Luxembourg: magic fairy unicorn land (Katie-Lux)

Hey fam!

WOW. Daniel, oh my goodness!!! Are you freaking out?!?!? I am. The first thing I though was, "He's going to be in The Other Side of Heaven!!" The Marshall Islands. That's going to be a completely different WORLD than France. So, props. And it sounds like the rest of you had a pretty crazy week too...as always. We had a pretty great week. Yes, it's true, President did call us last Monday to tell us that we might be leaving, but nothing is for sure! The Elders' apt lease is up and they can't find another apt for a decent price that will let 4 people live in it. So maybe. But we don't really know when (maybe Wednesday or Thursday) or where. But we have interviews on Tuesday so we'll find out then. :) We're freaking out, but that doesn't mean the rest of the world needs to freak out. Whatever happens, the Lord's plan is better than mine :)

But let me just rave about Luxembourg for a second. Sr. Henson and I always talk about how we could literally say ANYTHING about Lux and people would believe us because almost nobody knows where it is or what it is. For example, when our toilet was broken. We blamed it on the basilisk. Because Luxembourg is a magical land of fairytales--like unicorns and basilisks and fairies. And it's true!! It's so incredibly beautiful here. We also decided that if there was one word that describes Luxembourg, it's posh. So so so posh. Most people are incredibly wealthy. The apartment prices are up the walls. It is the center for Microsoft, Amazon, Skype and many other huge companies. There are so many different languages spoken that we walk around and hear different british accents, irish accents, american accents, portuguese, spanish, luxembourgish, french, german, and more. A lot more.

Last pday, we explored all of lower lux (called old city) and it is INCREDILBE. See pics. We went up into broken parts of old castles and walked around the streets. We found this timeline where the very beginning of Luxembourg started and you can see the entire city from it. It's the picture of me standing on it. It was so funny...there were some other tourists who were german I think, and as soon as Sr. Henson took a picture on top of the thing, and then me, he just started cracking up! He thought it was so funny that we STOOD on the timeline! Hahaha he was so old and adorable. It was super cool. Kind of ironic that Sr. Henson and I were going off about how much we absolutely ADORE Luxembourg...and then President called and told us we might have to leave before the end of the transfer. So sad. But it'll be okay. Heavenly Father is very good at teaching us patience and trust, that's for sure.

We also have a baptism this next Sunday! President did promise that we would be able to come back to it if we left Lux before. Jennifer is getting baptized! We're SO excited!! I don't have a picture with her yet, but it will come. She is absolutely adorable and SO ready to be baptized! She has had 3 other dates before this one, but this time she is so excited and keeps telling us not to forget about it. Haha silly Jennifer. You would all like her a lot :)

We've been hestitantly saying goodbye to everyone...cramming in lessons and visits and passbys because we just DON'T know. We had a lesson on Saturday with this awesome dutch couple where one speaks English and one speaks only German. They are GOLDEN. They had so many questions and so many things to say and afterwards, Yvonne (the wife) told us that she had learned so much. YES. That means she agreed with the things we taught her :) AH the missionaries better take good care of her and Willy. It was cool because they actually live in Troisvierges, which is allllll the way up at the top of Luxembourg, about an hour train ride away. So we took it there and then she picked us up and took us back to her house. After that it was just question after question after question and so much explaining and translating and the spirit was SO strong. Such a neat lesson :) Plus the train ride was beautiful.

The picture I attached of me and another girl is me and Diana. Diana is this incredible Lithuanian woman who is married to a chinese man named Du Wei (doo-way) and they have this little baby girl named Sophia. She hasn't set a date with us yet, but she has told us that she is SO excited to be baptized. She is absolutely adorable and so funny and fun. We love her a lot :) She has SO much faith and trust, such a good example for me right now. Love her :)

Also, this last thursday was Sr. Henson's YEAR MARK. She's such an old lady. Bah. It was so much fun surprising her and teasing her and telling EVERYONE that it has been a year. We had a couple of awesome lessons that day, ate chocolate croissants, and celebrated!! Because if y'ou don't laugh, you cry. So we laughed :) It's pretty funny because I am almost at 6 months and she just hit a year. We're backwards!! Goodtimes. Being a missionary is so crazy and stressful and rewarding and FUN. And I absolutely love it. Another random fact that I learned this week from French and Sr. Henson: voldemort = vol de mort = stolen from death. Cool, huh. So many cool french things that BLOW my mind!

I love you all so much! I have no idea what's going to happen this week. I have fallen in love with Luxembourg and the people here, which makes me nervous that we'll probably leave this week, but it'll all go well I just know it. Sr. Henson is the best and Lux is the best and our ward is the BEST. But I do know that the Lord knows what He's doing, thank goodness. Pray that everything will go well this week and this weekend with the baptism. I know that it will, but extra prayers never hurt ;) I guess we'll see! Have a great week. :)

Love,

Sœur Pettingill