Bonjour family & friends!
What another wonderful week! Life could not be better here in Brussels, Belgium. So many great things happened this week that I don't even know where to begin.
We had another lesson this week with our ami Nadjat who we taught a couple weeks ago. She is the one who was muslim but decided that it wasn't for her and is interested in learning about Christianity. We had such an awesome lesson with her! She asks the best questions and love her desire to learn and to know the truth. My favorite part of the lesson was when we talked about prophets and she got all wide eyed and said, "There is a living prophet?!" Our response was an astounding, "Yes!" She immediately responded, "That makes so much sense!" She explained how not that long ago she was talking with her husband and brought up the point that it doesn't make sense that we just all of the sudden "stop needing" prophets here on earth. We told her that of course it doesn't make sense because we do NEED prophets and therefore we HAVE prophets in these latter days! I am not sure if she even listened to anything else that we said after that because she was so consumed with the idea of having a living prophet. She kept saying, "Wow, there really is a living prophet?!"
In the middle of the week we got a text from our Ami Aude (the one who wants us to go to her beach house) letting us know that she was planning on coming to church! Sunday she showed up, with a beautiful dress and Book of Mormon in hand! She took notes the whole time and really enjoyed it. She said she is going to try to come every week at least for 1 hour. We were more than supportive of that idea! She lives really close to the church so it makes it easy. Before she left, she turned to us and said, "I would like to invite you to my house for Thanksgiving and was wondering if you could say the prayer over dinner?" There was definitely no hesitation in saying yes! Thanksgiving is an American holiday so they don't celebrate here and so we assumed that we would just have to have our own "missionary thanksgiving dinner". Since Aude grew up in America for 20 years, she decided to carry on the tradition when she moved back to Belgium. Every year she invites a bunch of her friends and they have a big Thanksgiving dinner! What a great opportunity we are going to have to be able to share the gospel while eating turkey dinner!
Sunday night we were waiting to get on the metro to go home for dinner after a busy day of meetings and church. I looked over and saw a lady standing a good distance away from me. Immediately, the thought came to me that I needed to talk to her. I quickly brushed the thought away because it definitely was one of those "awkward situations." It wasn't like she was standing right next to me and I could just casually start talking with her. I looked over again and got the same impression a second time. I knew I needed to do it but to be honest I didn't want to! I watched the clock tick down on the metro as I tried for 4 minutes to sum up the courage do it. I have talked to hundreds and probably even thousands of random people on my mission but it seems like there are certain situations that make it harder to do so. This was one of them. With two minutes left until the metro came, I maneuvered my way over to her and started up a conversation. She definitely thought I was the weirdest person at first until she saw my plaque and said, "Vous êtes Mormon?" (You are Mormon?) Come to find out, she used to meet with the missionaries (one of them happening to be my MTC teacher) and her 3 kids were even baptized by him. They are no longer active and they ended up moving houses and so the church has lost contact with them. We ended up getting her new address and she is going to call us to set up a rendezvous! What a tender mercy.
I have reflected a lot on this experience. It made me think about how every day we pray that we can find new people to teach and who are ready to hear the gospel. Everyday the Lord puts new people in our way but it's our choice whether we choose to act on the promptings we receive. I'm sure there are many opportunities that I have missed because I didn't want to act on the prompting I received. I think this is something that happens quite frequently when we pray. We often pray and ask for certain blessings or certain things to happen. However, part of praying with "real intent" means that we are willing to act upon the answers we receive. Quite often we are asked to do things that we don't feel comfortable with or don't necessarily want to do. The Lord has promised us that he will answer our prayers but we need to submit out will to his and be willing to act on what he tells us to do. "Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament--the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted."(D&C 98) We need to remember when we pray and asks for certain things that they will be given to us, but we must be willing to do what the Lord asks of us in order to obtain our promise blessings. I'm grateful for the gospel. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. I'm grateful to be serving! Church is true. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sœur Johnson
What another wonderful week! Life could not be better here in Brussels, Belgium. So many great things happened this week that I don't even know where to begin.
We had another lesson this week with our ami Nadjat who we taught a couple weeks ago. She is the one who was muslim but decided that it wasn't for her and is interested in learning about Christianity. We had such an awesome lesson with her! She asks the best questions and love her desire to learn and to know the truth. My favorite part of the lesson was when we talked about prophets and she got all wide eyed and said, "There is a living prophet?!" Our response was an astounding, "Yes!" She immediately responded, "That makes so much sense!" She explained how not that long ago she was talking with her husband and brought up the point that it doesn't make sense that we just all of the sudden "stop needing" prophets here on earth. We told her that of course it doesn't make sense because we do NEED prophets and therefore we HAVE prophets in these latter days! I am not sure if she even listened to anything else that we said after that because she was so consumed with the idea of having a living prophet. She kept saying, "Wow, there really is a living prophet?!"
In the middle of the week we got a text from our Ami Aude (the one who wants us to go to her beach house) letting us know that she was planning on coming to church! Sunday she showed up, with a beautiful dress and Book of Mormon in hand! She took notes the whole time and really enjoyed it. She said she is going to try to come every week at least for 1 hour. We were more than supportive of that idea! She lives really close to the church so it makes it easy. Before she left, she turned to us and said, "I would like to invite you to my house for Thanksgiving and was wondering if you could say the prayer over dinner?" There was definitely no hesitation in saying yes! Thanksgiving is an American holiday so they don't celebrate here and so we assumed that we would just have to have our own "missionary thanksgiving dinner". Since Aude grew up in America for 20 years, she decided to carry on the tradition when she moved back to Belgium. Every year she invites a bunch of her friends and they have a big Thanksgiving dinner! What a great opportunity we are going to have to be able to share the gospel while eating turkey dinner!
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| dinner with members! |
Sunday night we were waiting to get on the metro to go home for dinner after a busy day of meetings and church. I looked over and saw a lady standing a good distance away from me. Immediately, the thought came to me that I needed to talk to her. I quickly brushed the thought away because it definitely was one of those "awkward situations." It wasn't like she was standing right next to me and I could just casually start talking with her. I looked over again and got the same impression a second time. I knew I needed to do it but to be honest I didn't want to! I watched the clock tick down on the metro as I tried for 4 minutes to sum up the courage do it. I have talked to hundreds and probably even thousands of random people on my mission but it seems like there are certain situations that make it harder to do so. This was one of them. With two minutes left until the metro came, I maneuvered my way over to her and started up a conversation. She definitely thought I was the weirdest person at first until she saw my plaque and said, "Vous êtes Mormon?" (You are Mormon?) Come to find out, she used to meet with the missionaries (one of them happening to be my MTC teacher) and her 3 kids were even baptized by him. They are no longer active and they ended up moving houses and so the church has lost contact with them. We ended up getting her new address and she is going to call us to set up a rendezvous! What a tender mercy.
I have reflected a lot on this experience. It made me think about how every day we pray that we can find new people to teach and who are ready to hear the gospel. Everyday the Lord puts new people in our way but it's our choice whether we choose to act on the promptings we receive. I'm sure there are many opportunities that I have missed because I didn't want to act on the prompting I received. I think this is something that happens quite frequently when we pray. We often pray and ask for certain blessings or certain things to happen. However, part of praying with "real intent" means that we are willing to act upon the answers we receive. Quite often we are asked to do things that we don't feel comfortable with or don't necessarily want to do. The Lord has promised us that he will answer our prayers but we need to submit out will to his and be willing to act on what he tells us to do. "Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament--the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted."(D&C 98) We need to remember when we pray and asks for certain things that they will be given to us, but we must be willing to do what the Lord asks of us in order to obtain our promise blessings. I'm grateful for the gospel. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. I'm grateful to be serving! Church is true. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sœur Johnson
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