Bonjour from Melun!

[Editor's Note: this email has been left unedited with all original formatting intact in respect of Soeur Rhondeau's disclaimer below]

Famille,

Okay, a little precursor to this email: i cant figure out how to change this keyboard to english so excuse my crqzy mistakes: I am in melun! Saying goodbye to Pymm was the saddest. We all rode the train into Paris and said our goodbyes there and our hellos to our new companions. Leaving was hard, but the second I stepped off the train in Melun, I felt at home. I dont know how else to describe it. 

I dont know why this giant space is here. AHHH this computer place is going to drive me mad. 

This week has been so great and so different. you would think that going half way across the country wouldnt make that much of a difference, but I feel like I a, in a different world! Melun is 20 minutes fro, Paris and I love the fa,iliarity of it fro, when I was in Paris for Study Abroad; Melun is really big city feelingm and is poretty gritty in a lot of places. There are so many people, and I have actually found it easier to talk to people here. We do a lot of bus contacting which was hard for me in Rennes, but for some reson it is easier here. We have a huge area, and so we take the train all the time to the smaller villes arouns-- Fontainbleau, Brie Comte Robert, and a lot of others. It is so fun to get out of the city and be in the small towns righ toutside to teach. The other day we were in Brie Comte Robert and we ate lunch by a half burned down hundreds of year old chateau. It was one of those moments where I realized that I live in France. We visited an amazing lady from the Cote d'Ivoire there. She is amazing.  Okay seriously i a, writing like 2 words a minute on this keyboard so I a, just going to have to give you a quick list of happenings in Melun:

-my collegues are Soeur Johnson and Soeur Jenkins. They are great! Soeur Jenkins and I hit it off right away--her fave movie is About a Boy, so obvs we are BFFs. She has the most genuine and down to earth way of teaching the gospel. She is from Northern California and goes to BYU studying Journalism. Soeur Johnson is fro, Utah and is a really great missionary and is almost done with her mission, Soeur Pymm was actually collegues with her before me! 

- We taught a woman from Ghana who I just love. She is an artist and Childrens book writer; and just being in her ho,e was enriching. She is just one of those people who makes you feel like a better person just by being around her.

-I haven't met many ward members yet since it was cancelled but  the people I have met are great. Church isnt too far from our house and we have been able to have some rdvs there. 

-It is freezing. I have been lining my shoes with plastic bags on the inside. So classy. 

-Church was CANCELLED  yesterday because of the snow! It has been co,ing DOWN, and they cancelled it so we took the train into Paris and went to Sacrement meeting there. It was so beautiful to see Paris in the snow. There is so,ething so beautiful about that city, and I love how fa,iliar it feels to be there, especially because it was a place that I lived in with Best Friends and visited with fa,ily, it just feels comfortable. 

-Last night we went and taught a guy named Guilaume who the Soeurs talked to a while ago but have never had a rendez vouos with him. He told us right away that he is atheist, but that he wants his children to learn as much about religion as they can so that they can make their own choices. So he had his son come in and discuss with us. He asked us lots of questions and it was really cool to see how they interacted as a family. They were so respectful and loving towards each other and towards us. We are going back to teach him next week. 

-I have a million stories I want to tell you, but I a, really going to have to wait till next week to tell you ti,e is short and this keyboard is impossible. :ore ;eaningful words next week. But I am alive, and Melun is new and all covered in snow and I am doing just fine. 

Love you from Paris to the Moon,

Olivia

ps When you send letters, put LES MISSIONAIRES above my name. MERCI!! Love you.