16 June 2013 email

Here is Bethany’s latest letter. Larry had asked her to describe the LDS Church buildings in France so she starts her letter with the description.

 

Hello!

 

There are differences between the US LDS Church buildings and here. First of all, even the full sized ones are half as big as the ones in the US. There is normally a Primary room and Relief Society room, but not too many other classrooms which means a lot of store bought dividers in order to share rooms. We are lucky enough to have a Genealogy Center here though! There are rarely pews in the buildings, just chairs. There isn't any sort of gym, but they try to put a basketball court in every parking lot that they can. There is ALWAYS a kitchen. How can you not have a kitchen in a Mormon church? I mean, come on!

 The Elder Ballard conference was really, really good! I can't believe I've shaken the hand of an Apostle...TWICE! The best part though was getting some of the wisdom that he has. He mostly spoke about how obedience brings power and how we need to keep Satan's influence out of our minds so that we can teach with a stronger spirit.

Mom, Elder Texiera has been Area President for awhile now. He gave us some excellent ideas that Sr.Covington and I will be using this week.

I just barely heard about the special broadcast yesterday (A Church-wide missionary broadcast). I hope I can see it!

 

This week was definitely one of the harder weeks when it came to teaching lessons. The week before we set up several lessons and we got “fruged” (Paris Mission lingo for stood up) every single time. Other missionaries have told me about weeks like that, but I've never seen it myself until now. 

We did manage to see one inactive woman, Sr. Caudrelier, who the Ward asked us to restart the lessons with because they don't think she ever got a real testimony. We taught The Gospel of Jesus Chirst and focused on having faith in Jesus Christ and Repentance. Normally Sr. Caudrelier has a problem with going off on tangents about the Bible (she used to be of another faith). However, during this lesson we planned on asking her several questions about how she has already seen faith and repentance blessing her. I think it helped because at the end she thanked us for teaching this lesson and said it was what she needed.

Since we were “fruged” so many times that meant we were able to contact and porte A LOT. We had one touching experience with an older gentleman who is totally atheist. Normally people like him close the door in our faces, but he wanted us to know exactly why. He told us about how he didn't like that priests couldn't marry and all of the problems in his former church. When we pointed out that we weren't (of his former faith) he spoke about how he knew there was no life after death. It was then that we started getting a glimpse into the real reasons he was atheist. The stuff about his former faith was just fluff to hide the real hurt. However, that wasn't all.

 

We testified that we knew there was life after death and that Heavenly Father does love and watch over us. He talked about the wickedness he saw when he worked as a judge. When Sr. Convington spoke about how the free agency of others can indeed be difficult, that was when we found out what the REAL reason was. He said "no it's not others' choices, it's my own”. This poor man is being plagued by the guilt he felt for some unjust punishments he gave as a judge. He thinks there is no way to be free from those decisions. It was one of the most powerful moments of my whole mission as we testified that Christ suffered the Atonement for that very reason.

 

My friends, I know life can be hard, I've seen it more now than I'll probably ever see it again. Sometimes its natural causes, sometimes it's the bad decisions of others, and sometimes it from our own bad decisions. I've found that the last reason is often the worst of them all. I promise with all that I am that the hurt and guilt can be totally and completely erased thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have used it in my own life and I have seen how others have done the same. It is Heavenly Father's greatest gift to us; His Son. I pray that we all remember this and that we use it to find the peace that I know we can have.

 

The Atonement makes me happy! The Gospel makes me happy! Life and all its crazy experiences have made me wiser, experienced...and HAPPY! It is all that Heavenly Father wants for us!

Bethany

 

Pictures

1. Me with an Elder I knew in the MTC. Long time no see! 2. Sneaky pictures of me studying 3. Me realizing that I'm about to be photgraphed 4. Me getting my hair done done!