Quoi de neuf?

^ That means what's up in French. Now you can all use it and sound like cool French peoples. Or not. I don't actually know if it's cool to say in France. I just know how to say it. :D

Now for this week's exciting events:


Monday, March 17 -

It was Saint Patrick's Day, so I wore green. But no one else did. Silly French people - don't they know the great importance of Saint Patrick's day? If they do, they should tell me, 'cause I don't, besides that it's Irish and you get to pinch people.

After P-Day was over and we got to work again, we went to visit Frederique (the man we'd talked to before who said his name was Jesus) and Olivia, his wife. Frederique's brother was also there, and his name was Danny. We taught a brief Restoration lesson, because they didn't have much time. I'm not sure if Frederique actually wants to learn about the church or if he just wants to show off his knowledge, because he kept insisting there were no prophets today and he didn't believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. We told him to pray about it, and we'll talk more about prophets next time we meet with him. His brother seems interested and he said he wants to see the missionaries where he lives in Bordeaux, so we'll send them over to him.

I can't remember if I talked about this in my last email, so I'll re-explain it because it's important and awesome. So, last Sunday Soeur Johns texted everyone in the phone that we didn't recognize, and we got a lot of responses and a lot of RDVs (rendez-vous/appointments) fixed for last week. In fact, We found 6 new amis (investigators) last week, which Soeur Johns says is the most she's ever found in a week and she's been on her mission for a year. One of the amis we found by texting was Gweniel. She seemed excited and very willing to meet us. When we met up with her by the metro, she seemed very confused. She told us she'd thought she was meeting with the bonnesoeurs (the nuns...) not the sister missionaries. Apparently Gweniel had just briefly spoken with the elders before, and not with the sisters. It was pretty awkward as we walked to her apartment with her. She'd made a nice meal for us/the nuns, a vegetarian meal because she was giving up meat for Lent. We talked to her a little bit about her beliefs. She's a very devout Catholic, she doesn't have a job because she says she's dedicating her life to serving Jesus, and she has a homeless man living in her apartment because she likes to help people. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon, and she said she'd read it, but she wouldn't come to church because she stayed at her chapel all day on Sundays. Near the end of our visit, she showed us crosses that had been burned into her wrists. She said that God did it to her because she was so faithful and righteous. It was a very interesting RDV... I did learn a lot from her, though. She had a peace about her that comes from putting your complete trust in the Lord and desiring to serve him and do only his will. I admire people that dedicate themselves to doing good, and I want to do that, but maybe not burn crosses into my wrists.


Tuesday, March 18 -

We met with another ami we talked to over texting. She was a bit late getting home from work, so we did a short, quick lesson about the Book of Mormon. She said she's talked to the missionaries a little bit before and gotten a Book of Mormon, but the person living with her (who isn't living with her anymore) threw away the Book of Mormon and wouldn't let her meet with the missionaries anymore. She was really nice and she gave Soeur Johns some cough syrup because she's sick. We set an appointment to meet with her again. Yay!  :D

After that we went to the Ario family's apartment. They had invited a non-member friend to come eat with us and have a little lesson, but that friend never showed up. Sophie unexpectedly came though, so we talked with her and the Arios and ate some food and shared a message on prayer.

Throughout the whole time we were there, another one of the texting amis named Hadeb kept calling. He was supposed to meet with the elders at the church because we're not allowed to teach men unless we have another girl with us, but he kept calling Soeur Johns and saying he didn't know how to get to the church and that he wanted to meet with us and not the elders. The elders ended up having to text him and tell him to stop calling and that if he was really interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and his gospel he could meet with the elders, and he needed to stop calling Soeur Johns. Neither the elders nor Soeur Johns heard from him after that, so I guess he was more interested in the sister missionaries than the gospel.


Wednesday, March 19 -

In the morning we met with yet another texting ami, Judas (pronounced Joolda, for some reason) at the chapel. Pretty much he's the best ami ever, and sadly we had to give him to the elders to teach after the first lesson with him, because we can't teach men. He was really interested in the church, he says he doesn't drink, he's trying to stop smoking, and his sister's really sick in the hospital. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and he says he loves the Bible and was really excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. I love him already and I only taught him once and saw him just a few times after that, and I know the gospel will help him so much with all the trials he is going through in his life.

After that, we had another lesson at the church with Annabelle. We tried to get her to bear her testimony by asking her some questions, and she bore a very strong testimony of God and how much he's helped her in her life, and we had a really good discussion with her. The Spirit was very strong, and we felt impressed to ask her again if she would be baptized. She said she needed to know more still, and she didn't really understand why she needed to be baptized when she already was as a baby. We explained how the power of God/the Priesthood was lost after Jesus and the apostles were killed, and how the Priesthood was restored to Joseph Smith, and how our church is the only church with that authority and you need that authority to be baptized as the Lord has commanded. She seemed very interested by that, and seemed to consider even more before she said she needed more time to think before she could set a date for baptism. We knelt and prayed with her and asked her to keep praying for an answer and she said she would. After the first lesson with Annabelle, I wasn't quite sure what to think, because she's a very different kind of person, but after this lesson, I love her so much and the Spirit helped me understand her so much more. I know without a doubt she's ready to be baptized, (she has faith in all the fundamental, important parts of the gospel, and she's doing everything she should be doing) we just have to help her realize that herself.

We met with Tsenge again and had a very simple lesson completely on baptism to help her realize what it is, what it means, how it's done, why it's done, and what blessings you receive from baptism. It's really hard for us to communicate, though, because she doesn't understand French very well. I think that she understands what baptism is now, though. In our next lessons, we'll have Tugsuu with us to translate everything into Mongolian so Tsenge can understand better.

At the end of the day we met with Sasrey, an inactive member who's not really that inactive, because she's come to church every Sunday for the past 2 months. She's the only active member of the church in her family, so she told us to pray for them to have the desire to go to church, because it's really hard for her to go alone.


Thursday, March 20 -

So, Thursday started out pretty excitingly... Soeur Johns was telling me something but I got distracted looking out the window because there was someone running into the street. Soeur Johns realized I wasn't listening to her, so she turned to see what I was looking at and we both stared out the window, watching as a patient from the mental hospital across the street ran in her straight-jacket (is that how it's even spelled?... I dunno) at cars while a worker at the hospital ran frantically after her, trying to catch her. It was quite entertaining to watch. Luckily no one was hit by the cars because the cars were able to stop in time. I think it will be pretty interesting living next to a mental hospital. :D

After that, we met with a texting ami named Lo. We were under the impression that Lo was a woman, because that sounded like a womanly name to us. So we were very surprised when a tall black man came out to meet us and show us to his apartment. He was very funny and very curious about the church. He asked some interesting questions that we told him we'd study and answer next time. I knew how to answer, but not in French. Stinkin' French. :P But I'm thinking it would be a good idea to pass Lo on to the elders, because during the lesson he kept saying how he had been praying to Jesus, asking to be able to marry a beautiful sister missionary, and there she (Soeur Johns) was. Also, he's been texting Soeur Johns, declaring his love for her. He even asked her if she'd go to a restaurant with him. Yep. I'm so glad I have this natural talent where guys don't generally notice me. Soeur Johns said creepy guys would come up to her all the time when she was with another companion, but so far we've just had one creepy drunk guy come up to us on the street, and the elders were there to protect us.

Jocelyne was next. We had to keep it short because we had someone else to teach soon after her. We showed her we loved her, we talked for a little bit, then we talked about baptism, about how we felt after our baptisms and then we asked how she felt after hers. She was baptised almost two years ago and she says she still remembers how peaceful and joyful she felt, like Heavenly Father was there and that he was taking care of her. It was really awesome hearing her conversion story, as I hadn't heard it before. I always love talking to Jocelyne, and I feel like I relate a lot to her. She's the awesomest. :D

On our way to meet another texting ami named Grace, our bus broke down in the middle of the street. And the streets are not very wide in Europe. There were many people behind us who couldn't get past and who couldn't turn around. One lady even came up to the bus driver and yelled at him and told him to move the bus. Silly lady. 'Tis hard to get a bus to move when it's broken. Another bus came and picked us up while the other bus was being worked on. We were a little bit late to see Grace, but she didn't seem to mind. She was very kind, she had talked to the missionaries before, but hadn't seen them again because she was busy all of the time. She told us she doesn't want to change churches because she wants to stay faithful to hers, but she says she likes to talk to everyone about their churches. So, we shall see how this goes.

The next texting ami we met with was Christelle. She's Vietnamese and she speaks French, English and Vietnamese. It was pretty amusing as we met her at the bus stop, seeing a little Vietnamese lady waddling toward us, a grin on her face. But when she got to us she scowled and hit my arm, and said "Why you not meet at my apartment?". Apparently she was very offended that we'd asked to meet at the church, but since we had no idea who she was we thought that would be best for our first meeting. We told her we'd meet at her apartment next time. As we taught her, she insisted we speak English even though she's not very good at it and didn't really understand what we were saying. We eventually switched to French, and that worked better. We just talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and about God and Christ. She says she's Buddhist and believes in Christ but she's not Christian. I don't think we got anywhere with talking to her this time, but hopefully the next RDV will be better.


Friday, March 21 -

Friday was my very first Zone Conference! Wahoo! It was good, but hard to understand at times because everything was in French. I did learn a lot, like how to simplify our teaching, because if we don't teach simply and the amis don't understand the basics of the gospel, they're not going to gain a testimony. I also felt more motivated to just talk to people, not to think about it but just to do it despite my fear, and the Lord will help me as I do so. As I act in faith in him, my faith will grow and my fear will decrease.

We were given a challenge for this next month called the Easter Challenge. We are supposed to relate everything to Easter (Paque in French), to Christ and his resurrection, as we contact and go porting. People have already tried it and they're seeing a lot of miracles, so I can't wait to start!

Another really fantastic thing about Zone Conference was that I got to see my MTC buddies who are in the same zone as me! I saw Elder Teh, and I was surprised at how exciting it was to see him. I guess it's good to see someone familiar after weeks of meeting strangers. He told me about his adventures in Angers. Apparently he and his companion found a lady in an alleyway who had jumped of the building, pleading for their help and they got her to a hospital. She's doing okay now, but I think Elder Teh is scarred for life. I also got to talk to Soeur Ridd, my awesome MTC companion. We talked about how we were doing and took pictures together. She, Elder Teh and I all talked about how much we miss our MTC district. It's strange how much we all miss them, but not really because they were pretty much the greatest people ever. :)

Elder Teh, Soeur Williams & Soeur Ridd 

Saturday, March 22 -

A lot of our day was taken up by a Relief Society Multicultural Celebration, which we'd invited all of our amis to. But... only Sophie showed up. Because she's amazing.

As the only Americans besides one lady in our ward, Soeur Johns and I were responsible for bringing American food... so we made pancakes. And the other lady made PB&J sandwiches. Yay 'Murica! :D There was a lot of good food there from all sorts of different places, because there's sisters in the ward from all over (Mongolia, China, Belgium, New Caledonia, Tahiti, and lots of other places I can't remember). I tried everything. Twice.

Then there was a talent show based everyone's different cultures. We Americans couldn't think of anything to do, so we recited the Pledge of Allegiance. And Soeur Johns forgot the words. Sophie brought a Chinese scroll and read off of it, other sisters read poems in their language, sang songs from their country, played instruments, etc. It was pretty fun. :)

The little American table. 

The cultural celebration

In the middle of the celebration when things were slow, we went and taught Sophie a small lesson about General Conference and gave her a conference magazine and asked her to read a talk a day every day until Conference. She was so excited and said she'd love to read them. I don't know how such an amazing person can exist. :D

After the activity, we went to teach Carine, finally, after she hadn't shown up once and had cancelled/changed the RDV several times. Her daughter, Shaina, a recent convert who's 9, was there as well. I really love Carine and she seems to want to change but isn't sure she can. We concentrated mostly on showing our love for her and gave her ways she could stop smoking, because she's been trying for a while. I bore my testimony about prayer, and that through prayer we can do anything, even the most difficult things. As we pray sincerely, Heavenly Father gives us the power to do what we need to.

It was interesting, because after seeing Carine, we went to another RDV with the Toribio family, who we haven't taught before. I prayed in my heart on the bus to be able to have the courage to talk to people, the trust in the Lord I needed to do the things he asks of me. When we got to the neighborhood where the Toribios lived, I felt energized and excited to share the gospel. We got there early, so I suggested to Soeur Johns that we go porting (knocking on doors), and we did it and though only one person answered their door and then rejected us, I felt so happy that I had the courage to talk to them, to even suggest that we go porting in the first place, because that was really hard for me. I know that I was able to do so because the Lord had answered my prayer.

After that we went and taught the Toribios. They have three adorable, crazy children. We taught about the Book of Mormon, and I actually talked more than I usually do during a lesson and I felt good about it. They said they didn't have time to read the Book of Mormon, that they barely had time to meet with us at all, but we challenged them to try to read it anyway. They asked us to teach why our church is different, so we taught about the Restoration, too, which we weren't planning to do. I thought it went pretty well, and the Toribios want to see us again.


Sunday, March 23 -

A lot of amis came to church on Sunday, among which were Judas, Tsenge, Annabelle, Marie-Christine and Frederique. That was amazing-awesome-wonderful-fantastic.

So, as I said before, Judas is the best. The elders said he wanted to go to all three hours of church (which isn't normal for an ami) because he figured if he wanted to know the truth he needed to commit all of the way. Then he took notes on everything during church.

The class for amis was really full, of people and of the Spirit. We just had a discussion more than a lesson, talking about the Spirit and how we need to feel the Spirit and find out for ourselves if this church is true. Recent converts testified about how they had found out the truthfulness of what the missionaries had taught. It was an awesome class, and I hope our amis felt the Spirit as much as I did.

After church we met with Marie-Christine (a really faithful ami who goes to church every week and who has a lot of faith in and love for the Lord) at a member's house. The member is named Martine, she's from Belgium and she's really outgoing and hilarious. Also, the Letorts were there as well, which we weren't expecting. We watched the Testaments together and discussed Christ and his Atonement. Then we had a delicious dinner of soup and crepes. And the crepes were the best crepes I've ever had. Ever. I had to stop myself on my third crepe, because I realized other people might want to hav them, too. French people sure know how to make some delicious crepes.


Now that you have endured to the end of my email, you get a prize...

It's a scripture, congratulations!

Hebrews 2:17-18 --

"Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted (or tried/subjected to trial), he is able to succor them that are tempted."


I love those verses because I've been thinking of the Savior and his Atonement a lot lately. Life is hard, a mission is hard, but the Savior understands. He was on our level, he suffered everything we have suffered and will suffer (trials, sorrow, sickness, temptation, pain, all of our weaknesses, our sins... and so much more) so that he knows how to help us. It amazes me that he loves us so much that he would be willing to go through all of that just to help us, when so often we disobey him and do things that cause him sorrow. I'm so grateful for the Savior's Atonement, he's already helped me so much on my mission, giving me comfort and helping me do things I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.


A la prochaine!
Soeur Williams