My new comp, Soeur Erichsen!
Hello all!
I hope you all had a wonderful week! This week was pretty crazy for me with transfers and everything going on. I always forget how emotionally stressful transfers can be, so it takes me by surprise sometimes. But I'm now mostly settled into my new sector, and I'm really optimistic for this new transfer!
My new area is Arras, a really adorable little city in the north of France. I got to see centreville today and it's so cute!! A lot of the houses and buildings in centreville are made of brick, and most of the historical buildings were reconstructed after WWI. Because it's so small, we do a lot of work outside the main city. A lot of the members live far outside the city in smaller villages and when we go finding, we do a lot of port-à-port. We also teach a lot more families than I ever have before, and we get a lot more member referrals, which is super exciting!! I got to meet the members on Sunday and they all seem to be really kind :)
My new companion is Soeur Erichsen. She's in the same group as Soeur Hacker so she's in her 3rd transfer now. She's from Tooele, Utah, and she is very very different from me, which makes for a weird and difficult transition. She is extroverted where I am introverted, and she loves to go contacting and hates to stay inside the apartment. She has doesn't have the best French and has quite the American accent but she speaks up anyway :) She is very kind and very sweet, and is much more of a people person than an organizational person. So together we make a good team, and I'm sure that ultimately we will compliment each other really well :) until then, we are learning!
This week, however, we barely spent any time in our cute little ville!! On Thursday we took a train to Lillers, a small city in our area to meet a member who then drove us around to visit the members, less active, and amis in the area. Arras is made up of two old wards (Lens and Arras) that were combined, so all the members live pretty far apart. A lot of people were still gone on vacation but we were able to visit a single mother, Graziella, and her two children, and shared a spiritual thought. On Friday we took a train to Douai, another city in our area where we frequently visit members and amis. Because of train times, we were able to go see the famous clock tower and hear it chime before hurrying to our lesson :)
We also had a wonderful experience on Saturday when we went porting with a VERY enthusiastic member from Lille who came down for the day to work with us. She was a little crazy haha but she had a lot of energy and we were able to find a lot of really cool people. I think I will become converted to porting in beautiful Arras. We were able to talk with the sweetest old man named Jacques. He told us that he could see how believing helped other people in their lives, how to have good relationships and purpose in their lives and how to not be afraid of death, but he didn't believe. I asked him if he wanted to believe and he seemed surprised by the question! We shared with him Alma 32:27
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
It was so incredible to see a change in his face as we shared with him the Plan of Salvation and the way that he can gain faith and understanding in his life. His face literally lifted from being sad and dejected to being curious and full of hope, and I know that he felt the Spirit.
I love being a missionary. I still feel like I'm messing up and learning new things every day, but I guess that's life and I should just start getting used to it :) learning is an important part of our Heavenly Father's plan, and I'm glad that I get to spend a year and a half learning to serve the Lord. I love this gospel and I know it's true, and I also know that we can trust Him to give us strength in all we do.
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!
Soeur Rogers
PS My new (and possibly last!!) address is:
Soeur Rachael Rogers
Les soeurs missionnaires
Ville Contesse 21 Rue des Capucins
62000 Arras
FRANCE
A beautiful church made of brick by our apartment (although let's be real, everything is by our apartment!)
The beffroi in Douai
A massive cathedral
Some of the cool architecture in our neighborhood
A beautiful church made of brick by our apartment (although let's be real, everything is by our apartment!)
The beffroi in Douai
A massive cathedral
Some of the cool architecture in our neighborhood
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