Joyeux Noël!‏

 

Merry Christmas from the crazy Limoges soeurs!!

Our buffet table at the party..Sorry I didn't get a better one though!
Really just lots of smoked salmon things. And weird meat. And this SUPER nasty spread that I can't even describe to you but it tastes like dog food. Hahaha.

I don't even feel like this picture needs a caption. It just describes so perfectly my life. Haha.

Salut my darling family!

 

I hope you are all having a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas! Gosh I really love this season. It is such a beautiful time of the year. Also, Christmas markets are a thing that we don't have in America that really we just should. We spent some time at the cute little market we have in Limoges. They just put up all these adorable log cabin houses in the middle of this huge square and they just sell a lot of different things. Also really delicious fried food I learned today. Also Pere Noël has an adorable house he is going to be showing up in soon. I am super stoked. Haha. Christmas in France is so fun! I only get this once, so I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can.

 

On Saturday night we had our ward Christmas party. Oh my goodness it was such a blast. Our ward definitely knows how to throw parties. I don't think I have talked about this ward a lot, but honestly I love them so much. We don't have a huge ward, but it is actually a ward and not a branch. We have about 60 people that come to church every week. And my goodness I love every single one of those members. They are so awesome at serving us. We are still working really hard at getting them to teach with us though..honestly that has been one of the biggest stresses of the mission. Finding members to teach with. It has been really hard here in Limoges, so we are trying to make that a goal this transfer.

Other than that, the members here are amazing missionaries. Whenever we have an ami come to church they just fellowship them like crazy!!

We had two member families give us these adorable Christmas packages. It made me feel so loved. Here I am trying to help them feel loved and I just feel so loved by them I want to cry...haha.
Anyway, so yes, the party was a blast. Our bishop is absolutely crazy. My goodness. He has the energy of a five year old. But it is hilarious. And he is actually an amazing bishop as well. Also, discovered that I really don't love French Christmas food...We had a huuuge buffet table full of food and I told myself I would try everything..and really there wasn't any of it I actually enjoyed. Haha. Some of it was okay. But nothing that was actually really good. And like the majority of the things I ate I didn't even know WHAT I was eating. French food is just a fun time. Haha.

But as the missionaries we did a cute little sketch and I think it went really well! It was just a really short sketch talking about the true meaning of Christmas. And then the adorable primary kids did a little program after us. I don't know why but when they are just up there singing their sweet little Christmas songs I just felt the Spirit so strong. I am so incredibly grateful for this time of year that we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior. What amazing gift that was given to the whole world. Our Savior, Jesus Christ. Goodness I love this life I get to live where I just get to talk about him all the time!

Other than that..this week was a little strange. Soeur L and I were honestly just super tired all week long. I don't even really know why. Yeah I am tired like 90 percent of the time..but it usually isn't a big deal. But this week we just felt like we were having to really push through every single thing we did. It is so beautiful to see though, how when despite how tired we feel, when we push through and do as much as we can all day..our Heavenly Father really blesses us. I really felt prayers from everyone this week as I was pushing through!

One of those amazing miracles that Heavenly Father has given us...is our amazing ami, H--! I don't think I told you much about him. I contacted him at a bus stop on the week we contacted 1,000 people. And as soon as I started talking to him, he told me he was Muslim. Which immediately made me almost just say "C'est bien! Vous croyez en Dieu!" which is usually the comment I make when people tell me they are Muslim. BUT he started just asking a million questions. We ended up talking for like 30 minutes and I ended up giving him le Livre de Mormon.  He asked me so many deep questions, it was awesome. It was really cool too because I handed him our card, walked away, and then he chased  after me and he was like "Hey this card says you have a DVD about Jesus? Can I have that??" Soo yeah, he says he is Muslim but honestly I think that is just because that is all he has ever known. He told us in our first rdv that he is looking for the truth. And he prays at the end of every lesson. We have only had three lessons so far but every lesson has been AWESOME. We have his baptism date set for Jan 17th. And it is very, very possible. As long as he keeps reading and praying..he is one of the most solid amis that I have ever taught! So I will keep you updated on him!!

I hope you all know how happy I am. I say that all the time, but it is so true. I just feel so blessed beyond words to be where I am right now, doing what I am doing.

I am so excited to hear all of your voices very soon! I will send you a different email giving you details on our Skyping session. I can't wait to actually SEE all of you! Haha.

Until then, keep having a wonderful Christmas season!!
I love you all so very much. I pray for you like crazy!

Je vous aime!!

Love,

Soeur Magleby