Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Pocket Full of Sunshine - July 14, 2014



Let me start off by saying that I am officially a European... Because my last 6 months have been spent GLORIOUSLY with Europeans, but also because I have been sucked into the joy of the World Cup... I now call "soccer" football, and "football" American football... because it makes more sense like that, haha. Soeur Grunke loaned me some of her German pride and we celebrated together as Germany won the World Cup last night. #GoGermany

Well, it rained the ENTIRE week and thanks to the joy of summer rain, I have now contracted the deadly Bronchitis... I don't know if that's how you spell it. But I'm pretty sure its not fatal. I just have a heaping cough that makes me sound like an Elder... No, really. I made some phone calls the other day and the members thought I was the Elders. GREAT! Hahaha, and I was lucky enough to have signed up to sing in church yesterday! Hahaha, the members hardly noticed while I sang that I was sick, thank heavens... I think the Spirit was so strong they just forgot what I sounded like and listened to the beautiful words. I love how much the Lord takes care of His servants. 

I don't have much time to write. This week was still a bit difficult. Our goal was to focus on finding new amis, because our others have dwindled away... but it is very hard to find new amis when it is raining, no one is outside, and the ones that are outside are running for cover. Also, I left my umbrella at a members house half way through the week and we weren't able to get it back until church yesterday, hahaha. I looked so silly with a scarf wrapped around my head all week! Also, we wore coats, scarves, and boots. So strange...

We had the most incredible ward BBQ this past weekend... it was magical as we picked their berries,
played Frisbee, and then the missionaries had a great time playing with the kids on the swings and slides... we took a walk down to the local lake and enjoyed a nice stroll by the water. It had rained all week, but the Lord blessed us with a Pocket Full of Sunshine to make the moment just that much more memorable. It was just a magical day with our members. The Lord has once again doubled and tripled my capacity to love. I LOVE our members and our amis and the strangers we meet everyday. I am so blessed to be here and to be apart of this work...


Well, we had the MOST miraculous day this week! We like to call it 6 Miracle Friday... Really original, right? :) So, we woke up and it was raining; again. I was sick. We were both really tired because yea. We did studies and weekly planning and we were really discouraged because we don't have too many amis to plan for anyway... then we leave the apartment for a RDV... we got to the RDV and Armelle our ami didn't respond when we buzzed her apartment from the ground floor. We were really bummed and were brainstorming what we could do. THEN SUDDENLY, Soeur Grunkes eyes about bulged out of her head. She was looking past me and just said "Holy crap. Antonio." I whipped my head around and low and behold, there was our old ami Antonio who we thought had been killed by the Portuguese Mafia. We sprinted across the street. He was so happy to see us and so sorry... He had been sick and couldn't eat or drink or even talk for two weeks. He got all of our messages and was ready to come back to church and start our lessons again. He even apologized for missing his baptismal date. We were happier than could be. We decided to go back to Armelles to see if she would respond again... She was there! She said that the first time we had buzzed her that she had answered and the we must not have heard her. We went up and taught the BEST question and answer lecon ever. She completely understands the restoration and the need for the restoration. We left her apartment a little late, and we were worried that we would not get to our RDV on time... I said a silent prayer for another miracle. A bus magically arrived 12 feet in front of us at the bus stop. It took us straight to our location. 

While on the bus, we talked to EVERYONE. The Spirit was burning within us, and we met some of the COOLEST people ever. We were finally able to get some potentials after a week of our no number drought caused by the rain (irony). When we got the RDV, our potential Jacque was waiting for us! We had a FANTASTIC rdv with him. He's atheist... halfway through the lecon I had a prompting to get out the Book of Mormon I had dedicated that week. On Tuesday I had prayed before dedicating a LdeM (choosing a scripture and then writing my testimony in it). Well, I had been prompted to mark Alma 30:44, which talks about proof of a living God through the beauties and perfection of the universe... I was able to testify to Jacque that God had inspired me to mark that scripture and write my testimony SPECIFICALLY for him earlier that week. It really touched him, and he is now eager to learn more about our beliefs. 

After that lovely experience, we went to see Bérangère, a recently reactivated sister. We were making
cupcakes with her for the ward activity that weekend. Well we got there and she couldn't find the recipe ANYWHERE. After 10 minutes of searching, I told her we needed to pray. So we prayed. 5
minutes later, while going through her things, she found an important medical paper she had desperately been searching for for about a month. Then 5 minutes later we found the recipe. God answers our prayers and blesses our lives, all simply because He loves us. I am so grateful for Him and for His unending love. All we have to do is show Him that we love Him equally back. 

Joshua 22:5 portrays this love. "But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law,which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul." I know that as we become more diligent and obedient, we too can show the Lord just how much we love Him. Cleave to Him and Serve Him with all your hearts. 

It is my testimony that when we do these things, the Lord will bless us and we will be happier than we ever thought we could be. I love you all. I love the Lord. Have a blessed week.

Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Beeny









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