Tuesday
We
had district meeting and we taught a single lesson. That's what the
numbers say, but I feel much more like numbers don't tell the success
we're having here. During district meeting we learned a ton, we practice
taught a ton and we started coming up with better ways of finding people
(because what we're doing now isn't working). I had ratatouille for the
first time (it's okay, but not as amazing as the movie makes it out to
be). I also ate heaven on a slice of bread. they have a strange peanut
buttery like substance here that's called speculoose. It literally is
the most delicious thing in the entire world. It's a lot like delta
flight cookies in a creamy form. Anyways, our lesson that night was with
Ian, our investigator sent from heaven. He basically walked into church
and knew that everything was true. we taught with a super helpful
member and got through the first half of the plan of salvation. It was a
very very good day!
Wednesday
was a lot of fun, but I cannot for the life of me remember why. A lot
of people cancelled on us and it was so cold I thought i was going to
die (for anybody that's just gotten added onto the list, I'm in Normandy
which is the north western part of France and it rains incredibly cold
rain everyday for around 16 hours a day). That was Wednesday though!
Thursday
Thursday
we finally celebrated Elder Hall's birthday by going to a slightly
disgusting Chinese buffet. I really don't like buffets for anyone that
doesn't know that already. After that we went on exchanges with the only
other companionship in our district. It was pretty fun, I went with
Elder Garner and we taught two lessons and contacted some people. The
first lesson was pretty much me not understanding anything, but I'll
talk about the other lesson a little later. Oh yeah, we got a senior
couple too, they're pretty cool. Their name is Piepgrass and they're Cannuks (Canadians) The sister is Belgian, but she's lived in Canada for
like 40 years so they're Canadian :)
Friday
Friday
was a day full of contacting, porting, and getting rejected. Same old
same old. After me and Elder Hall got off exchanged though I learned
that Ian had told them that he wanted to be baptized (exciting!) But he
had to talk to his super Roman catholic wife (Scary!)
Saturday
Epic Saturday in which we got our first opportunity to do service, but it
ended up taking all day (which was not what we had planned). It was a
lot of fun though! We scraped the wallpaper off of a member's kitchen and
they were super grateful (I actually think that was why he agreed to
come to our lesson with Ian, it was a righteous exchange). Not much
other than that though.
Sunday!
I
don't remember when we taught Fahed, but we taught this Muslim kid who
is super cool and open. I'm not sure if he wants to learn the truth or
convert us to Islam, but so far he's keeping his commitments and he told
us that if he thought our church was true he would join. The members
are super awesome to us now, even though we keep trying to set up
appointments with them so we can pray with them and then go port in
their neighborhood. They're starting to give us the opportunity, we
have our first trial run on Tuesday.
ANYWAYS, we didn't get to do a lot of work on Sunday because we had
church and two hours of companionship study and all that, so I thought
this week was going to end with a pretty lame sauce porting session, but
once again the Lord decided to prove me wrong. We found a really
awesome lady who we have a return appointment with on Friday. It's funny
how you only find people after you're ready to go home, but you decide
to try just a couple more doors.
SPIRITUAL STUFF!
I'm
going to have to say the theme for this week is don't give up! When I
went on exchanges with Elder Garner we went to teach a lesson with
someone and it turned out that he wasn't home. His wife answered the
door and almost sent us on our way before Elder Garner decided not to
give up. He taught he the restoration and then the lady started talking
and saying how she didn't think our church was any different than any
other. I bore my testimony. It's funny because I only had a small
understanding of what she was saying, up until this point I hadn't said
anything in 30 minutes, and it seemed like the lady just wasn't
interested. At this point in my life I can honestly say that there is
nothing I have in this world that is more important or powerful than my
testimony. This woman changed her attitude completely, Elder Garner
succeeded in getting her to a family home evening and I think she's
coming to church next week. It just showed me that perseverance is
amazing and that this gospel touches peoples hearts. I didn't bear my
testimony with perfect French and it was pretty simple, but I know that
by small and simple things great things can come to pass. regardless of
who you are or what challenges you're having right now, Don't give up.
Sometimes overall goals aren't achieved by perseverance and we fail,
sometimes we feel that despite our perseverance nothing will change. I
don't think it matters, and I know that sometimes we don't change the
world or even another person, but I know that trying over and over and
over (and over) again without giving up changes us, it makes us better
and that is what life is all about.
Have an awesome week everybody, if you made it this far into my rambling letter thanks! Remember not to give up!
Love,
Elder Michael Beneamato Bruno
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