Oh Gosh.....
Well that about sums up my week. So Love you, miss you! Au revoir...
Dont worry. I'm kidding. I just feel like I don't really know where to start on describing this week. Started off with lots of tearful goodbyes and nastolgic 'last time I porte this street, last time I visit this less-active' and other obnoxious goodbye procceses in Brussels....
And now I'm in LILLE!
With my baby, SISTER MCGHIE!
AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHICH WAY IS UP! And I LOVE IT!
So this whole new adventure started with going to Paris to pick up my blue. We had a training Wednesday morning before getting our newbies that was from president and the assitants and was full of lots of words of wisdom like 'be a good example...right up to the bitter end you oldies' I think that was directed to me and the other two trainers that go home with me in August. Bitter end, meh, what do they know? I going to make this once sweet finale..
Then we had this awkward process in which the blues came and sat on one side of the room, and we sat on the other and they had a picture of each city and the trainer pop up on the projecter and the trainer stood up, and then president announced the blue and then they stood up and we awkwardly stood there on opposite sides of the room waving at each other. Ya, so once that bit of awkwardness was over I got to run over and give Soeur McGhie a big hug and tell her I know absolutely nothing about our ville. I think her eyes got a little bit bigger at that point haha. But she is awsome! She is from Seattle, Washington; speaks amazing french; super hard working, and I'm pretty sure jett-lag is catching up. Poor thing.
So after that we got to go to the Eiffel Tower for like five minutes, drag our suitcases across Paris to the Gare, and catch our train up to Lille. We got here, and the elders were waiting to escort us to our apartment. I was slightly terrified of what the apartment was going to be like, since we were stealing it from elders, but a recent convert revealed to me that they had been cleaning all week, so it was actually pretty nice when we walked in! Its on the bottom floor, so we have a nice little patch of grass we call our yard, and we don't have drag groceries up 6 flights of stairs. Life is wonderful!
So we got to our apartment, dropped our stuff, and headed right over to ward council. And this ward is amazing! They sat and asked about every investigator...of the elders (we are still working finding some of those) and then acted all excited about having sisters and gave us a list of less actives to visit! I'm just in shock...I think I've had dreams about this kind of ward council...yes I know I know, I'm a dork.
And now our days are filled with looking at the map, trying our best to be inspired, and then doing finding. And I keep telling Soeur McGhie that she has blue magic...we've been seeing all sorts of little miracles! Our first night porting, we had been knocking on doors for about a half-hour, and this lady opened the door and she said 'I knew you'd knock on my door, come in'. I was like, well I hope this is a good thing? But judging by her big grin, I guessed she was happy to have us knock on her door. Turns out she met the missionaries when she was in her 20s and really enjoyed talking with us. She wasn't interested at all in our message, but she just wanted to let us know there are people out there that support us and admire us. It was a nice little tender moment...but just a little seed planted I suppose. Then the next day we were contacting in one of the main squares of the city, and Soeur McGhie was like 'I'm going to go talk to that girl sitting on the stairs' and I was like 'ok go for it!' so she walks over and they start chatting...so I'm just thinking ok, look at her go miss independant! So I kept just trying to stop people and talk with them. Well after about 20 minutes, I look over, and they are still chatting! So I walk over...turns out that the girl is american, studying in France, dated a mormon for 3 years, loves church, but never went back because it was a nasty breakup. But she said ' you know church is like the gym, at first I'd rather stay at home in my pj's and watch tv, but after I just feel so much better'. We invited her to church, but turns out she is finishing up her time in France and headed to Paris to meet up with her family, but who knows! Maybe she well go back when she is back in the states! Or I could stalk her on facebook in three months and make sure she goes back...judge me. I'm a creep and desperate to save souls.
Anyways. My little blue is just a little piece of luck. Like last night after our phone calls home we decided to pass by some of the less-actives the ward council gave us. So we go to this house, and its a bussiness for guard dogs. aka pictures of terrifying dogs all over the door...just a missionaries favorite kind of door. But I was like, well we're here. Just as I was about to knock on the door, this lady across the street hung out the window and asked who were looking for. We told her, and she pointed us to the right house. Phew. The Lord really does protect his missionaries.
And now I'm living in this wierd state of deja-vu. Like yesterday at church, the two wards in our building were combined, there was a byu symphony who came and performed that weekend, and we had no idea who our ward was. Kind of reminds of my first Sunday in Paris when we had like 100 visitors, a new BYU study abroad group arrive, and we had no idea who our ward was. And how I got to say 'see you soon' at the end of my phone call...just like sister pearce last year. And how Soeur McGhie kind of looks at me and says 'now where are we going' and I see in her that look of 'Im in France and nothing is like what I expected and is this really what missionary work is like?' kind of look that I would give my trainer.
Oh gosh. We've got an adventure here in Lille waiting for us.
Love you and miss you!
Soeur Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment