soeur bitter: Seven Birthday Miracles

Hello hello everyone!!

This week was SO AWESOME!! We saw a ton of miracles and we had a lot of really great lessons with our amis. But I know all of you are dying to know what happened on my birthday so I thought I would do a rundown of that first :)

Wake up to my companion making me crepes. Such an angel. We do studies and right after studies, I get a call from Soeur Poznanski (the mission presidents wife) to wish me happy birthday and tell me the things that her and President love about me. Did I mention that Soeur and President Poznanski are seriously the most considerate people on this planet?

We head out early to go to practice our violins for a music program that will be that Sunday. We come back and then we go to an Ami's house to teach a lesson. We hadn't had time to eat so we were kind of hungry. We were hoping that we could run home after the lesson. We sit down and our ami is with her friend just chatting. She keeps apologizing and then suddenly says "I made fish! Would you like to try a little?" We respond that we could sample a little bit. Apparently a little bit means an entire fish because then she comes out with an entire grilled talapia hahaha. Soeur Hilton and I were thrilled. BIRTHDAY MIRACLE #1! And can I just say that it was DELICIOUS!!

We then head out and we decide to pass by this lady that was sick for our first lesson so we weren't able to see her. She lived kind of near our first ami so we just jumped on the metro and headed to her house. We knock on the door and instantly she opens and is like "Come in!". At which point I look at my companion confused. She had never met us before (she met the Elders) and we didn't have a RDV. She leads us into her dining room and there are 3 glasses set with napkins and different types of cookies. Haha it was seriously like she was expecting us. We had a wonderful lesson with her. It was really cool because she really meditated on what we said and she was really wanting to understand what we were teaching. BIRTHDAY MIRACLE #2.

After that we head to a recent converts house. Our lesson was SO BEAUTIFUL and so opened up to me and talked about her baptism experience and how she has felt after. On our way there, we were on the bus and a girl comes up to us and (in english) asks if we are missionaires. "Yes..." "That's awesome. We should get together." Mildly freaking out inside!! MIRACLE #3

After that my companion said that she wanted to take me to Ice Cream for my birthday. Don't I have the sweetest comp ever? BIRTHDAY MIRACLE #4.

So we went to Saint-Anne (The touristy spot of our ville) and got (not even kidding) the best ice cream I have ever had in my life. We're sitting on the steps of our cathedral when I see Leo walking in our direction. Now Leo was someone we had contacted in the park last week. She was super sweet and had a beautiful little girl. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and asked if we could visit with her sometime. We exchanged numbers but when I called the number, it didn't work :(. I thought that maybe she had given us a fake number but it was weird to us because she really did seem interested. But things like that happen. Anyway, so we see her walking down the rue that we are on and we wave at her and she comes over and talks to us for a bit. We told her that we tried calling her but her number didn't work. She look shocked. "WHAT?! Do you have the right number?? Here let me call you." To which point she takes out her phone and the little card we gave her and called us. At this point, not only do we have her right number, but also a rdv with her and we then find out that she has TONS of questions about the church and is actually really excited to meet with us. BIRTHDAY MIRACLE #5!!!!

We're really excited to meet with her this week. That was my favorite miracle because I was bummed that her number hadn't worked and running into someone again in a big ville like Rennes is highly unlikely. Turns out I just wrote the last number wrong hehe. Whoops. After that we headed to Marie and Jeans. Marie and Jean are our amis that we met while porting a few weeks ago. They invited us back for dinner and it just happened to be scheduled for my birthday tehehe. We head over there and we had, no joke, one of the best meals I have had in my entire life. MIRACLE #6!! It was the best way to end the day and they are so loving and wonderful. We talked about France back in the day and their family and just enjoyed each other's company. Did I mention it was a 7 course meal? Ya...it was a REAL french meal haha. But it was so fun and we gained like 5 pounds from just that.

All in all it was a great birthday and Soeur Hilton and I noticed throughout the day lots of little and big birthday miracles. :) I felt the love. The next day, we go to our mailbox and their are 3 packages!! SO MUCH LOVE!! Mom and Dad: All the clothes fit great and I LOVE THEM!! I'm wearing the shirt in the pictures attached :) and I'm wearing the scarf right now. Thanks for the makeup and the MANGOES!!! So happy right now. Haha. Also, you were inspired in sending me family pics. I have been wanting some but I kept forgetting to ask so I'm really happy that you included them. You are officially part of my picture collage above my desk.

Other great things of this week: So we had a lesson with the Houmed family. They are awesome! I love them so much. They are from Djibouti and a Muslim but they are looking for more. We taught the plan of salvation and decided to really emphasis Jesus Christ. They were floored at the pre-mortal life. THEY LOVED the idea of living with families forever. My favorite part of the lesson though was when their 12 year old daughter turned to us and was like
"I have another question."
"Go ahead"
"So you said that Jesus Christ suffered for all of us..."
"oui"
"Was he forced to do that or did he choose to do that?"
"That is an EXCELLENT question. A lot of people have that question. In fact there is a little quote in this pamphlet that I love a lot that will answer that"
We then gave her the Plan de Salut brochure and had her read (I only have the French one with me so I will roughly translate):
"Because your Heavenly Father loves you, he sent his son, Jesus Christ to pay for your sins. This payment is part of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ willingly suffered for your sins, your pain, your illness and your sorrows. By his grace and mercy, he can help you in your trials and free yourself from the guilt and shame resulting from your sins."
"so he..."
"Voluntarily suffered"
At this point her eyes grew three times in size. "For all of us?"
"Yes. He chose to suffer to save all his brothers and sisters. All his friends"

That was seriously my favorite part of the week. Seeing the impact of the message of the Atonement of Christ prick the meek heart of someone as young as twelve. The message of the Atonement of Jesus Christ speaks for itself. It amazes me every lesson in fact. They're such a beautiful family. And they love us a ton because we're American. They always ask us about our life in the states and say how the want to come and visit us someday.

OH! Another birthday miracle: We saw our recent convert Tugsuu. She is so awesome. She is SUCH AN EXAMPLE. She is just overflowing with love. We teach her in English. Even though she can't speak French well, she tries SO HARD to communicate with the members and show them how much she loves them. The members ADORE her...as do we :). She is from Mongolia and so Christianity was very new to her when she got baptized. She is still learning a lot about Jesus Christ, his life, his purpose etc. I asked her if she had seen Finding Faith in Christ yet. She hadn't and so we found it out LDS.org and watched it together. Once again, the message of Christ's life and atonement is SO POWERFUL. Recent convert lessons are actually one of my favorite things. They are so wanting to learn and change and grow. It's a testimony to all the members really. In their eyes, they can never learn too much or stop improving. It makes me want to keep continuing to grow and to improve.

Oh also, I hit my 6 month mark this last week...that was weird.

OH, ANOTHER FUN FACT!! I learned to drive stick!! We had President interviews a couple of weeks ago and President asked after the interview
"So Soeur Bitter, do you have any questions or concerns for me?"
"so...we have a car."
"yes you do."
"I don't know how to drive manual and I want to learn. Can we have a member in our car to teach me?"
"Are you late to church?"
"By about 5 minutes"
"That's not good. Let me think about it"
This week, our Elders called us and Elder Richer-Brulé told me that he would be teaching me to drive. WOOHOOOO! We had lots of fun in parking lots. But now I've gotten the hang of it and we're able to go anywhere!!! We don't drive everywhere. In fact, we just drive to church and then if there is an ami or a less active or member who lives somewhere there are no trains or buses. It's super fun and I feel very accomplished.

There is so much more to write. This week was crazy but I don't want this email to be gigantic so just know that I love you all so much!! I'm attaching pictures of our adventure in Fougeres. We got to learn about the 100 years war and see one of the old fortresses. Apparently Bretagne was very, very rich and EVERYONE wanted it back in the day. So...we have lots of medieval castles in our area :)

God loves you and so do I

Soeur Bitter