Week 99 "FIVE AMIS @ CHURCH"

May 30, 2016

Our week began with a fun night at the Decaux family's house.  Two of our Amis came and they had a fun time, and we taught the Plan of Salvation.  Our friend who serves as a Catholic priest almost came,but then had a last-minute problem so he didn't make it.  I drew a big explanation of the Plan of Salvation on our mini whiteboard, and everybody thought it was well-drawn, that made me happy.

       We taught S, one of our new investigators and things are progressing really well with him.  The story of how we found him is nothing too special. However I did feel the spirit very strong when we met him; walking up the road to visit a family we teach, I felt a strong impression to talk to this man.  Since then, S has loved reading the Book of Mormon, and this week we invited him to church and he accepted the invite whole-heartedly.  Some people act very lazy about coming to church, S was different, he insisted that we give him a reminder call the day of and you could just feel his sincerity.  It's a cool feeling when people are sincere and keep their promises.
        The next story is called the "Kebob from Heaven." Thursday night all the way into Friday morning was full of cancelled appointments and lots of walking and taking the bus.  Taking the bus makes me really tired for some reason!  But anyway Friday morning we go out contacting before lunch.  About one hour has passed and we're just about turning around to head home to eat...and then we contact this man who is interested.  We talk a little about the Book of Mormon, and then he pauses and says, "Have you guys eaten lunch yet?" Um, no..."Well do you want to go eat a Kebab with me?"  Well, ...yeah! Sure! So we got Kebabs bought for us at the end of a long, hard couple of days.  Had we not met this man we still would have eaten lunch, but the experience was a sign to me of God's love.  Keep going to the end and God will send blessings!
 

Storm Coming into Blois 

    
  That's not all, folks.  The best experience of the week I'd have to say, was church. Elder Smith was not feeling well at all, but we put on our rain jackets and went out.  We met up with "A" right at the beginning of our walk (1 person at church) and had fun talking all the way to the chapel.  We attended the first class, then went to pick up S, our progressing Ami from before, who brought his son as well (3 people at church).  The Sacrament Meeting started and I got a tap on the shoulder, "Elder, there's someone in the hall." An old investigator showed up kind of unexpectedly.  (4 people) And halfway through the opening song another Ami who we had invited sat down.
That made for five people we're teaching (or have taught) at church! The coolest thing was that as these Amis came in, a few church members quickly changed spots so they could sit by our Amis and explain the meeting and help them feel welcome. Well what a cool thing that we have members who care about our Amis, there's nothing better than good solid members who help you!

STORM IN BLOIS

        I am grateful to serve in such a beautiful country.  There is so much old tradition here, It all feels so cool to walk down the same streets your 700 year old ancestors might have walked down, with their pitchforks, armor and mandolins. And I feel grateful to be here doing what matters most.  Even though most people don't listen fully to what we say, the majority are very nice.  The Restored Gospel takes time and effort to understand, but not everyone will put forth those two simple things.  Fortunately we teach a handful of people who are willing to take the time and put in the effort to learn about this awesome gospel for themselves!  And I hope that A, A(2), S, L, and G will continue to work toward knowing through the Spirit this is true. The great thing is that we can all gain a testimony the Gospel of Jesus Christ through praying and putting forth that time and effort ourselves.  This works, I've tried it. And with that I know that this Gospel is true.  We will all have the occasional doubt, but just hold on.  God will not leave you comfortless.  He loves you.  He gave us Joseph Smith as a prophet, and all those prophets after, to restore His Church.  He gave us Christ to set a perfect example. And heck yeah it's hard to to what we're supposed to but just stick with Him (God) and he'll 'place you on his shoulders and carry you home'.
Elder Jamison Jones