Monday, July 29, 2013

July 29, 2013 - Bordeaux, France



Here's my Heart

Take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.

Chére famille,

Je vous aime. I love you. (vous is plural "you" or singular formal). So if I were specifically saying "I love you" to one person and I was close with them, I would say, "Je t'aime", but since I'm saying it to a group of yall I say Je vous aime. And as a missionary we have to use the formal "you" (vous) when speaking to others, which can sometimes make us look weirdd because people are like, you can tu-toi me, and we're like, sorry, we cant. and we speak to each other in vous and people dont think we know french correctly, when in reality its just a rule. which we obey. because we are obedient missionaries. anyway. Nice language study for mom and dad and whoever else doesnt know french! This week has been awesome. I feel so good!! Like spiritually pumped! let me start off by telling you about our first progressing ami of the transfer, Esther! (isnt it great that her name is esther?? haha, love it. God is so great.)

Esther was originally contacted by the elders(our zone leaders) a while ago and put her in the phone, and I dont know what happened but they never taught her. (ps: the sisters lost their phone last transfer so we have their phone and they eventually got a new one, so we have their old numbers including esther's) and we got a call from the sisters in Talence (just outside of Bordeaux, where our church is. its like  Benbrook and Fort Worth, theyre basically the same thing, but just outside of the main "city". But yeah, so the sisters call us and tell us that they contacted this girl named esther and that she wanted to meet with them near Victoire (look it up-Bordeaux) but she lives in our sector, and so they were passing her to us. So we call her, and she didtn have time to see us until the next week on Wednesday and to call her then.

So Tuesday we're just going home, contacting on the way (by the way, contacted over 400 this week! :D)  and we contact this girl, and she ends up being esther, who we talked to on the phone!! so we set up a rdv with her for the next morning, taught her, then set up another rdv with her for the next evening, taught her, then set up another rdv for the next morning. taught her. :O yeah, we were so surprised. lol. /really really excited! so she's left on vacance for she didnt know how long but she was like I hope to see you reallly soon!! We're like, us too! haha. but its great. we also taught...xavier! 

so we set up and had the rdv for friday. we had taught a lesson with a member, soeur Lecave last week and it was really great and we were like, we should use her again! she did a great job! ...well. we begin teaching xavier, and she's like, super aggressive to him. when he had questions she attacked the questions and it was out of control!! It all started with us reading the introduction with him because he hadnt, and then we asked if he had questions and he had a lot and she just grabbed those questions and gobbled them up and spit them back out at him, and we're just watching in horror, trying to get a word in, but they were speaking so quickly in french and he kept asking so many questions and they were talking over each other and if youre not a native speaker..youve got no chance. I tried at one point and he was like, I have a lot of questions-I just want to learn more about this! in a kind of rude tone and I was like, I know we just want to answer them-but they kept going!! I was really annoyed but I prayed to have love for him, so I just took a deep breath and thought for a second. they kept arguing. I looked at Soeur Hirschi and she was like, we need to watch the restoration. I just nodded. yeah, they were arguing so much that we could talk to each other without worrying about them listening or hearing us. haha. So basically after too long of that, I put my hands up between them and was like, okay! thats enough! so back to the Book of Mormon! and they both stopped, surprisingly. We told him how Joseph Smith did translate it, and that we had a video for him to watch. We lead them to the other room to watch the Restoration, and it really was great. I was scared that he would be very rude about the video and pick out things, so when we asked how he felt, and when he said that he thought that it was very well filmed, I was happy. lol. (he's a film guy). Then we talked a little bit about the story and about Joseph Smith seeing God the Father and His son, Jesus Christ, and about prophets on the earth today! Then I talked to him very kindly, way kinder then I usually speak, and said, I know you said that you've had a spiritual experience before, and I know that you can have those good feelings, from the Holy Ghost again when you read this book and pray about it. We arent here to try to convince you. We ask everyone, including you, to know for yourself. And he really looked touched. And I felt so much love for him! Gospel love! It was great. I was so happy to know that Heavenly Father heard my pleas, my rather prideful pleas, to have charity for this man. And it came about! He told us he wouldnt be able to come to church, but that we could meet again for sure. He also talked to Elder Kunzler who was there, and that was really nice because Xavier is a really funny guy, and in english, too! and he likes to joke, but its hard to joke a lot with him and for it not to come off the wrong way, so him and elder kunzler had a good time. :) But it really was a great lesson, after a few clean-ups. haha. 

Yesterday we taught the lesson in young women about taking upon you the name of Christ. It was really nice to see their perspectives as teens here in France, because its hard! Everyone all the time offering you alcohol and cigarettes. way more smoking here then in America. And alcohol is legal starting at 16 or 18, so lots of that, also. So I grew more respect for them and for them sticking it out and becoming disciples of Christ! 

Later on in the day we contacted, and I dont remember having so much fun contacting before! It was so fun because there were so many tourists who spoke spanish or italian or german or whatever and thanks to my friends who speak/spake those languages in the mission (aud, claire, will) I had those things to say! hahaha, it was hilarious! I was like stuttering through it, but I think they appreciated it. In fact, I know that at least 2 couples really appreciated it because I was trying to teach them to their needs, which was the language! ha. it was really fun. We also cleared up some false information about mormons. thats always an uplifting thing to do, especially when people actually recognize that youre telling them the truth! And we got someone's number and set up a rdv with her for tomorrow! so we'll see! :D 

Things are really looking up here in Bordeaux! We have 1 progressing ami and lots of potentielles and new amis. I love soeur Hirschi so much, and we have transfer calls on Friday. So dont send me any letters this week unless its to the office. Dang I dont want either of us to leave! We're achieving things and doing better every week!!! I love yall and I know this gospel is true. I love this church. I love Jesus Christ. I love our Heavenly Father. I know with all my heart that He hears our prayers. 

I love yall and I hope you have a great week!!!!

love always,
devaneau

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