This week was pretty amazing...seriously the mission just gets more and more beautiful every week.
Seriously, our amis teach us way more than we teach them. I was particularly touched this week by our little friends Damien and Ophelie. We've been teaching Damien since I got here. He is an energetic nine-year-old. Sometimes it's hard to teach him because he's all over the place and has a short attention span, but then, when you're least expecting it, he'll say something super profound. Lately we've been trying to get him interested in reading the Book of Mormon, not an easy task...(Congrats mom and dad for helping me be interested in the Book of Mormon when I was young!) We started out the lesson with the question, "why do you think the Book of Mormon is important?" And little 6-year old Ophelie, who never participates and doesn't really like praying, immediately responded, "To know Jesus!" It was pretty powerful coming from such a little girl. Then we discussed how we can receive a testimony and why it was important to have one...we asked Damien if he had prayed about the Book of Mormon and if he thought it was true... He responded that one evening he had prayed and asked God if the Book of Mormon was true. Then he described the dream he had that night...that he was in the clouds and that Jesus Christ appeared to him and simply told him that the Book of Mormon was true. All of us adults kind of just started at each other... It was pretty amazing. There we were thinking we were teaching Damien, but he was teaching us. He has such pure faith. Anyways, this experience made me think of Luke:
Luke 10:21
- New Testament
¶In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
God reveals his mysteries to those who will accept them. Children are so full of faith and so teachable. We should all try to be more like them.
So last week we fixed a baptismal date with Murielle, remember? Well, we were pretty nervous to talk to her about the Word of Wisdom and we weren't sure if we should bring it up right away... we felt like we should and so we did. I was SO impressed with her! As soon as we told her she just said,"ok, if it's what I got to do, I'll do it!" She has such a desire to follow Christ, she's going to do whatever it takes. It's not going to be easy...she smokes... a lot. But she has already started to cut down. She is amazing!
You may be wondering what happened next with Philippe? He made the huge step to get baptized, now what? Well, this week has really showed me that baptism is JUST the gate. There is so much awaiting Philippe and the Lord has wasted no time putting him to work.
When we went to see him and Aline this week, he had a huge smile just plastered on his face...he looked like a different person. We asked him how his scripture reading was going and he told us that he can't stop anymore. He reads morning, noon, and in the evening. Seriously, he's on fire. Haha, he told us how he realized that he's much more emotional lately... he realized this when he started crying during a movie the other day. He NEVER cries during movies! haha he said, "I cry all the time now, and it's your fault!"
Anyways, we taught him about the priesthood and he was pretty shocked that he could get it immediately. But he said "if you say I'm ready, and if it's what the Lord wants, I'm willing." So after church on Sunday, Philippe was ordained a priest... And Heavenly Father wasted no time putting him to work. Literally, just as everyone walked out of the bishop's office after the ordination, we found out that a brother that lives in Douai (where Philippe and Aline live) was sick and nobody was able to take him the sacrament. "Philippe can do it! He's a priest now!" said our ward mission leader, frere Leterme. So just one week after his baptism, Philippe is already serving others with his priesthood...so cool.
So, this week pretty much all the members went to England to go to the temple for the week. Tomorrow the Sanchez family is getting sealed! How wonderful:) and Soeur Koch is finally able to go back to the temple after years of waiting... Makes me excited to be able to go back to the temple soon:)
Well, that's it for this week. Can't wait to see what will happen in the coming week. Thank you for your letters and encouragement, it means a lot. And to those who haven't written recently, don't be shy! Haha here's a less than subtle hint to write me:
Remember, it's
Soeur Lorraine Hilton
22 Rue Doncre
62000 Arras
France
Can't wait to hear from you ALL.
Love,
Soeur Hilton
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