Cher everyone,
Let me just say..this week was one of the best weeks of my
life!!!
Talk about miracles!
Ok, so last Monday we had a fabulous FHE with Esperence (our
recent convert) and her son, Anthony. We talked about how she felt when she
came out of the water. She said, "Before I entered the water I felt empty
like I was missing something. Then coming out of the water, it was as if I was
being filled." We decided to do an object lesson and use a cup and a bowl.
We put the cup into the bowl and overfilled the cup and read the verses in 3
Nephi 12:2,4 and 6. It was such a fun lesson and it's so awesome to watch
Esperence progress in the gospel so rapidly. She was really ready.
Tuesday we had a full day with RDV's (appointments) all day long. They all
ended up falling through except for the last one. It really taught me about the
principle of faith and how we can't lose hope and faith even when other people
aren't ready for our message. At first we met our member, Chloe, who is
preparing for her mission in New Zealand. She was at the church when our
appointment fell through. We decided to just port around the church. After a
while with no success, we knocked on the door of this older woman and she said she
wasn't interested. I felt like we needed to sing for her, so I asked her if we
could sing a hymn for her. She said ok and while we sang she began to cry. She
thanked us for singing and said it made her whole week. She was really funny,
but in the end, said she just wasn't interested in church, but we were really
sweet girls. Later that day, Soeur Huntsman and I decided to go
porting all around these farms. We were in the middle of NO WHERE, but it made
me think that even these people on the outskirts of the city need the gospel too.
Later that night we taught our "mamie" Mme Jouget. We decided to take
the Senior Couple, the Harris's, with us. As we taught her there just seemed to
be this wall up. She has a hard time accepting that we knew God before this
life and that our Heavenly Father has an actual body. It's very interesting.
She doesn't really seem to impressed with the Book of Mormon, but we testified
and decided that she just needed to watch the Restoration film and ponder it
for herself. Later this week we called her and she told us that it was a
beauitful film. She said she loved it and that she was going to watch it again!
What a contrast. She is progressing so well. I really love this lady. She just
lost her dear husband not more than a month ago and she is still all smiles and
super kind. I just know the gospel will bring even more peace to her life once
she prays to know and receives the answer for herself.
Wednesday we went to see a less-active family in our branch.
The only reason they can't come to church is because there's no bus that goes
to the church and it's in the neighboring city where no other members live.
They made us a really nice meal and sometimes as missionaries we do more good
by just listening to members talk about their problems and allow them to solve
their own problems. I've learned that a lot of people know between right and
wrong, but with patience and a listening ear..they always tend to come around
:) After we taught our amie, Vanessa! It was her birthday last week and we
got her a warm scarf since she seems to be struggling to find a job and doesn't
have any support from her family. She almost burst into tears and it was so touching. We watched the Jesus Christ film with her at the church. After the film
ended, she told us that she believed in Jesus Christ. Before she didn't really
believe, but now she believed and knew Jesus Christ really lived and was the
Savior of the world. It was amazing!
Thursday, we had Thanksgiving as a zone and it was so much fun. We played games and laughed and it was so strange for us all to relax for a few
hours. We had a wonderful big meal and it was so much fun. It is so fun to be
with other missionaries!
Friday we had some appointments in the morning, but they ended
up falling through so we visited a member who is having a rough time. After we
took Chloe to "BURGER HOUSE." This American guy married a French lady
and they have the best Burger Restaurant! We tried to get him to come to
church, but he said he couldn't, but would love to have us over some time. We're going to go back and try to get his info, but it was super fun to have a
contact in English. Super strange, but it was so fun. We got a great picture
with him. He's so cool. We're going to convert his family. After we went with
Jeanne to the Poisbeau's for an FHE. They are all just super
nice people. It was especially cool because Soeur Poisbeau's daughter is in
Madagascar as a missionary and Jeanne is from Madagascar. It was so sweet.
Saturday was a big day. We spent the whole day preparing for our
huge Thanksgiving party. We spent most of the day making food and decorations
and just getting all the games ready. It was so stressful, but with the help of
some great members, we got everything done and it was SO MUCH FUN! We had
bobbing for apples, pin the tail on the turkey, and beignet eating contests. It
was such a blast and the members had such a great time. One of our members,
Mata brought more than 20 non-member friends. We also had some other non
members show up and we had about half members and half nonmembers. It was
incredible and such a success!
Yesterday was one of the most incredible days ever. Esperence
received the gift of the Holy Ghost and became an official member of the
church. Later we were planning to go stop by some members on the directory
that we had never met before. Our biggest goal for the past few months has been
to find a family ready to be baptized before Christmas as a gift for Christ for
Christmas. On the way to these non-practicing members, Soeur Huntsman felt
impressed to knock on a few doors. The first door we knocked on was a cute
family about to eat dinner. As soon as they opened the door their cat RAN out
the door and the whole family ran out of the apartment trying to get their
cat. Soeur Huntsman and I helped them corner their cat under a car and it was
quite a sight to see. After about 15 minutes, we eventually got the cat and the family told us they weren't interested in listening to our message, but we were
nice. We asked if we could sing a Christmas hymn for them and they let us come
in and sing for them. It was great. The next few houses we didn't see any
success either. Then we got to this one door. It was red and seemed very
welcoming. We rang the bell and the mom answered on the machine. Soeur
Huntsman told her who we were and when she heard we were missionaries she told
us to wait and she was going to send her husband. (this was not normal) So he
opened the door and told us to come in because it was cold. After talking with
him, his wife came down and some of the kids came out and listened to who we
were and what our message was about. They were very practicing Catholics and
they were so loving. They seemed to hang on every word we said and were
really intrigued we were American's just going door to door trying to preach
the gospel. After we introduced the Book of Mormon and told them about the
Restoration, they told us thanks for sharing our message and if we ever needed
anything we were always welcome to come back. Of course with me being a really
pushy person I asked if we could sing a song for them. The dad shut the door
and said OF COURSE! And their whole family got really excited and said,
"LET'S SING BY THE MANGER!" They had just set up a little Christmas
manger that day that was just beautiful. We sang with this beautiful family and
then we asked if we could kneel down and pray. They said yes. So we kneel down
and he asked us what kind of prayers we say and we told them that our prayers
are a conversation with our Heavenly Father and we close in the name of Jesus
Christ. Soeur Huntsman offered a beautiful prayer and not even a second after
we said 'amen,' the mom said, "You must come back to our home. We are
going to feed you dinner and we want to talk with you more." WHAT?! This
was crazy. We set up a time to go back and see them next Sunday afternoon for
lunch after church. They are a REAL French family with FIVE beautiful kids
between the ages of 9-18. After we left their beautiful home, Soeur Huntsman and
I were just frozen outside of their house, not by the cold, but because we
FOUND A FAMILY. We actually found a family! After 3 months of non-stop
contacting only families, we finally found a big, beautiful family who we are
determined to bring to the church of Jesus Christ.
After that experience we had last night, we were so grateful we
had been obedient and put in everything we had to find a family. It gave me
increased faith that people here are ready for the gospel.
Oh how I love my mission. I am so grateful for the opportunity
to be here! I love this work. I love this gospel. It's a great time to be alive
and to be happy!
Have a great week!
Stay righteous, be true, be you!
Avec amour,
Soeur
Berge
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