Torcy Again

As you will soon read, Bethany will be staying where she is through Christmas, so her current address is still good. Missionaries always love a card or letter! Her address is:

Soeur Bethany Paxton

Les Missionaires

33, rue Maximilien Robespierre

94120 Fontenay-Sous-Bois

FRANCE

Here are a few personal notes Bethany sent along to us before writing her “public” email.

Yes, by the time I leave I'll have been in Torcy for 6 months. I don't really mind though. I probably won't be serving around Paris much after this so I'm going to appreciate it while I can. There are still so many places I want to visit! Sr. Dremeaux didn't like going to famous places because she's French and is used to it all. Soeur Soares however LOVES visiting places and we can't wait to see more. Today we're going to the Louvre!

By the way, someone told us that Disney Village is free to visit because it is separate from the parks. The village is where most of the gift shops are. We're thinking about going there so we can at least say that we did something at Disney and to take pictures. Whoo hoo! Maybe I'll get to keep up the Paxton/Disney missionary adventures after all!!!

Wow, seems like the Ward is really having you do a lot. Setting up Tithing Settlement, over-seeing the Christmas party, singing in Choirs, stake activities. Jeesh! Well, I suppose they figure that you have enough time to do all that since you are empty nesters (I referred to you two as that to President Poznanski and he had me explain the definition to him. Then he wrote it down. I thought it was pretty funny.)

I'm a slightly stressed over Skype-ing with you on Christmas. Nobody has invited us over yet for Christmas yet. I'm actually not really worried about that at all because I know they will. What I'm worried about is if the family who does invite us over will have Skype. Last year Soeur Soares was only able to call her family and not Skype because for some reason it wasn't working. She doesn't really care either way, but it's kind of important to me that I see your faces. Although, I suppose I should just be grateful if I get to hear your voices.

 

Hello everybody!

Well, I'm staying in Torcy again. By the time I leave I will have spent 1/3 of my mission here! I'm very grateful to be in a ward that I know so well for Christmas. The Torcy ward is so great and they make me feel at home.

Sr. Alley, one of the sisters I live with in the apartment, has been with me since we both got to France. She just found out that she'll be training a Blue (new missionary). That means she has to be in her Ward (Nogent) for another 2 transfers. By the time she leaves it will be 7 1/2 months. That, plus her two months at the MTC, means that she'll have spent half of her mission in two places: Provo and Nogent. She loves Nogent and doesn't mind at all. Also, Sr. Alley and I noticed that we were both writing missionary friends who live at the same address in San Diego. That's right, Lauren Roberts is companions with Sr. Alley's friend. Small world!

Last week we weren't able to get a hold of Delphine to talk about her baptism for several days. We were freaking out because we thought something went wrong. When we finally got hold of her she said she didn't have her phone all last week, but that she had something interesting to tell us about her family. It turns out that when she told her difficult, church-hating mother about her baptism she didn't get as mad as Delphine thought she would. In fact, she asked if the baptism could be in Torcy so she could attend. It was too late though because tickets were already bought for Bordeaux, plus Delphine knew her mom only said that because she wanted to spite their family in Bordeaux. Her mother got really upset for about two days, which made Delphine sad. However, on the morning that she left, her mother talked to her and said she accepted her decision. And THEN, to make it even better; when Delphine received a blessing, she was told that she would be able to help her mother repent and return to church! Delphine bore her testimony about it at church yesterday and it was so beautiful.

We continued to teach N___, our Muslim amie, until we hear otherwise from President. She's still doing well with the lessons and even said she knows that Jesus is the son of God now! However, there are still a lot of problems in her personal life so we had the Elders giver her a blessing. She said she felt better afterward. And she even came to Sacrament meeting with her kids yesterday!

On a whim we decided to visit some former amis that we found in our Area Book. They live in a tiny hotel/apartment. They are Muslims who converted to Christianity. They are really nice and kept offering us beer to drink as hospitality. Discussing why we choose not to drink alcohol was a great way to start talking about modern revelation/the First Vision. When I told them the Joseph Smith story, the spirit was incredibly strong. We have another appointment set this week. I'm looking forward to it.

Love, Bethany