1. Sushi night!

2. Hey look Ma, I can use chopsticks! (they may have had to place the chopsticks in my hand for the picture . . . still working on that skill) 

3. Windiest, creakiest, scariest, prettiest stairs while porting. 

Hello Family et amis! 

We recovered from our hard week, and started it off well with a day in the park with our besties, Marjana and Donald. Something about those two always puts life into perspective. We watched French people try to play baseball (funny), played Amercian football together (even funnier), and heard their life story. That night we went to FHE at the Chaston couple's house, and they had everyone go around in a circle and say all of the tender mercies they had seen recently, or how they saw the hand of God in their life that week. I thought that was such a beautiful idea, and it just filled my soul to hear all of the people around the table talking about the tender mercies of God. A few tender mercies we saw this week:

— A while ago we ported into a woman who let us in and then told us that she was actually a member, but hadn't been to church for over 20 years. This week we went back and shared the story in Luke about the woman being healed by Christ.  She looked at us after we shared the story and said, "So has this happened to you? Have you ever had anything hard happen and been healed by Christ?" Sometimes I think people think we are little robot missionaries who have never been through anything hard. As soon as I opened up and told her about some experiences, everything changed and she opened up completely and we were able to have a really great discussion. It made me realize what a beautiful thing it is that sometimes we go through hard things, and we don't know why, but then later down the road they help us to help other people.

— We had interviews with Pres and Soeur Poznanski this week. They are some of the most wonderful people. We have been pretty stressed out lately, and it seems like everything we have started in this little ville is starting to fade, or people are starting to drop off the face of the earth. This week they sat both of us down together and said "Do you realize that everything you have done in the past two transfers did not exist here before?" My perspective has since shifted so much. Everything we do in life can add to the bettering of something or someone. Even when sometimes we can't see tangible outcomes of our efforts. It makes me think of one of my favorite Anne Frank quotes:

"How wonderful it is that no one need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." 

So true! It has changed every day for me, to just try to bring light to others. We don't need to wait a single moment. 

— Sushi night with Anna! We went over to her apartment and watched the sushi making extraordinaire go to work. It was so fun. Sushi has become one of my favorite things since I have been in France (I know, bizarre. I am in France and I like sushi more than pastries.). As we sat at the table talking and laughing and making sushi, I thought "This didn't exist two months ago. And now we have a best friend who has brought us light and we have brought her light and now we are all making sushi together." Tender mercy. That night we were running really late, and got home super late so we were speed walking home, and this group of guys yells after us "Pourquoi est-ce que vous avez beaucoup d'energie?!" Ha! Our new fave phrase. 

— We contacted a girl a while ago who had just moved to France and was living in a foyer (government housing), so didn't have an exact address and had no phone. We told her we would come find her. As we got on the bus that day, the Elder's ami Solomon got on and asked us what we were doing. We told him, and it just so happened that he lived in the same foyer and said he would come along and help us. The next hour that ensued was one of the most hilarious of my life. First off, he had us get off at the wrong bus stop and it was POURRRRING rain. So we ran through the rain and eventually made it to the foyer, where Solomon was like our body guard, going from door to door asking for the girl we were looking for, using not the most tactful word choices in his limited French (Just a snippet of one of my favorite conversations: 

"Have you seen that girl? The fat one from the Congo?" 

"There is someone here from AFRICA, but not from the Congo"

"The Congo IS in Africa!" ) 

We went up and down the stairs, after getting a million different directions from everyone, and then back down the stairs and back up the stairs. We never found her, but I haven't laughed that real or that hard in such a long time. Solomon's got our back.

I hope you have a great week full of lots of tender mercies. Just look for them, they're there. 

I love you!

Olivia 

Bonjour mes chères,

 

Oh la la this week just about broke the two of us. The straw on the camel's back, I tell you!  Every week I learn something new but this week it felt like trial after trial after trial just crushing against us. And then we would learn things, and beautiful things would happen and we would see that this is all working towards something bigger. We learn lessons hard ways, but in the end we are thankful for them. Isn't it funny that it works like that? I will explain un tout petit peu.

 

Just before we were getting on the train to head to Paris for exchanges we got a text from the Elders that said "We have a problem." We were hoping it was a joke, but unfortunately it wasn't. They had just run into Ketjon and Domeniko, who told them that their Mom had told them that morning that they had toleave France. Just like that, the government told them that they couldn't be here anymore. They were leaving in two days, so luckily we would be able to get back from Paris in time to see them. We got off the train and the Elders had arranged for all of us to meet there. I saw Marjana and she came over with tears in her eyes and then just started bawling. Let me explain something -- these Albanian kids have lived with each other for life. For forever. I have never seen a bond like that. It is one of the most beautiful forms of love I have ever seen. They are kind, fiercely loyal, forgiving. They have never once been separated, and here they are in a different country, living in a foyer, and they are all each other has. And now they are having that taken away from them.

 

We all stood outside of the gare, and just cried. Boys, girls, all of us. On Sunday when Marjana was at Church she talked about how they might be moving back to Albania. Their faces lit up at the thought of it, and she said "The quality of life isn't better. But we would be together." Rip my heart out of me. Oh my goodness.

 

This week all of our amis were sad. I don't know what was in the water in Nancy, but everyone was feeling the weight of the world this week. EVERYONE! During a particular rendezvous when one woman was crying about her depressed and suicidal son, we just hugged her and cried with her, and I felt so helpless. What is it REALLY that we can bring, that we are bringing to the lives of these people?

 

In district meeting the other day we talked about being Representitives of Jesus Christ. I have been wondering about what that means, really. Sometimes other missionaries talk about it being like a job title, or a right. I have realized this week though that it is more a state of being, or a way of living. What does it really mean to represent Christ? So I studied as much as I could about Him this week. One day when I was reading in Luke I came across this verse:

 

 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

 

That is who Christ is.  He was here to heal the broken-hearted and bring freedom to the captives and give sight to the blind.  For me, that is what it means to represent Christ. I can't do everything or be a superhero missionary, but I can help people be healed through Christ. And some days I feel like the blind and the broken, but when I put one foot in front of the other, trust in God and keep on going, it feels possible. And it also feels hopeful and happy. And he knows every one of us. American, French, Algerian, Albanian. Chacun.

 

I am so thankful that God has just expanded my heart on my mission. It has been hard. Really really hard. But I love these people, and I love seeing them find hope.

 

And this week looks like it will be better -- we are making sushi with Anna, and today we are going to Parc Peiniere with Marjana and Donald to play football and look at the monkeys. Quelle joie.

 

I love you beaucoup!

 

A la prochaine alors.

 

xoxo

Olivia

çkemi!

That is Albanian for hello, and Albanian seems to be the theme of the week, because 1) we now know how to say all of the colors in Albanian and 2) we love our Albanians and 3) Domineko is getting baptized this month. We are so happy and they are one of my favorite things about Nancy. I love them and they bring light to our lives. 

We had a lot of really wonderful experiences this week. When we went to visit Kheira and Foued this week there was a tangible difference in their faces and in their home. She said that this week, whenever she was feeling down she would look at the little card we gave her (a scripture about peace) and it would lift her up and she would find the courage to keep on going. At the end of our lesson she said, "The other day Foued looked at me and told me 'Mom, those girls are the peacegivers of the world.'" (We aren't sure if this is true or if she just wants us to marry her son ... ) But all the same, it was the kindest thing to say. They came to church on Sunday and absolutely loved it, to the point of tears. They loved that they weren't judged because in the past when they have gone to Christian churches people have judged them. They are non-practicing Muslims, but have this strong core belief in God, and she said she has been drawn more towards Christianity in recent years. And, as she says, "Pourquoi pas?" 

Last night, after a fun chance encounter with the Albanians where we raced to the park and then had a lesson around a chess table, we went to a quartier to port. All of the batiments were locked, but we tried one that opened right up. We went to the top floor and knocked on the door and a girl about our age opened. We told her we had a message about finding hope and knowing that God has a plan for her. She let us in to talk to her, and she got a little emotional and said:

"You know, it's bizarre that you would knock on my door. Recently I have felt something missing. It is like there is a hole inside of me. Everything is fine in my life — I go to school, I have a job. But I am inexplicably sad. I've started smoking again to try to feel better, but it doesn't work. And I have been thinking that maybe what I am missing is God."

We told her that there is purpose and hope and joy in life, and shared a message with her and she said she would read it and then call us if she wants to learn more. There are people all over the place looking for something to fill the feelings of emptiness inside of them, and I think that it is so incredible that God leads us to the one building that's open to a girl who needed to not feel alone.

On a lighter note, did I ever tell you that we have an amie named Happy? Because we do (well actually, we did, but that's another story) and then we got a text from the elders that went something like this:

"Don't you have an amie named Happy?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because we have a new ami and his name is SAD."

"THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE."

"I know. We should set them up and they can get married and then they can have a child and name him COMPLACENT."

Just a fun little anecdote for you, that describes some of the greater unexpected moments of missionary work. God totally has a sense of humor. 

We also tried to make s'mores this week because we were feeling a little sentimental about the mountains and summer campfires up the canyon and so we bought French marshmallows and the closest thing to graham crackers and a candle and a warning for any future French missionaries: marshmallows are not the same in France. It was a hilarious fail, but at least we tried. 

I love you beaucoup, and will leave you with a little poem that is on my planner and has been a mantra for me lately:

Then deem it not an idle thinga pleasant word to speak;the face you wear, the thought you bringa heart may heal or break.                         -John Greenleaf Whittier

So true, and I have seen the truth of it every day. 

Je t'aime. 

xoxo

Olivia 

P.S. This week we went on a walk at 6:30 and took some pictures of the ville. I realized I haven't sent any really of Nancy. It is beautiful and esp. pretty when it is quiet and empty in the morning. 

1. Ketjon, Marjana, Donald and Domeniko. 

2. our French language group. We asked them what they wanted to be called, and they said "one direction!" the other group picked "the other direction." 

hope & light

Bonjour!

This week we saw lots of great things and not so great things. 

Great things:

— We had a beautiful lesson with Anna, where we talked about faith and repentance and baptism. Every time we teach her there is the strongest spirit, and she is so sensitive to every message we bring. She said she wants to get baptized, just not quite yet. 

— We visited Foued and Kheira. These poor souls have had the most hellish last seven years, and what broke my heart the most was when he said, "Je vis, parce qu'il faut." I live only because it is necessary. But other than that, they have no hope. We were able to talk and cry with them and share them a message of hope. They are so sweet and sad, and it was the biggest testimony to me of how REAL the hope of God is. When we left, there was a tangible feeling of difference and hope. 

— Meeting a 93 year old woman while porting, who was sharp as can be and told us lots of stories. My favorite part was when I saw her cat and I said "Est-ce que vous aimez les chats?" To that she replied "I love everything! Dogs, cats, flowers, TOUT!" She really did, too. So full of love. 

— A birthday party for our favorite Albanians. It was Domineko's birthday and so after our French lessons we made a cake and had a little fete, Albanian music and all. 

— getting a surprise package from Aunt Julia on a day where I needed it most. It was heaven sent! 

— Soeur Bradley, who is still an ange and loves taking five minute "walk through a pretty cathedral breaks with me" when it is needed. (did I mention that there are 18 cathedrales in centre ville alone?!) Bless her soul. 

— Madame Sevoyan telling us that usually she feels sad and disappointed, but that when she reads the Book of Mormon, there is a peace and happiness that she feels. 

Not so great things:

— The number of men we saw peeing on the street. You wouldn't even believe it. 

— Having some hard days, where my own hope felt a little challenged by the heaviness of hard things. 

Every day we talk to people who are lacking hope and need a little light. And somedays I'm lacking hope and need a little light too. One of my favorite talks ever is given by Elder Uchtdorf, and when things got hard this week I would think of this part of his talk:

"There may be some among you who feel darkness encroaching upon you. You may feel burdened by worry, fear, or doubt. To you and to all of us, I repeat a wonderful and certain truth: God’s light is real. It is available to all! It gives life to all things.It has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound. It can be a healing balm for the loneliness and sickness of our souls. In the furrows of despair, it can plant the seeds of a brighter hope. It can enlighten the deepest valleys of sorrow. It can illuminate the path before us and lead us through the darkest night into the promise of a new dawn."

I love the whole talk, and if you want to read it, go here: 

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng 

Sometimes days are hard, even when you feel like there is no reason for it to be hard. But light is real and it can make hard days and darkness okay. And the good things always outweigh the not so good things. I am so thankful for this knowledge, and it is such a privelege to be able to be sharing this light with the people of France who are weighed down by hard things. Everyone needs a little hope. 

I love you! Thanks for all of the prayers and  light and love you send my way.  

Love

Olivia