Ma chère famille et les amis,
This week has gone by so fast I really haven't had any time to write everything down which is a real bummer because SOOOO many things have happened! With that being said, I am going to apologize in advance for a shorter email this week. I picked up my Blue this week! I even managed to get us through Paris and back to Angers without getting "too" lost hahaha...with the help of every person between there and the train station of course Haha. It was good language practice! The great thing about being a trainer...as far as your blue knows, you are ALWAYS going in the right direction! ;) Funny story about that actually...I call it, "Going the wrong way...or so I thought." We were on our way to Manuella's house to plan her baptism and I was feeling extremely scatter brained because I had SO many things to do. I figured that I knew the way well enough that I could make some calls as we made our way over. Well... Apparently I am not as good of a multi-tasker as I thought. After about 15 minutes sitting on the bus I realize, "oh my goodness, we are going the wrong way". I immediately jumped up and pressed the button to get off the bus. All I could really do was laugh and remind my blue that trainers make mistakes too hahaha. As I stumbled around gathering my stuff and getting ready to jump off the bus, I stepped right on top of a woman's foot as she was getting on... At this point I felt like the biggest airhead Hahaha. THEN, a miracle happened... She asked for our number! She said she had seen missionaries for our church at her home in Brazil and that she wanted to learn more, how cool is that!? We ended up staying on the "wrong" bus and talking to her for about 15 more minutes haha. I guess I didn't get us on the wrong bus after all ;) Somehow we even managed to get all the way back to Manuella's just in time for our lesson! My Blue is Soeur Burgoyne, she is from Arizona and I ADORE her. We work beautifully together, get along beautifully, and we laugh ALL the time! She also knows SIGN LANGUAGE! How cool is that!? Maybe we will be the first Paris, France signing missionaries ;). We got to eat with the Deforge's this week because Soeur Burgoyne and Frère Deforge have the same diet. It's called the "FODMAP" diet. Basically she can't eat anything yummy, which is pretty sad haha. I don't think I would have made it through my first transfer if it weren't for patisseries hahaha, mission life is hard! She has about 3 pages of things she can't eat but we found a cool little store here that has food for people with this diet :) It is ridiculously pricey though. The good news is, I don't think I will be gaining any weight over the next two transfers ;) ! So far I have survived one week in France with NO SUGAR! Woot woot! Speaking of mission life: Last night Jacqueline texted us out of the blue and told us that she never wants us to call her again and she doesn't want to be baptized. We don't know what happened except that she said her husband was going to get very angry if we called. :( I was so bummed I just wanted to sit down and cry. I called our bishop and told him what happened. He was so so kind to us. He reminded us that nothing good ever happens without serious opposition and said that we must be doing something good :) He encouraged us not to let ourselves get discouraged and he is going to call Jacqueline tomorrow. We talked to Heavenly Father for a very long time that night. We were so disappointed. My poor blue, all this and it is only her 4th day! By the end of the prayer we really just wanted to go to bed so we could stop thinking about it. Though I knew that after praying, it was time to turn to the scriptures so that the Lord could speak to us and give us the answers we were seeking. Sure enough, he told us exactly what we needed to hear... 3 Nephi 18:32 "32 Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them." I cannot say it more profoundly than it is said in the scriptures. In 2010 when the missionaries found Jacqueline, she wasn't quite ready. When Jacqueline found the missionaries in 2016, her husband was not ready. I'm feeling pretty great about 2022 ;) My first week as a trainer has been a very humbling and sweet experience. I can count the number of months I have been in France on less than one hand haha. I do not have a profound vocabulary, I make grammar mistakes, and I still stumble through even the simplest words. Though, all of those things have turned out to be some of the greatest blessings of my mission so far. Through the trials of learning a foreign language, The Lord has taught me what it means to speak with power of conviction. It is not power of words, or power of wisdom, but it is by the power of the spirit. It makes me think of the simplicity and beauty of a child's first prayer. They are so anxious to stand up and try and yet, they listen so intently as their parents whisper each word into their ear. Then, they carefully repeat everything exactly as their parents whispered it into their ears. They never question them, they just listen, and trust that their parents know exactly how and what to say. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could all be this way with our Heavenly Father? :) Relying on him for every single word, rather than our own knowledge. This past week I have felt much like a child giving their first prayer. As we teach our lessons, I have truly realized how important it is to listen intently to the spirit, carefully repeating each word as it is given to us. Our lessons are simple, but the spirit is so powerful! I have learned that just as a parent teaches their child to pray, using words that are easy and simple to understand, the spirit never gives us words or phrases that are too difficult for us or the people we are teaching. He gives us simple truths. :) My thoughts turned to the way the Savior taught. It is incredible how he was able to teach the most sublime truths using such simple stories. I cannot express the amount of joy that serving the Lord brings me each and every day of my mission. It is truly a blessing to be out here. Every single moment is a blessing. :) That's it for this week, I hope you all have a wonderful last week of February! :) Bisous! 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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