Sœur Simpson à Paris

Monday, June 8, 2015

L'été est arrivée, enfin - 8 juin 2015

Bonjour tout le monde! J'espère que vous allez bien! It's been a great week 6 of the transfer. It went by in the blink of an eye, but it was great.

We were walking and contacting before an appointment and we stopped a younger lady, probably 23-25. She turned out to be from Switzerland and spoke English more than French, so we had a little lesson in English. I found it relatively difficult to teach in English, but it still went really well. As we testified that God is there and he wants to hear from us, she asked, "How do you know that?" Though it was not the first time I had heard that, it hit me and it was a touching moment in testifying how I know that God is there. We prayed with Sophia from Switzerland right then and there on the sidewalk in the middle of Paris, with hundreds passing. It was beautiful.

Sushi in St. Mande

Sr. Tupai, Prisen, & Priscilla

Wednesday night, we had some miscommunication but all worked out and we had a lovely lesson in the parc with Priscilla and Prisen. We had sushi and shared a lesson about temples, family history work, and eternal marriage. Priscilla asks the best questions. I can't believe she is really 14. She comes up with greater thoughts and questions than Soeur Tupai or I. It's always a wonderful discussion. She is getting really excited for her baptism. It's in less than 2 weeks!

Miracle of Thursday morning. We had an extra exchange in Mulhouse and we were to leave at 7:23am. When we ordered the train tickets from this Soeur in the mission office, she must have ordered us different tickets. Same time. NOT the same gare (train station). Well we didn't know that until we printed our tickets off at Gare de l'Est 17 minutes before the time for out train. Trains leave exactly at their time. If you are not on your train 2 minutes before, you don't get on the train because it's gone. Well... we looked at our tickets and it said, "Gare de Lyon"... not Gare de L'Est. Ya. It's on the other side of Paris. We RAN. I thought I was going to die, running with our

Exchange with Soeur Clark

Mulhouse

backpacks, and only 15 minutes. I prayed soooo hard that something would happen so we could make our train. 2 metros changes later and a whole lot of dodging people of Paris, we made it to the gare and somehow our train had not left and we got on 30 seconds before the doors closed. It was seriously a miracle. We made it to Mulhouse and had a lovely exchange. :)

Coming home from the exchange Friday morning, before the train came, a couple from Pakistan asked us to take their picture and we had a lovely conversation. I talked about Aina, my roommate from DC who is Pakistani and ended up being in the same car. We sat next to a couple from Australia and the UK, then a family from Nepal, who now lives in Colorado. It was awesome. Normally, it is dead silent on the TGV trains. French people don't talk to each other. But our little car was international and we all talked the whole 3 hours about things from family, faith, service, Mount Everest, Arches National Park, Mormons, Sir Edmund Hillary, and more. Speaking of whom, Surren, the dad of the family from Nepal, was the chauffeur of Sir Hillary when he came back to Nepal after he had summitted Mount Everest. Super cool guy. He shared a really cool story with

Sr. Tehoiri and Sr. Tupai's
last Sunday on their Mission

everyone in the car about the first time he met a Mormon. He and a friend were on a roadtrip and ran out of gas in the middle of a long highway stretch, in the middle of nowhere. After an hour of waiting, finally a car came. The man picked up the stranded two friends and took them to his house and got his own gas can and tried to pay for the gas for them. He fed them and took them back. Surren recounted how touched he was by this man's kindness and generosity for those he didn't even know. I am SO grateful for that member who has helped spread a great image of who Mormons are. Best TGV ride yet. :)

It was SO hot Thursday and Friday. Humid and hot. probably upper 80s. and nothing but concrete jungle. But we still had a wonderful time. We did some contacting at Parc Monceau before our last rdv of Friday, and we saw a lady sitting on a bench, reading a book, all by herself. I love bench contacting. Usually they listen, or at least are nice! Well, this lady was wonderful. We were able to pray with her and give her our card. Even though she didn't accept to meet with us again, I could tell she was touched and needed the love of God in her life.

We also saw of marriage in the parc, which I suppose is as close as I could get to being at Megan and Andrew's wedding. I hope it went well! I bet it was beautiful. I've been praying for Meg and Andrew and wished I could be there, but know that I've been sending all my love and best wishes your way! :)

Well, Soeur Tupai goes home this week and I get a new companion on Wednesday: Sœur Tippet! She was roommates at

Our last Pday together

Soeur Veihi Tupai et moi

La Tour Eiffel

BYU-I with Soeur Stevens, my trainer! I am excited. She seems pretty awesome! It's going to be an adjustment having an American, English-speaking companion again, but I am excited! All good things, all good things. :)

Words are wonderful. I know I've always had a thing for words and language, but learning French has helped me have an even greater appreciation for language. There is a sentence in Prêcher Mon Évangile (Preach My Gospel) which says, "sans l’Expiation de Jésus-Christ, nous sommes désarmées." The word "désarmées" means "disarmed" in English. Without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we are disarmed. With the opposite in use, WITH the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we are armed. Armed for whatever is set before us to battle. The Atonement of Christ is a powerful tool that we have to help us continue, conquer, and complete great task that lay before us. I find that incredibly comforting. I know that the Atonement is real. It is poweful. Jesus Christ lives. What beauty we can see and feel in using the gift that He has given us.

Have a splendid week! Je vous aime!

Avec amour,

Sœur Kate Simpson

Napoléon told his troops that they could not return home, except by going through the arc first to finish the battle.

Today, Soeur Tupai walked through the arc, symbolizing the finish of her battle here in France.

Her mission is accomplished and she fought the good fight. I got to stand there and watch her walk, thinking about the day when I will finish the fight, here in France. I'm almost half way there and I cannot beleive how fast it has gone.

How grateful I am to continue and try to do better each day, so that one day, I will be able to walk through and know that I have given all I could and fought the fight.

Arc de Triomphe

Paris

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

True Happiness & Free Haircuts - 2 juin 2015

Another week has flown bye, but oh how great it was!

The Lady and the Unicorn Tapestry

Musée Cluny

Monday was a blast-to-the-past...like Medieval past. Soeur Tupai and I headed on an adventure to the Musee Cluny, where a gigantic collection of medieval works are gathered in a medieval castle in the middle of Paris, not too far from the Fontaine Saint-Michel. We went to see the famous tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn, but were pleasantly surprised when it was a massive museum filled with incredible pieces from long long ago.

Tuesday we left early in the morning for Nancy, east France, for Zone

Nancy/Nancy-Strasbourg

Zone Conference

STL Training 2

Conference. Due to having two equipes of soeurs in both Nancy and Nancy-Strasbourg Zones, we got to go and give our training to them as well. It went much better than the first time. The human cathedral worked perfectly this time and helped the objective of our lesson run much smoother than with our own Zone. It was a great time and I think they were all able to learn and gain something from it, I hope.

Being in a car...so strange.

The wonderful sœurs of Toul

Soeur Curtis and Soeur Asay

Toul

We then headed right to an exchange with the soeurs in Toul. We were on the same train as them, so we just went all together! Toul is nearly Switzerland, which was cool to think about! It is a tiny ville and so the soeurs have a car to get to all the little villages in their secteur. It was slightly weird to be in a car driven by missionaries. I am a little worried I'm going to have problems driving when I get

Exchange selfie with Sœur Curtis

Toul

back. It's going to have been a long time. anyway, it was great. I served with Soeur Curtis and we went to visit a family who is becoming less active. Our efforts were to prevent them from becoming less-active. It went okay. Good learning opportunities for us both. :)

Wednesday morning we headed back to Paris for the rest of the day, just in-time for our awesome zone activity. We added our mark to the streets of Paris with some gospel chalk art to contact! It was wonderful. A beautiful day, people stopped and ASKED US! and the whole zone

Elder Madsen and Elder Edmund's

masterpiece: the Tree of Life

Palais Royale Musee du Louvre

Paris

seemed to just love it. We had 3 different drawings, a temple, the world, and a rendition of Lehi's dream of the Tree of Life. The were located on the south side of the Centre Pompidou and in the plaza of Palais Royal/Musée du Louvre metro station. Pretty much the coolest zone activity ever. We contacted quite a bit of people, and who knows how many searched after we left.

A new amie met with us at the visitor's center for the first time and it was pretty intense. In a good way. Her family is Catholic but she wasn't raised in the customs nor going to church, so she has a ton of questions. It kept us on our toes and gave us opportunities to really use the Bible, something I need to work on. She was really touched by the prayer at the end and just cried, expressing that she felt something and didn't know why! The Holy Ghost! We are excited to teach her this coming week, she's awesome!

We met with an amie and her two boys were there this time. We had a lovely little Family Home Evening. We taught them "I am a child of God" and helped them sing it. They are so cute and such good boys, I was impressed with their willingness to sing and participate with us.

Priscilla is progressing like a champ. She has a date set for the 21st of June and she's going to make it, I'm sure of it. She is amazing. Absolutely an inspiration. It is cool to see her desire to learn and gain a testimony for herself. She being 14 years old, it is really cool for her relate to Joseph Smith and continue on her own journey of discovering truth. We had a very deep and touching lesson, totally not on the subject planned, but in answering a question of hers. She cried the whole lesson, and tried to explain she wasn't sad, but didn't know why she couldn't stop crying. A recent convert, Pamela, was with us again and she added to the spirit so much. I want to be as enthusiastic and passionate about the gospel as they both are. I learn from them more than they can ever learn from me. Absolutely wonderful people.

Thursday we had district meeting, which went well. Elder Martin, DL, went to the Naval Academy before his mission and is a pretty hard-core American military man. His trainings are super cool and always with military metaphors and motifs. We learned about the evolution of warfare and ammunition from World War I through today's missile technology and he related it to understanding the needs of our investigators and becoming Joint Direct Attachment Missiles (JDAM) in hitting the targets (our investigators) as effectively as possible. It was a pretty cool training.

Exchange adventures

with Soeur Kemp

Caen

Right from District meeting we left for the train to take us to Caen, up in Normandy. I served with Sœur Kemp for the exchange and we visited a member who is 82. She lost her husband a few years ago but talks about him all the time and how great of a man he

Soeur Kemp's favorite door in Caen

It's just my size!

Caen

was and how much she loves him. It was thanks to him that she was converted and became a member. She showed us her marriage photo but was even more proud of the picture of she and her sweetheart in front of the Swiss temple decades later. We contacted a couple from Australia right before we went in for the night. They were super nice, though not interested, and we shared a little lesson and prayed with them. A fabulous way to end the day.

Back to Paris at last for the end of the week. We went strait to our DMP meeting (ward mission leader) A YSA member had us over for a visit and introduced us to her roommate, with whom we taught the Restoration with her. She became a new investigator! Yay for member-missionaries! Afterwards, a lesson with Pepita at the VC. She is so sweet. She's from Peru, which makes me think of Hermana Emily Bott every time we teach her. She is a member, but she is progressing to become fully active again and it is amazing to see the change in her.

SDJ Mains Serviables

(LDS Helping Hands)

Ward service activity in the 18th...

Moulin Rouge

Paris

Saturday we served with the ward in cleaning up the streets of the 18th Arrondisement of Paris. Little did we know that we were on the road of the Moulin Rouge and eventually made it there cleaning up a billion cigarette buts, broken glass bottles, etc. It is probably the only time it would be safe to be there and in the best condition to do so: 10am, ward activity, surrounded by worthy priesthood holders, missionary safety, etc. It wasn't too bad, though I did get cut and was slightly worried I would get a terrible disease or something, but so far, so good. Weekly planning. always a good time. Then to the 2nd Communion for

Our investigator Marie

and her girls after their

confirmation/2nd communion

St. Paul's Cathedral

Paris

the two daughters of our amie, Marie. We had permission to go to support Marie and be their family. Super cool experience to go to a Catholic service. It was the first time for Sœur Tupai and I. It was at St. Paul's Cathedral in the heart of Paris, absolutely beautiful in architecture. It was fascinating to see how they have interpreted the Bible. We both discussed later that night how grateful we are for the Restoration of the priesthood and the true doctrines of Jesus Christ. Good experience for all.

Sunday was great, as usual. Church was great! Marie, Priscilla, Grace, and Pepita came! We took a ward photo because one of the 4 remaining members when they took a photo the last time is moving, so we took a picture. I hope to

Soeur Armelle on

Mother's Day here in France

Soeur Tupai got to skype her family,

so I got talk with this wonderful sister!

Such a sweet lady!

Paris

get that someday, and I'll send it. It was Mother's Day here in France, so all the women got flowers and the talks were about Mothers and women. It was great. I am so grateful for my mother. for my grandmothers and all the women in my life. I feel incredibly blessed to be raised by such a righteous and caring woman. I hope to be more like her some day. Sœur Tupai got to Skype her family, so i talked with Sœur Armelle, the kind member who let us over for the computer. We talked about her life and how she became a member. It was a great time. People are so fascinating. It is so cool to see how creative God is and how wonderful His children are.

Monday, studies were lovely, conference call was good as well. We got our groceries and went to the Poste and sent some stuff. We got the Milk, the cybercafe in Paris where we all do emails, and more than half of the missionaries' emails didn't work...so we decided to try again later = today. We did some shopping for Soeur Tupai's family then went to visit an old investigator after no luck finding a less active member. On the way back, we heard, "Hey Sisters!" Two American girls, looking slightly lost and in need of help, walked over to us. Just guess where they are from. Hooper, Utah. Erika and Paige, they went to Freemont and know Kylee and Greg's family. the world is so ridiculously small. Cool moment. Even in Paris you can find a connection to Hooper. We helped them find something to eat and headed home for the night.

This morning was like any other morning, except I chopped off Soeur Tupai's hair!!! Ah! I have become quite the haircutter. I have now cut 4/5 companion's hair. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I was kind of worried. She has the most beautiful, thick, Tahitian hair, but it turned out really cute. Then to district meeting for the last time with this district. Another military analogy by Elder Martin that was really good. "Run toward the gunfire" was the title. He taught about Marines and their training to do so, so as to face the problem and get it done. It was very much a "just do it" sort of training in facing fears and obstacles of the mission and how to get solve them. We had Raclette for lunch and ended with a flan suck, which I completely failed at this time. District pictures as well. I love these people. Everyone of them.

It was a wonderful week;busy and full of great things. I love this work and I love sharing it with others. I wish and pray you have a fabulous day and week!

All the best,

Sœur Kate Simpson

Part of the Paris Zone

Centre Pompidou

Paris

The Paris District

Soeur Simpson, Soeur Tupai,

Elder Nga, Elder Martin (ZL),

Elder Martin (DL), Elder Madsen

St. Merri, Paris

The "killing" of our companions.

Elder Madsen and I have "killed" off

our last two companions.

St. Merri

Paris

Monday, May 25, 2015

Rouen & Runny Noses - 25 mai 2015

Happy day to all!

Bonjou, nous somb
les soeu bissionnaires
#sickmuch

It was a lovely week, though we were sick for most of it, it was still delightful and full of miracles. Soeur Tupai and I both got sick around Monday night, Tuesday morning, we think due to getting caught in a cold rain storm unexpectedly and the change of the weather going back to winter for a bit. But, the work continued and we made the best of it! We had exchanges with the Soeurs of Rouen and Versailles 2, both of which were

Pretty sure this is
why we got sick this week

wonderful.

Rouen is incredible. Catholic churches and the most intricate Cathedral I've seen yet. And the best part, the people are way more open and kind. AND another best part, I was on exchanges with Soeur Sarah Facer! We've gone to school together since 2nd grade! I loved getting to really know her better and serve the Lord together. It was wonderful. We had a pretty cool 8:45pm miracle: We were at the end of the day, just contacting about in the centre-ville after a rendez-vous. There was hardly anyone on the streets, and the only ones were men... so we stopped, said a prayer and had the faith that He would help us have just one more person to talk to. Just after the prayer, a man walked around the corner. I said to Soeur Facer, "that would've been so cool if the first person was a lady." but then as I said that, a lady turned the corner right in front of us. Voila. It wasn't the first, but the second person we saw.

Soeur Sarah Facer et moi

Rouen

Pretty fast reply. ;) She turned out to be a new investigator for the Soeurs in Rouen after having a quick lesson and prayer on the street and setting a time for a rendez-vous. It was awesome.

The next day, we took the train back to Paris where the soeurs of Versailles 2 met us at the station and thus began our second exchange of the week. I was with Soeur Richards,

Soeur Richards et moi

Paris

who has 2 weeks left on the mission. We went strait to a lesson, that actually got confused with times, but it ended up working out for the best. The member's daughter is less active and she was there, participated, and even prayed to end the lesson and began to cry. The Spirit was strong and she promised us that she would come to church Sunday. Best part: she actually came!

Well, we had a lovely exchange, it was way too short. We had a 8:45pm miracle as well! We found a new amie and it's here in our own secteur! Yay! We were surprised that she actually said yes to letting us keep talking and to pray with her. That doesn't happen very often, so we kind of weren't expecting it. There's a good lesson to be learned. Expect the miracles. We have a rendez-vous with her this week!

So being sick was not the greatest, but I think it was needed to stop Soeur Tupai for a sec and breathe. We've been going and going and going and just wearing ourselves out, which is awesome and I love it and what we should do, but our bodies are falling apart, especially Soeur Tupai. She's got 2 weeks left on her mission, just gotta make it 2 more weeks! She is solid. Such an awesome missionary and awesome person. I feel so lucky to serve with her. I have learned so much by her example and determination. Oh dear, I just love her. :)

We both don't really have voices left, and so we've been whispering every time we aren't contacting or teaching. So we did weekly planning in whispering, we've been whishper-praying, and it's been quite the reverent week! haha If you need some peace and reverence in your life, get sick and whisper! haha

Things really are going so well. This transfer has flown by. I can't believe it's already week 5! ah! It's going to been another crazy busy week, but I can't wait! Always an adventure! I pray and hope you are doing well, you're healthy, and you are finding the wonderful joy in life that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. He lives. He loves us. How blessed are we!?

Have a splendid week and enjoy that last days of May!

Love,

Soeur Kate Simpson

Careparavelle much?

#Narniaisfrance

Rouen

Once again, Rouen is amazing.

Beautiful buildings

Rouen

Joanne d'Arc burning

at the stake memorial site...

Rouen

Cathédral de Rouen

The view from the apartment.

Absolutely breathtaking.

Rouen

Selfies at the

Center (of visitors)

E. Madsen, Prisen, Priscilla,

Sr. Simpson, Sr. Richards,

Pamela, E. Martin

Elder Madsen eating

the Chinese fungi...

Also, unintentional

advertising for Coca-Cola

and the Young Women program.

District Meeting

St. Merri, Paris

Thanks, mom, for the SNACK ATTACK!

Monday, May 18, 2015

Interviews, ZC, Versailles, Nancy - 18 mai 2015

Bonjour tout le monde,

I hope you are doing well. It was a wonderfully busy week. Interviews with President and Soeur Babin were absolutely splendid. Such inpsired people. Zone Conference on wednesday went well! Our training wasn't too bad, so all is well! It was a great conference. I love these missionaries. Good kids, everyone of them. :) Right after ZC I headed out to Versailles with Soeur Bell! Versailles is beautiful. wow. I haven't seen so much greenery since I was in America. Living in Paris for so long, even Nogent a suburb of Paris, it's buildings everywhere. Oh it was a lovely change of scenery. We taught their ami who is committed to be baptized, Monica from Portugal. The lesson was in English, which was actually somewhat of a challenge for me, a good sign, right! Sr. Bell is wonderful and we had some amazing discussions during our times contacting the few people out. It was too short of an exchange, but every minute was not wasted!

Soeur Van Den Berghe and I

enjoying our delightful Kebabs.

For real, America needs Kebabs.

Nancy

Then almost strait to Nancy, except Sr. Tupai left her Carte Jeune, which is an ID to prove we are student age and get the discounted price for train tickets... so we missed our train, had to go back home, traded our tickets, and got on the next train to Nancy. It's a TGV train, so it's a high speed train that goes all over France. It only took 75 minutes to get all the way to Nancy, which is nearly Germany!

I was with Soeur Van Den Berghe, a soeur that was in the MTC with me. It was also a wonderful exchange. AND we had another Japanese miracle! It was 8:40pm, raining, and we didn't have an umbrella, slightly soaked, but we decided to pray and keep contacting until it was time. Sr. VDB stopped this young lady with head phones in who was looking down at the ground. We ended up having a wonderful discussion about God, Jesus Christ, and the Restoration, all of which Chiharu had never heard of before, being Buddhist and Shinto growing up. I told her "I am a child of God" in Japanese, this time all of it, and we ended up planning a time to meet and she became a new investigator! It was a last minutes miracle!

When we finally got in, we knocked on the door, and two British ladies answered, definitely not who we were looking for. Well, never the matter, they were ever so helpful and so kind. they helped us find the member and even let us pray with them. Bev and Christine from Wales. They were renting the apartment for a weekend in Paris and their husbands had run to the market. How quaint.

(pic missing)

This is Stephanie. Super cute Chinese recent convert that Soeur Tupai and Soeur Stevens taught back in Nogent. She took us to a Japanese restaurant today for lunch. She is absolutely a joy and is silly as ever. How grateful I am for these people in my life.

Using our "Psych" skills
to get into this building
to visit a less active...
Pretty much pro.

I wish and pray all the best for each and every one of you! How much joy there is in

After getting back to Paris finally,
we didn't go back home
because we wanted
to use all the time
possible for finding.
We both were nearly dying of thirst,
okay not really, but kind of.
Luckily for us, here in Paris
there are these lovely water
fountains scattered about!
No worries, we sanitized our hands first.
What a blessing!

living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I read President Uchtdorf's talk from a few conferences ago, "Living the Gospel Joyful" and oh how true his words are. I have felt, seen, and learned of so much joy by continuously trying to do my best in following and keeping the commandments and the covenants which I have made. My questions to you today are: What brings you true joy? How do you find joy, even in the hardest of times?

I know that I find true joy in following our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have never been so joyful in my life that I have been serving a mission and sharing the joy I find with those around me. I know that you can find true joy by following, living, and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Have such a splendid week!

Love,

Soeur Simpson

Monday, May 11, 2015

The Week in Photos - 11 mai 2015

Bonjour tout le monde! It was a wonderful week here in Paris. Lots of new people, adventures of transportation, and exchanges with the soeurs from St. Ouen and Mulhouse! The best part of the week: Sunday. We had almost all of our amies at church and a new amie just showed up because she had two dreams that she needed to come, so she did! AND it was Mother's Day!

So here is the week:

Mascarade! The most beautiful of Pdays in a long time. Soeur Tupai and I just about died of peace and beauty in one of my now favorite buildings in Paris. We were blessed to just happen to be there during a rehearsal of the Ballet of Paris... ya. It was breath-taking and unreal. We just stood there in awe for about 20 minutes.

Me pretending like I know

what I'm doing.

I couldn't help myself.

Just look at this room!

Absolutely incredible.

Palais Garnier aka Opéra de Paris

After a powerful member-present lesson

with our ami Djelika,

these signs were placed all over.

It means "love runs the streets". P

retty cool, I think. Châtelet

Elevator selfie with Soeur Brandenburg,

my first exchange! St. Ouen

We had quite the adventures

together in St. Ouen.

She's finally back in her own secteur,

after being my companion

for the rest of last transfer.

It was fun to be comps again for a day!

She is a wonderful human being

and a fabulous missionary.

Exchange with Soeur Nolasco,

serving in Mulhouse!

Along the Seine

She is probably one of the

funniest people, just hilarious.

Her Canadian ways of

saying "bag" got me every time.

We had some awesome trajet contacts,

and a lovely lesson in a parc.

We had lunch along the bank of the Seine,

a little surprise for her!

CHIPS! The ZLs gave us some chips

because they're nice. and they were left over.

Getting all prepped for Zone Conference this week!

Here we go! And yes. Soeur Tupai's chips a

re spaghetti sauce flavored and mine:

rotisserie chicken. Literally tastes like chicken.

yay for French Lay's haha

Well, it was a wonderful week full of miracles and too many stories to even begin to write. But. Know that all is well, the working is growing, and I love serving as a missionary. I feel like my life isn't real, so many blessings from meeting people from all over the world and sharing the gospel with them all. It's the best.

I wish and pray all the best!

Love,

Soeur Simpson

Monday, May 4, 2015

May 4th be with you - 4 mai 2015Kebabs and Cathedrals!

I know. Original. But hey. Happy Star Wars day.

Saying Hello to Sœur Tupai!

Elevator Selfie,

as one must

when in an elevator

Paris

Well, life in Paris. It is wonderful. Incredibly tiring and yet absolutely wonderful. I feel quite a bit like a Bleue all over again, but it's good. I've been learning left and right and every way you can think of. I love Sœur Tupai. She is probably the best missionary I have ever met. Oh how I hope I can become more like her. I have learned so much already.

We basically do trajet contacting 24/7 because we are constantly going back and forth and all over Paris. It's awesome. I have met some incredible people. Also a lot more rude people. But it's all good. It builds character, right? haha I love it. It is exhausting and my back hurts like none other, but it's great to feel like I am being a missionary as I thought I could be.

Oh, super cool moment. We contacted this cute little lady and did so in French, but she told us that she doesn't understand and she's from Japan. Immediately I just spat out the only words I know in Japanese "kami no ko desu watashi wa ana ta..." SHE UNDERSTOOD! All I was able to say was "I am a child of God" in Japanese but that's all she needed. It was a cool moment of preparation from the past, thanks Dad for teaching it to me when I was little!

Rockin' someone's Nikes...

A soeur's shoe completely

broke, so I gave her my shoes

so she could get back to her ville;

these were my temporary

kicks for the day.

Yep. I just about died laughing.

I looked ridiculous,

but felt great helping a fellow sœur.

The ward is wonderful. It's hard to know who is actually in the ward and who is just visiting, always tourists and BYU students, but it's great. Church is translated into English and Chinese! We had an amie come, who we visited and taught this week! She is wonderful. :)

I had an "aha!" moment in personal study yesterday, perhaps it's super simple and self-explanatory, but in the book, Gospel Principles there is a sentence that says, "The Church exists to help families receive eternal life." The whole reason the Church exists is so we can make sacred covenants and receive ordinances to be with our families FOREVER. The family is truly the central unit of the Church. It's the base and the most important. How incredibly blessed are we to have families and to have the Church of Jesus Christ restored on the earth to helpe us return as

Back to December.

But really. It was cold

and rainy this week,

but the joy of the Gospel

brought the warmth and sun!

families to our eternal familiy in heaven. I am so grateful for my family and the opportunity we have to be here on earth to make and keep eternal covenants to be together with our Father in Heaven.

I wish and pray all the best for you! Be good and smile!

Love,

Sœur Kate Simpson