Sleep in Peace When Day is Done: CRIKEY! (friends, pizza, france,ect.ect.ect.)

Oct. 20^th, 2011---written on oct.22 2011

Today was a fun day, and really a blessing that I got to have it. My friend Abbey had contacted me and some other girls earlier in the week about meeting up Thursday and going to the lush store in Geneva, and I was so excited about it, and luckily Roberta and Rob decided to postpone leaving for vacation till Friday morning so I was able to meet up with them and go!

I met my friends after a paricullarliy good day of french class, at the LDS Geneva chapel. I went into the church to use the toilet and was bombarded by missionaries. There was a multi-zone confrerence going on that day. I talked with the mission presidents wife(Sister Murdock) and then ran back out to the car to my friends. I totally ate it on the grass next to the car which my friends had a good laugh about. I think God must have helped me not break my ankle because the way I landed I definitely twisted it weird and it is still giving me a little bit of trouble if I step weird.

Caitlen,Abbey and Elisabeth and I decided to forgo a visit to LUSH(the most amazing organic lotion and cosmetic store ever!!!) in favor of getting pizza in France near where they live. We took a beautiful 20 min drive out to France and ate at a small pizzeria on the 2d story of shop in Ferney-Voltaire. This is the town that Volataire lived the rest of his life in after he was exiled from Paris. Chosen specifically for its proximity to the Swiss border. I wasn’t feeling very pizza-y so I went for the soup and salad which was delicious!! (Plus at these places when you get pizza, they literally bring you a WHOLE pizza and I always feel obligated to clean my plate, which is a BAD idea with a pizza that size.) We spent a lovely two hours just talking and laughing. Towards the end o f lunch we got on the subject of Steve Irwin- the crocodile Hunter.As we were talking about him I shouted out "CRIKEY!" in my best Irwin imression. The only problem was lunch was now ending and we were now in a considerably more quiet pizza parlor. Trying to mask our giggles, and my sudden case of terrets we called for the check and hastley made our way out of there. After the lunch we drove back to another French town and everyone split off to start work at 3:30pm.

Elisabeth was good enough to drive me back to Geneva where I was able to catch a bus to the airport and from the airport take a train to Nyon. (I saw the mission president’s wife at the airport again and gave her a HUGE hug. She and her husband were picking up a bunch of missionaries or something. I love when things like that happen. When you see someone you love unexpectedly. She is always so complimentary toward me, and I really love her for it. It makes me feel so good to be around someone who is looking for the good in me, especially when I feel my mistakes and bad parts are so apparent. But she doesn’t judge and is just so kind, and I can tell she really cares about the people she talks to. I just love standing in the glow of her sunlight. I got home an hour late and Roberta was really cool about it. (I really appreciate Roberta. She is an awesome woman, and I forget that sometimes.)

I helped get dinner on and pack up for vacation, before leaving for institute at 7.Instittue was really good. I decided to go to the English language class instead of the French because I felt like I really needed to understand the spiritual message tonight-to be built up rather than stretched. It was a great lesson. We are studying the Beatitudes right now and I was absolutely just eating up in a way that I hadn’t before. My soul really needed the scriptures that night. Blessed are the meek. I love that. I want to be meek. I want to be humble. I want to be like Jesus. It’s funny. The more I am serve-really selflessly serve the more I love him. Maybe it’s because I understand him better. Its hard to really love someone you don’t understand. And its hard to understand something you’ve never done. (The baby just awoke and cried as I wrote this. With that in mind-wanting to be like Jesus it was easier to get up and go to her. She went really fast to sleep. I am thankful.)

Gabriel and Aubry Jaquier (two really awesome brothers) drove Erica and I to my house tonight. BLESS THEM!! I was feeling so tired and really did not want to face walking home in the cold. Gabriel regaled me with his usual passion-filled talk of musicals and it was a fun ride. We listened to songs from “the Lion King”, “Catch me if you Can” (he saw that like 7 times, because he worked on Broadway and could just go in) and “Book of Mormon”. Roberta was kind enough to let me drive Erica home to Genolier, using the minivan at 11pm shortly after we got home. I got to talk to Rachel on the phone (I called at like midnight) it was very good to talk with her. Talking with family and friends from home is always good. Bless Skype. J