Bonjour à tous!! 

Christmas was wonderful! the members absolutely spoiled us! It was a beautiful last Christmas in France! 

This week things were pretty slow because everyone was on vacation so Saturday we ended up doing five hours of finding and we didnt have any success at all. Until we were walking back to the metro on our way home. We ran into Yixaun, a beautiful chinese girl on exchange. We taught about God and prayer and asked if she wanted to learn more, she said she wasnt sure because she came from a Buddhist background and that's what was familiar to her but then we said a prayer with her and after we finished she said i want to learn more! can you come over! we were like uh yes. So we got her number and we are calling her after the holidays. I am so excited! The whole day was worth it just to meet Yixuan, she was so sincere and so open and just so awestruck with the idea that God exists and He was her loving Heavenly Father. I cant wait to teach her! 

Later that night we taught our family in Tourcoing. Ornelly and her two sons just eat up everything we tell them. They asked soo many questions about God. Cameron the younger one, asked me how he could know God actually existed. it was so neat to teach that little boy about prayer and that God would really answer him, it was such a cool experience to teach that little family how much God loves them and wants them to be happy. I cant wait for them to be baptized. 

Yesterday evening we went porting and we met the nicest people! Everyone in that neighborhood rejected us so kindly I wasnt even sad! And we met a cute little Christian family that let us in for a few minutes. We tried to teach them about the retab but Anderson, the father straight out told us that we were wrong and there was no wrong God would call another prophet and give us more scripture. Immediately I prayed thinking, i dont want to argue with this man but I have to tell him what I know to be true! Sr. Walton and I were both praying the whole time that we would be able to say what needed to be said without being argumentative. Thankfully, Heavenly Father really blessed us and it was actually really cool! I felt the Spirit working through me and I was able to testify and share scriptures with the family. They were so kind and we felt the Spirit so strongly and I pray they did too, we left them with our card and some brochures and maybe bit by bit their hearts will be softened. I am so grateful for opportunities to share my testimony with others and to be an instrument in God's hands. 

This year has been so beautiful. I was in Angers, Tours, Liege and V D'ascq. I spent my time with the most wonderful companions, members and amies. I met people I will never be able to forget and have had experiences that have compltely changed me. I feel so blessed to have spent the entire year as a servant of the Lord in France and Belgium, I am so changed by my mission and I am so so grateful for that. I am so happy that I have been to learn to rely on the Atonement of the Savior, to truly learn to speak with God through prayer and how to love people better. It has been an absolutely amazing year that has totally changed and fortified me. And I am excited to spend the next few months as a missionary too :) 

I am so grateful for each of you, for your support, your love and your prayers. I am so grateful to have people cheering me on and praying for my succes, it means so so much to me. God is so kind to put so many wonderful people in my life. 

je vous aime tous! avec beaucoup d'amour soeur alicia hawkes