Homesick but Hopeful (Week #37)

Date: August 8, 2016

Location: Nancy

Companion: Soeur Petersen

Hello Everyone!

It is weird to say that I am not in Rouen anymore! I still ask members, "So do you live here in Rouen?" Haha completely forgetting that I am not there anymore and sometimes still wishing that I was. This week was very bittersweet. I had to say bye to a ward that has become my family, a companion that became my best friend, and Sylvie. Soooo it could have been a better start to the week, but c'est la vie, quoi. Life goes on, and I was shipped off to Nancy, the east of France, to open an équipe of Soeurs and to train a new missionary, Soeur Petersen! :) Lots of big changes requiring lots of prayers and lots of work, but it will work out okay!

Things started off pretty interesting when we arrived. The Elders had raided our apartment when there were no Soeur Missionaries, leaving a bunkbed, a shower curtain, and one dishtowel behind. Donc, needless to say it was ready to live in ;) NOT. We are slowly getting back what we need and settling in though haha :)

Opening a new companionship is really hard. And training is hard! It is lots of contacting, knocking doors, and lots of FINDING! Which I love, but it has been hard to stay focused when you have the attention span of a dog. But we try and mix things up and make it fun and we have met so many interesting people. A woman actually contacted us the other day that was with her husband and son, and she is interested in learning more so that was a miracle! We were even about to leave the park we were in because we weren't feeling super inspired, and as we stopped to decide, she came up to us asking us why we wear plaques! :) MIRACLE!

And my favorite miracle is a little gem named Mireille. Mireille was found by the Elder's about a year or so ago and she is a character. And she only has one foot and one arm! She is an older lady that has been smoking her whole life and à cause de ça, she lost full use of an arm and had a foot amputated! But she is still kickin'! And she loves the missionaries. I asked her about the boy missionaries that had found her, and she was all like, "I remember them! There was a really short one and a really tall one! I don't remember both their names, but the short one was named....ummmm... Oh! I remember! It was Elder!" haha I chuckled, and asked, "Was that the other ones name too?" and she was all, "No. I don't remember his name but I am positive it wasn't that." haha Gotta love her.

And she goes on to ask us, which one of us belongs to which Elder. I tried to explain we are all missionaries and we work together, but she just won't accept it, and whenever she brings it up and I explain it she just looks at me with this really creepy face and winks. haha Oh la la I love french people. We will see where this goes :)

BUT I don't take back what I said in February when I visited Nancy and knew that this was a ville with endless potential. But I also can't lie and say that every week in the mission is the best week ever. I am still here and I am still Alyssa and I still get sad and this week I really wanted to go home. Not home to all of you, but home to Rouen. I just wanted to take a little pause, or a big one, and go back and be with those people who became my family. But that is what I want for me. God put me here because right now, He sees something in my future that I don't. and because I know that, I am still working hard, and I know that people need the gospel here just as much as they do in Rouen, and it is my job to bring it to them. Remind me why He trusts me with so much again? I don't always know, but He does :) So I am still happy to be a missionary, even though this week was the hardest day of my mission. Serving people has a way of doing that, getting you to love them.

So I know that probably next week or the week after, I will be adjusted. And all will be well :) I can already see the Spirit working through us and leading us to people who are prepared and who are searching. I mean, they have been finding us, literally :)

I love you all very much :) I am having fun and I am working hard!

Soeur Trotter

My new companion, Soeur Petersen

Last Sunday in Rouen

Soeur Bennet's new companion, My new companion Soeur Petersen (from Idaho), Soeur Bennet, Me and my old companion, Soeur Archbold!

Soeur Kinder and I!

Last Day at Church in Rouen!

Last Day at Church in Rouen!

Last Day at Church in Rouen!

Last Day at Church in Rouen!

Last Day at Church in Rouen!

Pictures from Soeur Petersen's Weekly Email

Pictures from Soeur Petersen's Weekly Email

Pictures from Soeur Petersen's Weekly Email

Pictures from Soeur Petersen's Weekly Email

Me and My Baby are Having Babies! (Week #36)

Date: August 1, 2016

Location: Rouen

Companion: Soeur Bennett

Hello All My Favorite People,

This was one crazy week. Lots of crazy surprises and scares and unexpected phone calls :) To start off, I will explain the title of my email this week :)

As the weeks have gone on, I started to get this feeling that I was supposed to stay in Rouen. But I was having trouble knowing if it was me wanting to stay, or actually the feeling that I needed to stay in Rouen :) So it turns out that it was a good idea to trust my wise and inspired mission president, because as time would tell, it was me wanting to stay in Rouen. The Lord has other plans in store for me. Which, at this moment, is a little hard to accept. But I promised Him that I would go where He called me, and now it is my job to keep my end of the deal :)

That is just part of it. We were on a bus the other day with the Elders, headed to a ward picnic. And it was the morning  of transfer calls. And I just knew that if I was going to leave, Soeur Bennett was going to train. She is a fantastic missionary. What can I say, I taught her everything she knows ;) haha just kidding. But let's just say it wasn't surprising when we got a phone call in the bus, and they wanted to talk to Soeur Bennett. I started laughing! because I knew it! and because I know that we both saw that coming and training a new missionary is actually really scary! Especially when you are still new! :) But Soeur Bennett is so ready for it and that is the luckiest blue I have met in my life. This is the best ville in France :)

So you could imagine my surprise, when the missionary on the other end of the phone, asked to talk to me again. So I took the phone and before he could talk, I said, "That is so exciting that Soeur Bennett is going to train!" and then he said, "and so are you, if you accept!" WHAT?! again? The craziest part is that I am opening a Soeur companionship in Nancy, which is in the east of France, with a new missionary :) But I am excited and I have absolutely no idea what is waiting for me. No food, no amis, no information whatsoever. But it is really cool that I know that I can trust the Lord and that He will lead me to those who are ready, He will help me to work with these members, and at the same time, He will bless me in my efforts to be a good trainer.

As for right now, I am just really sad. I know that I am going where I am supposed to go, and it feels rights. But right now, I am in this awkward in between phase where I am still in the blessed ville of Rouen with a companion that has become one of my closest friends, and I don't know what is ahead of me. So it is a little hard to feel relaxed :)

Speaking of surprises though, I was sitting in church yesterday, doing my thing, getting ready to open my hymn book, when Soeur Bennett leans over and says, "Hey, Soeur, I think that there are some American tourists here, maybe we should translate for them?" So I turn around, and before I can even focus, I hear, "Hey Lys!' And it was the Andersons! Maggie Anderson came to visit me in Rouen during their trip in France! What a fun, crazy, disorienting surprise! For a second there it was weird to have an overlap in home and mission life but it was fun to get to see them :) It was definitely a surprise and just in time seeing as how I am about to leave!

Along with those tender mercies, we had a ward picnic in the forest, and I got to have some time with my favorite members and friends :) They really have become my family. Some wards are great at helping the missionaries, some are really great at fulfilling their callings, but this might be the first ward, so far at least, where I literally feel like they are my family. They make fun of me, laugh at me, with me, and we share some of the most spiritual experiences together that I've had. I think that of all the things I learned in this city, is how to love people. I just love them! I love Sylvie and Frere Bitanga and Frere Bertrand and Soeur Martel, names which probably don't mean a whole lot to you, but those same people are what is making it so hard to leave. And I guess that is what will give me the incentive to come back ;)

I don't know if you remember me saying it, but at the beginning of my mission, I seriously had a hard time loving this country. I just missed my stars and stripes and seriously contemplated whether or not I would not be able to stop thinking about country music and horses and eagles and Uncle Sam. ;) And it is true that I very well may kiss the ground when i come back. BUT nonetheless, I love this country, and especially Normandy. it is a beautiful place with trees and lots of people who have become my family. What incredible relationships and experiences that only a mission could bring.

I am super grateful to be a missionary and to know the Lord trusts me with His children, and that He gives me the responsibility to find those who need Him. Which is everyone ;) Miracles are real, and people do listen. and the more love I have, the more people listen :) Hey! That is totally why Christ was the perfect missionary :)

I love you all a lot, I am having a lot of fun and I am getting ready to head out! And to keep working hard :)

Soeur Trotter

We are having babies on Wednesday! (new missionaries)

Alexandra making fun of me again...and what is soeur bennett doing? I learned to stop asking questions haha

Forest Day!

Sylvie went to church while on vacation and we got this picture (: yay! she lives a ways away but was bound and determined. 

Forest Day!

Me and Little Rose on a walk! (: 

Frere Terraux tried to put this huge thing down the back of my shirt!

We Deliver...Us Sneaky Missionaries, Us (Week #35)

Date: July 25, 2016

Location: Rouen

Companion: Soeur Bennett

Bonjour to All My Favorite People!!

Vacances is going to be the death of me. There are about 8 weeks during the summer, where everyone decides that it is vacation, and that they don't have time to walk, talk, eat, or meet with the missionaries, because it is a time to sit back and think about all the stuff that they DON'T have to do :) So missionaries hate vacances. We love it because it is pretty out, but we hate it because we can't swim, and more importantly because no one seems to be available to see us, or to answer the phone.

Having said that, there is still plenty of work to be done because no matter what time of year, there will always be people to talk to, and doors to knock on.

I like to look at it like this. It is almost like a "we deliver" system at a restaurant. They are too lazy to go OUT to get the gospel, so we bring it right to them! Haha sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Haha we are still working on other people seeing it that way :)

So the other day we were walking home, and I saw this woman wearing lots of yellow, and so I had to contact her. I just knew that she had to be a happy woman. and boy was I right. Once she started talking she just couldn't shut up! and as one minute turned into two, and two into twenty, we were scratching to find a polite way to interrupt and try and share a little bit of this happy message. So we did! and it turns out that she was interested! So it ended up being a super cool experience!

And before we left, we asked her if we could pray for her, and for her family, and we asked her if she had any needs. So this is what she wanted. To "to continue to be happy and to one day be a grandma." This woman was in her 70s, and she really wants to have grandkids.

So, I bowed my head to pray, and as a started to pray, I don't know what happened- no excuses, but I asked God to give this adorable woman the ability to have children of her own one day. And this chatty woman interrupts me and says, "déjà fait!" or "already been there and done that!" and she just started laughing.

So it turns out I am not perfect, but it was a really awesome experience nonetheless and I added it to my book that is titled "The Not So Normal Life of Me as a Sister Missionary." haha there are one too many entries in there :)

BUT this week was really good. I am winding up my days here in Rouen, as I am done training Soeur Bennett this next week, and I think they are booting me from what has very accurately become a home. I am so grateful for the experiences that the Lord has given me here. I have met people that have changed everything.

The other night, we were with Sylvie, we had had the idea to go visit her, and we did. And we had a super powerful lesson and so much love was there. And before we left, Sylvis said this, "I really needed you to come over tonight, I need to feel the Spirit, and now it as almost as if Christ is present." Little did Sylvie know, but it had been a really hard day for me as well, and I needed it just as much. I am learning that sometimes to answer our prayers, the Lord gives us other people. Sylvie is definitely that other person for me :) and that night we were those people for her.

His hand is everywhere. Don't forget to look for it even when the days seem really long and hard. Because it is there and I learn that everytime I think it is not, I am just missing it.

I love you all a lot. I am having fun and reprioritizing what is important like crazy, and finding that the people I love always come out on top. I am learning lots and I am working hard.

Soeur Trotter

This is the closest to a real smile we are going to get from Sylvie, I love her so much (:

My Ville, Rouen