A cold night in rainy Rennes

A storm was coming in fast and night had descended.  We were caught outside with no rendez-vous and no coats.  We began ringing door bells, asking people if we could come inside and bless their homes.  After the second house the rain began to pour, harder than I'd ever experienced in France.  We were drenched in seconds.  But we did not turn around, instead we fearlessly kept ringing door bells.  It wasn't long until a nice French couple took pity on us, we must have seemed pretty crazy -- two young American girls in skirts and without coats, wearing the name of Jesus Christ on their sleeves, running around in a torrent trying to pray with people.  They ushered us in and made us some herbal tea.  We had a wonderful conversation about France, religion, language etc.  We even got a referral from them!  We going back to see our new friends Claudie and Bernard soon:)

Well I hope that this little narrative gave you a taste of mission life :)

I know I said there wouldn't be a blog post this week, but we did our grocery shopping in seriously 15 minutes today... so here I am!  I am just bursting with excitement to go to Mont St. Michel.

Well here's a few updates:  Do you all remember that Sunday a few weeks ago when we kept missing all our buses?  And then we had a couple miracles because of it?  Well the lady that we met first, who we had the amazing contact with?  Well we called her and she is busy with school, but wants to meet with us after the 21st.  We ran into her at the bus stop the other day and met her little boy...and his name is Ammon.  Our mouths just dropped!  We said did you know that Ammon is the name of a prophet in that book we gave you?  Of course she didn't, haha.  Crazy right?  We can't wait to start teaching her! Her name is Marie-Iris by the way.

Then there was Fatima, the non-practicing muslim who we had to get permission from her husband to teach...and we had no idea how to accomplish that... and then they just magically appeared in our path when we missed the bus because of the roller skating race...you all remember that?  Well we went over to see Fatima, and she was going off to the market with her husband Pascal and their baby.  But he said that he'd really like us to come over soon and tell them more about what we do sometime.  So obviously we went over a few days later.  We didn't know if it would just be Fatima there, but the whole family was there.  We had an aweome lesson.  Pascal has obviously thought a lot about religion, the purpose of existence etc.  It was so interesting to talk with him.  And Fatima is perfect for him.  She said, have you ever even tried to pray?  He said yes.  She said, you must have done it wrong, what did you say?  He said, well... I went to catechism.  You haven't really prayed then, have you? she said.  It was so great!  we invited them to church and they said yes!  We are hoping for this next Sunday:)  They are seriously such a cool family!

Hmm, what else can I say?  So much happens in one week!  It's hard to pick out the highlights... this weeks was filled with meals with members, mongolians and muslims, a French cowgirl, running to the bus, sitting on the bus, talking on the bus, a scripture that touched a heart, a prayer that led to tears, playing songs of Brittany on my violin, Thai food, wealth, poverty, corruption, hope, faith, charity, and a record breaking fifteen lessons.  If you have any questions about that, just send me a letter, haha :)

Well everyone, the work is moving forward in Rennes, even though my French is dismal.  We aren't doing any of this on our own, there's no way that we could.  

Alma 13:24. 'nuff said. Look for opportunities to be a witness.

Until next week my dears!

Soeur Hilton