Deux Missions Françaises : I am so THANKFUL to be a missionary (Katie-Mulhouse)

Family!!

Hi. Wow I love reading emails each week. It feels like I'm in such a different world that I can't believe that you still went to Aunt Jeanette's for Thanksgiving and had tons of PIE...and stuff. But no worries, I had a great Thanksgiving too. :) Dad, I'm glad you got my letter! I love you!! And I'm glad you're getting better! Sounds like you guys had a crazy week. That makes all of us, then. :)

So, premierement (first), I had something really terribly awful happen to me. An Elder was handing me my camera back at Thanksgiving and...it fell...to the ground...and DIED. Saddest day of my life. No, I'm kidding, but seriously I'm not sure exactly what to do. Elder Allen left his camera on a bus and had to buy a new one, but it was 99 euro, and that seems like a lot...so feel free to tell me exactly what to do. :)

Okay, so for Thanksgiving we got to go to Nancy for zone conference and INTERVIEWS! My first ever! I LOVE our President and his wife. He is such an inspired man. He's so kind and so funny and so wonderful. And so is his wife! My interview with her was something I'll never forget. She asked me to tell her one thing I've learned since being on my mission, and what came to my mind first was my strengthened testimony of the Book of Mormon. As I started explaining this to her (yes it was in French...so like, no pressure...), the Spirit entered SO strong and flooded my heart and my eyes. With tears (you know how it goes). And I couldn't help but feel this incredible LOVE for this incredible book. I know with all of my heart that it's true, but that's not what made me feel the spirit so strong. I know that it changes lives. I've seen it in our amis' lives (ours and the Elders) and I've seen in the lives of other missionaries, including my own. For this Thanksgiving, I am so grateful to be a missionary. To be at a point spiritually, physically, mentally, that I can give 18 months to the Lord. Oh but also, no worries, we ate LOTS of food...I literally thought I was going to throw up I ate so much. We had tons of mashed potatoes...like 35 kilos of potatoes...and chicken and some other stuff. And for dessert, Sr. Hafen and I made a tarte aux pommes (yep, we're basically French. It's whatever), but there was also homemade pumpkin pie, some other kinds of pies...lots of yummy stuff actually that I can't even remember. It was so good. :)

The tarte we made

SO FULL after eating

As far as amis go, I have some really happy news...and some not so happy news. We had what we call a "lessons of faith" lesson with Mirjana this week. It's basically a you need to be baptized or we have to drop you lesson and I HATE them. I think it went really well as far as understanding goes. The spirit was definitely there. But we basically told her that when she is ready to be baptized, she can call US. And we're gone until she does. It was so hard. I love her so much. Just pray that she realizes that she DOES need to be baptized and that she'll call us. But on the bright side, Xhoana and Ardian are being BAPTIZED this week!!!! We're so excited. We are almost completely done with the lessons; the only thing is Ardian is still a little hesitant. At this point he is saying no, he isn't ready. He told us that he wants to read the entire Book of Mormon first so that he is sure that it's true. PLEASE pray that while reading this week, he will have the spiritual experience needed to be ready for baptism. He is ready and he does have a testimony, he just hasn't recognized it yet. He is such a sweet man. We've really seen them be blessed this week because of their decision to be baptized. They now have jokers (passes for buses and trams), a warm hotel room, and food once a day. Their situation has skyrocketed since a week ago. It's incredible. Please continue to pray for them :)

Saturday, we had a lot of opportunities to do service, and with that we had NO time to do anything!! Hahaha we only had 1 lesson and skipped lunch and dinner (well, we were fasting for dinner, but still). And we actually didin't skip lunch, we bought a pizza on the way and were literally eating it out of the box as we half ran to catch a tram...haha the French people were probably HORRIFIED at us. Let's just say it's not normal for the french to eat with their hands...or out of the box...or without napkins...and we didn't even have a dessert. I know, I know I promise we'll do better next time! ;) But it was such a good day. I just felt so happy. And tired. But so happy! We're here to serve, and that's what we did!

Anyway, love you all! Keep me updated and I'll do the same!! ;)

Love, Sœur Pettingill