February 12, 2010

Dear family,

This week was another great week. They always are.

At church on Sunday, Jess, Martha and her 2 sons was there. The less active we visited came and said she is going to come next week. One other less active was also there. It was really funny, the elders have an ami that is with a single woman, and they said she doesn't really trust women for some reason. At church I saw her and told her that her purse was cute. She responded by asking me if I wanted to go shopping with her this Saturday after a Relief Society activity. We said sure, but then it got cancelled because she is going to a ysa dance tonight and she wanted more time to get ready. Soeur Bellini and I hope these dances aren't like the ones in the states... we think she will have a good time.

Oh my Jess! She is doing great! On Tuesday we taught the 10 commandments, obey the law of the land, the law of chastity, and scripture study. She said she wants to get married, Jean-Paul just doesn't think he's ready. When we taught scripture study I gave her this pencil that has different colored pencil leads in it for marking her scriptures. When we went back on Thursday, after the prayer she asked if she could show us what she marked from her scripture reading and explained to us what it meant to her. Seriously, Jean-Paul needs to marry her so she can get baptized. After we were making Reese’s peanut butter cups [I gave her some from my Christmas package and she loved them and Soeur Bellini knows how to make something close] and we told her that I am probably leaving soon. She asked if I would be able to come back for her baptism and I told I would be able to. She is just great.

Sylvie is doing well. She said she is praying about the Book of Mormon every night and that she hasn't received an answer yet but she knows one will come. She had a lot of questions about the difference between resurrection and restoration. I thought about it and I am really grateful for restoration and that we will have our same personalities and what not when we are in heaven. Sylvie agreed to come to a baptism on the 20th. It is a ward baptism, it will be good for her to come to it and hopefully church the next day.

We had exchanges this week. I went to Paris Lilas, which is the ghetto of Paris. I stayed with Soeur Fischer-Laudenbasch. She is German and 70. She is the coolest ever. She runs everywhere and it was kind of like going to visit my grandma. She handed me something to put in my pocket and I told her I couldn't because it had a hole in it. She responded "how wonderful, I can fix that!"

We had a rendezvous and before we were trying to pick a hymn to sing. In the mtc they had this tiny piece of paper that lists all of the hymns and their French page numbers, I had hand wrote them on note cards and put them on the extra pages of my little hymnbook. Soeur Fischer saw them and asked if it was my handwriting and I said yes. She put her hand on mine; looked in my eyes and said, "I am so proud of you." it was so awesome. She is a remarkable person and I hope that I go to Paris next transfer. Even though I won't be her companion, I'll still live in the same apartment as her. She is just great and spent the whole time we were together telling me how great I was. In the morning I was getting ready and all of the sudden I see her polishing my boots. She reminds me a lot of grandma Wickham in that regard; where if something needs fixed, if you just leave it somewhere, grandma finds it and fixes it.

This morning we went to a Relief Society lunch and it was good. We were going to relax tonight, but instead we have to go back to Paris to work the expo, so we once again don't really get a p-day. Oh well I guess.

Big new for the France Paris mission! Starting March 1, our mission will include all of the French speaking part of the Belgium Brussels mission. No one is really quite sure what it means. I hope I don't get sent out to by Brussels with Jess's baptism hopefully approaching. I will probably cry if I don't get to go to her baptism.

Love and miss you all!

Camille,