Baptisms, Birthdays, and Babies!

DEAREST Family and Friends

BONJOUR! What an incredible week of MIRACLES! Well, for starters, yesterday we had our first BAPTISM in Saint-Nazaire. It went incredible! Words can't even describe how amazing it was.

Well, we started the week with a great FHE at the senior couple's home. We celebrated Soeur Harris's birthday and we made her a cake. Tuesday was quite an adventure. After district meeting in Nantes, we rushed back to Saint-Nazaire so Esperence could have her baptismal interview. She was a few hours late, but after much opposition, she was interviewed and everything was fine. Soeur Huntsman and I then visited with a less active couple that lives far away and they have lots of health problems and are a little older, but the Spirit was really strong. We challenged them to read the Book of Mormon every day as a couple and they were a little hesitant. Later this week Soeur Huntsman called them to share a scripture with them over the phone. She asked if they had read every day and they said they had. Wow! 

Wednesday we met with our miracle amie-Vanessa. We showed her around the church and sang some hymns and just taught her about Jesus Christ. The Spirit was incredibly strong. Vanessa's story just breaks my heart. Her father completely disowned her and said she wasn't his child. We think she lives with her boyfriend and has no family support.  She is looking for a job and is just hanging by a thread. She really didn't know who Jesus Christ was or what He did for her so we just testified of His love for her and it was incredible. At the end of the lesson we invited her to come to church, but she is a little worried because the last time she went to church was for her mom's funeral. At the end we felt prompted to tell her we'd fast for her to find a job soon and she was so touched that we would do that for her. As we were finishing the lesson, we noticed she felt a little uneasy about something and we asked her if she had any more questions. She then asked us what the church's stand on smoking is. Wow, I just told her that we've received the counsel that smoking is against our standard. After she said, "Good, can you help me quit smoking? I want to stop." WHAT! It was so crazy. I just about fell off my chair. She is just so humble and willing to listen and take everything in. As Soeur Huntsman says, "she drinks up every word we say." It is incredible. I just love Vanessa as if she were my real sister. Every time we see her I call her my sister, Vanessa, and her face lights up. 

Later that day we helped Dod (member of a year and in the Branch Presidency) move. We then met with Mme Juget. She lives just around the corner from us and she just lost her husband. He had eczema, asthma, was on a feeding tube, and lots of other health problems. I just totally clicked with her and we just got talking and I just love her. She was really sad about her husband, so we switched our lesson plans to Plan of Salvation and talked to her all about how we lived with our Heavenly Father before this life and right now is the time to prepare to meet God for after this life. She wasn't totally sure about everything we were saying because it's very new for her, but the Spirit was strong and she could feel our love and the Savior's love for her as we talked. She then told us the next day was her birthday. We told her we were going to stop by and see her. 

Thursday we started the day with a little birthday surprise for Mme Juget. We went over with our birthday hats and birthday cazoos and sang JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE and she was so happy. She was glowing! It was so fun and she was so appreciative. After, we went to Esperence's with the Harris couple to help prepare her for her baptism. Everything was going great til Satan rang the doorbell. The opposition!!! She had an RDV with one of the ladies who is over the building she lives in and later Esperence told us that the lady told her that she shouldn't join our church..BUT Esperence told her she knows what she wants in life and she was going to get baptized anyways. HECK YEAH! You go Esperence! 

Friday was quite the day. We started off by teaching this lady who ONLY speaks Portuguese. I contacted her one day and she told us to follow her and she showed us where she lived and she said to come back. So we went over there and taught her a little lesson. Luckily, Soeur Huntsman understands her because she speaks Spanish so Soeur Huntsman spoke Spanish with her and I had a few memorized lines in Portuguese and the lesson went pretty well. We just had her read the pamphlets and she just said, "Si!" to everything so that was great! Later that night, we went to Mata's (Tongan member). We walked in the door and BAM! Birthday surprise! She made like 5 meals with 6 different desserts (we didn't even touch one of the cakes!) and they did a big birthday surprise for me. Ha! It was so fun. We taught William (boy about to turn 8) a lesson and talked a little about baptism. It was such a fun night with GREAT FOOD!!

Saturday was a fun day. We saw Mme Juget again and Jeanne (Madagscar lady). Jeanne just totally opened up her whole life story and how hard life had been for her. Elder Harris testified how Heavenly Father loved her and it was a really tender moment. Jeanne is just so humble and full of love. After that we went and saw Therese. She is a new lady we found the other week. We've been trying to teach her or figure out a way we can teach her. She doesn't really speak French, but her language is some African dialect that isn't even written. So...we're not sure how to teach her, but we just sing and teach her really slowly. We invited her teenage daughter and her friends for our big Thanksgiving party this Saturday and they were so excited. They thought we were so cool because we were from America. They were begging me if they could come to Miami. Oh boy. haha

Sunday-MIRACLE DAY! Well for starters, Soeur Huntsman and I were a little worried if Esperence would make it to church because she has a hard time getting her son, Anthony, up for church. She also went to a wedding the day before and we were so nervous if that had made her really tired. Long story short, Sunday morning, we were a bit nervous, BUT it was all for nothing because Esperence showed up and her friend Tieta (less active member) who first introduced the church to her and it was great! Tieta is 8 1/2 months pregnant and the awesome Hemon family brought her to church! So as we began Relief Society, we were singing as normal and then all of the sudden Tieta just gets SUPER hot and felt like she couldn't breath. So we took off her big sweater and the RS President and I got some cold paper towels and we just put them all over her neck and her head. We propped her legs up on another chair and she leaned her head down. We stopped and said a prayer as Relief Society Sisters for Tieta at that moment. Then they rushed to get some Priesthood so she could have a blessing. We moved Relief Society into another room while Tieta was recooperating with some kind members tending to her. After the meeting, we walked in and Tieta was all better! After a piece of candy and a good hour, she was as good as new. So then we moved to our amie class. So we start our meeting and I look over. After 10 minutes, Tieta's eyes started rolling around again. So then I went and got her more towels and we put her by the window with the cold air blowing in on her. I sat next to her and she just leaned her head on my shoulder while I patted the wet cloths on her head so Esperence could listen to the lesson. I didn't really catch a word of the lesson because I was trying to keep Tieta from passing out or throwing up. After she rested on my shoulder for about 40 minutes, she felt better. We prayed so hard for her the whole meeting. Then we had Sacrament Meeting and it was the primary program. There aren't that many kids in our branch so Soeur Harris asked us to help participate and sing. So I ended up sitting on the floor keeping one of the kids in his chair all of Sacrament Meeting and we just sang really loud and it was so fun. Tieta ended up feeling much better and everything went great. 

After church everyone really came together and planned out the rides for Esperence's baptism. 2 hours later in Nantes we had Esperence's baptism. IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! She told us she woke up at 3am and couldn't go back to sleep because she was so nervous. She then got on her knees in the night and prayed that she would be able to be comforted and go back to sleep. She did and she said she slept great. The baptism was really beautiful and the whole branch came out 40 minutes to her baptism! There were cakes and everyone brought their best smiles and it was so beautiful. After Esperence came out of the font I wrapped her in the towel and she gave me the biggest hug. As we helped her get ready in the bathroom, she told us that she felt like she was empty before and as she came out of the water she felt like she was filled! Oh it was so beauitful! 

I am so proud of Esperence and for my sweet cousin, Kylie for making the big decisions to be baptized this week. I love these 2 newest members of the church and couldn't be more content. The church is true and miracles happen every day!

I am so grateful for another wonderful week and for all your love and support. I feel every prayer and I miss and love you all! Til next week,

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge

Birthday Wishes Come True

Ma famille et mes amies!

First off, thanks again EVERYONE for the letters, packages, emails, and facebook messages! C'etait trop gentil! :)

This week was just marvelous! Every week I am just so blown away at how the miracles are just never-ending here. 

Cette semaine we are preparing for a BAPTISM! :) Our lovely ami, Esperence is being baptized next Sunday and we couldn't be more thrilled. She has such great faith and loves church. This week we have just been teaching her every day and trying to get her ready.

Tuesday was our multi-zone conference and interviews with President Poznanksi (best mission president ever.) The Poznanskis are just one of a kind. They are the glue holding France together. I got to see Soeur Huckstep at Zone Conference and it was so fun to catch up with my ol' MTC comp. 

Wednesday was one of those days. We passed by numerous people and contacted everyone we could find but didn't have a ton of success. Sometimes as a missionary you just have those days where you give it your all and don't see much success, but you have to remember God always has a plan, therefore we can't give up hope! :)

Thursday we taught Esperence and realized she didn't have much of a knowledge of the Book of Mormon and with her baptism coming up it was a bit of a panic, but with our awesome senior couple here we were able to teach her almost all the lessons all over again :) We also ate dinner and talked with Chloé and her mom. Chloé is preparing for her mission in New Zealand! She is so sweet and has been helping us teach. I first met Chloé in Paris at the big Missionary Prep Super Saturday that Soeur Lefrandt and I helped with. We had a great time with them. Thursday night Soeur Huntsman and I saw such a miracle! It was 8:50 at night and we were by our apartment. We remembered the importance of being obedient (emphasized at zone conference) and Soeur Huntsman looked at me and said, "Soeur Berge, we have 10 minutes..let's find one more person!" And so we did! We walked along 2 roads and didn't feel inspired to knock any doors. THEN we rounded the corner and I spotted an apartment with a light and I said, "let's knock that one!" It just so happened to be a man who said he didn't have a lot of time but wanted us to come back and discuss religion with him and his wife. That night I learned such a powerful lesson about strict obedience and the blessings we see when we are obedient down to the minute. I'm so grateful for my companion and her desire to encourage me to 'find one more.'

Friday we saw Esperence again and also tried to pass by our Turkish family. We were so sad they weren't there. We ordered Turkish brochures and they came in an hour before we left to go visit them. We were so bummed they weren't there, but we are determined to see them this week!! 

Saturday was such a great day! My companion is quite amazing ya know.  She had banners and balloons and hats and all this fun birthday stuff! We went knocking doors in the morning just along the coast to invite people to our Thanksgiving party in a few weeks. We are inviting everyone we see. After, we took some pictures by the beach and it was such a beautiful day. We taught Esperence, and Therese (new lady we found) who doesn't speak a lot of French, but her native language isn't written..we're not really sure how we can teach her. Lately we have been finding a lot of people who don't speak English or French so that's always fun..Later, I got a surprise knock at the door from our cute missionary senior couple here with birthday wishes. After that we decided to go porting around our neighborhood. The first door we knocked on was this adorable mom with her cute little girl. She said she wasn't believing or interested, but we weren't about to let her go. I asked her if we could just sing for her and her daughter and she let us in. We sang 'Come Unto Jesus' and the Spirit was SO strong and they loved it! We just left after that, but man it was so incredible to leave their house knowing the Spirit was there.

Sunday, we had church (there were literally 10 people at church because of so many other things going on in other wards that some of the members went to.) It was so empty, but church is still church as long as you're going to the right one. ;) Later we went over to the Poisbeau's and they made cake for Soeur Harris's and my birthday. It was a grande party. We finished the evening with another lesson with Esperence.

TODAY! We had an incredible miracle..literally 2 hours ago we were sitting at the bus stop with all of our groceries. We BARELY missed the bus by seconds and we had to wait 20 minutes for the next one. Luckily, missionaries are prepared and we got out our stuff to write some letters. As I was writing a letter, I needed some French help. There was a girl about my age standing nearby waiting for the bus and I asked her for some help. After, Soeur Huntsman struck up a conversation with her. She said she wasn't believing because her mom passed away, and she said there is no way God would let that happen if He really existed. Soeur Huntsman and I shoved our letter writing into our sacs and Soeur Huntsman pulled out this handy Plan of Salvation layout. She asked the girl, Vanessa, if she could show her something. We then sat there and taught her the ENTIRE Plan of Salvation lesson. She began to cry because the Spirit was incredible strong. We asked her if she believed it was true, and she said she didn't know, but she hopes it is. We are going to see her on Wednesday and give her a church tour. Wow! Even on P-day you can teach lessons that are just incredible. I have to admit I was sad when the bus showed up because I just wanted to sit there and teach her more. It was one of the most amazing experiences that I will keep forever dear in my heart. We need prayers for Vanessa! :)

Well, there we have it. Another week down, and many more to go. I am so grateful for this beautiful gospel that gives me the hope and faith to keep going every day. I've learned so many things and witnessed so many miracles here in France. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. Anyone can pray to know and will find that it is the true church of Jesus Christ re-established to this Earth with divine design. I love this gospel. I love this great time to be alive and witness so many miracles in France! Love you all and thank you for your prayers.

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge

Preachin' on the Coast

Bonjour ma famille et mes amies..

What a week! So our week began last monday night. Sœur Huntsman and I went to FHE at the Harris's. Apparently our wonderful senior couple here holds a family night every other monday night at their house. Half the branch shows up every time too! Fun time!

Tuesday we had our first district/zone meeting. There are so many sisters in our zone! (pic attached). Sœur Huntsman and I had exchanges with Sœur Hoover and Sœur Evans. They both are so awesome! I love those sœurs! They are just top notch missionaries. I was with Sœur Hoover the first day and our appointments all fell through so we decided to do some finding and we contacted this woman and she said she had already been meeting with the missionaries exactly a year ago but hasn't seen them in a while, but because we were sister missionaries we should come over! Whoa! Miracle.

Wednesday morning for exercise we ran to the beach and it was so much fun! It was really cold and pitch black, but we still had so much fun because we got to run on the sand and see the waves. Perks of living near the ocean. :) That day I was with Sœur Evans. We went and met with an ami named, Beauty. She has 3 daughters, Treasure, Princess, and Destiny. They're Nigerian. Gotta love their names..Then later that day we went to Christian's girlfriend's funeral at a Catholic Church. It was so sad. It was like 2 hours long and one of the most different experiences, but we went to be there for Christian (even though there were only 3 other people for the funeral). As we left though, Sœur Huntsman and I talked about how we both wanted to reach out to Christan the whole time and tell him that death is not the end! That night we went and had a family night and dinner at the Hemon's (just about the only family in the branch). They're such a hoot.

Thursday was rough. All of our RDV's (appointments) got canceled except for one that night. Her name is Jeanne. She is from Madagascar and speaks Malagasy and a little French. She is the sweetest woman and doesn't have very many friends and family, but she is so kind and loving. We invited her to be baptised on December 1 and she accepted!

Friday was super interesting haha. Sœur Huntsman and I decided to try and find. We knocked on doors until one lady opened up and told us she was already believing. Not taking no for an answer, I asked her if we could just sing a song for her. She was a bit older and alone and finally she said why not and let us in. We sang some songs with her and she just thought we were great singers that we should go around singing in hospitals. She was really interesting. In the end she said she really wasn't interested in coming to Church and she told us she never lets people into her apartment, but something about our eyes and the way we looked told her to let us in. Cool stuff!

Later that night we met with good ol' Christian. He eventually told us that his mother was born a catholic and he is going to die a catholic..well..we're just gonna keep working with him and see where it goes.

Finally, we had an INCREDIBLE dinner with a member named Mata and her 3 kids and husband. Mata is from Tonga and makes so much yummy food! She is the only member in her family. Her husband is Romauld and he plays rugby for France. He is huge, but the biggest teddy bear. We want to start teaching him soon. He is so cool, but all the members are scared of him because he is just so huge!

Yesterday, we had Ward Conference. We also had tons of inverstigators at Church. It was incredible! We had a huge feast afterwards, and it was fun to chat with members and investigators. Later Sunday night we went to pass by Mirna and her family, but they weren't home. We felt there was someone in the building who we needed to see so we knocked on a few doors and finally found this Turkish family. The 17 year old daughter spoke a little French, but the parents spoke zero French. We just asked if we could sing some songs for them and they loved listening even though they didn't know what we were saying. They kept showing us pictures of their sons and asking us if we were married and liked any of their 4 sons..awkward. Then they tried to pay us! They were just so giving even though they didn't even have much. We're going to try and go back with some Turkish pamphlets and hopefully find a Turkish Book of Mormon.

This week we saw so many little miracles and it's so incredible to see this tiny branch grow little by little. Sœur Huntsman and I finally feel like we're getting around ok, and everything is still really new, but it's so exciting learning the town together and meeting everyone.

I can't believe I'm hitting 6 months this week and turning 20. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes on Facebook (family forwarded them to me). I really just feel so blessed to be here growing and learning and preaching the gospel and couldn't be any happier. The more I'm out here, the more I recognize how blessed I am to have the little things in life like health, family, friends, and my faith. I am most grateful for the knowledge that I am a daughter of God and I can find joy and peace through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have an older brother who died for me and suffered for my sins so that I might be able to live in the presence of our Father in heaven. I encourage all of you to study it out for yourselves and gain a special witness of Jesus Christ. He is our Master, Savior, and Redeemer and he extends the beautiful invitation to all of us to change our ways and follow His perfect example.

I love you all and pray you all will have a blessed week!

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge