Week 29 "Transfers!"

So, crazy news... I am getting transferred to Lille! I know it is not in our mission and completely opposite side of Montpellier, but I am so excited. Even though it will be freezing cold. Ok. Just kidding. That was a little silly joke. I am staying in Montpellier with Soeur Thompson. BUT, the crazy news is, we are getting ONE more sister in our companionship and we will be a TRIO. Her name is Soeur Bonnamy and she is French. I think she is from around Paris.

TRIO!! SOEUR BONNAMY FROM REIMS. THIS IS HER 3RD TRANSFER

I am happy to be staying in Montpellier but also having a little change will be good. I also feel like Soeur Thompson and I are finally getting the hang of things. We are finally learning how to work well together and work through our challenges. I feel like I have become more patience, less reactive, more willing to let things that don't matter, and more willing to look from others perspectives this transfer. I didn't want to admit that I needed to learn these things. I know that I need to learn these things for my own personal growth.

Well I will start out with my favorite mission experience from the week. Yesterday we went to Sète with the zone leaders and Frère Calvo (a member) for a rdv with an ami. Her name is Adeline and she is in her early 20s. Everything about how this rdv happened is a miracle. A ton of small miracles.... led us to having a rdv with her yesterday. But when we showed up yesterday night, she was sitting on her front porch wrapped in a blanket reading the Bible. When we walked up to the porch and asked her how she was doing, she told us she was in a very bad situation and needs help. We went in her apartment and she broke down crying to us telling us her situation. We came at literally the perfect time and it felt like God sent us to her to be her angels and rescue her. Frère Calvo is a member in Montpellier. He was able to give her some Fatherly council and the Elders gave her a blessing. We bore testimony to her of how the atonement of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from EVERY mistake and sin we have made. It was so powerful to see the hope that filled her eyes and heart as we said this. The gospel of Jesus Christ and the atonement are REAL. The atonement can save and heal us. D&C 29:42 says "The Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son." As we walked away from her house, I felt like the Lord had sent us as angels to her home to bring her this message of hope. I am so grateful I got to be apart of this miracle and be apart of this work.

Emiline in the middle. She served her mission in Spain. She always helps us with missionary work. I am so grateful for people like her.

Something I am working on right now is giving the Lord my heart. I feel like I am working hard and doing everything he wants me to do but I also want to give him my heart. Sometimes I hear a song as we pass by a patisserie, and I'm like AH I MISS LISTENING TO REAL MUSIC. Or I see a couple on the tram and I'm like OH MAN I wish I was married. Like it is so easy to wish we were somewhere else or to feel like we are missing out on something. But I know that this is where I am supposed to be right now. And so I just want to work on loving where I am at and being grateful for all the blessings the Lord is giving me right now, TODAY. "Being present," has been a common goal I am working on all the time. I will probably have to work on "being present" for rest of my life.

Yesterday night Soeur Cusick and Soeur Clancy came and stayed chez nous because Soeur Clancy goes home today. I LOVE SOEUR CUSICK. Hahah. She is sitting next to me right now. We are in the gare together waiting for other missionaries to come in. We are freezing cold and I am wearing sandals and a short sleeve shirt. Why? What am I doing. I think I am ready for summer and the sunshine. I am really just saying random stuff right now basically whatever comes to my mind because my hands are so cold.

There is a member here from Chile. Her name is Gene (pronounced like Jenny) and I love her. She is so nice to me. We sat together on the bus to church yesterday and she wrote down a recipe for pancakes on a piece of scratch paper and gave it to me. We are going to her house for FHE tonight. We are going to read family proclamation and talk about how the gospel blesses families. Her husband isn't a member so it should be pretty cool. Didn't know I would have to come all the way to France to meet people from Chile, China, Scotland, England, Brazil, Morocco, Africa, and the Middle east. I love the France Lyon mission. It is the best.

I love the simplicity of the gospel, I love eternal families and I love the Lord.

Love Abby

More Photos:

Past and Current Companions Soeur Allen and Soeur Thompson

Emilie, me Soeur Thompson and Charlotte. Emilie opened her mission call yesterday and is going to the France PARIS TEMPLE SQUARE mission. SO cool. Charlotte is from Brazil.