Hello Everyone!
The BYU football recounts are back!!!! Yay! It's been awhile. Sad to know that they blew their first game, but it's good they redeemed themselves later. Thanks for all of the details Dad!
Normally based on how long you and your companion have been in an area you can guess who will be leaving or not. However, Sr. Gordon and I have been in St. Ouen almost the same amount of time so anything could happen. However, there's phrase in the mission that you know you're going to train beforehand. I asked Sr. Gordon if she thought she would be training and she says yes. And we figure if she's training she'll stay in St.Ouen. Plus, President just told us today that we will be getting 60 more missionaries before December! Depending on how many of those are sisters that could make it even more likely that she'll train. I, however, have no feelings whatsoever that I'll be training. But, as I've seen several times during my mission, President does crazy things when he's inspired!
So Sr. Gordon went to this fresh fruit market we like to shop at sometimes and saw that they were selling plants. We bought one and it has become our pet. We named it Phikus (yes, we recently discovered through google that that is not how it's spelled, but we don't care). The thing is we need to fill the box we've put it in with dirt, but when we went shopping today we discovered that Auchan does not have a gardening section. I fear that Phikus will not last long because we have no idea where to buy dirt. He's (yes, he. Voilà, the effects of having a companion who is 4 1/2 years younger than you, tee hee) gotten a good amount of water though because it's been raining all day today. Mom, do you know what kind of plant he is?
I think the cold season has arrived here in France. It's weird to admit it because the cold season lasted all the way through last June. We only had warm weather for two months!
I know exactly what Kaila is saying! In St.Ouen we have a ton of people who speak other languages. We constantly have to have Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and English pamphlets in our bags. Sr. Gordon even bought a Portuguese dictionary today. Because of our amie Laurinda (she’s Portuguese) I've even learned how to communicate few things; like setting up our next appointment, asking her if she read the Book of Mormon, asking her if she will be coming to church. Take that Sister Gearheart! Just kidding, Sadie will be way better than me just a couple of days after she arrives in Brazil.
Speaking of Laurinda, She's back from vacation! And she came to church yesterday! We haven't really been able to teach her because we're having a really hard time finding Portuguese speakers to teach with us. The sister we used to use started working late. Because of this problem we haven't been able to talk to her about if she still wants to get baptized. If we can get someone to teach with us I'll tell you how it goes next week.
We haven't heard from Aisata or Valentine all week last week, which worries us. However, last week was the first week of school so we're hoping that's the reason. Aisata is particularly troublesome because she has so much opposition. We're worried that she feels she can't do everything she needs to. We want to talk to her so we can help her know that while this process will be difficult it's not impossible! She can do it! We just need her to call us back...
Rose is still going good though and we've two more great lessons with her. In fact, we set a baptismal date with her! It's just going to be hard to prepare her because of the Elder Oakes’ Conference, Stake Conference and General Conference that will all be coming up in the next few weeks. When can she come to church? When can she get baptized?
We visited the 11 year old Alicia today and tried to set a date with her, but her Mom wants them all to be active beforehand. We were like "great, come to church this Sunday"! She said yes, but then they didn't. However, Alicia still loves learning about the gospel. We committed her to reading the children's Book of Mormon everyday and then a couple of verses from the real one as well.
We had a heart to heart with Gina yesterday to explain that, while we love her, we aren't just there to just be her friends. We told her that our message is something we know will bring her happiness and that she must research and pray to know if it's true. She said she'd read and write a list of questions for us for the next time. I hope she does it because if not we're going to have to drop her.
We had to drop another family this week as well, which was a bit difficult, but at the same time we know that we can use that time to find other people who are going to progress in the gospel.
Reading back over this, it does seem like there is certainly a lot of opposition. But it's no surprise! We're doing the work of the Lord. Satan is going to try to do everything to stop us. Plus, we're still not without miracles. In fact, we just had one on the bus on the way here to do emails:
A lady saw our nametags and said she had just moved to Paris, but couldn't find the chapel. Turns out she's recently been reactivated and really wanted to start off on the right foot here, but until she could find the chapel and was going to a Protestant church nearby. Apparently we were an answer to her prayer! We got her information and we'll be visiting her soon.
Also, another inactive woman that we've been working with came to church yesterday. Despite the fact that I forgot to call to remind her! Yes! Miracles!
The Elder Oakes’ conference is going to be crazy. Well have to host some sisters from outside of Paris for the night. Then we have to wake up early to get there before 9. I'll tell you how it goes!
Bethany
Bethany
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