Indroduction: Soeurs Wyson and Burgoyne leave their property and journey to Brest--
Usually when traveling to another Ville for exchanges, we arrive at the train station where the sister training leaders are cheerfully waiting, ready to greet us with big hugs and bisous. But when they weren't, we knew something had to be wrong haha. We left for exchanges with the sister training leaders in Brest Wednesday morning--which is a 6-hour trip by train. After traveling all day Wednesday, we arrived in Brest around 6:30 that evening. Two hours and several phone calls later, we came to the conclusion that either they were kidnapped, or they completely forgot that we were coming. Luckily, they weren't kidnapped ;) We decided to go explore a little bit while we waited for someone to answer or call us back. After a nice walk to the ocean view, we were able to get a hold of the Brest elders and get directions to the sisters’ apartment. Soeur Burgoyne and I thought the whole situation was pretty hilarious. The best part had to have been the look on their faces when they opened the door and saw us standing there hahahaha...We got a good laugh. Though completely unplanned, it ended up being a really great exchange! For the first part of the day we went to the train station with a group of us sisters and sang, it was so amazing! There is this button next to the piano that people can hit if they "like" what they are hearing and SOO many people were coming up to hit the button just one after another! Some of them hit it several times haha! The acoustics in the station were incredible and the spirit in the room was even better. I think it is safe say that our favorite miracle that day began on our way to the train station when we jumped on the tram and Soeur Burgoyne sat next to a Chinese young man to practice her French. What was really hilarious is that he only spoke about as much French as she does so they ended up just speaking to each other in English haha. Turns out he's studied English for 15 years! His name was Zheng (pron. Chen). He's a student in Paris and he was here in Brest for vacation. He was interested in the fact that we were missionaries, so Soeur Burgoyne told him a little about the church and asked if he was interested in learning more. He said yes so we exchanged numbers and gave him a mormon.org card. We talked to him for a little longer until it was time to get off. Then, when we told him it was our stop, he said he'd get off too so that we could keep talking! (Never happens). He walked with us to the Gare and we taught him about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each one of us took turns teaching a piece and adding our own personal testimony. When asked if he believed in God and Christ, and he said not yet. AKA, he's planning on it but wasn't there yet ;) We even committed him to stop drinking and smoking that first day too! How cool! He stayed the whole time at the Gare with us while we sang and we were able to connect him with the Mandarin elders in Paris before we left. Zheng has truly been prepared to receive the Gospel. He texted us later telling us that our meeting him must have been by the hand of God. Even though our exchange with the STLs had been completely unexpected/unplanned as far as we were concerned, I know that Zheng was right in saying that it had been planned by the Lord :) He always has a plan! On the way home, we took another 3 trains, and for lunch Soeur Burgoyne had gotten a baguette and a wheel of stinky cheese. That was so French of her, hahaha. She offered it to this middle aged man who was sitting across from us on the train (not so French haha). He said no thank you, but we started talking to him about all kinds of things. After an hour and a half or so, we asked him if he'd heard of our church. José is atheist because his mother died when he was young and he doesn't understand why God would let things like that happen to such good people. We had the opportunity to teach him the plan of salvation in its entirety. Soeur Burgoyne even drew the entire diagram on her iPad. He was with us on the next train as well so in the several hours we were with him we managed to teach him just about all of the missionary lessons. Although he still didn't believe in God at the end of the train ride, he told us that it made perfect sense that if there were a God, that this would be his gospel. He even said he would like to read the Book of Mormon out of curiosity and a passion for reading. We took him up on that really quick! We will be sending him a Book of Mormon this week :). As soon as we got home, we went to Claudia’s house. She is the young African mother that we offered to teach how to hold family home evening. She has an 11-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy. We ate dinner with her,... A LOT of dinner... and then finished with a fun object lesson. We mixed corn starch with water which creates a runny liquid that you can roll into a ball. But, as soon as you stop rolling it, it immediately goes back into a puddle. We were going to compare it to testimony, but when they didn't really catch on, we quickly shifted gears and started talking about families, and how if you aren't constantly working to strengthen your family it becomes "mush". At this point they were extremely attentive. We talked about having weekly family nights and how they strengthen the family. As you continue to roll the ball, eventually your hands absorb the water and it stays solid and round. When their family is grown, they will still remain strong because of the work and effort they put into it while they were young. They loved it. To close, Antoine (the 3-year-old) said his first prayer. Carefully repeating each word that exited Soeur Burgoyne's mouth :). Very tender moment. The Self Cleaning Bathroom: I wasn't sure how to start this random story but I really wanted to share it. The title says it all. The other day Soeur Burgoyne and I were on our way in between rendezvous and I had drunk close to a gallon of water in the past 30 minutes because I was SO thirsty...Thus, I was dying and there were NO bathrooms to be seen! Public bathrooms do not exist in France. If you are really lucky, you might be able to find one, but it will cost you and of course... I wasn't carrying around any change with me either. I was ready to embrace my inner "French" and start looking for the nearest bush. Then, VOILA!! A random bathroom in the middle of a giant parking lot! And it was FREE! What's this? An answer to my prayers?! I sprinted to the bathroom and then after closing the door I hear Soeur Burgoyne's muffled voice say jokingly, "Just make sure you don't stay in there for more than 20 minutes!! It is a self cleaning bathroom!!" Then, the moment she says it, BAM!! Here comes the sprinklers! I yelled at the top of my lungs... "SOEUR!!! IT'S STARTED!!!!!" I barely got my skirt back up fast enough to dive back out the door before I was given a nice bath. I guess that's what I get for deciding I didn't need to take a shower that morning, ha! Soeur Burgoyne and I got a REALLY good laugh out of that one. It reminded me of a movie my family watches a lot called I-Robot haha. Apparently I am also a "malfunction magnet". Oh yes, and coming this June, our favorite English person in all the world is going to be getting Baptized! Shout out to Lizzie! (because I know she is reading this, hehe) Don't worry Lizzie, I won't embarrass you too much :) Lizzie has truly become one of our best-friends in the short time that we have known her and we love her so much and are so excited for her :). Love you Lizzie! Passez une bonne semaine! Avec l'amour, Soeur 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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