So I won't really be home for Christmas... But I am staying
here in Chambéry with Soeur Richardson for another 6 weeks, and that's as close
to home as I could feel!! Another transfer here will be very fun and rewarding.
Soeur Pape has been transferred to Aix En Provence. There will be two new soeurs
coming in later today. We hope they are cool, seeing as this transfer has many
big birthdays, meaning Jesus's and MINE!
We had a great last week of the transfer. Another extremely
busy and jumbled week. We got home at 9:30 just about every night EXHAUSTED! We
didn't have much of a PDay last week because we left for an exchange in
Annemasse. Soeur Pape and I were with Soeur OConnors. We had a RDV with a
potential named Patrick. We went to his apartment and were a bit shocked to
find 4 welcome mats stacked on top of one another... weird. He opens the door
and I am not sure I have ever been more... not scared.. JOLTED in my entire
life. He had shoulder length white hair and looked like he had just walked out
of an insane asylum... which he probably did. When he shook my hand he pulled
me in and asked if I was French... I have never met such a pack rat in my life!
He had a one roomed apartment. He had soo much stuff that he had a sliver of a walk
way to the bed where we sat. We tripped over who knows what and were really
creeped out by all of the weird pictures he had hanging on his walls, haha. He
stood during the RDV fiddling with a tv trying to get a VHS player to work...
really? I haven't seen one of those since I was like 7. It was sooo weird. He
kept saying strange things and going off on tangents. Soeur OConnor tried
getting him back on track like 12 times, to no avail. It was too funny. It was
the most interesting RDV of my life. Soeur Pape was so scared afterwards that
we went home, haha. Oh the joys of missions.
We spent the rest of the exchange doing nothing too
exciting. I do love having studies with other missionaries... I feel like I
learn so much! Studies are fundamental as a missionary. It is kinda crazy to
think that we take 3 to 4 hours a day to study, but the rest of the day rides
on how spiritually enlightened your studies are. We met back up with the other
soeurs in Geneve, so we spent an hour at the Swiss Christmas market before our
train home!! So much fun :) The train ride home was sweet. We sat by this HUGE
group of 20 year olds that kept asking us why we had multiple wives and how
they can have multiple wives. French people think we are Omish. Seriously, that
is why we are here, to convince French people that Mormons are really NOT omish
people, haha.
We had such fantastic RDVs this week!! One of our amis,
Yves, is the biggest Phil Collins fan in the world... he literally stalked him.
In his apartment he has a framed, hand written note from Phil that says
"Thank you for your support. It is always such a surprise when fans show
up at my front door. I don't appreciate it too much, so please leave me alone.
- Phil Collins"... We are pretty sure that he has a restraining order, but
its okay, because we had some great RDVs with him this week and he seems to be
very interested. He has come to church a ton too because he was super
curious.
We have another ami named Ive, and he is the largest lumber jack I have ever met in my life, but he is the biggest teddy bear too!! We had three great RDVs with him this week... the second of which we told him we would come to his house for! He lives in the hills, in a very old, large home... with no heating. He is probably pretty poor, but he had us over and we have herbal tea while we taught him the word of wisdom... well his tea cups were very, very dirty. They were probably very old and he probably inherited them with the house... So I and Soeur Pape both drank our tea, not wanting to be rude or anything, plus we didnt really think about it because we were focused on the lecon. Soeur Richardson was too scared though. She didnt drink any. We had a great lesson and Ive is going to start to quit smoking! YAY! So we left his house and we were walking down the road in the woods and then soeur pape and I were both not feeling very well... we had a dinner appointment with a family, and so we had time to kill before heading over. We were contacting by the elephants, but we both just thought we were gonna die. Literally, we told Soeur Richardson we were gonna die if we didnt find a bathroom immediately. Well welcome to France! Free public restrooms dont exist here! We thought we had cholera. After we got to the members we were fine. I am just grateful that I dont have a pooping my pants story... I will not be one of those missionaries. We had a great time with the members. The Gagginis family is a young family. They told us the story of how they met and constantly made jokes about French kissing, haha. They are too funny. Funny French people: just as rare as French Public Restrooms.
We have another ami named Ive, and he is the largest lumber jack I have ever met in my life, but he is the biggest teddy bear too!! We had three great RDVs with him this week... the second of which we told him we would come to his house for! He lives in the hills, in a very old, large home... with no heating. He is probably pretty poor, but he had us over and we have herbal tea while we taught him the word of wisdom... well his tea cups were very, very dirty. They were probably very old and he probably inherited them with the house... So I and Soeur Pape both drank our tea, not wanting to be rude or anything, plus we didnt really think about it because we were focused on the lecon. Soeur Richardson was too scared though. She didnt drink any. We had a great lesson and Ive is going to start to quit smoking! YAY! So we left his house and we were walking down the road in the woods and then soeur pape and I were both not feeling very well... we had a dinner appointment with a family, and so we had time to kill before heading over. We were contacting by the elephants, but we both just thought we were gonna die. Literally, we told Soeur Richardson we were gonna die if we didnt find a bathroom immediately. Well welcome to France! Free public restrooms dont exist here! We thought we had cholera. After we got to the members we were fine. I am just grateful that I dont have a pooping my pants story... I will not be one of those missionaries. We had a great time with the members. The Gagginis family is a young family. They told us the story of how they met and constantly made jokes about French kissing, haha. They are too funny. Funny French people: just as rare as French Public Restrooms.
So I lost like everything I own this week because we were so
busy teaching so many RDVs that we ran to catch every bus and train we took. I
dropped one of my awesome gloves... so sad. We went back to find it later that
night. I was praying so hard that we would find it. We were walking down the
sidewalk and I saw something up the road. I was sure it was my glove! I turned
to my companions and said "There it is! I told you we would find it!"
So I ran ahead so filled with faith!... and then when I arrived, the thing on
the ground that I thought was my glove was a giant pile of poop... whether dog,
or human, we'll never know, but we laughed. It was a good end to the night.
I am sorry that my email seems so crass... we really did
have a great spiritual week filled with incredible RDVs. We think that Odile
will continue to progress and be baptized. We were able to go over and help her
unpack some stuff from the garage. We ate dinner together and then she pulled
out a Liahona and we read together. The spirit was palpable. We also had a
great RDV with Daniel about the WoW. He started off the lesson saying that he
would have a hard time being mormon if he cant drink coffee and tea, but by the
end of our spirit driven lesson, he told us that he would live the WoW and
continue to do all he can to grow in his faith.
We were really sad to send Soeur Pape off, because she is
such a hard worker, but we know that we have another incredible transfer ahead
of us. Pray for us to survive this cold weather and to be able to see our amis
as much as possible so that they will be prepared for baptism.
I love you all. Dont forget the reason for the season.
Christ is our Savior. He came to this earth for us. What are you going to give
to Jesus for Christmas? I challenge you all to decide, and do it. Show your
faith and your love for our Redeemer.
I love you all! Passez une belle semaine!
Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Beeny
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