Danielle's Mission in France: Mita Kuuluu, ystavani!!! Here's a story to make you happy.

Clermont-Ferrand is a fountain of miracles. Soeur Hiltunen and I are feeling really good about this transfer. We've already seen the work pick up just in this first week! Why is God spoiling me? I'm not really sure, but now is not the time to be asking questions like that. The ward here gave the new elder and me the biggest welcome I've ever received probably in my entire life. The members here are anxious to help the sister missionaries because we're new in the ville. :) Gotta love member work.

Thanks to not having a companion that isn't at the end of her mission, I've seen a jump in my French and Spanish (and Finnish) speaking. We have two Peruvian families in the ward!! Wards with lots of diversity are my favorite. Lots of different lifestyles and perspectives that still reflect the same gospel.

Despite all this good news, it hasn't been easy as far as getting quality AND quantity. I'm better at the latter, but contacting so many in a day is hard for me now that I'm in a bigger city and people are so intimidating and not as friendly. God has been carrying me through each situation; practically picking me up and carrying me. I've been quite a heavy burden in His arms though because I had no idea how to train or lead lessons when I got to Clermont. Thankfully it started to pick up after the first couple of days!

I'll report on our investigators later when we actually get appointments with them haha.

FACTS I LEARNED:

Finnish Fact of the week: 99% of the houses in Finland have a sauna attached to it. They're crazy sauna people.

Finnish word of the week: lahetyssaarnaaja. Translation: missionary

Americans are like nuns compared to Scandinavians when it comes to being modest in public.

So this week, I had the most incredible miracle I've ever seen in my entire mission. I want to tell it with reverence and excitement at the same time, because it's that AMAZING. Soeur Hiltunen and I went to visit this woman who has been in-active for the last twelve years. They weren't able to see her at all last transfer and the elders have never been able to go. So, when we knocked on this woman's door, we weren't expecting anyone to be there, and if so, a soft, "please take me off your contact list permanently." But, she WAS there, and despite her asking how we got her address, SHE LET US IN. She said she's never had sister missionaries over. She started rambling and rambling and telling us that it's so cute how we carry around a book that we pretend is true and create our own feelings and call it some kind of spirit. This is a member who left the church because she had a baby out of wedlock when she was 18 and was afraid to be judged by others. 12 years later, she claims that she's buddhist and that we're the ones who use our own logic instead of getting answers from God.

Naturally, we shared Moroni 10:3-5 with her. She scoffed a bit and we sat there for another good 30 minutes listening to her tear apart the principles of the gospel because she said that when she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true, she didn't get an answer. We talked a bit about how God gives us answers in different ways and according to his time, and usually it's not what we expect. She got quiet and wanted to change the subject, so she invited us to stay for dinner. While we were eating, she looked at us from across the table and her demeanor changed a bit. She said, "I wish I could say those same things you said earlier about knowing that God is there. I'm jealous you can say that."

THE NEXT DAY, we get a call in the middle of a lesson from an unknown number. When we called back, it turned out to be the same woman, and she was talking a thousand miles a minute. She talked about how she was thinking about the scripture we shared and that she started to read a couple pages here and there. She said that she couldn't remember the scripture, so instead she flipped through the cantiques and looked for old songs she knew. She stumbled over Aimez Vos Frères and she started to sing it to herself. She said that immediately after she started singing, she started to cry. She thought that it was weird that the sisters showed up at her house and that she wanted to read and pray again. She told me over the phone that she had gotten her answer that God wants her to come back. She asked for the church times and sat by us in church the next morning.

Funny part of this story, we didn't really do anything. All we had to do was show up at her door and listen to her doubts. I have a testimony of Moroni's promise. The answer comes differently to everyone, but still. IT COMES. Thank you for your prayers and support. Miracles are coming, and they're coming fast.

Update on Maria: She is doing well. They're still looking for a solution, but there's still time.

Sœur Green