Bonjour Tous

Bonjour tous le monde!

It was so exciting to hear about everyone's traffic problems this week hahaha I hope you all have better travels this week. You all weren't alone when it comes to traffic issues, you can take some comfort in that. I think, it was two days ago—something like that—and we woke up to snow just dumping! It had been snowing for a while, and three hours later, after studies, it hadn't stopped. We noticed the buses were just sitting at the stop outside our apartment, they hadn't moved in a while. So, we called the elders to try and figure out what was going on. Turns out, the buses were on strike, so we had to walk to all our rendez-vous in the snow. Luckily, Soeur Clawson and I weren't going far that day, but the other soeurs had an hour long walk to a rendez-vous. Ouch!

This week has actually been really good. I've been really happy, and I feel like I have made some progress in my language study. I have gotten to the point where I can pretty much read the Book of Mormon in French sans problem, but I'm still fighting with remembering words. I have been trying to expand my vocabulary more; I just have found out that I am NOT good at memorizing. I am starting to get more comfortable with having conversations now, and I am not wanting to hide in a corner when the phone rings and I have it, so that's good.

I was humbled yet again this week. We went and visited Marie Servait again this week. I know I talk about this lady a lot, but I really love her. For a quick refresher; she is eighty-seven years old, she is super short, hard of hearing, she is less-active but has been in church 3 of the 4 last Sundays, and her nonmember husband passed away about two months ago.

So, we were talking to her yesterday, and we pulled out our Book of Mormon to leave her with a spiritual message, but she says that it's Sunday and you can't study on Sunday! We told her that we just wanted to share a little scripture with her, and that's it. She insisted that that would be studying haha but she said that we could read from le Liahona (she LOVES the Liahone), so we gave in, she pulled out a story and said it was her favorite and she wanted to read it to us. We agreed that would be awesome, so she begins to read. The message was Il y a toujours un moment pour la priere (There is always a moment for prayer) She read a couple paragraphs and looked up and in her blunt and wise voice said, <<C'est vrai ça>> Then, she went on to talk about how during WWII her parents and her and her sister had to bike from Belgium to the west of France one night to avoid the German attacks. They were going and at one point they needed to hide from the airplanes searching overhead, so they ran into a field and ducked down. They prayed over and over that they would be safe and the Germans wouldn't find them. They were kept safe, the air searchers didn't see them and the ground soldiers didn't see them. She said that she can never doubt prayer and she can never doubt God. She was young when all this happened, but she said that at 87 years old, she still sees the explosions, the death, and feels the fear of that time in her life. She told us from that moment she decided that she was Mormon, and she was going to stay Mormon! Her sister fell away from the church and her husband never joined, but she still has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard. Since we have been meeting with her she has been back to church and she has been finding hope again, the loss of her husband was really hard on her. BUT she told us yesterday that at the end of the year, she is going to be sealed to her husband in the Franckfurt temple! That news pretty much brought me to tears! I seriously love this lady more than words can describe! I will definitely be getting a picture with her eventually!

We also saw this week our other less active that we have been working with, Laurance. When we first met her she was really lonely and sad, this week she was beaming! She came to church for the first time in a long time two weeks ago, and then when we met with her this past week she told us that we were heaven sent. She is gaining hope, and I love it because I know it's not me or Soeur Clawson; IT'S THE SPIRIT!!! We have committed her to reading the Book of Mormon everyday and keeping a study journal. We hope to keep her feeling this way and progress back to being active.

We also got two new amies this week. There have so many little miracles here in Liège! It's so awesome. One of my goals for this week is to start falling in love with the work. The last thing I want to happen is to get caught up in the routine and not enjoy doing everything. I have been waking up full of energy and more excited these past couple days, so I think I'm making progress. I just really don't want to waste the Lord's time, so I'm really working on that. I know that as we do all we can and strive to our best, the atonement really does make up the rest. No one is perfect, we all have weaknesses, but we can be made strong through the atonement.

Also, I'm going to Paris this week!! We are having a Soeur conference with all the Soeurs in the whole mission, so I get to see Soeur Ulrich and Soeur Higgins!! I'm SOOOOO excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Je vous aime! J'espère que vous passez une bonne semaine!

[I know I could Google translate that French… but we’ve basically surpassed my little bit of knowledge, and I don’t trust Google translate. So there you go.

Also, here’s my dear sister with her new camera taking a selfie.]