Monday, July 1, 2013

Gex (pronounced jecks... easy) week 1!

Dear Family,
Yes, I am in France now. The keyboard takes some getting used to so sorry for any errors! Gex is small and so pretty, 20 minutes from Switzerland. So yes. I've been to Switzerland too! And going again today :) let's see. The plane ride was long but very fun. I was so glad I got to call you a couple times. it was so good to hear your voices. You saw the pictures when we arrived and that was fun although I looked horrible! haha  then we drove to the mission office for interviews and I discovered I really like President Roney! He is so personable and very nice. He'll be my mission president the whole time I'm here so that makes me happy :)
After that we had fajitas that sister Roney made at their house with the AP's. It was delicious. Definitely nice not to be eating MTC food anymore. Then we left and they let us go to bed a little early and that was nice because I was exhausted. The next day we just did legal stuff in the morning and then we got our areas and trainers! Gex is mine and it's in the Geneva Stake. It's so pretty here. I'll send some pictures next week :) Sister W is 22, small and very sweet. Apparently she is like super obedient so I was scared that she was going to be mean or something, I don't know why, but she is not mean, she's very sweet and I like her a lot. She's from Idaho, near Boise and has been out a year in august.  Our apartment is in Crozet and we live with two other sisters who are also in the Gex ward with us. It's fun! the other sister have been out six months in August and they don' t know french super well either. So my first full day we did a lot of contacting. I've discovered most people here are Muslim (Muzulman) or Catholic or "non believing." I contacted a few people on my own. One guy was really funny and he would spit every few words. He didn't believe though and I said do you want to believe? he said no and I said ça va God loves you. And he laughed. It was funny. Later I said bonjour to a couple, S and N, but they didn't answer until the wife turned around and we discovered they speak English. They were so interested and they wanted a book of Mormon so we set up a meeting to meet with them to teach them more and give them a English Book of Mormon. SO that was awesome.
Saturday we went over and taught them the first lesson and got to know them a bit and they are from India and Hindu and absolutely incredible. So open and willing and loving. They loved our message. When I got to the restoration part I asked them what question they would ask if God appeared to them. Both explained how they want to know why they are here, what is their purpose, so I testified to them that the BOM can and will answer every question and concern they have if they read it and I shared with them Moroni 10:3-5. They invited us back. They are so sweet. We invited them to be baptized too which was scary for me, but they said their parents wouldn't like that so they might practice in secret, funny. I know they are prepared. N told us that when his Grandma was dying she said "I forget all the gods. I believe in Jesus." Powerful. Anyway, I really love them.
I don't have much time, but we have another investigator, K from Madagascar. He is Muslim but went to a catholic school so he loves religion. I don't know if he understands a whole bunch yet, but we are working with him. he has been to church twice and has a date for baptism in august. We'll see how it goes!
So that is my time so far. I get rejected a lot, but it's okay. I can't understand and speak a lot but that is okay too. A lot of people smoke here. It's ridiculous.
Also, the ward is awesome. There are a lot of young families but it's a pretty big ward. They are all very nice. We ate at the C family yesterday for dinner. The mom is inactive and her and the father don't speak french, but they have two daughters who are super funny: age 13 and 15. We ate spaghetti noodles with french fries and meat sauce on top and then these really good bread stick things and then this purple warm apple soup stuff. It was delicious! brother C I guess used to be a pro chef.
Our ward mission leader cane home from his mission in Montreal six months ago and he is super funny and awesome. His name is G. Anyway, I love you all so much and I miss you all very much. I pray for you everyday! Don't forget me and have faith in Christ and his work. I love you.
love,
Soeur Roberts

No comments: