How I Learned to Love Being 'Ordinary'

Cinqème Semaine (Week Five)

Un Petit Message

Another busy week filled with countless adventures has passed by. We have two new amis! The one we already started teaching is a beautiful Nigerian princess named....wait for it.... Beauty! She is very anxious to learn and loves reading the scriptures. I love her so much (unless she makes me eat pepper soup. That is not okay). Please pray for her to continue progressing (same with Charlie!). Thank you for the prayers you've already given! Je vous apprecie!!

FACTS I LEARNED THIS WEEK:

• Tracting in a pencil skirt = bad juju

• Wearing your "Ello Keety" socks to church and showing them off to the primary girls is the easiest way to get them to beg their parents to invite the missionaries over :)

• Africans clap really loud after musical numbers in church. And it's hilarious.

• Kissing everyone's cheeks is awkward. It's even more awkward when you graze the tip of someone's nose with yours and you have to pretend like it didn't happen because that would enter into a realm of awkwardness so awkward that it would literally cause the environment around you to implode.

I don't really have much time to expound on funny stories or cool experiences, but I do want to share yet another piece of wisdom that the mission has taught me this week. If you know me personally, you know that I've always been an intense person. I always sought out perfection, regardless of what people have said to me, what, with this whole, "nobody's perfect" business. 

Well, guess who was finally humbled to absolute dust this week. God did not intend for any of us to be perfect: That's why we're here. I had to accept that I didn't speak the language perfectly, that I'm timid, that I'm always going to have that one zit in the most inconvenient spot on my face, that I'm not always going to be focused on the task at hand, and that I'M A HUMAN BEING. I have let so many tiny aspects well up and discourage me from opening my mouth and doing to the work. It was debilitating.

There is a quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf that I love:
"Do not heed the counsel of your fears."

Just don't do it! Your fears, like mine have to me, will cripple you and prevent you from rising to your full potential. Be aware that you WILL make mistakes, but that IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL.

Life is good. I have a friend that always told me that, even when it was exceptionally awful at the moment. You have the power to accept your shortcomings and overcome them. I used to hate when people told me that because it sounded so cheesy. But, it is so true. Seriously. It is. Like, yeah.

I love you all (especially my daddy, Happy Father's Day!!). Thank you for your support in this. I'm trekking forward for you. BISUOUS.

Sœur Green

How I Learned to Love my Trials

Quatrième semaine (Week Four)

First off, I'll give three euros to the person who can count all the movie references I made in the last entry. Second, thank you for all of your support!! Beaucoup d'amour pour toute le monde!!

STORY TIME (because things finally started to get productive after 3 weeks of rien): Sœur Harris and I got our first engagé, meaning we have a person that we've been teaching set a date for her baptism! She's a 21 year-old from England who is a hardcore bible hugger. We are still working on helping her gain a testimony of the restored gospel, but it'll come according to the Lord's time. She's wonderful and loves to search for ways to improve the quality of her life and her relationship with God. There's a sad ending to all this good news, however. She moves back to England on the 25th this month, so if she doesn't feel ready by that time, we don't get to see her be baptized. I was disappointed when she dropped the bomb on us that she's leaving, but it would be selfish of me to say that I'm not happy with the progress she has made here. Pray for Charlie! She needs all the love and support she can get! Merci!


FACTS THAT I LEARNED:

• Kids look cuter to me now than they did before and I can't stop thinking about when I'll have them two centuries from now. Is this God's way of torturing me?? It's their little French accents. Curse those adorable, cuddly little demons!

• Frenchmen are not nearly as perverted as Swiss men. This will be expounded upon later.

• In the western part of Switzerland, all their magazines (that I've seen) are in three languages: French, German, and English.

• Peanut Butter is in the "ethnic" aisle at the grocery store. True story.

The Church here is very different from how it is in America. French Mormons fall into one of two categories: they are either the most dedicated people you've ever seen and their testimonies could move a mountain....or they get baptized somehow and drop off the face of the earth. That being said, the Dijon district has made a goal to really endear the members here and help them rekindle their relationship with Christ. 

One of my favorite members to pass is a feisty 94 or 95 year-old woman (She changes it from day to day). We go to her house every Wednesday and do some kind of service for her and leave her with a message about love or hope and all that fluffy stuff because she has long since stopped coming to church. I LOVE THIS WOMAN. It kills me to see the pain she has had to endure for so many years take hold of her life. I hate seeing older people who aren't happy. They shouldn't be wasting their time worrying about anything. They deserve to feel loved.

Last Wednesday, we went to her home to scrub her walls and clean her kitchen.  Her French mixed with my poor hearing made this a very long process. When it came time to put all her decorations back on the shelf I cleaned off, things started to progressively go downhill. First, she started wiping all the jars/flower pots/etc with vinegar. VINEGAR. I'm going to reiterate this one more time....VINEGAR.  So, she started handing me these pots to place equidistant from each other on the shelf (I was standing on a ladder during all this) and every time I placed something down, she would yell, <<NO! Là! LAAA!>> and point to where I had placed it. Turned out she was blind in one eye and her depth perception was off just a bit. So, I regret to inform you all that I had horribly redecorated this woman's kitchen. But, she is content, and that shall sufficeth.

Lausanne, Switzerland

So, as you probably already assumed, I got the chance to go to Lausanne, Switzerland for an exchange. My companion was Sœur Bicchierri, an Italian bombshell that forced me to work harder than I ever have in my life! She was fantastic and taught me a lot about my calling and the importance of having confidence in it. I shall have you all know that we contacted more Italians, Spaniards and Portugues..ians(?) than French speakers! Luckily she could speak everything but Portuguese, because otherwise we would have been kicking dead horses. I'm pretty good at sneaking a few words from each language into the conversation to make it seem like I understand. "Obrigada! Grazie!!"

My adventures in Suisse weren't all peachy as one would expect. Within less than 10 minutes of getting off the train, two drunk men, speaking English, came up to my temporary companion and I and started grabbing at our badges and telling us how they only love women for sex. Okay. If you have ever had a drunk man come up to you and tell you, 2 inches from your face, that you were only good for sex, think of the first impulse that would come to mind. This was actually my first time actually being harassed (which is apparently uncommon for a sister missionary to go 4 weeks without running into that) and I had prepared my legs to dart the other way. Within seconds, the man looked at us, realized who we were, and then left. It was probably the most adrenaline I've ever had. I can testify that we were protected.

BUT SCARY THINGS ASIDE, I was enchanted by that country. It is absolutely beautiful. The green countryside, along with the Swiss Alps, is a sight to die for. I'm so grateful for my mission!!!

Sœur Biccherri shared a wonderful concept with me that I would like to pass along to you. She told me this story after I, I'll admit, had a breakdown on the subway. I will be honest and say that I have felt very inadequate in this work, that I can't reach God's expectations, and that I am wasting His time. Biccherri told me a little fictional story of a man who God had asked to push on a rock. It was huge, but the man humbly excepted His request. Many days, months, years passed and he continued to push on this rock. Eventually, he stopped and asked God why he was commanded to do this, because he wasn't moving it at all. God replied, "I didn't ask you to move the rock, I asked you to push it. Look how much stronger you've become from doing what I've asked!"

It is very easy to get discouraged. STOP! "Orphans, smile, be happy." You are giving it your best, and God sees that. He gives us trials that teach. He knows what we need, even if we can't see immediate results. 

I love you all and hope you are enjoying whatever life throws at you. Remember, experience equals knowledge. Bisous!

Sœur Green

How I Learned to Love the Work

Semaines un à trois (The First Three Weeks) 

It would probably take a lengthy bit of my life to describe the spectrum of emotions I have experienced over the course of the last two months. Needlessly to say, I am overflowing with gratitude for having the opportunity to serve the people of France (That was copyrighted from a Miss America speech, most likely). 

I am inhabiting one of the most picturesque landscapes known to European kind. Everything here is practically the same, except that before you enter the country, they feed you the same kind of cookies that Alice in Wonderland ate and everything becomes much smaller to you. What is this, a country for ants?? (Thank you, Ashley Rossello).

FUN FACTS I LEARNED:

• Aaron Eckhart, the actor who played Two-Face in "The Dark Knight", served in my mission.

• Muslims have the coolest ringtones ever. Every time I'm on the tram and hear one of their phones go off, I want to climb onto the roof and pretend I'm in a movie.

• Kids love it when you make faces at them when their mothers are facing away from you. The cutest little four-year-old Muslim girl and I had an "ugly face-off" for ten minutes straight on the bus going home from contacting.

Many fun adventures have happened since I last wrote home. The video tour I sent may have given the appearance that I am living in Disney World. In fact, the Elders have officially deemed our apartment as such. 

However in the course of one week, our washer has leaked all over our kitchen, our water heater has broken twice (and yes, I did have to boil water on a stove and shower by pouring bowls of water on my head. More than once, so you know that it wasn't just for the experience), Mold has decorated the walls of the other sisters' room so we had to disassemble their bunk bed and put in ours), and when the water heater is fixed, you have two options for your showering experience: freezing rain or molten lava. It usually depends on what mood I'm in whether I spend my bathing time in Hoth or Mordor.

View from our apartment window

On a positive note, I've made progress with the language. In fact, I've made progress-ish in other languages as well. Last week, I was so proud of the fact that I can greet and ask someone how their doing in Italian, I thought I would show off in front of one of the members of the ward here who, as I heard through the grapevine, was from Italy. He was quite impressed and started shrieking out more Italian words at me, so I thought I endeared him pretty freaking well. I was feeling like a golden missionary for the few days that followed until a sister later revealed to me that he was, indeed, a Frenchmen. Someone else in the ward is Italian. Not the one I shouted random Italian words at. He's French.

I now avoid that member.

One of my favorite things about Dijon is the prevalence of Nigerians here. Their culture is stark different from anything I've ever seen, and I love it. 

Dijon

Aside from learning a lot about different cultures and how to make it in different country, I have also learned a lot about the concept of hope. Hope has gotten me this far in my mission. There isn't another word you could use to replace it that would accurately describe my key to survival. Last week, my companion and I were raté-vous'd, which means we set an appointment with someone and they weren't there (which is very common as a missionary). 

As a back-up plan, we went street contacting. The first woman we walked up to was adorable, sharing the same appearance as those podlings from "The Dark Crystal." We asked her "What brings you hope?" The response was unexpected. She replied, boasted actually, that she didn't need hope, that there was nothing in this world that could bring any hope to her. She walked away smiling, but something was very off about that woman. 

I reflect on that moment quite frequently and think of the many roles that hope plays in the lives of human beings. Hope is the ability to be patient with life, to except what comes your way, regardless of how great or terrible it may be, and knowing that things are going to be okay. In the end, things really do turn out okay. Hope is prerequisite however. Our attitudes reflect so much about ourselves, our experiences, and what path we are on. Please roll your eyes at my sentimentality. I already have. But then think for a second about how you view the course your life is on. Are you the person who smirks at the thought of being positive, or are you the person who keeps moving forward because you have the knowledge that things are going to be okay?

I could probably continue for hours on the experiences I've had here, but unfortunately I'm under a time constraint. I love each and every one of you, even if you're some creeper that found this link through Facebook at 3 o'clock in the morning. I know that each of you are going through something hard. But, I also know that changing your attitude, your perspective on what truly matters in the outcome, can get your though those things.

Bisous to all! I think about my family and friends often and hope that you guys are doing great! I'm trekking though this. There's still so much to do here (and so much to learn!).

Présèrverez jusqu'à la fin!!!

Sœur Green