called to serve

French Luncheon

2011-03-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

going home

2011-03-27T05:41:00.000-07:00

March 14, 2011
Dear family,

I can't believe this is my last email to you. Just crazy.

Last Monday we went to the Asia Arts Museum. Very fun, very cool. We then spent the evening with an elderly sister in our ward whom I just love. She is so spunky and bought this machine that magnifies the text so that she can continue to read her scriptures. She gave me a necklace with a heart so that I could always remember Evry and my mission :) She is the greatest :)

We saw our ami that is TJ and that rendez-vous actually went really well. Soeur Edgerly and I kept to simple doctrine. Throughout the lesson her point of view changed. She said that she wasn't too prideful to change and the member that was teaching with us suggested that maybe TJ was a stepping stone to becoming a latter-day saint. In her prayer at the end, she asked Heavenly Father to help her know which path she should take and then she told us that she would definitely read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! So exciting!!!!!

We saw Yue yesterday for the last time and explained what the bible is [she asked us for one last week] and taught about fasting because some member had told her about it. She thought that we didn't eat on Sundays. We explained it to her and how we can receive answers through fasting. She said she would fast :) it was fun explaining the bible to her, because she said "so this is a book for us Mormons?" They made us tons of food and it was DELICIOUS!

I still don't quite believe that I am going home, well, leaving my post here in Evry this week. It feels like this is my life and that it always has been and always will be. I love France, I love the people and I love sharing the gospel with this. The last 18 and half months have been filled with so many ups and downs that have helped me recognize more the hand of my Heavenly Father in my life and really understand my faith and the power in my life. This has been the best experience of my life. I can't think of a day in the past 18 and half months where I have thought "this was a bad idea. I should not have come." even on the hardest, coldest of days, I know that this is where I needed to be.

Have a good week, see you soon,

soeur camille pobst

Saint Chappelle

2011-03-10T14:50:00.001-08:00

Stopping for a Gauffres

2011-03-10T14:47:00.000-08:00

Stocking up on Chocolate

2011-03-10T14:46:00.002-08:00

Hey sisters, do you want some candy?

2011-03-10T14:46:00.001-08:00

March 7, 2011
Dear family,
Last Thursday, Soeur Edgerly and I were walking through a large train station in Paris and speaking to each other in English when we heard, "hey sisters, you want some candy?" We stopped and saw a young adult man and in my mind I had the following conflict; yes, I would like some candy, but I have no idea who you are. I asked him what ward he was in and he responded with a ward and we said ok and he proceeded to give us all of that candy that he had just bought which was a thing of 6 twix's and this haribo candy called dragibus. Pretty good stuff. I am always impressed by the generosity of members that I meet here randomly, that don't even know me, but are always willing to brighten my day :)

Last Monday for p-day, we went to Sainte-Chappelle, an old church with really cool stained glass and then we ended upon the Champs-Elysees. I don't know why I always end up on the Champs-Elysees or at the Arc de Triomphe, It just happens! Very fun p-day. We also got a new washer and dryer that day with a wonderful mishap of flooding our apartment. Haha, pretty amusing and I am glad that I was in Paris for that one. We also got a new toaster out it.

Last Tuesday I went to Brussels for exchanges. I was with Soeur Woodruff from West Jordan. She is so great, and like me, had never taken french and so we were able to talk about relate about that. We went and saw a less-active, who I felt really good about. No more appointments so we went to grand place to get a gauffre. Soeur Woodruff had never been there before. That was fun. We also contacted another lady who was pretty funny and were able to get her information! That night we finished off with a rendez-vous with a new ami named Isabelle from Spain. We ended up going to a cafe and getting hot chocolate and discussing the Book of Mormon and why we have it. She seemed really awesome and ready! She just had a baby and her job is at the European union, pretty high up, and she told us that all she really wants to do is be with her baby. I just love how that rings true with everyone, the importance of the family :) The next morning we went to a grocery store and stocked up on Belgium chocolate for you all to taste and enjoy:)

I wasn't there, Soeur Edgerly told me that the rendez-vous with our TJ friend from the train went really well and that she is open to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon! That is so HUGE! I am way excited, we have a rendez-vous with her tomorrow night! soooooo good!

Zone conference was on Friday and it was really good. Very very weird that it was my last zone conference and I got a bit choked up when we sang the mission song. I gave my departing testimony and it was just weird. It is slowly hitting me that I am actually going home and this transfer isn't just like any other transfer. I just don't really know how I feel. so I am just going to keep going along doing missionary work :)

We taught Yue this week in Paris after zone conference. We were talking to other missionaries right after and a former elder in our mission showed up [we had the crêpe fête with him on the train and he lives in Versailles now] and I asked him if he wanted to teach with us. We had a very good lesson on studying the scriptures and the Sabbath Day :) She still didn't understand why God didn't help Joseph Smith and basically why bad things happen to good people. I shared Alma 60:13 and Elder Osman talked about the people of Alma in Mosiah 24 and how as long as we are faithful we are close to Christ and we will feel His love and the bad things won't affect us as much. Very good rendez-vous :) Yue came to church and during sacrament meeting she told me that she had questions about BAPTISM! I told her to keep praying and reading her scriptures and coming to church because it is in doing those things that we receive revelation and once Heavenly Father reveals something as truth it is always truth.

Well family, I love you! Here's to my last full week in Evry!

camille

Arc de Triumphe

2011-03-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

Arc de Triumphe

2011-03-06T06:34:00.001-08:00

Arc de Triumphe

2011-03-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

Another week bites the dust

2011-03-06T06:29:00.000-08:00

February 28, 2011
Dear family,

this last week was going to be filled with TONS of different meetings and what not. It was a pretty eventful week.

Monday, we went to the Arc de Triomphe. Best view of Paris in my opinion. Then we went to a young adult meeting with Yue. Elder Hallstrom of the presidency of the 70Q and Elder Teixira who is also 70Q and in the area presidency for Western Europe. I forgot young adult meetings were all about getting married. Sister Hallstrom had a very interesting talk on the tree of life and how Christ's way is always clear and straight and simple, Satan works by confusion and grandeur. Very good and it gave me a lot to think about.

We left the meeting early in order to make it home on time. Occasionally during train rides certain people like to come up and start teaching us about the "real" gospel of Christ. That is what happened on this particularly evening. A gentleman who thought that he was well-educated in the bible decided to come and teach Soeur Edgerly about the trinity. In these circumstances I have learned that it is best to just not really say anything, the other party is not interested in listening. While he is instructing us, a woman came up and asked to join our conversation and we said sure and she sat down and said "if God and Jesus Christ is the same person, are you saying that the world was without a Lord for 3 days when Jesus Christ was dead?" The man said that Jesus Christ was not really dead and just kept digging doctrinal holes. Occasionally I would jump in with a "we believe this" and the woman would agree with us. Eventually the man got off the train and we were able to talk to the woman, Monica. She told us that she is TJ, however, she wasn't offended by the articles of faith card that we gave her with the picture of Christ and had no idea who we were. I talked to her yesterday and we fixed a rendez-vous for tomorrow :)

We had a missionary meeting with Elder Hallstrom and he talked about being instructed and edified and how everything we do as missionaries should instruct and edify. It was a very good meeting.

We had leadership training and oh boy did that make me feel prepared to serve another mission! I learned so many things that I could do to be a better missionary and to help my amis! At first I was a bit bummed because I thought "oh man, I only have 2 more weeks!" but then it hit me, "nope, you have longer than that as you have your whole life to be a missionary and to help the missionaries!" It made me more excited to come home and teach with the missionaries! I gave a talk on helping our amis pray to receive revelation and I feel that I learned a lot more on that topic and more fully understand it!

On Saturday, we had a rendez-vous with Yue in the visitor's center and were able to watch Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration with her. I think a lot of time when we teach amis we tell them about all the sacrifice that it took in the beginning, but they don't really understand. I think certain parts of that movie really touched her. At the end we asked if there were any questions, there was another set of missionaries there with an ami, and Yue asked why Heavenly Father didn't help Joseph Smith like he had helped all those other people in the movie. It was a very interesting conversation with her where we talked about the Lord's will and how that is what we are here to do. She did say that she has a greater appreciation and understanding in Joseph Smith's role in the restoration.

On the train to come home and there was a group of boys, probably 17-19 sitting in the seats behind us. There were some magazines for another faith on the seats and one of them said he would read it if it wasn't in another language. I turned around and asked them if they liked reading religious material and they were kind of startled.. I told them we were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and they asked what that was. I told them a restoration of the church that Christ had established when He was on the earth. There was one of them that understood what that meant. They asked if I was from England and I said, America and one of them turned to the one I was talking to and said "you speak English, speak English with her" to which he responded "no, she speaks good French, we'll speak French." sadly we didn't get his contact info, but we gave him our's. I wish that he wasn't with his friends. Another day :)

I am looking forward to this week, lots of rendez-vous, plus I get to go to Brussels for exchanges :)

have a good week, I love you all!

camille

Fountainebleu

2011-02-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

Visting Fountainebleu

2011-02-27T08:14:00.001-08:00

The Boots are Off

2011-02-27T08:02:00.001-08:00

February 14. 2011
Dear family,

This week, the boots have come off and I am adjusting to wearing shoes. It is a painful adjustment as I have all my boot calices getting rubbed funny and breaking in the shoes. However, I do like how liberating it feels to not be super layered :)

This week was INSANE with amazing things happening! More so, the weekend, but I will extend it into the week!

On Tuesday, we went porting,(tracting) We were on the bus when I felt like we should get off at a the next stop. The first door we knocked was this elderly man from Laos! We were speaking in French and then he asked if I was from Sweden, when I said no, that I was from America and he FLIPPED out! He was so excited! We talked with him for about 15 minutes and didn't quite make it to talking about the gospel. We left and said that we would definitely be passing back by. At the visitor's center, we picked up one in Laotian with the intention of going back at some point. Saturday and another appointment was moved to Sunday, so we decided to head out to our Laotian friend! We went to his house and he was there and welcomed us in. We visited and he talked about his love for hot dogs and corn on the cob and then we were able to introduce him to the Book of Mormon. He told us that he was waiting for his passport so that he could go back to Laos with his wife who is ill, but that he would read the book. We have a rendez-vous set up for Wednesday and the miracle of it is that had we passed on Sunday, we would not have seen him as he went to Disneyland. I have a very good feeling about this man and hope that we can see him before he heads out to Laos.

Miracles struck again on Sunday morning as we were packing up to head to church. we were already feeling good as Yue was coming to church. I received a text that said "hello Sister Pobst and Sister Turney, I would like to come to church today. She needed directions. The text it was from Natalie, whom we had met on the bus! Sadly, her father passed away this last Wednesday and she said that she opened the Book of Mormon and wanted to come to church with us. I told her how to get to church. She was having a pretty rough time, completely understandable. We have a rendez-vous with her this Thursday at the visitor's center that is going to be awesome.

We met with Yue and taught the law of chastity She told us "I have been living that my whole life, not really knowing why. Now I am going to keep living it since I know it is a commandment from Heavenly Father." She also hadn't realized that she went a whole week and a half not drinking coffee and realized that she doesn't really need it in her life. I just want her to get baptized soooooo bad! We have talked about it, she is already changing so much. We went over the questions and she said that she has a testimony of all of those things and is willing to live all of the commandments...so we will just see.

Here is to another great week of miracles here in Evry! I hope everyone is doing well and having a love filled day! Because Soeur Pobst love you!

camille

Chinese New Years celebration

2011-02-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

Effiel Tower with Soeur Turney

2011-02-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

P-Day at the Effiel Tower

2011-02-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

remember france

2011-02-13T07:21:00.001-08:00

Dear family,

As we all know, I am in my last month of being a missionary. Last transfer, a dear friend of mine who went home was in her interview with president and asked what she should be doing with her last transfer. His answer was, "you do what you need so to remember France." I really liked that. We were making transfer goals, one of mine was "remember France." That doesn't mean that I am going to go around and be touristy and stop doing missionary work; quite on the contrary. I will be going to different places in my area that I have never been to and p-days are going to be packed full of different activities. I just love this country so much more that I think I would if I had just come to visit. It is that I have lived here and gotten to know that people and talked with them and worked with them and shared this glorious gospel with them. I truly, love france. I am so excited that I have 6 more weeks here to do this work and do what I need to to remember France.

Last Monday we went to a missionary gathering at the Eiffel tower and drank champomey [like martinelli's, except a million times better]. It was fun spending the afternoon with all these missionaries that I have come to serve with and appreciate. Soeur Turney and I also took some sweet Eiffel tower photos:) I also found a schnazzy black coat on soldes, now I just need a sassy French dress :)

Soeur Turney packed and our goodbye was tough, but we both know that this is how it is supposed to go. My new companion, Soeur Edgerly is from Maryland and actually replaced me in Valenciennces. Fun to reminisce. She was also trained by Soeur Kohler, so she pretty much knows everything there is to know about missionary work. We went to the visitor's center and English class and have since been doing transfer planning and getting things set up for our transfer.

Saturday we went to this party for the Chinese new year in Paris with Yue and Sufang. both were super excited to go and to see other Chinese people. It was great. Of course the food was awesome. I was told that sisters can go on as many missions as they want. If China opens within the next 3 years, I might be tempted to re-submit papers so that I could go there. It was a great night and I was so glad that Yue and Sufang had a good time hanging out with the Chinese members :)

I hope you all have a great week! Next week's email will be long because we have TONS going on this week!

love you all!

camille

Planner Cover

2011-02-13T07:13:00.001-08:00

Eating Gauffre's in Liege

2011-02-13T07:09:00.000-08:00

Soeur Turney making crepes

2011-02-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

nothing compares to a liège gauffre...

2011-02-13T07:00:00.000-08:00

Janurary 31, 2011

Dear family,

This week was quite the week for us...we were very busy!

We went and saw Ngwang and Ani, however Ngwang wasn't there and another friend of their's was. He understands English perfectly and didn't superly appreciate that we were there teaching them about Christianity. It is very hard with the language barrier and we aren't sure if they actually want to learn from us.

We went on exchanges to Liège. It was on that exchange that I truly became grateful that I will not serve in Belgium as I am pretty sure I would gain about 20 kilos...the gauffres and chocolate is to DIE for! I stocked up on some Belge chocolate to share with you all. We were exchanging with Soeur England and soeur Williams and it was fun. Soeur Williams and I went to see a member of the ward who is blind and we read her a conference talk and I hemmed her dress. She told me that I have a beautiful voice:) It was fun to see Soeur England again and we just talked about our missions and our parents’ trips to come and get us. It was a very good exchange :)

Our rendezvous with Nicole did not turn out how I thought it would. We took a member named Marianne with us who is amazing. We talked with Nicole about how she felt since she has stopped seeing the missionaries. She said that she feels a comfortable void in her life, is missing the mental sharpness that she felt when she met with the missionaries. We talked about the Spirit and how the Spirit speaks to each of us and it was going really good. Marianne asked her three really good questions.
what she would do if she received an answer that the church was true? If she was ready to change her life? If she would be willing to come to church in Evry every Sunday and hold a calling? We told her that she wouldn't receive an answer unless she was willing to do those things and the rendezvous just kinda ended on that note. When we left the rendezvous we met this lady on the bus named Natalie who was super excited to meet us and we gave her a book of Mormon. She said that she would come to church...but she didn't. hopefully this next week!

Saturday...oh Saturday...the day of the transfer email, when we found out that I would not spend my last transfer with Soeur Turney :( She is going to Liège to be with Soeur England and Soeur Williams and then next transfer, when soeur England goes home it will just be the 2 of them! I know that she will do great. My new companion is Soeur Edgerly, who was trained in Valenciennes by Soeur Kohler! she is pretty excited to come down and be in a Paris area. I am excited to serve with her, but sad that Soeur Turney is going all the way up to Belgium! She did make me an amazing planner cover for my last transfer [every transfer I decorate my planners so that they stay in shape and aren't boring.]
We taught Yue. We decided to teach the word of wisdom and I got nervous. She would drink coffee to help her stay awake to study. We went over and taught it, no problems. she understood it and agreed with it. She asked our feelings on energy drinks. I didn't know what to say and so I pondered for a moment and said that I felt comfortable in saying that they were against the word of wisdom. I am going to ask president about that one...she said the closing prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help her live the word of wisdom and that when she feels like she wants to drink coffee, to take the temptation away :) This upcoming weekend is going to be a Yue weekend. We are teaching her before a ward activity on Friday and then on Saturday going to Paris for the Paris ward Chinese new year party! SOOOOOO excited for that!

Today we are headed to the Eiffel tower for a champomy Eiffel tower party with a sister who is going home on Wednesday. I will miss her and Soeur Gifford [also headed home on Wednesday] SOOOOOOOO much!

peace and love!

camille

on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. l'esstentiel est invisible pour les yeux

2011-01-30T15:57:00.001-08:00

January 24, 2011
Dear family,

This week had some pretty good highlights, so that is what I will partager [share].

Visitor center
This week we were lucky enough to have two times at the visitor center.. So we went on Tuesday night and we were in there when this guy and girl came in, 20's, and the guy said, "Are you the Mormons?" In France, Mormon means that we are polygamist and Amish, so I always say "well what does that word mean to you?" I realized that he was wearing a crew neck shirt under a polo [French people don't do that] and so in English I said "you're a member!" He said yes, that the girl he was with was not and that they were headed to institute. So they went to institute and about 10 minutes later the girl came back down and asked if she could talk to me during institute.
Her name in Marine and she is from Nancy, France. Her brother joined the church about a year ago and she has been thinking about meeting with the missionaries because of the change she has seen in him. I encouraged her to do so and she asked if she was allowed since they were elders. I said of course she was allowed. We keep talking and she told me that she felt this sort of guilt about looking into another religion when her's has done nothing to make her want to look for another religion. I shared some thoughts that I remembered from President Uchtdorf's conference talk "Faith of our Fathers" about how ultimately we are in a faith because it is right and brings us happiness and not because it is a tradition. We talked some more and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome. We exchanged addresses and will be keeping in touch. She left the visitor center and told me that she was going to start seeing the elders :)

Wednesday, We were there for four hours, the first two hours we are on the streets contacting. I found some common ground with a visitor about the Twilight books [you would not believe how many people associate Arizona with Twilight]. We went back into the main part and this homeless man looking like Dumbledore walks in, wearing a women’s full length fur coat and one of those Russian hats, and walks up to the Christ statue and starts talking to it. Then he comes to us and says that the voice told him "first right, second left" and that led him to the visitor center. He walked around saying "magnifique" and then he left. Interesting day in the visitor center.

We saw Yue this week. Lately she hasn't been coming to church and so we talked about the importance of praying and reading daily and coming to church every week. It went well and she agreed that she needed to start coming to church again. When talking about reading, I said "even if you read just a column a day that is good." she looked at me like I was ridiculous and said "you really think I could stop after a column? Have you ever stopped after a column?" I just kind of chuckled to myself and thought about how sometimes as missionaries we try to make the important things for people so easy, when really there are so many blessings that wait for them if they do it.

When I was in Paris-Lilas, we taught a woman named Nicole. Anyway, we passed her to the sisters of Evry because technically she lives in here. I thought I would never see her again. When I got to Evry I asked Soeur McClaine if we were teaching her, they had not seen her for a while. About a week ago Nicole called to say hi to Soeur McClaine. I told her that Soeur McClaine had been transferred. I didn't think that she remembered who I was since we met so long ago. However, she very well remembered who I was and said that she wanted to start meeting with the sister missionaries. She was trying to read the Book of Mormon on her own and it wasn't speaking to her. I told her that I would love to meet with her and we fixed a rendezvous’ for Thursday. Everyone, pray for me and pray for this rendezvous’.

The quote in the subject is from "Le Petit Prince." I have been reading that lately [don't worry it is approved] for French study and it is very good.] The quote above says "The essential is invisible to the eyes. We only see well with the heart." think about it and read "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry :)

transfer email this Saturday. CRAZY!!!!!!!!! It’s my last one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love you!
camille

I always wanted to teach a Nun.

2011-01-30T15:27:00.000-08:00

January 17, 2011
Dear family,

This week, was eventful and not all at the same time....the end of last week, my back started hurting, so we weren't going at our typical speed....

Monday was spent in Paris. We met up with missionaries and went to Angelina’s, this amazing restaurant for hot chocolate and patisseries. I got what was called a "Japanese cheesecake" and white hot chocolate. Both were amazing. We then hung out at the bottom of the arc de triomphe and sadly, I did not take pictures.

Tuesday we saw Ngwang and Annie and they made us traditional Tibetan food. They made us pot stickers! I was so excited to see the mound of pot stickers coming my way...and then when another mound came my way. I believe I ate about 25 pot stickers, a ridiculous number of chocolates, fruit, some sort of soup, and like 7 glasses of tea [don't worry, it was an infusion]. It was when we learned that Ngwang and Annie were friends that met in a monastery, that we discovered that they are Tibetan Buddhist nuns! I could not believe it! We are teaching nuns! We talked about the Godhead and helped them understand what we meant when we said, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I feel it went well. We went home and rested from eating pains and then went to see some recent converts.

Wednesday we were getting ready to head into Paris for visitor center when we received a call from Melun, the ville that Soeur McClaine is in, saying that she woke up and could not move and wanted to know if we could do an exchange with them, as they had rendezvous’ that night. We decided yes, we only had English class that the elders could cover and rendezvous are more important. We went to visitor center and nothing exciting happened. The contacted was difficult, I was still feeling sick and so I was super stoked to be able to rest that night and Soeur Turney was able to go out with the other 2 sisters [Melun is a 3-some]. Plus it was nice to catch up with Soeur McClaine :) we ended up getting stranded in melun and having a sleepover :) very fun, but at the same time, we had district meeting the next day in a ville that was not in Evry, so we felt kind of gross...

Thursday we went to Torcy, complete other side of Paris, for district meeting. We were able to watch the district 2, these DVD’s that the church made of missionaries. It’s weird that I find this as a form of entertainment; they are doing the same thing as me, except in southern California. Still was not feeling tip top, so we rested in the evening.

Friday we were supposed to see Nathaly for one last time, but she had to move the rendezvous’ to Saturday, so we went out to do a pass by, but I was feeling completely miserable and Soeur Turney told me I looked about that way. We rested through the afternoon and did planning until Yué’s that night. I really want to take a Chinese member from Paris, but I haven't been able to get a hold of one yet :( we talked about the gift of the Holy Ghost and how it is a great blessing. She never really has many questions and didn't have any over the reading. She said she can't come to church this week or next week, so that was kind of a bummer:/

Saturday Soeur McClaine was still down and out. She had talked to the mission doctor in Germany and he told her that he thinks she has gangy fever. How she got it, no one knows, so we went back to Melun so that they could go out. This time, we did not get stuck :) I spent the afternoon visiting with Soeur McClaine and reading le petit prince, very good book and mission approved :) Sadly, Nathaly had to cancel our rendezvous’ tonight as well so we never got to see her before she left :( she said that she will come down and visit, so hopefully I'll see her soon.

Sunday church was very hard, all that sitting. I was supposed to give a talk, but when I approached the microphone the bishop asked if I would mind only giving my testimony to leave time for the high counselor. I told him that was fine by me. I had read "Faith-the Choice is Your's" and I really enjoyed it. We all know my new found understanding and love of faith. Elder Neil l. Andersen has said:
"Faith is not only a feeling; it is a decision."

Let us all decide to be a little more faithful :)

until next week,
Camille

Church of the Madeleine

2011-01-27T03:32:00.001-08:00

Birthday Cake

2011-01-27T03:31:00.000-08:00

Birthday Sign

2011-01-27T03:29:00.000-08:00

no one should be sick on their birthday....

2011-01-27T03:27:00.000-08:00

January 10, 2011
Dear Family,

I'm 23! Kinda weird.

So the big day...early this last week I got a really bad head cold and could hardly stand to walk, I felt soooo sick. I was still sick on my birthday, sad day. I woke up around 10 and turney made me pancakes and then around 1 or so, I went back to bed until 4. While I was awake the first time, we noticed a slight drip coming from our water heater, so we called the office and they scheduled a repairman to come out the next night. We went to Yue's and talked to her about repentance, we are teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. She really liked the idea of repentance and the change that it brings into our lives and how Jesus Christ can help us. She gave me a hankie with panda bears on it :)
We went home to a flooded kitchen :/ I called the elder in charge of apartments and he didn't answer his phone so I left a message that our kitchen was flooded. Then the birthday calls started coming in and in the midst of it I am trying to figure out what to do with this leak that is now a steady stream of water...I get a hold of the old greffier and he is giving me tips while the new one is calling me, about 945 at night. The new greffier says that he is coming out and so we had to stay up and wait for him....he gets to our apartment about an hour later and looks around a bit to find that a small hose or pipe or whatever had come loose and so we were able to stop the leak. That was my exciting birthday :) Today we are getting fancy hot chocolate and patisseries in Paris with some other missionaries.

On Wednesday we went to teach our ami Ngwang and her friends Annie. We talked about the life of Jesus Christ and different things that He did and we watched "Finding Faith in Christ." it is kind of hard with the language barrier, but they really want to learn about the "Jesus tradition." they keep relating it to Buddha and I was able to talk with the Chinese elders about how to help them differentiate between Jesus and Buddha. This week are going over for a traditional Tibetan lunch :)

We saw Nathaly this week and she told us that this Friday she is moving to LILLE! Of all places! I am bummed that she is moving so far away, but I feel like it will be really good for her. The ward there is smaller and all during the lesson I was thinking of different members that would be so good to teach her with. We talked about the plan of salvation with a member and it was so good! Nathaly really opened up and asked him a lot of good questions and it was really good!

Fatilha was last night, we saw her with a member named Marianne who is from New Zealand and it was such a good lesson! Marianne really worked with us in the lesson and help explain things to Fatilha. I think we are going to take Marianne with us every week and she is really excited to work with us :) She served a mission a long time ago and told me at church yesterday that she wants to get more available so that she can work with us.

We didn't go to the visitor center last week because there was no electricity :/ It is back up and running and this week we have a rendezvous’ with someone named Pedro that the elders of St.Ouen found. One of the elders served up in Lille and told me that Pedro reminds him of Xavier. So naturally I am VERY excited for that :)

The health has returned and this is going to be a good week and TONS of work!

Last p-day we went to the Church of the Madeleine and it was beautiful. We then wandered around and ended up on the Champs-Elysées! It was cool to see the Arc de Triomphe and all the Christmas lights! The picture is me at the church of the Madeleine.

I love you!

camille

miracle of 2011!!!!!!

2011-01-14T09:12:00.001-08:00

Jan 3, 2011
Dear family,

I don't think I ever told you about the Miracle of 2010....which is sad because it was kind of a big deal. At the beginning of the year, President Staheli felt like 2010 was the year of miracles and that we needed to raise our standards of excellence. One of which, was 300 baptisms in the year, which was unheard of in this mission. I didn't really understand the impact of it because I was still pretty new and I had no idea about anything, but I remember him talking about it and feeling like it was really important. President talked about how he knew we could do this and he knew that the numbers were big, but he knew it was possible. Right after, we merged with the Brussels missionaries and miracle of 2010 became a HUGE deal. As the year was coming to an end, President Staheli kept stressing that the real miracle of 2010 wasn't necessarily the 300 baptisms, but that as missionaries our faith was increased. That is what I saw as a missionary. Yeah, I saw a lot of great things, like Kai and Xavier and Alexandre and Francoise and Sylvain, but I also had a lot of hard times. However, through it all I learned a lot about faith and what it really means and what a miracle really is. I am so grateful for the year 2010, that for everyday of it I was here in France as a missionary. I'm grateful for all the people that I have met and all the experiences. I am looking forward to the miracle of 2011, which has already started :)

Last p-day we spent it walking around Paris and just looking at buildings. It was fun to just wander and not have to worry about being somewhere or making sure we are doing something, just enjoying the scenery of Paris. It is crazy that I can feel so at home in one of the biggest cities in the world. We got crêpes and went to FHE with Nathaly. Sadly it didn't work out like we had hoped. We talked with her again yesterday with the mother of the British family that had us over for Christmas and she challenged Nathaly to get baptized soon and to not hesitate that Satan is going to try to work on her and turn her again the church. I just don't know what to do anymore and as always it requires a lot of prayer and meditation.

At the beginning of the week Yue said that she was no longer able to see us because she was too busy. This was a pretty big blow, as she was our most progressing ami and I just love her to death. I knew that she was making the decision out of stress and the whole week had been thinking about making cookies and drop them off. However, we had bowtzah, those Chinese dumpling balls for interview lunch. Previously Yue had told me that she loves bowtzah, but didn't know where she could get it. There was tons left over so we dropped it off with Sufang. The next day we received a call from Yue saying that she was really touched by us thinking about her and assuring us that she still wants to meet with us.. She then invited us over for a lesson on Sunday and we talked about the Atonement and the significance of Christ's sacrifice for us in our lives. I feel it went really well and am excited that I get to go over to Yue's for my birthday :)

We also had our first shift at the visitor center this week. Our shift is for 4 hours, 2 hours contacting, and 2 hours giving tours. The contacting was pretty stressful, A new experience for Soeur Turney. A crash course in contacting. This week will be much better as we will practice contacting. I did see this mother with 2 boys, probably 7 and 9, and I talked about how much having the gospel in our family has blessed us and invited her to pass by the visitor center. I hope she does :) We gave one tour and it was to 3 friends of a former elder in the mission! It was pretty crazy to see him again, I still called him elder...it happens.

We got a new ami this week! soeur McClaine and I had contacted this woman from Tibet. Soeur Turney and I were able to teach her. She is very Buddhist and has a hard time understanding the difference between Jesus and Buddha as their teachings are similiar... she wants to meet with us. We gave her the Book of Mormon, she felt bad putting it in her sac with her work clothes because "the Jesus book is more important." Her name is Ngwang and I am excited about teaching her!

This week I want to sharea quote I really like from Elder WWirthlin from "The Great Commandment"
"Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will.
We see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. Although we might settle for less, Heavenly Father won’t, for He sees us as the glorious beings we are capable of becoming.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation. It takes us as men and women of the earth and refines us into men and women for the eternities."
Think of how great this is, how much it impacts our lives. I am grateful for this refinement and I know that my Heavenly Father loves me. Have a great week and
à la prochaine :) je vous aime
camille

Christmas Cake

2011-01-07T18:40:00.000-08:00

Hot Chocolate Break in Paris

2011-01-07T18:38:00.000-08:00

New Companion

2011-01-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

My first snowy white and UK Christmas

2011-01-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

December 27, 2010
Dear everyone!

This last week has been a crazy one! Lots to tell you that I don't think was covered in the phone call...

Last p-day was boring on account of all the snow. There were no buses and it took us the whole day to walk like pioneers to the email place and the grocery store. So that is what we did.

On Tuesday we went and saw a member, Natalie. She is incredible and is going through a terrible divorce. Her husband is trying to take the kids to get back at her and is telling the courts that she is part of a cult and that she doesn't feed the kids....just terrible things. It is so hard to watch people go through trials like this when they are so good and amazing, but I know that she will come out a better stronger person. We ate raclette and it was delicious :)

Wednesday was the big day. I woke up and got ready and went to the mission home to pick up my new companion. I thought back to when I was picked up and it was crazy to think that I am in Soeur Roberts position. We had to wait about an hour and a half for our talk with president. He talked about how in his whole mission, he only remembers one zone leader, but everyone remembers their trainers and about how our good and bad habits will influence them. He told us all a tiny bit about our new companions because he hadn't had the time to interview them yet. My companion is Soeur Turney from Sandy, UT and is an animation major at BYU. There are 5 kids in her family and she is the first missionary. She is pretty quiet at first. we came back to Evry to discover that Soeur Mcclaine hadn't been picked up yet, so we all had lunch together before heading to a rendez-vous with Yue.
With Yue we talked about faith and it was really good. She is just awesome. When we left Yue's we received a call from the Paris sisters that the elders who transport our bags had left Soeur Turney's backpack in Paris, we went into Paris to get her backpack and came back home to find that Soeur McClaine STILL had not been picked up! The elders were running super behind that day and so she didn't get picked up until 9:30! Normally we get picked up early in the morning, but it was a bit different this transfer.

Thursday was good, we ran a lot of errands, getting Soeur Turney settled and had a rendez-vous with Nathaly. We talked about diligently searching and answered her questions from the Book of Mormon readings which was just clarifying who she was reading about.. We also made our giant reese's peanut butter cup for the elder who wouldn't be receiving a Christmas package this year.

Christmas eve we were in Paris for our meeting about the new Paris visitor's center. Good news for the mission and I am very excited about it and it looks great. Very professionally done and I can't wait to take members and amis there! After we got hot chocolate with a couple sisters and some elders before heading home so that Soeur Turney could have her jet-lag nap :) we spent Christmas eve with a French family named the Plugg's, they all speak perfect english so it was great for Soeur Turney and the other elder in our district who is getting trained. It was great for me! We ate smoked salmon and scallops, green beans, potatoes and some giant bird, cheese and salad course, and the Christmas log and some prune cake. It was all wonderful.

Christmas day we spent it with the Camille family from England. As I told you all, I schooled everyone on "just dance 2" and set 4 high scores. It was so fun! The meal was incredible, turkey, pork, parsnips, brussel sprouts, Yorkshire puddings, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, and of course, amazing wonderful Christmas cakes :) They got us home right in time for the phone call :)

Church was good. The bishop's wife invited 2 of her friends to church and asked us to sit by them during sacrament. Soeur Turney was a bit embarrassed that she fell asleep in church, but I told her it happens to all of us in the beginning. After sacrament meeting I tried to exchange numbers and fix a rendez-vous with them, but they started talking to the bishop's wife about the choir....so I just gave them our number before they left and they said they would come back. We did our weekly planning yesterday and talked about all the different things like the area book and progress records and all sorts of things. We fixed a lot of rendez-vous, we have a rendez-vous with that woman from Tibet this Wednesday! So excited! I'll try to fix some more tonight during the FHE in Paris, we're going with Nathaly.

Well, that is my week. It has been long and tiring and full of randomness, but that will all change soon!

I hope you all have fun recovering from the holidays and I love you!

camille

Our new scarves

2011-01-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

it's beginning to look like a lot Christmas

2011-01-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

December 20, 2010

Dear family,

It is freezing and it has been snowing for 2 days straight. I have never seen this much snow in France. There are no buses and so we had a nice long trek in the snow to get to emails today.

This week was the week that Soeur McClaine had to say goodbye to a bunch of people. We went and saw our African mama that we teach and she gave us scarves. We love her!

Lately our amis, Nathaly and Fatilha, have started to stagnate a bit. We felt we should share testimony and good experiences with the Book of Mormon. We taught Nathaly from the introduction together and before we even said anything she said "Whoa, I need to read this book." We bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and she committed to read it.

Our rendez-vous with Fatilha, went much differently. We have yellow cards that have the questions of the soul from chapter five of preach my gospel on them. We decided that we would read a chapter with Fatilha and let her pick one of the questions. The chapter that she picked was Alma 39.....The question was, how do I prevent bad things from my family? She was a bit side tracked on the real intent of Corianton. I hope the next rendez-vous we can get a member there. It's hard when we are trying so hard and it just doesn't feel like it's going anywhere. I have faith that this will turn around as soon as she starts acting. The Book of Mormon promise is there for everyone and it works for everyone :)

We had lunch with Yue, Sufang, and Nathaly on Saturday at Yue's house and it was a little hard trying to focus on all three and meeting each individual need. We did however start a Book of Mormon reading club that we would all read a chapter a day and then on Sundays after church we will discuss what we read! I am pretty excited for it because now we are all accountable to each other for what we do.So far everyone has kept up on their reading commitments :) I'm sad, Yue is just as busy during vacation as she is during school. On Wednesday we are going by her place to drop off a reading bookmark I made and hope that she will let us teach her a mini lesson! I just love that girl!

We've been contacting a good amount of people. Probably my favorite was this little Asian-looking old lady whose name I can't spell. I saw her look at us and smile, so I told Soeur McClaine to go contact her. Soeur McClaine finally did and got her number :) we figured she was Chinese and decided that if we couldn't understand her and she couldn't understand us, we would pass her to the elders. However, she is from Tibet and doesn't speak Chinese...so hopefully we can communicate! I think it will be good :)

Also, very exciting news! By the Paris church there used to be this exposition, but it has been closed for 6 months and they have re-done it to be a visitor center! The church is very excited to see how this goes with the installation of small visitor centers in different places. We get to go into Paris once a week to work there. A lot of people are really excited about the Joseph Smith prophet of the restoration movie in French! I am one of those people!

Well fam, can't wait to talk on Christmas and tell you all about my new companion and our Christmas adventures!

I love you!

Camille

Francoise's Baptism

2011-01-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

Resses Peanut Butter Cups

2011-01-07T11:53:00.000-08:00

Souer Pobst and Kohler

2011-01-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

Mission President

2011-01-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas Conference

2011-01-07T11:46:00.000-08:00

Big Changes

2011-01-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

December 13, 2010

Dear everyone!
Lots of big stuff happened this week, seriously LOTS!

Wednesday was the big Christmas mission conference and it was so fun to see everyone and take pictures. I got to see all the elders from my mtc district and that was definitely fun. President announced that this next group of missionaries coming in would be one of the biggest with five sisters coming in. I made a rookie mistake in the special musical number and was watching my hands and not the music and got lost in one of my solos. Very very embarrassing. We had made some homemade reese's peanut butter cups to give to people as a Christmas treat and so now Soeur Pobst is known for her no-bake cookies and her reese's peanut butter cups. Both recipes were passed to me from other missionaries.

For the assistants training they talked about the Book of Mormon. They have been really focusing on that the last 3 transfers and they announced that our Christmas contacting challenge would be to give a box of book of Mormons away before the end of the year. It was not fun walking to the gare with the box. During the zone conference it started to snow a lot and so it took us forever to get home that night. All in all, Christmas mission conference was the best!

On Thursday, almost all of our rendezvous' cancelled because of the snow the night before and none of the buses were working! None of the children had school or anything! It is insane what a little bit of snow can do! We were able to see our ami Fatilha with a member. Fatilha is non-practicing Muslimut who has faith in Christ and is searching for the truth. She has the cutest family, a son who is eight and a baby girl that is one and her husband. They haven't been able to come to church yet because they go to Paris on the weekends to help her parents get ready for the week. We taught them with Soeur Kehl and she was awesome! She talked about her own search for the truth and how it went when she was taught. She even offered to come and pick them up for church on Sunday! Fatilha just looks so hungry for the gospel and I wish she could just come to church!

We weren't able to see Nathaly. Even though we had talked the night before, she forgot the rendezvous:/ kind of unfortunate because a member had come with us. However, on Sunday she went to the young adult Sunday and had a good time. Yue was going to go as well, she studied all day on Friday and Saturday so that she could go to church, the stake choir concert and Christmas broadcast. She didn't end up coming to church due to ride complications, but she went with us on the train to the Christmas choir concert and taught us Chinese on the trains. All I remember is how to sing happy birthday. They both really enjoyed the concert, but left before the broadcast :/ Yue enjoyed talking to the Chinese elders and one of their recent converts and they switched numbers :) I am excited for this upcoming week where not everything is going to get cancelled!

The big moment of the week was Friday. At Christmas mission conference, President Staheli announced that the transfer email would be coming out a weekend early, this weekend that just passed. I nearly had a heart attack. If you are training they usually call you the Friday before. I had the phone in my pocket the whole day. Around 3 we got a phone call from the assistants, he said "well sister Pobst, we, no the Lord would like for you to train next transfer in Evry." I said ok and then he told me to be at the mission home at 11 on December 22 to pick up my bleu! I am sooooooo excited to train! I remember last year having such a great time with soeur Roberts. At first I was not at all excited about being away from home Christmas last year, missing Emily and Westin. I specifically remember standing over the stove making burritos on 23 December and missing everyone as I knew the festivities at home were starting for Matt's birthday and Soeur Roberts walking up and going "what does your family do for Christmas eve?!" I told her I didn't want to talk about it and that I was not happy in that moment. However, the 2 days that followed are probably one of my most memorable and favorite Christmas. I am really grateful and excited for this opportunity :) I am also grateful and excited to talk to all of you very soon! 12 days!

I love you all lots and can't wait to hear how it all goes this week with Allison traveling and Elder Bair's homecoming! Very Very exciting!

love,
camille

Souer Pobst and McClaine

2010-12-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Yue and Sufang

2010-12-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

"I just want to go to the sun place"

2010-12-13T09:26:00.000-08:00

"I just want to go to the sun place"
December 6, 2010
Dear Family!
This week was a good one.

Last Monday I met up with Soeur Hulet to practice our special musical number for Christmas zone conference. It sounds so good. We are meeting up again tonight, mission conference is on Wednesday. Everyone is going to be there! I am so excited, there are elders from my mtc group that I have not even seen since we got to France. We are going to film us practicing it and have the senior couple in Paris post it on my blog tonight, so stay tuned!

We have a weekly English class and normally it is a brother and sister from Sri Lanka who have intermediate language skills, it is basically a conversation class. However, last week a family from Pakistan showed up with children, a 13, 10, and 7 year old. The older one can speak English, he is a very shy though and the little ones know a little bit. After resorting to learning random phrases last week and feeling like failures, this week Soeur McClaine and I prepared and bomb-diggity color lesson this week, complete with flash cards. We taught them the colors in English and then played a game where we had objects of each color and they had to identify them by their color. We hid them and they had to find them, then we asked them questions like "what is your hair color" and they had to write it. We finished off the night by playing the pool game "colors" in the gym. the boys LOVED it! The littlest boy is named "Veli" but he had told me his name was Tom and now it is just a joke between us when we call him Tom. They told us that they loved English class, it's their favorite. We gave them the flashcards to practice and this week they want to learn numbers, so we have been brainstorming games with numbers.

We taught Nathaly this week about obedience. There was a television program on last Sunday, a France special on the Mormon church that a lot of people watched, but not Nathaly or the missionaries. She asked us what kinds of t.v. shows we are allowed to watch and so we gave her a for the strength of the youth. She started listening different music artists and asked if she could listen to them specifically and I turned it back on her and said "well, how do you feel when you listen to it? Can you still feel the Spirit?" She kinda thought about it and didn't really say anything, I think she was looking for a yes or no or an approved artist list. We talked about obedience and why we are obedient and we felt that it went well. One of the things she saw when going through the booklet was only one pair of earrings. She has 2 holes, but always only wears one pair. She asked us about it and we said that it was a recommendation from the prophet and that we should only wear one pair. We told her it was always her choice, but that we should try to always do what the prophet asks. Disappointing when she came to church on Sunday wearing 2 pairs of earrings. I looked around their relief society and noticed that there were a couple of women that were wearing 2 pairs of earrings. It is so hard as a missionary when we try and teach out amis something and they come to church and see members doing something against what we teach :/ Just the life I guess, I don't think we ever realize just how much people look towards us.

On Thursday we had our exchanges with the sisters serving in Brussels. both of them came down here to Evry and we had a lovely time...except for when I tripped down stairs and landed on my bad ankle. We got back to evry and I was with Soeur De Santis who is from Italy and speaks a bit of English, but is very shy about what she does speak. We passed by an old ami that we are trying to get to be someone we teach who is from India. She had told us that she couldn't see us this week that she was very busy preparing for her dog's 7th birthday party. We saw this as a wonderful opportunity to pass by with some fresh brownies and a card for Tina on her special day and so we did:) Celestine was very very touched and we taught a lesson about Christ being the reason for Christmas. She made us this delicious rose petal milk.....SOOO good! Soeur DeSantis and I did more pass-bys with no success, most people had moved. My ankle was killing me and so we headed home to ice it. it was a good exchange. I felt a bit weak, but at the same time I have learned my lesson about not resting when hurt.

The other high point of the week was teaching our Chinese amis, Yue and Sufang at their house. They had always thought that they had to come to the church for rendezvous, but we told them we could come to their place and they were SO excited! We taught the plan of salvation and it was so fun having all of the different languages. We taught it in French, but if there was a word they didn't understand, we found it in the Chinese pamphlet. Yue had a lot of good questions and at the end of the lesson said that she loved the plan for our lives. She said the closing prayer, thanked Heavenly Father for us and that we taught her about the plan and told Heavenly Father that she wanted to go to the sun place :) She also decided that she wanted to come to church the next day and we found her a ride! it was so good, she hung out with Nathaly the whole time, loved all the classes and stayed for the ward meal! They even want to go to Versailles with us next week for the Christmas concert and first presidency broadcast! I hope Yue comes because it is a stake thing and all the Chinese members from Paris will be there and it will be SO good!

The down point, Regis sent a text to the member we taught with and told her he doesn't want to see us :/ someday Regis.

I love you all! have a good week and don't pass up a missionary opportunity!

Camille

Thanksgiving Dinner

2010-12-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

Turkey Bowl Football Team

2010-12-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

Boubou's and Pizza

2010-12-13T07:16:00.000-08:00

a very boubou thanksgiving

2010-12-13T06:50:00.000-08:00

November 29, 2010

Dear family,
First off, it snowed last night. just insane, just insane.
Ok so I have tons of things to tell you!

Thanksgiving... last week on p-day I FINALLY bought a boubou, an African outfit. They are very popular among missionaries. Best 10 euros I've spent. Soeur McClaine and I decided that we would get some domino's pizza and eat in our boubous. We found a Dominos and bought some pizzas and it was amazing. Earlier in the day we got a call from a member of the ward saying that she had prepared a treat for us, a plate with the cookies on it. It was so nice of her to think of these poor little Americans away from their country on Thanksgiving :)

The next day, Friday, we had turkey bowl with our zone in Torcy. We got together for training and finding activity and then we ate. I once again attempted a chocolate pie and once again, I failed :( I think it is a sign that some Thanksgiving traditions are meant to stay in America). Before we ate, we had a football game, I was one the winning team. I even caught the ball the one time they threw it to me, only to turn around and run into an elder. Embarrassing. The meal was very good, a big shout out to the Davis couple who prepared most of the stuff knowing that most of us missionaries have never had much responsibility when it comes to preparing a Thanksgiving meal.

This week we had our miracle rendezvous with Regis, the guy from the train. We taught him at the church with a sister who has been home from her mission for three years. We were waiting for him at the gare and it became 1:00 and he was no where to be seen, but we got a text from him saying he would be late! That like never happens unless it is someone who is going to get baptized! We made our way to church and had an AMAZING rendezvous! A while ago we had this training on the "ideal first" and this rendezvous could have been filmed and used as a model for other missionaries. We all frequently bore testimony, gave him an overview, got to know him and what he expects/ The member was super involved in the perfect way, he noticed that he was feeling the Spirit with the "small heat in his heart" and committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray. Cecile said she would pick him up for church and they exchanged numbers and we all went our ways.

What I am about to tell you, might sound like a terrible thing. if one has misplaced their faith, they might view it as a catastrophe. It is Sunday morning and we are waiting for everyone to get to church and Cecile comes in and says "I have some terrible news." after the rendezvous, Regis went home and called his mom in Guadeloupe [an island in the west Indies] to tell her about his experience that day with missionaries. She told him that we were lying and that we weren't the true church and that he shouldn't see us. He called Cecile and told her this and she told him that he should still come to church to see for himself and he said he would. Later that night he texted her saying that he didn't know if he was ready to change his life and that he needed time to think, even though he could see that the gospel brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. He said that he would still pray everyday and read the Book of Mormon and if he had questions he would text her. I sat in church and was sad, it is a sad thing when someone makes a decision like this one, but I still knew that I was an effective missionary. I followed the Spirit in contacting him and we had an amazing rendezvous. The Spirit was there in such a force and I could tell it made sense to him and that he was one of those prepared for the gospel. I called him last night to invite him to a j.a. activity in Paris tonight, but he has school. I invited him to the ward meal next week and he said that he would come. He told me that he just needed time to reflect and that when he goes home for Christmas he was going to talk to his mom about the church and show her the Book of Mormon. Pray for Regis this week and that he will come to the ward meal and that as he reads the scriptures this week and prays that he will feel the Spirit and remember all the good feelings he had in the rendezvous.

I talked to President Staheli about faith in our last interview because we always hear, "your faith will bring miracles" and I told him I wanted to know where my faith meets someone's agency. I told him that as I thought back on my mission I felt like the time that I had the most faith was my time in Versailles. He explained to me that we need to always make sure that our faith is firmly planted in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, and that they together will lead me to prepared people. My faith isn't in people, but it is in those Two who know everything and can help soften the hearts of others. I have been thinking about that since and thought of it a lot yesterday. I am not discouraged because I know I did everything I could and I know that Heavenly Father did everything promised, now it is time for Regis to do his part and I know that he will :)

I am headed into Paris today for p-day. I have a musical number practice tonight with another sister. She was asked to play the violin at Christmas zone conference and I am accompanying her. wonderful day in Paris :)

I love you all, I love my life :)

Camille

happy birthday emily!

2010-12-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

Frozen Great Danes are Really Hard to Carry

2010-11-28T12:17:00.000-08:00

November 22,2010
Dear family,

Another week, more greatness. I am FREEZING right now as I write this, the crazy internet shop likes to keep the door open even though it is absolutely POSITIVELY freezing outside. Today we are going into Paris for a p-day of fun with Soeur Curran before she goes home to America:/ Her mom is with her, I am excited to meet her!

We had 2 really good contacts, one was this girl named Christy We talked to her in the park. She was walking and smiling and so I was like "let's talk to her!" She is believing and very active in her church and asked why our church was different from her's. We explained the restoration and got her phone number and will be contacting her tonight for an rdv :)
The next great find, we were in a train station and we saw this guy and I was like "whoa, he looks like Xavier, I should talk to him!" I sat down directly in front of him and we had this conversation:
me: hi. I'm a missionary from this church [pointed at my plaque] and I had a feeling that I needed to talk to you.
him: ok.
me: we have a message about how you can have joy in your life no matter what. are you believing?
him: yes.
me: good. we also like to share with people about how Christ's church was restored on the earth through a modern prophet. can we share this message with you?
him: yes
I proceeded to get his name and number and then we got off the train as it was our stop. I called him later that night and we have an rdv for Saturday:)

We had another good contact with a Muslim man, but after he texted us saying that we have pretty eyes, we passed that to the elders.

We met with Nathaly, the most progressing ami. She has been meeting with the missionaries for about a year and a half now. She had a baptismal date for 6 Novembre, but then she said that she didn't feel ready. We talked to her about baptism and she had a question about how to know if she was feeling the Spirit. We shared with her the scripture in Galatians about the fruits of the Spirit and she was like "whoa, that's how I feel when I pray and read and go to church.". I asked her if that is how she feels when she prays about baptism and she said "yeah.” She wants to better understand the commandments and so I am working on a little commandment study thing for her.

Yesterday in amis class we were talking about gifts of the Spirit and someone was talking about Solomon and his gift of wisdom and Nathaly said "yeah, but he lost it. you can lose the gifts." I said "well, good thing there is always repentance" and the teacher agreed with me. then Nathaly said "yeah, but doesn't that just get repetitive if you are always repenting about the same thing?" I had a feeling when she said that she wanted to better understand the commandments that it was a concern about repentance. The teacher of amis class is teaching a lesson on it next week and we will see.

We were also able to meet with Yué and Sufang, 2 Chinese amis that we are teaching. We weren't able to see them until this week. They wanted help with English, we taught them the plan of salvation before. We would ask questions, but they weren't really responding. I had a thought during the lesson to ask them if they wanted a priesthood blessing, they were really stressed about their exams at school. They said they wanted them and the elders were at the church so they gave then blessings. It was so powerful and they both seemed so much happier and calm after. They said that they would see us sometime this week :)

good week, looking forward to an even better one!

love you all!

camille

p.s. my subject heading is bizarre, but that was a discussion at district meeting.

Paris Day :)

2010-11-28T12:03:00.000-08:00

2010-11-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

2010-11-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

New Companion New City

2010-11-28T11:57:00.001-08:00

November 15, 2010
My dear family,

Can we believe it is halfway through November? I can't. it is just crazy.

Leaving Valenciennes was tough. Soeur Kohler and I were walking around and we would just suddenly go "it is so weird that we aren't going to be together in a couple days. It feels like we have been together our whole missions!" However, I know that she is doing great up in Valenciennes with the new sister:)

Saying goodbye to Alexandre and Françoise was a bit rough. I think I was crying the entire rendez-vous, not to mention that I was saying goodbye to Amandine who is our best friend in Valenciennes. It was good though. I got to ride into Paris with Sister Kohler before being picked up by the office elders and dropped off in Evry. My new companion is Soeur McClaine from Redlands,CA and goes to BYU-Idaho as well! I am so excited! My whole mission I have only met 2 sisters that went there and both of them have graduated and it is pretty funny because we know a lot of the same people! We have just had a blast getting to know each other these last couple of days in the FREEZING cold and just kind of getting used to being together. Something so wonderful about transfers is it is like a new fresh start; a time to re-evaluate people that you are working with, how you are doing and what not, so we are currently in the process of doing that. However, a lot of our rendez-vous's have been cancelled....sad. hopefully this week will be better.

Today we went to Paris, hence the late email. We watched the elders play football, Soeur McClaine had some people that she wanted to see. We ate these great Chinese dumpling balls that fill you UP! We ate them like 6 hours ago and still aren't hungry. Then we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie and saw some Monet stuff. I am so grateful for my French legality and that I can get into things for free! Then we walked around the Tuileries Garden and looked at the Louvre. Very full fun day:)

Something funny; This morning I woke up and my left calf has been SO TIGHT! I said something about it to Soeur McClaine and she was like "well yeah, you got a charlie horse in it last night, you were screaming in pain." I have no recollection of this. She said, "we talked about it, you sounded so awake!" I think it is just funny, but not, my calf still hurts.

love you all! bonne semaine!

camille

Friends in Valenciennes

2010-11-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

Soeur Kohler, Pobst with Alexandre

2010-11-28T11:29:00.000-08:00

I am moving!

2010-11-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

November 8, 2010

dear family,

Friday night we received the phone call telling us our new assignments for transfer day next week. I am going to Evry with Sister McClaine." Sister McClaine is new, I talked with her briefly at sister day. She is going into her 3rd transfer. Sister Kohler is staying here and she will be a trainer. She is pretty excited to train and the ward is REALLY excited for her to train. They are just so excited to get a bleu! [I don't know why, but in France you are bleu, not green].

Francoise is doing well. We saw her three times this week and went over the first part of the plan of salvation and we talked about eternal marriage. I was on an exchange with an AMAZING, GREAT MISSIONARY, Soeur Pearce. She is just so great and her French is AMAZING and she is so happy. She did not mind at all the three straight hours of finding and getting frudged. She is just such a doll and I can see her training soon.

We just need more missionaries like her.

Francoise is doing great, reading her scriptures and trying hard to cut down on smoking. At church on Sunday, we have a couple; they are both doctors and one of them helps people overcome addictions. The wife was talking to Francoise and was like, "you need to quit! There are so many blessings waiting for you! Here is my husbands number, you call us we will help you!" I really love this ward they are all so great and caring about us and our amis. It was hard to say my departing testimony, there were a couple people that I couldn't look at or else I would have started crying and I did not want that.

I have 2 little tender mercies to tell you about. I have been so spacey lately; Doesn't make sense I don't feel like I was a terribly spacey person before my mission. A couple weeks ago my ctr ring went missing and I was like "oh great, that stinks." well I was packing and looking for it and all the sudden I thought "I bet it is on top of the wardrobe." Kind of a crazy thought, we all know I'm not the tallest person in the world, but I looked up there and it was there! so so so excited! Also, a couple weeks ago I bought some new mitten glove things and one went missing...I was like "great, that last thing I want to have to keep buying is gloves!" However, on Sunday I found out that I had left it at a member’s house and that they would bring it to church sometime next week....not super helpful for the moment but in the long run I am glad I do not have to buy new gloves!

I mentioned that on the exchange Soeur Pearce and I got frudged. so, I think on Tuesday night we left Alexandre and Francoise's and decided to do some contacting because it was still a bit early. We stopped this woman named Severine and set an rdv with her for Thursday. On Thursday we went by and she said she couldn't see us at all at that moment and I set another rdv for Saturday. On Saturday we went by and she said we could come in for like 5 minutes and so we took it and went in. We talked with her for a bit and started testifying about our message. She said she was believing before but wasn't really believing anymore. Then all the sudden we started testifying about together forever as a family and she started crying and said that couple years ago she lost a baby and ever since then she has been asking why. We told her why and that this life was only a tiny piece of our eternal destiny. we fixed another rdv with her for next Thursday, after I leave. I am glad to leave this contact for the bleu. I just love it when we find people whose lives will be greatly blessed by this message. it is just so great!

I am sad to be leaving Valenciennes, but I know it is a part of missionary life. It is kind of weird to think that I could finish my mission in Evry...so I just won't. I am excited for this new chapter and phase!

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

camille

2010-11-23T00:23:00.000-08:00

2010-11-23T00:19:00.000-08:00

"Is it one of those parties whre you baptize dead people"

2010-11-21T16:02:00.000-08:00

November 1, 2010

Dear family,

This week our heat went out. Our neighbor came over to look at it before we called the building manager and we took the opportunity to invite him to the ward FHE tonight. He then asked "is it one of those parties where you baptize dead people?" I kind of chuckled and we told him what it was. People know the weirdest things about us...

This week we were FINALLY able to see Ji, although it was pretty rough, we met in the park with the kids. They kept running up and she was getting frustrated. Soeur Kohler and I took turns trying to distract the kids. We talked about life on earth, why things are hard, why things are good, why Jesus Christ is important. She said that is one thing that she never understood, is why people think you need Jesus to be happy. We told her that it's not like you are sad if Jesus isn't in your life, it is just that He sacrificed so much for us and explained his role in the plan of salvation. She is just awesome, always willing to act.

Francoise and Alexandre are doing well. We saw Francoise 3 times this week and are a bit puzzled. so the first time we saw her she was really stressed out. Alexandre had lost his firefighter job and doesn't work that much at his other job. She told us that she had one cigarette left and that she wouldn't be able to buy cigarettes anymore with the money becoming tight. We thought "hmmm, blessing in disguise" talked about opposition coming in when you are making right choices. We have seen her twice since then and the house has smelled like fresh cigarettes every rendezvous since then....a bit confused. This week we are going to talk about that and hope to resolve the smoking with the baptism coming up.

We have a new ami, kind of an interesting one. His name is David and he got our number from the bishop in another city because his uncle is a very depressed, very less active member. We cannot as missionaries help with things like depression. We contacted the bishop who immediately went over to help and explained that he was the one that needed to be called for help with the uncle. David is not a member and is interested in being baptized and "becoming a deacon or a priest." We taught him the first lesson and during the lesson it was just a very interesting feeling. Terrible because the uncle is now smoking a ton and is just withering away. It is hard to tell David we can not help him as missionaries. David was really interested and had already started reading the Book of Mormon. Just very odd situation and we hope that we can see David at the church from now on because we do not have the best feelings in the house.

On Saturday we went down to Versailles with the bishop for the baptism that we helped with the music with. We did 5 numbers, I don't think I have played piano that much in a really really really long time...it was good to be back in Versailles. It was cool because there was a baptism of an 8 year old who's mom had gotten baptized a couple weeks before I got to Versailles and so I was able to see some of the members again. I am starting to feel really old in the mission....transfer 10 is right around the corner....yikes....after the baptism there was the BEST after baptism buffet EVER with professional pastries! I didn't even put my no bake cookies out, we gave them to the Versailles elders.

Hope this week finds everyone well! I love you all!

Camille

The French version of......

2010-11-14T07:52:00.000-08:00

October 25, 2010

Family!

Being in France, I often see the French versions of people I know from home. The other day I saw Adam Helland here in France; however, he was French. I was so tempted to take a picture of him, but I didn't.

I AM SO EXCITED THAT BABY LYLA WAS BORN TODAY!!!!! Well, yesterday. JUST CRAZY! Doesn’t completely seem real, but that's understandable. I think that the movie recorders on iphones do not open on this computer, I wish I could see the videos of Emily singing happy birthday to sweet baby lyla :)

Ah bon, the missionary work stuff....well sadly, Charlotte and Cederic thought about it and realized that they aren't practicing Catholics, why would they want to go to another religion. It was a sad day, but there are other rays of sunshine!

WE FIXED A BAPTISMAL DATE WITH FRANCOISE! She is getting baptized December 11:) The last time we were there with Chernel she said "I've come to realize that you have a lot of teachings the same as the Catholics" and Chernel and Alexandre went off on why it is pointless to believe in saints and what not, which didn't really help anything....so on Thursday we taught the apostasy with cups, I'll show you all later, and said "yes, there are a lot of teachings that are the same because they stayed on the earth after the death of Christ and His apostles, however, the priesthood authority is what was missing with the foundation of all the churches." We talked about what the priesthood is, gift of the Holy Ghost and Alexandre's feelings since being baptized.

Then Soeur Kohler was like "you are ready, we are praying right now for a date, and you are saying the prayer." We prayed and we were all quiet waiting for Francoise to talk after and then she said "I'm not ready”. Soeur Kohler was like "that's not true, everyone including yourself knows that is not true." Then she said, “January”. We were glad she set a date but it was so far away. Then she said "actually, December." Soeur Kohler said "December 11 is my last weekend in France, can we do it then?" and Francoise said yes! We are all so excited and we actually hadn't told anyone in the ward yet because we spent most of Saturday in Belgium picking up the car. Sunday it was really funny in amis class when the dmp kept inviting Francoise to be baptized...at the end of class she told him she was getting baptized and he looked at me and Soeur Kohler like we had dropped the ball. Oh well, she is getting baptized! I'm sad because I probably won't be here but the good news is that she is getting baptized.

2. We have the car for 2 weeks! Then it goes back to Belgium for 3 weeks, and then it comes back, but I will probably be somewhere else so....looking forward to this next 2 weeks with a car and a gas strike!

3. We made an appointment with Ji for a rendezvous’ this Wednesday at a park if the weather is good! Pray for good weather!

4. Contacted this really cool student. When we asked her what she thought the significance for having a prophet on the earth she said, "I think it would be like having a guide or a connection to heaven." It is vacation this week, so we won't see her until the week after!

5. I have a new hat...Sylvain came back from Peru and I asked him to get me a beanie with llamas on it. I know I already have one, but I don't have it in France with me. So he came back from Peru and he pulls out this hat that is kind of like the opposite of what I asked for. It is way cool, it is like a woven Madeleine hat? I'll take a picture this week. Soeur Kohler thought it was hilarious. She got this little sack.

That was pretty much our week...spent 2 days basically traveling and then another day celebrating Soeur Kohler and her life :)

I love you all!

camille

p.s. forgot! so our relief society president's mom is getting baptized down in Versailles and asked if I could help with a special musical number.. Yesterday, she shows up to church with 3 songs for me to learn. 2 of then are easy, one of them will take some practice. I'm kind of worried, it is a piano and violin duet. I'm playing “Jupiter” by Holst and the violin is playing “Come Thou Fount”. The violin will be played by her 10 year old daughter and the last time I did a special musical number with a ten year old it was kind of....terrible. I'm sure this one will be way better since it won't be thrown at me 5 minute before the baptism:) good week full of piano :)

October 18, 2010

2010-11-14T07:22:00.000-08:00

Dear family!

Another week in Valenciennes, even colder than last week. My boots have been worn 3 days out of the week. Not quite in my heavy coat yet though, there's an upside :)

We hardly got to see any of our amis this week. everyone is getting "busy." We did some finding and had 2 interesting experiences. we were porting and this kid answered, we were talking about the purpose of life. We told him we had a message and he said that he wasn't interested. everyone says they're not interested, (They don't even know what the message is). I took a few minutes said "the message is this; that God is your Heavenly Father and he wants you to be happy. He created this earth for you to come and learn and come back and live with Him. He has provided a way for you to come back and be even happier than before or than you could ever be here on this earth. are you still not interested?" He said that he wasn't. I could at least walk away knowing that I had done my part, that I had given him a taste, along with our testimonies.

The other experience was later on down the street we saw this kid on a scooter and talked with him about faith and how we get faith and keep it. We fixed a rendezvous’ for Sunday and gave him a book of Mormon. I called him on Saturday night to confirm and he said that he read the book and didn't feel anything. I told him to keep reading and praying and that we would talk next Saturday and he agreed. We had contacted him on Friday and I think he had just read the introduction. I hope he keeps his commitment, if he does he will find what he doesn't know he's looking for.

Saturday was a big big day. It was Alexandre’s baptism. We went to go catch our train to find out that it was cancelled due to a strike that has been going on for the past week and a half because the president wants people to retire at 72 instead of 60. We were freaking out a bit because we have no car and all our members live forever away and we had a special musical number to practice. We did get a train about 40 minutes later putting us behind schedule, we still got there a bit before and practiced. A big thing is singing the hymns: Joseph Smith's First Prayer, Oh My Father, or If You Could Hie to Kolob to the tune of Come Thou Fount. After we practiced it was 2:00 and we hadn't taken the pictures. I went in and grabbed Alexandre and Xavier to take the picture. The bishop came up to me and said "we need to respect the hour." I just kind of wished that he would have more understood how much the baptism pictures mean to me. We took the pictures quick, I didn't even notice that Xavier is a dork with a toothpick in his mouth and not smiling and my hair is curled but you can't really tell :( Either way, the baptism went well. It only took Xavier 2 times to baptize him :) Very heart wrenching :) Alexandre bore his testimony and talked about how he wants to go on a mission! The best. Sunday he was confirmed and received the priesthood :). Hopefully Francoise will follow tout suite.

Saturday was also a big day for Kai, Belinda and Xavier, all three of them received their patriarchal blessings! Xavier said it was really really cool, Kai said it was really powerful with tears in his eyes and Belinda was just oh so excited :) Very good day. My day also got more exciting when I heard Xavier speaking English and was like hey, why are you speaking English? h\He said he was practicing because he wants to go through the temple in America so that Soeur Curran and I can go! He wouldn't tell me if he picked a temple to go to, but he said he had looked at the Mesa and Orlando, where we live.
That would be the coolest ever!

Very good weekend, looking forward to a week of birthday eating...I might have let it slip to a couple people it is Soeur Kohler's birthday on Friday. she is rooting for Lyla to be born then.

Love you family!

the only downside to your ami watching old sessions of conference...

2010-10-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

October 11, 2010
Dear family!

Last week was good! not a ton happened, but good things did! Enough for a top five countdown!

5. We found a new finding opportunity. Soeur Kohler loves baseball and has been dying to play some b-ball since she has been in France. Our bishop and second counselor go to this place and told us that we should come. We went, she played and I watched. Anyway, she was playing and everyone was VERY eager to talk to the American and learn that we are not a sect [sect is cult is french] and that we use electricity and that we aren't polygamist...next time we go we should be able to fix a couple lessons.

4. Finding! We had lots of time to do some finding this week and we feel that we have struck gold and I am going to need you all to pray for this one....we knocked a door and this youngish looking guy answered. We talked to him about the purpose of life and he said "I think it's to have a family, to be happy, to serve others." umm, did someone just quote the plan of salvation? I think he did! We talked about the plan and he seemed pretty interested and went in the house to get his adorable wife who is pregnant with their first child, a son named Matthias. They were so nice and normal and said that we could come back! We really feel good about this and just want it to work! pray for it! Pray for Charlotte and Cederic!

3. Chantel. I have no idea. She is always happy to see us and is keeping commitments and coming to church. I just really want her to FEEL it and I don't know. Her prayers are starting to change, in a good way. She is starting to act....slowly. She came to church yesterday, but left after sacrament and I didn't really get to talk to her. One of the greatest members in the ward just got back from vacation and we want to take her with us this week.

2. Chernel got the priesthood yesterday! so good! We asked him if he wanted to be a witness for the baptism this Saturday and he said he would if he didn't go to Morocco this week. That's the thing about Europe, it seems that people just go to random countries on a whim.

1. Alexandre. Probably the COOLEST thing YET on my mission....we called Alexandre and said that we needed to know who he wanted to give the talks, the songs, baptize and confirm him. He sent us a text saying that he had asked XAVIER to baptize him! That just made me so excited and so grateful that I get to be here to see this. The only kind of funny thing is that the hymns he picked was "Praise To The Man" and "Come and listen to The Prophet's Voice." That's what happens when your ami spends his time watching old conferences. On Thursday it was Alexandre's baptismal interview and our district leader came to interview him. After we all left the church and we were walking and he asked me if anyone I had taught has gone on a mission....I asked him if he was thinking about going on a mission and he said "well, it's something I'm interested in...I'd really like to go to Canada, I love that country!" I just laughed and I REALLY hope he goes on a mission! Francoise is doing well, continuing to strengthen her testimony. We are really excited for the baptism!!!! iI is going to be great!

I hope you all continue to have a great week! Lots of love from France!
camille

General Conference

2010-10-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

October 4, 2010
Dear family!

Holy goodness that was general conference! I can't even believe it was my last one as a missionary and I'd be lying if I wasn't sad they didn't announce the Paris temple...but I think that will take time. I can't wait for a conference ensign to read these talks!

6. General conference. I saw the relief society broadcast, all the Saturday sessions, and Sunday morning. I really liked the relief society broadcast, definitely hitting on loving each other. Very good message.

I think every missionary had tears in their eyes during elder Holland’s talk. soooooooooo good. I don't know if you guys know, but he served in London. I found that out in the mtc. Elder Christofferson, oh man he always hits on those heavy subjects. such a powerful talk. I was a bit surprised about President Uchtdorf's subject because it seems like he normally has a Christian attribute to talk about, but I really needed his talk. very very very true. Very very good :)

Saturday afternoon started out with probably one of my favorite talks, Elder Hales talk on agency. SO GOOD. I felt agency was a very big theme this conference, as well as following the prophet. Elder Scott’s talk was definitely one was I will need to read. I wrote that in my notes with a star by it. Elder Andersen’s was good, but I am a bit biased. I just love his talks :)

Sunday morning was power-filled! I would hate to have to listen to a President Eyring talk through a translator, they are just so full of emotion! President Packer's was VERY needed and very powerful and very VERY strong. I definitely need to read Elder Oak’s talk again and Elder Jensen’s. They both were ones that I was just watching and just thinking and just learning. President Monson's on gratitude was very very good. I wish I could use other adjectives, those are really the only words that are coming to mind.

5. Chantel. On Tuesday she started out our rendezvous by telling us that she would never become Mormon, she thinks that we are great people, that we have good morals and that we have a good view of Christ, but not for her. We didn't really take that seriously. We taught her about prayer and talked about what she had read in the book of Mormon. We came back on Thursday and talked about God as our LOVING Heavenly Father. We gave her a cut up pass along card and told her that she could do it herself or she could ask for help. She tried doing it by herself, but it just didn't work quite right. Eventually she asked for help. We related that to prayer. She said "but sometimes it is hard to ask." I feel like she is starting to see Heavenly Father differently than before and she said she would watch conference online.

4. Chernel. I realized that is how his name is spelt. He is doing well, we talked about the temple and preparing to go. There is a trip to London at the end of this month and I really hope he can come with us. He went to teach Alexandre and Francoise and he did SO GOOD. We told him the subjects before and he studied them in his gospel principles book and pretty much taught the lesson. He came to conference with Alexandre on the train and really liked it and he was hanging out with Xavier.

3. Ji. I really feel like she believes in God now. We asked her how praying was going and she said that she was Praying and then recounted all of these blessings that had come into her life. We are pretty sure that she connected the blessings to her praying. We talked about the pre-existence and the 2 plans presented and why we needed Jesus Christ. I told a story I had learned from my mtc teacher. He relates it to a parent who had an all white house and one of the kids went to play soccer and got muddy. They came home and the parent told them to go wash off with the hose, but they still didn't get clean enough and so the parent sent out their older brother to help them get clean again. she really liked that and understood it. I also made a connection in that lesson as to why Satan’s plan was ridiculous. I told her it would be like if her son told her daughter that she didn't need to listen to her mom anymore, that he was more important. She is reading the Book of Mormon in Chinese. :)

2. Alexandre and Francoise. The first rendezvous this week we went on the baptismal questions and Francoise answered them all as if she was getting baptized. We asked her to pray for a baptismal date and she said maybe December. We went back on Thursday with Chernel and she told us that she didn't want to get baptized. She told Soeur Kohler that she doesn't feel like she can pay tithing. Soeur Kohler told her that she could talk to the bishop and we'll probably bring that concern up in priesthood meeting this week. Alexandre on the other hand is doing great! Svery time we go over there he is SO excited. He read like 8 chapters in 2nd Nephi in like 2 days. The only probably is his smoking. He really enjoyed priesthood session and has his baptismal interview this week :) Apparently he and Xavier have a "surprise" for me. Xavier also loved conference and is like best friends with Alexandre.

1. We went to Belinda’s for priesthood session lunch. I just love being around her. She is such a remarkable person and it is just so wonderful how this gospel has blessed their family. They were talking about the temple and going next May :) She said Kai is always talking about things they need to do so that he can honor his priesthood more honorably. We saw him a bit after priesthood session and he is just soo good and it is crazy to think of how he was before. They are such a good family and I am so excited for them to go to the temple!

I love you all! have a good week!

camille

Chantel's Egyptian Cat

2010-09-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

The Atonium

2010-09-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

Sylvain's Baptism

2010-09-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

The Eating Week

2010-09-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

September 27, 2010
Dear family,
I had the absolute WORST dream ever this week. I dreamt that I was home but I still thought I was a missionary and we were at stake conference. I was trying to get people to talk to my less actives and amis but everyone was asking me about France. I was like "everyone, I don't have time for this, we need to help these people feel welcome!" Then someone was like "but Camille, you're not in France anymore, we want to hear about France." I started crying in my dream about how much I missed France. Pretty much the worst feeling EVER.

5. We had 4 mangez-vous this week. We ate with the bishop's wife and she made this incredible pizza, so good. Then we ate lunch with Chantel after cleaning and we had a quiche, salad, a cheese course and melon. Then we ate with the 2nd counselor in the bishopric's family and had random stuff and ratatouille. THEN we ate with some less-actives who don't realize they are less-active and had Frenchified Mexican food because she is from Mexico. Soeur Kohler and I are thinking about how we can help them this week...

4. Chantel. She is doing pretty good. We went over to her place to help her clean on Thursday. It was pretty immaculate already so we dusted a couple things and ate lunch with her. She still has a lot of grief and asked us what we believe about suicide and depression. We told her that we believe suicide is an illness and that it is a burden for those who have it and that we can't judge someone who has committed suicide because we don't know their situation. I think she was pleased to hear that we don't think she's damned. When we taught the plan of salvation and talked about the spirit world, she said that she is sure her daughter accepted the gospel. We couldn't see her on Friday because one of her friends took her out the cemetery and she didn't come to church on Sunday because it was raining heavy and she and Hugo come on bikes. She said she has been reading the book of Mormon and finds it interesting. We have another rendezvous on Tuesday and I'm really excited.

3. Ji [pronounced chi]. We found her last Saturday and had a rendezvous with her on Tuesday and Thursday. She is 34 and is from china and has a husband from Algeria and the 2 cutest kids ever. She said she is looking for the truth and has come to Christian churches before and didn't really like them, but was willing to meet with us. The first rendezvous we talked about God, Jesus Christ, and prayer and realized how difficult it might be to teach someone with ABSOLUTELY no Christian background whatsoever. We called the Chinese elders in Paris and talked to them and they told us to take it REALLY slow and to really make sure she is getting it. On Thursday we talked about God and used scriptures to teach about Him as our Heavenly Father. She had looked about the website and had written down four questions that all had to do with the plan on salvation, which we are teaching next time. We figured she needed to understand God before the plan and she left the rendezvous saying that she understood God better. She is going to be praying and reading a bit out of the book of Mormon, but I have a feeling she is going to read a lot more than we gave her.

2. Charmel. He is 23 and got baptized while he was in Bordeaux on an internship. He was actually taught and baptized by an elder I knew in the mtc, Elder Law. Allison and Justin met him at the sacred grove. I think that is a fun little circle :) anyway, it is just like having another Xavier. They are almost exactly the same and I can't wait for them to meet at general conference this next week. He is really cool and solid and this week we are going to teach him a bit about the temple because there is a temple trip in October and we want him to go :)

1. Alexander and Francoise. They are doing well, but are getting hit with opposition. We had to move the baptism to the 16th due to work, but now he is no longer a firefighter. However, he said the way they fired him was illegal and so he is looking into that...not sure what that means. Last Monday night we had fhe with them. The bishop and his wife came the lesson was on the priesthood. During the lesson Francoise asked if she could have a blessing of comfort and the bishop gave her one and it was REALLY good. On Thursday we talked about general conference and watched a part of the Thomas S. Monson movie so they could get to know the prophet. I really love having that movie come general conference time to help people get to know the prophet. We watched the last chapter when he gets called as the prophet. We left it with them and they really liked it and now whenever Alexander has time he watches old sessions of general conference...I love when Amis get to this stage where the only thing in their life is the gospel and that is all they want to do. Pray for them though, the opposition is really coming and neither of them is completely done smoking yet. They are both down to less than five cigarettes a day and Francoise is always a happy little social butterfly when she comes to church :)

Transfer news came out on Saturday and Soeur Kohler and I are staying together another transfer! So good! We are pretty happy to stay together. We did well on journaling this transfer, I wrote in my journal everyday :) so good! Transfers 4-6....I'm working on getting that caught up...eek

I read Jacob 5 this week in French and every time I read it, I am amazed at the love of the lord in the vineyard. The one tree that doesn't appear to be doing so good. He tries everything to help it reach its full potential and I really feel that with us. We get so many chances to try and be better people, even if sometimes we don't deserve it. I read this talk called three choices by elder Worthlin on self-improvement and the first one is to realize and accept that you can never go back and change things, only move forward and fix them :) I really like that and that is probably one of the greatest lessons I have learned on my mission, just how much potential each one of us has.

Love you all! Have a good week!
camille

A Great Baptism

2010-09-28T19:19:00.001-07:00

September 20, 2010

Dear family,
5. We were zone finding in Arras that was tons of fun. I found this lady that the elders are going to teach on Saturday :)

4. District meeting we got to watch a bit of “Kung-Foo Panda” and learn that there is no secret ingredient to missionary work, just us. It's true, in the MTC everyone thinks they have to fit in this mold of being "the perfect missionary" when really, they just have to be themselves. Amis love it so much better when we are people with families and lives and experiences rather that robots with scriptures. That is something that Elder Ballard talked about that was REALLY good.

3. We got a new ami this week named Chantal. She had been contacted before I got here. She is 64; 4 years ago her daughter killed herself leaving behind a 5 year old son that Chantal is raising. She is angry at God, but wants to have faith that will help strengthen her. She is really interesting and really cool and while she is open to act, her anger is holding her back. She has this Egyptian cat that looks like a giant rat. She came to church with her grandson who is adorable. He opened up in amis class and felt the love of the members. It was remarkable. We are going to help her clean her place this Thursday and teach her on Friday.

2. Alexandre and Francoise. SO GOOD! We saw them on Thursday and taught tithing. Alexandre said maybe and Francoise said yes! A surprise turn of events...but no worries Alexandre is still going strong looking forward to his baptism. When we ask him about smoking he has either smoked five or two, but told me last night that he wouldn't smoke any today. We are teaching him tonight with the bishop. Yesterday there was a YSA church meeting in another city that he went to and LOVED. He said it was really neat to meet all of the everyone and that XAVIER spoke and that he loved it. The surprises with Rrancoise kept coming. at first she was really hesitant about coming to church without Alexandre, but came because I was giving a talk. In amis class when Chantal was talking about how she doesn't understand why young people die and how she never finds peace in praying, Francoise piped up and said "I was catholic and I prayed all the time, but I have really found joy and peace when I pray like missionaries" and just bore her testimony about how prayer has really helped her on her journey to quit smoking. After she was talking to us and said that she thinks she has an answer to her prayers about baptism but isn't sure. We're hoping to get a date this week. She also says that she has cut back a lot on smoking which before she would always just say "it's going ok...." but we didn't want to really push her because she is older and more fragile. It was just an amazing amis class!

1. Sylvain's baptism was good. It was really small and not too long, perfect in my book. Soeur Kohler and I gave talks that were about 3 minutes. Sylvain is really happy. My talk was on "all things work together for good" from conference. Everyone should read that.

LOVE YOU!
camille

I hugged an apostles wife!

2010-09-19T11:53:00.000-07:00

September 13, 2010
Dear family,

5. P-day in Brussels was fun. We went to the Atonium (The Atomium is a monument built for Expo '58, the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. Designed by André Waterkeyn, it is 102-metres (335 ft) tall, with nine steel spheres connected so that the whole forms the shape of a unit cell of an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times) and chilled in a grand place. It was really cool to go back and not be so rushed. We met the most awkward American member. I think she was jet lagged. she looked at my name and was like "Pobst, that's French right?" Sorry, it's not even close.

4. ELDER BALLARD! it was so cool hearing from Elder Ballard, Elder Rasband, and Elder Caussé. Elder Caussé talked about the work in Europe moving forward and it was really cool. I felt so proud of being here in this time. Great things are happening. Elder Rasband talked about working with the ward council and working with less actives and Elder Ballard talked about always teaching. That when we aren't teaching amis we should teach less actives, when we aren't teaching less actives to teach actives. It was a very neat experience and there were not a lot of people there, maybe 40. We got to put the corsages on the wives! When the Caussés are in France they are in Versailles and they were there at Christmas, but I was a dork and never talked to them. When we were putting the corsages on them she looked at me and was like "weren't you in Versailles at Christmas?" OH MAN I felt so cool....but like a dork at the same time. I was so afraid of speaking French to them! At the end we got to go up and shake people's hands and Soeur Kohler and I hugged Sister Ballard. so yeah, I hugged an apostle’s wife!

3. Sylvain’s baptismal interview was yesterday. He is getting baptized on Saturday. I haven't talked much about him...he used to be T.J. but met a member in Peru somehow and they started dating and she said she wanted to get married in the temple so he started meeting with the missionaries. However, now it is more than that, I can tell that he is doing this for himself.

2. Stake conference was yesterday and oh man, it was awesome. Alexandre went and Xavier sat by him. So good. We got to sustain Kai and Xavier to get the melchizedek priesthood. as both of them stood up, my little missionary heart swelled with joy! It was so good. the speakers were great too, at the end alexandre turned around and said that he heard exactly what he needed to. it was awesome.

1. Alexandre’s progress has been A LOT this last week. We saw them on Thursday and he had read a TON in the book of Mormon. We taught the law of chastity and he didn't have any worries about it and when fixing the rendez-vous for next week he said that he could see us twice! big step! Soeur Kohler is amazed she said he used to always be to busy to see us and to read, but now it is not that way! His baptismal calendar was on the fridge! His progress with not smoking is getting better; he didn't smoke at all on Saturday and only smoked 2 cigarettes on Sunday. he told us that he normally smokes 30 cigarettes a day!

This week we are going to try our hardest to have 20 lessons! pray for us!
love you lots!
camille

Greeting from Brussels

2010-09-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

September 6, 2010
Holla family,
I'm up in Belgium right now, we got up here about 2 hours ago. We left Valenciennes at 7:17 to get to Lille for our 9:10 train to Brussels. While on the train to Brussels there was a group of Americans that we were talking to. One asked about genealogy and the second one had a really interesting question. She said that she had read that our church was one of the fastest growing, especially among young people while most churches are losing membership. She asked us why we thought that was and we taught her the restoration. She said that she would check out the website and tell her kids to check it out. I hope she actually does.

5. Zone conference! On Tuesday we went down to Paris for it. We took the train from Valenciennes which stops in Arras where met up with an equipes [or team] of elders. We called them on Sunday and said that we'd make pancakes if they made crêpes for the train ride because one of them is French. He was amazed by my chocolate chip pancakes and we filled up on his crêpes. Zone conference was amazing as always, Soeur Staheli talked about obedience, the assistants talked about testimonies and president talked about working hard and keeping covenants. It was REALLY good. We got back from zone conference and went to some sort of ward priesthood meeting that normally the elders go to, but since there are not elders, we go. It is pretty entertaining. All of these men are old and love this ward and would do anything for it.

4. I have not told you about my shower situation.... the gas bill for our apartment was never paid so there was no hot water in it for 8 weeks. In the morning we would heat water on the stove and shower using a mug. On Wednesday we got word that a gas technician would be coming and that we needed to stay in our apartment until they came. Luckily she showed up around 2 and we could go out and do some missionary work and now we can take showers like normal people :)

3. Sister Day! On Friday we went to Le Vesinet for the sister exchange. Soeur Staheli has wanted to have a conference/exchange thing where all the sisters came together since the merge happened and kind of get us all on the same page. The theme of this meeting was self-esteem and being vs. doing. A lot of sisters always feel that they aren't working hard enough or being good enough and so they have really low self-esteem. It is one of the saddest things EVER because it is usually the best sisters. It was fun coming together and seeing everyone. I had to say goodbye to Soeur Bellini who goes home at the end of this month and Soeur Curran who goes home the beginning of November.

2. WE GOT A BRAND NEW CAR! Soeur Kohler and I are rolling in a brand new Chevy cruze. We were supposed to give it to some elders in Belgium this week and possibly never see it again, but they have no way to pay for gas except to use their monthly money and get it re-imbursed. They don't want to do that and so they said that we can keep the car until they can get things figured out! holla!

1. Thursday was a great day! It started out with a crêpe fête with the Duez family. They are an older couple that the missionaries found while they were newly-weds. They have since had 6 kids, five of which have served missions and pretty much make up the leadership of the stakes and wards. We are getting a new stake president this weekend and I bet it is one of their sons. It is crazy to think that at one point they were just a young couple that missionaries were teaching and now they are one of the strongest families in northern France. We also taught Alexandre and Francoise. They both came to church on Sunday, he loved it. She kinda reminds me of grandma Pobst, except she is not nearly as outgoing as grandma. Alexandre is so excited for the gospel and I'm excited for him to go to Lille this weekend and meet my all-time favorite Xavier :)

I AM SO EXCITED FOR ELDER BALLARD TOMORROW! I called President Staheli and asked if I could make some cookies for Elder Ballard and he said that we weren't allowed to make him stuff :( sad. I thought it'd be cool to make cookies for Elder Ballard.

LOVE YOU LOTS!
camille

Top of the Eiffel Tower

2010-09-05T18:52:00.001-07:00

Sights seeing with Soeur Barros

2010-09-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

One Year Missionary

2010-09-05T18:48:00.001-07:00

Forget the dog, I guard this house

2010-09-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

She doesn't speak English, she must be Scottish

2010-09-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

August 30,2010
Dear family,

This week while porting, a guy asked us where we were from. It is pretty funny to hear what people say. He looked at me and said, "do you speak English?" I guess I stalled for a minute and looked confused however, I answered "oui." He looked at Soeur Kohler and said "she doesn't speak English, is she Scottish?"

I will do the top five events this week; I like this format the best.

5. Last Monday we went finding. Soeur Kohler and I are determined to find a family for our wonderful ward. They love us and missionary work. Everyone is so willing to do anything for us, we want to find a family. We were in this neighborhood and ported into a woman who was catholic, (non-practicing). We talked with her and found out she had met with the missionaries up in Lille when she was a student, but she is now a mother living in the suburbs of Valenciennes. We taught a first lesson and the whole time her little daughter was in and out. At the end we invited them to the ward FHE in September and taught them about what FHE is. We ported on and her little daughter was following us for a bit. When we finished and were leaving, the daughter was with a friend and we stopped and were talking to them. One of the little girls had stickers and I asked her for one to put on the back of my plaque. She asked why I wore it and I told her I was a missionary and I talked to people about Jesus. Right then her little friend was like "yeah, and they are having an activity at their church on the 13 of September." I have a strong testimony of involving kids in the contact because even if their parents won't accept us, I know that someday these kids will see missionaries and remember the Spirit and meet with them. We pray for this family daily that they will come to the activity.

4. First district meeting! There are 3 Elder Equipes in my district and each one is training. It is something else to be around new missionaries that are just so excited and haven't had negative experiences yet. It was fun to hear these MTC buddies reunite and discuss different things about France that you just kind of forget. The best was in district meeting we pulled out our preach my gospels and one of them pulled out his French one and showed it to the one sitting next to him and was like "look, it's in French!" Soeur Kohler offered to switch our English one for one of them, he said, "oh no, we know what it says." I chuckled to myself, it was good to see their "blue fire."

3. While contacting in a park my first week here we were talking to this woman who couldn't tell us what church she belonged to, except that she was baptized at 8 by two Americans. We asked if they were wearing plaques like ours and she said yes and we are now teaching her. We meet Sylvie in that same park every Wednesday. Last week we taught her the restoration and about the book of Mormon. It was interesting to watch things click as she started to remember. She didn't come to church yesterday, she said that she could come this week. I'm really excited about this :)

2. The family we are praying for, we may have found them. We were doing more pass-by's/finding, when we stopped Celine. At first look I thought she was a teenager, but she wasn't. She was headed home after like a PTA for the Catholic Church. At first she looked like she would rather be ANYWHERE else, when we told her about the ward FHE and she got excited and asked if she could bring friends. We told her definitely. We handed her an articles of faith card and she started reading them. She read the 8th one and was like "oh yeah, this is true. We don't know how accurate the bible translation is. What’s the book of Mormon?" We taught her about the book of Mormon and offered her one. At first she said no, but it was because she thought it was Soeur Kohler’s personal Book of Mormon, we told her that we loved giving them to people. She said she'd start reading it and we are going to call her tonight for a rendezvous.

We also found another cute family during findings yesterday. We were porting and it was going oh so well....not really. We saw this park and I saw a lady and a guy and a little girl riding a bike and I was like "we should go talk to them." The mom's name is Helen Ellen. French people don't say h's and so I don't know which is her name...but anyway, she's atheist, but interested in hearing about the teachings of Jesus Christ. She is going on vaccances this week, we will call her on Sunday for a rendezvous next week!

1. So we get 2 numbers one's this week because these things tie. I have to renew my legality and we were told to do it in Lille. We went to the prefecture and they told us that I had to do it in Valenciennes. While we were in Lille, we stopped by Kai and Belinda’s. It was SOOOO good to see them!!!!! They are doing so good! Belinda told us then that she was going to the temple to do baptisms that next day and we were SOOOOOOOOOO excited for her! I We also called Xavier and tell him to come to the train station! He did and it was so cool to see him! That was probably the best part of my year mark, seeing my baptisms that are all doing so great and lovin' life and the gospel! SO GOOD!

1. WE FIXED A BAPTISMAL DATE! His name is Alexandre and he is 23. He found the church through his aunt who is a member, he went a couple of times when he was younger and recontacted the missionaries in like April/march? On his teaching record the elders wrote "he wants to be baptized" and then the next rendezvous they taught him to quit smoking and he got busy after that. The sisters picked him back up, but would mainly teach his mom. On Wednesday we taught the word of wisdom and committed him to the 7 day program. We also asked him about his desire to be baptized and he said he still wants to be baptized. We told him to pray for a baptismal date and start the program. We went back on Sunday and he said he hadn't quit but that he was smoking less. We asked him about the date and he said October 2. Because of General Conference his baptismal date is October 9. He also said he could come to church this Sunday and his mom looked shocked. IT IS THE BEST!

This week rocked, this upcoming week will rock, LOVE and MISS you ALL!

camille

September 7th will be the best for many reasons

2010-08-29T15:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-22T19:28:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-09T11:03:00.000-07:00

You know popcorn, you look like popcorn

2010-08-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-08T14:26:00.000-07:00

2010-08-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Eleven Months

2010-08-06T07:39:00.001-07:00

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

Boat Tour on The Seine

2010-07-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

Eiffel Tower

2010-07-31T21:25:00.000-07:00

Caught In the Rain

2010-07-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

It rained on my Bastille Day

2010-07-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

July 19, 2010
Dear Family,
This week was Bastille Day, the independence day of France. We went to a parade that morning and it was POURING RAIN. Of course none of us thought to bring an umbrella and we were DRENCHED. We came home, got dry and ate pancakes. It was a good day for all :)

5. Translating sacrament meeting. If you ever think you have a grasp on a language, try doing translation. Most American tourists go to the other Paris ward because it is easier to find, but on Sunday we had an American couple and I undertook the task of translating...everyone in our ward is african and have really THICK african accents, totally different than the quick talkers of the north. However, in the end I think I did an ok job of it.

4. "No child left behind." Soeur England and I were looking through the ward list last week and noticed there are probably about 20 kids ages 8-27 not baptized. Our goal for this week is to visit each family and kinda figure out what's going on.

3. We went and visited Marie-Madeleine, our ami in the hospital. She is doing well and is so sweet. It feels like she is starting to connect to what we say. It is what she's learned her whole life. We hope to have a baptismal date with her before she leaves the hospital and heads out to cholet [way far away]. She is the sweetest lady I have ever met.

2. There is this little tiny visitor center in Paris called the exposition. We man it for 2 hours with another team of missionaries. One set stays in and the other goes out to find people. We hung out in there and a BUNCH of people just randomly came in. When I say a bunch I mean 4. That is a record. It was an eventful Thursday evening :)

1. P-day last week we went on a boat tour of the Seine and hung out with the sisters in Nogent and Versailles. It was great to see Soeur Gifford who is still in Versailles and shoot the breeze about the area. It was nice to be back and have a Paris p-day.

camille

OH! France no longer forwards mail for free. My direct address is:
Soeur Camille Pobst
Les Missionnaires
52 Rue du Faubourg St.Antoine
75012 Paris
FRANCE

The Lille District

2010-07-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

Saying Good Bye to Lille

2010-07-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

Beloved Paris

2010-07-17T05:07:00.000-07:00

July 12, 2010

Dear everyone,

I have left the great north to come down here to Paris. It was SO HARD to leave up there, harder than I expected. I finished my packing and I figure the next time I move I am going to ditch a lot of stuff...I never realized how many books I have! It was so hard to say goodbye to Havier. Soeur Curran and I did not go to the weekly missionary ward meeting and showed up after to say goodbye to him and a couple other people. One of the elders said he has never seen Xavier look so sad. However, I know he will do many great things with his life and in the church.

I took the train down here to Paris and spent most of Wednesday in the moving van with the office elders. It was a pretty interesting car ride just talking. They dropped me off at my apartment and I got to say goodbye to Soeur Fischer-Laudenbach. I almost cried when she hugged me and said she was glad that I was here to take over her area. I don't think she realizes how much stress that had caused me that last couple of days.

I unpacked and we went and taught English class. I saw one of Allie's friends there, that was exciting. I also saw this woman named Krystina that Soeur Roberts and I would tutor in Versailles.

Since then we have taught a bunch of lessons and done a lot of pass bys. We were teaching Aurelie, the most progressing ami who will most likely get baptized this transfer, and her niece was watching VERONICA MARS! I couldn't believe it! She told me it was her favorite show, but she also told me she was watching the first season, when it was clearly the third. Apparently there are some things from that "other life" I haven't forgotten.

We are also teaching a woman named Altima from Haiti and while we were teaching her in a park, a friend of Soeur England's (my new companion) walked by and was completely shocked to see her because he thought she was in Belgium. Pretty funny.

Another ami is Marie Madeleine who is in the hospital recovering from knee surgery. We have other amis that I haven't met yet. It is nice to have so many investigators.

Everyone down here speaks English. On the metros, in the buses, it is English. One day we were on the metro and I turned to these two women speaking English and I asked where they were from. The woman said, “California”. She asked me, I said, “Arizona”. She asked what I was doing here and I said I was a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. and she said "oh, you're Mormon. You are the ones who tried to stop us from getting married." I

n that moment I wanted to die. I just looked at her and she said, "so what do you think about the two of us? Do you think we should break up because we're both women and have been together for 13 years and are happy?" I just stood there stunned for a bit and she was like "I feel I have a right to ask you this since you are propagating your beliefs."

I just looked at her and said "yes, it is true. We believe marriage is between a man and a woman." She said again "so you think we should break up?" I just said, "I am not taking a stand on your relationship, but we believe marriage is between a man and a woman.” I guess my answer sufficed because she stopped asking me about it and asked why I was in France and not the states. We talked about that and she left and said "just think about." It ended on a nice note.

Love you all! Hope to hear from you all next week!

camille

Soeur Curran, Natache and Noemi

2010-07-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Ben Faour Family and Bishop

2010-07-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Missionaires celebratin 4th of July

2010-07-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

Chosen to go..Paris

2010-07-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

July 5, 2010

Dear Family,

Remember when I went on exchanges with Soeur Fischer-Laudenbach a couple transfers ago? She had a special mission and spent her whole mission in Paris Lilas. She is going home on Wednesday and all the sisters have been wondering who the "lucky" sister would be that got to go and fill her shoes. I am here to tell you, that it is me. I am going to go to Paris Lilas to replace Soeur Fischer-Laudenbach. I am a bit sad to be leaving Lille, but I am way excited to be going to Paris Lilas [that is part of Paris, the north and east side. My new companion is Soeur England. I knew her in the MTC, she came in before I left and I am really excited to serve with her.

5. Do you all remember Jeanine from forever ago? She was progressing so well and then suddenly dropped off the planet? Well, she is back. I called her and fixed a rendez-vous for Thursday night...right after I leave. I am glad to leave the new companionship with a rendez-vous it will all be good. We always say, "Leave an area better than you find it." I hope Soeur Nielsen enjoys my precious Lille.

4. There are these patches that you can collect for cities in France and when I left Versailles Soeur Bellini and I spent like 3 days looking for one. I found out there is a store at this castle called Mons St. Michel that carries all of the patches. At zone conference weeks ago, I asked these 2 elders if they happened to be there if they could get me one and last week I got a call from an elder telling me that they had gone and he had picked one up for me. That elder is also in my district this next transfer! So excited to get my patch!

3. Soeur Kohler had to come to Lille to get her French legality and she ended up spending the night. It was really good to see her and remember how awesome she is. I have been really fortunate with companions, I always get the great ones. They are all so different, yet awesome.

2. There was a baptism and of course the sisters did a special musical number. I played "come thou fount" and the other sisters sang "O My Father in French of course. It sounded really good and everyone loved it.

1.5. So I forgot about 4th of JULY! All the missionaries went out to the Ahret’s place in Belgium for a barbeque. It was a great time and a good end to 3 transfers.

1. When we taught Xavier we always taught him with Natacha and Noemi, who are sisters. They left on Friday to go to their home for vacation and we all went to their place for a mangez-vous [dinner appointment]. I am really glad I was able to be there with all these people that I love so much, who have definitely touched my life forever.

I can feel a lot of miracles coming this next
love you lots!
camille

Soeur Pobst and Soeur Curran

2010-07-04T12:35:00.001-07:00

Soeur Pobst

2010-07-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sister Missionaries

2010-07-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

sprained ankle

2010-07-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

Who knew I loved Cherries

2010-07-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

June 28, 2010

Famille,

So a bit ago someone brought a bunch of cherries to FHE and I ate them. I loved them. First time in my life I've eaten cherries.

Another fun fact, after 12 weeks together it has been discovered that Soeur Curran read those star wars books that I read. We are so alike it is getting a bit ridiculous.

Now for the countdown.

5. We went to Dunkerque this week, a small town on the coast, which means there is a beach there. First we contacted and attempted to do a pass by, but we got really lost because we had a terrible map and no idea about the city. The best part was going to the beach. No, I didn't go in the water. Yes, I walked in the sand and loved every minute of it.

4. Samedi sports. I played SO good this week, I was unstoppable...until I tripped on the ball and rolled my ankle. I was stealing it from an elder and I rolled my ankle on it. We immediately went home and started icing it with frozen spinach and have been taking it easier since. We don't do a ton of extra walking, which I felt terrible about When I went on a split with Hannah, {Birdie's friend} I had to drag her back to the metro station to sit because I'm not supposed to do extra walking and our rendez-vous was cancelled. The swelling has gone down a bit and it doesn't hurt as bad to walk. My calf is insanely tight though.

3. The Greve. Normally I don't like them because that means limited public transit. However, this time we got lucky. We went to see if the tram was working and all the sudden this guy started talking to us and said that he loves to talk with people about religion. We have a rendez-vous this Wednesday :)

2. LDS-Fest. Even though that acronym means nothing to French people, they still decided to use it as the title for this music festival/stake activity. Our ami Lokonda who came to church a couple weeks ago was supposed to come and didn't. However, Ibtissem, who we contacted at the plan of salvation a couple weeks ago came and enjoyed a lovely church tour given by myself, Soeur Curran, and Xavier. After the church tour, Ibtissem and Xavier talked in the hall for like an hour and then came in to enjoy the music. Xavier just talked to her about how great the gospel is and taught her the law of chastity. She told us that she could come to church yesterday, but then she didn't...we're hoping she comes to FHE tonight!

1. Xavier, always the number one in our lives. This week he led the DMP meeting and was a champ. He also gave a talk yesterday at church that was so good. It was about making choices and he was like "we're all baptized and we promised to keep the commandments, so let's keep them." He also quoted scriptures from his brand new triple combination that he LOVES. He even marked it a bit :)
The world cup; this last week Algeria played America and we received a call from the office that we were to not tell anyone that we were American that night and avoid Algerian areas. Porting during a game is either a terrible idea or a brilliant idea. We went during the Portugal/Brasil game and everyone told us they couldn't talk to us and to come back later. Hopefully at that later time they will want to hear the gospel :)

love you all!

camille

p.s. Jolisa, if you read this, write me a letter!

2010-06-27T20:55:00.000-07:00