Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Our first letter from France!





 
 
MIRACLES, MIRACLES AND MORE MIRACLES!
Okay, first off. THESE COMPUTERS ARE CRAZY. All the letters are totally not where they are supposed to be...I feel five years old again learning how to type. So sorry I wish this letter could be longer! We have an hour and a half each week to write, but today it is going to have to be a bit shorter because we got to the computers a bit late and we have to run to a rendez-vous with an ami in just a little bit. But we just went and toured a Chateu! it was so fun. HELLO EVERYONE THAT I LOVE, I AM IN FRANCE!!! Oh my goodness. I cannot even explain to you how happy I am to be here. This week has been absolutely crazy, but man am I happy. So as you know, I am in Pau!! I love it here so much. Its a pretty small town but that is why I love it so much. The people here are so nice. Seriously. I find that everyone likes to tell me how crazy they think I am in a very kind and loving way. Haha.
 
I am going to send you pictures. hopefully, but it is so beautiful here! There are obviously so many great places in France, but I just love our apartment so much.
We have a balcony and our apartment overlooks the entire city. We pretty much just leave the doors and windows open all the time, and it is soo great. I sleep on the top of the bunkbed, and we have a huge window that we leave open when we sleep, so I fall asleep every night and wake up every morning overlooking the cute little ville of Pau. I feel like this is a dream. Never has any other missionary been so happy to be in France, I can tell you that.
 
Miracles are happening like crazy. It is amazing. Soeur D-- and I have decided that I have bleu magic. It is the craziest thing ever. This is literally only my third day in Pau and I cannot even begin to tell you how many miracles I have already seen. I've grown up my whole life hearing all these cool missionary stories, but you have no idea what it is really like until you are in the middle of one. Just a few examples of the miracles this week: talking to a man on the train here for 2 hours straight and taught him the entire first lesson. A random guy walked into the church yesterday and just said "I know the book of Mormon is true.I want to meet with you." Yesterday while we were porting (door to door) we found a man named Ol-- who is the most prepared person I have ever met. God has been preparing him to hear the Gospel for a long time. It is just absolutely crazy how much I can see God's hand in this week. It is right in front of my face every single day.
 
And then there is Y--. He is seriously the best. He is our progressing ami right now. I so wish you could meet him, or just see him. He is the coolest guy ever. The only way I have to describe him is he is pretty much Bob Marley. He is just so hilarious, I love him so much. He came to church yesterday for his third time! He is so close to baptism it is crazy. But he is just questioning himself. But I have faith he is going to get there. We are going to work hard. He calls us "his angels" haha it is so great. We have two other amis but I have not met either of them yet, but we are hoping to have rendez-vous really soon!
 
The only struggle I am having right now is how much this work is hard physically. My health just tanked after we got here because all that travel sucked so bad (two layovers, almost missed a plane, didn't sleep on the plane so practically was awake for two days straight, annnd it is an 8 hour train ride from Lyon to Pau) soo that was hard. But for me right now, that is the only hard thing about this work. I keep saying to Soeur D-- "Am I in the right place? I thought this was going to be super hard...but I am having the time of my life." So please keep praying for me because this physically sucks, this really is ridiculously hard work. But I am beyond happy. The miracles I get to see everyday are astounding. I have a front row seat to watching people come to know their Savior Jesus Christ, and there is no greater feeling in the world. Plus no matter what grows wrong that day, I get to come home, make a cup of tea, and go to bed overlooking France. Could it get any better? I really don't think so.
 
The food is amazing, of course. Even though we have to shop at Carrefour which is pretty much like french walmart, it is still so good. It is embarrassing how much cheese I have had in the past three days alone... The language is hard. I don't understand anyone. Okay, I usually understand like the gist of what is going on, but I don't understand a lot. But I am not frustrated yet. It is fine, because I know it will come! And a couple people have told me I have a good accent. So as soon as I can understand, and I learn 1000 more vocab words, I am set! haha  Alsooo contacting is terrifying and especially porting. Haha porting is fun, some people are so crazy. But it is so worth it to find the people who will listen!
 
I am so sorry I wish I had more time. But I will talk to you next week! and yeah even though it still takes a while, letters would be great. I love you all sooo much. I am having the time of my life here! hope all is well! Don't worry about me.
Love,
Soeur Magleby
Best food I have had so far... this is for you mom. It was like fruit salad with basil and vanilla bean ice cream.
 

2 comments:

  1. Nice letter! If that was short, you should have read Brandon's missionary letters:

    "I got bit by a snake on my had this week, but I'm doing okay.
    Love Elder Brandon Miller"

    Wait, was that hand or head? What kind of snake? Poisonous or not? Hello? Details please.

    Karissa's letter was great! What an incredibly optimistic attitude full of testimony!

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  2. That was hilarious Ryan. This actually is a short letter in Karissa's world :) I have to agree, she's pretty awesome right now.

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