December 4, 2017
Bonjour all,
It has been such a wonderful week!! I don't even know where
to begin.
On Tuesday, Terii had his baptismal interview and afterward
we went out for kebabs with the district leader and his comp, and Kendy and
Jess, who are the members who referred him. (Member referrals are real,
people!! Don't be afraid to share the gospel with the people you care about. :)
)
Sebastien, our ami whom we met just a few weeks ago, is
doing fantastic. He loves the Book of Mormon so much and asks us daily for recommendations
for chapters to read. He's also reading it from the start at the same time. We
met with him early this week, but he had to leave for a mission Sunday so we
didn't expect to meet with him again, but he called us Friday night and said he
was free and would like to learn some more of the commandments. Seriously, this
guy is awesome. He wholeheartedly agrees with all the commandments. When we
read the word of wisdom together, he said, "Oh, that's a shame, because I
really like tea. Well, if it's a commandment of God I'll stop drinking
it." We were kind of awestruck because neither of us had ever taught the
commandments before and we thought it would be a lot harder! He will be
baptized the 13th of January to be sure he has work off.
This week we had a PHENOMENAL conference with Elder Sabin of
the Seventy in Paris. I wish I could send you all my notes! He told a story I
really liked about making chocolate chip pancakes for his 3-year old grandson,
who refused to eat them because he thought they were burned spots. When he was
finally persuaded to try it, he was so happy! Elder Sabin said a lot of things
in our lives that might look like mistakes that are ruining the good part
(burned spots on a perfectly good pancake) are actually the parts that are the
sweetest. He said, if a challenge arises, don't complain! Just try it! It might
be wonderful.
This week we went to the Defile (Parade) for le Jour du
Saint Nicholas --who is NOT the same as Pere Noel. It was really crazy and
people were wearing the most insane costumes. Don't worry, we didn't go for
fun, we went to contact the hundreds of families who were there!! Most of them
didn't have time to talk to us, but one seemed really interested, gave us their
address, and asked us to stop by tonight! We'll be going there in half an
hour. It was seriously an answer to prayer because I had been praying the night
before (not knowing about the upcoming parade) to be able to find a family to
teach. So I'm really excited to meet Ingrid and her family tonight!
We have a new ami, Alexandre, who is really cool. We found
him while looking through our phone contacts. We've only had one rdv but he is
very kind and very interested. He wanted to come to church Sunday, but none of
the members could drive him, and we were really sad, until.....
HE WALKED A MILE TO CHURCH IN THE SNOW! We were so happy. It
was great because he met the members and now we have someone to drive him next
week! He was in our Gospel Principles class (apparently the missionaries teach
that here) and he really liked it except for the first ten minutes he thought
that our "libre arbitre" (agency) was another livre (book) he should
be reading in addition to the Livre de Mormon. Ha. But we got it all
straightened out.
We actually had FIVE amis at church Sunday! I know Sam has
like 12 every week, but this is pretty darn (sorry) good for a branch as tiny
as Toul. Both Sophie and Alexandre shared brief but wonderful testimonies. I am
so excited for the missionary work here. It is really picking up the pace.
We had so many lessons this week (on Friday we had six
rendezvous!), it would bore you all to tears if I recited them all, so I will
refrain from doing so. :)
BUT...I do need to put in a plug for the Church's Light the
World initiative!! It is so awesome. (Everybody needs to stop what they're
doing and watch the launch video right now if they haven't already.) We all
have a job to do in spreading the joy and light of Christmas to the world. The
best part is that the light we are sharing is the light of Christ.
"He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a
light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which
is endless, that there can be no more death"
--Mosiah 16:9
So, please take a second and think about what YOU can do to
light the world, at home or at school or at work. Maybe smiling. Or writing
someone a nice note. Or inviting someone to a church activity--or even to
church. Please don't fret about sharing the gospel! We have something truly
wonderful. We have have life with the blessings of the gospel of Christ, we
have death without fear, and we have hope for an eternity of happiness with the
people we love. The gospel is like a big bar of the best chocolate in the whole
world. If you offer some to a friend, they might say no, but they're not going
to be offended that you offered them some of your favorite chocolate! So don't
worry about it! Go light the world!
I love you all! Have a wonderful week.
Love,
Soeur Alice Jensen
Kebabs with Terii (who will be baptized the 15th) and his
friends Kendy and Jess, and the district leader and his companion when they
came for his interview.
Sebastien bought us advent calendars for Christmas! He is
the best.
Insane parade for the jour du Saint Nicholas in Toul-centre
My first French Brie. I didn't know she was taking the
picture.
Toul-centre at night. There are even more decorations and
lights now.
Our car after the first snow
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