France - Week 8 (St. Brieuc)

4/15/13

Hello Everyone!

Like always we kept very busy this week! We focused on doing a lot of finding this week because we really need to find some new people to teach. To do this we've been going through our area book (an area book is basically a record of all the teaching that has been done in Saint Brieuc in the past) looking for people who used to talk to the missionaries that were in Saint Brieuc before us. This along with knocking on doors and talking to people on the street kept us busy. Unfortunately not a whole lot of success, but that’s ok. I know there are people out there looking for me just as hard and diligently as I'm looking for them.

We had a miracle this Sunday! So on Saturday we went to Loudeac (a small city about an hour away from Saint Brieuc) to teach Jean Pierre who is an amazing African man who knows the bible like the back of his hand. We had a great talk with him and the spirit was strong during our discussion. He has so much faith in Jesus Christ so it was really inspiring. At the end of the lesson we invited him to come to church the next day. He said he would love to come but can't afford the gas to travel to Saint Brieuc and back. He told us if we could find him a ride he would come. Later that night we called Brother Sautron who also lives in Loudeac and he said he would be able to give Jean Pierre a ride. We called Jean Pierre a couple times that night to tell him we found him a ride, but both times he didn't answer his phone. Elder Adams and I were super disappointed because this most likely meant he wouldn't be coming to church. On Sunday morning the next day around 8:10 am (50 minutes before church starts) I had a really strong feeling to call John Pierre again. I kept telling myself that it was too late because Brother Sautron most likely already left to make the hour drive to church. I tried to ignore the feeling to call Jean Pierre, but I knew I had to call him. I'm still not super comfortable talking on the phone in French, but I finally couldn't resist the feeling anymore and called Jean Pierre. Amazingly, he answered the phone and said he was ready to be picked up! I immediately called Brother Sautron and thankfully he was running late so he still hadn't left Loudeac yet and could still pick him up. To me that was a miracle because if it wasn't for the promptings of the spirit I probably would have talked myself out of calling him.

Even cooler than Jean Pierre coming to church (in a legit suit might I add), was the awesome fast and testimony meeting we had. Testimony meeting is when people of the congregation can get up and share their testimony with everyone. All of the members were giving awesome testimonies and the spirit was super strong. After I got up and shared my testimony I came back to sit with Jean Pierre in the congregation and after I had sat down he got up and started walking toward the pulpit. This was the first time he has ever been to church and he got up and shared his testimony. It was a LEGIT testimony too. He went up there with his Book or Mormon and testified that he knew that both the Bible and Book of Mormon are true. He shared a scripture in the Book of Mormon that particularly touched him when he was reading the night before. He ended by saying he knew the book was true because of the spirit he could feel  in his life.

Man that was an awesome experience! All the heartaches of missionary work, all the knocking on doors, all the rejection is worth it for those sweet little spiritual moments. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE! Jean Pierre is also married and has 4 young kids. He says he wants his family to start talking to the missionaries and coming to church so they "can be touched and feel the peace and happiness of the spirit" like he has. They are such a legit family.

That’s just one of the cool experiences I had this week. I'm looking for more awesome experiences this week! Thank you all for your letters and prayers. If I haven't heard from you yet, write me a letter! Have a good week everyone.

Love,

Elder Davis

Pictures!

1. How we watched conference; it was just the 2 of us for a couple sessions on Sunday. We had investigators and members at other sessions though

 

2. Elder Adams and I walking on an average cloudy, cold day. You can see how skinny the roads are, how pretty much every building has that brick look to it and that huge church/cathedral right in front of us which are all over France.

 

3. Kebab

 

4. Me and Elder Wallace right after our exchange. He is from Azuza CA.