Joyeux Noël! (on Sunday)
And Happy Birthday yesterday to Sully. Ryan I'm glad you like the position you got in the office. I'm sure you get a lot of calls from different missionaries telling about things they need or asking if they can buy it. I know our greffier does, and he also has the great privilege of transporting the sister missionaries luggage during transfers. ;)
It was a great week, interesting, but the Lord brought about a miracle!
First things first, we had exchanges with Luxembourg again, since they're the closest soeurs to us (although it takes 2 1/2 hours to get there ha!) Soeur Dawson came here to Colmar with me and we had a great time! We learned a lot from each other. On our way to Luxembourg we sat accross from a Jehovah's Witness, we of course didn't know this at first, but Soeur Dawson set all of her scriptures out on the table plus an extra Book of Mormon. The man then asked her if she studies the Bible often (he obviously saw all of the tabs and book marks that were over flowing from her Bible.) She then started to talk with him about it and then showed him the Book of Mormon. He of course told us about his beliefs, but it was good, he is the first Jehovah's Witness that I have talked to that hasn't tried to argue with us and prove us wrong. He was very kind and before he got off the train we gave him a restoration pamphlet. The next day on our way home Soeur Creager and I talked with a Muslim. Her name is Uzma and she was so nice! Every Muslim woman that I have ever met has always been so kind! We of course aren't allowed to teach Muslims without President's permission, but we started asking her questions about her religion (Soeur Creager and I are now very educated in Islam) and she asked us all sorts of questions, we were able to talk to her about the restoration of the church and she loved listening. She was also very excited to meet "Sisters." The best part is that we are now pen-pals, or will be. She lives in Switezerland and wants Soeur Creager and I to come visit her. We explained that we can't during the mission, but we exchanged email addresses. We talked with her for the full two and half hours!
Well this week we didn't have very many lessons, lots of different things kept happening with our apartment, the car and I had to renew my legality, which took about 4 hours in all, and then travel time for exchanges, so we felt like we hadn't worked as hard as we could have and nothing went as planned. However Saturday night we had the branch Christmas Party and had invited a few investigators. There was also a baptism in the ward of a little girl right before the activity so we invited our amis to that as well. We weren't sure if they would come and we prayed to Heavenly Father asking him to send people to the baptism whether they were our amis or not. The baptism ended up starting late, but that is okay, beause Mamy, and François both came! Then a friend of the Kokesha family and her children also came! Soeur Creager and I were so happy, but then it just got better! During the party we had 10 less-actives show up and 14 investigators! Soeur Creager and I would cry each time we saw another one walk in! One of these in-active sisters hasn't been to church in over 15 years! The best part was that the family Raussin came! We had invited them a few weeks ago, but they weren't very interested, so we asked for some help from some members that know them well. Frère and Soeur Tomadon went and visited them and had a great visit and then invited them to the party, the Raussin's responded maybe, so we were so excited when we saw them!
I know that after all we can do and the trial of our faith the Lord provides miracles.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, December 19, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
week 42 - little miracles
Ma chère famille,
Comment allez-vous? I feel so badly that the email didn't go through last week, but I resent it so hopefully all of you got it. Well on Thursday Soeur Creager and I went up to St. Dié to teach Soeur Munier, (a woman who hasn't been to church in over 30 years). Our DMB (Branch mission leader) came with us and we knocked on her door, but there was no answer. We waited for a few minutes and then tried calling her, finally we heard a car pull up behind us and it was her! Now you have to understand that her car broke down and she used that as an excuse for not coming to church when we asked her to come and when we offered to have members pick her up she said she doesn't want to be a burden (whenever members offer, she refuses). She would tell us each time we visited her that as soon as all of her problems were solved and she had a car then she could start believing in God and come to church. We prayed constantly that the Lord would provide a way for her to come to church, little did we know that she would be able to get a new car with the little money she has. When she showed up she had a huge smile on her face and she said she had just bought the car that afternoon. A member who helps her get her groceries each week helped her find the car. During our lesson we told her that it was an answer to pray and that God had helped her get the car. She told us it wasn't God who helped her, but her friend, so we explained how God uses others to respond to our needs and places people in our lives to help us. She then agreed. We then asked her if she would come to church and she said no. Frère Fremery told her about the fact that we had been praying for two months now that the Lord would provide her with a way to come to church. She said she's not ready, but a huge change has come over her, she is going to start thinking about it; whereas before she didn't even have a desire.
We finally taught the first lesson to François after having have 5 lessons with him! Thanks to the famille Vauzelle who came with us. When we started teaching François said, "Okay, tonight I'll listen to you and I won't interrupt you." Without thinking before speaking and with a big smile on my face I said, "Oh, Merci!" He did interrupt us a few times with tons of questions, but we told him that if he would just listen he would receive the answers to all of his questions. Finally he stayed quiet and the spirit was so strong. We committed him to started reading the Book of Mormon and pray about it and then we gave him the soft committment for baptism. He said yes, but he still needs to act and there are quite a few changes that he needs to make in his life. I know though, that if people are willing and truly have the desire they can immediately have a change of heart simply by acting and repenting. We want to help him realize the blessings that come from baptism.
We had another great lesson with Cindy and Nicolas a couple who is friends with a family in our branch. They're coming to the Christmas party of Saturday and we going to invite them to church as well. Cindy is excited to read the Book of Mormon. I'll let you know how it goes.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Comment allez-vous? I feel so badly that the email didn't go through last week, but I resent it so hopefully all of you got it. Well on Thursday Soeur Creager and I went up to St. Dié to teach Soeur Munier, (a woman who hasn't been to church in over 30 years). Our DMB (Branch mission leader) came with us and we knocked on her door, but there was no answer. We waited for a few minutes and then tried calling her, finally we heard a car pull up behind us and it was her! Now you have to understand that her car broke down and she used that as an excuse for not coming to church when we asked her to come and when we offered to have members pick her up she said she doesn't want to be a burden (whenever members offer, she refuses). She would tell us each time we visited her that as soon as all of her problems were solved and she had a car then she could start believing in God and come to church. We prayed constantly that the Lord would provide a way for her to come to church, little did we know that she would be able to get a new car with the little money she has. When she showed up she had a huge smile on her face and she said she had just bought the car that afternoon. A member who helps her get her groceries each week helped her find the car. During our lesson we told her that it was an answer to pray and that God had helped her get the car. She told us it wasn't God who helped her, but her friend, so we explained how God uses others to respond to our needs and places people in our lives to help us. She then agreed. We then asked her if she would come to church and she said no. Frère Fremery told her about the fact that we had been praying for two months now that the Lord would provide her with a way to come to church. She said she's not ready, but a huge change has come over her, she is going to start thinking about it; whereas before she didn't even have a desire.
We finally taught the first lesson to François after having have 5 lessons with him! Thanks to the famille Vauzelle who came with us. When we started teaching François said, "Okay, tonight I'll listen to you and I won't interrupt you." Without thinking before speaking and with a big smile on my face I said, "Oh, Merci!" He did interrupt us a few times with tons of questions, but we told him that if he would just listen he would receive the answers to all of his questions. Finally he stayed quiet and the spirit was so strong. We committed him to started reading the Book of Mormon and pray about it and then we gave him the soft committment for baptism. He said yes, but he still needs to act and there are quite a few changes that he needs to make in his life. I know though, that if people are willing and truly have the desire they can immediately have a change of heart simply by acting and repenting. We want to help him realize the blessings that come from baptism.
We had another great lesson with Cindy and Nicolas a couple who is friends with a family in our branch. They're coming to the Christmas party of Saturday and we going to invite them to church as well. Cindy is excited to read the Book of Mormon. I'll let you know how it goes.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
week 41 - a time of refining
I thought I should start putting an actual subject/theme with my emails instead of the week, this way you're more excited to know what happened during the week.
Well, there is lots to talk about. That was very sweet of the Finlay's to send me a wedding invitation for Alana, tell her congratulations! Thank you mom and dad for the letter that I received at the Christmas zone conference, it was very exciting! Ryan that story about Elena is great! Have fun in the office, obviously it will help prepare you for something you need to do in the future and the Lord has things in store for you. And of course Happy Birthday to Laurie today!
I too thought of Emily this last Friday and I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we have. A few weeks ago Soeur Creager and I listened to the recording of Emily's funeral and it was fun to hear all of the things about her life; I had forgotten some of the stories and things shared that day. The talks at the end given by Elder Kofford and Elder Callister were amazing!!! Wow, if only people knew what this life really is about, but that of course is why I am here as a missionary to share that knowledge with others. Jen that was neat to hear about your experience.
What a crazy storm! I heard about it from the senior couple serving in our zone. I'm so glad no one died. Mom and Dad you're such good examples, going and serving others and being prepared during these times. Mom you're so wonderful with all of your lanterns, it reminds me of how you had the lantern with us in the car the night of the accident. What a blessing that we had it there that night.
Well, last week I had an awful cold and had to sleep for almost 3 days straight, but we were still able to have some lessons during the week and we got lots of referrals from members. We went to branch council on Friday night and worked on a new mission plan for 2012 and I think we should see lots of progress here in Colmar if all of the members put it into practice.
We had an awesome lesson with Anna. She is the friend of a member and came to eat dinner with them and us on Sunday. She is Catholic but has heard a little about the church so we taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong. She wants to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We are hoping to have another rendez-vous soon and invite her to be baptized.
Monday we had our Christmas zone conference. It was wonderful! It was just us and one other zone. President and Soeur Poznanski talked about staying focused on the true meaning of Christmas and Soeur Poznanski shared a story about the only Christmas she had during her mission and how she came to found the true meaning of Christmas, focusing on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and all that he did for us. It was so sweet and she filled up with tears as she told it. We then did the best object lesson I have ever had. Each of us were given an envelope and inside was a sea shell that represented us at the beginning of our mission. We talked about the texture and how on the outside it's rigid and coarse, but the inside is shiny and smooth and we discussed how it relates to us when we first arrived. We then each had a big piece of chalk (it looked like the chlorine you put in a pool. I don't know how else to describe it) and they had us write all of the things that are keeping us from being the missionary that we want to become. Then they had us use a screw/nail to scrape off all of the words we had written. It was awful! I hate the textrure and feeling of chalk, it took Soeur Creager and I forever. President Poznanski walked by me laughing and said, "It looks like you have a lot of repenting to do." So then I really started to think about it and how symbolic it was with the nail and trying to get rid of all of my weaknesses and sins. I thought of the Atonement and how through Christ we can wash away our sins and get rid of anything that's keeping us from being the person we should be. As I kept scraping and digging I saw something inside the chalk. At first is was dark, but then I started to see the shape and then it started to shine, so I kept going until I was able to pull it out. It was an even more beautiful and bigger sea shell that looked like a marble and it was smooth and transparent. We talked about the qualities of our new sea shells (other missionaries also had stars). It was such a spiritual and symbolic lesson! Soeur Creager and I both have our sea shells sitting on our desks now so that we can look at it each day and see how we are progressing and if we are becoming the missionary we want to be at the end of the mission, or more that the Lord would like us to be. I'm so grateful for the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ and the fact that we can become new creatures through him.
At the end of the conference we had a traditional christmas treat in France: hot chocolate with different gateaux (cakes) and an orange. Then we did a white elephant gift exchange... I got a little teddy bear that says "I love Luxembourg" and Soeur Creager got a huge gift bag that had 10 pokemon cards at the bottom! Pour thing. It was funny, but we also got stockings from President and soeur Poznanski with a few things inside and letters from our parents.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Well, there is lots to talk about. That was very sweet of the Finlay's to send me a wedding invitation for Alana, tell her congratulations! Thank you mom and dad for the letter that I received at the Christmas zone conference, it was very exciting! Ryan that story about Elena is great! Have fun in the office, obviously it will help prepare you for something you need to do in the future and the Lord has things in store for you. And of course Happy Birthday to Laurie today!
I too thought of Emily this last Friday and I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we have. A few weeks ago Soeur Creager and I listened to the recording of Emily's funeral and it was fun to hear all of the things about her life; I had forgotten some of the stories and things shared that day. The talks at the end given by Elder Kofford and Elder Callister were amazing!!! Wow, if only people knew what this life really is about, but that of course is why I am here as a missionary to share that knowledge with others. Jen that was neat to hear about your experience.
What a crazy storm! I heard about it from the senior couple serving in our zone. I'm so glad no one died. Mom and Dad you're such good examples, going and serving others and being prepared during these times. Mom you're so wonderful with all of your lanterns, it reminds me of how you had the lantern with us in the car the night of the accident. What a blessing that we had it there that night.
Well, last week I had an awful cold and had to sleep for almost 3 days straight, but we were still able to have some lessons during the week and we got lots of referrals from members. We went to branch council on Friday night and worked on a new mission plan for 2012 and I think we should see lots of progress here in Colmar if all of the members put it into practice.
We had an awesome lesson with Anna. She is the friend of a member and came to eat dinner with them and us on Sunday. She is Catholic but has heard a little about the church so we taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong. She wants to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We are hoping to have another rendez-vous soon and invite her to be baptized.
Monday we had our Christmas zone conference. It was wonderful! It was just us and one other zone. President and Soeur Poznanski talked about staying focused on the true meaning of Christmas and Soeur Poznanski shared a story about the only Christmas she had during her mission and how she came to found the true meaning of Christmas, focusing on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and all that he did for us. It was so sweet and she filled up with tears as she told it. We then did the best object lesson I have ever had. Each of us were given an envelope and inside was a sea shell that represented us at the beginning of our mission. We talked about the texture and how on the outside it's rigid and coarse, but the inside is shiny and smooth and we discussed how it relates to us when we first arrived. We then each had a big piece of chalk (it looked like the chlorine you put in a pool. I don't know how else to describe it) and they had us write all of the things that are keeping us from being the missionary that we want to become. Then they had us use a screw/nail to scrape off all of the words we had written. It was awful! I hate the textrure and feeling of chalk, it took Soeur Creager and I forever. President Poznanski walked by me laughing and said, "It looks like you have a lot of repenting to do." So then I really started to think about it and how symbolic it was with the nail and trying to get rid of all of my weaknesses and sins. I thought of the Atonement and how through Christ we can wash away our sins and get rid of anything that's keeping us from being the person we should be. As I kept scraping and digging I saw something inside the chalk. At first is was dark, but then I started to see the shape and then it started to shine, so I kept going until I was able to pull it out. It was an even more beautiful and bigger sea shell that looked like a marble and it was smooth and transparent. We talked about the qualities of our new sea shells (other missionaries also had stars). It was such a spiritual and symbolic lesson! Soeur Creager and I both have our sea shells sitting on our desks now so that we can look at it each day and see how we are progressing and if we are becoming the missionary we want to be at the end of the mission, or more that the Lord would like us to be. I'm so grateful for the atonement of our savior Jesus Christ and the fact that we can become new creatures through him.
At the end of the conference we had a traditional christmas treat in France: hot chocolate with different gateaux (cakes) and an orange. Then we did a white elephant gift exchange... I got a little teddy bear that says "I love Luxembourg" and Soeur Creager got a huge gift bag that had 10 pokemon cards at the bottom! Pour thing. It was funny, but we also got stockings from President and soeur Poznanski with a few things inside and letters from our parents.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, November 21, 2011
Bonne Anniversaire!
Note from Soeur Reeves: There are still a lot more pictures to send in between but I thought I would send you some from our birthday.
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| Soeur Reeves on her Birthday! |
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| It was really funny, mom sent a CD with all of this romantic broadway music and soeur Creager and I were shocked. Then I opened up the CD case and there was no CD inside! We just started laughing, I don't know if mom was testing me or what? |
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| This was my hair yesterday |
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| This is my hair now! Do you like it? I do. It's so nice and light and I will be a lot easier to take care of. |
Week 39
Ma chère famille,
Happy Birthday yesterday Cambria! I hope you had a fun day! I can't believe you're already 7. Don't grow up too fast ;)
Thanks mom for sharing the story about the missionaries being told to push the rock. I've heard that story before, but it was good to hear it again, we definitely had to push the rock this last week, but that's okay because we learn from our experiences.
We had exchanges on Wednesday and I got to go to the little country of Luxembourg with Soeur Worsham. It was such a good exchange! She is such a great sister missionary and I learned so much. We had no rendez-vous that day so we did spiritual finding. Before we went out we prayed and told the Lord that we were going to go contacting, but asked him to help us know where to go. During the prayer we both kept seeing a park in our minds. We rode the bus to a big park and started contacting people there. We didn't have much success, but we realized that because we knew what we were looking for it motivated us to contact, rather than walking around trying to decide what to do. After a little while we sat down on a bench and said a prayer again because it was ABSOLUTELY freezing! and there was hardly anyone outside, and if they were outside they didn't really want to stop and talk. We had to catch a train in a couple of hours so we decided to go back to the apartment, grab our bags and then contact at the gare (train station). When we got there we sat down in the waiting room next to an African lady and right away Soeur Worsham started asking how she was doing, making conversation. We ended up finding out that she had been contacted by the Elders in Luxembourg (I'm not sure how long ago) and she told us they were supposed to bring her a Book of Mormon but never did. I handed her one of our copies and told her it was a free gift for her. She was so excited and kissed it! Her friend then came over and Soeur Worsham talked with her for a little bit, she's from Germany and we just happened to have a German Book of Mormon with us. We got both of their numbers and they said they would come to church on Sunday! We then contacted another African woman who was with her little boy and she wanted the address of the church and we got her number as well! While I was talking with her a Jehovah's witness contacted Soeur Worsham asking if we were also Jehovah's witnesses. He ended up taking a card and wanted to talk some more in the future. We then got on our train and a young man sat accross from us and we said hello and then Soeur Worsham started to ask where he was from and if he worked in Luxembourg. We talked with him for a really long time and he asked where were from and what we were doing in France. When we told him we were missionaries Soeur Worsham asked if he was religious. He was born into a Catholic family, but doesn't really believe in God. He then had some questions and asked what are beliefs were. I thought of just telling him the differences between our church and the Catholic church, but then I had the strongest feeling to share the restoration with him. So, Soeur Worsham and I ended up teaching him the restoration. He really listened intently and he accepted a Book of Mormon and gave us his number allowing us to give it to the Elders in Metz where he lives! I was shocked because at first he wasn't at all interested, but I know he felt the spirit and as we bore testimony it seemed like he has the desire to find out for himself if it's true. Which is exactly what we asked him to do.
I know when we do our part the Lord places people in our paths.
I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving, I'm so grateful for all of you and my companion and for the gospel and the Lord.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Birthday yesterday Cambria! I hope you had a fun day! I can't believe you're already 7. Don't grow up too fast ;)
Thanks mom for sharing the story about the missionaries being told to push the rock. I've heard that story before, but it was good to hear it again, we definitely had to push the rock this last week, but that's okay because we learn from our experiences.
We had exchanges on Wednesday and I got to go to the little country of Luxembourg with Soeur Worsham. It was such a good exchange! She is such a great sister missionary and I learned so much. We had no rendez-vous that day so we did spiritual finding. Before we went out we prayed and told the Lord that we were going to go contacting, but asked him to help us know where to go. During the prayer we both kept seeing a park in our minds. We rode the bus to a big park and started contacting people there. We didn't have much success, but we realized that because we knew what we were looking for it motivated us to contact, rather than walking around trying to decide what to do. After a little while we sat down on a bench and said a prayer again because it was ABSOLUTELY freezing! and there was hardly anyone outside, and if they were outside they didn't really want to stop and talk. We had to catch a train in a couple of hours so we decided to go back to the apartment, grab our bags and then contact at the gare (train station). When we got there we sat down in the waiting room next to an African lady and right away Soeur Worsham started asking how she was doing, making conversation. We ended up finding out that she had been contacted by the Elders in Luxembourg (I'm not sure how long ago) and she told us they were supposed to bring her a Book of Mormon but never did. I handed her one of our copies and told her it was a free gift for her. She was so excited and kissed it! Her friend then came over and Soeur Worsham talked with her for a little bit, she's from Germany and we just happened to have a German Book of Mormon with us. We got both of their numbers and they said they would come to church on Sunday! We then contacted another African woman who was with her little boy and she wanted the address of the church and we got her number as well! While I was talking with her a Jehovah's witness contacted Soeur Worsham asking if we were also Jehovah's witnesses. He ended up taking a card and wanted to talk some more in the future. We then got on our train and a young man sat accross from us and we said hello and then Soeur Worsham started to ask where he was from and if he worked in Luxembourg. We talked with him for a really long time and he asked where were from and what we were doing in France. When we told him we were missionaries Soeur Worsham asked if he was religious. He was born into a Catholic family, but doesn't really believe in God. He then had some questions and asked what are beliefs were. I thought of just telling him the differences between our church and the Catholic church, but then I had the strongest feeling to share the restoration with him. So, Soeur Worsham and I ended up teaching him the restoration. He really listened intently and he accepted a Book of Mormon and gave us his number allowing us to give it to the Elders in Metz where he lives! I was shocked because at first he wasn't at all interested, but I know he felt the spirit and as we bore testimony it seemed like he has the desire to find out for himself if it's true. Which is exactly what we asked him to do.
I know when we do our part the Lord places people in our paths.
I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving, I'm so grateful for all of you and my companion and for the gospel and the Lord.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, November 14, 2011
Week 38
Bon Anniversaire à moi! ;)
Soeur Creager and I went to Centreville today to see all of the adorable buildings and the decorations they're putting up for christmas. Once they have it all up and lit I will take pictures so that you can see what it looks like. We then bought some baguette sandwiches for lunch and then I got a banana nutella crêpe and soeur Creager a gauffre (Belgian waffle). It was fun but I think that's enough nutella for a while. I got to open my presents this morning. Thank you mom and dad for all of the hot chocolat, popcorn, CD's, peanut butter and dryer sheets! Don't worry my christmas presents are still in the bag under my desk.
Joyeux Anniversaire Allyson! I hope you're having a wonderful time in Galilee. Thanks for sharing that story about Dorette. That's so awesome! I love that even though you are not a set apart full-time missionary you are still involved in the Lord's work! Way to go! That's great that the Lord gave you the gift of tongues. It's true that Africans are hard to understand, I had no idea what they were saying when I first got here. It's fine now though.
This week we had the opportunity to have Elder Kopischke at our zone conference. It was wonderful!!! It lasted almost 7 hours! but we had 3 short breaks. The whole thing was in English because he and his wife only speak German and English, so we got to hear President and Soeur Poznanski speak English. I loved there accents and their talks were so powerful. Soeur Poznanski was so sweet and she said to me afterwards that now she knows what we go through every day. It was a very spirit filled meeting. When we got there President Kopischke asked us all of us to write down questions that we had and he promised us that each of us could receive an answer, however we had to listen to the spirit and have the faith that God would respond. He told us to not take minutes or copy down things he was saying, but only take notes on spiritual impressions that came to us. I have never written so many notes before! And I received personal revelation! It was wonderful. The next day in our studies Soeur Creager and I shared with each other some things that we had learned and it was very different yet similar to each other. That was a great learning experience for me. Elder Kopischke wants us to focus on teaching our investigators how to receive personal revelation. When we invite and commit them to come to church, read their scriptures or pray we should tell them to do it with a written down question and promise them that they can receive an answer. Why else read your scriptures, pray or go to church? It gives them a good reason to do those things and teaches them how to communicate with Heavenly Father.
I don't have much time left but I wanted to tell you that the family Kadou that Soeur Woodruff and I taught right before leaving Versailles got baptized! As well as Regna and her daughters! It's great when other missionaries keep working with those people and you see seeds that you planted sprout and grow.
Bisous,
Soeur Reeves
Soeur Creager and I went to Centreville today to see all of the adorable buildings and the decorations they're putting up for christmas. Once they have it all up and lit I will take pictures so that you can see what it looks like. We then bought some baguette sandwiches for lunch and then I got a banana nutella crêpe and soeur Creager a gauffre (Belgian waffle). It was fun but I think that's enough nutella for a while. I got to open my presents this morning. Thank you mom and dad for all of the hot chocolat, popcorn, CD's, peanut butter and dryer sheets! Don't worry my christmas presents are still in the bag under my desk.
Joyeux Anniversaire Allyson! I hope you're having a wonderful time in Galilee. Thanks for sharing that story about Dorette. That's so awesome! I love that even though you are not a set apart full-time missionary you are still involved in the Lord's work! Way to go! That's great that the Lord gave you the gift of tongues. It's true that Africans are hard to understand, I had no idea what they were saying when I first got here. It's fine now though.
This week we had the opportunity to have Elder Kopischke at our zone conference. It was wonderful!!! It lasted almost 7 hours! but we had 3 short breaks. The whole thing was in English because he and his wife only speak German and English, so we got to hear President and Soeur Poznanski speak English. I loved there accents and their talks were so powerful. Soeur Poznanski was so sweet and she said to me afterwards that now she knows what we go through every day. It was a very spirit filled meeting. When we got there President Kopischke asked us all of us to write down questions that we had and he promised us that each of us could receive an answer, however we had to listen to the spirit and have the faith that God would respond. He told us to not take minutes or copy down things he was saying, but only take notes on spiritual impressions that came to us. I have never written so many notes before! And I received personal revelation! It was wonderful. The next day in our studies Soeur Creager and I shared with each other some things that we had learned and it was very different yet similar to each other. That was a great learning experience for me. Elder Kopischke wants us to focus on teaching our investigators how to receive personal revelation. When we invite and commit them to come to church, read their scriptures or pray we should tell them to do it with a written down question and promise them that they can receive an answer. Why else read your scriptures, pray or go to church? It gives them a good reason to do those things and teaches them how to communicate with Heavenly Father.
I don't have much time left but I wanted to tell you that the family Kadou that Soeur Woodruff and I taught right before leaving Versailles got baptized! As well as Regna and her daughters! It's great when other missionaries keep working with those people and you see seeds that you planted sprout and grow.
Bisous,
Soeur Reeves
Monday, November 7, 2011
Week 37 - Miracles do happen in Colmar
Ma Chère famille,
Thank you for the emails and Ryan for the letter. That was fun to hear from you and see pictures. Happy Birthday tomorrow to Jenny and then Brett and Ashley! Thank you so much Mom and Dad for the package! It will be fun to have gifts to open on my birthday and Christmas.
Well we had a week of miracles. Last Monday we finished teaching the first to Victor (Empire wasn't there) and we told him we would like to fix a baptismal date because this way he has a goal and it will help him progress. He said, "Well I don't want to move to fast, and I need to come to church." We agreed, but told him this is his baptism so he has to put forth the effort to come to church. He then said, "How about the end of November?" We were so excited! and we had actually felt like suggesting November 26th. Sadly he didn't show up to our next rendez-vous and then he didn't come to church, but he is a sincere person and I know that he is serious, I hope we can make contact with him tonight and find out what happened. I know it wasn't an accident or coincidence that we met him. We now have 4 referrals from members and are going to fix Family Home Evenings with them so that we can meet their friends and hopefully start teaching them. I love when members take missionary work seriously and try to help us find investigators. On Tuesday we had two lessons with our new ami Isabelle. She is the wife of an inactive member and was taught by the missionaries in the past but didn't really progress. We called her up and introduced ourselves and asked if we could come teach her, she said yes and was happy to have us. She is so nice and very open with us, I don't know if she is more comfortable with us because we're sister missionaries or it's probably just that she has a desire now. She finally agreed to ready and pray about the Book of Mormon! We also taught her about eternal families because she didn't understand what the difference is between our church and the catholics. She really liked learning about the eternal family and we asked her husband if he has been to the temple; he never has so we told him that we can help him to start preparing himself (I hope so badly for them to go to the temple together one day). Yesterday night after our last rendez-vous we still had 40 minutes before 9 o'clock and it was cold and we really didn't feel like contacting because it's dark and we didn't want to disturb people, but we knew that we had to be obedient and President Poznanski has told us of all of the miracles that happen when you stick to the missionary schedule, so we decided to do porte-à-porte (tracting). We tried a few apartment buildings and didn't have any success (and then of course the miracle usually happens when you get to the last door). We rang someone's doorbell and a young man came out onto his balcony we introduced ourselves and told him that we had a message to share about the family and the teachings of Jesus Christ. We told him that we didn't have time at the moment but that we could come back another day. He talked to us a little bit and told us that he is satisfied with his life at the moment and his family is happy. We promised him that our message would bring him more happiness. I pulled out my planner and asked him when he was a available. We have a rendez-vous fixed for this next Saturday, (his name is Delio) and I pray that he will be there.
I love my mission and I know that if we have faith and if we ask the Lord in prayer and if it is something just that we are truly in need of the Lord will give us miracles.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Thank you for the emails and Ryan for the letter. That was fun to hear from you and see pictures. Happy Birthday tomorrow to Jenny and then Brett and Ashley! Thank you so much Mom and Dad for the package! It will be fun to have gifts to open on my birthday and Christmas.
Well we had a week of miracles. Last Monday we finished teaching the first to Victor (Empire wasn't there) and we told him we would like to fix a baptismal date because this way he has a goal and it will help him progress. He said, "Well I don't want to move to fast, and I need to come to church." We agreed, but told him this is his baptism so he has to put forth the effort to come to church. He then said, "How about the end of November?" We were so excited! and we had actually felt like suggesting November 26th. Sadly he didn't show up to our next rendez-vous and then he didn't come to church, but he is a sincere person and I know that he is serious, I hope we can make contact with him tonight and find out what happened. I know it wasn't an accident or coincidence that we met him. We now have 4 referrals from members and are going to fix Family Home Evenings with them so that we can meet their friends and hopefully start teaching them. I love when members take missionary work seriously and try to help us find investigators. On Tuesday we had two lessons with our new ami Isabelle. She is the wife of an inactive member and was taught by the missionaries in the past but didn't really progress. We called her up and introduced ourselves and asked if we could come teach her, she said yes and was happy to have us. She is so nice and very open with us, I don't know if she is more comfortable with us because we're sister missionaries or it's probably just that she has a desire now. She finally agreed to ready and pray about the Book of Mormon! We also taught her about eternal families because she didn't understand what the difference is between our church and the catholics. She really liked learning about the eternal family and we asked her husband if he has been to the temple; he never has so we told him that we can help him to start preparing himself (I hope so badly for them to go to the temple together one day). Yesterday night after our last rendez-vous we still had 40 minutes before 9 o'clock and it was cold and we really didn't feel like contacting because it's dark and we didn't want to disturb people, but we knew that we had to be obedient and President Poznanski has told us of all of the miracles that happen when you stick to the missionary schedule, so we decided to do porte-à-porte (tracting). We tried a few apartment buildings and didn't have any success (and then of course the miracle usually happens when you get to the last door). We rang someone's doorbell and a young man came out onto his balcony we introduced ourselves and told him that we had a message to share about the family and the teachings of Jesus Christ. We told him that we didn't have time at the moment but that we could come back another day. He talked to us a little bit and told us that he is satisfied with his life at the moment and his family is happy. We promised him that our message would bring him more happiness. I pulled out my planner and asked him when he was a available. We have a rendez-vous fixed for this next Saturday, (his name is Delio) and I pray that he will be there.
I love my mission and I know that if we have faith and if we ask the Lord in prayer and if it is something just that we are truly in need of the Lord will give us miracles.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
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