Jamison in Paris: Week 89 "Wow 7 New People to Teach"

March 21, 2016

Frere Piquet, Elder Trotter, and Me; he gave us beets from his garden!

Hello, this week went very well. My companion and I worked through some tough spots, some very tough spots, but the Lord brought us out victorious!

Chapon Chocolatier.

First off, I am amazed that Trotter and I have such a difficult time working together, but the Lord still provided a way through which we could move his work forward. This week we set a goal to find three new people to teach, and believe it or not, we found seven! Multiple times, I did a double check on that statistic, wait...did that really happen? So often we get stuck in the mindset of 'things are hard, we will see success but it will not be that great.
'O [me] of little faith, wherefore didst [I] doubt!' This week I
learned anything is possible, but that 'anything' must happen on God's time. So let me tell you all how it happened.
It started with dinner at the Mejia's house Monday, where we ate lots of Peruvian food and had fun teaching the family, the spirit was really there; Elder Trotter and I are learning how to switch off teaching better, and that really helped.

Lagny contacting on Consecration day!

Now, Tuesday we had our Consecration Day. I will say that the concept of this 'Consecration Day' was so inspired. An entire day devoted to finding new people helped me to mentally zone in on just that. Elder Trotter and I planned and scheduled it for the district, and at first I felt anxious because not every detail was planned out. We were following more of Elder Trotter's 'go with the flow' mentality, but we eventually settled on middle ground by planning some basic details, like where we would go, and which members we would work with. We spent the entire day working with members! The morning, while the Sisters contacted with Sister Cuenot, we found a really promising Ami while contacting on the road. The afternoon we went 'speed porting' with John and Laura, two young adults. Speed porting is trying to knock on over fifty doors in an hour or less, and hey we found a lady for the Soeurs to teach. At night we went contacting with Mauro, a
former Paris missionary, and man, he taught really well!

Contacting with Members: John and Laura are in the Middle.

At night on the bus, I saw this man with cross earings, and I was like, "Hey, those are really cool. You must like Jesus." And then we started talking and he wanted to see us again! At night we grouped up to get kebabs and tally points from finding checklist we'd created. The Sisters won and the prize was free kebabs on me and Elder Trotter. So then things continued to get better. At this point we're still working out every day, so I think that helped us keep energy, or else
we wouldn't have been able to sustain all this work we were doing. We taught an Evangelical lady who was super spiritual. She told us, as we finished speaking, that we showed the fruits of the spirit, and not everyone you talks to you like that...Wow!

Meeting with Investigators

We our investigator who's getting baptized soon about tithing. I taught a lady on the bus, slowly I'm getting better at trusting God and just going for it as I contact.....It's fun!

Helping a Family Move

Friday and Saturday were more of the same. Just throwing ourselves out there and teaching, talking to more people. And we're not even professionals. I know what I write makes it sound like we're perfect contactors or fearless studs, but honestly we experience a lot of feelings of inadequacy and drudgery along the way. I'm just highlighting the good. So when I'm writing this remember all the difficult that's underlying that we're trying to overcome. I still feel nervous before I go and talk to people, but I just have to say, "OK, I'm going to go for it," and just DO, that's the hardest part to force yourself to act, and then God will pour out blessings on you. So Act!

Helping a family move! Ha, I'm getting squished. I feel so thankful for these three transfers I've spent with Elder Trotter. OH MAN IT IS SO HARD, but why would God give me HARD without a good reason behind it. I sit here and realize that Elder Trotter has helped me to grow in so many ways. He's helped me because I'm more accepting of other's faults, I'm more concerned about what really matters in missionary work, and I'm much more patient - or at least I feel like. I love the Lord, I love what he teaches me. I feel a lot of inner peace and little things don't stress me out as much. I just have to pray sincerely for me and for my companion, and God pulls through.

God pulls through!
Love

Elder Jones