So this week was so amazing! I mean from the parts I remember, were amazing other than that its a big huge blurrrrrrrr. In my last letter i mentioned that i wasn't feeling well.... I did get sick. BUM BUM BUUUUUUUMMMMMMM!!! But now I am feeling much better (GO ME! WHOOP!). So this is how my week went for me:
Saturday: I had a nasty cough and sore throat.
Sunday: I woke up with no voice and a horrible cough. And had to help teach relief society... and I missed Choir! so sad. I left my notes from the Sunday night Devo. and movie we watched. and I don't remember much from it....
Monday: Woke up and I was feeling like I got ran over by a Semi! My chest hurt like no other when I tried to breathe and we (Sœur Long and myself) were in a lesson with "Quentin" (CON-ton) (aka my teacher Frère Kellett) and I was doing fine and boom couldn't breathe well. He kinda forced me to go to the clinic here on the campus (I went because I was being obedient and he was truly concerned about my health and wanted me to breathe. Crazy to think someone wants to breathe. Right?!) So as a good missionary companion Sœur Long is, she took me to the clinic where I was treated for the worlds worst bloody nose, (My nose is wonderful and I want to be fully detailed on what happened) and a "viral infection of the chest and throat". (That's what Dr. Brown told me. And he said that If my nose continues to have fits and bleed I could get it cloterized He's way nice.) I was then given a humidifier that sounds like a dying motorcycle, which we would finally get used to, then it would sound like a dying fridge, and then it would sound like the static from a computer crashing, and then it would repeat itself. So much fun. I was also prescribed some antihistamines and some sudafed and ibuprofen for my pain. And this is why I don't remember most of what happened on Monday or Tuesday and some of Wednesday. Luckily I asked for a blessing from Elder Palmer (He's going to Tahiti and is super awesome!) and Elder Lutu (My district leader) on a day ending in Y. (It was close to Monday but far from Wednesday. And maybe not Tuesday. So Monday it is?) and It helped me heal faster than EVERYONE thought (well than I thought).
Tuesday: ELDER JOHNSON RETURNED!! YAY! We missed him like crazy!! (Hence the Reunited and it feels so good!) He just completes our district. I was also feeling tons better and I sang with the Choir. We sang a song titled: "Hurrah For Israel" and it was written by LDS inmates in a Utah jail who watched the "Other Side of Heaven". We may or may not have had the opportunity to watch a few clips of the movie. Not saying that we did and not saying that we didn't, but if we did i really just want to finish watching the rest of it. It was such a wonder filled evening. We Listened to Donald L. Hallstrom from The Presidency to the Seventy and It was Wonderful!! He talked about how missionary work will help others and help families be together forever.My favorite thing he said was: " Never have a thought to quit. Never have a thought to retreat. You are good enough. Don't hold back from anything. Go and Do and the Lord will be standing there with you." Isn't that soooo lovely??
Wednesday: What even happened on wednesday? All I remember is I wasn't allowed to host because I was still sick and we studied like mad women for our TRC (where us missionaries have the opportunity to talk with member's, who speak French, and teach them about whatever we are needing help on teaching. (Side note: I like teaching by the spirit and sometimes I take the discussions off course). Sœur Long and myself taught two lessons and the first one we taught Tita and it was more of a planned lesson on what we actually were planning on teaching. We taught our second lesson to Kathy (I was in charge of it and man I was nervous). When we finally started our second lesson I was prompted to talk about Enos 1: 3-8, which is what I had read earlier in the week (you can read it here:
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/enos/1?lang=eng" target="_blank">
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/enos/1?lang=eng ). In these verses it talks about how Enos prayed to Heavenly Father (God) and how he was only doing what his father had shown him to do. In Enos' praying he cries repentence unto God and God forgives Enos for his sins and shows His gratitude for Enos' faith. Back to the Story: So as i am reading the passages I chose (side note I didn't know at the time why I chose these scriptures) aloud in French and was stumbling over words and it was a mess ( a beautiful mess). And I may have confused Sœur Long a bit on why I chose it. But as I finished the scripture and we asked Kathy about her thoughts and what she was thinking, I finally knew why I chose this exact passage of scriptures. Long story short: We found out that her family was slowly falling away from the church and she was worried about them and how she could help them. We told her she just has to have the faith that one day, her family will see her happiness and want to come back to Christ. I even spoke fluently in french (until i was prompted (not joking) to speak English to her) and told her about my family and how just being an example to them can help them see the light and how having faith that they will return will help her. I'm definitely not writing everything that happened in the lesson, but this experience helped me Know for a fact that once I open my mouth, the Lord will guide me on what to say and how to say it. I know for a fact that if I wasn't reading in Mosiah for our first lesson and didn't follow a little thought I had about reading in Enos, I wouldn't have helped Kathy. We wouldn't have had a spirit filled lesson and have taught that lesson in such a way if I didn't follow the thought I had. The Lord is truly amazing. I will never forget this. I know He lives, He loves us, and He wants us all to live with Him again.
Thursday: I woke up with swollen eyes and hives. Don't know how that happened nor what's going, But I'm good (pinkie promises). I just have to say I play a mean game of Volleyball. And by mean is I can hit the ball over the net... And possibly hit people, on accident, in the stomach... All good things, I promise!! I really don't know where I got those skills. I don't remember what happened yesterday due to the fact I had to take some benidryl for my swollen eyes and hives and I kinda forced myself to stay awake. I'm not sure why I did that to myself but it seemed to help with my eyes...besides the drowsiness it caused me. I promise ya'll that I'm doing fine!! Yesterday was kind of blurry but I do know I can do anything I put my heart to. Wooohooo. I also got to meet majority of the new French speaking missionaries! They are going to Tahiti, New Caledonia, Fiji (Vanuatu), and some parts in Africa. So awesome!! There's 10 all together in their district 5 Elders and 5 Sœurs. My district practiced singing a french hymn "Souviens-toi" that we are singing/ playing in sacrament meeting this Sunday! It sound's so beautiful and I can actually hit the highest note (an E like one of the highest E's you can sing with out sounding like a screeching car). But my voice doesn't always agree with the note. If you look up
https://www.lds.org/music/library/search?lang=fra&query=Dvorak%2C%20Antonin" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:12px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(0,145,188);font-family:'Open Sans',sans-serif;line-height:14px;background:rgba(255,255,255,0.00784314)">d’Antonin Dvorak, it will show you the lyrics in French on
http://lds.org">lds.org. if you Google it you can hear the music. I believe its Antonin Dvorak's symphony number 4? It's a lullaby and its so beautiful. (Rough translation) Its about a mother singing to her child and telling her child that not too long ago she (the baby) was in her Heavenly Parents arms. It pretty much talks about how we are sent on earth away from our Heavenly home and how it's our Heavenly Father's plan to send us to earth to learn and grow and become like him.
Friday: Other than waking up with a swollen eye again, P-day's are so awesome. We as a district went to the temple and it was so wonderful! Us sister's did a temporary exchange and were in two trios so 3 of us (Sœur Long, Sœur Beatty, and myself) could go back to the MTC and a the other 3 (Sœur Kelly, Sœur Thompson et Sœur Wadsworth) stayed and had breakfast at the temple. We are enjoying being a trio right now and are having tons of fun. We are going to be practicing "Souviens-toi" and perfecting all of our parts. By parts I mean the piano (Sœur Beatty), the flute (Sœur Kelley), the violin aka sophie (Elder Johnson), and vocals (Sœur Wadsworth, Sœur Long, Sœur Thompson, Elder Lutu et moi.) Hopefully my voice will be wonderful and not to scratchy by Sunday! I love you all so much and I appreciate your support!!
L'eglise est vrai. Joseph Smith a vu Dieu, notre Père Céleste et Jésus-Christ, notre Sauveur. Dieu nous aime toujours. Nous sommes ses enfants. Au nom de Jésus-Christ. Amen.
(Still short. But It's all true.)
Je vous aime,
Sœur Kassie Stephens
P.S. Maybe some pictures to come!