fin

Dear family,

 

At the beginning of last week I kept on thinking about how great it would be if the last week of my mission could be a summary week of some sorts. You know, everything I have felt or experienced or seen the past year and a half all condensed in one week. That of course is impossible, as time itself is what makes these experiences what they are. That being said, this week was a hilarious and beautiful mix of the realities and the joy of being a missionary. Not the least of which was being stuck on a bus for two hours and two of us getting extremely car sick and laying across the seats on the bumpy road. Or getting stranded in a random ville with no transportation back to Blois for five hours (luckily for us there were castle ruins we got to explore while waiting). Or sitting in testimony meeting on Sunday and hearing Paula stand up and testify of the love of God and how it has changed her while her children are sticking stickers on my face. Or the African woman at the bus stop this morning who saw our name tags and proclaimed her love for God to us and to everyone at the stop, with her beautiful African dress and wide eyed children at her sides. Or the elevator in the Zup that smells like it has been there for a million years and feels like it has been there that long too. Now somehow even that seems strangely beautiful and sentimental.

 

All of these people and places are what have made up the last year and a half of my life and I will be forever grateful that God let me come and learn from them and with them, through the good and the hard and the happy and the painful.

 

Someone asked me what I have learned on my mission this week. How do you answer that?! I thought of this scripture:

11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.Phillipians 4:11-13

I think that sums it up as well as my Blois library hour computer time permits what I have learned. To be full, but to also suffer need; to understand that Christ is there for us in ALL of these moments, and through Him we can do all things. We can do all things! Life isn't supposed to be easy, it is supposed to be full in order to make us whole.  I have seen this promise of strength carry me through this adventure here in France, and the evidence of it has been made real to me as I watch the lives of my amis here become stronger through Christ. I know that His church is restored here on earth and it is a beautiful thing to be able to share it with others. And I am really eternally thankful for it all and you all who have helped me here.

 

I love this mission and France and you! I cannot WAIIIT to see you this week. Must be off.

 

à tout de suite (!)

 

Soeur Olivia Rhondeau