Bonjour Famille!!!
This week absolutely flew but it was full of miracles which is so awesome.
First, we love our new Elders. LOVE THEM!! Some of you have asked if we gave up Romain to the Elders because he is a single guy. So we gave the Elders all of our male amis but we really wanted to keep Romain. In our meeting with our ward mission leader, we were talking about our Amis and we talked about Romain and our DMP asked "well...shouldn't the Elders get him then?" we responded by telling him that we had talked to the Zone Leaders and they had given us permission to keep teaching him because he was pretty far in lessons with us. The DMP started arguing with us and then the new Elder jumped in and said "no I think the Soeurs are right. I think they should keep him. It's what is better for the investigator". After that moment, we've loved our Elders SO MUCH!! Romain is doing great though. He writes religious raggae music and he wants us to help him translate some of it/teach him English after our next lesson. We are the coolest Soeurs in the mission.
This week will be story time so prepare yourself. Early last week, we were not sure what to do with the little bit of time we had left one night. We both felt like we should go up and visit Petula and take a note to Vania (whose uncle passed away). The only problem is, they live about 30 mins away by train and so we would have to be booking it to get home on time. It didn't seem very logical to do, but we both felt it was the right thing to do so we jumped on a train ready to sprint as soon as we got off. We taught Petula a spontaneous lesson which was awesome but it also meant that we missed our train home haha. Whoops. As I'm coming up the train steps, I notice this woman sitting and I feel like I should just say "bonsoir" and then sit at the end of her bench. I do so and immediately this woman starts talking to us. After about 10 minutes we find out that 1. She knows a TON of the members in the ward. 2. She has met this missionaries back in "Dec 22 2008". They came to sing to her for Christmas and she says that she will remember that day for her whole life. and 3. That we were on the same train on the way TO boissy. She said that she recognized the missionaries and she noticed us. (INSERT: SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING THE MISSIONARIES. ALWAYS.) Anyway, SHE. IS. AWESOME. I told her that Soeur Rhondeau and I sometimes go to people's homes and share a message about Christ and sing/play music as well. I asked if we could come by sometime and I would bring my violin to play some hyms for her. We have a Rendez-vous later this week.
Oh my goodness. This week, more than any other week, we have met the most BIZARRE people. I don't have time to share all of them but I will share one.
So we only had about an hour to do porting this one day and so we decided to go to this area near our house. We go up to this building that has a sonnerie but the door is open too. We notice that there is this weird business sticker on it that has this crazy writing. I then notice at the bottom that it says "for a Rendez-vous call this number:" and then Soeur Rhondeau reads below that that she is a tarro-card reader. I think "this is too good". Just then we hear "Umm hello? What are you doing here?" We turn around and there is this 5'5" plump man in a bowler hat carrying a hard briefcase. We think "oh this must be his place". We introduce ourselves and he says that he has encountered the missionaries before.
Just then I hear from behind me, up the stairs of the building "Oui? Hello?" INSTANTLY my heart dropped because I KNEW it was the tarot card reader. We continue talking to the man and I hear three more times "Oui! HELLO!?" We realize the man doesn't live in this building but was just curious and so we decide to continue with our plan of porting this building. We turn and stop dead in our tracks. Why you ask? Because there is a woman coming down the stairs. And not just any woman. Flaming Red hair, penciled on eyebrows, bright blue eyeshadow and dark purple lipstick. "Oh ya" I thought "We have found the tarro-card reader".
She dramatically pushes past us as if having a vision and says "there was a man with a ____" what I heard was Malade. And I thought "there was a man with a sick? that can't be right. I must have heard her wrong" So I then ask "With a sickness?" She dramatically turns to me again and repeats the word. Soeur Rhondeau thinks she may of said mal être(?) and then repeats that to her. And the woman turns dramatically and repeats it again and then proceeds to walk backwards up the stairs repeating this word all the way up, in the most mystical voice you can imagine. Soeur Rhondeau turns to me and says "Mal être?" I responded by asking her what that could even mean. Bad to be? Bad being? She said maybe it was like bad aura. Well we were definitely really excited to go home for lunch and search our dictionary. We were determined to find out what in the WORLD this word meant. So we searched every word that started with mal. Imagine our laughter when we come accross the word mallette or briefcase. HAHA "There was a man who had a briefcase" and then repeating briefcase, briefcase, briefcase...all the way up the stairs. HAHA oh goodness. I love missions.
So one of our biggest miracles this week actually happened on Saturday. About 2 weeks ago, we were waiting for our bus to go to a RDV with a new ami. Soeur Rhondeau and I were trying to figure out our schedule so we were speaking in English. I notice this boy out of the corner of my eye watching us. Suddenly he asks "can you speak english?" IMAGINE OUR EXCITEMENT! We turn to him and start talking to him. He is from Ireland and his mom and his sister and him just moved here last August. We got on the same bus as him and after talking to him for a little bit, we just loved him. We noticed were he got off the bus and Soeur Rhondeau and I both said "we're going to port this entire area until we find his family".
Yesterday we go to that street. This street is FULL of sky-scrapping batimonts. "at least we won't be bored" I thought haha. We start walking to one of the batimonts and I get a feeling to go to one off to the left. Soeur Rhondeau walks to one of them and it's locked. "I feel good about this one over here." Sure enough, it is unlocked. MIRACLE #1! We go to the tippy top with the intention to port our way all the way to the bottom. The very first door a woman answers and she is AWESOME!! She is about 22 and we taught her the restoration. She was listening to us tell the story of Joseph Smith like when someone watches a movie for the first time. She then ran, grabbed some paper and asked us to write down the name of the Prophet today and where she can find things he has sad. MIRACLE. We continue porting and we find AMAZING people. This building is FULL of amazing people.
We get to the bottom floor and we knock on the last door and you would not BELIEVE who opened the door--Irish boy. Soeur Rhoneau and I were floored! The best part-he totally recognized us. The second best part-they speak english. The third best part-we set up a RDV with his mom later that night. It was honestly one of the most beautiful lessons I have been in thus far. Romain's are pretty epic but Gaelle's lessons was pretty beautiful. The whole time, I felt my heart would explode. Soeur Rhondeau and I could tangibly feel the love that God had for this woman. She told stories about how Prayer has saved her and how following the direction of God has kept her from destruction. She said beautiful things like "My heart didn't have the courage to leave so God gave me a new heart." I think that should be in song lyrics. We left feeling emotionally drained and Soeur Rhondeau turned to me and said "God wants her." haha We know that God wants all of his children to return but HOLY MOLY!! She is so in tune with the spirit already and the Lord has played SUCH an active role in her life. I'm excited for our next lesson!
I played in church this Sunday and it went well. It was perfect because our perfect ami Prisca was there and she loved How Great Thou Art. She kept singing it all the way home.
Speaking of Prisca, SHE. IS. AWESOME! She seriously does everything we invite her to do. If we have her read chapters, she has not only read them, but has deep thoughts about it. We invited her to church (on mothers day) and she traveled the hour round trip to come! WE. LOVE. HER! We are also hoping that for one of the p.days, we can go to Paris with her and just have a fun girls day. She wants to show us where you can buy those really cool african skirts. I forget the name of them. Anyway, she is super! Our lessons with her are incredibly effortless. She is one of the elect. Really. When we asked her what faith is, she said "To me, to have faith you have to show it. For example, I love my girls. I can tell them all the day long that I love them, but if I don't feed them, what kind of love is that? With God it's the same. If you have faith in him and love him, you have to show it". What do you even need to teach after that?? She teaches herself!! It's awesome. I love her so much.
Sarah: Thank you so much for your email. Soeur Rhondeau and I had a rough day last week and I read your email over and over and it got me through. You're amazing.
Anne: Congrats on passing your driving test! Remember that I love Leo and if you kill him, it might be the end of our friendship. Just kidding...sort of...haha...but seriously...
Jon: GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK!! YOU BE AWSOME!! YOU ARE IN MY PRAYERS ALWAYS!!
Dad: GOOD LUCK THIS WEEK TO YOU TOO! Luck for everyone! You are also in my prayers.
Avec Amour,
Soeur Bitter
soeur-rhondeau.blogspot.com Read if you feel so inclined to hear more crazy stories from my beautiful companion.
Monday, 3 June 2013
Monday, 20 May 2013
The Melun Forest - May 20, 2013
So this week we may or may not have stumbled upon an enchanted forest in Melun. Pictures are attached. Get excited.
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| P-Day Shot From the Melun Forest |
This week was so awesome. We don't have as much time to write emails this week as normal so I'm just going to write a couple highlights and then spend the rest of the time uploading pics.
So last week was CRAZY!! We officially have Elders in our village and it is amazing. Soeur Rhondeau and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. 1) because we feel like we are not in this alone and 2) because there are areas of our zone that we feel a responsibility for but as sisters we probably shouldn't really be going there. With the Elders here, I feel like we have so much more support and that spreading the Gospel in Melun will just explode.
One of the days last week we took half the day as a service day to clean the old apartment for the arrival of the Elders. After we cleaned we went out porting. We were seriously exhausted but Soeur Rhondeau and I were determined to do at least some missionary work that day. We head to a little neighborhood we had our eyes on. We knock on the first door, a woman answers and we introduce ourselves and say we have a message for her about Jesus Christ. "Well ok. I don't have a ton of time but you're welcome to come in". Voila, we went in and taught her a full lesson. Her name is Marie and she is AMAZING! She says beautiful things like "Prayer is the food of my day". Who says that?! Prepared people. That's who. As Soeur Rhondeau and I left, Soeur Rhondeau turns to me and says "I feel like that was almost...too easy." haha But she was so wonderful and she is someone who (based on experiences she shared) has just been prepared for the Gospel. It really is such a blessing.
Another fun story of the week was our good friend Oliver. Saturday night we're walking home and out of the corner of my eye I see this man waving both arms frantically to get our attention. I wave at him and walk over to see what he wants. He asks us about our badges and what church we are for. He asks "are you the mormons?". We start talking about religion and how to him, Religion has always oppressed the people of Europe. Then Soeur Rhondeau asks "Well, who is God to you?" At that moment his face just light up "HE IS THE CREATURE OF ALL THINGS" and he motions in all directions. He went on to share his own beautiful testimony of God and it was amazing to see just how much he lit up talking about God. Afterwards, he leaned in close to us, as if to tell us a secret and said "you know...I used to think you guys were a sect....but after meeting you, and seeing how nice you are...there is just no way. I'm going to try to come to your church tomorrow". I LOVE BEING ON A MISSION! I love the many wonderful people you get to meet EVERY DAY!
On a completely different note, Soeur Rhondeau and I had experienced a serious dry spell as far as letters go. John is the best letter writer so he wins an award but besides him, as a pair, we had not received a letter in like three weeks or so...which I know doesn't sound like that long but it is ok! Haha well then Mama Rhondeau broke the spell and sent us a wonderful package full of goodies! SHE IS THE BEST! She seriously broke the curse because that next day, there were like 6 letters in our mailbox. Mama Rhondeau is da best.
OH! I almost forgot my favorite story. So we're teaching the Lam-yam son because he is getting baptized. (It is a tradition here in Melun that the missionaries teach the 7 year olds just before they turn 8). Last week he asked "How can you be happy all the time?" We then talked about being grateful and how when we realize the wonderful things that God has done for us, we can be more and more happy. We told him that we would buy him a gratitude Journal for that next week. This week, when we were teaching him again (oh and all the lam-yam kids sit in on the lesson so we basically teach the 4 cutest Asian kids on this planet) We all went around the room and said three things that we are grateful for. We get to Lea (5 years old) and she says "umm...I'm grateful for church...and the sister missionaries..." Insert cute little girl smile here. I love those kids so much.
Anyway, I'm going to spend the rest of the time uploading pics. I LOVE YOU ALL
ANNE- HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY!!! So once upon a time, I had planned to send all your stuff and the stuff for mother’s day in one fell swoop...but then today was a holiday and everything is closed so I will send it a.s.a.p. and you will just get a very late birthday love note from me :)
Avec Amour
Soeur Bitter
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| Too Nice a Backdrop to Miss a Photo Op |
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Quick Mothers Day Post & Photos - May 13, 2013
Dearest Family,
I call my family...an hour late...and then I forget to wish my own mother Happy Mother's day. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! MOM YOU ARE SO AWESOME! Expect a love note from Paris...but wait patiently because I think it takes a bit. haha
So favorite teaching of the week was definitely Romain. He was the investigator who just walked into church one day...and in case you didn't know...that doesn't really happen often. We taught him on Wednesday and then again on Friday. He really opened up to us and his life is comparable to Job. That is not an exaggeration at all. He has the most beautiful one-liners so I'm just going to include some of them in here. We taught with Soeur Demuynck and I can tell by her interactions that she has decided to take him under her wing and now is kind of like his mom. On Friday we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He would say things like "So what you're saying is that I can see my mother again." or "so does that mean we're a celestial family?" (indicating to the 3 of us). When I asked him to pray about the plan of salvation and to know if God loved him he said "I will pray about it. But I'm pretty sure it's true. Why else would you be here?". He has so much faith in God and he has had such a hard life. He said that he was once taught by Missionaries of another faith but he sent them away because they taught him he could not adore and love God "of course I will love God. He's my father!". He is seriously the sweetest man we have ever met and every time we leave lessons with him, both Soeur Rhondeau and I think "this is why we are on a mission". We have never met anyone who NEEDS the Gospel quite like Romain does. We have already been able to see the magic it's worked in his life and it's amazing.
So I don't know if I told you this...but we've kind of developed a game here in Melun. There are Q-tips...like everywhere. It's very bizarre. Just on the ground. So we have developed a game with a point system and everything. We keep tally of it on our board. I know a lot of you are reading this right now and you're asking yourself, "what the heck". Since we walk a lot we developed a fun game. We were walking in Dammerie one day and I look at the ground and spot a yellow one (first one we've ever seen: 10pts) and then immediately after I spot a red one (5 points). Soeur Rondeau immediately yells "NOOOO!!! IT'S NOT FAIR!!" And then what do I do? I break into a little victory dance. It was fine because no one was watching us right? Wrong. Little did I know, but behind me on the sidewalk is a line of about 8-10 guys ranging in age from about 20-30. They couldn't get past me because the cars park 1/2 on the sidewalk and I was blocking the path with my little victory dance. Soeur Rhondeau looks back at me and just busts up laughing. Because, my happy dance, the one I thought was in solitude, was actually witnessed by a line of men just half laughing at my strange American ways. Oh the life of a missionary.
All in all, it was a fantastic week. We have a lot of really progressing investigators and it is amazing to watch the Gospel bless their life and see the change they go through.
Jon- GOOD LUCK THESE LAST WEEKS! I know you are going to rock it.
Aubrey, Kati and Meredith- If you want this relationship to work, you gotta work for it! Haha just kidding. But the transfer is officially over :) time to write me one of the love letters.
Rachel- How is planning the wedding?? What is going on??
Mayu- When do you go to India (it was india right?) I want to hear about it? Will you have a blog?? Can you send me the blog entries?? I would love to hear about your service there!!
Mindy- My companion just got Japanese stationary from her parents and we loved looking through it and at the funny quotes. It reminded me of my favorite pencil of all time "Happiness Music". It will always hold a dear place in my heart. I miss you so much!! I'll try to send you pictures soon.
I love you all so much. Sorry this letter is shorter. We are short on time today and we're in Paris again today and want to see some things.
I love you mucho!!
Soeur Bitter
I call my family...an hour late...and then I forget to wish my own mother Happy Mother's day. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! MOM YOU ARE SO AWESOME! Expect a love note from Paris...but wait patiently because I think it takes a bit. haha
So favorite teaching of the week was definitely Romain. He was the investigator who just walked into church one day...and in case you didn't know...that doesn't really happen often. We taught him on Wednesday and then again on Friday. He really opened up to us and his life is comparable to Job. That is not an exaggeration at all. He has the most beautiful one-liners so I'm just going to include some of them in here. We taught with Soeur Demuynck and I can tell by her interactions that she has decided to take him under her wing and now is kind of like his mom. On Friday we taught him the Plan of Salvation. He would say things like "So what you're saying is that I can see my mother again." or "so does that mean we're a celestial family?" (indicating to the 3 of us). When I asked him to pray about the plan of salvation and to know if God loved him he said "I will pray about it. But I'm pretty sure it's true. Why else would you be here?". He has so much faith in God and he has had such a hard life. He said that he was once taught by Missionaries of another faith but he sent them away because they taught him he could not adore and love God "of course I will love God. He's my father!". He is seriously the sweetest man we have ever met and every time we leave lessons with him, both Soeur Rhondeau and I think "this is why we are on a mission". We have never met anyone who NEEDS the Gospel quite like Romain does. We have already been able to see the magic it's worked in his life and it's amazing.
So I don't know if I told you this...but we've kind of developed a game here in Melun. There are Q-tips...like everywhere. It's very bizarre. Just on the ground. So we have developed a game with a point system and everything. We keep tally of it on our board. I know a lot of you are reading this right now and you're asking yourself, "what the heck". Since we walk a lot we developed a fun game. We were walking in Dammerie one day and I look at the ground and spot a yellow one (first one we've ever seen: 10pts) and then immediately after I spot a red one (5 points). Soeur Rondeau immediately yells "NOOOO!!! IT'S NOT FAIR!!" And then what do I do? I break into a little victory dance. It was fine because no one was watching us right? Wrong. Little did I know, but behind me on the sidewalk is a line of about 8-10 guys ranging in age from about 20-30. They couldn't get past me because the cars park 1/2 on the sidewalk and I was blocking the path with my little victory dance. Soeur Rhondeau looks back at me and just busts up laughing. Because, my happy dance, the one I thought was in solitude, was actually witnessed by a line of men just half laughing at my strange American ways. Oh the life of a missionary.
All in all, it was a fantastic week. We have a lot of really progressing investigators and it is amazing to watch the Gospel bless their life and see the change they go through.
Jon- GOOD LUCK THESE LAST WEEKS! I know you are going to rock it.
Aubrey, Kati and Meredith- If you want this relationship to work, you gotta work for it! Haha just kidding. But the transfer is officially over :) time to write me one of the love letters.
Rachel- How is planning the wedding?? What is going on??
Mayu- When do you go to India (it was india right?) I want to hear about it? Will you have a blog?? Can you send me the blog entries?? I would love to hear about your service there!!
Mindy- My companion just got Japanese stationary from her parents and we loved looking through it and at the funny quotes. It reminded me of my favorite pencil of all time "Happiness Music". It will always hold a dear place in my heart. I miss you so much!! I'll try to send you pictures soon.
I love you all so much. Sorry this letter is shorter. We are short on time today and we're in Paris again today and want to see some things.
I love you mucho!!
Soeur Bitter
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| More Family Night Fun |
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| Rain is a Big Part of Missionary Life |
Monday, 6 May 2013
Family Night Fun - May 6, 2013
So I know the other week I said it was the week of miracles...but maybe that was a lie because THIS week was the week of miracles. Soeur Rhondeau and I are absolutely exhausted. We taught a ton of lessons and have been running from place to place. We have been really blessed with teaching people who are very ready for the Gospel--which is awesome.
Firstly, so with Petula (she is the one who has a baptismal date for the end of May and the photo is with her kids) we had a FHE last Monday. Her husband is super nice and very welcoming but he said early on that he is uninterested and either isn't there or he will leave the room when we are there. So we had FHE with Petula and her kids. It was HILARIOUS! So we taught a quick lesson and we taught them how to play charades. We were trying to think of a game that we could play (with my limited French) and they would enjoy too. Charades it was and they seriously had a blast. Now every time we come, they want to listen in on the lessons and hang out with us. Well after the FHE, her husband started talking to us. It was honestly the first time I had talked to him. He told me that he had actually taken the missionary discussions when he lived in the Congo and that the missionaries just lived next door to him and they would come over a lot. He said that next Sunday, that they should all go to church together. We were floored! What a miracle. I think seeing his family so happy and having fun together made him more curious than before. Oh and the other picture below is when we taught Petula later that week. One of the girls was fascinated by my hair and was playing with it/brushing it the whole time haha.
So we found Prisca this week and I haven't met someone who is more ready for the Gospel. The first lesson, she said that she had been looking for the true church but that she has never been able to find it. Her husband told her that she could pray about it because God promised that he would let us know what was truth (this all happened on splits so I didn't meet her until lesson two). After the first lesson, they asked her to read Alma 32 and the Restoration pamphlet. The next time Soeur Rhondeau and I go back and sure enough she read the entireity of both! And when we asked her how it was she said "I find this book easier to understand than the Bible. It just explains things better" She went on to talk about her favorite parts about how it explained faith. Teaching her is awesome because I really feel that Soeur Rhondeau and I hardly do anything and the spirit does all the work. We are definitely prepared for lessons haha we haven't tried winging anything yet but the lessons just go so smoothly and she is progressing faster than I have seen anyone do so far.
OH! Another miracle this week. We met this wonderful woman named Zwina. We were porting one day and she opened the door and started talking to us about philosophy and how we can know something to be true in this confusing world. She said that a lot of times, religion is tied to hatred and bloodshed (talking about crusades etc). She invited us in and we met her cute little family. She was talking about how she wasn't very sure about Christianity when I had the feeling to give her a Book of Mormon. I usually only keep one or two in my bag but I decided to take it out. As soon as she saw it, she said "you are Mormon?!" And her whole attitude changed. She talked about how she loved the Mormons and that she knows that we are very family oriented people. Next thing I know, we are going to the back of her house and she gave each of us these old (like 18th century) Christian books (including the Bible) as a gift. It was the sweetest thing that I had ever witnessed.
The people of France are incredibly giving. I have seen it time and time again. For example, last week, our key to our old apartment stopped working. We have a key for the door and then a key for the building. The building key is electronic and so the batteries can die. Well...they did. Haha when we went to the agency, they said that we would just have to figure it out for a couple weeks. It got pretty tiring paging people in our building to ask them to buzz us in. One day, this man saw us and he said "oh my friend lives here. Let me page her". We get in and go inside to do planning. Suddenly we hear our doorbell ring. We go to the door and there is this woman there who says "my friend says there are these two English girls who don't have a key anymore! I have two! I knew you were on the 3rd or 4th floor so I have just been ringing every door until I found you. Here! Have my key". People are so nice!
So the other day we had splits and we stayed here in Melun and the Luxemburg sisters came down. THANKFULLY I was with a sister who has already served in the Melun area for a while so she knew the area and we were able to get around just fine. She got really close with the Bishop's family while she was here because they can speak English and I guess her French wasn't very good when she got here. That night the Bishop's family had us over for dinner and the Bishops wife said the sweetest thing (well...to me haha). She put her arm around my shoulders and said "Soeur Hurrell, Soeur Bitter has the gift of tongues...you...do not. But keep working. Not everyone can have the gift of tongues" Whoops haha. But it made me feel good to know my French isn't a complete disaster.
So they have this cool tradition in the Melun ward that whenever an 8 year old is about to be baptized, the missionaries will come and teach them. It's kind of like a ‘rite of passage’ thing for this ward. So the Lam Yams son is getting baptized this next week and so we had a lesson with him on Sunday. We decided that the Gospel of Christ would be good and we could talk about the importance of this next step. It was the best thing ever! He knew every answer to EVERY question. "Michael, what is faith" Answer: "Faith is hope for things which are not seen which are true." BOOM! His response for every question was quoting some scripture. It was amazing! Maybe he can come teach with us sometime.
All in all, this week was amazing. There were definitely more stories but I don't want to make my emails too overwhelmingly long haha.
I'm excited to talk to you on Sunday. Dad and I kind of worked out that it will be at 9 am your time...which is 10 am TX time for you Texans. :) And I'm hoping to do google hangout so we can all be in on it!
Happy Mother's day mom! You are so awesome! I can't wait to talk to you!
Je vous aime beaucoup!!
Soeur Kari Ann Bitter
p.s. The new apartment is great. It makes me smile every day I come home :) And we're really excited to have elders here! So we're not allowed to teach men (unless they have a family or unless we bring either a Sister from the ward or two Brethren) so it's sometimes hard. But with them here, I really feel like we will continue to find people who are searching for the truth. EXCITING!
Firstly, so with Petula (she is the one who has a baptismal date for the end of May and the photo is with her kids) we had a FHE last Monday. Her husband is super nice and very welcoming but he said early on that he is uninterested and either isn't there or he will leave the room when we are there. So we had FHE with Petula and her kids. It was HILARIOUS! So we taught a quick lesson and we taught them how to play charades. We were trying to think of a game that we could play (with my limited French) and they would enjoy too. Charades it was and they seriously had a blast. Now every time we come, they want to listen in on the lessons and hang out with us. Well after the FHE, her husband started talking to us. It was honestly the first time I had talked to him. He told me that he had actually taken the missionary discussions when he lived in the Congo and that the missionaries just lived next door to him and they would come over a lot. He said that next Sunday, that they should all go to church together. We were floored! What a miracle. I think seeing his family so happy and having fun together made him more curious than before. Oh and the other picture below is when we taught Petula later that week. One of the girls was fascinated by my hair and was playing with it/brushing it the whole time haha.
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| She Did Wonders for My Hair |
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| Family Night Fun |
So we found Prisca this week and I haven't met someone who is more ready for the Gospel. The first lesson, she said that she had been looking for the true church but that she has never been able to find it. Her husband told her that she could pray about it because God promised that he would let us know what was truth (this all happened on splits so I didn't meet her until lesson two). After the first lesson, they asked her to read Alma 32 and the Restoration pamphlet. The next time Soeur Rhondeau and I go back and sure enough she read the entireity of both! And when we asked her how it was she said "I find this book easier to understand than the Bible. It just explains things better" She went on to talk about her favorite parts about how it explained faith. Teaching her is awesome because I really feel that Soeur Rhondeau and I hardly do anything and the spirit does all the work. We are definitely prepared for lessons haha we haven't tried winging anything yet but the lessons just go so smoothly and she is progressing faster than I have seen anyone do so far.
OH! Another miracle this week. We met this wonderful woman named Zwina. We were porting one day and she opened the door and started talking to us about philosophy and how we can know something to be true in this confusing world. She said that a lot of times, religion is tied to hatred and bloodshed (talking about crusades etc). She invited us in and we met her cute little family. She was talking about how she wasn't very sure about Christianity when I had the feeling to give her a Book of Mormon. I usually only keep one or two in my bag but I decided to take it out. As soon as she saw it, she said "you are Mormon?!" And her whole attitude changed. She talked about how she loved the Mormons and that she knows that we are very family oriented people. Next thing I know, we are going to the back of her house and she gave each of us these old (like 18th century) Christian books (including the Bible) as a gift. It was the sweetest thing that I had ever witnessed.
The people of France are incredibly giving. I have seen it time and time again. For example, last week, our key to our old apartment stopped working. We have a key for the door and then a key for the building. The building key is electronic and so the batteries can die. Well...they did. Haha when we went to the agency, they said that we would just have to figure it out for a couple weeks. It got pretty tiring paging people in our building to ask them to buzz us in. One day, this man saw us and he said "oh my friend lives here. Let me page her". We get in and go inside to do planning. Suddenly we hear our doorbell ring. We go to the door and there is this woman there who says "my friend says there are these two English girls who don't have a key anymore! I have two! I knew you were on the 3rd or 4th floor so I have just been ringing every door until I found you. Here! Have my key". People are so nice!
So the other day we had splits and we stayed here in Melun and the Luxemburg sisters came down. THANKFULLY I was with a sister who has already served in the Melun area for a while so she knew the area and we were able to get around just fine. She got really close with the Bishop's family while she was here because they can speak English and I guess her French wasn't very good when she got here. That night the Bishop's family had us over for dinner and the Bishops wife said the sweetest thing (well...to me haha). She put her arm around my shoulders and said "Soeur Hurrell, Soeur Bitter has the gift of tongues...you...do not. But keep working. Not everyone can have the gift of tongues" Whoops haha. But it made me feel good to know my French isn't a complete disaster.
So they have this cool tradition in the Melun ward that whenever an 8 year old is about to be baptized, the missionaries will come and teach them. It's kind of like a ‘rite of passage’ thing for this ward. So the Lam Yams son is getting baptized this next week and so we had a lesson with him on Sunday. We decided that the Gospel of Christ would be good and we could talk about the importance of this next step. It was the best thing ever! He knew every answer to EVERY question. "Michael, what is faith" Answer: "Faith is hope for things which are not seen which are true." BOOM! His response for every question was quoting some scripture. It was amazing! Maybe he can come teach with us sometime.
All in all, this week was amazing. There were definitely more stories but I don't want to make my emails too overwhelmingly long haha.
I'm excited to talk to you on Sunday. Dad and I kind of worked out that it will be at 9 am your time...which is 10 am TX time for you Texans. :) And I'm hoping to do google hangout so we can all be in on it!
Happy Mother's day mom! You are so awesome! I can't wait to talk to you!
Je vous aime beaucoup!!
Soeur Kari Ann Bitter
p.s. The new apartment is great. It makes me smile every day I come home :) And we're really excited to have elders here! So we're not allowed to teach men (unless they have a family or unless we bring either a Sister from the ward or two Brethren) so it's sometimes hard. But with them here, I really feel like we will continue to find people who are searching for the truth. EXCITING!
Monday, 29 April 2013
Graduated From BYU While Living in Paris - April 29, 2013
Dearest People,
I'M GRADUATED. To celebrate such an occasion, we had a graduation party in my honor - French Style. See picture below. It was quite sophisticated and you can all be jealous if you so chose.
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| Best College of Fine Arts Convocation Ever - Short and to the Point |
Eventually we got to the church though and it turned out to be one of the best lessons EVER. Soeur Rhondeau said that it was probably the best lesson she had had her entire mission. He really opened up and he kept saying "I have been looking for a reason to change" or "my faith is this big" (and makes a mini circle with his hands) "and I just don't know how to make it bigger". He really is the sweetest man. It was a beautiful lesson and he didn't want it to end. We closed and were ready to pray and he just kept wanting to talk about repentance and how to improve your faith. It was awesome. One of my favorite moments though was when Frere Prunin was talking about how they had a soccer team as a ward. He said that Romain should come and play with them. "Do you play Soccer romain" "yeah. In Guadalupe." "Oh are you any good" "Well, I was on the national pro team..." So no big deal. I'm just teaching a retired pro soccer player and he may or may not have offered me a ride. So ya. The sisters are kind of a big deal.
Another awesome miracle happened yesterday. So we got a call from the assistants about a week ago giving us the contact info of someone in our area. They met him in Paris but he lives in our area and wanted to hear about the Gospel. We try to contact him and things just keep falling through. Finally we set an appointment but we come to the apartment building and we can't find him. We proceed to knock on all sorts of doors and no one knows who Cover is. After calling him, he calls his wife who is home (he wasn't) and she comes out and the moment I saw her, I just loved her. Her name is Sephora and she is from the Congo. We decided beforehand to just do a basic overview of the plan of salvation and just get to know her. We have never met either of them before so we just wanted to know more about them and then introduce them to why we were there and what we do as missionaries. The whole time Soeur Rhondeau and I kept wondering if she was starting to cry or just had more glazed eyes. Towards the end of the meeting, Soeur Rhondeau and I talked about how it doesn't matter what your problems, preoccupations or trials are. The Gospel will help you and your family. At this point she broke down and cried. She opened up about her incredibly hard situation. Her story is seriously one of survival and it just made your heart break. Soeur Rondeau and I already love her so much. You can see that she just needs the Gospel and the hope and peace that it can bring. That night the husband called us to apologize that he couldn't be there and asked how the lesson went. We said that we really enjoyed getting to know his wife and son (rufus). He said that he heard it went super. He said he was really excited for our appointment next week.
This week was very humbling. It reminded me of an experience that I had in my marriage prep class. The teacher handed out playing cards at the beginning of class but he told us not to look at our card. At the end of class he gave us permission to look. Mine was the Queen of spades. He went on to say that in this life, each of us is dealt a different card and a different suit. Some of us, from birth, are given a lot. We are born in the church, in a free country, in a loving home. Each of us there had the luxury of a University education. He said that with the higher suit/cards came a higher responsibility. God gave us gifts not just for ourselves but also for his other children. Some are dealt a very low suit and they do the very best they can. This week reminded me of why I am here and why I came in the first place. It reminded me of the things that a truly important and that while this life is sometimes incredibly imperfect and unfair, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect and in the life to come, everything unjust is made perfect.
OH! I almost forgot! We have a new place! I AM SO EXCITED!! We are getting Elder's in our area and Soeur Rhondeau and I have been secretly hoping that we could get the new place. Well at interviews with President on Tuesday he said to Soeur Rhondeau "one more question. Would you like the new place?" Soeur Rhondeau replied very shyly "...maybe..." After he learned of where we had been living (not that it's super bad. It's just above a couffure) he firmly said "you're Soeurs. You're moving." SO WE GET THE BEAUTIFUL BRAND NEW APARTMENT!! It is seriously so nice and it's in a super nice part of town and it's right next to a great little farmers market :). Happy day. I'll attach pics in another email.
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| New Apartment Includes a Sky-Light |
Soeur Bitter
P.S. I hope you're all doing what the First Presidency asked and opening your mouth about the Gospel once a day! I heard that last week Jon did so he wins the prize!
Monday, 22 April 2013
You know you are a missionary when... - April 22, 2013
Hi,
We had so many awesome moments this week!! And so many funny stories but I don't know if I have time for them all. So let me just start with you know you're a missionary when moments.
You know you're a missionary when:
Romain coming randomly to church yesterday was an AWESOME MIRACLE! The best was when one of our friend (Stephen) ran into us with him in-between the block. He was getting to know Romain and he asked him "so how do you know the Soeurs" Romain then points to the class and says, "from class". Stephen was so confused.
We taught a man yesterday named Henrie. We met him on Saturday Night while knocking his neighborhood. He has a big family and he is evangelical. He asked us to come back the same time tomorrow (Sunday). We come back and had an AWESOME LESSON. He has such a spirit of love in his home and after starting to teach him he said "I think I should be taking notes" and he proceeded to take notes of the scriptures we used and Joseph Smith's experience. At the bottom he wrote when our next RDV with him was. When he did that, mine and Soeur Rhondeau's hearts just swelled. He won't forget us! (Hopefully)
We went to a couple dinners this week at members’ homes. This first was at the Lusvardi's. They are this beautiful American family (so it was nice to have a break from French). They made us an AMAZING meal but what was the most fantastic was how much warmth was in their home. They had a super cute daughter name Lily (4ish) and a son Jullian (3ish). Let me just preface that lily is the most well-mannered lovely little girl. She's like a mini Audrey Hepburn and she enunciates all her words with such care. Well at one point during dinner she accidentally spilled her milk. She said "oh no. Mommy, look what happened. I'm sorry". At this point I'm thinking "oh no. She didn't mean to! Hopefully she doesn't get in too much trouble" her mom just nonchalantly replied "oh it's not a big deal" and just whipped it up. About 30 minutes later, Lily's friend Carington opened a cupboard and all the books and toys came spilling out. Silence. "Sorry lily" "Don't worry! It wasn't your fault!" -Lily. I just thought of how evident it was how their kids were raised. Things that don't matter--really DO. NOT. MATTER. There was never an unkind word spoken. I'm sure they have their days like everyone else but it definitely wasn't when we were there. Anyway, it was an awesome day and we really felt like we had a little piece of home. We shared a message that "Faith is like a little seed" and we brought a pack of flower seeds to give to Lily and Jullian. When I asked Lily how she waters or gives sun to our faith tree, she said "well sometimes we talk about Jesus" so precious. And we felt so cool because Lily LOVED the seeds we gave her. She said "Umm. Soeur Bitter. Thank you very much for the seeds. I have been wanting to water the flowers outside but mom says their not mine and now I have my own. So thank you very much" I love her.
We went to Maria's house the next day for crepes and she is AWESOME! She is from Russia and has a little boy and girl as well. We shared a lesson with her about God's love for her. Maria has SO MUCH LOVE for everyone. Like SO MUCH. She is looking for opportunities to show her love for others. We just hope she knows that we love her and God loves her too. It was so funny though. Her kids and Soeur Rhondeau and I were coloring before dinner. I didn't know what to draw so I proceeded to draw the Eiffel Tower...one of the few things I can draw quickly. Soon I became a celebrity. :) I can't speak french amazingly but I can at least draw Eiffel Towers for all the kids we visit.
Yesterday, we had a surprise family night. We found out we had it at the end of Sacrament meeting. We hopped in the car and headed over. It was so awesome. They invited over a man who is in our ward who is less active. We were able to talk about how we can see God in all of his creations. He was such a nice man! I hope he is there this Sunday.
Mom: I heard you're really kicking it when it comes to family history. That is so awesome! After coming on a mission I really see the serious importance of family history work...not that I didn't see it before. I think I just have a more proactive attitude towards it now.
Dad: You planted strawberries! The summer I LEAVE?! I feel robbed. Why are you going to CA? I appreciate your stalking me and giving us weather updates. Sometimes we try to peek at the news and see what the weather will be like the next day...most of the time it doesn't work.
OH ALSO! What in the world is happening over there? Every time people find out I'm from the United States, the proceed to talk to me about the Boston Marathon bombing and another bombing in Chicago? What happened? I feel incredibly out of the loop.
Jon: You're awesome. Way to be the highlight of the week.
Rachel & Mayu--where are you these days?? I want to send you a postcard but I don't dare send it to your old addresses. I never had Rachel’s address in the first place. If you want a postcard, you have to send me your address :)
You know you're a missionary when:
- Your purse breaks because your Book of Mormon is so heavy.
- When a man comes up to you on the street and says "I like the green you're both wearing. How do I become part of your team? What team are you on?" And you reply "we are missionaries of Jesus Christ" Aka "we're on Jesus's team."
- When you become super excited to have an investigator you have never met just walk into church. THAT WAS A MIRACLE! Let's just dwell on this for a moment. So our church is backwards. We start with Relief Society and Priesthood and then Sacrament meeting is last. The missionaries start in Priesthood because we share a missionary moment in the very beginning and then we go down to RS. Well we come in and we see one of our Ami's fathers who is not a member and we become very excited and we sit next to him. Next thing we know, a man walks in who I have never seen before. My first thought "well...I am very new. Maybe I just haven't noticed him before" until Soeur Rhodeau says "I don't know that man". Preface to Soeur Rhondeau: She has been serving here since the end of Dec.. So if she doesn't know them, that means they are not in the ward. We taught 2nd hour (which is like Gospel Essentials) to our two investigators and afterwards he said he really liked it here. We have an FHE set up with him for tonight and he seemed really excited that he was invited...little does he know that the FHE is planned FOR him :)
- You keep pictures that little kids draw for you and hang them on your fridge.
- You go porting (door-to-door) and a woman opens the door who is brest feeding her child...and not discreetly either. Just teaching a mini lesson about Joseph Smith to a bare chested woman. No big deal
- You feel a sense of being accepted when animals are nice to you.
- You have dreams about teaching the Gospel.
- People ask you why you and your companion have the same first name...at least once a day.
- You run to the mailbox to see if you're loved at least 3x a day.
- When you stalk 10 year olds to make sure they get to the bus safe in the ghetto.
Romain coming randomly to church yesterday was an AWESOME MIRACLE! The best was when one of our friend (Stephen) ran into us with him in-between the block. He was getting to know Romain and he asked him "so how do you know the Soeurs" Romain then points to the class and says, "from class". Stephen was so confused.
We taught a man yesterday named Henrie. We met him on Saturday Night while knocking his neighborhood. He has a big family and he is evangelical. He asked us to come back the same time tomorrow (Sunday). We come back and had an AWESOME LESSON. He has such a spirit of love in his home and after starting to teach him he said "I think I should be taking notes" and he proceeded to take notes of the scriptures we used and Joseph Smith's experience. At the bottom he wrote when our next RDV with him was. When he did that, mine and Soeur Rhondeau's hearts just swelled. He won't forget us! (Hopefully)
We went to a couple dinners this week at members’ homes. This first was at the Lusvardi's. They are this beautiful American family (so it was nice to have a break from French). They made us an AMAZING meal but what was the most fantastic was how much warmth was in their home. They had a super cute daughter name Lily (4ish) and a son Jullian (3ish). Let me just preface that lily is the most well-mannered lovely little girl. She's like a mini Audrey Hepburn and she enunciates all her words with such care. Well at one point during dinner she accidentally spilled her milk. She said "oh no. Mommy, look what happened. I'm sorry". At this point I'm thinking "oh no. She didn't mean to! Hopefully she doesn't get in too much trouble" her mom just nonchalantly replied "oh it's not a big deal" and just whipped it up. About 30 minutes later, Lily's friend Carington opened a cupboard and all the books and toys came spilling out. Silence. "Sorry lily" "Don't worry! It wasn't your fault!" -Lily. I just thought of how evident it was how their kids were raised. Things that don't matter--really DO. NOT. MATTER. There was never an unkind word spoken. I'm sure they have their days like everyone else but it definitely wasn't when we were there. Anyway, it was an awesome day and we really felt like we had a little piece of home. We shared a message that "Faith is like a little seed" and we brought a pack of flower seeds to give to Lily and Jullian. When I asked Lily how she waters or gives sun to our faith tree, she said "well sometimes we talk about Jesus" so precious. And we felt so cool because Lily LOVED the seeds we gave her. She said "Umm. Soeur Bitter. Thank you very much for the seeds. I have been wanting to water the flowers outside but mom says their not mine and now I have my own. So thank you very much" I love her.
We went to Maria's house the next day for crepes and she is AWESOME! She is from Russia and has a little boy and girl as well. We shared a lesson with her about God's love for her. Maria has SO MUCH LOVE for everyone. Like SO MUCH. She is looking for opportunities to show her love for others. We just hope she knows that we love her and God loves her too. It was so funny though. Her kids and Soeur Rhondeau and I were coloring before dinner. I didn't know what to draw so I proceeded to draw the Eiffel Tower...one of the few things I can draw quickly. Soon I became a celebrity. :) I can't speak french amazingly but I can at least draw Eiffel Towers for all the kids we visit.
Yesterday, we had a surprise family night. We found out we had it at the end of Sacrament meeting. We hopped in the car and headed over. It was so awesome. They invited over a man who is in our ward who is less active. We were able to talk about how we can see God in all of his creations. He was such a nice man! I hope he is there this Sunday.
Mom: I heard you're really kicking it when it comes to family history. That is so awesome! After coming on a mission I really see the serious importance of family history work...not that I didn't see it before. I think I just have a more proactive attitude towards it now.
Dad: You planted strawberries! The summer I LEAVE?! I feel robbed. Why are you going to CA? I appreciate your stalking me and giving us weather updates. Sometimes we try to peek at the news and see what the weather will be like the next day...most of the time it doesn't work.
OH ALSO! What in the world is happening over there? Every time people find out I'm from the United States, the proceed to talk to me about the Boston Marathon bombing and another bombing in Chicago? What happened? I feel incredibly out of the loop.
Jon: You're awesome. Way to be the highlight of the week.
Rachel & Mayu--where are you these days?? I want to send you a postcard but I don't dare send it to your old addresses. I never had Rachel’s address in the first place. If you want a postcard, you have to send me your address :)
Mindy: WAY TO BE THE ONLY PERSON TO SEND ME A LETTER THIS WEEK!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!! EXPECT AN EPIC LETTER COMING YOUR WAY..ok...I'm not that cool. It might not be epic. But you'll be getting one :)
I love you all SO MUCH!!
Sœur Bitter
I love you all SO MUCH!!
Sœur Bitter
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| Amazing to have the Eiffel Tower in your area. |
Monday, 15 April 2013
Down But Not Out - April 15, 2013
BONJOUR MY FAVORITE AMERICANS!!!
So I have no idea where to start for this week so we'll start with the most important things. THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!! Oh also, I was told, on many accounts, that I utilize the word 'love' or some deviation too much. Therefore, I will expand my vocabulary in cette email.
So Soeur Rhondeau and I actually got really sick this week. I know I'm laughing and the funny thing is even we were laughing at how pathetic we were during our bout with the flu. It was Thursday or so and I woke up so ill. The week earlier, I had been holding back Soeur Rhondeau's hair during conference. Then we thought it was food poisoning...now...we think we got sick from one of our amis (investigators). Anyway, we had an appointment with Petula that morning (the sister who is getting baptized) and so I thought "DON'T JUST LAY THERE SOEUR BITTER! GET YOUR LAZY REAR OUT OF BED. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SALVATION OF OTHERS!" Well finally Soeur Rhondeau told me that she thought it was best if we stayed in. She was right. About 30 minutes later we both became really good friends with our bathroom. It got to the point that I decided to sleep on our tile floor. Because 1) it was closer in proximity to the bathroom than my bed and 2) because it was really cold and it felt good for my fever. BUT despite us getting sick and being down and out, we had an AMAZING WEEK! We saw a lot of miracles and we met some wonderful new people.
First, I know this doesn't sound like a miracle but it is! So we
stopped by Joel's house yesterday. He asked us to stop by in the late
afternoon on Sunday. So we head over there and his daughter answers the
door and says "OH THE MISSIONARIES! My dad told us you were coming but
he just left! He was really excited for you to come but he should be
back later! Will you please come back?" Be cool Sr. Rhondeau. Be cool.
"Ya...you know what, that might fit in our schedules. We'll try to make
that happen". As we round the corner we're clicking our heels. We go
back later and his mother answers the door and says "Oh my sweet
missionaries. I'm so sorry. He's still not here but he told us all about
you!" (we found him porting. so I didn't know there was much to say)
She then said "Me and my whole family are so excited to learn about the
Gospel. Will you please come back??" JE PENSE OUI!! That was definitely
the best way, anyone could hope to end a week. Anyway, so we have an
appointment with them later this week.
We taught Denise for the first time yesterday as well. She had TONS of questions about the Plan of Salvation. Like A TON. "If we were with God before, why would he send us here? And who is Jesus Christ? He's different than God? What is his role?" It was awesome because the investigators who ask lots of questions are definitely the ones who learn the fastest. I am really excited to teach her and she has the CUTEST (either) son or brother. During the lesson, he slipped down from her lap and went and picked a flower from Garden. He slowly crept over to where I was and slid it across the table to me and then ran back to his mom. WAAA FRENCH KIDS ARE SO CUTE! Also...they're adorable because they can speak French. Every time I think "whoa how can they speak French so well?!" Anyway so after I turned to him and I said "C'est pour moi??" which he nodded really shyly and hid behind his mom again. He was precious. I wore it in my hair for the rest of the day.
Also, yesterday I had my first meal!!...with a family. A wonderful family in our ward invited us over for dinner. They have 4 kids and they are so funny and full of energy. Both of the parents served missions so they love talking to us about how it is going and they understand if an appointment runs over (which it did). Anyway, so we brought an object lesson relating to the iron rod! Well Soeur Rhondeau's mom sent her 2 big packages of the peel twizzlers. We decided that we would use one for the object lesson. We would hide the candy and blindfold one of the kids and see if they could find it. Then we would provide an iron rod that led straight to the Candy. THE KIDS LOVED IT! Apparently French kids love American candy. They kept asking "Is it American?? Is it American?!" Yup. Kids love us. Anyway, they are the most wonderful family and the husband used to own a bakery and so dessert was FANTASTIC!! Apparently the Soeurs get spoiled in the French mission. The Elders a little bit but President Poznanski said that the members just love the sisters. SUPERB!
Updates on France as a place, the weather has been all over the place. Yesterday (Sunday) it was GORGEOUS! It was about 67ish degrees and just sunny all day. We loved being outside. Well a couple days before that it hailed and then a couple days before that, we had lightning storms. Always an adventure! Anyway, the weather has always helped us in contacting or porting in some way. The other day, Soeur Rhondeau forgot her umbrella, and since I have a brilliant mother who found me a very portable umbrella, I always have mine with me. So we were walking around Avon sharing an umbrella...we looked adorable of course. Every time we talked to someone, if they weren't interested they would say something like "you are very nice, and very cute...but no" Probably my favorite phrase of the week.
Oh I almost forgot! I don't know if you do this in Orem, but I guess all the missionaries share their testimony their first week in the ward. I was secretly hoping they would forget. Well they didn't. EVERYONE was so nice to me after and kept complimenting me on my French and how the MTC is doing a much better job about preparing the missionaries for the language. That made me happy. :) Again, everyone is so nice.
Oh, also, you don't have to worry about our safety as Soeurs. We have a 190 lb black man who is our personal body guard a lot of the time...aka the ward mission leader. He is the NICEST man. He is a convert the church and he has lots of the love for the Missionaries. And I feel he feels this need to protect the Soeurs...especially since neither of us is taller than 5.5 or over 115. Anyway, his conversion story is awesome but what is even more cool to me is that he has given up his ENTIRE past life. He'll say things like "Ya...I heard this talk about media and music and I decided that my music wasn't inviting the spirit. So I wiped my entire iPod and started new". That's just the kind of person he is.
Anyway, we're in Paris again and I'm just itching to go see things so I must go! I send my love and my good wishes!!
Dad-- Yesterday, when it was super sunny I thought, "I bet my dad knows exactly how warm it is today. I bet he has added me to his phone." Sure enough, your next letter says you've been weather stalking me :) Love it. Also, the garden looks good! What did you guys plant this year?
Mom-- I love your thoughts on Elder Kueker's talk! That sounds like it was such a good talk. It reminds me how people say over and over. We are not looking for a final destination. In this life we are not wanting to attain a house on 3421 celestial lane, celestial kingdom. Instead it is about BECOMING and HAVING a celestial life, a celestial marriage etc. I love that idea of becoming.
Jon-- Good luck these next couple weeks! You are in my prayers beaucoup! DON'T FORGET YOUR AWESOMENESS!! I'm excited to hear more about how everything turns out. Also when do you graduate?
Attention HFAC friends: Is Meg in the MTC? What's her mailbox etc? Also what are the details on Rachel's wedding?? Also Mayu, if you're reading this, I have been thinking about you beaucoup! Just how awesome you are and what an influence you have had on me. I was thinking about love and agape and the Shack the other day and I am so grateful for you and opening my mind to these new ideas. I love you so much. I'll write you a letter soon.
Au Revoir!!
Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Kari Ann Bitter
OH PS!! I almost forgot! Soeur Carter (my comp in the MTC) Said her grandpa served in Norway and he is about the same age as Grandpa Weber. MAYBE THEY KNEW EACH OTHER!
Last one I promise. So I was sitting on the plane to come here and I relalized that I was in the MTC for 40 days and 40 nights. Perfect. I labored in the wilderness of the MTC for 40 days and 40 nights.
So I have no idea where to start for this week so we'll start with the most important things. THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!! Oh also, I was told, on many accounts, that I utilize the word 'love' or some deviation too much. Therefore, I will expand my vocabulary in cette email.
So Soeur Rhondeau and I actually got really sick this week. I know I'm laughing and the funny thing is even we were laughing at how pathetic we were during our bout with the flu. It was Thursday or so and I woke up so ill. The week earlier, I had been holding back Soeur Rhondeau's hair during conference. Then we thought it was food poisoning...now...we think we got sick from one of our amis (investigators). Anyway, we had an appointment with Petula that morning (the sister who is getting baptized) and so I thought "DON'T JUST LAY THERE SOEUR BITTER! GET YOUR LAZY REAR OUT OF BED. WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SALVATION OF OTHERS!" Well finally Soeur Rhondeau told me that she thought it was best if we stayed in. She was right. About 30 minutes later we both became really good friends with our bathroom. It got to the point that I decided to sleep on our tile floor. Because 1) it was closer in proximity to the bathroom than my bed and 2) because it was really cold and it felt good for my fever. BUT despite us getting sick and being down and out, we had an AMAZING WEEK! We saw a lot of miracles and we met some wonderful new people.
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| Feeling Under the Weather but Still Going Strong |
We taught Denise for the first time yesterday as well. She had TONS of questions about the Plan of Salvation. Like A TON. "If we were with God before, why would he send us here? And who is Jesus Christ? He's different than God? What is his role?" It was awesome because the investigators who ask lots of questions are definitely the ones who learn the fastest. I am really excited to teach her and she has the CUTEST (either) son or brother. During the lesson, he slipped down from her lap and went and picked a flower from Garden. He slowly crept over to where I was and slid it across the table to me and then ran back to his mom. WAAA FRENCH KIDS ARE SO CUTE! Also...they're adorable because they can speak French. Every time I think "whoa how can they speak French so well?!" Anyway so after I turned to him and I said "C'est pour moi??" which he nodded really shyly and hid behind his mom again. He was precious. I wore it in my hair for the rest of the day.
Also, yesterday I had my first meal!!...with a family. A wonderful family in our ward invited us over for dinner. They have 4 kids and they are so funny and full of energy. Both of the parents served missions so they love talking to us about how it is going and they understand if an appointment runs over (which it did). Anyway, so we brought an object lesson relating to the iron rod! Well Soeur Rhondeau's mom sent her 2 big packages of the peel twizzlers. We decided that we would use one for the object lesson. We would hide the candy and blindfold one of the kids and see if they could find it. Then we would provide an iron rod that led straight to the Candy. THE KIDS LOVED IT! Apparently French kids love American candy. They kept asking "Is it American?? Is it American?!" Yup. Kids love us. Anyway, they are the most wonderful family and the husband used to own a bakery and so dessert was FANTASTIC!! Apparently the Soeurs get spoiled in the French mission. The Elders a little bit but President Poznanski said that the members just love the sisters. SUPERB!
Updates on France as a place, the weather has been all over the place. Yesterday (Sunday) it was GORGEOUS! It was about 67ish degrees and just sunny all day. We loved being outside. Well a couple days before that it hailed and then a couple days before that, we had lightning storms. Always an adventure! Anyway, the weather has always helped us in contacting or porting in some way. The other day, Soeur Rhondeau forgot her umbrella, and since I have a brilliant mother who found me a very portable umbrella, I always have mine with me. So we were walking around Avon sharing an umbrella...we looked adorable of course. Every time we talked to someone, if they weren't interested they would say something like "you are very nice, and very cute...but no" Probably my favorite phrase of the week.
Oh I almost forgot! I don't know if you do this in Orem, but I guess all the missionaries share their testimony their first week in the ward. I was secretly hoping they would forget. Well they didn't. EVERYONE was so nice to me after and kept complimenting me on my French and how the MTC is doing a much better job about preparing the missionaries for the language. That made me happy. :) Again, everyone is so nice.
Oh, also, you don't have to worry about our safety as Soeurs. We have a 190 lb black man who is our personal body guard a lot of the time...aka the ward mission leader. He is the NICEST man. He is a convert the church and he has lots of the love for the Missionaries. And I feel he feels this need to protect the Soeurs...especially since neither of us is taller than 5.5 or over 115. Anyway, his conversion story is awesome but what is even more cool to me is that he has given up his ENTIRE past life. He'll say things like "Ya...I heard this talk about media and music and I decided that my music wasn't inviting the spirit. So I wiped my entire iPod and started new". That's just the kind of person he is.
Anyway, we're in Paris again and I'm just itching to go see things so I must go! I send my love and my good wishes!!
Dad-- Yesterday, when it was super sunny I thought, "I bet my dad knows exactly how warm it is today. I bet he has added me to his phone." Sure enough, your next letter says you've been weather stalking me :) Love it. Also, the garden looks good! What did you guys plant this year?
Mom-- I love your thoughts on Elder Kueker's talk! That sounds like it was such a good talk. It reminds me how people say over and over. We are not looking for a final destination. In this life we are not wanting to attain a house on 3421 celestial lane, celestial kingdom. Instead it is about BECOMING and HAVING a celestial life, a celestial marriage etc. I love that idea of becoming.
Jon-- Good luck these next couple weeks! You are in my prayers beaucoup! DON'T FORGET YOUR AWESOMENESS!! I'm excited to hear more about how everything turns out. Also when do you graduate?
Attention HFAC friends: Is Meg in the MTC? What's her mailbox etc? Also what are the details on Rachel's wedding?? Also Mayu, if you're reading this, I have been thinking about you beaucoup! Just how awesome you are and what an influence you have had on me. I was thinking about love and agape and the Shack the other day and I am so grateful for you and opening my mind to these new ideas. I love you so much. I'll write you a letter soon.
Au Revoir!!
Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Kari Ann Bitter
OH PS!! I almost forgot! Soeur Carter (my comp in the MTC) Said her grandpa served in Norway and he is about the same age as Grandpa Weber. MAYBE THEY KNEW EACH OTHER!
Last one I promise. So I was sitting on the plane to come here and I relalized that I was in the MTC for 40 days and 40 nights. Perfect. I labored in the wilderness of the MTC for 40 days and 40 nights.
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