The Awesome People of Melun - July 29, 2013

Bonjour tout le monde!!

This week was awesome -- seriously awesome. I can't get everything in this letter...especially since I'm almost out of time on my account at this internet cafe. I'll try to get in everything that I can.

Last Monday after P-day, we decided to go to Le Mee and do some pass-bys of people that we used to teach and then do some porting. Our pass-bys fell through so we finished porting this building next door. Le Mee is kind of a sketchy area and I was nervous being there at night. Nonetheless I felt strongly that we should be there so I just 'decided to be there'. The Lord would protect us. When we started porting, EVERY door that opened was a shocker... let's just say that it was one bizarre experience after another. I was beginning to think we should probably leave, but once again felt prompted to continue porting. Door, after door, after door. Weird, and weirder, and weirder.

The fun thing about porting is you kind of feel like it is one of those game shows (WHAT IS BEHIND CURTAIN #1?! Haha) By this point, every door that opened caused Soeur Grewar and I to grow in our apprehension. Finally, this young man in his 20s opens a door and we start by telling him we have a message about Christ. Immediately he said, "There are few people who love Christ more than me and my family. You're welcome here." 

He let us in and we see on the couch, his mom and his sister. His mom looks a little annoyed at first and I thought, "Uh oh. Maybe we were not really welcome here". We start teaching and the mom LIGHTS up. The son was NOT kidding. I have rarely taught people who love Christ more than this family--especially the mom. 

At the end of the lesson, she asked if she can be the one to offer the prayer. In the prayer she thanked our Heavenly Father fervently for sending us there. After she finished, the sister prayed. Then another sister and then the brother who opened the door. Each one of them expressed astounding faith and love for our Savior and love for us missionaries. In the end, the mom turned to us and said "we don't just let anyone in our house. We have had people of many religions come to our door. The reason we let you in is because you have the name of Jesus Christ as your church's name." She said that they had been fighting just before we came about silly things. She said that she will be forever grateful to us for bringing the spirit of the Lord into her home. It truly touched me and was an AMAZING way to start out our week.

Other great news: We had a lesson with Petula and her family this last week. Divin is Petula's son and went to the YM's camp a couple of weeks ago. He was listening VERY intently on the lesson. We decided to talk about the Book of Mormon, reintroduce it and stress its importance. Divin immediately said "I know about that book. I learned about it at the camp." We asked him what he remembered and he began to recount story after story from the Book of Mormon -- how Nephi was his favorite because he wasn't afraid to do the Lord's will. After the lesson, we asked Divine what else he learned at camp.

Divine: "I learned to have Faith".

Soeur Grewar: "What part of camp did you learn that at?"

Divine: "The testimony part. Everyone's testimonies were really strong".

Soeur Bitter: "Did you think of bearing your testimony"

Divine: "I really wanted to but I was too scared."

I am SO excited for this family. Divin is really progressing and I feel like he will be an example to the rest of his family.

Prisca is doing amazingly well (no surprise there). She is always excited to learn and just sees everything in the Gospel as such a blessing. We talked about Visiting Teaching this week. She said she had received her visiting teaching assignment but didn't know what it was. After we explained visiting teaching, she said "I love this. And my companion, her kids are a little older than mine. So I feel like my companion assignment was inspired because I'm sure she has lots of good ideas for raising my kids as well." I love her. 

This Sunday, I asked her if she would come to our Amis class with us. (This is the class where our investigators come and the missionaries teach during the 2nd hour of church). She bore a BEAUTIFUL testimony of how the Book of Mormon has blessed her and what she has learned. I felt like such a proud mama. :)

Oh, funny story of the week. Friday night during planning, our phone was ringing OFF THE HOOK! Call after call after call. We were thinking, "Woah. Our Amis are wanting to see us! This is awesome!" I was on the phone with one of our amis when another call tried patching in that I didn't recognize the number. I finished up the call with Gwadys and then picked up the unknown call." The person began talking like I should know them, "Hi this is Victor!" Well, as a missionary, you learn fast not to tell people you don't know who they are. They could be an ami from 6 months ago and they don't realize that missionaries have changed. So I tackled the conversation head on and said, "OH LA LA!! BONJOUR!! IT'S SO GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!" Hahaha After that, I sneakily asked for their address....but only got a reply of the street name and number. 

I start scouring all of our Ville's maps trying to match a street to a city. FINALLY I find a match. This mystery ami wanted to see us the next day but unfortantely we had 2 RDV's that night, including one with Gwadys who I had just gotten off the phone with. That next morning, I get a call from one of the appointments saying that they had to cancel. Now I thought, "I CAN CALL THAT OTHER NUMBER BACK!" I call the mystery number back and see if they're still free for tonight. At this point I still don't know who this person is. We wander to the area and end up right in front of Gwady's house. I scheduled 2 RDV's with the exact same Ami. One at 7, one at 8 BAHAHAHA. Once she let us in, we just laughed and laughed and I of course blamed it on my French. :) Oh the adventures of being a missionary.

Other fun things that happened this week: We're teaching a less active family that has a girl who is 8 years old and not baptized. The ward asked us to focus on her and make her feel loved by members. We have been visiting her and a couple of weeks ago I asked her if there was anything specific she would like to learn "THE STORIES OF JESUS!!" How cute is that? So we have been teaching her the stories of Jesus. 

This last week, I asked her "Is there a specific story of Jesus you would like to learn more about?" "HIS BIRTH!!" Haha again so cute. So I had thought "Hey! We should act it out!" So I wrote out a script. We had a Mary, angels, baby Jesus, shepherds and the kings. We had our very own nativity scene...in the middle of July. I was just laughing to myself thinking "I doubt many people in the world are acting out the story of Jesus right now". She loved it and I love her family so much!! A pic of us and a few of the sisters is shown below.

Another fun adventure: We went and visited Villenueve St. George this week. Obviously that Ville name means nothing to any of you but Villeneuve St. George is actually out of our area. I got permission to go visit it because we actually have a member in our ward who lives out there. Technically she should be in a different ward. Oh well. When we finally arrive we find that the city is HUGE. I was not expecting that. The area is as dense as the area around the LAX airport. This is ironic because this is where the Airport is as well. When we get off the train I was expecting maybe 8 buses to choose from to get to our target destination. Try like 30 bus options. We were running from bus to bus asking "we're trying to get to Valento". “Oh you want G1.” Run to G1. “No you want J1.” Run to J1. “No you want J2.” Run to J2. “No you want the H.” Run to the H. “No you want the B.” BAHAHAH, oh public transportation. It was definitely an adventure. But I LOVED IT. 

I love doing missionary work in big cities. There are so many people and so much is happening. It's easy to find people to talk to. :) Anyway, I hinted to my District Leader that I want to “white wash” Villenueve St. George with missionary work (not our presently our area...but I'm sure they'll open it just for me).

Well, that's all I have time for. But I'm thinking this is my last week in Melun. Next week we'll find out if I'm staying or leaving. Logically, it makes sense that I'm going. I've been here for 3 transfers and most likely Soeur Grewar will train here after me. I love Melun so much and I don't want to leave. It's probably time to go. All the bus drivers in town know who I am. They honk and wave at us as we walk the streets of Melun. I love it.

I love you all SO MUCH!! Mom, Dad and Anne! Did you get my post cards? I never heard anything. I hope they got to you. And I hope you didn't throw them away thinking they were junk mail (smile).

Sorry for the short note this week. I only had 50 minutes instead of the normal hour and a half.

Christ lives. God loves you

Avec Amour

Soeur Bitter

So Many Children - July 22, 2013

FRIENDS!!!

This week was amazing and exhausting. The heat wave has officially hit France and the French are no longer wearing clothes... it makes porting an adventure.

The highlight of this past week happened on Saturday morning. There was this woman up the road from our apartment named Bijou. We have been trying to contact her for over a month. We passed by her home earlier this last week and came across a 20 year old girl named Atalia. Atalia told us we could come back on Saturday at 11.

We returned on Saturday morning and the front door is already open. Through the door we see a long hallway with doors on both sides. A girl comes out and we ask if Atalia is at home. While we are waiting for Atalia, kids are walking in and out of the doors greeting us with a 'hello'. Soeur Grewar asked me "have you been keeping count?" "I'd say there are at least 6. All the kids we've seen so far are different."

Atalia finally comes to the door and welcomes us into the living room. There, we see 10 kids, sitting perfectly quiet ready to listen to the "Good word of God". We had an awesome lesson with them. The spirit was so strong and I could tell that they GEUINELY want to know their Savior.

After the lesson we asked if we could come back early the next week and they responded emphatically "WITH PLEASURE!!" Later that weekend, we were walking back to our apartment and they all came running to us and yelling our names. :)

We felt loved by our new amis.

It's really hot and I'm tired -- so that's all you get for this week. Sorry, but please know that I love you!!

Here is a pic to make up for my weak letter :)

Je t'aime

Soeur Bitter

France is Beautiful

Finding Eugene - July 15, 2013

HELLO HELLO!!!

This week was full of miracles! It was such a great week. So many things to say. So little time. I'll start with my most favorite and so I know I will have time.

This last Thursday, we were in a town just outside of Foutainebleu. We were stuck with no trains coming and no people around. So we start doing our weekly planning while sitting on the side of the road. We're sitting there planning and I get a text from our next appointment (one of our less actives) telling us that she was cancelling. "Well great." I thought, "smart me didn't plan a back-up plan".

My mind starts racing as to what we can do. The responsibility of the ville is totally on me. Soeur Grewar is just getting acquainted with Melun so she couldn’t offer much help. As far as pass-bys or where to go finding or porting, that is definitely on me. We get on the train and I start thinking through our villes. "Ok we could do some finding in that apartment building in Savigny." The spirit says "No."

"Ya. I guess that would be bad. Savigny is kind of sketchy at night....what about Cesson? Pass by some of our old amis?" No. "Moissy?" no. "Boussy" no. Ville, after ville, after ville after ville. no no no no no no no. I'm starting to seriously stress at this point.

We have about 2 hours left in the evening and nothing to do! We can't just sit on the train forever. "Ok...well we could just stay in Melun itself..." I felt so strongly that was EXACTLY what we need to do. Then my mind started racing "and do what?!" Melun itself has been pretty torn up. We have ported in most of the areas.

I started thinking of passbys and then a name came into my mind clear as day EUGENE! I WAS THRILLED!! Back up story to Eugene: My very first day in Melun, Soeur Rhondeau told me about an ami. He read the first 20 chapters of the Book of Mormon in 3 days. Between the 2nd and 3rd appointment, he had read almost 200 pages. He said that every time he read the book, he felt overwhelming peace.

BUT the week before I got here, he called and said that he wasn't interested because he heard that we were a cult. Sad story because it's so not true! As soon as I heard this story, I told Soeur Rhondeau. "It's not over with him". Ever since then, he will come to mind at least 2 or 3 times a week but I always felt it wasn't time to visit him. Just remember him.

Yet Thursday, I felt that it was time!!! We run to the church, print out a talk in Russian (p.s. he's Russian) and grab a bus to his place. We ring the doorbell and he opens the window. I had that split second "oh shoot...what am I going to say??" haha Luckily I didn't need to say a word "are you the Mormons?" He asked "Yes! We're the sister missionaries!"

"Wait one second". He came out and greeted us and invited us in. Gave us some delicious herbal drink, ice cream, a tour of his house with all his artwork and allowed us to teach him a lesson. It was SUCH a good lesson too. He had SO many questions and you could tell that he is fervently searching for truth. At the end we asked if we could leave a prayer with him. I told him that he could choose who would say the prayer. "May I say it?" He asked.

As a missionary, you ALWAYS love when the ami wants to say it. YES OF COURSE!! haha he thanked Heavenly Father over and over for sending us to him and for the lesson because it was "much needed." The spirit was very strong--soul piercing. Anyway, we are going to see him this week and it is definitely what I am most excited for! I have been waiting to have this RDV for months and I am through the roof that he wants to see us again! Oh and side note, his mom was there and originally she had said to steer clear of the church. I think just seeing us there and that we're just normal people teaching about Christ really helped her.

Prisca is doing so so well. We had a lesson with her this week and it went marvelously (no surprise there). My favorite part of the lesson was when she opened up a little about her conversion. We were talking about prayer and seeking answers to prayer. She said "ya. I've learned that God answers prayers through the Book of Mormon too. If I have a question and I read the Book of Mormon, I always find my answer. That is how I knew this church is true." Another quote by Prisca, "Whenever I'm sad, I read the Book of Mormon and it brings me happiness again." If that is not a stellar member, I don't know what is. I'm so excited for her. She is so full of light and love and it's been amazing to me to see how much the Gospel adds to that light that she already had.

Another great miracle: On Friday we had a rdv with a less active in our ward. THEY ARE MY FAVORITE!!! Ok..you're not supposed to have favorites...but I love them lots. haha Anyway, we got to Moissy about 15 minutes early so I thought, "Alright. Let's do some porting for about 15 minutes and try to find some amis".

Sure enough! After like 3 doors, we find someone who lets us in on the spot. All we needed to say is "We're missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ--"

"Yup come in." Umm k that doesn't normally happen! We scheduled a RDV for the next day thinking "ya this is really awesome". So we go back the next day and once again we're early...like 45 minutes early. "Alright...let's do porting over there". First door we knock..no answer. 2nd door we knock...no answer. 3rd door we knock a woman answers the door. "Hi We're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ. We're here to share a message about Christ and the Plan he created for you".

"Yes. Come in". We walk in and it's a family of like 20 people! It was the grandmother who answered the door. Her 4 grand kids were there and her daughter in law, son, sister....on and on and on. They were all gathered round. I have never taught so many people before haha. IT WAS AWESOME!! Then we leave, and we still have some time. So we go porting some more...we find 2 more families who let us in and we get to teach them lessons as well.

It was such a testimony to me of the Lord preparing the missionaries path. The trains were quicker than normal so we were 15 minutes early to our 1st RDV...then we had a return appointment. Then to go to that RDV, the transportation was RIDICULOUSLY fast and we were 45 minutes early and found people in the area who have been prepared. Miraculous!

For the rest of my time, I'm going to attach all the pictures that I have been wanting to send but just haven't had the chance. I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU ALL!!

Quote by President Benson:“Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us.” This quote hit me hard this week. Our spirits recognize who we are as children of our Father in Heaven and it will be a wonderful reunion when the veil is taken away and we see the Father again and realize how close and familiar our relationship with him is.

Avec Amour,

Soeur Bitter

BIGGEST. CREPE. EVER!! It had a whole banana inside and more nutella than I could ever hope to eat. I guess missionaries go to this place ALL THE TIME. The lady who runs it LOVES us haha. She loves practicing her english and she says that we are always so nice. Maybe that is why she put so much love in my crepe. Happiness. We just got to eat them outside of Notre Dame 2 pdays ago. :) Again, happiness.

Lunch With Julie and Tom - July 8, 2013

BONJOUR TOUT LE MONDE!!!!

So big news of the day, I had lunch with Julie, Anna and Tom Kearney!! It was SO fun. I told Julie  when I was talking to her, it was like having a little piece of mom there. It was great.

So this week we went on exchanges and it was AWESOME! I was with Soeur Pulupuna and she is SO funny. She is from Tonga and she is full of so much light and so much love. She is also really bold so teaching with her was epic. We definitely had a lot of fun on our exchange...maybe we had too much fun though because one time we missed our train...while we were standing on the platform. It came and it left while we were just standing there, so blissfully unaware.

So this week my highlight was our first integration lesson with Prisca. Firstly, Prisca really does have a new and brighter light. She had a lot of light before but ever since she was baptized, we noticed that she is seriously glowing. So we taught her this week about temples and eternal marriage in the context of the Plan of Salvation. It was wonderful. We asked her about her baptism and how she felt and she said how it was a day she will cherish forever. And that now, she feels free. She says that she can't even describe it. It's just this freedom, like things were weighing her down that she didn't know where there. She said that it has improved her relationship with her husband and with her daughters. Later on in the lesson, we handed her a talk by President Monson and showed her the lds.org site. She then said how much she loves this church. She loves that there is always more to learn and become. She said that is how church should be. She was seeking to learn more about Christ and about God but she didn't know where to look. She tried going to other places but they would say "God is God" and that was the end of that until the next week. She received a "Daughters of my Kingdom" from the relief society president and she can't stop reading it. Basically, if she wasn't amazing before, she is even more amazing now. She said that she is preparing for the temple and she is excited. We told her the nearest temples were Switzerland, Germany and Madrid. "Oh that's not far at all!" Soeur Grewar and I are thinking "5 hours...that's forever". But to her, nothing is too far :) I love it. Also, her kids love me now -- no big deal.

More good news: So Petula has a son who is 12 years old (Divin). We noticed that a lot of times in lessons, he would listen in intently. When we watched Finding Faith in Christ, he was truly touched. Before we came, him and his family didn't have a concept of who Christ was and they weren't sure if they believed in God. So it is really awesome to see how they have progressed and also how having faith in the Lord TRULY brings a family closer together. Anyway, back on topic, so Divin is going to the YM's camp this week with our ward. He is REALLY excited too. I think it will be good for him to so he can begin to have friends in the ward and (hopefully) have the desire to come to Church. They live far away so that has definitely been a struggle with them.

Those are my favorite highlights of the week. I'm going to send some pics in a different email (pray they work). I'm in Paris and the cafe here is only so so.

Mayu: OH. MY. GOSH! You are the BEST!! I got your letters this last Friday and all the pictures too!! I LOVE THEM ALL!! You are seriously the best friend a girl could ask for. I'm going to hang up all the pictures tonight. :) You picked good ones. Also, you look so beautiful!! (no surprise there). Loved getting the ones of Rachel's wedding. Her and Phil look happy. I'm hoping to send your letter either today or tomorrow.

Love you all!

Soeur Bitter

The Transfer of Soeur Rhondeau - July 1, 2013

Well Soeur Rhondeau is officially gone and I have a new companion! Her name is Soeur Grewar. She's almost done with her mission (I think she has like 2 or 3 months left) and she is from Australia. So between the two of us, the French are always laughing at our accents. She is super sweet and works really hard. It's awesome because she has a bunch of new fresh ideas for this area so hopefully we'll be able to shake Melun up a bit.

Transfer Day

A Great Companion For a Great Mission Start

The fun story of the week is about our new Amis Victor & Simone. We were on the bus the other day on our way to visit some less actives in our ward. This man comes up to the front and we just start talking. He notices our accent and asks if we are here for school. "Actually we're missionaries" he isntantly looks at our tags and shouts "FOR JESUS?! OH HALLELUJAH!! GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!" He had to get off the bus immediately afterwards and we see him rejoin with his wife and yell "Look!! It's the girl missionaries!!"

Soeur Grewar and I were thinking "Dang it." In the hussle of helping him get off all of his stuff, he didn't get our information and we did not get his. I turn to Soeur Grewar and I'm like "we're getting off at the next stop...and chase them down" Unfortunately the next stop was further than I would have liked haha. But sure enough we start sprinting up the road until we chase them pretty much to their complex. Completely out of breath, Soeur Grewar explains that we would love to come see them and teach them about Christ. Voila.

We saw them that next day. And they are AWESOME! They already have a lot of faith in Christ and he is seriously the center of their lives. It's also awesome that after anything we said they would shout "AMEN!" I love it. At the end of the lesson, I told them "So we brought a small gift for you. It's a film about the life and miracles of Jesus Christ (Finding Faith in Christ)". Immediately Simone and Victor yelled "JESUS!!!" Victor ran to the TV to literally watch it right then and Simone came over and embraced us both. We told them that we couldn't stay and watch it with them but that we had another RDV but that we invited them to watch before our next visit. "Oh we definitely will" They responded as they're unwrapping the packaging. I think they were literally going to watch it right then. Finding Faith in Christ is awesome. We have been using it a lot to get into people's doors and teach lessons. Everyone loves that film--obviously.

We taught Diane this week too and she is really progressing. We talked about Baptism and she turned to both of us and asked "have you been baptized" to which Soeur Grewar replied "yes" and then she then asked me "And you??" "yes I have". To which she responded "wow. I haven't been. Hopefully one day." We invited her to be baptized to which she replied "wait..don't you need to go to classes and learn lessons before you can get baptized?" Missionary fail. We then explained that that is why we were there. And that if she chose to be baptized, we would teach her what she needed to know to prepare herself for baptism. "Oh good. Because that's a big step. I'll pray about it". Perfect :)

So I've run out of room on my SD card so I'm deleting old stuff. I'm going to spend the rest of my time sending you random things I've accumulated on my camera.  Sorry for the short email but enjoy the fun pictures!!

Also, I've been thinking about it a lot: Dad, will you back up my computer (mostly all the photos. I don't care about anything else)? If you could just move everything onto a hard drive, that would be awesome.

Spiritual thought of the day: Christ's invitation to us all is to be healed, to have joy and above all, he commands us "peace. be still". For all of us though, there are things in our lives that are stopping us from being fully at peace. There are small things in our personalities, our habits or our desires that are inhibiting us from being healed. It may be painful to uproot and cast off our natural man but the end result and the joy that comes with it, is without comparison. Only then will we feel the hope and peace that comes when we fully have an "eye single to the glory of God".

Love you all!!
Go forth and be awesome!!

Soeur Bitter