Soeur Ethington

October 15, 2018

Soeur Ethington | Week 31

This week has been so awesome! I already love having Soeur Ackroyd as a companion. She is the kind of missionary who is super fun and super obedient, and I love it. She also organizes Area Book like a pro, which was much needed here in the sector of Antony. Yikes.

I was sad to say goodbye to Soeur Sorena! I was with her for the longest I've ever been with a companion--2 transfers, so not a lot--but we went through a lot together and I feel like I've grown so much by working with her.

On Wednesday morning, all the new bleus (or greenies) came to the temple before meeting their trainers! It was so fun to accompany all 24 of them to Paris with some other sisters. It took us forever to get there because they were so excited to be in Paris, they were running around and contacting EVERYBODY. Trying to get them on and off trains was like herding cats, but we finally did it. It wasn't until we got to our destination until we realized that WE WERE MISSING ONE OF THEM!!! One of the new Elders had accidentally stayed on a train because he was contacting people, so we had to make a mad dash back to the train station to look for him. We found him, thankfully, but the poor guy was pretty shaken up.

That night, Sister Ackroyd and I moved into our new apartment. This apartment is a DREAM, minus the fact that it has no hot water, but ce n'est pas grave because we haven't had hot water in my other apartment for almost 4 months anyway. Our desks overlook a little street with trees and some quaint French housetops. I am in love. Our apartment is a 2 man, which is a big change because I'm used to living with 4 people, but now at least it won't be craziness at night and I'll actually have time to write in my journal...

Our amis are doing well. Through the Area Book organization we've been doing, we've been able to get back into contact with a lot of amis who had been MIA. One of them is Arlette, who was the ami who was so awesome that she asked to go finding with us after our very first rendez-vous with her. We have a lot of work ahead of us here in Antony, and it feels good to see our calendar full of rendez-vous again!

We had another rendez-vous with Chantal this week. We surprised her by showing up at her apartment with cleaning supplies and a gift basket for her! She was so happy and excited that we had thought to give her all that stuff. We gave her an old coat from Soeur Sorena, a stuffed animal for Emmanuel, some food, and a bunch of cleaning supplies.

My favorite part of the week was when we used our dinner hour to have a crèpe party at the Meuniers' house. Since the Meuniers are a temple couple, they invited all the temple Soeurs over! Eric (an ami) came too and we all taught him an awesome lesson about the love of Christ. I may or may not have left their apartment feeling extremely sick because I may or may not have singlehandedly eaten 10 crèpes for dinner. :)

Miracle of the Week:

During Sacrament Meeting yesterday, I was doing my usual scan of the congregation to find nonmembers, and I noticed a family that I'd never seen before. After the meeting was over, we went up to them and introduced ourselves. In fact, two of the 3 women were members of the church, and the oldest one was a pioneer of the Church in Congo Brazaville! She told an amazing story about how she was one of the first 30 members of the Church, and how during the war she had to flee her home in the middle of the night, her Book of Mormon being the only possession she took with her. Talk about faith! Hearing her story made me reflect, if I had to flee my home with only one possession, what would I take? What is most precious to me?

To continue the story, this woman's daughter is named Antonina and she is not a member of the Church. She came to church with her mom because she wanted to meet the missionaries and ask for the lessons. What a miracle! So, needless to say, we are teaching Antonina now and she's so awesome.

I don't ever ask for prayers in my letters home, but I think the circumstances allow for me to ask this one time. An Elder in my mission, Elder Poulsen, lost his father unexpectedly this past week. Prayers are much needed and would be much appreciated. Thank you!

À bientôt,

Soeur Ethington

My high school BFF (who happens to be in the same mission as me) Connor Anderson has been transferred to VERSAILLES! It was surreal seeing him and ~cordially~ shaking his hand while calling him Elder.