HEY!
What a week! This has
probably been one of the craziest weeks of my life. Sorry for the delayed
email, but we had rdv's all over the place and this is the only time for the
whole week we can write emails..
So to update; our amies are
doing great! Ludivine is awesome and is such a studier! We had a few lessons
with her and even gave her a Liahona and a few talks for her to read. She loves
studying and reading. She has such great desires to know God's will for her. We
pray that she will get an answer. Sometimes it's really frustrating trying to get
answers. I've learned for myself, that God doesn't give us all the detailed
knowledge we inquire, but He does give us enough guidance for us to determine
for ourselves. That is part of the amazing gift of agency He has given
us.
We saw Nina a few
times..she even invited us to her daughter's catholic baptism party..we stopped
by and it was a huge African party and we quickly decided we couldn't stay
super long..it was insane!! African parties man...Every missionary serving in
this mission at one point feels like they are serving in Africa. It's so fun to
learn and taste a little of their culture.
Thursday we had exchanges.
Soeur Johns unfortunately was quite sick. I was with Soeur Vance for the day
and man we saw so many miracles and had a blast! Soeur Vance is just the
coolest girl ever. We went to see Teclaire, an ancient amie that we had been
trying to get a hold of. She finally called us last week to see us. MIRACLE!
And we went and taught her for the first time about prayer. She is from Congo
and so nice and has so much passion for Christ. She just had a surgery on her
eyes so she can't come to church quite yet, but she said she will prepare to do
whatever we tell her to do. She has so much faith!
Later we had a little bit
of time so we trying to stop by an amie. Earlier that day we set some goals to
find a family. We mapped out a vision of what this family would look like.
While we were contacting, Soeur Vance and I both saw this lady walking with two
kids. We immediately felt something and crossed the street to talk to her. She
was so awesome! She was really believing and open to hear more. AND SHE'S
FRENCH! We testified of eternal families and gave her a family proclamation
which she loved. We are seeing her today hopefully. It was such a miracle
because we asked Heavenly Father to help guide us to do His will and voila! We
felt so guided and we're so excited to meet with this family.
Later we swapped companions
so Soeur Doyle could have a chance to leave the apartment. Pour Soeur Johns was
so sick, but Soeur Doyle and I headed to the Warenghien's for a mangez-vous.
Both those sisters are just so great and such good missionaries!
Saturday we went to Versailles
for a huge stake conference (Relief Society session and adult session) There
were two returned sister missionaries who spoke and they had POWERFUL
testimonies. It was incredible! I also got to see Soeur Sorenson who was asked
to translate one of the talks into English. So proud of that girl! It was so
good to see her! The speakers, musical numbers, and lessons were so powerful
and incredible. Also I saw the Chinese elders that night and told them all
about Kenny and they are all soooo excited since there are only 6 chinese
elders and 2 of them are leaving this transfer leaving only 4 left. They are so
excited and they will all probably be Kenny's companions at some point. So I
took a picture with them. They are soo great!
Sunday we went to Le Havre
for a transmission for Stake Conference. It was a European broadcast with Elder
Andersen, President Uchtdorf, Sister Reeves, and Elder Texiera. They all spoke
to the Europe region about the strength of the saints in Europe. It was so good to hear and experience this side of the general authorities as they kept
praising the saints of Europe for their steadfast and strong examples. Living
in Europe as a member of the true church is so not easy, but they have such
power these saints. They spoke a lot about faith and testimony and acting on
our faith and serving our brothers and sisters and bring them into the fold.
Really cool stuff!
After, we got to hang around
the members and chat. We played with the Bertrand family and took some funny
pictures. LOVE THAT FAMILY! Also, we rode with the Barnjaks and on the way home
we got to see the Pont de Normandie. So incredible! It's basically a HUGE
bridge and the view is just breathtaking. After, the Barnjaks took us back and
Soeur Barnjak made us a wonderful meal. Then we went porting and did some
pass-by's.
Monday was the CRAZIEST DAY
EVER! First off, the Warenghiens took us to Etretat! Wow!!! It was incredible!
Such a stunning place! I have to take you guys there! It was like being in
paradise. Plus Soeur Johns and I just love the Warenghiens and have so much fun
with them! Pictures are included! Best P-Day of our lives! Later we came back
and changed and went over to the Bitanga's who drove us out to the Bertrand's
for Soeur Johns' surprise birthday party that Soeur Bertrand and I organized.
The Bertrands just went all out and Soeur Johns was sooo shocked! It was so
fun! They invited their non-member family that we just adore (family from the
wedding) and another family that lives out there who are less active. It was
such a blast and at one point, one of the members told her conversion story and
bore a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon and Vanessa was there and heard
the whole thing! We had been praying there would be an opportunity for Vanessa
to feel the Spirit and learn more of the gospel since the Bertrands have been
doing such a good job at sharing the gospel with them. It was such a miracle!
Vanessa and her family are coming to church next Sunday and we are so excited
to see them again! It was such a fun party with barbeque and playing outside
with the kids and enjoying good company. The whole time Soeur Johns thought we
were going to a meeting with our branch president, but was so shocked! Soeur
Bertrand just went all out and they made such good food and decorated and took
care of everything. We just love them so much!
Tuesday was also crazy. We
had our district meeting/birthday meeting since it was Soeur Johns' actual
birthday on tuesday. I had the most fun decorating the apt secretly and it was
so fun to see Soeur Johns' face. The elders also made an awesmoe cake and
brought balloons and surprised her too! Later we had an FHE with Soeur Bachelet
and Soeur Martel with our dear amie, Veronique. We shared our feelings about
the Atonement and explained how we repent to God and it was very neat to watch
Veronique discover the power of prayer and a personal relationship with God.
Then we had another cake and sang to Soeur Johns and they gave her the cutest
gifts.
After we went with them to
see Soeur Bachelet's incredible garden for a few minutes! WOW! We got to pick
strawberries and rasberries fresh from the garden..so good! It's finally
becoming summer here and the weather is to die for.
After we went to the
Warenghiens to visit a dear member in the hospital, Monique. I love this woman.
She was someone that I talked a lot with when I first came to Rouen and I found
myself so attached to her. She is a woman of many talents and much faith. Everyone adores her. She is quite older, but she is in such great shape for her
age. She recently became quite ill and had to be at the hospital. As we walked
into her room, another member was already there visiting her and it was so
touching to see these members support each other. I have found that this is
something I want more of in my life when I return. It's such French culture
here to visit each other in the hospital When someone is hospitialized, and I
mean everyone visits each other. It's so great to see the support and strength
of members here.
Lately I've just been
overwhelmed with so much joy and love for these dear members, amies, and
strangers in Rouen. They are my brothers and my sisters and they need the
knowledge of a personal relationship with God. It's the most precious thing to
me and I am so happy I have the privilege to share with others how they can
aquire the same thing. I encourage you all to improve your own personal
relationship with your Father. He loves us so much. We are HIS work as Preach
My Gospel puts it. We are His everything and He must be our source we turn to
in times of need. He will never let us down. I know it.
I love you all so much!
Have a wondferful week..sorry if there are a million pictures..it was just such
an eventful week!!
GROS BISOUS
Sœur Berge
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