Okay family, talking to you yesterday was the best. I can't get over how completely different Adam looked and sounded! Everyone else looked/sounded pretty much the same ;) I just love you guys a lot.
I have some exciting things to share with you.
We'll start with the miracle! It's funny because usually as missionaries we see lots and lots of tiny miracles all throughout the week that are wonderful and remind us how blessed and loved we are. This week was a little bit different. We had one GIANT miracle. Just one. And oh boy, was it incredible! I will tell you about. Angélique's original baptismal date was for this last saturday that just passed, and we have been PRAYING and praying and fasting and fasting and begging the Lord for a miracle with the marriage papers for Ang and Loïc. They have the desire to get married. She has the desire to get baptized. We have the faith that He can do all. Come on, why WOULDN'T this be His will?! Alas, no papers; no miracle. Si! Just not in the way we thought. We went over to their house on Wednesday and had this what we thought was going to be light lesson on the 10 commandments, which led into the law of chastity of course (don't know why we weren't expecting that...), which led into this super intense lesson about prayer (yeah, I don't know). And we told Angélique that unless she was respecting the law of chastity, we would have to move her baptismal date back. We said we could move it to the end of June to give the papers time and whatnot, and immediately she stood up and said, "Wait, no! I don't want that!" We were kind of in shock. Um...well...what do you want? "I want to be baptized next week."
What?
You understand that Loïc needs to sleep somewhere else then, right? We had no idea what she was thinking...we were just kind of standing there in awkward missionary stance. She said, "Yes...I understand that...I will pray about it and let you know later." So we left that lesson somewhat confused at what happened, and honestly not thinking she would actually make Loïc move out (okay okay, lack of faith, I know. But she was very convincing about the whole "oh but I can't sleep alone!" thing!). So we went back on Friday, and they had just gotten back from somewhere. She practically runs up to us and says, "Guess what." What...? "We just got back from Loïc's mom's house. He's moving out on Monday, and I'm getting baptized!!"
I literally almost passed out, while Soeur Evans freaked out. No, miracles do not always come in the way we want or think. But they do come.
This week we also saw the family Brice! Oh I love them. Talk about beautiful, perfect, wonderful family. They came to church and then after Christophe (the dad) got a blessing from Fr. Claus. It was beautiful. They are beautiful.
Okay, I just have to tell you about something I think is absolutely silly. Have I told you about French people and their animals? They all have them. Everyone. Usually cats, but often dogs too. Or both. And they WORSHIP their animals (okay, not literally), and feed them fancy food and let them do whatever they want. I mean, I'm all for animals--I think they're great! But not THAT great. And one of our amis, Catherine, told us about this messe (mass) they do in Paris for animals.
Yes, you read that right. A messe (mass) for animals. Don't believe me? Watch a video about it.
I just think it's the funniest thing! And oftentimes, during dinner, I will have cats spring up onto my lap, and the member is like, "Oh you don't mind, do you?" "Oh, no, of course not" (YES I MIND). But anyway, what would Jesus do? I just have to keep telling myself that.
No, wait, actually...what WOULD Jesus do? Hm. Food for thought.
Anyway I love you all! I'm thinking about you and praying for you.
Love,
Soeur Pettingill
Soeur Pettingill
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| This is Foug (pronounced like "fool" with a g). I love Foug. |
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| This is called a brocante. No, the French don't do individual garage sales all throughout the year. They do one BIG one on a jour férié :) |
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| Welcome to the ultimate volleyball game. With tahitians. |
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| Last Monday, a member took us to an American Military Cemetery. We couldn't decide if it was appropriate to smile... |
The last two show the difference between an American military cemetery and a French one.
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