11/21/2016 1 Comment A Cookie and a KissCoucou tout le monde !! 🌎
Rubix Cube Speed Contacting... Everyone here is extremely impressed when someone can do a rubix cube. So, Neistadt and I studied the French Rubix Cube Manuel for language study so that we could learn how to do them and use it as a contacting technique on long bus and train rides. Neistadt has known for a while how to do it so she is crazy fast already. I'm working on catching up hahaha. Anyways, our first day was a success. We met a man named Jean-Philipe who was of course impressed with our mad puzzle solving skills ;) okay, maybe he was only impressed by Soeur Neistadt's... But, he asked how to do it and of course that led to the response of us being missionaries hahaha. He was atheist but interested in the Book of Mormon. So, we gave him a card and a Book of Mormon and told him to call us. He said he would. Though, so do all the other 100 people a day that we give cards to hahaha. Later that day we get a call and my companion answers. Next thing I know she is yelling "Stop it! Stop it!" Into the phone while trying really hard not to laugh. Listening to her end of the conversation, I assumed it was just the elders. The problem is... so did she. Hahaha. Well, the person who she thought was the elders calling and pretending to be a French man... actually WAS a French man. Yup, Jean-Philippe called! Ha! Neistadt was pretty embarrassed. She immediately started trying to explain to him that she thought he was our "American friends" hahaha. Luckily he thought it was just as funny as I did and we were still able to fix a rendezvous hahaha. The next day it was my turn to do the Rubix cube on Trajet (transit?). My companion was teasing me because she said I was a beginner and it wasn't going to impress anyone that I could do a rubix cube in Ten Minutes. She was right, hahaha. But I did it anyways. Half way through, I turn to the girl next to me and say... "she teases me for being slow, but these things are hard!" I didn't think it was actually that funny, but she sure did! In fact, she thought it was so funny that she wanted to take the missionary lessons after ;). Okay, that's not why she wanted to take the lessons, hahaha. But she was awesome! We are going to see her this week :). The Miracles of HeadQuarter referrals... Boy do I love referrals! We received a self-referral a few weeks ago of a woman named Madame Ambert. The referral said that she wasn't interested in taking lessons at all but that she just wanted a Book of Mormon. Well, it took about 3 weeks for that referral to process and get to us. So, by the time we passed by, she had spent the past 3 weeks researching and reading everything she could about the Mormons on all of the churches websites and said to us, "I have researched over a hundred religions, and I am completely convinced that there is no other church that raises youth to be as strong as yours. It must be because you have a prophet!" Family nights and homemade hummus!... We had to sprint through Versailles after our miracle with Madame Ambert in order to get to our next RDV with Salah and Ynesse on time. We were having a FHE with one of my very favorite couples in our ward. We didn't quite make it "on time" haha. But we made it! The night went really well too! We actually taught about Temples, which Salah and Ynesse found SUPER cool! Salah is progressing much quicker than Ynesse. Just because he wasn't a “practicing" Muslim as Ynesse is. So it's a lot easier for him to leave some of the old traditions behind and try something a little bit different--Like not having memorized prayers and just praying from your heart. It's quite amazing to observe the difference of progression between someone who is praying from their heart as opposed to someone who is reciting a memorized prayer. Prayer is the key to receiving answers to our questions. We cannot receive answers to questions we do not ask. On the less-spiritual side of FHE, we played a card game called, "Exploding Kittens" Hahahaha...Weirdest game I think I have ever played. Wrong Bus. I Mean Right Bus!... Every time we get on the "wrong bus" it ends up being the right bus! Neistadt and I made a goal this week that we weren't going to allow ourselves to sit down on trajet unless we talked to someone. Otherwise it's just too easy to get comfortable on all those long rides haha. Well, we got on a bus that actually happened to be a private student bus and not a public bus (awkward), so we figured it probably wasn't the best idea to be contacting since it technically isn't allowed on private buses. So instead, I just told the young girl next to me that I liked her lipstick and I figured, considering the circumstances, I could probably sit down after saying that. To my surprise, she responded with, "Thanks! I'm Christian too! Only not practicing. Are you here to teach people? Can I have your number?"....uhhh yes you may!!!...So we exchanged numbers and fixed a RDV for next week :). Contacting... African Style!... As you have probably noticed, we did a LOT of contacting this week. So we tried a lot of different techniques to keep things interesting. Well, one of them was to take the most enthusiastic African man in our ward out to contact with us hahaha. Let's just say, some methods of contacting are a little more effective than others, haha! I think he was just a little bit TOO enthusiastic for the French hahaha. I felt like I was at one of the African Markets that they have here, only we weren't selling Corn or Piment, we were selling Church! hahaha. But, I can honestly say that was the most entertaining contacting session I have ever experienced! ;) Praying in Spanish... We met a really cool Spanish lady on the road. She didn't speak any French or English, and we don't speak any Spanish ahaha. So I'm not sure how well our message got across, but I prayed for her in "Spanish" ahaha. Meaning I just rolled all my R's while speaking French, hoping maybe she would understand a little more haha. She told me after than she was really impressed with my Spanish ;) which was actually just French. I don't know any Spanish. She was definitely just being nice hahaha. Cookies and a Kiss... Saturday, every single one of our rendezvous fell through and so we had nothing to do. Well, as much as we love contacting all day, that's about all we did all week haha. So, instead, we made about 200 snickerdoodles and passed by about 30 member families! We even found some new investigators along the way! We wrote this cute little card about giving them "a cookie and a kiss" and then kissed all of the notes with red lipstick. Our first pass by was one of our old friends (our hair stylist). He thought it was so cute hahaha, then he read the card and said, "I'll take both!!" Then before I had time to shake his hand, he slapped two nice, big, slobbery grandpa kisses on my face, Hahahaha😂. He loves us. He calls us the "Mormon Models". I'm not sure why hahaha, but I guess he thinks we are pretty cute ;)! On Sunday, the members were all so happy and smiley! They were all showing off their little cards from us and giggling among themselves about "comment c'est adorable" (how adorable it is). Hahaha. I love being a missionary. Elder Packer was right; the two essential ingredients ARE a cookie and a kiss!!! ;) À Bientôt ! A cookie and a Kiss, Soeur Wyson
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11/14/2016 1 Comment Of course I'm a woman.. Wait what?!BONJOUR !
My life here in Versailles seems to be getting more and more comical with each passing week. But I am pretty certain this week has been one of the most bizarre weeks of my entire mission, haha! Two is MUCH better than one... This week I experienced a moment of what life is going to feel like 5 months from now as the train doors closed on me and I watched my companion disappear into the distance. Our faces were priceless. I felt like a lost puppy as I wondered around trying and find and convince a French person to let me use their phone to call my comp. haha! When I finally got a hold of her we both burst into laughter. I don't know if I have ever in my life felt as uncomfortable as I did waiting for that second train by myself hahaha. I take back everything I have said in the past; I don't think I like being alone anymore. Needless to say our reunion was quite dramatic. Is this a Lesson or a Date? Salah and Ynesse... Now that we are no longer in a Trio, we can no longer teach Salah and Ynesse unless we have a member with us, or if we teach in public. Well, it's a holiday... therefore, all of our members are conveniently out of town haha. So we met them outside a train station and walked in the pouring rain from the train station to the nearest shelter. Which happened to be a "Quick Burger". Originally, they tried to take us to a bar... but we came to the conclusion that: drinking or not, teaching the Plan of Salvation in a Bar is a little... well, strange. It went surprisingly well! Although we felt and looked a little more like their dates than their missionaries Hahaha. Awkward. But hey, Salah read SIX chapters in the Book of Mormon since our last visit and basically recited them to us! Date or not, it was pretty amazing! ;) Isabelle and The Law of Chastity.... My companion and I are quite hilariously blunt with our amis. In the very most loving way! We have just realized that beating around the bush in lessons only creates what we like to call "Eternal Amis". So, the other day we were teaching our ami Isabelle The Law of Chastity-- which is typically one of the most awkward and nerve wracking lessons for missionaries to teach (because we are missionaries and super awkward)-- Anyway, it was the best L.O.C lesson ever. We told her directly, we told her exactly, and we summed up the whole shebang in about two sentences! Needless to say, we were pretty proud... until Isabelle (also hilariously blunt) told us very bluntly that she doesn't and wasn't going to keep it Hahahaha.... ohhhhhh.... Isabelle. Then she laughed REALLY hard for about 10 minutes over the look on our faces when she said it. It was really hard to stay serious because when French people think you're making a funny face they tell you something that translates directly to, "I love too much your funny head". It was like we were parents trying to stay serious while disciplining a child who's making us giggle at the same time. Parents, I know you have all experienced this. Hahaha. Anyways, Isabelle is a work in progress, but we love her Hahaha :). Zone Conference and Finding Day... Neistadt and I sang for Zone conference this week. As nervous as I get to sing for people, I absolutely love singing for the Lord. Which is something I started imagining in order to get over my nerves and it has become such a special experience for me every time I sing. Once I stand up at the podium, the only one left in the audience listening is Christ. After the conference, we were separated into different companionships and sent out to do a little finding. I was lucky enough to go with one of my adorable Soeurs from my last zone--Soeur Cottle! I took her on her very first exchange :). When we got paired together she smiled so big and said, "Soeur Wyson! Now we can finish our exchange!". It was so sweet :) At the end of our little mini exchange, she looked at me and said, "You will always be my STL :)." It made my day :)... So how about those exchange miracles!?... Amina's Miracle - Zone Finding Day... Amina was the very first woman we contacted. A Muslim woman who wasn't very interested to hear talk of Christ. So I pulled out the Book of Mormon and began to testify that it is through the Book of Mormon that we are able to come to know the divinity of Jesus Christ. Her entire countenance changed as she reached out and gently caressed the Book's cover. Then, her eyes filled with light and she said, "Is this yours? Or can I please have it?...I really want to read it." When we gave it to her she held it close and promised to read it. Then she gave us her number and asked us to come and teach her the missionary lessons :) I have spent a great deal of my mission studying the Muslim religion because I seem to teach so many of them. In studying the religion, I had hoped to learn some way of teaching them the gospel and helping them to understand that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Then, finally, I learned that we need to teach them just as we need to teach anyone. Through studying, pondering, and praying on the Book of Mormon. There is no "single verse" we can share to convince anyone, or ourselves, of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. But, it is the Book in its entirety that is the proof. As we gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, we gain a testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We cannot expect ourselves, our friends, or our families, to understand the Gospel without the Book of Mormon. That is the reason God gave it to us. Missionary clothes are not primary friendly!... So I got a new calling! I didn't even know that was possible as a missionary. But, I am now teaching primary! They asked me to come in and help for the day and one of the little boys decided that he liked ONLY me because I was his "Maman". Well, he lay his head in my lap for the entire class and cried while I rubbed his back hahaha. Boys... Then after singing time I was assigned teacher of the five year olds class since he refused to be separated from me. By the end of the class, I had 6 energetic five-year-old boys climbing all over me saying "donnes moi un câlin" (give me a hug) hahaha. I haven't gotten that many hugs since I left for the MTC! Also, my sleeve was actually ripped from my dress from all the tugging and pulling of the little dudes fighting over who got me. The missionaries and members got quite the kick out of that. They keep teasing me that it is a "prévue" (pre-seen) of my dating future, Hahaha. Oh golly. Next week I will be wearing more durable, and less valuable, clothes haha. Motherhood, here I come!!! ;) "Are you a Woman?" .... "Excuse me?"... Speaking of motherhood... In French, woman "Femme" and wife, "Femme" are the same word. Now you would think that I would have been in France long enough to recognize the difference...apparently not. So the other day, a few men turn to me on the metro and comment on my eyes. Then, they proceed to ask me if I am a "Femme"...Um excuse me?! What do you think? Yes I am a Femme!!...I was distraught! I couldn't believe that they had mistaken me for anything else!...That's when I realized that they were asking if I was married.... how awkward. Well, I guess I am safe because now they think I'm a wife, Hahahaha. Oh lala... Finding with Presidents Wife..."No Pressure"... We decided to be bold and take president’s wife out to work with us for the day. Our studies that morning were super killer because we wanted to be perfectly prepared for all the lessons we would teach with her that day. Just our luck, the one day we take Soeur Babin out to work with us is the day that every single one of our rendezvous fell through. But it's okay! We had backup plans! Until not a single one of our planned passby's were home. Final backup!! Contacting!!... of course it was pouring freezing rain and icy winds... literally the place was a Ghost Town... it was a stressful day and we were very glad when it was over hahaha. The only problem was... it wasn't over... Come what may and Love it... right?... Finally, at the end of the night we have a family night with a cute member family in our ward. We felt prompted to share my favorite talk, "Come what may and Love it." Little did we know, we were going to find ourselves stranded in a train station that's nowhere near our sector in the middle of the night (still pouring freezing rain and icy winds) with absolutely no way of getting home... After a tragic incident, all of the trains were shut down and we had to get off, who knows where. Our only option was to either sleep there, or call the assistants. Sleeping there almost sounded like a better idea Hahahaha. If it wouldn't have been for the other sisters who were supposed to be staying with us that night…who were waiting outside of our apartment door (more than dangerous) a several hour walk away. So we called the assistants and the poor guys had to drive an hour to pick us up, 40 min to take us home, and another hour back to their apartment, IN THEIR PAJAMAS! It was so late. We didn't get home until almost 11. (Note from Tracie’s mom: She has definitely been out on a mission too long… she thinks 11 is the middle of the night? Hahaha) Come what may and Love it, right? Yes, we will be making cookies for the assistants today. 4th floor last door... Or 5th floor... We usually take our dinner hour at the end of the night from 8-9 here because it's not very safe for us to be out after 8. We had been porting in a building and it was almost 8 so we were about to head home. Then we got in the elevator and saw that the building actually had five floors... not four.. (which is how many we had already knocked)...we remembered Elder Uchtdorfs talk. We couldn't possibly just leave before finishing the final floor! What if our person was there!?! So we pressed the "5" button in the elevator as we goofily chanted "fifth floor last door! Fifth floor last door!" More like, fifth floor, EVERY door!! Everyone answered! We had five outside the door lessons on the fifth floor and were even invited back on the last door!! What a killer way to end the night. :) My first French argument... I know the title of this story doesn't sound like a very Christlike one, but... I was actually pretty proud of myself! hahaha.... This grouchy lady in the grocery store today tried to accuse me of trying to steal because I used my credit card and she didn't realize that she had to use her little key to accept the payment on the machine. So she rudely yelled in my face, Mam! You can't just leave! You haven't paid!" She then continued on this long rant about how I was breaking the law. Well, at this point, everyone in the store was staring at us and I just looked at her as I still stood there, in the exact place I had been the entire time, and said, "Um, I had absolutely no intention of leaving this store without paying, I'm just waiting for YOU to accept the payment." Then she un-puffed a bit and says... "Oh." And accepts the payment on the machine... it was ridiculous Hahahaha. But I was pretty proud of myself for being a Wyson. Dad, you would have been proud ;) The French and their Holidays.... Every other day is a Holiday in France. Meaning everyone takes work off, including all of the train and bus conductors. So it took us 6 hours to have two 30-minute rendezvous because we had to wait sooooo long in between trains. But we made the best of the time we had and had some good companion bonding time as we sang and danced to Broadway songs in the empty train stations. We even found an apple vending machine with full packages of the best apples I have ever tasted for only one euro! We were pretty stoked about that. On the way home we met a crazy woman from Morocco who made us snapchat her sister because we speak English and so does she hahaha. She liked us so much she asked for our number so she could bring us back Moroccan BooBoos. Interesting day! FINALEMENT! Lou's Baptism!!!... LOU IS BAPTIZED!!! Sunday was the greatest. Lou is absolutely golden. We are going to be friends for a very, very long time :). It was a beautiful baptism with talks, songs, and prayers, in English, French, Spanish, AND Portuguese! Soeur Neistadt and I sang. Our moms would have been so proud, the piano stopped in the middle of the song because his sheet music fell and we just kept going as if nothing even happened and like we had planned the whole thing! I think we had them convinced ;). I also found out when I got there that I would be giving a talk on the gift of the spirit. Good thing missionaries are always prepared ;)! Well, that was a really long email... you're welcome mom! :D Sorry everyone else! ;) Á la prochaine !!! Bisous! Soeur Wyson 11/7/2016 3 Comments Missionaries Are Always PreparedHello hello Family!
"I can't believe it's already...[insert date]!!!" Has become my second most commonly used phrase on the mission. The First being, "Bonjour! Je suis une missionnaire pour l'Église de Jesus Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours!" That one never gets old. With that being said, I can't believe it is already November 7th!!! The 3 Musketeers are No More... Yup... we are getting split up today...Soeur Méjean is leaving us to head to her assigned mission--Phoenix, Arizona! Nice-Cat (Neistadt) and I feel like such moms, preparing to send off our little girl to her mission in the United States hahaha. Perks of trios that we will miss: being able to teach/contact men alone, riding in cars with members, riding in cars with elders, getting triple the work, going on Member splits, only having to hold the phone and keys every third day (personal favorite), three times the humor, AND three times the ideas!! hahahah (hard sometimes). Nevertheless, it was a great couple weeks :) (I very much enjoyed writing last week's email as a series of mini stories so I decided I was going to continue it this week. Here is my personal favorite...) Genealogy, you mean Gynecology?... We were sitting in a lesson with Salah and Ynesse when my companion began to explain a bit about why we do Genealogy and how it's important for the work that is done in the temple. They seemed like they were really getting it! Until she asked if they understood the word "Genealogy" and Salah responds confidently with..."Yeah! Gynecology!" Hahahahaha. The best part is that my companion is new in the mission and so she responded with, "Exactly!" I was dying hahahaha. But hey, Mormons can't get any weirder than that. So if that didn't scare them away, I don't know what will! 😂 hahaha. Once we cleared it all up, they were very excited to start on their genealogy ;). "Dare me. Okay I dare you."... *Guy with guitar gets on Metro* Wyson-"Hey. Neistadt. Dare me to go sing with that guy." Neistadt-"ok. I dare you." Wyson-"Okay fine I will." *walks over, sits next to guitar guy* Wyson-"How good are you at sight reading?" Yes, I sang a song about temples to the entire Metro while this guy played the guitar. Hahahaha. I couldn't pass it up, it was a once in a lifetime experience! Plus, she dared me ;) Adrian, and a New Contacting Technique... As a missionary, you can only stay silent for so long when you're sitting across from a college student about your age in the metro. So, in a spontaneous attempt to strike up a conversation, I smile big and say, "Are you on your way to church right now!? :D"... (Face palm)... I definitely meant to say "school". I guess I was just a little too excited to talk to him about church, it just slipped right out! He laughed at me for a good minute or two, as did I. Then he politely replied with, "No, but I probably should be! haha :)" I wasn't going to disagree, so I gave him the address and told him to come ;). Missionaries are ALWAYS prepared (cough cough)... Soeur Neistadt (my incredibly gifted companion) was asked to sing at the church activity on Saturday. But when her pianist didn't follow through, her only option was to sit down and learn the entire arrangement perfectly in 3 hours so that she could accompany herself. She #NAILEDIT. When we thought things couldn't get any more stressful, our phone rang... "Soeur Wyson! Paris Temple President and his wife are speaking in church tomorrow and our musical number canceled last minute! Can you be ready to sing tomorrow!?"... so, I used some nightly language study time to translate a song about Temples and sang it the next morning. Oh boy! Missionaries are always prepared... right? Feeding My Obsession: We were enjoying some yummy healthy food at a members house when I made a comment about my cook book collection. Next thing I knew, the member was pulling cookbook after cookbook out of her storage and giving them to me hahaha. I went home with 25 new cookbooks that day to add to my collection! Not sure how I am going to get those home...but I am sure my future husband will appreciate it ;)! 50 Anniversaire de Versailles!... We had our big historical party on Saturday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the chapel here in Versailles. Our companionship was in charge of doing tours and presenting the history of the church and the chapel in each room. It made me feel like I was working in the Visitors center, it was a blast! My favorite miracle of the night was a woman named Carmen. She had so many questions about the temple, what we do in it, and why. I explained it about 20 different ways before finally just giving up, smiling, and saying, "You know, good question! I don't know. I guess just because God commanded us and I know he is much smarter than me!" Then, Carmen looks at me and for the first time that entire night, she didn't try to argue! She just says... "That makes SO much sense! You're right!"... I wish I could have caught my face on camera at this moment hahaha. I had just spent 30 minutes trying to explain this to her and all I had to say was a simple "Just Because" Hahahaha. The Lord has a good sense of humor. I bet he was enjoying watching that one from up above ;). 2 Nephi 2:24 "But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things." So, if you see Soeur Neistadt and I on TV... We got a call from some journalists this week asking us when we were free so that they could come follow us around a bit. We told them no. Then we got a call from a church representative. Apparently they had already gotten permission, haha, oops. I don't know why they find us contacting people on the street so interesting haha, but I'm not sure how many people are going to want to talk to Mormon missionaries with a camera crew hahaha. They will also be interviewing us after... fingers crossed they don't ask me how many siblings I have... luckily, 12 and 2 sounds about the same in French when said with an American accent, Hahahaha. Well, that's all I've got for ya' this week folks! Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine ! À la prochaine ! Je vous aime tous, Soeur 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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