Bonjour!

 

So we take the bus to the church this morning to write emails, and we get to a stop and the door won't open, and suddenly we are all stuck in a bus and people. started. PANICKING. All the sudden we realize that we had put our lives in the hands of Versailles public transportation, and oh la la what were we thinking?! So I get up and try to yank the door open with this 70ish year old French woman, and then we just start laughing. Everyone starts laughing. And suddenly we are all just humans stuck on a bus. Public transportation: the greatest human equalizer.  Eventually the door opened and all was well.

 

Versailles is a wonderful place and we had lots of good adventures this week, too many to write. I think my favorite thing was when we went to visit Simone and her family. As I mentioned, her son is diabetic and so things have been really really difficult lately. Despite that though, they are the smiliest, happiest people. And those children are so bright. I have taught families before, and usually you have to make a big effort to make sure that the kids are involved and interested, but with this family, they sit on the floor and stare at you while you teach and listen with such real intent and then ask such beautiful questions. We taught the Plan de Salut, and talked about baptism, and when we said "You have to be eight years old to be baptized," Marc-Jenny starts bouncing and smiling uncontrollably and gasps and looks at his mom and says "MOM! I am eight and a HALF!" I used to be somewhat skeptical about if children can REALLY understand the gospel, or accept it. But that has all been swept away in teaching this family. When the kids make comments, it blows me away.  We taught with a couple in our ward, and after the rdv he gave Marc-Jenny a blessing, and after the blessing he says, "I feel better already!" Become like a child. Childlike faith. So beautiful.

 

We had lots of rdv's this week, including one with our amie Marguerite, who was supposed to get baptized yesterday. She got scared and backed out, but she is so ready, and we are hoping we can help her overcome her fears. She just wants everything to be perfect, and when it's not, she gets scared. We taught her with a recent convert named Alain. Alain is a 6'5'' African man who is skinny as a rod and never not smiling. During the lesson he talked about how he found the gospel. He said,

 

"So before I found the gospel I was shipwrecked in the ocean. The waves carried me everywhere and I was drowning. And then a big log came by. It wasn't pretty at first, and it wasn't even easy to hold onto, but I held onto it, and it took me to land, and it literally saved my life. What if I had not recognized that the log could save me and I had waited for a little duck floaty? The ducky's not coming Sister Margeurite. And God wants to save our lives. So hold on to the log!"

 

So I love this for so many reasons. 1. Because he said the phrase "little ducky floaty" and 2. because that is such a great analogy. How often do we want things to be absolutely perfect and are looking for a very specific answer the way WE want it, so that we miss the answer we are given? Or things aren't working out the way we want, and so we just give up, or get angry. We're waiting for the ducky floaty, so we miss the log! I love the Elder Holland quote that says,

 

"With any major decision there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now."

 

Mmhmm.

 

Yesterday we had church and then after we went to visit a less active girl who lives in the countryside an hour away. We went with a member and it was so fun to see the beautiful green-ness.  Versailles actually reminds me a lot of Charlottesville! Lots of green and forest and pretty houses. And then we got home last night and Soeur Stahly and I reaaally wanted to watch a movie, and we chose  (out of our huge dvd collection of Legacy, the Testaments, and Preach My Gospel) to watch "Together Forever." A lovely little 80's film about eternal families. Hilarious, A favorite line from one of the songs:

 

"Like an awkard dancer on a crowded floor, I'll learn to dance once more."

 

Yes. SO. GOOD.

 

I love you and miss you so much! Have a lovely week.

 

xoxoxo

 

Olivia

stolen teapots and economists.

Bonjour ma famille,

 

Well, I have left my dear friends in the east and spent the last week in my new area in Versailles. Leaving Nancy was rough, and goodbyes were sad. That being said, I have loved it here so far. My new comp is Sœur Stahly and we get along just swell. We laugh a lot and teach really well together and she is an incredible missionary that I am learning a lot from her. I am so happy to be back in this region. There is just something about it, and just so many little details of it that add up to make it Paris. Where one minute the streets smell like pastries  Here are a few of them:

 

— On transfer day we were carrying all of our huge luggage all over the metro — up stairs, down stairs, back up and down the stairs because you went the wrong way, etc. — and I was catching my breath at the top of the stairs. A woman in a fur coat, red lipstick, super high heels comes up and says, "Oh ma cherie, this is terrible, please let me give you a hand. I know how awful it is trying to get your suitcases around this place." And so she helped me. High heels and all.

 

— At an RER stop at St. Cloud you can see the Eiffel Tower.

 

— People really do carry baguettes around.

 

— We are teaching a woman named Simone, whom Sœur Stahly met a week or so ago. She is from Haiti and has three little kids. Her oldest boy who is 8 was just diagnosed with diabetes, and so things have been especially trying in the past few months. They contacted her when she was on her way back from the hospital where her son was staying, and they went up to her because she looked cold, and offered her their coat. I was talking to Simone at Church and she said, "When your collegue came up and talked to me, I knew it was God who had sent them, because people don't just do things like that." They all came to Church yesterday from an hour away, and I got to sit with the kids at Church and color with them (yesssss.) and then we went out to teach them. I asked what they learned in primary and it was INCREDIBLE. They retained everything and had a million questions about it. We all watched the Restoration video and they loved it. They are a beautiful family.

 

— The busses and trains are crazy here and sometimes we get lost and end up walking like 8 miles to get to a rdv.

 

— We found a big pile of things outside of a big house that they were throwing out — china, pictures, etc. They had the coolest teapot and plate, and so we took it and were walking around with them to take them home. Which was fine until people started asking us about them. "Where did you . . . did you pick that up off the ground?" "Well . . ." Apparently that is not smiled upon here in Versailles.

 

— The less active American woman who is from Northern California and is obsessed with natural foods and makes you soup and then you play a game where you can't look at the soup but you guess how many vegetables are in it (there were seven). And then she asks if you want to jump on her mini trampoline. "So do you have this for when you exercise?" "No. Just for when I want to let loose." So I bounced.

 

 — Last night we were waiting for the train, and a man comes and sits next to us and starts talking to us. Turns out he is a prominent economist (which you wouldn't know because of his crazy scientist hair and organic bag and clothes) and he told us lots of cool things about the economy and bottled water and linguistics and then he gave us huge bunches of lavender and rosemary, because he appreciates anyone who is on "un mission — because that is what life is all about after all: finding out your mission and living for it."

 

— We tracked down a referral who lives up on a giant hill that overlooks Paris, and there were sheep! Sheep and the Eiffel tower.

 

— Having a girl come up to me in our ward who was good friends with E in London! It's a small world after all.

 

Each transfer is so good because it stretches you in different ways and I have really felt that this week. I have been thinking a lot about faith and how I can make it a more living, active part of my mission, and my life in general. Before I act (or decide NOT to act) I have been wondering if I am making a decision out of doubt and fear, or out of faith. Dad sent me a talk a while ago about the concept of faith as a decision. I have been focusing more on deciding to have faith. To act, and not to be acted upon. Naomi sent me this quote that I have thought about every day:

 

"As an abstract principle, faith is nothing. It is of no more worth than an abstract principle of mathematics. But faith in the heart of man — a living, vibrant faith — can raise the dead, create worlds, and save souls. — ELDER BRUCE R. MCCONKIE

 

I think a faith like that — that really lives in our hearts — is what makes that difference in our lives. I see that faith over and over in the lives of people I meet here. They really do have this vibrant, purposeful way of seeing the world and of living. That's how I want to live too. I don't ever want to start with fear. It's the opposite of faith, and it cripples it. But when we decide to have faith and make it something living inside of us, that  is when we change.

 

Hope you enjoyed this scatterbrained summary of a week in Versailles. In my defense, we have been dog sick the past three days, and my head isn't super clear. I love you beaucoup!

 

xoxo

 

Olivia

1. Sevoyan family

2. Welcome to my humble abode.  When we were in Luneville we happened upon this pretty place. 

3. And then there were deer there too. OHMYGOODNESS. I want a baby deer. 

4. Rhondeau&Bradley. BFFs foreverrrrr. 

5. Us with Marjana. Fancy black and white because we were bored while waiting for the bus. 

Au Revoir Nancy

Et bonjour Versailles! The transfer email just came in, and it looks like I will be leaving beautiful Nancy and going back to Paris, serving in the Versailles area. It is so interesting, lately I have been missing Paris so much — the metro, the people, the constant moving and busy-ness of it. The other day Soeur Bradley and I contacted a couple from Paris who we hit it off with and I said, "You know, if I have to leave you (which we don't even want to think about. This girl is my soul friend.) can they please please please just send me to Paris?" Well. I may have to leave this city that I have come to know and love and one of my best friends, but I also get to go back to my favorite city in the world. On to another adventure! 

And what a wonderful week to end on in Nancy! We had so. much. fun. this week. Like, I taught the least number of lessons I ever have on my mission, and we got frogged a million times, and we forgot our umbrella every day and ended up soaking wet, but it was really the best. We worked HARD. And each night we came home and crashed and had achy feet, but it was in the good way, ya know? 

We went on an adventure this week out to a ville about an hour away from us  to pass by some less actives. Surprise surprise none of the addresses were right, but it was so fun being in a new ville. We went porting in a lot of batiments and on the last door this woman opens her door and we tell her who we are, and we ask if she believes in God and she says that she doesn't, but then she motions us into her home. Music is blasting and her three little adorable boys are dancing, and she turns off the music and we start talking. She tells us how he used to believe in God, but now she feels abandoned. A horrible marriage that she left, friends and family forgetting her, and hard things just left her feeling forgotten. We talked about God and prayer and purpose, and she said "You know, even though I don't believe anymore, I still find myself praying some days."  We then shared this scripture:

 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

I think that is so true. That our spirit knows that we are eternal, and that we are children of God. We talked about how she is not abandoned and how the sufferings of right now are just for now. And that God is there to help her and her boys. She was so receptive and I am so excited for Soeur Bradley to start teaching her. The whole time her little boys were coming in with all of their stuffed animals, introducing us to them. Trop mignon. The second we left, the music went back on and you could hear them all dancing together. 

We had a great lesson with the Sevoyans this week and it was like everything just finally clicked. I can't believe we met them on our second night here, and they are still our most solid investegators! I love them.

Last night we had a dinner with the Chastons and two Young Adults in our ward and it was the best way to end my time here. We sat around the table and heard stories about Guillaume's visit to Kansas this summer. A wealthy french boy staying on a farm in Kansas — learning how to drive in a corn field, opening the door to the bathroom only to find a chicken in the bathtub, his card getting denied at Walmart because his bank thought it IMPOSSIBLE that a French boy would be in KANSAS of all places. We were rolling with laughter at all of his stories. I have loved and adored these people, and I can't even believe how lucky I was to be here with Soeur Bradley. Last night we just stayed up for hours (oops) talking and laughing and I just can't believe how lucky I am that on my mission I have met some of my dearest friends. God knows us so well and puts people in our lives for a reason. Sad to leave these people, but so happy to meet some more beautiful souls. 

I love you! Talk to you next week from Paris! 

Love

Olivia 

1. outside our window this morning. 

2. animal hats to go along with our animal themed week.

3. the herd of cows. look at those scowls. 

4. one of the MANY lost cat posters just in case you didn't believe me. translate it

cows and cats and bisous

Dearest loved ones,

There is currently someone playing video games on the computer next to us. Pretty sure it is Freddy Fish. So there is this Under the Sea theme music playing AT FULL VOLUME and my mind is all over the place. Which actually works nicely with the nature of this email, because this week was a little all over the place too. I think quirky is perhaps the best word to describe it. 

French people are obsessed with cats. They LOVE them. Like love love LOVE them. Cat place mats, cat postcards, cat t-shirts — they've got it all. This week we went to visit a less active couple who were wonderful and also happened to be cat lovers. We spent an hour talking about their cat that they had to put down, and by the end of it even I was getting teary. He was talking about how he can still sometimes feel the cat walking in between his legs, or if he puts his hand across the couch, he can still feel her paws batting at it. Yes. They are the cutest couple.  

We were on our morning jog, when we went by a large place (I forget what these are called in English, but it is like a big central area?) where there were lots of big white tents set up. Soeur Bradley and I had commented a little earlier that it smelled a little bit like a farm. So I am running and then I glance into the big white tent and there are HUNDREDS of cows. Turns out there was a giant agricultural festival in Nancy, and it just so happened to be a stone's throw away from our house. So the streets of Nancy smelled like a farm this week and it actually made me really happy and reminiscent of my childhood on the farm. Just kidding. But really it gave me this weird nostalgic feeling.  And THEN from that day on every night cows played an integral part in my dreams, and yesterday Soeur Bradley and I were walking by a field and a herd of cows followed us. Like, STAMPEDED after us. What does this mean?

On Sunday we walked into church and Elder Chaston came up to us and asked us if we would mind watching out for a boy who is not a member and was visiting with his grandma. We of course agreed, and then we turned around to see a very nice looking French boy (well, rather good looking) who is our age. The elders rolled their eyes and were like "Hmm thanks sisters, that's a BIG sacrifice." He was very nice and had lots of questions. A little bit of important info — in France bisous-ing people (kissing them on each cheek) is totally normal. But for sister missionaries it is against the rules to bisous boys. This presents some awkward situations, but for the most part is avoidable if you just stick out your hand to give a handshake. DONC, as we are leaving we are talking to him and his grandma, and then I see him coming in for the bisous and I am frozen. FROZEN. I mutter some attempt at "En fait.. je,,, peux... pas" But it was too late. So there in front of the whole ward they see me let a cute French boy bisous me. I'm not going to hear the end of that one for a while. 

Apart from cows inhabiting the ville, cat conversations and awkward moments, this week was good. We have some new amis who let us in this week and they are a hoot. She is from Romania, he is a Frenchman and they are like characters from a sitcom. They let us in and fed us hot chocolate and fruit and showed us pictures from their trip to Italy. We went back later and had the craziest lesson. They have really interesting ideas about religion and God. It was like watching a TV show. They are so animated and loving, and we left there house with a bag full of plums and muesli and mashed potatoes. Every single one of our amis fed us this week, and we ate some AMAZING Armenian treats. Our lessons have been a little rough the past while, with lots of hard, kind of out there questions, but we are having an adventure and I am learning a lot. 

Well, I will stop there and bid you farewell from this attic internet-cafe-turned-into-under-the-sea- oasis. Seriously, the music is still playing strong. 

I love you! 

Love,

Olivia

Barev! 

Soeur Bradley and I lovingly dubbed this week "la semaine de la persécution". Yelling, fist-pumping, finger-pointing persecution. It got to the point that we would just look at each other, wide eyed and mouths gaping open, and start laughing. Like, "Oh here it comes. Might as well take it with a little humor." But as in ALL things, after the storm comes the calm and the beautiful. And this week was wonderful. We had so much fun meeting people and doing missionary work this week.

We decided to get back to our roots  and do some batiment porting. We had been doing a lot of houses, and it was time for a change. Oh my goodness how I love those humble people. Door after door with each person from a different part of the world, and the smell of curry or pimento or spices in every hallway. We were let in by a beautiful Muslim family from Africa who listened to us with so much love and respect. We prayed and talked about how their faith has given them a strong foundation, and then shared how our faith has done the same for us. That same night we met a woman from Armenia who asked us to come back. We went back and had the best lesson with her. She told us all of the stories of how God has led her. The whole time, her cute little son was sitting there translating the French that she didn't understand. She has been led her whole life and has acknowledged it, which is the most incredible part. I am led so often, but I think I forget to acknowledge it, which then leads me to think that God has momentarily forgotten me. Not true, never true. She is such a good example of looking for God in the details of her life. 

Yesterday at church Soeur Bradley and I had the opportunity to teach amis class to some of the Elders' amis. One of them is a boy from China who is studying physics (and other insanely smart sounding things that I don't even understand) in France. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and at the beginning we asked him what his purpose in life is. He responded by telling us that it was to live as purposefully and well as he could so as to bring honor to his mother and father. We told him that similarly, we have a Father in Heaven, and He has given a way for us to live to bring honor to His name, but ALSO to find joy and live a fulfilling life and existence. He listened so actively and intently, and at the end of the lesson we asked if that made sense or if he had any questions. He said, 

"So I think what I understand and believe is that there is a God who sees everything. Much more than I can see. And He is giving me a path that will lead me most simply and most successfully to meaning." He then stood up, walked up to the board, and asked if he could use the chalk. He then starts drawing a diagram. He draws one line. It is a straight line, that leads to an end goal. He then drew another line, that is curvy and windy, and then put little x marks to the side of it. "So this straight line is the path that God wants me to take because He knows exactly where it will lead me, and it will lead me to happiness. The curvy path is how it is when I try to live it myself. The x's represent the things that I think will bring me happiness but they are really only distractions. The first path is the simplest path and the best path." He then sat down, and then I asked if he would like to teach the rest of the lesson :)

I talked to him after class and he says that he has always been searching for meaning, and when he was little he would read book after book from Chinese philosophers, but he never found the answers. He then said he likes this because it is simple. It is! It is so simple! And I complicate it so often! But when we follow what God has given us, it leads us to a life that is more simple. Not less exciting, or less interesting, or easier. Just more simple, because we have an eternal perspective. It reminded me of this scripture:

"The words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." ALMA 37:45 

I like that there is a path for each person that will lead us to "a far better land of promise" if we will follow the course. 

And then Soeur Bradley and I became a little obsessed with Asians and contacted every Asian we would see on the street. 

I love you and hope you have a happy, hope-filled week. 

beaucoup d'amour,

Olivia