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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