July 15th

Hello!

This week has been good.

I got my package! I have never been so happy to see American Deoderant in all my life. Thanks mom.

We had a baptism! Florelle. It was wonderful. We started teaching her two days after I arrived so I was still falling asleep every time we closed our eyes to say a prayer but still it was fun to take that journey with her. And we have another baptismsaturday. haha a lot of miracles are happening here.

I got to plant Minyock! We went to a recent copnverts house and planted veggies in the most lush, gree, haphazard garden I have ever seen. And we used machetes to do a lot of it. haha It was awesome. But hard work! I have a whole new respect for Grandpa now.

What else? We got in a car accident on the way over here. No one was hurt so that is good. Just a little scratch, and it was the other persons fault.

One of my comppanions leaves in 9 days. She has been in St Paul for 10 months spo everyone is really sad to see her go. Mostmy that just means we have a lot of dinner appointments this week!  I think I will just stay in the same area with my other companion...who speaks NO english. That will be fun.

I had to give a talk in our branch yesterday. Pfft. I talked SO fast and when I looked up everyone had the look of 'I have literally NO idea what you just said.' That's a confidence builder. haha. But everyone is so nice. I have two favorite members.... Pierre who is the most Creole man you will ever meet. He cannot read and I understand NONE of what he says. But he is SO kind. We visit him and his wife A LOT and when we leave he stands at the door and waves and I wave from the road until we cant see eachother anymore. He is like a nice grandpa man. Also Soeur Lassont (The relief Society President) who is EXACTLY like Honeyma. I am not kidding. It is awesome. 

The bakery we live above is going to be closed for a month. I am heart broken. I love smelling the fresh bread every morning.

Life is just life. Creole and dirty life. But I love it. I love porting, even though we are told no. I love sweating, even though it is not always comftorable. I love crying, because it means I am becoming the person my Savior wants.

Love you all!

Soeur Edwards

July 8th

Hello!

First off, I think maybe I gave everyone the wrong address. So here is the one for packages:

Eglise De Jesus Christ (SDJ)
BP 80511
97490 St Denis CEDEX
La Reunion

and letters go here:

19 ter log 2 Chemin Creve Coeur

Bois Rouge

97460 St Paul

La Reunion

okay! now let s categorize.

The Island.

Is beautiful. Some places look like America, like our apartment. But a lot of it looks like it could be Mexico and of course a lot of it looks like a poor African Country.

But there are wild fruits everywhere and we sure as heck pick them when we are porting. Also there are flowers everywhere too...the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen! The weather is typical. We live on a mountain so it is pretty cool but down in actual St. Paul it is so hot! I am getting a nice tan. There are a lot of mountains and dogs/chickens/goats and small black children run freely on the road...another reason I do not yet drive.

The Language.

Is rough. I can understand French pretty well because that is ALL I hear. With two native French Speaking companions, both who speak very little English, it is necessary to learn to understand. Creole? Nothing. But I am speaking lore during lessons. Kind of. Mostly I am just the awkard white girl.

Work.

I will not lie, it can be very discouraging. For people here it is not lack of humility, it is just not understanding the need for a change. Everyone here is catholic and that is how they want to stay. Other parts of the island are very much 'I do not need religion' but St. Paul is 'I already have religion. Also I am an islander so I don't like to keep commitments.' But like I have said, people are very nice. We have a lot of pleasant experiences when porting. We are told no with a smile.

Experiences that I had this week.

Hm. Interesting week. We went to one of the recent converts house, the Perfillons, and cooked pork. Let me clarify. This is actually a group of shacks where the roofs are all woven palm leaves. and brother Perfillon, who is VERY creole, took a giant machete and just chopped up this...animal...and then we cooked it over a fire and ate it with pumpkin soup. Really good but wow it was heavy.

We met some Jehovahs witnesses. They were mean. I hated not being able to say things back to them when they mocked the BOM but my comps are wonderful and they knew what to say.

We also went to an outdoor market. My mind was blown. It was tons of fruits I have never seen and African goods and wild dog (to eat) and vinilla! We are going back this week...Mom do you want any vinilla beans?

Today for Pday we went to a waterfall. These two members had machetes and honestly lead us through the forest. You think I am kidding but I am so serious. I have scratches all over my legs from the bamboo and rocks. I kept thinking.... not sure if this is a good thing for missionaries to be doing. But it was quite the adventure. After we had a BBQ. The fire was started using bug spray. haha also not the best idea.

Well I love you all. We have a baptism this Saturday! Pray it works out.

Sister Edwards