Gold to Cold and Cold to GOLD!

Playing a little badminton

Bonjour!

Well what another incredible week here in Rouen, France! First off, Soeur Johns and I have just found this extreme fire for missionary work this week and it was incredible. Left and right we witnessed so many miracles!

Ok so last Monday night we got to have an FHE with one of my favorite families on the planet, the BERTRANDS. They are so much fun and I love their family. Soeur Bertrand has to be one of my favorite people ever. Soeur Johns and I just love them. 

We taught Kalobe family again and they are doing great. It's becoming a real struggle to communicate with them, but luckily they feel the Spirit really strong so we just have to keep praying for the gift of tongues and that they can make it to church one Sunday. Pray for them!

Also saw Camille, Wendy, and AnneZoe. They are so awesome! They are such smart girls and we have become such close friends with them.

Later that night we had some time and were porting around and found a man named Atif! He is muslim but thought what we were doing was so cool. We plan on teaching him and passing him over to the elders. 

Thursday we saw Juliette and Blessing and taught the 10 commandments emphasizing church attendance. Sadly, they couldn't make it to church.

We had a lot of other rdv's that fell through..which is always really hard because it Satan's way of attacking our hope, but luckily we didn't let it get to us. 

Friday morning we were walking to the church and we contacted a lady named Elisabeth. She is so cool and we began talking to her about the church and then we ended up feeling very prompted to invite her for a tour right then. Normally people are busy, but she was so excited. We walked into the chapel with her and immediately I felt like we needed to share the canticles book (hymnal) with her so and so we did and she asked if we could sing one. We sang Nearer My God to Thee and the Spirit was so strong. She began to cry and told us how she felt about being in this church with two women of God. We prayed together and then she asked if she could pray too and it was the nicest prayer ever. She was thanking Heavenly Father for sending her two young girls and for answering her prayers. Apparently she had been having a rough time and asked God to feel His love and then we contacted her and she was overwhelmed with God's love for her. We hope we can see her soon. It was such a Friday morning miracle!!

Later we saw Ludivine and taught her for the first time on our own since the other sisters passed her over. We talked a lot about the Savior and His Atonement because she had been having a lot of questions about HOW it's possible that Christ did that for us and HOW is it possible that it's real? During the lesson Soeur Johns and I shared a lot of personal experiences we hadn't planned on sharing which completely invited the Spirit. It was such a powerful lesson for me as well. As a missionary I know I need to have a sufficient amount of faith to encourage others to have faith. Everytime one of our amis asks us a question, I ask myself that question and reflect on my own testimony. I kept asking myself Ludivine's question..HOW is it possible that Christ suffered sufficienlty for all the difficult moments, for all of our mistakes, for all of our sins and weaknesses..HOW could that all be paid for and wrapped together in one package called the Atonement? How is it possible we deserve that gift? Immediately I felt such love from the Savior as I was taught a powerful lesson that day. We need not focus so much on the HOW it's possible, but WHY it's possible. Jesus Christ suffered. He died. He chose that because He knew it was the only way we could overcome our natural state and return to our Heavenly Father in a glorified state. How incredible is that? I love the power of the Spirit and how it can touch our hearts as we try to help our brothers and sisters here in France progress on their journey back to our Father.

Later we saw Nina and we taught her about Christlike attributes. Last lesson we asked her how we could help her progress towrads baptism. She has been taught every lesson in the book several times, so we just decided to ask her, Nina what do YOU want to be taught? and she said Christlike qualities, which is exactly what this whole month of June is about. Soeur Johns and I are giving all our members the Christlike Attribute Activity found at the end of Chapter 6 in Preach My Gospel..I encourage you all to go and do the activity. It's so wonderful! 

Saturday we had tons of lessons set up and they ALL fell through except for the lesson that night. We just kept perservering through the day despite all the setbacks we had that day and FINALLY the miracle came at the end of the day. We went to Rachel's that night. She is an ancient amie that is really hard to get a hold of, but we set something up with her. This is the 2nd lesson I've ever been to with her. We showed her the film of the restoration of the church and we testified and poured out our souls to her. We invited to her to be baptized if she knew it was the true church and she accepted. WOW! It was so cool to see her heart touched and accept this. She promised she would come to church the next day...and SHE CAME! After so many weeks of inviting and inviting people and promising blessings..our amies FINALLY CAME! It was so awesome! Soeur Johns and I ended up missing sacrament trying to find her, but luckily we got to take it in the Bishop's office afterwards. 

Church was also followed by a big branch meal and it was so fun to chat and hang out with these awesome members! I really thought I was going to be leaving Rouen this transfer and at first I was unsure because I like change and moving a lot, but after being around these people again on Sunday, I just grew such a stronger love for all of them and I really feel like I could never leave Rouen. My heart is just so stuck here. I love these members who are just so special. I love our amies that are finally putting forth effort after weeks and weeks of being let down. I love how Soeur Johns and I have decided to be even bolder with our contacting all around us and it's working! We decided no more making conversations with people and slipping in the gospel..NO We are just going to tell everyone in sight that we are the missionaries for the true church of Jesus Christ and if they want to find the same joy we have, they should come to church and meet with us for the lessons.

One last miracle from Saturday night as we were almost home from our lesson with Rachel, we were on the metro and a lady got on and sat next to Soeur Johns. She was on the phone. I heard her say something about Jesus Christ and that caught my attention. Then she said 'church' and 'Christian' in her conversation so I nudged Soeur Johns to see if I heard that right and she just says back, "Don't worry, I'll talk to her." Our metro stop was only 2 stops away and she was still on the phone. My hopes and dreams are being crushed as I realized we weren't going to be able to talk to her. I prayed that she would end her call and let us talk to her so we would have enough time before our stop. Literally one minute after I prayed in my head, her phone call ended and we started talking to her. She was SO interested and immediately asked us a million questions about our exact doctrines and it was so intense. She ended up getting off the SAME stop as us so we kept talking to her. She saw her bus about to leave so she told us she had to run and catch the bus. So we ran with her and we made the bus driver wait so we could get her number. HECK YEAH! It was so awesome! We plan on seeing her hopefully tonight if we can! SO PRAY FOR DANIELA! 

Well that's about all I have time to share today. I love this work, I love this people, I love this gospel, and I just love my life! Couldn't be happier! 

Love you all!

GROS BISOUS

Sœur Berge

LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS OH MY!

HEY HEY HEY!!

So first things first..I'm staying in Rouen with Soeur Johns for another beautiful 6 weeks!! We are so excited. I love it here and I'm so so so excited for the things to come.

This week was crazy crazy! 

Miracles from the week:

So we wanted to teach the Kalobe family with a member and were struggling to figure out who would be a good match. We originally thought the Bitanga's would be good, but they couldn't make it so we invited another member who is also African. So he came with us and they start talking with Tarolin and it turns out that the dad was a professional soccer player.....guess who else is a professional soccer player?..Tarolin! What a great match they are. They are almost the same age and both have common interests. It turned out to be a way better match than we ever thought so we are going to see where that goes. We just love the Kalobe's so much. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and we finally gave it to them in Malagasy and they are so excited to read it. 

We also saw Noella, our friend from Rwanda! She had so many questions and luckily Frere Bitanga so happened to be at the church and he was able to attend with us. He is an incredible teacher and we so appreciate it when he is in lessons.

Then we saw Laura. It had been a LONG time since we have seen her. We got a text from her saying she wasn't really interested in the church anymore for the moment..we were devestated! She was on the path with a baptismal date. So we went to see her and she told us it just wasn't her time. She watched more conference talks and knows the church is good and one day she may get baptized, but she knows it won't be easy and she doesn't feel ready right now. So sad because we know how much this will bless her, but we respect her agency and I just love her. I know one day she will be ready and we don't want to push her and force her to baptism. She has to want it..One day..one day..

Also saw Nina..her mom moved back. Her mom is a really active member. We are hoping and praying for good things!!

Also had to do my legality this week and wait at the prefecture for hours..joy..then we had to do the same thing for Sr Johns..only in Versailles..ROAD TRIP! So we headed to Paris this week and had 5 minutes to stop by the Notre Dame lock bridge..then back to Rouen. 

We have had a lot of people who progress and then fall back..but we are trying to be positive and look on the bright side. We had an awesome FHE Saturday night with the branch and we had some LAUGHS. 

Also we had the BEST P-DAY EVER!! We went to the zoo with the Warengheins. It was the bessssstttt!! We had such a wonderful day! I love them..she even packed us the most delish lunch..yes there was a baguette..

Other than that, not much new stuff..the other sister companionship is being transferred so now we are the only soeurs in rouen and another elder companionship is coming! Also Elder Lamb is serving here! Shout out to Michelle BERGE! Elder Lamb always tells me about how he is in Michelle's ward and I always forget to say something so there ya go :)

Life over here is wonderful..we have our hard moments, but with faith we can move mountains! 

GROS BISOUS

Soeur Berge

No We're Not Here to Go to the Discothèque, We're Here to Preach!

HEY HEY HEY! Bonjour!

Another great week over here in the beautiful city of Rouen. This week was I was reminded of my dad a bit as the entire ville exploded this weekend with millions of YARD SALES! You heard it daddy-o, you missed the big yard sale in Rouen..dommage..(too bad)

Last Tuesday Soeur John's and I for P-day went to the GROS HORLAGE and discovered the history and design of clockwork..fascinating stuff!

Soeur Johns and I had the strange realization this week that we actually have "real" friends in Roeun, but only like 2 amis who want to learn about the church...ha. ha. ha. I find the fact that we were texted 3 times last week asking if we'd like to "go get a glass in town" hilarious. Yeah, no. We are going to remedy this by being a lot more bold with our baptismal invites this week or something. "like NO we are not here to hang out with you and all yo friends and go drinking... we are here to invite you come unto Christ by helping you receive the restored gospel...." It's so frustrating. #theproblemswehave   

  

Ok, ok..actually some of these people are cool. they just don't know how interested they really are yet. Let me tell you about them. 

Cindy. Last monday night we were walking around trying to find the apartment of someone we had met on the rue and I guess we looked lost because this random girl ran at us from across the street asking if we needed help. we didn't, but we contacted her anyways and although she was so so so uncomfortable for the first couple of minutes she started to open up. She is 26, French, atheist, and about to leave to Cambodia in June for her company. She comes from a catholic family, but never felt the love of God for her like she was supposed to when she prayed so she stopped believing He exists. We testified that we KNOW that He is there and that sometimes the answers to your prayers are not in the way you would expect, but that He always answers. She was really touched by that and agreed to meet up with us on Wednesday and take a tour of the church which went GREAT. In between meeting her and the RDV she had looked up the church website and found out that we were the Mormons, so obviously she had millions of questions. We only touched the surface of them in this first RDV, but she was anxious already to see us again this week. I just want her to be able to recognize that Heavenly Father loves her! That's the goal.

After Cindy on Wednesday, we saw Noella and she brought a friend, Nicolas. I think they thought it was an open mass kinda thing and were a little confused we were doing a church tour, but it still turned out great. The Spirit was really strong and they were really interested in what we believe and the organization of the church. We will see! We know that this church is the only true church and that if they seek to know for themselves that they will be blessed and Heavenly Father will answer!

Later we went to Kalobe family again. The husband and the oldest boy had to go to the store, but we gave them a brochure in Malagasy about Joseph Smith, for them to really understand in their own language. Later we saw Liliane and discovered that she is a strong member of the huge Nigerian church here...we just need to find the preacher. Roeun would literally become it's own stake if their congregations converted..we're still on the lookout for them... :)

Camille, Wendy, Anne-zoé. our three contacters. Well they came to the missionary meal for our big zone conference with President and Soeur Poznanksi and about 26 missinaries. It was so cool for them to hear different conversion stories and feel the spirit of missionary work. They brought a beautiful, colorful, daisy bouquet for the Poznanksi's! They had so many questions and really enjoyed the experience. It was really cool to see Camille ask Soeur Callister, another sister here in Roeun. She asked Soeur Callister if she had seen any miracles in her life and Soeur Callister talked about how she noticed while on her mission that people they would meet would actually be asking God for help to know He is really there and then they would meet the missionaries. Little did Soeur Callister know that that example was perfect because it relates so much to those 3 girls. I think they want to know if it's true. They are just unsure if they are ready to make changes. We are planning on being more bold with them and have faith to have them come unto Christ even more! :)

This week was one of those great, but also rough weeks on the mission. It's ok. We have those sometimes. We are human and it's part of the process. Luckily, we have our Heavenly Father who pours out His love for us at which point He has given His Son for our weaknesses, trials, illness, heartbreak, sins, and sorrow. What a blessing that is. What a blessing it is we have the true church with the real authority to make promises to God..the authority to heal the sick and comfort the heavy-laden. What a privilege to be a small instrument for Heavenly Father and to add my testimony to the thousands of other testimonies out there preaching and bringing others unto Christ. This church is true. I know it. I know we all CAN know it, if we just ask our all powerful maker, Heavenly Father.

Love you all! Have a great week! Study the objective for missionaries for it is actually the objective for members as well! "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel by faith in Jesus Christ and in His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and by enduring to the end." Go out and invite others to come unto Christ!

GROS BISOUS

Soeur Berge

Paris Parks, Normandy Beaches, and Wedding Bells!!

Well this week was one big adventure!

It was so good to see everyone on skype! :) The Smiths have gotten so big. And Nana and Papa look so good! And Kirstie..what a babe..and mom and dad lookin still young and fresh!

Ok so this week started off with last Monday. After our p-day we met this lady named Kathrine. Soeur Johns stopped her on the street and we began talking to her about the plan of salvation. She opened up about how hard it was to lose her husband and we just poured our hearts out to her about the joy of eternal families. She was so touched by the Spirit and was the sweetest woman. She actually looked just like you mom, so it was interesting, but we really hope she will call us since we don't have any of her info. It was just such a powerful contact and the Spirit was so strong. Can't forget the Spirit like that. We actually testified to her about the temple and how she CAN be with her husband for eternity. Really cool experience. I don't think I've ever talked about the blessings of temples on the street in a contact.

Tuesday we had district meeting and we decided to head over to the beach before our train ride back to Rouen. We got some fun photos..the beach was GORGEOUS!!!

Wednesday was so much fun! We met Camille, Anne-zo, and Wendy at the church and they wanted to watch us contact so they observed for about an hour. We ended up having one really cool contact for quite a while, but no one was super interested. They were still in awe how we just go out and talk to strangers on the street and pour our hearts out to them. So then Soeur Johns has this brilliant idea. She turned to me and said, "We have to make them contact too!" Crazy idea right? SO FUN! So we asked them what they really love and they said chocolate! Duh they're women..so then we told them to approach strangers on the street and share your favorite brand of chocolate with people and tell them why you love it and then ask them to commit to trying that chocolate that night. And they did it! Camille is just so confident and such a fireball! She just saw someone and went for it. After they said, "MAN THAT IS SO HARD! How do you do that every day??" Then we took them back to the church for a little rdv to talk about why we are really here as missionaries. We just testified of how we know God exists. They are all athiest and it almost felt like Soeur Johns and I were back home around our own friends just having a conversation. The Spirit was incredible! 

We decided to then stop by Malika, the miracle lady we found one of the first days of the transfer. We tried to find her apt before but had such bad luck. This time we prayed and tried again and found it! We entered her building and began to look on the mailboxes and there was a 13 year old girl standing there. She asked us who we were looking for. Turns out it was her mom! She was so cute and so excited when she found out we were from the states. I think that was her first time meeting Americans because she kept squeeling and asking if we knew celebrities...so funny. Then we had a great lesson with Malika. She told us she was thinking about us and we explained the Book of Mormon to her. She said she and her husband were planning on reading it together. Please pray for her! She has 5 kids and is a busy mom, but we know she wants this and needs this.

Thursday was super fun! We had exchanges in Paris. I was so excited to see my trainer, Soeur Wynn and had such a fun day because I got to be with her. Also got to see Soeur Castillo who lives in that apartment. It was so good to catch up on old times. The day started with Soeur Wynn and I in a park teaching this really cool girl from Gabon. It was such a beautiful day and the Spirit was really strong. Later we had an interesting lesson and later stopped by one of their amies who talked about how she is getting lots of pressure from her close friends about the church, but how she defended it because she knew the church was good. She is really cool! Also had the cutest little girl. They just had such a special spirit to them :) After we met up with the Lethuaire family from Nogent. Soeur Wynn and I spent a lot of time with them when we served in Nogent and really grew to be such great friends with them. They took us out to a fun Pizza place and it was so fun to catch up with them and see how much the kids have grown! What a great family! It was so fun to spend the day with Soeur Wynn and recount all the good times we had together.

Friday we woke up and I was a little under the weather. We headed back to Rouen.

Saturday was CRAZY! We made a wedding gift for amies of our branch president and then headed over for the big day. So our branch president and his family are the most incredible people ever. He works as a volunteer fire fighter and has a lot of friends there. Two of his friends were getting married and asked him to have a little meeting before and talk about the importance of families and Heavenly Father's plan for families (a lot of emphasis on family proc). They came to church a few times and they are so nice and fun. We just love them. After everyone left the room, the elders and President Bertrand and Frere Bitanga gave them both priesthood blessings before their big day. Then we got to go to their wedding at the Marie and there were so many people everywhere because there was a wedding just before and it was so much fun. Then we went back to the reception hall and hung out with the bride's sister, Vanessa and their other sister Amandine during the cocktail hour. SO FUN! Vanessa and her family also have been investigating the church with the Bertrands (Soeur Johns and I hope that we can begin teaching them.) We just click with Vanessa so well and she has the cutest kids and the sweetest husband. I just can't express how much I love these people! It was such a neat experience for us to participate in their wedding. When we left, President Bertrand and Frere Bitanga told us how this is the start of something BIG and the Spirit had touched many hearts that day. We all could feel the special spirit that was there and we know that this experience instigated a lot of curiosity in the church. It was the coolest experience ever! The coolest part of it all is that the bride and groom's parents were both atheist and didn't really want to go to the reunion with President Bertrand speaking, but they went anyways to support. Before Amelie and Anthony (bride and groom) met the Bertrands, they weren't really believing, but now they are inviting their family to listen to an explanation of the Family Proclamation and how God plays such a big role with families! WOW!!!!

Sunday was quite an adventure too. We had church and then headed over to see the Barnjaks and pray with them. Then we went to see Monique. We sang with her and introduced her to a member who lives literally down the street. They clicked right away and we hope we can use this sweet member to help us talk more about the church with Monique. We just love Monique! Then the rest of the night was skyping and being with the Bitangas. It was so fun because it was like we got to have personal interviews with the Bitangas while the other comp skyped their families. I just LOVE the Bitangas! They are so wise and have such good counsel and advice, but they just feel like long-time family friends. 

Yesterday we had a lot of rdv's so that's why we are emailing today instead. We made a cheesecake and went over to celebrate Aurelie's birthday with her friend Maud. Then we went to the Kalobe's. Love that family! We showed them the restoration film about Joseph Smith and they said they believed that that happened! They also really want to come to church and have their family in Madagascar go to church there. Wow! We just love them and know we have to go a little slow with them so they can really understand everything. We have such a vision for them and know they will go places. Later we went contacting. We had about an hour and so we went to stop by a lady we found a week ago. Turns out her number and her address didn't match up with anything so we figured she might've "forgotten" her address and her number when she gave them to us..but it's ok, because if we would've had the right address and the right number..we would have NEVER found CINDY!!! She is the coolest person EVER! So we were crossing the street a little bummed that we lost that lady we found. Then in the middle of the big busy road in front of the gare, Cindy stopped us and asked us if we were lost. We told her no and she was so friendly and said she could help us if we needed. We were about to thank her for her kindness and let her go, when I just felt in my heart that no we can't let her go..she contacted us! That rarely happens! So we spoke up and introduced ourselves and she was so interested in who we were and why we are here. She had a million questions and literally Soeur Johns and I clicked with her so well. it just felt like I was with 2 of my best friends on a little chunk of side walk in the middle of a highway. We had so many inspired and interesting questions that we asked Cindy that we had never used in contacts before. In the end we got her number and we are going to see her on Wednesday! EXCITING! Pray for Cindy!

Well that about sums up the hectic, super fun, adventurous week. The church is true. I see everyday how much it blesses so many lives. The testimonies of members really strengthens me and I'm so grateful for the members here. Sometimes I don't realize how much I appreciate just sitting down with members and hearing how the gospel has blessed them that week. It can get a little hard sometimes because as missionaries we just feel like therapists for people. We take on the weight of so many trials of others, that it really feels relieving to hear the testimony of a member. So I encourage you all to search within your weeks to find how the gospel has blessed you and share it with the missionaries if you can. I know it helps me and I realize I need to be more grateful for that. 

Thank you for all the prayers, love, support, putting my name on the temple list, and for everything you do for me and for the Lord. Until next time,

GROS BISOUS!

Soeur Berge