Four Months Till Death, January 14, 2013

heyyyyy! how is everyone this lovely 14th day of January? Can you believe that in four months I will be HOME?!?!? I cannot believe it. Time is seriously flying by!

I love you all so much and was very happy to get on and see all of your emails today and have some fun pictures and videos to look at! Thank you so much.

So the biggest news... WHERE IN THE WORLD IS SISTER ADDIS? Still in Grenoble! Still with Sr Klingaman. Clearly the Lord has some more work for me to do here and some more things that I need to learn from Soeur Klingaman. I am happy. I love this ward. And actually my whole district stayed the same so its kind of nice to have more time all together. Elder Hughes will be going home at the end of the transfer so we are enjoying helping him finish out strong! Also I dont know if I already said this but this transfer will only be five weeks long. So in about a month we will have transfers again. Kind of crazy I know.

So today I think I am feeling good because I am in jeans...we are going to do some service right after emails. I must say it is super weird to be in public in jeans. I am not used to having something to thick around my legs and supporting my butt. However looking at myself I look so normal. Its weird.

Second biggest news from this week. I burned my hand. Bad. It is healing fast. Really fast. I am shocked that the Lord is helping it heal so fast. Mom is probably freaking out. I am fine. I will explain my very blonde moment. So it was our dinner hour and I was working on making home made envelopes because I wasnt really that hungry. Well while I was in the study room I didnt realize that Soeur Klingaman was cooking something on the stove. So about a half hour later I went in and decided I was a little hungry and was going to make something. I saw that something was in the oven but I was very confused as to why the stove top was so warm. I lightly touched the back right burner and thought to myself, wow the oven makes our stove top really hot. Then I touched the front right burner and SCORCHED my hand off. At first I was just like holy freak and shook my hand. Then I realized it was really hot and put my hand under water. I was being super impatient so I decided I would hold a glass water bottle that was in the fridge, while I continued to work on my dinner. Well so this was at about 8:30. Needless to say I slept with my hand attached to the glass water bottle because it was still burning at 10:30 when going to bed.

Unfortunately it was my right hand. So of course the next day at church when all the men put out their right hand to shake mine I had to explain that I could not shake their hand because I had burned mine. So when all the ladies in the ward found out they all asked me what I had done and what I had done to take care of it. I told them and then as in response to some I learned some home remedies to take care of burns. It was pretty funny. Well the best part was the bishops wife. She is wonderful, and I love her. She got mad at me for not calling her and asking her to bring things from home to help heal my burns. Because she and several other women were very worried about my hand she decided that we were leaving church to go to the pharmacy. Haha. It was more dramatic than it should have been but it was amazing to see how much the members here love and care for their missionaries.

Like i said. My hand is healing very fast. There is nothing to worry about:) I am pretty sure the prayers that have been said and the creme i have been applying constantly are taking care of it.

Another funny story from church yesterday. It was at the end of Relief Society and the first counselor had the ladies who had birthdays that week stand. Well one was an old lady, Soeur Reine Mollard, that will be turning 86? Well after saying happy birthday to them Reine said, Can I ask for something for my birthday? And with a chuckle the counselor said, Yes of course! Then Reine said, will you all sing happy birthday to me? Haha. It was so sweet. I guess it had been a long time since she had had someone sing her Joyeux Anniversaire.

Another good story from yesterday, but a little more spiritual. So a inactive women in our ward died last week. The Bishop is in charge of the funeral and he asked us to bring the hymnal to her husband so that he can see the songs that were selected to be sung. Of course we would tell him that we would be more than happy to do it. So we took down the address and found our way there. Well it was around 6 oclock and it was already dark. The family also actually lives in what we call a "red zone". An area that is a little more dangerous. <meaning a muslim neighborhood> The bishop told us that they lived near a bad area but he said that where they live is fine. Well it wasnt fine. It was right next to the bad neighborhood and it was dark and scary. In france the street signs are awful and you have to walk half a block before you can find out if you are actually on the right street. So we were doing this trying to find their apartment building. The first building we saw was 29, so normally that meant that the building 14 would be on the other side of the street and more south. We kept walking south but could not find the building 14. I then felt that we needed to go back and look at the building that was closest to us. I told Soeur Klingaman this and she asked, "Why?" Its true it probably didnt seem logical but instead of arguing I just said, "Because I feel like it." So she accepted and we started walking towards the building. Well as we were walking up the stairs we saw the number 14! It was our building. I realized then that even though it was not a huge profound feeling of inspiration, it was the Spirit, working with me in its quite whispers. We could have been wandering around forever in the cold, dark and not so great area, but because I listened to the Spirit, we were protected and able to get the things done we needed. What a wonderful blessing.

So fam bam, I dont have much left to say. Told you all of my good stories for the week. Still loving life and loving the mish. I love helping people. It brings me such happiness to focus on others more than myself. What are some of your goals for 2013?

Sorry no pictures again this week because we are at the internet cafe again. Maybe next week?

Love you to pieces, all of you, even the dogs.

Soeur Kimberly Addis

It's Chopstick Week!, January 7, 2013

Sooooo. This week Tom will turn 34? And Addison is turning 3! Wow what a wonderful week it will be for the steeles! Happy Birthday to the two of you, I love you both very much and wish you a wonderful year!

I know you are probably wondering what my subject line means. Heres the explanation. Saturday afternoon I go into the kitchen preparing something to eat before starting my fast. I go to grab a fork and low and behold there are only chopsticks... So I say to my companion, very funny, where is the silverware? She then replies in excitment, Sr Addis, its chopstick week!!

Well what does that mean? That means that Soeur Klingaman has hidden all of our silverware and that we have to use chopsticks anytime we eat. If you are my family and you remember me loving eating with chopsticks, you have an awful memory. I hate chopsticks. I could never get it to position right on my fingers. Knowing how much I hate this and how I am supposed to learn and grow on a mission I decided not to argue or beg for the silverware but to be a good sport and try it. Well the first meal was no problem. I was eating rice... This morning however when eating cereal was a little more bothersome. Oh well. I refuse to argue anymore. I am learning humility everyday and to stop doing the things I want to do even if I believe I am right. I will probably be a pro at the end of the week of eating with chopsticks. P.S. its kind of a work out for my hand.

Mom asked about Pierre. No we havent been able to see him yet. He got called into work the day we were supposed to meet with him. The other guy from the bus Fatah. We met with him the other day. Talked about who we are and why we are here, what his expectations are and why he wants to learn more, also learning about him and his background. What we like to call a lecon 0. Anyway. He is a muslim Algerian man that has been trying to get to the United States for the last several years. Well he wants to go to NYC and I guess I made him a little envious by saying that I grew up and live not too far from there. Sunday he surprisingly came to church and he was sitting next to Sr. Klingaman. I was sitting infront of her and kept hearing him say when does the meeting end, I want to talk to you. Well so after the meeting ended we went into a room to find out what he wanted to talk about. He looks at me and says, Addis (sometimes people say Addis because they think it is my first name), you are from New Jersey right? Close to NY? Well when you get home can you send me an invitation so I can get a visa to come to the US? Haha I was so shocked. It was not what I was expecting at all. Sr. Klingaman told him that I would be going back to school, I wouldnt be in NJ and that it doesnt work that way in the US. I dont know if it was a lie or not. I dont know how it works in the US, but it makes a funny story.

Hm. So another thing about this week. It was New Years. Well after we did emails we were at the church and the bishop invited us to stay and eat dinner with the Single Adults and then we would go home before the dancing began. You would think we were privleged to stay but I honestly wanted to throw up. We started by eating olives, gross. Then the meal came out, a little salad with RAW salmon, and fois gras. For translation of fois gras, stuffed duck liver. Sick huh? I can not find a better way to describe it than by saying canned dog food. And you just eat it on a piece of toast. Oh my word I could not stomach it. I gave Sr. Klingaman some of my salmon and then spread the smallest amount of fois gras on some toast. Luckily we had to run and catch our bus, dommage, I couldnt finish my meal!

We also had an exchange this week. It was great. I was with Sr. Pfost, who is serving in Lyon. We were here in Grenoble and had two lessons. One with Vaber and one with Dan. Vaber's lesson was great. He realized during our lesson that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it is just as important as the Bible. HUGE DEAL. He was sitting there taking notes about everything we were saying and his feelings. Super cool. For Dan it was the first time we had seen him in a while because he has been traveling. It went well also. We taught out the apostasy and did a little time line with him on the white board so he could better understand. He liked it. He just got back from sweden, and seeing the Northern Lights. That is something I would love to do one day!!

Anyway. This is the last week of the transfer. I could be emailing you from a different place next week. Or we could be staying together for another transfer. Who knows. Next transfer however is only five weeks long. Mom had sent information from Elder Adams. I know TONS of sisters are coming in in April and May. It will be insane!

Not much time left, nor much to say. I will have to send some pictures next week. I am on a random computer in an internet cafe so i dont want to get a virus on my sd card.

Love you all. Pray for you everyday. Tell me if there is anything in particular that I can pray for.

xoxo,

Sister Kimberly Addis

Happy NEW Year, December 31, 2012

Salutations family.


Sounds like everyone had a good week. Relaxing full of laughs and love and time with the family. Its what Christmas is mostly about. Cool. Well I had a good week. More growing, its good for me. Had a cool experience that I wrote about to President Roney so I may just be doing the wonderful copy paste right now.

Lately I have been feeling like I have been having a really hard time feeling the spirit and that I havent really been an instrument of the Lord. It was really really getting to me, I may have cried about it a time or two. Anyway, yesterday I had an incredible very sacred experience. It was something that I have never experienced before. We were doing personal study and it was getting towards the end of the hour. I was reading in Daughters of My Kingdom when I thought of an ami that we have that lives just down the road from us. I had a very strong prompting to call her. I did just that but there was no response... I deceided that maybe it was just in my head. Then, not even two minutes later I felt a very strong prompting, as if someone were speaking to me, say, Go to her apartment. I thought I was going crazy. She didnt answer her phone, she wasnt really a progressing ami and we were at the point of dropping her. I told Soeur Klingaman about my feelings and she said okay lets go. So we cut our studies a little short and we got our coats on to leave. I was not in any hurry until I felt this same voice saying "dépêchez-vous" (hurry up). I then told Sister Klingaman about this and we started moving faster, almost jogging down our road to this amis home. When we arrived she was not home. I was so confused. How could she not be home. I had these promptings telling me very clearly exactly what I needed to do. Was I really making it all up in my head? Am I seriously that bad at feeling the spirit? We left the building and started for the tram to go to a less actives home. On the way there Sister Klingaman contacted a man that did not let her speak very much but he was telling her why we need a restoration and that the true church of Jesus Christ has been lost and changed. I was not right next to her for the contact so I dont know much else about what was said but they exchanged numbers and we will hopefully be seeing him and his family in the coming week. Maybe I did listen to exactly what the spirit was telling us to go to Esthers house but maybe it wasnt Esther we needed to see. It was the fact that we were in the right place at the right time to meet Pierre. I dont know what will come of this but I do know that Heavenly Father has us do things that we do not always understand. We must be willing to listen and obey the promptings of the spirit. That is when true miracles occur.

I have been praying for miracles to happen very fervently lately. Today another cool experience happened. Actually about an hour ago. We were getting off at the bus stop to come to the church to do our emails. We were in the back of the bus and the same time we got off a man got off the front of the bus and he said, hey! you're missionaries right? I wont lie, I was kind of like oh no, whats he going to try and argue about... but he didnt he told us that he was taught by the missionaries a little over a year ago and that he really liked it. We asked him if he would like to learn again with us and he said yes. Wow miracles! I love that when we pray for something and the Lord knows that we are truly waiting for the response he will give it to us but if we are not ready to receive hes not going to give us anything!

Um so Sister Klingaman likes to right down the stupid stuff I say, since I have nothing left to tell you, I will share some of my famous quotes.
"its funny how that light can turn me on... um... i mean... its funny how turning that light on can wake me up..."
"I've never had zucchini with bread....oh you mean zucchini bread?"
" I dont want to get married right after my mission, but I dont want to be single forever. I'll just live with my parents"

Well I must admit. I think I have become more blonde on my mission. Or maybe its just more apparent to me. Who knows. Either way, I am learning and thats the point of missions right?!

Sorry I dont have any inspiring words to welcome in the new year! Someone watch the ball drop for me! I will be sleeping like a little baby. No fun parties or anything tonight. We are not allowed.

Love to you all!
Soeur Kimberly Addis
     

A Demain (: [until tomorrow], December 24, 2012

How are you all?! I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve and enjoying time with each other. I am missing you but taking in this wonderful experience of being a missionary at Christmas time in FRANCE. Do you realize how cool that is? Sometimes I reflect on how super blessed I am to be serving my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ and I look at where I am, in France and I am dumb founded. I just live in France, no big deal. Anyway I dont want to brag and make you all jealous. One France we will all come here, it will be just like Home Alone 2, without leaving someone in NYC. That would be cool huh? Speaking of Home Alone I have so much to tell you.

Okay so this week. It was super. We were in Geneva, oh my word how I love that city. I was able to see Myriam and Eduardo. They even gave me a little christmas gift, super sweet. It was a day full of laughs, love, and missionaries. We were so many and my favorite part may have been hanging out with the Tahitian Elders, while waiting for the train, and singing and playing guitar, man they can sing. And then of course seeing Eduardo and Myriam was wonderful too. Eduardo and I had a nice little chat about his testimony and some things that he is having problems with. It breaks my heart, but I know that while I was there I did all I could and I know that he had a testimony when he was baptized, but there is no way that I can do anything about his free agency. So yeah then in Geneva we even had time to go to the swatch store and then buy some swiss chocolate, I had left over francs. President gave us aprons with the mission logo on it and then everyone signed each others. Apparently this is something he did in his mission many years ago here in France and he wanted us to have the same thing. Then he also gave us cds that have the approved music we are allowed to listen too, a little bit more than before, it is pretty much all MOTAB and instrumental. I am so sick of MOTAB already, I will never want to listen to it when I am home. Also we were given a cd pictures that all the missionaries sent in, so thats kind of cool, I still have yet to see what is actually on it. Mom I got your packages, one from the office and then the stocking stuffer one actually arrived today so I will open that tomorrow. After we leave here, we are at the church, we will be going to the Lala Hariniaina's for Christmas eve. The Elders had no where to go so I made Mel invite them. Haha. So we will be there tonight, and guess what. I asked President if we could watch a movie with them because that is their family tradition and he said yes. So we will be watching HOME ALONE! Only my favorite Christmas movie. It will be super funny to watch in French though. I am excited, if you cant tell.

So now that I just got all my Christmas jitters out I have a cool story to tell you.

So this past week was kind of weird. I was feeling not very missionary like. We had two lessons last monday and then nothing on tuesday or wednesday or THURSDAY. It was so slow. Then friday we finally had a lesson with Vaber. I think I have told you about him. He has been an interesting ami. Very different from anyone I have ever taught. Well any way, since Soeur Klingaman got here he has become more humble and more willing to do what we ask. He has even stopped smoking and some other commandment breaking. He is really progressing. At our lesson before we even started he asked how baptism was done in the Mormon church. I was surprised. We had already talked a couple times about this and he has always said that he was already baptized he doesnt need to be again. Well after presenting him the baptismal font and talking about how it worked we sat back down and he asked about if he needed to be baptized a second time. We read several scriptures with him and talked about how a baptism must be done. It was super cool. At the end of our lesson after talking about the 10 commandments and the law of chastity, he asked if he was ready to be baptized mormon. I was shocked. VABER? Asking to be baptized mormon? We told him that unfortunately he was not yet ready but that it would come. Long story short I really saw that very day how the gospel of Jesus Christ changes people. It is so incredible. I love this gospel so much and I am so grateful that I have commandments from my Heavenly Father to guide me to be happy and return to live again with Him someday.

Another blurb. This morning I reread the talk from President Uchtdorf The Merciful obtain Mercy. It is so good. Please read it again. Especially as we are in the Christmas spirit. It is a great time to forgive others and show them our love. Also with New Years coming I have already made a resolution to no longer gossip about people, even if what I am saying is true! Hopefully you are all enjoying yourselves and having a wonderful Christmas! I love you all so much and cannot wait to see you tomorrow, via Skype :)

Love,
Sister Addis

It's the Most WONDERFUL Time of the Year, December 17, 2012

Can you believe just a week until it is Christmas eve! It came so fast. I am loving the spirit of Christmas and loving being a missionary at this very special time of year.

For some business. This is what is going down in a week. We will be able to do some emails next week but wanted to get everything organized now. Christmas Eve we will be at the Lala Hariniaina household. We will celebrate until the wee hours of the night, we are allowed to be out till 11:30. Then Christmas Day we will be going to their home around noon for a Christmas Day meal and love, and then going to an American families home, the Davis' around 4 pm. There we will be with the Elders and the Davis's and we will skype and or call our families. Being my considerate self I thought that Skyping the family at 7:30 pm FRANCE TIME would be good for the rest of you, including the Steele family on the west coast. Remember I am six hours ahead of EST, 8 ahead of MST and 9 ahead of PST. Tell me if this needs to change. Mom I need the information with the card again, especially how to call from outside the US. Please fill me in on this. Thanks. Brother and Sister Davis' asked that whoever we are going to call on skype request their skype name so that we do not need to sign on to our own skype account. Dont ask why, I dont really understand either, but its their computers so I am not arguing. They gave their emails for this so that they are easy to find.

 

I think that is it about that. Let me know by next week any questions that you have already thought of and I can try to have them ready to answer so that time is not wasted. I only have an hour. I am very excited to see you all. Dont be surprised if I cry my eyes out, Its been a REALLY long time. Also please dont make fun of my english. I dont speak that well.

So about this week. It has been good. A growing week for myself. Its going to be a growing transfer. I am learning a lot about myself. Because Sister Klingaman and I are the same age in the mission the talk of ends of the mission seems to come up more often than any of my other companions. I will be totally honest and say that I am really scared of life after the mission, School, Marriage, Family. I dont like to think about it. But each week during companion inventory I ask my companion to give me one thing I can work on. Soeur Klingaman has asked me to get more excited about marriage. So following through on my commitment I read a talk this morning about Becoming Goodly Parents, by Elder Perry. It was great. I really loved how he gives clear examples of things we should do to become better parents and to strengthen our families. I know that my mission is preparing me for marriage, and raising a family in the gospel. I am so grateful for my mission. I will be very sad to no longer have the missionary spirit with me when I am released.

Enough of that. Things with our amis are good. Julien is still progressing. This is our last week with him before the Christmas Vacation so we really need to make sure he is feeling the spirit and ready to be on his own for two weeks without anyone telling him what to do or without his normal things that help him to be close to the Lord. Dan our wonderful Chinese friend was in Poland this week for a Conference but he was at church yesterday and we will see him tonight before he leaves for another Conference in Sweden. It still boggles my mind that we are so close to all these countries that it is no big deal to travel to Sweden or other countries. Vaber is going. Quit smoking, as far as we know, and becoming more humble.

This past weekend was the Ward Christmas Party. It was great. I truly love this ward so much. Saturday before the party all of us missionaries went out with ward members to go visit less actives and sing Christmas Carols. It was such a wonderful time. I loved being with the Bishop and other members and feeling the spirit of Christmas together. On Wednesday we are going to GENEVA!! We will be having our Christmas Zone Conference there, The zones of Lyon, Geneve and Lausanne will all be there. It is going to be so great! I am also going to email Eduardo, Miryam, Tatiana and Soeur Spirig to tell them I will be there and hopefully will get to see them! Especially Eduardo and Miryam, I heard they were having a hard time. Its going to be a great week. I am sure I will have some good stories for you when we talk.

Mom asked about Christmas Decorations here. I think its better in the US. Maybe I am biased, but I miss the US for Christmas. It might just be that I am a missionary too and I the only Christmas music I get to listen to is MoTab but either way its great. People do say Happy Holidays here. There are tons of Muslims, Jews, JW and all that so there is still reason to say it. Plenty of people that do not celebrate Christmas.

This is getting long and I am running out of goods to tell you. We are emailing early today because we will be going to a Castle and to visit some historic sites today, one of which is a Napolean statue. Anyway. I hope you all have a great week and remember to love the missionaries in your wards. Its not a very easy time to be away from home.

Love,

Sister Kimberly Addis

Elders Are My Life Savers, December 12, 2012

The elders here are the best. I dont know what I would do if I was in a ville without elders.

Soooo. its been a good week. Minus the fact that I am super sick at the moment. At least I was able to keep from getting sick so that we could sing for the funeral and for relief society on sunday. Not like any of us are super good but aparently it sounded good all together. The funeral was great. Brother M. was a divorced man almost 67 years old. He has two kids, a son and a daughter, and both are not active. His ex-wife apparently still lives here in Grenoble but I dont know if she was even at the funeral. I was also told that it has been quite some time since the daughter had talked to her father and only recently Ben, the son started talking to his father again. Yesterday at Church the Bishop reminded us that we never know when our loved ones are going to leave this world and that we should ALWAYS show each other the kind of love that the other person deserves. It was a pretty eye opening experience to me that I want to be nice the everyone so that if anyone every dies I will have good memories with them and that they know before they part that I love them. I love you very much, all of you!

Christmas is coming fast, in two short weeks we will be skyping. How wonderful it feels to prepare to see your faces again. It has been a long time and I am very excited. Still not sure exactly what time we will be skyping on Christmas day but that will be more fixed next week I believe. I think we might be going to the Lala Hariniaina's both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Here the bigger event is Christmas Eve, with a huge feast and all your family together. It will be really funny to experience a French Christmas.

Updates on our investigators. Julien is still doing really really well. He comes to church, family home evening, institute, and we have rdvs with his about three times a week. Last week we taught him the Law of Chastity and he accepted it so easily. He said that it was kind of logic, that it made complete sense and that he would follow it. Its amazing how accepting he is to everything we teach him. We are just praying still that he will be able to FEEL the truth. That he will have his own testimony of these things.

Dan is also doing well. He is just so dang busy. We only get to see him about once a week. He understands that he needs to get baptised and wants to he is just trying to learn more before he commits himself.

Our other great ami, Vaber. He is a pill but I love him. On Wednesday I called him to ask if he would be coming to help the ward with there Christmas show. He said he would and so then I asked him if we could see him before or after and he started thinking. He then tried to tell me that he would be making his decision to stay in the Catholic church, that the Mormon church was too hard. It was a total cop out. Anyway I said that we would talk to him at the church and we would see him in a little bit. When we got to the church he still wasnt there yet and in my heart I was just praying that I would be able to say that words of the Lord.

He finally arrived and it was very awkward to try and start the conversation but I knew I had to. I asked him questions to try and better understand where he was coming from. Besides many other things he said that there were too many rules and that he liked having his cigarette whenever he wanted and not feeling guilty and blah blah blah. So I asked him how long his happiness lasted after each cigarette, maybe 15 minutes, he then said not even, maybe 5. I then was able to testify that the commandments that God gives us are so that we can have eternal joy. Not just 5 minutes of pleasure. After proving many points, not in a debating way, I purposed that he take all of our lessons before deciding. That for the next three weeks he really learns what the church is all about and why we have it. He agreed. We had two awesome lessons with him last week. The first one being the Restoration and then the second the first half of the Plan of Salvation. The spirit is working with him. I can see it. I know ultimately it will be his decision but I know what I am here to do and that is to teach people the gospel so that they can have that choice. Please send your prayers this way, for Vaber, Dan and Julien. I know that these are three souls Heavenly Father is longing to have back in his fold. I am more than priviledged to particpate in their journey.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week and are feeling the Spirit of Christmas. We learned yesterday from President Monson that the Spirit of Christmas is sharing the love of Christ. What can you do this Christmas season to share greater charity unto others?

I love you all,
Sister Addis