"Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour!

"Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour!
There goes the baker with his tray, like always..."

Name that movie. ;)

I sing that song a lot here. My companions and I have singing time in the shower. Our favorites are Les Miserables, The Lion King, Come thou Fount, and Mulan.

Well...God really loves his missionaries. :) This past week I realized that I have a really hard time forgiving myself. I have an awful habit of thinking about embarrassing or stupid moments in my life, and cringing over them. WHY?? So stupid. I didn't even realize I had this problem until I was thinking about a ward I lived in last summer, and some unpleasant feelings I had of outsiderness and awkwardidity. I had just broken up with a serious boyfriend, and was feeling super insecure and needed friends. Whenever I thought about that time, I would just cringe. I just wanted to be able to let those sad, hurtful moments go. I wanted to remember them no more. I didn't know what to do about it other than pray, so I just asked Heavenly Father to help me let go of those feelings and move on. Well...this week I ran into 2 different boys I knew in that ward. 2 boys who I always felt didn't like me and thought I was a weirdo. 2 boys who I always wanted to be friends with. They always seemed to fit into that ward so well and everyone loved them. I talked to both for a bit and both of them told me in the course of our conversations that they never felt like they belonged in that ward, they hated it too, and that they think I'm awesome and that France is perfect for me. WHAT?? I didn't need that. I could have lived just fine. I could've found other ways to move on. But luckily I have a Father in Heaven who is so merciful and kind and sends tender mercies my way to make sure I know he's got my back. :) 

 

I got a blessing last week from Elder Brockbank in my dictrict. I didn't know this until after, but it was his first blessing. And..IT WAS PERFECT. It always blows my mind that God speaks to me the exact same way, no matter who gives the blessing. God knows you. Personally. :) One thing I realized is that God always tells me that I have the spirit. Just a reminder. "You have the spirit, stop doubting it." "You have the spirit, go forth and preach the gospel with boldness." I think God knows I freak out too much about whether or not I have the spirit. Working on that.

I don't remember if I thanked you for the food you sent me, so THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FOOD MOM!! :) My companions say thank you too! It might have saved our lives when they served "roast beef." 

I have discovered you can sing the song "Jospeh Smith's first prayer" to the tune of "Come thou fount of every blessing." IT'S MIND-BLOWINGLY BEAUTIFUL.

[Mom insert-- I put two versions of that song here--Yes, it's beautiful]

Here is another version on Youtube

Alors... we had our very last French class on Saturday. GAAHH!! :D Je parle le francais courrement. (I speak French fluently.) Just kidding. I'm not fluent. But from here on out it's just review, so now I can focus more on memorizing and less on being nervous my brain can't hold anymore. Our teacher told us that we just packed in 5 years worth of High School French. So that's why I felt like I was being fed with a fire hydrant. haha

We finally covered all the tenses. My brain is bursting with passe compose, imparfait, futur simple, subjonctif, and conditional. I use the Mickey Mouse theme song to remember the endings. "-a-i-s! -a-i-s! -a-i-t! -i-o-n-s! -i-e-z! -a-i-e-n-t! imparfait! (conditional!) imparfait! (conditional!)" Works like a charm.

Temple Walk with my district

 

We had a substitute teacher for a day, and she was amazing. Her name is Soeur Scott. She said we were going to read Le Livre de Mormon together. She asked us each to write down a question that has been weighing on our mind. I didn't know what to write...but finally put "How can I stop caring about what other people think of me?" I doubted it could be answered from us reading in the Book of Mormon, but it was the only thing I could think of. We began reading in 3 Nephi 19, and it was SO amazing. The spirit was there so strongly and I was looking at this chapter in a different way than ever before. SuddenlySoeur Scott stopped us and said "You know... Jesus Christ was never popular. He was acquainted with grief." BAM. Then part of a song popped into my head... "The Son of God hath descended below all things. Art thou greater than He?" WHOA. Hit me like a ton of bricks. I LOVE how quickly my prayers are answered as a missionary.

Thank you, Mom, for all of the wonderful pictures and quotes! I have them hung all over my bed and stuck into my scriptures. :) And all your letters are BEAUTIFUL. Elder Lago asked me if you worked for Hallmark. haha

Happy Anniversary, Jasmyn and Marc Nehring! :)

And Happy Father's Day, Daddy. :) I miss Daddy hugs and your always right advice.

Giselle-- Thank you so much for your cute letters. They make me cry. You are learning so young these amazing lessons it took me FOREVER to learn. :) I love you, booger brain. Can you please send me that "ugly" picture? :) I realized I never got one of just us. :/

[Mom insert--here is the picture, in case you don't read the Bradley Fams blog]