I'm a Bleu

[So, as stated before, my sister begins her mission in Belgium. I wanted to make sure her address was the first thing we all see so she gets as many letters as possible.

Soeur Chisholm

23 blvd. d'avory #71

4000 Liège

Belgium

So let’s all make a goal to write Caytee every now and then. Good plan. Now to her letter.]

Holy Cow, I'm in Belgium!! Our flight to Paris was nice and uneventful. I got a whole lot of writing in my journal done. Also, I was sitting in the middle of the plane so I had no windows. Apparently, people got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower when we were flying in, but I didn't see anything. We landed and found the Babins. They took our luggage; then left us with the APs to take a train to St. Marie. On the train was our first contacting experience. I was super nervous and kind of waited until the last minute. The man I talked to was a contact out the MTC textbooks! It was so awesome. It started out in French and then slipped into English. I don't think he could understand me. Oops, anyways, I asked him if he believed in God and Jésus-Christ. He said he believed in Jésus but not in God (odd right). Well time went on and I talked a little about the Plan du Salut. He said that he could tell that I knew what I was talking about, and he asked how I knew. PERFECT!! So, I started to talk about prayer and the importance of knowing things for yourself and thennnnnn...I had to get off the train. So I threw a pass along carte at him and left. It was so awesome!

That night we went to the mission home, jet-lag hit us all and our whole group fell asleep on the couches while waiting for dinner. Soeur Babin made some awesome lasagne! Then, the sisters slept in a hotel. I promise I had no problems sleeping that first night. I was out!

The next day, we went to Consecration Hill and Notre Dame! I went inside Notre Dame! Holy cow it was so cool! I will try to send pictures.

View from Consecration Hill

Then, I met my trainer, Soeur Clawson and found out I was going to Liège! I love it here already. Seriously, this town looks like it came right out of a movie. I love it. The buses here are crazy! It reminds me of the night bus from Harry Potter. And most of the time, we don’t sit. So, my balance is going to improve while I'm here.

View from the apartment

The first couple days, I was scared to say anything! I didn't say a word in our first couple lessons. Then I decided it was time to buck-up! So now, I can at least rendre my testimony. I am understanding pretty well, except for the Relief Society sisters. I think I caught three words yesterday. Also, I had to rendre my testimony in Sacrament meeting, so that was fun. I also got thrown into a special musical number.

Soeur Clawson and I will be spending Christmas at an amis house. She speaks English, yayyy! She is Romanian so I'm super excited to eat the Romanian dinner she is going to make us.

THE CHEESE HERE IS SO GOOD! AND THE CHOCOLATE! AND THE GAUFES! (waffles: that website totally lied. They have gaufes here. and they are fabulous.) I have never eaten so much cheese in my life. At the moment, gouda is my favorite, but it might change.

We are doing the integration lessons with a new member right now. Last week, we taught her about family history and temple work. She got so excited to get on Family Search. It was awesome! She is excited about getting baptized for her mom.

We also have been working hard doing Christmas porting (tracting). We get to go caroling (which isn't a thing in France or Belgium). I actually haven't had someone let us in to sing, but we keep trying.

I'm working hard with the language and trying to be a good missionary. I love everything I have been able to do already, and I can't wait for the next 17 months or however long I have.

[And that’s pretty much everything. We are super jealous of Soeur Chisholm’s time in Belgium… *cough* Okay, maybe I’m super jealous. Especially of the gaufes. Either way, I bid you all a lovely week.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the Chisholms. You can also turn to any Mormon in your area, especially those Mormon missionaries. If Caytee is any indication, they are all too happy to help.]

Final Farewells in the MTC

[Finally, we reach the last email. The update officially for this week. As it is short and sweet, I will not butt in much this time. I’ll just let Caytee and her Franglish speak for herself (probably because all this editing makes me tired).]

Donc, I leave the MTC on Monday. It is really bittersweet, but I'm really glad I get this opportunity to send a quick email out tonight. Today has been full of goodbyes and pep talks.

I just want to let y'all know why I am on a mission. Today we had a lot of time to reflect on everything we have learned here. We wrote down our motivations, and what kind of missionary we want to be in the field.

It start with le circle d'amour. Our desks are in a U shape. They put one chair in the middle and then we went around and said something we loved about that person. The last person we said something about was Christ. I realized at that moment when I "embraced the gift" (if you haven't seen the new #sharegoodness video watch it now). In high school, when I had nothing else—when I didn't have a close friend I could talk to—I found the gospel. I found the love that my Savior had for me, and I realized I am never alone.

In the MTC, Satan attacked me. He was telling me that what I felt in high school was just loneliness that I was compensating for, that I didn't have my own testimony. Satan is real guys, and when you are striving to do his work, he attacks harder. I talked to my teacher about it, and he told me that I am going through this so that I can help someone with similar struggles and so when someone tries to tear me down and make me doubt my beliefs I will be strong. I know now more than ever to DOUBT YOUR DOUBTS BEFORE YOU DOUBT YOUR FAITH. I am on a mission to save a soul from feeling alone. I am going to France to bring them the joy of the gospel. L'evangile a changé ma vie. I have grown so much in the last two weeks. Missionary work is powerful. The message that we have—eternal families, a loving Heavenly Father who can number and name all His children, and a gospel restored—Is UNIQUE. It changes lives. It has changed mine, and it can change someone else's.

One of the biggest things that has hit me hard today are my motivations. I want to share a few real fast. My first motivation is all the people I never shared the gospel with in high school. I hope this slaps you in the face like it did me. THIS WORK IS NOT JUST FOR MISSIONARIES. I wish I had done more. I have so many regrets from seeing how this gospel really does changes lives. So, please, if not for me for the Lord, pray sincerely for someone who needs the gospel and then AGIR. ACT. My other motivation is y'all. My family and friends. I love you all and want to make you proud. I am ridiculously excited to be in France this next week.

J'ai très hâte a servir les gens en France. Je sais que l'evangile peut changer nos vies. Je sais que l'eglise est vrait. J'aime mon saveur. Je sais que Jesus-Christ est mort pour nos peches. Il est mort pour tout le monde. Il vous aime. Je vous aime. Le livre de mormon est le parole de Dieu.

VOUS ETES LES MEILLEURES!!!!!!

[Basically, I am too tired to try and figure out what any of that French is. Plus, I am trying not to wreck the spirit of this email. Listen to my sister, and then listen to the warm feelings that come when you read this, and be inspired. This Church is true. It is based in love and charity and hope. It is a beautiful thing.

Until next week!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the Chisholms. You can also turn to any Mormon in your area, especially those Mormon missionaries. They’re always willing and happy to help.]

It’s my Last Week!

[And so the second blog post of my Sunday begins with Caytee’s official last week of the MTC. I’ll just go ahead and let Caytee start us off, because her sentiments were echoed strongly by her family.]

Qu'est-ce que le heck! [What the heck! Caytee seriously kills me with laughter sometimes.] It's my last week ici! I have so much to say it's insane!

So, where to begin? I GOT MY TRAVEL PLANS LAST WEDNESDAY!!!! We have a direct flight from Salt Lake to Paris...14 hours? Our flight leaves Salt Lake at 5:36ish at night.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving was amazing! While a lot happened, I’ll just say that I got to be in the same room as ELDER BEDNAR, and I was in the choir that sang Come Thou Fount for ELDER BEDNAR, and then we had a Q&A with ELDER BEDNAR, and then we watched MEET THE MORMONS. Also, our Tuesday devotional was Elder OAKS! And then on Sunday we heard from SHERI DEW [Okay, Caytee didn’t officially capitalize this one, but I thought it was important] in Relief Society, and then VOCAL POINT came for our Sunday night devotional.

So, with all of these devotionals, I have been on kind of a spiritual high this week. The coolest thing I learned this past week is the priesthood. I finally understand it. It only took 19 years, but whatever. Sheri Dew talked to us about Priesthood keys, Priesthood authority, and Priesthood Power. Priesthood keys are the way the Lord's power is dispersed. I have the authority (because of my calling) to access the power that flows though my Mission president's keys. Power is available to everyone who partakes of ordinances worthily. IT'S SO AWESOME!

Another awesome moment is a little more personal. So, I will just say that if you get the chance look up Souviens-Toi [English translation here taken from another kid on his mission to Belgium... hopefully that's not creepy, but he even gives a bit of the history at the beginning, which I find super interesting... so there you go], it's a French lullaby in the French Hymn Book. It has one of the most amazing messages in it.

Desole [Sorry], I am all over the place. Talking about the language now... It was either Elder Bednar or Oaks, I can't remember. But, they said that we need to ask our family to pray for us to have access to the gift of tongues. Pray morning and night for me, s'il vous plait [please]. I know I do, and I am working hard. I received a promise in my blessing when I was set apart that I would be able to learn the language quickly. I'm working hard so that I can. I can see the gift of tongues in my life already, but I know I will need all the help I can get next week...in Paris...holy poop.

I have been working on memorizing scriptures and fun stuff comme ca. A lot of the grammar is making sense, there is a lot that doesn't make sense still. I still speak better French in my head than what comes out of my mouth. I love it though. It really is becoming a pretty language. I had personal help the other day with a ZRT [asked me husband and we don't even know what this is] just on pronunciation. That was awesome! I realized that I had been saying things wrong my whole life, but whatever! Just a fun fact: Aujourd'hui is today, and I have been saying it (ah-jahd-wee) for who knows how long. Saturday I learned that it is actually (oh-jaud-hwee) IDK if you all can see the difference, but oh well.

This morning, since it is our last P-day here, and our last opportunity to go to a temple for the next 18-24 months, my district decided to do Initiatories, an endowment session, and Sealings. I woke up at 4:30 this morning, got to the temple at 5:30 and then left at 11. IT WAS AWESOME. Definitely, the best four hours I have spent. I think it is so cool how you can go from feeling fear to extreme peace in like two seconds. I sat there and thought about how scared I was to go to a new country, speaking a new language, and not knowing anybody there. As soon as I finished the thought, I heard, "It will be okay." I am protected. I am in les mains du Seigneur [in God’s hand]. I know that if I follow the rules, and trust in the Lord, all will be well.

Christmas Lights

Matchy-matchies

 

Awkward missionary photo with the two "Frenchies"

[Story behind the face: Basically, it's a District tradition that every girl has to wear this green shirt at least once. This was Caytee's day, and she is apparently loving it so much.]

I love you all! Tomorrow, Soeur Ulrich and I are doing a teaching demonstration for all the new missionaries. Holy Poop! Crazy, huh? Wish me luck! 

[Second email down. I’m probably not putting near enough thought into these, but then, Caytee was very brief in these last two… So I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the Chisholms. You can also turn to any Mormon in your area, especially those Mormon missionaries. They’re always willing and happy to help.]

Bonjour ma Famille et mes Amies

Oh readers,

As you can imagine, I’ve gotten a little behind. Like a couple weeks. While I’ll still be updating her emails from the MTC, I wanted to take a moment to update everyone on her position in the field.

Soeur Chisholm left the MTC Monday the 8^th and flew a total of 14 hours, landing in Paris the next day (I assume). I you follow the Paris Mission’s Facebook page, you can find the videos of Caytee arriving in the airport.

A kind Utah stranger took this picture and sent it to my parents. 

Fresh off the plane (I think) -- photo cred to the Facebook page

Soeur Chisholm begins her mission in Liege-Belgium with her companion and trainer Soeur Clawson.

Soeurs Chisholm and Clawson -- photo cred to Facebook page

While my parents are probably panicking at this point, we as the family are super excited to see Soeur Chisholm begin her journey.

Now, back to the MTC. You readers are missing, like, three weeks. *blushes shamefacedly*

*

THANKSGIVING IS THIS WEEK! That means NOOOOOO CLAAAAASSSSSS. We are having a devotional in the morning, a four-hour lunch, and a service project. The speaker for Thursday hasn't been leaked yet. They are really keeping it quiet. The choir director here told us that "I'm not going to say that is starts with Thomas S Monson, but I'm not going to say that it doesn't end with it." I was like, “Don't get my hopes up!” We do know that it will be someone from the Twelve, though. I am pumped.

[Little Mormon note, just in case: when she says, “someone from the Twelve,” she is talking about the Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. They are the leaders of our church with our Prophet at the head. They speak twice a year at General Conference, but often visit smaller settings, and it is always an honor and makes Mormons buzz all a Twitter.]

This past Wednesday is was rumored that we had 700 newbies come in. I believe it. And most of them are English speakers. This week has been crazy!

My French is coming along, I think. I am speaking as much as I can during the day. Honestly, sometimes I feel fluent-ish in my head because I can think French better than I can speak French. I know that it will come, though, with lots and lots of practice. As for if I will feel "fluent" when I hit the field or not...I know I will not. My classroom is in building 4m. My floor has French, Haitian/Creole, and Tahitian. There are some native French speakers going to Tahiti. Elder Heno and Elder Dargeounce (I spelled that sooooo wrong, nothing is spelled phonetically in French) are super fun to talk to and they are great people, but when they speak French I have no idea what they are saying. I can sometimes pick out a word, and get so excited. But seriously, French looks one way on paper, and sounds totally different when you go to speak. EVERYTHING SOUNDS THE SAME. Laissez Tomber, I'll figure it out eventually, right? Thank you gift of tongues, or should I say le don du langues.

We have started working on more verb tenses this past week. Some are easier than others. I think I mentioned the imperfect tense last week (that doesn't exist en anglais) that still does not make sense. However, the future tense is a beautiful thing. You literally just take the verb in its imperative form and add a little ending to it and suddenly instead of saying Je mange (I'm eating) you say Je mangerai (I will eat.) This week we will be learning the Active and passive voice, so I will let you know how that goes.

Last Friday, we had exchanges in our district. My companion for the day was Soeur Matos. All was fine and dandy...until we went in to teach Torie. Soeur Matos is kind of a take-charge personality. I had been telling her all day that the lesson with Torie was my lesson, and she was the one coming in as the exchanged missionaire. Well, we walked into the lesson, and Soeur Matos sits down and says, "Torie, Soeur Chisholm. Soeur Chisholm, Torie." I was like... “Uhhhhhhhhhh...what do I do!” I literally said, "Heavenly Father, I have to say something. Please let me say something." Just then, like a miracle, Soeur Matos stopped talking, and I have never been able to form French sentences so quickly since being here. I don't even remember what I said. The gift of tongues is real, guys.

I was very happy to ma collegue back on Saturday.

I have been working a lot on memorizing. As a class, we memorized Jacques 1:5 this week, "Si quelqu'un d'entre vous manque de sagesse, qu'il la demande a Dieu, il donne a tous simplement and sans reproache, et elle lui sera donne."

[From what I can tell, my sister seems to be quoting James 1:5. Because Jacob 1:5 when translated into French is definitely not the same thing. She also says don’t mind the spelling, and I’ll just have to say the same thing. I know no French.

The verse is translated as follows: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.]

I also memorized, D&C 18:10, Moses 1:39, and I finished memorizing the First Vision. Reading and memorizing scriptures has really helped me with French.

[Doctrine & Covenants 18:10 “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God”

Moses 1:39 “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

And while my sister probably means the missionary version of The First Vision, for anyone interested, you can find Joseph Smith’s story in our scriptures. Mainly in Joseph Smith—History 1:7-20. Or you could just call up those Mormon missionaries to explain the first vision in a lesson.]

Every Saturday, everyone in the MTC writes a talk in their mission language, and then at church on Sunday, the branch presidency calls on one sister and one elder to speak. As we finished le saint-cene, suddenly I got a feeling that I was going to speak. And sure enough, Brother Dowling said, "we will first hear from Soeur Chisholm, and then we will hear from Elder Stewart-Johnson." I was told that my accent was good, and that I gave a good talk, so yay! It was the first talk that I had written here that was all in my own French, not French from prechez mon evangile, or our workbooks. It was really cool. We then sang Je suis enfant de Dieu [I am a Child of God] as a district for the special musical number. It was awesome.

Also this week, I have been struggling a little bit with why I am here and not feeling the spirit as much as I want to be. I had a moment to sit down and talk to my teacher, Frere Adams in an interview this week, and it was incredible. I told him my concerns, and he was able to help me sort out my feelings. He told me that I could be going through this now to prepare me for some less actives, or a struggling young woman in the field. I started crying (again), and he look at me kind of funny. I told him that when I was set apart, I was told that I should make sure to focus on the less actives and the broken and/or part member families. At this point, he was tearing up also. I feel like I can go my whole mission without a baptism, if I can strengthen one struggling family or one struggling young woman, I can be happy.

The MTC is full of ups and downs, but that is what makes it so awesome.

Oh man! I almost forgot, mom asked about how my district was doing. We are all awesome. I seriously love them all so much, when we split to go to our three different missions, I might cry like I did leaving home! My district is my family. We laugh together; we cry together; we drive each other crazy; we have some of the most spiritual experiences together. Yesterday, Elder Martin stole my shoes (because I never wear them in class) and hid them in Elder Brown's bag. It was right before gym time, too. So I was like, “Nobody is leaving until I find my shoes!” That motivated the other Elders, and we eventually found them. Also, yesterday, someone said something funny, right before we are about to start personal study so we were all giggling. Then, we sang a hymn, and Elder Bracken started to pray. Elder Martin started to chuckle which made Elder Landry make a funny noise, which made Elder Carmen laugh, which made me laugh...it was quite the experience.

[I couldn't find a fun way to incorporate the photos with this post, so I'll just dump the rest here.]

Caytee says: Seriously, we love taking pictures.

Awkward Soeur photo, even though Elders are included?

[And Caytee's story for this is as follows:

This picture started out as being just Elder Landry and the sisters, but then we remembered that he has to have his companion in the picture (but he's in a trio) so they all came, and then Elders Bracken and Carmen felt left out and it turned into a district picture.

So here is everyone's names again.
Left to Right: Soeur Ulrich (le meillure collegue), MEEEE, Elder Landry (the Georgia boy!), Elder Martin (ou Elder Mouton s'il vous plait), Elder Prophet Brown, Soeur Matos, Soeur Higgins

Front Row: Elder Bracken and Elder Carmen]

  

I'm running out time, but I do want to give you all a brief teigmoinage en francais [testimony in French].

Je sais que l'eglise est vrait. Je sais que Joseph Smith a ete une prophete et il a vu pere celeste et jesus-christ. Je sais que joseph smith a traduir le live de mormon et il est le parole de Dieu. J'aime le livre de mormon beaucoup. Je sais que le saint-esprit est esstielle a savoir le varite.

[Normally, I would turn to my husband and ask him for a translation, but as this is such a long passage of French testimony, I’ll just  go ahead and leave it alone. I’d feel guilty demanding this of Nate. From what I can understand, Soeur Chisholm (and her sister) know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. She knows that he is lead by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She knows that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, and that he was guided by God. She loves the Book of Mormon and thinks that it is great. Basically, this gospel is true.]

J'aime le MTC! et je vous aime  BEAUCOUP! I pray for you all tous le temps! Keep working hard, and help the missionaries!

[As I’m going to post like… three times in one day, I’ll leave it like this. And I do hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was full of gratitude, family, friends, and food along with a bit of loving and naps.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the Chisholms. You can also turn to any Mormon in your area, especially those Mormon missionaries. They’re always willing and happy to help.]