See what I did there? That's what we refer to as the Plan B. As per usual, we seldom get the miracles we expect and often find better ones. Better ones? Better ones. That one. But I digress. I guess first and foremost, if you are currently addressing a letter to my Annecy address, STOP. Put down your pen and hold up for a minute.
French Fact: People go shopping for food like every couple days or so. And its strictly BYOB-Bring your own bags, because you're walking home and they aren't free. And you bag it yourself.
Okay back to the miracles. While we did not get to our 22 lessons we planned last week, our hard work and diligence has paid off. Our tombez-vous were replaced with other lessons when we ported in the area. We found a ridiculously old lady who said she'd be baptized. We found a guy who was baptized years ago and his parents are active. We found a family that was surprised to see us because the family of the dad are all members. We met another family that is open to listening, but the dad was sick when we went by, so they said try again next week. We saw Amina on the street, a lady we contacted a while ago and seemed interested and she said she's still interested just busy. We saw Madame Roulleau, or 83 year old less active. We actually had to yell through her window because she won't let us in. When we yelled up to her, she yelled back, Are you sick?! Go away! But, hey, at least we got to see her and express our love. We met with our ami Armand, who we haven't been able to meet with in a while, but he quit smoking! And wants to be baptized! We had the best lesson with Hakim ever and he agreed to start actually progressing in the Book of Mormon with us even though he's not ready to read by himself yet. The Spirit was strong. We saw Jenny, another less active who is so hard to find and she said she'd start coming to church and English class so we can teach her to read. We found a bunch of new potential amis and set up a bunch more lessons for next week. And we had a lesson with Dorothè, who agreed to start reading and praying and whatnot. We also received a bunch of referrals from everywhere, which rarely happens. Some guy traded me a Koran for a Book of Mormon. Not sure where he's going with that, but he said he'd read and pray about it and that's pretty much all we ask. I feel like the work is picking up in Annecy. All we pray for and work for is one soul who can realize the importance of this message and desire to partake of the bounteous blessings therein.
Friday night, I received a call from President Roney. It went something like this. Hi Sister Hutchins. There was a problem with a creeper in Chalon sur Saone and I've decided to move you there. It's closer to Lyon so I'll be able to keep an eye on you anyways. You're probably leaving Monday. Soeur Woods will be coming to Annecy. Can I talk to Soeur Sovaleni now? Okay...So today I am writing you from Chalon sur Saone with my new companion, Soeur Packard. I did an exchange with her so we already know each other a bit. But I had a few rushed goodbyes. Took some photos and addresses. And another miracle-we ran into Anna, our recent convert who we knew would be visiting her children on Sunday and wouldn't be at church. So I got to say goodbye to her. What a tender mercy. But I am glad the mission president gives us a few days to pack instead of having to depart immediately, like all the missionaries in the Book of Mormon. But then again, I think they only had one set of clothes and never showered, so I don't know what they would've had to pack.
There was a letter I received that got delayed in the mail, asking for more details on Soeur Sovaleni. Understand that, like today, we ride home on the train, drop our bags off; and go immediately to email, so I really didn't know very much. She likes to eat Corn Pops and her favorite story is Abinadi and also the lady touching Jesus' clothes. She really likes to walk about 5 steps behind me. And put her arm around me when we're sitting down. She's great though. I don't really know what else to say. She likes Jambon Cru. Yeah.
I love Annecy and all the people and I invited the Collignons to visit us in two years chez-moi in Connecticut. So be prepared for that because, as per usual, I was entirely serious. It sounds like this area could use my ridiculosity a tad more. And I'm bringing it in full force.
No comments:
Post a Comment