Chere Family,
This week flew by and was filled with so many good things. On Wednesday we went to teach Lucy the Plan of Salvation. She has been really struggling with losing her mother and nephew especially after her experiences growing up in a small town in Peru, where she has a memory of a little boy dying and the priest saying that he would never be saved because he hadn't been baptized. As we explained the Plan, her face just lit up and she couldn't get enough of it. As I taught, I really felt the truth of the plan and the fairness of it all. That night we went to visit a recent convert Gwenole who is deaf (we think she is actually not deaf because sometimes she can't hear what we are saying and other times she totally hears exactly what is being said.) and her husband Raymond. It was one of the most hilarious moments of my life. You can't even put it into words, but this small tidbit sort of sums it up: "Gwenole! Put that Bible down! You CANNOT touch a dog while holding a holy book!" And they have a pet furby. And she offered to let me wear her wedding dress someday. And we sang Chrsitmas songs around the table. I love them. That night we went to a recent convert named Yanns house for dinner, with the Marguerite family. Soeur Marguerite is from New Caledonia and married a Breton. Her house reminded me so much of New |Zealand, and she reminded me of the members in our branch. Her husband is the kindest guy as well. Yann and his mom Jocelyn joined the church recently and are the most inspiring people. They were so sweet and fed us more food than we could stomach (and it was sea food, which I like but poor Soeur Pymm can't stand it. She took it like a champion.). The Grandmother is living with them, and looks like she is about 90 years old. She was quiet throughout the whole dinner, but then as we were leaving she told us her story and it is so beautiful I just have to tell you about it:
When she was about 19 it was the middle of WWII and she was living in France. At her girls school they started a program where you write someone in the prison camps in Germany, to lift their spirits etc. She started writing a soldier and they wrote letter after letter and she fell head over heels for him through his words. One day months later she heard news of the Americans liberating the very camp that this boy was in. She said she remembers wishing so hard that one day he would come and find her. Only days later she heard a knock at her door and it was him. They got married and he became a chef in France and they lived happily ever after. Umm shouldn't that be a movie?
On Friday we went to Paris to hear from Elder Andersen. It was an entire mission conference, the first one they have had in over three years. As we got off the train in Paris we were running to catch the RER to get to Versailles where the chapel is, I heard "Rhondeau!" And there in the middle of the gare was my dear Soeur Hill and Elder Wallace. Seeing them was like Christmas/being reunited with my family. With each person from my MTC group that came it was the best reunion ever. Elder Andersen's talk was incredible and was exactly what I needed to hear. He talked about how he knows very well that missions in France are hard. He talked about how you can't base your success off of baptisms. He said that our goal should be to strengthen, whether that mean strengthening members, less-actives, your companion, someone on the street. He said to serve more broadly and to love more broadly. Our purpose is to become disciples of Christ and help others become disciples of Christ. He then went on to talk about what the doctrine of Christ is. Underneath all of the doctrine of Christ he said there is one simple phrase that can answer our questions of how to be a disciple: Follow me. As we follow Christ we recognize the need to love others, to strengthen because we love them, and to live a life full of faith. The fruits of this are what make life meaningful. He then read Galatians 5:23-25, which talks about the fruits of the Spirit. It really made me realize that as I try to follow the example of Christ every day for the rest of my life I can see these blessings and hopefully help others see them too.
That night we made our way back to Rennes. We had made it to the gare about 10 minutes before our train was leaving and hadn't eaten in hours, so we decided we would be really quick and grab some food. We got some baguette sandwichs and then with 7 minutes to spare we made our way to voie 2 car 18. As we had almost made it to car 18 one of the Quimper Soeurs looks at our tickets and says "Uh-oh. We are supposed to be on void one. We have three minutes." We started sprinting through the train station, and I happened to be carrying a bag filled with things Soeur Pymm's mom had sent her—brownie mix, vampire teeth for Halloween etc. As I ran vampire teeth are falling right and left, and people are staring confusedly. With about 45 seconds to spare before the train pulled out we saw the Elders hanging out of car 14, ready to help us jump on and get past the ticket controller since they had our tickets. It was ridiculous. When we sat down we just started laughing at it all. Vampire teeth are now scattered across the Paris Montparnasse train station.
Yesterday we had Stake Conference and we went with an adorable Swedish couple, Brother and Sister Sala, from our ward. They are the sweetest thing and had made us a gourmet breakfast to eat on the way. Stake Conference was really good, and it was so powerful to see all the members of the church gathered together. They are few in number, but their faith really is powerful. On our way back to Rennes with the Salas, we got to hear all about Swedish Christmas traditions and there adventures on road trips through Eastern Germany with their kids, and faulty cruises to Russia back in the day. The whole time we were driving through all of these random country towns and backroads because their GPS was faulty. It was so hilarious. We would literally be right next to the highway, but it would be this tiny road covered with trees on both sides. She would yell "Ike! Get on the highway it is right there!" "No, we wanted to take the beautiful way." They are my favorite. When we got home last night we went to visit a girl we ported into a few weeks ago. She is from Romania and is a student here. We talked to her for a while and found out she is really lonely. She is so beautiful and fun and my heart just broke for her as she talked about what she misses about Romania, and how cold the students here have been to her. We found her a Romanian book of Mormon and she was so excited about it. We shared some scriptures with her and are going to stop by next week again to talk about it. As we walked back to our apartment Soeur Pymm and I talked about how it is such an amazing opportunity to find these people you would have never known otherwise. These people who are lonely, but such amazing people who deserve so much to be appreciated and loved. I love that through this experience I get to learn how to love more broadly, across borders and barriers. I realized that it is a tiny particle of what God must feel about loving his children. They are all so diverse, but he loves broadly and completely.
Today we are going to the market to buy stuff to make for our Turkey Bowl with the zone on Thanksgiving. We'll see how it goes . . . Thanks so much for the package I got this week! This week was like Christmas with all the things I found in my mailbox. I know I have said it before, but you really have no idea how great it is to get mail. It gives me this energy, so merci merci!
I love you and miss you. Have fun in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving. I'll think of Dan playing soccer and you can think of me playing football in France with 4 sisters and 20 Elders. Yikes. Love you!
Bisous,
Olivia
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