Last week we went to a castle for P day. This week we will take a nap. Our DL called last night three times, so I couldn't go to bed until 10:30, even though I was ready at 9:30. I told him to hurry up because I wanted to sleep. Then he talked to Soeur De Oliveira and asked if I get up and exercise in the morning or if I just sleep. Please. I make her come outside in the freezing cold sleet so that I can get my thirty minutes of cardio. Honestly. Anyways, so castling was fun. There was a moat and a maze that I found the fastest route in first try. Someone told me the key is to always turn right. Or I read that somewhere. Anyhow, I was really grateful Soeur Miller came with us and she'd already been there before because she warned us not to look at the walls in one room. The tour guide was funny because he thought we didn't speak French. He gave us a script in English of the tour and kept throwing out translations, from "ramparts" to drawbridge and "Solomon" to SolomoN". I chuckled every time.
Anyways, we didn't really get to finish our P day because we had to take trains all day to Switzerland. We contacted like hooligans for an hour in Geneve before we found the missionaries. I got to spend the night with my old companion, Soeur Sovaleni. I love her. Another sister, Soeur Heitbrieder commented on how everyone has a picture of me. Soeur Sovaleni (because we were comps), Soeur Vidal (because she asked for it), President Roney (because I hide them in his stuff), their ami (because she asked for it), etc. New goal: send pictures of myself to everyone. I gave one to her right then and promised to send more to all her friends. The next day, we took some trains to Yverdone and met everyone for Zone Conference. I love Zone Conference. I didn't even freak out though. President even commented on how quiet I was. Then of course, I was chosen as a volunteer for everything. It's because I'm a really great missionary. And humble. But I actually didn't mind, because I like the feedback on what I can do better. I also like hearing all the good things I do. Sorry I'm especially prideful right now. It's my diligence week, not my humility week. Just kidding. Kind of.
Anyhow, it was a super great meeting on how to really work better with members and amis. I had an interview with President, which are always the best and always takes me away from an hour of the Assistants' presentation. Ooops. They don't mind. They're great. And they gave us three coordonnees that day. We also found out Elder Ardesch is actually 22. There are sometimes missionaries that you can't wait to see what they're like at the end of their missions. He's one. Oh yeah and the Mission Nurse gave us a shot. I don't like shots. The idea of putting a virus into your body just makes me nervous, although I understand how it works. I've never gotten a flu shot before, so why start now? Anyways, so I asked her what I could do for my companions to help their shin splints (because I give those out like Books of Mormon). Then she found out I studied PT for a bit and understand medical terms. Now I have a sinking feeling that she's gonna be vying for me as a companion. But, then again, who isn't? Haha. I just love missionary work. We made a goal to commit one person to baptism each week. This week, we had two first lessons and both accepted! Bam. Make a goal and the Lord will prepare a way. They are both super cool. Ludwic is 30 and his aunt is a member of the church deja. He used to be Catholic and the whole time his aunt was like, "Okay, but we're not going to force him, right?" But he is so open and honest and came to church having read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and felt something in his heart. Wow. Cloe is our other engagee. She is so sweet and innocent and is willing to listen to everything we say. All she wants is an eternal family. And to get answers to her prayers. She has a lot of questions for us, so we sat and talked about it for a while over some hot chocolate. She also knows a lot of english and likes to talk with us in english. I still speak in French, but Soeur De Oliveira likes it. Anyways, they're getting baptized soon. Oh yeah, and we want to set up Cloe with an old ami who surprised us by coming to english class. His name is Allan and he doesn't really like me, but he loves the Millers and knows the BOM is true. Missionary Matchmakers, Hey-Oh. Je blague, mais je blague pas.
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| As a Russian Missionary |
We had a lesson with Lewis set up at 6, and another lesson with Yves at 7 with two different members. Lewis showed up late and was rempli with questions, so we went on splits for a bit with the two members so we could teach them both. Yves is easy-he's willing to accept everything and doesn't have too many questions. Lewis is still hung up on the priesthood and has a LOT of questions. So I handled that one. Anyways, so that was exciting. The next day, I went streetboarding for the first time. This means you take out a huge board with a giant question on it or something and you just contact everyone walking by. Oh man. I really was contacting like a hooligan. I love streetboarding. I'm just a six foot tall American with a bright yellow raincoat on, literally running around and pointing and yelling at people, talking to them across the street or in cars or walking by. Yeah, that was a good day. I love contacting people, although the old people are scared of me. I pulled out my Soeur Layton coat this week. It's a huge trench coat. I look like a Russian Missionary when I wear it. All I need are some fur tights. It also weighs about fifty pounds. I feel stronger every time I walk up the stairs. Oh except one time I wore it and for about 30 minutes, every one complained about my French. (French people like to pretend they can't understand so that they don't have to listen). Then I contacted a large group of parents and kids. They weren't interested, but one little girl had an American flag scarf on. I asked her if she liked America. The parents started pulling their kids away, so I tried to explain, I'm not harassing your children, I'm just American, and that's our flag. Then all of the other little children start yelling in English, SHE DOESN'T SPEAK FRENCH! I spluttered for a second before saying, loudly and probably waving my arms around, Je parle francais! They stopped for a second, pointed at the little Dutch girl and said, No, SHE doesn't speak French. Yikes. The dad and I laughed about it for a second and I awkwardly said goodbye. May or may not have scared her to death. But it was funny afterwards. Those Russian Missionaries-so unpredictable. One day, we were walking down the Zupe, where all the Muslims live, to find a less active and coordonnee. Suddenly Cani comes around the corner and sees us and runs towards us, while carrying an armful of glass dishes. [Cani is a sweet kind of Muslim guy with a family and he speaks a lot of english and is always really excited to see us. He pulled his car over so we could teach him. He's also a hotel manager and super classy.] He runs towards us and says Ah! Follow me! My wife keeps seeing that you call me and she wants to kill me! You have to tell her that it's you! I said, We just want to talk about Jesus Christ! He says, I know! But you have to tell her! (We are running down the street as this is happening.) We get to the street in front of his apartment building and he calls his wife and asks her to come to the window. She comes over and so we explain that it's been us calling him and we're missionaries and she just starts laughing. They're a cute family. We need to teach them. Cani was also wearing a pink sweater. Classic.
Church was good, as per usual. We had 10 investigators. Yves went to PH, Cloe went to YW, the kids went to Primary, and the rest came to Gospel Principles, taught by myself. Here in France, we cater to all languages-French, English, Albanian, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, and Spanish. And the printer wasn't working, so we couldn't print off the lesson. At least we finally got BOMs in everybody's languages. Then I gave a talk on Jesus Christ (what else?) and the enabling power of the Atonement in Sacrament. I love speaking. Especially when they forget to give you a topic. President Catagni was overjoyed at all our amis (which move church attendance up significantly). And even more so when we told him Yves chose him to baptize him. He danced. Jesus also danced. And so should we all.
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