This past week was SO humid! It's all everyone seems to be
talking about. We live high up in our apartment building and the air
conditioning doesn’t seem to work. Sweating while we sleep … needless to say, I
hardly slept at all and was dead tired all week, but we got through it! Haha,
all of us just laugh about it when wake up and say, "woahhh! It feels like
I’ve been hit by a bus!" It's hysterical.
As you know, lately we have been working on developing
Christ-like attributes. This week, Soeur Francis and I have been focusing on
Patience ... yep, the opportunities definitely presented themselves. I have
never seen so many cancellations of appointments with people my entire mission!
Haha, we just made the most of it and reverted to our back-up plans.
We went out to eat with my pen pal's parents ... it was so
nice being able to spend time with them! They really are like my French parents
out here - it is so neat knowing that Camille is back with my family and that
we had the opportunity to spend some time with them. I explained to them what
our missionary day was like and we were able to continue to share what the
gospel of Jesus Christ means to us. It was so neat! It will be fun to see them
when the kids are both back from the US and hear about their experiences! They
wanted us to have a "real" French dinner experience at a nearby
restaurant, and there were soo many different things on the menu. Of course, it
was all in French, but they went through and explained every item to us. We
ended up trying duck liver!!! It wasn't too shabby, haha. I've had worse.
Thank you for all of your prayers in behalf of our amie, AsTou!
She is incredible and is so prepared! It is amazing to see how a woman with a Muslim
background has come to know that Christ is her Savior. She has been reading the
Book of Mormon and said she notices a difference when she doesn't read her
scriptures; and she feels more at peace and happy when she does. She wants to
be baptized! We fixed a date with her for August 17th!! Her son Miguel wants to
be baptized when he turns 8 years old too! It is truly amazing how, with the
help of the Spirit and the Lord, we are able to find, teach, and baptize in a
matter of a month and a half! We are merely instruments in His hands!
We had the chance to go to Paris for Soeur Francis'
legality! Soeur Wynn (my best friend from the MTC) was there too, and we had
the chance to be companions for the day! It was amazing! President Poznanski gave
us training and really emphasized the importance of following our promptings of
the Spirit … pushing us to act. He said that "everyone can FEEL the Spirit
... but not everyone chooses to ACT on the Spirit." He promised us that we
will make the most progress on our missions and in our LIVES if we do our best
to follow the Spirit. It's so true! That is how we find people … when we humble
ourselves and follow the Spirit, guiding us to those who are prepared. He also
told us about the importance of finding and teaching FAMILIES. We never know
how many generations can be effected when we share the gospel with families
that will one day be sealed together in the temple.
Soeur Wynn and I were sent on a scavenger hunt in the
streets of Paris. It was so incredible being able to spend that time
together!!! We contacted and talked to every person with a stroller we saw (haha)
in the effort to find a family to teach! At one point, Soeur Wynn was talking
with a family about the church, when a stroller a few feet away began to roll
by … I dashed across and began to share the gospel with that family too!!! It
was INCREDIBLE! Both families said they were going to try to come to church
this Sunday!
I finally got to see the EIFFEL TOWER! I had been waiting my
whole life to see it! It was HUGE, and filled with tourists! It was so special
being able to see it as a missionary, and I even had the chance to give a Book
of Mormon away to a woman from Portugal underneath the Eiffel tower! That’s
something you would never otherwise have the chance to do! She said she would
read it and is super interested in learning more. It was such a wonderful day
and experience to see the greatest sight in Paris! Maybe one day I'll be able
to serve there!
Next Sunday the Stagno kids have their baptism!! They have
made so much progress! Please keep them in your prayers!!! The two older,
teenage girls had an amazing and life-changing experience at EFY last week. I
know they need to be baptized and continue to stand in holy places in order to
become the young women the Lord knows they can become.
For our Prep day on Monday, we had the chance to go to the
Zoo in Lille! It was so much fun! The other three sisters were laughing at me
because I was in such awe of the way the gray owl was spinning its neck around!
I loved it! I was also able to identify the type of monkeys we saw … I guess I
had too much “Planet Earth” and “Animal Planet” growing up, haha.
Thank you so much for all of your love and support. My
mission has (by far) been the greatest experience of my life. It's incredible
being able to teach and testify to people from countries all over the world. My
perspective has completely changed and I know that the church of Jesus Christ has
truly been restored. Continue to do all you can to act on the promptings of the
Spirit! It is so important! I love you all and you are in my prayers!
Love,
Soeur Madeline Vance
