we happy few.

bonjour à tous!

On Tuesday, we had a rendez-vous with Philomene. We taught her the Law of Chastity, which she loved. Apparently her husband cheated on her, so she divorced him. She was so happy that members of the church take fidelity very seriously and she happily committed to living the law of chastity. We then went through the baptismal interview questions with her. it was so cute... after every question, she said, "oui, je crois." ("yes, I believe.") she is so excited for her baptism! She is so ready. We can't wait!

Exchanges were on Wednesday. Soeur Jorgensen and I took a train to Caen (Normandy area) first thing that morning. We arrived there two hours later and met up with the Caen sisters for lunch. After eating, Soeur Woodward and I hopped right back on the train to Paris, while Soeur Jorgensen and Soeur Barros stayed in Caen. Lots of train in one day, I loved it! When we got back in Paris, we headed to the church for a rendez-vous with Dominique. We watched the Testaments, and I tried (unsuccessfully) to not bawl like a baby at the end. oh well. :) Dominique enjoyed it... She said she has Indian ancestors. We're kind of worried about her. Everytime we call her and ask her how she is doing, we don't get very good responses. We'll see how it goes.
Soeur Woodward and I had so much fun together on our exchange! This is her very first transfer and she is loving it! We have so much in common. I can't believe it was five months ago that I was in her shoes! It seems like a lifetime ago. After our rendez-vous, we went and taught English class, which is always quite entertaining. We had this man named Philippe come in and talk about how much he loved shopping, so naturally we taught him the word "designer". :) He had a ball with that one!
Afterwards, we went next door to the Visitor's Center so Soeur Woodward could see it. The missionaries that were working there at the time explained that a woman had just been in there who was really interested in the gospel. She had just wandered in and started looking around, so the misssionaries gave her a tour and a Book of Mormon. The woman told them, "I don't know why I walked down this street. I wasn't planning to. Then I saw Jesus in the window." The missionaries got her information and... She lives in our area! I was so excited. Soeur Jorgensen and I called her last night and set up a rendez-vous for Thursday. She was very happy that we called and is excited to meet with us!

We had a Leadership Training with the three Paris zones, the Versailles zone, and the Normandy zone on Thursday. It was so much fun to see everyone, especially President and Sister Staheli. Next month's zone conference will be their last one. So sad. I'm going to miss them. We watched this funny little movie about an eager salesman in the 1920's whose little catchphrase was, "I can do anything except take no for an answer!" Naturally, we applied it to missionary work :) President then quoted a speech given in Shakespeare's "Henry the Fifth":

we happy few.
we are outnumbered,
but we are a band of brothers
{and sisters}.

When President stood up at the pulpit to speak to us, the first thing he said was, "I just had a sweet and powerful spiritual confirmation that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you. He is so proud of you." It was definitely a bittersweet meeting, but also so very good. I have learned so much from the Stahelis.

Elder Weed, Elder Gilmour, Soeur Jorgensen, and I all gave talks in sacrament meeting yesterday. All four of us spoke on different aspects of missionary work in order to get the ward excited for the special fast in June. It went well... i talked about Charity and missionary work. I love to talk about charity :) I wasn't nervous at all! I remember the first time I had to speak in front of the branch in LIège- I was absolutely terrified. My, how far we've come. :)
Edinton and Anbu were there, of course. They were beaming at me from the congregation as I gave my talk. After church, we had a lesson with them. Anbu invited a friend! They are the world's best investigators. His friend seemed a little skeptical, but we'll see. AND.... We fixed a baptismal date with Edinton and Anbu! They will be baptized on June 19th. They're so excited, and so are we! Those two are such a miracle. I am in awe of how prepared they are for the gospel.

as you can see, life is oh so good.

all my love to you!

amour,
la petite missionnaire.

 photos:

the red wheelbarrow bookstore. we went there this morning and i am in love.

Soeur Woodward and I

the Paris missionaries. left to right: Elder Zarbock, Elder Gilmour, Soeur Jorgensen, me, Elder Gubbay, Soeur Smith, Elder Weed, Elder Vallecalle, Elder Liao, Elder Pletain, Soeur Pearce, Elder Canonica, Elder Jacquier, and Elder Montulet.

My district. Left to right: Elder Gilmour, Elder Weed, Elder Silvester, Elder Buhlmann, Elder Pieper, Elder Coburn, Soeur Jorgensen, me.