Hello from the Mediterranean! This week was fantastic and so fun and so spiritual! Also so hot! It's finally cooling down, but we still have five fans going full time around our apartment. We also have this giant bottle of water that we freeze and put in front of the fans during the night to get the room almost down to room temperature. So good (;
Anywho, what all did we do this week? Good question! We've been so busy, it's all kind of a blur! We only had one Ami when I arrived, so we contacted a lot this week in this super cool park with all these awesome statues of famous people. Elder Shirley tells me it was made in the early 1800s, so that's cool. We've had one or two rendezvous with members, and I love these people already! I'll do a little sum up of our branch in just a sec. Oh yeah! We almost visited the Mediterranean the other day with the Klemasz couple. It's in our secteur, and we had a rendezvous less than five minutes from it, but there were so many people, and we didn't have time. Next time though :) we also had some elders come here to work on legal stuff, so we got to do an exchange, which was fun. Most of the time though, we have so many rendezvous we're rarely in our apartment!
Sunday was so good! It was my first Sunday ever in a branch! So different than a ward, but so cool! Everyone was so nice and friendly! I got to give my testimony, and even though there were no more than thirty faces looking back at me, every one of them was smiling!
Some of the members I've met so far:
Patrick - deaf guy and incredible cook who really should be translated by now. Literally so much faith.
Steve - our DMB (branch mission leader) who comes from Haiti and speaks English and French and works as a radio announcer
Carlito - cool guy who just got back this week from his mission in Tahiti. Super psyched to help us with lessons!
Les familles Matai et Tomescu- Two Romanian families. French is hard to understand, but idk if I've ever felt so much love from one group of people. The Matais came in Sunday with their family of six, and every one of them hugged me when I tried to give them a handshake. Love them already!
And so many babies! Like, it was kind of hard to focus in sacrament because they were so cute. There was one African baby and one French baby sitting in front of us just speaking gibberish to each other and laughing the whole time.
So one of the most wonderful parts of our beautiful Béziers is the Klemasz couple! They're our awesome missionary couple who live here and with whom we work almost every day. They've been here for one transfer but we're gone for most of it, so they're about as new as me. They're from Australia and are both converts to the church. Their job is to train the leadership here and to help us with the work. They definitely spoil us. They had things to do in Switzerland the other week, and they brought us back so much Swiss chocolate! Soeur Klemasz is basically my second mom or grandma or something. She's an awesome cook who speaks a tiny bit of French, and so nice. Elder Klemasz is the coolest dude! He used to fish for sharks all the time, and was a stake president in Australia before coming out here on a mission. He provides an awesome mixture of spiritual wisdom and super lame dad jokes. Example: today Soeur Klemasz said something and Elder K yelled "surely you can't be serious!" and elbowed Elder Shirley in the side (get it? Shirley, surely?) Anywho, naturally we're best friends. Neither of them really speak French, so lately we've been going over there about once a day to help translate for branch members they're training.
So we have an alarm on our phone that's just this dude singing "wake up Béziers!" Sister Klemasz heard it and thought it was super funny, so now every time there's a miracle (which is often if you just keep your eyes open), all four of us shout "wake up Béziers" and wave our hands in the air. Honestly, I'm so excited and happy to be here and to help wake up Béziers. I've also started to realize how essential faith is! This week we've found two new amis, and I know if we keep giving God the chance to work through us, we'll see miracles! Keep up the prayers you guys, we need them :)
Anywho, what else is new?
-I bought a couple new short sleeve shirts for this weather, and I'm happy to say the initial sunburn has finally faded! I'm finally starting to tan!
-We don't have a car, and I definitely miss that. Thankfully the Klemasz couple does, so we did groceries with them today. Hallelujah!
-I haven't had to pull out Google translate since I got here!
-I solved a Rubik's cube for the first time ever!
-Elder Shirley has been teaching me to play the guitar. Goal is to be tan and able to play a couple songs on the guitar in a couple transfers. Well see how that goes.
- The Klemasz couple has rubbed off on me. I've started saying "rubbish" in place of "garbage" and "chips" instead of "fries"
-I haven't had to pull out Google translate since I got here!
-I solved a Rubik's cube for the first time ever!
-Elder Shirley has been teaching me to play the guitar. Goal is to be tan and able to play a couple songs on the guitar in a couple transfers. Well see how that goes.
- The Klemasz couple has rubbed off on me. I've started saying "rubbish" in place of "garbage" and "chips" instead of "fries"
Anyways, awesome week, it's awesome here. Spiritual thought for the week comes from a picture that someone gave me (I think it was Elder Laney? I can't remember, sorry Papa Laney). Anywho, I'll send it with this email. I made it the background on my tablet. It's a painting of the Savior reaching down into the water towards us, with a smile on his face. This week I've thought a lot about my Savior and how he can reach us NO MATTER how far we've sunk. He's sunk lower than us all. I love him with all my heart and I'm so grateful for everything he did and does for me and my family. I also realized that, as members, or job is to reach down and help our brothers and sisters rise. That's why we're here as missionaries! We help people realize there's a way out of that water, and the look on their face when they realize how sweet that air tastes is the most wonderful thing. I'm so glad for the opportunity I have for the next two years to be the representative of my Savior, ready to grasp someone's hand and guide them out of that water. I can't help but draw a parallel to baptism. I love being a missionary. It's hard sometimes. People can be really really mean, and it's definitely not always fun. But it's so worth it to find that one! Christ did everything for us and would do it again in a heartbeat. It's the least we can do to open our mouths :)
Love you all so much
Gros bisous !
Elder Suisse
Pics:
Christ reaching for Peter
Cool super-old fountain thing in a park
Freaky statue. I think it's the devil? Idk, it's weird.
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