Bonjour mes amis et ma famille!Thanks for the pictures! Lauren's baby is so cute! I miss the Silcocks SOOOOO MUCH (send me a letter please!!) Trent is just the sweetest. I love his smile. Archie is too cute! The boardwalk looks awesome! Looks like life is going great!This week was another interesting week at the MTC (aka the best place on Earth besides the temple).I got the package! Thank you. Thank you to everyone that has written me! I really appreciate getting mail! I feel so loved :)Ok, something crazy that happened this week! Elder Herring (in my district) almost died! He was being dumb and tried to shove an entire slice of pizza into his mouth and it got stuck. Another Elder in my zone jumped up and gave him the Heimlich and it just flew out of his mouth and it was super gross! But it was way funny. Everyone was in awe. It was so crazy!I love the Elders and Sisters in my district, zone, and branch. We have so much fun! There's this one elder named Elder Ursua from Hawaii and he's always really animated and he thinks he's gansta. He calls me 'Sista Swag.' It's fun. He's really struggling with French. Sometimes I'll just sit across from him in the hallway and practice verbs. He's such a sweet kid though. We all get along so great.We had a general authority sit in on our class one day! Turns out he's Duncan Hamilton's uncle. They were showing all the new general authorities who just got called in last General Conference the MTC and showing them how it works. Turns out he ended up in our class out of all the classes. He was nice and gave us some good advice :)I've seen a lot of people that I know here! I saw Shea Bingham and Auvi Evans. They look so happy :) Although, how can you possible be not happy as a missionary?We're getting a lot better at teaching in French as a companionship. The rough edges are smoothing out and we're starting to sound a little more like true Frenchies :) (not really) honestly, we're probably going to get to France and have to say, "LENTMENT SI VOUS PLAIT!" haha idk if I'm ready for it yet.This week we had the priveledge to hear from a general authority named Elder W. Craig Zwick. He was really great and powerful. Also if you've never watched the video by Elder Bednar called 'Character of Christ.' WATCH IT! It's so great. We watched that last night after our fireside and it was really powerful. Also we had a really unique fireside. We all walked into the gym and found a seat. As I'm sitting there Sister Huckstep nudges me and says, "There's no stand or pulpit." I look up and she's right. There was just a chair and a desk. The MTC Presidency sat on the first row. Super strange. We then realized our guest speaker was Ted Gibbons. He told the story of Joseph Smith's martyrdom at Carthage jail from the point of view of Willard Richards, who was Joseph Smith's secretary and close friend. He did the entire thing in character and he didn't read anything. He had the entire thing memorized and it was amazing to hear it as if someone who was there was telling it. Idk how to describe it.Mormon Messages have become my best friends. Probably one of my new favorites is by Elder Uchtdorf called 'A Mother's Hope' I think? It's a cartoon message but I absolutely love it. I also LOVE the one called 'Courage' about Esther and what it takes to have courage. I just love mormon messages. We try to watch one every night as a district right after planning before we go back to our residences. It's a great way to invite the spirit and end the night on a peaceful note."You can't choose what you look at, but you can choose what you see." Someone said this in one of our district meetings and it really stuck with me. A mission is all about your attitude. It can be the best 2 years/18 months of your life as long as you decide it will be. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to choose joy and happiness. We all essentially have that choice and this quote goes a lot further than just a mission. You're life is what YOU make it. It's YOUR life so it's up to YOU whether or not you're gonna look in the mirror or choose to look out the window. It's so easy to fall into the ways of the natural man and be selfish. I've really realized that I need to change a lot in my previous life and be more giving. Jesus Christ DID NOT die for us..he SUFFERED for us. He chose to feel every bit of sorrow and despair. He chose to endure every pain imaginable so much that he bled from every pore. Do you feel His love for you now? It's real. He did that because He wanted to. He chose to endure the pains of this world so we wouldn't have to. Can you imagine a love like that?So many of us go through life expecting a sign or an answer from God to show us that He loves us and that we're not just another speck in His eyes. How ungrateful an attitude is that? How sad does that make Heavenly Father when you say you aren't loved or that you need a sign that His love is real. What more could He have done for you? He gave His only perfect Son. He watched Him suffer for our sins and He couldn't do anything about it.With 3 of his apostles falling asleep when they were supposed to keep watch and one that simply betrayed Him with a kiss, He STILL healed a man's ear after this man was going to crucify Him. I know there is no way I could have that same compassion and love. Christ had every excuse to shut the world out, but instead He embraced more of other's pains and took them away from them.Another important key in Christ's life is that He didn't bless and heal the people with the snap of His fingers. He healed. He blessed. One person at a time. That is so incredibly symbolic to us and so many people miss this, but it's so important to see that Christ heals us one at a time. He personally heals us. It is up to us to accept His healing. When you soften your heart and truly search the scriptures for all of Christ's ministry it's remarkable and so clear to see that He knows me by name. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us. They know our desires and our hearts. They have a love beyond compare for us. We were created by Them in Their likeness AND in their image.I hope and pray for all of you. I had the opportunity to go to the temple today for the first time since I've been here! It was awesome. A really cool fact: Elizabeth Smart's little brother is going to Lyon and he's in a room 2 doors down from our district room. He's super cool. He was in the same session at the temple with us today. I was talking to him on the way back to the MTC from the temple. He's super tall and really nice. But yeah just a cool fact :) Elizabeth Smart served in the Paris mission and one of my teachers served with her and she said she was super nice.Look for an Elder Roberts! He's awesome. He's going to Orlando Mission speaking Creole so hopefully he gets to serve in our ward! I told him all about Florida and he's so stoked. He's on the same floor as me several doors down. So if he goes to our ward, help him find Mr. Mauger!I just want to end with one last quote by Janet Zwick: "Focus on the will of God; let not your circumstances define who you are." This applies to everyone. If we wallow in our own life stories, we miss the MAIN point in life! We forget to enjoy life and count our blessings and strive to help other people. We would all be such better people if we learned to stop dwelling in the past and look to future with high hopes and a good attitude.Sorry about your letter :( I started one, but felt I needed to write other people. I have one coming for you from today. I didn't really write on it much, but almost everyone in my zone wrote on it so it should give you some laughs. These people are becoming the best friends I could have ever asked for and I seriously love it here. So if you don't get a letter from me then you know I needed to write other people that week. You'll always get an email from me though :)Stay righteous, be true, be you!Avec amour,Soeur Berge
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