Ma Chère famille,
Well, transfers are this week. Soeur Edgerly is going home :(. I will miss her, she has been a great companion! I'm staying here in Villeneuve D'Ascq and my new companion is Soeur Alves. She is Tahitian! So I will be speaking French 24/7! I saw her the day she came in but didn't get to talk to her. I talked to her on the phone though and she sounds very nice and happy and I've heard that she great, so I'm really excited! :D I've heard that she likes cooking a lot, I just hope I don't gain weight, ha.
Last week I had to go all the way to Colmar and back (Five hours both ways!) to do my legality because they still haven't sent my card for my titre de séjour. Don't worry I'm still legal and will be able to stay in France until the end of my mission, but it was kind of ridiculous. We were able to talk with to different women on the train though and they were both very nice. I was able to get an update on Colmar and guess what?! The Colmar Soeurs met Isabelle's dad! They were helping Isabelle and her family move when her dad stopped by and he started asking them all sorts of questions. He is now taking the lessons and was very excited about the Book of Mormon! Isn't that crazy! This whole time Isabelle hasn't gotten baptised because of her dad and now I think her dad is more interested than her! The Lord certainly answers prayers. The soeurs are also teaching France and her daughter Iris. I think I mentioned France. She was a referral from a member, but she wasn't very interested. Soeur Schott brought France's daughter, Iris to a branch activity and she loved it and asked if she could start taking the missionary lessons! I'm so glad the work is flourishing in Colmar.
For Villeneuve D'Ascq... When we were on the train on our way back from Colmar Jacqueline called us. (Our ward mission leader, Frère Derone's, neighbor). She said that she and Sary, her husband had been thinking about us and wanted to call and say hello. We thought that was very kind of the them. She then said that Sary wanted to talk to us. He got on the phone and said, "I want you to come teach me how to pray." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was shocked! (They had told us they were no longer interested, but we had just received a Book of Mormon in Cambodian so we dropped it off anyway, and then Soeur Edgerly's friend just got home from his mission in Cambodia so she asked him to write a letter to Sary in Cambodian. When we dropped it off I guess Sary had not realized that it was addressed to him but to Soeur Edgerly, so when he read it he read it for her. After we left he re-read it and was very touched by the testimony of Soeur Edgerly's friend.) We immediately fixed a rendez-vous and they ended up inviting us and the Derones over for lunch. Frère Derone said that's a very good sign, because they hardly ever invite people over to eat. When we got to there house Sary pulled out his French and Cambodian copies of the Book of Mormon and as he was turning pages I could see he had taken all sorts of notes and he had tons of questions for us. It was so neat to see that change that has come over him the effect the Book of Mormon has had on him. He shared 1 Nephi 10:19 with us because it really touched him. It was funny because he's not sure if he'll be able to change his ways but he said he wants his children and grand-children to have the Book of Mormon in their lives. We told Sary that of course he can change and that he will receive and answer if he prays and asks God if the Book of Mormon is true. He said a very sweet prayer at the end of the lesson. Then yesterday when we were at church Sary and Jacqueline came walking in right before Relief Society and Priesthood started. We were so schocked once again! Sary wasn't sure when he would come to church, we thought maybe he would come in a few weeks, but they both came! Jacqueline said they wanted to surprise us and the Derones. They both really enjoyed church and all of the members were very welcoming and friendly.
We are going to set a baptismal date with Veronique! We asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and she said, "Yes." She told us that she had gotten an answer and that she knows that it is true and that's why she was happy to have us come back. We committed her to baptism and tried to fix a date, but she has to look at her work schedule to make sure she's not working the day we suggested. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and she looked so happy. She wants her husband to meet with us too, but their schedules are totally opposite at the moment. We're praying that their work schedules will change and that we will be able to meet her husband as well.
The Lord is in charge of this work and I know that he and his angels are preparing people to receive the restored gospel.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
week 56 - importance of the Book of Mormon
Salut!
I want to thank the Finlay's for sending their Christmas/New Year's card, that was so nice of them; and thank you to Evan for his letters. I forgot to tell you Happy Birthday Brittany (and happy St. Patrick's day ;o). Also I don't know when Max and Sam's birthdays are, if you could get back to me on that, that would be great.
Well a little update. I forgot to tell you about Veronique. On Monday night when the huge snow snorm came in Soeur Edgerly and I went out to go do our emails since the buses were finally working. We saw a woman standing by the Bus stop and I thought to myself, "We've been stuck inside all day, we have an opportunity to contact a woman and I'm not going to let it pass me by." I told Soeur Edgerly that we should go contact her so we went up to her and started to talking with her. Her name is Veronique, she's Catholic and from Afica. We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and she asked, "Do you sell that book?" We told her no and that it was free and asked if she wanted it. She said, "Yes!" and the rest of the bus ride she kept thanking us. We had our first RDV with her and she understood really well the importance of authority and at the end when we gave her the soft commitment to baptism she said yes! I was shocked, because most Catholic people I have taught say that they have already been baptised. It was a really good lesson though and I know she felt the spirit and that's why she has nothing against being baptised again. We have another lesson with her on Wednesday, so I hope we can fix a baptismal date.
We finally got ahold of Raïssa. She's near Arras at the moment (that's where Soeur Carter and Soeur Murray are serving). She's not sure when she'll be back, so we asked if she's willing to meet with the other sisters while she's there and she said yes, so I hope they're able to see her. Soeur Murray actually contacted Raïssa when she was here, so it's thanks to her that we found Raïssa!
We also taught Charli and Valéri a week and a half ago. They are two young men from Gabon doing their studies here. I saw them staring at my plaque in the metro so I started talking to them and, even though they're 7th day Adventists they were open to having a RDV. We taught them once and they're both anxious to read the Book of Mormon. We passed them to the Elders since they're single men and they just happen to be good friends with the Elders ami, Clavier (I think that's his name) so it was perfect; and both Clavier and Charli came to church yesterday. We have awesome Elders in our ward, so I was happy to pass them and I'm always excited when we find people for the Elders (as Evan pointed out in his letter we should never joy in the failure of others, but joy in their success). I have found that we're much more unified with the Elders when we are excited for each other, supportive and help each other out. We also got a random call on Saturday morning from a man named Robin. He said that Elders had contacted him a couple of years ago and given him some brochures. He said he knows we're not the same missionaries, but he wants to meet with us because he's starting to ask a lot of questions. Yesterday we couldn't find any women who could come teach with us, so I called Robin to ask if the Elders could come see him, he said yes and when I started to confirm his address he said he was in the hospital! (So he can only have two visitors at a time anyway.) He said, "I really need to see someone, send the Elders as soon as you can." Thankfully they were available and I'm anxious to find out how it went. I was shocked that we got a random call from someone; it reminds me of when Regna called us back in Versailles, because she knew she now needed the gospel in her life. As we're told in Preach My Gospel when we are working hard and worthy of the spirit either the Lord will lead us to those who are ready or lead them to us.
I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.
I just want to mention one last thing. We had a RDV with a less-active family and the dad told us why he had gone inactive. He no longer has a testimony because he had some deep doctrine questions that never got answered. I looked at him and asked, "When did you last read the Book of Mormon?" It's been almost 20 years! And he's only read the whole thing through once or twice! He thinks that he's past the point of needing to read it and says that he has more knowledge than that Book can give him. Soeur Edgerly and I both bore testimony of receiving personal revelation through the Book of Mormon and that it's not about having a certain amount of knowledge. My goodness, the prophet even reads the Book of Mormon every day, and who knows how many times he has read it. We challenged this brother to have his personal prayers morning and night for one week and then hopefully next time we can get him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. I just want to throw out a warning to all that if you at this moment are not doing your personal scripture study in the Book of Mormon you need to start now. I have learned so much from it during my mission! It has made me so sad to see how many people go inactive simply because they quit reading the Book of Mormon and/or praying each day and then they quit going to church. I know that the Book of Mormon comes from God and that it contains the fullness of the gospel. I have grown to love my Savior Jesus Christ by reading it and I find answers to my questions. Please, please, please don't ever miss a day of reading it.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
I want to thank the Finlay's for sending their Christmas/New Year's card, that was so nice of them; and thank you to Evan for his letters. I forgot to tell you Happy Birthday Brittany (and happy St. Patrick's day ;o). Also I don't know when Max and Sam's birthdays are, if you could get back to me on that, that would be great.
Well a little update. I forgot to tell you about Veronique. On Monday night when the huge snow snorm came in Soeur Edgerly and I went out to go do our emails since the buses were finally working. We saw a woman standing by the Bus stop and I thought to myself, "We've been stuck inside all day, we have an opportunity to contact a woman and I'm not going to let it pass me by." I told Soeur Edgerly that we should go contact her so we went up to her and started to talking with her. Her name is Veronique, she's Catholic and from Afica. We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and she asked, "Do you sell that book?" We told her no and that it was free and asked if she wanted it. She said, "Yes!" and the rest of the bus ride she kept thanking us. We had our first RDV with her and she understood really well the importance of authority and at the end when we gave her the soft commitment to baptism she said yes! I was shocked, because most Catholic people I have taught say that they have already been baptised. It was a really good lesson though and I know she felt the spirit and that's why she has nothing against being baptised again. We have another lesson with her on Wednesday, so I hope we can fix a baptismal date.
We finally got ahold of Raïssa. She's near Arras at the moment (that's where Soeur Carter and Soeur Murray are serving). She's not sure when she'll be back, so we asked if she's willing to meet with the other sisters while she's there and she said yes, so I hope they're able to see her. Soeur Murray actually contacted Raïssa when she was here, so it's thanks to her that we found Raïssa!
We also taught Charli and Valéri a week and a half ago. They are two young men from Gabon doing their studies here. I saw them staring at my plaque in the metro so I started talking to them and, even though they're 7th day Adventists they were open to having a RDV. We taught them once and they're both anxious to read the Book of Mormon. We passed them to the Elders since they're single men and they just happen to be good friends with the Elders ami, Clavier (I think that's his name) so it was perfect; and both Clavier and Charli came to church yesterday. We have awesome Elders in our ward, so I was happy to pass them and I'm always excited when we find people for the Elders (as Evan pointed out in his letter we should never joy in the failure of others, but joy in their success). I have found that we're much more unified with the Elders when we are excited for each other, supportive and help each other out. We also got a random call on Saturday morning from a man named Robin. He said that Elders had contacted him a couple of years ago and given him some brochures. He said he knows we're not the same missionaries, but he wants to meet with us because he's starting to ask a lot of questions. Yesterday we couldn't find any women who could come teach with us, so I called Robin to ask if the Elders could come see him, he said yes and when I started to confirm his address he said he was in the hospital! (So he can only have two visitors at a time anyway.) He said, "I really need to see someone, send the Elders as soon as you can." Thankfully they were available and I'm anxious to find out how it went. I was shocked that we got a random call from someone; it reminds me of when Regna called us back in Versailles, because she knew she now needed the gospel in her life. As we're told in Preach My Gospel when we are working hard and worthy of the spirit either the Lord will lead us to those who are ready or lead them to us.
I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.
I just want to mention one last thing. We had a RDV with a less-active family and the dad told us why he had gone inactive. He no longer has a testimony because he had some deep doctrine questions that never got answered. I looked at him and asked, "When did you last read the Book of Mormon?" It's been almost 20 years! And he's only read the whole thing through once or twice! He thinks that he's past the point of needing to read it and says that he has more knowledge than that Book can give him. Soeur Edgerly and I both bore testimony of receiving personal revelation through the Book of Mormon and that it's not about having a certain amount of knowledge. My goodness, the prophet even reads the Book of Mormon every day, and who knows how many times he has read it. We challenged this brother to have his personal prayers morning and night for one week and then hopefully next time we can get him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. I just want to throw out a warning to all that if you at this moment are not doing your personal scripture study in the Book of Mormon you need to start now. I have learned so much from it during my mission! It has made me so sad to see how many people go inactive simply because they quit reading the Book of Mormon and/or praying each day and then they quit going to church. I know that the Book of Mormon comes from God and that it contains the fullness of the gospel. I have grown to love my Savior Jesus Christ by reading it and I find answers to my questions. Please, please, please don't ever miss a day of reading it.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, March 12, 2012
week 55 - the spirit, preparation, and prayer
Salut!
Comment ça va? Well, as for me we're doing good B-). The sun is out and it's warm, we have had two different season within one week. I just hope it stays this way; although it's usually pretty gray here and we get a lot of rain, not as much as Washington, but much more than California. Anyway, it was a good week except for the fact that we don't know what has happened to Raïssa. It's so bizzare because she was so amazing and everything went so well the first week and the members that drove her home from church said she loved it and had all sorts of questions. We were supposed to have a rendez-vous on Tuesday, but she wasn't there. We finally go ahold of her on Wednesday and she said that she would call us on Thursday after she did her grocery shopping. She didn't call, so we called her, but she didn't answer, so we decided to pass by. Here's where the interesting part comes. As we were walking to her house the thought came into my mind, "maybe you shouldn't go," whether something bad would have happened, or she would have been upset, or we would have gotten home late, I don't know; but, I shrugged the thought off. The closer we got to her home the more I kept feeling we shouldn't go, but I wanted so badly to see her and just figure out what's going on. Finally I thought, "at least ask Soeur Edgerly what she thinks." I stopped walking and told Soeur Edgerly how I was feeling and she told me she had been having the same exact thoughts. We turned around and as we walked away the feeling of insecurity left me. I don't know why we weren't supposed to go, but whatever the reason I'm grateful we listened to the Holy Ghost. Members have tried calling Raïssa as well, but she still hasn't replied. For right now we can only pray for her and ask the Lord what we should do.
Alexandre was supposed to come to church, but the night before he sent us a text telling us he couldn't come, but that he was still good for our RDV Sunday afternoon. When we got to his place he asked how church was and then told us he was sorry he couldn't come but that his wife is against it. He asked us what he can do for his wife to help soften her heart. We hadn't at all planned on teaching what we did, but I know because we had prepared for what we were going to teach we were inspired and given the words we should share with Alexandre. Soeur Edgerly and I both thought of the scripture 3 Nephi 18:21 and committed him to pray each day with his wife and his children. We told him we don't want to pull him away from his wife, but want to strengthen their family so that they can one day be an eternal family. We then read the Family Proclamation with him and he loved it! His wife then came in and in a very stern manner told us that she does not agree at all that her husband becomes Mormon and that he has no need to meet with us because he already knows Christ and is saved. We asked if we could explain to her why we were there, because she knows nothing about us or our message. She said no and walked back out of the room. Alexandre asked us to please pray for his wife so that next time she will at least sit down with us and we can explain things. Alexandre loves the Book of Mormon and wants so badly for his wife to accept. I know as missionaries we're asked to not have family and friends join in on special prayers or fasts, but when you pray for me can you please pray for Alexandre and his wife? I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers and I know that there is great power in prayer.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Comment ça va? Well, as for me we're doing good B-). The sun is out and it's warm, we have had two different season within one week. I just hope it stays this way; although it's usually pretty gray here and we get a lot of rain, not as much as Washington, but much more than California. Anyway, it was a good week except for the fact that we don't know what has happened to Raïssa. It's so bizzare because she was so amazing and everything went so well the first week and the members that drove her home from church said she loved it and had all sorts of questions. We were supposed to have a rendez-vous on Tuesday, but she wasn't there. We finally go ahold of her on Wednesday and she said that she would call us on Thursday after she did her grocery shopping. She didn't call, so we called her, but she didn't answer, so we decided to pass by. Here's where the interesting part comes. As we were walking to her house the thought came into my mind, "maybe you shouldn't go," whether something bad would have happened, or she would have been upset, or we would have gotten home late, I don't know; but, I shrugged the thought off. The closer we got to her home the more I kept feeling we shouldn't go, but I wanted so badly to see her and just figure out what's going on. Finally I thought, "at least ask Soeur Edgerly what she thinks." I stopped walking and told Soeur Edgerly how I was feeling and she told me she had been having the same exact thoughts. We turned around and as we walked away the feeling of insecurity left me. I don't know why we weren't supposed to go, but whatever the reason I'm grateful we listened to the Holy Ghost. Members have tried calling Raïssa as well, but she still hasn't replied. For right now we can only pray for her and ask the Lord what we should do.
Alexandre was supposed to come to church, but the night before he sent us a text telling us he couldn't come, but that he was still good for our RDV Sunday afternoon. When we got to his place he asked how church was and then told us he was sorry he couldn't come but that his wife is against it. He asked us what he can do for his wife to help soften her heart. We hadn't at all planned on teaching what we did, but I know because we had prepared for what we were going to teach we were inspired and given the words we should share with Alexandre. Soeur Edgerly and I both thought of the scripture 3 Nephi 18:21 and committed him to pray each day with his wife and his children. We told him we don't want to pull him away from his wife, but want to strengthen their family so that they can one day be an eternal family. We then read the Family Proclamation with him and he loved it! His wife then came in and in a very stern manner told us that she does not agree at all that her husband becomes Mormon and that he has no need to meet with us because he already knows Christ and is saved. We asked if we could explain to her why we were there, because she knows nothing about us or our message. She said no and walked back out of the room. Alexandre asked us to please pray for his wife so that next time she will at least sit down with us and we can explain things. Alexandre loves the Book of Mormon and wants so badly for his wife to accept. I know as missionaries we're asked to not have family and friends join in on special prayers or fasts, but when you pray for me can you please pray for Alexandre and his wife? I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers and I know that there is great power in prayer.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, March 5, 2012
week 54 - snow! and 2 new amis :)
Bonjour ma famille!
This is going to be a very very short email. We were stuck in our apartment almost all day because of a huge snow storm that came in! We went to do our groceries, which is only two blocks away, and by the time we came back to our apartment we were soaking wet and our toes were frozen. The snow was really slushy and no buses were running until this evening. We have a new ami, Raïssa who has a baptismal date for April 7th! She's a miracle! We started teaching Alexandre as well and had a great lesson. Well, I wrote a letter today instead, since I wasn't sure if we would have time to do emails. I have to go but I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
This is going to be a very very short email. We were stuck in our apartment almost all day because of a huge snow storm that came in! We went to do our groceries, which is only two blocks away, and by the time we came back to our apartment we were soaking wet and our toes were frozen. The snow was really slushy and no buses were running until this evening. We have a new ami, Raïssa who has a baptismal date for April 7th! She's a miracle! We started teaching Alexandre as well and had a great lesson. Well, I wrote a letter today instead, since I wasn't sure if we would have time to do emails. I have to go but I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
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