12/12/2016 0 Comments Catching the Garter on the MetroCoucou Famille!
Last week I wrote, "for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”...well, holy guacamole, I was not expecting him to work THAT many wonders!!! Witnessing the amount of outstanding and unexpected miracles that we have had this week has almost been a sort of out of body experience hahaha, we just can't seem to wrap our heads around it! We have also never spent so much time down on our knees thanking the Lord. It's been absolutely amazing. Sadly, I had to pick and choose which wonders to share in this week's email because as you know, our time is quite limited... A "Wonder"-Ful Companion: Let's begin with the miracle of a miraculous companion! Boy do I love and appreciate Sœur George. She is from Rexburg, Idaho and has been out on her mission for about 13 months, only one transfer behind me. I was actually her STL in the MTC but we didn't have the opportunity to get to know each other very well before I left for France. She always cheerful, smiley, kind, pleasant, patient, and very goofy, like me ;) she is also an INCREDIBLE dancer. So we highly enjoy our solid two hours of hardcore dance workout a day, 6:30-7:30 am and 9:00-10:00 pm. But most of all, she is also a miracle magnet! So the two of us together are #Magnetic 😉 Snails for Lunch?...Why not!... Monday we attended a fancy Resto with all the Elders who were headed home. It was pretty hard to send off all the missionaries who have been with me since the very beginning of my mission. But, we didn't send them down into the grave without a final fête! Yes, I tried my very first snail. It wasn't half bad actually! If textures don't getcha' and you like the taste of over-seasoned garlic bread, go order yourself some snails! If nothing else, they are a GREAT mosquito repellent. Margot's Miracle: We picked up and left the apartment right in the middle of weekly planning to meet up with a young member at the Train Station and escort her to the Church. It seemed like a good opportunity to serve someone, while not taking "too" much time out of our weekly planning session. Until we found ourselves waiting for over an hour in a train station. With absolutely no way of contacting her (she didn't have a cellphone), we couldn't bring ourselves to just leave: even though we were going to miss the only opportunity we had to plan/fill our week. About a hour and half into the wait, a young woman of about 20 years walked up to us and, in her best French, asked for directions to meet a friend. Realizing that she had an American accent, we responded in English. She immediately let out a loud sigh of relief and said, "Oh English! Thank you!".. then she looked a little closer at our badges and said... "Are you Missionaries?... I am actually looking for a church right now!... Do you do English Translation?" You can imagine our reaction... it probably went something like this... (jaw-drop). Hahaha. Don't worry, we said yes too!! So we will start teaching Margot very soon! He Caught the "Jarretière" (Garter)... On our way to the church with Chloe, we were sitting on the metro as I was trying to explain to her, in French, the wedding tradition of getting and tossing the Bride's garter to the crowd, and how the person to catch the garter would be the next to get hitched. Don't ask why I was trying to explain that... but It ended up being a GREAT contacting technique! Everyone around us was trying so hard not to giggle at our conversation. So instead of changing the subject, I just decided to involve them all in it! Hahaha. We all laughed and talked together for about 20 Minutes as the conversation evolved perfectly from garter catching to the gospel. Then we exchanged numbers with all of them and set rendezvous to meet up and talk about church this week! "ALL My Friends are Mormon TOO!" After dropping Chloe off, we jumped back on the bus to head home. That's when we met yet another new friend! A cute little Philippino woman who looks at us and with a great big smile on her face says, "all my friends are Mormon too! I otta come to your church with my son! I live right next door!".... Uhhh... yes you do! So we exchanged numbers, a few jokes, and were off to find the next miracle! Day 3: "The Curse". Day three of the transfer we were on our way to visit a member... reminder... it was also day three of the transfer that Soeur Neistadt and I got stranded in the rain... it also takes about 2 hours to get most places from our apartment...So, 3 hours later, we had almost made it to the family's home. When we finally made it to the right bus stop, she gave us an over the phone "how to" find her house guide. We thought we understood the given directions fairly well. However, anyone who has followed me on my mission knows... I have spent the past 14 months getting really good… at getting really lost, (and lots of other stuff). Unfortunately, Sœur George has too. We walked for about three hours, calling the member roughly every 20 Minutes. Eventually we called and rescheduled for another day... we had to if we wanted to make it back before curfew, oh lala... Haha. We were absolutely exhausted, but still laughing! My favorite part of the night had to have been when we thought it would be a good idea to "treat" ourselves to a nice restaurant on the way home and we paid 15.90€ each for food that wasn't even as good of quality as a TV dinner. Hahahah. We sure laughed a lot that night! You drove TWO hours!?! We had a rendez-vous set up with a woman who sœur Neistadt and I had only talked to once on the phone. We had actually met her sister on the RER and she referred us to Dahnne, her other sister. The lesson went very well, at the end, she looked at us and said... "Now I understand why I for some reason decided to drive over two hours to come meet you guys." What!? Two hours!?! The cherry on top... it's only been one day and she had already read all the way through first Nephi! I've never been so happy! Oh happy Day! Speaking of being happy... Our new jam is "Oh Happy Day" from Sister Act II... if you want to know what we do every night once our miraculous day has come to an end... Go ahead and go listen to that song ;) Last Minute Miracles WAIT. LAST MINUTE MIRACLES. I thought I was done... but the Lord worked some serious wonders among us today. I usually draft up my emails Saturday night during dinner and then send them out on Monday. But what happened today (Sunday) was just way too cool to wait to share aaaalllll the way until next Monday. Are you ready?... Today at church we had SEVEN investigators show up! That is more than I have had in my entire mission. Well, I still have heaps of miracles waiting to be shared, but I think they are going to have to hold on until next week... Until then, I Love you! Love, Sister Tracie Wyson
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Tracie WysonI feel very honored to have had the opportunity to serve as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the France, Paris Mission. Archives
April 2017
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