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