Family,
So I totally didn't clarify in my transfer day email: I am still in Rennes and will be here until transfer day, which is Wednesday. So we get the news of if we are staying or going on a Saturday (so you can always expect an email from me on the last Saturday of a transfer), and then we leave on a Wednesday. So I am still in Rennes, and living up every last second with my BFF Pymm by dancing in the empty metros and seeing everyone I have met before I go.
When I first flew into Paris from the MTC and found out that I would be serving in Rennes, I had at least six Elders come up to me and say "You are the luckiest bleu (new missionary) in the mission! Rennes is the promised land!" They could not have been more right. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have been able to spend the past two and a half months here. The people I have met and the places I have been have shaped me and changed me. After I got the email that I would be leaving and we left the internet cafe, we went over to Nathalia's house to tell her I would be leaving. She said "Ca me fait mal au coeur!" And that is exactly how I feel--it makes me heart sick! I guess it is just the first time I realized that on a mission you move around all the time. I am excited to go to Melun though. I will always have a special place for Paris in my heart, and I can't wait to be back in that area, although I think this time my experience will be a little different from eating baguettes under the Eiffel Tower with my friends . . . It was hilarious yesterday at church when I told people where I was going they would raise their eyebrows, sigh and say "Well, it isn't Rennes . . ." But that is also exciting to me too, to have a new experience in a new place.
My last week in Rennes was an awesome one. We taught Oyun again and she is just so prepared for the gospel. I can't wait to see how everything goes with her in the future with other missionaries. While this week was good it was also rather rough. One day we were walking home in the rain and it was freezing and I turned to Soeur Pymm and said, "I feel like I have been hit by a bus." Literally two seconds later somebody drops a giant bucket of water on our heads from the apartment building above. We didn't even miss a beat or look up but just kept on walking and then looked at each other and said, "Wait, did that really just happen?!" And then we laughed our heads off, soaking wet the whole way home. A bucket of water out the window. Persecution at its finest. They had good aim, I'll give them that.
Yesterday at church as I stood up to give my farewell testimony, I looked out at everyone and just felt this overwhelming sense of gratitude that I got to spend time here. I learned so much from them. After church we had a little farewell lunch at Nathalia's, and I had a rough time saying goodbye to her and her beautiful little girls. I love her and her family. Then we had a gallettes de rois fete at the Moals. It's this thing they do where you eat a cake and they hide something in the cake and whoever gets it wins the crown and becomes the queen. And guess who got to wear the crown? Yep. This girl.
Well, I have a million thoughts and things to say, but we have to do quick emails today because I have to pack AND Soeur Pymm and I are getting our hair cut today because last week everything was closed! We found this fancy French salon that we decided to go to and are getting our hair cut by a man named Nicolas.
I love you and will be sending news your way next week about my new home in Melun.
Bisous,
Olivia
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