Off to the East - 24 août 2015

Monday night, we boarded a train for Nancy, arrived around 8:30pm, grabbed some frites from the famous friterie and found a whole bunch of missionaries with the same idea... frites. Everyone was coming in the night before Zone Conference! The Mulhouse soeurs stayed with the Nancy soeurs as well, so we were 6 in the apartment that night. Soeur 

Fall is coming to the lovely city of Paris.
Look how beautiful. 🇫🇷❤️🇫🇷

Bell recounted her French hospital experience of getting her appendix removed...rather hilarious and frightening. I am so grateful for my health. and the standards of health in America and American hospitals. 

Anyway. Zone Conference part 2 was awesome. Though they were basically the same trainings, since it was practice teaching on a big scale, it was different and new things to learn. I loved it. President Babin also gave a little thought about the cleansing and healing power of Jesus Christ. It was perfect. Absolutely touching and needed by so many. Soeur Tippett and I split between our two zones (Nancy and Nancy-Strasbourg) to make sure we got both zones covered. I went with the Nancy zone for the Zone Leader trainings. SO inspired. It was all about remembering. We began with silently thinking of memories and experiences that have converted us, rather the times we rely upon when our testimony is tested. I thought about the first time my heart pounded telling me I needed to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting when I was 13, the many testimony camp fires at girls camp, receiving my Patriarchal Blessing, praying

Super cool lesson this week: in Lyon!
We Skyped with the STLs in Lyon
for them to pass us an amie who is
moving to Paris!
She's from China, how neat is that?
That's pretty neat.
The work continues to move forward.
🇫🇷❤️🇨🇳

 for help on AP tests, temple visits, the confirmation that I really was meant to go on a mission, receiving my call, going through the temple, being set apart as a missionary, the prayers pleading for help as I began in the field and didn't understand the language, culture, etc. There were a lot of thoughts that came to mind and it brought the Spirit with them. It was a wonderful formation about remembering why we are here, why we do what we do, and recharging our determination to do better. Remember. 

Right after Zone Conference, we drove to Toul with the Soeurs. They have a car because they are way out in the countryside near Switzerland and all the tiny villages are way far apart with no public transit. It was a breath of fresh air, that is for sure. My soul felt so free and happy. Oh it was lovely. So much space, sky, and air. Fresh air. Don't get me wrong, I love my smokey Paris air, but oh how refreshing it was to be out of the city for a bit. The Sœurs in Toul are great and we had a wonderful exchange. They go by way too fast and never seem long enough. We did some Porte-à-Porte, which we never get to do in Paris, so that was nice, though no one let us in. Actually, no one answered. Everyone is still en vacances. Summer vacation is the worst thing as a missionary because everyone drops off the face of the earth from July until September. We are pretty stoked for school to start again so everyone will be home! 

Anna the amazing and 

her personal 

emergency contact card. 

She loves it and thought 

it was so sweet of Ali. 

Thanks a bunch Al!

Thursday we ran all over the place all day long non-stop. Rendezvous back to back to back to back, it was awesome. It was such a great and fulfilling day. We were able to meet with Priscillia, a few less actives, teach some members English, and contact some incredible people on the metro. Lovely day. 

Friday was also super quick, but we did a whole lot of planning. I love planning, but sometimes I feel like we take way too long. Efficiency is tricky in planning. We want to be thorough and inspired, but quick and efficient. Tricky balance but we are working on it. We did get to see Anna after a rough week for her. She's doing much better, but still a bit of healing needed. It was so good to see her. She took a break from reading and keeping

Visitor from Nogent!!!
So fun to see her!

 he word of wisdom and soon realized that in fact, she wanted the gospel and the peace, comfort, and joy that it brings. Super cool lady. I love her dearly. Her date has been changed up to the 13th of September!!! Two weeks! I may not be here, but I am so excited for her. It will be a glorious day. ❤️ We also got to meet with Anne, who will be getting baptized the 12th of September but in Belgium! She's moving back next week. We are sad to see her go, but are so happy for her decision and testimony. Two amazing women, for whom I am eternally grateful. 

Saturday was another awesome giant Book of Mormon zone activity. It went super well. Sœur Van Den Berghe and I were comps for the 2 hours and found some fantastic children of God. We got to teach 6 lessons. SIX. It was amazing. A family from Iran, a couple from Netherlands, a family from Spain, a Californian, and of course some frenchies. The world is awesome. We truly are all brothers and sisters, children of God. How blessed are we to know that?! SO blessed. 

Sunday was lovely. Church was much less crazy than last week. We had DMP meeting after church and Frère Babin made a banana chocolate chip cake and chocolate mousse to celebrate birthdays. He's awesome, such a helpful Ward mission

David Babin, our Ward Mission Leader,
made me a special Babin
family recipe mousse
au chocolat for my birthday
because I can't eat cake!
(Sœur Babin helped him!)
How nice?!
We celebrated the birthdays
 of Elder Ho, Elder Ricks
And me for DMP meeting after church.
Good folk.

 leader. 

I am feeling good, doing well, and excited for what is up next this week. I cannot believe it's week 6 already. I haven't a clue if I'm leaving or not. I've been in Paris for 3 transfers and could do a 4th, but could leave too, only the Lord and President Babin know. Haha we find out on Saturday. I love this place and love the idea of getting to know another place, so either way, I am happy. Just here to serve where I'm needed. Though I do feel like leaving Paris is going to be a bit of a change, possibly not to comfortable, since my whole mission has been in Paris, but there is no growth in the comfort zone, right? No matter what happens, I have faith it is what the Lord has planned and I will do my best to trust Him and make the best of whatever comes me way. Things are going so well, I have the impression a mountain is coming my way, so I guess, bring it on. 😮

Have a fantastic week. Be good. Do more. Look outward.

Sœur Kate Simpson

What in the world is in this thing?!

 Taking the package

 home from La Poste

Welcome to my 

home food storage, 

brought to me by 

Costco across the ocean.

 A bit much, but I am grateful. 

Haha If I transfer next week, 

moving this is gonna be fun.

But it came at a great time 

because this is our part of the fridge... 

We've got some butter, mayo, 

shredded cheese, a gluten free tortilla, 

and some gluten-filled cookie dough. 

Since we were going to 

be gone for 3 days, we just decided 

to do it when we got back, 

but then never had time...

so thank you for saving us. 

Back to Back to Back - 17 août 2015

Three exchanges this week. Yes, 'twas splendid indeed. I really feel lucky that I get to go on so many exchanges and learn and grow with the sœurs in this mission. Their lives, stories, testimonies, and examples inspire me. I feel incredibly blessed to get to serve at their sides and work to bring about the gospel of Christ to those around us.

Château de Vincennes

 Last Pday adventure. 

We forgot our OFII proof of residency

 so we couldn't get in free... 

So we just admired outside.

After a good district meeting, I headed out to Versailles to be with Soeur VanDenBerghe, who is currently training Soeur Woolley, who I "mothered" on her first day in the field. They are an awesome team. We just love them. I was so excited to be with Soeur VDB and it was a great exchange. I got to go to DMP meeting with their Ward missionaries and other companionships in the Versailles Ward. It's the APs, office elders, and the Soeur équipe. Fun people. After, the elders dropped us off and we had 10 minutes left of the night. We immediately prayed and voilà. A family walked up the street towards us. We started a conversation and the mom kept trying to leave but her two boys, who both looked under 14, kept her still and wanted to listen. They're from India and she didn't speak much French, but the boys did. We gave he boys a Book of Mormon, prayed with them and invited them to learn more. Unfortunately her husband is super strict and caught up in tradition. He doesn't allow her to go anywhere else, but she said she sometimes goes to Catholic Churches by herself to pray because she feels peace and comfort there. Such a sign to us that God lives and places people in our path/places us in people's paths.

We then were nearly home, when across from the soeur's apartment, we came across a lady sitting on a bench. We decided to go talk to her, though we had 2 minutes until 9:00pm.  It turns out, she has lived there in the same apartment complex as the soeurs for 30+ years and has never talked with them. She's seen them and was quite standoffish at first, but after a few rude questions and kind replies, we were able to see her heart soften and open to hear a little of our message. We prayed with her at the end and invited her to learn more. Though she refused, she said she would love to have "fate cross our paths again." Pretty cool night.

I also got to go to Versailles district meeting, which happened to be Elder Hall's last one. He was my

Camilla, a BYU study abroad student 

that taught Anna with us. 

She's headed back to America. 

+ André, a member of our Ward.

first ZL back when he was in Paris Lilas before he left to Brest then became an AP. It was a great training by Elder Reiss about miracles. Very inspiring and uplifting. It is true that the word "miracle" has become increasingly used in my vocabulary since serving as a missionary, as you've probably noticed. It is for a good reason though, because it is true: there are miracles everyday, all over the place, that show us that God is real, He is there, and He loves His children. It makes me excited to find the little signs and miracles everyday because they are always there.

Right after district meeting, we switched back companions, met the Rouen soeurs at Saint Lazare Gare and started the second exchange. I was with cute Soeur Brazeal from Florida. She is adorable and such a powerhouse of a missionary. So driven and determined. She inspires me. Though we didn't have much outward success, I learned a lot from her stories of things she has overcome.

Thursday morning we cleaned out the ZL's apartment as a zone activity... It is being closed down because the ZLs moved in with the Mandarin elders. It is a super old, run down apartment that has survived 20+ years of elders... Needless to say, it was pretty disgusting. We had a crew of about 20 people and it took 3+ hours for the bulk of cleaning and taking out. The office elders and ZLs were working and moving stuff to Versailles until 9pm that night. It was a little different of an exchange because basically all we did was clean with everyone. Not much one on one time, but it was still great.

Right after dropping off the Rouen soeurs at the Gare, the Mulhouse soeurs came in and we went right off to work. Soeur Tippett and Soeur North headed to our relief society president's home at the other end of our secteur for a FHE/meal and Soeur Clark and I made our way home to meet the Office elders at our apartment with a new vacuum, shelf, and mattress. No worries, they are a trio, so that helps rule keeping. Well as we got off the RER for our house, it began to pour. It has been really muggy and hot lately, so the rain was a welcomed blessing. So it was pouring rain and as we turn to cross for our street and I went to get the keys, I realized Soeur Tippett had them... 45+ minutes away and the office elders were already waiting for us. Good thing I've had a break in plan for a while. We put it to the test and it worked. Elder Reiss did the job. Some neighbor of ours let us in the second coded door. Then the tricky part, getting into our apartment. It is a blessed thing we are one the first floor. We went to the courtyard and E. Reiss  pulled himself up on the fence jumped/slid on a lip of the wall and climbed into our window. All while it was pouring rain. It was a pretty epic moment. And he was safe.

Scarf weather again.

 Château de Fontainebleau

After, Soeur Clark and I went out contacting in our neighborhood with nearly no avail. UNTIL the end! A bus stopped and a few passengers got out and a lady walked to the same crosswalk as us. I asked her the hours of the park and thus one of the most beautiful and uplifting conversations I've ever had began. En plus, it was from a French lady. I don't believe in labeling or stereotyping people, but most stereotypes have some reason to them and the French are a bit difficult, shut off, and not the most happy people. Ruth defied every negative French stereotype. She was truly inspiring. The overall message she shared with us was "n'abandonnez jamais!" (Don't ever abandon/give up) it was just a moment where I knew we were meant to cross paths. She seemed to be an angel sent to encourage us. Such a blessing.

The Mandarin elders had an ami get baptized on Saturday, so we spent almost all day at the Paris Lilas chapel helping and participating. They asked me to play the piano. Bad idea. I willingly did so, but I basically crashed and burned the intermediate hymns while waiting for him to change. I am not a strong sight reader and I had never played any of them... I was really grateful when they finally came in. It was a beautiful service. He was baptized by David Babin, our Ward mission leader, in Chinese. Pretty cool.

Sunday was a bit of a missionaries-run-the-Ward day. I was asked to play the piano in sacrament meeting... Ya. The day after I slaughtered playing, but I prayed super hard, picked songs I knew and the Lord blessed me. It wasn't too bad. Then Soeur Tippett and I split with two members because she taught primary and I taught English Gospel Doctrine. The elders taught Gospel Principles. I then played piano again for Relief Society and then translated. It was a busy day to say the least. But it was great. We had a Ward meal afterwards, which was great to talk with the members and some visitors.

Today we didn't have conference call because President and Soeur Babin are traveling to zone conference, so we got to start Pday like the rest of the mission. We headed down to Fontainebleau, one of the only completely preserved châteaux left from the French monarchy. It was outstanding. We only had 90 minutes because we got to teach a lady, but it was absolutely breathtaking.

Well tonight we are headed to Nancy for their zone conference tomorrow then exchanges in Toul! Then in Paris most likely for the rest of the transfer. This transfer is flying. Ah. It's been so good. I love this work. I know it's the work of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He lives. I know He loves me and you.

Have a fantastic week. Keep praying, studying, and serving.

Avec amour,

Sœur Kate Simpson

¡Hola, je m'appelle Hermana Simpson! - 10 août 2015

Yes. I recognize that is Frangnol. Sprench? Either way. A lovely mixture of Spanish and French, 

GLUTEN FREE
AMERICAN CÉRÉALES.
❤️❤️❤️

which is what this week was like. Soeur Tippett and I were blessed with a new amie who was found from the giant Book of Mormon activity prt 2 and she only speaks Spanish. Neither of us speak a lick of Spanish. I've got hola, buenas dias, gracias, burrito, tacquito, chihuahua, etc. oh and Hermana! Thank heavens for spanish speaking members! We ended up having an awesome bilingual lesson with Yadira and our two members, Maria and Luz. She was so touched by the message of the Restauracion. See that Spanish skill. It was a cool experience and I am excited to learn some Spanish and get to be Hermana Simpson prt. 2 (The real Hermana Simpson is workin it over in D.C.)

We had Zone Conference for Paris and Paris-Caen zones here in Paris about teaching lesson 3 l'Évangile de Jésus-Christ. It went quite well. Président had us and the Assistants give little pensées spirituelles for each principle of the lesson. Mine was faith in Jesus Christ. To be quite frank, I didn't feel very good about mine. We were exactly clear about what we we're suppose to do since it was a new format of trainings, but it went okay. Glad I get to do it again next week for Nancy and Strasbourg zones. I worked on an outline and fixed up my thoughts for the next one. It should go better. Overall, the conference was awesome. We basically did practice teaching the whole time with president and everyone commentating and analyzing the teaching examples. It was good. Everyone was a little timid to volunteer to teach in front of the whole 2 zones, but those who did did a great job and I believe everyone appreciated and gained from it.

I then went on exchanges with Sœur Ellis! She's in my group from the MTC. She and I had a good exchange, I learned a few things that I could improve on and do better for future exchanges. I suppose we must have those exchanges to see what we can do better as a leader. It was a good time.

Weekly planning crunches
break sesh. Il faut le faire.

Changing back companions happened in the middle of a rendezvous of the Antony sœurs handing over an amie to us. It was awesome. Aïcha is incredible. Though Muslim, she is interested and open to learning more. When we shared the first vision of Joseph Smith, she began to cry and we could see the Holy Ghost confirming to her that the message we were sharing was true. She was so sweet and wanted to learn more. We are excited to see where the Lord takes her.

Then up to Caen in Normandy! Oh how I love Normandy. It is beautiful. The air was cooler and it felt like Fall was just around the corner. It was a pleasant change. I had a lovely exchange with Soeur Jicha. Super fun girl and an excellent teacher. We taught a lady from Burkina Faso about the plan of Salvation. She had some petty crazy African stories mixed into biblical beliefs. It was pretty entertaining, slightly challenging, but ended on a spiritually uplifting note and we think she understood the correct doctrine. We hope. Nevertheless, it was great. The next day, we contacted a nice lady in the tram, who kept sidetracking to non-gospel subjects every time we tried to tie it into the gospel...it's all good though. Learning experiences and gave her the opportunity to accept the gospel, even if she didn't take it.

We did a lot of planning on Saturday. Holy cannoli. But oh man does it feel good to feel slightly caught up in the area. It was greatly needed and so handy. We are going to have three back to back exchanges this week!!! Bring it on. I'm pretty excited. I love these people. All of them. I am amazed when I think about my life right now and everyone in it, near or far from me. I cannot help but feel incredibly blessed. Thank you for being a part of my life.

Anna is doing well, almost a whole week without smoking. She really struggled at first, and was not 

Taylor, Anna, moi,
et Sœur Tippett

too happy, but she's staying strong and doing so well. SO proud of her. Taylor, her boyfriend is here from Korea, and we had two lessons with them this week. He is a great support for her no it's cool to she all she learns and discusses with him.

Anne also set a baptismal date this week! We are so proud of her. It will most likely be in Belgium, but hey, we are happy for her nonetheless. It doesn't matter where she is baptized, it's about the proper authority and timing. She is ready and really could be baptized here before she moves back, but it is her choice and we are here to help her reach her goal.

Life is good and I feel so lucky to be here. Soeur Tippett and I are doing great. I am so grateful for a loving, patient, and hard working companion. It is so much easier to take care of the other soeurs and missionaries when we are pulling and working together. I love her dearly and am so blessed to have her.

The Book of Mormon challenge is well underway. I'm in mid Mosiah, a bit behind schedule, but only by about 30 pages. With exchanges and everything we do it's quite tricky, but not impossible. We've been able to see and feel so many blessings from our endeavor to read. I love this zone and their ambition to push harder and work smarter. What a blessing.

I wish you the best of weeks. Keep smiling and loving life. There is always something for which to be grateful. Find it and write it down, then thank our Heavenly Father. How blessed we are.

Je vous aime,

Sœur Kate Simpson

Vite Fait - 3 août 2015

Well, this is going to have to be quick. BUT it was another wonderful week here in Paris. I went to the north of France for the first time! Up to Lille/Villeneuve d'Ascq for the first STL exchange! Super great time and super helpful to get other ideas to help our sœurs and mission. We had exchanges with the sœurs from Nancy the day after. I got to serve with Sœur Bell again. I love her. We saw some awesome miracles and found a new amie at the last minute! SO cool. Priscilla is back from vacation. Well she was for a day. She is now in Spain. But we got to meet with her after what felt like forever. Anna is doing SO well. Progressing like a champion. Also, did the giant Book of Mormon activity as a zone again. Super good experiences and lots of people got to hear about the gospel. From a marketing perspective, it's brilliant and works well. Spiritually, also brilliant and quite effective. We are going to do it with president and Soeur Babin at the end of week 5! I’m pretty stoked. I love them.

Well, I am doing well. Happy, healthy, and hydrated. I love this gospel. It's true. What can you do today to share the joy of Jesus Christ today?

Love, Sœur Kate Simpson