Two emails in one again, but this time I have a reason. We had a visiting Authority 70 last week and a special zone conference. So, let's get right into it!
First off, we had Halloween, we had our first lesson with one of the adult sons in a new member family. He's a really cool guy and were hopeful to see him progress because his mom and 3 younger siblings were all baptized. We also had a fun zone call where we acted out a scene as a scripture charade game. Since all 6 of us French Elders came together to celebrate Halloween, we were able to have more characters and did Jesus and the women caught in adultery.
I also went to the dentist ha-ha. I thought I had a cavity but apparently, I did not. Oh well though, it was a fun experience and now I have a new kind of toothpaste.
On Friday the 3rd we visited a longtime member named Msafiri and discussed life. We got to know him and his years in the church. At the end he was telling us about his friends that he has helped join the church and how one of these friends' wife wasn't interested in being baptized and how he is thinking of new ways to ask her. He also brought up Tangente and how he once visited him after a trip to the temple. Tangente asked him how he felt and Msafiri said his answer was "glorious". It was such a testimony to me that God works so deeply in all our lives and also, I love that word as a way to describe the temple.
We've been trying to get in contact with someone who sent in a referral because of an online ad produced by the church. We met his two kids outside his house, and apparently both the parents speak French! Which is so amazing as I'm still trying to improve Swahili.
Speaking of my language learning, it's slow. But I can now talk with people on the street and I'm learning how to teach lessons. Iko sawa, najaribu.
Tuesday night the 7th we went to Louisville and stayed the night in my old apartment. We were there because the zone conference was on Wednesday morning, and we didn't want to get up early to drive. It was fun to stay there and meet the other 2 French Elders who I had yet to meet. Elder Roush and Elder Worth are both great and doing good work in my old area. They actually had a baptism with a person they had found! That was super exciting to hear.
The zone conference was with Elder Bowen of the 70 and his wife. He had some great things to say about the dangers of false limitations we impose on ourselves and others. He then gave us a challenge to push our limits. They included getting up on time and planning for 30 minutes daily, not too hard to do. He also challenged us to have 30 testifying contacts a day and 30 lessons a week, now that one will be a challenge. But we're working hard to achieve it! And lastly, he asked us to have quiet dignity and a sense of urgency. It's interesting that he chose those two mindsets, but I like it and we're working to have them.
One of our teenage new members asked a great question. He wanted to know why Satan couldn't repent, what makes him different from us that he doesn't have that option anymore. It was super cool to be able to prepare a lesson that a member wanted to know more about. It went great and honestly, he's such a smart kid. He's 14 and just awesome.
That's all for these two weeks. Also, I think I've mentioned this before, but it's just so good. BYU speeches are amazing, and I recommend "His Grace is Sufficient" first! Go give it a listen, you will see the idea of grace in a totally different light.
Love you all!
Elder Baird
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