The Yellow Canary

 Birthday Crepe! So yummy! 

 Mr. Birthday Suit

Birthday buddies. We look like twiners too huh?:)

Bonjour! 

My birthday was beautiful and glorious and everything I could've hoped for as a missionary turning 23. I had to say goodbye to Sister Sandoval:( after a beautiful crepe breakfast and later had a silly lunch with Sister Hill my Birthday buddy (We were born in the same year too!)  and ended the day with a lesson with Nicole and Pierre. Also, I got to see Elder Leon who is basically my brother so that was really great. It was pretty funny, he just had his birthday last month and so he was telling me how this member bought him the suit he was wearing. He said, "It's my birthday suit!" The best part was that he said it with a straight face and didn't realize what he said until I started laughing. Birthday suit. That is apostate! Super funny! Gotta love transfer birthday day. So. Good. Also, I'm a terrible Sister-in-Law.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORTNEY! Sorry that I have the brain of a chicken and forget everything! I hope your day was as interesting as mine. Hopefully you got a new birthday suit like Elder Leon;) So funny!

On Thursday we had our first lesson with Sylvain( our paraplegic investigator) and Sister C. It was a really great lesson at the park next to his house.  At the end he offered to give the prayer and Sister C and I could barely hear him. So at one point we both thought we heard him say "Amen." So then in unison we both said, "Amen." But then we realized that he was still praying. So feeling like idiots we kept listening. After we walked away Sister C said, "Remember how we turned into Pentecostals during that prayer?" It was pretty funny. AMEN!

This week the Lord gave us a whole lot of miracles. We found this man through a less active family who just moved here from Paris. Is that confusing. Sorry. English is hard now. Anyway, so we were watching the Testaments with this family and then we realized that this guy walked in right at the end when the Savior comes. At the end of the lesson we asked him if he wanted a BOM and he was super excited. He also told us that he's going to come to church with us. So cool! This is just one of many miracles we saw this week. OH! Another miracle would be my French has improved significantly. I'm so grateful for that. Please, keep praying for my French! Merci!

I gave myself chills typing the title of this email. One year. Holy Hannah Banana! Where did the time go? I still feel like a little greenie baby. It's a pretty surreal feeling. I've been thinking back on everything I've experienced and everything in the past year that I've learned and it just makes me so grateful. I'm so so so grateful that I did this. I didn't want to. But the Lord told me to. I can't exactly say what finally pushed me to just come. I guess if I'm honest it was the hope that I could change. I've changed a lot. It many ways. I still think I'm really funny, I still dance around the house, I still laugh at my own jokes, I still eat really weird things, I still find joy is crunching leaves, I still love Tiffany Blue and salty snacks. But even with everything I still am, I'm different somehow. 

I remember the first day that I realized I was changing. My companion and I were in a lesson with this man named Justin. He was a lawyer and atheist. But he wanted to know why we believed what we did and how. I remember teaching the plan of Salvation just like I had done for the past four months and then all at once I felt like something clicked. It wasn't just some nice story we told people but this plan was real. This really was the way, not just to live a better life or to make peace with where we came from, but to be saved. It struck me so hard that I felt like this broken piece of my heart shifted and it didn't matter what had happened before because this was true. People always say that you don't come on a mission to get a testimony, but it just happens. At leas for me. I remember the day I realized the resurrection was real. This is a real thing. It's really going to happen. I felt so much gratitude as I realized this is a manifestation of the love our Father in Heaven has for us. Every time I read Alma 11:44 I get chills just thinking about it "44 Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil." I cried as I read it knowing that he loves us this much. So much more than we will ever know. 

I remember the first time I cried because we had to drop a non-progressing investigator. I remember the pain of saying "Good-bye" to my family in Ottawa, to my home, to my Dows Lake. I remember the indescribable joy I felt when Jeffrey was baptized by William. I remember the way I couldn't stop laughing everytime I was in the care with Sister C. I remember the fear that struck in my heart when I flushed my phone down the toilet. I remember trying so hard no to laugh at Ramon in Zarahemla and the Sisters giving me "the look" to keep it together. Of all of these things that I've experienced I will never be able to forget the change that i've seen in me. I'll never be able to thank the Lord for who he has made of me in these short 12 months. I couldn't ask for more, but I can't wait to see what the next 6 months brings.

Sorry this email was kind of nerdy. But I've become really nostalgic in my old age. Life is crazy. But oh so good. I love my calling as a missionary. I love that I have six more months of this. I love you! 

Have a beautiful week!

Bisous Bisous

Sister Perkins