Bon. This week.
So we went to Versailles for exchanges on
Thursday-Friday. I got to see my son, Elder Harris, there because he's in the
Versailles ward as well. I also got to see the Paris temple under construction!
The outer walls are up. It's beautiful. Here's what it will look like:
 |
One of the missionaries in Versailles, Elder Martin, was in
the US Navy before coming out on a mission, and he's going back when he's done.
Needless to say, he is an advocate for working out hard in the mornings. He and
his companion kept telling us about their ami, Phil, who meets them in the park
to exercise in the mornings. So in the morning, we all got up at 6AM (all other
missionaries get up at 6:30, but remember, US Navy) and ran to the park to go
meet Phil. Turns out...Phil is just a gigantic log they had found prior. Like
over 10ft tall, thicker than me, and wet. And we just worked out with his huge
tree trunk in about a hundred different ways that I didn't even know were
possible. Elder Martin was the only one able to pick the thing up with sheer man-strength
and run around with it. So we returned home to Amiens with aching muscles and
bruised shoulders to go with our slightly-wounded pride.
Have I told you guys about Howard? I don't think so. Howard
is dope. He's from England. He's got a Ph.D. in philosophy, converted himself
from agnosticism to Christianity by reading the Bible, and learned Greek and
Hebrew in order to read it in the original languages in which it was written.
And yet he still listens to us. How incredible is that??
Last week, we were set to teach him part three of the Plan
of Salvation: what happens after death. But Elder Pumford felt really strongly
that we needed to skip that and teach him the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ (faith and repentance). I agreed with him because he's better at
promptings than me. With Howard, we went through the etymology of the word
"repentance," because he's into that, then talked about how
repentance isn't what most people seem to think, but it's basically trying to
align our will with Heavenly Father's by making any changes necessary to orient
ourselves closer to the path that He's traced out for us. Seeking that change
of heart. When we came back later in the week, he told us about the incredible
experiences he'd had in prayer due to that discussion. He felt feelings that
were almost difficult for him to describe. He said concerning them, "One
drop of that is worth the whole world."
Our recent convert, Larry, brought a friend to church! Her
name is Jetu and she's come three weeks in a row. She said she's sticking
around because of what she felt during an amis' class: feelings that matched
the description in Galatians 5:22. She met with her and Larry this week and it
went well! Larry testified super hard. We're seeing them again this weekend.
That's all for this week! Things are looking up here in
Amiens. People around us are doing good work too and just inspiring us to be
better. So that's what we'll do.
Love you all! Be good! Latah now.
Elder Stanford
No comments:
Post a Comment