Bonjour! Bonjour!
How is everyone? As usual this week seemed pretty normal and hoh-hum, but I look back and realize there is always something to report. Transfer email came out...and I get a fourth transfer in Paris!! With Soeur Williams!!! Yes I get to stay with my beloved gimpy (that is my nickname for her)...she may not walk as much as others but I sure love her! We will just say there was some squeeling and joyful screeches in the internet café when we read the transfer email. In fact...pretty much our entire zone stayed the same so Im expecting that this transfer will kind of just feel like a long extension of the last one...well you know except better and busier because dreadful vacances are starting to end!!!
This week we also had our second exchanges of the transfer...there are an odd number of sister-villes so to make sure everyone got to do an exchange an equipe from northern France came down and stayed in our apartment and we worked with three equipes in Paris for the day. I worked with a sister who was in Paris before...so its was good to ask her about some of the people we've never been able to contact and stuff. It was also very wierd to go through the metros with someone who walks at normal pace (thats not a complaint...remember I called her my BELOVED gimpy) just I felt a little whimpy for having a hard time keeping up. Well president knew what he was doing when he kept Soeur Williams and I together - Gimpy and Whimpy...we make a good team :)
This week in english class we taught our students the names of countries in English. We then had everyone say where they were born...it was pretty cool to see that we had every continent represented ( well minus Antartica...but really why does that one count anyways?) Sometimes I still have thoughts cross my mind like ' How did I, girl from small town Canada, end up in Paris teaching an english class to people from all over the world.' And yes I may or may not have taken advantage of having a captive audience and bragged about how pretty my home is ( and I figured if I drew a map of Canada and showed them how far away Vancouver is from Montréal maybe they would stop asking me why I have an english accent and not a Québécois accent). This Sunday we had another 'missionary concert' and it was cool to see how three months ago our chapel was basically empty for the first concert...and this time it was overflowing! We already have had a couple of baptism/amis in the Paris area come from the concerts ...pretty cool to see how the Lord uses peoples talents to bring them the gospel.
Soeur Williams and I have been experiencing our own little miracles. This week we have recieved FIVE refferals (I know I know...all of you who served your missions in South America are laughing because thats like nothing to you...but in France that means something!) One of the referrals, named Marcellina, came into the visitor's center on Wednesday night and we gave her a tour and explained the Book of Mormon. Oddly enough, as we were talking with her tons of people decided to wander into the visitor's center just then, so I left Soeur Williams to keep talking with Marcellina while I talked to the other people. When I came back they were watching a clip by Elder Uchtdorf in Russian (she is from Poland and can understand Russian). We finished talking with her and set an appointment for this week and then she left. Soeur Williams then ran back over the kiosk and told me that she had explained to Marcellina that we believed in a modern prophet and she had wanted to see the prophet. Unfortunately, Soeur Pearce and I discovered that showing people President Monson's clip isnt the best because its more a history of the Book of Mormon rather than a testimony. So Soeur Williams had just clicked on a random clip and had no idea what she had just shown Marcellina because it had been in Russian. Well we watched it in English and turns out it was perfect! She is very believing and Elder Uchtdorf's testimony was all about Christ and His role in our lives. Tender mercies...tender mercies.
Anne Sophie continues to do well. This week we were reviewing the gospel and we asked her to repeat the five points of the gospel (faith, repentance, baptisim, the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end) Well she got stuck on baptism so I did a hand motion to show someone being baptized and she guessed 'going to bed?'. Haha I wish sleeping was a principle of the gospel! She was also very cute as she thought we had finished the 'new member lessons', she asked if it was alright if we kept meeting and if when we have someone she could come teach with us...Ill understate how excited I was that she wanted to teach with us by just saying that we were ok with that idea. I wonder if amies every know how much we truly care for them, love them, pray for them...stress over them...and get ridiculously excited for them when they show growth in the gospel...hmmm. If only they knew...but then there are moments when I know it goes both ways... A couple of weeks ago I was appologizing to Anne Sophie for my horrible voice messages I leave her, and she said 'its ok, I always know its you' and I replyed 'oh because of my horrible french' and she said 'no...because I know your voice.'
Tender n'est-ce pas??
Oh and I almost forgot. Mom- congratulations you made it a third of the way there!!! haha This week I hit my six month mark! Pretty crazy...I don't really remember life before the mission...and I can't really picture a life after the mission. I wish I had some wisdom to share from thus far in the mish. But I think longer and longer Im a missionary I kind of just realize how many faults I have (trust me... the list goes on and on) and how much wisdom I lack. But Ive also kind of realized that that's ok! Im trying my hardest...and the Lord truly makes up the rest (like inspiring women to walk into church, sending five referrals our way, and giving me a companion that thinks Im funny when I get stir crazy in the apartment). I dont really know how to sum up what Ive learned in the past six months...so I just won't. Just trust me when I say I know now more than ever how important the gospel is. How it really is the only way to feel true happiness. I know that this is Christ's restored church and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary. For now, Ill just keep you guys in suspense and save all of my wisdom until my homecoming ;)
Love you tons
Soeur Smith
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
August 22, 2011
Bonjour!!!!
Well this week I feel like Im starting to feel like mom. Im kind of ready for the entire world to go back to school and work. Im ready for normal scheadules. Im ready to start hearing french on the metros again, rather than just about every unrecognizable language and LOTS of english. I am ready for the vacance to be over. But only a couple more weeks and I think we'll be there so I'll keep my complaining to a minimum. Naturally, we as missionaries try our best to ignore vacance and keep things going. So this week was full of lots of member visits, zone conferance, and doctor visits.
First off- member visits. Well last Monday was Soeur Williams' birthday (22 wahoo!) and it was so good! We went to Sacré Coeur...which is one of the most famous churches in Paris and little did we know it was a Catholic holiday on Monday so the crowds were less to be desired...but other than that the day just worked out perfectly. It was one of those days were the weather is perfect, the metro pulls up just as you walk in every time, and magically you find a cheap ice cream stand rather than one of the over priced ones. But the best part was at the end of the day we had an appointment with a member that was amazing. We have been trying to work hard during vacance to just get to know the members that have stuck around. This has led for some really cool experiences when we get to hear amazing conversion stories.( your right dad- that really is where the gold is!) This lady was especially powerful-honestly I want to take her to all of our teaching appointments because her conversion story is beautiful. She shared with us some of the very difficult things that have happened in her life...and she said that when those events happened rather than asking God 'why me' she chose to ask him 'what is the purpose behind this?'. She found the sister missionaries in the metro in 1994, apparently that year the Pope came to visit France, so there had been alot of religious people out and about Paris. But she said when she saw the sisters and thier nametags she knew something was different about them and she had to ask. Well they talked with her and invited her to church, but it took her a couple months to get to church. But she said as soon as she walked into the building she could see a light in the members and she knew she had found the truth. I thought this story was a beautiful example of never giving up on people (Im sure after she didnt show up the missionaries didn't give their encounter in the metro much thought) and of the power of members. I don't think members know how much they mean to us. I mean, I hear in their prayers every week at church or in their homes 'please bless the missionaries', but I hope they know when we go home we are praying 'please bless the members'...because without them our work is MUCH more difficult.
Which reminds me of Zone Conferance. Which of course was amazing. One of the best parts was I actually understood what the heck was going on! This is huge improvement from last zone conferance where I was guessing most of the time. But one thing President Poznanski emphasized was 'yes- every member a missionary, but also every missionary a member' He really wants us to get to know our wards and feel like we are a part of the ward. We talked about many different ways to do that and it made me grateful that we've had the opportunity this summer to get to know many members à cause de the dreaded vacance. Blessings in disguise, blessings in disguise. (although a huge part of me is ready for the 'blessing of vacance' to be over! haha) Also, President Poznanski said that when he was in the MTC being trained with all the mission presidents the brethern said that they want mission presidents to try and move missionaries around as little as possible. They really want missionaries to feel 'at home' when they go into in area and get settled for a while...which gives me hope that maybe Ill be staying in Paris for one more transfer !!! On verra...
We also had a funny moment at a members home this week. We had a mangez-vous with this cute couple in our ward. He is Croatian and she is German, and they are both converts. So we asked them for thier conversion stories. Well turns out his conversion story is intertwined with how he met his current wife (this is a second marriage for both of them)....but the best part was watching them during the story. He would describe trying to date her and she would make this cute giggly noise (mind you they are probably both in their 60's if not older), but then at the end he looked at her and said 'Love is alot of work...' then turned and looked at us 'so you have alot of work a head of you!' hahaha...we both set that bit of advice aside for the post-mish life haha.
And finally- the doctor's. So this week Soeur Williams had a 'bone scan' which is terrifying process where they give you a scary radioactive potion to drink (literally radioactive- she was told to stay away from children); then you sit in the waiting room for two hours while the potion spreads (enter us telling each other the plot of every book the other one hasn't read) and then she was 'scanned' and they could tell where the problem is according to how the potion spread. Well results came back- everything normal! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...but the good knews is the Poznanskis found a new doctor for her so hopefully this week when we meet with him we will finally actually get some answers!!!!
Oh- and to sum up the week there was a baptism in the ward! This girl is from Tawain and she is in Paris for vacation for a couple months. But she was wandering around looking for a place to pray one night and she heard one of the missionary concerts going on...so she walked in and asked if this is a church. Obviously the answer was yes and the chinese elders starting teaching her that night. She is adorable! She was supposed to get baptized two weeks from now but moved it up because she couldn't wait. The cutest part was after she was baptized (while standing in the font) she turned to everyone and said "thank you for being here, I know its been a short time, but in my heart and in my mind it has been a very long time I've been waiting for this day"...so tender. I really am so grateful to be a missionary and to be apart of moments like that...when the long search inside of people's minds and hearts are finally answered.
I love you and miss you all!!
xoxo
Soeur Smith
Well this week I feel like Im starting to feel like mom. Im kind of ready for the entire world to go back to school and work. Im ready for normal scheadules. Im ready to start hearing french on the metros again, rather than just about every unrecognizable language and LOTS of english. I am ready for the vacance to be over. But only a couple more weeks and I think we'll be there so I'll keep my complaining to a minimum. Naturally, we as missionaries try our best to ignore vacance and keep things going. So this week was full of lots of member visits, zone conferance, and doctor visits.
First off- member visits. Well last Monday was Soeur Williams' birthday (22 wahoo!) and it was so good! We went to Sacré Coeur...which is one of the most famous churches in Paris and little did we know it was a Catholic holiday on Monday so the crowds were less to be desired...but other than that the day just worked out perfectly. It was one of those days were the weather is perfect, the metro pulls up just as you walk in every time, and magically you find a cheap ice cream stand rather than one of the over priced ones. But the best part was at the end of the day we had an appointment with a member that was amazing. We have been trying to work hard during vacance to just get to know the members that have stuck around. This has led for some really cool experiences when we get to hear amazing conversion stories.( your right dad- that really is where the gold is!) This lady was especially powerful-honestly I want to take her to all of our teaching appointments because her conversion story is beautiful. She shared with us some of the very difficult things that have happened in her life...and she said that when those events happened rather than asking God 'why me' she chose to ask him 'what is the purpose behind this?'. She found the sister missionaries in the metro in 1994, apparently that year the Pope came to visit France, so there had been alot of religious people out and about Paris. But she said when she saw the sisters and thier nametags she knew something was different about them and she had to ask. Well they talked with her and invited her to church, but it took her a couple months to get to church. But she said as soon as she walked into the building she could see a light in the members and she knew she had found the truth. I thought this story was a beautiful example of never giving up on people (Im sure after she didnt show up the missionaries didn't give their encounter in the metro much thought) and of the power of members. I don't think members know how much they mean to us. I mean, I hear in their prayers every week at church or in their homes 'please bless the missionaries', but I hope they know when we go home we are praying 'please bless the members'...because without them our work is MUCH more difficult.
Which reminds me of Zone Conferance. Which of course was amazing. One of the best parts was I actually understood what the heck was going on! This is huge improvement from last zone conferance where I was guessing most of the time. But one thing President Poznanski emphasized was 'yes- every member a missionary, but also every missionary a member' He really wants us to get to know our wards and feel like we are a part of the ward. We talked about many different ways to do that and it made me grateful that we've had the opportunity this summer to get to know many members à cause de the dreaded vacance. Blessings in disguise, blessings in disguise. (although a huge part of me is ready for the 'blessing of vacance' to be over! haha) Also, President Poznanski said that when he was in the MTC being trained with all the mission presidents the brethern said that they want mission presidents to try and move missionaries around as little as possible. They really want missionaries to feel 'at home' when they go into in area and get settled for a while...which gives me hope that maybe Ill be staying in Paris for one more transfer !!! On verra...
We also had a funny moment at a members home this week. We had a mangez-vous with this cute couple in our ward. He is Croatian and she is German, and they are both converts. So we asked them for thier conversion stories. Well turns out his conversion story is intertwined with how he met his current wife (this is a second marriage for both of them)....but the best part was watching them during the story. He would describe trying to date her and she would make this cute giggly noise (mind you they are probably both in their 60's if not older), but then at the end he looked at her and said 'Love is alot of work...' then turned and looked at us 'so you have alot of work a head of you!' hahaha...we both set that bit of advice aside for the post-mish life haha.
And finally- the doctor's. So this week Soeur Williams had a 'bone scan' which is terrifying process where they give you a scary radioactive potion to drink (literally radioactive- she was told to stay away from children); then you sit in the waiting room for two hours while the potion spreads (enter us telling each other the plot of every book the other one hasn't read) and then she was 'scanned' and they could tell where the problem is according to how the potion spread. Well results came back- everything normal! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...but the good knews is the Poznanskis found a new doctor for her so hopefully this week when we meet with him we will finally actually get some answers!!!!
Oh- and to sum up the week there was a baptism in the ward! This girl is from Tawain and she is in Paris for vacation for a couple months. But she was wandering around looking for a place to pray one night and she heard one of the missionary concerts going on...so she walked in and asked if this is a church. Obviously the answer was yes and the chinese elders starting teaching her that night. She is adorable! She was supposed to get baptized two weeks from now but moved it up because she couldn't wait. The cutest part was after she was baptized (while standing in the font) she turned to everyone and said "thank you for being here, I know its been a short time, but in my heart and in my mind it has been a very long time I've been waiting for this day"...so tender. I really am so grateful to be a missionary and to be apart of moments like that...when the long search inside of people's minds and hearts are finally answered.
I love you and miss you all!!
xoxo
Soeur Smith
Monday, August 15, 2011
August 15, 2011 "The Rollercoaster"
Bonjour!!!
How are you!!?? Hopefully that is a chorus of 'greats' I hear from across the ocean! I hope so, because as usual this week turned out great for us!
Yes I said 'turned out' because its been a bit of rollercoaster ( if you guys get sick of my analogies let me know...but this week missionary work is a rollercoaster so go with me...) The ankle situation and vacance contiune to slow down our numbers (I swear thats not me complaining it just fits into the story later) but the work always keeps going! I kind of want to get to my really great story...so I'll just bullet point the other stuff that happened this week.
- We had a goodbye picnic for Elder Jaquier, one of the chinese elders, last P day in front of the eiffel tower (he is doing this wierd half transfer thing so he left in middle of the transfer) It was kind of fun having flashbacks to my first picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower and thinking of how far Ive come. I loved watching our 'blue' Soeur Ingrham freak out over it. Ahhh I promise I still I get excited about it...its was just so fun to watch someone's face the first time they saw it...magical to say the least :)
-We had district meeting with the Chinese elders this week and it was so good. Elder Gubbay said something I really liked. We were role-playing (yes missionaries have very well planned attacks for when people reject our message) and we were talking about how to describe to people that our religion really is different; because naturally everyone claims they have the 'authority' and 'the truth'. He said something to the effect of that we don't really need the Book of Mormon or the Bible; our church has all the keys to run on modern revelation alone. However, our loving Heavenly Father has given us scriptures so that we may know for ourselves, that we may read and pray individually to know the truth. And once you know the Book of Mormon is true, then you know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and you know we have the restored gospel. It is so simple and beautiful!
- I went to Brussels again for exchanges!! Except this time I was with a 'blue' francophone! You can imagine my terror... a full 24 hours in french...and Im supposed to be the 'older, knowledgable' companion. Hmmmm....but it went suprisingly well! I survived...turns out I can kind of speak french!!! (or I was put with a really nice francophone who told me she understood me) We had our share of adventures in Belgium; getting lost, contacting, and meeting a wonderful women at a members house who has survived tragedies in her home country of Rwanda! But of course...it felt so nice to come back to Soeur Williams. Sometimes I think exchanges are mainly just so you can learn to appreciate and miss your companion ( you know 'cause you don't miss something till its gone...just like I bet you guys are currently realizing how much you miss me... jk jk)
- Soeur Williams and I have really been trying to work with members, or at least the ones not on vacance, this month. And I have to say there is nothing like running through the streets of Paris, climbing 5 flights of stairs, knocking on a random persons door to find out we climbed the wrong 5 flight of stairs, going back down the stairs, climbing the next 5 flights of stairs, and then entering a members home to find pictures of Christ hanging everywhere, hearing their amazing conversion story, reading scriptures with them and hearing about their missionary efforts to get you loving your ward! Just for example....
OK...bussiness over. Story time. So like I said... our numbers have been leaving something to be desired for. This past week has been a rough and I think Satan is taking advantage of our struggles to make us question our abilities as missionaries. I mean, I knew a mission would be hard. I just thought the hardship would come from the work, not lack thereof. So needless to say I've been praying ALOT. Soeur Williams and I can't really do alot of contacting because of her ankle, and so we've been praying that we would be able to find SOMEONE, either on the metro or through a referel or something, that we could start teaching. Well, Saturday night after a long week my prayer included some sort of plea of 'please help someone to show up at church tomorrow that we can start teaching'. Ok yes... maybe it was a little demanding, but I really felt like it was our last hope this week. So there I was at the beginning of my rollercoaster...you know where your waiting for the rollercoaster to start going fast and get to the good stuff. So Sunday morning comes around, and normally we attend Relief Soceity (church is backwards here- relief society, Sunday school, then Sacrament Meeting), but two weeks ago we had been asked to teaching Sharing Time in Primary. (this is the part where the rollar-coaster is building up to the big drop) It accidently went over time, so as we came out of the primary room and saw some missionaries who are normally in the investigators class, we asked what they were doing they told me that there were NO investigators at church this week. You can imagine my disappointment, even Anne Sophie hadn't come! (Oops there was the big drop). So we were standing there talking to the elders, when all of the sudden three women walked in from the street. (If I havent described it before, our church has a big outside courtyard, its pretty legit). One is an amie of ours and she walked straight into Sunday school. Soeur Williams and I each starting talking to the other two. The one I started talking to is named Alvyne (pronounced like Alvin and the chimpmunks haha). She said she walks around in this neighborhood all the time and has never noticed the church; but today she was walking around and looked into the courtyard and felt like she should come in. Voilà, I started talking to her about our church, and basically gave her the first lesson AND she wanted to stay for sacrament meeting. I look over and Soeur Williams was guiding the other lady into the church so I just followed. So, there we are sitting in Sacrament meeting, somehow with three investigators! Afterwards, we met with Alvyne and had an amazing lesson and set another rendez-vous for this week. Afterwards, I find out from Soeur Williams that the other lady, Paulette, also was just randomly walking past the church and had a feeling to come in- AT THE SAME MOMENT as Alyvne; Soeur Williams convinced her to stay for sacrament meeting and afterwards she agreed to meet with us later this week as well. (this is the part on the rollercoaster where I'm doing loop-to-loops, corkscrews, and all the other great stuff!!!) It was truly a miracle. Honestly I would have been happy with one person showing up...but the Lord not only answers our prayers...but answers them in ways we could never even imagine. (Anne Sophie even showed up) Soeur Williams and I were on cloud nine for the rest of the day and as you can imagine my prayers that night were full of gratitude.
I don't know how to describe how much my testimony grew that the Lord is truly aware of each one of us. For me, the rollercoaster is a suprise, every jerk and turn is new. But the Lord created the tracks and knows where we are headed. If we hadn't been asked two weeks ago to teach primary, then we wouldn't have been running late, and wouldn't have been standing in the courtyard to talk to Alvyne and Paulette. The tracks were laid, we just had to bumble along in our little car, and trust that we were heading in the right direction. So right now I'm kind of at the top of the rollercoaster, you know the part where you can look out over the entire theme park and are feel satisfied that's its been a really good day. I'm sure this week will be full of ups and downs. Actually, Im sure this next year will be full of ups and downs, and then my mission will come to an abrupt stop! So for now, Ill just enjoy the ride!
I love you all and your in my prayers!
Soeur Smith
How are you!!?? Hopefully that is a chorus of 'greats' I hear from across the ocean! I hope so, because as usual this week turned out great for us!
Yes I said 'turned out' because its been a bit of rollercoaster ( if you guys get sick of my analogies let me know...but this week missionary work is a rollercoaster so go with me...) The ankle situation and vacance contiune to slow down our numbers (I swear thats not me complaining it just fits into the story later) but the work always keeps going! I kind of want to get to my really great story...so I'll just bullet point the other stuff that happened this week.
- We had a goodbye picnic for Elder Jaquier, one of the chinese elders, last P day in front of the eiffel tower (he is doing this wierd half transfer thing so he left in middle of the transfer) It was kind of fun having flashbacks to my first picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower and thinking of how far Ive come. I loved watching our 'blue' Soeur Ingrham freak out over it. Ahhh I promise I still I get excited about it...its was just so fun to watch someone's face the first time they saw it...magical to say the least :)
-We had district meeting with the Chinese elders this week and it was so good. Elder Gubbay said something I really liked. We were role-playing (yes missionaries have very well planned attacks for when people reject our message) and we were talking about how to describe to people that our religion really is different; because naturally everyone claims they have the 'authority' and 'the truth'. He said something to the effect of that we don't really need the Book of Mormon or the Bible; our church has all the keys to run on modern revelation alone. However, our loving Heavenly Father has given us scriptures so that we may know for ourselves, that we may read and pray individually to know the truth. And once you know the Book of Mormon is true, then you know that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and you know we have the restored gospel. It is so simple and beautiful!
- I went to Brussels again for exchanges!! Except this time I was with a 'blue' francophone! You can imagine my terror... a full 24 hours in french...and Im supposed to be the 'older, knowledgable' companion. Hmmmm....but it went suprisingly well! I survived...turns out I can kind of speak french!!! (or I was put with a really nice francophone who told me she understood me) We had our share of adventures in Belgium; getting lost, contacting, and meeting a wonderful women at a members house who has survived tragedies in her home country of Rwanda! But of course...it felt so nice to come back to Soeur Williams. Sometimes I think exchanges are mainly just so you can learn to appreciate and miss your companion ( you know 'cause you don't miss something till its gone...just like I bet you guys are currently realizing how much you miss me... jk jk)
- Soeur Williams and I have really been trying to work with members, or at least the ones not on vacance, this month. And I have to say there is nothing like running through the streets of Paris, climbing 5 flights of stairs, knocking on a random persons door to find out we climbed the wrong 5 flight of stairs, going back down the stairs, climbing the next 5 flights of stairs, and then entering a members home to find pictures of Christ hanging everywhere, hearing their amazing conversion story, reading scriptures with them and hearing about their missionary efforts to get you loving your ward! Just for example....
OK...bussiness over. Story time. So like I said... our numbers have been leaving something to be desired for. This past week has been a rough and I think Satan is taking advantage of our struggles to make us question our abilities as missionaries. I mean, I knew a mission would be hard. I just thought the hardship would come from the work, not lack thereof. So needless to say I've been praying ALOT. Soeur Williams and I can't really do alot of contacting because of her ankle, and so we've been praying that we would be able to find SOMEONE, either on the metro or through a referel or something, that we could start teaching. Well, Saturday night after a long week my prayer included some sort of plea of 'please help someone to show up at church tomorrow that we can start teaching'. Ok yes... maybe it was a little demanding, but I really felt like it was our last hope this week. So there I was at the beginning of my rollercoaster...you know where your waiting for the rollercoaster to start going fast and get to the good stuff. So Sunday morning comes around, and normally we attend Relief Soceity (church is backwards here- relief society, Sunday school, then Sacrament Meeting), but two weeks ago we had been asked to teaching Sharing Time in Primary. (this is the part where the rollar-coaster is building up to the big drop) It accidently went over time, so as we came out of the primary room and saw some missionaries who are normally in the investigators class, we asked what they were doing they told me that there were NO investigators at church this week. You can imagine my disappointment, even Anne Sophie hadn't come! (Oops there was the big drop). So we were standing there talking to the elders, when all of the sudden three women walked in from the street. (If I havent described it before, our church has a big outside courtyard, its pretty legit). One is an amie of ours and she walked straight into Sunday school. Soeur Williams and I each starting talking to the other two. The one I started talking to is named Alvyne (pronounced like Alvin and the chimpmunks haha). She said she walks around in this neighborhood all the time and has never noticed the church; but today she was walking around and looked into the courtyard and felt like she should come in. Voilà, I started talking to her about our church, and basically gave her the first lesson AND she wanted to stay for sacrament meeting. I look over and Soeur Williams was guiding the other lady into the church so I just followed. So, there we are sitting in Sacrament meeting, somehow with three investigators! Afterwards, we met with Alvyne and had an amazing lesson and set another rendez-vous for this week. Afterwards, I find out from Soeur Williams that the other lady, Paulette, also was just randomly walking past the church and had a feeling to come in- AT THE SAME MOMENT as Alyvne; Soeur Williams convinced her to stay for sacrament meeting and afterwards she agreed to meet with us later this week as well. (this is the part on the rollercoaster where I'm doing loop-to-loops, corkscrews, and all the other great stuff!!!) It was truly a miracle. Honestly I would have been happy with one person showing up...but the Lord not only answers our prayers...but answers them in ways we could never even imagine. (Anne Sophie even showed up) Soeur Williams and I were on cloud nine for the rest of the day and as you can imagine my prayers that night were full of gratitude.
I don't know how to describe how much my testimony grew that the Lord is truly aware of each one of us. For me, the rollercoaster is a suprise, every jerk and turn is new. But the Lord created the tracks and knows where we are headed. If we hadn't been asked two weeks ago to teach primary, then we wouldn't have been running late, and wouldn't have been standing in the courtyard to talk to Alvyne and Paulette. The tracks were laid, we just had to bumble along in our little car, and trust that we were heading in the right direction. So right now I'm kind of at the top of the rollercoaster, you know the part where you can look out over the entire theme park and are feel satisfied that's its been a really good day. I'm sure this week will be full of ups and downs. Actually, Im sure this next year will be full of ups and downs, and then my mission will come to an abrupt stop! So for now, Ill just enjoy the ride!
I love you all and your in my prayers!
Soeur Smith
Monday, August 8, 2011
August 8, 2011 "The Dreaded Vacance"
Bonjour!!!!
Alright. I have a confession. This week has been a struggle. Ever since I arrived in France I heard these murmmerings about the dreaded 'vacance' where literally everyone clears out of Paris and the missionary work is really slow. Ignornant little me was like right ok, but Im sure the Lord doesnt take vacance right?? The work will be fine...right well, enter reality check. Literally everyone has left Paris. Zdravko left to 'get a cavity fixed' in Bulgaria, my favorite chinese twins joined the exodus to southern France, and just about every solid family in our ward that I never thought would leave...are on vacance. So work with amies...postponed till Septembre. Work with members...postponed to Septembre. Work with anyone??? *crickets chirpping*
Alright my 'lamen and lemuel' moment is over. Yes the work is slow, but luck for us the adventures are never slow to come in Paris. This week Paris has apparently had a fever. It goes from being ridiculously unbearibly hot and humid, to cold torential rains. Literally...right now Im wearing a coat and Im sure by the time I exit this internet café Ill pealing of all my layers and carrying around my 6 sweaters in 90° weather waiting for the next chill. During one of these rain storms at six-thirty in the morning Soeur Ingrham (the new sister in Paris Lilas) and I went for a run. I literally felt like we had gone swimming, but it was so fun. Although I dont really know if it was even a good run or not because Im not sure if I built up a sweat...hmmm.....
On top of bipolar weather, Soeur Williams and I have been feeling quite bipolar as the mission president and mission doctor have been trying to decide if her 'ankle situation' is serious enough to send her home or not. So while waiting inbetween phone calls we had gone over every possible outcome and how we would react to it....and we got through all the options just in time to get a call from the mission president to tell us that she is staying!!!! So we quickly rejoiced and then were very grateful that President Poznanski is now taking matters into his own hands to find her a doctor during vacance (bon courage....) The important thing is she is staying!!!
We have also had some adventures during what we have dubbed as 'ankle time' aka the times when we've walked too much and Soeur Williams' ankle looks about 5xs the size of normal and we hang out in the apartment with it elevated above her heart. Honestly you can only memorize so much preach my gospel and read so many scriptures before you start to go crazy. So this week I have managed to clean out every nook and cranny of our apartment including behind the fridge and several bookshelves; build, sleep in, and then deconstruct a fort (but first I made everyone crawl through it for a full 24 hours anytime they needed to go to the bathroom); write 9 letters (to all of you who havent heard from me since the MTC...oops my bad!), and make a ridiculous amount of brownies for the lucky elders who are profitting from our pitch boredom. Its been a rather productive week if you ask me. But seriously, dont worry we also manage to do missionary work. We've made significant progress in our area book and come up with some pretty good schemes for the ward . Hmmmm Soeur Smith locked in one room for a week....can get either really scary or really productive. I think this week we've seen both.
Even though the week has been a little bit lacking in bussiness, Sunday never fails us. This week the first Chinese priesthood holder in Paris blessed the sacrament! It has been so cool to see the chinese elders work so hard to build up the Chinese work and prepare to have a chinese branch in Paris. The only thing they are waiting on is priesthood holders. Fu Jian Shu has had a long journey to his baptism, but was beaming this week as he blessed the sacrament. As well, true to the St. Merri ward and in all of its uniqueness, testimonies were said in four different languages yesterday. The members who are still hanging around during vacance have done an awsome job at bringing thier friends to church, and I had a special treat in church when out of the crowd of tourists popped my friend Lauren who I did the Jerusalem study abroad with (wow has it really been a year and a half....)!!!
Despite the call of the beaches in the South of France...there are always some people you can depend on to always be around. Mikey, the homeless guy that hangs out around the church, never takes vacance. Soeur Williams and I were disgustingly fascinated this week as we watched him take a yogurt cup out of the garbage can, wash the yogurt cup in the gutter, walk over to another homless man, that homeless man pour alcohal out of a hairspray can into the yogurt cup, and Mikey with his big toothless grin take a drink. Ahhh Paris....some things never change.
Well, I love you all and hope your taking a little 'vacance' for yourself back home!!!
xoxo
Soeur Smith
Alright. I have a confession. This week has been a struggle. Ever since I arrived in France I heard these murmmerings about the dreaded 'vacance' where literally everyone clears out of Paris and the missionary work is really slow. Ignornant little me was like right ok, but Im sure the Lord doesnt take vacance right?? The work will be fine...right well, enter reality check. Literally everyone has left Paris. Zdravko left to 'get a cavity fixed' in Bulgaria, my favorite chinese twins joined the exodus to southern France, and just about every solid family in our ward that I never thought would leave...are on vacance. So work with amies...postponed till Septembre. Work with members...postponed to Septembre. Work with anyone??? *crickets chirpping*
Alright my 'lamen and lemuel' moment is over. Yes the work is slow, but luck for us the adventures are never slow to come in Paris. This week Paris has apparently had a fever. It goes from being ridiculously unbearibly hot and humid, to cold torential rains. Literally...right now Im wearing a coat and Im sure by the time I exit this internet café Ill pealing of all my layers and carrying around my 6 sweaters in 90° weather waiting for the next chill. During one of these rain storms at six-thirty in the morning Soeur Ingrham (the new sister in Paris Lilas) and I went for a run. I literally felt like we had gone swimming, but it was so fun. Although I dont really know if it was even a good run or not because Im not sure if I built up a sweat...hmmm.....
On top of bipolar weather, Soeur Williams and I have been feeling quite bipolar as the mission president and mission doctor have been trying to decide if her 'ankle situation' is serious enough to send her home or not. So while waiting inbetween phone calls we had gone over every possible outcome and how we would react to it....and we got through all the options just in time to get a call from the mission president to tell us that she is staying!!!! So we quickly rejoiced and then were very grateful that President Poznanski is now taking matters into his own hands to find her a doctor during vacance (bon courage....) The important thing is she is staying!!!
We have also had some adventures during what we have dubbed as 'ankle time' aka the times when we've walked too much and Soeur Williams' ankle looks about 5xs the size of normal and we hang out in the apartment with it elevated above her heart. Honestly you can only memorize so much preach my gospel and read so many scriptures before you start to go crazy. So this week I have managed to clean out every nook and cranny of our apartment including behind the fridge and several bookshelves; build, sleep in, and then deconstruct a fort (but first I made everyone crawl through it for a full 24 hours anytime they needed to go to the bathroom); write 9 letters (to all of you who havent heard from me since the MTC...oops my bad!), and make a ridiculous amount of brownies for the lucky elders who are profitting from our pitch boredom. Its been a rather productive week if you ask me. But seriously, dont worry we also manage to do missionary work. We've made significant progress in our area book and come up with some pretty good schemes for the ward . Hmmmm Soeur Smith locked in one room for a week....can get either really scary or really productive. I think this week we've seen both.
Even though the week has been a little bit lacking in bussiness, Sunday never fails us. This week the first Chinese priesthood holder in Paris blessed the sacrament! It has been so cool to see the chinese elders work so hard to build up the Chinese work and prepare to have a chinese branch in Paris. The only thing they are waiting on is priesthood holders. Fu Jian Shu has had a long journey to his baptism, but was beaming this week as he blessed the sacrament. As well, true to the St. Merri ward and in all of its uniqueness, testimonies were said in four different languages yesterday. The members who are still hanging around during vacance have done an awsome job at bringing thier friends to church, and I had a special treat in church when out of the crowd of tourists popped my friend Lauren who I did the Jerusalem study abroad with (wow has it really been a year and a half....)!!!
Despite the call of the beaches in the South of France...there are always some people you can depend on to always be around. Mikey, the homeless guy that hangs out around the church, never takes vacance. Soeur Williams and I were disgustingly fascinated this week as we watched him take a yogurt cup out of the garbage can, wash the yogurt cup in the gutter, walk over to another homless man, that homeless man pour alcohal out of a hairspray can into the yogurt cup, and Mikey with his big toothless grin take a drink. Ahhh Paris....some things never change.
Well, I love you all and hope your taking a little 'vacance' for yourself back home!!!
xoxo
Soeur Smith
Sunday, August 7, 2011
August 1, 2011
Bonjour everyone!!!!
How are you!?!?! Sounds the family reunion and vacation on the other side of the ocean went well!!! (Im secretly glad that Disneyland didnt work out...is that selfish? Its selfish...Ill make it up to you...Disneyland Paris next August? hahah I promise to be your personal translator) I can definately tell its vacation season by the amount of english I hear while walking around the city. Sometimes I wonder where all the Parisians went...then someone without deoderant and a baguette under their arm stands next to me on the metro and Im assured they still exsist.
This week has been a testimony to me that the Lord truly has a plan for everything and everyone. Let me explain. I've decided that missionaries are like wands. Yup you read right. Wands. You know, like in Harry Potter.( the french word is baguette, how good is that!!!) Anyways, you know how each wizard has to search for thier perfect wand that just *sparks* the right way. Each missionary is perhaps a different ingrediant in the wand. Like maybe Im a Unicorn Hair and Soeur Pearce was a Whomping Willow root. But now combined with Soeur Williams Im like a Unicorn Hair mixed with Phoenix feather. With each companionship your a different wand, searching for a different wizard or witch aka investigator. When the right missionaries meet with the right investigator, things just spark!
I don't remember how much Ive told you about Soeur Williams' foot situation...but Ill expand. About 9 weeks ago her ankle started to swell and get really stiff. A couple weeks after that she lost ability to move her toes. Since then she has been going through many tests at the hospital and has been told several times to STOP walking. But...thats not exactly an easy order for a missionary and she had a couple of progressing amies (investigators) that she had to keep meeting with. So she promptly took some IB Profin and kept working, taking breaks as much as possible. So when we found out we were going to be companions I knew that my time in the apartment was going to drastically increase.
Side Note. A missionaries happiness is directly related to how much your working. The more people you teach and find and oddly enough, worry about, the happier you are. Insert foot problem and its very difficult to keep up your level of happiness. But at the beginning of this transfer Soeur Williams and I were determined to make the best of it.
Thats where miracles happen. The Lord truly is aware of each of us and desires of our hearts. Somehow, despite our inablity to leave the apartment much, the Lord has provided people for us to teach, and therefore keeping level of satisfaction and happiness up.
First, enters Audrey. An american student studying music here in Paris. She happens to be in the same program as some BYU students who have been great missionaries and brought alot of their friends to church. But Audrey has been the only one consistant in coming back to church. She's had a book of Mormon for a few weeks now but due to her classes we haven't been able to meet with her. This week it finally worked out. Naturally all of her music program friends wanted to come to the lesson. Let me tell you Ive never been so intimidated in my life. In walk four music program students who after they sang our opening song I felt like clapping. Then while getting to know Audrey turns out she just graduated from Harvard...in biology. With a minor in music. Hm. As the lesson progressed Im pretty sure the students used many words I have no clue what the mean...let alone could I spell them for you. Thank goodness the gospel message is simple. The spirit in that lesson was so strong...yet Soeur Williams and I both walked out of that lesson feeling like we were not the missionaries for Audrey. We both felt like she is ready for the gospel, but we are just a stepping stone preparing her for the missionaries in the states that can teach her about the neccessity of faith rather than proof. We just weren't the "wand" for Audrey.
But, the Lord know who we are just right for. Like Zdravko. He continues to do well and is hilarious as ever. This week we had some very tender experiences as we discussed eternal families and the temple. The bishop interviewed him to see if he is ready for the priesthood and when he comes back from Bulgaria he will recieve it. One moment this week reassured me that we are truly the missionaries for Zdravko. We asked him this week if has felt a difference since being baptized and confirmed. He said 'yes, I feel protected' Naturally we were beaming as we asked if he has felt the spirit more. He told us " I have a hard time imagining the spirit, because you cant see it and whooshes in. But when I am around people who love me, like the Mormon Sisiters, I know I am protected and loved." We were both so happy that he knows we love him even though we have never verbalized it. Despite language barriers, we were the missionaries Zdravko needed at this time and now he knows the joy of the gospel and the 'protection' it brings into our lives.
The Lord also know how to position his 'wands' in the right place at the right time. This week Soeur Williams had EMG scheaduled for her foot. Basically that translates to be a torture sesson. They stick needles in you and intentionally shock you to test nerve activity. I had the 'pit of despair' scene from Princess Bride flashing through my head. But as she was being tortured the doctor started to ask her why she was in France. One thing led to another and she taught him basically the entire first lesson. Afterwards, she offered him a Book of Mormon and he said he couldn't accept it because it was so precious to her. But after she explained that she wanted to give it to him (aka we have like 50,000 in our apartment and WANT people to take them haha) he took it and said he would love to meet with us and talk with us more about it. Apparently she had the *spark* that he needed to be interested in the gospel. haha thats funny because he was electricuting her. alright...not that funny. Anyways, perhaps her ankle is swollen for a reason.
This week I know we have beens tools (wands?) in the Lords hands. This morning I was reading in Hebrews 13 and one verse stuck out to me. Verse 5 reads:
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
I know I am often tempted to compare my french with another missionaries, or compare investigators, or numbers or whatever it is. But when I am 'content with such thing' that I have, then the Lord will never leave us or forsake us, and thats when the *spark* happens. I am so grateful for the many things the Lord has blessed me with. Such great companions, the opportunity to serve a mission, and a supportive family back home that I love so much!! He truly is aware of everything and blesses us in everyway...even if its with swollen ankles!
I love you and miss you!
Soeur Smith
How are you!?!?! Sounds the family reunion and vacation on the other side of the ocean went well!!! (Im secretly glad that Disneyland didnt work out...is that selfish? Its selfish...Ill make it up to you...Disneyland Paris next August? hahah I promise to be your personal translator) I can definately tell its vacation season by the amount of english I hear while walking around the city. Sometimes I wonder where all the Parisians went...then someone without deoderant and a baguette under their arm stands next to me on the metro and Im assured they still exsist.
This week has been a testimony to me that the Lord truly has a plan for everything and everyone. Let me explain. I've decided that missionaries are like wands. Yup you read right. Wands. You know, like in Harry Potter.( the french word is baguette, how good is that!!!) Anyways, you know how each wizard has to search for thier perfect wand that just *sparks* the right way. Each missionary is perhaps a different ingrediant in the wand. Like maybe Im a Unicorn Hair and Soeur Pearce was a Whomping Willow root. But now combined with Soeur Williams Im like a Unicorn Hair mixed with Phoenix feather. With each companionship your a different wand, searching for a different wizard or witch aka investigator. When the right missionaries meet with the right investigator, things just spark!
I don't remember how much Ive told you about Soeur Williams' foot situation...but Ill expand. About 9 weeks ago her ankle started to swell and get really stiff. A couple weeks after that she lost ability to move her toes. Since then she has been going through many tests at the hospital and has been told several times to STOP walking. But...thats not exactly an easy order for a missionary and she had a couple of progressing amies (investigators) that she had to keep meeting with. So she promptly took some IB Profin and kept working, taking breaks as much as possible. So when we found out we were going to be companions I knew that my time in the apartment was going to drastically increase.
Side Note. A missionaries happiness is directly related to how much your working. The more people you teach and find and oddly enough, worry about, the happier you are. Insert foot problem and its very difficult to keep up your level of happiness. But at the beginning of this transfer Soeur Williams and I were determined to make the best of it.
Thats where miracles happen. The Lord truly is aware of each of us and desires of our hearts. Somehow, despite our inablity to leave the apartment much, the Lord has provided people for us to teach, and therefore keeping level of satisfaction and happiness up.
First, enters Audrey. An american student studying music here in Paris. She happens to be in the same program as some BYU students who have been great missionaries and brought alot of their friends to church. But Audrey has been the only one consistant in coming back to church. She's had a book of Mormon for a few weeks now but due to her classes we haven't been able to meet with her. This week it finally worked out. Naturally all of her music program friends wanted to come to the lesson. Let me tell you Ive never been so intimidated in my life. In walk four music program students who after they sang our opening song I felt like clapping. Then while getting to know Audrey turns out she just graduated from Harvard...in biology. With a minor in music. Hm. As the lesson progressed Im pretty sure the students used many words I have no clue what the mean...let alone could I spell them for you. Thank goodness the gospel message is simple. The spirit in that lesson was so strong...yet Soeur Williams and I both walked out of that lesson feeling like we were not the missionaries for Audrey. We both felt like she is ready for the gospel, but we are just a stepping stone preparing her for the missionaries in the states that can teach her about the neccessity of faith rather than proof. We just weren't the "wand" for Audrey.
But, the Lord know who we are just right for. Like Zdravko. He continues to do well and is hilarious as ever. This week we had some very tender experiences as we discussed eternal families and the temple. The bishop interviewed him to see if he is ready for the priesthood and when he comes back from Bulgaria he will recieve it. One moment this week reassured me that we are truly the missionaries for Zdravko. We asked him this week if has felt a difference since being baptized and confirmed. He said 'yes, I feel protected' Naturally we were beaming as we asked if he has felt the spirit more. He told us " I have a hard time imagining the spirit, because you cant see it and whooshes in. But when I am around people who love me, like the Mormon Sisiters, I know I am protected and loved." We were both so happy that he knows we love him even though we have never verbalized it. Despite language barriers, we were the missionaries Zdravko needed at this time and now he knows the joy of the gospel and the 'protection' it brings into our lives.
The Lord also know how to position his 'wands' in the right place at the right time. This week Soeur Williams had EMG scheaduled for her foot. Basically that translates to be a torture sesson. They stick needles in you and intentionally shock you to test nerve activity. I had the 'pit of despair' scene from Princess Bride flashing through my head. But as she was being tortured the doctor started to ask her why she was in France. One thing led to another and she taught him basically the entire first lesson. Afterwards, she offered him a Book of Mormon and he said he couldn't accept it because it was so precious to her. But after she explained that she wanted to give it to him (aka we have like 50,000 in our apartment and WANT people to take them haha) he took it and said he would love to meet with us and talk with us more about it. Apparently she had the *spark* that he needed to be interested in the gospel. haha thats funny because he was electricuting her. alright...not that funny. Anyways, perhaps her ankle is swollen for a reason.
This week I know we have beens tools (wands?) in the Lords hands. This morning I was reading in Hebrews 13 and one verse stuck out to me. Verse 5 reads:
"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
I know I am often tempted to compare my french with another missionaries, or compare investigators, or numbers or whatever it is. But when I am 'content with such thing' that I have, then the Lord will never leave us or forsake us, and thats when the *spark* happens. I am so grateful for the many things the Lord has blessed me with. Such great companions, the opportunity to serve a mission, and a supportive family back home that I love so much!! He truly is aware of everything and blesses us in everyway...even if its with swollen ankles!
I love you and miss you!
Soeur Smith
Monday, August 1, 2011
July 25, 2011
Bonjour!!!
I am sure that you are all sick of hearing about transfers. BUT know you now what it feels like for a missionary. One week stressing about what is going to happen, one week gossiping about what happened, and the next week dealing with what happened. So yes my past 2 emails have been about transfers and all the emotions that come with it...but this week they ACTUALLY happened. So needless to say, its been emotional. (Im starting to think thats more the rule than the exception on the mission) As of Wednesday, I am officially companions with Soeur Williams. She is from American Fork, Utah and is in her 6th transfer. She has amazing french due to her French bother-in-law and an amazing high school teacher. She is adorable in every way, and we are already good friends from living together for the past two transfers since she has been serving in the Paris-Lilas ward (the ward on the other half of Paris). She had to make quite the move this week ALL the way across our 'huge' apartment. We feel pretty blessed to be put together. We keep waiting for someone to burst into the apartment and tell us they were joking....we aren't ACTUALLY lucky enough to be companions. But voilà, no one has said anything yet, so maybe its real?!
We started off the transfer with quite a bang....ZDRAVKO IS NOW A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH!!! Everyone who is reading please breath a sigh of relief because it was quite the close call! Soeur Pearce and I spent alot of time debating about whether Zdravko's baptism could really happen so quickly. We were worried that with all the language barriers that he wouldn't understand quite what he was commiting too and since he is going back to Bulgaria for a few weeks right after his baptism that we would loose contact with him and he will disappear into the depths of the Bulgarian wilderness....BUT after lots of prayer and discussion we decided to go ahead with it. SO in comes Soeur Williams. Wednesday night, we had an appointment set with Zdravko. OH important missing detail: Zdravko is always late for his lessons but never misses them. Except for Wednesday night. We waited at the church till 9:30 to see if he would show up. No show. So I went into panic mode thinking maybe Satan took ahold of Zdravko and he no longer wants to get baptized. False alarm. When he showed up the next day he explained the train had broken down and he hadn't gotten off the train till after 10... ok fair enough...we will forgive him this time.Especially after we had a mock interview with him. There was a guy visiting our ward who happened to serve Ukraine Russian speaking, and was willing to come to a couple rendez-vous with Zdravko. It was so cool to hear him translate the baptisimal questions and Zdravko look at us and say firmly "Dah,dah,dah,oui,oui,oui, yes,yes,yes" (I think he wanted to make sure we got it...) But then we explained he HAD to be there on Friday night because it was his interview and so if he didn't show up he couldn't get baptized. So fast forward to Friday night. Seven-thirty passes. Eight o'clock. Eight-thirty. Nine. Yes. I was fuming. As missionaries were leaving the church they all told us to call and let us know if this baptism was actually going to go through. At nine the zone leaders told us they could wait till nine-fifeteen and then we would have to go home. Well guess who comes bounding in at 9:07 claiming he was only seven minutes late. I had to fight my urges to strangle his curly haired-head as we shoved him into the room for his interview. He passed. Well thinking we had learned our lesson we told Zdravko to meet us at 3 the next day so we could be on time for his baptism at 6. Naturally he didn't show up till almost 4:30, and by the time we got to the church with the font he was a good 15 minutes late for his own baptism. Good. Zdravko knows about Mormon Standard Time already.
Despite the stress zits now covering my face, the baptism went great. Everything was in typical Zdravko style- dramatic and hilarious. The man baptizing him memorized the prayer in russian and wrote it out phoentically for the witnesses. I think the kids in the front wish they had been wearing raincoats as he did the most dramatic back-bend into the water, and he shook his lion-mane hair fercoiusly as he came out of the water. Oh wait it gets better. The bishopric asked him to share his testimony after he was baptized and after 10 minutes of 'well-I-can-see-what-he-is-trying-to-say-and-its-sweet-in-a-way' english he ended with..."you are all interesting people. ça va? ça va" and sat down. THEN before everyone ate the refreshments (yes the church is the same everywhere, people in france eat refreshments after every church function as well) the man of the hour had to give a blessing on the food. It was somewhere along the lines of "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank for the blessings. I am not sure how old I am...maybe I am now 20 minutes old. etc." I think through all the language barriers he somehow understood what baptism is:)
So feelings of joy of seeing Zdravko's baptism ACTUALLY go through were mixed with feelings of sadness as I had to say goodbye to Soeur Pearce. I won't go into painfully boring detials for all of you back home rolling your eyes and thinking that I need to get over it because its not like she is dying...but we will just say Ive been a little weepy this weekend and my chocolate-intake has drastically increased as I've had to say goodbye. I know Ill see her next year...but that sounds like such a long ways away!! I am definately going to miss her wise words like "Don't die" everytime I go to cross a street and "keep things spazzy" after sitting through a painfully boring district meeting. And Ill miss trying to not loose her in a crowded metro station and listening to her argue in french with the parade of crazies in Paris. Yup, she was a great trainer. But even better she was a great friend! So, I guess Ill just put a bookmark in that chapter of my mission and go back to it in a year when I can do normal things like wear pants and chew gum in public.
Good weepy and emotional moment over. Now on for the all the amazing things Soeur Williams and I are going to do in Paris this transfer!!! I love you and miss you all!!!
xoxo
Soeur Smith
I am sure that you are all sick of hearing about transfers. BUT know you now what it feels like for a missionary. One week stressing about what is going to happen, one week gossiping about what happened, and the next week dealing with what happened. So yes my past 2 emails have been about transfers and all the emotions that come with it...but this week they ACTUALLY happened. So needless to say, its been emotional. (Im starting to think thats more the rule than the exception on the mission) As of Wednesday, I am officially companions with Soeur Williams. She is from American Fork, Utah and is in her 6th transfer. She has amazing french due to her French bother-in-law and an amazing high school teacher. She is adorable in every way, and we are already good friends from living together for the past two transfers since she has been serving in the Paris-Lilas ward (the ward on the other half of Paris). She had to make quite the move this week ALL the way across our 'huge' apartment. We feel pretty blessed to be put together. We keep waiting for someone to burst into the apartment and tell us they were joking....we aren't ACTUALLY lucky enough to be companions. But voilà, no one has said anything yet, so maybe its real?!
We started off the transfer with quite a bang....ZDRAVKO IS NOW A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH!!! Everyone who is reading please breath a sigh of relief because it was quite the close call! Soeur Pearce and I spent alot of time debating about whether Zdravko's baptism could really happen so quickly. We were worried that with all the language barriers that he wouldn't understand quite what he was commiting too and since he is going back to Bulgaria for a few weeks right after his baptism that we would loose contact with him and he will disappear into the depths of the Bulgarian wilderness....BUT after lots of prayer and discussion we decided to go ahead with it. SO in comes Soeur Williams. Wednesday night, we had an appointment set with Zdravko. OH important missing detail: Zdravko is always late for his lessons but never misses them. Except for Wednesday night. We waited at the church till 9:30 to see if he would show up. No show. So I went into panic mode thinking maybe Satan took ahold of Zdravko and he no longer wants to get baptized. False alarm. When he showed up the next day he explained the train had broken down and he hadn't gotten off the train till after 10... ok fair enough...we will forgive him this time.Especially after we had a mock interview with him. There was a guy visiting our ward who happened to serve Ukraine Russian speaking, and was willing to come to a couple rendez-vous with Zdravko. It was so cool to hear him translate the baptisimal questions and Zdravko look at us and say firmly "Dah,dah,dah,oui,oui,oui, yes,yes,yes" (I think he wanted to make sure we got it...) But then we explained he HAD to be there on Friday night because it was his interview and so if he didn't show up he couldn't get baptized. So fast forward to Friday night. Seven-thirty passes. Eight o'clock. Eight-thirty. Nine. Yes. I was fuming. As missionaries were leaving the church they all told us to call and let us know if this baptism was actually going to go through. At nine the zone leaders told us they could wait till nine-fifeteen and then we would have to go home. Well guess who comes bounding in at 9:07 claiming he was only seven minutes late. I had to fight my urges to strangle his curly haired-head as we shoved him into the room for his interview. He passed. Well thinking we had learned our lesson we told Zdravko to meet us at 3 the next day so we could be on time for his baptism at 6. Naturally he didn't show up till almost 4:30, and by the time we got to the church with the font he was a good 15 minutes late for his own baptism. Good. Zdravko knows about Mormon Standard Time already.
Despite the stress zits now covering my face, the baptism went great. Everything was in typical Zdravko style- dramatic and hilarious. The man baptizing him memorized the prayer in russian and wrote it out phoentically for the witnesses. I think the kids in the front wish they had been wearing raincoats as he did the most dramatic back-bend into the water, and he shook his lion-mane hair fercoiusly as he came out of the water. Oh wait it gets better. The bishopric asked him to share his testimony after he was baptized and after 10 minutes of 'well-I-can-see-what-he-is-trying-to-say-and-its-sweet-in-a-way' english he ended with..."you are all interesting people. ça va? ça va" and sat down. THEN before everyone ate the refreshments (yes the church is the same everywhere, people in france eat refreshments after every church function as well) the man of the hour had to give a blessing on the food. It was somewhere along the lines of "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank for the blessings. I am not sure how old I am...maybe I am now 20 minutes old. etc." I think through all the language barriers he somehow understood what baptism is:)
So feelings of joy of seeing Zdravko's baptism ACTUALLY go through were mixed with feelings of sadness as I had to say goodbye to Soeur Pearce. I won't go into painfully boring detials for all of you back home rolling your eyes and thinking that I need to get over it because its not like she is dying...but we will just say Ive been a little weepy this weekend and my chocolate-intake has drastically increased as I've had to say goodbye. I know Ill see her next year...but that sounds like such a long ways away!! I am definately going to miss her wise words like "Don't die" everytime I go to cross a street and "keep things spazzy" after sitting through a painfully boring district meeting. And Ill miss trying to not loose her in a crowded metro station and listening to her argue in french with the parade of crazies in Paris. Yup, she was a great trainer. But even better she was a great friend! So, I guess Ill just put a bookmark in that chapter of my mission and go back to it in a year when I can do normal things like wear pants and chew gum in public.
Good weepy and emotional moment over. Now on for the all the amazing things Soeur Williams and I are going to do in Paris this transfer!!! I love you and miss you all!!!
xoxo
Soeur Smith
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