Bonjour Famille!
Unfortunately I don't have news yet on the next transfer...they changed our calls from Friday to this Wednesday, so we will know then! The suspense is killing us. We are having a huge conference in Lyon this weekend, and everyone will be shifting companions while we're there. So if I'm moving, then this Thursday is the last day I'll be in Perpignan! So sad!! I really hope I'm staying, because if not then last Sunday was the last time I'll have been able to say goodbye to ward members and such. So I'm praying I'll get to stay at least one more!
The suspense over Julianna's mission call is killing me. I want to know now.
Yesterday at church there were 4 Americans! A father and daughter, and his coworker and wife. They were in Spain for a business meeting and then came over to Perpignan for Sunday and will leave in a few days. They are from Utah and the daughter just returned from a mission in California. None of them spoke French so they were happy to find some American missionaries. It was so nice being around them--just reminded me so much of home! They took pictures of Sister Castagno and me to send them to family, so I'm glad you got them haha. I think he also might have been taking a video of us as we were doing some missionary work so hopefully it's not embarrassing.... Before we left the woman gave us each a hug and said it's for our mothers :)
I'm happy they were there, because we sat next to them in Sacrament meeting and something embarrassing happened. Again....I don't know what's up with me these days! During the sacrament the deacon was passing the bread down the rows, and in an awkward moment of trying to figure out who was going to take the bread and pass to the person, something happened and either I dropped or smacked the tray, but somehow, the tray of lovely French bread went flying. In the middle of this sacred ordinance. Pieces of baguette were everywhere, and all over my companion. I was horrified. Luckily one of the American fathers was on my left and quietly laughed and patted my shoulder and said, "Worse things will happen." I'm sure he's right. I found a piece of bagette in my purse this morning as a little souvenir.
This week has been awesome as far as missionary work. We had two exchanges, so we were actually only in Perpignan for three full days this week. But those days were so great! Saturday we had an awesome district meeting where we talked about teaching simply. I learned a lot of new things and want to start applying them ASAP. After our meetings we had 3 RDVs with amis right after, and when we have an awesome like that, it's rare that they all actually happen. But they did! No tomber-vous! One of them was with a man named Raslan who we met on the street. Most of the times RDVs we fix through contacting rarely happen on the first try, but he came! And better yet, he brought a friend! They are both Muslim (but not really because they want to learn about Christians) and unfortunately don't really speak a lot of French but it's ok. We were prepared and had an Arab Book of Mormon and pamphlets. They seemed super cool and open to the Gospel! Luckily there are two sisters in the ward who also speak Arab (hopefully the same kind...) that we have asked to help teach with us. Yay!
At church yesterday a sister in our ward brought a friend she's known for a while. They've had lots of conversations with her about the church and she finally decided to come. She's from Belgium but speaks English with us and it's so cute. She's awesome! She can't wait to come to church again next Sunday and we are going to see her this week. She is the woman we were giving the Book of Mormon to in that picture, mom. She's so sweet! I'm excited to talk to her. Also, another member helped us set up an interview with her sister in law who wanted to talk about the Plan of Salvation. It was a great lesson! She will also be seeing her again this week.
That same member saw a couple on the street this week and invited them to our Soiree Familiale we hold for all amis and recent converts. (Allison I hope you're reading this) They came, and as I walked in the room I saw that they were a cute couple that I had met outside our chapel with Allison. At the time, they were really curious and wanted to talk about Jesus Christ but they didn't show up to the RDV we had fixed with them. I saw so much potential in them that I prayed for probably a month afterwards that we would run into them (they didn't have phones). And then like 7 weeks later they were there that night! Ahhhhh I was sooo happy!!! Luckily I had remembered their names so they were totally sparked by that ;) This week has made me super, super grateful for all the wonderful members in our ward who want to help us. Such a testimony to me of the power of the missionary work when members are involved!
During our exchanges this week I learned a ton. I'm going to be working specifically on REALLY listening to people during lessons and then listening to the Spirit to guide my comments and questions. We all know that is important but this week it has really hit me that it's harder than it seems and more important than it seems! When you're listening to the person and praying for your companion instead of thinking about what you're going to say next, whatever you say next will more likely be guided by the Spirit. Well, hopefully. That's where faith comes in, right? We'll see how I can improve this week.
Also, we were able to see Sister Castagno's nanny dad while on this exchange because he had a meeting in Toulouse! She feels like he's a father to her, so I'm sure it was really special. He took us out to eat and gave us TONS of awesome advice that I wish I had more time to write about. He served in the Geneva mission so basically this same one, and it was awesome to hear some miracles that happened when he was here.
I'm excited to see Allison this week in Lyon! I hear she and Sister Nef get along wonderfully and that's so awesome.
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