i have never been so cold in my entire life.
below freezing temperatures and winds so fierce i thought it was going to blow my eyelashes right off of my face.... that was our week. finally, mercifully, we woke up yesterday to a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. more like lots of blankets: it was around FOUR inches! four inches of glorious snow. i was so happy that after all that freezing cold, we finally had something to show for it. Soeur Larsen and I walked home from church in absolute snowy heaven.
While Soeur Larsen were blissfully enjoying our snowflake day, Blois was thrown into chaos. They're not really equipped for snow: no snowplows, no shovels, no salt. that's right: no salt. they throw dirt on the snow instead, turning it into dangerously slippery mud puddles (don't worry, i only fell down ONCE!). Soeur Larsen and I found it highly amusing watching everyone sprinkle dirt on their snowy walkways.
we had some cool little experiences this week. we had some extra time before a rendez-vous on friday afternoon, so we decided to do some door-knocking (what is that called in english? we call it "porting" because the french word for door is "porte") anyway. It was a painfully cold and windy day and we looked like hoboes with all of our layers and scarves on. no one was letting us in and we were just so cold. we finally found a quiet spot and prayed. essentially we said, "Heavenly Father, we are so cold. please lead us to someone who will let us in so we can get warm". Not even five minutes later, a muslim girl let us into her apartment building. even though she wasn't interested, we were so grateful to be able to stand inside the door of her apartment building for a few minutes so we could rub our faces to get the feeling back into them. I love that He will answer even the silly little prayers from two desperately cold missionaries. He is so kind and good.
On Tuesday, we went to a neighboring town to pass by a couple that was referred to us by our branch president's wife. their son is a member and lives about an hour away with his wife. This member of ours has been reaching out to them (she gave them a Book of Mormon!) and sharing the gospel with them. She gave us their address last week, so we decided to go and check it out. the husband was there and talked with us for a few minutes. he went on and on about how much he likes all the members he's met, and we chatted about the church. He wasn't interested in anything more than that, but we felt okay about it. Afterwards, we went over to see the Branch President's wife, since she had had carpel tunnel surgery the week before and we wanted to see how she was doing. She invited us in and we talked for a few minutes and told her we had just passed by the referral she had given us. She looked surprised, then said she had felt impressed to pray for them about an hour before- right when we were getting to the town- so she did. It was a cool little miracle that strengthened her faith.
Samuel and Etienne, our two little boys, are doing so good. we went over for a lesson on friday with Frère Poznanski, our mission president's dad. At first, only Samuel was there. the last time we taught him, we asked him to try praying that night. we asked him if he did it, and he said he did and that Heavenly Father had answered his prayer. It was the sweetest thing, watching a little twelve year-old boy telling us about his very first experience with prayer and with God. we asked him what he remembered about the plan of salvation and were pleasantly surprised when he gave us a detailed description of what we had taught him the week before. yes! so, we went on to explaining prophets and scriptures. It has been an interesting experience, teaching children who had no concept of God or Jesus Christ or religion at all. It has definitely helped us simplify our teaching! anyway. we watched the Restoration DVD with them (Etienne joined in just as we started it) and they totally got it. we were just blown away by how smart they are. We gave them each their own Book of Mormon, and the two of them both opened it up and started reading the introduction on the spot. they are both so guileless and faithful and pure. pray for them!
On Tuesday, we went to see Hélène, a less-active in our branch. it had been a crazy day, and my sore ankle had spread all the way up to my leg. i was in pain and uncomfortable throughout the lesson, but we had a good time with her. at the end, we asked her to give the closing prayer. She said a sweet little prayer, and asked a blessing that our legs wouldn't be sore. She had no idea about my leg! it was a sweet little reminder that Heavenly Father is watching over us and knows what we're doing. Isn't that neat?
love from the loire.
little mish.
too tired to put pajamas on.
snow!
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