Our Miraculous Week

Hello Family!! :)

First of all, thank you, Grandma. I can NOT wait to get those recipes!! :) 

This past week has been exhausting. Spiritually, physically, mentally, and in any other way possible. Ha. But, Elder Wallace and I have been so blessed this week. We started this transfer off pretty rough, but that was just a trial of our faith. I know we'll have other trials during the transfer, but as we work together, we'll be able to continue to help the Lord with His work. Our miraculous week started last Sunday. I'm not sure if I told you about it last week.

When we got back to the church in Cergy, we ended up missing the bus to get to the gare at Cergy Prefecture to get back home at Cergy Le Haut. So Elder Wallace and I decided to take that time to contact as we were walking to the Prefecture (it was only like a 20 minute walk; no biggie). As we started, there was a guy I felt impressed to contact. His name is Ludovic. We quickly found that he feels like it's hard to believe in a God because of all the injustice in the world, so we talked a little bit about Libre Arbitre (free agency) and how it's a gift God gave us, but because some people use their libre arbitre wrongly, they end up putting others, and even themselves, in situations that are...unjust, on peut dire. He asked us if we have a church so he could come the next Sunday. We gave him the address of the church and exchanged numbers and set up a rendez-vous for Saturday to talk a little more. Saturday, we had our rdv with him and he completely agreed with tons of things. Like Amos 3:7 and that God does speak to His people today. He also loved the Book of Mormon. He told us that when he lived in Africa, he asked his Catholic pastor a question. The bible is to the Jews. But what about the Blacks? The Chinese? The Indians? They all existed, too. And he said the pastor just brushed off the question. So he was excited to read in the BoM.

Sunday, Ludovic came to church! Which is a miracle of itself, if you understand the situation. The Cergy building is under renovation (sorry don't remember how to spell it.) so we take a bus to St. Ouen. The bus ride is about 40ish minutes. So instead of church taking 3 hours, it takes about 5-6 hours because of the bus ride to and from St. Ouen. We explained that situation to Ludovic and he basically said that he didn't care and that he wanted to come. He enjoyed church, too. He said that it was pretty normal. We had a lesson with him after church and talked about questions he had. One of the first questions he asked is "what do you have to do to become a member of this church? Is there some ritual you have to do? Or do you just have to get baptized?" So we ended up talking a little bit about baptism. One thing he doesn't understand is the "why" of baptism.

Honestly, Ludovic was a huge miracle for me. The Lord seriously blessed us by guiding us to him.

This past week, we found 3 new amis in total. Which, if you understand the work here, is pretty tough. I've only ever done that once before. We had a drought (figuratively) with finding amis the transfer before...we started this transfer with seriously nothing, but now, because we've been relying on the Lord and working as a team (The Lord, Elder Wallace, and I), He has blessed us.

Elder Wallace is seriously one of thee smartest guys I've ever met. He is very very intelligent. We brainstorm ideas together and are always trying to find new methods to contact people and to faire le port-à-port. I'll give you some examples of things we're trying. We try spreading our message of the family (plan of salvation), talking about how others found their faith in Christ, how God affects us in our lives, finding the importance of the family from others, asking bold questions, testifying (the most important thing to do. We try testifying in every contact anyways), and even offering to help others with their family history. There are tons of people in France who know "the Mormons" because of family history. And, now if we happen to see an opportunity where either of us can use our musical abilities, we have decided that we'll even try that. Elder Wallace is super cool and is always willing to try new ideas and come up with new ideas. Seriously, I love that Elder. I never thought I'd learn so much from training...but dang, I've learned SO much in these short two weeks with Elder Wallace.

I seriously cannot express with words how much being out here in La Mission Française de Paris means. I am seriously living one of my dreams right now. And I love it.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers. Keep up your work! And never be hesitant to invite.

-Elder B. Stanton Wilson