WEEK 61

hey everyone

 

already there goes another week! I can't believe how fast time goes but also how long it can feel! It feels like forever since I last saw Jorgy. Is it weird to say that I already miss him?? And to make matters worse, the mission has blocked iMessage on our iPads so now I can't talk with him like that anymore. But such is life. We have rules we all need to follow;) haha this week was good and me and my new comp get along great! Things are going great here in the old DK!

MONDAY NIGHT

tonight was pretty chill and laid back. After we left the church from emails we went to a less actives house who wanted to say goodbye to Jorgensen one last time. She had completely forgotten about our rdv and so it went by pretty fast. We walked in and shared our message and then she asked for a blessing and so elder Jorgensen gave her a blessing and so we did that and then headed out. We then had our last rdv with Mike and elder jorgensen so we went and did that and it was really good to see Mike, like usual. After that we went home for the night and had a raclette party! Raclette is a French meal with potatoes and cheese and meat...a little hard to explain but I'll take some pics!

TUESDAY

today went by super fast! It was super good! We had to members that fed us so that always makes a missionary happy;) we started the day off with studies and while we were supposed to be doing language study, me and Jorgy were making our planner covers for the transfer! So that was a good use of time if you ask me. We then had to get out of the apartment to catch a train to get to the branch president's house cause he invited us over for lunch. So something I think you already know, but there isn't enough priesthood in Dunkerque and so our branch president doesn't live in Dunkerque...he lives in Lille which is a good hour away. So we had to take a couple trains to get to his house. When we had finally gotten to the right gare, he called us and told us he'd be a half hour late and so we just chilled and waited for him. The chill part was not an exaggeration...haha it was a cold day in Lille and so we were a little chilled when he finally got there to pick us up. We got to his cute little French home and his cute little wife had this really yummy potato lunch thing prepared for us and so we ate and talked and had a great time with them. They are truly a special couple and I'm glad I've had the chance to serve around them. So we were talking and they were telling us all about the mission that they served in St Brieuc here in France and how they loved/hated it hahah they were talking about how hard it was and how it was nothing they expected but how grateful they were for it. It was funny to hear them talk about it. After that they told us of a 6 month mission that they served in the London Temple and some pretty spiritual experiences they had there. One that I'd like to share was that he told us once he was performing a sealing, and he'd been going through the names and came across and Arab family (he could tell by the names) and something you need to know about the French is that they are pretty darn racist haha so he said when he saw this he was all oh great. But still he did the names instead of putting them to the side. Then he paused and I looked at him, and he had tears coming out of his eyes, and he said, "elders, I cannot explain to you how real it was that I could feel these people next to me as they accepted this work." He said that the spirit in that sealing room was so strong, that he could hardly talk to finish the sealing ordinance! It was so touching to see him so emotional! I testify that I KNOW we can be sealed as a family for TIME AND ALL ETERNITY! Because of Jesus-Christ, there is NO END TO HAPPINESS! Isn't that wonderful?! It was a great reminder to me. After that, we headed to the gare and made our way home. When we got home we had another rdv with Mado and Miguel. It was a good rdv where Mado had made us chili for elder Jorgensen's departure. It was fun to spend some time with them and talk about how much Miguel is changing. He is changing because of Jesus Christ in his life! After that rdv we went so that Jorgy could say goodbye to Jean Paul. We sang a hymn and then Jorgy shared a little message and then we had to get going so he could finish up packing and what not. I called elder Powelson one last time to say goodbye. I'm gonna miss him!!

WEDNESDAY

we woke up bright and early this morning to be able to get all together that we needed and get out of the apartment on time to make the train. Jorgy said he had a twisted stomach cause he was nervous....he's growing up! then we hopped on the train and wrote each other little notes in our little missionary books;) we had a long train ride to Paris so let's just say that mine was a little long and full of memories. When we got to Paris we went into the metro system with all of the other missionaries and I waited for my new collegue. I got to see tons of friends that I love and I even got to see Powelson one last time before he headed off to Canada. It was such a good day. I was talking with all my friends that were my age and let me just tell you that it is going to be a weird day when the sister missionaries in my group go home. There are only a couple more months for them and that is just freaking me out a little bit! I can't even believe how fast time goes. So anyway after all the kicks and giggles were over I got to meet elder Sorensen! He is from Provo Utah and is one transfer older than me. He is super loud and loves to make a joke out of everything, so let me just say that we are pretty much the same person. ;) he was telling me today that he's pretty sure that president just puts people together because they look alike. And I know all of you thought me and Jorgy looked alike, so I guess you can say it again cause I guess elder Sorensen thinks we look alike! Haha we left to the gare and got some macdo for lunch and then caught our train back to Dunkerque. The train ride was long so it consisted of talking and sleeping hahah! But sooner or later we got home. We came home and dropped off elder Sorensen's stuff and then went out to try and stop by some potential investigators. It was a solid night. But then we headed over to Jean Paul's house cause he wanted to meet elder Sorensen and Miguel was there as well. So it was nice and we all got to talk. Things are good! It just takes some adjusting to get used to it ;)

THURSDAY

today was a long day full of WORK. We worked hard! And it was my half birthday;) I realized that during studies this morning lol. It was good though. We went out to a place that I had never been to before and so I was glad to get to know somewhere new. There isn't a ton to talk about today but we started off with studies and then went out and did some morning contacting as well as stopping by the post office. We came back in for lunch and talked about movies and what not before we needed to head out to work again. We decided that for the afternoon we were going to go out to an area that I had never been to to see if there was any work that could happen out there. We got out there and just found out that it was a big neighborhood and just full of houses so what did we do? We ported those bad boys! We went crazy and we're just knocking doors and ringing bells and trying to get someone who wanted to talk about Jesus and we found this one guy who was really interested as to why we were here in France and....nothing hahah he told us he wasn't interested to talk about God cause that would just make him mad....haha so after a good long time and when our tummies were grumbling we decided to head in for dinner. We got in and ate and talked and then for tonight we needed to start off by going to the church for 2 reasons. 1) we found out Tuesday that we have a special conference in Brussels on Tuesday that is the young women's and relief society general presidents that are going to be speaking to us! So we get to go to that and we had to go and find some train times! I am super excited to be able to hear from them!! And 2) we received a referral from the church headquarters today and so we had to go and try to locate him. So we tried that and got his phone number but he never answered so bummer...so after we had finished up at the church we headed out to do some porting as well as some less active finding over around the church. And that took up our night!

FRIDAY

we had a good day today! I'm realizing how weird it is to be here in Dunkerque without Jorgy. Like I was with him everyday in this small little town for 3 months and now he's gone! It is weird to me! Like ya I've gotten new comps before but in my other villes I had other missionaries in the apartment so it wasn't that weird, but being all alone with someone completely new and different is just a little bizarre. Haha so we had some studies this morning and then we went out and did some contacting. It is getting COLD in Dunkerque y'all! I had to break out my big winter coat! So that was really weird. We were walking all around Dunkerque and trying to talk to people but it is getting hard to find people during the day cause it is just so dang cold that not a ton of people are out! So we contacted who we could and did what we needed to and then made our way in for lunch. After we had finished eating we made our way to Anna's house for a rdv with her and sister Foutrein! We got there and Soeur Foutrein was waiting in her car just outside of Anna's apartment and so we went in and talked about the ward party from last week and how she liked that and we chatted about different things for a while and then got started on our lesson. We talked about the plan of salvation again and kind of just went over a big summary of what it is, explaining all the steps simply just so she understands the basics and she was telling us how she didn't believe that there is a life after death....she was saying how it is hard for her to believe that cause she'd never thought of it before and didn't think it was possible and then she was saying how she didn't think it was possible for any of it and was just making me a little frustrated!!! We finished up our lesson and now we are completely confused as to what we need to do next. She told us she was going to come to church this Sunday so we hope it happens. Then we went to stop by a less actives house to try and teach her a little something for her home teaching and she was super cute and nice and let us in to talk to her. After that we went home for dinner and then started weekly planning. We finished most of it tonight but we are going to have to do some more of it tomorrow....it was an interesting day!

SATURDAY

Today was a pretty cool day! We had a pretty cool lesson with a friend of a member and it was really cool! I don't remember if I said this last week, but at the ward party last week, one of the members actually invited his friend and he was interested to learn about who we were! So we had a lesson with them and it was good! After our studies this morning we headed over to the church to meet up with them. It took them a while to get there but sooner or later they made it and we gave him a little church tour and then sat down and explained a little bit about who we are as missionaries and then also the Book of Mormon cause at the party someone gave one to him and we figured that it would have been a good idea to give him a little overview on it and to answer any other questions that he might have had. It went well and we are interested to see what happens with him in the future. So after all that he gave us a ride to downtown and we went to the post office to send off a couple things and then we went and got some kebabs for lunch cause it has literally been like a month or so since I have had one! So it was good. Then after we had finished and our tummys were kebab happy, we finished up our weekly planning. It went well but obvi it was good to have done. Then we went out and contacted and stopped by the gare to print off some tickets for our conferences next week. Then we slowly made our way in for dinner. There was a huge tv placed outside the bar outside of our apartment playing the rugby World Cup and so it was really fun to watch that for the rest of the night! Then after we had finished up our dinner, we went out porting looking for some souls. We ported into this one guy who told us that he was agnostic and that he was searching to see if there is really a God and if he really does answer questions and he wanted to know how people got such a strong grasp on faith in him. It was so cool to talk to him! We gave him a Book of Mormon and then testified to him and the spirit was so strong! Sadly he didn't pray with us, and he didn't give us his number, but he did say he gave all his admiration to us and he even started to tear up a little bit. It was super cool! So anywho, that was the coolest part about our night before we came in and called it a night.

SUNDAY

today was a good Sunday!! I love the members here in Dunkerque! Which is a good thing cause if I didn't that'd be hard to like it here;) haha it was a really great Sunday. We went to church this morning and had some great lessons. We talked about feeding His sheep. Which was a super good lesson! Soeur Foutrein taught a really good lesson and shared a really good scripture that really touched me, and I wanted to share it with you all! I know you all know it already, but here it is anyway: Philippians 4:13 

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

It is so cool right?! Christ makes life so easy, it's us who makes it hard. We can do ANYTHING through Him and He makes us stronger. His grace IS sufficient! What a miracle:) so anyway we had a really good sacrament as well and a member gave a talk on humbling and softening our hearts and that was really good as well. The members in France who are LEGIT members are seriously just amazing! After all the meetings we were talking to members and one member family, the Deslypper's, are going to the temple in Madrid tomorrow morning for the week and so I went up to them and asked them to do me a favor and add my grandma's name to the prayer roll and she was so excited and said of course elder! So that made me happy we came home for lunch and then after we went out and did some contacting and finding til about dinner time. I found this one building that I wanted to try and get into, but no one answered and those who did didn't let us in...so we just kept walking and talking to people. When dinner came around we went in and ate. When we had finished, we decided that we would go out and find some less actives that lived by the Deslypper's and then stop by to say have a good trip and thank you and so we did that but as soon as we got to the less actives house, she came running out screaming at her kids....so we decided we'd come back another time hahah then we went and tried to see the Deslypper's and they asked if we wanted to come in for 'deux petits minutes?' Hahaha we ended up staying the rest of the night as we talked about some less actives and then them showing us some of their old vacation photos and their collections. They told us that it was really nice that the missionaries just stopped by randomly to say hello. So we shared a little message with them and then they took us home for the night. We are definitely in good care here in Dunkerque! The members are AMAZING:)

Well everyone I am doing good. I'm realizing that this life is a test, and even though I fail a lot and have many faults, I know my Heavenly Father wants me to succeed and he is helping me. I'm grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and that my Heavenly Father wants me. I challenge you all to look for ways to improve the life of someone else this week! Whether it be performing service, or putting their name on the prayer roll at the temple. YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE:) je vous aime tous et vous me manquez. J'espère d'entendre de vous bientôt et je vous souhaite une magnifique semaine!!! A bientôt:)

E Libs