Joyeux Noël Mes Amis Baptism in the Blue-Ville In my very first area, my blue and I had an incredible week 5 when we ended up finding 19 new investigators. Well, news just came in that Clarisse, one of the women we found on the street and started teaching, just got baptized!!! I can't even explain the joy I felt when I saw her picture on our mission gazette. Pardon My Missionary Memory... Sunday we had a funny experience that I had to share Hahahah. We were running around trying to talk to all the members and then one of them (who was visiting from the U.S) came up to us and said he might have a referral for us. We were thrilled, to say the least. Anyways, he pulls out his phone to give us her information. He gives us her name, where she was from, and then... wait, no number?.... Did he just want to get us all excited and then give us no way of contacting her? Hahaha. Soeur George's face was priceless. It was like a little kid on Christmas who came running down the stairs to find there were no presents under the tree Haha. Just then, he leaves, and I burst into laughter. Sœur George sat and stared at me with a very confused look on her face. Then, I turned to her and said with tears practically streaming down my face, "22 Rue Albert Thomas!" (Address changed for obvious reasons). She immediately joined me in laughter as she realized I had "accidentally" memorized the number and address that I happened to have caught a quick glimpse of on the member’s phone. #Oops We Wish You a Merry Christ-mas... It wasn't really feeling like Christmas around here since no one seems to enjoy decorating or singing Christmas carols. So, Soeur George and I decided to bring a little Christmas cheer by singing loud for all to hear. We worked up a little something on the metro, practiced it really quick on an old man who was just on his way home from a concert, and then headed to the mission office to sing for all the senior missionary couples! They were so thrilled to have a visit from the missionaries. Our hearts melted as their eyes filled with tears and they told us it was "The best thing that has happened to us in a long time". It made me reflect greatly on my last Christmas here in the mission and how "sad" of a Christmas it was. Being so far from my family and all. I had only been in the mission field for about 1 month at the time and I was indeed, quite homesick. I understand why last Christmas was so disappointing. It's difficult to enjoy Christ's birth, when we are celebrating it, without celebrating him. Christmas without Christ is simply ... MAS... M-ONEY (or lack of) A-ND S-OCIALIZING MAS is a great family celebration, but yet lacks meaning, significance, and purpose. I'm sad to say that I personally celebrated "MAS" for many years before coming on a mission. Making it difficult to enjoy "my holidays" in France, without all of the exciting socials, fun games, yummy food, and expensive presents. No wonder I wasn't happy! I was a missionary, a representative of Jesus Christ... trying to celebrate Christmas....without celebrating Christ!... It seems so obvious. And yet, it is so easily forgotten. So I made a goal this Christmas to celebrate Christ, in striving each day to become a little more like him. Which has fit perfectly with the "Light the World" campaign that the church has going right now :) I hope you are all doing it. If not, find a moment to get started! I promise that if you do, you will be able to enjoy the beautiful spirit and unconditional happiness, that comes from celebrating Christ-mas, and not simply "MAS". We Preach of Christ. My companion and I made a goal this Christmas that every single day through the entire month of December, we would carry not only one, but multiple Books of Mormon in our arms wherever we went. We simply didn't want to risk missing any opportunity to talk of Christ during this special season. After all, "we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins" (2 Nephi 25:26) ... one of my personal favorites ;). At the end of day one, our arms were VERY sore. We quickly decided that 6 B.O.Ms each was maybe a little too excessive, hahaha. Though somewhere in the midst of all our scrambling to keep the books balanced on our little biceps in a crowded metro, we met a curious young Chilean man. He stared at us strangely for several stops before Soeur George asked him if he had ever seen this book before (This is why we have companions, I was just staring strangely back at him, Hahaha). He reached out and took the Book, flipped through it a bit, and started reading. I guided him to one of my favorite chapters (3 Nephi 11) when Christ appears to the Americas and proclaims his divinity. Without another word, he began to read to himself. He read, and read, and read, aaaaalllll the way until we got to the metro terminus. We sat in silence for nearly 30 minutes. Then, just before getting off, he turned to ask if we had a phone number and if he could buy the book. Of course we gave it to him for free, along with our number! My companion and I then sat in silence for another 30 minutes as we tried to piece together what miracle had just happened right before our eyes hahaha. We ended up giving 4 Books of Mormon away on that one ride home. The Not Dead Guy... We were standing on a metro on our way to Paris, everyone plugging their noses. Something smelt absolutely wretched. Then, all of the sudden, BAM! A man falls flat on the floor. He was sitting in a chair and everyone had assumed he was sleeping. But after taking a solid blow to the head and no reaction, no one was actually sure if he was dead, a heavy sleeper, or just veeerrrryyyy drunk. You could just hear the whisper of rumors making their way from the front to the back of the metro as everyone began quietly gossiping among themselves. A voice came from somewhere and told the passengers to pick up the man and "Just set him outside"... hahaha. It was as if he had instantly instituted a giant game of "nose goes!?" between all the stockier men onboard. Finally, a couple of the metros stockiest stepped up to the plate. They drug him off and set him on the ground, and then we drove away, Hahahaha. Don't worry, he was just really drunk. #WelcomeToParis The Pass Off. Salah and Ynesse are still progressing beautifully. But, we had to pass them to the Elders. Missionaries or Movie Stars? I have never been on camera so much in my life. Thursday was the Reporter day. We met up in Paris and they followed us back and forth all day as we talked to people in the road. It was a different contacting experience than I have ever had. Actually, it was a lot more effective than I had expected! We started our contacts by letting the people know they were on camera. Then we asked their permission and if we could share a message with them. Apparently the French are born to be on camera because once they heard that, they were all oddly anxious to hear our message... hahaha. Well, whatever works!! We taught 18 lessons in 3 hours that day. Our favorite of the 18 was when we built up the courage to go and sit on the concrete outside of George Pompidou (very famous museum) in a circle of 5 girls our age and share a message with them while they ate lunch. We even sang a harmonized Christmas carol! Our moms would have been proud (they are both voice coaches. J It was such a sweet moment for us as we thought of Jesus Christ, during his Earthly ministry, kneeling among the people to teach them. My Extensive Medical Vocabulary. We went to the doctor (again) on Tuesday and figured out the cause of all my weird allergic reactions here... apparently we have a black mold problem in our apartment. So, we went to work spraying and scrubbing it with vinegar for over 12 hours on Thursday. I now have a super nerdy inhaler that I get to bring everywhere with me. I think it makes me look more intelligent. Just kidding... just trying to be positive, Hahaha. Saturday I lost my voice completely and somehow managed to get it back just long enough to perform an arrangement of Silent Night in our ward Christmas spectacular. My voice was completely gone again the moment I finished. #Miracles. When the mission nurse called to check up on me that night, she immediately called and set up yet another doctor appointment to check out my throat. We went. Turns out, I have strep. Hahaha. I couldn't help but laugh at the outstanding amount of medical diagnostics I have had since the beginning of my mission. The good news is: my medical vocabulary has become quite extensive. ;) Maybe I will consider staying in France for studies, considering I know more medical terminology now in French than I do in English, Lol. Though hopefully I won't have to learn much more between now and the time I return home, hahaha. Our Dear Friend, Emelie! We have an incredible new ami named Emelie. She met the Mormons 14 years ago while she was living in the U.S. but wasn't interested at the time. She lived there for seven years before moving back to France and living another 7 years. That's when she realized there was something missing from her life. As she struggled to get through trails and hardships on her own, she began to wonder, maybe she 'did' need God. So she sent in a request to have a Book of Mormon delivered to her. Salt Lake then called us, and we called her! Now she is taking the missionary lessons and doing wonderfully. We were able to take her over to Bishop's house last night for the first lesson after the stake Christmas spectacular. It went incredibly well. That night at the spectacular she met (without knowing) our mission president, his wife, a quorum seventies, and the presiding bishop of the entire church! She asked us after meeting them... "Okay, they were important. I could feel it. Why? What do they do? Their eyes practically spoke to my heart." My Lesson with a 10-year-old Missionary. Our member who was supposed to be present for our lesson somehow got lost in the after-church-rush--as well as did my companion-- and our new amis (Joshua and Shauna) were in a hurry to make it to their Sunday afternoon rendezvous. So, in a quick attempt to teach them a lesson before they left, I grabbed a ten-year-old little American girl from the hallway and asked her if she had a minute to help me out with a lesson. I told her we were going to teach about the Book of Mormon. She nodded her head excitedly and followed me into the room. Then, she picked up the Book of Mormon, and in a language that was not her own, presented it in a way that was more complete, more sincere, and more beautiful than I have ever heard in my life. Chills covered my entire body as she continued to testify of the Book of Mormon, the testimony of the witnesses, and the promise given by Moroni to all who read the Book of Mormon. She then, with both hands, presented our new amis with their very own, Book of Mormon, reminding them how special it was. Teary eyed, they thanked her sincerely and we closed with a prayer. Again, offered by my sweet little 10-year-old companion. I have never in my life taken part in a more powerful lesson, and I didn't even say a single word. Baptism Coming Soon to Versailles! So we have this awesome 19-year-old ami named Clemence. She was a self-referral and had been being taught for almost a year. But after lots of prayers on her behalf, we made the decision to start from the beginning with her in teaching the very first lesson over again and inviting her to be baptized. We asked President's wife, Sœur Babin, to teach with us. In the peaceful setting of the mission home, we taught Clemence the Restoration and invited her to be baptized on The 21st of January. She responded with a giddy, "EEEE!!!! YAY!". Man, I wish that was how ALL of our amis would respond to a baptismal invite-- "EEEE!!! YAY!" :D Much Love and a Merry Christ-mas, Sœur Tracie Wyson -Singing for the ward nativity -Us with the reporters -Emelie, Me, My adorable companion, Bishop, and his wife! Clemence, me, Soeur Babin, Soeur George
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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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