Fear not, I am with thee: Oh, be not afraid! For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid!
famille,
oh my goshhhhhhh the guy at the computer next to me is breathing so hard, its kind of really annoying. I think he must smoke or something. respiratory problems!! Another reason not to smoke: you are ridiculously annoying to sit next to at an internet café. Okay! Sorry!! Other than this guy who cant breath correctly, lots has happened this week!! We had ZONE CONFERENCE!! I LOOVE ZONE CONFERENCE!!!!!!! I get to see everyone and we just got super spiritually boosted and its great!!!! AND we had Elder Teixiera from the Quorum of the 70 and his wife come speak to us! It was sooooooo cool!!!!!!!!! First off, Soeur Roney spoke to us and told us to have a passion for finding and that we should be working all night and day trying to help them, like rescue workers!! Then President Roney spoke to our and told us that love gives motivation for people to listen, and that he made people FEEL the Love of God. And that we're representing the Lord, so we should be acting just like him. And that Angels are preparing people, gettng them ready for the Gospel to be in the right place at the right time, and that we should be working as hard as they are. He quoted President Monson, who said, "You are never alone as a missionary (not talking about companion). Pray mightily and take the Lord with you. Who the Lord calls, he qualifies." It was so great! and President Roney said, "There are almost no coincidences in missionary work if we are obedient." So true!! I love that!!!!!! Coincidence? I think NOT. I have seen so many times where we run into people who are interested in the Gospel and if we hadnt been there at that time, it never would have happened. LIKE 2 things that I will tell you about later. Let me finish with Zone Conference. President Roney said, "It's time to set RIDICULOUS goals for finding, that we cant accomplish without Heavenly powers (he calls this "magic"), with Faith!" It was so incredible. Almost all these things, Soeur Bertolio and I have been applying already into our everyday lives for the past 2 weeks! This past week we made it a goal to contact at least 100 people! And we contacted OVER 100 people!! It is so great!! President Roney also said that we should be looking for "Waldo", because where we are, there are people that have been placed there for a reason and we need to FIND THEM!!! I dont know how many times I've started singing that stupid song "you dont have to come and confess, we lookin' foh you! we gonna FIND you, we gonna FIND you! so why dont ya runn an' tell dat, run an' tell dat, run an' tell dat, homeboy, homeboy, home-home-homeboy!" Lol. Well. I always sing "we gonna FIND you!" and soeur bertolio is like, thats creepy! lol. I'm just a creepy person!
So Elder Teixiera said that there are no coincidences EVER! With our mission president, our companions, everyone! I Love that!!!!!!!! And to never underestimate the importance and the reason for why you're here. And he talked a lot about obedience and the importance of it. If we are obedient, we will be seeing MIRACLES! And he promised us miracles if we are obedient and quoted Neil A Maxwell and said, "We learn to be obedient by OBEYING." Haha. And we are promised that if we do our part, He will do His. And that we should learn to deal with failure to have times of success! He also talked about us talking to EVERYONE, like, on buses and trains and EVERYWHERE!!! He gave an example of when he was on the train with his wife and he saw four missionaries sitting together just talking amongst themselves and how him and his wife began talking to the people around them and they asked the missionaries for pass along cards and they didnt HAVE ANY! WHA?!!! And he was like, how do you go to war without bullets??? It was crazy. So usually on trains we take a nice nap or talk to the people if they talk to us, or whatever else, but now...never. We looked at each other and were like, we have to talk on the train!!!! So we applied that on the train ride home and it was the coolest experience!!!! Alright. so the two things i wanted to tell you about and then the train ride!
First off, we were trying to find this old ami who lived in a certain apt complex. So we go to his apartment and somehow get into his building, but we find out that he isnt there! Then we go to leave and there's a guy with groceries at the door and we ask him if he knows this guy, and he tells us that he moved to another city, so we're like, oh okay, then we're like, oh so we're missionaries and blahblah are you interested in learning more? and he's all, yeah, but right now I'm busy. Come back next week! And we're like, oh, okay and he tells us he's in apt 11 and we're excited and we passed by like 3 times but once he was there but he sounded like he was sleeping and told us to come back later, then the other times he didnt answer. So almost 2 weeks after our last time of contact (him telling us to come back later), we contact this woman, mme cusso, who has this little girl in a stroller. We tell her we're missionaries and we have a message about families and barely ask her if she's interested in learning more, and she's like, yeah here's my address. And then we're like, wow, okay! when would be a good time to visit? and she's all, tomorrow afternoon. and we're like, wow! then the next afternoon, we go to the address, and its the same apt building as the guy in apt 11, and we're like, hey! coincidence! then we get to the door and check the apartments and SHE is in apt 11 also!!!!!!!! Soeur Bertolio was going down the list of names and got to it and the apt 11 and she was like, "NO!" and put her hand on her mouth and showed me and I just started laughing. lol. It was CERRR-AAAYY-ZEE!!! Yeah. So we didnt get to teach them cause they werent home, but we will. Its not coincidence. Its definitely not. And we had talked to the guy that day and he was like, yeah thats my copine (gf) and told us to come back in a few days and wasnt phased by the insane non-coincidence!!! It was insane.
the train! So on our way home from Bordeaux, we decided to talk to people on the train! now always!! Btw, whenever we go to different cities we always sing the name like the song, "new york" by alicia keys and a rapper..I dont remember who. But yeah. So alllllll day, we were singing, " Bor-deau-oooh! there ain't nothin you cant do, now your in Bordeaux! Bordeaux! Bordeaux!" haha. we're ridiculous. So the TRAIN! We are sitting next to this woman who has 2 kids, one who is laying on her lap and the other on the seat and in her lap also. It was. so. cute. so we were like, wow, they look tired! and she was like, yeah, we've had a long train ride! and they have been on the train for 9 HOURS! and they were from PAU!!! No coincidences. So the kids wake up and we begin talking to them, specifically this little girl, chloé, and she is just adorable, 7 years old, and we play this game with her, that everyone has a piece of paper and they all draw the head of a person, then they fold it over and trade, then the next person draws the torso, etc. And it was soooo funny!! the little girl's drawings were HILARIOUS! then this 19 year old guy sittng across from the woman and her kids was kind of talking to us and we had him play with us and we were all laughing, then soeur bertolio had the little girl guess her age (so she could have her guess EVERYONE's ages! hahaha) and where we were from. The little girl couldn't guess where I was from, so s. bertolio was like, cowboys! and her mom started giving her hints and pretending to ride a horse (? lol) and the little girl just looked confused. So then everyone was confused and soeur bertolio was like, "texas! Its texas!" and everyone was laughing in our train thing and I was like, "yes, its true, I am from Texas!" but in french, and looked around at everyone and everyone was laughing in good humor, then the woman in front of us turned around and began chatting away with me and asking me about the states and if i liked france and I kind of understood her!!! It was crazy. Gift of tongues. And i answered and then she asked if I was a student and I heard it get quiet around me and i was like, no, actually, i'm a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" and she was like, oh, cool! and she kept talking and the guy we played the game with and the mother of the kids began asking soeur bertolio questions and the lady with a dog and her husband who was behind the mother began talking to soeur bertolio also and it was crazy. so the lady in front of us is from Paris and was super interested in geneology because she has family in california, so she gave us her number and then the guy is from tarbes and said he didnt believe in God but he was super nice, so I texted the tarbes elders who were also on the train and they came and began talking with him, and now he is a member of their english class, and we asked the mother if she was interested in learning more and she quickly answered yes and gave us her number and her address and when we all were leaving the women gave us kisses on the cheeks like we were old friends and the little girl gave us big hugs and it was sso cool/crazy!!!! and the ladies on the train thanked us for helping the mother with her children and soeur bertolio was like, sorry if we were loud! and they were like, no! it was really fun!! and after the train rides and stuff we called the tarbes elders and asked them how it went with the guy and elder fox was like, "so what did yall do? I walked into your voiture and it was a PARTY! Everyone was talking and laughing with each other. it was so cool!" and we thought about it, and it was true! It was like a party! And what did we do? we applied what we were taught!! We were obedient! and it was awesome!!! Man oh man. So coooooool!!!!!!!
The gospel is SO TRUE!!! I love it with all my heart and I hope that everyone has this recognition. Read the Book of Mormon! Pray! It makes me so proud to be a member and missionary of this Gospel and I know that it can strengthen you and make you the best person you can possibly be. Thank you for supporting me!! I am so grateful for all of you!
I love you and if you dont get a letter from me next monday, it's because of transfers. We find out what's happening on Friday!! AHHH!!!! So afraid. i dont want to lose soeur bertolio, but eventually it will happen, irregardless. :-/ C'est la vie!
Commitment: send me next week an email of your missionary experience that I asked you to do for this past month. Lucky for you if you didnt have one, you have 5 days to get one. :-)
Anywho, love you all, and hope to hear some great stories from you!
all my love,
devano
soeur gardner
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