There's no life like missionary life (Katie-Toul)

Hi everyone!

Wow! What a week!! Ah, Jeffrey's old now. I was thinking of him on the 11th. I think I told like everybody we ran into that it was his birthday. So feel important, little guy ;) Also, happy St. Patrick's day!! Me and Soeur Evans celebrated by wearing green. Hah. 

But anyway, this week has been...a lot of walking. Good thing I was born to walk! Bah. We still don't have a car, but we have figured out that we don't need a car to be successful missionaries. All you need is a will, because where there's a will, there's a way! But one especially fun thing that we got to do this week was exchanges! And, because Toul and Nancy are so close, we got to do REAL exchanges! I went with Soeur Hunsaker to Nancy, and Soeur Barton came to Toul with Soeur Evans. It was fun. And no, we didn't have to walk to Nancy :) But just to let you all know, Soeur Hunsaker is AMAZING. She is so funny and so cute. We got along great :) One thing that stuck out to me in particular during out exchange was the hour and a half we had to go park contacting. It's been beautiful, so it was a perfect day to go to the park. So we're contacting, and person after person is just so RUDE. I mean, we meet rude people, it's part of our job. But this was ridiculous. Probably like 15 rude, mean people in a row. Let's just say we decided real fast that we didn't like park contacting (this was both of our first times). But we kept at it. And do you know what happened? Even with all the rain, God gave us a rainbow. We had about 40 minutes left, so we talked to this young mom. She was Muslim converted christian, studying with the Temoin de Jehovahs (Jehovah's Witnesses), but she knew who we were. She told us that she's always wondered about the Mormon's beliefs, and has always wished she had someone she could ask all of her questions to. AHEM. She also told us that her husband was planning on being baptized TJ, but had recently sent in a request on mormon.org for missionaries to visit him (people do that?!). So let's just say the Nancy soeurs (sisters) are definitely seeing them again :)

Me and Soeur Hunsaker got lost...

We also met some super cool people this week. We met a mom who has 4 kids who recently moved from Paris to here. Her oldest daughter, Veronica, read the entire brochure and prayed by herself. She's like 10. This family is so cool. We also had another lesson with our new friend Jessica this week. Her brother went all psycho on us and told her to not see us, but she did anyway. Yep, she's pretty cool :) We had a lesson on the stairs outside her apartment as a result, but the spirit was so strong and she had tons of cool questions. We like her a lot.

Yesterday was a miracle day in and of itself. All of the people we had been trying to pass by (there is really so much you can do in a little ville like Toul) were actually HOME, and we even met a lady who was baptized, and then left the church because one of the other members offended her. She was really nice to us, and said she would pray about it and that she does still believe the church is true. We were also able to eat dinner with the Taie family (tahitian) and Christopher and Tiare (recent convert and son). The Taie family is the family that just got sealed in the temple last week. It was so fun to talk to them and to get to know them better. And, because Christopher has had a little bit of a hard time getting into the BOM, we read a chapter with him. He loves strategy and war and stuff (boys) and so naturally we read Alma 47. Such a cool chapter, by the way. We also gave him other war chapters to read. He said he would, so that's progress right there! I love miracles. And being a missionary.

OH. I almost forgot to tell you. A catholic lady blessed me this week. It was...a little strange I'll admit. We had been talking about the plan du salut (plan of salvation), and she is SOOO Catholic, but really willing to listen and also really sick so she can't go outside anymore. But we were saying that it was time for us to go and whatnot when she asked if she could do one thing for us. Me and Soeur Evans just looked at each other. Sure? Then she came over to me, put her thumb on my forehead and said, "Je te bénis." ("I bless you.") I wasn't mocking what she was doing by any means, but my instinct told me to close my eyes and imagine that an old witch was putting a magical spell on me that would protect me from danger for the rest of my life. I should probably repent. But at least she meant well :)

Well, I hope that you all have a happy green day. Don't forget to wear green and to dye everything green. And think of me and of the shining sun and the new watch tan I recently acquired. I love you all and pray for you all! The church is still true.

Love,

Soeur Pettingill

Also, I asked her in a separate email why she is the designated driver (if they ever get their car fixed) when her companion has been out so much longer than she has. She responded:  Licenses from the states are only valid for one year after arriving in France. Soeur Evans has been here for approximately 15 months, so she would have to get a drivers permit from France in order to drive.

Soirée familiale (FHE) we had with this awesome family on exchanges :)

Happy st patty's day!