Week 59 - Sad Goodbyes but Happy Hellos!

(Note: pictures from this week did not load correctly, so I took this one from the mission facebook page. This is Soeurs Gardner, Morrell, and Watling welcoming Soeur Kitchen to Guadeloupe.)

:)

This week was pretty much crazy! 

I said goodbye to my companion, Soeur Christianson, which was crazy hard!! She's become one of my best friends and it's a bit sad imagining the rest of my mission without her, but God also provides something new and wonderful, which in this case is my super cute and amazing new companion, Soeur Kitchen!! She's from Riverton, Utah, and these last few days with her have been so fun. She has such a sweet heart and is really motivated to get out there and dive into missionary work! We get along super well and I'm excited for the time we'll get to spend together :DOn Monday night we had a soirée familiale with Albie, another recent convert named Luther, the Eclar family, and a lady from the Abymes branch and it was a weird mixture of French and English, and a crazy mixture of emotions since it was Soeur Christianson's last night.

And Tuesday was just full of us passing by people's houses and saying goodbye until we dropped Soeur Christianson off! The rest of that day and all day Wednesday, I got to hang out with the Soeurs of Abymes until Soeur Kitchen got here Thursday afternoon!

Some of the highlights we've had since Soeur Kitchen got here:

-her first ever banane pesée!! 

-being super sore because of Cool and Fit, our branch's weekly exercise class

-screaming every time we pass an ocean view because Soeur Kitchen reminds me how exciting it is to be on as island and see the ocean!!

-knocking on doors in the pouring rain 

-being super impressed with Soeur Kitchen as she just jumps into speaking-- she can do basically an entire contact on her own already!

-a really really wonderful lesson with our friend Madame Enésa. She shared a dream she had after one of our lessons a couple of weeks ago about her having to choose between two paths-- one straight and narrow that she felt was the right way, and the other was great and spacious but she didn't feel right about it. She connected it to how she's felt since she met us-- she's seen a lot of good come into her life from the Book of Mormon, and I think she feels like this is the right path for her!! So we are super stoked to see how she continues to progress!! :)

-going to the Laynes (the senior couple) and it feeling like Christmas because they gave us a bunch of things for our apartment and they gave me a mini hymnbook in French, that I've been wanting for a long time!! So now I can go around singing French hymns any time I want and not just make up the words haha :)

-Junie's 13 year old daughter, Vanessa, told us on Saturday night that she wants to be baptized!! I'm telling you, there is something crazy special about her. She's so young but REALLY understands the Gospel, and she has a strong desire to understand it so she can share the gospel with her friends!! I will not be surprised at all if in like 50 years she gets called into the General Relief Society Presidency or something.

-I gave a talk in church on Sunday based on L. Tom Perry's talked titled, "Bring Souls Unto Me" from 2009. I'd encourage you to read it, it has a really great message about lost sheep and the role we play in other's lives as shepherds. I was pretty nervous to speak but felt good once I got up there, and afterwards I felt like I do after a good work-out! I had a mini realization moment that it's important to work out and exercise your physical health, but also to do things that push you mentally! And it has a similar endorphins/happy feeling reaction afterwards :) Sometimes I forget that physical and mental health both require that we put in a bit of work and step outside of our comfort zones!

-our friend Yvelt is doing super good and is seeing the Gospel change his life! We taught him the Word of Wisdom yesterday and he understood it really well!

All in all everything is going really well!! Things have been a little stressful, but I know that as we settle in and keep busy everything will adjust and we'll just keep improving!

Gros bisous to you all! I love you and hope you have a great week <3

P.S. Pictures aren't loading, I'll keep trying but it might have to wait until next week.

Soeur Gardner