So this week flew by, we did so much:) we passed less actives,gardened, i got an early birthday present, and i managed to get over the language barrier and teach a brand new piano concept! (It's not new, but it was new to everyone in the class.)
We have been working a lot which is good, we have continued passing less actives and have found out that half of our members on the less active list don't actually still live here, it's just their last known address and they can't go anywhere else because there is nowhere to send them since no one knows where they went...which explains the
abandoned buildings, houses that don't exist and unregistered numbers we have for them;p but now we know to focus on the other half that still live here and hopefully we'll find some new amis:)
On Wednesday we got a text from one of our members who asked if we could do some service for her and we were like 'bien sûr!' Which means 'of course' but also in the moment probably more like 'heck yeah' because we don't get many service opportunities like ever really because people think we are too busy or that we have better things to do but really one of our purposes is to help people, but you can't help people who don't ask or let you help them.
So if you have a need ask the missionaries! Cleaning, painting, moving stuff, gardening, etc. it's a wonderful change of pace:) also if you have nonmember friends who have something going on the missionaries are perfect to have help... Haha Anywho so she texted us and we said yes and so the next day we went and gardened in her garden -- turned out it was like a mini farm(!). We worked for about four hours, weeded around the strawberries
and cassis (no idea what it is in English, it's like a red, acidic blueberry -- but Dad you would've been so proud of me pulling up weeds just like we used to do in the backyard! Then we pruned her vineyard and it was fun because we were together but really hot and sweaty and I got a wonderful farmer's tan from it!
I also felt really bad for God when we were pruning the grapevine because I understand so much better how annoying it is to be pruning and to see this long branch that has spent all this time growing and you have spent all this time taking care of it but with no fruit! Like it's useless haha ah... So you cut it off, until you get to the fruit bearing part or there are only a few leaves left, so that its still there and it can regrow and try again to have fruit but man, it's annoying when that happens over and over and then I got to thinking about how God does that with us and how we should be useful and do good things and bear fruit but we don't always and he has to prune us and help us and try and make it so we are useful.
I think it would be a perfect activity for youth or the single adults to really understand and appreciate how much God and his son do for us, 24/7 and happily! Because they still love us even when we are useless:) haha which I don't mean like that because we all have something to contribute but sometimes we can get a little lost or turned around.
That same night we then had piano class where we moved on to learning the notes and how many counts to each note and forming rhythms and that was seriously the hardest thing i've ever had to do because I didn't know any of the French names so we just stuck with numbers but then I couldn't explain it properly and it was difficult but we
succeeded after a whole lot of charades and just pointing and listening and trying to figure out but by the end they could write a rhythm and clap it out together! It was great!
Almost missed our bus because we were so focused but it was all good:)
This week we had a rendezvous with a less active and she made us a yummy apple tart and gave me the recipe and it was so good, but she also gave sister takotua a late birthday present and me a really early birthday present! Because she doesn't think i'll still be here in October, but its a super cute owl that i need to take a picture of so
i will do that this week:) and I also succeeded in making homemade mille feux!! So that will definitely be a recipe i bring home:)
Yesterday was the sister's conference which was just amazing:) It was super fittingly, all about shoes:) Our amazing STLs taught us different concepts that we remember with our shoes and it was great! We talked about how we need to walk in our companions shoes and try and understand hows she's feeling, we need to remember that even when we feel like a destroyed pair of loafers God always sees us as beautiful heels, that every sole has worth in the sight of God;)
That our missions are lived one step at a time and that over time as our shoes are molded to be comfortable and just what we need, God will mold us into what he needs:) And then one phrase I loved but wasn't about shoes haha was " What the Lord lays his hands on he heals". I had never heard that before but its such beautiful imagery but also true. Literally when he is there he heals us as if it never happened.
It was a beautiful conference which we finished with decorating flip-flops (left mine in Bordeaux though!) and manis and pedis because it had been a very long teary conference with just the sisters there x) We also had three gorgeous musical numbers and they were so powerful:) I also may have seen my trainer for the last time while we
both still wear plaques and that was a really quick but hard goodbye because they were like pulling all the Bordeaux sisters out first to go catch our plane! I love her so much, she is the perfect example of what I want to be at the end of my mission:) <3
And then after a very silly not even an hour long plane ride we got to Bordeaux and then this morning we made it home to Poitiers and I finally get to email!:) I say silly because you spend 25 minutes getting up to maximum height and then you start descending, it is the shortest plane ride in the world or I have lost all sense of time, but
it is way better than 11 hours on a train so I am not complaining:)
Love you all,
Sister Beatty
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| Headed to Conference in Lyon |
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| Sisters Conference |
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| Soeur Robb |
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| Soeur Robb and Soeur Long |
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| Headed home |
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