A few key highlights this week were trying to meet with all those people we found. First up we have Papa Jean (Yes that's exactly how he introduced himself). He has been saying yes to us coming over and then canceling for weeks on end. Eventually we talked with a couple of his older sons and apparently, he just is one of those people who can't say no and the mom is totally against us coming over ha-ha. We were happy to finally have a real answer but we're sad because these two sons were super cool and genuinely are interested (they've read some of the book of Mormon in the past and know about Joseph Smith). But you win some, you lose some, I guess.
We also went over to meet with someone else, but he wasn't home, his roommate was though. This man is named Phillipe and was super cool. He's investigated all kinds of other Christian faiths before and was telling us about some Jehovah's Witnesses he talked with in the past. (He might be Muslim too, my French glitched a little during that part of the convo.) But he's super cool and we had a great 5-minute, doorstep, restoration lesson and taught him about Joseph Smith. We are hoping to actually sit down with him sometime soon.
On Wednesday we cooked and sat down with two more new people. I made sweet potatoes and my companion made pumpkin bars (essentially a pumpkin roll without the roll). Then we met with Denise. She seems to have been in America for quite some time because her English is fantastic. We taught the restoration, and she asked some good questions that helped guide the lesson. Then we went over to Mathew, he is a man that I met like 2 months ago and I finally taught him again. He's a busy guy and we only talked for like 5 minutes, but it was worth it. He also has a super cute baby son.
Thursday, we went to another new guy named Patrick before Thanksgiving. His family was cooking when we came by so to avoid the noise, he grabbed 3 chairs, and we talked in the hallway of this apartment complex. To no surprise we also discussed Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Patrick did not seem to be focused or interested until I mentioned Joseph, but suddenly his curiosity was piqued, and he was not very attentive. We then gave him a BoM and he instantly went "No I can't take it because I know I don't have time to read it and I will feel bad seeing it." Naturally we convinced him to keep it anyway and we plan to read with him in the future.
Then we had Thanksgiving, it was fun, and I ate like a crazy person. The 6 French Elders and the senior missionary couple who work in the branch went over to an American member's, who lives alone, house. We all brought something, and she had a ham and a turkey. It was so yummy!
Friday, we had interviews which were great as always. President told me I need to be better at writing him emails 😬 ha-ha.
Saturday, we went to a funeral party thing. It's called a Kilio which means cry, and essentially the entire community (of people in the bembe tribe from east Congo, there's a lot here in the states) gets together after the funeral, listens to a speech or Teo and has a big party. They used our church to hold it, so we got to go. And the best part is that Tangente was there!! He's an elected official for this tribe here in Kentucky so he often goes to these kinds of events and helps to host them. He was very excited to see us missionaries there and had us cut the food line, so we didn't have to wait. I really hope that man gets over whatever this hurdle is and gets baptized!!!
Sunday was church and a stake music event. A bunch of different members in the stake performed and the branch were also asked to sing a song together. We sang a classic French carol called "Il est né, le divin enfant". We had a few of our members join and also invited all the stake members who know French up on the stand as well. I'm sorry mom but I don't think anyone recorded it, but it was pretty bad, and nobody could keep the tempo anyway ha-ha.
Much longer email this week because things are getting going again. I'm so excited to see where it all leads. Thank you, God, for these miracles.
Also, since December is coming, I encourage everyone to join me and all of us around the globe to "Light the World" this Christmas season. If you need ideas go to https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/light-the-world
Love you all and have a good week!
No comments:
Post a Comment