In the beautiful ville of Nogent!

 From the MTC Branch Presidency

They don't bury the dead under the ground.

 Soeur Berge (the day after arriving in Paris) and trainer, Soeur Wynn

They park on the sidewalks.

Wow. I can't believe I'm here in Nogent! I absolutely love it. The people here are absolutely amazing. I love my trainer! Her name is Soeur Wynn. She's so awesome. I prayed hard that I would get a good trainer and Heavenly Father blessed me beyond belief. She's 21 and from California. She's a hard worker. I love it.

This week we worked incredibly hard. We had so many appointments and even got some new amis! I'm so stoked. Tonight we are teaching a lady named Beatrice and it's our first lesson with her. We met her on the rue the other day while coming home from a member's house. Oh! The Lam-Yams! They're so sweet. Sister Lam-Yam is from Tennesse and only speaks English. I love it :) She's so sweet and so much fun to talk to. They have a little son named Ryan and he is so funny. He rubbed my leg and then rubbed Soeur Wynn's leg and said, "AH! Ca Pike!" Which means "that's poky!" ahaha so funny. The dad just found out he has cancer and we really felt impressed to go over there last night. We just had a big discussion about withstanding trials and staying strong. We're really praying for them this week.

Church was AWESOME! There was a family from England that was visiting to go to Disney. They had 3 kids and 2 of them were kinda scared to go to Primary with French kids, but they were just so sweet, and I was so proud of the little girl. She stuck it out.

Oh my goodness. The kids here are SOOO cute! They speak way better than I do and they laugh at me a lot, which is fun because I'm just this tall American who can't speak French and they just think it's hilarious.

Oh my goodness, we have had miracle after miracle this week! We went to visit an old ami named Hortense. She met with missionaries for years, but over the past few years she lost touch with them, so we decided to go see her. She lived kinda far, but while we we're on the bus we were trying to figure out which stop to get off and this lady called out to us and said we were looking for her because her name was Hortense! Ah! So sweet! It was definitely not coincidence that we were late. We were meant to be late so we could meet Hortense. She was awesome. She said we could follow her back to her house and we taught her the plan of salvation. I think we're going back sometime this week to help her clean her house.

The food is amazing! Oh my! I love the bread! The food is incredible! We also take trains and buses EVERYWHERE. We share our apartment with 2 other Sisters. They're super fun! Sister Pulupuna is my fav. She's HILARIOUS. She calls me 'Bubu' not really sure why, but I guess it's cool. She's from Tonga. Love her.

Saturday we taught the Monrier family. The mom is a member, but the 4 kids aren't. Sister Monrier said they were really busy and couldn't meet with us this week, but then out of no where we got another text from her later telling us that she needed us and they needed blessings. They're just awesome. The youngest son's name is Sophien and he is SWEET! I love Sophien. He has a thirst for knowledge unlike any other! The other day he got scared because they're dad is kind of a scary guy, so he decided to drop to his knees and pray for help. Turns out it was Olivier (his older brother) just playing around, but how cool is that? He's 12 and his heart is in the right place. I hope we can set a baptismal date with him. He knows it's true. You can tell. We also made them banana bread out of the recipe you gave me for the banana chocolate chip muffins (we don't have a muffin tin). They LOVED IT! Saleem (the oldest son) wants the recipe. They're an awesome family. After we taught them, the elders came over and gave them a blessing. (we have elders in our ward as well)

It's super difficult to understand people. I can understand when Soeur Wynn talks, but real French is so fast and so difficult! I need everyone to pray that I'll have the gift of tongues 3x a day. That is supposed to be the magical number that President says will guarantee we will understand French. Hopefully it'll come. Normally I just add a sentence or two during lessons and say prayers or bear my testimony. I'm trying to get more courage though. It's tough!

Probably one of my favorite miracles this week was Louise. We met her when we were knocking doors in an apartment building. We heard her baby crying and we knocked on her door. She let us in and let us teach her a lesson right then! Amazing! She's letting us come back and teach her more. We're going over there tomorrow and I'm SOOO stoked! Her baby girl is the cutest thing! Louise truly understands the importance of family and we're just really focusing on that. She's absolutely amazing. I love her and her daughter so much already.

We also taught a lady named Jasmine. She has a little baby girl named Precious and a boy who's like 10. We took them over to have FHE and a lesson with Clair and Jordache. They're a couple that is about to have a baby in the ward. They're AWESOME! Clair is amazing. She served a mission in SLC so she speaks English. Jasmine is from Nigeria and only speaks Nigerian, English, and a little French so we teach her in English. Jasmine is so close to coming to church! Her husband doesn't like us though and doesn't want her to get baptized. It's frustrating, but we're trying to work with it.

Also there is Jessy. She has 2 boys and they're wild! She is such a solid woman! I love her. She finally opened up last night and told us that she's been talking to her friend, Sophie about the church. Sophie is going to sit in on the next lesson! We're so excited. Jessy almost came to church on Sunday, but she couldn't make it because her son was sick :( bummer

We have had so many little miracles this week! I wish I could talk about them all, but I better run. We get to teach Beatrice tonight and then we're going over to meet the Pichot famille (Bishop's family) and give them the 4 step plan. We have some hand-picked members here and we are asking them to be a part of the 4 step plan that includes them doing the 4 steps to help be a good member missionary.

Honestly, I couldn't be happier with where I'm at with life right now. The work is progessing here in France, and I don't care what people say, these beautiful people are ready for the gospel. They're not stereotypical 'rude French' people. The people in France are kind and have big hearts and have a lot of love in their hearts.

The Lord has a plan for everyone. He loves His children so much! No matter who you are, you can feel God's love for you. It doesn't matter where you come from, what matters is what's in your heart and how badly you want to feel closer to God and to Christ. This gospel is amazing and I'm so grateful to be a member of this church!

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge