Writing you from a train right now, this p-day is going to be weird because we have the interview with the president at 3 which isn't normally on p-day, so we had to bump some of our other stuff to another day. Grocery shopping, mostly. Hurrah for pasta and canned beans! We budget super carefully for groceries, because missionaries, and never stop for snacks or stuff except for one thing on p-day, so today we got Steak-n-shake which turned out to be cheaper than almost anything else we've seen here, gotta remember that (and it actually had a bathroom, also important to remember here) and we might possibly stop for a patisserie later since dinner won't be till around 9.
New discovery: croissants aren't a pâtisserie, they're a vienoisserie, which the only difference seems to be one is acceptable to eat at breakfast and the other might get you a weird look. Why, I can't tell you. Chocolate is fine for breakfast but strawberries aren't? Who knows. I feel like I need to apologize to pastry for my rant, though, it was an innocent bystander in my stance against croissants.
(Macarons, mom might fly to France just for a real one as she has not EVER been able to find one comparable in the USA)
Today: Steak and shake, got a jalapeno burger and there was music! "Find me" by Birdy and a few other good ones I knew.
People were really nice to us around Sacre Coeur, where we were, because they saw the name tag with "Soeur" and we were by a cathedral. We don't proselytize around other houses of worship, as a move of respect, so we just smile and wave when they say "hi sister!" On the train or bus or other places we can explain a little and invite them to find out more (YAY finding!)
I think I'm blending in just enough as long as I don't talk because a few people have asked me if I speak English before just starting in on it. As soon as I talk, though, there's a fair chance some excited person will want to practice their English with me. That's been a help a few times with finding because if I break a social rule by talking on the train they figure I'm new and don't know I'm being weird. Sometimes they humor me and chat, and we can invite them to the Visitor Center or something. Soeur Oules sometimes gets an unspoken reaction of "you should know better, you're French."
Shorter email this week, sorry, but I'm grateful for all the emails and pictures of cats and people. We got to meet a very excellent little cat at a lesson, and I can't tell you about the ami besides that she's awesome, but I can tell you that the cat made the lesson an adventure. He was in that awkward cat teenage phase and really wanted to play in my hair, and then he tried to Spider-Man his way up Soeur Oules and got himself evicted from the rendez-vous so we could focus on teaching the Restoration.
Our area is huge, it took us an hour and a half of trains and busses to get to an appointment the other day. It went awesome, though! Members are the biggest help in missionary work, and we have some superheroes in our ward. We want all our loved ones with us and knowing the joy we know, so we are PSYCHED when somebody gets to come learn!
The Lynn couple were in Grandma Nama's ward and knew her well, they were happy to find out I'm her granddaughter. We talked about her today while I was waiting for my interview. She would love a lot of this here, I'll bring an egg back if I get anything for a souvenir.
(Ana thought an egg would be a very strange souvenir and once she said it, yes, so did I, so the explanation there is Grandma Nama, Barbara, collected beautiful decorated and rock eggs which were willed to Alyssa because she adored them and gave Grandma several from her travels. This makes much more sense than simply bringing home a French egg doesn't it?)
(The Lynns)
Ether 12:27 is still one of my favorite scriptures, and we've been using John 14:18 a lot too. "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." People are tired, and grumpy, and sick, and sad, and done with winter. They're frustrated and need peace, and they come to the chat and the visitors center a lot because they just need something good in their lives and they saw something that got them to come there. The French version of the verse means "I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you." I love it as much as the English versions, for different reasons.
Challenge #1:
Christ is always there for us, and we can always find comfort, in the good moments and the bad and the blah. The challenge is to find somebody to share this video with, or on your Facebook, or in a message to somebody, it's a good way to remember.
Challenge #2: help the local missionaries. Referrals, Facebook messages, whatever they need the members to do right then or even just encouragement, please go for it. It does more than you could ever think. Who are we relying on to help us endure to the end? Who are the new members staying with when the missionaries leave? It's the ward. People need to know they're loved and remembered by the people around them, too. God tends to answer our prayers through other people. We can be that answer if we're willing to try.
2 Nephi 16:8, right?
Okay, gotta go, but I love you all and good luck. Bisous!
(laundry)
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