Hello Hello from a little ville called LILLE ! I am officially in the North with my new companion, Sister Clements, as of Wednesday and we have already seen an incredible amount of miracles together! But, between conference calls and trunky meetings (for missionaries going home) we have hardly any time to do emails on Monday. So I am writing today on our way to Mission council in Paris! We may or may not have been feeling a little superstitious about taking a train into Paris on Friday the 13th and ironically, we actually did confront a series of unfortunate events. Luckily, we had an equal amount of miracles to make up for it ;) My new companion is Soeur Clements and she is incredible. It's hardly week two and it already seems like we have been friends since high school haha. Sadly, she is in her 12th transfer so we only get one transfer together before she goes home. But, I'm glad we got at least one! :) We started off the transfer with a bang and set a baptismal date with our ami Lydie during our first lesson together. That was just about the coolest thing ever! We are stationed in a Ville called "Villeneuve D'Ascq" which incorporates several little Villes in Belgium as well as the north/west border of France. It's BEAUTIFUL. Lately I have been getting a lot of teasing from the missionaries and members about who I bribed to land myself in two of the best areas in the mission right in a row haha. They also warned me about this "new dialect" that the people in the north speak. Apparently it's a real thing. Strangely, I find it about 3 times easier to understand haha. The people here are incredibly nice. Just about every single person we stop on the street listens to us! The new problem is finding room in our schedules to fix rendezvous with all of them, Haha! It's a good problem to have. The other day was our first whole day together and we saw the coolest miracle! We saw a woman on the tram with this very pretty bright shirt on and we decided to compliment her on it. She ended up being super nice and we talked for the next 30 minutes on the metro. It started off as a conversation about her shirt and then of course one thing led to another ;)... Her religious background was Muslim but she isn't practicing at all. She didn't really believe in any religion specifically. But, she believed in God and an "after life". We had the opportunity to talk a little about the plan of salvation and then what our role is as missionaries. We ended up getting off at the same metro stop so we walked out with her. As we were walking out we asked her if she would be interested in seeing us again and she was like "oh for sure, let me give you my number". We exchanged phone numbers and set another rendez-vous for this week! Then we asked her if we could leave her with a prayer. Sometimes people get a little weirded out when we say that but she was totally ok with it! We went and sat down on these benches nearby and said a quick prayer with her. The spirit was definitely there and she was really touched. She even asked if she could take a picture with us so she could remember the moment!! How cool is that!? She said she was convinced that we had known each other before this life. SHE IS SO READY!! Soeur Clements and I have been praying to find somebody new who would be ready to progress... She's ready! Miracles happen, even in FRANCE! :)) Friday we had mission council in Paris. My first mission council! It all felt so official while we sat around tables in a giant circle sipping from our little drink cups in our nicest church clothes haha. It was awesome! As we were leaving to go back to the train station to take our train we decided to take a quick little detour to get some gelato while we were in Paris! So we find this cute little place and as we are ordering our ice cream this guy comes up and he's like, "Hey, can I buy your ice cream for you? Well for the two of you?"....uhhhh not going to lie we were a little hesitant at first because we thought he was hitting on us but then he said, "don't worry I'm a member! I served a mission too!" . So we let the nice guy buy our ice cream and we chatted for a second! He was super nice and he even let us take a picture with him and his family! So yeah FREE ICE CREAM IN PARIS!!! But then we ended up missing our train....we sprinted like crazy through Paris to make it in time but we just missed it! We literally got there as it was pulling away haha. One of the workers saw us running around and he was nice enough to help us get some new tickets for the next train. Normally you have to pay a pretty big fee to change your tickets if you miss them but between our feminine charm and our missionary plaques we were able to take the next train without paying anything! FREE TRAIN TICKETS! We met a really hilarious lady named Anais on the street the other day and she even asked for our number! Granted she just wanted it so that she could set me up with her son hahaha. After talking with Anais for a bit we sat down on a bench to make some calls. Next thing we know we look down and we are COVERED in these little tiny green bugs! We were finding and squishing them for the next 24 hours. No clue where they came from but holy smokes there are a lot of bugs here haha. Soeur Clements' legs are covered in bites and we found a spider in her bed last night...gross. Luckily I haven't had any problems yet hahah. It's probably all the spicy food I eat ;) We also got attacked by a pigeon while walking out of the Gare the other day. If we wouldn't have had such quick reflexes it definitely would have hit us in the head haha. It's really hot here because of the humidity but I am totally okay with it because I am so done with winter hahah. Air conditioning would be nice sometimes, but I can't complain much because I am serving in France and living about a baseball throw away from authentic Belgian waffles :) We live in a 4 man apartment with the Lille Soeurs and we probably have a little too much fun with the four of us there haha. Saturday we played soccer with some Amis and I was soooo sore for the rest of the day hahaha. I'm out of shape hahaha. I didn't know what to do so I was just sprinting really fast back and forth following this guy around trying to make it look like I was doing something hahaha. Yesterday was my first Sunday in the Villeneuve D'Ascq ward and it is HUGE! I feel like I am back in Utah with all the little kids running around haha. Everyone here is soooo young and energetic. Our bishop is only 30 years old and his oldest child is 5. It's pretty loud with all the babies but it keeps us nice and attentive! :) As soon as I got to church I was asked to give a talk on the spot along with teaching the “gospel principles class” all by myself. Hahaha. After I spoke I got a thumbs up from a President Uchtdorf's Doppelgänger, they seriously look identical! I felt pretty cool, I will have to take a picture with him next week ;). Sorry that this was such a long and informative email. I know those aren't the most exciting to read. New areas bring a lot of new questions from my family :) But, I wanted to close with a quick little thought... We found a really sweet new ami the other day named Yasmine and we invited her to a ward activity. She had so much fun and she asked a question that has really stayed with me over the past few days. She said, "All the people in your church are so happy and nice all the time. Do they not have trials because they are so obedient to God?" One of the members took the lead in answering the question but later that night, this comment was still running through my mind. So, I prayed and opened up my scriptures. I came across 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and there was my answer, right in the chapter heading! Although opposition is an essential part of our earthly experience, "Gospel light shines on the Saints--Mortal trials are nothing as contrasted with eternal glory." I can't say it more profoundly than that so I won't try :) I often skip the chapter headings and I never highlight them but I just found so much power and beauty in this little heading that I have decided that I am never skipping another one in my life! :) Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine! Avec L'amour, Sœur Wyson Goodbye Souer Burgoyne! Hello Souer Clements!
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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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