More Miracles and Some Sunshine

Salut! Holy Cow!  Zach is almost home? How times flies! I look forward to seeing him during Christmas break and chatting missionary things. And say goodbye to Kayla for me! This week we had some pretty excellent miracles. Last P-day we decided to go to the museum here in Arras because they have a special exhibit of the carriages of Versailles . I'll add pictures later. Wow! Right as we started I asked a man who worked there if we could take pictures. After he said yes, he started asking us about where we were from. This is normal in the United States , but for France question like that are strange, especially since he didn't give an explanation. Later he stopped us again and asked more questions, but still with no explanation.  Then about a minute later he came to us again (I could tell he was getting nervous because he was worried that he was bothering us too much). This time he came right out and asked if we taught lessons about what we believed. I tried to control the insanely excited person inside of me and said "why yes, we do". Of course, I had to explain that for men the Elders have to teach the lessons. A lot of times when we say that to men they say "oh, you two can't do it?" But he didn't care! He totally understood the situation and he really does want to know more. Like I mentioned earlier, the Sister Training leaders, Soeur McKay and Soeur Standford from the Louise ward in Brussels , Belgium , both came for exchanges on Tuesday/Wednesday. That meant that we were able to get double the work done! Before we were supposed to meet up with them, we had a District meeting with Amiens as usual. Unfortunately, our train got cancelled without any explanation. We found out later that the Louise Soeurs' train was also cancelled. We were frustrated as we waited for another hour for the next train and I turned to Soeur Covington and said, “I have a feeling we're supposed to be delayed for a reason”. Just then a young man from Nigeria sat next to me and said, “I heard you speaking English and wondered where you were from.” His name was Louis and he's been studying/working here for 3 years. I think he missed speaking his native language. We ended up getting his number to give to the Elders in Paris , which is where he's living. Finally we got back to Arras where I was paired with Sr. Standford, who's in her last transfer. We were blessed to have more lessons than we planned because while we were visiting one inactive sister, her non-member daughter was there, listening and participating! She even agreed to come next Wednesday. We saw Corinne for a little bit and even helped her and her husband figure out how they were going to get a new couch to their second floor through the window. We offered to have the Ward help her do it, but they had already hired movers to come on Thursday. We also visited an inactive family who has for some reason become very hostile toward us and a few other members in the ward. The husband has a strong testimony and was happy to see us, but his wife was very cold. Luckily, Sr. Standford was bold in trying to figure out what happened. Although the wife didn't open up she seemed to like that we cared enough about her to ask. She even let me hug her as we left....good progress considering that she looked like she could have bitten me when we first got there. We found out from another member that this woman has had a problem of being jealous of the Sisters in the past and suggested we send the Elders for awhile. Hopefully that will help! Sr. Standford and I also taught a woman, Marina , in the street. I found out that as long as you teach someone a principle, no matter how small (like faith, prayer, families), and then pray with them, it counts as a lesson. I've done that plenty of times in the street, but never knew it was a lesson! You can always learn something new. We set up an appointment with Marina for tonight and we'll be teaching with a member who'll be going on her mission to Lyon next month. My favorite story was that of Fabrice. And I wasn't even there for it! While Sr. Standford and I were having fun, Sr. McKay was with Sr. Covington. They were talking to a woman who wasn't very interested when a man drove up in a van and said, “I need one of your cards.” Sr. Covington recognized him as one of the bus drivers. We always thought he was Muslim. Turns out he's not. Fabrice told them that night that he really needs God right now in his life. He had apparently been seeing us on the bus for several months now and really felt that he needed to talk to us, but he couldn't because he was working. When he saw the Sisters that night he knew he had to stop and talk to them. It turns out that he's been living with a woman for 20 years and they have an 18 year old son whose health has really taken a turn for the worse. To add insult to injury, recently the woman left him and took the son too. They asked to pray with him and he really impressed Sr. Covington by praying for the health and safety of his girlfriend and son. He could have asked for money or a better job or he could have wanted revenge. Instead he wanted to bless them! Once again, the Elders will be teaching him, but we're sill so excited about it all! By the way, Sr. Covington is progressing very well! I told her during companionship inventory last week that I felt that she's become a real missionary now, not just a bleu. She takes control during planning, studies and lessons. Her French is progressing very well and she loves practicing. She knows what needs to be done and I think she's ready to train if necessary. Bethany