Week 1 | Pau, France

These are for chasen ther was this race the Grand Prix going on in Pau and all i heard all day was insane engine sounds buzzing around town! There insane cars in town that day i wish i knew the names sorry but i thought of you!!

our study street and a church!

My favorite cereal!

tree!

Study Area!

our view!

our room!

Soeur Cerdhe

the train!

Lyon!

Ahh Ma Famille! I love you so much! First off please forgive me for my spelling, this keyboard is different and it is messing me up haha! 

Wow where do i begin?! I am in Pau (poe) it is a beautiful ville! Full of people ready to hear the message of the restored gospel!! 

These past two weeks have been wild. We got to france after our long journey and President Roney and his wife welcomed us with open arms! They are so wonderful! Because there was so many missionaries coming into france we stayed a a hotel. We were in Lyon until saturday waiting to do some paper work! While we were they they treated us so good. We ate some dang good food, it is good i am not in the office with the president! President Rney had us all over to his house and his wife made us crepes, they were delicious! On thursday i got my area assignment and my companion, my mother! All of us new missionaries 'blues' met at the church and all of the trainers were there, one by one we each opened an envelope with our assignments,, it was like opening a mission call all ovr again! We read the paper and our trainer would run up and hug us! It was so exciting haha! I wish you all cuold have been there for that one!

We went straight out to work after that, lets just say i was dumbfounded, i realized i really didnt know french very quickly ha... The people speak so fast and i seriously could understand make 5 words of what they would say! But it is ok, my ears are adjusting, slowly! THe president told us to just work on the language so much these next 3 months and it will come, but that it will take time!

My companion Soeur Cerdhe is awesome! So has been out 10 months and knows the work. I really really really appreciate all of her help. She is from arizona! Her and i traveled to Pau saturday morning, it was an all day train ride from lyon. We passed through soo mmuch beautiful countryside i really didn't mind how long it took. The only bad part was that both of us had 3 bags a piece.. and we had to transfer trains 3 times! From the beggining i was a little worried if we were going ot be able to do it, but she promised me that the lord would take care of us. Wow she wasnt kidding, between each stop we have 0 seconds to spare and just when we needed 1 last suitcase thrown on the train a man would come out of no where and lift the last heavy bag up for us. It might seem so simple and not a miracle, but here in france that is a miracle. 

Pau, wow, Pau (poe) is wonderful! We live in an apartment with another companionship, soeur Deweesw and Sims, both from utah! They are so sweet! We live on the 13th floor of a big complex, our view is amazing! The only tricky thing about Pau has been the rain, it rains everyday haha.. This missionary freezes but it is ok, it isnt bad! My soul is warm and my spirit is happy! So dont worry!! Since soeur Cedhe and i are both new to the area we are starting from a blank slate we get lost a lot and we are working hard to find people! We met a man named Idress he is about in his 40's and we had our first rendevous with his yesterday! Since it just just us sisters we met him at a cafe to teach him. He thinks my french is funny and helps me out with it. He has an islamic backroundm but isnt practising. He is really great and we will be teaching him more! Im really excited to see how it goes!

On Sunday the bishop had us get up and introduce ourselves to the ward and what not, our ward is so sweet! They just kind of laughed and smiled at me haha, i loved it. There were 94 people at church, so that is big!! I'm really excited to get to know them better and work alot with them. After sacrament a woman came up tp be and said i have a fighters spirit, i hope that is good!

Last night i had my first dinner in a french home! This darling old woman invited us over for dinner. Her name is Mishka Anthian, she actually has a grand daughter serving a mission in the st george temple visitors center, maybe look for her! So this is how my first french meal went, we sat down in the parlor and talked for awhile then she brought out juice and nuts, french juice is way better than it is in america! Then we moved to the dining room and she brought out a salad with hard boiled egges that had raw fish in them? Interesting... but it wasnt bad! Then she made a chicken dish that was soo soo good with pasta, then she brought out the cheese, Dad you would have probably loved it but i was about to die. I of course ate it all, but the smell was so strong and the taste stuck in my mouth all night and it wouldnt go away!! I guess i better get used to that here huh?! After wards she brought out a peach preserve and merangue? It was so goodm she is so nice and peppy! She talks so fast but she tries to help me understand and always corrects me which is a good sign, if the person corrects your french it means they like you!The whole dinner took 2 and a half hours? Which is aginst the rulesm but this was the first times we had been to her house and my companion was a little unsre of what to do.. The meals here i guess are just that waym super long! I was grateful for her though!! We eat very basic other than that! We are poor here in france haha and cant afford to eat anywhere! We just just cereal for breakfastm oatmeal or wheetabix which i love sooo much just like elder halladay does, lunch maybe some rice and vegetables or something and dinner soup or chicken. Pretty simple! So dont be jealous of my cuisine:)! I can't believe how hungry i am here though? I havent put on weight, if anything ive lost it being in Pau (nothing like elder halladay though), something about being a missionary makes me starved haha, it is so bizarre! 

My Pday will be Mondays, yesterday was crazy and we couldn't find anywhere to email so now we are emailing from some cafe? It is expensive so hopefully we can email at a library or something next week! So plan on that! Well family and freinds i am so grateful to be here in Pau! I think about you and pray for you many times a day! 

love and miss you all so much! I am so greatful for you and for your prayers. I love our Hevenly Father and Jesus Christ so much. And i love the people of Pau!

Happy Birthday My dear sister Sadie!!! How old will you be 25?!!! I love you!

Love Soeur Kupfer