First Pday in the MTC!

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!!

Wow! My first week in the MTC is already over! I can't believe it! So much has happened! Thank you Aunt Jennie, Nana and all of the girls for dropping me off at the MTC and taking care of me! It was really special and I'm so glad I got to spend time with you!

So, as soon as I got to the MTC I felt the Spirit so strongly and as soon as they pinned my name tag on I was ready to go and serve! I'm so lucky, my host sister who helped escort me around the first day was a sweet Tongan sister who knows the Schwenkes and Tausala! (Now, every time I see a Poly they get so excited when they find out that Fina is my Auntie!) So, she took me to my room first and Soeur Rasmussen (Meagan - a girl she already knew from Chandler) is one of my companions! We're actually a trio, so our other companion, Soeur Williams from Syracuse, Utah, she is such a peach! Oh my goodness I love her! She is so quirky and we all just get along so well! Our whole district does! We are already a family and have so much fun together. We decided that our district motto is: Reveillez le Dragon Dormant! (Wake the Sleeping Dragon) because when President Hinckley went to France he said that it is a sleeping dragon ready to be woken up and we are going to be the ones to do it!

So, on Friday we taught our first "investigator" Quentin... IN FRENCH!! I thought I was going to die because I was so nervous. I wrote out my whole part and started speaking and then he just starts giggling and asks me (in French) if I spoke Spanish... OH MY GOODNESS I WAS SO EMBARRASSED! Ha ha my face just turned red and I was like... uhhh... oui... haha but my French is getting better. I can now bear my testimony and kind of say a prayer. But I am the ONLY one in my district who never took French before. Two of the Elders and Soeur Rasmussen took two years, Soeur Williams and another Elder took 3 years, we have an Elder from Honduras and he is fluent in Spanish, English and French. Then we have another Elder from Malaysia and he almost fluent in French and English and he speaks like 3 different Asian languages... so, I started out feeling VERY scared and behind (I still do a little) but I'm just working as hard as I can and putting my faith in the Lord. 

Sunday was an amazing day. Our whole sacrament meeting in in French so that is a little bit hard, but for Relief Society, Janice Kapp Perry came and spoke to us! I cried a little when I found out because I was so excited. She gave a wonderful lesson and had us all sing a medley of her Primary Songs with her and the we stood up and sang "The Sisters of Zion." The Spirit was so strong and powerful, I loved it.

Then, like every Sunday here I guess, we went on a walk with our district to the temple. It was so nice and so fun to meet and talk with other missionaries!

Monday was .... magical. Well, that is what everyone going to Paris calls your first Monday. "Magic Monday"... we didn't know why but when we got back to our class Monday morning there was a picture of a toilet on our board. We found out when we got called up to the Health Clinic what Magic Monday was...
So, to be able to go in to Belgium - which is part of our mission- you have to be checked for parasites... through. your. poop..... so, we had to poop in a cup. Sorry, I know this is TMI but I had to share. It was gross...

Then, yesterday was so cool and so much fun! A few of us had to go to the French Consulate in San Francisco to get our Visas. We had to be at the travel office at 2 in the morning but it was still fun because we spent all day there and got home at like 9 pm. We went to the consulate first thing and that only took 45 minutes so we spent the rest of the day just hanging out in San Francisco. I told everyone we HAD to go to Boudin to get the delicious clam chowder in their sourdough bread bowls for lunch.

Then we spent some time at Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf:

And then we went to Chinatown, which was so cool because it was decorated for the Chinese New Year!

So, yeah, the MTC is great, my companions and district are FANTASTIC and the food here isn't that bad either (although I may start to get tired of salads and wraps soon...) I'm just so excited to be here and I know it is where I am supposed to be!

Je sais l'Eglise de Jesus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours est vrai! Au revoir!

Love, Soeur Ridd