Fear Not, I Am with Thee
ma famille,
bonjour!!! I hope that everyone is doing great this monday. So I lovelovelove (yes, I just said love three times in a row) this scripture. Does it ring any bells? How Firm a Foundation, maybe? Ohhhh my goodness, such a powerful song! So I actually sang that for a member family when we went to have dinner. They are the Manas! and they are just so great!!!! I love them. They have a son who is actually getting home from his mission (serving in the Portland mission! hey!!!) in less then a month! so we can speak english! but they have two sons, who we met at dinner, who are super inactive. one served a mission and has since done things in his life he regrets and the other is only 17 and just became inactive in the last 6 months, i think. But we are working on getting them reactivated. thats a big thing in our mission right now, is to find through members and to reactivate ones that have fallen away. I really like this approach. We are making every member a missionary and it is such an incredible experience for them!! How cool to be able to have your friends meet the missionaries, even just to let them know our beliefs! Yesterday we had a member of the bishopric, Brother Cresto and his wife bring their friends, a couple who have a 5 month old baby. We talked to them a little and theyre really interested in our church, and I'm sure a main reason was because of the great example that this family, the Cresto's, show to them! I asked her if she wanted us to teach her more and she said yes! She just had to figure out when with her husband! Voila! Cordonnee from a member! I really hope that things start moving forward with them!!
Oh yeah, before I forget, I love my companion!! She is just the sweetest thing! I'm pretty sure she has made my bed every day this week. hahaha. I tell her not to, that I will after I shower but she does it when I'm in the shower!! Haha. Shes so great. deals with my weaknesses. I love her.
So! I have a great miracle which will probably take the rest of my time on the internet, but c'est la vie. It's that good! SOOO! It all started before I got to Nice. Kind of. So when Soeur marker and soeur harris were together, they were having a not so great day because it was raining a lot and they were on a bus and there was this weird guy staring at soeur marker and then when they were getting off the bus, he got off too and accidentally (?) stepped on her shoe and kind of broke it. haha. so she's like, dang. and he is like, oh I'm so sorry let me fix it and shes all, no its fine and basically he wont take no for an answer, because he says he 'repares shoes'. So she gives him her shoe under this awning of a store, and he pulls out htis little pack of glue stuff and squirts glue ALL OVER her shoe and shes like, what the heckkkkk??! but thanks him anyway and takes her shoe. He takes a photo with her? I dont remember why. then he wants to learn more about our church but he never showed up to the rendez-vous. Wondering how this is going to turn int a miracle, arent ya? Keep reading.
So the first week I'm in Nice, we go porting and we cross a street (its the evening and its dark), and while we are crossing the street, this guy passes us, but stops and is looking at us, and soeur marker says to me 'keep walking' and so I keep walking. She tells me this weird story and we go about our business. A few weeks later, we run into this guy again! OH! And I forgot to tell you: his name is Maurice. Like...Beauty's fathers name in beauty and the beast. "Crazy ol' Maurice!" hahahahaha. That got us laughing a lot. anyway! So we see this guy AGAIN, and we were again crossing a street, but waiting for the light. Soeur marker is standing by him and didnt realize it until the light changed and he says, "do you remember me?" and she just says, 'no' and keeps going across the street! then she tells me about it, I'm like, well...that was a little bit like lying since you DO remember him..but I understand. but she felt bad so we go back to that same spot to see if he's there but he's not, so we go to the tram to go back to wherever we were going. Guess who is at the tram stop. MAURICE! So he asks her, "are you sure you dont remember me?" and shes all, 'yeah I do' and he says he tried calling the number we gave him to cancel the rdv but it wasnt the right number? so we set up another rdv for sunday at 12:30 after church. He doesnt show up. then he calls us from a different number then the one we had for him which hadnt worked at around 4 that same day and apologizes and says that we can meet next sunday at 2. So soeur marker's like, fine, 2 next sunday. So we call him from the same number he called us on saturday to remind him and he doesnt answer so we leave a message reminding him of hte rdv at the church at 2 on sunday. So he calls us back later that day on the bus, and is like, who is this? and soeur marker is getting annoyed and is like, the missionaries! and hes like, whats your name? and soeur marker is thinking, this guy is creepy! and he already took a photo with her!!! so shes like, its the missionaries. Then he was like, okay, and she tells him again what she said on the message, and hes like, okay where is the church? and by now shes super annoyed because he had said he knew where the church was. so she told him again and hung up when they finished the conversation. so sunday comes along, and we arent really expecting maurice to show up. so souer marker calls him at 2 and he says hes on his way but not sure if he went past the street, so she talks to him until he pulls into the parking lot, then we walk to the doors to meet him, and...its not maurice. Its not maurice at all. Soeur Marker is like, ...I..dont think that's Maurice. Are my eyes working?? That isnt Maurice, is it?? And I was just like, no..thats not him. so we go up to this guy, and we're like, hey! and hes like, hi, i'm suppose to meet the missionaries here? And I was like, we're the missionaries! what's your name? He says, "I'm George."
So what had happened was that Maurice had borrowed George's phone (a random guy), and called us to set up another rdv, and we had recalled that number and George later told us that he had checked his phone and saw that a random number had called, and he was like, eh whatever, but then he felt prompted to call us back. So he listened to that prompting, set up the rdv with us, and showed up at church. He's portugeuse and he is just the sweetest man! Hes in his 40s-50s and loves his son and loves our church!!! He has come the first time and yesterday (since we've met him he's come), and we taught him on saturday and yesterday and he accepted a baptismal date but was like, "I dont feel ready right now, but I love this church and I feel really good (as he grabs his chest)" and we're just like, thats why we set a date. we know youre not ready right now, but its a date to prepare for! and he said okay! Oh my goodness he is so great. so receptive to the Spirit!! We will be meeting with him again this week.
I have to go, but I love yall so much! I know that this church is so true. Heavenly Father loves us so much. He gives us everything, and even when we feel like we cant go farther, He can reach out to us and lift us up. That Josh Groban song comes to mind.."you raise me up"..lame but not at all! I love that song! I know that this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ, the doctrine that He taught on the earth is restored on the earth today. I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!!
Love always,
devaneaux
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