Monday, March 17, 2014

HAAAPPPPYYYYY - March 17, 2014




 HAPPY ST PATRICKS DAY! Im celebrating all alone over here in France in my bright green dress! I have to fight the urge not to pinch everyone not wearing green... awkward. The French dont celebrate with the Irish I guess :( buts thats not gonna dampin this beautiful day! The weather has been fantastic here, making our missionary work even more fun than usual. I dont know how it happened, but yet another week wizzed by, and Im even happier than last week.  
MEMBERS MEMBERS MEMBERS! We continued to work with our lovely members, trying to bring them the Spirit in their lives. There is a brother and sister, Annette and Roland, in the branch who has special needs... I don't know what it is, but they live together and they are the gentlest and kindest people ever. I didn't know what to expect with our RDV with them, but it shocked me. Their humble, yet profound testimonies touched me. Even with all of the trials and struggles they have in their lives, they  stay strong. Their humility is awe inspiring. I love them and I am so grateful for their examples of faith. We went and visited a sweet older member Adele. We had planned to walk with her in the beautiful spring air and share some hymns with her. There are some members that just need our love and a person to listen. I'm glad to lend my attention to them. They are so wonderful. We had a fun night with one member, Carole, who is a BEAUTIFUL single woman in the branch. All of the men hit on her... even investigators we bring to church, haha. She helped us teach, and then Soeur Paulo taught us how to make Portuguese soup! Such a fun night :)  We were invited to eat with the Temahukis again, and I realized as I entered their house, took off my shoes, and hung up my jacket that I was at home. Their house is literally a refuge for me. I feel like I live there. I am so grateful for loving members that take such good care of us. We were able to have a fantastic RDV with Stéphane as well... he is the coolest dude ever. He has such a solid testimony, and Im sure its because of the great support he receives from his many member friends. Member missionary work is the key!!!

The greatest night of the week was the Branch Talent show... We had less actives there that I didnt

even know existed!! It was such a success... everyone did some cute little things, like reading poetry, or singing French nursery rhymes they remembered from their childhood, or did a Tahitian dance/ War cry with the Temahukis... I went up.... and I took out some balloons and made them some stuff... The usual sword, parate, poney, elephant, monkey on a palm tree and alien. THEY WERE BLOWN  AWAY! The kids loved it. There was an inactive family there with 4 little kids... And they about died. They were so excited. I sparked them to death, and then sparked them back to life... To be brief. The mom invited us over for an FHE :) Booya. Soeur Paulo played the piano and I sang If You Could Hie to Kolob... Very fun. I always feel like a rockstar because the branch thinks Im a professional...

THEY'RE THE SWEETEST! haha, it was such a lovely night. I adore these members. They are too
kind. I feel like they are my little family.  I am so grateful the Lord has called me to serve in Angouleme France... They need us, and I certainly need them. We had a 3 hour long branch council yesterday. They are really worried about the branch. They have asked to receive  a missionary couple to help out. We will see what happens. There really is a need, so I hope it happens.
We did lots of work trying to find members on our list of 210... with 18 of which are active. We went to little villes I had never been to before! We had a very fun time doing what we could, knocking on doors and talking with every child of God that was put in our path. We had a zone training this week, where president shared some very INSPIRED news with us... We are taking a turn in our contacting. During his mission, President Roney used a questionaire while contacting. He had a little piece of paper with questions and boxes to check, and he stopped people to ask them to do the questionaire. He said that he saw his success rate go up and that people who were "too busy to talk to a missionary" were more willing to stop for a moment to help someone do a questionaire... and then their interest was sparked by the questions posed and the testimony of a young american boy. Well, he  made a questionnaire for us and has asked us to do it... I was a little confused at first, but then I got really excited!  We had SOOOO much fun with it! And we have seen more success! There are lots of people that tell us they were busy or in a hurry, but now we had a good response, and people were willing to stop and answer questions and help us out... and then we were able to testify and help them feel the spirit in between questions. I LOVED IT! We have lots of potentials that could become amis this week. Keep us in your prayers!
We had some sweet miracles this week with our amis... so first off, Steve. We met him on Wednesdayand yesterday. He has been really busy with work, so he hasn't been able to read. BUMMER! But he LOVES meeting with us. Usually RDV's are about 45 minutes long... but his always turn into 2 hours because he is soo excited and loves learning and talking. There are moments when I can see the truth click in his eyes. He told us that he feels so good in the church and that he loves meeting with us and hearing what we have to say. We have  beautiful lessons with him... The first lesson was with Carole, where we taught the gospel of Christ. He agrees with everything we tell him, and his acceptance pushes away our fears of inviting him to change. He has a very strong desire to strengthen his faith. We found out that he is busy on Sunday mornings because he is training to be  a professional boxer... SO COOL!! But, we need to get him to church. We taught him the restoration again yesterday to review the priesthood, which  we didnt explain very well. The room was filled with the spirit.  The Temahukis were there, thank heavens, and when he started to ask questions about how the priesthood was lost, they were able to respond with specifics, which I would never have been able to do. As we testified of the restoration of the  priesthood and the divine love of  God for His children, the spirit touched his heart.  He understood and you could see the pure astonishment on his face as we told him these things that he had never realized. Watching Steve during lessons is like watching a child put together a puzzle... Every piece brings more to light of the grandeur of the  bigger picture. He is incredible. At the end of the powerful, spirit led lesson, we asked him what he would do if he knew for himself that our message was true, that this truly was the church of Christ on the earth, and that we had the actual authority and power of God on the earth... He said he would want to be like us, and declare it to the whole world. DESIRE. REAL INTENT. We invited him to be baptized. He reflected. Knodded his head, and looked up with fire in his eyes and accepted. We set a date of the 19th  of April as his goal. It was a WONDERFUL moment for us. We left with glee in our hearts! There are lots of things to come... but we know that he is prepared. Pray for him to continue to progress.
Audrey was stubborn this week... but we were able to teach her twice, the first night we focused on the blessings of baptism, marriage, and the priesthood in her life. Very humble, simple lesson that left her with some thinking to do. We had a fun time with her at the  branch talent show. We saw her last night, and it was magical. We decided to be bold. Preach My Gospel says that our boldness testifies to our amis that we have faith that obedience brings blessings... so we were bold. Audrey told us that she  wants to get married to Joe, and the he wants to get married to her. They have been praying so much.... I just don't get it, but shes scared.  We shared the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, when they buried their swords. They literally HID the temptation to sin... We invited her to do the same. Hide, run, and burry the temptation. We invited her to take a week. Take a week to be completely obedient to the commandments. We invited her to sleep at the Temahukis home during the week, and to focus all of her efforts on her prayers and serving,  and reading the scriptures so that the spirit would be ever present in her life so she could receive the answer that she is ready... That she does need to get married. She accepted immediately. She is so ready to be over her fears. She is so ready to follow the Lords will, whatever it be for her. WOOOOWWW!! I love her so much. It is incredible to see how far she has come. We are meeting with her everyday this week, and we are fasting on Sunday together. Please pray for her to recognize the answer to her prayers. It will change her life.

I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week my loved ones!!

Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Beeny



































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