k...Christmas was pretty eventful...so be prepared for
BEAUCOUP de photos.
Last p-day was spent on the Champs-Élysées gazing at all the
Christmas markets.
And then l'Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
Soeur Lefrandt and me
My new soul friend Soeur Elliott!
President Poznanski is WONDERFUL so all of the missionaries
got Christmas eve night and then all of Christmas day completely off. So
Christmas eve night we went to visit La Famille Bouchiquet! We sang Christmas
songs and wore our Christmas sweaters and they were so sweet and gave us little
presents and cards. Then we ate a truly French Christmas meal: duck liver and
toast, smoked salmon, a light salad with vinegar and olive oil, and mini
quiches.
La Famille
Bouchiquet!
Our presents
Marianne Bouchiquet!
Marianne Bouchiquet's hilarious mother!
Our amie Christianne
on Christmas Eve!
Christmas we got to sleep in. (Hallelujah!) and then stayed
in our pajamas until the last possible moment while we ate cold ham (bought for
us by our amazing American member friend, Soeur Lam Yam), did puzzles, and
watched Anastasia! (Everyone got to watch one cartoon for Christmas. It was
WEIRD. The only thing I have watched in the last 8 months is Legacy and
Together Forever.) Then we went and Skyped our families and ate another very
very French Christmas meal: oysters, smoked salmon, duck liver, snails, 8
different kinds of cheeses, and about a million pastries.
CHRISTMAS
PAJAMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Christmas day puzzles
in pjs. I LOVE puzzles.
Our ginormous pile of
chocolate. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!
HAM!!
Homemade eggnog
thanks to mom's cookbook. Thanks Mom!
[Mom insert: Before leaving for her mission Autumn put together an abridged copy of the Bradley Family Cookbook, the one she illustrated for me when she was nine years old. ]
We also have new years eve night and new years day off.
Yesterday at church Claudia asked us what we are doing for new years. She
doesn't have any plans yet and wanted to hang out with us! (!!) And us silly
sister missionaries got really excited and said "We get to go over to a
members house and eat and stay there all night!" And she looked at us like
we are complete freaks. "And after?" "Um... sleeping?"
"...I don't think I will come." Oh, missionary life and the things we
look forward to. :)
Eating snails and
oysters. :)
All of our amis were out of town this week, so we have
basically zero progressing investigators. :( But that meant lots of caroling to
people on streets and knocking on doors! And God placed so many people in our
path. We only had a few minutes, so we decided to do porting at a building near
the gare (train station). We knocked on one door, no answer. Next door. And
this young African girl named Idara answers and lets us come in and we sing
Christmas songs and share a message. Then we ask if we can come back.
"Yes, of course. Thursday? Let me give you my phone number."
So we come back Thursday and teach her again! Then we have a
few extra minutes after the RDV (rendez-vous... which is what we call all of
our lessons and meet-ups with people) so we decide to do a little more porting.
And we go to the next building. And Martine answers her door and invites us in.
And we begin talking about her family and what she did for Christmas. And it
turns out she has had a lot of people who were close to her die. And we begin
testifying about the plan of salvation and that she can see her husband again.
And she begins crying. And I'm crying. And we have a beautiful lesson. And as
we're leaving she says she knows she was supposed to meet us and gives us
oranges and chocolates for Christmas.
Marie-Rose, a member
here in Nogent. She is from Haiti and LOVES us!
And... I'm pretty sure my
favorite food in the whole world is Haitian.
Her neighbor Wilna (I
know my outfit is ridiculous...
you get pretty creative/desperate as a sister
missionary. No making fun.)
And her daughter
Tanya, who is a future missionary!
Then a few days later we go porting and we knock of the
first door. Completely not interested. Door slam. Next door. And Olympia
answers! She is all smiles but at first tells us she is a lost soul and it's
not worth it for us to talk to her. But we just offer to sing her a song. And
that leads to a lot of talking. And then she invites us in. And we all sit
around and she shares experiences how she knows there is a God because she has
seen His hand in her life and knows He is watching out for her. And it's
beautiful. AND I LOVE THAT THIS IS NORMAL LIFE FOR US TO WALK AROUND AND GET
INVITED INTO HOMES TO TALK ABOUT THE HAPPIEST THING ON EARTH!
Olympia!
It was SO wonderful to speak with my family on Christmas.
Every time I have ever felt homesick, I imagined sitting on the puffy pink
chair in my Mom's room just talking, talking, talking. And it just comforted my
soul to remember that the puffy chair is still there and I'll be venting my
life frustrations to my ever patient and wisdom filled Mother someday very
soon. And what do you know? When I talked to Mom, she carried the iPad into her
room and sat down on that beloved pink chair while she talked to me. And we
laughed and cried and it was all just the same. I love that nothing has
changed. No matter what, my family loves me. No matter what, I get to spend eternity
with them.
And it makes me even more grateful that I have the
opportunity to share that with the people of France! Everybody has a
homesickness of the soul for their heavenly home, and we're here to help them
relieve it. We're just reminding people of what they have forgotten.
God, the Father of our spirits, is loving and kind and
there. Christ is our Savior and He came to earth. They live. They love us.
We're all just on our journey home.
Beaucoup d'amour, Soeur Autumn Bradley
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