Bonjour from the south y'all! Really though, it is SO cool here. Not temperature wise...I totally lucked out with getting sent to a relatively warm place for Winter. But Montpellier is so legit! We had SUCH a busy week! White-washing is super tiring, but it's the best feeling in the world to be so busy every minute of every day. So, my dear companion and I have both agreed that God sent us here to learn humility. Because, we both had spent our last 4 transfers in our "bleu villes" and had gotten mighty comfy and cozy, thinking we knew missionary work in and out. Boy, were we wrong! Montpellier is 10 times bigger than both of our last villes, and the work here is just booming. We've really had to take a step back and re-figure out how to be missionaries, because this is a totally different environment, with totally different needs. We have been going, going, going all week long. Trying to figure out how trams and trains and buses all work in this giant ville is super confusing, but we're slowly getting the hang of it. We spend so much time on public transportation that we have to do a lot of our basic contacting on teaching on those now. It's hard to go out of your comfort zone and try to talk to complete strangers on a tram or something, because it's like taboo to talk on public transportaion. The French are very private when they're in public, but very public when they're in private, if that makes sense. In their homes they talk to you for hours, but in public settings, no one even makes eye contact with each other. So, that's taken some getting used to. We also have a very big teaching pool here, mixed with an American-sized ward, mixed with lots of inactives and recent converts. Trying to balance out our time for all of these groups of people takes some really careful planning. Nothing is close together here, and so we've spent a lot of time studying maps, getting lost, searching for places, getting lost, making tons of calls asking questions, and getting lost. Haha it's quite an adventure. But we're slowly learning. The people here are the BEST though! I didn't think I had any room left in my heart, because the people of Chambéry had taken up all the space, but the really cool thing is that I've found that God blesses His missionaries with abnormally expansive hearts. I didn't know I even had the capacity to love so many people so much! Our ward was so welcoming, and just adores the missionaries. They are super involved and always want to help us. Our ward mission leader loves P90x so he even has workout class at the church every week that we invite amis to, and there's always a huge turn-out. It's great. We got to teach some incredible people as well this week. There are tons of students here going to the university, and so many of them are open and willing to learn. We taught this awesome girl named Tongin from China, and another named Flora from La Réunion, and they are the coolest people ever! They are so close to accepting the gospel. Also, the dearest family in the world, the Munazis, from the Congo, are some of my favorite people here. The whole family is members, except for the mom. When we went over there they just gave us so much food and wanted us to skype all their relatives with them and just loved the crap out of us. She told us we have to call her mama, which we gladly accepted. Sorry mom, I currently have an Albanian mom and now an African mom as well. Haha, you'll just have to share me :) I just feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many loving people! She told us she knows she needs to get baptized, she's just waiting for the right missionaries to come along who she can tell want her to get baptized because they sincerely love her and want what's best for her, not just for their own recognition. So, we just love her. And she's so easy to love! As is everyone here. As we approach Christmas, everyone please take some time to reflect what it is that you can give to Christ this Christmas. Can you be a little nicer to your siblings? Can you read your scriptures more often? Can you pray with more sincerity? Can you share your testimony with someone else? There are so many simple things you can do that will make such a big difference! Take advantage of this time of year! I love what I am doing so much! And did I mention that this Friday I will be seeing David Archuleta in concert in Bordeaux? President Roney's Christmas present to us all :) I'm pretty stoked! Have a wonderful week!! Love, Soeur Shields
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