Most of you have recently heard that on both sides of my family tree we have some killers and lawbreakers that were forced to flee the country and change their names. This explains a few things. But mostly it explains why everyone here is terrified of me. I'm genetically aggressive. But, hey, I'm ok with them cowering in fear as long as they have enough sense to listen to what I'm saying.
It's funny that I learned that this week when we had a family history activity again. Honestly, at the beginning, I was seriously doubting ever doing this activity again. But it turned into a huge success with limited effort. We just set up the institute with various things to make it look friendly and threw some markers and blank pedigrees on all the tables. Then we had a pro piano player going at it. And Elder Kunzler scaring people away from the door. He is another scary one, but he speaks like a French man, so he gets some creds. Frere Léporé was giddy and got a chance to testify. It was actually a bummer when we had to end it. But we had a lesson, so we had to get out of there. Speaking of the Léporés, we actually got to have an FHE at their house this week! It was sweet because we got to watch parts of conference (women's broadcast) with them. We also got to do the missionary relay race, which was a huge hit. They loved it so much. They bequeathed us with a multiplicity of gifts. And Charlie said, "I can't sit on you, but I can sit next to you!" He is the cutest little boy ever. They all love the missionaries.
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| Pirates |
After our district meeting this week, we went out to an all you can eat Korean BBQ. It was good, but also really expensive. It's been a while on the Asian food. We went to Grenoble to pick up Sr Bentley's legality. We got to the prefecture and found out it would be a 309 minute wait. Yikes! So we worked on a baptismal program and visited a less active, Poekiva, and an ami, Marie, that Sr Bentley worked with when she was there. Unfortunately, it closed before the 309 minute wait was up, so we wasted time. We also saw some pirates. I was scared for my life.
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| Promise's Baptism |
We had some baptismal interviews for Promise. Some misunderstandings too. I hate it when someone says girlfriend and you hear gay friend. End of story, Promise got dunked. And it was sweet. He said he felt the power. He's been so happy ever since. We're working on not waiting three weeks to get him the Holy Ghost as well. With GC and various other ward-splitting meetings, that looks like the earliest feasible date. Little do they know, feasibility is not really important to me. #roguemissionary I do what I want. And what the Spirit directs. Speaking of which, our ami and a reactivated JA are now officially dating. Suin loves coming to the young adult activities and learning from us and was really touched by conference and is making time for us despite her exams. Also making time for Gael, who is a wonderful teacher. I can tell he was a really good missionary.We got to spend conference with Suin and then we ate dinner at the Clark's house with Promise and Sr Povar and watched it again there.
After that full summary of my week, there remains one rendez-vous that deserves some explanation. Namely, that of Christian Albert. If you recall, he's this super elect guy that felt the spirit really strong last week. Well, the rdv starts and the door bell is ringing off the hook. Random members from random wards keep showing up. By the time all ten of us have chairs and are gathered around the table, Christian is almost hyperventilating. His head is pounding and he's just having a rough time. We pray and he starts telling us about his week. He said he had a vision. VISION: First off, there's Sr Bentley, Sr Yvars, and I. We are angelic, glowy, majestic, shiny, joyous, the works. There are various other people of a similar nature, which he attributed to the other random members who had joined us that day. He tries to come towards us and is blocked by some kind of Satanic force. He is oppressed in every manner of the word. At some point, he decides to push with all his might against this force and finds he can actually move rather easily. END VISION. He said it was very real and even his arms hurt afterwards. Anyways, he decides the interpretation of this vision is that he needs to stop telling us white lies. He is a member. A full-on member. He was super strong and active for a few years. Like had the PH, went to the temple, member. Was not expecting that. Honestly, I didn't believe him until he started singing We Thank Thee, Oh God, For A Prophet. I was literally in shock and afterwards my voice remained about three octaves higher than usual for quite some time. Anyhow, he apparently never really bonded with the BOM because he doesn't know too much from it. Essentially, he has this inner war between coming back or not. I told him what he need to do. Then, Fr Girard, a recent convert himself, says, Wait a second. Let me get this straight. This guy abandoned the church? Oh! That makes so much sense now. No wonder he has so many trials! That's toooootally normal. Thank you, peanut gallery. Let it be known, Christian has the full support of Fr Girard to come back into activity. He is awesome. And loving the PMG we gave him. Loving it.
General Conference. I only saw a bit of it, but it was awesome. Elder Ballard's talk on follow-up was especially appreciated here because we've all been focusing more on that. This seemed like the message to me: Be bold in sharing the gospel. Be courteous in your interactions, in word and deed. Sacrifice joyfully for the Lord and for others. Pray too much. Establish and maintain your integrity. And also, write to tell your missionary friends what you've learned in Preach My Gospel. I'm expecting a lot of letters. Love.
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