Week Two!

Bonjour!

I can't believe another week has gone by! It's crazy! So, I thought this 6 weeks in the MTC would be hard to write about because it would be all the same kind of thing every week but nope! There is always something happening here at the MTC!

So, Wednesday, a new flood of missionaries came in so we are no longer the bébés! But it was a rough day teaching so our companionship put our "dork dots" back on again so that we could hear "welcome to the MTC sisters!!" all day again. It was pretty great!:)

Our zone got a new district with all native French speakers! Three sisters and an Elder are from France and then there is an Elder from New Caledonia. We all thought we were doing so much better at our French and the Lord sends us these native speakers to quickly humble us! Ha ha it is hard for us to understand each other, but we are already all so close!! Probably 98% of the time we don't understand what the other is saying but we still laugh and have so much fun with these three beautiful sisters.

But let me tell you - everything that they say about French men is true! Elder Pochine from France is the biggest flirt and it's hilarious! Everyone in our zone just laughs because we'll hear from far away: "SISTER REEED!!"  and then he'll just come running up and wink and walk with us. He's a hoot. It was funny - the first day that they got here he comes straight up to me and says, "you look like Lana Del Ray" so now I have a nickname! It's pretty great.

It's such a special experience having them all here though. They are really helping us experience French and they love to sing! So, every morning we go in and sing a few hymns with them in French. Even though I don't understand every word I'm singing - I can't help but be filled with the spirit.

So, our "investigator" Quentin committed to baptism!! Even though it was role play and we found out afterwards that he is our new teacher, it made us SO excited. I'm pretty sure I said something like this last week but - the gift of tongues is real. I have a HUGE testimony of it. Two weeks ago I knew about five words in French and now I'm teaching lessons! On Friday we taught another investigator, Silian, and I understood about 85% of what she was saying and was able to naturally respond to her! It's amazing what we can do when we rely on the strength of the Lord!

This week has been fantastic because I got a letter from a great friend who I miss dearly and two beautiful drawings from two of my favorite cousins! Thank you so much Sydnee and Whitnee! Also, I got a lovely package from Auntie Alayna and I swear she was inspired because earlier that day I had been saying how I already miss Mexican food and she sent me chips and queso!! Thanks so much! :) oh and some peppermint patties which I let the French try - hahaha they spit them out and started gagging... I know now that they don't like peppermint.. ha ha!! And thanks so so so much Uncle Bart and Aunt Brynn for the package you sent me and mes collegue missionaires! We are all blowing you kisses and sending hugs!!

This week we cleaned bathrooms, which is always fun!

And we made a snowman that we named Olaf who melted and froze flat... we were sad!

And I saw three great great friends! I knew Steph was coming on Wednesday so I told my whole zone to look out for a tall beautiful Samoan with perfectly curly hair. I was so sad when we didn't see her but then on Friday when we were getting back from cleaning the bathrooms, I open the door to our residence hall and she was just standing there!! I totally screamed and tackled her! It just made me so happy!! :)

Then I saw my great friend Kellie who is usually on West Campus but came for a class on Saturday. She left for Mexico yesterday. I know she is going to do so great!

And I saw the sweetest girl every from my BYU YSA ward on our Sunday walk to the temple!

There are just so many missionaries here - it makes me so happy to see my friends! It's also the last week for a district in our zone so here some pictures of all the Soeurs and our district and zone at the temple!

Okay, so I have to introduce you to Elder Teh. He's in our district and is from Malaysia. He doesn't try to be funny half of the time, but he is seriously the funniest guy ever. He speaks very broken English and hardly shows any emotions so he has a very dry sense of humor. After dinner one day we went to go get him and his compnaion Elder Wallace from a piano room where they were playing and we look through the window and see this:

So we walk in laughing saying he looks like a dictator or something making his companion play for him and we all just leave laughing but he turns and looks out the window again and says "the world is a beautiful place... (turns around with a dead serious face) and I, Teh, must destroy it" and walks out of the room. We lost it. So our district made a salute for him...

Almost every day he says something SO dang funny. I'll only share one more because I know you guys don't think its as funny as we do haha but I guess they don't really have static cling in Malaysia because of how humid it is and so Elder Wallace said they were getting their clothes out of the dryer and a sock stuck to his bare leg and he just screamed "WHAT IS THIS?!" and Elder Wallace tries to explain to him what static is and he was seriously so freaked out and scared that when he got the sock off of him that it would take all of the hair with it... ha ha. But, yeah, he's so hilarious that we have a book of everything funny he says. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful district! It's only been like two weeks but we're already like best friends - I love it!

In my personal study, I was reading 1 Nephi 13:37. I love it because of the blessings it promises when we do the Lord's work. Also during our Sunday night devotional one of the speakers said, "As soon as you think you can do it by yourself, the Lord will let you." It was just a great reminder of how much we need the Lord in our lives and how we need to trust in him in everything we do. 

Merci for all of the love and support you all have shown me! I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

Au revoir!

Love, Soeur Ridd

Courtney's mom here! You can email her at:

courtney.ridd@myldsmail.net

Also there is a service (dearelder.com) that you can write a letter and they will deliver it to the MTC the same day. You first have to choose her mission (Provo MTC - free) and then her unit is 115, her mission code is FRA-PAR and her MTC departure date is MAR 04. She would love to hear from you!

If you are interested in sending her something - her address is 

Soeur Courtney Dale Ridd 
MAR04 FRA-PAR
2009 N 900 E Unit 115 
Provo UT 84602