Slippery soccer, scoobie snacks, and super uhhh...miracles

Well some how my gift for alliteration has escaped me. Life goes on.

Today...ah today...well our zone leader is dying in two weeks and for all you non mission ligo savey readers that means he's going home. He has two weeks left in the mission field. And so he gently persuaded our rebillious zoo going plans for a fun filled morning of soccer with a bunch of French youth. America vs France. America 4. France 1. It was worth it.

And as the SISTER I sport a magical globe of arms lenght that can not be violeted even by the most courageous 15 year old french boy. (One who knows the rules anyway) And it was a fun fun morning.

And then we topped it off with a KFC run -only with no mash potatos- and talked about what we want to do with our lives. I think one of the best parts about the mission is the friendships with people you other wise wouldn't get to be friends with becuase of not intentionally accepted social bariers that some how define the limits of friendship. Life I think is just so "special interest." Naturally the way to meet people and the people you naturally meet are those that revolve their orbit around your same special interest group. But here, we all have the same special interest. It's the Badge and the Message. So we all know we have something in common and then that opens up the world of friendship. It's pretty cool.

Soeur Wilcox and I had a late night conversation about that. You know one of those sweet late night talks that come as you are both falling asleep. The kind that really only happen at a really good slumber party or with your best friend on the phone. I'm lucky enough to get both every night. It's like a slumber party with my best friend. And our topic of analysis is how the mission just allows you to make friends. We are forced to open our bubble. And it's a positive thing.

And I have a really sweet district in a freekin fun zone. I don't think it's like this anywhere else in the mission. There is just so many missionaries in this city that well...it's just cool.

So I learned that my sweet soccer skills aren't really that sweet...but that vanilla wafers with scooby doo on the bus are a healthy snack for the 30 minute walk to the bus stop after. Thanks Sr. Wilcox's mom.

And while there is still no positive news to report on my dear Albanian friends, Bulgaria is going strong and has refixed her baptism for after her trip home. Galina. Wow. What a star.

And although our key indicators have dropped becuase 4 of our amis just dropped us...the Lord made up in other ways. We recieved 9 referrals in one week when the average for an entire transfer is 2. And we just happened to be on the exact same rue when we recieved one of such said reffereals.

So of course we take off to find miss Shirley. While she was not home her nice neighbor named Anita was. Turns out Anita believes that we lived with God before coming to earth too...and now she has a Book of Mormon. And when we went back to try to find Shirley a few days latter we found a young Chinese student that met with the missionaries in Scotland and a roommate eager to learn. Wow.

Loosing amis feels like a really bad break up. And while I have had more than enough of those, I've still never really felt the piercing rip that came with that phone call.

What is beautiful is that the Atonement of Christ heals not only the unperfect sinner but the broken heart. Just ask psalms. 45...something...Read on...

And the Lord is filling my heart with Joy through Shirley, Anita, Galina, the Elders of the Baptising Bordeaux Zone, General Conference,the surprise visit from the Young Adults of Toulouse, the book of Job and the 9 new people that want to hear what this Badge is all about.

Saturday a man named Kofi entered the waters of baptism. He let me speak at his service. And my talk on baptism was a talk on the healing power of christ. Through our Savior we know that we can cast all our burdens- do you get that- ALL our burdens on him and know that we can be healed. And I thought that I understood. Then Kofi shared his testimony...

Kofi felt all year that the Lord was preparing something for his upcoming anniversary of 40 years. He expected it to be the lotto. Since he doesn't gamble he was suprised when two missionaries shared the Love of Christ. His baptism marked the start of the next 40 years of his life. It was his birthday. He compared it to the 40 years of Moses wondering in the desert. After 40 years he has finally reached the promise land. And he sang a song from his native in his native Togo tounge....

and I've decided that that was way way sweeter then vanilla wafters.

Onward and upward.

Two weeks left of transfer 7 and the vibes are telling me a change is going down. Noone really knows but ...well...every night can't actually be a slumber party with your best friend.

I'll just keep dreaming about the duplex in provo...

love

Shai