DEAREST Family and Friends
BONJOUR! What an incredible week of MIRACLES! Well, for
starters, yesterday we had our first BAPTISM in Saint-Nazaire. It went
incredible! Words can't even describe how amazing it was.
Well, we started the week with a great FHE at the senior couple's home. We celebrated Soeur Harris's birthday and we made her a cake.
Tuesday was quite an adventure. After district meeting in Nantes, we rushed
back to Saint-Nazaire so Esperence could have her baptismal interview. She
was a few hours late, but after much opposition, she was interviewed and
everything was fine. Soeur Huntsman and I then visited with a less active
couple that lives far away and they have lots of health problems and are a little
older, but the Spirit was really strong. We challenged them to read the Book of
Mormon every day as a couple and they were a little hesitant. Later this week
Soeur Huntsman called them to share a scripture with them over the phone. She
asked if they had read every day and they said they had. Wow!
Wednesday we met with our miracle amie-Vanessa. We showed her
around the church and sang some hymns and just taught her about Jesus Christ.
The Spirit was incredibly strong. Vanessa's story just breaks my heart. Her
father completely disowned her and said she wasn't his child. We think she
lives with her boyfriend and has no family support. She is looking for a
job and is just hanging by a thread. She really didn't know who Jesus Christ
was or what He did for her so we just testified of His love for her and it was
incredible. At the end of the lesson we invited her to come to church, but she
is a little worried because the last time she went to church was for her mom's
funeral. At the end we felt prompted to tell her we'd fast for her to find a
job soon and she was so touched that we would do that for her. As we were
finishing the lesson, we noticed she felt a little uneasy about something and
we asked her if she had any more questions. She then asked us what the church's
stand on smoking is. Wow, I just told her that we've received the counsel that
smoking is against our standard. After she said, "Good, can you help me
quit smoking? I want to stop." WHAT! It was so crazy. I just about fell
off my chair. She is just so humble and willing to listen and take everything
in. As Soeur Huntsman says, "she drinks up every word we say." It is
incredible. I just love Vanessa as if she were my real sister. Every time we
see her I call her my sister, Vanessa, and her face lights up.
Later that day we helped Dod (member of a year and in the Branch
Presidency) move. We then met with Mme Juget. She lives just around the corner
from us and she just lost her husband. He had eczema, asthma, was on a feeding
tube, and lots of other health problems. I just totally clicked with her and we
just got talking and I just love her. She was really sad about her husband, so
we switched our lesson plans to Plan of Salvation and talked to her all about
how we lived with our Heavenly Father before this life and right now is the
time to prepare to meet God for after this life. She wasn't totally sure about
everything we were saying because it's very new for her, but the Spirit was
strong and she could feel our love and the Savior's love for her as we talked.
She then told us the next day was her birthday. We told her we were going to
stop by and see her.
Thursday we started the day with a little birthday surprise for
Mme Juget. We went over with our birthday hats and birthday cazoos and sang
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE and she was so happy. She was glowing! It was so fun and
she was so appreciative. After, we went to Esperence's with the Harris couple
to help prepare her for her baptism. Everything was going great til Satan rang
the doorbell. The opposition!!! She had an RDV with one of the ladies who is
over the building she lives in and later Esperence told us that the lady told
her that she shouldn't join our church..BUT Esperence told her she knows what
she wants in life and she was going to get baptized anyways. HECK YEAH! You go
Esperence!
Friday was quite the day. We started off by teaching this lady
who ONLY speaks Portuguese. I contacted her one day and she told us to follow
her and she showed us where she lived and she said to come back. So we went
over there and taught her a little lesson. Luckily, Soeur Huntsman understands
her because she speaks Spanish so Soeur Huntsman spoke Spanish with her and I
had a few memorized lines in Portuguese and the lesson went pretty well. We
just had her read the pamphlets and she just said, "Si!" to
everything so that was great! Later that night, we went to Mata's (Tongan
member). We walked in the door and BAM! Birthday surprise! She made like 5
meals with 6 different desserts (we didn't even touch one of the cakes!) and
they did a big birthday surprise for me. Ha! It was so fun. We taught William
(boy about to turn 8) a lesson and talked a little about baptism. It was such a
fun night with GREAT FOOD!!
Saturday was a fun day. We saw Mme Juget again and Jeanne (Madagscar
lady). Jeanne just totally opened up her whole life story and how hard life had
been for her. Elder Harris testified how Heavenly Father loved her and
it was a really tender moment. Jeanne is just so humble and full of love. After
that we went and saw Therese. She is a new lady we found the other week. We've
been trying to teach her or figure out a way we can teach her. She doesn't
really speak French, but her language is some African dialect that isn't even
written. So...we're not sure how to teach her, but we just sing and teach her
really slowly. We invited her teenage daughter and her friends for our big
Thanksgiving party this Saturday and they were so excited. They thought we were
so cool because we were from America. They were begging me if they could come
to Miami. Oh boy. haha
Sunday-MIRACLE DAY! Well for starters, Soeur Huntsman and I were
a little worried if Esperence would make it to church because she has a hard
time getting her son, Anthony, up for church. She also went to a wedding the
day before and we were so nervous if that had made her really tired. Long story
short, Sunday morning, we were a bit nervous, BUT it was all for nothing
because Esperence showed up and her friend Tieta (less active member) who first
introduced the church to her and it was great! Tieta is 8 1/2 months pregnant
and the awesome Hemon family brought her to church! So as we began Relief
Society, we were singing as normal and then all of the sudden Tieta just gets
SUPER hot and felt like she couldn't breath. So we took off her big sweater and
the RS President and I got some cold paper towels and we just put them all over
her neck and her head. We propped her legs up on another chair and she leaned
her head down. We stopped and said a prayer as Relief Society Sisters for Tieta
at that moment. Then they rushed to get some Priesthood so she could have a
blessing. We moved Relief Society into another room while Tieta was
recooperating with some kind members tending to her. After the meeting, we
walked in and Tieta was all better! After a piece of candy and a good hour, she
was as good as new. So then we moved to our amie class. So we start our meeting
and I look over. After 10 minutes, Tieta's eyes started rolling around again.
So then I went and got her more towels and we put her by the window with the
cold air blowing in on her. I sat next to her and she just leaned her head on
my shoulder while I patted the wet cloths on her head so Esperence could listen
to the lesson. I didn't really catch a word of the lesson because I was trying
to keep Tieta from passing out or throwing up. After she rested on my shoulder
for about 40 minutes, she felt better. We prayed so hard for her the whole
meeting. Then we had Sacrament Meeting and it was the primary program. There aren't
that many kids in our branch so Soeur Harris asked us to help participate and
sing. So I ended up sitting on the floor keeping one of the kids in his chair
all of Sacrament Meeting and we just sang really loud and it was so fun. Tieta
ended up feeling much better and everything went great.
After church everyone really came together and planned out the
rides for Esperence's baptism. 2 hours later in Nantes we had Esperence's
baptism. IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! She told us she woke up at 3am and couldn't go
back to sleep because she was so nervous. She then got on her knees in the
night and prayed that she would be able to be comforted and go back to sleep.
She did and she said she slept great. The baptism was really beautiful and the
whole branch came out 40 minutes to her baptism! There were cakes and everyone
brought their best smiles and it was so beautiful. After Esperence came out of
the font I wrapped her in the towel and she gave me the biggest hug. As we
helped her get ready in the bathroom, she told us that she felt like she was
empty before and as she came out of the water she felt like she was filled! Oh
it was so beauitful!
I am so proud of Esperence and for my sweet cousin, Kylie for
making the big decisions to be baptized this week. I love these 2 newest
members of the church and couldn't be more content. The church is true and
miracles happen every day!
I am so grateful for another wonderful week and for all your
love and support. I feel every prayer and I miss and love you all! Til next
week,
Stay righteous, be true, be you!
Avec amour,
Soeur Berge
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