Bonjour family & friends!
We started off this week by watching the last session of General Conference because with the time difference it was too late to watch live. One of my favorite quotes came from Elder Holland's talk when he said, "Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever." I love the idea about being persistent and believing in good things to come!
This week on Friday night we held an activity called, "pancakes, ping pong & penseè spiritual." We thought it would be a fun way to get ours Amis to come to an activity and to get to know the members in a fun environment. We actually had an ami come that we have been having a hard time getting a lesson with and I think it was a really good experience for her! Sunday we had all three of our Amis show up to church so we were super happy about that. We are doing another activity tonight so hopefully we will be able to get some new Amis to come as well!
We did lots and lots of contacting this week. Which is good because that means we had lots and lots of miracles. We had the coolest miracle this week! We decided to try contacting in a new spot. We got off the mettro and started walking around but there was basically nobody. We decided that it would be best to just start heading back to the main city. We were a little discouraged because we felt like it wasn't a very good use of time because we weren't able to talk to very many people. As we were walking back we stopped and started contacting one of the first people we saw. As we were talking with her, she looked down at the Book of Mormon and then said she has heard of us before and she wasn't interested. We explained that most of the things the TV says about our church are wrong. We were able to give her a brief Restoration lesson. We asked if we could schedule another time to meet with her and she said no. We talked a little more with her and what she believed. Again we asked if she had another time we could meet with her. She looked around and said, "Okay fine.. But only to work on your French!" I just looked at Soeur Witham and we both smiled and said "hmmm sure..." We were able to schedule a lesson with her for the next day! We went to her house and were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation. We talked with her for a long time because she had so many different but really interesting questions. She shared with us a spiritual experience she had where she said she felt the love of God really strongly. She said she didn't do anything to deserve such a great experience and she doesn't know what to do now. We told her that she can feel the love of God all the time. We invited her to pray and she said she would do it. She says she can't even remember the last time she has prayed. After talking with her for awhile we asked if we could come back another time. She said that she admires our conviction and courage but that we couldn't come back. We decided to keep talking and testifying to her. She has some unique beliefs that are definitely different from anybody else that I have talked with. She believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God but the atonement wasn't necessary because we are all just going to live with God again. She said the purpose of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was to show God's love for us. We finally really had to leave so we asked her one more time if we could meet with her again. I explained that we had a lot more things to talk about that I know can make a big difference in her life. She finally said yes and we scheduled a lesson with her for this week!
Our lesson with her really got me thinking about the power that comes from the love of God. When someone feels the love of God it can literally change their life. That's what it has done for this lady. She says its something she has constantly been thinking about and wants to know what she needs to do. One of the best ways to see and feel God's love is through the blessings of the gospel. When we reflect and decide to focus on all the blessings we have been given, we can not help but feel the love of God. The happiest people in life are those that choose to focus on the blessings and not the trials. When we remember the blessings we remember the love of God. President Monson said, "Your Heavenly Father loves you--each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there." What a great promise and blessing we have to always have access to the "l'amour de Dieu!" We have so much to be grateful for. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Soeur Johnson
We started off this week by watching the last session of General Conference because with the time difference it was too late to watch live. One of my favorite quotes came from Elder Holland's talk when he said, "Keep loving. Keep trying. Keep trusting. Keep believing. Keep growing. Heaven is cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever." I love the idea about being persistent and believing in good things to come!
This week on Friday night we held an activity called, "pancakes, ping pong & penseè spiritual." We thought it would be a fun way to get ours Amis to come to an activity and to get to know the members in a fun environment. We actually had an ami come that we have been having a hard time getting a lesson with and I think it was a really good experience for her! Sunday we had all three of our Amis show up to church so we were super happy about that. We are doing another activity tonight so hopefully we will be able to get some new Amis to come as well!
We did lots and lots of contacting this week. Which is good because that means we had lots and lots of miracles. We had the coolest miracle this week! We decided to try contacting in a new spot. We got off the mettro and started walking around but there was basically nobody. We decided that it would be best to just start heading back to the main city. We were a little discouraged because we felt like it wasn't a very good use of time because we weren't able to talk to very many people. As we were walking back we stopped and started contacting one of the first people we saw. As we were talking with her, she looked down at the Book of Mormon and then said she has heard of us before and she wasn't interested. We explained that most of the things the TV says about our church are wrong. We were able to give her a brief Restoration lesson. We asked if we could schedule another time to meet with her and she said no. We talked a little more with her and what she believed. Again we asked if she had another time we could meet with her. She looked around and said, "Okay fine.. But only to work on your French!" I just looked at Soeur Witham and we both smiled and said "hmmm sure..." We were able to schedule a lesson with her for the next day! We went to her house and were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation. We talked with her for a long time because she had so many different but really interesting questions. She shared with us a spiritual experience she had where she said she felt the love of God really strongly. She said she didn't do anything to deserve such a great experience and she doesn't know what to do now. We told her that she can feel the love of God all the time. We invited her to pray and she said she would do it. She says she can't even remember the last time she has prayed. After talking with her for awhile we asked if we could come back another time. She said that she admires our conviction and courage but that we couldn't come back. We decided to keep talking and testifying to her. She has some unique beliefs that are definitely different from anybody else that I have talked with. She believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God but the atonement wasn't necessary because we are all just going to live with God again. She said the purpose of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was to show God's love for us. We finally really had to leave so we asked her one more time if we could meet with her again. I explained that we had a lot more things to talk about that I know can make a big difference in her life. She finally said yes and we scheduled a lesson with her for this week!
Our lesson with her really got me thinking about the power that comes from the love of God. When someone feels the love of God it can literally change their life. That's what it has done for this lady. She says its something she has constantly been thinking about and wants to know what she needs to do. One of the best ways to see and feel God's love is through the blessings of the gospel. When we reflect and decide to focus on all the blessings we have been given, we can not help but feel the love of God. The happiest people in life are those that choose to focus on the blessings and not the trials. When we remember the blessings we remember the love of God. President Monson said, "Your Heavenly Father loves you--each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there." What a great promise and blessing we have to always have access to the "l'amour de Dieu!" We have so much to be grateful for. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Soeur Johnson
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