After a year’s presence, the community of Tonneins, France shares with us a meeting with the neighbours.

“The community of sisters requests the pleasure of your company
in sharing the ‘galette des rois” the 18th January from 3.30 p.m. onwards”

It is an invitation to our nearest neighbours in the housing estate, that is to say nos 4-5-7- and 9 (we are no 6), those with whom we have already had friendly contacts through services rendered :

• mowing the lawn

• planting a rhododendron

• dismounting and recharging the battery of the Peugeot …(having men as neighbours can be useful sometimes!)

But who is going to reply to this invitation from 4 sisters who they probably think are cut off from the world?

Well, they all came, parents and children, at the hour we had given, happy to be together around the same table, filled with galettes and drinks. Some had asked : “What should we bring? – Come empty-handed”. They came with flowers …

On arrival kisses for the 4 sisters, even from the gentlemen!

We were around twenty, adults and children, including a baby of 6 months. Our large room was filled with chatter … not only chattering women for in fact it was the men who made the most noise … among the invited were an English family and a family from Lithuania … Our newly arrived neighbour confided to us her first questions with regards to religious sisters :Did we wear a habit? Were we open to the world

The other neighbours answered her with : “They are just like everyone else.”
This answer put her at her ease and quite spontaneously she set to cutting and handing out the galettes, while the gentlemen took care of the drinks …In this almost family atmosphere, the meeting continued until nightfall …
Thank you Lord, for this time that you have given us to live!

The community of Tonneins