SALUT!!
Françoise is progressing so well. She made us even MORE of those bracelets. She's getting quite skilled at them. She made them for us and the entire family Gentry and when we got to Gospel Principles on Sunday and half the class was wearing them, the Elders said "Françoise, did you make those? They are so cool!" She immediately lit up and replied "WOULD YOU LIKE ONE?!" ha-ha She's basically making them for the whole branch. So cute.
Her confirmations of the truthfulness of this message are just getting stronger and stronger and she is becoming more and more confident in her personal testimony. So cool. She will be such a wonderful addition to this ward.
Sunday night the Gentry family texted us letting us know that they visited Patrick (her husband). He told them that he is so proud of his wife and the progress that she has made. He loves this church too and agrees with the teachings that she has learned. He even asked them how he could buy her a triple combination for her baptism present! How sweet is that!! We're just hoping that he can receive his witness as well. We would love for them to get baptized on the same day!
We have been seeing some pretty awesome miracles just these last few days. I think last week I said in my email that Soeur Mason and I decided to stop seeing a lot of people so that we could have more time to find. This last weekend we saw some seriously cool finding miracles. I don't have time to share them all but hopefully I will be telling you more about all of them in the future. The cool thing is we found 3 stable families who are SUPER excited for us to come back. Needless to say we have been pounding the pavement. I don't think my feet have been this torn up since I was a baby missionary in Melun with Soeur Rhondeau.
Here is one of the miracles we saw that I thought I would share:
So Sr Mason and I have been studying lots of maps. I definitely know every little corner street of Vannes (maybe that's an exaggeration haha). But we both felt that we should visit this area in our secteur of Vannes that we haven't been to before. Well we get on the bus and I'm watching the bus stops pass and I think to myself "ok. I think it should be in 2 more stops." Well the next stop passes and I think "...wait a second. HE SWITCHED ROUTES!" Sure enough we were on the bus 5 but suddenly the bus driver started driving on the bus 3 route. I got up to ask him why he changed and he explained to me that there was construction...SMACK dab in the middle of the few stops we wanted to be. "Brilliant" I thought.
The bus driver than tells us that after going to the end of the bus line, he would be flipping around and doing the route again and he would point out the best place for us to get off. After a little bit he tells us to get off and points us in the direction that we need to go to get to our desired porting area. I looked at our map and thought "oh. You know what. Actually this isn't that bad. It's only about a 10 minute walk."
We start heading on our way and not even a block into our walk, I hear "OOOOO PRETTY!!" and I turn to see Soeur Mason picking up a perfect tiny little hydrangea flower. Now I will have you know that these flowers are EVERYWHERE. And we are kind of obsessed with them. So naturally, I bust out the camera and I tell her to strike a pose.
We just stood there dumbfounded as this lively sweet woman cut flower after flower for us. She then stopped and asked us "do you live around here?" we told her that in fact we lived more in the center of Vannes. "Are you going to a friend’s house?" I smiled within myself as I then realized the miracle of the rerouted bus. We then got to talking and she found out who we were and why we were here. She told us that she didn’t believe but as we got to talking she opened up and told us about really amazing experiences she has had that make her think that there is in fact something after this life.
We had a wonderful opportunity to testify to her and as tears filled her eyes she told us "you two are absolutely radiant".
After half an hour, a bouquet of fresh flowers, a tour of a French vegetable garden and having made a new friend, we continued on our way to our original destination---but this time with a prayer of gratitude in our hearts and even stronger conviction that there really are no coincidences.
Love you all so much.
I thought I would just share a little/long quote given by President Uchtdorf. So good.
"...No matter where you live, no matter how humble your circumstances, how meager your employment, how limited your abilities, how ordinary your appearance, or how little your calling in the Church may appear to you, you are not invisible to your Heavenly Father. He loves you. He knows your humble heart and your acts of love and kindness. Together, they form a lasting testimony of your fidelity and faith.
...Please understand that what you see and experience now is not what forever will be. You will not feel loneliness, sorrow, pain, or discouragement forever. We have the faithful promise of God that He will neither forget nor forsake those who incline their hearts to Him. Have hope and faith in that promise. Learn to love your Heavenly Father and become His disciple in word and in deed.
Be assured that if you but hold on, believe in Him, and remain faithful in keeping the commandments, one day you will experience for yourselves the promises revealed to the Apostle Paul: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
Soeur Bitter
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