Happy New Year from Canada!!

Hello!

So, it's been like 5 days, but we're finally over the Christmas Hangover. Yay! But tomorrow we will have to deal with everyone else's New Years Hangovers. Boo! Tonight we have a lovely dinner appointment with some latino members, so we'll be partying in style:) 

This week was pretty good. We knocked and knocked and drove through the snow. Oh by the way I'm actually like a pro with driving in the snow now:) We had a good week until we got to Saturday. Saturday we just rough waters. No one was home and anyone who was home didn't want to see us. Awesome. So we went home for dinner and guess what? We had this annoying beeping sound that sounded like a dead fire alarm going off in our apartment. So we check that and guess what? It was fine! So the beeping continues and continues. We finally find out that it is a carbon monoxide detector. So we instantly start freaking out. We went to our concierge who had zero clue what we were talking about and he was like half asleep. So then we called our mission presidents wife and she told us we needed to go back and talk to him. We called our zone leaders to go talk to him and meanwhile the annoying beep is echoing from everywhere. Then we changed the batteries like a billion times and it still beeped like crazy. A neighbor comes over to tell us not to worry because carbon monoxide isn't every dangerous....yeah. We decided to take the the detector to the church to make sure that it wasn't just the detector. We walked into the church and wouldn't you know it? The thing kept beeping. Well, about 30 minutes later we get a phone call from dispatch to find out the fire department was on the way to our house. Thank you, Sister Cannon. So we rush over there and sure enough there they were. Good news they confirmed that no we had no carbon monoxide poisoning. It was a grand adventure.

The Vanie family is doing amazing!!!! We went to teach them last night and each child had taken a turn reading the children's BOM we left them. They are so stinking amazing! We also showed them a picture of the SLC temple and the dad got so excited because that's the temple of the Utah Jazz. At least that's how he understood it. We have some explaining to do:)

This is everyone's favorite time of year to make resolutions for the coming year. I'm not so big on New Year's resolutions but one goal I have made is to be more resolute. I feel like in my pre-existent life before my mission I was really easily persuaded. But I've been working on a goal to be resolute. Like Nephi. Or Joseph Smith. The point is I want to live my testimony not just have one. Does that make sense? I hope so. 

I hope you have a beautiful New Year! Be safe! Have fun!

I love you!

Bisous Bisous

Sister Perkins

  This is what you look like after surviving an ice pellet storm

Christmas Eve Chez le famille Rodhain

Dear family and friends,

The past two days were filled with food, laughter, reindeer games, talking to you and more food. It was jolly, merry, and bright. But now it is over and today we suffer from what I like to call the Christmas Hangover. I would love to write you something with more substance, but I feel like all I can muster is this little lame email. I`m not the only suffering today. We went to the grocery store and they were playing Christmas music still. Sister Grossenbach looked at me and said in a voice similar to Scrooge, ``Do I hear sleighbells?` The good news is we talk, talk, talked and you know I am happy and healthy. And really what more could I ask for?  

However, if it were up to me we would just sleep through New Year`s. 

Much love and about 200 bisous,

 Merry Christmas from Quebec!

Sister Grossenbach, Sister Sabrina Perkins & Sister Limburg 

I can`t believe Christmas is upon us again. How does this happen? Life just marches on at a somewhat alarming rate. But it is oh so good. So I won`t email again until next Thursday, so I wanted to make sure to wish you all a beautiful bright and merry Christmas. We will be spending our time sleeping in, talking to family, and enjoying the beauty of Quebec. Not too shabby, but I`m really happy to know next Christmas I`ll be with you again:) 

This week has been supercharged! We knocked, taught lessons, did service, atesoooooo much, enjoyed the beautiful nativity exposition (I can`t think of the normal word in English), and bundled up like 7 layer bean dip. I don`t think  I`ll ever complain about being cold again after I leave Canada. -20 are we for reals people? Everyone just keeps laughing and says, "Oh just you wait!" It`s kind of mean. But Quebec is beautiful and for some reason it makes the cold more bearable. 

This week we had another incredible lesson with Daniel and Nancy. Daniel is super golden. He talks a lot about how he`s been waiting for the Lord to send him a sign. And he absolutely absorbs everything we teach him. I also love teaching them because I feel like my French improves like by a 1000% it`s pretty cool. Gotta love gifts of the spirit. 

We also have this other investigator named Guy (Gee). He. Is. So. Cool. He`s basically a dry Mormon, but he can`t get baptized until February-ish because he has some health problems. He asks questions in gospel principles like"how do we differentiate between an angel and a resurrected being?" He has a super solid testimony of the LdM and Joseph Smith. He`s just incredible. 

Oh family I have good news for you. Every single time I show anyone our family pictures everyone says how good looking you all are. We`ve made it. We are good looking! So thank you for being so darn attractive:) 

This week we helped this sister in our ward put up her decorations and while we were decorating we were talking about her Christmas plans and she told us she would be making a tortiere (tort-e-air), which is a Quebecoise meat pie. And Sister Grossenbach says, "Oh wow! Where did you learn to make tortillas?" And of course I just start laughing super hard because I have not met any Quebecois who actually knows how to make tortillas so the thought was just amusing. The lady was really confused and so was Sister Grossenbach. Sister Limburg and I then explained that she was making a Quebecoise meat pie NOT tortillas. It was pretty funny:)

This week I was really happy because I am in Helaman in the Livre de Mormon. It`s a pretty big accomplishment, because let me tell you the war chapters were not super easy to understand in French. But I did it! So anyway, I read in Helaman 13 this week about Samuel the Lamanites prophecy to the Nephites about the coming of the Messiah. I get chills just thinking about it. Samuel prophecies that the Messiah will come and at His coming a new star will appear "And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you." I think it is so incredibly beautiful that the Lord brought more light into the world at His birth. So much so that is was like there was no night at all. That`s one thing that I will never be able to deny is that the light of Christ is real. It`s visible. He is not a figurative light he is a literal light, because at the time of His death the Sun itself refused to shine. All things testify of Him. I am so grateful for the light that He has given me, even when life seems dark, He is always there to bring us light. I love that we have this time of year to rejoice in His birth. Rejoice! We have so much to celebrate! Have a very merry Christmas I love you so much!

Sister Perkins

L`Exposition du Creche

                                                 The magic of Christmas Pantoufles:)

Sister Limburg, Sister Grossenbach, Sister Perkins

Hello! 

I am currently writing you a really great email from the Mac store in the blizzarding city of Québec. Literally. We have had like 15cm in two days. Yay! It is insane. The Lord really does have a grand sense of humor. 

So this week we had the best and most entertaining experiences. I decided that Québec is the eternal city of miracle love. It is great! 

Let me start off by explaining the best Christmas party of all time. Someone in charge of decorations put us in charge of stapling wrapping paper to the walls and decorating a Christmas tree. It was pretty magical and our tree turned out looking like a tree that would go in the white house. Red, white and blue. I thought we should put Old Glory at the top but the idea was not so popular....booo! Then came the actual party which ended up being quite the spectac. There was a former investigator who showed up....former for a reason he is in love with my companion Sister Grossenbach. He sang a song for her during the talent show portion of the dinner. Can you say...Awkward! I, of course, was laughing hysterically, because I just felt like I was in one of those weird mormon films. Then we spent the remainder of the night trying to avoid him, but failing when he found us after the acceptance speech  where he won a box of chocolates. Which he promptly try to give to her. It was really insanely awkward. The best part of the party for me personally was the fact that everyone in the ward kept complimenting me. I love this place!!!!! These people love me;)

I actually had a mission dream come true. Last night we drove up to a little place called St. Leonard with a family from our ward to visit another this cute little old couple named the Therriens. Sister Therrien made us a lovely, very Quebecoise meal complete with meat pie and all. And then my dream came true. She gave us Christmas pantoufles, which are these adorable Quebecoise slippers that people have here for you to put on when you get to their homes. I was so excited I jumped up and down and gave her about a million hugs. She was so enthused she gave me lovely white pantoufles for the temple too! Such a dream. Not to mention St. Leonard looks like it fell out of one of those old Christmas films. Or maybe even Stars Hallow from Gilmore Girls. Oh it was so stinking cute!!!

Our first night together here as a trio we had a knocking miracle. We were exhausted from transfers and ready to collapse, but we needed to go knocking. So, we took a big deep breath and went knocking. We knocked a full floor where everyone just shut their doors. Welcome to Québec! But we kept going. Eventually we knocked on the door of this very kind Qubecois man. We asked if we could share our message and at first he was a little hesitant his wife even said no. But then for no reason at all he said << Come in!>> We never wait for someone to ask twice. So in we went. We promised to stay 15 minutes but ended up talking for much longer about family and God and the importance of staying grounded. It was a pretty incredible lesson. They were so happy to know there were people who saw family the way they did and asked us to come back. It was such a beautiful miracle! I feel like that is what Québec is...one big beautiful miracle. I love it here!

This morning I was reading in Helaman 5 this is where Nephi and Lehi are encircled by fire and the Lamanites start experiencing some pretty unpleasant things and they ask the prophet Aminadab what they should do, 

 And it came to pass that the Lamanites said unto him: What shall we do, that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us?

And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.

I know we have all felt at one time or another there is a dark cloud following us and there just is not much we can do. But the Lord has given us repentance, faith and prophets to guide us out of our darkness and back to the light of the Savior. I know with all of my heart that it is only the Atonement of Jesus Christ that can remove those dark clouds from our lives, nothing else will bring sunshine to our souls. 

I hope you all have a beautiful week during which is the most beautiful time of the year! Stay cozy and never forget you are so loved.

Bisous bisous!

Sister Perkins

 We loved Daniel's mustache so much we wanted to have our own

Saying bye to our cute Davis family

Hello my dear Family and Friendlies!

How are you? Life is treating me quite well:) We had our transfer calls this Saturday and much to my surprise (and my hearts desire) I found out that I am going to Quebec City! A total dream come true. I remember listening to Sister Pace and Sister Chadburn talk about all of their beautiful adventures in the polar ice caps of Quebec City  and now I get to go. I feel like this is another one of those tender mercy moments. I'm also really excited to get off of the island. I've started developing a severe case of island fever, but another adventure is just about to begin. I'm so excited! Too much, you could say. Transfer night Lopez and I couldn't even sleep. I'm also going to be in a trio with Sister Limburg and Sister Grossenbach. It's going to be a blast...minus the fact that Quebec City is significantly colder than Ottawa or Montreal, but hey, that is just a small sacrifice:)

So this week we had a Christmas party for our ward and they sang a very thrilling version of "Silent Night" in French. It went something like "Silent night (whisper), HOLY NIGHT!!!!!! (YELLING!)". Sister Lopez and I did our very best not to laugh, but then a sister sitting next to me starting laughing and you know me, when someone starts laughing I start laughing. I felt really bad, but there was not much I could do. They also sang "Glory Glory Hallelujah" and made everyone dance and sing. I felt like I was in one of those Evangelical churches. My life will never be the same again. 

This week we did a lot of knock, knock, knocking. Last Tuesday we were knocking and this muslim guy let us into his building. He wasn't interested, so we asked him if he knew anyone else who would be and he said with a sly grin on his face "Sure. Try the guy in number 5. He's a Christian." Since we're cute little naive sister missionaries we went and knocked on this guys door. So this tall old as dirt Qubecois man comes out and says ,"Bonsoirrrrrr!" And we're like "Whoa! He probably knew Jesus!" He was pretty crazy. So, we introduce ourselves and he starts telling us that Jesus is actually the father of God and that Mary was Jesus's wife. So, I try to explain that he's a little confused and he says, "No! Where are you from the Philippines?" It was like talking to a pinball machine. "No, I'm from Utah, in the United States." And then he says quite matter-of-factly "No. Utah is a country and where is the United States?" So I try to say with a very straight face, "Right below Canada." He was pretty convinced that Utah was a different country and that I was a big liar. It was a really weird contact. Other than this crazy old man we ran into a lot of creepy old men. Personally I would rather talk to crazy old men. 

It's always kind of nostalgic when you leave an area. It makes you think about what you've accomplished and who you've helped. Sometimes I feel like I haven't done much. But then there are always those one or two people who come and tell you the impact you made on them and how much they appreciated your service. I guess it's those little moments that are the most gratifying. I've also been studying the conference Ensign this week, which if you haven't read it, is gold. Read it! En tout cas, I read the talk by Elder Ballard about bees and how throughout a bees life, which is only a few weeks it only makes enough honey to contribute 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey. That's nothing! But then he talks about how that 1/12 makes an impact when all of those 1/12 are compacted. Elder Ballard then compares our small acts of service to the honey produced by honey bees, he said, "These simple, daily acts of service may not seem like much in and of themselves, but when considered collectively they become just like the one-twelfth teaspoon of honey contributed by a single bee to the hive. There is power in our love for God and for His children, and when that love is tangibly manifest in millions of acts of Christian kindness, it will sweeten and nourish the world with the life-sustaining nectar of faith, hope, and charity." I guess missionary work is exactly that, we just do a few small acts of service which eventually end up manifesting the love our Father in Heaven has for us and those we serve. 

Thanks you for your love and support! Thank you for your acts of love and service for me! Thanks for your patience! Please don't forget how much you are loved. Don't forget to have fun and enjoy this Christmas season. We have so much to be thankful for. Have a beautiful week!

Bisous Bisous

Sister Perkins

Superintendant!!

Hello! 

It's your favorite Sister MISSIONARY!!!!! Okay. I just wanted to be annoying with that opening line. But let's be real. I'm your favorite. I can't believe you guys had Thanksgiving without me...So RUDE!  I spent Thanksgiving knocking and trying to convince people that we really are not: T.J.'s (Jehovah's witnesses), polygamists, conspiring with Israel to attack Gaza(yeah what's the deal out there? I'm glad we don't get news coverage), cousins with Mitt, from Mexico (just Sister Lopez), So basically we were grateful that none of the above is true:) It was actually a pretty great day:) I love knocking!

So this week is a very good 

This week was really incredible! I feel like the Lord said, "Here Sister Perkins, have a miracle maybe a dozen?" I can't even count how many prayers were answered this week but I felt like everywhere I turned the Lord gave me huge blessings. 

So, as you know we went to Quebec last week which was a really, really big blessing. I had island fever and really needed to breath different air. Quebec was like a big breath of beautiful air. I loved it! Then when I got back to the island I received a phone call from no other than Lindy Pace (Aka Sister Pace, my trainer) she is here visiting. I was so happy that I danced around in a circle. I love her. I was able to see her that night for a few minutes and I just cried. Oh my goodness! I needed to see her. I felt like this little part of my heart that has been needing something that feels like home to be filled. And seeing her really helped me feel home. All I wanted to do was tell her everything that's happened in the last 8 months since I've seen her, but that was impossible. There are reasons that only I the Lord and I know, but I really needed to see her. 

While we were in Quebec we visited the sweetest little old lady named Lucy. She loved to talk! She told us about everything. And she kept calling me Superintendent. I think she thought that's what I said when I introduced myself as Sister Perkins. I'm going to tell President that I'm a superintendent now:) But Lucy is basically a legend in Quebec she's been an investigator for a very long time, but it could be because she talks sooooooo much. But a midst all of talk talk talking. She told us a story that really touched my heart. She said two nights before our visit she was really worried because the next day she had to do her grocery shopping for the whole winter(because she doesn't like to leave her house), so she buys five months worth of food, mostly frozen dinner type stuff. She said she was worried because she would be tired after shopping and she had no idea where she was going to put like 120 frozen dinners. So she said she did something she never does. She prayed. She said she asked God that if there was a way he could help her she would really appreciate it. She then told us that the next day she woke up with a lot of energy and when she got to the store "a nice young lad" who worked in the store told her that the store could deliver the frozen dinners to her house throughout the winter as she needed them. She said she was so happy that she couldn't wait to pray again to thank God. To us this might seem really menial, but to this cute little 80 year old lady it was like God parted the Red Sea for her. It really struck me that the Lord will make anything that is important to us, important to Him. It also showed me that our God is so merciful and so willing to put our righteous desires,even if they seem silly to others, in the forefront of His mind. He truly loves us. 

Keeping this experience in mind when we got home Sister Lopez and I decided out area needed extra help. Help that only the angles in heaven could organize, so we fasted. We fasted because we really needed new investigators.  Normally this would be easy, but President has asked us to knock and find in areas that are nicer than the average slums. It's really hard. Most people do not love us, and the rest pretend not to see us. We fasted and prayed and knocked. And we found no one. I wasn't feeling discouraged though. I knew that the Lord would do something for us. At about 8 o'clock that night we decided to go visit this family that we normally don't see. When we were walking up to their apartment building we saw this guy taking out his trash so we contacted him. He asked us for a Book of Mormon in English so we told him after our appointment we could bring one up to his apartment. When we brought it to him  he ended up asking us really great questions like: Where does evil come from? How do we find truth? Where is God? All of this really sincere questions that normally frighten me to death, but the Lord didn't leave us alone. With every question we had a scripture. This is the first time this has ever happened to me but I felt like I knew what he was going to say. It was really crazy. But after we answered a lot of his questions he asked us to come back this week. It was a crazy cool miracle. 

There were so many amazing things that happened I've only had time to share a couple of the amazing experiences that we had. God is aware of us. He knows out thoughts and the intents of hearts and if we pray he will answer our prayers. 

I hope you have a great week! Look for miracles, because they are everywhere if you just look.

I love you!

Bisous Bisous

Soeur Perkins 

 QUEBEC!!

What a beautiful City!

Hello everyone! 

It is true! It is true! Lopez and I skipped town and came to Quèbec. We were lucky enough to get permission to come here for a split. I have always dreamed of Quèbec since I was with Sister Pace and the Honeyhead. My, oh my, it is beautiful!

This week was a really good one! We had a lot of fun and ran around like little chickens with no heads. Also, kind of fun. It has also been getting chilly in these parts. You know it is starting to get cold when 7 celsius is hot. We are like polar bears here!

So this week Sister Lopez and I had a dinner appointment with the famous Athanassi family. They are the ones who danced for us after our super formal dinner. Well this time dinner was the interesting part. They started out with the traditional vegetable soup, and then after hummus and veggies and then the main course. Cute little Sister Athanassi made a huge pot of ravioli, not bad, right. And for the sauce she mixed yogurt, mint, and about 3000 cloves of garlic. Raw garlic. Did I mention we have been contacting a lot of people, lately? So they serve us huge plates of ravioli swimming in this yogurty mixture and wha-bam! Instant heart burn. I am about a quarter of the way down and the oldest sister of the Athanassi family says, "I can't eat this! It's making my throat burn!" So they try mixing everyone's white sauce with more yogurt. You know what that did? It just made more white garlic sauce. Oh did I mention that Lebanese people do not drink ANY liquids during their meals? Yeah. Nada. So, at this point I'm dying for water, I have heart burn and my eyes are burning. Also my companion isn't saying a word, so I have to try to eat and make pleasant conversation. Poor Hermana Lopez was just trying to eat this stuff. After a good 20 minutes of them waiting for me to finish, Brother Athanassi kind of just takes my plate when no one is looking. Bless his heart! We thought the misery ended there. Do you know what we had for desert? Pastries made of dates and a big glass of.....dark chocolate milk. Yeah. That made for an interesting mixture in my tummy. We love the Athanassi's just not the fire breathing garlic sauce. 

This week we also had an amazing lesson with Nicole, our deaf investigator! We taught the plan of salvation and I can tell you, the spirit was there!!!! How do I know? Well, I taught the whole plan of salvation in sign language and pictures of course and she understood me!!!!! Sister Lopez would add in her two cents, here and there, let's be real, sign language is not easy. But the spirit was present and we could see her little face light up as we explained each phase. It was a beautiful thing. 

We also had a lesson with a former investigator who went to Haiti for 3 months, but just came back about a week ago. We were talking to him about people in the ward that we wanted him to meet and we said, "Oh have you met Frére Pierre?" And he said, "No I met this really tall guy though." And I said, "Oh Frére St. Martin! Il est tres méchant!" Which means "Oh he's really nasty/spiteful/mean/evil." My companion looked at me like what are you saying? Yeah I felt pretty dumb:)

We've been working on contacting a lot in this area. I'm not the best at it. I get really nervous. But we've been talking to a lot of people with a lot of sad eyes. And it's really made me think about what the light of Christ does to our physical appearance. It makes us stand up straighter, eat healthier, smile, laugh, and even beam. I have gotten a little chubbier, I have lost hair like a cat, and a myriad of other crazy things. But I feel great! I really do. I wake up in the morning with this energy and I can see in myself more light. And I think that's really what we do everytime we get closer to the Savior. We bring more light into our lives. It reminds me of Alma 5:14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?I've been asking myself this question. And it's really made me think, and really made me want to try harder. I have a testimony that the Lord changes hearts. He's changed mine and I know if you ask, He can change yours.

I really hope you have a beautiful week! Oh yeah! Happy Thanksgiving! Every time I say that I think of that part on You've Got Mail. "Say Happy thanksgiving back." "Happy Thanksgiving back" I'm grateful for you and for your examples. For your love and for your letters that always cheer up my days! Remember to love each other! 

I love you!

Bisous Bisous

Soeur Perkins

 So excited to play in fall leaves!

Yay! for Fall!

Hello dearlings..... Yes the Lopez and I think we have a cat living in our house. Okay that's the lie we've been telling ourselves because everyday our hair falls out in massive gobs. Good bye, hair! I'm  going to save all of them and make myself a nice wig. I hope you enjoyed that opening line, because I've been working on it all day. 

Oh my goodness before I forget I want to wish my little Fia a happy birthday!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!! I can't believe my little Fia monster is 4! It's so crazy. Fia you are such a gorgeous little lady and I can't wait to play with you again! I love you nugget! 

Other than our hair falling out life has been pretty good. We've had some really nice sunny days! Oh so great! We've seen some miracles and eaten up this beautiful fall season. 

Speaking of fall. So now that all of the leaves have fallen the trees look super bare and kind of ugly. Sister Lopez and I were driving the other day and it was quiet than out of nowhere she says, "I'm really afraid. These trees are going to fall and kill someone." I just looked at her like she was nuts. Every time we see a big tree she has to tell me that it's going to kill someone someday.Then this morning when we were leaving our house to go do laundry at the Sisters house there were people cutting down some of the big trees by our house and she looked at me and in a very solemn voice she said, "See. I told you." What a nut. 

So, we've been trying to get to know the people in our ward better so we've been setting up lessons with random members in the ward and we set up an appointment with this super nice family from Brazil. Well, we show up and guess what? It's a dinner appointment and they've invited someone. The only problem was that we didn't know if this chica was a member or not. So we kind of just smile and sit there while the family talks to her.Then the sister brings us our plates of food. Yeah. I had like 3 cups of rice and half of a chicken. Sister Lopez had like half the amount of food on her plate. Ridiculous. Then she gives us a huge glass of straight pineapple juice. Yeah. If you ever want to lose weight really quick I have the diet for you. So, after everyone is sufficiently stuffed like turkeys the mom says, "Okay now we will watch Finding Faith in Christ." About halfway through the movie I thought "I'm a gonner. I'm not going to make it out of here." Then about two minutes before the movie is over the sister stands up and turns it off. Then she sits right in front of the investigator and says (in like a tv preacher voice) "Do you have FAITH?!" Sister Lopez and I had eyes as big as saucers. Then the sister went crazy on this poor little chica. The rest of the night was pretty eventful but I will spare you the gory details. Oh dinner appointments. 

We were in the neighborhood of another Haitian member this Friday night so we decided to pass by and see how she was doing. The only problem was that we saw her walking down the street and normally we would've have honked and waved but she was dancing as she was walking so we just drove alongside and watched her. We were laughing so hard we couldn't even breathe. So after we creeped on her sufficiently we decided to wait just outside of her house and then we ran into an old investigator that this member introduced us to. Long story short we ended up having a really good lesson with this member and our investigator. At the end the member wanted to sing Lord I would Follow Thee. The only problem here is that when she sings she sounds like those motion sensored Halloween ghosts. So, the whole time I'm trying to keep myself from dying of laughter and then I just lost it like the last two verses. So after the investigator who is this old Haitian lady says, "why were you laughing?" And I did something no missionary should ever do. I lied. I said I got lost. And the member said, "they're learning French sometimes it's hard for them when they sing." When we left the house Sister Lopez said, "You big liar!" As you can see, I still not have solved my problem at laughing in the most inconvenient situations. 

One of the coolest parts of being a missionary is less active work. I really love working with less actives. It's hard. But when you see someone come back it's so rewarding. when I first got into this area my comp and I started working with this family that has been  inactive for about five years. We've visited them every Sunday since I got here but haven't seen very much progress. Sister L and I were starting to get really frustrated and talked about dropping them, but we just couldn't. I kept thinking about Jacob 5 "It grieveth me that I should lose one of these trees." We just couldn't do it. This week we had two family home evenings and we invited this family not really thinking they would come. Well, they came to both and after both they promised to come to church. And we weren't too sure. Well, they came yesterday. I teared up a little bit as I was jumping up and down outside the church when I saw them walking up. It was so beautiful! They really loved being there. I know that the Lord was probably more excited than I was. It strengthened my testimony that no matter who we are or where we are the Lord is aware of us and He will never foresake us. Never cease to look for the people in your life who need you as an angel to help them back to where they need to be. It would grieveth Him to lose one of us. Don't forget that.

I hope you have a great week! I love you so much! 

Bisous Bisous!

Sister Perkins

 My favorite place in Montreal. The fruit market:)

Me and Nueces in the Fruit Market

Bonjour! 

It is a cold chilly cloudy day here in Canada. Actually this morning it was blue and sunny and then we went into Walmart for like 20 minutes and wa-BAM! It was gloomy and cloudy. Sister Lopez was not amused, nor was I. What's the deal Canada?  It might be time to start praying for blue skies again. 

This was a pretty good week, but as you can see from my title we ran into a lot of nueces (Translation: crazy people). In my attempt to be multilingual I was speaking to Sister Lopez the other day and I was trying to tell her she was nuts and instead it came out in Spanish so I said, "Tu eres nueces!" She thought it was so funny that we've been saying it all week. And then we started calling all of the crazy people we saw nueces on the metro, on the streets, in our mission:) Nueces everywhere. Sometimes the nueces are funny but a lot of the times their craziness is just more weird. Sister L and I decided to start a novela when we get home called "Nueces enomoradas" staring William Carlos Omar Levy Ricardo Romero. Yeah. We're s

Language has been a topic of comedy here. The other day Sister L and I were talking and she said, "I think I sound like Encarnacion when I speak English." To be honest I've never actually thought about it so when she said it I started laughing super hard because it's kind of true. And so all week we've been singing the Encarnacion song from Nacho Libre. I've also been making her say "My favorite animal is puppies." Not to worry though I've had my fair share of English mess ups this week. For example the other day we went to buy some frozen pizzas at the store as a district for lunch. And I was walking across the street and this guy walks by and said something to me and I laughed and smiled because I had no idea what he said. And then I turned to one of the French Elders and said, "What did he say?" And he looked at me like I was nuts and said, "Pizza's ready." And I looked at him like he was nuts and said, "What does that mean? Is it like a French thing?" And he said, "No. It's English. It means the Pizza is ready." Yeah. I needed the Frenchie to explain that to me. And on Saturday Sister L and I went to find a referral we received by mail that only had a street but no number. So we decided to knock the whole street. So, people would open then door and we would say "Bonjour nous cherchons pour Loulou Tarascus?" And if they didn't know what we were talking about we would contact them. There was this little old lady who opened the door and here is Quebec there are a lot of apartments that have two doors and to get to the actual apartment you have to walk up a hallway of stairs so we usually just yell from the bottom. Since the lady was old I yelled really loud, "BON-JOUR! nous cher-CHONS pour  Lou-LOU TARASCUS!" And in English she said, "What?" So I Yelled it louder "NOUS CHER-CHONS POUR LOU-LOU-TA-RAS-CUS!" By this point Sister Lopez is laughing super hard and trying to tell me that this lady is actually speaking in English. Yeah. I'm having a hard time. 

We've been doing a lot of member work in this ward. So, we've tried to visit every member in our ward starting with letter A. We've found out where a lot of members don't live anymore. But my favorite was the other day we went to find this older Quebecoise sister and so we walk up to this door and ring the bell and I'm looking in through the window and I see all of these picture of this Asian couple on the wall and I look at Sister Lopez like "Mayday Mayday!" But she was already asking this crazy Asian lady if she was Soeur Bougie but she didn't speak English so we both ended up laughing really hard and tried to contact her. Fail. 

Oh good news. We didn't get blown away in the Hurricane winds last week. But we thought we were going to. I've gained weight, but I guess not enough because Sister L and I were fighting the gale force winds everywhere we went. It did not do good things for my hair. 

Every Thursday night we have the honor of teaching the one and only Daniel Bolduc English class. Daniel is member of our ward. He's a real life Ghostbuster. Really. He told Sister C he does a Ghost check on the church once a week. This week for English class he wanted to talk about idioms. Embarrassing fact I've learned more about English than I ever knew before teaching English class. Like I had no idea that idioms were called idioms. So he asked me to write some on the board and explain them. So I did a couple and the one of the Elders started writing some other ones on the board....So I decided to be funny and started making up idioms. Like "It's like two pirates in a supermarket." It means that it's pretty crazy or unusual. Also, "It's like trying to perform a root canal on a walrus." It means it's a really difficult or big job. So if you hear any of these floating around 2 language English speakers you know who to thank.

This week my District Leader gave us this really amazing talk by Elder Bednar  called "The Atonement: And the journey of Mortality" to study for the week. I've already read it 4 times. It's amazing. Elder Bednar talks about how the Atonement wasn't created to just make bad men good but good men better, and how we can use the Atonement for more than just repenting of our sins. He stresses how we can use the Atonement not to remove us from the circumstances we are in but to use it to give us the power to change our circumstances. My favorite quote says, "As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed." Every time I think I understand the Atonement I realize there is still so much to learn. But what I do know is that the Lord will strengthen us if we ask Him. 

I hope you have a great week and stay warm! We will be starting our seven-layer bean dip bundling this week! 1 degree today! 

I love you!

Bisous Bisous!

Soeur Perkins

 Saying good bye to Honeyhead and hello to Sister Lopez

 Applesauce party:) With Nadia and Pascale

 The last family photo:(

The apostate Sister and the White Handbook Sister

Hey little pumpkins!

Sorry for the uber downer email last week. But sometimes life is hard, even for servants of the Lord:)  Don't worry though. Everything worked out, because that's how the Lord works! It was a gorgeous fall week. And blessings were everywhere, sometimes it's easy to forget how blessed we are:)

This week was my little Honeyhead's last week on the mission. It was hard to see her go. I love that little chica so much! I haven't cried that much in a long time, but I know that the Lord allowed me to spend one more transfer with her as a huge tender mercy. I've been super lucky with the companions I've had! Sister Lopez is a doll. She has been helping me a ton with my Spanish/French/English:) Yeah. My English has gotten pretty bad the last few months. I don't know why but I speak like English is my second language or something. I'm a weirdy. Sister Lopez is also really funny and she thinks I'm funny...which is really good because I think I'm pretty funny too;) 

This week we did a lot of running around teaching. It was a really good week. We also spent a lot of time helping out with our ward Halloween party which was a lot of fun and we got three referrals so that was really good. Sister Lopez and I had about 3 dollars each for our costumes so we went to the dollar store(which weirdly enough in Canada are like super amazing) and we were looking for costumes and Sister Lopez had the idea that we could be a devil and an angel or rather a white handbook missionary and an apostate missionary. We thought it was really funny until after we bought everything and then Sister Lopez was like "Hermana why did you let me do this?" She was dying. But our ward thought it was funny and so did our investigators...so there:) 

So, I'm like permanently exhausted. Yesterday I fell asleep in sacrament, gospel doctrine, and relief society. It was really bad. I have no idea when I turned into an 85year old man but for some reason the second I sit down I'm a goner. I even called Sister Cannon to see if she had any solutions. She said, "Yeah. Sleep in one morning." And I said, "Yeah no." I hate breaking the routine. I thrive on routine. We'll see. Mostly I'm hoping that my body will just keep up with the level of insanity I put it through every day:) 

This week Sister Lopez and I went to visit this old Haitian member in our ward and she talked forever about everything under the sun.....I actually fell asleep a couple of times. But I just kept saying "Oui, c'est vrai." And smiling. Then we decided to sing a song and she started singing really loud and off key. I forgot to prepare Sister Lopez for Haitian singing and Sister Lopez, bless her little heart started laughing super hard. And the member kind of looked at her like "are you okay?" So I just kept singing and then at the end Sister Lopez said, "Desole, I'm a really bad singer." So then we said good-bye and afterwards walked out and as soon as the door was shut behind us we both started laughing super hard and Sister Lopez said, "Is that normal?" And I just smiled and said "you have no idea". Another favorite thing of mine this week has been introducing Sister Lopez to everyone as the cousin of Jennifer Lopez. Everyone here believes me:) I'm so funny, 

So this week the big apple service project was still underway. Sister C and I made applesauce with the member for a couple of hours and all of the while I kept thinking about the parable of the vineyard in Jacob 5. Sometimes I can't believe how blind I was to the amazing love of heavenly Father. But peeling those apples was a reminder to me that he loves us so much. You can't deny that as you peel a big juicy yellow apple. There is nothing quite so lovely. But even more the words of Jacob kept echoing in my head. The Lord of the vineyard remarks 7 seven times "it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard." That phrase really hit me.  What also hit me was thinking about everything the Lord goes through to save His trees. He doesn't just give up after one season, but He keeps working on them. He keeps showing love and patience. Sometimes I find myself being so hard on people, hard on myself. But think of the beauty of that phrase. We are important. Each one of us is like a tree that has been cared for by  the Lord of the Vineyard. It would grieve him to lose one of us. I love the scriptures. Like I've said missions are not easy, but everyday I feel like the Lord is there telling me something that gives me that much more energy to keep working hard in His vineyard. 

I hope you have a beautiful and Happy Halloween! Eat lots of treats! Have lots of fun! And be oh so safe!

I love you!

Bisous Bisous!

Soeur Perkins

Tea time with the District. Love their guts.

  Haitian Dinner Appointment. Look at the excitement on my little round face.

We picked apples last week for a service project. It was a lot of fun, except for all of the bugs. Tomorrow we'll be going back to help make a ton of applesauce:) I love Fall!!!!!

  We were able to go to the Chinese Lantern Festival at the Botanical Gardens with one of our members and a potential investigator. It was so beautiful!!!

  So pretty!

Gangster Chinese Girl

Hello my little pumpkins!

I cannot believe that another transfer is over. How does this keep happening? It's going by too quickly. Especially this transfer. I'm not ready to say good-bye to two of my best friends. I've decided that I'm only going to make friends with missionaries who are staying longer than me. No more of this heart wrenching sadness every transfer. As for transfer calls, I will be staying in Hochelaga and I will be receiving a companion named Sister Lopez, who is from Mexico and who is majoring in French teaching. I'm pretty excited about the whole speaking French and Spanish thing, but we will have to make sure to speak in English too since she's learning English. It's going to be a pretty interesting transfer. I'm excited, but really sad to see the Honeyhead go home. Boo!

This week was all kinds of crazy. We ran, ran, ran, and boom it was the end of the week. We had a lot of really cool experiences as you've seen from the pictures. We picked apples, we went to a Chinese lantern festival, we ate Haitian food (which makes my arteries cry), we also cried a lot, and laughed a lot. Saying good-bye is hard. 

I would really like to write more but I'm just feeling really tired. Maybe one day I'll explain the details, but by then the problems will be so removed it won't really matter. But your prayers would be appreciated. I need them. 

Speaking of prayer...this week I spent a lot of time praying. Lots of time really supplicating with my Heavenly Father. And he answered my prayers in a number of ways. A phone call from my favorite little Elder Leon, a surprise visit from the lovely Kat, lunch with the kindest Pascale, jokes from the Honeyhead. So many ways to remind me that he loves me. I guess even though this seems like a downer letter I would want you to know that He hears you too. I love you so much. Next week will be better.

Bisous Bisous

Sister Perkins

Hello little pumpkins!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACLYN! Holy smokes! I'm so grateful that you are my sister. I hope that one day I can be just as funny, smart, and amazing as you are. Plus I think your one cute mama! Thanks for your love and for just being incredible. I love you!

Today is one lovely fall day. Incredible. I walked outside and just had this giddy feeling. It's fall. I'm in Canada. I'm a missionary. And I'm serving with my best buddy right now. The Elders took us to the most beautiful farmer's market in the world and we got a whole bag full of beautiful fruits, veggies, and raw honey.  Life could not be sweeter. 

This was a very silly week. We had a dinner appointment this Tuesday with the Athanassi Family. It's two sisters and a brother who all live together from Lebanon. It should also be noted that they are in their 60-70's. The dinner was very formal. We had a big fancy place setting, 3 courses, fancy elevator music while we ate. The works. It was a very normal, very fancy, very quiet D.A. We were getting ready to leave after we finished our spiritual thought when brother Athanassi asked in his beautiful Lebanese English "Do you want to get to know the house?" So we said sure and went on a tour of every single knook and cranny of their home. We saw all three bedrooms, the bathrooms, the living room, the food storage room, the water storage room, the office, the sewing room, and then the D.J/Dance room. Yeah. D.J. room. complete with lights and loud speakers. So brother Athanassi puts on some ballroom music and turns off the normal lights and puts on his sweet Christmas lights. Then he says, "Do you want to hear some Quebecois music?" And do you know what he turned on? Club music. And he started dancing like a crazy. Then he turned on some Lebanese music and more Quebecois  club music. The whole time Sister C and I were on the verge of dying from laughter. It was the funniest thing to see. When we left our stomachs hurt so bad. And that is how the most normal D.A. became the best D.A. 

So, apparently there was an earthquake this week. Guess who slept right through it? Yep. Me and the Honeyhead. We got a phone call the next day from a member asking us if we were scared and we were both like "um...no?" And then we heard from like a hundred people that there was an earthquake in the middle of the night. Good thing we were like zombies and didn't even notice. I'm pretty sure if we had, we both would've been like scaredy little chickens.

Let's see...So mother you were right. I was sick this week. Nothing fatal, but on Saturday at about 6 I turned in the towel. Once I got home I crashed and Honeyhead went to cleaning our disgusting bathroom that probably hasn't really been cleaned since 1924. So, I'm dead to the world for about an hour and then I woke up and found our living room covered in bags of trash. So, we load up with trash and go out the back door of our apartment. Our apartment is about 500 square feet and it has two doors. One in the front and one that goes out a back way to the trash. Well, I accidentally let that door shut and it locks automatically. And then we realized....no keys. So we walk to our concierge's house. Let me paint the picture for you: I look like death no make-up, sweats and Honeyhead has a Tyson Chicken shirt on it that says Power full and yoga pants and big pink fluffy socks. Pretty sweet combo. So we knock on our concierge's door, who is the nicest person by the way, and he kindly gives us keys and so we walk over to our apartment only to realize that this key doesn't unlock the back door to our house. So we try the front door and Viola! However, we locked ALL THREE locks on our door. Including the little chain one that keeps the door from opening all of the way. So after about 15 minutes of me sticking all of my appendages into the house trying to get the chain unlocked, we decide to go back to the concierge and ask for a screwdriver. He looks at us like we're absolutely as bonkers as we look as says, "Why? I gave you the keys." And we say, "Well, the problem is the little chain at the top." And he says, "That's impossible unless you went out the emergency back door." Oops. Big no no. So, he kindly gave us a screwdriver to  take off the chain lock and off we go. The only other problem is that we have to buzz to get back into our building because our concierge lives in another building. I'm a missionary so I'm pretty much a professional at getting into buildings so I buzz about a million of them and in we go. Bad idea. So, two of our neighbors come out while Honeyhead is unscrewing our lock and they look at us like we're delinquent robbers so in my delusional French I explain that we're locked out. Yeah. They were not happy. Finally we got in and that is how a five minute run to the dumpster took a half an hour. Gotta love the "within sight and sound rule". 

Yesterday we had one of those experiences that really struck me hard. We were visiting this family and we decided to teach the Plan of Salvation. We started out talking about how we are all children of God. And they argued that it's not true, this family was certain that only Christians were children of God. My heart was so struck by it. I tried explaining that we were all created by this same God who gave us all life therefore we are all His children. But they argued that it couldn't be true. It made me so sad and the words "the worth of every soul is great in the eyes of God" kept ringing in my head. I know that we are children of God. Every single one of us. He loves us no matter how good or bad, how "christian" or agnostic, He loves us all the same. I know that's not really groundbreaking, but for me it was. I'm a daughter of God. I'm His little girl. The apple of His eye. And there isn't anything or anyone who can make me believe otherwise. 

I hope you enjoy this beautiful fall season! I hope you are healthy! I hope you are wise! I hope if your name is Jaclyn Sue you eat a lot of cake and ice cream today:) 

Je vous aime beaucoup!

Bisous Bisous!

Soeur Perkins

Canadian Thanksgiving Day!

Hello!!!!

Today is indeed Canadian Thanksgiving and we are going to be having a big feast in about two hours. We're super excited! More than even most Quebec-ers. They don't really celebrate they just take work off. But Sister C and I decided that this was an excellent opportunity to make a big meal with all of the missionaries we love. Elder Blank and a few other Elders bought a 28lbs turkey! The poor Elders woke up at 5 this morning to go cook the turkey at the mission home. Sister C turned into Martha Stewart and made two different kinds of sweet potatoes. When we just got to the mission office we found out that the Elders in charge of the stuffing burnt it. So that will be interesting. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a great meal though! We even made fancy Indian hats, we didn't want to spare any measure of effort for our Canadian Thanksgiving.

This week was as usual insane! We ran around like crazies here there and everywhere. There is no time to rest here. But it's good and makes me feel like a real  missionary. I think when people are preparing to go on a mission they always think they're going to turn into this superhuman version of themselves, full of charity, patience, love, deep doctrinal answers. But the truth is your just the same. But the good news is that the Lord makes up for your weaknesses. He's helped me be better in ways that I didn't know I could be better. It's pretty incredible!

So, obviously conference was amazing! I couldn't write notes fast enough and I just kept thinking I can't believe I have to wait a whole month before the Ensign comes out. It's ridiculous. I need it now!!! But I'm so happy that we were able to be so spiritually edified by the leaders of this amazing church. However, we were dying by session four. It's been a very, very, very long time (okay, 6 months) since I've sat and watched something. I felt like I had a mild form of ADHD. It was soooo hard to sit there. But it was well worth it:)

On Friday we visited Carline and Gregory. We taught them the entire plan of Salvation and the spirit was really strong so we decided it was time to try to commit them. They were so excited and nervous, but they accepted. We were so happy and my heart just felt to bursting! There are days when I think "Why is this sooooo hard!?". Sometimes being a missionary is really discouraging, but the moments that are rewarding are incredibly rewarding. More than anything else I've ever been a part of. And when those moments happen I can help but happen to feel incredibly grateful for all that I've been given. And seeing that it's Canadian Thanksgiving I want to name a few things that I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for the past year. My life has changed. I've changed. I'm grateful for my companions and the other missionaries I've been able to serve around. I know the Lord sent them to me to help me be better. I'm grateful for my family. They're incredible and my best buddies. I love you all! I'm grateful for my friends who have been there for the past year. Thank you for being patient with my inability to write back:) I'm super grateful for my healthy body, for my curly hair (finally learned to love it), for the fact that I've grown 1/2 inch:) I'm grateful for the ability to pray each night, and even more for the ability to let go of my imperfections as I pray to my Father in Heaven for Forgiveness. I'm grateful for the leaves in Canada that are so beautifully changing. I'm grateful for my Honeyhead. I'm grateful for my District. I'm grateful for my faith, my membership in the church, and my scriptures. I'm just so thankful for all that the Lord has given me and don't really have the words to express my gratitude for all that I have, but as Ammon stated in Alma 26 "Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name." Have we not reason to rejoice? Take time this week to count your blessings and name them one by one. 

Thank you for your love and your prayers. Please never cease to pray for the missionaries. We need them! More than letters and packages, and thanksgiving dinner we need prayers! Have a beautiful week! Eat pie! Drink Apple Cider! Count your blessings! Remember that I love you!

Bisous! Bisous! 

Soeur Perkins

Picture of the Week. Yeah. It's random. So this is Elder Riviera he's the AP. And we have this running joke about this crazy Ward Mission Leader from Zarahemla who once drew the Ward mission plan on an orange. So Elder Riviera drew it for me again on a watermelon. So classy:) Or in the words of President Cannon, "So Gangster!"

Hey there!

I'm getting spooked! Ever since I hit my year mark I feel like my life is going by at a rapid rate! Where is time going?! I've been trying to figure out a way to make time slow down, because let's be honest I need more than six months. Oh dear!

This week was actually pretty good. We ran around like crazies, which is pretty much normal. We had Sister's Conference at the mission home and it was soooo much fun! I love being at the Cannon's house and even better...with all of my sista's. We got to sleep over so the night before the actual conference we played games and painted nails. It was so normal...it actually felt weird. I'm turning into that missionary. However, we went to go visit Sister Delgado before Sister's Conference and she painted my nails in this fancy shmancy way that we started calling the Delgado nails. She's too cute. So all week I kept staring at my nails. They were too pretty. I feel like nothing about me is presentable anymore. But last week I had rocking nails. Beautiful thing....um back to sister's conference. President and Sister Cannon really wanted to drive home the fact that we are just as important and influential as the Elders. There were also good trainings on stress management (a must), and language study plans. It was a really great conference. But I would have to say my favorite part was listening to President talk about how fascinated he was by the way gangsters talk over lunch.  "Let's take the phrase 'Get outtta my face'. Can someone literally be in your face? And Bra. I'm not sure that's appropriate to call another person." And in the back Sister Cannon said, "I find this conversation inappropriate." I was laughing super hard. Maybe it's just funny to me because I'm a missionary. 

Can I just say how excited I am for General Conference? It's like the spiritual superbowl. Speaking of sounding like a missionary.... We went to the women's broadcast this last Saturday in French, and it was absolutely incredible. I just love conference! When we were at the stake center I actually met a sister who just returned from serving in STG. It made me so happy! She told me that she absolutely adored her mission there. Really, who can blame her? I'm so excited for GC! Best time of the whole year!!!

So yesterday at church there was a random lady who came to Gospel Doctrine she was clearly not a member so Sister C and I went and sat by her. The situation seemed pretty normal (for us) until during the prayer I noticed that her bag was ticking. Yeah. Like a timebomb. Or the crocodile in Peter Pan. So I look at Sister C to see if she is hearing what I'm hearing and she seemed to be fine. So then I look across the room at the Elders to see if they can hear it and they are also fine. So then I'm like maybe it's my watch. So I casually lift my watch to my ear to see. Nope. Meanwhile the teacher is asking everyone to share a talent they have developed. For some reason  HoneyHead thought she said share a talent you would like to have, so it gets to HoneyHead and she says, "Charity." And I thought "Well, look at you Miss Christ-like attributes." Because Sister C just barely told me like two days earlier that she was working on Charity, and so I thought "oooh-la-la-la you figured that out quick." As you can imagine my brain was reeling. Timebomb. Charity. Crocodile.I knew the Elders would be leaving the class soon to go to the other ward they cover so I wrote them a quick note just in case. I basically told them not to deep fry the turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving (Next week). Yeah. For some reason that was my dying wish. The end of this story is pretty anti-climatic, after class ended she just got up and left. I'm not going to lie a was pretty relieved. And then I told Sister C about the crocodile/timebomb and she started laughing and said, " This is the second time you've thought somebody had a bomb." This is true. If you remember my experience at the court house in Ottawa....so maybe I'm a little paranoid. 

During sacrament yesterday I was reading in D&C 25 where the Lord speaks to Emma Smith. It's such a powerful section for the sisters in the church. I love it! But I was really struck by verse 4, that says, "Murmur not because of the things which thou hast not seen, for they are withheld from thee and from the world, which is wisdom in me in a time to come." It really hit me because....I murmur. A lot. Sometimes I err more on the Laman and Lemuel side and less on the Nephi side. Sometimes I murmur because I'm not sure how things are going to work out. Sometimes I murmur because people are mean. Sometimes I murmur because getting up at 6:30 everyday is not fun. Sometimes I murmur because I miss my old clothes. Sometimes I murmur because I don't recognize my body or hair anymore. Sometimes I murmur because of this or that little detail. I murmur a lot. It's annoying, I'm sure. I bet there are days when the Lord wants to say, "Hey you! Knock it off!" But the Lord has promised us that as long as we listen to Him, He will take care of everything. We've been given so much, but for one reason or another we allow ourselves to forget. The three most beautiful words I've heard in the French language are "Je me souviens" (I remember). Don't forget. Don't forget what you've been given. Don't forget who you are. And most importantly don't forget that He has a plan for us all. 

I really hope this email makes sense. I feel like the longer I'm on my mission the more my brain turns into a pinball machine. It's pretty ridiculous. But please know that I love you and thank the Lord every time I think about all of the beautiful people back home supporting me here. I love you!

Bisous Bisous!

Soeur Perkins