Prisca Was Baptized - June 24, 2013

PRISCA GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It was such a beautiful day. But I'll start at the beginning of the week with this story. So on Wednesday, we had our last RDV with Prisca before baptism. We taught her the 10 commandments and the Sabbath Day and Chastity. We figured all those would be pretty simple for her. It was cute, during the lesson, she kept saying "yup. Totally makes sense to me. That's already the way I live". She then had her interview with our District Leader. She was BEAMING! She was so excited to be baptized and when we went over the interview questions with her beforehand, she. was. glowing.

That Friday, we went by their home and had a TRADITIONAL AFRICAN MEAL from Cape Verde. It was so so so delicious!! We had fried plantains (they kind of look like bananas) and seriously the best fish I've ever had in my life. Yumm. Apparently before he left for work, her husband said, "Prisca! You can't make them this food! They're Americans! They can't handle spicy!" False! It was the best meal I've had in France yet.

Then fast forward to the next day. Saturday. Soeur Rhondeau and I could not sit still for our lives. We felt like something was going to go wrong. For some reason, neither of us doubted that Prisca would be there. We knew Prisca was steady and was going to be there...it was the other details that freaked us out. But long story short- everything turned out. It was a gigantic blessing. During her baptism, Soeur Rhondeau and I had the opportunity to stand on the steps of the font (front row seats). I have never felt the spirit so uniquely before. A little piece of my soul, that I didn't even know was there, was touched so profoundly. I had the strongest confirmation of the power of Baptism and the covenants that she had just made with our Father.

I know what it means when in the scriptures they say that your joy will be full. Teaching her has truly been such a privilege. The service was beautiful and her whole family came! Her husband is awesome! I don't know if I mentioned this before but in our first RDV, she said "I've been searching for the true church for a long time. My husband told me that if I prayed, God would help me find the truth and he would tell me when I've found it". He was really impressed by the service and the ward members. He asked the Bishop for a copy of the Book of Mormon and we will begin teaching him soon :).

Prisca

 

 

 

After the baptism, there was a ward activity and it was amazing to see how welcoming everyone was of Prisca and her husband. As I was sitting there with Prisca and her husband and Soeur Rhondeau and some of our other friends from the ward, I thought to myself "I never want to leave Melun." This work may be hard, I may have blisters on my feet and I may encounter the creepiest men on the planet here...but I love Melun. I love the work. I love the people. I love our ward. I love our amis. I love Prisca.

Rain Boots Are Key

Later that night, a family in the ward drove Prisca, her husband and 2 girls home. When he came back he asked us how long Jean-Paul had been taking the lessons. We told him that the baptism was actually the first time we had met him. He turned to us with shock "WHAT?! Woah. You have to teach him. He is legit. But seriously. Really legit". So Soeur Rhondeau and I are incredibly excited and we are thinking that Prisca has been sharing with him the things she has been learning from the missionaries. Prisca will seriously be such an asset to this ward.

The next day, after church, we walked Prisca to the Train. We encountered someone staring at Soeur Rhondeau's and my plaques. (Not so uncommon). She asked if we were nuns to which we replied no and explained who we were. Then Prisca piped in and said "and there is church every Sunday and you are always welcome!" A member for less than a day-and already a missionary.

Other fun stories from the baptism/ward activity:

• We witnessed a 3 year old pull the fire-extinguisher from out of the wall-creating 4 new gigantic holes in our church haha. 

• We thought we were really sneaky and stole Prisca's name from off of the Sonnerie. It was 13 characters long and SUPER African...only to learn that her last name is just Zahui and the name we printed on everything was in fact the last name for her children...not her.

• All the French being shocked seeing me put strawberries in a salad (fruit is dessert here) and then seeing that after only 10 minutes, the entire salad is licked clean and everyone is chasing me down looking for my mother's recipe. (Way to rock it mom).

• Prisca trying to convince her husband she's a spy.

• Being followed around by the cutest Asian kids on this planet who keep asking us to swing them. Pictures to follow.

Church Fun

Other fun things that happened this week: I went to Belgium! It was for my legality and it was like a little vacation--although before the baptism, I wished I had been in Melun with our amis and taking care of stuff for Saturday. But it was fun seeing everyone from the MTC and taking a nice trainride through the countryside of France. Also, I had the most epic belgium waffle of my life (pics to follow).

Only Belgium Waffles are Served in Belgium

Visa Renewal in Belgium

Well, I'm probably going to spend the rest of the time sending pictures. :) Happy week everyone!!

Also, sad news, Soeur Rhondeau is leaving Melun. :(

My address

Soeur Kari Bitter
3 Rue de L'abreuvoir B302
Melun, France 77000

The B302 is only needed if you send a package. If you are not sending a package, you can just write 3 rue de L'abreuvoir

Love you all!!

Soeur Bitter