it's been a great week! sister ellsworth and i have been finding finding finding. it's interesting to try and contact here, i forgot how different the people are the further north you get in quebec. EVERYONE here are jehovah's witnesses and think we are to. sometimes in contacting we have to say "we aren't temoins de jehovah!" and they actually listen to us. we contact in the morning, we contact in the afternoon, and we contact in the evening. BUT we are starting to see the fruits of our labors.
last monday night we had an appointment set up with a lady from africa we had met knocking. her name is chantale and pretty much the whole time we were talking to her at the door, she was VERY skeptical, but she agreed to meet with us again, but she did NOT take our Book of Mormon because "she already had a bible." well we went back for the lesson and we sat down and she was a brick wall. she was not having our message about Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation. we tried to get to know her a bit and then start teaching her, thinking we would just finish the lesson and that would be it. about 5 minutes in to this very awkward lesson, chantale basically told us she wasn't listening to anything we had just said and asked us why we were there. we took a pause and again explained our purpose as missionaries and testified. after this, her whole demeanor changed. there was light! she was laughing! she was listening! and she wanted us to come back. it's incredible to see the physical changes in people when the spirit touches them! i love it!
the other miracle we saw was with another new investigator we had contacted, mikellange. she is haitian from quebec and super sweet. when we first talked to her at her door, she didn't really want to talk to us but i wasn't going to let her close the door so i started asking questions and eventually we were talking and laughing. we taught her the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and introduced the Book of Mormon. she was SO excited to read the Book of Mormon and to come to church! we are excited for her to come!
this weekend sister ellsworth and i drove to quebec city, where i started my mission over a year ago. it's so weird to be back to the same place! we had interviews with president phillips sunday night and then i slept in my very first apartment in the mission! talk about deja vu! monday we had zone conference. it was really wonderful! but at the same time it was really weird/nice to not have to do anything! being an stl, we always had things to prepare for and train on/present at zone conference but not anymore! however, there is a portion of zone conference where everyone prepares 2 minute talks and then president calls on random people to share theirs and of course, i still got called on. never off the hook!
one thing that i have been really thinking about since zone conference is coming to know our Savior Jesus Christ, really knowing Him. when we see Him, will we fall at His feet and know He is our Savior? or do we just know of Him? our 2 minute talks at zone conference were based on the talk by elder bednar from this past general conference, "If Ye Had Known Me." in the talk he give 4 ways of truly coming to know Christ. the way that stuck out to me was "following Him" but that made me think about what even more important than following Him is the way that we follow Him. we can follow His teachings and His commitments, but if we don't have faith, if we don't love Him, it doesn't matter. we are robots doing mechanical things.
i love matthew 4:18-20, "And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him."
i think about how they straightway left their nets. what is my net? what will Christ find me doing? maybe it is weaknesses and struggles i have. maybe my net is good and righteous things, but will i be willing to IMMEDIATELY and STRAIGHTWAY leave it to follow Him? i hope i would be. we learned from a leader that when Christ was calling his apostles to follow Him, He was calling them to the Atonement. i love that. when Christ calls me to follow Him, He is calling me to use His Atonement, the sacrifice and suffering He did just for me and just for you. so when we look at our nets, and we hear the Savior calling us, the real question is, are we willing to straightway leave them and come to the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ?
another thing that has been on my mind lately is the phrase "je me souviens" or "i remember." it is the "phrase" of quebec... it's on all the liscense plates so that the quebecois can remember where they came from. i love that i get reminded all the time to remember. sister ellsworth and i have been working on seeing the blessings and miracles all around us every day. we need to remember that everything we have, everything we receive, comes from Heavenly Father because He loves us.
yesterday we went on exchanges with the sister training leaders in quebec. i got to go with sister morgan! she's awesome and it was great to learn from her.
i love you all! have a great week!
love,
soeur paine
pictures:
finding my picture in my old apartment
exchanges with sister morgan (at chocolat favoris of course, they don't have one in victoriaville!)
sister ellsworth eating rotisserie chicken and fries with gravy for the first time, a quebec classic!
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