Family!
So this email is going to be rather short this week, because it is vacances right now in France (when is it NOT vacances for the French? They vacation All.The.Time) so our usual spot to do emails is closed. We are in Paris for the day to do some sightseeing and eat some falafels, and we are at a place that is super super expensive so I only have a little bit of time. This week was crazy. As you know, on Tuesday we went to Belgium. What you don't know is that we only spent twenty minutes at the train station in Belgium, and the rest of it stuck on a train in the middle of nowhere in France. The train broke, and we were stuck on it for six hours. SIX HOURS. And they didn't open the windows or doors and it smelled like BO and people were getting malade! You know what though, it ended up being a total tender mercy because I was stuck on that train with my most favorite elders/family away from family. We sat in the hall of the train and talked for hours and hours and laughed so hard at the fact that six months ago we were in the MTC imagining all of the amazing missionary experiences we would have in France. And here we were, stuck on a train, going slightly loopy from lack of oxygen, just laughing and talking the day away. It was so great to see them and catch up on all of our adventures and also empathize with each other about the not so easy stuff. The only bummer is that Soeur Hill is serving in Luxembourg, so she had taken a train from there to Belgium so I didn't get to see her! So sad. When we finally got to Belgium, after they brought a train down from Brussels to pull us, we bought gaufres at the station and then hopped on a train back to Paris. So looks like I will be going on another trip to Belgium soon! Hopefully this time we will make it there.
The next day we had exchanges with Caen. Soeur Alley came down to Melun and it was so lovely. It felt like being on exchanges with Laura Bennion, which is obvs an awesome thing. We taught Madame Dumas, the lady from Haiti. I love her. She is so humble and kind. We taught her more about the Restoration and she said she has been looking for the truth, and she knows that the only way to know the truth is to ask God yourself. So that's what she's going to do. And at the end of the lesson she held our hands while she prayed and said the most simple beautiful prayer, and then gave us juice and wanted to feed us. I love Haitians. I am more and more convinced that one of the reasons I was sent to France was because they can't send girls to Africa or Haiti, so France was the next best bet. I love these people. That night we taught Petula, the women from Centre Afrique with four kids. Her husband had guests over, and so we had to have the lesson in her kids' room on the bunk beds. How awesome/hilarious is that? Teaching a lesson from the bunk beds. It was one of my favorite teaching experiences on my mission though. She has not always believed in God but has recently been searching for Him. She wants her children to have God in their life. As we taught her kids sat on the bed reading their little illustrated Bibles. She had a million questions, and we were really able to answer every single one of them through the Book of Mormon. There is so much truth and power in that book. As I responded to her questions I was amazed myself at the fact we could respond. Things like infant baptism, why is their suffering in the world etc. She especially loved when we taught the preexistence, knowing that we knew God and lived with him before this life.
We are still in great need of finding people to teach, so we have been doing a lot of all-day finding days. They are tiring. But I can tell that good things are coming for Melun, and we are finding some great people. Alexis is doing well, we had a FHE with him this week. He is just really busy trying to find work, so hopefully we will be able to teach him more. Last night we went to contact a referral and then we missed the bus back. And we were in the zup. The zup = the ghetto. Like we had a lady come up to us and tell us to leave. So here is the miracle of being protected as a missionary: We were wondering what to do and we look up and we happen to be right by William's building. So then William showed up and saved the day and walked us back to Melun! Seriously. I need to go, but merci for your prayers and your love. We are going to the Eiffel Tower so that Soeur Johnson can see it before she leaves (Three weeks! That happened so fast!). And then tonight, back to porting we go!
I love you. I miss you. Also, I have had some crazy dreams about being home and people asking me how my mission in Tahiti was. And then my teeth start deforming or falling out. And I am carrying a backpack full of rocks. And then I walk into our ward building and they are doing an interpretive dance for the prelude. Any interpretations?
love love love,
Liv
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