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