this week has been pretty good! i was pretty sick at the end of the week but we were able to see some really cool miracles.
monday night we had a lesson scheduled with a former investigator who lived pretty far away. we couldn't find a member to go with us, so we had to move the lesson to tuesday night. after multiple promptings, sister ellsworth felt like we should pray to know if we should even go to the lesson at all (we had never met him). we didn't know why, we just knew we felt bad. we prayed together and i distinctly received an impression to "knock yvon" (which was another street near us) and she got the impression "stay here." we cancelled the appointment and stayed near our house and knocked the street yvon. we don't know what would have happened, and we didn't have any huge miracles when we knocked that street, but i am so grateful for the promptings of the spirit that protect us and guide us.
wednesday morning sister ellsworth and i had to drive into montreal for a trainer's meeting and to get a new car. wednesday was beautiful! we didn't even need coats! we had a wonderful meeting with president and sister phillips and all of the trainees and trainers. i love being in montreal to learn from them!
a cool miracle we had was our lesson with our chinese investigator. we taught her about the Godhead. we really wanted her to understand who Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are and to understand and recognize the Holy Ghost so she knows when she is receiving answers to her prayers. it was a powerful lesson! we taught her about who God is and how in order to be happy in this life and in the next life, we need to follow Jesus Christ. i asked her if she wanted to know how to follow Him and she got very excited and just kept saying yes, yes i do! we asked her how she felt when she prayed and she described the feelings of the Holy Ghost. we told her that this feeling would help her know when things are right and true. the spirit was so strong! it was such a blessing to be there and teach her about God and Jesus Christ.
we had another miracle on saturday morning. we had a branch activity and sister ellsworth and i had the spiritual thought. we were nervous but it went really well! and after eating (it was a brunch "cabane a sucre" style- very quebecois where you eat sausage cooked in maple syrup, beans, eggs and potatoes and baguette, all covered in maple syrup. yes it is a wonder how i am not ten thousand pounds by now) we went over to introduce ourselves to a lady who had come in late with three girls. we started talking and learn she isn't a member but was invited by some and is the sister in law of one of our less active members. she is from colombia (there are so many colombians here) and she had her 2 cute daughters and niece with her. we were talking and eating and making conversation and i asked her what there is to do around victo for fun. she told me that there really isn't much to do, but that we could come to her house if we wanted. we are so excited to teach her and her daughters!
the last miracle we had was sunday night we were passing by some former investigators and we met this indian woman named cumptie. we talked to her at her door and she didn't really want to let us in, but eventually she invited us in and started talking to us about how she lost her mother a few months ago and how that has been really hard. she said she wanted to talk to someone about it and she didn't know who so she decided to stop talking about it and then we showed up! she just was spilling her guts and you could tell she didn't really know why she was talking to us but at the end she was so much happier. she even got a call from her boyfriend while we were there and she told him and she was talking to two girls who are going to help her know how to get closer to God and not drink the bottle of rum she has in her cupboard. and at that point we hadn't even really said anything yet! sister ellsworth and i left that meeting knowing Heavenly Father had let us specifically to her.
also on tuesday we were knocking on some doors and we knocked on this door of an old grandpa. i thought he would be nice, but when he saw us through the window he started flipping us off and wouldn't even get off the couch to talk to us! hahaha we was just waving his hand through the window.
there are two things i have been thinking of lately that we heard during our trainer's meeting. the first was something president phillips said, "where there is love there is safety." i love this so much. something i've been trying to work really hard on is being more kind. above anything else, there is never any reason to not be nice and Christ was always kind and loving to everyone He met. as a missionary, we must have charity for those we teach or we are not able to teach them. how can we expect to help save someone if we do not love them? and like president said, where there is love, there is safety. we can create and enviroment where it is safe for them to change and safe for them learn about our Savior and turn to Him.
the second thing i've been thinking about is lamen and lemuel. i think about how when they were asked by their father to go back to jerusalem that yes they murmured, but they still went. how many times do i do that? how many times do i complain but still do what i am supposed to do? it's not the same as when you do things with a willing heart.
we read in 1 Nephi 15:8-11 when lamen and lemuel are complaining because they don't understand the meaning of the dream their father had concerning the tree of life. nephi speaks to them and says,
"And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord? And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us. Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts? Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?- If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you."
lamen and lemuel never asked the Lord, so they never received an answer to their question. we, as children of our Heavenly Father, are allowed to ask for His help and ask Him our questions. while we may not receive and answer right away, we will receive one if we ask.
i love you all! have a great week!
love,
soeur paine
pictures:
this is what a river looks like when the water starts breaking up the ice. it's all frozen again.
this weekend it was -35 again and so we look like marshmallows when we go outside
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