Monday, January 23, 2012

you can have your orange juice and drink it too.


i feel as if my heart might just burst.
this week was one of those happy, blessed weeks where everything is bright and glowy and wonderful. it's chilly outside, but i don't mind. i try not to panic when i think that january is almost over. so fast, so fast. i'm trying to soak up every second i have left like a sponge. Soeur Larsen and I just burst with happiness every week at church. Our branch is like a little family (and not just because half our branch members are related in some way)... i have so many little mamans and papas here.
 
yesterday at church, we scheduled appointments with all of the members for the next two weeks; we're going to be making the rounds to present the Branch Mission Plan. almost every single member that we have a rendez-vous with offered to feed us! it was really funny. we didn't even go grocery shopping today. we had the first of our appointments last night and they sent us home with a loaf of bread fresh from the oven. France rocks.
 
i may have already told you this story, but i'm going to refresh your memory. So about two months ago, we went to visit an AWESOME family in our branch. they have two young sons, ages 10 and 12, who love the church and were always asking us how the work was going. So we decided to use them. we promised them that if they would pray every day and ask Heavenly Father to help us, we would find a family with boys their age and bring them to church. Fast forward to thursday night. we were at the apartment when we felt that we should go visit an inactive family in the branch. We had never met them before- they've been inactive for at least 10 years and they didn't want to see the missionaries. our branch mission leader suggested we try passing by. We had them on the brain for a week or so, but every time we planned to pass by something came up. We left right away and hopped on the bus (thursday night). We easily found their apartment. someone had just gone in the building, so the door was open. we slipped right in, found their apartment number on the mailboxes, and went up. as we got to their door, it opened and a friend of theirs left. they saw us and we waved, so they HAD to let us in! it was a total miracle. we had a great lesson with them. He is French and she's English, so we got to speak a little english with her... it felt weird. anyway, they have two young sons who are not members of the church. In fact, they don't know anything about religion. They don't know who Jesus is. But the two of them sat in for our lesson and prayer and said they wanted us to come back and teach them. the parents didn't have any objection... in fact, the dad wants to come back to church! we asked them how old their sons were.... and they replied, 10 and 12. I had the hardest time containing my excitement until we got outside! 10 and 12! and they're going to come to church! we could not believe it. it was nothing short of a miracle. we told the two boys in our branch yesterday, and they were thrilled. their prayers were answered! we have an appointment to teach the boys on friday. we can't wait. :)
 
We had a funny experience with Nadiha this week. we were teaching her about prophets, but the discussion switched to the word of wisdom. She drinks coffee and tea, and seemed reluctant to give it up. We explained that she could still have hot chocolate and herbal tea and she looked shocked. "really?" she said. "i can even have orange juice and stuff like that?" it was pretty funny. We explained to her that the word of wisdom does not ban ALL drinks, just the bad ones. then she happily accepted to live it.
 
missionary life is the best kind of life.
love from the loire,
 
little mish.
 

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