Bonjour Bonjour!
Sorry to be writing a day late and to give you a scare (mom)...Soeur McGhie had to go do her legality in Paris and so we had to do our emails today. But I got to take Soeur McGhie back to my old stomping grounds...you know, my humble birthplace of Paris. She enjoyed staring at the strange metal tower surrounded by lots of Americans...
anywho...its good thing we are writing are a day late because it gave us time for our 'miracles' to ...you know...become miracles.
So this week we've been doing lots and lots of finding. Shocker. And we've been having some pretty good luck... in the moment. People will stop and talk with us, they'll even give us thier numbers, some will even fix rendezvous right then and there with us. But then they never answer the phone or don't show up for the rendezvous.
There were two that were particularly disappointing. We contacted this lady, Brik, and her friend and we talked about prophets, and they were super excited and we fixed a rendezvous with them for Saturday. We were super pumped.
Well Saturday came and went, and she didn't come to the rendezvous or answer her phone.The metro was having trouble that day so we tried to convince ourselves that she just couldn't get there and that her phone was out of battery. Its like every time I get cut off in traffic...I try to imagine the person is driving to the hospital for an emergancy and that's why they are being a silly driver. Got to give people the benefit of the doubt, ya know?
Well, earlier in the week I contacted this girl on the metro, Claire, who actually had studied in California, so she knew a little bit about the church, and accepted an invitation to a ward activity Saturday night. Well the activity happened to be a rock concert (yup that's how they do things in France)...so when she didn't show up you can imagine what kind of wierd looks we were getting from members as we stood in the foyer, looking hopefully out at the road, and trying to not nod our heads to the worldly music blasting from the gym.
So, naturally Sunday was kind of sad. Another week of no amis at church, another week of feeling like all our efforts didn't really show for anything. Just when I feel like I hear about miracles all throughout the mission...I start to feel like our little well of miracles is running a little dry.
So Monday, we got to go to Paris. But coming on the train ride back, all I could think about is how we really need to find people to teach. Like, really.
So that night we were making calls- called all the people we've contacted in the past week and half. Honestly...not one single person answered. Not even one answered to yell at us and tell us not to call anymore. Guess we don't get that consideration anymore. So... as we started to get ready for bed the phone rang....
It was Brik! She really had had something happen on Saturday and was wondering if she could see us this week and fixed something for Wednesday. I think I jumped and leaped around that apartment until 10:30 when we went to bed. But then...around 10:45....the phone rang again! So I jump out of bed, try to speak french half asleep and with my retainer in...its Claire! She also appologized for Saturday and wants to see us next Monday!!!!
So it was pretty difficult to fall asleep last night...the thought I had running through my head over and over again was "the contacts of today are the miracles of tomorow (or next week...)". Cheesy I know, but hey, Im in France....life is about as cheesy as it can get!
Love you all!
Soeur Smith
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
June 18, 2012 "The first of the lasts"
Well....
here it comes. The dramatic ending. THE LAST TRANSFER.
So since training Soeur McGhie, I've been very obnoxious about celebrating all her first-milestones as a missionary. You know- first pasterie, first zone conferance, first rendezvous with someone smoking in your face, first time having a crazy person yell at you on the metro, first time being called a Jehovah's Wittness, first time someone tells you about thier dream when Jesus visted them- you know, all the normal things like that.Well this week was a momenteus first for her...first time with her name on the transfer email.
And my last.
Bah. So this is my first time I get to have momenteus freakout on my mission. OK I wish it was this first...but starting my very last planner spured all sorts of emotions I wasn't expecting. And while I normally favor the 'rip of the band-aid' style goodbyes...somehow I feel like saying goodbye to a mission is a much more gory, painful process. So I appologize now for whatever sappy and overdramatic emotional carnage slips into my emails over the next six weeks.
So all gory-emotions aside- this week has been another typical rollercoster. We showed up at Rositta's appartment on Tuesday and she wasn't there. The thing with Rositta though, is that she is an older lady with lots of health problems, including diabites and lots of other medical stuff I don't understand in french. She never leaves her house, her nurses and nurmeous other people come to her house to help her out. So when she isn't there...it can only mean one thing. She is in the hospital. So after much help from the ward (calling french hospitals still scare me) we were finally able to track her down and visit her. I guess she had complications with her diabites, she is doing fine, but for now her baptismal date is postponed until she can come to churcha again.
So that was disappointing- but we had really good rendezvous with a lady we contacted a couple of weeks ago. We've taught her once before and we had given her a Book of Mormon. In our rendezvous this week, the first thing she said when she sat down was 'so, I started reading...and I like it!'. I love hearing that! Its like seeing the sun in northen France. We taught the Joseph Smith story, and after we had finished she said "so once I pray and know, I'm going need to join this church!". Oh its so wonderful when people put that together themselves! She still has alot of worries about the church, and her husband still thinks we are a cult...but I just love it when you start to see the light and people and they see that the gospel JUST MAKES SENSE.
And this week we got to work with a young women in our ward. Her family are all recent converts of about two years. Her mom is now the relief society president, and her dad is in the bishopric. They are basically just an amazing family. Well this weekend she asked if she could hang out with us- well on the way to a rendezvous we were getting out of the metro and walking down the stairs, and she turned to us and said "oh how I want to be like you, I just want to have a nametag with Christ's name on it".
Oh gosh. You cannot say things like to emotional, dying missionaries. So the rage of emotions that suddenly tried to leak out of my eyes were bottled by saying "Yes Tracy, keep that goal, you CAN be like us". Not the most inspirational thing that's ever come out of my mouth...but I was fighting from becoming a blubbering puddle in the middle of the metro.
So really, this week was a typical missionary week. Some ups, some downs. But also a little bit of realization that my time to be a full-time missionary actually has a time limit. But we won't talk about that for another six weeks.
Love you all!
Soeur Smith
here it comes. The dramatic ending. THE LAST TRANSFER.
So since training Soeur McGhie, I've been very obnoxious about celebrating all her first-milestones as a missionary. You know- first pasterie, first zone conferance, first rendezvous with someone smoking in your face, first time having a crazy person yell at you on the metro, first time being called a Jehovah's Wittness, first time someone tells you about thier dream when Jesus visted them- you know, all the normal things like that.Well this week was a momenteus first for her...first time with her name on the transfer email.
And my last.
Bah. So this is my first time I get to have momenteus freakout on my mission. OK I wish it was this first...but starting my very last planner spured all sorts of emotions I wasn't expecting. And while I normally favor the 'rip of the band-aid' style goodbyes...somehow I feel like saying goodbye to a mission is a much more gory, painful process. So I appologize now for whatever sappy and overdramatic emotional carnage slips into my emails over the next six weeks.
So all gory-emotions aside- this week has been another typical rollercoster. We showed up at Rositta's appartment on Tuesday and she wasn't there. The thing with Rositta though, is that she is an older lady with lots of health problems, including diabites and lots of other medical stuff I don't understand in french. She never leaves her house, her nurses and nurmeous other people come to her house to help her out. So when she isn't there...it can only mean one thing. She is in the hospital. So after much help from the ward (calling french hospitals still scare me) we were finally able to track her down and visit her. I guess she had complications with her diabites, she is doing fine, but for now her baptismal date is postponed until she can come to churcha again.
So that was disappointing- but we had really good rendezvous with a lady we contacted a couple of weeks ago. We've taught her once before and we had given her a Book of Mormon. In our rendezvous this week, the first thing she said when she sat down was 'so, I started reading...and I like it!'. I love hearing that! Its like seeing the sun in northen France. We taught the Joseph Smith story, and after we had finished she said "so once I pray and know, I'm going need to join this church!". Oh its so wonderful when people put that together themselves! She still has alot of worries about the church, and her husband still thinks we are a cult...but I just love it when you start to see the light and people and they see that the gospel JUST MAKES SENSE.
And this week we got to work with a young women in our ward. Her family are all recent converts of about two years. Her mom is now the relief society president, and her dad is in the bishopric. They are basically just an amazing family. Well this weekend she asked if she could hang out with us- well on the way to a rendezvous we were getting out of the metro and walking down the stairs, and she turned to us and said "oh how I want to be like you, I just want to have a nametag with Christ's name on it".
Oh gosh. You cannot say things like to emotional, dying missionaries. So the rage of emotions that suddenly tried to leak out of my eyes were bottled by saying "Yes Tracy, keep that goal, you CAN be like us". Not the most inspirational thing that's ever come out of my mouth...but I was fighting from becoming a blubbering puddle in the middle of the metro.
So really, this week was a typical missionary week. Some ups, some downs. But also a little bit of realization that my time to be a full-time missionary actually has a time limit. But we won't talk about that for another six weeks.
Love you all!
Soeur Smith
June 11, 2012 "deja vu"
Well this week I've been going through a wierd déjà vu....Strange how life goes in circles.
This week we had exchanges and I did exchanges in a ville called Nogent...which is right next to Paris. So guess what we got to do? Visitor Center shift! I know that probably means nothing to all you back home...but I spent many hours in that little visitor's center my first 6 months in Paris. Therefore I was having all sorts of wierd flashbacks! Especially when the Paris elders walked in and told me that ZDRAVKO IS BACK in Paris and doing well! I was kind of hopeing his bouncing curls would make thier way into the visitor's center but the elders killed that hope when they told me he shaved his head...alors...I'll have to wait another time to run into him.
It was very strange being back in Paris. Even the sound of the metros sent me into all sorts of memories. I know I'm wierd. And with X-amount of time left I have a feeling Im going to become more and more sentimental. Also this week, Soeur McGhie and I were invited mission council. Again, that probably means nothing to you, but I attended mission council like my third day in the field...its just wierd seeing everything twice- once from the 'blue I have no idea which way is up' perspective...to the 'I'm the sister all the elders look at and say "its so wierd your dying, I remember when you were born". Oh gosh...yes I feel like a grandma.
So inbetween all my freakouts about age and feeling like I'm living in some sort of wierd time warp...we fixed a baptisimal date! True to all mission traditions, all the miracles always happen during week 5 and 6 of the transfer. Rositta, our amie passed to us by the other sisters, fixed a date for June 30th!!! Apparently there are supposed to be 4 baptisms that day between the two wards here in Lille, so we are super excited and hoping that will help the ward get excited about the missionary work! Anyways, Rositta is awsome. She's really struggled with quitting coffee, but this week she just quit on her own and was super excited to finally fix a date!
I'm not going to lie, this week was kind of a crazy one, between exchanges, mission council, taking trains out to see members in super cute little french towns, and stake conferance, I felt like we were barely in our area. But looking back just over this past 5 weeks, especially this week with fixing a baptisimal date, I just feel like saying "and thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things"1 Nephi 16:29. Its truly by the little prayers and little bits of faith we can muster, that miracles happen, one little bit at a time! How great it is to be a missionary and be able to see the hand of the Lord in my life so clearly!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Soeur Smith
This week we had exchanges and I did exchanges in a ville called Nogent...which is right next to Paris. So guess what we got to do? Visitor Center shift! I know that probably means nothing to all you back home...but I spent many hours in that little visitor's center my first 6 months in Paris. Therefore I was having all sorts of wierd flashbacks! Especially when the Paris elders walked in and told me that ZDRAVKO IS BACK in Paris and doing well! I was kind of hopeing his bouncing curls would make thier way into the visitor's center but the elders killed that hope when they told me he shaved his head...alors...I'll have to wait another time to run into him.
It was very strange being back in Paris. Even the sound of the metros sent me into all sorts of memories. I know I'm wierd. And with X-amount of time left I have a feeling Im going to become more and more sentimental. Also this week, Soeur McGhie and I were invited mission council. Again, that probably means nothing to you, but I attended mission council like my third day in the field...its just wierd seeing everything twice- once from the 'blue I have no idea which way is up' perspective...to the 'I'm the sister all the elders look at and say "its so wierd your dying, I remember when you were born". Oh gosh...yes I feel like a grandma.
So inbetween all my freakouts about age and feeling like I'm living in some sort of wierd time warp...we fixed a baptisimal date! True to all mission traditions, all the miracles always happen during week 5 and 6 of the transfer. Rositta, our amie passed to us by the other sisters, fixed a date for June 30th!!! Apparently there are supposed to be 4 baptisms that day between the two wards here in Lille, so we are super excited and hoping that will help the ward get excited about the missionary work! Anyways, Rositta is awsome. She's really struggled with quitting coffee, but this week she just quit on her own and was super excited to finally fix a date!
I'm not going to lie, this week was kind of a crazy one, between exchanges, mission council, taking trains out to see members in super cute little french towns, and stake conferance, I felt like we were barely in our area. But looking back just over this past 5 weeks, especially this week with fixing a baptisimal date, I just feel like saying "and thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things"1 Nephi 16:29. Its truly by the little prayers and little bits of faith we can muster, that miracles happen, one little bit at a time! How great it is to be a missionary and be able to see the hand of the Lord in my life so clearly!
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Soeur Smith
June 4, 2012 "ma puce"
Bonjour Bonjour,
Well this week has been a crazy week...as usual. Somehow I feel like every week has some sort of build-up, climax, and happy ending...maybe weeks in normal life work like that too...we just never take the time to report to our families what happened in the past week haha.
Well this week the climax was zone conferance. We had zone conferance with Elder Teixiera, of the seventy, and his wife. Naturally, going into a zone conferance with a general authority you expect something great. And we got what we were expecting!
Elder Teixiera started out with two stories.
The first was about a flea. He told us fleas are magnificant animals. You see, fleas know how to do one thing very well. They know how to jump. And no matter what situation they find themselves in...they jump. Their brains are programed to jump. So, let's say you take a flea, and you put it in a jar. Then you hold the jar very close to your ear. What are you going to hear?
*ping*.
What would that noise be? That's right, the flea jumped, and hit its poor little head on the lid of the jar. Now, you would think as small as the little flea's brain is, maybe they would just keep jumping and hitting their head. BUT fleas will suprise you. No, they don't stop jumping...they just jump a little lower. Therefore, they continue to fulfill their one purpose in life, jumping, without hitting and hurting their poor little heads. The magnificant thing is, even if you remove the lid of the jar, the flea will continue to jump within the jar, completely captured by its own will.
The second story was about an elephant. Elder Teixiera had traveled to India and seen domistacated elephants. But how do you domesticate an elephant? Apparently, when elephants are very young, their owners will take them and chain them with a metal chain around their ankels to metal stake in the ground. The baby elephants will pull and tug and attempt to get away...they will hurt themselves...they will cry...and eventually...they give up. They stay very close to their little stakes. As the elephant grows, he learns that if feels something around his ankle, to stay put and avoid injury. And thus, you can go to India and see grown elephants tied to whimpy sticks with whimpy little ropes.The elephant could choose to just kick out his foot and run off- but again is tied down by past experience and choice.
So how do missionaries relate to the smallest of animals and the largest of animals. You see...we also do many things that hurt. We fix goals...only to report zeros to our leaders after a week of really trying. We contact thousands of people, only to be rejected over and over again. We fix rendezvous...only to be stood up. We study a language...only to be told we can't be understand. I could go on and on...we'll just leave it with the fact that being a missionary hurts.
So sometimes we choose to jump a little lower. We fix lower goals. We talk to less people. The less we try, the less we can get hurt. Elder Teixiera's message was that there are no limits on the Lord...we just need to jump as high as we can...and even when it hurts, the Lord will provide miralces. We just have to have the faith to jump.
So leaving zone conferance, we were just 'jumping' to get to our areas. So here we are ready to change the way missionary work is done in Lille. When we hit the lid preatty hard. The lady we contacted a couple weeks ago that fixed a rendezvous with us, canceled and was rude about it. Another person we found and had started teaching, dropped us. Out of faith, one morning we decided to contact a certain amount of people before lunch...we'll just say it was more people than we normally contact in one day. One by one, every single contact rejected us. Until...the very last person gave us a phone number. I know I should have been excited...it just seemed like such a little thing, a phone number, after all the great blessings promised in zone conferance if we would just keep jumping.
One other thing mentioned in zone conferance...perservance. President Poznanski reminded us, it would still take lots of work and disappointment. Still lots of jumping and hitting our heads. Well come Sunday, I was tired. I won't lie. I wanted to go back to jumping just a little bit less. Especially when our ami called us right before church and told she wouldn't be able to come.
Well church came and went. We talked with lots of members and had a good day, and Soeur McGhie and I were ready to go home and break our fast. Just as our lunch was coming out of the oven...we got a call from the elders. They were still at the church and this lady had shown up asking for Sister Smith. I spoke with her on the phone, and remembered she was someone we had contacted on Monday night. She was fed up with other religions and was open to learning about ours despite all the horrible things she had heard about us. She had told us that she would come to church, she even knew where it was. But she refused to give us a phone number or an address-so I thought it would be a miracle if we every heard from her again. We'll just say when she wasn't at church I wasn't to shocked. Well... she showed up at the church 3 hours after meetings and only could remember my name, because its the same as Joseph Smith's. You better believe we left our lunch and ran to the church. We had an amazing rendez-vous, she's excited to read the book of mormon, and we are seeing her again on Wednesday.
So at the end of this week, my head is feeling a little bruised and broken...but I also have a whole new testimony in the quote "shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll land in the stars"...or however it goes. In other words...we'll keep jumping.
I love you and miss you.
à la semaine prochain!
Soeur Smith
Well this week has been a crazy week...as usual. Somehow I feel like every week has some sort of build-up, climax, and happy ending...maybe weeks in normal life work like that too...we just never take the time to report to our families what happened in the past week haha.
Well this week the climax was zone conferance. We had zone conferance with Elder Teixiera, of the seventy, and his wife. Naturally, going into a zone conferance with a general authority you expect something great. And we got what we were expecting!
Elder Teixiera started out with two stories.
The first was about a flea. He told us fleas are magnificant animals. You see, fleas know how to do one thing very well. They know how to jump. And no matter what situation they find themselves in...they jump. Their brains are programed to jump. So, let's say you take a flea, and you put it in a jar. Then you hold the jar very close to your ear. What are you going to hear?
*ping*.
What would that noise be? That's right, the flea jumped, and hit its poor little head on the lid of the jar. Now, you would think as small as the little flea's brain is, maybe they would just keep jumping and hitting their head. BUT fleas will suprise you. No, they don't stop jumping...they just jump a little lower. Therefore, they continue to fulfill their one purpose in life, jumping, without hitting and hurting their poor little heads. The magnificant thing is, even if you remove the lid of the jar, the flea will continue to jump within the jar, completely captured by its own will.
The second story was about an elephant. Elder Teixiera had traveled to India and seen domistacated elephants. But how do you domesticate an elephant? Apparently, when elephants are very young, their owners will take them and chain them with a metal chain around their ankels to metal stake in the ground. The baby elephants will pull and tug and attempt to get away...they will hurt themselves...they will cry...and eventually...they give up. They stay very close to their little stakes. As the elephant grows, he learns that if feels something around his ankle, to stay put and avoid injury. And thus, you can go to India and see grown elephants tied to whimpy sticks with whimpy little ropes.The elephant could choose to just kick out his foot and run off- but again is tied down by past experience and choice.
So how do missionaries relate to the smallest of animals and the largest of animals. You see...we also do many things that hurt. We fix goals...only to report zeros to our leaders after a week of really trying. We contact thousands of people, only to be rejected over and over again. We fix rendezvous...only to be stood up. We study a language...only to be told we can't be understand. I could go on and on...we'll just leave it with the fact that being a missionary hurts.
So sometimes we choose to jump a little lower. We fix lower goals. We talk to less people. The less we try, the less we can get hurt. Elder Teixiera's message was that there are no limits on the Lord...we just need to jump as high as we can...and even when it hurts, the Lord will provide miralces. We just have to have the faith to jump.
So leaving zone conferance, we were just 'jumping' to get to our areas. So here we are ready to change the way missionary work is done in Lille. When we hit the lid preatty hard. The lady we contacted a couple weeks ago that fixed a rendezvous with us, canceled and was rude about it. Another person we found and had started teaching, dropped us. Out of faith, one morning we decided to contact a certain amount of people before lunch...we'll just say it was more people than we normally contact in one day. One by one, every single contact rejected us. Until...the very last person gave us a phone number. I know I should have been excited...it just seemed like such a little thing, a phone number, after all the great blessings promised in zone conferance if we would just keep jumping.
One other thing mentioned in zone conferance...perservance. President Poznanski reminded us, it would still take lots of work and disappointment. Still lots of jumping and hitting our heads. Well come Sunday, I was tired. I won't lie. I wanted to go back to jumping just a little bit less. Especially when our ami called us right before church and told she wouldn't be able to come.
Well church came and went. We talked with lots of members and had a good day, and Soeur McGhie and I were ready to go home and break our fast. Just as our lunch was coming out of the oven...we got a call from the elders. They were still at the church and this lady had shown up asking for Sister Smith. I spoke with her on the phone, and remembered she was someone we had contacted on Monday night. She was fed up with other religions and was open to learning about ours despite all the horrible things she had heard about us. She had told us that she would come to church, she even knew where it was. But she refused to give us a phone number or an address-so I thought it would be a miracle if we every heard from her again. We'll just say when she wasn't at church I wasn't to shocked. Well... she showed up at the church 3 hours after meetings and only could remember my name, because its the same as Joseph Smith's. You better believe we left our lunch and ran to the church. We had an amazing rendez-vous, she's excited to read the book of mormon, and we are seeing her again on Wednesday.
So at the end of this week, my head is feeling a little bruised and broken...but I also have a whole new testimony in the quote "shoot for the moon, if you miss you'll land in the stars"...or however it goes. In other words...we'll keep jumping.
I love you and miss you.
à la semaine prochain!
Soeur Smith
Monday, May 28, 2012
May 28, 2012 "oh, oh what are you doing here!"
Well well well,
this week was one of those weeks I swear I just wrote emails. And yet, here I am again...trying to cram a week of miracles and experiences into a few words.
So here we go...
Since I officially hit my 15 months mark...I thought I'll just make this email simple by giving you our top 15 moments of the week:
1. Taking the bus for twenty minutes in the wrong direction into adorable french countryside.. Getting off. Discovering the bus didnt come for another hour going the other direction. Deciding to walk half run back the other direction, and have little angels carry our feet because we somehow got to our rendezvous with a member family on time.
Then they told us there was another bus that drops us off right at their street.
Oh well, because we were sweating they'll think we work hard right?
2.Having the daughter of a less active tell she wants to be a sister missionary one day.
3.Recieving mail from your younger brother about how much he loves his mission. Best mail ever.
4.So we have this new ami Rositta, she was being taught by other sisters close to Lille, but now because we are here we can teach her. Well, the trick is she doesn't want to be taught by other sisters, she likes her sisters. But one cut out picture of Jesus glued to colored paper later, and she and I are best friends. Thank you Heavenly Father for softening her heart.
5. Having Rositta tell us we were the rays of light in her life :)
6. Recieving a letter in the mail from Kedinnetse...its was tender.
7. The conversation we had with our neighbor. Let me explain. He is this adorable old man that leaves every morning at the same time to buy orange juice. Apparently, the elders would always say hi to him, but he would never say hi back. Well this week we were leaving our apartment, and he came out and said something to the effect of
Neighbor. "wlkdqmlkhqglkdhf????"
Me: pardon?
Neighbor: did the men leave?
Me: (assuming he's talking about the elders) yes, but they still live in Lille. see we are all missionaries and....
Neighbor:qqldkhfqkjdhfmqkdhf
Me: pardon?
Neighbor: I'm 84
Me: congratulations?
Neighbor: *nods, smiles, walks away muttering in old man french*
I was just stoked he talked with us.
8. Going from door to door getting rejected because its a holiday weekend and everyone is either gone on vacation, or here with their family and don't want to talk to us. After two hours of this, we get on the metro and this giant family who looks like they just came from the beach enters the metro. The dad takes on look at us and starts yelling "mormon" and speaking some crazy langauge. His teenage son intreprets for us- apparently they had met missionaries before and they wanted a book of mormon in slovakian (explains the crazy language). Meanwhile, apparently the dad is teaching everyone on the metro the resoration or something because all i hear is "*slovakian*joseph smith!!!*slovkian*".
We'll be dropping off that book as soon as possible!
9.Me being the spazziest trainer ever and somehow managing to get us locked out of our phone for 3 days...but don't worry. The elders finally figured it out...you know after we had spent three days passing by the church every few hours hoping there would be someone at the church to help us. (apparently pay phones these days only take credit cards!)
10. The lady I told you about last week that we contacted, cute young mom, called us back and we fixed a rendezvous for this coming week!
11. Being called by a previous investigator of the sisters 3 years ago, and being asked if animals will go to the celestial kingdom.
12. Going for a rendezvous with a member, but ending up talking to someone in the elevator and being able to give them a book of mormon and fix a rendezvous!
13.I have seen the sun for at least 5 days straight now...and I even have an official watch tan to prove it!
14. Having a less active open her door and say "Oh! Oh! What are you guys doing here!" Then she started crying with joy, while inviting us in. Apparently she has been really struggling and praying to Heavenly Father and telling him she can't bear her burdens alone. Her husband has forbidden her from coming to church, or having missionaries over when he is home. Therefore, since there have been no sisters in Lille she hasn't been able to see the missionaries, but she said "having sisters back in Lille is the answer to my prayers".
We'll just say the tears were flowing pretty freely in that rendezvous.
15. The opportunity I've had to be a missionary for our Lord Jesus Christ. What could be better!
Love you all! Have a great week!
Soeur Smith
this week was one of those weeks I swear I just wrote emails. And yet, here I am again...trying to cram a week of miracles and experiences into a few words.
So here we go...
Since I officially hit my 15 months mark...I thought I'll just make this email simple by giving you our top 15 moments of the week:
1. Taking the bus for twenty minutes in the wrong direction into adorable french countryside.. Getting off. Discovering the bus didnt come for another hour going the other direction. Deciding to walk half run back the other direction, and have little angels carry our feet because we somehow got to our rendezvous with a member family on time.
Then they told us there was another bus that drops us off right at their street.
Oh well, because we were sweating they'll think we work hard right?
2.Having the daughter of a less active tell she wants to be a sister missionary one day.
3.Recieving mail from your younger brother about how much he loves his mission. Best mail ever.
4.So we have this new ami Rositta, she was being taught by other sisters close to Lille, but now because we are here we can teach her. Well, the trick is she doesn't want to be taught by other sisters, she likes her sisters. But one cut out picture of Jesus glued to colored paper later, and she and I are best friends. Thank you Heavenly Father for softening her heart.
5. Having Rositta tell us we were the rays of light in her life :)
6. Recieving a letter in the mail from Kedinnetse...its was tender.
7. The conversation we had with our neighbor. Let me explain. He is this adorable old man that leaves every morning at the same time to buy orange juice. Apparently, the elders would always say hi to him, but he would never say hi back. Well this week we were leaving our apartment, and he came out and said something to the effect of
Neighbor. "wlkdqmlkhqglkdhf????"
Me: pardon?
Neighbor: did the men leave?
Me: (assuming he's talking about the elders) yes, but they still live in Lille. see we are all missionaries and....
Neighbor:qqldkhfqkjdhfmqkdhf
Me: pardon?
Neighbor: I'm 84
Me: congratulations?
Neighbor: *nods, smiles, walks away muttering in old man french*
I was just stoked he talked with us.
8. Going from door to door getting rejected because its a holiday weekend and everyone is either gone on vacation, or here with their family and don't want to talk to us. After two hours of this, we get on the metro and this giant family who looks like they just came from the beach enters the metro. The dad takes on look at us and starts yelling "mormon" and speaking some crazy langauge. His teenage son intreprets for us- apparently they had met missionaries before and they wanted a book of mormon in slovakian (explains the crazy language). Meanwhile, apparently the dad is teaching everyone on the metro the resoration or something because all i hear is "*slovakian*joseph smith!!!*slovkian*".
We'll be dropping off that book as soon as possible!
9.Me being the spazziest trainer ever and somehow managing to get us locked out of our phone for 3 days...but don't worry. The elders finally figured it out...you know after we had spent three days passing by the church every few hours hoping there would be someone at the church to help us. (apparently pay phones these days only take credit cards!)
10. The lady I told you about last week that we contacted, cute young mom, called us back and we fixed a rendezvous for this coming week!
11. Being called by a previous investigator of the sisters 3 years ago, and being asked if animals will go to the celestial kingdom.
12. Going for a rendezvous with a member, but ending up talking to someone in the elevator and being able to give them a book of mormon and fix a rendezvous!
13.I have seen the sun for at least 5 days straight now...and I even have an official watch tan to prove it!
14. Having a less active open her door and say "Oh! Oh! What are you guys doing here!" Then she started crying with joy, while inviting us in. Apparently she has been really struggling and praying to Heavenly Father and telling him she can't bear her burdens alone. Her husband has forbidden her from coming to church, or having missionaries over when he is home. Therefore, since there have been no sisters in Lille she hasn't been able to see the missionaries, but she said "having sisters back in Lille is the answer to my prayers".
We'll just say the tears were flowing pretty freely in that rendezvous.
15. The opportunity I've had to be a missionary for our Lord Jesus Christ. What could be better!
Love you all! Have a great week!
Soeur Smith
Monday, May 21, 2012
May 21, 2012 "The Old Hardened Missionary"
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
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
May 14, 2012 "Blue Luck"
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
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
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