Au revoir mes soeurs!

Yesterday I had a nice picnic with some of my mission friends and their families. Soeur Wilson (on the left in blue) was the only one who was actually a companion of mine. We were in a trois-some in the MTC with Soeur Kamerath. Soeur Wilson is now married, and funny enough married a guy with the last name Wilson--obviously not a relative.

Soeur Martin (on my right) lived in the same apartment as me in Luxembourg my last six weeks in the mission. I had so much fun living with her and the three other soeurs. Since she is a native French speaker, she was always so helpful with teaching us correct French. She has since married one of the elders from our mission and they have the cutest little baby.

Soeur Byrne (on the far right) served in Geneva with me for several months, though she was in the other ward. For many of you reading this, whether you know this or not, Soeur Byrne knows your birthdays. She has an amazing gift for remembering dates--it's almost creepy how good she is! :) I always wanted to set her up with my brother, but in the end, they both found their absolute perfect matches. I have a rotten matchmaking record! They are expecting their first baby in two weeks!
Unfortunately, I forgot to pull out my camera again, so I missed my other two soeur friends who came: Soeur Larsen and Soeur Nelson. I didn't get the chance to serve with either of them, though I always wanted to. Soeur Larsen came out the same time as my first baby (trainee) and so I got to hear a lot about her through Soeur Thomas. And Soeur Larsen often came to cities just as I was leaving them. I really did want to serve with both of them, but I still consider them my soeurs.

Being a sister missionary is a lot different than many of you elders' experiences. Because there are so few sisters in the entire mission, you get to know all of them very well. And at least in our mission, we had Soeurs Conference twice a year at the mission home (and no, Chris, it's not where we gave each other makeup tips, had pillow fights, or did interpretive dancing--it was much better than that!). We have a special bond, and I'm happy we can stay close even as our lives take us far apart.