10/31/2016 0 Comments VersaillesBONJOUR!
Versailles, Versailles, the promised land! Not quite as promised as my home land but it's pullin' into a close second ;). I took some pictures, which obviously never do beauty justice when taken by an amateur, but it's still breathtaking! It's like taking a walk through Utah mountains during fall with an added Old French touch and cobblestone streets. Along with this thick misty air, which just adds to the ambiance (but makes it slightly difficult to maintain my crazy hair hahaha). Day one was quite an interesting adventure. We spent 5 hours dragging our luggage all around Paris and escorting "dying" missionaries to their assigned location. I also had to meet up with my two companions in two different cities with all of our bags before heading to the mission office to pick up one of their passports, then heading all the way back to Versailles (still with all of our luggage) to go home and eat for 20 Minutes before needing to leave for our next rendezvous hahaha. It was quite the day. My back was pretty wrecked after all that. But with the help of my new donated memory foam mattress and lots of prayers, it has made pretty dramatic improvement! I no longer have constant pain throughout the day. Which is awesome of course :). Saying goodbye to Gilbs and Paris was really difficult. A little less difficult now that I learned I can still see the Eiffel Tower from where I live and that I basically moved just enough to place me in the clean, pretty, rich part of the Parisian Zone haha :) No complaints here! My new companions are Soeur Neistadt and Soeur Méjean. They have both been in the mission for a grand total of three months, so we've got some nice blue-fire in this team ;)! Soeur Méjean is from Lyon, France so she only speaks French, and Soeur Neistadt is from Summerlin/Las Vegas Nevada. Soeur Méjean will only be with us until November 8th, when she will head out with her visa to her assigned mission: Phoenix, Arizona! My very first day as a "normal" missionary was pretty sweet. We called the young women in the ward to see if we could take any of them out contacting with us. One sweetheart named Chloe came and I took her off on member splits while Neistadt and Méjean went contacting in another area. Our goal was, when in doubt..."PRAY LOTS!" Yes, I know, it doesn't rhyme... but that's why it's so good ;). As we walked up and down the streets, there was not a single person in sight. Lots of prayer followed. Eventually, we started running into people every once in awhile, and EVERY single person that we stopped talked to us! It was such a miracle! Which was followed by lots of gratitude prayers :). We ended up teaching 10 lessons in two hours and finding two new amis! In total with the other soeurs we had 14 lessons in two hours!! How cool are trios!? You can get SO much work done!!! A few of my personal favorite Split Miracles: Manny the Muslim: Manny was the third man we stopped. He is from Tahiti and works on a ship. We began by testifying of God and his son Jesus Christ and the importance of prayer. His expression changed and he looked at us with disappointment as he explained that he wasn't allowed to pray on the ship because his boss wouldn't allow it. Since his infancy, Manny had only been taught of one way to pray. So we shared a story from the Book of Mormon when one of the kings men, Amulon, persecutes Alma and his people. He sends out a decree that they are to be put to death if they pray. So they prayed in their hearts. "And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts."(Mosiah 24:12 ) Manny was so touched by this story that he wanted to know how my family found this "beautiful book." I was able to share the story of my grandpa and the example he set for me as he set out on his "quest for the truth." Most importantly being the fact that, when he found it, he accepted and followed his Savior in being baptized, and continued to teach the Gospel to his children. He then looked up at me and said, "I am not like other Muslims. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the World like you say. This gospel you teach touches my heart, and I want to learn more." Mathias, The "No-Longer-Investigator" of the JW's: Shortly after saying goodbye to Manny, we ran into Mathias who told us that he had been meeting with our missionaries every weekend... knowing that he wasn't an investigator of the elders, we were sure that it was not the Mormons he had been meeting hahaha. But, it was actually the Jehovah’s witnesses that he had been meeting with. Often confused as “us” here in France hahahah. Well, the good news is, he decided he likes our message more and he wants to meet with us this weekend instead. J Perks of a Foreign Accent: The nice thing about having an accent is that everyone thinks it's adorable and wants to hear you talk. One Atheist man we stopped told me that he liked my voice and so I replied with, "Oh Good! Listen well! ;)". The best part is, he actually did! For 20 Minutes! Look Both Ways Before Crossing: There was a Woman about to cross the street with her little boy. I received a prompting to talk to her so I called out to her just as she was about to step on the road. Then, just as she said, "No"... the light turned red, and she was stuck with me!!! Hahahahaha. It was pretty hilarious. The Lord definitely helped me out on that one. He's a funny guy ;). My Unplanned Halloween Costume: Contacting here in Versailles is really easy because everyone stops me before I even get the chance to speak to tell me I look exactly like "Blanche Neige" (Snow White). I guess that says something about my tan hahaha. Present for Patisserie?: We walked into a Boulangerie (Bakery) holding a big box of Book of Mormons and the baker said... "Is that a gift for me!?" We responded with... "Hahaha...Of course!" We thought he was kidding at first, but he actually wanted one! Salah and Ynesse: Sunday all three of us came down with an ugly flu and had to go home and sleep it off for a couple hours. We were awakened by the sound of our phone and when we answered, it was a young man asking if we were the missionaries and if we happened to have to time to teach him at six o'clock... it was five-thirty hahaha. We jumped up, threw our jackets on, and practically ran to the church while we called some members to come join us for the lesson. When we showed up at the church, he was already waiting by the doors with one of his friends that came for the lesson as well. The young member couple was the next to show up, who also brought their member friend hahaha. So between our trio, our amis, and our members, there were 8 people in that lesson! My companions and I weren't sure how it was going to go with all those mouths going but it went, WONDERFULLY. The two of them are practicing Muslims. They are also some of the most open people I have taught during my mission. We even extended a soft invitation to baptism, and they said yes! Everyone was so giddy walking out of that lesson. The members were literally (and I mean literally) jumping for joy! That was a pretty sweet way to end the week :) So things are going great here in Versailles! I am absolutely loving it here and I am happier than ever :). I'm so incredibly proud to be one of the Lord's missionaries. I love you all!! Je vous embrasse tous ! Sœur Wyson Ps: Please enjoy these pictures of the promised land as well as me eating a live escargot that my companion carried around in her pocket ALL day hahaha. (I didn't really eat it. But she did actually carry it in her pocket all day) Pps: LOU IS GETTING BAPTIZED HERE ON THE 13TH OF NOVEMBER ❤!!!!
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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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