Liège, adieu.

oh my goodness!

I'm sure everyone in the world has heard the news by now:

paris!

 

i am so very happy and excited. i will be leaving Liège the day after tomorrow!

 

this week was a great last week of the transfer. on Tuesday, we spent the day in the Droixhe area doing passbys. Droixhe rivals Seraing as the armpit of Liège, so we didn't have much by way of scenery :)

we met Christiane and her kids at a park in the late afternoon. We had planned to teach a lesson to Chris, but we actually ended up teaching her son Ismael instead. He told us about how his Muslim father puts pressure on him and he's afraid to stand up to him. We read 1 Nephi 3:7 together and talked about having courage. He is such a doll... I hope we helped him a little. After the lesson he told us he wants to go on a mission someday!

 

wednesday was our six month mark on the mission! I can't believe it has been six months already. They were the fastest six months of my life! Soeur Turney and I went and got ice cream cones during our lunch hour to celebrate :)

That night, we went to Rita's for dinner. She made "Boulets Liègois" for us... Meatballs with a special Liègeois sauce on top. It's a specialty around here... it was pretty good! For our lesson, we read the words to "Souviens-toi", a beautiful french hymn, with her. I wish I had time to translate it for you! Have Roland do it :) It is definitely one of my favorite french "cantiques". We then read from John 15 the "abide in me and i will abide in you" verses. We talked about prayer and how our relationship with Heavenly Father is reciprocal- if we pray, He will answer. It turned out to be a beautiful lesson. I love Rita!

 

on Friday evening, we taught English Class. This week, we had only one student, Jacqueline :) We talked about different time periods. We asked her if she could visit any time in the past, which one she would pick and why. She picked Renaissance Italy- she loves Italy. She's been there 9 times! can you imagine? Soeur Turney picked 19th century England. And I picked, without skipping a beat, the 1960's. Jacqueline was quite taken aback and said it's very odd for someone so young to be so fascinated with such old things. She doesn't even know the HALF of it! I told her I love the 40's and the 20's too and she told me I'm an old lady on the inside. :)

 

we had a few little miracles with Christiane this week. We still call her every single night to read the Book of Mormon with her, and we are starting to see it bring results! When we called her on Friday night, she volunteered to say the prayer, which she never does. It was amazing! We have been trying to get her to pray and ask blessings she needs the entire time i've been in Liège. She prays every day, but she refuses to ask for help from Heavenly Father because she didn't want to bother Him. But when she said the prayer this time, she poured out the desires of her heart and it was just so beautiful and joyous. We were so very proud of her and so grateful to the Lord for touching her heart!

when we called on saturday night, Chris told us Sabrina, her 9 year old daughter, wants to start taking the missionary lessons! We have been trying to teach her for months, so we were so very happy. she is darling. That will be so fun for Soeur Turney and her new companion! 

As we were reading, Sabrina stopped us and said we had just read her favorite scripture, 2 Nephi 25:13:

 

"Behold, they will crucify Him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in His wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the Kingdom of God. wherefore, my soul delighteth to prophesy concerning him, for I have seen his day, and my heart doth magnify His holy name."

 

in the closing prayer, she said, "thank you for letting me read my favorite scripture." it was SO cute!

THEN, yesterday, Chris and her kids came to church for all three hours! It was a huge deal. That is the first time I have seen her at church for the entire three hour block. The Lord has blessed us, and her, so much this week! I am sovery grateful.

 

I can't believe this is the last email i will be sending from Liège! I am so very thankful for the four months I have been able to serve here. it has definitely been a blessing. On to the next adventure!

 

Je vous aime, tous!

Paris, here we come.

 

avec tout mon amour,

little mish. 

 

 

last days in liège: photos.

 

l-r: myriam, elder duarte, roxanne, me, soeur turney, elder mcquay

 

with christiane at the park. she was the very first person i ever taught a lesson to in the mission field! i'm going to miss her. 

 

six months on the mission!

 

Soeur Turney and I were showered with a lifetime supply of Belgian chocolate for Easter! Jacqueline loves to spoil us :)

with Soeur Skousen at the Citadelle