September 7th will be the best for many reasons

August 21,2010
Hey everyone!

So I will start by telling you about my last p-day in Paris. Soeur England and I were in the apartment when the other sister missionaries invited us out for hot chocolate. It was a very raining day and a tempting offer! We ended up at Angelina’s, this pretty fancy French restaurant with the BEST hot chocolate in the world. It was a wonderful time. After we went to meet Soeur Bellini and Pearce. Soeur Bellini wanted to go to this creperie that ended up being closed so we ended up back at Angelina’s with MORE hot chocolate and French food. Such a good p-day :)

My train ride up to Valenciennes was good and it was fun to get off the train to see Soeur Kohler. However, my bags got a little beat up transferring from the train to the car. My new home is a big apartment with so much space. It is kinda weird being back in a 2 man, oh how I love it. We went out contacting that night and met this woman named Crocetta who had this house that was built in 1903, which is pretty new in France, with the BIGGEST backyard I had ever seen. Perfect place for a wedding reception. Anyways, we talked to her a bit about the gospel, she was kinda interested, but not interested enough to set an appointment. We are planning on swinging back by this week and saying hello again.

We have a bunch of different Amis, we have Sylvain with a baptismal date in 3 weeks. He found the church through his girlfriend in Peru. Soeur Kohler said it has been interesting to watch the changes in him. she met him forever ago when he contacted the sisters in Lille, He actually lives in Valenciennes and so now she is teaching him.

On Friday I started learning how to drive stick shift! We have a car for part of the time and Soeur Kohler is teaching me how to drive it. I do pretty well changing gears while I'm driving, I just have a hard time getting the car going.

Let me give you a run down of the next couple of weeks.
August 31 is zone conference in Paris :)
September 3 is sister exchanges where all the sisters are going to the mission home. It is something that Soeur Staheli has been wanting to do since the merge and it is now finally happening.
September 7 we are going up to Brussels for a special mission conference with ELDER BALLARD! I am so excited to see Elder Ballard, I have wanted to see an apostle in the field since I got here and now I get to see one! SO excited!
Then that weekend we have stake conference and Elder Causée will be there. I think it will be fun to hear him speak now that I can understand French. He would speak all the time when I was in Versailles at Christmas, but I had no idea what he was saying.

This week I have to go to Lille for legality and Soeur Kohler and I are going to swing by Kai and Belinda’s and see them! I'm so excited to see them, it feels like forever ago!

This week is my year mark...oh golly, that makes me feel OLD. I remember when all these other companions hit it and now it's me...just craziness.

Love and miss you all! Pictures next week!

camille

p.s. quick ankle update, I am running! the ankle is doing well!

My time is short...just like my hair

August 16, 2010
Family,

This email will start on Friday. Soeur England and I were deep cleaning the apartment and the phone rang. President Staheli was calling with my new transfer to Valenciennes, a city in northern France. The area used to be elders only, but 2 transfers ago was made sisters only. I will be companion with Soeur Kohler again. I told President that I would love to go and be with Soeur Kohler and serve in Valenciennes. So, sadly, I'm leaving Paris-Lilas.

There is a woman in the ward who cuts the missionaries hair for free. I wanted mine less layered and called and left her a message. On Sunday at church she said she could cut it next Tuesday, but I won't be here. I told her it wasn't that serious and she was like "what if I cut it right now?" I said "at the church?" and she said "why not?" So yesterday, after church, I went into the genealogy lab and got my hair chopped off. I said less layered, but she took that as no layers, and now my hair is pretty short. It will grow so not that bad...just kind of a funny story. I told her my mom cuts hair too and that she cuts the missionaries hair and she LOVED that. She also said while cutting my hair that it was very apparent that my mom cut my hair due to how still I hold my head.

This week we taught Nicole. She is an ami that wants to know the answers to EVERYTHING and studies EVERYTHING, including some things that she shouldn't. In the midst of asking questions, she said something really crazy that she had read on the internet and the Spirit seized upon me. I warned her of the danger of the internet and how it would take the little testimony that she was developing and turn her against the church if she just read whatever. I saw that happen to an ami of the elders in Versailles and I saw him so clearly in my mind. I related his story to her and I think she really got it. Unfortunately, she doesn't live in our area and is finally being passed after being taught by the Pari-Lilas sisters for 3 transfers. Since she has been passed, the Evry Soeurs told us of changes she has made that sound promising. It was just a really intense moment and I felt like I was on fire.

We also said goodbye to Marie Madeleine this week. She left the hospital and went to Cholet to live with her son. She is such a remarkable woman, she thanked us profusely for teaching her and telling us how great we are and our parents. I was really glad we were able to see her again and say goodbye to a dear friend :)

Last night we went to dinner at Becky's, she's a member from Thailand who makes SUCH GOOD food! Oh it was sooooooooooo goood! I really love Thai food.

We did a lot of pass bys and have a lot of great potential...I love leaving areas with work!

I hope you have had a great and wonderful week!

Love always,
camille

On top of the Eiffel Tower

August 9, 2010

Dear family,

This week was fun!

We were on exchanges for what felt like most of the week, we did them in Caen which is by Normandy. We exchanged on Tuesdays and I got to spend four hours on a train. I was with Soeur Barros who is in her second transfer. It was so weird to me, being way older than someone in the mission. Up until this transfer I always had companions older than me and this transfer I'm barely older than Soeur England. It was fun to hear her concerns and remember when they were mine and tell her that yes, eventually people do start speaking to you in French :)

On Wednesday Soeur Barros and I taught Nicole, a woman who was a reference from temple square. The sisters had taught her when I was in Nogent with Soeur Flood and we were teaching her the second time. They had initially taught her the plan of salvation and we were going to teach her the restoration. She talked about how she just wants to re-find God and her faith and we connected that to Joseph Smith and answered some questions she had after reading the plan of salvation pamphlet. She didn't come to church and she left for Ireland today, she comes back in a week. I'm really excited about teaching her!

On Thursday Soeur England came back and that night we had a rendez-vous with some less active sisters. They frudged us and while we were walking back to the metro we passed a man and his wife and baby. They said "Soeur Visiteurs," which is visiting teachers in French. I stopped and started talking to them and asked them if they were believing and they said yes. I told them that we talk to people about Jesus Christ and how His teachings can bless families and asked if we could see them again. They said we could same time this next week. I feel an Xavier coming on...except with a Musslim family.

On Saturday we took most of our p-day so Soeur England could see the Versailles Chateau. Sadly, the gardens were 8 euros to see and we opted out. We also rushed over to the Eiffel tower in the morning and went up to the top. The elevator ride up was full of anxiety, but it was really cool to see the top of Paris. I took a the video and had the senior couple upload it to my blog. Soeur England and I are teaching the lesson on Sunday for amis class on prophets and hope to share part of the Thomas S. Monson movie.

Love you all! have a great week!

camille

Happy Birthday Westin!

You know popcorn, you look like popcorn

August 2, 2010

Dear Family,

The elders of Paris have an ami who is a...fan of the sister missionaries. He just loves us all. At FHE, I was hobbling over to a couch when he stopped me. He looked at me with a smile and said "you know popcorn?" I replied yes, thinking that he would mention the brand popz, which is what French people think my name is. He replied, with a giant smile "you look like popcorn." I don't really know what he was trying to imply, but I know he meant it as a compliment.

On Thursday we saw Marie Madeleine in the hospital and explained to her the importance of the Book of Mormon. It is hard for her to read because she has physical therapy 1-2 times a day and is always really tired. I hope that she can start reading it, or get better so she won't be so tired.

We also saw a member who had been seen by the sisters every week for over a year and a half. The week I was hurt we didn't leave the apartment unless it was English class or expo or church, and on this past Wednesday we got a call from her asking why we don't care anymore. We went and saw her on Thursday and taught her about the missionary objective and the member objective, that she has visiting teachers and that she is a visiting teacher and it is the member's responsibility to support each other, not the missionaries. We told her we would still see her, but only 2 times a month as opposed to every week. I was told that this ward had just started visiting and home teaching in February...I almost want to volunteer to do a relief society lesson on the importance of visiting teaching after vacation when everyone is back.

On Friday it was interviews, which were refreshing as always. Good to have some one on one time with President and Soeur Staheli. after, we went on a petite exchange because there was a sister who had oral surgery the day before and her companion is kinda high strung and was like "we're not working, we're bad missionaries!" That is probably the most interesting thing I have found about the merge; I've heard/seen. a lot of the missionaries that were trained by someone who has the mentality that if you stop working for a second before 9:30, you are a bad missionary. Lunch, dinner, sick, no exceptions. President Staheli always encourages us as missionaries if we are ill, stay in and to take our hour for lunch a dinner. Anyways, we went on an exchange so this sister could work and leave her companion alone to rest and heal and I stayed with her. It was fun to stay with her, we had known each other in the MTC and never thought we'd see each other as missionaries again. I returned to Paris on Saturday night.

hope you are all well,
camille

Hospital Visit

Happy Eleven Months

July 26,2010

Dear ,Family,

HAPPY ELEVEN MONTH MARK! I look at that number and I think, "there is no way I could have been out that long!" I realize, well, this is your 5th companion, your 3rd area, and your 7th transfer. You are tired as all else and don't have to concentrate that hard to understand what people are saying to you and you can talk back without really thinking. Just insane that in a month it will have been a year since grandma dropped me off at the mtc and I put on my badge and started calling myself Soeur Pobst. Just crazy...

The most eventful event happened on Tuesday. I woke up and hobbled to the shower like normal. When I came out of the shower I looked at my ankle and it was black and HUGE! We decided it was probably best to not walk on it and to call Soeur Staheli. She suggested the hospital, so we headed off to the American hospital of Paris.

We get the x-ray and there is nothing broken. It was lots of laughs between Soeur England and I at the fact that hardly anyone spoke english at the American hospital and we felt bad for all the Americans on vacation that end up there for one reason or another and can't really talk to anyone but the actual doctor. I have been on bed rest for a week and will probably be there the rest of this week. The ankle is not looking much better, even with all the rest and ice and ibuprofen. Later this week we are going on an exchange with the sisters about a half an hour away from us because one of them is having oral surgery. I'm going to go rest with her and let our companions go out and work.

I finished the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time on the mission, a bit late, but better late than never.

Hope you are all doing well, love you and miss you!

camille