Bonjour Bonjour.
Well this week has been an adventure as we've tried to get to know Lille. Its included lots of bus rides, reading maps, turning around, another bus ride, oops could've taken the metro right there, and turning around again. haha. But its all a part of the fun right?
I've been having lots of flashbacks this week to when I was trained. Its very strange to be the older companion with the stories. No wonder they say the mission is like mini life. I can just picture this is what getting old feels like- all of the sudden people look at you like you know stuff and you feel like kind of like 'hey no- I was just in your shoes five minutes ago, we are learning together'...but then there are moments you realize you have learned something and you actually do know what your doing.
For example: this week we had some pretty cool finding experiences (since that makes up for about 95 percent of what we do). So missionaries plan everything they do...we have TRANSFER planning to fix goals for the next 6 weeks. Then we have WEEKLY planning to decide what we are going to do that week to reach those goals. Then we have NIGHTLY planning, to figure out exactly what we are going to do the next day. We even have back up plans for when those plans fall through. THEN we have studies in the morning where we confirm what we are doing for the day. To boil it down...we know what we are supposed to be doing every minute of the day. Well two times this week, after we had done nightly planning, and I knelt down to pray, I've felt very specifically that we need to change where we were going to go to do finding to another place. I thought that was wierd, since I barely know the ville, that I would have such specific street in mind. So the first night, I kind of just shrugged it off. Well, then the next morning, this street would just not get off my mind. So I talked with Soeur McGhie and she was fine with changing our place to go contacting. When we got there, we met several people who were interested in just an hour. I was pumped. Well...later in the week, after planning, I knelt down to pray and I had the impression we needed to change not only the place, but the time of when we were going to do contacting. This time I did not hestiate at all to tell Soeur McGhie. When we got there the next morning, we met a really nice mom with her two little kids, and she was super excited to talk with us.
Part of growing old as a missionary is becoming a little hardened...ok maybe not hardened...realistic is probably a better word. I realize all these great contacts will probably not turn into 50 baptisms...but it doesn't stop me from being hopeful that one of these people are ready and that we can start teaching them this week. One of my goals when I started my mission was to really learn the language of the spirit and to know how the spirit speaks to me. This week I kind of had this moment of like 'woah, I have learned something, I knew the spirit was speaking with me'. Obviously I'm not perfect and have room to grow...but it was kind little tender mercy of the Lord to let me know how I've grown a little during the mission. Maybe I do know a thing or two?
One thing I expected about training, I thought my blue would be fascinated with France. Kind of like how I would stop Soeur Pearce in the street to look at a beautiful apartment building just because 'it was so french'. And she would just kind of chuckle, roll her eyes, and keep walking. Well, I guess I should have learned my lesson after working at Disney World for 4 months and still being able to cry in the firework show. You can guess who is grabbing her blue's arm and making her stop to appreciate a beautiful door. I guess I'm not really all the hardened after all...
guess that means I can start expecting those 50 baptisms. :)
Love you and miss you!
Have a great week!
Soeur Smith
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