rice cakes. nothin but rice cakes.

Salut!

 

The past few days have been hilarious and stressful. My stomach has been going crazy and so I am living off of rice cakes. Transfers are this week and we really had no idea what was going to happen. Usually you can kind of guess because of who is in what transfer etc, but since Stahly and I are the same age in the mission, it was impossible to guess. And we wanted to stay together SO badly. We have been planning our Thanksgiving dinner for weeks!  AND since we live in the ward with the APs and the office elders, they know EVERYTHING days in advance, so avoiding them was SO stressful. We couldn't even look at them. Dramatic? Yes. But we just didn't want to know. And then we checked the email and STAHLY IS STAYYYING! We jumped up and down and hugged and the Elders were all like, "We have been wanting to tell you this for DAYS. This is ridiculous." So here we are, starting another transfer in Versailles.

 

Everyone is on vacance (Again you ask? Yes, again. And almost always.) so we didn't really have any amis to teach. Luckily Florence needed us to finish up the carpet, and with the help of the Elders, her apartment looks brand new! Along the way we learned some fun French games from her little girls, and I now know how to rip up carpet and lay linoleum. Useful life skills you never knew you would learn, and never knew you needed.

 

So we went out and searched for and found people who need some extra light and hope. And we found 'em. One day while we were in Suresnes, we were knocking on doors in an apartment building, and we knocked on a door, and a man with crazy hair answered. He lit up when he opened the door. We told him we were there to pray with him, and he let us in. He lives in a tiny apartment  and he has one book shelf with two books on it. Guess which two books? The Bible and the Book of Mormon. He told us that he met the missionaries in the South of France years ago and that they gave him a D&C too, but he gave it to a friend and never got it back and has always wanted another one. We read a scripture about coming to Christ and being healed, and he just smiled as we read it. He is such a broken soul. After we prayed with him, he asked if he could ask us a question. He said, "How did you come here? Was it just random, comme ça?" And then Sœur Stahly bore a beautiful testimony of how God had sent us to him that day. That of all the millions of doors in Paris, we knocked on his for a reason because God loves him. And then he says with tears in his eyes, "You think so?" And the only way I can describe it, is that suddenly, in an instant, I had new eyes.  He wasn't a broken, mentally ill man that smells like smoke. I saw him as a child of God, that God loved infinitely. And that is the most beautiful thing about being a missionary. There are no ordinary people.

 

We went back a few days later, and he had the Book of Mormon layed out on his floor, and he said that he has reread that verse about Christ healing us about a thousand times, because it is the only thing that brings calm and peace to his heart. We passed him over to the Elders to teach, and I am so glad they can start teaching him. In that same area, we were contacting and we started talking to a woman and she started walking away, and we were like what is happening? And then she turns around and says "Follow me, I am going to show you where I live and then you can come and teach me about God." Whaaaaaat. This never happens.

 

It was a week full of lots of beautiful miracles. So happy to be in Versailles and so happy that Sœur Stahly is staying! I will leave you with some words of wisdom to contimplate  from our friend the drunk man at the gare: what does avion stand for? A- appareil V- volant I-immitant O-oiseau N-naturel.

 

I love you!

 

xoxo

Olivia

1  me and stahly and the eiffel tower in the distance

2  us at Luxembourg gardens last week.

surprise service

Bonjour ma chere famille!

 

This week was action-packed. So many adventures and good things happened. We taught District Meeting, went on exchanges with the Paris Sœurs (Elizabeth, I went with Sœur Roney — she is incredible, I love her!), got smashed in the doors of the metro, and I locked the keys in the apartment. Yay!

 

Last week we met a woman named Florence. We called her this week to see when we could come over to visit her. She told us that she was in plein travail, and there was no way she could meet with us. We asked her if she needed any help with the travail. and she was like OUI. So we put on our jeans (yessssss) and went over to Florence's house and scraped up carpet. With our bare hands. And sharp blades. Her daughter recently has been suffering from bad asthma because of the carpet, and she is getting it redone, but she has no money and they told her it would be 800 euros to get the carpet up. She told them that she would do it herself. They laughed at her and told her it was impossible. Then she said "God will send angels to help me." It was the best. And we are totally going to have it done by Friday.

 

After Church on Sunday we went to the hospital to stop by Manon. She welcomed us in, and explained to us that she had been wanting to call us, but didn't know how to explain what has been happening. There are some sad sad things happening with her children in the Congo. Her eyes were welled up with tears, and she expressed how helpless she feels. She is in another country, in the hospital, and has no moyens of helping them. And then she said, "But God is good, and all is well and the only thing I can do is have faith and put things in His hands." And the thing is, with her these aren't just words. She really believes it and trusts God. I love visiting her, she just fills up that room with light. Keep Jemimah and Calro, her little ones, in your prayers. We had planned on teaching the Restoration, but as soon as we got there, this scripture just kept on running through my head, and we decided to share it:

 

 14 But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not. 15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

Her face just became brighter and brighter and she said, "How did you know? God sent you to me."

This week I think I recognized just how often God sends people to help me, and how often we need to try to be guided so that we can help others. I love that scripture. That our "walls" are continually before Him.

I love you all and hope you have a great week,

Love

Olivia

1 Winter has officially arrived in France. We are freeeezing. 

2 Paris

3 Me and Nannick 

I also tried to send the first installment of the missionementary but it didnt work SO SAD. We will see what we can do and try again next week 

Bonjour tout le monde!

 

This week was, as the French say, trop bizarre. But bizarre also makes things a little more interesting and adventurous. Lessons in hospital rooms, every single one of our amis canceling lessons, wading through cold baptismal fonts, playing a violin in a parking lot, becoming friends with the Spanish guitar player on the metro etc. See? Bizarre, but fun.

 

On Wednesday we got a call from the Paris sisters that they had met a woman a while ago who wanted to meet with us, but she was recently admitted to a hospital in our area. So Sœur Stahly and I headed to Le Vésinet hospital, which turns out looks more like an estate you would see on Downton Abbey. We searched for her room and had to make our way up multiple different staircases, but eventually we found it. It is a hall specifically for young single immigrant moms who are pregnant and cannot take care of themselves alone, and need some extra care. Her name is Manon and she is from the Congo. She is soft-spoken and kind, and just calm. She sat on her hospital bed and listened as we talked about The Plan of Salvation, and then we listened as she told us her story. She still has two young children living in the Congo, but she can't get their paperwork, so she is here just waiting and waiting and working. She said she feels alone and sometimes she asks herself why she ever even left Congo. She said, "We come here searching for a better life, and then we wonder why we ever left our home." The whole time her eyes were just welled up with tears, and then she started talking about Jesus. She believes that with him all is possible and that she will be happy again. Her roommate was curled up in the bed next to her just listening to the lesson. She will be there for 7 MORE MONTHS. Your heart just aches with them.

 

A response we get often when we talk about God and hope to people is, "I can't believe there is a God when there is so much bad in the world. There is too much suffering, too much evil. I mean, I look at people in Africa suffering ..." And then I want to say this: those are the people we teach, who are full of more hope and love and faith and goodness than anything or anyone I have ever experienced auparavant (before). It is not their suffering that takes them further from God, but closer. Their example is what has brought me closer to God and to feeling His love. So believing in God isn't about having an easy life or a naive life. It is about living a hopeful life.

 

After we visited Manon we stopped by to say hello to my Host Mom from study abroad, who lived really close to the hospital. She was thrilled to see me, and I was so thrilled to see her. She pulled up right as we walked to the door and she said "C'était le Saint Esprit qui vous a guidé chez moi aujourdhui!"  We sang a hymn with her, and drank tea in the house that hasn't changed one bit since I lived there. It was such a fun little moment to see how nothing had changed, but so many things had changed. It was also great to actually be able to speak to her this time around! She was SO excited to hear news of Claire as well :)

 

There were two baptisms at the Versailles ward this week, both of which were for other wards in the stake, and both of which Sœur Stahly and I were in charge of getting ready for. So we get there early and turn on the water to the font, and I go and practice my violin in the chapel. 15 minutes before the first baptism we go to turn off the water only to find out that it is only about knee deep, and the water is freezing cold.So Sœur Stahly takes one for the team, and goes into the font to try to fix the drain. A few pots of boiling water and a miracle later, the little boy was getting ready to walk down the stairs into the water. I leaned over to Stahly to ask her if she had warned them that the water wasn't hot. And her eyes got reeealy big. Oops. She replied "Well, at least his face will be memorable when he gets in the water?" It sure was. The second baptism of the day was for a girl who found the Church through reading Rockstar Diaries (a blog written by a mormon). She is an adorable French girl, and was so so happy. Cool huh? Lots of ways to be a missionary. I played the violin for her baptism and it went really well. Theeen we had the ward talent show and the missionaries did an absolutely disastrous rendition medley of "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission." As one of the Elders said, "I got stage fright! I panicked! I didn't know what to do with my hands!" I think we all did. It. was. hilarious.

 

So there you have it. A few small stories from our week bizarre. Someday I will tell you the rest of them when I have more time. I hope you are all doing well and are happy and healthy. I love you avec tout mon cœur.

 

Love,

 

Olivia

 

p.s. I just received news from Sister Chaston that Elder Chaston had a heart attack this week and is in the hospital in Nancy.  Keep them in your prayers please!

1. Me and Marc Jenny 

2. Berries from the trees! (JK I was just trying to freak you out. They are grapes.) 

3. Me and Soeur Stahly in les jardins 

4. Marc Jenny and Claudine

Soeur Stahly and I have started a "missionamentary" with video confessionals every night. Stay tuned for a full version coming chez vous soon. This week was SO. MUCH. FUN. 

We started out the week by visiting the Chateau de Versailles, which we discovered is FREE for student-age EU dwellers. So we walked a million miles and had so many adventures through the gardens of Versailles and were over the moon excited about the animals at Marie Antoinette's farm. There were BABY GOATS. And pigs. And we ate berries off the tree! And we are still alive! (don't panic Dad, I know this is bringing back memories of gerbil hospitals ... ) It was a magical day. 

That night we went to Simone's and had a lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited them to be baptized and Simone said yes, and Marc jenny said he would like to really pray about it first. Later on in the lesson, Marc jenny had his head down and we asked if he was okay and he said, "Yes, I was just praying to know if I am ready to be baptized." The problem now is that they have a nurse that comes to their house every day to check his blood, etc. And so because of that it is near impossible to come to church. Simone looked at Marc jenny and explained to him that they needed to pray with all their might that he would be healed enough to come to church. It was the most sobering thing to see that this was the most important thing to them. Then they got a hold of my camera and went a little crazy with it. You can thank them for all of the pictures. 

I think the most amazing thing that happened this week was General Conference. I Loved Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf and Elder Dyches. And I haven't even seen the Sunday session yet! There were multiple times where I felt so many personal questions answered. It is beautiful that everything was so personal. I know so many people who were blessed individually because of the words that were said. I think one of the most mind-blowing things I have come to know on my mission is how God knows people individually, and how He is very aware of us. We had a lot of moments this week that reminded me of this. Like how we taught a girl at the gare who decided to be Christian THREE WEEKS AGO, and is looking for a way to follow Christ. Or the soccer player who is recovering from knee surgery and and said that it was bizarre that we knocked on his door because he has been thinking about starting to pray to God again lately. Or the lady that I met on the train yesterday from Switzerland. We started talking about her day and then eventually how she had visited Salt Lake City before, and how she is from Bern. I mentioned that my parents were married in Bern and she was so dumbfounded and excited about it, and I was able to tell her about Papa being a mission president there, and about why we are here etc. Or the girl we contacted last night who was on her way back from Messe, and so open to our message. Our week was full of all sorts of serendipitous moments like those, and they were such reminders of how there is a pattern and a purpose to this all. 

We are out of time for today, we are going to search for a coat at the secondhand stores around here, which would probably be a good thing with the winter months approaching. 

I love you all beyond words. Sorry for the short email this week. 

Love

xoxo 

Olivia