Coup de soleil aka punched by the sun:)

That is pretty incredible that Josh has been called as district leader and senior companion! I know the feeling of inadequacy! He will be awesome and help everyone in his district to get fired up about the work. We all know he's qualified and going to do amazingly well.

Things are just chugging right along in Versailles! We met with Jeremy a couple of times this week. He came to the church for a tour and will be there for stake conference tomorrow. He has such incredible faith. He is struggling a bit at the idea of having a living prophet but he is fasting tomorrow for his answer. I'm right on board with Josh about desiring people to be able to receive a testimony for themselves. Thanks for your prayers on his behalf. I hope that Josh's ami was able to feel the spirit and understand for himself.

We had an incredible rdv with C last night. She is still working toward knowing for herself as well. We read Alma 7 with her and asked the questions, why do we need Jesus Christ and what can i do to venez et allez? Her testimony is growing. In the words of Sr Gifford, 'we exhorted her with all the tender feelings of loving missionaries.' I think you're right mom. She may need to take her time and continue to search for herself. She knows that we love her and that is the motive for everything we do. We're going to keep praying and keep meeting with her until she gets there.
We also met with L this week. He is the guy that we met my first night here. We met at the chateau and had a really powerful rdv. I got BURNED thus the coup de soleil:) He had a lot of questions about repentance. He asked about degrees of sin and talked about how there are degrees of forgiveness. We talked about the role of Jesus Christ and how, no matter the sin, we ALL need the Atonement. It can be a small or big but that doesn't change the fact that not a single one of us can be clean without the Atonement, without Jesus Christ. It was cool to see him begin to grasp the idea that he can be forgiven for his past. We read about the anti-Nephi-Lehis and how they went from being the 'most lost of all mankind' to 'they would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin.' repentance is such an incredible blessing. I was reading a talk this morning and Elder Nelson says 'repentance is the lord's regimen for spiritual growth.' We progress when we do all we can and then rely on the savior to change our hearts.
We went to dinner at this member's home this week. She is 63 years and absolutely hilarious. She lived in egypt for 3 years because she wanted to learn Arabic. She told us some unbelievable stories about climbing volcanos and watching them erupt. She goes 'ca fait mal au pied pour duex ans après. mais c'etait bonne!' hahah She told us she wants to try sky diving and learn to fly a plane next. She's my new role model.

Mom-did you get an email from a woman named V? She is a recent convert here and is a quilting FANATIC. She has a long arm in her house! You would absolutely love her. She lived in Naperville for a couple of years and joined a quilting club. Turns out all of the women were Mormon and she started going to church there. She asked for the missionaries when she got back here and got baptized tout suite. I told her about how much you love quilting and she asked for your email address. That was Wednesday so maybe she has already emailed you? Just a heads up! i told her you speak french so she might email you in french. She also speaks English so you can email back in English.
thanks for the addresses!
I'm glad that the race went well. Tell Lizbth hi for me! She is such a sweet heart. Had, have fun at yuoth conference and keep a journal!
Dad, who won the men's side? I could probably ask anyone on the street and they would know:) France played Uraguay last night for the world cup and there were horns/fireworks going off into the night. I'm still not sure who won but it seemed like everyone here was having a good time!
i love you
soeur powers