The church building here in Montpellier is super small--only one hallway with classrooms, a kitchen, a font, an office, and the chapel at the end, but the chapel looks more like a cultural hall. (By the way, I don't think Europeans believe in water fountains. There aren't even any in the church buildings.)
There are a couple of American girls in the ward so I have someone to talk to. Here we have 3 sets of Elders and my companionship just in Montpelier. There is another set of Elders in our district but that's it. Our area to work in is pretty big though, so its not like we are fighting over investigators. We get around by public transportation which is just trams and buses. But they don't do everywhere. There are a bunch of small towns in our area that I don't hink we have a way to get to because the buses don't go there.
When I was in Lyon, we were "teaching" a man (he was a member) and he told me that I must be from Canada because I look like Celine Dion. That’s a first... And one man we are teaching is from Cameroon; he speaks English so I am very happy to be able to participate in at least one lesson! He is really cool!
A couple of days ago, I got stopped twice by people asking what my name tag meant!
We went into a little town called Sete the other day. It’s a cute town right on the ocean. We spent some time with members and went contacting. We ended up talking to a drunk man. He was SO drunk! He had beer dripping down his chin but talking to us he was coherent. Soeur Vidal told him he was a child of God and he sat up all straight and said "Je suis un fils de Dieu!" ("I am a son of God!") It was funny but cool at the same time. We gave him a Book of Mormon. Hopefully he still has it.
I had a realization the other day: I CAN UNDERSTAND FRENCH! I just have to listen in French. Until now, I have been trying to translate in my head as people talk to me, but I only get part of what they are telling me because I'm trying to remember what the words mean in English. But when I don't translate and just listen, I can understand a lot more!!
We met an awesome lady this morning on the tram! She saw our tags and started talking to us. Turns out, she lives in Sete! We gave her a Book of Mormon and something else. While Soeur Vidal was talking to her, I noticed a lady nearby that was taking note of our conversation, but she was holding a pamphlete in her hand. I could tell it was a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet, so I thought "oh no". At the next stop, the lady came up to our Ami (Ami de l'Eglise=investigator) and Soeur Vidal and handed our Ami the pamphlate and said something like "here's another point of view". Once that lady got off the tram, our Ami said "I don't want this" and wadded up the JW pamphlate and tossed it on the ground! So we are going to teach her in Sete next week!
We have two sets of exchanges this transfer. One with Perpingnon next week and then with the Sister Training Leaders in Aix En Provenence. I'm excited for my first experience with exchanges!
Jusqua la fin!
-Shayna
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