Ok so Reunion is great! I'm not as in love with it as I am France and Paris but I'm hoping I get there. So a little more description of what I see day to day. I am in the largest city of Reunion, St Denis which actually isnt all that big. Its probably not bigger than the city of Rocklin but idk because I'm just guestimating here. You should google up my facts. But mostly all day we're walking around apartment buildings because it also isn't very "city like" because there arent any skyscrapers or like busy busy traffic. I mean its an ocean town so its probably more like SoCal then it is like New York for sure. The biggest store/mall-like thing that they have here is called Carrefour and its basically like a Super Walmart - but a little classier and it has like a yogurt shop nearby and a clothes shop so that is the biggest shopping place. So if you are trying to think of a mental picture of me then just imagine me walking up steep curving streets of San Francisco but knocking on apartment buildings in Southern California...if that mede any sense. I've heard there are some really nice parts of town up on the mountain but we are walking around and finding people and porting at pretty run down apartments and most are government housing (you know because France is socialist so everyone I think can afford to live in some place). Some are pretty gross I'll admit and I wont even start on the smells. But it's all good. We ride the bus several times a day but then we also walk a lot because we still need to get to specific houses from bus stops and sometimes its more efficient than waiting for a bus for 30 minutes "ain't nobody got time for that"
I'm actually really proud of our companionship because we just take the bus and plan around our schedule and walk up long hills and thats what we do. Not really any whining or complaining. Usually I'm the one who's dying the most because I am not used to walking up mountains but you know I survive. And then one day my companions wanted to run down and then BACK UP our mountain for our morning excersize. Halfway on the way up I had to tap out, so Sister Packer would run to the corners and then jog in place while we walked up. I sort of felt like a wuss but also I couldn't stop thinking about what intense excersize it is to RUN UP A MOUNTAIN. So then I felt better. Plus I ran all the way down and was sore for three days after - I couldn't walk straight because my hip flexers were so sore. I absolutely LOVE my companions. I'm in love with my companionship. A little description of them.
Sister Packer - has been out 6 months and she's our trainer and she's awesome. She is the one that gets us to run up mountains. I asked her how she does it and she just said "Well I hated running when I got here but then I needed a form of excersize so I started doing it and when you get used to walking everywhere running is no big deal" Which made me laugh so hard because I doubt I'll be able to do that no matter how much walking I do. She's really mellow but also totally helps lead us in lessons and everything. And she's always doing little things to help out like she does the dishes all the time without ever saying anything - we'll just have finished dinner and I'll think "ahh we gotta do that" and she'll already be halfway done. And probably 3-4 times I've waken up and she's made me breakfast and she's made all of us something different based on our likes. I get yogurt and granola :) She makes our companionship light hearted and fun. She also loves One Direction and Taylor Swift so we love trying to remember our favorite songs and rock out to them. We just got down "Best Song Ever" because we couldn't remember all the lyrics - especially because she never heard it before she left so I taught it to her! :) And it was indeed the best song ever haha
Sister Gardiner - is also the best. She was the first American sister to go to the Ghana MTC and I was the second so we instantly bonded over that. She was a violin major at BYU and she brought her violin and she is AMAZING. Every now and then she'll take it out and play something and she can pretty much play anything from ear so I can request things and she'll play them. Dad you'll be glad to know that she brought the essential collection of Joshua Bell and he's signed a couple of them so we have that. She and I are constantly cracking each other up and we both have said how we're a little nervous about the rest of our mission because we have SO much fun out here. We have this running joke that she and I are like the same person because of all our uncanny similarities like get this: SHE PLAYS NANCY DREW COMPUTER GAMES!!! We have spent quite q few hours tqlking qbout all of them and our favorites and all the funny things. Clearly we were destined for friendship.
That is just the type of this perfect missionary trio - we are the new three musketeers. I hear all companions get sick of each other though so hopefully that's not our case and in 3 months I'm not telling you how crazy we drive each other.
We only serve in one branch so that's all I've met and the members are great. There are quite a few families and then some older couples - last week we had 74 people there! It felt full. Everything is very normal - except we bisous all the women when we greet them. And Sister Hart always leaves lipstick on us on accident and she never notices - so thats a running joke. I have only eaten at 2 members house. I think its been a lot more frequent in the past but it just depends.
The first time I went over to this families named La Tchan (which is so ironic because in french its pronounced la chinois which means chinese and they are chinese. I thought my companion was joking the first time she told me their name) and we were starving because it was nearly 2 by the time the food was ready and she brought it all out and I thought "I hope this is enough" Because there were two of them and their two investigator friends and a set of elders and us three girls. And so I dug in (it was super normal food, potatoes and green beans and pork and salad and bread - of course there is always bread) and everything was delicious. I finished my plate and Sister La Tchwan was like "oh eat more, eat more" so then I took a little bit more because I had pretty much taken what would fill me up. And then when any ones plate was clear or looking empty they would say "oh but eat more, eat more - Elders you must be hungry!" And everyone was stuffed but somehow there was more food! And they would look right at your plat and right at you and say "oh but you should eat more, don't you want more?" And us sisters tried to put the pressure on the Elders and say that our tiny stomachs were full but the Elders probably could eat more and the Elders meanwhile were trying to take only two potatoes at a time and eat them because they couldn't fit anymore in! Hahah it was quite funny.
So for the most part no crazy food stories. We almost always make our own dinner and we have been packing or eating out. When we ate out we found an amazing chinese restaurant!! Although one thing about the food here is that they love this thing called Pimiente. And its basically a pepper that they make into a sort of salsa:sauce. But there are tons of types of pimiente: green and red and whatever else. And sometimes it just looks like tomatoe salsa but it is NOT. It is SO SO hot. And they love it! And they put it on practically everything! Like every restaurant is like - do you want pimiente on that? Even for sandwhichs - and that chinese place I just talked about. So I will try and send some eventually and you can see what I mean. Also just google it.
I don't know exactly how conference is going to work here - my companion said that we have to wait a couple of weeks and then we watch it another weekend later once they have the dubbing in French or something. I don't know but if so I am REALLY going to miss listening to the voices of the prophet and apostles. Already we have some old talks that we listen to and I just miss hearing Thomas S Monson or Jeffrey R Holland - they just have the best voice! But I'll let you know how it goes. It sounds like really good stuff for the kids are happening. Grandma and Grandpa told me that they're coming over soon and that Kalen will be on his Princeton visit? Crazy stuff.
Every week I think of a thousand things to tell you guys and then I come here and try and type on this wacky keyboard and I get only 35 percent of it out. But the most exciting news WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BAPTISM!!! There is a woman here who has been an investigator for like 6 years and has had a REALLY strong testimony and even said she wants to go on a mission but hasnt gotten baptized because her family disapproves. Even though shes like 24. But we talked to her again and testified to her of the importance of baptism and how she should follow how she feels. If she has a testimony and feels like baptism is the right thing then she should do it - we also shared tons of scriptures. And at the end of the lesson she set a date!!!!! In two weeks!! Also one of our amis (investigators) came to church!! We only taught him one lesson and he already came! Which is like huge because we still have difficulty getting members to come! Plus we have taught some super amazing people and we feel really good about. These people are interested and open - it is so amazing and exciting!! I can't wait to tell you more solid good news. But we are inviting 5 more people to baptism this week so hopefully some accept!
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