The Melun Forest - May 20, 2013

So this week we may or may not have stumbled upon an enchanted forest in Melun. Pictures are attached. Get excited. 

P-Day Shot From the Melun Forest

This week was so awesome. We don't have as much time to write emails this week as normal so I'm just going to write a couple highlights and then spend the rest of the time uploading pics.

So last week was CRAZY!! We officially have Elders in our village and it is amazing. Soeur Rhondeau and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. 1) because we feel like we are not in this alone and 2) because there are areas of our zone that we feel a responsibility for but as sisters we probably shouldn't really be going there. With the Elders here, I feel like we have so much more support and that spreading the Gospel in Melun will just explode.

One of the days last week we took half the day as a service day to clean the old apartment for the arrival of the Elders. After we cleaned we went out porting. We were seriously exhausted but Soeur Rhondeau and I were determined to do at least some missionary work that day. We head to a little neighborhood we had our eyes on. We knock on the first door, a woman answers and we introduce ourselves and say we have a message for her about Jesus Christ. "Well ok. I don't have a ton of time but you're welcome to come in". Voila, we went in and taught her a full lesson. Her name is Marie and she is AMAZING! She says beautiful things like "Prayer is the food of my day". Who says that?! Prepared people. That's who. As Soeur Rhondeau and I left, Soeur Rhondeau turns to me and says "I feel like that was almost...too easy." haha But she was so wonderful and she is someone who (based on experiences she shared) has just been prepared for the Gospel. It really is such a blessing.

Another fun story of the week was our good friend Oliver. Saturday night we're walking home and out of the corner of my eye I see this man waving both arms frantically to get our attention. I wave at him and walk over to see what he wants. He asks us about our badges and what church we are for. He asks "are you the mormons?". We start talking about religion and how to him, Religion has always oppressed the people of Europe. Then Soeur Rhondeau asks "Well, who is God to you?" At that moment his face just light up "HE IS THE CREATURE OF ALL THINGS" and he motions in all directions. He went on to share his own beautiful testimony of God and it was amazing to see just how much he lit up talking about God. Afterwards, he leaned in close to us, as if to tell us a secret and said "you know...I used to think you guys were a sect....but after meeting you, and seeing how nice you are...there is just no way. I'm going to try to come to your church tomorrow". I LOVE BEING ON A MISSION! I love the many wonderful people you get to meet EVERY DAY!

On a completely different note, Soeur Rhondeau and I had experienced a serious dry spell as far as letters go. John is the best letter writer so he wins an award but besides him, as a pair, we had not received a letter in like three weeks or so...which I know doesn't sound like that long but it is ok! Haha well then Mama Rhondeau broke the spell and sent us a wonderful package full of goodies! SHE IS THE BEST! She seriously broke the curse because that next day, there were like 6 letters in our mailbox. Mama Rhondeau is da best.

OH! I almost forgot my favorite story. So we're teaching the Lam-yam son because he is getting baptized. (It is a tradition here in Melun that the missionaries teach the 7 year olds just before they turn 8). Last week he asked "How can you be happy all the time?" We then talked about being grateful and how when we realize the wonderful things that God has done for us, we can be more and more happy. We told him that we would buy him a gratitude Journal for that next week. This week, when we were teaching him again (oh and all the lam-yam kids sit in on the lesson so we basically teach the 4 cutest Asian kids on this planet) We all went around the room and said three things that we are grateful for. We get to Lea (5 years old) and she says "umm...I'm grateful for church...and the sister missionaries..." Insert cute little girl smile here. I love those kids so much.

Anyway, I'm going to spend the rest of the time uploading pics. I LOVE YOU ALL

ANNE- HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY!!! So once upon a time, I had planned to send all your stuff and the stuff for mother’s day in one fell swoop...but then today was a holiday and everything is closed so I will send it a.s.a.p. and you will just get a very late birthday love note from me :)

Avec Amour

Soeur Bitter

Too Nice a Backdrop to Miss a Photo Op

Quick Mothers Day Post & Photos - May 13, 2013

Dearest Family,

I call my family...an hour late...and then I forget to wish my own mother Happy Mother's day. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! MOM YOU ARE SO AWESOME! Expect a love note from Paris...but wait patiently because I think it takes a bit. haha

So favorite teaching of the week was definitely Romain. He was the investigator who just walked into church one day...and in case you didn't know...that doesn't really happen often. We taught him on Wednesday and then again on Friday. He really opened up to us and his life is comparable to Job. That is not an exaggeration at all. He has the most beautiful one-liners so I'm just going to include some of them in here. We taught with Soeur Demuynck and I can tell by her interactions that she has decided to take him under her wing and now is kind of like his mom. On Friday we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He would say things like "So what you're saying is that I can see my mother again." or "so does that mean we're a celestial family?" (indicating to the 3 of us). When I asked him to pray about the plan of salvation and to know if God loved him he said "I will pray about it. But I'm pretty sure it's true. Why else would you be here?". He has so much faith in God and he has had such a hard life. He said that he was once taught by Missionaries of another faith but he sent them away because they taught him he could not adore and love God "of course I will love God. He's my father!". He is seriously the sweetest man we have ever met and every time we leave lessons with him, both Soeur Rhondeau and I think "this is why we are on a mission". We have never met anyone who NEEDS the Gospel quite like Romain does. We have already been able to see the magic it's worked in his life and it's amazing.

So I don't know if I told you this...but we've kind of developed a game here in Melun. There are Q-tips...like everywhere. It's very bizarre. Just on the ground. So we have developed a game with a point system and everything. We keep tally of it on our board. I know a lot of you are reading this right now and you're asking yourself, "what the heck". Since we walk a lot we developed a fun game. We were walking in Dammerie one day and I look at the ground and spot a yellow one (first one we've ever seen: 10pts) and then immediately after I spot a red one (5 points). Soeur Rondeau immediately yells "NOOOO!!! IT'S NOT FAIR!!" And then what do I do? I break into a little victory dance. It was fine because no one was watching us right? Wrong. Little did I know, but behind me on the sidewalk is a line of about 8-10 guys ranging in age from about 20-30. They couldn't get past me because the cars park 1/2 on the sidewalk and I was blocking the path with my little victory dance. Soeur Rhondeau looks back at me and just busts up laughing. Because, my happy dance, the one I thought was in solitude, was actually witnessed by a line of men just half laughing at my strange American ways. Oh the life of a missionary.

All in all, it was a fantastic week. We have a lot of really progressing investigators and it is amazing to watch the Gospel bless their life and see the change they go through.

Jon- GOOD LUCK THESE LAST WEEKS! I know you are going to rock it.

Aubrey, Kati and Meredith- If you want this relationship to work, you gotta work for it! Haha just kidding. But the transfer is officially over :) time to write me one of the love letters.

Rachel- How is planning the wedding?? What is going on??

Mayu- When do you go to India (it was india right?) I want to hear about it? Will you have a blog?? Can you send me the blog entries?? I would love to hear about your service there!!

Mindy- My companion just got Japanese stationary from her parents and we loved looking through it and at the funny quotes. It reminded me of my favorite pencil of all time "Happiness Music". It will always hold a dear place in my heart. I miss you so much!! I'll try to send you pictures soon.

I love you all so much. Sorry this letter is shorter. We are short on time today and we're in Paris again today and want to see some things.

I love you mucho!!

Soeur Bitter

More Family Night Fun

Rain is a Big Part of Missionary Life

Family Night Fun - May 6, 2013

So I know the other week I said it was the week of miracles...but maybe that was a lie because THIS week was the week of miracles. Soeur Rhondeau and I are absolutely exhausted. We taught a ton of lessons and have been running from place to place. We have been really blessed with teaching people who are very ready for the Gospel--which is awesome.

Firstly, so with Petula (she is the one who has a baptismal date for the end of May and the photo is with her kids) we had a FHE last Monday. Her husband is super nice and very welcoming but he said early on that he is uninterested and either isn't there or he will leave the room when we are there. So we had FHE with Petula and her kids. It was HILARIOUS! So we taught a quick lesson and we taught them how to play charades. We were trying to think of a game that we could play (with my limited French) and they would enjoy too. Charades it was and they seriously had a blast. Now every time we come, they want to listen in on the lessons and hang out with us. Well after the FHE, her husband started talking to us. It was honestly the first time I had talked to him. He told me that he had actually taken the missionary discussions when he lived in the Congo and that the missionaries just lived next door to him and they would come over a lot. He said that next Sunday, that they should all go to church together. We were floored! What a miracle. I think seeing his family so happy and having fun together made him more curious than before. Oh and the other picture below is when we taught Petula later that week. One of the girls was fascinated by my hair and was playing with it/brushing it the whole time haha.

She Did Wonders for My Hair

Family Night Fun

So we found Prisca this week and I haven't met someone who is more ready for the Gospel. The first lesson, she said that she had been looking for the true church but that she has never been able to find it. Her husband told her that she could pray about it because God promised that he would let us know what was truth (this all happened on splits so I didn't meet her until lesson two). After the first lesson, they asked her to read Alma 32 and the Restoration pamphlet. The next time Soeur Rhondeau and I go back and sure enough she read the entireity of both! And when we asked her how it was she said "I find this book easier to understand than the Bible. It just explains things better" She went on to talk about her favorite parts about how it explained faith. Teaching her is awesome because I really feel that Soeur Rhondeau and I hardly do anything and the spirit does all the work. We are definitely prepared for lessons haha we haven't tried winging anything yet but the lessons just go so smoothly and she is progressing faster than I have seen anyone do so far.

OH! Another miracle this week. We met this wonderful woman named Zwina. We were porting one day and she opened the door and started talking to us about philosophy and how we can know something to be true in this confusing world. She said that a lot of times, religion is tied to hatred and bloodshed (talking about crusades etc). She invited us in and we met her cute little family. She was talking about how she wasn't very sure about Christianity when I had the feeling to give her a Book of Mormon. I usually only keep one or two in my bag but I decided to take it out. As soon as she saw it, she said "you are Mormon?!" And her whole attitude changed. She talked about how she loved the Mormons and that she knows that we are very family oriented people. Next thing I know, we are going to the back of her house and she gave each of us these old (like 18th century) Christian books (including the Bible) as a gift. It was the sweetest thing that I had ever witnessed.

The people of France are incredibly giving. I have seen it time and time again. For example, last week, our key to our old apartment stopped working. We have a key for the door and then a key for the building. The building key is electronic and so the batteries can die. Well...they did. Haha when we went to the agency, they said that we would just have to figure it out for a couple weeks. It got pretty tiring paging people in our building to ask them to buzz us in. One day, this man saw us and he said "oh my friend lives here. Let me page her". We get in and go inside to do planning. Suddenly we hear our doorbell ring. We go to the door and there is this woman there who says "my friend says there are these two English girls who don't have a key anymore! I have two! I knew you were on the 3rd or 4th floor so I have just been ringing every door until I found you. Here! Have my key". People are so nice!

So the other day we had splits and we stayed here in Melun and the Luxemburg sisters came down. THANKFULLY I was with a sister who has already served in the Melun area for a while so she knew the area and we were able to get around just fine. She got really close with the Bishop's family while she was here because they can speak English and I guess her French wasn't very good when she got here. That night the Bishop's family had us over for dinner and the Bishops wife said the sweetest thing (well...to me haha). She put her arm around my shoulders and said "Soeur Hurrell, Soeur Bitter has the gift of tongues...you...do not. But keep working. Not everyone can have the gift of tongues" Whoops haha. But it made me feel good to know my French isn't a complete disaster.

So they have this cool tradition in the Melun ward that whenever an 8 year old is about to be baptized, the missionaries will come and teach them. It's kind of like a ‘rite of passage’ thing for this ward. So the Lam Yams son is getting baptized this next week and so we had a lesson with him on Sunday. We decided that the Gospel of Christ would be good and we could talk about the importance of this next step. It was the best thing ever! He knew every answer to EVERY question. "Michael, what is faith" Answer: "Faith is hope for things which are not seen which are true." BOOM! His response for every question was quoting some scripture. It was amazing! Maybe he can come teach with us sometime.

All in all, this week was amazing. There were definitely more stories but I don't want to make my emails too overwhelmingly long haha.

I'm excited to talk to you on Sunday. Dad and I kind of worked out that it will be at 9 am your time...which is 10 am TX time for you Texans. :) And I'm hoping to do google hangout so we can all be in on it!

Happy Mother's day mom! You are so awesome! I can't wait to talk to you!

Je vous aime beaucoup!!

Soeur Kari Ann Bitter

p.s. The new apartment is great. It makes me smile every day I come home :) And we're really excited to have elders here! So we're not allowed to teach men (unless they have a family or unless we bring either a Sister from the ward or two Brethren) so it's sometimes hard. But with them here, I really feel like we will continue to find people who are searching for the truth. EXCITING!