Bonjour a Tous!
This week has been a very good week full of blessings from the Lord. I feel so happy for all the many things I have learned and been able to do this week.
Last Monday we had the opportunity to go a little chateau (castle) for a visit, it was really cool. It was partially a zoo so we got to enjoy our afternoon. 🙂 That night we had a soirée familial, (Family Home Evening). Here in St. Etienne it isn’t as big as Perpignan. There is only 1 person that comes, but we are working hard on making it grow.
Tuesday, we had an RDV with a potential. She came to the church. Apparently she had been taught in the past, but she had never learned about the Book Of Mormon. The first words she said in the RDV is “that she doesn’t believe that God appeared to Joseph Smith”, she was very stuck on that thought. For that reason, she did not ever learn more. We asked if we could just start at the beginning. We with began with Gods love and proceeded through the whole story up to the Book of Mormon. She thought that was what we called the Bible. 🙂 It was very nice to explain to her the Book of Mormon and its importance. The spirit was very strong, She accepted a Book Of Mormon and agreed to meet with us again. Her name will be F.
That evening we had an RDV with M who we had helped the week before, but she canceled! Luckily the Lord had a plan, there was a less active member who was coming with us to teach her, so we ended up just meeting with him! He is from Africa and his name means archangel. Super cool name. He was very happy with the RDV and he ended up coming to church!
Wednesday. Something not important, but the that makes me happy is that we live across the street from a bakery… and dominos pizza! Best French and American places ever. 😉 For lunch, they have 5€ pizzas. For a treat, we got one. After lunch that we went to visit a member who is very interested in genealogy, we went with another member and we had a discussion about our ancestors and about the story’s we know and how they can help us today, she was super happy. 🙂 She knows sooooooo much about her family! It is crazy, and we spoke about the importance of family’s and temple work.
Then we went to see our Ami C who was doing well. She seems to forget things a lot, so we go slow. We make sure to review and go over everything we have taught to make sure she is understanding. 🙂 She is making progress.
That evening, we went to visit an inactive member who is super nice that we visited last week we spoke about the Savoir and his atonement. He wrote us saying that he had really felt the spirit and that he feels closer to coming back. I laid it down in solemn testimony about the Christ and his love and he had started to cry and said he will start making efforts to come back. The Lord is great. 🙂
Thursday
We went to Lyon for a zone training meeting. We met up with the whole zone and discussed the temple. Our goal as a mission has been making a change with the new president. This country is getting its first temple in 1 year and we as missionaries are here to prepare for it. The Lord is putting a lot of trust in us to announce this to the people. We are not meeting and talking to people with the goal of simply baptizing them, We are going with the goal to get them ready to enter the temple and be able to perform the ordinances for their whole family. That they may be united in the eternities. We discussed how to make the temple a bigger part of our contacting and teaching. 🙂 It was really good and we were able to discuss using our iPad’s to sharing the message of eternal families and of the temple.
Then, right after that, We got back into the city and went to an RDV with
a potential, who had been contacted a few days before I got to St. Etienne. His name is P and he met us at the church. We gave him a little tour of the chapel and telling him what we do in each area. We sat down in the chapel and started to share our message. He told us he has felt that he is losing his faith and he wants to grow it, and that’s why he came. He was very accepting of the message and the Spirit was very strong. I almost immediately felt the impression that I should challenge him to baptism… In this first RDV! I have never done that before! So I did it. I asked him, if when he receives his answer from God about the Book Of Mormon if he would be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God, he said Oui! (YES!!!!) 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 (OK WordPress needs to have an emoticon for a missionary happy dance) It was really amazing and we will be seeing him again tomorrow.
That evening we taught English class which went well. I still really love teaching English as a second language! Especially to French people because they have a really great accent! I will be coming home with a French accent just so you all know!
Friday we had an RDV on the outskirts of town in a place we have never been. We get on the bus with plans to meet the guy at a bus stop. As we go along we can tell it is a very Muslim area, with only HLM’s. (it’s the French equivalent to projects, government housing for the poor) As we mount the hill near the bus stop we see a Catholic Church! Yay! 🙂 As we pass the church and stop at our stop we realize that we are right in front of a mosque. It’s 2 pm, prayer time, and there are about 200 Muslims walking towards the mosque all around us going to prayer. Here we are two Blonde Blue Eyed American Mormons standing amongst them. 🙂 It was quite the experience. He met us there and we walked over to a little park. There we taught him right in between mosque and a Catholic Church. We taught him about the Book Of Mormon and we gave him a copy after which he introduced us to his friend who is also interested!
Then we go to another very important lesson. We go see M who had gone very well the first time. We arrive with a member and ask how her reading went. She said it went well, and in opening the book she told us she read ahead!!! 3 chapters after what we had given her. 🙂 Super great. She told us that she believes there is truth in it, she doesn’t know fully, yet but it’s good! With the temple on our minds, we taught her of the temple and the eternal families. Then that prompting came again… I had to do it! I invited her to prepare to enter the holy temple by being baptized in 6 weeks! She gladfully accepted. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 She has been very receptive to the spirit. 🙂
So, this week I would love prayers for both P and M. They have both accepted to follow their Savoir in being baptized.
Have a great week! I love you all!
Elder Peterson
Elder Aaron Peterson 