Soeur Larsen: Part XLIV

So, this week was a really, really, really good week. I don't know if I'll be able to explain why! But believe me, it was awesome. 

First of all, it was FREEZING. SO COLD. No one told me that when I was going to France, it was going to be like Siberia. (Don't get after me, people who served in Russia, I know your mission was colder than mine, blah blah blah....) It's so cold that it doesn't matter how many layers you put on, or how many times you wrap your giant wool scarf around your face, you will still be cold. Trust me, I put on basically everything I own. Getting dressed is so much work these days. Sweater, tights, wool socks, wool tights, other socks, boots, pajama pants tucked in, skirt, other skirt.... just kidding, I don't actually layer my skirts. But I do look rather more voluptuous than usual, when all is said and done. 

You would think that knocking on people's doors in the freezing cold would make them take pity on you and let you in, but I have found that is not true. Oh well. 

It was exciting yesterday because we woke up and there was snow on the ground! And it continued to snow like mad until about noon, 5 inches later. It threw the whole country into commotion. We only had sacrament meeting, so that was a party. The rest of the branch was excited, but Soeur Williams and I looked at each other like, wait, that means only one hour in a heated place and the rest in the cold snowy outdoors....

Funny fact for you, in Blois they don't throw salt on the ground to melt the snow, they throw dirt. You're right, dirt doesn't get rid of snow. It makes giant trails of mud. I guess they must be forgiven, apparently it only snows here about once every two years. But I'll bring it up with the mayor next time I see him. 

Which reminds me, is there a lot in the news over there about Mitt Romney? We hear about him all the time over here. One of the members said they don't hear about any of the other presidential candidates and they hear as much about Mitt Romney as they do about their own politics. 

On to the spiritual stuff!
So, ready to hear my cool story? You know how you hear those cool stories about people having dreams about the missionaries before they knock on their door, or I heard one about a kid who saw the missionaries and she was like, mom, there's the angels I dreamed about! I don't know if you have heard those stories, but there you go, now you have. I've heard a couple on my mission and I always thought, wouldn't it be cool to have a story like that? Too bad I'm not serving in Lamanite land where that happens.... 

Until now! 

So, Saturday we went to teach Kevin and Alex. These two are some of the most interesting people I have met on my mission. Such characters. I love them muchly. Anyway, they love the Book of Mormon, and they've learned to love and rely on prayer, and they love the missionaries, but that is about as far as their love goes. We haven't been able to get them to progress beyond that point. And we keep planning on telling them we can't teach them anymore until they progress, but something stops us every time and it was getting frustrating. This week we prayed and fasted for them, and decided we would teach them again about baptism and the power of covenants to help us really change and be obedient and endure to the end. Saturday morning while I was studying, I got the distinct impression that someone up there in heaven is very set on these two accepting the gospel, and is going to keep bugging us and bugging them until that happens. We've kind of had this impression throughout the last couple months, especially with regard to Alex's son, who is 7 years old. Something whispers that these three are important and have things to do in this life, so we keep chugging along. Anyway... I feel like I always give way more information than anyone wants when telling a story. 

SO Saturday we're sitting there in the lesson, and it was going super well. We had asked them to watch Finding Faith in Christ the night before and they had and they had loved it and felt the Spirit, and then Kevin started telling us about how he wanted to change but he'd been asking God to help and he felt like maybe he wasn't recognizing the answer and he felt stuck and wanted to progress and didn't know how. We talked about how sin stops our progression and the only way to progress is to repent, and about how our covenants help us so that that repentance sticks and we're able to continue progressing. We talked about baptism and shared the sacrament prayer, and how God promises to help us if we will do our part. He seemed to understand it like never before. We'd talked about baptism before, but now he got all excited and then he was asking about the other covenants, asking if there was one for marriage, and it just all seemed to make sense to him. He got so excited and we were so excited, the Spirit there was just electric. Then he got kind of thoughtful and went, "I've never told you this, I never even told Alex this, but just before we met you two, I had a dream about you." (My mind went, no way.) 

He had tears in his eyes (and then, of course, moments later I did too, because I have over-active tear glands) as he told us that he had dreamed that he'd seen me, dressed in white and holding a flaming sword (epic, right?). I was outside their apartment and I was fighting against something he couldn't see, something dark and evil. He said he'd had that same dream a couple times since then, and had come to understand that it meant the missionaries were sent to them to protect them, to fight against the evil that was more real and more dangerous than they realized. 

I was sitting there with a million thoughts going through my head; a thank-you prayer and a surprise that that selfish little desire I had had been realized, and a reminder that the war we are fighting is real and is being fought on both sides of the veil.
So, there you go, my cool story for the week. 

There were so many this week! We also had a stellar lesson with the boys, Samuel and Etienne, we had taught Samuel the plan of salvation and about prayer and invited him to pray, and when we came back and asked him what he remembered he explained the plan perfectly and said he had prayed (for the first time in his life!) about school and his prayer had been answered! On the mission, to keep up morale, sometimes I let my imagination go a little wild. And when I thought about the fact that Samuel had prayed, to the Father who loved him and had been waiting for 12 years to hear from him, I imagined all the hosts of heaven cheering and Heavenly Father just being so happy. It's a great work :) 

The lesson just got better from there, Etienne joined in so we re-explained the plan of salvation and he understood it super quickly. We told him about the Celestial Kingdom and he was like, I get to be like God? Cool! Gotta love teaching kids, everything makes sense to them and they're not all skeptical. Then we told them about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I was impressed by their attention spans, they just had their eyes glued on us for over an hour and when we gave them their own copies they immediately started reading them and asking questions. They're just soaking up the gospel and it's amazing, it's also been amazing to watch their dad's little testimony flame growing as he joins in the lessons, he even asked the boys if he could join in on their nightly reading and prayer. He shared some miracle experiences he had when he was an active member, and said, "I know it's true. I know this is the true church. You can't see what I saw and not know." 

We've also had some other cool experiences with prayer; our president challenged us, whenever we're in an area by a member's home and we're going to do some porting or contacting, to first stop at the home of the member and ask if they can pray with us so we can have success in their area. We had a couple experiences with this and it builds the member's faith in prayer and in us, helps them know we're hard at work and serious about what we're doing, and helps bring us and the members so close. I wish I'd been doing this all along! The first time we tried it we had just passed by the neighbor and friend of a member, whom she had referred to us, and had received a lukewarm welcome. But we felt hopeful as we walked away, and we passed by the member's home to tell her how it went. We stopped by and told her and she said, it's a miracle! I just barely prayed for them! She was so excited and it was so fun for us to be a part of. We're going to visit them again this week and she'll be going with us. Fingers crossed! But before we left her she offered another prayer with us, and it was just such a good prayer! She prayed for us and for our families and for the work and those kinds of prayers are just always fun to hear. Of course, everytime I hear someone pray for the missionaries its just good for the heart. Oh yeah, we visited another less active member that night and she gave another super cute prayer, praying for us and our families and our future husbands and our future children and our feet and legs. I just feel so taken care of now :)
I can't explain how fun it is to be a part of seeing other people's faith grow, seeing them be more excited about praying and sharing the gospel, and seeing their confidence in the missionaries grow. 

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Well, there ya go, your prayers are being answered, thanks for praying for me :) The work is going really really well and the time is flying by faster than I would like it to. This week is just jam-packed with work and it's going to go by even faster! This week we're also doing exchanges, party! So I'll get to spend 24 hours in Angers. Woot.
I love you all, the Church is true! Have a good week!

Soeur Larsen