Bonjour!BO
ma famille et mes amis,
bonjour! I hope that you sang the title of this as you read it. I also hpe that this week has been great for you! It has been pretty darn hot here in these parts.. I am sure everyone in Texas are rolling their eyes at me, but the difference is youre not walking around all day in the Texas heat. Usually. If you are, take a break. Geez. Crazy. anyway! We didnt have to deal too much with the heat in Pau because Monday night we took a train to the wonderful lyon! It didnt smell as bad this time. I think my negativity towards the city was overanalyzed because of how tired I was at the time of being there. Hectic. Very hectic. This time it wasnt hectic at all! So that was great. I got to see my old DISTRICT!!!! Seriously it was soooo awesome!!!!!! Ah man. I love Soeur Harris and those elders. They're such sweethearts. haha. Little babies! aha, when someone is acting immature or is just acting super adorable, soeur bertolio goes, "awwww, baby!" with her italian accent and pets.. her hand??? I've realized that she does this action because she has guinea pigs at home! so when she is loving her guinea pigs (specificallly one, named boris, who actually died a few weeks ago. so sad!! hard day for her) she pets them in her hand, hence the petting of her hand. and I am assuming she says "aww, baby!" but in italian. Which I dont think is much different.
So! She was saying that a lot about the "blues" at the conference. Aha, especially elder call!! hahaha. So he plays the piano super well, he's just a beast at the piano. We would have music nights on Sundays in the mtc and he would basically just play the piano for our district and we would listen. lol. I was like, elder call, play the piano!! during a break for blue conference, and Soeur bertolio was like, yeah, I heard youre great at it! Elder Call was like, nahhh! and kept saying no so I was like, okay whatev, and he walked away. Then soeur bertolio was like, I think hes shy about it, and I was like, "yeah he's so good at things but super shy. I didnt want to push him to play because he would've if I did. I wouldnt be surprised if he came over and apologized for not playing, he's just super nice" and before I even finished saying that last word, he showed up and kneeled in front of our table and was like, "I just wanted to tell you sisters that I'm really sorry that I wont play for you right now, I'm just kind of shy about playing in front of a lot of people" Soeur Bertolio and I couldnt hold it in; we burst out laughing right when he kneeled down and began speaking. He looked around a little confused, and we pulled ourselves together pretty quick and were like, it's nothing! and he finished what he had to say. I felt bad! lol. After he left Soeur Bertolio was like, "awwww, baby!!" Boy was that true. Good ol' elder call. Elder Smith (Canadian from my mtc district) was on the train with me from toulouse to montepellier the night before we got to lyon! We both got super excited and he told me about all these crazy things that happened to him and three random crazy guys told them that they wanted to kill him and his companion in like a 2 hour time span and just crazy stuff. I think that was one of the best parts of blue conference, hearing my old districts stories!! Hahhaha, on the train from montepellier to lyon, we were with elder gruber and his companion elder wilcox (like our teacher, frère wilcox!!) and we were talking about frère lepretre and then he was like, I LOVE Wilcox, too! and his companion had been getting super annoyed because apparently elder gruber quotes frère lepretre a lot, so elder wilcox was like, aww, and elder gruber was like, no, not you..hahaha. Pretty awkward. But we all just laughed. I think.
I realized through all of these stories that as Soeurs, we dont have people throwing sandwiches (yeah, sandwiches! elder miller said he has had like 3 sandwhiches thrown at him! lol!!!) at us or telling us theyre going to kill us or that we're a sect; we have a lot of gross guys honking at us and accepting rendez-vous for the wrong reasons. lol. In a way I'm grateful, and in a way I'm like, I want exciting stories!! But no. I'm not a 19 year old elder, I'm a 21 year old Soeur! So I'll take what I get. And avoid the creepy guys.
This week we taught this little girl, Sarah, who is a foster child to the famille Barbaroux! She wants to be baptized and her dad has finally accepted her request!! She is turing eight in less then a month, so we have time to slowly teach her the lessons. And her dad sits in on the lessons, also!! So we have 2 new amis from that!!! And he prayed for the end of the lesson because she wanted him to!!!! Seeing the little girl and her dad together is so great; he loves her so much. it makes me miss my dad. :( dad, dont cry. I love you! Anyway, and he has read the Book of Mormon twice! And he will be reading with her as we go through the lessons so he's basically a second progressing investigator!!!!! AHH!!
We have had other things going on also, but I dont have TIME! NO TIME-NO TIME!!! I know that this church is true. I am so grateful for all of you in my life and I feel blessed to be in yours. You are all such great examples to me and I am so grateful for that. I know that the Gospel can change lives. I see how it effects people here as we talk to them about our message and how their eyes soften, Unfortunately many of them dont want to learn more, because theyre scared and may have had bad experiences with other churches (we're in Europe-the catholic church). It is so sad to me how lost some people are in this world. Especially here. People get caught up in the things of the world that they think that they dont need anything else. Dont get caught up in that. I pray I never get so caught up that I believe I dont need anything else, because we do. We all do. We all need the Savior in our lives. He suffered and died for each of us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father. It has been planned out since the beginning. He loves each of us. We have been a part of his plan since the beginning. We are each worth SO MUCH in His eyes, and I think we need to recognize that more. If you begin changing the way you are around people, begin showing them more love and begin being more interested in them, they'll feel that love and begin recognizing their importance in God's eyes. 1 Corinthians ..I want to say chapter 13 verses 1 through 3 says it all. Charity is sooo important! It's the most important!!! That's my message as a missionary, and that should be your message, too. Every member, a missionary!!
Commitment: I commit you to read those verses and begin to apply them into your lives. Also (my family) read "Finding Joy in the Journey" by Pres Monson from General Conference in 2008, I dont remember if it was April or October.
I love you all sooo much and thanks for the letters!!!
Love always,
devano
-Soeur Gardner-
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