Bonjour!
Sorry that I didn't write home yesterday, we made today our P-day because of the baptism yesterday and some other rendez-vous.
Jen, congratulations! That's so exciting about Conner! No mom, I didn't get any pictures of Clara or Conner, but I would love to see some!
Some notes about the food here; my goodness it's delicious! I didn't mention last week, but my first Sunday here we ate Raclette at a member's house. It's melted cheese with potatoes, meet and vegetables. I have also had two Crepes, two Baguettes and two Kebabs (the ones in Brussels are better) oh and I love the Belguim chocolate! Soeur Gappmaier and I brought some Speculoos home with us (it looks like peanut butter, but it's actually crushed grahm crackers). Last night I had a patisserie for the first time! You should have seen my face when I took the first bite! I know I shouldn't pay so much attention to the food, don't worry, I'm still focused on the missionary work ;) Anyway, that's that as far as food goes.
I just have to say that this week has been beautiful! It's definitely cold, but the sun has been out every day! It makes a huge difference because the sun puts everyone in a better mood and there are more people outside and it made our day perfect for contacting! On Wednesday we walked on a pathway that goes toward the Chateau de Versailles and everyone we talked to at least stopped and listened even if they weren't interested.
On Tuesday I rode on the TGV; soeur Gappmaier and I went up to Brussels for exchanges. President Staheli has all of the sisters in the mission go on exchanges once a transfer. Brussels was beautiful and Soeur Gappmaier and I stayed with Soeur Jorgensen. Her companion came down here and stayed with Soeur Larsen. This week has been a little slower than last week, a lot of our rendez-vous fell through, but we have hope for this next week and we ran into two old amis, one of whom hasn't met with the missionaries in 5 years, but Soeur Larsen committed her to baptism and she said yes! So she will hopefully be getting baptized on March 19th, Jason who was also supposed to get baptized on that date will probably have to be moved back because he still hasn't come to church. It's so hard when it's a child, because he gets so excited to come to church and then his mom doesn't end up coming. We talked to her about what was holding her back and really the only thing is that she's embarrassed since she hasn't been to church in so long and she doesn't know any of the ward members. I am making an announcement now to anyone who reads this: Do your home and visiting teaching! It makes such a big difference! If everyone did their home and visiting teaching we would not have near as much in-activity as we do now. Last week Elder Haas spoke in the ward and talked to the members about doing the visiting and home teaching, then the Stake President spoke and he spent a lot of time talking to the ward about it. Hopefully it will make a difference.
For the exciting news, Zeinabou was baptized yesterday! It was so great! She is so sweet and she was so happy! Elder Ellis baptized her and then afterward Sister Larsen and I went and helped her in the bathroom, she just smiled at us and said, "Wow." There was something different about her; she's normally a very shy person, but after she was baptized she couldn't stop smiling and she went around talking to people and make sure they got refreshments. Her mom and aunt were there (who are not members) and we are hopefully setting up a rendez-vous with them! They are interested in learning more. One of our other amis, Marguerite, also came and brought her friend, Lucy. I hope that after coming to a baptism Marguerite starts thinking about it more, she's been progressing but very slowly.
We had Zone Conference on Friday and it was great, every time I go to these meetings I feel like it's directed toward me, it's always what I need! I think the important thing is always going with a question in mind and having a prayer in our heart to have it answered, and it always is! Whether it's when we go to church, or read our scriptures, or pray. President Staheli talked a lot about obedience at the begininning which had nothing to do with the lesson, but for some reason he felt like he needed to talk about it. Then Sister Staheli talked about how it's the little things that matter most she shared a story about chocolate chip cookies that I'm going to get a copy of and send to you. It's about people who don't eat chocolate cake, but an evil and cunning man thinks of a way to get them to eat it by starting with chocolate chip cookies, because the people then rationalize and justify it, because the chocolate chip cookies aren't chocolate cake and there's only a little bit of chocolate in them. I think all of us can think of times in our own lives when we rationalize and eat the chocolate chip cookies, but it's so important that we don't! Slowly the adversary tricks us into rationalizing and before we know it we've gone too far. However, thank goodness for the atonement of Jesus Christ. Through him we can all repent and change, that's what repentance is; changing, replacing our old/bad habits with new/good ones. And then we submit our will to the Lord's.
I love you all!
Soeur Valerie Reeves
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