JUST A LITTLE BIT OF BEEF

dear everyone,

this week was incredible!!!

we had a lot of success this week, and it makes me so happy to see that more and more people are accepting the gospel of Jesus Christ!

we had quite a busy week, and a highlight was that Isabel (i've talked about her lots before) went on a mini mission with us! she was with us from tuesday night- thursday afternoon. we were really blessed to have many lessons and miracles while she was with us! she will be an awesome missionary, and it was so fun, like a big sleepover! (don't worry, we still did lots of work!) 

one of the miracles that happened while she was with us, was we received a referral from a lady in our ward. we went to visit her friend the day we received the referral. she is very nice. her name is nancy and she apparently met with missionaries years and years ago. she has faith in God, but has a really hard time with all of the different religions she sees. her brother is adventist, her parents are catholic, and another family member is a jehovah's witness (side note: THERE ARE SO MANY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HERE IN CANADA. everyone thinks we are actually jw. poop.). she knows none of those churches are true, and really wants to find a church to go to. she told us, "i don't know why, but i had a feeling i should call suzanne (ward member) and ask her to send you to my house." WOW! we have only met with nancy one time, but have an appointment with her this next week! 

besides that amazing miracle, we also were able to see our investigators several times and make some really great progress! one of our investigators, carole, has been having a really hard time coming to church because she said she feels like a stranger. we have been bringing members with us to every lesson that we think will make good friends with her, and this week, it worked! the sister in our ward even invited her to a single adults activity on saturday and she went! it's not sacrament meeting, but it's a step closer! and carole really enjoyed herself, too! 

oh and another one of our investigators, vivianne, who we have been struggling with over the past couple of weeks as to whether or not we should keep teaching her, is really beginning to open up. we showed her the easter video, and she loved it. she even has some extended family she is taking us to go see this week because she wants us to be friends with them. the father passed away this past week and she told us she knows we can help them. vivianne is doing missionary work! 

so with all of the miracles, sister savard (bean sprouts lady from last week) was with us for a lesson and she told us she had a little bit too much beef and it won't fit in her fridge, so she wanted to give us some. we go to her house after the lesson, and well let's say it wasn't a "little bit of beef" it was enough food to feed a whole army! she gave us soup, homemade spaghetti sauce, homemade apple sauce, chicken casserole, pate chinois, and some bread thing. we even gave half of it to the elders and have been eating the food for the past 3 days with no end in sight! haha! 

i'm so grateful for this week. it is the week leading up to the celebration of easter and the Resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. i love the talk by Elder Holland, "None Were with Him." it really puts into perspective the overwhelming love of our Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. the last two paragraphs of the talk are so incredible, i'm going to share them with you: 

"Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: “I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].”20

My other plea at Easter time is that these scenes of Christ’s lonely sacrifice, laced with moments of denial and abandonment and, at least once, outright betrayal, must never be reenacted by us. He has walked alone once. Now, may I ask that never again will He have to confront sin without our aid and assistance, that never again will He find only unresponsive onlookers when He sees you and me along His Via Dolorosa in our present day. As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,”21 for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

i love especially that last paragraph. let us stand with Jesus Christ and testify that He lives! i know it. He never abandons us. i love my Savior Jesus Christ and my Father in Heaven. 

love you all!

soeur paine

pictures:

as promised, another picture of canal, the fattest cat alive. it's a horrible picture of me, but it's a perfect picture of canal hahahahahaha 

isabel and i while she was on her mini-mission with us

sister clark and i with chocolat favoris! it's an amazing chocolate shop, and during spring/summer it's HUGE. they have ice cream and then 10-12 different chocolates you can dip the ice cream in and it just opened. its' soooo good! 

a super awkward district picture hahaha i promise we're all friends but this may be the most awkward picture i've ever seen bahahaha