It's hard to remember exactly what happened and when, but I'll do my best. There have been a lot of ups and downs this week. On Wednesday we taught members who spoke French lessons. It was a different experience because they speak faster than our teachers and already understand the Gospel, so we have to try and go deeper. It went fairly well, but I think we can do much better.
On Thursday I got to watch my companion go absolutely crazy with the Spirit and French during our lessons that day. He described his experience with our "investigator" Guillaume as having words come to his mind over and over with exactly what he should say, in French. He and I both bore powerful testimony to him. This investigator is based of one of Frere Keenan's actual investigators and his story is heart-rending, and it's so easy to love him and want him to accept the gospel. More on him later. We taught Lisa again on Thursday and we continue to have great lessons with her. We taught her more about prophets and the power and importance of the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit was so present. She asked us "who are you, really?" and we responded that we're just a couple of teenagers who are doing our best. I felt like Ammon when King Lamoni asks him if he is the Great Spirit. Again Elder Graham was filled with the Spirit and bore powerful testimony and knew exactly what to say over and over. That day was hard for me because I felt like I didn't have the Spirit very much at all. I prayed hard that night for an increase and to know what to do better after feeling overwhelmed with everything I was supposed to be doing.
The next morning my prayer was answered by one of my teachers without him even knowing. He said he wanted to share a scripture with us, and shared Philippians 4: 6-7 with us, which were exactly the words I needed. It was very spiritual for me and a testimony builder as well. That day I felt like how Elder Graham was the day before, filled with the Spirit in all of our lessons. We had a powerful lesson on prayer with our other "investigator" Leonard and I could speak near-fluent French. Then with Lisa, I had multiple promptings as we taught her further about the afterlife. What an amazing experience.
Saturday we taught Guillaume again, and we were finally able to get him to pray. After "6 years" of not praying, he finally offered a simple prayer to God, and it was beautiful and simple and wonderful. What an amazing experience it is here at the MTC to teach people who feel so real, as well as people who could potentially be real investigators.
Sundays here continue to be awesome. I love teaching and being in lessons because everyone is so spiritual and insightful and wants to share what they know, it's so different from a lot of home ward meetings. It's also a little interesting to have a Sacrament meeting almost entirely in French and be able to understand the vast majority of what's going on. My French has grown by leaps and bounds as I've been here at the MTC, and it's fantastic.
Monday I gave my first priesthood blessing of my mission. One of the sisters in our district hurt her knee, and she asked me for a blessing before she went and saw the doctors. It was really cool to have words truly just come to my mind as I listened for them. It was also Elder Graham's birthday, and it was cool to see all the support. Gifts like candy and ties from the other missionaries in our zone and teachers, and a box of cookies from his grandparents. I couldn't get him anything (for obvious reasons) but I think he had a good birthday regardless.
Cool news, I made it in to the Christmas program coming up soon. I think it's for the Branch Presidencies and their wives. Not sure if I'm a soloist or part of the choir or what, but I'll find out tonight.
I think that just about covers this week. Hard to think I'm already over halfway through since we fly out on the Sunday the 13th!
See y'all real soon,
Elder Miner
 |
| This is me and my companion with our old zone leaders. They headed out to Paris yesterday, and I think they'll do great. The new zone leaders are the other two elders from our district, and the new sister training leaders are also from my district, so basically all the "power" now sits in our district. ;) |
 |
| The second is Frere Keenan. He served in Quebec and is getting married on Friday, so we won't see him again until Monday. |
 |
| These are my teachers. The first is Frere Nollet, a native Belgian who attends BYU and served in Washington DC, French speaking. |
No comments:
Post a Comment