Hello Family!!
This week was a tough week, not gonna lie. But it was also such a rewarding
week.
So, Wednesday, we had district meeting. One of the Sister Training Leaders
gave a formation on using analogies and object lessons in our teachings. It was
a pretty good teaching...even if we are encouraged not to use analogies nor
object lessons because that can complicate teachings and sometimes, teach false
doctrine. But it was a pretty fun formation nevertheless.
Thursday and Friday were all finding days. It was pretty tough. These past
weeks have been rather finding weeks, which can be uplifting...but it rather
tends to get a little discouraging. Sometimes. Friday night, both of us were
feeling pretty down. We still had some time and had NO idea what to do. Then we
prayed and felt like we should go pass by a non active member. I had to pee, so
on the way, we found a place where I could do so. Then we went onward. As we
were going to this member's house, we contacted a lady that was super believing
and super into hearing more. She told us many times "It's so good what you're
doing. Continue well. Don't get discouraged." That was exactly what I needed at
that time to help me keep going. We talked with her for about 35 minutes and
shared the Restoration with her and gave her a Book of Mormon and prayed with
her in the Street. She actually lives over in a place called Cognac, which is
more than an hour away from La Rochelle, and it is in Bordeaux Stake, which
isn't in our mission. I hope that the missionaries in the Angoulême branch can
make their way out there.
Thursday night, we went out to the Bishop's house with the Fitt Couple. We
were going to go with Mehdi, but he decided that he doesn't want to get
baptized, and so he declined the offer. But the Bishop still wanted us to come
despite that. It was really neat to be their and talk with him and his family.
For our spiritual thought, we focused on the children. We talked about Joseph
Smith's story and had the kids explain what happened. It was pretty cool to hear
the story in the words of children. Right before leaving, we discussed with the
Bishop about his personal missionary work. We invited him to invite some of his
friends to join them for a family home evening.
Saturday, was a finding day as well. But it seemed a little better than
Friday. And then Saturday night, we ended up walking about an hour to go to
someone's house to visit him. His name is Gendry and he is very, very much so
evangelical. Which is great, but it makes teaching really tough. You need to
know the bible super well to teach avid evangelists. He ended up asking us
questions on some things, like authority, laying on of hands and stuff. He
doesn't believe that you need the laying on of hands to recieve the Holy Ghost.
Which is sort of true. You don't need the laying of hands to FEEL the Holy
Ghost. But to receive the GIFT of the Holy Ghost, which is the right to have the
Holy Ghost with us at all times as long as we are worthy of it, it must be given
by the laying on of hands. Sadly, we didn't know scriptures to help him
understand that, but now, we know some scriptures for future reference. Hebrews
6:1-2, Actes 8:14-17. It was a pretty cool rdv even with that. It was just
awesome to be around people that really love the word of God.
Sunday, the day that made the whole week SO much better!! :) Kicked it off
with a super missionary minute. Every Sunday we have a Minute
Missionnaire (missionary minute) in Priesthood Meeting that we use to try to get
members excited about missionary work. Normally, missionaries just share
miracles that happened during the week, which is good, but I've learned during
my mission that there is a block between missionaries and french members. First,
we're missionaries, we're supposed to see miracles every week. It's expected.
Second, normally we're American. So what we say automatically doesn't apply to
them because they are French (just a little bit of the French mentality in
general.) But I have learned that when we ask the members to share their
experiences and encourage them to pray to have missionary experiences, they
listen, they get excited, they apply it to themselves. This Sunday, three
leaders shared their missionary experiences. The spirit was strong and the
members seemed like they were actually listening to them. It was cool.
Then, after church was the Swanepoel's baptism. The spirit was so strong.
Honestly, I got the same feelings that I used to get performing. But it felt
better. It was super strong. Everything went well with their baptisms and
confirmations. We then had a ward dinner after and ate and conversed. It was so
awesome. That experience is probably the best experience I've had on my mission.
Being able to be one of their missionaries. They were definitely prepared for
this time. Bokke and Georget were both smiling from ear to ear after their
baptisms and confirmations. We'll be starting with the New Member lessons for
them this week. I'm so excited. :)
And that was the week. Hey, you finally got the package back!!! Haha. Elder
Paitrault tried sending it to Cergy, but they never gave me a notice that I had
a package...ha. The Post has some problems in France... I guess I'll benefit
from that after my mission alors.
I hope Kaysen stops growing. ;) I gotta stay the biggest. :) He can have
the biggest feet, but I need to be the tallest. How much does he weigh?
I love you all. Have a great week. :)
-Elder B. Stanton Wilson
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