12-12-2016

Hellloooo boys and girls!

I would like to introduce you to my wonderful new companion- Soeur Piazza! She is from Lyon so she has an impeccable French accent (she worked on it a lot) but she also speaks really good English! It makes it easier when we want to communicate in English in the apartment with all 4 soeurs. She is really good at beatboxing (which is a little sad that I can't rap) and it generally super cool. She is also amazing at teaching and making friends with everyone, including people we meet in the elevator, people at the grocery story, and African men sitting around drinking beer. We'll get back to that story in a minute.

Funny moment: Soeur Piazza loves making phone calls. I'm not even being sarcastic, she really enjoys it. She says it's because people are funny, which is very true. We called a guy we met named Albert to try to have a rendez-vous, and he thought I was the pastor of the church and Soeur Piazza was all like umm no we are just the missionaries :) 

So last week we contacted a cool lady on the metro. Her name is Awa, and we had a rdv with her! And it was so awesome! She feels the Spirit so easily and so strongly. Her family is Muslim, but she told us that she wants to follow Jesus Christ. And then she came to church and arrived late, but she loved it so much! She said she's coming back next week with her son for the Christmas program!

Ok so back to the story, on Sunday night we went to go see our ami Neyda. We walked into the apartment and there were 5 African men (from Congo Kinshasa of course) just sitting around drinking beer and having a grand old time. Soeur Piazza walked right into the middle of the room and started shaking hands with everyone, complimenting this one on his beard, talking with that one about how we're missionaries and wow that's so cool that you're Muslim! So I just sort of followed her in and tried to do the same thing, and very quickly had to explain to a guy why we don't bise men (touching cheeks and making a kissing sound). We then found out that his brother is a Mormon (he thinks he's a bishop) back in Congo! So we finished this lovely encounter and then went into the kitchen, where we proceeded to have a SUPER powerful lesson with Neyda about the Restoration. We did a soft invite to baptism and Neyda said yes! So then just as we finished Neyda's sister and "Pastor Serge" (as he introduced himself) walked in the door. We talked with them and introduced ourselves for juat a couple minutes and then gave both of them a Book of Mormon on the way out the door! We got back down to the lobby and were talking about the lesson, how we felt the Spirit so strongly during the lesson etc. and were about to say a gratitude prayer when Pastor Serge walked into the lobby! So we invited him to join in our gratitude prayer and reminded him again to read the Book of Mormon (he was still holding it in his hand!) as he walked out the door! SUPER cool experience! I'm so glad to have Soeur Piazza as my companion. She has NO FEAR and makes friends with everyone so easily and so quickly! I have a lot to learn from her, and it's not just French.

Wow, this email is a little bit partout! But that's okay. We are so excited for Christmas here in Rennes. If you haven't seen the new Christmas video, I don't know what you're doing with your life, but you need to drop everything and go watch it. Mormon.org. Go. Anyway, we've been doing a lot of contacting with the Christmas video recently. It never gets old. Every time I watch it with some random person we met on the street, I feel the Spirit so strongly. I'm so happy that I get to be in France for the beautiful Christmas season, spending my time serving others and following the example of Christ all day long. I love you all and hope you are enjoying the holiday season! And remember, I love getting Christmas cards, Christmas packages, anything! I still live in Rennes!

P.S.
We contacted a lady on the street the other day. Really scary looking- 10 piercings on her face, super tall, shaved head, wearing a corset and really interesting clothes. Natually Sœur Piazza decides to talk to her. She told us that she believes in elves and fairies because she's seen them, and that we could find them in the magic forest outside of Rennes. She also told us that she was a unicorn, but it wasn't her choice, that's just the way God made her. We gave her a card that said mormon.org on it and she was all like "wait you're the Mormons? Okay, I have some questions to ask you, I'm going to call you" So we are anxiously awaiting her call. Dang I love being a missionary :)

Soeur Rogers 

Les Soeurs Missionaries 

2 Rue Moliére 

Rennes France 

Love you all! Have a great week! Bisous!

Sœur Rogers