First of all on Tuesday at district meeting, the Vannes Soeurs brought desert. They knew I loved (love really isn't a strong enough word) pistachios so the brought magnum chocolate pistachio ice cream bars. Everyone was staring at me as I took the first bite, haha it was hilarious. And Elder Richer-Brulé started singing "halleluiah," haha I love my district.
Well that's it folks, best week on the mission!
Totally kidding, although a transcendent, never-to-be forgotten pistachio experience, It was actually nothing compared to the other things that happened this week. I know, pretty hard to believe, haha.
Okay, let's start with Annick. Annick is the woman I told you about who Soeur Pozanaski found on her mission 30 years ago. It turns out that Annick had a lot of things holding her back, and on top of it all she is scared of water. But she has had a testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith since 1983! I will never ever ever forget the moment she was baptized. She showed such amazing faith and courage. I don't know if anyone can really know how hard that must have been for her. We had the program in the little Primary room. It was just me, Soeur Kohlert the Elders and our Ward Mission Leader, Frère Moal. I gave the talk on baptism. The whole thing was so beautiful. It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. Everyone could just feel how much our Father in Heaven loves Annick, the spirit was almost tangible. After the confirmation we sat and talked for at least an hour, it was powerful. Frère Moal said how he felt that the building had become like a temple that night...it definitely definitely felt that way. I never thought I would be priviledged to be part of a miracle like this on my mission. It was amazing!
But the miracles just kept coming this week. God is pouring out his Spirit in Rennes. Hmm, I think now I will talk about Fatima. Do you all remember Fatima and Pascal? We ported into Fatima the third day I was here in Rennes and since she was muslim we had to get her husband's permission to teach her. Then we miraculously ran into both of them on the street a few weeks later when we missed our bus. Okay, so with Fatima. We see her about once a week, but we haven't really been able to teach much about the gospel. She just tells us about recipes and cuts our hair etc. I was losing faith that we'd ever get to teach her. We were nervous and it never really seemed right. But this last Thursday we stopped by and I was really hoping that we could share a message. The setting was perfect, absolutely perfect. We started to teach her the Plan of Salvation and spirit immediatly entered the room. She asked us how she could know it was true and we prayed together. She told us that she felt something really amazing during the prayer, like she was floating or something. I was ecstatic. There have been so many miracles with her, and Soeur Kohlert and I fasted for her this month. Soeur Kohlert and I just keep getting the thought that she is extremely special.
Then....she and Pascal came to church yesterday!!!!! We have been inviting them for two months! And the best part is...the loved it. The members just kind of swarmed them ( in a very good way), because we told everyone about them, haha. They stayed at least an hour afterwards just talking to people. I don't really know how long because we left first:) And we over heard Fatima telling Soeur Grenal that she'd see her next week! Also during the Sacrament meeting Soeur Grenal leaned over to me and said that Fatima is really interested in learning more about the word of wisdom! We are having another rendez-vous with her on Thursday:) And Pascal had a really good time too. He talked with tons of members and said that it was all reallly different and fascinating. I have hopes for him too, it just might take more time:)
Okay, and if that wasn't enough miracles, remember the family that saved us last Sunday when we were stuck in the hailstorm? Where the father had met the missionaries as a student in Strasbourg, read part of the Book of Mormon and loves San Francisco? Well we stopped by their apartment on Wednesday to give them some banana bread to say "merci" and we met the mother! We set up a rendez-vous for Sunday afternoon (yesterday). Soeur Kohlert and I were so excited/nervous for it. We practiced over and over again throughout the week. Soeur Pozananski called us to talk about Annick and we told her about the family and she promised that our hard work would pay off... and it did!!!! It was the best lesson ever. Almost perfect in fact. The parents loved the family proclamation and all the children were involved. This family is prepared. The father is very very excited about all of this!! We talked about eternal families and I showed them a picture of the Oakland temple and how my parents were married there for eternity. The dad was very excited because he loves Oakland and they all like the picture. We have another rendez-vous this Friday! Our president has been pushing us to find families because apparently it's hard to do that in this mission. I was feeling pretty discouraged especially in the hailstorm right before we found them... God works in mysterious ways!
Well everyone, that's it for now, tune in next week for the next exciting installment!
No comments:
Post a Comment