Chicken Soup and Miracles

Cher everyone:

WHAT A WEEK!

For starters, thank you all for your emails, letters, and prayers. 

Well, not much news from this week..HOWEVER..we did have miracles..even with opposition..

Last Monday night we had our FHE at the Harris's appartement. It was lots of fun as usual and we even got Esperence to come with her son, Anthony. Tuesday we had our district meeting and then went and saw a less active couple in the ward that live a little ways from the church. They're a little bit older and the husband is going through chemo right now. We shared a talk with them and listened to them and tried our best to brighten their day.

Then we had our first ever meeting with our ward mission leader. He had so many wonderful ideas and on Sunday during Sacrament Meeting he did a great job at the pulpit inviting everyone in the ward to put a picture of themselves and a letter/testimony in a Book of Mormon with some DVD to give to one of their friends as a Christmas gift. Fabulous idea.

Wednesday was the start of it all..we got hit with the plague. I woke up not feeling good so I went back to bed..a few hours later I woke up and Soeur Huntsman was in bed too. After I had slept a little, I was really blessed and wasn't sick anymore. However, Soeur Huntsman wasn't so blessed. Soeur Huntsman then turned out to be sick for the next 5 days.

So I did what any good comp would do and made my dear comp some soup and she slept for the rest of the day.

Thursday..Soeur Huntsman was sick the entire day..poor thing. We had a really important rdv that night with Mata and her non-member friend and her family (the husband plays rugby with mata's husband) they are from Kenya and so nice. Since Soeur Huntsman was so sick, we did a split and I went with the Harris's and we taught them about the Book of Mormon and sang hymns.

Friday was a super hectic day. Soeur Huntsman was sick still (she was so sick she could barely move) So I called Soeur Poznanksi and she gave me a doctor to call. That doctor didn't have any space and so I called a few other members and after calling a million people and doctors..no one had room at the inn for poor Mary. (it's definitely Christmas) So Soeur Huntsman suggests I look at the yellow pages. I pull it down from the shelf and flipped to the doctors. Well there were about 30-40 doctors in Saint-Nazaire. How do I just pick one? So I said a prayer in my head and looked through the long list. Then..I see it: Doctor Lesouef. That was the name of the family we found last Sunday!!! So I start freaking out and call his office..secretary tells me there is no room for Soeur Huntsman. Feeling very defeated I decided to call his wife since they gave us their number and we had a rdv for the upcoming Sunday. So his sweet wife answers and I asked her if she knew a good doctor around (I know I kinda fibbed, but I repented..pas grave) and she said, "Well, my husband is a doctor!" So I said, "NO WAY!" (Soeur Hunstman was dying laughing in her bed even with all the pain) So she gave me the number of his office and I told her "Oh no, I already called that number and they didn't have any availability." Then, this dear, kind Mme Lesouef told me to call her back in ten minutes and she'd talk to her husband. (We've only met these people ONCE when we frapped their porte) So I call her back and she tells me that we now had an appointment with Dr. Lesouef in less than an hour. WHAT A BLESSING! So we thanked her and off we went. Luckily we have the amazing senior couple here, Sister and Elder Harris and they took Soeur Huntsman to her appointment (which was during his lunch break! nicest man ever) At the end we went to pay him and he simply says, "No way, it's free!" He wouldn't let us pay him! He said, "If my kids were in another country and they were sick, I just hope there'd be a good person to take care of them. WOW! He is so incredible! We got her some medicine and everything was great. 

So Saturday rolls around an Soeur Huntsman is still sick with the same pain. So I called Mme Lesouef and she tells her husband who calls me a little later (this is one of his only days off.) I told him I thought she needed antibiotics because the medicine we had wasn't working. So he then asked us what our address was and he would come over and give us the prescription in less than an hour! (nicest man ever) So we got the prescription and Elder Harris came over and got that and ran over to get it at the pharmacy (Sister Harris got sick too.) So now all of Saint-Nazaire is sick (there were several members who were really sick too) except for Elder Harris and me, who are running around all over the place trying to make everyone better. I made a ton of soup and he ran soup to everyone who was sick. 

So now it's Sunday and I am just praying that Soeur Huntsman can make it to church (for her last Sunday in France) Miracles happen! Soeur Huntsman felt just well enough to go to Sacrament Meeting. So I did her hair and we got her all pretty and she went to Sacrament. Then right after that we had our miracle appointment with the Lesouef family. So we went straight there and what an incredible rdv. They had a lot of quesitons about what we do and our church. The 18 year old was really interested in the church. He left the table and said he wanted to get something. So he leaves and comes back with a BOOK OF MORMON. WHAT? They had a Book of Mormon in their house already?! So he tells us all about how his grandma (doctor's mom) gave it to him. He even said he read a few pages once. And then Doctor Lesouef tells us how missionaries came over when he was young during Christmas time and sang some Christmas songs for them (HELLO! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SOEUR HUNTSMAN AND I DID!) So Soeur Huntsman and I asked if we could watch the Restoration film with them. So we watched it with their family and they loved it! They're still a little unsure about everything and they're really practicing Catholic, but the Spirit was really strong. In the end we gave them another Book of Mormon and the dad was like, "You didn't even write us a note in the front!" So now we are going to go back and give them one with our testimonies in them. As we left they thanked us for coming over and said we're welcome to come back and talk more with them! 

Ok, that was a really long story, but it was even more incredible as it was all happening. Also in the middle of all that Vanessa texted us and told us she got a job. We fasted and prayed last week she would find one and she did! She said that it was because of our faith and she was so grateful for our prayers. She said her faith grew even more. Wow! Another miracle! Just goes to show that even when we're sick we can have miracles.

I'm so grateful to be here and to meet incredible people like the Lesouef family. We need lots of prayers for them that they will pray to know for themselves. I just love Saint-Nazaire and I never want to leave. I'm so grateful to be here and to serve these beautiful French people. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. What a beautiful time to be alive and rejoice together this Christmas season. Heavenly Father loves each of us so much and has a plan for us all and it is so evident if we but take a few moments to recognize his hand in our lives. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Oh I also got a phone call last night that I will be training this transfer. Whoohoo! I'm super excited to have a fresh missionary coming to Saint-Nazaire. I'm ready for more miracles and I'm ready to work for them! Thank you all for you love and support.

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge

our favorite new family: The Lesouefs!