We finally got to listen to conference this weekend! Which was great but now I'm anxiously waiting to get the English talks because my comprehension in French is still way limited. Especially for 8 straight hours. We took the same breaks as the US but still that's a lot of listening to french. I still managed to get a lot out of some of the talks but most exciting was our investigators!! We had SIX come!! It was amazing! It is so funny how on the mission my perspective on things are changing. Conference was great but there wasn't a talk that went by without me thinking of an investigator. I am becoming so connected to these people so quickly because EVERYTHING we do out here is focused on them. We talk about our investigators. We plan what we're going to teach them. We call them. We pray for them. We think about them. Instead of focusing on what conference could give me, mostly I thought about how conference could benefit our amis.
It finally RAINED!! Yay! Not tons but at least a bit. The first rain actually came while we were up in the mountains. The really pretty part of St. Denis that sort of makes me feel like I'm in Peru? I sent a few pictures last time. So we were trying to port up there which is a nice change from down in the city because all the buildings up there are these really nice houses and it's cooler and there is all the pretty vegetation. So we were walking around the streets yelling into the gates and all of a sudden little by little it started raining. And normally walking around in the rain isn't that enjoyable an activity but we have been looking for rain for quite a while and it is just so pretty up there that we were overjoyed to be out in the rain. Plus it was a light rain. On our way back to the car we all decided to imitate Gene Kelly and belt out "Singin' in the Rain" while doing little hop-skip- dance steps. It was amusing and lots of fun for us.
We had this incredibly touching lesson last Tuesday and the spirit was there so strong. We could tell that our investigator had some "besoins" and concerns that she wasn't telling us and we prayed before hand that we could be sensitive to the spirit and discern what they were. Then during the lesson I felt prompted to tell a story about my mom and her choices to be strong in the church and the affect that has had -- ultimately leading to me serving a mission. She started crying a bit and told us all about her concerns and worries and how before she wanted to stop meeting with the missionaries but now she knew she wanted to keep meeting with us. Honestly it was the most touching lesson we've had so far. It was so so awesome.
So one of the funniest stories from this week was when we tried to take our car to the car wash. So we go to this car wash in a gas station and the senior companion in our trio told us we need to go in to buy a car wash and then do the whole drive through thing. So we go in and buy a code to punch in to start the car wash. We get back in our car and one of our companions runs and punches in the code before getting back in the car. And as the wash is starting up, I'm starting to think about how this is going to work since it's not like the tunnel car washes in America. Instead there is a big roller in the middle of the wash that moves forward and I'm starting to wonder how the roller is going to fit perfectly over the car and not just smash into the windshield because it's too low or something. So we're slowly starting to drive into the car wash as I frantically try and decipher the directions in French and both of us newbies are looking at my senior companion who says she's never done this before and we don't know what to do! And then the man waiting in his car behind us comes out and taps the windshield of the drivers side. We roll down the window and water starts spraying inside since we are half in half out of the wash and the man tells us we were supposed to put our car in BEFORE starting the wash....So we felt incredibly stupid but it gave us a good laugh. So we had to do it all over again.
One of our investigators is called Jean - I think I told you about him and his story last week. Well he is still doing amazing. He keeps coming to church and is so excited to meet with us and is just absorbing the gospel like none other. Well this week he came to our English class and towards the end one of my companions were talking to him since everyone else was still finishing up. And she was just asking if he smoked or drank (because we were planning on teaching him the parole de sagesse the next day) and he said not really and she just told him "ok just curious, there not very good for the health but we'll talk about it more with you tomorrow" Then when we showed up to the lesson the next day and are officially starting to teach him the word of wisdom he goes "yeah, I already thought about what you said last night and decided to quit smoking. I've already quit" And we're all amazed. But we want to make sure he understands that this is a law of God and not just some health advice and he says "I know, I know. I'm not going to drink or smoke or have coffee or tea" and tells us that he has told his friends the same thing. Then he starts talking about how amazing it is that Joseph Smith was a new prophet of God. And he says "I find this really interesting, Joseph Smith say God the Father and Jesus Christ" We were a little bit like "yeah, we told you that...." and he says "Joseph Smith said 'I saw a pillar of light above my head, above the brightness of the sun. One called me by name and said 'This is my beloved Son. Hear Him.'" And we are now looking at each other with our mouths open because our ami just quoted the first vision!! This guy is INCREDIBLE. Like we can't believe how prepared he is and how accepting he is. It's insane. I feel like other people won't believe that there are investigators this perfect out there or that the mission isn't hard or something because of Jean.
Anyway, that's probably all I can think of for this week! And Mom, for the most part I've been doing my hair half the time up and half the time down. But now when it is down it makes me REALLY hot if we're walking in the sun. Also the "delta breeze" here is a coastal wind - which is nice for walking and porting but bad for hair.
Mom can you PLEASE send me all sorts of recipes?! Mostly anything that is quick AND CHEAP and hopefully can be found in France. What are those two bean stews that you do?! Also a pumpkin pie recipe and curry chicken!! We have been recycling the same three recipes and its getting old and I don't have anymore! And one of those was hamburgers... Also if you could send me crossfit/no equipment workouts! That would be awesome! Mostly just tons of recipes.
Love you!!
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