White & Nerdy - February 4, 2014

This week, Angouleme was actually a popular place! Every year there is a festival called the BD which stands for Bande Desinée, meaning comic strips. Thats right, the international comicon is held in Angouleme France!! Talk about the biggest nerd fest in the world. We were feeling White and Nerdy. There were people here from accross the world, but mostly from all over France. THERE WERE SO MANY PEOPLE! The crowds were as vast as the sands of the sea... So, of course Soeur Hoar and I took this lovely opportunity to preach the word of God to His beloved children :) We contacted for two hours Saturday and then two hours on Sunday, and by the end of it all, we contacted 1,022 people during the festival... so sweet. We were expecting to find lots of tourists, and we did, but every family in Angouleme was also present. We literally met 3 families that practically threw their information at us to teach their families. It was so cool!! We already have 2 set RDVs with these families :) The BD festival, and the Lord, have blessed us greatly!! Pray for these families to be open and touched by our message :)

We had another phenominal lesson with Sandra, and this time her mom was there... usually her mom,

Kathleen, is the strongest Catholic in the world, but this week she had a change of heart. When we came in, she told us that she didnt feel the spirit or warmth in the catholic church, and that she no longer wants to attend there. We immediately invited her to church, and she accepted excitedly! She also listened very sincerely to our message about the Plan of Salvation... It could not have been a more inspired lesson, because during the week, Kathleens mother died. We had just taught her about the wonderful plan our Heavenly Father had created for us. It was hard to hear the news, but we know that our message will have a stronger affect on her now. The Lord is preparing their hearts. They were not able to go to church on Sunday beause of the funeral, but we are planning on seeing them this week and continuing. Pray for them to have soft hearts and to continue to progress :)

One of the old engagés here in Angouleme returned last week. Her name is Audrey, I cant remember if I wrote about her last week... but she is engaged to one of the members here in Angouleme. They are both the sweetest New Calidonians in the world!! Theyre in their 20s, and she is basically already a member. She knows so much and fits in so nicely to the branch. We were able to teach her this week, and we talked about how she can progress towards marriage and baptism. She is worried that things are moving too fast. She doesnt want to get married too young... but she loves him and blah blah blah. We will get a ring on her finger in no time and then shes gonna get baptized. She is fantastic. We were supposed to see her two other times during the week, but she had to cancel and then we had to cancel... lame. But we saw them today in the poste and fixed something for Wednesday :) pray for her to be open and to feel reassurance from the spirit.

Soeur Hoar and I felt so inspired this week in our preparation for lessons. We have learned how to stay very intune with the spirit and plan according to the needs of our amis, not according to the next check box on the teaching record... We were so pumped to teach all week, but then we had tombez-vous after TBV... it was rough, but we still felt very inspired and now we are prepared for next week. Pray for us to continue to hear the spirit and to teach our amis with the love of the Lord.

The overwhelming message we received at Zone Training and Conference was Logic versus Faith. President Roney said "There will arise in every persons life an opportunity to choose between logic and Jesus Christ. Lets always choose Jesus Christ." Think about John 9:1-7. The Savior approaches a man who has been blind since death. The Savior spits in the dirt, creating mud, and then smears it on the eyes of the blind man. He then tells him to go to the water, and wash his eyes. Could you imagine this man? I think if someone made spit mud and put it on my face I would just punch them for being so gross... And yet, this man, knowing that the Savior had the power to do miracles, followed his faith, ignoring the logic that mud does not bring sight, and washed himself in the water. He was then blessed with his sight. It is often we find that every story in the scriptures is an example

of choosing to have faith, rather than accepting logic. The serpent on the stick to save the peoples lives; The brother of Jared crossing the ocean in the barques; Christ telling the apostles to cast in their nets one more time... Every miracle in our life is proceeded by our faith in choosing the Savior, over the logic of the world. I invite you all to choose the Savior. Choose to do something that might not make sense, to follow the commandments. I know that trusting the Lord is the only true way to find happiness. It is the only way we are going to find peace in this life. I love our Savior, and I am willing to do silly things to follow him and serve Him, even if it means getting spit on by a couple of French people... :) Choose the Lord this week, and you will be happier.

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!*

Avec tout mon amour,

Soeur Beeny