Transfer News: Moving to Rennes - August 4, 2013

Bonjour mes chères!!

First off, I just got transfer news!! I'm going to Rennes! It's in Brittany (Or Bretagne in French) and is where we learned to do that cultural dance when we came to France. It's on the west coast of France. SO EXCITED!! Fun fact about Rennes--They didn't have sisters until last fall. And who were those first two sisters? Soeur Rhondeau (my trainer) and her trainer. So I'm just gonna go there and carry on the legacy.

So my favorite miracle of the week was in our lesson with the Famille Zounga. Petula we have been teaching for a long time and Divin is her son who went to YM's camp just a few weeks ago. Last time we committed their family to read Enos 1 and tell us what they can learn about prayer from this chapter in the Book of Mormon. We go into the lesson and in the beginning we ask if they read the passage. Who was the only one who read it? Divin. Shocked, I turned to him and asked "what did you learn??". He then went on to say "well I didn't understand it the first few times I read it but after a while I started to understand. There was a man named Enos and he had some sins so he prayed for forgiveness. He prayed for a long time. He then heard the voice of God forgive him. Then he prayed really hard for his brothers and that they would be saved too. Then he saw them be saved in a vision....". So after I picked my jaw off of the floor, we continued to teach of prayer and the power of the Book of Mormon. We showed them how to read together each night and challenged them to do so. Even now though, I remember the feeling I had in that lesson when I heard Divin teach his family of the things that he has learned in the Book of Mormon. As the oldest, at only 12 years old, I think he will be the example. They also came to church on Sunday (HUGE MIRACLE!) and Divin was listening intently to everyone's testimonies during fast and testimony meeting. I hope that they can all come back and that he will continue to progress. I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting and told the ward that I would be leaving. When I sat down, Divin turned to me and said "so you're leaving?". "Well I'm not completely sure. But I will receive the news tomorrow. But Ya...I think I'm going". Divin: "That's really sad". Talk about heart breaking! I love this Ville so much and I'm going to miss it. As I was talking to all the members and our Amis after church, I thought "wow. I couldn't have had a better ville to start in. If I could stay, I would." But, it's good to leave on a good note :) and Elder Angel and I wrote an arrangement and played/sang it in church yesterday as our way of saying Goodbye.

Other great news: We went and taught Atalia this week again. She is amazing. The minute we came in, her, her sister Ange and her brother Gaitalia, came and sat down in a circle. In each of their hands they had the pamphlet that we had given them about the Plan of Salvation. I looked at each of their pamphlets and it was obvious they had read it SEVERAL times. (The things you notice as a missionary haha). After the prayer, they had a ton of sincere questions and concerns. I really see them all progressing and I'm going to miss lessons with them a TON.

I love you all SO much.

A HUGE thank you to the Youngs for the fun letter :) Attached below is my happiness at seeing a love note from Brenna. Seriously though, Randy, Julie, you two are awesome. Thank you so much. I love you both a ton.

Also, I heard a lot of this reunion and the fun happenings but I got ZERO pictures from it. COME ON!!! Donuts on the beach? Seattle in the summer? All my favorite people in one place?? And not a single photo???? FAIL!!! Just kidding. Love ya.

My new address in Rennes:

29, rue Tanguy Prigent
Rennes, 35000
France

LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH!!

Soeur Kari Ann Bitter

Sending some pics of my last day in Paris. Walking around Paris, you will just turn a corner and find a random Cathedral...like the one pictured below. Not sure which it is (and no...it's definitely NOT Notre Dame) but it sure is beautiful. I will miss this city.

The 'Not Notre Dame' Cathedral

Last P-Day in Paris, Great Place and Great People

The Awesome People of Melun - July 29, 2013

Bonjour tout le monde!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Divine: "I learned to have Faith".

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christ lives. God loves you

Avec Amour

Soeur Bitter

So Many Children - July 22, 2013

FRIENDS!!!

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

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

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

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

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

We felt loved by our new amis.

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

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

Je t'aime

Soeur Bitter

France is Beautiful

Finding Eugene - July 15, 2013

HELLO HELLO!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avec Amour,

Soeur Bitter

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

Lunch With Julie and Tom - July 8, 2013

BONJOUR TOUT LE MONDE!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love you all!

Soeur Bitter

The Transfer of Soeur Rhondeau - July 1, 2013

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

Transfer Day

A Great Companion For a Great Mission Start

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soeur Bitter

Prisca Was Baptized - June 24, 2013

PRISCA GOT BAPTIZED!!!! It was such a beautiful day. But I'll start at the beginning of the week with this story. So on Wednesday, we had our last RDV with Prisca before baptism. We taught her the 10 commandments and the Sabbath Day and Chastity. We figured all those would be pretty simple for her. It was cute, during the lesson, she kept saying "yup. Totally makes sense to me. That's already the way I live". She then had her interview with our District Leader. She was BEAMING! She was so excited to be baptized and when we went over the interview questions with her beforehand, she. was. glowing.

That Friday, we went by their home and had a TRADITIONAL AFRICAN MEAL from Cape Verde. It was so so so delicious!! We had fried plantains (they kind of look like bananas) and seriously the best fish I've ever had in my life. Yumm. Apparently before he left for work, her husband said, "Prisca! You can't make them this food! They're Americans! They can't handle spicy!" False! It was the best meal I've had in France yet.

Then fast forward to the next day. Saturday. Soeur Rhondeau and I could not sit still for our lives. We felt like something was going to go wrong. For some reason, neither of us doubted that Prisca would be there. We knew Prisca was steady and was going to be there...it was the other details that freaked us out. But long story short- everything turned out. It was a gigantic blessing. During her baptism, Soeur Rhondeau and I had the opportunity to stand on the steps of the font (front row seats). I have never felt the spirit so uniquely before. A little piece of my soul, that I didn't even know was there, was touched so profoundly. I had the strongest confirmation of the power of Baptism and the covenants that she had just made with our Father.

I know what it means when in the scriptures they say that your joy will be full. Teaching her has truly been such a privilege. The service was beautiful and her whole family came! Her husband is awesome! I don't know if I mentioned this before but in our first RDV, she said "I've been searching for the true church for a long time. My husband told me that if I prayed, God would help me find the truth and he would tell me when I've found it". He was really impressed by the service and the ward members. He asked the Bishop for a copy of the Book of Mormon and we will begin teaching him soon :).

Prisca

 

 

 

After the baptism, there was a ward activity and it was amazing to see how welcoming everyone was of Prisca and her husband. As I was sitting there with Prisca and her husband and Soeur Rhondeau and some of our other friends from the ward, I thought to myself "I never want to leave Melun." This work may be hard, I may have blisters on my feet and I may encounter the creepiest men on the planet here...but I love Melun. I love the work. I love the people. I love our ward. I love our amis. I love Prisca.

Rain Boots Are Key

Later that night, a family in the ward drove Prisca, her husband and 2 girls home. When he came back he asked us how long Jean-Paul had been taking the lessons. We told him that the baptism was actually the first time we had met him. He turned to us with shock "WHAT?! Woah. You have to teach him. He is legit. But seriously. Really legit". So Soeur Rhondeau and I are incredibly excited and we are thinking that Prisca has been sharing with him the things she has been learning from the missionaries. Prisca will seriously be such an asset to this ward.

The next day, after church, we walked Prisca to the Train. We encountered someone staring at Soeur Rhondeau's and my plaques. (Not so uncommon). She asked if we were nuns to which we replied no and explained who we were. Then Prisca piped in and said "and there is church every Sunday and you are always welcome!" A member for less than a day-and already a missionary.

Other fun stories from the baptism/ward activity:

• We witnessed a 3 year old pull the fire-extinguisher from out of the wall-creating 4 new gigantic holes in our church haha. 

• We thought we were really sneaky and stole Prisca's name from off of the Sonnerie. It was 13 characters long and SUPER African...only to learn that her last name is just Zahui and the name we printed on everything was in fact the last name for her children...not her.

• All the French being shocked seeing me put strawberries in a salad (fruit is dessert here) and then seeing that after only 10 minutes, the entire salad is licked clean and everyone is chasing me down looking for my mother's recipe. (Way to rock it mom).

• Prisca trying to convince her husband she's a spy.

• Being followed around by the cutest Asian kids on this planet who keep asking us to swing them. Pictures to follow.

Church Fun

Other fun things that happened this week: I went to Belgium! It was for my legality and it was like a little vacation--although before the baptism, I wished I had been in Melun with our amis and taking care of stuff for Saturday. But it was fun seeing everyone from the MTC and taking a nice trainride through the countryside of France. Also, I had the most epic belgium waffle of my life (pics to follow).

Only Belgium Waffles are Served in Belgium

Visa Renewal in Belgium

Well, I'm probably going to spend the rest of the time sending pictures. :) Happy week everyone!!

Also, sad news, Soeur Rhondeau is leaving Melun. :(

My address

Soeur Kari Bitter
3 Rue de L'abreuvoir B302
Melun, France 77000

The B302 is only needed if you send a package. If you are not sending a package, you can just write 3 rue de L'abreuvoir

Love you all!!

Soeur Bitter