French Fried (Letter #4)

Bonjour!!

Another week down at the MTC which means we only have a little over 2 weeks before FRANCE!!

French Fried (adj): the state of my brain as it swims in a confused limbo of French, English, scriptures, and all other thoughts.

Ex: at the end of each day I feel like a French Fried sloth.

a French Fried Soeur Jones practicing her memorized scriptures on the door frame. This is admittedly a common practice for us both

Oh yes, speaking of sloths. The other night we were talking to Sister Cochain (from France, serving in temple square). We were practicing our incredible French on her when she suddenly bursts out laughing and says: "Have you seen Zootopia? You guys remind me of the sloths at the DMV when you speak French." hahahah, so funny. Nous aimons Soeur Cochain. So if any of you have been wondering how the language is going, there's your answer lol. But in all reality, we are learning so much every day. Right now we may sound like sloths we're hopeful that one day we will sound closer to French caterpillars. (idk, only thing slightly faster than a sloth I could think of...)

#mishspiration

This week (as all weeks here are) was a huge week of learning and being humbled.

Juan Uceda of the 70 came and spoke for devo on Tuesday and it was SO GOOD. He talked about giving all our heart, might, mind and strength to God so we can SEE ourselves serving Him (D+C 4:2). He focused on the word see, because as we give more of ourselves we will literally be able to see God more in our lives. I love that thought and it made me realize I need to be better about giving everything that I have to God.

Our teacher this week said "give Him your heart and let Him scrub it clean." Scrubbing my heart doesn't sound totally pleasant but I know if I let Him have my heart it will be worth it. I love the analogy of giving Him my heart because my heart is what keeps me alive. It gives blood, oxygen, nourishment to every cell of my being. When my heart is His, I am His. It reminds me of the song, Come Thou Fount: "Here's my heart, oh take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above."

 Soeur Jones and I have been talking a lot about being vulnerable and how much better life is when you just let yourself.   Ripping my heart out and letting it be scrubbed clean (e.g. admitting that I'm wrong and imperfect, accepting rejection, etc) feels pretty vulnerable. But, as SJ said: "we need to trust Jesus Christ enough to be vulnerable." I love that being vulnerable increases our capacity to feel good emotions and bad emotions, which I think slowly helps us become more like Christ. Because he is the only one who understands and has felt every possible emotion.   Soeur Jones said, "This mission is full of moments of vulnerability. By this I mean, sometimes we are asked to do things that feel uncomfortable or push us. Like going to talk to random people in France on a subway about Jesus Christ. Or taking a step forward of faith even when I don't know what lies ahead of me. But when I am following Jesus Christ, and trusting in his wisdom, love, and perspective, I know that thing will work out. It takes courage, faith and humility to trust in God. It really does. But sometimes just taking a step of faith a day at a time is all we can do."

Things I'm working on:
- Being vulnerable and giving Him my heart
- giving Him all my might in my studies (trying to treat French and the scriptures as seriously as I did Biochem)
- Memorizing 3 scriptures in French each week at the MTC
- Remembering that both humility and confidence come from the Savior. I need to yield completely to Him and remember all that I am comes from Him, but I also need to remember that because of Him I can do all things (even learn French). Aka finding confidence in humility.

Other exciting things that have happened this week:

Our district received a package from the best mom in the world (aka mine). THANKS MOM!! (Mom, you better not remove this for the blog...)

Last week Soeur Jones and I were called as Sister Training Leaders for our zone (basically just means we try and make sure all the Sisters in our zone are doing okay and nobody dies). One of the fun things we get to do though is chat with the new missionaries in our zone and give them a tour of the MTC. It was so fun to pretend like we know what we're doing (and they don't know the difference because they just arrived).

Braids by Cami

Soeur Jones' bed is extremely squeaky and whenever she moves it sounds like the world is ending. The French word for horses is cheveaux (I think) and everytime she moves up there we yell cheveaux because it sounds like a pack of horses is on her bed. Maybe you just had to be there, but we find it oddly hilarious hahaha.

In other news: Soeur Jones had a laughing attack in the middle of class and I literally thought she might pass out. We had to leave the room. It's the little things hahaha. Love that we can still be normal people as missionaries!

The elders in our district (esp. Elder Sorenson) have discovered that you can't stand on your heels with your knees locked and jump. Watching them try is one of the funniest things in the world. (see pics/ video)

PS Look up the French only hymn/ lullaby Souviens-toi. One of the prettiest songs ever. We need it in  English.   (Note from Mom:  I looked it up for you....here is the link!)  :)

Je vous aime!! I cannot thank you enough for your letters, prayers, and support.

Love,
Soeur Cami Goold

PS.  Here are some other random pictures:

A video of Cami's MTC  zone singing "Called to Serve" in French!