BONJOUR!!!!‏

Oh my Goodness!  So there is so much going on!  It is hilarious how bipolar missionary can be at times.  So i have so much to write and so much to say but i know that i am going to forget to say a ton of things so bear with me. :)  So starting off THANKSGIVING!  Mom when you said that it was all beautiful and well done that is when i really missed home because yeah they don't do that here unless they are rich or it is christmas.  So yeah our's was great but it wasn't anywhere the same.  For example i ate snails (so GOOD!), oysters, and some other little things.  Here in France they don't know how to make real mashed potatoes and they don't sell big turkeys like at home. They definately sell EVERY body part of a turkey but i guess they never just sell in bulk haha.  We had turkey legs and that is about all.  All in all it was really good but actually tonight we are redoing it with all the missionaries.  That is why i am writing so early.  We are going into paris and then we are going to Play football and have a big dinner.  So that will be pretty fun and that will all happen tonight.  I got the thanksgiving package and it was so funny!  I loved the turkeys and it totally reminded me of all the things you used to do like that back home mom. They weren't to destroyed either.  And the gloves are fantastic.  I love them and they are so much better than the ones i had last year.  They work great thank you.  this week was so nice because i was able to really think about everything that i was so grateful for.  It's true that you don't realize what you have until you are gone. But yeah next year je serai là!  Woo hoo!  I am so happy to hear that everything was a success and a blast!  I can't wait to see everyone when i get back!  That will be so much fun!

So to kinda let you in on what happened this week.  We had a TON of miracles.  I think Heavenly Father felt bad for use so he just showered us with blessings to help us get back on track.  We found three new investigators and this upcoming week we should have 5 or 6 and they are all French!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I love teaching french people so much and we should have a good base soon.  We also found a super legit lady from COLOMBIA!  She is catholic at the base but because of life events she adopted a lot of buddist beliefs.  But she is open to the church and get this, her husbands dream is to be a pilot.  It's like DAD provided me sith the best in for this family. So that is them.  Also this week at the church we had an Italian Night that just ended up being a blast. 3 of our old amis that dropped us were invited by the same members who gave them as referrals and they came to the church and had a totally great time.  One of these people is Hervé and hervé is having some serious issues.  Well we had taught him in the past but nothing ever came out of it.  He dropped us after the third of fourth time we called to reschedule a RDV.  Well he came and we met is family who are the complete polar opposites of him!  They are fantastic!  They are so sweet and so open and fun loving people.  His wife didn't even hesitate in saying yes when we asked to come by!  so we will see them this next week.  We also went by a house that we tracted  long time ago in which we a gave a Book of Mormon.  so i din't really want to go back by because she didn't seem to interested but Elder Reed insisted so we repassed her house. She answered and we talked for about thirty mintues at the door and then we finally said hey can we better present the Book of Mormon to you this next week.  And she said yeah why not i think i'd like that! She said we could have a little tea time haha.  So yeah that is next week.  We are really seeing things start to click here it is insane.  Me and Elder Reed planned this week for 6 hours! It was a long day.  But we wanted to make a plan and come up with the best way to change this place in to just the best city in the mission.  We decided that the members need to be taught how to invite people to meet the missionaries.  We said for this next month of December we want every single member to invite 3 people to do one of three things.  One, Come to church; two, have a gospel discussion with the missionaries; or three invite a friend to listen to a message about Christmas with the missionaries.  Eveyone was a little hesitant and i just laid it down because i am sick of the lack of efforts by French members.  I said listen it is so good that you are giving Book of Mormons to people and "being an example" and things like that, BUT if you want this ward to grow we need more people to get into the building and see what and who we are.  It time to take this to a new level.  They seemed a little bit pumped up and now almost every member has come up to us saying that they have someone in mind and that they are planning to invite their friends.  One family said that they were going to have a huge Christmas luncheon where we would give a short message about Christmas and Jesus and then we would eat afterwards.  They said we'll plan on having around 30 or 40 or our friends come over for that!  I would just like to say how extatic i am for this and how grateful i am to God that he has helped us and directed us in a good way.  I know That he doesn't want us to give up and i can see that even though we will have little rutts, even big rutts that come form time to time, he was us to be happy and have success.  I love this work.  I really do.So yeah sorry that is so incredibly long but i just wanted to share all these things with you because i know it has strengthened me. Switching topics like crazy, Catey, cutest girl ever!  I just got her letter and i am going to write her back soon. Also speaking of girls and Washington a little, Mom did you ever know the Woodwards?  They are in bellingham 1st ward.  Anyway their daughter is a missionary in our mission and she was good friends with the hatch kids.  We talked a lot about bellingham and it was fun.  Anyway i don't know if there is other stuff i need to add.  Me and Eler Reed are still getting along good and everything so yeah.  I think that is it.  I love you all so much and i hope that you are doing good to.  You are always in my prayers!  Love you ALL


Elder Hoopes