rain + eiffel tower = heaven!

Oh, my goodness. I have to start right off the bat this week with my Paris story :)

It was probably one of the best days of my LIFE. we woke up at 5:15 (that part wasn't so great) so we could make the 6:40 train. I slept for the entire three hour train ride to Paris, of course. :)

We met the Paris Lillas soeurs, Soeur Clark and Soeur Rowley, at the gare. It was SO fun to get to see Soeur Rowley again! We decided to go get paninis for lunch at Soeur England's favorite place. They were so GOOD. I had told Soeur England beforehand about all my little-girl dreams about Paris and she was SO excited to be the one to get to show me around. We took the metro, got off, walked a block or so, and then Soeur England said, "are you ready?" i said, "for what?" and then we turned a corner and there it was: The Eiffel Tower! And then it started raining. Oh my goodness it was heaven. I could NOT believe it. And (you are SO going to laugh at me) i started crying right when i saw it. I'm just so lucky! Every day i wake up in Belgium and I have to make sure I'm not dreaming. And going to paris too.... that's just the cherry on top of the world's best cupcake.

After lunch we went to take care of Soeur England's legality, which took about an hour and a half. We left the place and went to Notre Dame, which was gorgeous. It's so HUGE, especially from the inside. The ceilings are like a million feet tall. I love loved all the stained glass windows. We then went to a Patisserie, which was delicious. My first pastry since getting here! (Belgium isn't known for their pastries... Just waffles)

We went to the Paris church/institute/visitor's center to say hi to the senior missionaries. It's so pretty- it has it's own cobblestone courtyard! I hope I get to serve in Paris soon. After that, we passed by the Bastille, got back on the train, back to Liège. It was a lovely, lovely day.

As far as amis go, we had a rendez-vous (lesson) with Maurice this week. Remember him? We had NO idea what to expect from him, since the last time was so weird. And he didn't show up for church on sunday, so our hope for him was starting to dwindle.
THEN, he walked in the door. The spirit flooded in with him and he was just beaming. I could tell right then he had kept his commitment to read the Book of Mormon and pray. We weren't surprised when we asked him if he had and he said YES :) The lesson went fantastically well. We talked about the priesthood and the organization of the church. We did an object lesson with a cup pyramid to show how Christ organized His church when he was on the earth, how the apostasy came about, and the Restoration. It shows how the church now is exactly the same as it was when Jesus was on the earth, except now we have a prophet instead of the Lord himself. We explained how the Lord is still very much the leader of His church through revelation. Maurice asked really good questions and he accepted everything we taught him and agreed to pray about it.

I'm so excited to watch him progress. I still can't believe the massive change in his countenance from last time to this time. when we got home, Soeur England and I were still talking about it and still so so happy about his progress. We're teaching him again tonight and we're going to try to fix a date for baptism! we seriously can't wait. Missionary work is almost indescribable. There is so much joy, so much love, so much of everything I almost can't contain it all. It is just the most amazing experience.

Church yesterday was really good. We had TWO of our inactives show up, and another ami came too! we were so excited. In sacrament meeting, they asked me to come up and present myself. I was a little scared, but I said a silent prayer and went up there and did my best. I don't even remember half of what I said. After the meeting, a member came up to me and said, "what is your secret?? you speak French like missionaries who have been here for a year!" Talk about a compliment! It was so nice of him, but I know I still have a long way to go with the language. I'm improving little by little, with the help of the spirit. A member once said that French is the language of love, but English is the language of emotion. I have found that to be true; it is definitely harder to express myself in French, but I love it all the same.

I love everything about this work! It truly is a daily miracle, being a missionary. Thank you so much everyone for  your support and love. Don't forget to write :)

amour,

the little mish in belgium