I
hope you all watched General Conference! If not, you can repent by watching it
before next time I email. I loved it, of course. The two main themes that I
noticed were 1) Worthiness to have the Spirit/Priesthood power, and 2) Family
relationships. Which, you may have noticed, are two subjects that are very
interlinked. My favourite talks so far (I haven't seen the Sunday Afternoon
session due to time zones) were President Nelson's, and especially Elder
Arnold's, who talked about rescuing people. If you don't remember it, please
watch/listen to/read it again! The message is so true and touched my
heart.
This
next part doesn't make sense in the flow of the email, but I wanted to put it
near the top so no one would miss it out of boredom:
If
you don't feel like there is anyone is your surroundings you can currently
invite to a gospel activity, please ask the missionaries in your ward what you
can do for their investigators! I would suggest 5 things: 1) Going with the
missionaries to teach their ami, 2) Offering your home for a family home
evening with the ami and the missionaries, 3) Inviting the ami to attend church
and offering to pick them up, 4) Staying with them for Sacrament Meeting and
Sunday School to answer their questions, and 5) Inviting them to a lunch or
activity without the missionaries there.
Do
this and it will make a huge difference in the progress of the investigator,
but not only that...you will feel your own testimony being strengthened as
well. Your family will see the joy it brings, and all of a sudden they'll want
to make gospel things more of a priority in their lives. This is a direct
promise I can extend to you as a representative of Jesus Christ.
Allllllllllrightythen.
This week. We got frouged a bunch. We are currently in the process of finding a
thousand people to teach (one of Elder Carson's strongest skills) and then
weeding out the ones that aren't solid. It's a tedious job at times, but our
pool of solid people is growing! And the other ones willingly drop off the face
of the earth. And as many missionaries have experienced: as bad as rejection
can seem, it's so much better than a disinterested person leading you on.
Revelation 3:15-16 describes flakey amis:
15
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert
cold or hot.
16
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue
thee out of my mouth.
I
would possibly show that scripture to them, if they would ever show up for our
appointments. Heh.
The
goal of finding all these solid amis by our own efforts is actually to help our
members share the gospel. If they can come with us to teaching appointments and
bear their testimony to someone who has never heard experiences like that, they
will see the good that sharing the restored gospel can do in the life of
someone who's never had it. They will want to do it again. This idea comes
directly from our own President Babin, who shared it with Elder Kearon of the
first quorum of the 70, who shared it with all the stake presidents of
France.
In
other news, the rule that we are to wear full suits from October General
Conference to April General Conference has just, in a most timely manner, been
extended to: wear suits until it's literally too hot to wear them. No
missionary rejoiced to hear that, except possibly the soeurs. Any hopes
of taking these suits home were dashed. We're starting from scratch in
2017.
I
have more things to say but no time. I think I've gotten a couple of good
points across, though...don't you?
Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, the only way to receive lasting peace in this
life and true joy in the next. This is His church, organized only because He
loves us.
And
I love you.
Elder
Stanford
 |
| Elder Stanford and other missionaries singing Mission song at Paris Mission council, April 1st 2016 |
PS (in answer to our questions)
This
ville is my favourite so far in part because of the experiences I've had here,
which are in part due to my companions. My first transfer here, with Elder
Smith, remains a competitor for the best transfer of my mission. I love it
because there is plenty to do, the branch knows who we are (mostly because it's
a branch), and our Africans refer other Africans every now and again which is a
lot of fun. They have a lot of faith. Working on getting the French to share
the gospel too. It'll come.
I
feel fine from the treatment. I'm slightly more tired than usual, but that's it. My doctor told me
that if ever these things start to gène my normal activities, then he could
possibly find another medicine to counteract the effects, but that doesn't
sound ideal. As my elegant last companion would say, "That
sounds like a bandaid fix."
As
for probiotics, I promise to look into that. I know you've been exhorting me to
so for a couple of weeks, but I'm scared of the prices in French pharmacies. I'll get right to it.
Hope
Conference boosted everyone's spirits, on both sides of the ocean.
Love
you!
