Dont really know where to start for this week. I feel like we had alot of random moments...lets see...
Monday night we had a rendezvous with our part member family. The 15 year old is awsome...well not in an obvious way. She is really hyperactive and its hard to get her attention...but then she throws out questions like "if Jesus is so important, why does no one talk about him" (ya...thats why we are there!), "what is my purpose in life", "how does Heavenly Father answer my prayers?"... those are the kind of questions we dream about! Anyways...it was a good lesson.Things will be petite à petite with her...but I think once she realizes how key her questions are things will be good. Our night was slightly ruined afterwards however when all tram and metro drivers decided to go on strike and we waited in the cold until 10:45 at the tram stop until we found a very kind member to leave thier nice warm house and pick us up....I swear as an RM I will rescue the missionaries in anyway possible! We got our laughs however when Sister Murray got so cold she put her mittens on her feet...yes I documented it with pictures.
TUESDAY IN PARIS!!!! We returned to my old stomping grounds for Christmas zone conferance! It was so fun!!! Really more of a party than a zone conferance...after the spiritual message we finished the night with food and white elephant gifts! AND a stocking with presents from President and Sister Poznanski...including letters from Mom and Dad...thank you! I had to wipe away a few tears before heading back into the meeting...but I don't think I was the only one secretly sniffling not from a cold lol.
And while waiting for our train we might have snuck in a quick walk to Notre Dame which right now has a giant tree in front of it. It was absolutely beautiful. I love Brussels...but Paris is a world of its own.
Speaking of Christmas....HOLY COW THE BOX IS HUGE! Luckily I am serving in Brussels with some really nice elders and Sister Posnanski found a GIANT bag to help them carry it...so the box is officially back in Brussels! Don't worry I took pictures of it to document the journey!
I can tell this whole mission thing is really sinking into my brain. Every night I had some sort of wierd mission dream. My favorite was I dreamt it was the end of the world (I guess in 2012) and only 8000 people survived all the natural disasters...and I turned to my companion and I said 'This is great...it will take like no time at all to convert 8000 people'. Bahaha....you know what Im worried about....
Other than that things were pretty normal this week. Well normal for a mission. Staying true to the spirit of Brussels we kepts things pretty international this week. We attended a Dutch baptism. We taught the Rodrigez family again (I thought african-french accents were bad...spanish-french is for some reason so difficult for me!) Tom came to church (hurray!!) and said the prayer in Swetswana for sunday school. We went to a European Christmas Market and tried to contact people and remind them of the real meaning of Christmas...It was a good week overall.
Last night I had one of those 'being used as a tool in the Lord's hands' moments. We had planned on going to the Christmas devotional with a part-member family. We called them to tell them we were on the way to pick them up and they told us they weren't going to be able to make it. Disapointed, we decided since we were in the area, we would go to an excommunimated members home. She isn't a member, but her kids are. We got there and she was laying on the couch, sick. She had been sick for about a week, and said she had just finished reading her scriptures and praying, and then we knocked on the door. We read with them from the cartoon Book of Mormon, and her daughter asked if she could borrow the book for a week, and she promised she would read it in a week if she would be allowed to borrow it. It was really tender. We finished with singing a few Christmas songs, and the spirit was really strong. As we left, the mom said 'I think the spirit sent you here tonight'. We had our own Christmas devotional.
Its Christmas season, so naturally we've been showing everyone possible the 'Joy to the World' DVD. I was thinking this week about exactly how Christ brought joy to the world. That's an awful big responsibilty. I think if you looked around through the world's eyes you would say, its hard to find joy in the world. But that's just it, once we stop looking through the eyes of the world, and start accepting Christ in our life...we can't help but have joy! I know this paragraph is getting a little preachy- so I'll save you from my brain ramblings... and just finish with how grateful I am for this gospel and the joy it brings me. And I hope you all are feeling a little bit of seasonal joy!
If not...go read your scriptures! lol...but seriously.
Love you! Miss you!
Soeur Smith
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