5-8-17

Hello friends and family! This week was a week just full of adventures, so let's get started!

On Tuesday we had our "exchanges abroad" Because of the recent attacks in Paris, we couldn't have exchanges as planned in Paris and our STL's didn't have enough time to spend hours on trains coming to Mulhouse. Instead we worked in our villes, with our companions, and had conversations on the phone and on Skype. It was a little different, but it was still pretty awesome once we decided that we wanted to still have the spirit of exchanges and just GO HARD. We managed to have several awesome lessons and find 2 new amis! The power of exchanges is real!

OKAY so as you may know if you are a longtime reader (or just if you read last week's letter) we have been having a lot of soucis contacting our ami Marie Monnin... which is a problem because a) she's getting baptized soon and b) she may or may not have gone to the hospital and we had no idea. So we called her cell phone and her home phone about twice a day until finally we get ahold of her husband Pierre who told us "oh, elle vient de sortir" (she just left). Do you know what that means? She's not in the hospital!! Hooray!!

So the next day we went to stop by her apartment and rang the sonnerie. Pierre picked up and as soon as we said "c'est les soeurs missionaires" he started yelling and let us in the door... so we went in and could hear him yelling from the second story (première étage for all my Frenchies). We started going up the stairs and were confronted with Pierre's large shirtless belly as he yelled, "elle vient de quitter mais vous pouvez la trapper!!" (She just left but you can still catch her!" So, confused and slightly déranged by Pierre's upper half, we sprinted into the courtyard behind her building, and, with Pierre yelling directions out the window, ran to try to catch up to her. We spotted her hurrying to catch the bus that was just pulling up to the stop on the other side of the road. Because God is a God of miracles, there was a massive group of kids taking that same bus, so we were able to run and hop on the bus right before it left!! And thus the Mulhouse soeurs managed to find their long-lost ami, talk with her about her health and her baptismal date, and set up a rendez-vous for Friday :) 

On Friday morning we were at Porte Jeune waiting for our ami to show up, and just chatting with each other in English. A man walks up and asks us (in English) in a very thick, almost incomprehensible accent if we were Americans, and we strike up a conversation in franglais. He informed us that he was the son of a count (and he dressed like one so I believe him), that he had Mormon friends who had given him a Book of Mormon, that he had a flat in London but there was currently a priest staying there, and that he spoke German, French, English, Italien, Spanish, and Russian. He also asked us some very thought-provoking questions about repentance. At the end of our conversation, he asked us, "Can I give you a present?" We said, "Um, yeah, probably?" He then reached into his grocery sack, pulled out a pineapple, handed it to me, and said, "Well, have a good day!"  Hahaha we wanted to give him a gift but he already had a Book of Mormon, so we managed to give him a card and a prayer before he left.

This Sunday was so awesome! After weeks of no amis at church, we had both Marie Monnin and Calista come to church! The members were so awesome in welcoming them and helping them feel comfortable, and they even arranged for Calista to come to the temple open house with the ward the next day! Marie Monnin is coming too. The bus left at 5 this morning to bring our amis and members to see the temple! I'm so thrilled for them and the opportunity they have to see the temple, it's so beautiful and even worth 10-12 hours on a bus :)

Also, have you noticed? The temple consecration is in only 2 weeks!!! I'm so excited!!! It's going to be such a blessing for everyone here in France- the amis, members, and missionaries included!! I love this country and I'm so grateful for the wonderful blessing and spirit that is coming because of the consecration of the temple, it's already starting to change things here in France and there are going to be so many miracles because of it!!

I love you all, have a great week!!

Soeur Rogers

Pics! I apologize for the inordinate amount of selfies this week

1. When you find a chouette hat in your DMP's car

2. The obligatory pâtisseries during exchanges abroad

3. Dinner after exchanges

4. When the son of a count gives you a pineapples... that's definitely a first!!

5. Haha the day Soeur Kitchen picked out my outfit and we ended up matching

6. Another adventure I forgot... we went to give a copy of the Book of Mormon in Arabic to a Muslim man who was drinking a café at a bar with his homie... Soeur Kitchen was happy to once again be carrying a French Book of Mormon