanski. They brought us Pain de Chocolat (The croissant that has chocolate in the inside that mom loves so much). They met with us and talked to us for a bit and then the Assistants gave us a Book of Mormon and took us on the metro to Paris. The contacting begins! Soeur Callister and I met the sweetest girl from Austria. She was about our age and she accepted the Book of Mormon that Soeur Callister gave her! How great. We'll never know what happened because she lives in Austria but one step at a time right? That whole day was kind of a blur. We had a bunch of orientations -- orientations on how to drive in Paris, on how to clean apartments, on how to use your credit cards, what to do on P.days, etc etc. Thankfully I wasn't jet-lagged at all (even though I didn't sleep on the plane). It was funny to watch all the missionaries begin dropping like flies.

I received my first area and companion assignment. She is FANTASTIC! Funny story about her though. My friend in the HFAC said he knew someone who was serving in Paris and that I should look up her blog to see what it is like there. I read her first couple entries in Paris. Well sure enough, she is my trainer. Her name is Soeur Rhondeau. She is from Salt Lake City UT and surprise-surprise -- she plays the violin too! Super! She didn't bring her violin though :( so maybe we'll be able to find one and play a duet in church sometime. Anyway, she is amazing. I keep getting lucky with companions! There is a part of me though that is fearful. I'm getting too lucky...as if all my trials are being saved for a later day and going to drop all at once! She is really hardworking and up-beat. Our area is pretty big and contains a few different cities. It is called the Melun area.

Because the area is so big, we decided that we are going to focus on a few cities. We'll contact on buses and trains and end up in other cities frequently. But we also decided to narrow our finding approach down. The first day, when we were talking about it, I told Soeur Rhondeau that I felt really good about Avon. It was funny because I knew nothing about Avon or the demographic or the people. So off we went porting (door to door. I don't know how to say it in English) in Avon. We came across this house where these cute kids were peering out the windows but they didn't answer the door. We decided that their parents probably weren't home and so we just waved and left. Then the next day, Soeur Rhondeau felt that we should return to that house and see if the parents were home. Sure enough, the dad answered the door. His name is Freddie and he let us in and we taught him the overview of the restoration and gave him a pamphlet for the Plan of Salvation. He was so wonderful! He was the nicest man. We asked him what his conception of God was and he said "it's like he is above us and all around us". We only stayed for about 15 minutes but at the end we asked if we could say a prayer. Before I offered the prayer, I told him to excuse my French because I was new to the language. He asked where I was from and was excited to hear I was from the U.S. I offered the prayer and then after he said "wow. That was amazing. I have such a good feeling right now. Actually, could you pray again -- this time in English? Because I feel the prayer would be even stronger!" HOW AMAZING IS THAT! Sure enough, I offer another prayer. He loved it so much. He works a lot in Germany and France but he told us that he wants us to come back as much as possible. That we bring a "positive energy" that he wants to have in his home. Next time, he said, he has to make us dinner. WIN! I just love the people of France. Anyway, his name is Freddie and we just love him. We are hoping that we will see him again this weekend. Hopefully work isn't too crazy and we are able to teach him.

The coolest experience happened while porting. We were knocking and this man opens the door. The second he opened the door, I felt like love just poured out of their house. He was the nicest man. He called his wife over and she was so wonderful. They were Muslim and not interested in the Gospel but they had strong testimonies that we were all Children of God and that we were all the same in God's eyes. That He loved all of his children so deeply. It was amazing to see a family that loved each other so much that it literally poured out of their home. Did I mention I just love all the French people? Oh, except sometimes, the sisters get hit on by creepy men. That's a fun side note that describes an average day in France. Who can complain though? I mean, honestly. We're in France!

One of the lessons we taught this week was to this awesome lady named Petula. She has a baptismal date in May! The Soeurs started teaching her before I got here. Soeur Rhondeau says that her knowledge of Christ and God is super limited. She had never heard of Christ's miracles before meeting us. They had watched with her the "Finding Faith in Christ" movie and to Petual, it was like watching a cinematic movie for the first time. Whenever a miracle was performed she would just gasp and cover her mouth with her hands. She would turn to the missionaries with a look on her face like "Is this true?" So awesome. She loves all the LDS movies. We watched the restoration with her this week and described the restoration in more detail. She is just such a joy to teach. She has so much faith and is so humble. When she hears truth, she doesn't doubt it. She just believes. I love teaching so much. Each person has so many wonderful spiritual experiences in between visits that they are just dying to share with us. I love it.

CONFERENCE WAS AWESOME!! So here, we watch Saturday morning that night and the Sunday, we watch the next three sessions... the Sunday afternoon is too late for us to watch so we will have to catch it some other time. There is a member in our ward (who is an Angel) who told us if we missed anything; we can come watch it at her place anytime. Also, did you see me did you see??? The MTC choir was on TV!! Did you see us? I didn't because I couldn't watch longer. Let me know!!

France is BEAUTIFUL!! In our area alone there are like 10 chateaus (castles) and in every town there is at least one really old church. The houses and buildings are so cute! Today, for P-day we are going in to Paris. The mission president has changed the rules so that if you are in the area/suburbs of Paris, you can go anywhere in Paris for your P-day.

Speaking of President and Sister Poznanski...they are saints. Sister Poznanski is the sweetest woman. Before she was called to this calling, (about a year ago) she did not know any English. When she got the call, she thought of all the American missionaries who would come to France. She wanted them to feel as welcome as possible so she decided that she would learn English. I was floored when I found this out because her English is INCREDIBLE! The first two days we were with them, they bent over backwards to make us feel welcome. Everyone in the office was put to work in accommodating the new missionaries and making them feel welcome.

Sister Poznanski gave us this mini arc de triumph when we got our area assignments. She told the story of Napolean and gave us this quote that he said. That we cannot return home, except under our personal Arcs of Triumph. She encouraged us that when we finally walk under our "Arc of Triumph" and return home that it is actually with triumph.

So I love you all bocoup de bocoup (that is not a real phrase by the way, so don't say it to a French person). I love that you all sent me emails :) made me feel loved. Go ahead and look up the touristy spots in my area :) -- you'll be jealous.

Well I have to go grocery shopping so we can catch the train to Paris. We're going shopping and to the Eiffel Tower! Again, you can be jealous if you so choose.

Sacré-Coeur Basilica

The Gospel is true. God lives. I heard that the First Presidency recently released a challenge to bear testimony of one Gospel truth per day. That's awesome! DO IT! I know I will :)

Also, the theme of conference this time--definitely the Family and Missionary work. HOW FANTASTIC! I thought of the YSA wards like "hmm...so which should I be doing...getting married or going on a mission.." the thought made me laugh.

Avec tout mon amour,

Sœur Bitter