We were able to see a bit more of Angouleme last Pday! We
went to the Angouleme museum!! Haha, the pictures are worth a thousand words
(GO LONGHORNS!) Maybe a little bit of a lame museum, but a museum to say the
least! French museums are always fun and filled with nonsense. I decided my two
favorite parts of Angouleme this week: first of all, because Angouleme is
famous for the BD festival, which was two weeks ago, there are large murals
around the city! The town hall pays professional graffiti artists to paint huge
murals on large buildings to make the city more amical. It is pretty sweet. I
will try to take more pictures to give you proof. My second favorite part of
Angouleme is our hobo. This is no ordinary hobo... he is the hobo-ist hobo I
have ever seen in my life... He looks like he just walked off of a HollyWood
set. SO LEGIT! We see him ever so often and gasp in awe of his hobo-ness. I
will try to get a picture of him... I'll need to be sneaky. Pray for my agility.
After our beautiful Zone Conference, Soeur Hoar and I were
ready to hit the hills of Angouleme! President gave me some great advice. I
asked him how to overcome the discouragement that sometimes falls upon the
shoulders of missionaries. I have seen some wonderful miracles, but I haven't
seen baptisms in a few months, leaving me a bit hopeless. President told me
that during his mission, he was always the "UP" guy. He was always
smiling, always making others laugh. He told himself that if he could just get
everyone to smile, even if they said no to the gospel, that he had shared the
love of God, and pushed them one step closer to accepting our message. As he
was happy, even in moments when it was unbelievably difficult, he found more success,
more hope, and more of the spirit in his work. I have always tried to be a
happy person, and especially a happy missionary, but this gave me the extra
push to try just as hard; to smile and be happy! So I Roney Patterned happiness
(The Roney Pattern is our format for developing Christlike Attributes in our
mission. You choose an attribute, study it daily, script yourself with
affirmations during the day, envision yourself being more of this attribute,
and pray with all your might that the Lord will bless you with this
attribute.). Well can I just tell you that OPPOSITION EXISTS?! Haha, of course
the week I decide to become more happy, it would rain everyday. We would have 8
tombez-vous (people not showing up for/canceling our RDVs), including the three
families we met last weekend, and we would meet the meanest people in
Angouleme, haha. I really did have to learn to Sing in the Rain. And what a
beautiful, and miracle filled week it was! 
There was one day that we decided to pass a member we had
never visited before. She wasn't home sadly, but we left her some Snickerdoodles
(Snickerdoodles is my favorite word to ask French people to pronounce. SO
CUTE!). Soeur Hoar, being inspired as she is, felt as if we needed to port the
building. We got a few doors slammed in our face, and then one woman opened the
door. She was older and looked a little confused. She immediately said no to our
offer of sharing the gospel, but I decided to make her happy anyway! I noticed
that she was wearing a slightly ridiculous sweater with a giant dolphin on it.
It was so ridiculous, that I liked it and I would even probably wear it myself.
I complimented her, and she became ecstatic as I shared my experience of
petting dolphins when I was little. She swung the door open and invited us in
to see her dolphin collection... Unreal. Pictures, and blankets, and wall
decor, and lots and LOTS of ceramic dolphins covered every surface of her
apartment. We talked to her for a few minutes, made her feel loved, and offered
her the gospel again. She again turned us down, but more softly this time,
haha. We left thinking we had shown this woman the love she needed. We thought
our job was done in the building, but then we knocked on one last door. It was
a man, and he immediately told us he was Muslim. His wife and son came to the
door and I complimented their beautiful family. Then they let us in!! The
Agaoua family is from Algeria. They are darling! They are not practicing Muslims, and they were actually quite interested to hear our message. We taught
them for a little while and then set our next RDV. We went back yesterday, and
Frere Agaoua had read a ton of the LdeM! Soeur Agaoua's brother came over
during our lecon, and was totally excited to meet us! He is nonpracticing, and
actually attends different Christian churches because they make him feel warm
and happy inside. We set another RDV with him for later this week... SO COOL!
Frere Agaoua will be in Paris for a few weeks, so that is a bummer, but Camel,
his brother in law seems like he could go somewhere pretty quick. It was a
beautiful miracle for us! Pray for them to all read the LdeM and to pray and
feel the truth of the gospel for themselves.
When I arrived here in Angouleme, Soeur Hoar told me they
had met a wonderful family, the Rivoisy
family, and they were golden... Well I
had yet to meet this family, and I was beginning to think they didn't actually
exist! Well we called them up and set a RDV. We met with Soeur Rivoisy, but her
husband was out, and her children were sleeping. She is incredible. The family
is from Madagascar. She has such unwavering faith. We taught her the
Restoration. She was astonished at the idea of a modern day prophet, but
understood the necessity. She asked questions about the priesthood and if we
Stephan: I cant believe I haven't told you all about him!
Stephan is about 22. His best friend is a recent convert in Bordeaux. Stephan
was introduced to the missionaries there (Soeur Roberts, my MTC companion!). He
has been taking the discussions and even has a baptismal date for the 22nd of
February! The sisters there taught him his first three lessons, but he
actually lives here in Angouleme, so we have been teaching him the past three
weeks since I arrived... The situation is a bit odd, because he should
technically be our ami because he lives here and he is going to be apart
of our branch, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. HE IS WAY
COOL! He plays volleyball, so of course I related with him. He has incredible
faith and loves and embraces everything we teach him. He came to church
yesterday, (his first time to assist in Angouleme, usually he drives an hour
and a half to Bordeaux) and was really touched. Soeur Hoar and I did a
special musical number of Come Thou Fount... He was almost in tears he felt the
spirit so strongly. He is a very prepared young man. Pray for him to continue
to progress, and to read and understand the LdeM. I'm gonna have a baptism with
him pretty soon! See, happiness works :)
We taught a great Fire Side this week to the branch where we
ate crepes. We taught Faith versus
We did lots of other stuff during the week: we visited a
couple of less actives that are so lovely. We are still working hard with them.
We found another new ami, Jean and his son Thomas who has down syndrome. They are
the sweetest men alive. I have never met more Christlike people in France.
Thomas kissed me the first time we met, haha, he is so cute!! and I shouldn't
have let it happen, but it was cute... Pray for them to be open to the
restoration. A member brought a friend to church this week. Her name is Elodie.
She is a beautiful young woman in the military. We taught her yesterday, and we
will be seeing her tonight. Pray for her to be touched by our message. We finally saw Sandra and Kathleen. They are excited to be home and to come to
church and meet the members. Pray for them to be touched by the spirit at
church. Also, we will be seeing Audrey tonight. Pray for her to feel the spirit
and have a desire to continue to progress, get married, and get baptized.
Turn to Luke 8:27-35 and 39 with me. We read the story of
Legion, the man who was possessed by devils, chained up in caves, and tormented
his entire life. As the Savior approached him, the devils pronounced him the
Son of God. Christ, in His mercy, cast the devils from him, healing this man
from his demented tormentors. He becomes a disciple of Christ, sitting at His
feet, hearing His words, and worshiping
Have a beautiful week :) Be happy!!
Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Beeny
No comments:
Post a Comment