11/14/2016 1 Comment Of course I'm a woman.. Wait what?!BONJOUR !
My life here in Versailles seems to be getting more and more comical with each passing week. But I am pretty certain this week has been one of the most bizarre weeks of my entire mission, haha! Two is MUCH better than one... This week I experienced a moment of what life is going to feel like 5 months from now as the train doors closed on me and I watched my companion disappear into the distance. Our faces were priceless. I felt like a lost puppy as I wondered around trying and find and convince a French person to let me use their phone to call my comp. haha! When I finally got a hold of her we both burst into laughter. I don't know if I have ever in my life felt as uncomfortable as I did waiting for that second train by myself hahaha. I take back everything I have said in the past; I don't think I like being alone anymore. Needless to say our reunion was quite dramatic. Is this a Lesson or a Date? Salah and Ynesse... Now that we are no longer in a Trio, we can no longer teach Salah and Ynesse unless we have a member with us, or if we teach in public. Well, it's a holiday... therefore, all of our members are conveniently out of town haha. So we met them outside a train station and walked in the pouring rain from the train station to the nearest shelter. Which happened to be a "Quick Burger". Originally, they tried to take us to a bar... but we came to the conclusion that: drinking or not, teaching the Plan of Salvation in a Bar is a little... well, strange. It went surprisingly well! Although we felt and looked a little more like their dates than their missionaries Hahaha. Awkward. But hey, Salah read SIX chapters in the Book of Mormon since our last visit and basically recited them to us! Date or not, it was pretty amazing! ;) Isabelle and The Law of Chastity.... My companion and I are quite hilariously blunt with our amis. In the very most loving way! We have just realized that beating around the bush in lessons only creates what we like to call "Eternal Amis". So, the other day we were teaching our ami Isabelle The Law of Chastity-- which is typically one of the most awkward and nerve wracking lessons for missionaries to teach (because we are missionaries and super awkward)-- Anyway, it was the best L.O.C lesson ever. We told her directly, we told her exactly, and we summed up the whole shebang in about two sentences! Needless to say, we were pretty proud... until Isabelle (also hilariously blunt) told us very bluntly that she doesn't and wasn't going to keep it Hahahaha.... ohhhhhh.... Isabelle. Then she laughed REALLY hard for about 10 minutes over the look on our faces when she said it. It was really hard to stay serious because when French people think you're making a funny face they tell you something that translates directly to, "I love too much your funny head". It was like we were parents trying to stay serious while disciplining a child who's making us giggle at the same time. Parents, I know you have all experienced this. Hahaha. Anyways, Isabelle is a work in progress, but we love her Hahaha :). Zone Conference and Finding Day... Neistadt and I sang for Zone conference this week. As nervous as I get to sing for people, I absolutely love singing for the Lord. Which is something I started imagining in order to get over my nerves and it has become such a special experience for me every time I sing. Once I stand up at the podium, the only one left in the audience listening is Christ. After the conference, we were separated into different companionships and sent out to do a little finding. I was lucky enough to go with one of my adorable Soeurs from my last zone--Soeur Cottle! I took her on her very first exchange :). When we got paired together she smiled so big and said, "Soeur Wyson! Now we can finish our exchange!". It was so sweet :) At the end of our little mini exchange, she looked at me and said, "You will always be my STL :)." It made my day :)... So how about those exchange miracles!?... Amina's Miracle - Zone Finding Day... Amina was the very first woman we contacted. A Muslim woman who wasn't very interested to hear talk of Christ. So I pulled out the Book of Mormon and began to testify that it is through the Book of Mormon that we are able to come to know the divinity of Jesus Christ. Her entire countenance changed as she reached out and gently caressed the Book's cover. Then, her eyes filled with light and she said, "Is this yours? Or can I please have it?...I really want to read it." When we gave it to her she held it close and promised to read it. Then she gave us her number and asked us to come and teach her the missionary lessons :) I have spent a great deal of my mission studying the Muslim religion because I seem to teach so many of them. In studying the religion, I had hoped to learn some way of teaching them the gospel and helping them to understand that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Then, finally, I learned that we need to teach them just as we need to teach anyone. Through studying, pondering, and praying on the Book of Mormon. There is no "single verse" we can share to convince anyone, or ourselves, of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. But, it is the Book in its entirety that is the proof. As we gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, we gain a testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We cannot expect ourselves, our friends, or our families, to understand the Gospel without the Book of Mormon. That is the reason God gave it to us. Missionary clothes are not primary friendly!... So I got a new calling! I didn't even know that was possible as a missionary. But, I am now teaching primary! They asked me to come in and help for the day and one of the little boys decided that he liked ONLY me because I was his "Maman". Well, he lay his head in my lap for the entire class and cried while I rubbed his back hahaha. Boys... Then after singing time I was assigned teacher of the five year olds class since he refused to be separated from me. By the end of the class, I had 6 energetic five-year-old boys climbing all over me saying "donnes moi un câlin" (give me a hug) hahaha. I haven't gotten that many hugs since I left for the MTC! Also, my sleeve was actually ripped from my dress from all the tugging and pulling of the little dudes fighting over who got me. The missionaries and members got quite the kick out of that. They keep teasing me that it is a "prévue" (pre-seen) of my dating future, Hahaha. Oh golly. Next week I will be wearing more durable, and less valuable, clothes haha. Motherhood, here I come!!! ;) "Are you a Woman?" .... "Excuse me?"... Speaking of motherhood... In French, woman "Femme" and wife, "Femme" are the same word. Now you would think that I would have been in France long enough to recognize the difference...apparently not. So the other day, a few men turn to me on the metro and comment on my eyes. Then, they proceed to ask me if I am a "Femme"...Um excuse me?! What do you think? Yes I am a Femme!!...I was distraught! I couldn't believe that they had mistaken me for anything else!...That's when I realized that they were asking if I was married.... how awkward. Well, I guess I am safe because now they think I'm a wife, Hahahaha. Oh lala... Finding with Presidents Wife..."No Pressure"... We decided to be bold and take president’s wife out to work with us for the day. Our studies that morning were super killer because we wanted to be perfectly prepared for all the lessons we would teach with her that day. Just our luck, the one day we take Soeur Babin out to work with us is the day that every single one of our rendezvous fell through. But it's okay! We had backup plans! Until not a single one of our planned passby's were home. Final backup!! Contacting!!... of course it was pouring freezing rain and icy winds... literally the place was a Ghost Town... it was a stressful day and we were very glad when it was over hahaha. The only problem was... it wasn't over... Come what may and Love it... right?... Finally, at the end of the night we have a family night with a cute member family in our ward. We felt prompted to share my favorite talk, "Come what may and Love it." Little did we know, we were going to find ourselves stranded in a train station that's nowhere near our sector in the middle of the night (still pouring freezing rain and icy winds) with absolutely no way of getting home... After a tragic incident, all of the trains were shut down and we had to get off, who knows where. Our only option was to either sleep there, or call the assistants. Sleeping there almost sounded like a better idea Hahahaha. If it wouldn't have been for the other sisters who were supposed to be staying with us that night…who were waiting outside of our apartment door (more than dangerous) a several hour walk away. So we called the assistants and the poor guys had to drive an hour to pick us up, 40 min to take us home, and another hour back to their apartment, IN THEIR PAJAMAS! It was so late. We didn't get home until almost 11. (Note from Tracie’s mom: She has definitely been out on a mission too long… she thinks 11 is the middle of the night? Hahaha) Come what may and Love it, right? Yes, we will be making cookies for the assistants today. 4th floor last door... Or 5th floor... We usually take our dinner hour at the end of the night from 8-9 here because it's not very safe for us to be out after 8. We had been porting in a building and it was almost 8 so we were about to head home. Then we got in the elevator and saw that the building actually had five floors... not four.. (which is how many we had already knocked)...we remembered Elder Uchtdorfs talk. We couldn't possibly just leave before finishing the final floor! What if our person was there!?! So we pressed the "5" button in the elevator as we goofily chanted "fifth floor last door! Fifth floor last door!" More like, fifth floor, EVERY door!! Everyone answered! We had five outside the door lessons on the fifth floor and were even invited back on the last door!! What a killer way to end the night. :) My first French argument... I know the title of this story doesn't sound like a very Christlike one, but... I was actually pretty proud of myself! hahaha.... This grouchy lady in the grocery store today tried to accuse me of trying to steal because I used my credit card and she didn't realize that she had to use her little key to accept the payment on the machine. So she rudely yelled in my face, Mam! You can't just leave! You haven't paid!" She then continued on this long rant about how I was breaking the law. Well, at this point, everyone in the store was staring at us and I just looked at her as I still stood there, in the exact place I had been the entire time, and said, "Um, I had absolutely no intention of leaving this store without paying, I'm just waiting for YOU to accept the payment." Then she un-puffed a bit and says... "Oh." And accepts the payment on the machine... it was ridiculous Hahahaha. But I was pretty proud of myself for being a Wyson. Dad, you would have been proud ;) The French and their Holidays.... Every other day is a Holiday in France. Meaning everyone takes work off, including all of the train and bus conductors. So it took us 6 hours to have two 30-minute rendezvous because we had to wait sooooo long in between trains. But we made the best of the time we had and had some good companion bonding time as we sang and danced to Broadway songs in the empty train stations. We even found an apple vending machine with full packages of the best apples I have ever tasted for only one euro! We were pretty stoked about that. On the way home we met a crazy woman from Morocco who made us snapchat her sister because we speak English and so does she hahaha. She liked us so much she asked for our number so she could bring us back Moroccan BooBoos. Interesting day! FINALEMENT! Lou's Baptism!!!... LOU IS BAPTIZED!!! Sunday was the greatest. Lou is absolutely golden. We are going to be friends for a very, very long time :). It was a beautiful baptism with talks, songs, and prayers, in English, French, Spanish, AND Portuguese! Soeur Neistadt and I sang. Our moms would have been so proud, the piano stopped in the middle of the song because his sheet music fell and we just kept going as if nothing even happened and like we had planned the whole thing! I think we had them convinced ;). I also found out when I got there that I would be giving a talk on the gift of the spirit. Good thing missionaries are always prepared ;)! Well, that was a really long email... you're welcome mom! :D Sorry everyone else! ;) Á la prochaine !!! Bisous! Soeur Wyson
1 Comment
|
Subscribe:
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
|