Hey everybody!
So brace yourself, this is going to be a long one haha. Sorry in advance.
I just need to start by saying.... yesterday was probably one of the best days of my life! Oh my gosh, I can't even explain how legit it was!
So, this past week I did a bunch of exchanges... the 3rd one of the week was with Elder Lam. He is a super, super cool guy who is currently serving in Torcy (eastern Paris, right next to Disneyland). Anyways... at the start of every exchange, we set goals to creat a "vision" of what we want to accompish during our time together.
One of our goals was to "find a family and help them progress towards baptism." So we got on our knees, said a little prayer, then we got on our feet and got to work.
We were full of energy and purpose and talking to everyone we could see. After a while we decided to knock on a few doors and pass by some people in a neighboorhood. We were working hard and that was great, but we both felt like we weren't in the right spot. So we decided to pray again to know where God needed us.
We prayed and asked God to help us know where to go. After the prayer, Elder Lam said he didn't know the area very well, but he wanted to go somehwere with a bridge and a roundabout. I said I knew exactly what he was talking about so we walked over there as fast as possible while talking to everyone else in our path.
Once we got there, we saw a young guy (François) around our age sitting on a bench. We started talking to him and he seemed to be a nice guy. We started talking about the plan of salvation and how families could be together forever.
During our discussion, he got a phone call... which turned out to be a phone call from his mother saying she was on her way to pick him up and take him home. At that moment Elder Lam and I looked at each other and were like... shoot, how old is this kid? Turns out, he was only 17, but I thought he was like 22 when we contacted him.
Anyways, we keep talking to him and then his mother shows up. At this point we're thinking again to ourselves... ugh... this could be interesting.
Well turns out, the mom (Anne) was super legit and also interested in hearing about what we were teaching her son.
We talked to them both about the plan of salvation and it was great. Anne even opened up and got a little personal with us saying that right now is a tricky time for her and her family. She is the mother of 5 kids and her and her husband are considering getting a divorce.
We testified to her that even though family relations can be tricky sometimes... that we had both seen in our own families how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help families stay strong and overcome trials.
We prayed with them on the street, got their phone numbers, and that was about it.
Ok, so the next day I call Anne and set up an appointent for Sunday (which was yesterday). Elder Johnson and I went to their house yesterday and we were shocked. Their house was HUGE! probably one of the biggest french houses I've ever seen. It was a white, stone house and kind of looked like a temple.
Anyways, we saw the house and were like... no way, there's no way they live there. But hey, sure enough, it was their house!
We said a prayer before entering and asked Heavenly Father to help us know what to do and say to bless this family.
We got to the big gate in front of their house and Anne let us right in. She was super happy to see us! then something funny happened. She was like... hey, I hope this isn't a problem, but my other son Pièrre (18 years old) just got out of a movie so I need to go pick him up from the theater... can I leave you here with the kids for like 15 minutes?
Normally as missionaries we aren't allowed to babysit... but thankfully her 17 year old son François was there so it wasn't really babysitting. We just thought it was cool how she was able to trust us with her family from square one.
Anyways, she picked up her son, came back and then we had an AMAZING first lesson. We introduced ourselves, talked about our families, explained why we came to france and told them our purpose as missionaries.
We shared with them the scriputre Heleman 5:12 (my go-to scripture) and told them that our purpose as missionaries is to help families build themselves upon the foundation of Christ so that they cannot fall.
It was amazing to see the spirit enter that home! Anne was so grateful for our visit and the spirit that we brought into her home. She told us that it couldn't have been an accident that we found their family. I love it when people recognize that by themselves! They didn't want us to leave, they invited us to stay and eat with them and everything. Unfortunately we couldn't stay, but they invited us over again on tuesday (to eat dinner with them and share more of our message).
Wow, it was so amazing. I didn't even feel like a "missionary" during that lesson... Elder Johnson and I felt like the older brothers of all those little kids and that we were there to love them and support them and teach them about Christ.
Such an amazing experience. By the end of the evening, the kids walked us to the gate and waved to us as we walked away saying "à mardi, a mardi les missionnaries!" Which pretty much means see you on tuesday missionaries!
Man, Elder Johnson and I left that house with tears in our eyes. That was it. That was another on of those missionary moments of pure joy and happiness.
I say this all the time... but it's moments like that which make everything worth it. the hours of contacting and knocking on doors and all the rejection and blisters on feet and all the super hard days and people that tell you that you're wasting the best 2 years of your life. No, it's not a waste! It's all worth it when you finally find somebody to love!
I wouldn't trade that for the world.
Keep the family Granotier in your prayers. Frédérique (Dad), Anne (Mom), Pièrre (18), François (17), Mary (13), Paul (7) and Emil (3) in your prayers!
So yeah, that was just one of my experiences this week, but definitely the coolest. I also got to go to Caen and visit Normandie and all that fun extra stuff.
Hey just a little by the way... how many of you have heard the song "How Great Thou Art" by Carrie Underwood? Oh my gosh I just discovered that song this past week and it's AMAZING! Listen to it, and think about "how great" God is in your life.
Have a great week, I love you guys!
Elder Davis
No comments:
Post a Comment