Hi family,
Siliane and Fréderique Doh are now official members of the church! It was the best weekend ever. We met with them almost every day leading up to their baptism (we had to finish teaching them all the commandments) and they accepted everything so well. I promise they were already living basically every commandment and now they just have the blessings that come from the gospel. The coolest part was when we taught them Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. That was the most difficult for them to keep because they both have (had) to work on Sunday. So what happened is last week Fréderique was almost not going to be able to go to church because of work. She said, "you know what, Im coming, I'll see you there. Pray for me please." So they both showed up last Sunday, we asked how they got to church because of work. They had had their doctor write a forge note saying they were sick so they could go to church. I said, "well, I think next lesson is going to be on honesty." but not so secretly we were really happy they were at church.
So they had committed to keeping the Sabbath Day Holy on Wednesday I think it was. Friday just before their baptismal interview we had a special lesson just about how they were going to take upon them the name of Christ the next day and what a beautiful blessing it was going to be, etc. Fréderique said she wanted to tell us a story. She went on to tell us that her employer had called and said she absolutely had to work on Saturday (the day of her baptism) and on Sunday because she has missed the last two weeks. she told them she wouldnt be there because she was going to church. They said in that case, dont bother coming into work again, you have lost your job. She said, okay, well Im not coming in on Saturday or Sunday, so sorry. So about a week ago Frederique told us she had started looking for a new job because she knew it was a commandment to come to church every sunday. A day after she lost her job because she had committed to come to church she got a call from one of the employers she had applied for a job for, and they offered her a job. She said, "I just want you to know that I am not going to work on Sundays." They said, "okay, is it because you are going to church?" She said, "yes." "okay that's great, you dont have to work on Sunday." It was such a testimony to Soeur Horn and I that as we act on faith in Christ without always knowing the outcome in advance, He will always provide for us. It was awesome. Their baptisms were beautiful, and the confirmations were awesome. And the most exciting part is that is was simply because a member invited them to come to church. At the baptism he bore his testimony and said for years he has felt he should talk to these two girls about the gospel but was always nervous too. He finally did it and three weeks later they are getting baptized. He testified of the incredible joy that has come into his life because he shared the gospel with someone else. In Fréderique's blessing of confirmation it talked all about how she is going to be helping advance the work of the Lord through her missionary work. Last Sunday she told Soeur Horn and I that she would maybe like to serve a mission. Isnt that crazy? Siliane just moved to the south of France Sunday night right after her confirmation. She said that she hates planes so much but she wants to come and she said she'll come and visit Soeur Horn and me in Utah and because she really wants to go to the temple in Salt Lake.
Everything else is going well here too. Soeur Horn and I did planning on Friday and came up with a six phase plan to accomplish the vision we want to see here. The vision is to help the Versailles Ward become a Preach My Gospel Ward and to "Gather Israel" (read the definition in bible dictionary... it's 'one who prevails with God') We really feel like we are being led and directed by the spirit to know what to do. We love every minute of it and are having so much fun doing it. It really is an act of faith because it is not necessarily normal missionary work whatsoever. It's focusing a lot less on finding methods like contacting and porting and a lot more on members. It's unlike anything I have done so far on my mission and honestly I dont have proof that it's the right thing to do and that it will be successful, but the thing that we do have to go off is that Soeur Horn and I both have the same vision and both keep receiving new inspiration that helps further our vision and we keep having huge support from the ward. Our mission leader asked us to come to ward council last week to present one of the projects we are doing. We presented everything and everyone started getting really excited about it. At the end the bishop said, "thank you sisters. You have our full support, please show us what we can do to help." He then asked us to present something on the 30th of september to the ward showing the members how to do missionary work. The awesome thing we have been noticing is that members are so ready and willing to help missionary work, you just have to show them how. We are now working really closely with the relief society to do one of our projects and it's so fun. So please pray for us, because when it all comes down to it, we are just kind of going on faith as far as what we actually know what we are doing.
I hope everyone has an amazing week! I love you so much!
Love,
Soeur Chard
No comments:
Post a Comment