Week 10 Sheep wool and cool people 🐑🐑🐑

Bonjour ma famille et mes Amis!
We started this week off doing something I had never expected to do.
So Frere Herr is the CDP (ward mission leader) for Annemasse and is
awesome- he served a mission in Las Vegas and has a cute little
family. On Tuesday for service he drove us and the elders up to his
house. So him and his wife bought this really old house that they are
renovating, so they live in a camping trailer just outside. Frere herr
works on a farm, so he was able to get a lot of sheep wool to use as
insulation. The sheep wool has been sitting out getting cleaned by the
rain. The elders would construct these wood lean-two's to hang the
wool on to dry, and me and Sr. Smith would cut the poop off of the
wool (if it was dirty) and then carry the wool over to the wood. Ha it
was very interesting but it was fun because we could all just laugh
with each other and frere, (and I am now very thankful for the
invention of rubber gloves :) ) After a few hours of this and a break
for lunch we helped him clean out an ancient wine cellar. Well me and
Sr. Smith carried old glass bottles out while the boys went on rat
hunts! It was cool to be able to some service and a change of
schedule, plus the house was up in the mountains and it was beautiful!
The rest of the week was full of lots of lessons, we do a lot of with
recent converts and less actives, and some contacting! I have had
people asking me about what the wards and members are like, and how
different France is. SO the families here are awesome, we have a lot
of older people in our wards who we love to go visit and talk with.
This week we got to have a short pensée with Sr. Gallopan and then we
heart attacked her door. She called us that night telling her how much
that meant to her, I'm glad we could show her how loved she was. The
families are great because they love to be involved with missionaries!
They invite us over to dinner a lot, and in France meal appointments
are very different. They usually last for about 2.5 -3 hours (rules
are different here) because meals have a lot of courses. When you get
there you have some drinks and talk for a while, as the food is
finishing cooking. Then you have a salad and some sides, and then they
bring out meat and more food, then *because france* they always have
bread and cheese, and it ends with dessert! Ha the food here is
wonderful, and it's fun because meals are so long, you really get to
know people!
We have had some other really great lessons this week, on Thursday we
taught Francois about the temple and it was fantastic. So François is
our awesome African less active, who was baptized in Spain like 20
years ago, and is now totally interested in the church again. The
problem is he went less-active very quickly after his baptism; and we
can't find his baptismal record. We are in the process of waiting out
three months for the church to search for his record. What's amazing
though is seeing him rediscover why he was baptized in the first
place. In the lesson he was super excited about going to the temple
and taking some of his family names. He is so awesome, usually we have
a lesson with him before English class and if we finish early he just
sits and studies the Book of Mormon. His faith is so strong, I just
can't wait for his certificate.
Here in Annemasse when we don't have a lesson, usually we will go
contacting. It's difficult because a lot of people here are Muslim,
and for their safety we are not allowed to teach them ( However, this
week especially, we have been able to talk to some people that I know
we helped. We didn't get any new Amis from contacting, but you could
tell some of them felt the spirit testify of the love of God. One man
we talked to, told us that he could feel the spirit as we taught him
and he felt that happiness! The other miracle this week has been
Severine, so her baptism is coming up and because she works so much we
can only meet her once maybe twice a week. Last Sunday in church we
had talked about the law of the fast and she had some problems with
it. Our next lesson was on the commandments, so we were both pretty
nervous to teach her. When we started the lesson she told us that she
had prayed about fasting and was totally at peace with it; as we
taught her she told us she will keep all of the commandments! Ahh I'm
so excited for her, and I love seeing her change as she prepares for
this covenant with Heavenly Father!
The lesson that I have been taught this week is Patience. We have
been sharing a video during our 15 mins (meeting with members) about
having patience and trusting in the promises and timing of the lord. I
have had a few times during lessons when I get frustrated with myself.
I am understanding a lot, but there is still so much that I don't
understand when people are talking. I felt like I should be at a level
of comprehension by now, but as we showed that video again, I had the
thought that you have to believe what you are teaching. You need to
trust and be patient in the lord's timing, the language is going to
come! It's so true the lord is always ready to bless us, but he knows
when we need to receive specific blessings. I would much rather trust
in the timing of my Heavenly Father who know everything, because that
is how I am going to become my best! So your frenchie's challenge this
week, is keep an eternal perspective and trust in your loving Heavenly
Father!
You are all amazing, thank you so much for your support and love!
Je t'aime!
Sœur Soffe

Sheep wool for days

Heart attack Sr Gallopan