We're ALL sick honey

Coucou le monde!!! 

       Hope ya'll had such a good week I am so happy right now because I had an awesome week and there is a panini AND a crêpe in my digestive system right now (you know me, gotta mention food in at least every email). 

      So many crazy stories from this week. First being, we taught the Word of Wisdom to one of our amis this week and it was...a lesson HA. We were sitting there testifying about how their lives can be blessed by following it. Meanwhile, her member mom is in the corner cutting onions and spraying the remnants all over the room. I am crying because she's cutting a whole garden over there and in French she's like "HOLD UP" and midsentence we're like "...yes" and she goes "I'm going to a wedding reception this weekend and you're really saying I'm not gonna drink a glass of champagne?!?" And we just look at her like...yes that is exactly what we're saying. And our ami is so confused just looking between us not knowing what's okay, and so we had to explain that it's not good to drink alcohol because our bodies are a temple. Her mom is still protesting, "Well I'm a member and I still drink", so to our ami we're just like okay buddy you can come to the temple for the next lesson, we'll talk about this. Oof. So that one was rough but it was an experience HA.  

       Also I love our amis so, so much...I don't have enough time to describe all of them but I'll talk about one. Sylvie, I've mentioned her, is still in the hospital but she always begs us to come over and we always bring her white chocolate and read in The Book of Mormon because we've finished the lessons. So we come this time, and in her sweet little strained vocal cords she's bearing her testimony and then I hear this voice over the divider say "I AM TRYING TO SLEEP." This lady literally always tells us to leave even if it's the middle of the day. So Sylvie gets out of her hospital bed and turns around (keep in mind this woman can hardly stand) and she whips around so quick like "I am TRYING to hear the sweet message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is 19:00!! Let these missionaries speak." And the lady is like "I'M SICK" and Sylvie, who's been there 9 months is like "We're ALL sick honey." HA I've never seen her more mad than when somebody told her missionaries to leave. I love her so much.

      It's crazy how much your heart grows when you're a missionary. You love your family and your friends and you think there's no more space for anybody else HA. And then you meet all these amazing people who have been waiting for the gospel and you meet other missionaries and families come to the Visitor's Center that are incredible and I just love being a missionary. Definitely one of the hardest things I've ever done and you can't fully understand until you're on one. But I've learned so much and met so many incredible people here. If I have any readers deciding whether to go on a mission, I encourage you to do it. It will absolutely change your life. 

I love you all!! Have a good week! 

Sœur McOmber 

Most of the time grocery stores only have a few fruits that are in season but the outdoor markets have a lot of fresh grown fruit. Alors, these were my first strawberries in months.

Panini Crêpe!!! Legend among missionaries. A panini AND a crêpe AND a drink. 5 Euros. 

We went to Musée D'Orsay today and it is my new favorite museum in Paris. I'll have way more pics next week but it's a lil different than the Louvre because less naked people and it has more of artists like Vangogh, Monet, and Picasso.

Happy Jesus week!!

 Hi everybody! J'espère que tout le monde a passé des joyeuses Pâques! 

       I don't have a lot of time today because Elder Canes just sprained his ankle playing some ~pretty competitive~ frisbee so we're trying to find him some crutches oof but I'll share something short. 

     I love Easter it's such a happy time of year and we get to celebrate the most important event in history: the Resurrection of Christ! Every night this week we had firesides at the temple where missionaries bring their amis and we talk about Pâques. A lot of our amis commented to us about how they love how our church focuses on the joyous aspects of the final events of Christ's life. And honestly, it is a happy event! Because Christ died for us, we can overcome everything we will ever go through, including death. I love the words of this hymn we sang this week: 

He is risen! He is risen!

Tell it out with joyful voice.

He has burst his three days’ prison;

Let the whole wide earth rejoice!

Death is conquered; man is free.

Christ has won the victory! 

      I've been thinking so much about the word "victory" this Easter and I think that sums it up perfectly. Our older brother fought pain and sin and death and because of Him, we can overcome everything one day. I can't express my gratitude to my older brother and I've loved having an Easter so entirely centered on Him. 

(This is awesome, even if you've seen it, I ~invite you~ to watch it again ) 

https://www.mormon.org/video/because-of-him

 

Love you all and hope everybody had an amazing Easter!! 

Sœur McOmber 

We received some funds from an anonymous source to go ~cheese tasting~ and so we had a giant picnic with the district in the Versailles Gardens today. Some of them still taste like feet HA but the good ones are super good. Oh and sry ignore Sœur Curtis's knee lol. 

The "squad" at zone conference.

Elder Koshol milliseconds before he fell HA but look at the professional slacklining stance. Incredible.

Somehow whenever the elders play sports they get injured so here's Elder Canes with his sprained ankle. Don't worry though we found him some crutches and gave him yogurt and essential oils lol.

~ Iridocyclitis ~

Comment ça va mes amis! 

     OKAY 2 EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENTS ahhksrlgken I'm excited to announce:

1. We now run the facebook page for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for all French speakers and...
2. I got to be a tourist last p-day finally and see the Eiffel tower & Notre Dame. Pics at the bottom.

(Note from Danette: Morgan sent this letter on Monday a week ago...a few hours before the fire happened at Notre Dame. She had just visited Notre Dame on her p-day the week previous. The first picture below was taken from the steeple on the roof of Notre Dame. I'm really glad she got to have that experience when she did. The video footage that day brought tears to my eyes...such a beautiful building with so much history, built out of a love for God.

We received an email that evening from Morgan's Mission president:

"We write to confirm that all missionaries in the France Paris Mission are confirmed safe.

I spoke this evening with a Catholic Priest we know from the nearby Église de la Madeleine and he reported that Notre Dame Cathedral just celebrated 850 years. While they are so sad at the damage to this house of worship, he said 'if it had to happen, Holy Week is not a bad time. Easter is all about resurrection and rising from the ashes.'")

     I'll start with what's actually related to missionary work HA! So last week we had this meeting on the calendar, and honestly I thought nothing of it, but we all get to the Visitors Center basement and these men in suits are like "we have a project for you." And so for 6 hours they show us how to run the church's facebook page and direct message all the people that leave comments. This is such great news ya'll you don't understand!!! This is the future!! I missed online teaching so much, it's such a great finding resource. So all day we created "memes" (that's what they called it but it's actually just inspirational quotes HA). We still only have 2 days in the Center but we have special time set apart to create memes and message people in French. This is super cool because online you can find people that really want to hear the gospel super quickly, even though we sometimes have to send them to other missionaries. C'est triste, but as we know if one baptizes, we all baptize.

      Meanwhile, the French is coming along I think. We had a district council on speaking our language and for a practice activity all these francophones gave us super hard words and we had to make a sentence out of them. Then we gave the French speakers English words HA, so Elder Vincenzi had to say iridocyclitis, patella, gynecologist, and discombobulated. Definitely one of my favorite councils HA honestly he deserved it after giving me "anticonstitutionnellement" rip in peace. 

        For zone conference this week we talked a lot about what makes a good teacher. One of the points I liked the most was how we need to truly love the people that we're teaching. For me, I've found that some of the best teaching doesn't always come in the form of a lesson. We can teach in many different ways. Through our examples. Through service. Through listening. 

      Mosiah 18:9 says, "Yea, and [be] willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things." 

      Some of my favorite things I've done on my mission so far have been the things I least expected I'd be doing. It's not always lessons. Sometimes it's arranging a blessing for a member that really needs it. Sometimes it's visiting somebody that's going through a really hard time and just letting them talk to us. Sometimes it's helping a busy mom make dinner for her family. 

        I absolutely love being a missionary. I love the people I've been called here to serve and I'm so excited to find more ways to love them for the next 13 months. 

Love you all, find somebody you can serve this week and make your favorite missionary proud 

Sœur McOmber 

The view from Notre Dame...

...Love visiting all these Cathedrals they're so cool. I've gained a lot of appreciation for stained glass because we learn so much about it as Temple Sœurs 

Bubbles!!!! And Hôtel de Ville that's pretty cool too I guess HA. 

Rule is, you take a picture with a Book of Mormon then you have to get rid of it and we most definitely did, first rendez-vous coming soon. 

I'm in Paris I will never be over this. Wow I love my mission. 

We found the best waffles place ever this week. Even better than nutella is ~speculoos butter~ it's the butter of airplane cookies. Amazing. Did ya'll know that exists in America??? Anyway, amazing.

My comp took a picture of me when we drove by the Eiffel Tower because I was so captivated by it HA it's way bigger in person than I thought it was going to be.

Caught by the feds

Hi everyone!!

        Sorry if I dish this out a lil late I just got almost arrested by the french police for not having my travel card up to date.  I rounded the corner for a train and all of a sudden there's this massive line of guards wearing green and they just start yelling at my comps, so they all get out their cards and I get mine but I never put a picture on it. Apparently a federal offense...and so all my comps keep walking and the guards straight up grab me and start pulling me away and honestly I thought they were gonna send me back to America HA, but don't worry I talked them into not exporting me back thankfully.

      Okay in other news, hope everybody had a good General Conference. Mine was super bien. There weren't any major changes like everybody was expecting, but the talks were really inspiring. And we got cinnamon rolls!!!! Granted, not my mom's, but a close second.

      Hmm quoi d'autre... I had such a cool lesson this week. My companion had to sign up for college classes, so I was making myself busy and doing some drop calls. One of the last calls, this lady named Juliette answered and said we could meet her later this week. So we get there...she knows everything. Joseph Smith. The Plan of Salvation. And we ask why she hasn't been baptized and she's like "...the church is kind of far." And she's not wrong. Catholic churches are on every corner in France and it takes some people 2 hours to get to our church. But she kept saying "Amen" to everything, and asking us to be baptized because she knows there's something different about our church. So ya I'm excited to keep teaching her and maybe help get her to church. Not quite sure how this gem of a woman got lost in our areabook, but I'm glad we found her. 

       I'm out of time but I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from General Conference: 

       

"[True happiness] is found in carefully living the gospel established by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and in striving to become more like Him."

- Becky Craven   

Jusqu'à la prochaine fois!

Sœur McOmber 

Sœur Curtis making french toast for our breakfast party. All the temple sœurs had brunch together last temple p-day and, lemme tell you, french toast with real baguettes is the best ever!

I got a rugby scholarship?!

Bonjour à tous et à toutes!

        Fun fact: Sœur Curtis taught me to play rugby this week. So every morning, the French people just see a long line of sister missionaries running on the sidewalk throwing a rugby ball at each other. We used to just lay on our yoga mats and stare at the ceiling for 30 minutes so this is definitely an improvement. Missionaries here are pretty serious about their fitness *cue the elders talking about their juice cleanse "regime"*

      Also I am so excited for General Conference. Being on a mission you get extra pumped for General Conference for two reasons:

1. You have more options on gospel library 
2. You appreciate the words of the prophet more because you see how much it blesses the people you teach. 

So everybody tune in because ~I've heard things~ and it's going to be a good one. (here's the link to watch)

       We had a lot of rendezvous this week but I felt especially grateful for some of the members we visited. A member we visited about a month ago lost somebody close to her last week and so we wanted to make her something. She told us once that she just wants a quote on her wall that says "above all, I believe in Christ." So my companion had the idea I could create a little calligraphy quote for her wall. So we visited her and brought her the little quote and you could tell it meant a lot. The members of France are so incredibly strong and as I watch how they continually live their testimony, even through trials, it's been such an example to me.

This is the quote I made for the member we visited.

 

Jesus said, "I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted?"

And I have met some truly "salt of the earth" people. Thankful for those who are Christ-like examples to me, we have so much we can learn from the people around us. 

Je vous aime tous, 

Sœur McOmber 

It's springtime and the entire world is covered in Japanese Cherry Blossoms.