Go Home Broke

Here's another email!!!

Dear Family,

Hey there! I hope you've all had a great week and that this one is coming along pretty well. For the news of the week...drum roll please. I'm staying in Evry!! Soeur Walker will be leaving her beloved Bleu ville and heading a little south to Le Mans (pronounced Le Moh). C'est pas grave, she's really excited and I am for the next chapter of her mission! And heading in my directioin, is my new companion, Soeur Dionne. We'll being going into Paris this Wednesday and I'm so excited to meet her and show her around this area!

Seriously, this is the best area to be in and there is so much work ahead of us here. Did I mention that the members are awesome? We hung out with Soeur Bailly this morning for prepartion day and got our craft on making some cards. These people are wonderful. And yes, a sister in our ward (Soeur Digbehi) made Soeur Walker and I our own legitimate African booboo dresses!

This week, we went and visited a member named Orlane and we had one of the best times visiting with her, uplifting her and encouraging her. She has been a member for several years now, but due to work and other circumstances in her life, has just been back and forth with the church. (Don't we all find ourselves in a position like this more or less at one point in our lives?) We talked about Christ's enabling power to help us change and heal.

When Peter saw Christ walking on the water, he called out to him, stepped out onto the water and immediately started walking towards him. It wasn't until he started to look down at himself that he began to sink. He was looking at all of his doubts, concerns and fears. He took His eyes off of the Savior. I can really say I understand what that's like.

But, thankfully, we know that the Savior came to his help, reach down to him and pulled him up out of the water.

Loving for and caring for people is really the only way to help them change. That's for certain. We just sat there with Orlane and she poured out her incredible testimony of the Savior. She said that the one thing that she was first touched by when she came to know the church was that it was the first time she was told that God loved her.

She also adores the missionaries and tells us that whenever she's with us, she feels like she's with Christ. And while I know that there's a lot I could say to argue against us being perfect people, I really love that she recognizes the ability the Savior has to make us into something more.

I have come to love these people so much more than I could've ever thought. I wish I could give them all the blessings of the gospel and then everything else that I own. I think I'd rather return home knowing that I gave them everything that I have and am. Yeah, I think I'd like to go home broke. (don't worry mom and dad. I didn't mean I'm giving money away.)

"Evry" thing is doing great and there's more to follow next week. 

Love,

Soeur Hopskeeens

And Irene. Oh Irene...

Lots of love,

Melissa