Hey guys!
Thanks to those who e-mailed me this week. I enjoy hearing from
everyone. This second week in the field has been a pretty incredible week. Yes
I am still a greenie, though in French someone is blue rather than green (they
still say green here in Quebec because no one is from France, and so they use a
lot of English expressions). We still did quite a bit of tracting this week,
but we went from zero investigators to about nine. Some of them we knocked into
and some of them we found in the lists of previous investigators, and two were
left by the previous companionship. The crowning event of the week was when
Virginie came to church, liked it, and found out that someone she already knew
was a member. She had been talking with the elders for about a week before the
transfer. She has some unusual beliefs. She is around 25 and is something of a
new-age hippie. She is vegetarian, pacifist, doesn't believe in marriage, calls
God "the Great Spirit," and doesn't understand Christ and won't pray
in his name because she thinks he was killed by God (she doesn't really know
the story very well). Despite these difficulties, she really likes the Book of Mormon,
and enjoys reading it. Also the Gospel Principles lesson yesterday was on the
Word of Wisdom and she really liked it. She has been addicted to drugs and
alcohol but is quitting, and has been over ninety days know without either. She
wants to try and quit coffee and tea, and loved the stuff about eating healthy
and exercising. We hope that these two points can be a sufficient start to
build a faith and understanding of the gospel.
We have had a few miracles so far. The first is when we went to
visit a less active who wasn't there. We decided it would be a good time to
call the referral we received from the ward mission leader. We called up this
family of 10, but the husband wasn't home. We talked to the wife and agreed to
call again today when she knew his work schedule (he works a lot apparently).
The important part of the phone call is that the woman talked at us for 45
minutes about how much she loves missionary work (they're evangelists). After
the phone-call finally ended, it was 8:40, the time when we usually drive
home for the night (yes we have a car. Most areas do; biking is very rare here
because it is either pouring rain or snowing for 9 months out of the 12, and it
still rains quite a bit during those other three months), but Elder Murphy said
that we should try to contact at least one person so that the evening wasn't
completely wasted. I agreed. We went into the apartment building that our
inactive lives in and pushed the buzzer for the room just after her's (we
usually start at the top of buildings and she lives on the bottom) and the
person let us in. His name is Alex. He seemed interested in our message, and I
think he really felt something. He listened and when we asked him to commit to
baptism on the 14 of September, he said yes. We set up a time to visit him
again, and are really excited about him.
The other miracles are much smaller. We knocked into a woman who
has been inactive for twenty years. Her records weren't even in Quebec, they're
probably still in her home town in Colombia. We also met many Hindu and
Buddhist people in the less affluent areas. The native Quebecois are the people
who slam the door on us, but these non-christian immigrants are incredibly
kind. They always talk with us, and often invite us in and offer us drinks
before they even know who we are. We haven't had too much success teaching them
the gospel, but they really are wonderful people.
We are teaching two really cool families of immigrants from
central Africa. Pelegea and her daughter have awesome testimonies of Christ,
and can really feel the Spirit in the message of the Restored Gospel.
Dorcas and her family of young children are looking for more peace and guidance
in their lives. We are trying to get both to come to Church, and Dorcas seems
interested in coming, but we are still working with Pelegea because her current
church's meeting conflicts almost exactly with ours.
The other investigator that we have that is really moving
forward is Gabrielle, who has been investigating and progressing for a while,
comes to church every Sunday, and just married an active member of the ward on
Saturday. She will probably get baptized soon.
Sorry I forgot my camera again today. You guys will have to wait
for next week to see them. It's awesome that Grandma and Grandpa came back. Is
the French guy that Jordan is supposed to marry coming soon? I joke of course;
I still think Jordan will go on a mission. Did T and Paige get my letters? I'm
sorry I haven't sent a handwritten letter yet, I'm just so busy. Also I need to
buy Canadian stamps.
The first two weeks have been tough. It's been a challenge
adjusting to the lifestyle, but each day improves as I see the blessings that
this calling brings into the lives of others. Also each day goes a tiny bit
faster than the one before. I'm beginning to fear that by the time I reach the
last quarter of my mission I will go to bed and wake up to find that a transfer
has passed. Already this past seven days felt half as long as the first 4.
I have a testimony of this gospel. I can see the Spirit
testifying of its truth in the eyes of even those who reject just the sight of
us. I am just beginning my mission, but I have already seen that no matter how
firmly someone tries to desensitize himself, he cannot escape the Light of Christ;
no matter how firmly he denounces the gospel, in his heart he is not so sure of
his words. We met a young man named Subash, who was converted to Christianity
as he was immigrating from Nepal. His belief in the Bible is such that he
flatly refuses to believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet simply because he is
not mentioned in the Bible. We shared scriptures and tried to better explain
how the Bible was assembled. We could see on his face as he struggled with what
he was feeling. In the end he agreed to read the Book of Mormon, but wouldn't
agree to meet with us again. We hope he can find the truth of the book.
I'm just about out of time now. I am doing great here in Quebec.
I hope that you guys are doing good. I love you and I'll write to you again next
week. Also when I get some stamps I will write a letter to Ronnie.
Love you all,
Elder Hardy
No comments:
Post a Comment