1-30-17

Hello friends and family!! I have had such an awesome week this week, there's not enough space to talk about it all!!

We have been having a fabulous time contacting this week! It's been just as cold, but we have been seeing just as many miracles. Some mentionnable moments:

1) When we contacted a Muslim girl on the street (normally not allowed) and she told us that she's been searching for an absolute truth.. and then just busts out "oh by the way I speak better English than French" so we continued the contact with her speaking perfect English!

2) When a man contacted me as I'm getting off the tram and says, "I didn't know they had missionaries who were girls!" and then proceeded to give me his name and phone number (I didn't ask)... and then said "oh we didn't fix a rendez-vous! Okay so how about Monday at 14h" and he writes it in my planner for me.

3) When Soeur Bowman contacted a nun on the bus...

4) ... and then because Soeur Bowman contacted a nun on the bus two African guys came up to us and started asking questions

5) When we contacted a cool guy named Eric Emmanuel who believes in the whole total liberty, God is dead kind of thing but we talked to him for 45 mins and he left at the end with a Book of Mormon...

6) ...because another ami of ours named Dennis came up and started talking about how much he loves the church and the missionaries and why don't you want the Book of Mormon? It's a great book! And then we talked with Dennis for another 15 mins

Those last two experiences happened in the freezing cold at 7pm, and standing in the cold for an hour triggered a pretty nasty cold in me. I've been under the weather for the last couple days. Blessings upon blessings, it warmed up just as I got sick, so we were able to keep working without making my cold worse. 

So we are back in contact with our super cool ami Thierry! After a missed rendez-vous and a couple missed calls we decided to pass by his apartment, even though we thought he should be at work. Turns out, he was home!! He had just barely gotten off work, and we were able to set up another rendez-vous. 

A couple days later we came over to talk about the Plan of Salvation. It must have been inspired because Thierry started asking questions about Adam and Eve right as we came in! We ultimately read all of 2 Nephi 2 (a super long and involved chapter that usually takes a couple readings to understand, all about what happened in the Garden of Eden) together with Thierry. After we finished, he nodded to himself and then said, "okay... okay... that makes sense. That makes a lot more sense than what I understood before. I'm going to have to read that again, but I thing I understand" So Thierry gave himself an engagement, and we also asked him to read 2 Nephi 9 before we saw him again because he told us he was leaving for about a week on vacation.

So then we were sitting there on Sunday in the middle of sacrament meeting and Thierry sneaks into the chapel! He told us that his plans changed and that he was leaving later than expected, so he decided to come to church! We had really fun amis class, mostly thanks to the member we invited to join us... who decided that it was really important that Thierry understands EVERYTHING about the veil, about the composition of our spirits, and the exact difference between a sin, a transgression, and an error. He also decided to list all of the commandments he needs to keep before he can be baptized. Despite all the craziness, Thierry was absorbing information like a sponge, and really pondering it as well. We had previously mentioned baptism, and so we asked him if it was still something he wanted, to be baptized and to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. He said, "Well yes, of course, this is what I've been searching for. But I know that there are a lot of changes that I have to make before I can be baptized, and I don't know how long that's going to take" So we asked him to pray and ponder about a baptismal date as a goal to work towards, and he said yes!

I'm so happy that I have this opportunity to be a missionary here in France. I think the youth theme for this year, Ask, is so inspired. As we asked Thierry to pray about a baptismal date, we had a really good conversation about what it means to receive an answer to prayer. Thierry is someone who has been in many different churches and who knows the Bible much much better than I do, yet the knowledge we have-- that we can receive real and personal answers to our prayers-- was something that he didn't have. It really made me grateful for the opportunity I had to learn that precious truth while young. So here goes my missionary brain, giving you all an engagement. Take time this week to really communicate with your Heavenly Father. We are promised that as we ask with real intent and with faith that we can receive an answer, He will respond to us. 

Love you all!! Bisous!!

Soeur Rogers