Back to Pairs!

Bethany was transferred this week to the north part of Paris. Here is her new address:

Soeur Bethany Paxton

Les Missionnaires

296, Ave George Clemenceau

92000 Nanterre

Salut mes amis!

Growth in the Huntsville Stake! "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!" Can't wait to hear about all the other changes that'll happen due to the split in the Wards. Tell me who the new bishop is, k?

Daddy?! Ten bear attacks in one year?! And you say that's good? (Larry is going with a friend to Glacier Park for 2 weeks in August to camp and hike). Just because only one of those attacks ends in death doesn't mean there aren't serious difficulties for all of the other people who got attacked. Good grief. I'll guess I'll just pray extra hard for you that week. Tell me right before you go. Which I'm sure you would have anyway.

So Laura now has the reputation of being "hampster girl"? Hahahaha! Oh man, what kind of repercussions will I have when I get back to Provo? And she went out with "snake guy" or something like that. Man, oh man! Well, at least she's making money for the mission. I hope she and Brittany have fun at “7 Peaks”. That's a pretty good deal for a summer pass. And I'm glad things are going well at work for them both.

Actually, Mom, Sr. Covington did cut my hair. We found some haircutting scissors in the apartment. I had her cut two inches off, but when hair is this long you can't really tell. I was thinking this would last until I got off the mission, but I'm not sure. It might drive me crazy before too long.

That's cool that Kelly and her husband are (possibly) in the same ward as Chris and Kami (sp?). Do you think Robbie will be too? I really appreciated hearing all these bits of news about people from back home. Nobody else's parents do that. It makes me miss Facebook less.... ;)

Well I am definitely serving in Paris. There are people everywhere. We can just walk up and down the street and constantly find people to talk to. We go grocery shopping at La Defense, where the Grand Arch is. Its funny how a super famous place like that is normal now. There are a LOT of Muslims here. However, many of them are open to listening. I think a lot of them feel like the never had a chance to learn about any other religion and they want to now.

St. Ouen is on fire! We taught 19 lessons last week. Even though Sr. Callister is only in her third transfer she is teaching me so much about how to contact people. We have also had many touching experiences testifying to people. My favorite was a young woman who said she wasn't interested, because she believed in science and not God. Its funny how often people think those two things can't go together.
We were about to lose her when I felt impressed to talk about how my Dad is a scientist (engineer, mechanical science right?). Anyway, my point was that my family believed in science too, but that for Dad, Heavenly Father helped him and his family improve their situation when he was a child. Then I explained that I was raised to find out for myself if it was true, which I did (best decision of my life!). I told her this is why I came to France, to help others find out for themselves if it's true. The spirit was very strong and she gave us her phone number! I live for moments like that!

We were supposed to have a baptism for twins, Henri and Freddi, but at the last minute their Mom said they needed to talk to their Dad. They're over 18, but they still want to respect their parents’ decision. Always opposition, but we're working with them to have a stronger desire to be baptized. We're pretty sure if their mother sees that, she'll consent.

We've also got a Portuguese woman, Laurinda, set for baptism in two weeks. She doesn’t speak French so we have a woman in the Ward translate, but her testimony is strong!

AND there is Caesar who will be baptized on the 23rd. However, I've never met him and we'll probably have to pass him to the Elders soon.There are so many other people, but I'm running out of time. I'll you about them next week.

Soeur Callister is from Provo and she'll actually be training another sister who'll be arriving July 13. I don't know how we're going to fit three people in the apartment. It's tiny. And they don't even have a bed or desk for her yet. For this reason I actually suspect that I'll only be in St. Ouen for one transfer. We'll see.

Also, yesterday I got asked out on a date! Yup, a random told me I "please him" and he wanted to know if he could see me sometime. It was super awkward as I explained that I'm not allowed to date while on my mission. There's one for the journal! I think I've been asked on more dates on my mission than when I was at BYU!

Bethany

16 June 2013 email

Here is Bethany’s latest letter. Larry had asked her to describe the LDS Church buildings in France so she starts her letter with the description.

 

Hello!

 

There are differences between the US LDS Church buildings and here. First of all, even the full sized ones are half as big as the ones in the US. There is normally a Primary room and Relief Society room, but not too many other classrooms which means a lot of store bought dividers in order to share rooms. We are lucky enough to have a Genealogy Center here though! There are rarely pews in the buildings, just chairs. There isn't any sort of gym, but they try to put a basketball court in every parking lot that they can. There is ALWAYS a kitchen. How can you not have a kitchen in a Mormon church? I mean, come on!

 The Elder Ballard conference was really, really good! I can't believe I've shaken the hand of an Apostle...TWICE! The best part though was getting some of the wisdom that he has. He mostly spoke about how obedience brings power and how we need to keep Satan's influence out of our minds so that we can teach with a stronger spirit.

Mom, Elder Texiera has been Area President for awhile now. He gave us some excellent ideas that Sr.Covington and I will be using this week.

I just barely heard about the special broadcast yesterday (A Church-wide missionary broadcast). I hope I can see it!

 

This week was definitely one of the harder weeks when it came to teaching lessons. The week before we set up several lessons and we got “fruged” (Paris Mission lingo for stood up) every single time. Other missionaries have told me about weeks like that, but I've never seen it myself until now. 

We did manage to see one inactive woman, Sr. Caudrelier, who the Ward asked us to restart the lessons with because they don't think she ever got a real testimony. We taught The Gospel of Jesus Chirst and focused on having faith in Jesus Christ and Repentance. Normally Sr. Caudrelier has a problem with going off on tangents about the Bible (she used to be of another faith). However, during this lesson we planned on asking her several questions about how she has already seen faith and repentance blessing her. I think it helped because at the end she thanked us for teaching this lesson and said it was what she needed.

Since we were “fruged” so many times that meant we were able to contact and porte A LOT. We had one touching experience with an older gentleman who is totally atheist. Normally people like him close the door in our faces, but he wanted us to know exactly why. He told us about how he didn't like that priests couldn't marry and all of the problems in his former church. When we pointed out that we weren't (of his former faith) he spoke about how he knew there was no life after death. It was then that we started getting a glimpse into the real reasons he was atheist. The stuff about his former faith was just fluff to hide the real hurt. However, that wasn't all.

 

We testified that we knew there was life after death and that Heavenly Father does love and watch over us. He talked about the wickedness he saw when he worked as a judge. When Sr. Convington spoke about how the free agency of others can indeed be difficult, that was when we found out what the REAL reason was. He said "no it's not others' choices, it's my own”. This poor man is being plagued by the guilt he felt for some unjust punishments he gave as a judge. He thinks there is no way to be free from those decisions. It was one of the most powerful moments of my whole mission as we testified that Christ suffered the Atonement for that very reason.

 

My friends, I know life can be hard, I've seen it more now than I'll probably ever see it again. Sometimes its natural causes, sometimes it's the bad decisions of others, and sometimes it from our own bad decisions. I've found that the last reason is often the worst of them all. I promise with all that I am that the hurt and guilt can be totally and completely erased thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have used it in my own life and I have seen how others have done the same. It is Heavenly Father's greatest gift to us; His Son. I pray that we all remember this and that we use it to find the peace that I know we can have.

 

The Atonement makes me happy! The Gospel makes me happy! Life and all its crazy experiences have made me wiser, experienced...and HAPPY! It is all that Heavenly Father wants for us!

Bethany

 

Pictures

1. Me with an Elder I knew in the MTC. Long time no see! 2. Sneaky pictures of me studying 3. Me realizing that I'm about to be photgraphed 4. Me getting my hair done done!