3/28/2016 0 Comments Only the Gospel Joyeuses Pâques !! (Happy Easter)
A few weeks ago a very VERY drunk man named Samba followed us to church. He was hammered. It was really funny at the time because Soeur Burgoyne and I had prayed so hard to get someone to church and then we realized...we should probably be a little more specific about the things we ask for. We weren't very excited about having a weird drunk man in the church. Neither were the members. But, nevertheless missionaries never turn down an opportunity to teach, haha! The elders gave him their number. None of us really expected that he would even remember what had happened that day, nor that we had even met. We were ok with that. A week went by and nothing unexpected happened. The next Sunday, we were sitting in Sacrament and then to our surprise, Samba walked in! We had no clue how he had found his way back but somehow, he managed! We were all pretty shocked. I think he was shocked too. Haha. He told us he didn't know what it was but that something was drawing him back to the church and he had to come back this Sunday to see what it was...HOW COOL IS THAT!? He met with the Elders that week and the rendez-vous ended up going really well! Last Sunday, Soeur Burgoyne and I decided to pray and fast again that the Lord would help us get someone new to church. Guess what? This time, Samba came back to church a THIRD time... AND... He brought a friend!! Samba and his friend are now both taking the missionary lessons :) This week has been the longest fast week of my mission. It has been going foreeeevvveeerrr and yet, it is already over! Funny how that works. Traffic manifestations made missionary work a bit more interesting this week; there were no buses or trams so we had to walk everywhere. We have been averaging about 8-10 miles a day. That adds up when you are walking in skirts and Church flats, haha. Thankfully we have iPads now so we don't have to carry around all of our books as well! :) It feels so good to be outside and walking around, enjoying all the beautiful creations of the Lord... It also helps a lot with digestion hahaha. We went to a yummy creperie that Eva, one of our Amis, works at. Apparently it is famous. It tasted famous! Haha. We got these amazing galettes (dinner crepes) filled with butter, potatoes, sour cream, onions, ham, and other yummy things. We were pretty full...but she insisted we order dessert haha. So we finished off with a banana split! They thought that was HILARIOUSLY American. Apparently banana splits are not French at all. We ordered and the waitress just starting laughing and said...where are you from? Of course... The United States. We are proud to be American ;). We were grateful for the lack of buses after that lunch. The 6 mile walk home gave us plenty of time to digest everything we ate hahaha. Before we left, we gave the waitress a 3 Euro tip. It wasn't very much but people in France don't leave tips. So, we decided to gather together what change we had to give to her. She was so touched. She didn't even know how to thank us. It's so beautiful that we all have the power to touch lives with even the simplest acts of kindness. In fact, one of my favorite experiences of my mission so far came from a simple smile. My companion and I were on the tram and I saw an old lady who seemed quite down. It hadn't been the best day for me either and I was finding it a bit difficult to be smiley. But, I smiled! The old lady immediately lit up and told us that we were "absolutely amiable young women" and that she has never met anyone our age who would care enough to smile at "an old person" they didn't even know. It was then that I realized just how many things I had to be smiling about. The Lord blesses us with so much. We have reason to rejoice! There are also always going to be things we can frown about. But, we can choose to smile! I am so grateful for the counsel that President Uchtdorf gave in the past April Conference, "Everyone’s situation is different, and the details of each life are unique. Nevertheless, I have learned that there is something that would take away the bitterness that may come into our lives. There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious. We can be grateful!" Two Random Funnies: On our way home for the night we saw two college age boys digging through the trash can outside our apartment hahaha. We live above a Boulangerie. They throw away all their bread at the end of the day because it isn't completely "fresh" anymore. It was funny because they were nice looking, very clean cut, young men. Yet, they were pulling bags of bread out of the trash can... The boulangerie wraps it up so it is sanitary, it just seemed strange haha. We made a comment to them about what they would be doing with all that bread haha. Their response was..."student life.." I got a good laugh. I know how that is. That joke turned into a pretty solid missionary conversation and we ended up going home that night with some really yummy bread! We ate a lot of chocolate this week. A member gave us a box of assorted chocolate and we ended up taking one little bite out of each one just to test the different flavors. That was a bad idea. I dumped them all in the trash after to get rid of the temptation to eat more. Soeur Burgoyne later confessed to have eaten the chocolate out of the trash can whilst I was busy doing something in the other room.😂 She couldn't bear the thought of all that good French chocolate going to waste. I thought that was HILARIOUS. -- Lizzie is still incredible. We love her. She is practically our companion haha. I can't even count the number of times people have mistaken her for another sister missionary. We might as well be a trio! :) I was extremely touched by something that Lizzie said to us during our lesson yesterday and I wanted to share it with you. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing because she reads my blog (Hi Lizzie!), I was just so touched by it :) ... Together we were discussing how we can find answers to all of the great questions of the soul in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lizzie explained to us what it was like growing up in a home without the gospel; having so many questions and no way of knowing how she can receive or find answers. She tried asking her parents, her grandparents, her sister...Yet, no one seemed to have the answers she was searching for. She didn't even know what she was searching for. She just had unanswered questions. At a later point in time, she met the missionaries on the bus and started learning about the gospel. For the first time in her life, she was receiving answers. That's when Lizzie realized what it was that she had been searching for. It wasn't just curiosity after all, it was a hunger to know the truth. "12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it-" (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12). Many of the people we will teach often do not recognize that they are looking for the restored gospel until they have found it. They don't always know where to look or who to ask. Many might even think the search is useless and give up. These people are our friends, our family, our neighbors, our coworkers... "Therefore,...we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven--" (Doctrine and Covenants 123:13). In Preach my Gospel, one convert said, “When I heard the gospel, it filled a hole in my heart that I didn’t know was there.” My wish is that when we are placed at the Judgment seat of The Lord in the last days that we fall to our knees because we have given every ounce of strength and energy we have in bringing others to the light that the Lord has so graciously blessed us with. We have the truth they are searching for. We have the light that will fill the holes in their hearts they didn't know were there. That truth and light is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that they are children of a loving Heavenly Father, members of His eternal family. “We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson). Avec l'amour, Sœur 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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