11 November 2013 Bonne Apres Midi

No photos from Bethany this week. Due to the Veteran’s Day holiday in France the Internet Café was closed and the computer they used at the church was slow. But we have attached a scan of a postcard she mailed us of the Chateau that is only a few blocks from her apartment. We also received a  touching email from her Mission President telling us how much he appreciated working with Bethany during the past 17 months. And he pointed out all the wonderful qualities she has developed. It made this mom tear up for sure!

 

Bonne Après Midi!                                                                    11 November 2013

 

Well, it's afternoon here even if it's not where you are, and you don't really say that as a greeting. But I'm running low on greetings here guys!

So, Soeur Bernhardt found out that her visa petition was granted, but we had to spend several hours on the computer filling out more information and then getting on the phone to make the appointment at the American Consulate. She had me do it because she thought it would only be English (I knew it wouldn’t be.) Turns out that everybody I spoke to was French, but I did it anyway.

We set it up for this Wednesday at 7:30 am!! Tuesday we're going to be in Angers until 5pm for Zone Conference and then we take a train to Paris. The Consulate is not far from where I lived in Nanterre so we're going to stay there Tuesday night. If all goes well, Sr. Bernhardt will be on a plane on either Monday or Tuesday next week.

Also, I got some news from my trainer, Sr. Dremeaux (now home from her mission). She's engaged!!! To an Elder who served in our mission too. They had dated before, but it ended several months before both of them started their missions. She told me she didn't care about him anymore, but I knew better. ;) I'm just glad neither of them restarted anything while still on the mission. I just sent her a big email saying "I KNEW IT" over and over again. I'm so excited for her!

And it's cool because Sr. Dremeaux, actually she's Amandine now, worked before her mission in the same town where Sr. Bernhardt grew up, Albi. Sr. Bernhardt and I were able to scream and jump around together when I found out.

So Blois is just the prettiest town you've ever seen. Especially when you see it from across the Loire River. I love seeing it when I'm on the train. When I go to Angers tomorrow I'm going to try to take a video of it. It looks like something out of a Disney movie. Actually, a member just told me today that Chambord was the inspiration for the castle in Sleeping Beauty.

We actually taught lessons last week!!! One was with a very Catholic grandmother who had some really great questions about the Family Proclamation. Another was with a young mother that the other Sisters had found a month earlier. Turns out she wasn't that interested, she said so from the very beginning. We were both going to just say thank you and leave, but something told us to push and find out why she was so hesitant. It's turns it's mostly rooted in Joseph Smith being a prophet and the Book of Mormon. She didn't understand why we needed more from God in our day, when we already had the Bible. We bore testimony about both of them for two lessons in a row and while she still wasn't sure after we left the 2nd time, I was so happy.

The Spirit was strong during both lessons as we testified. I know she felt it, you could see it on her face. She knew that she had to at least make the effort to ask God to know if it was true or not. I realized how much I'm going to miss testifying everyday with my authority as a missionary. I can still testify every day, but I won't be set apart. It is a privilege that it so wonderful and I sometimes took for granted. But I will miss it so much.

 

Love, Bethany

4 November 2013 I'm in Blois!

Bonjour from Blois!!!!
Oh.....my......gosh!!!!!! Blois is exactly the type of ville that I always wanted to serve in. Just the cutest, oldest, neatest town EVER!!!!! It was probably the smallest town I've served in, which scared Soeur Bernhardt and me when we first got here, but it's bigger than it looks.
It's a medieval type town and is surrounded by a lot of chateaus. One of them is right in Blois and is literally our neighbor! We went to it today. The chateau I really want to see is Chambord. However, there is only one bus that goes at 1PM and another that returns at 5PM. That would mean no time for emails. So we're still trying to figure out how we're going to do it.
One thing that surprised me about Blois is how many Muslims and Africans are here. Normally, little towns like that don't have that many, Arras and Quimper had like none; they mostly stay in the bigger cities. Being in St.Ouen was good for me because I got a LOT of practice teaching them. Nothing new for me.
The Branch is not terribly small; about 30 people at church every Sunday (Quimper had 15 on a good day.) And they have their own building too, a nice one. They like talking about how terrible it was up until four years ago, when they used to have to meet in an apartment. The members were really welcoming and are excited to have 4 sisters. There are quite a few investigators at church which was wonderful!
I met the President’s (of the mission) mother and was a little surprised at her greeting "So, are you a slaver?" Yup, because she heard I was from Alabama. It was a joke……!
There seems to be a lot of problems with people (in the Branch) getting offended here, but that always seems to be the case in Branches. I think it's because it's so small and easy to get on people's nerves. I like them though!

We live at 60 rue Denis Papin 41000 Blois FRANCE if you want to write me, but keep in mind that I'm leaving France soon. Our apartment is right in the middle of Centre Ville which is the area that most towns in France like to keep looking old for tourist reasons. However, despite the fact that it looks old it's probably the best apartment I've lived in or visited my whole mission. It's got a really nice layout. It's a little cramped with four sisters, but it's not that bad. I'm sleeping on the couch and there is an extra mattress for Soeur Bernhart. We had to spend the first few days buying stuff for the apartment, like a bar to hang clothes on, coat hangers, drawers, etc, so we would have room for all of our stuff.
We're living with Soeur Judd who is in her 24th transfer here and Soeur Doyle who is also new to Blois. Both are from Utah. We have SO MUCH FUN with them!!! I'll have to show you pictures of them next time. Soeur Bernhardt and I also get along great! I LOVE having someone to ask French questions to again. She doesn't really like practicing English, but I make her practice lessons with me in the morning. It's also cool to have the same acquaintances from Arras. I've been able to get the updates about the members that I wanted, especially the YSA serving missions.
So Soeur Bernhardt was really confused when she found out that she was leaving Evry after only two weeks. She thought that she had done something wrong. However, the Assistants told her that the President strongly felt that she had things to do in Blois. We also found out from Soeur Judd that she had been praying for another set of missionaries to come to Blois for three months because she feels that there is work to be done in Blois. Soeur Bernhardt and I feel a little pressure from all of this, but we also feel comforted to know that the Lord had told more than one person that we're needed here.

It's kind of daunting to come to a town and not know anybody, not know how to get anywhere and not having ANY investigators. We decided to start small and grow big. We prayed that we could just fix one appointment with someone our first day. And we did!!! With a family! And then the next day we called someone the other Blois sisters contacted a month ago and set an appointment with her! And THEN our third day, after having a very interesting lesson with an old Muslim couple, I felt I needed to talk to a young woman passing by, and SHE was interested too! We got one appointment every day that we've been here; if we keep going like that we'll have LOTS of appointments. Of course, it won't be like that every day, but we still know we have the Lord on our side.
We've also managed to make appointments with former amis that the other sisters had to stop teaching because they stopped progressing. Many of them were interested in meeting with us again when they heard a real French girl on the phone! NOW Soeur Bernhardt knows why she was needed. Also, there have been several less active women who know Soeur Bernhardt and agreed to meet with us, when the other sisters were unable to do so.
Bethany

End of October

Dear Everyone,

Well Dad, France DID actually change hours this weekend and I got to sleep for another hour. A missionary's dream (after baptisms that is)! Sadly, it was really windy all night and it kept moving the windows back and forth. It sounded like someone was slamming their body against it for 9 hours.

Yes!! Keep doing all that you can with the missionaries Mom and Dad!! I can’t wait to work with them when I get home!

Tee hee! Mom, I promise not to spill the Paxton Family cupcake recipe. And I'm planning on making those pumpkin cookies for Halloween! We also found pumpkin sausages at the store today. I'll tell you if they're any good. And I'll pray for your talk next weekend Mommy!

Last P-day we met up with the Evry sisters, another suburb of Paris, for lunch. It was my birthday lunch because we were supposed to do it for my birthday, but they missed their train that day so we delayed it. The Evry Soeurs were (I say "were" for a reason that will be revealed momentarily) in a trio because they had a French visa waiter, Soeur Bernhardt, with them. When I saw her I said, "Have we met before? Turns out she was in Arras every Sunday because her boyfriend was in that Ward. AND she’s from the same town where Soeur Dremeaux (my trainer) worked before her mission. It was nice to finally get to know her, since she wasn't really in the Arras ward I really never got to talk to her much.

Soeur Bernhardt is going to the Temple Square mission, which I had heard she wasn't too excited about. When I asked about it, she explained to me that she's happy enough to go there, it's just that she REALLY wanted to go to Madagascar. I told her that I'd try to visit her when I got back to Utah.

You're probably wondering why I've spent all that time talking about a random visa waiter. Well, I was 99.99 percent sure that I was going to stay in St.Ouen for my last transfer, but lo and behold what do I see when I check the transfer list today...Blois! And guess who my companion is? Soeur Bernhardt!!!! Now I'm DEFINITELY going to visit her while she's in Temple Square. Actually, she could be getting her visa anytime now, maybe even before transfer day. Whenever it does happen, I'll probably just become a trio with the other companionship of sisters that's already there. The fourth trio of my mission!

Blois is a smallish town (50,000 people), kind of in the middle of nowhere, but it has huge significance for our mission because that's where President Poznanski grew up. Most of the Branch is comprised of his family members. No pressure right! Blois is also located in the Loire Valley, which is known for having many famous castles. I hope I get to see a few!

FYI, Soeur MacKay and I went to the Champs-Elysée, Concorde and the Arc of Triumph for the rest of P-day. Even though I've been before it was always cloudy and cold this time of year, last week it was glorious! Lots of good pictures, if I can get them to load...

This week we went to Laurinda's with the Assistants because one of them could give a blessing in Portuguese. It was a good moment for her to see how the priesthood works...and her husband too. He stayed in the kitchen the whole time, but I saw that he was watching. Our problem now is that she's missed every week of church since her baptism, two weeks was General and Stake Conference, one week she was visiting her son and this last week she was ready to come, but there was a miscommunication on trying to get her a ride to church. And sadly, she says she can't go next week either. The first few weeks after a baptism is crucial for a new member so we're trying our hardest to get her to church.

Tuesday was a “miracles” day for us. As we began planning the night before, we realized we had no appointments set up, which is a bummer for missionaries. Soeur MacKay said, "Well, when you have nothing in your life, that's when the miracles start. So I started calling old investigators and potential ones to see if any were interested. The first woman I called was a woman named Hary who approached us a few weeks ago while we were grocery shopping. Turns out she was VERY interesting and we set up an appointment. We were a little disappointed though because we realized that she actually lived the area right next to us. We called the Elders in that area and they told us to teach her once and then pass her to them during the second lesson.

Then just as I hung up another companionship called and said they just realized that their investigator actually lives in our area. So while we had to give one great investigator away, we got another one in her place!

We had to talk with Aisata last week about why she isn't reading and coming to church. She says it's because she's never read anything about Joseph Smith in the bible and so she's not sure if she wants to research something that might not be true. We explained that research is how you find out something is true. Luckily, Aisata is really awesome and sincere and she admitted that she already knew that. She promised to really put forth an effort, but also said that if after a few more weeks she still doesn't feel that it's true then maybe we shouldn't see each other so often. We agreed. The thing is that I KNOW that if she does read, pray and attend church, she WILL know. It's the promise of the Lord! The question is: will she really do it? We're going to see her tonight and try to set up a FHE with a member for Wednesday, after I leave. :(

Things are going great with Alicia. What I love about teaching with her is that while she's is preparing for baptism we can see how the lessons are reactivating her mother, Joyce, little by little. Last week we talked about Sustaining the Prophet and Obedience, which worked because that was the subject the prophet spoke about during the April 2013 General Conference. It was a simple lesson, but I saw at the end that Joyce was crying tears of happiness. It was another moment when I said to myself, "This is why I came on a mission".

Love, Bethany

pictures 1- Last visit to Arc of Triumph 2-Missionary district 3-Alicia's family

21 October 2013 Forget Me Not

The following note was included in Bethany’s portion of the email to family:

 

This is the last week of this transfer. Next Monday will be the transfer email, but I'm pretty sure that Soeur MacKay and I will be staying together. I've been praying for the past few weeks that I don't get trunky. So far so good, but I saw what happened with two other sisters at the end of their missions and I DON'T want that to happen to me. I'm determined to sprint to the finish.

 

Hello Everyone,

So last week I got to go to my favorite place in Paris, Sacré Coeur! Sadly, it was cold and cloudy, but the village atmosphere up there is so neat that I don't really care. The clouds actually added a type of "poesie", or "poetic-ness" you could say in English. I also bought your Christmas presents Mom and Dad. I'm all set!

After having a really awesome week last week, this week had opposition. It's always like that, Satan just can't stand when good things happen and Heavenly Father takes the chance to humble us. We set up so many appointments and just kept having them all fall through. Its sooo annoying when people forget that we don't just sit around waiting for them to have time for us.

However, there were still awesome things happening. Laurinda has had it tough in her personal life lately and we decided to teach her from Uchtdorf's talk "Forget me Not". We talked about how often we feel as if the Lord has forgotten us, but if we have faith we'll see that he is very mindful of us. Later in the week we looked up how to say a couple uplifting phrases in Portuguese and then put in a note in her mailbox. We got a call from a Portuguese speaking member saying that Laurinda called because she was so happy that her son was able to find a job through a member in the church and she loved our little note. It's was so wonderful to see how the Lord answers prayers.

So since about the middle of my mission from time to time we get texts from church headquarters saying that someone visited mormon.org and requested a missionary visit. At first the system wasn’t very organized and most of the people we couldn't get in contact with. Well, we've gotten a lot lately and have been busy getting in contact with everyone. One of them finally worked out! Her name is Annie and she came across the "Nie Nie diologues", from poplular LDS blogger Stephanie Nielson. She was touched by a scripture in the Book of Mormon mentioned on the blog and decided to research more at mormon.org. She was happy to meet with us and excited when we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. We'll be seeing her again this week!

Then today during studies I came across an article in the October 2009 ensign about blogs. I began thinking about how Laura’s been putting my letters on that blog I started and I wondered if they've helped anybody. Even if it's just one person that feels a little happier or has a little more hope I'd be happy!

This week we ate with President Poznanski's son's family, they live in the St. Ouen Ward. They said that the missionaries never talk to them at church and never ask them to teach with them because they're scared of them. They were happy that I've always done both since I got here. I didn't even realize that they felt that way! It was interesting to learn things about President and his family that I didn't know before and see family pictures that I've never seen before. At the end, his son's wife was too afraid to drive in Paris at night to take us home. So he had to call his dad to ask if he could take us himself (normally against the rules to have a man take us home alone, without his wife or another adult). It was funny as they laughed about the conversation on the phone. They even vous-voyéd (using the formal version of "you") just for fun.

Bethany

October 14, 2013 Happy 24th Bethany!

Happy Birthday Uncle Scott and Aunt Mickey!!!! I'm sorry that I forgot to say it last week.

And Happy 63rd anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!! I actually thought about it last week when President Monson talked about how he and his late wife would have celebrated their anniversary last Monday. I'm so glad to have such wonderful grandparents who show such a good example to mutual love and respect. I hope one day I can say the same thing about my future spouse and me.

I'm excited that you'll be speaking at Stake Conference Mom! I've found that when I make the appropriate effort and really seek to speak about what the Lord wants, that I learn something new each time I give a talk. Last November I was asked to give a talk on the Light of Christ. I was happy enough to do it, but was shocked at how much my testimony was strengthened as I prepared for the talk. I even saved the talk in my "Mission Memories" folder that I have.

Oh man, I wish I could have been in Provo for the Georgia Tech game! They never played anybody from the South at home when I was there!

This week was a difficult start for me, but ended up be absolutely wonderful. Our Mission President's wife called today for my birthday and I told her about our week. We met our goal in teaching lessons, set a baptismal  date (more on that later), found 5 new amies, received and contacted several referrals and between us and the St.Ouen Elders we had 3 families come to church on Sunday!! That's like 15 people!

And our schedule for this week is becoming very full already!

Valentine is a young mother from Africa that we started teaching several months ago. We even had a date set with her. Well, then she lost her phone and we couldn't get a hold of her for 5 weeks. Finally we managed to talk with her this week and set up an appointment. We retaught the restoration and she still understands it just as she did before. Normally, people have a hard time getting their heads around the idea of priesthood authority being lost and restored, but she totally gets it. So then we started the Plan of Salvation and she gets it as well. She asked some really awesome questions and said she looked forward to hearing about what happens after death. She was supposed to come on Sunday, but sadly she didn't. We'll have to call her today.

We also taught two women for the first time who really appreciate our sacrifice as missionaries. They both have really amazing testimonies of the savior that really touch me. Of course, they both say that they have already been baptised and shouldn't need it again, which means they didn't understand the "authority" lesson, but then again EVERYBODY says that at first.

Gaa! I'm running out of time to tell you all of the wonderful things that are happening.

On Tuesday I ran into the current Torcy sisters (Torcy is where I started my mission) and they said Mailys was getting baptized the upcoming weekend!! Mailys is the best friend of the girl that was baptized when I was there, Delphine. Whooo hooo!!!! She was supposed to get baptized last December, but kept putting it off for one reason or another. Well, it finally happened! I'm glad I was able to rearrange our schedule so I could be there. The whole Ward was there to support her and her parents (who are not members and were at one point very against all of this) were able to attend too.

It was a wonderful week and now I'm off to Sacre Coeur, my favorite place in Paris, for my birthday! I am now the 2nd oldest missionary in mission. Yikes! The mission is so young now.

Bethany

7 October 2013

Dear Everyone,

For those of you who don't know...my sister finally got her mission call!!!! She's going to Nampa , Idaho !!!! (It is a new mission just organized a few months ago. Most of the mission is located in the mountainous areas of Eastern Oregon and Southeastern Idaho . Laura enters the MTC in Provo on Feb 5^th). We'll just being switching one missionary for another in this family. Maybe after she gets back my parents will leave on a mission. Eh? eh?! We'll see, ;) (Bethany says she has been hanging out with the missionaries from Canada . Can you tell?)

 

So this weekend was General Conference (a twice a year conference for our church that is broadcast around the world) and it was like a breath of fresh air! I especially liked Elder Soares' talk about changing our personality to become more like Christ's. I also loved Elder Uchtdorf's. I suggest it to any of my non-member friends. It’s a good summary of what our church is.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2013/10?lang=eng&vid=2721983168001&cid=12

Miracles!

So ever since I've come to St.Ouen we've struggled in trying to teach less actives/recent converts. I didn't really care too much because at least we were having a lot of success in other areas. Well, we decided that we needed to work on that and so we've been more systematic in contacting less actives.

Our plan has been, whenever we have some times to spare, go try to see the closest inactive on the list. While we do that, we contact every person possible on the way. This is sort of like the thing we do with visiting members twice a week to pray with them, which I talked about last week.

   

The mission has really been encouraging (and so was Elder Ballard during General Conference) that we talked with more people everywhere. It is really mind numbing when you just say "ok, we’re going just walk aimlessly around this area talking to people". We've been trying to be more effective with how we do things in our companionship.

So this week we finally got ahold of one less active woman named Soeur Ly and made an appointment with her. We also brought one less active to Conference this weekend! If you've ever tried to get in-actives without cars to come to church you know what a miracle that it. Especially since we had to watch it in Versailles instead of our normal ward building.

The best moment though was visiting a semi-active sister who seems to have the whole world on her shoulders. Her emotionally dependant sister's husband died a month ago and she's been the only support for her since. Then, her daughter broke her ankle last week. And they live on the 5th floor without an elevator! In addition, her job had decided to make her part time.

This sister is normally a bubbly Brazilian, but when we went by she was very subdued. She talked to us for a while, trying to act like everything was fine. But then Soeur Mackay put her arm around her and the tears started. I'm so glad we and other sisters in the Relief Society are able to be there for her!

We've also found or received several new amis this week and set up several appointments!

Bethany

30 September 2013 email

Pictures: Smurf ice cream by the eiffel tower. 

Hello,

I sooooooooo am going to be involved in missionary work during the three weeks that I'm home. I'm just going to say "you need a member?, you got one!" my first Sunday there. I wish they could make me a temporary Ward missionary while I'm there. I've even thought about wearing my tag, but it's in French and that would be confusing. ;)

This week Soeur MacKay and I decided that we needed to get to know the members better. Because the public transport in this part of Paris is sort of crazy (I don't have time to go into why) the members understand that for most of them it would take more than an hour just for us to get to their houses. Thus, we don't get invited over too often, thus we feel a little disconnected.

In order to get to know the members, while using our time wisely, we've gone to their homes for just a few minutes to pray with them and then we do contacting in the area. The members we did it with were really happy to help and excited that we were working in their area. They kept bringing it up at Church. We were glad to see that this is already helping them have more confidence in us.

Unfortunately, this was one of those weeks where you set up a lot of appointments and people just keep fruging. When that happens you get frustrated, not just because you couldn't see that person, but because you now have 1/2 or an hour of nothing to do. It's fine if you're in an area with a lot of apartments or houses that you've never ported, or with a ton of people on the street, but if you're not you're kind of in a pickle.

However, I've come to realize that a lot of times that's when you meet that one person that just might be interested. The St. Ouen Elders have an interesting story that I think you'll like. They were going to go contacting and then randomly decided to go left instead of right where all the busy streets are like usual. At first it seemed like a bad idea because it was a bunch of empty streets. They saw one man though and went to talk him. Turns out he had recently prayed that God would show him where to find His church. The night before he dreamed that he was in a dark country and needed to get out. He woke up and decided that God was telling him his life was in darkness and needed to find a pastor or someone to help him. So he grabbed his bible and decided to just wander the streets and asked God to send someone to help him. He walked out the door and who did he see? The Elders! Such a good story!

And despite our slightly harder week, we did have one day where everything went according to plan. All of our appointments happened and we were able to get members to teach with us! It felt good going to bed that night knowing the Lord is really on our side. Days like that can keep you going through several difficult days. When it seems like you're alone, just remember all the times when you saw His hand in the work!

Other good news is that Laurinda got confirmed and her husband wants to surprise her by taking her to Versailles to watch General Conference. He's a good guy, which I told him several times.

And, Chriso's wife actually opened the window and said hi when we passed. She seemed happy to see us, which is great because she was never too happy before. Little miracles are really big miracles.

Bethany

Awesome parisian art work on the side of an apartment building. 

Sept 23 2013 email Cou Cou

Cou cou!                                                                                                23 Sept 2013

I'm going to answer your questions about the mission publicly Mom because there might be some people out there who would want to know these things too.

I might have already said this, but the best color for skirts turned out to be gray. It goes with both dark and light colors so it's good for all seasons. I would even suggest getting two. Of course, black skirts are nice too. Make sure you have a few pencil skirts. The flowy ones are pretty, but sometimes you want to look professional. However, that might not matter as much outside of cities/cultures like Paris.

Yes, the Sketchers should make it to the end of my mission, or darn close to the end. They are excellent shoes. Soeur Gordon had some really good sketchers that looked like they would last forever, but were pretty stylish too. Ask her mom where they found them. I suggest black and brown shoes and buy lots of footie socks. The flesh colored ones are best.

I wouldn't get the safe-pac bag. I didn't feel like I needed the security that much. What I liked most about it, was the size, not too big or small, and the pockets. However, I saw other missionary bags that were similar in size and pockets without being so expensive. I would wait until I get home until she tries to buy one. I know what kind works best and can help her pick it out.

Sure, she can have my blanket. The mission provided blankets in each apartment, but it was nice to have to keep me warm for studying, etc.

Yes, I've seen that luggage you're talking about. The problem is that they ask that you only have two luggage pieces and then a carrying bag. The fact that one fits into the other is nice, but it means that one has to be smaller than the other, which is less space. That's not too much of a problem because there is a third one that's even smaller....but you're not supposed to have that third one. However, I will say that most sisters don't seem to care about that suggestion and I haven't heard President or others complain too much about them.

Be careful about deciding to get the ones with the wheels that roll in all different directions. That means they're weaker and break easier. I've seen it happen a lot in the mission and it makes things so much more physically harder and/or expensive. However, it might be worse here because we have to deal with the cobblestones.

So, Mom, one of your comments reminded me of some comments members from Torcy made when I saw them at the conference. They kept saying "Oh, now, you look so pretty". (She had her hair highlighted, etc) Hahaha! I guess I wasn't so pretty a year ago. I understood that they meant it as a compliment so I decided to take it as such.

Dad, I literally moaned "nooooo" when you gave me the news about BYU. All of the missionaries who use this same internet café looked at me weird and asked if everything was ok. I was just like "Oh, it’s just that BYU lost to Utah for the fourth year in a row". Stink!

Also, Sr. Gordon had just come here a year ago with her family so she didn't feel like doing all of the tourist stuff. Luckily, Sr .MacKay had never been here before so I get to do everything again! We're going to the Eiffel tower today. Sadly, I can no longer get into museums for free because my visa has expired. I'm going to try to use it anyway and see if they notice.

 

St.Ouen is different from Torcy in that it is either really, really high class apartments or it's the worst ghetto in France. Also, we don't get to see the countryside at all. Torcy was not too fancy or ghetto and half of it was in the countryside.

So, after a stressful week of trying to coordinate everything for Laurinda, she was finally baptized!! It was hard because we could never talk to her directly and she could never go with us to a Portuguese speaking member's home because she was always working. We would just have to use either her husband who speaks a little French or pass the phone back and forth with a Portuguese speaking member until she got everything sorted out. It happened though! And most of the Ward attended and brought food. She really felt loved. She was crying most of the time and she didn't know why. People kept telling her, "it's the spirit!”

Running out of time!!!

Love you all,

Bethany

 

16 Sept 2013 Joyeux Lundi tout le monde!

(We got an email from the LDS Church Travel Office with Bethany’s travel itinerary for her return home. She leaves Paris on Thursday, December 12^th and arrives in Huntsville at 4:28PM that day. We can’t believe how fast the last few months have flown and look forward to her arrival home. But we are not counting down the days because we know these are precious times for her).

Joyeux Lundi tout le monde! Happy Monday everybody!

My spelling in French is still not stellar so I always get a little nervous when I write in French. Anybody who reads this, who knows French, probably cringes every time.

So I'm staying in St.Ouen! Actually, I'll probably spend the next two here since I'm dying (mission lingo for "finishing") in two transfers. My companion is Soeur MacKay from Tooele, UT. Another one from Utah...what am I going to do?!

Funny thing is that she and her current companion just spent the night with us Saturday before going to the Elder Oaks Conference (more on that later). We went on splits for part of the day and I decided to go with her while Soeur Gordon went with S. MacKay's companion. We got to know each other pretty well during those few hours. How funny that now we're companions?

 

Sorry about your wrist/elbow/arm Mom. Glad it's not broken. Do you have a cool brace?

I'm reading Doctrine & Covenants too Mom. I recently reheard a quote from Elder McConkie about the fact that we will all be held accountable for how much we learned from the scriptures that we've been given during our lifetime. I decided to read Doctrine & Covenants again after hearing that. I read it at the beginning of my mission, but I didn't really get anything out of it. This time though, I'm finding all sorts of stuff. I'm also reading the New Testament starting from Acts. I know the four gospels pretty well because of "Jesus the Christ" by Talmage, but nothing after that. I felt that for now I know Old Testament pretty well because I found an Institute manual when I was in Quimper that had a lot of details that really helped me understand it. Although, I know there's still a lifetime of learning in the OT. Well, in all of the scriptures.

Gaaa! I don't know how much longer I can wait for Laura to get her call. We should all start putting in our guesses for where she's going. I'm going to say Toronto, Canada, Spanish speaking.

Gross I had no idea about the bats at Camp Hulaco!! Bahahaha! Imagining the Sister missionaries doing the ropes course with bats flying around is hilarious. That'll be a good mission memory.

 

I'm sorry about Bro. Bartholomew. I've actually thought about him a few times on the mission. In each Ward there are always those members who joined the church a long time ago and who helped support the church and help it grow back when it was tiny. Although they're each unique people they all seem to have a similar attitude toward the church that I can't quite define. Brother Bart had that attitude as well. It was a sort of "I know this is true and even if I stay the only member of the church in this town for the next 50 years, I'll stay here until I die" attitude. Luckily, all of these members were able to see the church grow in their area of the world and be a great part of the growth.

It's funny that you mentioned that the weather "finally cooled down". It's officially COLD here. Tights, winter coats, scarves, the whole shebang. It's a shock to the body considering that last winter went all the way through June. Mentally it seems like it should just be starting summer.

Miracles!

Remember how we were going to have to talk to Laurinda about working on Sunday. Turns out she doesn't work on Sundays so we set up a baptismal date for THIS Sunday!! Crazy! It's going to be interesting because the baptism will be in Portuguese. In the past three months in St. Ouen we've had three baptisms. One in English, one in Spanish, one in French. And now one in Portuguese! (BTW, I love that Sadie's first lesson was in Portuguese!)

On the way to a member's house for a lesson, the bus driver slammed really hard on the brakes because of a dog that ran it front of it. We all got thrown forward. People broke the windows with their bodies and children were thrown onto the ground and hurt pretty bad. I was totally fine, but Laurinda and Sr. Gordon got bruised and cut. We didn't need to go to the hospital though. We managed to walk the rest of the way. We were all pretty shaken up though.

 

We found this young woman, Emmanuelle, during porting. We said we had a message about Christ and she was like "oh good, I've been wanting to be closer to him". Excellent! I love people who are sincere about being close to Him! We found another building FULL of people who want to listen. Most of them are like what it says in Amos 8:11-12, people looking for the truth, but don't know where to find it.

Funny story. One of the doorbells I pushed was a little stuck so I pushed really hard and it rang...and wouldn't stop ringing!!! Some hooligans had put glue on it so it would stay pushed in. It made everybody in the building come out to see what the noise was. Including the people we had just ported and made a little mad. Then the family finally answered and I was like "I'm soooooo sorry. I don't know what happened". Luckily they knew it wasn't my fault. After a few minutes they were like "what do you want?" Then I was like "Umm...can we share a message about Christ with you?" Needless to say it wasn't the moment. When we left it was still ringing. Oh mission memories!

So Elder Oaks...

I got to shake his hand twice! Well, the second was hand-holding. When he came my way a second time I said "Oh, I've already shaken your hand" But he said it didn't matter, then he shook Sr. Gordon's hand again and then just kind of held mine, slightly awkward, but not too bad.

I got to see a ton of people from Torcy and Quimper. It was so great to get caught up with everybody. And I saw Delphine! My recent convert from Torcy. She's getting her Patriarchal Blessing soon and is still preparing for a mission. Mailys was also there and said her baptism was delayed from this month to October. I said "ok when?" and she said "uh, I don't know yet". Still not quite ready...

Elder Oaks mostly spoke about the importance of not just having the Temple be a monument, but a place for the work of the Lord to be done. He said the reason it took so long for France to have a temple is because for a long time people weren’t paying their tithing and thus couldn't be Temple worthy, thus couldn't make good use of a Temple. But he said that the members here have worked hard to be worthy, but must make sure that they stay worthy. It motivated me to always be worthy to go the Temple and to make sure that I find the time to go as often as possible. Something I wasn't stellar at before my mission.

I think that's all for now. Although I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Oh well, until next week,

Bethany

Pictures: Bethany with former companion Sis Gordon and new companion Sis MacKay, a 

picture of her favorite District, and a French snail not yet sauteed in garlic butter and on a plate.

9 September BYU Football Game Recounts are back!

Hello Everyone!

The BYU football recounts are back!!!! Yay! It's been awhile. Sad to know that they blew their first game, but it's good they redeemed themselves later. Thanks for all of the details Dad!

Normally based on how long you and your companion have been in an area you can guess who will be leaving or not. However, Sr. Gordon and I have been in St. Ouen almost the same amount of time so anything could happen. However, there's phrase in the mission that you know you're going to train beforehand. I asked Sr. Gordon if she thought she would be training and she says yes. And we figure if she's training she'll stay in St.Ouen. Plus, President just told us today that we will be getting 60 more missionaries before December! Depending on how many of those are sisters that could make it even more likely that she'll train. I, however, have no feelings whatsoever that I'll be training. But, as I've seen several times during my mission, President does crazy things when he's inspired!

 

So Sr. Gordon went to this fresh fruit market we like to shop at sometimes and saw that they were selling plants. We bought one and it has become our pet. We named it Phikus (yes, we recently discovered through google that that is not how it's spelled, but we don't care). The thing is we need to fill the box we've put it in with dirt, but when we went shopping today we discovered that Auchan does not have a gardening section. I fear that Phikus will not last long because we have no idea where to buy dirt. He's (yes, he. Voilà, the effects of having a companion who is 4 1/2 years younger than you, tee hee) gotten a good amount of water though because it's been raining all day today. Mom, do you know what kind of plant he is?

I think the cold season has arrived here in France. It's weird to admit it because the cold season lasted all the way through last June. We only had warm weather for two months!

I know exactly what Kaila is saying! In St.Ouen we have a ton of people who speak other languages. We constantly have to have Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and English pamphlets in our bags. Sr. Gordon even bought a Portuguese dictionary today. Because of our amie Laurinda (she’s Portuguese) I've even learned how to communicate few things; like setting up our next appointment, asking her if she read the Book of Mormon, asking her if she will be coming to church. Take that Sister Gearheart! Just kidding, Sadie will be way better than me just a couple of days after she arrives in Brazil.

Speaking of Laurinda, She's back from vacation! And she came to church yesterday! We haven't really been able to teach her because we're having a really hard time finding Portuguese speakers to teach with us. The sister we used to use started working late. Because of this problem we haven't been able to talk to her about if she still wants to get baptized. If we can get someone to teach with us I'll tell you how it goes next week.

We haven't heard from Aisata or Valentine all week last week, which worries us. However, last week was the first week of school so we're hoping that's the reason. Aisata is particularly troublesome because she has so much opposition. We're worried that she feels she can't do everything she needs to. We want to talk to her so we can help her know that while this process will be difficult it's not impossible! She can do it! We just need her to call us back...

Rose is still going good though and we've two more great lessons with her. In fact, we set a baptismal date with her! It's just going to be hard to prepare her because of the Elder Oakes’ Conference, Stake Conference and General Conference that will all be coming up in the next few weeks. When can she come to church? When can she get baptized?

We visited the 11 year old Alicia today and tried to set a date with her, but her Mom wants them all to be active beforehand. We were like "great, come to church this Sunday"! She said yes, but then they didn't. However, Alicia still loves learning about the gospel. We committed her to reading the children's Book of Mormon everyday and then a couple of verses from the real one as well.

 

We had a heart to heart with Gina yesterday to explain that, while we love her, we aren't just there to just be her friends. We told her that our message is something we know will bring her happiness and that she must research and pray to know if it's true. She said she'd read and write a list of questions for us for the next time. I hope she does it because if not we're going to have to drop her.

We had to drop another family this week as well, which was a bit difficult, but at the same time we know that we can use that time to find other people who are going to progress in the gospel.

Reading back over this, it does seem like there is certainly a lot of opposition. But it's no surprise! We're doing the work of the Lord. Satan is going to try to do everything to stop us. Plus, we're still not without miracles. In fact, we just had one on the bus on the way here to do emails:

A lady saw our nametags and said she had just moved to Paris, but couldn't find the chapel. Turns out she's recently been reactivated and really wanted to start off on the right foot here, but until she could find the chapel and was going to a Protestant church nearby. Apparently we were an answer to her prayer! We got her information and we'll be visiting her soon.

Also, another inactive woman that we've been working with came to church yesterday. Despite the fact that I forgot to call to remind her! Yes! Miracles!

The Elder Oakes’ conference is going to be crazy. Well have to host some sisters from outside of Paris for the night. Then we have to wake up early to get there before 9. I'll tell you how it goes!

Bethany

3 September 2013 Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

        It's weird to think that a year has already gone by since the last time that I said Happy Birthday from a computer. I hope you have a wonderful day and you get to do and eat whatever you want!! You'll be getting a card from me soon! It also has the memory card in it.
          I forgot to mention a very important piece of information last week! In 1976 President Kimball came to France and prophesied that, one day, France would see itself covered by stakes and have a temple. At the time there was only one Stake (a unit of our church like a diocese) in France, the Paris Stake, and the rest of the country was covered by Districts. Since I've arrived on my mission there has only been one District, the Lorient District (Bretagne). Well, as of August 22 the church will organize another Stake using the former District of Lorient. AND they've announced that the building of the Paris temple will finally start! 33 years later, President Kimball's prophecy has come true!
         This was an especially well-timed announcement for us missionaries because we just accomplished our goal of 100 baptisms in two transfers. Something that hasn't been done in over twenty years in the mission! Elder Oakes will be here for Stake Conference the weekend of the 15th. There will be 3 stakes meeting all at once in a stadium that the church has rented for the event. He was supposed to speak with all of the missionaries in a special conference, but because of this recent development it was canceled. Luckily I'm serving in Paris so I'll get to see him. It really is a wonderful time to be serving a mission in France!

Yesterday I was unable to email because Soeur Gordon had to do her legality. The trainers and I stayed in Paris and did a scavenger hunt that also made us do contacting. We had to contact every person with a stroller, get the phone number of and take a picture of a woman wearing the best African bubu, sing to someone, get six phone numbers and lick the Eiffel tower. The bonus was going to one of the major train stations and play the piano. Then we got a text of double or nothing: preach to a group of 5 people or more. I DID THEM ALL except get a picture with the bubu lady. We got her number, but she wouldn't let us take a picture. It was a bummer. But still, it was fun! Oh, and I didn't actually lick the Eiffel tower, my temporary companion, Sr. Evans, did.

    This week we did a service for Gina to help her organize her deceased son's things. She was really happy find old memories of him and she said it was nice that we were there. However, we're worried that she only sees us because she's lonely. We need her to understand why we are really here. The problem is that she can't really progress until she comes to church but she lives far from the church and works until 10pm Saturday night. But the Lord can do miraculous things so we'll figure out what to do eventually!

On Saturday we got fruged a lot and were pretty frustrated. We had one last appointment and we figured she, Rose, was going to fruge us too because she already indicated that she might have to work. Plus, we forgot about our last appointment that we had set up with her about a month ago and she was kind of mad about that. We figured she didn't want to see us. Well, we went anyway and she was so happy to see us! She said she felt that God was pushing her to find out more about Him and that she liked what we taught her. It was a pretty spiritual lesson and a great way to end a tough day. We'll be seeing her again tomorrow.

The best moment of last week was actually when I was on exchanges with our Sister Training Leader in Paris proper. The sister I went with was in my bleu group and will be dying (going home) with me. We had a lot of time to catch up and talk about good memories of our mission. That night we taught a recent convert name Phueng (Vietnamese) at the Visitor's Center. She's about our age and is really sweet. She’s still worried though about whether or not Jesus can really forgive totally, as in never think about our sins again. I asked if she thought it was possible and she said she didn't know.

I could have tried to logically explain why it was true, which is what seems to normally happen, but that didn't even cross my mind. I simply told her that I KNEW it was true because I had experienced it myself. I don't think I have ever said anything with so much love in my life. You know those moments when the spirit is so strong you feel like your heart is going to burst? Me too! and I love those moments.

This wasn't it though. The spirit in that room was the calmest and most peaceful thing I've ever experienced. For a moment, that room was one of the holiest places on the planet. I could hear the noise of people enjoying the night outside, yet we were in a haven. It was interesting to think that 50 people outside had no idea of the miracle happening just behind the walls. I wish they could have known.It's a wonderful wish. Thinking about it brings back that feeling a little bit. I think that feeling when I wish is a tiny bit of what Heavenly Father feels for us. I hope to feel that more in my life. I'll be seeking for it. I hope you will too.

Bethany

 

PS: I talked to the mission secretary last week and she said I'd be going home on the 11th of December. I should be getting my "dying papers", AKA my itinerary, in the mail this week.