Bonjour errbody!
First off, wow I can't believe little JJ has cancer! Poor guy.
He will be in my prayers! TEAM JAY! He is strong, he got dis :) can I get a
bracelet or two? or a shirt or something to support him in France?
This week was wonderful as always as a missionary for the true
church of Jesus Christ.
This week we've just been doing a lot of prepping for Jeanne's
baptism next Saturday. Although we did have some cool experiences.
Tuesday we saw Mme Juget and she is finally starting to open up. We read 3 Nephi 11 with her and afterwards said, "Well that's the same
doctrine that's in the Bible." Well of course it is. :) It's another
testimony of Jesus Christ and it also the true word of God. Lately I've been
sharing one of my favorite points from Elder Tad R. Callister's talk about the
Book of Mormon:
"The Bible is one witness of Jesus Christ; the Book of Mormon is
another. Why is this second witness so crucial? The following illustration may
help: How many straight lines can you draw through a single point on a piece of
paper? The answer is infinite.
For a moment, suppose that single point represents the Bible and
that hundreds of those straight lines drawn through that point represent different
interpretations of the Bible and that each of those interpretations represents
a different church.
What happens, however, if on that piece of paper there is a
second point representing the Book of Mormon? How many straight lines could you
draw between these two reference points: the Bible and the Book of Mormon? Only
one. Only one interpretation of Christ’s doctrines survives the testimony of
these two witnesses."
It just makes so much sense why we have the Book of Mormon and I
think Mme Juget is really starting to recognize it's truthfulness.
Soeur Sorenson and I decided to be bolder this week. We felt
impressed to stop by the 'ping pong' family. Well when we got there, all the
lights were off and I started thinking maybe I misread the Spirit. Well, nope,
the Spirit is always right. Soeur Sorenson, luckily, was listening and said to
me, "Soeur Berge, what if they are home and are ready for the gospel! It
doesn't hurt to just ring the doorbell." Before I could say anything my
little stubborn, southern, wonderful companion rang that doorbell..you could
say it was a 'celestial sonner' (shout out Soeur Wynn ;) Literally a few
seconds after she rung the bell, the house lights up! The dad came to the door,
laughs, and says, "Oh no you again? I already told you I'm not coming to
your church" haha so we started off just seeing how he and the family was
doing and then he says, "You know, I searched that website that was on
your card!" (this never happens) He then explained that he thought our
religion was a little strange. Well, turns out he thought we were Amish. So we
explained and cleared some things up (the Amish are wonderful people by the
way, we just aren't Amish). So he continues to tell us how he read about how us
missionaries leave our countries for 18 months or 2 years. And then I felt
really bold and the Spirit was just poking and poking so I said,
"Monsieur, do you know WHY I am not in my country right now?" and he
goes, "Why?" And I say, "Because our message is true." His
demeanor kind of changed and we began testifying of the truth of the gospel. He
then says, "Yeah, but I already told you I'm not interested.." But
the Spirit told us to not quit! so then I say, "I have a present for
you." haha and then I whip out the Book of Mormon and told him it
was the proof that we have the truth. We explained what the Book of Mormon was
and we asked him to read and pray and he said he would! It was the coolest
experience! and to think it all started with ping-pong..I'm so grateful
for my awesome companion who listened to the Spirit and for the Spirit
prompting us to not give up!
Later we met Yannick for the first time at the church with Frere
Poisbeau and Frere Hemon. It was such a cool lesson. Yannick is from Gabbon and
has so much faith. He is already so believing. I really learned so much from
just listening to his own testimony he had about God and how He answers
prayers. We shared the message of the restoration and encouraged him to come to
church. He is struggling with coming to church, but he accepted a baptismal invite, so now it's up to him to
do his part to find the answers and find the truth.
Wednesday we had a really strange experience. We call it,
"Fanny Fanny Double Wammy." So after our RDV with Jeanne, we were
waiting at the bus stop. We had about 14 minutes before our bus came and there
was a girl sitting on the bench waiting for the bus. So I went and sat next to
her and started talking to her. She told me she wasn't believing, but she loves
life. She really loved to laugh. She laughed at just about everything I
said..and I'm really not that funny. But she was really nice. Her name is
Fanny. While were testifying that our Heavenly Father loves us, this lady walks
up and asked us something about the bus. She sees Soeur Sorenson's plaque and
says, "Jesus Christ!! I'm converted too! How do you pray? Why are you so
happy! Teach me how to pray?!" Turns out she is a little off because she
was in an accident a while ago. She was..interesting. She then looks at Fanny
and she's like "Where's your badge?" And we explained that Fanny was
a friend. She then starts telling Fanny how important it is to believe. I could
just see Fanny's face and I know she was thinking, "What the heck is going
on right now?" We then got on the bus and sat next to Fanny. This lady
then gets on and comes and sits next to us 3 and continues to ask us to help
her with her life and she said she wanted to come to church. After a while she
then introduces herself, "Oh by the way, my name is Fanny." WHAT?! I
have never met a Fanny in my life and now I've met two Fanny's. So crazy Fanny
then looks around the bus and sees a man right next to us and said, "Are
you believing? WE HAVE TO BELIEVE!" She then proceeds to preach to the
whole bus, "EVERYONE WE NEED TO BELIEVE IN GOD!" It was something
else. And this whole time the Fannys think that the other Fanny is with
us. Too many Fanny's in one place. What a night. In the end we bonded with
Fanny #1 and actually got a rendez-vous with her haha I guess you could say we
have a special bond :)
Friday we took Jeanne to Cagund, a ville about 1 hour and 1/2
away so she could meet with the bishop's wife in Nantes. Jeanne really wanted
to hear the gospel in her own language before he baptism so the wonderful Harris
couple drove us all the way over there..and boy was it worth it. Jeanne just
felt so comfortable and loved by this awesome lady from Madagascar. Then Soeur
Josephson went through all the lessons in Malagasy..what a beautiful language. The coolest part was, I could understand everything they're were saying. Gift
of tongues is real! The Spirit was so strong and Soeur Josephson is one of the
nicest ladies. You could just feel angels in the room assisting us with Jeanne.
Throughout Jeanne's whole conversion process, I know there have been angels
helping us get her ready for baptism. It was an incredible lesson and after
Jeanne felt at such ease. Soeur Josephson then told her she was part of her
family now and she is welcome to come and stay over whenever she wanted. Jeanne
just started crying because she explained how lonely she has been since her
divorce and how it has been so hard not having any family who live by her. She
then said that the church is her family and she knows this is the right path
for her. Wow so cool! On top of that The Josephsons are just incredible. They
helped translate part of the Doctrine and Covenants into Malagasy for the
church and she testified that as she and her husband were translating they
would begin to cry because it was so beautiful and they knew that those were
the words God chose in Malagasy. So cool!! Talk about modern day Joseph
Smith!
Saturday we had the baptismal interview and she came out
glowing. She was so happy about everything. She chose Elder Harris to baptize
her and he is going to say it in Malagasy. So cool. Jeanne is helping him with
the pronunciation.
This week we also passed by the Lesouef's so I could have one of
my favorite doctors tell me what's wrong with my feet. It's definitely
Haglund's but he said that it wasn't a big deal and he said they could go away
if I don't wear shoes that inflame the tendon. But I just love the Lesouefs!
Seriously so awesome. We haven't been able to see them in a while because they
are insanely busy. Prayers that they will be more free and open to the
message.
Thank you all for your support, love and prayers! We see
miracles every day and I am so grateful to be serving here at this moment and
time. This gospel is true and I just want everyone to hear it; it's so wonderful!
:)
Have a great week!
ALSO- next week's email won't be very long because Soeur
Sorenson and I will be in Paris next P-day so have a great week! Talk to ya in
2!
GROS BISOUS
Soeur Berge
Soeur Berge
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