Contacts in San Fransisco

Bonjour ma famille!

Ryan! I'm so excited about your mission call! I hope you don't mind that I already found out. I saw Courtney yesterday and couldn't wait to hear! Barcelona Spain! We'll be neighbors ;). That's great I know you'll love it and there are people there waiting for you.
To let you all know, I'm not leaving on Monday because my visa is not ready. I just went to the French consolate on Tuesday and it usually takes 2 weeks to process so they said when I get it I will get to call home for 5 minutes to let you know the information of when I'm going to leave and then I will get to call home for about half an hour when I'm at the airport.
I went to San Fransisco on Tuesday; it was a great experience! One of the elders joked that in Salt Lake we're celebrities and in San Fransisco we're the plague! ;) It's true that when people saw our missionary tags they would avoid us. My companion for that day was Sister Madsen. She was great, we set a goal to contact 5 people while we were there. We were both so nervous, but my teacher said you can't stop and think about being nervous you just have to go up to them before you have time to think. We gave a pass along card to our waitress, named Valerie, when we ate at Hard Rock Cafe and she thought it was really neat that we were going out on missions. We then walked around Pier 49 and saw a carousel. We had prayed that the spirit would guide us and we would be led to those who were willing to listen. Sister Madsen felt like we should talk to the lady who was working the carousel so we went over and asked her what we could do while we were there and then Sister Madsen told her that we were missionaries and we gave her a pass along card and bore our testimonies that Christ lives and loves us. She really liked that and let us ride on the Carousel for free! We talked to a few other people and didn't have any success; some people are very rude, but I had to keep reminding myself to not take it personally (it's not me, it's the tag). You also have to learn to just laugh about it. We decided to just sit down and watch the sea lions, because we were feeling pretty down. We then stood up on the platform we were sitting on and I joked with sister Madsen that it looked like we were about to begin preaching. A lady kept looking at us and then came over and asked if we could take her picture! A perfect way to begin talking to her! We found out she's from Slovakia and she was just here for a short trip. We explained who we were, gave her a pass along card and told her she could get the video for free. The best part is that she began asking questions! She asked what the DVD was about and what we believed in, so we also told her about the Book of Mormon and that she could get it in her own language. She loved that and we told her there are missionaires in Slovakia so she said the would call the number and ask about missionaries. When she was looking at the card she saw the Mormon.org website and asked if she could look at that to find out more! We were so excited! Of all the people it was the woman from Europe who was nicest. That made us have more confident for when we go to France ;). We felt so much better after that, even though it's hard, it's totally worth it when that one person is willing to listen! I've been praying that she will call and ask to learn more from the missionaries. I'm grateful too that sister Madsen was listening to the spirit. We were able to contact 5 people in all and 4 members came up to us while we were walking around. When we were at the San Fransisco airport waiting for our flight all of us (the 9 missionaries who were there) ended up talking with a woman named April from Orange County. She was there with her daughter and grandson. I offered her my seat and when she sat down she began talking to all of us and asked who we were. When she found out we were LDS missionaries she said she knew about our church and thought we were doing a great work. We talked with her for a long time (not just gospel related things, because we've learned in our classes to get to know people and show interest in them before diving into a lesson and it works). We ended up giving her a copy of the Book of Mormon and when we landed in LA I felt impressed to ask her to meet with the missionaries. I said, "April if you run into other missionaries like us again, will you be willing to listen to their message?" She said yes! I promised her that it would bring happiness to her life and that she would love it because it is about the Doctrine of Christ. I've been praying for her everyday as well.
I have taught 5 lessons in French now! I've gotten good at the first lesson, but I'm still trying to learn the vocabulary for the second one. When I've gone prepared though the spirit is so strong, even if I can't say everything I want to. Last week when I told the first vision and then bore my testimony I began crying because I KNEW and I KNOW that it's true and I do not doubt it.
This has been a great experience and I'm excited to teach others about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and if they will come unto him with faith and repent and be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and endure to the end they can be saved.
I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for all of you! I love you so much!

Love,

Sister Valerie Reeves

P.S. Mom I got my lisence and I already have scriptures. The ones you have are my old ones for seminary. Thanks