Hello new amis!
Famille et Friends all around the world,
Whoa what a crazy week!
First off, I LOVE SAINT-NAZAIRE! Oh my, President is going to
have a really hard time kicking me out of this ville! It is incredible! We live
2 blocks from the beach! (sorry pictures of St Nazaire to come next week, we were too busy
doing missionary work). I LOVE the branch. I LOVE the people. I LOVE my
companion. I LOVE everything about this place!
Well my week started off saying goodbye to all my beloved
friends in Nogent. We visited tons of families and friends and it was a long 4
hour train ride to Saint-Nazaire. Luckily, Soeur Huntsman and I already know
everything about each other so we were so pumped to just start the transfer
hitting the ground running. We arrived in Saint-Nazaire after 3 ELDERS had to
help us get all of our luggage to our main train. Yes, 3 elders and 2 sisters
took our luggage on 2 metros and a train. Wow, that was quite a day..(both of
Soeur Huntsman's bags were broken) When we arrived to the voie (the track) and were
getting our luggage off the train, the people didn't see us trying to get our
bags off and began SHUTTING the doors! Here I am with 2 of my bags
and 1 of Soeur Huntsman's bags outside of the train and Soeur Huntsman is
inside of the train with one of her bags and one of mine. Fear struck us both
and I pushed with all my might to keep the doors open as Super Woman (my
companion) somehow in 2 seconds flat had flung our bags out of the train and
somehow managed to get out herself. Meanwhile a lovely French family standing
nearby just watched us 2 Americans have a freak attack trying to get 5 pieces of
luggage (well over 50 pounds each) off a train in about 5 seconds. It was quite
a show folks. Sister Harris and Elder Harris (Senior Couple serving here in our
branch) were standing far away trying to find us get off the train and saw the
whole thing go down. They came running over just as Soeur Huntsman hopped out
of the train and everyone was just so dumbfounded. We laughed for a good hour.
Saint-Nazaire! Ok, so we white-washed the Elders here out of the
city. We also have their pea-sized apartment. We have 2 rooms: our kitchen and
our bedroom/study room. Our shower is the smallest shower I've ever seen..but I
LOVE it here so much I could care less. The members here are just incredible!
When we arrived here we didn't have any food (other than the 2 frozen
hamburgers in the freezer and 3 gallons of milk) and hardly any appliances. I
have no idea how the elders lived here. So, the first thing we did was go get
some food with our amazing new friends, the Harris couple. They drove us there and
back and they're the sweetest. After that, we decided to go porting (door to
door) The next day we got our bus passes and got some maps (since the elders
didn't leave us anything haha) and we had a nice visit from 4 members (2
electricians to fix our broken outlet) and the other two helped us fix the
broken radiators. We then went to the store AGAIN to get all of the appliances
that were lacking in the apartment. That was really funny. We then visited the
Relief Society President, Rachel and her 3 kids and surprised them with
cookies. (halloween night) We thought we were so clever and then as we left
their apartment we looked at our phones and saw she had already texted us to
come over for pumpkin soup. These people are just too nice!
Friday we had an RDV (appt) with an incredible lady named Mirna and her
daughter Jennifer. We had no information about them, but the elders had set an
appointment with her. We went over and realized she had NEVER been taught so
we got to know her and brought her some cookies and gave her a Book of Mormon.
Her daughter, Jennifer, has so many questions about God because she really has
no knowledge of who God is (she's 14 years old) Mirna is from Panama and has
the biggest heart. They didn't come to church, but we are going to see them
Friday and we are just so excited to get to know this family better. Right
after we left Mirna (she lives RIGHT on the coast) there was a HUGE storm (felt
like we were in a hurricane) and we sat at the bus stop for about 30 minutes in
the freezing, rain storm only to realize that it was a holiday and the
buses weren't running, so we had to have the Harris couple come save us (they
are such a blessing!)
Saturday we met our ami named Esperance. The Harris couple went
with us. Esperance has a date for November 23rd to be baptized and she has
such a beautiful testimony. She has a little 4 year old boy named
Anthony. We shared a quick message about Jesus Christ and His Atonement and got
to know her. She is a cool lady and such a golden ami! We are so excited to
help push her to be baptized hopefully this month. We also tried to pass
by a member named Mata in our ward with her family. She is Tongan and doesn't
speak much French. Her husband and kids aren't members but she LOVES church and
she invited us over this week. Everyone says she is an incredible cook. After
we got there and found out they weren't home, we decided to port the entire
neighborhood. We didn't have much success, but we knocked on a man's door and
he answered it and we said we wanted to share the Book of Mormon with him and
he simply said, "Je l'ai" (I have it.) He returns a few minutes later
with his own copy of the Book of Mormon! Whoa! He said he loves reading it and
it makes him happy (he has some maladies) and he said he would love to get it
in Portuguese since that is his language. We said of course, and he said he would
try and come to church if it wasn't raining because he'd have to walk to
church. (it ended up raining) He told us two elders came by and gave him the book
but then never came back. It was such a miracle!
Sunday was incredible. Our church is held on the top floor of a
building that looks like it was an old office building, but it's where they hold
the church. The members are so nice. Everyone came up to us and just embraced
us with so much love and would say, "FINALLY! We have sisters. Our branch
is finally going to grow!" haha Sounds like missionary work here has been
pretty rough. All of the women were just so excited to have sisters. Everyone was incredibly welcoming. These people already have such a
special place in my heart.
There's no better place to be in the world right now than here
in wonderful, rainy Saint-Nazaire serving my French brothers and
sisters. I can't help but feel so much love for them, and I want so badly to
bring them into the fold. My heart is full, my clothes are wet, and I couldn't
be any happier!
Stay righteous, be true, be you!
Avec amour,
Soeur
Berge
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