Monday, September 5, 2016

FINDING FOREVER FAMILIES!

Monday we went and chilled in Bordeaux the day time. We just went to
different shops and stuff. In the evening, we went out and contacted a
little bit in the evening.

Bourdeaux
So school goes back in this week in France, and so people are finally
coming back from vacation. It's been super awesome because so many more
people are in ville, and because we're right by a university we meet a
ton of college kids. They're usually pretty chill people and open to
talk. They're not quite stuck in their little prideful realm that most
French people tend to yet, so it's a good

Tuesday we tried passing some less actives but didn't have much
success in coming in contact. We saw Emmanuel, a recent convert, and
he explained to us how he wants to go on a mission. He said it
wouldn't be possible because his grandma is against is and the rest of
his family likewise (they're not members). But we told him that if
he's received an answer from God to go on a mission, then it's
necessary that he "goes and does what the lord commands."

Later that day we had a few rdvs fall through but that gave us some
time to go contact. We had some decent success contacting that day,
including a Brazilian woman. She was super cool, but unfortunately she
lives in the other sector in Bordeaux.. We've literally had to pass 8
people over 11  - Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil.

Wednesday we had district meeting in Bordeaux. We went with a member
and the sisters to go give a blessing to a sister in the ward named
Sister Petit. Afterwards we just went to go contact in the park and we
were able to teach three lessons and find a new person to teach. It's
a girl from French New Guinea and she super interested to come to
church.




Thursday we had a district meeting in Perigueux. Perigueux is a small
village that takes an hour and a half by train to get to. But it was a
fun district meeting and we went to some bagel shop in ville
afterwards. 
District meeting and number of transfers


















It's been well over a year and a half since I've eaten a
bagel! But the funny thing is that I decided to get a cheeseburger
when I got there because they looked good... Haha so I still haven't
had one. But I miss my Einsteins! That evening we got home and
contacted around the park.

Friday we had a few rdvs set up, but two of them feel through. We had
one in the morning with a guy named Jordan from Guadalupe. He's 19 and
He's so cool!! We had a lesson with him and our ward mission leader.
Jordan knew the missionaries from before. But he just loves God and
Jesus Christ and he loves being around all of us! Our ward mission
leader who's about 65 has just taken him under his wing and helped him
so much already. There were some members cleaning the chapel when we
had finished, and Jordan offered to help out and did some stuff! Hahah
in my mind I was joking "yo you're not baptized, you don't have to do
that!" Hahah I didn't say it, but it just shows how cool of a guy he
is.

We also had a rdv with Bruno, a recent convert. He had disappeared for
a few weeks and we were getting worried, but it turns out he just went
on a little two week vacation to un-stress a little bit. But he's
alive and doing well, so we just visited with him for a bit.

We had another rdv fall through on Friday evening, so we contacted
more... Literally we've been contacting harder and more this week than
ever in my mission. Elder Barben and I have been getting really good
at turning most conversations into a lesson. Our mission has a goal of
getting twenty lessons (to Amis) a week.

Saturday we had ward council, and then we did service for the
Catherine family. We had to move a bunch of heavy stuff from a
delivery into their apartment. They're building a home, and so they
received a lot of supplies and stuff. They got a lot of boxes of tile
and a bunch of grout.. I recognized all of the stuff they got, but too
bad I didn't work with my dad enough on tile to know how to do it
all..  Haha

After we contacted for a bit (are you seeing a nice pattern of France
missionary work? I usually don't mention contacting in my emails). It
included multiple rejections but also two nice lessons with some young
college students. College students this week have been my favorite
because they're so open to talk to you, easy to relate with, and super
chill! And plus, who wouldn't want to talk to some Americans? Haha
being a foreigner is great.

There was a family home evening activity at the chapel that evening
where we played games, had a spiritual thought and had some food. It
was fun and we had one ami come hang out for a bit.



Sunday we had church. Our friend Jordan came and he got integrated so
fast! He's met a lot of members and he seemed so in tune when he was
there. He was participating and everything and he seemed to like it.
We're going to a FHE thing with him Monday evening to go with the
young adults and have some fun.

After church we went out to try to get two more lessons to reach our
goal of twenty lessons, and the first to people we talked to were
super open and they listened to us. We weren't able to get any follow
up info on them, but the guy took a Book of Mormon and the girl (who
said she's atheist) said she would try praying to God.

We also had dinner with some members that evening. It's a family where
the mother is from Madagascar and the dad is from Guadalupe. It was a
really good dinner appointment!

For contacting, we've been trying to talk to more families and it's
been going well.. we are still waiting to find a family that wants to
meet with us again, but the other families have been at least touched!

With this goal of twenty lessons a week, it might seem like all we
care about is numbers, but I can feel the power that all the
missionaries have and I can see the work improving. In our zone, we
had 5 of the 10 equipes achieve this goal. The past few weeks, only 1
of the 10 has been getting it. Just this week we were able to find 5
new investigators. For those of you that served in South America, it
might not seem like a lot... But the lord is working miracles in this
land in preparation for the temple in Paris!!

Love you All!!

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