The "Hug Language"

Wow, has it really been another week?  This one went really fast!  I went ice-skating, ate out at a Mexican food restaurant (didn't know that they even existed out here), and went shopping for p-day today, so I don't have much time to email today.  Sorry if it's kind of short today!

Nothing really exciting happened during the first part of the week, but this weekend we had a "mini-missionaire"...who was it?....wait for it...our best friend SARIAH SCHEURCH!  She is an adorable 18 year-old JA in Liège 2 who speaks perfect French and English (She's half Belge, half American).  She is preparing to go on her own mission next year.  She spent Friday,Saturday and Sunday with us and it was a blast.  We taught her how to "hug."  She was quite over-whelmed with what she calls the "hug language."  You know, side-hugs, hand-hugs, the I-don't-really-like-you hug etc.  It was such a fun weekend!  She found out that she is no longer allergic to apples, so we took pictures of her trying her first granny-smith.  She said it tasted like candy and was seriously the happiest girl I've ever seen.  We pronounced November 16th, "Granny Smith Day" in her honor.  We were sitting on the bus and she said, "look at all these people!  They don't even know!  This is the best day ever!" haha she is hilarious.

We also had some really neat "mini-missionaire miracles."  Yesterday we had nothing to do after church so we started calling people to try and set something up.  It was amazing, people we had never been able to get a hold of answered our calls, or even called us back.  We filled up our entire schedule for this next week! Soeur Schuerch had a really neat experience.  She felt like she needed to call a less-active in our ward.  She kind of ignored the feeling at first, but then just took the phone and called her.  The woman answered the phone and she was crying.  She had just prayed and asked God that someone would call her because she was going through a rough time.  Wow.  Is there a more beautiful experience than being the answer to prayer?

Well that's all the time I have for now.  I wish I had time to tell you about the bus strike, or our bible history lesson from Elder Anderson, or our entire day in Namur with our zone (where we sang and I played my violin), or how the Elders ask us for dating advice whenever we are on the train together, haha.  It was another wonderful week on the mission and this week will be even better!

Also, Soeur Bitter in Rennes wrote this in her email this week.  Do you all remember Sophie, the Chinese student from Rennes?  Here's the update on her, it made me cry:)

"So she went to Germany for a week and a half and unfortunately she lost her phone there haha but we dropped by and she had missed us lots :) Anyway, she told this story of when she was in Germany. She met someone there and they went to lunch together (Sophie is one of the most outgoing people I know). She said that this girl started talking about her life and she told Sophie about her theory of living: "Live today and take no thought for tomorrow". (As missionaries now we're thinking "uh huh....and what did YOU say??" haha) But then Sophie said something amazing. She said she sat back and realized all the blessing that God has given her- A good family and he helped her get to France where she met us, the missionaries. And then we introduced her to diasm and Christianity. She said "In that moment I knew that I was on the right path and I thought of my missionary friends and all that you have taught me". She went on to say that this last week or two has been hard and she hasn't had ANY time to see friends or to hang out. She's in school full time and she works as well. (but she still makes time for us :)). She then said that every once in a while she feels lonely but then she thinks of us and what we told her she can do. So she gets on her knees and PRAYS! She said, "and then, I'm not sad anymore. And what more? I know I should be doing this (praying) more often". She is so incredibly easy to teach. It's actually amazing to me how little we have taught her yet how many amazing spiritual experiences she has had. Teaching people like her make all of this worth it."

Love that girl!  She even sent me a postcard from Berlin that said, "I thank God who gives me so many good lucks."

I have photos from this week, but I don't have time to attach them.  So be excited for next week:)