Our favorite bus.....#5
I am currently writing this as I ride on a train to Grenoble. We will be doing an exchange out there tomorrow with Soeur Perry and Soeur Hayes. Normally the sisters come here, but we decided it would be a good idea to go out there and do an exchange. I neverrrr leave my little Ecully so it be fun to go to a different ville. I have never been to Grenoble before!
I really saw the hand of God this week. We had some amazing miracles. But it's not just like we prayed for miracles and they happened. I felt like my faith was extra strong and because of that, we were able to act on our faith and see miracles. Friday was especially full of miracles. We were walking out of our apartment at 8:30 am and we see this one old potential ami we had met a few weeks ago. We called her name and talked with her. She started crying to us and told us her sister in law had just passed away. We listened to her express her feelings of sadness and testified to her of the reality of the plan of salvation. That death is not the end.
I love Soeur Baranco from Ecully.
Then.... we were walking down to the church right after this experience, and I see this girl waiting at the bus stop outside our church. I had this feeling that we needed to go talk to her. But of course, excuses filled my mind. ("You have an appointment with Erika right now, you cant be late for that!" Or "she will be so weirded out with you talking to her." Or "the bus is about to come and it won't be worth it to start a conversation" or "your companion will think you are crazy!")
As I was putting the church key in the gate to open it I say to Soeur Cusick, "Okay, I feel like we should go talk to that girl but I don't know if it is the spirit or me being crazy..." And Soeur Cusick just yells out,"OH MY GOSH, I had the exact same feeling." So we both turn around and start walking towards the girl. We start some way awkward conversation about the weather being cold. The bus pulls up and Soeur Cusick and I both just look at each other and then we follow her onto the bus. We talked to her for a while and ended up taking the bus like 15 stops with her. We exchanged Facebook information and invited her to game night at the chapel. Her name is Manoe and is 20 years old. Soeur Cusick and I just got off the bus in the middle of nowhere and said.... "WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" It was one of the craziest acts of faith I have ever done on my mission. We literally just let the spirit lead us along.
Jeremy's baptism
Then that night we were taking the elevator down after visiting with a member. Some annoying 10 year old had pushed all the buttons on the elevator so we were both getting impatient. Then, we hit the top floor and this African man walks in... looks straight at our plaques... and says, "oh, you believe in Jesus Christ?" He told us he would love to talk about the "word of God" with us. We were so shocked we just tried to act as natural as possible even though inside it was just like, what is happening?! His name is Chris and we will be meeting with him this week.
Then that night we were taking the elevator down after visiting with a member. Some annoying 10 year old had pushed all the buttons on the elevator so we were both getting impatient. Then, we hit the top floor and this African man walks in... looks straight at our plaques... and says, "oh, you believe in Jesus Christ?" He told us he would love to talk about the "word of God" with us. We were so shocked we just tried to act as natural as possible even though inside it was just like, what is happening?! His name is Chris and we will be meeting with him this week.
Meeting via facebook ....
Saturday we were walking to the bus stop when I get a text from a girl named "T" who we had talked to probably 3 months ago. She ran up to me and Soeur Margrin at the mall 3 months ago and said, "Missionaries!!!! I am from Utah, but I am not a member of the church!" She told us to text her to come to church and if she was available, she would come.
Well we lost contact with her. Well, fast forward 3 months and she texted us and ASKED if she could come to church on Sunday because she is back in France for her studies. Whattttttttttttttttt!!!! I freaked out. Sure enough, she came to church. Stayed all 3 hours. Knows way too much about Mormons because she grew up in Bountiful. She is so cute and it was so fun talking to her about Utah and chick-fil-a and Lagoon. Soeur Zinn invited her to dinner and she came to Sunday dinner with all of the missionaries! We were all laughing so hard and had a good time. It was cool for her to see that Mormons aren't just happy in Utah. Mormons are happy people everywhere you go! We will hopefully teach her this week!
We met Paul Gouttin over a year ago when their family invited our family for dinner in Lille.
Jamison knew the Gouttin family really well when he was serving in Northern France.
"E" our ami is doing amazing. She has been meeting with the missionaries for a year now and has only come to church a few times. But a couple weeks ago, something changed. She told us that NOW is the time she wants to change and progress. She has been so diligent at studying the gospel and keeping commitments we give her... for herself. Not to please us, or her daughter, or anyone else. But to please God. She has come to church these past 2 weeks. She texted us Sunday morning and said, sorry, I am feeling sick this morning and won't be able to come. We were so bummed out. But then Soeur Cusick turns to me during church and whispers, "E" is HERE!" I turn around and sure enough, "E" was sitting in the back with her daughter Giuliana. I was sooooooo proud of her.
Yesterday night I received a blessing from Brother Zinn. He is like a dad to me and I told him he reminded me of my dad. It is different getting a fathers blessing. And since I don't have my real daddy here with me, I asked Brother Zinn to give me one. Lately, I have been feeling like my efforts will never be good enough. And I just want to give the Lord my all on my mission and feel like my efforts are acceptable to him. But during the blessing, I had an overwhelming weight lifted off my shoulders.
Presidents pday
I had the feeling that my efforts are acceptable TODAY before the Lord, WITH all of my shortcomings included. That I don't need to be perfect as a missionary. That it is part of the process to have weaknesses because that is what makes me reliant upon Jesus Christ. During the blessing, I felt how proud the Lord was of me and really just an overwhelming feeling of His love. I am so grateful for the priesthood and know that Heavenly Father knows me personally.
There were a lot of hard moments this week. Moments of tears and stress. But in the end- it was just kind of swallowed up with the good moments. The simple miracles and tender mercies. Those good moments make the hard moments bearable.
Love, Abby
Presidents pday....Just a chill day. We ate homade cinnamon rolls......HEAVENNN!!!
Live pic with Soeur Brown on Presidents Pday
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