I have officially left the countryside of France for the inner-city Belgium. Mmmmm waffles. Yum. It really is a COMPLETELY different country here. Same language but the people in beglium are most definitely not the French haha.
So I'll give the highlights of both Rennes and Belgium.
So I received the news Monday that I would be leaving Rennes. Not going to lie-biggest shocker of my life. I was in the middle of training and usually, you will stay with your blue. But anyway, I decided to wait to tell Sophie that I was leaving until our RDV -- which was Tuesdaynight--my last RDV in Rennes. (Couldn't have planned that better).
We went over to Sophie's and right away I told her (mainly because there was no way I could make it through an entire lesson without). She was SO SAD. She said when she imagined her baptism she thought of her best friend being there too. :( Sigh. She understood though and in her prayer, she asked Heavenly Father to help me find Sophie #2 in Belgium haha. So cute
So for our lesson, we went through the Baptismal questions and just made sure that she was completely ready for Baptism. It was an AMAZING experience. I got to hear her bear her testimony of each of the things that we had taught her. At first she was nervous for the questions but half way through it would go something like this:
"Do you believe that Jospeh Smith was a prophet and restored the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth again?" "OF COURSE!! no problem. PASSED!!"
Then we asked her what these things meant to her. It was amazing to watch her search her thoughts and try to explain what she felt. One of my favorites was her describing what it meant to her to have a modern day prophet.
"To me it means....that Jesus sent someone...for us...so we could know Him better. Someone that talks to God and leads the church..." She said some more things like that and then turned to me and asked "And for you? What does it mean for you?"
It then turned into a testimony meeting of all the questions. Her bearing hers first and then me sharing mine. Definitely one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
That next day, she came to the Train Station to see me off. She bought all the missionaries breakfast patisseries and we took tons of pictures (naturally). I'm going to miss that girl so much.
Update on her: We set up an FHE the Thursday after I left and Sr Barton said that it went amazingly and (of course) the members just loved her so much. I'm excited for her to be a member. I know she will be such a support to the Rennes ward and that her testimony will bless SO MANY.
Now to Charleroi.
So We got our work cut out for us! That is for sure. We are over two wards here...unfortunately those two wards are in different buildings across town so we only get to see the members every other week--which really inhibits my endearing sense of charm. But We'll just have to work double time with the members. There are not a ton of amis right now so this is going to be the transfer of FINDING!! WOOT WOOT!! And actually we had an amazing finding experience last night.
We went to the Christmas broadcast to see if any of the less actives were there. We showed up in time for the last speaker (which was really good by the way). Well, none of the less actives were there but as I was sitting there, I was thinking of where we could do finding in Charleroi. I really didn't know the ville at all and there were really no sections that were more family oriented. it was all old--in fact it kind of looks like Brooklyn NY--no skyscrapers though. Just lots and lots of brick 2 or 3 story buildings all squished together. Some buildings are abandoned, some are nice, some have young families some have older people etc. It's just kind of a mix all together. Another problem-from our apartment, it takes a bit to get to proselyting areas. Around us has DEFINITELY been done and also around the church. Everywhere else takes like 45 minutes. I looked around the fireside and realized -- WAIT, this room is full of members!! They can take us to their neighborhoods! So Afterwards, we ran up to Soeur Wery in the ward and asked her if she could take us to their neighborhood to do some finding. She was thrilled. We drive over there and Sr Mangum has the great idea to make it a power hour.
Power Hour definition: You go to a members house, pray with them and tell them that you will be finding in their area and you ask them to pray for you while you're out. If they have ideas of specific places in their neighborhood, that's great too.
The Wery family told us of their neighbor who had received a Book of Mormon and a less active down the way. They said that the neighbor had already turned away the Elders but that we should try anyway. We try the less active first-not home. Tried the neighbor-fixed a lesson for the next day (tonight). AWESOME!! Well...at that point we had only used like 5 minutes of power hour -- so on we went. Well needless to say, I have never seen such an amazing finding miracle in my life. Not only did their neighbor and his whole family invite us back. But we also found 2 other families and single woman who we fixed lessons with this week. AMAZING!! It really is amazing how much working with members speeds up missionary work. I am so grateful for this ward and their faith and prayers. Needless to say, we're going back to that neighborhood to finish porting it (and also to teach the lessons we fixed haha).
Well, that's all I have time for. Wish us luck in Belgium!! This week is going to be crazy.
Also, going to Paris on Wednesday for a Christmas conference. SO EXCITED!!
Also, don't know when we will be skyping the family but I'm assuming it will be Christmas night time. So Christmas morning for you. We can try google hangout again so we can have many of you peeps on at a time :) It's up to you!! I would love to see Zoe and Callan and Jon and Sarah as well as you guys :)
Love you mucho!!
Soeur Bitter
So I'll give the highlights of both Rennes and Belgium.
So I received the news Monday that I would be leaving Rennes. Not going to lie-biggest shocker of my life. I was in the middle of training and usually, you will stay with your blue. But anyway, I decided to wait to tell Sophie that I was leaving until our RDV -- which was Tuesdaynight--my last RDV in Rennes. (Couldn't have planned that better).
We went over to Sophie's and right away I told her (mainly because there was no way I could make it through an entire lesson without). She was SO SAD. She said when she imagined her baptism she thought of her best friend being there too. :( Sigh. She understood though and in her prayer, she asked Heavenly Father to help me find Sophie #2 in Belgium haha. So cute
So for our lesson, we went through the Baptismal questions and just made sure that she was completely ready for Baptism. It was an AMAZING experience. I got to hear her bear her testimony of each of the things that we had taught her. At first she was nervous for the questions but half way through it would go something like this:
"Do you believe that Jospeh Smith was a prophet and restored the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth again?" "OF COURSE!! no problem. PASSED!!"
Then we asked her what these things meant to her. It was amazing to watch her search her thoughts and try to explain what she felt. One of my favorites was her describing what it meant to her to have a modern day prophet.
"To me it means....that Jesus sent someone...for us...so we could know Him better. Someone that talks to God and leads the church..." She said some more things like that and then turned to me and asked "And for you? What does it mean for you?"
It then turned into a testimony meeting of all the questions. Her bearing hers first and then me sharing mine. Definitely one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
That next day, she came to the Train Station to see me off. She bought all the missionaries breakfast patisseries and we took tons of pictures (naturally). I'm going to miss that girl so much.
Update on her: We set up an FHE the Thursday after I left and Sr Barton said that it went amazingly and (of course) the members just loved her so much. I'm excited for her to be a member. I know she will be such a support to the Rennes ward and that her testimony will bless SO MANY.
Now to Charleroi.
So We got our work cut out for us! That is for sure. We are over two wards here...unfortunately those two wards are in different buildings across town so we only get to see the members every other week--which really inhibits my endearing sense of charm. But We'll just have to work double time with the members. There are not a ton of amis right now so this is going to be the transfer of FINDING!! WOOT WOOT!! And actually we had an amazing finding experience last night.
We went to the Christmas broadcast to see if any of the less actives were there. We showed up in time for the last speaker (which was really good by the way). Well, none of the less actives were there but as I was sitting there, I was thinking of where we could do finding in Charleroi. I really didn't know the ville at all and there were really no sections that were more family oriented. it was all old--in fact it kind of looks like Brooklyn NY--no skyscrapers though. Just lots and lots of brick 2 or 3 story buildings all squished together. Some buildings are abandoned, some are nice, some have young families some have older people etc. It's just kind of a mix all together. Another problem-from our apartment, it takes a bit to get to proselyting areas. Around us has DEFINITELY been done and also around the church. Everywhere else takes like 45 minutes. I looked around the fireside and realized -- WAIT, this room is full of members!! They can take us to their neighborhoods! So Afterwards, we ran up to Soeur Wery in the ward and asked her if she could take us to their neighborhood to do some finding. She was thrilled. We drive over there and Sr Mangum has the great idea to make it a power hour.
Power Hour definition: You go to a members house, pray with them and tell them that you will be finding in their area and you ask them to pray for you while you're out. If they have ideas of specific places in their neighborhood, that's great too.
The Wery family told us of their neighbor who had received a Book of Mormon and a less active down the way. They said that the neighbor had already turned away the Elders but that we should try anyway. We try the less active first-not home. Tried the neighbor-fixed a lesson for the next day (tonight). AWESOME!! Well...at that point we had only used like 5 minutes of power hour -- so on we went. Well needless to say, I have never seen such an amazing finding miracle in my life. Not only did their neighbor and his whole family invite us back. But we also found 2 other families and single woman who we fixed lessons with this week. AMAZING!! It really is amazing how much working with members speeds up missionary work. I am so grateful for this ward and their faith and prayers. Needless to say, we're going back to that neighborhood to finish porting it (and also to teach the lessons we fixed haha).
Well, that's all I have time for. Wish us luck in Belgium!! This week is going to be crazy.
Also, going to Paris on Wednesday for a Christmas conference. SO EXCITED!!
Also, don't know when we will be skyping the family but I'm assuming it will be Christmas night time. So Christmas morning for you. We can try google hangout again so we can have many of you peeps on at a time :) It's up to you!! I would love to see Zoe and Callan and Jon and Sarah as well as you guys :)
Love you mucho!!
Soeur Bitter
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| Last RDV with Sophie |
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| Tugsuu Sending Saying Farewell |
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| Barton and I at the Coast |
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| Goodbye With Sophie (and Breakfast) |
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| First Day in Charleroi |
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| With Soeur Barton at the Beach |
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| New Comp. Soeur Mangum |
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