Wherein Julia realizes she is serving in "Le Petit Brazil", stars in a movie, and goes dancing
Reporting from Le Petit Brazil!!
We have been all over the place! Well as you can see, I learned some hard core Tahitian dancing!! It was so fun! We went to Marie-Jeanne’s and her cousin was there and they just whipped out the sarongs (that is a hard word to spell...) and we went in the bathroom and changed....because they told us “you can’t dance unless you have a sarong on” So there you go, can’t dance without it! We danced for a LONG time, and my thighs were hurting! But we had a good old time! Marie-Jeanne said I didn’t a good job! Hehe We told her we will dance at her wedding in September!! J’ai dit, “Les deux filles blanche peut danser à vorte mariage...” She just laughed, « Le deux filles blance ? » that is us !!
Then Soeur Neveu (you can see her in the picture on Christmas Eve...with all the people..) She is Arab, and has an amazing conversion story!! We invited her to our RV with Janet....and we planned on talking about prayer and sharing a song (in English, Janet and Soeur Neveu speak English) about prayer...well the RV turned into baptism, and Janet has a lot of issues with her husband, he is mean, he smokes A LOT in their tiny (2 rooms) apartment, and is always drunk and doesn’t believe in God at all.....Soeur Neveu just takes Janet’s hand from across the table and says, ‘I KNOW what you are going through, it is hard, but I promise you if you follow God’s plan, he will bless you, he will bless your husband and he WILL follow you...” It took Soeur Neveu’s husband 2 years to actually start talking to the missionaries, but he has been baptized now and they have been sealed in the temple, Soeur Neveu’s son served with Aaron in Spain and they are the BEST family!!!
We were all just crying, I told Janet, we are having a baptism on the 28th, and you can be baptized. So we made plans, and she was going to call her mom to get her ‘wish’ or whatever....we have seen Janet every day since then, she came to the Relief Society activity (where we danced our lives away!! This is a dancing ward! It is so fun!) and she had a blast! She has known the church here in Nîmes for a year, and met with missionaries when she lived in Canada, so she ahs known the church for a while....and she knows all the members. But her big hang up right now is she was baptized Catholic, and she is worried that you cant be baptized, so after the fête we talked to some members who were catholic before, and everyone we asked, they were catholic, and she boar BOLD testimony about what they don’t like about that church, and yada, it was sooo good!!!
So we walked home with Janet and Soeur Protano, because they are all on the way to our apartment, and Soeur Protano told Janet if she has problems with her husband to come stay with Soeur Protano, showed her her apartment, gave her her number, and as we were walking off Soeur Protano said, “Get this girl baptized soon...” and walked in the door...amazing! It gets better...Janet says “it is so funny she said that because we just talked about that, and last night my husband was pulling some clothes out of the closet and I walked in the room and all my clothes were on the floor, but a white dress that was on the bed. I bought this dress last summer and never wore it! I knew it was God answering me and telling me that it was my baptismal dress!” WHAT??? I was just blown away!
The next day Janet came to church, was commenting in class, in with all the members, and there was a girl from Mexico who is living in France but not in our ward, who just visited our ward....and they got in together....Then today we saw her and she told us some of her concerns, we cried, we laughed, shared experiences, and in the end, she said she is going to do it! I am sooo excited for her! She has a HUGE fear of water, she is terrified! She has never put her head under water because she is so scared, so we are praying for her!
She said that if François doesnt follow her, to bad for him. But I know he will, eventually. If not in this life, in the next!
We met with Sandra and Joy last night after they were in Paris all week, and we had bit of a scare, they told us they don’t want to be baptized the 28th...I was sooo bummed, but I understand, they are going back to Paris on Wednesday until Saturday or Monday because they forgot some papers for their papers to be in France....so there is no way we could get them ready for the 28th...so it would be foolish to baptize them because they aren’t ready! But they said they will be baptized, just not the 28th! I was ok with that answer! But Soeur Aagard is pretty said because we know she is leaving on the 31st, so she won’t be here.....but we taught them a great lesson! We taught a 3rd, and just explained everything REALLY simply, because Roseline wasn’t there to help us explain in Nigerian, so every word we had to say, “Do you know what Obedience is? Do you know what Repent means?” hehe...but it was really fun!! I LOVE THEM!!!
After not seeing them for a week, we walked in and they were jumping on the bed like little girls yelling “We missed you!!! We missed you!!” hehe it is fun because we are really girly with them!!! And when we left Sandra (with the big pink hair in the picture, on the right) she said to me “Sleep good....dream about me...” hehehe I really love them!!!
Zone Conference was a lot of fun!!! I had a fun surprise, we are standing in the Gare at 5am, and here comes the Elders, and just after them there is another set of Elders, and I thought, “that is funny...” because we are the farthest in the Zone so it isn’t like anyone can come stay with the Elders to make the voyage shorter....and there is Elder Black!!! I haven’t seen him since the MTC!!! He is from the other Zone and had to come to ours for some reason!! But it was soo fun!! So good to see him! Just catching up, mission stories!! My favorite was from Soeur Cook on the train, their recent convert’s baby was sick and they were having a RV...;and the baby couldn’t breath, so the mom just puts her mouth around the babies nose and just starts sucking!!! She sucked out all the mucous...but the baby could breathe after!!! But SICK!! Hehe she is from Africa!
Zone conference was the most amazing one I have been to!! President asked everyone to prepare a short talk on Alma 57:21! Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.) I looked over it, thought about it, but I hadn’t written anything down because that just makes me more nervous that I didn’t say something I had written down....Well as soon as President started talking I knew it was going to be me...but it wasn’t like a “oh he is going to call on me because...” I felt “He knows I have something to share, and he is going to ask me to speak...” what do you know? Soeur Morrow, at the pulpit! And whoa the spirit just rushed in like wind in Nîmes! I just started talking, and I shared stories that the spirit told me these missionaries needed to hear! It was amazing! But I know that exact obedience is the key, and in the end of the scripture it relates to their mothers, and I know that because of MY mom, and her obedience and what she has taught our family, we are all being blessed!
We visited Marie-Jeanne and Erwin, and I just love them! I know I say that about everyone, but they are my family here!! They tell us that we are their children! And we really are, they tell us to shut up (in English) when someone is being annoying....and we just shared some miracles we had seen that week in missionary work, and Erwin just starts crying, it was so sweet! I don’t know if I have a picture of him or not...(there is one from the New Years fête) and then we told them about this weird girl we contacted on the street....it was soo weird!!! The entire time we were talking to her, she was pushing her nose up, like a pig....hehe and we told them the story, and they were just laughing that it became this joke, and we just like push our face to one side.....I was laughing so hard I had to think to breathe!!! It was so funny!! We were leaving and Marie-Jeanne, while pushing her nose up says “au revoir!!” oh so funny!
And of course, the movie we are in!! So Charolette, a girl we contacted back like 2 months ago, I don’t know if I told you this...but she asked if we could be in a documentary for her for school....she wrote President and got permission as long as they saw the final product first, and last week President Paya (counselor) gave us the ok to do it...I about peed my pants!! I didn’t want to, I STILL don’t want to! Well Act 1 was yesterday, and we basically taught a first lesson, but it was difficult because we have already taught them, they aren’t interested so they answer questions weird and it is just difficult to teach in an MTC setting....with a camera staring at you! Not fun! And not to mention it is in French! But it went ok, but I am just nervous!! And tomorrow they are going to film Act 2 of us contacting on the street....President Paya said it was ok as long as the person didn’t know they were being filmed! So there ya go...we are in a movie!!! Not super excited, but Charolette and Samuel are so nice, just not interested in the church!
Oh and Grace....I don’t think I told you her story, but she is the one that we got a message from just asking for a Book of Mormon, well we met with her last Wednesday and she told us that she found the Joseph Smith fiche between 2 shoe boxes, picked it up, scanned it and put it in her purse...she got home and read it, read it again, and thought “I have the same questions as this young man, but I dont know how to find out more...” read it again...and turned it over and found our number and called it....she is amazing!!
She is from Africa, her name is Grace, has a cute little perfect family, married a French man, 3 kids, and is searching for the true church! We taught her a first about Joseph Smith, gave her a Book of Mormon, and answered her questions. She meets with the Temion Jehovahs (Jehovah’s Witnesses) also, and all the things they told her, she asked us if they were true...”Do miracles still happen? Are Christmas trees of the devil? Do you celebrate your birthday?” hehe yes!! She is wonderful! I am so excited for her!! Before we could even ask her if we could see her again, she said, “Can you come by my house every Wednesday at 1?” You bet we can!!!
And another family we are teaching from Portugal!!! Mom born in France, but moved to Portugal when she was 16, back with her family for work, and taught them a first! They were going to come to church but she is pregnant and feeling sick, but called to apologize that they couldn’t make it...we are teaching them tonight the plan of Salvation!!!
Do you see why we call Nîmes Le petit Brazil? The work here is exploding!!!! I am sooo excited!!
I cant think of what else has gone on, but this next week is going to be CRAZY getting ready for the baptism.....
I am soo excited that Aimee is going on a mission, and to Germany? They are great!!! We love Soeur Titz and Elder Ludwig!!! Hehe she is going to love it!!
Les Soeur!! Carson and Johnson, you guys are sooo cute!!! Thanks for going to visit my mom!!! I hope you had fun! I love you both, and what the first date with a skidmore? Hope that it was fun anyway!!!! Cant wait to hear what happens next weekend....dates dates dates!!!
But I love you all!! We are headed out of here!!!!!!
Mom, transfers are every 6th Tuesday, so you can mark that on your calendar, the next one is January 31st....as for my birthday! I don’t know what I wont, but you can put money in my account and I will just buy some skirts....as you can see I shrunk all my sweaters, and I burned another one on the oven this morning...but I don’t know what I want, but something small!! Maybe you can write your testimony or a letter to Sandra and Joy, and scratch something up in French for Janet!! but Janet understands English!!
Tell the kids I love them and I am sorry I didn’t write them!!! I noticed John's blog, didn’t know he had one!!
Soeur Julia Morrow
We have been all over the place! Well as you can see, I learned some hard core Tahitian dancing!! It was so fun! We went to Marie-Jeanne’s and her cousin was there and they just whipped out the sarongs (that is a hard word to spell...) and we went in the bathroom and changed....because they told us “you can’t dance unless you have a sarong on” So there you go, can’t dance without it! We danced for a LONG time, and my thighs were hurting! But we had a good old time! Marie-Jeanne said I didn’t a good job! Hehe We told her we will dance at her wedding in September!! J’ai dit, “Les deux filles blanche peut danser à vorte mariage...” She just laughed, « Le deux filles blance ? » that is us !!
Then Soeur Neveu (you can see her in the picture on Christmas Eve...with all the people..) She is Arab, and has an amazing conversion story!! We invited her to our RV with Janet....and we planned on talking about prayer and sharing a song (in English, Janet and Soeur Neveu speak English) about prayer...well the RV turned into baptism, and Janet has a lot of issues with her husband, he is mean, he smokes A LOT in their tiny (2 rooms) apartment, and is always drunk and doesn’t believe in God at all.....Soeur Neveu just takes Janet’s hand from across the table and says, ‘I KNOW what you are going through, it is hard, but I promise you if you follow God’s plan, he will bless you, he will bless your husband and he WILL follow you...” It took Soeur Neveu’s husband 2 years to actually start talking to the missionaries, but he has been baptized now and they have been sealed in the temple, Soeur Neveu’s son served with Aaron in Spain and they are the BEST family!!!
We were all just crying, I told Janet, we are having a baptism on the 28th, and you can be baptized. So we made plans, and she was going to call her mom to get her ‘wish’ or whatever....we have seen Janet every day since then, she came to the Relief Society activity (where we danced our lives away!! This is a dancing ward! It is so fun!) and she had a blast! She has known the church here in Nîmes for a year, and met with missionaries when she lived in Canada, so she ahs known the church for a while....and she knows all the members. But her big hang up right now is she was baptized Catholic, and she is worried that you cant be baptized, so after the fête we talked to some members who were catholic before, and everyone we asked, they were catholic, and she boar BOLD testimony about what they don’t like about that church, and yada, it was sooo good!!!
So we walked home with Janet and Soeur Protano, because they are all on the way to our apartment, and Soeur Protano told Janet if she has problems with her husband to come stay with Soeur Protano, showed her her apartment, gave her her number, and as we were walking off Soeur Protano said, “Get this girl baptized soon...” and walked in the door...amazing! It gets better...Janet says “it is so funny she said that because we just talked about that, and last night my husband was pulling some clothes out of the closet and I walked in the room and all my clothes were on the floor, but a white dress that was on the bed. I bought this dress last summer and never wore it! I knew it was God answering me and telling me that it was my baptismal dress!” WHAT??? I was just blown away!
The next day Janet came to church, was commenting in class, in with all the members, and there was a girl from Mexico who is living in France but not in our ward, who just visited our ward....and they got in together....Then today we saw her and she told us some of her concerns, we cried, we laughed, shared experiences, and in the end, she said she is going to do it! I am sooo excited for her! She has a HUGE fear of water, she is terrified! She has never put her head under water because she is so scared, so we are praying for her!
She said that if François doesnt follow her, to bad for him. But I know he will, eventually. If not in this life, in the next!
We met with Sandra and Joy last night after they were in Paris all week, and we had bit of a scare, they told us they don’t want to be baptized the 28th...I was sooo bummed, but I understand, they are going back to Paris on Wednesday until Saturday or Monday because they forgot some papers for their papers to be in France....so there is no way we could get them ready for the 28th...so it would be foolish to baptize them because they aren’t ready! But they said they will be baptized, just not the 28th! I was ok with that answer! But Soeur Aagard is pretty said because we know she is leaving on the 31st, so she won’t be here.....but we taught them a great lesson! We taught a 3rd, and just explained everything REALLY simply, because Roseline wasn’t there to help us explain in Nigerian, so every word we had to say, “Do you know what Obedience is? Do you know what Repent means?” hehe...but it was really fun!! I LOVE THEM!!!
After not seeing them for a week, we walked in and they were jumping on the bed like little girls yelling “We missed you!!! We missed you!!” hehe it is fun because we are really girly with them!!! And when we left Sandra (with the big pink hair in the picture, on the right) she said to me “Sleep good....dream about me...” hehehe I really love them!!!
Zone Conference was a lot of fun!!! I had a fun surprise, we are standing in the Gare at 5am, and here comes the Elders, and just after them there is another set of Elders, and I thought, “that is funny...” because we are the farthest in the Zone so it isn’t like anyone can come stay with the Elders to make the voyage shorter....and there is Elder Black!!! I haven’t seen him since the MTC!!! He is from the other Zone and had to come to ours for some reason!! But it was soo fun!! So good to see him! Just catching up, mission stories!! My favorite was from Soeur Cook on the train, their recent convert’s baby was sick and they were having a RV...;and the baby couldn’t breath, so the mom just puts her mouth around the babies nose and just starts sucking!!! She sucked out all the mucous...but the baby could breathe after!!! But SICK!! Hehe she is from Africa!
Zone conference was the most amazing one I have been to!! President asked everyone to prepare a short talk on Alma 57:21! Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.) I looked over it, thought about it, but I hadn’t written anything down because that just makes me more nervous that I didn’t say something I had written down....Well as soon as President started talking I knew it was going to be me...but it wasn’t like a “oh he is going to call on me because...” I felt “He knows I have something to share, and he is going to ask me to speak...” what do you know? Soeur Morrow, at the pulpit! And whoa the spirit just rushed in like wind in Nîmes! I just started talking, and I shared stories that the spirit told me these missionaries needed to hear! It was amazing! But I know that exact obedience is the key, and in the end of the scripture it relates to their mothers, and I know that because of MY mom, and her obedience and what she has taught our family, we are all being blessed!
Julia loves this Apron from the church in Toulouse. She says, "It is always waiting for me!"
We visited Marie-Jeanne and Erwin, and I just love them! I know I say that about everyone, but they are my family here!! They tell us that we are their children! And we really are, they tell us to shut up (in English) when someone is being annoying....and we just shared some miracles we had seen that week in missionary work, and Erwin just starts crying, it was so sweet! I don’t know if I have a picture of him or not...(there is one from the New Years fête) and then we told them about this weird girl we contacted on the street....it was soo weird!!! The entire time we were talking to her, she was pushing her nose up, like a pig....hehe and we told them the story, and they were just laughing that it became this joke, and we just like push our face to one side.....I was laughing so hard I had to think to breathe!!! It was so funny!! We were leaving and Marie-Jeanne, while pushing her nose up says “au revoir!!” oh so funny!
And of course, the movie we are in!! So Charolette, a girl we contacted back like 2 months ago, I don’t know if I told you this...but she asked if we could be in a documentary for her for school....she wrote President and got permission as long as they saw the final product first, and last week President Paya (counselor) gave us the ok to do it...I about peed my pants!! I didn’t want to, I STILL don’t want to! Well Act 1 was yesterday, and we basically taught a first lesson, but it was difficult because we have already taught them, they aren’t interested so they answer questions weird and it is just difficult to teach in an MTC setting....with a camera staring at you! Not fun! And not to mention it is in French! But it went ok, but I am just nervous!! And tomorrow they are going to film Act 2 of us contacting on the street....President Paya said it was ok as long as the person didn’t know they were being filmed! So there ya go...we are in a movie!!! Not super excited, but Charolette and Samuel are so nice, just not interested in the church!
Oh and Grace....I don’t think I told you her story, but she is the one that we got a message from just asking for a Book of Mormon, well we met with her last Wednesday and she told us that she found the Joseph Smith fiche between 2 shoe boxes, picked it up, scanned it and put it in her purse...she got home and read it, read it again, and thought “I have the same questions as this young man, but I dont know how to find out more...” read it again...and turned it over and found our number and called it....she is amazing!!
She is from Africa, her name is Grace, has a cute little perfect family, married a French man, 3 kids, and is searching for the true church! We taught her a first about Joseph Smith, gave her a Book of Mormon, and answered her questions. She meets with the Temion Jehovahs (Jehovah’s Witnesses) also, and all the things they told her, she asked us if they were true...”Do miracles still happen? Are Christmas trees of the devil? Do you celebrate your birthday?” hehe yes!! She is wonderful! I am so excited for her!! Before we could even ask her if we could see her again, she said, “Can you come by my house every Wednesday at 1?” You bet we can!!!
And another family we are teaching from Portugal!!! Mom born in France, but moved to Portugal when she was 16, back with her family for work, and taught them a first! They were going to come to church but she is pregnant and feeling sick, but called to apologize that they couldn’t make it...we are teaching them tonight the plan of Salvation!!!
Do you see why we call Nîmes Le petit Brazil? The work here is exploding!!!! I am sooo excited!!
I cant think of what else has gone on, but this next week is going to be CRAZY getting ready for the baptism.....
I am soo excited that Aimee is going on a mission, and to Germany? They are great!!! We love Soeur Titz and Elder Ludwig!!! Hehe she is going to love it!!
Les Soeur!! Carson and Johnson, you guys are sooo cute!!! Thanks for going to visit my mom!!! I hope you had fun! I love you both, and what the first date with a skidmore? Hope that it was fun anyway!!!! Cant wait to hear what happens next weekend....dates dates dates!!!
But I love you all!! We are headed out of here!!!!!!
Mom, transfers are every 6th Tuesday, so you can mark that on your calendar, the next one is January 31st....as for my birthday! I don’t know what I wont, but you can put money in my account and I will just buy some skirts....as you can see I shrunk all my sweaters, and I burned another one on the oven this morning...but I don’t know what I want, but something small!! Maybe you can write your testimony or a letter to Sandra and Joy, and scratch something up in French for Janet!! but Janet understands English!!
Tell the kids I love them and I am sorry I didn’t write them!!! I noticed John's blog, didn’t know he had one!!
Soeur Julia Morrow
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