P-Day Eve party with Soeur Hafen on exchanges! And yes those are real French crepes that we made!

                                   Soeur Hafen and I on exchanges! I love her so much! She taught me so many wonderful things!

                                    FRANCE! I live here! Seriously I still can't believe I live in such a beautiful place! 

Bonjour à tous!

It was so wonderful to talk to you on Wednesday! I was nervous that I would be more homesick when I had to say goodbye but I prayed all week that saying goodbye would be a really positive experience and Heavenly Father really answered my prayer! Seeing your faces and hearing your voices and feeling your love and support was the best! It was so encouraging to me to talk with you, and I hope I was able to express to you how happy I am here! At times it is very very difficult but at the end of everyday I go to bed with a smile on my face knowing that I am doing the Lord's work, happy as can be! And I really hope you were able to see that and that you don't worry about me too much :)

Christmas was lovely. At first I wanted the Christmas season to jet by because it made me a little homesick but then I was able to really learn and understand the significance of Christmas. It was a really special Christmas season as we spent our days testifying to everyone the reason for Christmas which is our Savior!  My first Christmas away from home was one of the best ever! I was able to testify Christmas Eve and Christmas day of our Savior and share my testimony that He really is the Prince of Peace!! It made Christmas that much more special :) I couldn't have asked for anything more! Plus the members here and my companion are just like my family so it was the best Christmas I could have hoped for here in France!!

Thank you so much for all the gifts! Make sure to tell Grandma that we are thoroughly enjoying the four boxes of cereal!! All the food is great :) Thanks so much!!! I love the Idaho key chain, it made me laugh so hard! But the best gift was of course talking to you!

This coming week will be super strange. Tomorrow we are having a small party here at the church with everyone for New Year's and then Wednesday is a P-day so we'll go to Bishop's house with the Elders and hang out. Then Friday we're going to Paris again!! I get to go do legality! Woot. So we won't have a lot of time to find new amies :( we'll just have to be really efficient with the time we do have! 

We had the coolest experience this weekend! We've been doing Christmas contacting, where we just offer to sing Christmas songs for people and share the Spirit. Well Friday night we were in a neighborhood porting and we had been going for about an hour, getting rejected left and right! We knock on the next door, explained what we were doing and the lady was very skeptical, after some hesitation she said well if all you do is sing then you can come in, I don't want to talk about religion or anything. So she, Isabelle, let us in. We talked for a little bit, about our missions, and what we were doing there, all that and then sat down and sang. The Spirit was so strong as we sang Silent Night, and Away in a Manger, even though the high notes were a bit of a challenge. It was wonderful, she smiled the whole time after we asked if we could leave with a prayer. I asked the names of everyone in her family, and she mentioned they had lost a son five years ago. The grief on her face was heartbreaking as she explained that things are very difficult in her family now and her husband refuses to believe in God anymore. So I was able to say a prayer for her and her family and after she said a prayer for us too. In the middle of her prayer she began to cry and struggled to finish. At the end Soeur Foster testified to her of eternal families and the peace one can find in God's plan. It was incredible. The Spirit was so strong!! We left her with our card and invitation to come to church. As we were leaving she gave us a book of quotes and scriptures. She was so sweet and she kissed goodbye still crying. I know that we were sent to that house that night. Everyone else had said  no but Heavenly Father knew that Isabelle needed us and I am so glad that were able to show her God's love and share the Spirit it was a wonderful miracle!

I love being a missionary!!! It is the best thing in the world to testify all the time, to feel the Spirit so strongly, to be an answer to people's prayers and an instrument in God's hands! I am so grateful I chose to serve a mission! It is most definitely the best decision I ever made and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for letting me be here! 

Quote for the week: "You only live with regrets if you don't learn from your mistakes"

 I love you all!! Thank you so much for your love and support!

Happy New Year's!!!!!

Avec Amour,

Sœur Hawkes