Sunday 27 March 2011

French Luncheon

going home

March 14, 2011
Dear family,

I can't believe this is my last email to you. Just crazy.

Last Monday we went to the Asia Arts Museum. Very fun, very cool. We then spent the evening with an elderly sister in our ward whom I just love. She is so spunky and bought this machine that magnifies the text so that she can continue to read her scriptures. She gave me a necklace with a heart so that I could always remember Evry and my mission :) She is the greatest :)

We saw our ami that is TJ and that rendez-vous actually went really well. Soeur Edgerly and I kept to simple doctrine. Throughout the lesson her point of view changed. She said that she wasn't too prideful to change and the member that was teaching with us suggested that maybe TJ was a stepping stone to becoming a latter-day saint. In her prayer at the end, she asked Heavenly Father to help her know which path she should take and then she told us that she would definitely read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! So exciting!!!!!

We saw Yue yesterday for the last time and explained what the bible is [she asked us for one last week] and taught about fasting because some member had told her about it. She thought that we didn't eat on Sundays. We explained it to her and how we can receive answers through fasting. She said she would fast :) it was fun explaining the bible to her, because she said "so this is a book for us Mormons?" They made us tons of food and it was DELICIOUS!

I still don't quite believe that I am going home, well, leaving my post here in Evry this week. It feels like this is my life and that it always has been and always will be. I love France, I love the people and I love sharing the gospel with this. The last 18 and half months have been filled with so many ups and downs that have helped me recognize more the hand of my Heavenly Father in my life and really understand my faith and the power in my life. This has been the best experience of my life. I can't think of a day in the past 18 and half months where I have thought "this was a bad idea. I should not have come." even on the hardest, coldest of days, I know that this is where I needed to be.

Have a good week, see you soon,

soeur camille pobst

Thursday 10 March 2011

Saint Chappelle

Stopping for a Gauffres

Stocking up on Chocolate

Hey sisters, do you want some candy?

March 7, 2011
Dear family,
Last Thursday, Soeur Edgerly and I were walking through a large train station in Paris and speaking to each other in English when we heard, "hey sisters, you want some candy?" We stopped and saw a young adult man and in my mind I had the following conflict; yes, I would like some candy, but I have no idea who you are. I asked him what ward he was in and he responded with a ward and we said ok and he proceeded to give us all of that candy that he had just bought which was a thing of 6 twix's and this haribo candy called dragibus. Pretty good stuff. I am always impressed by the generosity of members that I meet here randomly, that don't even know me, but are always willing to brighten my day :)

Last Monday for p-day, we went to Sainte-Chappelle, an old church with really cool stained glass and then we ended upon the Champs-Elysees. I don't know why I always end up on the Champs-Elysees or at the Arc de Triomphe, It just happens! Very fun p-day. We also got a new washer and dryer that day with a wonderful mishap of flooding our apartment. Haha, pretty amusing and I am glad that I was in Paris for that one. We also got a new toaster out it.

Last Tuesday I went to Brussels for exchanges. I was with Soeur Woodruff from West Jordan. She is so great, and like me, had never taken french and so we were able to talk about relate about that. We went and saw a less-active, who I felt really good about. No more appointments so we went to grand place to get a gauffre. Soeur Woodruff had never been there before. That was fun. We also contacted another lady who was pretty funny and were able to get her information! That night we finished off with a rendez-vous with a new ami named Isabelle from Spain. We ended up going to a cafe and getting hot chocolate and discussing the Book of Mormon and why we have it. She seemed really awesome and ready! She just had a baby and her job is at the European union, pretty high up, and she told us that all she really wants to do is be with her baby. I just love how that rings true with everyone, the importance of the family :) The next morning we went to a grocery store and stocked up on Belgium chocolate for you all to taste and enjoy:)

I wasn't there, Soeur Edgerly told me that the rendez-vous with our TJ friend from the train went really well and that she is open to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon! That is so HUGE! I am way excited, we have a rendez-vous with her tomorrow night! soooooo good!

Zone conference was on Friday and it was really good. Very very weird that it was my last zone conference and I got a bit choked up when we sang the mission song. I gave my departing testimony and it was just weird. It is slowly hitting me that I am actually going home and this transfer isn't just like any other transfer. I just don't really know how I feel. so I am just going to keep going along doing missionary work :)

We taught Yue this week in Paris after zone conference. We were talking to other missionaries right after and a former elder in our mission showed up [we had the crêpe fête with him on the train and he lives in Versailles now] and I asked him if he wanted to teach with us. We had a very good lesson on studying the scriptures and the Sabbath Day :) She still didn't understand why God didn't help Joseph Smith and basically why bad things happen to good people. I shared Alma 60:13 and Elder Osman talked about the people of Alma in Mosiah 24 and how as long as we are faithful we are close to Christ and we will feel His love and the bad things won't affect us as much. Very good rendez-vous :) Yue came to church and during sacrament meeting she told me that she had questions about BAPTISM! I told her to keep praying and reading her scriptures and coming to church because it is in doing those things that we receive revelation and once Heavenly Father reveals something as truth it is always truth.

Well family, I love you! Here's to my last full week in Evry!

camille