Sister Fitch: October 17, 2011

Oh boy.  So, transferring is stressful.  It was really hard to say goodbye to Ottawa.  I know I was complaining when I was sent there because it was an English area, but I loved it.  It was home.  It was especially hard saying goodbye to William, our recent convert.  He was devastated.  Not only were we leaving, but our sister companionship (brother?), Elder Taylor and Elder Aubin, were both leaving also.  All four of us were deeply involved in William's progression.  He went out teaching with the Elders, they helped him with his English--it was really hard on him to lose us all.  He cried for what he said was the first time in ten years.  But, he also told us not to worry about him, that change will make him strong. 

 

Packing, catching the bus, travelling, all that jazz, was a pain, but we made it to Montreal just fine.  My new companion, Sister Rodriguez, is awesome.  We get along really well.  It'll be fun working with her.  My district leader is awesome, which is good because the rest of the zone couldn't care less about us so...at least we have someone that'll help us out!  Flushing in is TOUGH.  Our week was really...scattered.  Up until Sunday night, we hadn't had ANY lessons.  All of the five or six that we had set up fell through.  So, we decided that wouldn't do.  We needed lessons, we needed people to teach.  So...we set some goals, said lots of prayers, and in under an hour of knocking doors on sunday night, we had three lessons and three new investigators...which were EXACTLY the goals we had set...need I say more???  This is NOT our work.  It's God's.  When we turn it over to Him and work as if it all depended on us, miracles happen.  It was really amazing, and was a much needed boost after an exhausting (physically, mentally, spiritually, you name it) week. 

 

It hasn't been a particulary restful p-day.  something is wrong with my blue card (my access to my monthly allowance) and it is causing a lot of issues.  Such as, I can't take the metro, which is our only form of transportation.  We have three huge fans in our apartment taking up all kinds of room, and they are mostly broken, so we have to take them to the mission office...don't know how to do that without a car OR the metro.  We hoped our zone leaders would help us out, but they have to go hang out at the mall...LAME!!  Oh well. 

 

Basically, what this week boils down to is LOTS of stress, but also LOTS of fun and learning.  We contact on the metros, and that has been VERY interesting, and so very ridiculously far out of my comfort zone.  But, it works, so we have to do it.  No, no, we GET to do it.  The pace here is so very different from Ottawa.  I'm sure I will come to love it, I'm sure.  I'm excited to get going on the new week, our first full week here, maybe somewhat normal instead of the craziness of this past week.  Montreal is full of people who are ready, and full of people who are crazy, so it's an adventure sifting through them to find those who want to hear what we have to share with them. Missionary work is tough.  It's frustrating sometimes.  But it is oh so very rewarding, even when you just have to laugh because of the craziness.  I have to go now, we do our email at an internet cafe now and have limited time.  MUCH LOVE TO YOU ALL!!!

 

han

Elder Fitch: October 17, 2011

I'd say that the first week of a new transfer is always the longest. Either something is different and you have to get used to the change, or nothing changes and you have to get used to doing the same thing. This week I got a new companion, Elder Ormond. He is probably a foot taller than me and comes from a little southern Idaho town called Wendal. One of my really good friends from high school is his cousin and he actually knows Kaysville very well. His mom is even a Davis Dart. He last served in Fribourg Switzerland, he took 5 different trains to get here. It's been a rough week, but also one of the best. We did not get along so well at first. We get a long just fine now, but it was hard at the beginning. I've learned a lot. I've learned things I didn't know I didn't know about myself. I was pushed to grow in a way I haven't been pushed yet. At the beginning of this week I felt like this transfer was going to last FOREVER, I now look forward to the rest of this transfer and the new things I will learn.

 

That's really what this week was, was getting used to this change. We didn't find anyone new to teach. We did make progress with Stephanie and have set a date for her to get baptized so we're looking forward to that. There is still alot to get through with her, but she progresses anyway.

 

We still have not changed apartments, but it is in the works. The mission office was pretty busy with transfers so nothing really got done, but now they are trying to get things worked out with the realtor. Hopefully between this week and next we will be moving to our new apartment.

 

Tomorrow is going to be sweet. Elder Causee is coming to speak at our zone conferences. So tomarrow we are going to Bordeaux for our zone conference. I'm stoked. I've heard it is awesome there.

The weather is getting absolutely beautiful here, perfect temperature and blue skies. The colors are starting to come out too, it's fantastic.

 

I love you all and i wish you a wonderful week full of good things!

Elder Fitch

Sister Fitch: October 10, 2011

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!  Ou en Francais, Actions de Graces! 

 

Sometimes I think Canada is weird.  Like having Thanksgiving in October. 

 

We went for a "hike" last week in Gatineau Hills, in the rain.  I very much enjoyed it.  I was soaking wet the rest of the day, but it was worth being out of the city and in the lovely fall colors.  It's been really nice the last few days--just like October should be.  This week has been kind of tough--no one would answer their phone, lots of lessons fell through, amis tried to drop us, all kinds of crazy things.  It was...painful.  But!  Could have been worse.  At the end of the week we got a text from one of our amis who freaked out a week or so ago and didn't want to see us again, and in this text she said she wanted to get baptized.  So, could be worse! 

 

So.  Transfers. 

 

Let's just say I don't think I spoke more than a word or two for about half an hour after we got our call.  Couldn't believe it.  Was not expecting it.  They are closing our area :(  Not entirely, but we are BOTH leaving Ottawa, and they are giving our area over to the other sisters to take care of.  I'm kind of anxious about our amis and our less actives, and all kinds of things like that, but I am trying to have faith in the other sisters.  I thought when I came to Ottawa, I would definately be serving in French areas, as Ottawa is the ONLY English sisters area in the mission.  Alas.  I am going to Montreal to open up another English sisters area.  Sigh.  It's called Concordia, and it's YSA again!  I went through many stages...shock, anger, sorrow, acceptance, and now I'm excited.  I never had ANY desire to serve in Montreal itself, because it is big and noisy and dirty and...cityish.  Ottawa is big, but it really isn't.  It's small compared to Montreal.  I'll miss my quiet little river walk to our bus station (a good 40 minutes) and our quiet little street (despite the sirens ever night).  I hear my new apartment has had a lot of work done on it and is nice, but is on a pretty big street.  I am NOT a city girl, so I am worried about being overwhelmed, especially since we will be opening the area and therefore having to start completely from scratch...it'll be fun, though.  An adventure.  I lost my sense of adventure for a while there, but it is coming back.  I'm glad for that.  My companion will be Sister Rodriguez. I hear good things about her.  This means I am in no way a greenie any more--not in my greenie area, not with my trainer, and more than two transfers old.  Thank GOODNESS.  Being green gets old, old, old.  They made TONS of changes in Ottawa, every single team is being effected, and FOUR of them are being flushed (which means there will be two new missionaries coming, instead of just one--a whole new team).  Crazy.  We leave Wednesday morning, so we have not too much time to say goodbye and pack.  Funny how uncertain and unplannable the future is on the mission.  Well, next week my life will be TOTALLY different so I'll have lots to tell you about!  Much love to you all!

 

Hannah

Elder Fitch: October 3, 2011

This week....

Weell this week was not a super steller teaching week. However, we did spend alot of time doing service. Almost everyday we spent at least a couple hours doing service. Our friend from Peru owns a pizzeria. This is our friend who invited us over to her birthday party and it was all latin americans speaking almost only spanish. Well she's planning to move back to Peru and so needs to sell her pizzeria. So we've been doing alot of painting and cleaning and moving huge pizza ovens and stuff like that. oh and of course our red cross service on thursdays. So that was really fun. I always like doing service.

 

Our amis stephanie is doing well. She still has a brick wall when it comes to applying the discusion to herself or realizing it's something more than just a superstition. Slowly but surely it is breaking down. She now looks at baptism as something that is in the future for her, but yet has a ways to go. She came to General Conference on sunday and watched the Relief Society session and the Saturday aftrnoon session. It was really good and is a great step for her. She was able to see the church as a real world wide organization, as opposed to just our tiny little half building branch in Montauban. She's prayed a couple times, and I have to say that they are legit prayers. She is super sincere and really talks to God as a person and asks heartfelt questions about her life and about what we teach her. Her answers are coming too.

 

So conference! how incredible! How they do it here is they transmit the saturday morning session live so we watch it here at 6 oclock to 8 oclock here. Then we watch the priesthood session at 11 oclock sunday morning till 1 and then an hour break and then saturday afternoon session from 2 to 4 and then they brodcast the sunday morning session live from 6 to 8 and then sunday afternoon live from 10 to midnight. The relief society sometimes has a day where all the stake women go to watch somewhere. this year they did it in Carcasonne for the stake im in. but then they also rebrodcast it during the prieshood session at 11 o clock sunday morning. Montauban being as small as it is goes to Toulouse to watch it. In the past it was a rule that we had to have an amis with us if we went to the session brodcast on saturday. So we were not expecting to go, but then we got a call that said we could so w last minute went to Toulouse and watched that steller session. Then we were there the whole day except we can't watch the last session, so that was the only one I missed. which is sweet!! cause last conference I ws so ticked! I didn't get to see any that I understood. Conference is so cool. It's exactly what the Bible and Book of Mormon are, scripture. It is God revealing His word to His prophets and apostles for us for our lives right here and right now. HOW INSANE! how incredible significant is that. That is what the difference is between The Church of Jesus Christ and every other church and religion that is on the face of this planet. There is a prophet of God who is alive today who has His authority to lead His church. Thats nuts. Thats the truth.

 

Being a missionary I know how this all works. I am in the thick of this work. I see it everyday. This work would utterly fail and crumble and fall to the dust of the earth if it were not the true and living work of th Lord. This simply HAS to be the Lords work. There is no other way it would function. He leads and guides EVERY step of this system. I am a witness of that truth.

 

This is the last week of the transfer, it's going to be sweet. Heads up.

I love you all!!

Mark

Sister Fitch: October 3, 2011

RE: Eternigator Turned Recent Convert

 

Hello! (president Monson style)

 

Kind of a crazy week!  Started out with a text from this girl we have been teaching since I got here, and who has been coming to church since she was 14, and who has had many a missionary before me.  She said "invite only baptism, this saturday."  Uh...OKAY!  So yes, we had another baptism, surprise!  Some members helped her figure out what the hang up was, and she realized it was pretty lame--she was afraid of being in front of people.  Three baptisms in three weeks...President said its the first time it's happened since they've been here.  Sweet!  It's been crazy working everything out for all of these baptisms, so it will be kind of weird this week having a normal week...it'll be good.  Baptisms can be STRESSFUL. 

 

I absolutely LOVED general conference.  It was so great.  Our catholic missionary came to one session and found it highly interesting.  He said for the most part the speakers were "speaking my language" so, we'll see!  We have seen him four times and STILL have not finished the first lesson....so we'll see! 

 

Anyway, it's been an emotionally draining few weeks but lots of good people around, plus conference, lots of resources for feeling happy :)  Weather here has been cool.  Maybe...10-15.  And drizzly.  More like misty.  It's been lovely, actually.  Love it.  Today we are celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.  So weird.  It'll be fun, though, the whole zone is in town for zone study tomorrow, so we might be able to go for a hike too.  Hike.  Ha.  In the HILLS.  Not mountains.  Sigh. 

 

Last week of the transfer!  I'm pretty sure I'm losing my companion, but we'll see.  Sad, sad, day.  Okay, sorry for two weeks of brevity in the email department...people are waiting for the computers.  I love, love, love you all, you are my ROCK.  Thanks :) Much love,

 

Elder Fitch: P-Day Service Project in Montauban

mark is the good-looking guy on the left. his companion is in the middle. and their friend, jeanpierre is on the right. they spent p-day putting new tiles on jeanpierre's roof right there behind them.

Sister Fitch: September 26, 2011

So, there were a couple particular highlights this week.  One of which was the Relief Society General Broadcast. SO GOOD.  If you didn't watch it, WATCH IT.  If you are male, you should watch it too.  You can watch it online, or read it online.  It was so good.  The Relief Society presidency was stellar, absolutely stellar.  But Elder Uchtdorf...he is my favorite for a reason.  He talked about forget-me-not flowers, and their small but lovely nature, and their five petals.  He talked about five things that we should forget-not.  I absolutely loved it, I absolutely needed it.  I can't wait for the rest of conference. 

So, this week we had Nicole's baptism.  It was lovely.  She had TONS of support from the ward (it helped that we had it right before institute) and it was great.  The whole ward loves her (and William too).  When she came up out of the water, she let out a gasp/shout for joy.  She went into the dressing room and before changing or going for a towel or anything, she fell to her knees and prayed and prayed.  It was a really tender moment.  Nicole is incredible.  She is STRONG.  She is LOVED.  She is a member!!!  Now that they're baptized, and the ward is taking them under its wing, I feel a little...lost!  The other people we are teaching are struggling.  It'll be an interesting couple of weeks while we try to boost them up and find others to teach. 

Lots of emotional and physical exhaustion, but things like the broadcast, the Book of Mormon, and just knowing what a GREAT family I have help me get that energy back.  Over and over.  So thank you.  President called me a "seasoned missionary" in his letter to me this week.  I'm not so sure about that, but it was nice to hear that rather than "greenie" all the time from everyone else.  I'm having a hard time remembering what exactly happened earlier this week because I started a new planner and can't look back in it to remind me...well, I love you!  Thanks for your support, it really is what keeps me moving forward.  I love you all. 

 

Avec amour,

Hannah

Elder Fitch: September 26, 2011

Well it's been another fun filled week here in Montauban!
We had another exchange this week with our zone leaders. This time, however, i was with the zone leader that is not so intense, meaning I wasn't sore afterwards. His name is elder Balero from Arkansas. He is a convert and actually already has his teaching degree in music education. He told me his story, and all I can say is that he was prepared, he was looking and he found what he was looking for. He is an incredible missionary with a very strong testimony. He came on a mission to share that, even though none of his family supports him or understand why he's doing what he's doing. I learned a lot from him.
Thursday we had district meeting in Toulouse, which is always fun. Our mission president came to that meeting because he is currently touring the mission and is inspecting ever apartment to either be consecrated or condemned. He came to Montauban later that afternoon and needless to say our apartment was condemned to the depths. Yet not really for any of the obvious reasons. The main reason was because we were up four big flights of wooden stairs. Not very fire safe. The incredibly small size of the place overall, cockroaches, angry neighbor portuguese lady, the bloody fight, the bar, and the complete lack of security were only icing on the cake of condemnation. Heck I really don't care the reason, I'm just glad we can start looking for a new apartment! So we've been looking into that a bit already.
Saturday I taught my first "first" lesson in English since coming to France, and only my second time inenglish ever (we taught it once in the mtc). The "first" lesson is everything from who God is through the apostasy to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It was really pretty awkward and funny. It was strange, because I had to think it in French first and translate it into English in my mind and then speak. Both of us had a hard time and we kept slipping back into French. Very interesting experience when you can't speak your own language. But it was a super awesome rdv anyway! Despite our English deficiency. This rdv was with a guy we met who is from Fiji and is currently playing rugby for a city a little ways away from Montauban. So yep another islander rugby player. He is super cool and actually met missionaries back in Fiji and has an aunt that is a member. His name is Isaac and is super awesome and really wants to be baptized. It will be a little slow going just because he lives a ways away and with his training and game schedule it's difficult for us to see him and for him to be able to come to church.
Today we did service for Jeanpierres parents in laying a whole lot of tile on their roof. It was pretty sweet and I really like their property, it's a little bit out of town in the "forest". Really pretty.
That's about it this week, we didn't have anyone come to church unfortunately. Thanks for all your prayers, the effects are always evident to me and what I'm doing. Thank you.
I love you guys! Families are the best.
Love Mark

Elder Fitch: September 19, 2011

Et BIEN!

 

Yet another week has come and it has gone.

 

Tuesday night to Wendesday night I was on an exchange in Toulouse. It was really good for me actually. The Elder I was with is a little bit...comment on dit..... special? ya, ya he's a little bit special. The problem is is that he acts wierd because he like to act wierd. He is capable of normality, I've seen it. He just chooses to be wierd, that's all. He gets really awkward, like socially awkward I mean. He'll talk with a really exagerated american accent. None of this would I really care about if he would be normal when we are trying to talk to people, but no. He just says wierd things to people, I don't know, that part was a little frustrating. The good part for me was we did have a few rendez vous and he didn't say a whole ton, or he'd say something wierd. So lets just say I got a very good teaching practice. It really was a good experience and plus I got to stay at the same apartment that my companion from the MTC lives right now. Yup good ol Elder Turley. He is still my favorite companion, well at least with hind sight. Toulouse is very big, alot bigger than Im used to. It moves really fast and theres TONS of people everywhere. It's definitely a change from lil ol Montauban, still even from Nimes.

 

Oh ya and This black lady yelled at me for about ten minutes cause eveytime I proved what she was saying was wrong and asking her to support what she was saying and couldn't, so she got really upset, and eventually walked away with steem coming out of her ears. We don't ever start things like that, she came up to us trash talking us and the church and stuff, But I'm going to defend what I represent. Im going to say thats one point for the Lord, hehe He'll always win. Even though sometimes it's better just to walk away first from those people, I kind of like it, because I really just find the words I need to say as they are coming out of my mouth. That is spiritual help, I know that because I know I am not that intelligent.

 

We ate at this guys house on thursday night. His name is Kiri and he is a rugby player from Samoa. He is a member but his wife isn't, they are so nice and so generous towards us. Eating there I realized why I wasn't called to an Island mission. I would die....from eating too much. I'm already not a big eater and they just make so much food and expect you to eat it ALL. We don't want to be impolite so...we keep eating. Holy cow, I think I ate enough to feed a family of four for a whole day, breakfast lunch and dinner. I'd get so fat serving in the islands. Its good for me here because there are alot of islanders, so I get to enjoy the people, but I don't have to eat so much.

 

Saturday we had a really good rendez vous. It was actually a second meeting. This guy, whose name is Ismael, I actually contacted when I was on the exchange with my zone leader, ya know when i was sore for a week after, yeah that one. Anyway this is his story, he is from the Ivory coast. He grew up there in very very bad conditions. It became so bad that he got on a boat with 27 other people that was headed for Europe. On the way 23 of the 28 people died. He was one of the 5 that survived. He started out in Holand, but didn't have much luck there so he made his way down to France where he could at least speak the language. When I first met him he had no work no place to stay, he just would sleep outside. Let me tell you, he hs such an incredible attitude. He has lived alot a very horrible things, not once did I hear him say something negative. He was very open about his situation and would say it how it was, but he is always positive. He now has a job and is working to save up so he can get a place to stay. In his troubles he turned to God instead of away, and that has made all the difference, thats why he agreed to meet us in the first place, because he had kept his faith. I look at him, whose lived a life full of misery and death but can still be happy, and I look and these people I meet everyday who haven't been through a fraction of what he has and they've turned from God in anger. All they have to say is how horrible there life is and they complain about their whole life story and theyre miserable. We are here in this life to be happy. Lets be happy, even in our hard times, its just better, for everyone. Lets be positive.

 

Sunday was pretty good! We had two amis that came. One we weren't expecting at all, so we were very happy she came. It was really good for them and they really like it which was good because church here can be a little crazy and or intense sometimes.

 

Oh Yeah! we had a fight in our appartment building last monday night. It was a couple floors down in the middle of the night. We didn't know that thats what had happen until some people that were investigating knocked on our door at lunch time the next day to ask us what we had heard or if we knew. then it was interesting going down to get out. There was blood all over. Smeared on the walls, even puddles and smears on the floor. kinda nasty, cool huh?

 

So things are still going good here. Still very little. Still not a lot of people. Still hard. Still moving forward. Still lovin it.

 

I love you all plus que je peux vous dire.

 

Elder Fitch

Sister Fitch: September 19, 2011

Hello all :)

 

This week was kind of crazy, but really great.  On Thursday I had my first baptism!  It was quite the experience.  It was so fun to see this young man take such a huge step.  It was interesting to see the difference in him and his countenance and that of a girl we taught the next day, who firmly believes that we have absolutely no responsibility to do anything other than accept Christ as our Savior.  What she is missing is what it actually means to "accept" Christ.  Anyway, I could rant about that for a while, but suffice it to say, I don't know that we will be teaching her for very long.  You can't teach a person how to return to live with God again if they think they've already sealed the deal. Anyway, one of our investigators, Nicole from Barundi, came to the baptism.  She's been reluctant to be baptized any time soon, but has wanted to do it eventually.  After being at the baptism and feeling the power of it all, she could barely speak.  She told us afterwards that she HAD to be baptized, and soon.  She didn't want to wait anymore.  So, we have another baptism this Friday!  Super exciting.  The only downside to all of these baptisms is that it means we don't have as many investigators to teach...BUT we will have lots of recent convert lessons!  All is well. 

 

We did splits on Tuesday, which was a lot of fun.  The new missionary and I were together in the YSA and Sister Palmer went with the other senior companion (they were MTC comps) to the family ward.  It was a lot of fun.  I was senior companion for a day!  It was fun to have the reins a bit.  It helped me see that I do indeed know what I am doing, and while there is still SO very much to learn, I can do this.  It was exciting.  Oh yeah, our mission president's wife came to Ottowa for our baptism!  It was fun, she spent most of the day with us, first at the soup kitchen we work in then at the baptism. 

 

We met a catholic missionary on the bus the other day, and he invited us over for brunch on Sunday.  We went, and there were about twelve other people there, too.  They all are involved in the catholic missionary effort or school system or other programs.  Since there were SO many people there, we didn't really teach a lesson, we just engaged in conversation and it was really interesting.  I am discovering that I am not very articulate.  Or aggressive (one g?).  I know what I believe and how I feel, but vocalizing it, especially in a large group where everyone has LOTS to say and is so much better at saying it, I didn't come off as sounding very intelligent.  That's okay, though.  The gospel is simple, so I shouldn't have to feel like I have to be eloquent or persuasive.  Bear simple, strong testimony.  That's my job.  And there have been many people that were "slow of speech" that did lots of good, so I just need to be patient with myself and figure out my teaching style better.  My companion did a semester in Jerusalem and other such things and is really scripture-smart, so I keep feeling like I have to keep up and teach like she does.  Nope.  I just need to teach like myself.  Learning and adapting always, of course, but I really need to quit feeling like my progress and effectiveness is related to those around me.  Anyway, I must go now.  I love, love, love you all.  Sometimes its hard to be a missionary.  ALWAYS its wonderful.

 

Avec amour,

Hannah