As tu besoin d'aide mon bras t'est offert

NEW TRANSFER.  This transfer, I decided to write a line from some of my favorite french hymns on each day of my planner.  The subject of this letter is today's line, and it's from how firm a foundation.  the literal translations is about "you need help, my arm is offered to you".  So, if you need help, know that His arm is offered to you.  I know He's waiting to help you.  He's been helping me, and I haven't even done anything.

What an odd way to start an email.

Let's start with goodbyes.  We had some sad goodbyes this week with soeur gappmaier.  She was in this ridiculous state of denial, and so told no one on Sunday that she was mutated.  SO I told some people that I knew would have their hearts broken if they didn't get to say goodbye.  She didn't mind.  Oh man, that girl. And I don't say mutated to be mean.  To say to transfer in french is "muter" and the noun transfer is "mutation".  So I stopped trying to keep them straight and just say mutated.  Everyone here knows what I mean.  So yes, Sr Gappmaier was mutated (gosh I feel like an Xman when I say that teehee) and we had to say goodbye to a certain family.  Yvonne and Nichole are some amis that got really attached to Sr Gappmaier and her previous compaion, and just about died when they had to say goodbye to Sr Houtz as I got transferred in.  In fact, they did not want to like me, and kept asking if they could call the mission home and ask for sr Houtz to stay.  Well, they met me and instantly fell in love.  I'm not saying that to boast; to the contrary in fact.  It's because of the spirit.  And when we found out SR gappmaier was mutated, we decided that this would be good for Yvonne (who is practicing catholic and loves us and the church) to see that it's not really us she loves, but the spirit.  We visited Yvonne and her husband was there, and of course nichole (who is her 56 year old daughter who is druid and really interesting to teach but really isn't interested in the gospel and is always at the house when we teach Yvonne), and we ate bretegne cake and cherries.  Nichole gave me her geneology and the history of Bretegne in a booklet thing she made because she knows I'm really into geneology and so is she.  Yvonne and Nichole gave Gapp a very old wooden bretegne box with a brass carving on top.  They said they loved her and wished her luck.  We bore our testimonies and gave them a card that Sr G wrote an indepth testimony of the gospel in, and asked if we could sing them a song.  They said yes.  We sang "each life that touches ours for good".  Yvonne and Nichole started crying.  I cried and I'm still in Caen!!!  They told us they loved us.  Yvonne and Nichole still want to be taught, even with "La Nouvelle".  It was sweet.  The spirit was strong. And I got excited for the work in Caen.

Soeur Gappmaier left early Wednesday morning, and Sr Woyak, ma nouvelle, called and said " i should get into caen around 2ish, but they haven't bought my tickets yet, so I'll call you when I switch trains in Paris." I was like "okay.  I'm sitting here home alone all day, I might as well clean the apatment (that the elders never cleaned before moving) while I"m waiting."  So I studied, deep cleaned the apartment, and took a nap.  But I never got a phone call.  Hmm.  That makes me nervous.  So I show up at 2 at the gare anyway, and there my new companion is with her luggage.  She made it alivee and well, no phone call necessary.  Yay me!!

Sr Woyak is very different from Sr gappmaier, but similar in some aspects.  We have been doing a lot of talking since she got here and made a list of things that we wanted to accomplish this next transfer.  Her last two transfers were miserable as she had major companionship issues.  Really major.  I know because I did exchanges in their ville.  And, as not miserable as this last transfer was for me, it was in no way easy.  The work suffered here in Caen last transfer for one reason or another, and Sr gappmaier and I didn't work all that efficiently because she was used to doing things a certain way, and when I suggested change she often felt like change meant she had inadequecies.  I got very emotionally exhausted with this, so I stop suggesting things and just went with the flow.  So my transfer wasn't miserable by any any means; but it was difficult.  So we mmade a list of things we wished we could have done these last few transfers (she's only on her fourth).  We made a great list and the transfer started out witha BANG.  Our number one thing that we missed and really wanted to do was work by the spirit.  Sure, we need to plan, but we also need to follow the spirit.  So we did that this week.  And it was phenomenal.  We had an ami with a baptismal date find the courage to have more faith and overcame a huge obstacle.  We invited Yan to baptism, and she accepted!!  We didn't plan either of those things, but they happened becasue we were both listening for the spirit.  I feel unity again.  I feel fire again!  We doubled last weeks numbers in four days!  We have worked hard, and just followed the spirit, even if it didn't make sense.  And there were such benedictions from that.  I don't have the time to explain it azll, but the Lord really is leading His work here in Caen.  I know it will get harder, but I also know that the Lord will support me in some way; He's done it before, He'll do it again.  But know that Yan has committed to baptism once she has a testimony, and that Patricia no longer has obstacles stopping her baptism, and that some of our non actives will be active once again.  And if the Lord tells you to walk instead of take the tram, don't think of it as a waste of time; just enjoy the walking, and He just might through an ami that needed a scripture into your path.

Funny story for the week.  it's been gettnig warmer here in Caen.  During the middle of the day it gets HOT here, but by 6h00 the ocean wind comes and everything cools down again.  but we just bought fans and have been keeping the windows open all day and night.  Well, after cleaning, I hung the mop up to dry on the balcony/ window sill.  We were studying when I heard flap flap flap at the window.  I knew pidgeons fly around all the time up there, so i didn't even notice.  But then it closer and stopped all of a sudden.  I leaned over and saw that a PIGEON had landed on the mop and was practically in the apartment. I stood up and yelled "get off of my MOP!", scaring Sr Woyak and the pigeon.  I put the mop away, but our apartment was too hot to close the window.  Haahaaahaaaaaa.  Later that night I was talking to ssr woyak during planning and we were sitting pretty close to each other.  All of a sudden I hear flap flap flap again and look over to see if the pigeon was back.  Yes, she was.  But she decided to invite herself in.  YES.  A PIGEON FLEW INTO MY APARTMENT.  I SCREAMED and scared poor sr woyak again and she screamed and the pigeon flipped out, continued flapping and flew right out again.  I flipped out, wondering how many times this must have happened while we were out, when sr woyak pointed out that probably never because even though the windows are often open, the curtains are always closed to decrease the flies.  So that qwas the FIRSt and LAST time I will have a pigeon in my apartment.  Oh man I flipped out.

We had three amis come to church this sunday.  Patricia came, Yan came (for the third time in a row) and YVONNE came.  She sat by me, TOOK NOTES on all the talks, and while we sang the closing hymn (teach me to walk in the light), she started crying.  She said she knows that this church really is CHrist's church.  She knows it.  But she cant leave the catholic church.  She's 78 and has been Catholic her whole life, there's no way she'll turn her back on it, she tells us.  But she feels the spirit at church, loves us, and has said several times that she wants to join our church.  But we know that she doesn't understand the committment that is, and she won't get baptized because she already was when she was a baby.  Yvonne may be an eternal ami, but I'm okay with that.  Because when she comes to church she feels the spirit.  She loves the spirit we have.  She once told us that she "found Jesus Christ" in our church.  It makes me smile and weep to think of her.  Yvonne, I love you.

Yan isn't ready to be baptiwed she tells us, but she really wants to raise her family in the church, when she has one.  Oh man.  Peopleare so funny sometimes.

Well, I love you all.  Keep writing.  DAD. STOP WRITING TO MY RUE DE LE HAVRE ADRESS.  You're SOOOOO lucky my old landlord let me have that letter.  SO STOP IT.
Pray for continued success in Caen.

love love love
Soeur Barros

PS the french postal service sucks, just in case you're wondering.

And the world keeps turning round and round

So, I decided to start with my mass email this week.  And I shall start with

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TORI AND DAD!!!!!! I told America happy birthday yesterday, and now it's your turn.  Besides, it was your birthday here like nine hours before your brithday even thought about starting in the USA.  Suckahs.

You know who else is a suckah?  Guess who moved three weeks ago and just got transferred?  HA!  Not me!  My pauvre colleguee did.  Teeheee.  I have not finished unpacking my clothing yet, and I've been waiting to hear about transfers.  Well, Soeur Gappmaier couldn't do it any longer and unpacked ALLLLLLLLL of her stuff last week.  I'm still smiling about it.  Teeheeeheee.  But I am sad thazt she's leaving Déja.  I love my mission Mom, and she's going all the way to Brussells on wednesday, which is good because that's the mission she got called to and she has never actually served in belgium.  I guess she gets to now.  She's really nervous.  Me too.  Why?  Because I'm not getting a new senior compaion.  I'm getting a co-companion, which means we're both senior companion.  I've also been informed that that means I will never be Junior companion again.  Yeah.  I got one whole transfer to be lead, and now I'm going to lead with someone, or even lead someone else later, far earlier than I ever wanted to.  I don't know if I should be pleased or quoi.  Mostly I'm just confused, a little scared, and Okay... I'm a bit excited.  I've met my new companion deja.  She is currently in ST Quentin.  Yup, the ville I did exchanges in.  We met at zone conference and then as we switched companions in Paris.  She came to Caen when I went up north, which is good because now some of our amis have met her and so that awkward "hi I'm new" phase is over with ... at least for some of our amis.  So Yeah.  Soeur Barros.  Transfer Deux.  Senior companion (ish).

What is the Lord thinking?????????

But on a less stressfull/ bizarre/ exciting note, I met a very nice american man on Saturday.  He was getting on the tram, saw our nametags, and started chatting it up with us in ENGLISH.  Well, okay, I knew he was american before he even stepped onto the tram-- we have a look about us, ya know?  He told us some of his best friend are Mormon, and he really admires what we're doing out here.  He admires the sacrifices we make for the Lord.  WHAT????!!!!  It was SOOOOOOO nice to hear someone say that!!!!  We both got off at the gare (train station), and we the sisters had the plan to go to a cyber cafe across the street to see the transfers email in case one of us got transferred. The nice American asked us if we could give him a hand buying his train ticket, and we're like, sure, why not.  We've done that before, so it shouldnt take all that long.  Well it's a good thing we did because there ended up being NO trains open because it's summer break here, and the summer vacation is SACRED to the French.  We found a way to get him where he needed to go, so he begged us to let him buy our lunch.  We finally relented (no really, he  begged), and he sat there and talked to us some more.  Him and I talked about US history (he's a high school histtory teacher/ track coach in Louisiana) and LA history. I told him that Someone is looking out for him, because we're never on that tram at that time on that day-- we were just going to see who got transferred.  He said he totally believed that, and that he was going to thank God that night for having met us.  He gave us his name and email adress and said that any time we came to Louisiana to email him and he'll take us for begnés (i think that's how you spell it) (ha, and I told him that i really wanted to eat begnés in New orleans some day, so I think that's why he said begnés).  He tried to hug me (why do people keep doing that???) but I had to explain that we don't hug men (or much else really) while on our missions.  So he gave us some high fives and handshakes (ah american hand shakes-- they are different you know), and caught his train.  We called him our tender mercy, because people have been exceptionally mean to us this week, telling us we are most definitely a cult.  Ha, did you know that the way to say religion in French is culte, and the way to say cult is secte?  Yup, the meanings are changed here.  So really, it's "secte" that I hear all the time.  Fun Fun.

Life isn't bad here in Caen.  One of our amis is having a really tought time, but suprise suprise, it started when she began working on sundays instead of going to church.  We're working really hard to help her see that connection, but she has her agency.  Curses.  And Yan is still progressing, but we're never sure how much she really understands.  She keeps most of the commandments, at least around us, but her reading of the Book of Mormon has slowed down.  But now she ha this friend that actually just finished reading the book of Mormon and told her he's going to start over soon and read it all again.  We're hoping that helps motivate her; she is sooo funny when she tells us these types of things.  We ask her for referrals, and she says stuff like "oh you know what?  I really should bring this person to our next RDV!" Wow.  We just wanted a name and phone number, but we'll take it.

The finding is sllooooowwwwiiiing down.  We have started "spiritual finding" like dustin told me about in one of his letters; during our porting, we only knock on the doors that we feel like knocking on.  It's like regular finding without all the rejection.  We talk to people for much longer now, and we even had someone set a RDV with us.  But he cancelled like two hours later.  Elder Oaks said something interesting in the last Priesthood session: our faith is in Jesus Christ, and not in outcomes.  So it makes me wonder-- is my faith in Jesus Christ or in outcomes?  Think about that...

Well, time is up.  I'll try to send photos in another email.  Je vous aime!!!

Soeur Barros

Get down with the sickness

Which is how I feel.  This week has been bizarre, but good none the less.  But still bizarre.  And I'm glad it's over.

Well, who knows where to start.  I can start with the sickness, which, of course, I was again.  It really started with the fact that two saturdays ago I sprained my foot.  Yup, I limped around Caen for a week.  And then exchanges were this week, so I got really nervous that I would be dead weight in St Quentin with my foot; alas, I decided to call the senior missionary here who is a doctor and ask him what's what.  Well yes, I did sprain my foot.  And yes, I need to take lots of ibuprofin and ice my foot two or three times a day.  Super.  I'm so accident prone here.  WELL it gets better.  That night, during a lesson (that ended with me saying if she wasnt going to read thhe book of mormon after meeting with missionaries for several years, we were wasting each other's time), I realized that I was getting a fever.  Then during District meeting, I became certain.  We drug ourselves home from the church, my companion sick with a cold that I so generously gave her, and realized that we still had to clean our old apartment before giving the propriator the keys on wednesday, I almost cried.  I got changed quickly and we wandered over to "oldy" and started cleaning.  The elders came over to help us clean and get rid of some old things, and one of them told us that we were going to get a mini missionary next transfer.  That's when I cried for reals.  I was cleaning that STUPID toilet and realized that we would have another person sleeing on the floor (who knows where because i"m not exaggerating when I say there is no space), and another blue.  I am not ready for that.  Ugh.  We later figured out that that was his idea of a joke, and we are not getting a mini missionary (super bad timing on his part).  So i'm seriously dead here, and it's almost 9 and I still havent packed for exchanges, and I ask Sr Gappmaier when we're going to leave for the night.  And she says "when we're done."  I cried again, because there was no way we were going to finish at her pace (shes a ridiculous perfectionsist) and with me being sick.  She said fine lets go.  the rest of my night was worse.  I went to bed at 915 and woke up at 1045 with such a high fever my bed felt like it was on fire, even 20 minutes after I woke up and sat in the living room.  I woke up every hour and tried to drink some water, but everything i drank went right throughme.  It was really bad.  I had some fun feeverish hallucinations, and realized I was going to see Elder Draleau the next day, so there was no way I was calling the elder doctor twice in one day, especially if he was going to tell me that i had to stay in Caen.  So I sucked it up, cleaned for two hours the next day, went to a RDV, and took the train to Paris, where I saw (while waiting for the St Quentin Seours to show up for the switch) over HALF of my MTC GROUP!!!!  They were all there just getting back from Brussels and getting their Belge legality.  Oh I nearly died.  THey were doing SOOOO well!! I love how well they all treat me.  I saw Elder Gull and Elder Terry and said "oh I'm so happy to see You!!" and then I hear somone say "what about me?" and there was Elder Portwood standing there.  And behind Him, Elder Smith.  And behind him, Elder Burnside.  Oh it was better than Christmas.   And then, I got on a train to go see my BFF from the MTC.  It was awesome.
My whole trip to St Quentin was amazing.  I saw Elder Draleau mt first night.  I of course looked like DEATH, because on the train I started overheatin again and had no water to drink at all.  Then the busses stop running at 7 pm in ST Q (its a very very small town), so then we had to walk to this member's house to do service with the elders.  I was nearly dead when Elder D welcomed me into the house and I think I might have scared everyone when I practically collapsed on the couch.  But they got me water and, for some reason, cherries.  Then I spent the evening talking psychology with this member who used to be a counselor, and talking about missionary life/ work with elder draleau.  I'm really not a huge fan of his companion, but that's okay because my temporary companion is good buddies with him.  Then I got to see the elders again several more times the next day because we had to exchange materials, and then we saw each other on the street and took most of our dinner hour talking.  It was sooo amazing.  It was even better aith the work: all of our appointments were there, we had a boyfriend of one of our inactives listen to a lesson from the other room (cool beans) and found someone interested in the gospel while doing some contacting.  It was just a good misionary day.

Caen has been having some opposition.  There is opposition in all things, I know.  Well, we've been feeling it here in Caen.  The elders are acting weird again, and our ami with a baptism date had a melt down during our lesson (which she rescheduled three times-- that's really unlike her).  We were trying to teach the loi de chastité, which she has been taught like 5 times, and she was being ORNERY.  I didn't get it.  She kept saying things like "yeah, but..."  But what????  Well, she finally said what she thought about the law of chastity-- that it's okay to sleep with someone but not sleep around like a hooker.  I didn't know what to say.  SHe's supposed to get baptised in a month, and she still hasn't kicked her live in boyfriend out.  I testified that the law of chastity is for everyone, not just slutty women, and that if heavenly Father says it's what we need to do, then it's what we need to do.  Then she had a break down and told us that God abandoned her this week, and she didnt do anything wrong.  Why are there these trials in her life if she's doing what's right??  If her family is happy, then she'll be happy, she tells us, and that's all she wants out of life.  Oh man, I do NOT know what to do.  SO I sat there and cried with her (I cried a lot this week), and told her that the lesson to learn now is patience.  She said "I've done nothing wrong!  I've been praying for God to be with me, but He's not!"  We told her that Joseph Smith felt the same way.  We read the scriptures where Jospeh asks the Lord "Oh God, where art thou?".  I think it helpd, but only time will tell.  Satan has been working very hard on this poor woman.
On the other hand, the happy side of opposition, Yan is still progressing! We taught her the Word of Wisdom, and she accepted it!  I love how she accepts truth.  She said it would be hard, but she can tell it will be worth it.  Yes, Yan.  it will be.  And she came to church!!  She sat through all 3 hours and said she really really liked it, even though it got a little long at the end (we had the first speaker take like 40 minutes-- punk-- so we went past time).  She cant wait to come back.  She says she is converting and it makes me soo happy.

A funny side note: my SNCF (the french version of amtrak) reduction card has me named Kathleen Kacey.  when the woman read my driveer's license, I guess Kacey is never used as a name here, so she thought it was my last name.  Funny.  Kathleen Kacey.  Teehee.

Well the time is far spent.  there are other things to do.  Like go to the H&M down the street from my house.  I love you all.  Transfers are next week.  I'm probably staying in Caen, but who knows... maybe I'll get to move.

Okay... I love You SOOOOOOOOO much.

Love Kacey


PS-- MARK- I love your emails, but you better not think that will suffice.  I'm expecting a real live letter one of these days.  I just sent you one this last week, so now you really owe me.

MOM AND DAD- I sent a letter last week, and Im sending a small package with prezzies in it today, so look for them.  I have ZERO idea how long it will take

And the rain comes tumbling down

So first things first: we have a pregnant less active (non active is actually more accurate) that weve decided to buy little things for and leave notes because she hangs up on us all the time.  Dear pregnant sister in laws: what does a pregnant woman want?  thank you much for your aide.



Wow that was uber french.  Uber is actually german.  My comp told me.



So yeah, we do a lot of less/ non active work.  One lady is named marina.  She has a son named moïse (moses in french).  Moïse cant sit still to save his life.  So he would do something and she would tell him to go stand against the wall, look at the wall and "refleche de quoi tu as faites!" think about what you have done.  Hahaha.  Hes seriously three years old.  So the first time, he decided licking the wall would be the best thing to do while "thinking about what he had done".  Hahahaha!!!!  I totally didnt pay attention to what was going on.  So Marina saqw him licking the wall.  Yelled at him again.  Teehee.  Then he started sliding up and down the wall.  Oh yeah, that had my attention for a while (man i am such a bad missionary sometimes).  So she caught him.  He behaved for a while, and I decided to start participating and paying attention to the lesson.  Well, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Moïse was suddenly behind the speakers of the TV.  Oh boy, I couldnt resist a peak.  HAAHAHAHAHAHA.  He had the wires from the speakers in his mouth and was chewing on them like a rat.  Oh man, I looked him in th eye and shook my head like "your mom is going to kill you."  But, for the first time, Marina didnt notice.  Soeur Gappmaier did.  So we both sat and looked at Moïse chewing on wires while marina told us the same story she tells us every time.  Finally, as I started shaking my head again she noticed.  OH BOY HE WAS IN TROUBLE.  After we left the apartment complex, soeur Gapp and i laughed so hard I thought I was going to wet myself.  It was sooooo nfunny.  We would calm down, and be okay for a second.  But then Sr Gappmaier would point at me and say "Now think about what you have done!!" and wed be off again.  Teeheeee.



I love inactives.  There is always something fun gonig on in their homes.  And theyh feed us.  I had this giant four course meal at a nonpracts home (non practicing member/ inactive) on wednesday night.  But it was really late, and she wouldnt let us leave, and i had to eat it all.  So guess who was sick during zone conference?  Moi.  Encore.  Yup.  But we went anyway because we really really wanted to.  PLUS there was going to be three other elders that were in the MTC with me at the conference.  SO we HAD to go, I NEEDED to go.  It of course, was raining when we got to paris, and our train was 25 minutes late, so we were late.  I got really nervouse that wed walk in and everyone would stare at us, but that didnt happen.  In fact, I was really more sad that there wouldnt be talking time before it started now, and I really rreally wanted to talk to my elders.  THough I did see elder smith/  know it all (remember him?) at the train station.  His face lit up like a lightbulb when he saw me, ripping his hand out of his pocketo shake mine.  That calmed me down a l:ittle bit, and made me feel much more at home.  we were walking up the courtyard to the church building, we saw through the windows that the place was just full of socializing missionaries, waiting for all of the late trains to arrive.  I whispered to soeur gappmaier "i'm nervouse that they wont be as excited to see me as i am to see them".  As I said that, I saw a tall red head inside waving at me like his life dpended on it.  I about jumped in the air it made me so happy to see Elder Draleau waving at me.  If any of you look back at the emails Ive sent, elder draleua was one of my closest chums in the MTC.  He was the one I was most nervouse about forgetting me, mostly because I apparently doubt how much people like me.  But yes, he saw me through the window and wavzed like crazy.  It was all uphill from there.  I got to see three missionaries from my MTC group, and I loved each of them for different reasons.  And yes, I almost threw up, but we did sing.  All my elders came up afterward and told me how luch they loved it.  At the end of the day when we rode home, Sr gappmaier said "i dont think you should worry anymore; its obvious they love you.  A lot."



AH love.  I love love.





Okay, a couple of spiritual thoughts from this very loved missionary:



We had a RDV with this really religious girl my comp and her old comp ffound on the street.  She gave them her version of a pass along card and So they gave her a pamphlet.  We finally met on Saturday night.  She had previously told the soeur missionaries that she knew about joseph smith and believed hed had a vision.  So the first thing we did was ask her how much she knew about joseph smith.  BAD IDEA.  She then went off for 45 minutes about the bible and promising a restoration and all kinds of weird half truths.  It was ridicxulous; not what she believed, but how she treatd us.  She said things like "that is wrong.  Do you know why?  No you dont, so this is why..."   Seriously.  And when we found a scripture to try and start teaching, she ignored us, and said we really didnt know our stuff.  In fact, at one point, as we searched our scriptures, she said "if you are going to talk about the Word, you should come prepared."  HAHAHAHA.  But oh man, when she started telling us that the first vision of Joseph Smith was actually a vision from the Devil, thats when I knew that we were wasting our time.  It was so interesting, because I had nothing in my head.  Nothing.  And I realized that it was the Spirit telling me that she isnt going to listen, so dont waste your words or engery.  So I told her our time was up (because it really really was) and asked if I could finish by bearing my testimony.  I then bore a strong and solemn witness that Joseph Smith did see God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  I KNOW that through Joseph Smith Christ restored HIS gospel upon the earth.  And I KNOW that Christ is my Saviour, Redeemer and the Son of God.  The spirit just radiated from me as I said that (which doesnt happen all that often).  Then she went off telling me that I can have my prophet and she'll take hers.  So my companion bore second witness.  QWe cut her off from further lecturing us and ended with a prayer.  Instead of taking the tram, we took 40 minutes to walk home we were so frustrated.  Sr Gappmaier felt so dumb,; she told me, becuase she didnt know half those scriptures this woman had used.  I said I did, but she was using them completely out of context.  SO then my comp felt even stupider because the new girl knew more than her.  And thats whe I realized something: I'm not here to bible bash.  I'm not here to prove people wrong. I'm here to give them the opportunity to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and come unto Him.  I'm here to testify.  And thats what I did.





I know this really is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I KNOW it.  I KNOW Joseph Smith was a prophet called by God, and that we have a living prophet today.  I Know it.  I feel it.  I live It.



I know it.  Thats why I am out here.



TImes up.  I love you all.  SOOOOOOOO much.  Please write to me.  Please.  It gets lonely being a stranger in a strange land.



Je vous aime.



Soeur Kacey Barros

Fils d'israel en avant

veillons prions en tout temps.....



Hope of isreal.  in french.  im sure it is spelled differently, but I really really don't care.  Im sorry about the emails not coming last week, i didnt know the photos were too big.  im going to try and figure out how to take smaller photos, but honestly, i dont understand my camera.  i swear it speaks a different language than me.  In fact, if i had to choose between 789674587876 MPGs language and french, id understand the french much better.  On the plus side i forgot my camera cord this week so no photos.  But extra next week, I promise.  Okay, on to some of the less interesting parts of my letter...



We're moving.  its a serious pain in the butt, because i unpacked less than two weeks ago.  Not only that but it means i have to leave huebert behind, and i was getting so used to him.  Poor buddy, he'll have to make new friends.  Maybe he'll convert them... becuase we sure as heck arent.  GAHHHHHHHHHHH........ they told me this would be hard, but i really had no idea.  Can anyone?  I imagine thats how life with heavenly father was.  "yeah Ill totally do it" but then we get here to earth and are like "crap.  really?"  But then we have faith and all gets better.  Oh yeah, but moving.  We are moving into the aparetment the elders have now because its smaller than the new one (they are the zone leaders so they are often hosting other elders in their place, so i GUESS they need the bigger one).  But we are allowed to stand in the doorway and look into their place/ our future home.  Its sooo tiny, but im really okay with that because its actually quite cozy.  Im looking forward to ironing on the dryer.  BUT at least we'll still have the dryer.  Count your blessings.  OH MAN though (something funny... everyone here speaks at least a little english, but the phrase they all love to say is "of man!"  It's freaking hilarious), the stairs up to the apartment are treacherous.  Like, i could easily kill someone just by asking them to go down the stairs to get the mail.  No joke.  Hey, thats actually not a bad idea..... jk, guys, jk.  I love my co^mpanion, Soeur Gappmeir.  We get along really really well.  She has the same sense of humor as me.  Like, she made me listen to one of our investigators (we say "ami de l'église" in french, so if i say ami youll get it) answering machine.  I guess she didnt understand what was going on because when it got to the part where it says "please leave a message for" and then you say your first and last name on the message?  well she did NOT get it, so she said "Pierrette..... foquet?"  I swear its hilarious, like shes not actually sure that her last name is foquet.  I love pierrette.  Shes hard to understand, but not because of the french.  She seriously changes subjects like shell die in three minutes so she has to say everything on her mind.



France is wonderful.  Im starting to genuinely love it and not just tell myself that its france so I have to love it.  There are little things that make this place so wonderful.  Like the fact that everyone has a dog; shoot, i swear some of the dogs have dogs!!!  But it's nice.  And you know that part on Ratatouille where the girl chef tells the red head that its the sound of a baguette that shows if its good or not??  Guess what.  Its true.  Yup.  Yumm, im getting hungry just thinking about (i ate that bread for you.  Sorry you had to miss it).



Some miracles for the week: i experienced the gift of tongues.  We gave a lesson with a member present earlier this week with an african woman named Scholar.  I guess they usually have lessons in english, but our member, Rodolph, didnt know enough english to express himself, so half of it was french.  Miracle: i didnt realize he was speaking french until the lesson was almost over.  No joke.  It was like "oh.  This isnt english.  But.... i know what hes saying...." Seriousement.  It was awesome!!!!!  Other miracle:  half of our RDV (RDV = rendez vous = appointments) fruged on us (meaning they stood us up  THATS FOR YOU SOUER ROUBICEK.  IN PARIS WE SAY FRUGED) and so we went porting (door to doors).  No one cared.  No one would talk to us.  Except the people who wanted to yell at us and tell us that there cant be a god because there are so meny bad people in the world.  Seriousement?  Get over that, people have the ability to make choices and do stupid things.  So this man yells at us for fifteen minutes, my companion is getting really irritated, and I say "okay.  well thats your choice.  I know that God loves you.  Good bye." and we walked off.  We then started discussing how there are people prepared for us, and there are people who arent.  And we cant let that man get to us because he wasnt prepared for us.  As wa are walking and saying this, we see a very cute old man shutting his gate in his front yard.  We both think "cool, lets talk to him," and then he says "hello!!"   In english.  We find out he is french, teaches german and english litterature to inmates and wants to come to our english class.  We tell him what time we hold it, and he says "oh no.  I have to work.  Well, maybe another time, when you find you have some free time, we could get together and speak about religion in english."  HAHAHA.... what??  Did he just set a RDV with US to talk about religion???  "its just an exchange, mind you.  I am a very devoute catholique."  SERIOUSEMENT????  We set up a RDV and we're teaching him tonight!!!  Its crazy those tender mercies!!!



I shall end this letter by saying i have met people who are looking fo the gospel and love their lord and savior, but will not open the book of mormon to save their lives.... even though doing that would save them.  Its a sad thing to see someone who wants to be close to god but wont accept the best way to do it.  Als bt telling a story about drunks in the Courtyard:

We got angry with the elders one evening, and decided to talk to them the next day.  So that night, I hear people yelling, hollaring, and singing in the courtyard outside my window.  In my half awake state, I think its the elders.  I seriously thought the elders were mad at us too and were outside our window yelmling at us.  Nope.  Just some drunks.  Gotta love em; unless they try to sit in your lap (true story) and then they are creepy.





OH YEAH.  Happy french memorial day.  THere were a ton of veterans herer in the normandy area for DDay.  It was such an honor to see it.  DONT I HAVE A RELATIVE WHO STORMED NORMANDY ON DDAY??  TELL ME THEIR NAME PLEASE!!!!  DAD THAT MEANS YOU.





Love, avec beaucoup d'amour et esperence,



Soeur Barros



PS zone conference this week.  Guess whos singing in it?  Soeur Gapp et  moi.  Hopefully I wont get sick like last time and have to bail out.  Anyway, its the olive tree ( i did NOT chose this song....  cliche) and it remindes me of kit playing it at home.  I liss you and love you all soooo much.

bienvenu a france

this letter is going to take FOREVER parceque im not used to french keybords.  Si'l vous plaît, forgive my typos.

D'accord.  FIRST THINGS FIRST: You know how every time someone told me that elizabzeth smart is in my mission i'd say .  Well. Guess what.  shes not.  BUTTTTT she is my father which means that she is the one who took me on my first contacting activity.  So she taught me how to contact.  Who was right?  pretty much me.  elder draleau m'a dit (told me) "how do you do it????  you're always right!!!!!!!" (he lost a bet to me at the mtc, which is why you should never gamble..... especially with me... teehee). I told him its cause im a soeur.  

AND if you sent a dear elder to me on fri, sat, sun or mon, i did NOT get it.  We got to the airport before the dear elders arrived.

france is beautiful, but it scares me to death. after i bawled ny eyes out saying goodbye to my district that isnt coming to paris, i had to do it again at the mission home, which was even harder, because now im leaving with someone i dont actually know.  it was way weird, and we missed our train out of paris.  oh yeah, my first area is CAEN.  im in the normandie zone.  WHICH MEANS DAD-- or grandma, please tell me the name of my ancestor that stormed the beaches of normandie.  I hear it will be good to know with the people here.  And before i forget, my mission address is
LES MISSIONAIRES
Sr. Kacey Barros
23 rue du onze novembre
F-78110, Le Vésinet
FRANCE
I miss my little mtc family all the time, its so sad. it was almost as bad as saying good bye to my real family.  But i'll get to see some of them next week at zone conference. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  My comfort blanket!!!!!!!!!  GOSH I HATE THIS KEYBOARD.  The frenchprobably think i'm crazy, yelling at a computer under my breath.  Some things never change, eh?  My companion is swiss german, but she lived in utah for 5 years, so she speaks pretty amazing and accent free english.  Good and bad.  Because i know i can speak french to her, but also english, so i slip back into it pretty easily.  When we went finding that first time, I seriously said nothing.  I might say but then the person would respond and it was seriously qilsuhfgikqzenfvbjkngkqdfjkqlkjzerfubvbnzlqdkjfghquzhv,d

im so impressed by the young single adults here;  they are small but strong.  they love teasing me, but apparently thats normal.

JUST SO YOU KNOW-- it has taken me 30 min to write what there already is.  Crud.

Boo radley has a cousin living in my ceiling.  BUT our apartment is fairly nice, especially for france standards.  We have a washer and a dryer in our apt, as well as a living room, dining room, and kitchen, study room, and bedroom.  by the way, i mean they are all different rooms.  But yes, there is DEFINITELY a rat living in the ceiling of the apt.  My pauvre companion tried to tell the district once, but when everyone was there, he wasnt moving and everyone thought she was crazy.  But i have heard him, and i know hubert exists.  Hes rather active.  Boo could teach him a thing or two.  But yes, the apt is nice.  and the view is amazing--- see the phot's.  There is one of my view from the study room at night, and the other is my bedroom view during the day.

I dont cry every day, but i still get really homesick for, guess............... the mtc.  I miss everyone and everything.  But not the food; the food seriously is amazing here.  we eat quiche and crepes and such.  I had my first patisserie.......... YUMMMMMMMMMMMM.  Theyre called religeouse, which is why we have a tradition of eating them.  "religiouse" is the word for someone who has dedicated their life to the service of god, like a priest or nun.  People often ask us if thats what we are.  But no, thats not exactly right.  I didnt care either way; just let me eat more patisseries!!!!  There is a photo of that in this email i believe.

My adapter has already died.  No joke.


I love you all so much.  please write to me.  My little family is now spread all over france, and they cant suppliment your absence here anymore.  So i needc letters.  Everytime i see something, i think "i cant wait to share this with my family!!!!"  Ill mail more photos, i promise.

To close on a more missionary note--- we were street contacting (which i hate) and ran into this lady with a little girl.  Mu companion started talking to her about life, and the woman, named elodie, said "i think life is better after trials.  Thats what makes life worth it."  of course i couldnt understand what was going on.... so i talked to her daughter while soeur gappmeir talked to elodie.  I askedr her her name and she whispered "lola".  I told her i loved that name.  then we talked about what kind of chocolate we like, and i told her americaine chocolate is not very good compared to french chocolate. Then she got out her book and read to me.  It was adorable.  AND her mom made an appointment to get taught by us.  SCOOOOORRRREEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!  UGH!! the nu,bers here are so low, even lower than i thought they would be.  But since getting here, weve already improved the numbers.  Its amazing.  But im learning to have faith.  Okay, one last histoire.
We were on the bus yesterday evening, going to a members home for dinner, and I tried talking to a lady.  I did it all by myself (finally) and when we stopped talking about france and onto religion, she turned me down flat by saying "i dont talk about philosophy and religion. its personnelle." UIh okay.  So i said, okay, and went to my seat.  But i really wanted to tell her what God is to me.  So I got up after a few minutes and asked if i could share how i feel about god.  She said sure, so I sat there and bore my testimony of how i know god lives and that he loves each of us individually and specifically.  She didnt really care, but i felt better after doing it.  She said "i know you feel the need to share that because youre a missionary," and i said "i need to share it because its true.  I felt this way before my mission, and i aill feel this way after it too.  I know its all true.  But I respect your desire not to discuss your own beliefs, so Ill go.  Thank you."  So, no success there (yet) but i love the fact that i finally got up the courage to testify.  and i did it all on my own.

Its true, you know.  God really does love each of you.  He knows all your weaknesses and faults, and still loves you with a perfect love.

This is hard, but i will be able to do it if i act and have faith.

I love you.

Kacey

Father in Heaven has sent me to you

Okay, so this might be a little bit scattered, but that's how it goes.



First off: Daddy.  Delta changed their rules again, so I have to pay for one of my bags on the flight on monday.  It's "just" $50 (just????  I get an $8 allowance each week?!?!!!), but I've been stocking up on other things.  Just to be safe, there should be some money in my savings account.  Could you transfer at least $50 from my savings to my checking?  THANKS!!!!!



Second order of business:  Okay, mom.  I only had les temps to skim your email (because we print in the other lab-- don't worry, I'll print it after i write this one), but as far as I know, we "leave" the MTC (let's be honest-- there are at least 10 of us leaving at that time.  No way we're leaving on time), at 1:30 MDT.  Probably won't get there until 2:30, 2:45, and then we have to get through security and junk.  So I think, a safe time is between 3:00 and 3:00 MDT, or 2:00 and 2:30 your time.  Hope that works out.  And if not, I'll call dad's office until someone answers the home phone.  because I am GETTING my phone call.



So yeah, traveling is a pain already.  But TRES TRES TRES exciting!!!!  Packing (gag) is actually not that bad (which is why it was a gag and not a vomit) (did you know the verb "to vomit" in french is "vomir"... and to say "I will throw up in your fac e is "je vomirai a votre visage".  Just in case you wanted to know).  And I'm already assigned a new companionship.  You see, I'm the only sister in our travel group, so I have to join one of the elder's companionship.  Why?  Mostly so I don't get left behind and/ or run away with someone/ myself.  I talked to our group leader (Elder Alexander-- he totally rocks) and said "Who am I with?"  and his response was... "uhhhhhhhhhhhh........."  His companion said "You should just be part of our companionship."  CHOUTTE!!!!  Sweet!!!!  They were who I wanted to be with (because the pickins are a little slim in my group).  That worked out nicely.  I already committed Elder Draleau (Elder Alexander's companion) to helping me with my luggage, but then I discovered a wonderful thing called luggage straps!  Maybe I'll make him pull it anyway... to build character.



I'm ready to get out there.  I'm ready to go.  I want to teach and preach and work as missionaries doooooooooooooo!!!!  The first thing we do after getting picked up at the airport is go contacting in a major traffic (people traffic) area.  But I might have some issues with that.  not because I'm not ready but.....   J'ai perdu ma voix.  I've lost my voice.  It dissappeared on Tuesday, and on wednesday my companion made me go to the doctor.  The doctor told me not to talk anymore and take lots of pain killers.  Drink water, eat fruits and veggies, and (my favey part) TAKE NAPS!!!!  SANCTIONED NAP TAKING!!!!!!  My LIFE IS COMPlETE!!!!!  So I've been doing that--- not better.  not really.  Okay, so a little better.  But Wednesday was TRC day, which is when we teach.  And I couldn't talk?  It was one of the weirdest TRC's I've ever had.  The guy couldn't really hear me, and I really shouldn't have been talking, so he stopped talking to me.  And when we asked him questions, he'd go off on some weird tangent.  here's my favorite part: I asked him "Quel etait le plus important partie des lecons des missionaires... a votre avis?"  (what was the most important part of the missionary lessons, in your opinion? he was a "recent convert")  "Qu'est-ce qu avez vous remarque?" (what did you notice?).  He said "How I changed my life?" in response.  Vraiment?  I tried to rephrase it like three times, and gave up saying "Oui.  Celui."  Yeah.  That.  Weird, but a reality check-- guess what!!  Investigators won't always want to talk about what you want to talk about!!!  My companion thought he was weird too.  Weirdy.



Today was temple day, and it was amazing.  Most of our zone made it to the service, including our teacher (on accident-- but i love her and she's amazing).  I saw all my elders after the service and started bawling, telling them they had to come to paris with me (most of them aren't-- they're going to toulouse).  Elder Nicholes shook my hand so hard because we can't hug, and we both started crying.  I sat on a couch, and he gave me the scriptures to read.  he turned to Doctrine and Covenants 25 and said "This is you, Soeur Barros."  he's our scripture man; has a scripture for every occasion.  Gosh I love my elders.  I'm getting all choked up about it now, just remembering.



We cannot lose this war against satan.  With missionaries like the ones here, we cannot lose.  We cannot lose.  God will triumph.



I KNOW this gospel is true.  It's the only way to be happy!  I can't wait to share it with everyone in my mission, everyone that I will ever meet.



Keep up the good work.  I feel everyone's love and support.



Love Kacey


PS--- President Monson's daughter spoke to us, Sheri Dew did the other time, and half of the Young Women's presidency.  AS WELL AS ELDER HOLLAND.  No time now, but I promise to tell all later!!!!



And TORI-- Elder nicholes loves the letter.  Keep em coming.