Bonjour famille!
DAY ONE: I'm sure you could tell from the photos that the first day was a bit overwhelming. We got off the plane, the inspections man proposed to me, we met the mission President and then they handed us a Book of Mormon and put us on the Metro. Soeur Hill and I just kind of looked at each other and then I sat down by a nearly toothless African man (who was eating corn on the cob . . . I don't know how that works) and started talking about the Book of Mormon with him. He was so nice and nearly impossible to understand with his accent, and then we talked to a few other people including one guy who was initially not interested at all, but then grew super interested and he took the Book of Mormon and then said "Thank you for testifying of something good. It is rare to see young people doing things like this. Continue to share good news." I love how he said that—bonne nouvelles. it really is good news, and I am happy to share it. So we get off the metro and an Elder says something about how we are going to have to go get a [medical] examination in order to finish our Visa stuff. I laughed and thought it was like a "trick the new missionaries" type thing. HE WASN'T KIDDING. So there I was jet-lagged, sitting in an examination room with my shirt off. I literally started laughing out loud. Welcome to France, Soeur Rhondeau.
Day TWO: After that we went to the mission home where we had interviews with the President. I love Sister and President Pozsnanski. They are just the kindest people and were so welcoming and encouraging. Then the next day we headed in to Paris and found out where we were going (RENNES!), who our companions were and voila we were on our way! I may be the luckiest new missionary in the world because my companion is fantastic and Rennes is great. I love her. She is fun and hardworking and we get along really well. We were supposed to drive our car to Rennes (scary) but Sister Pozsnanski decided she didn't want us to drive so we took the train and the Elders in Rennes had to go to Paris to get it for us. So we got to Rennes and the Elders here met us (Elder Barney from Utah and Elder Tauhiro from Tahiti) and took us to our new appartment. We moved in to the apartment of the senior couple who just left. It is so nice. Like really nice. A Swedish couple from the ward met us there and took us to get groceries, and they are the kindest people. Rennes is an interesting city. It is big, and the center is cute and old and then all around it are so many big appartment buildings. It is cold and generally cloudy, but the sun is out today!
FIRST WEEK: So we have a bit of a unique situation here in Rennes. We are whitewashing, which means that we are both completely new here and are replacing a whole equipe of Elders. They haven't had sisters in Rennes for years, so we are sort of starting from square one. This is difficult and totally overwhelming, but also kind of fun because it is an adventure. We got the old area book and got out a map and layed on the ground and called people and mapped out and set up lessons. Our first lesson was with an older woman from Africa who isn't really into learning about our church but she LOVES to pray. I mean LOVES to pray. She would randomly just burst into prayer (did you know there was such a thing?) So that was a fun first teaching appointment. We then headed over to teach another family, but they cancelled so we ended up just doing door to door contacting for a few hours. We went to a batiment, went to the very top floor and made our way down. The second door we knocked (my very first time having to talk when they opened the door—it was nerve-wracking!) we met a young dad and his daughter from Portugal. We told him a little bit about our message and he wants to hear more, so we are going to go and teach him tomorrow. Out of the whole 20-story building he is the only one who invited us back, but the batiment provided us with many memories:
— that awkward moment when you say "Bonjour Monsieur....I mean Madame." And then you can't figure out if it WAS a Madame. Soeur Pymm and I just lost it after we closed the door in the hallway.
— When someone just hopped out of the shower so you explain the Restoration while they are in a towel.
—The angry Catholic woman- Another angry catholic woman.
But all in all everyone was so nice! I am amazed! Not many people want to listen, but they are kind about it and say "Bonne Courage" as they shut the door. My favorite experience this week was teaching a woman named Alsace. Soeur Pymm started out her mission in Blois, and taught Alsace's sister in law. Alsace was there visiting one day and Soeur Pymm gave her a Book of Mormon and got her number. When we got to Rennes, Soeur Pymm remembered that she lived here and gave her a call. Not only does she live here, but she lives two blocks away! Miracle. We went over to her house on Friday night, and met her and her little four year old boy, Yannis. They are from Cameroon and have been in France for about eight months. She has two other little sons who are still in Cameroon with her family because they can't get their paperwork. So sad. They are the most beautiful family. She fed us dinner, and I played the classic Dad hide the ring in my hands game for about 40 minutes with Yannis. It is so funny how entertaining that can be to little kids. Then we taught a lesson and she said she has been reading the Book of Mormon and knows that there is something special about it. She said it makes sense that God would continue to reveal things today and guide us through a prophet. She said she is going to continue to read and pray about it, and she knows that if it is a good thing God will tell her. We invited her to church and she was excited to come.
Fast forward to Sunday. We woke up and went to visit a little family that the other Elders had taught. They are from Guyene in South America and are just about the kindest most adorable family ever. Just imagine a huge buff black man who loves to garden (his wife said, "He looks at his plants before he looks at me when he gets home from work!") and a woman who looks like a model and then two Gerber baby models and you have their family. We just stopped by and quickly got to know them, and then left to meet Alsace for church. She wasn't there to meet us and we were so sad. We got to church and guess what? Turns out it was daylight savings and we didn't know because our phone was broken for the day. CLASSIC. Church was great and the ward in Rennes is fantastic. So many lovely characters. I wish I had all the time in the world to tell you about them. Like how we helped cook the other night and were being yelled instructions from the Cambodian French woman—COUPEZ! LAVEZ! Or how we are in ward choir and I somehow I am going to be playing my violin in Stake Conference this month. Or how one of the Young Adults bought us Dr. Pepper to make us feel more at home in France. People are lovely. I am sorry this email is all over the place. So many experiences and thoughts. I am really liking it here. It is overwhelming and freezing cold (MERCI MOM FOR THE SCARVES!!!) and French is so fast. But I love my companion and I love this city and these people already. I must be off, but I love you so much and can't wait to tell you more histoires next week.
Je t'aime!
Olivia
No comments:
Post a Comment