So you know how I said last week may have been the craziest week?
This week definitely rivals that statement. I mean verses it. Right?
:) But I have a strange feeling I might be saying that every week in
Ilford.
So there were a couple of exchanges and a zone conference.
And I am not exactly sure how to express what happened the rest of the week.
But here is a couple of good things I can think of!
Mavis. Mavis is really cool. She is from Ghana and has 3 children.
Benjamin (12 yrs old), Elisa (10) and Joel (9). Their dad is in Ghana
right now. We met Mavis on the bus. We "needed" directions and she
helped us out. Is that terrible to ask if you already know? I don't
know. Either way, it worked! She didn't seem super interested but we
got a return appointment for her and all is well! Well Sister Swann
went and saw her the following Tuesday on our exchange. She was with
Sister Calixto (a sister from Portugual who was in the MTC with me!)
And apparently the lesson went great and Mavis and her family are
interested and wonderful. They are Christian and I think have a
certain church they go to, but I can't think of it right now. I got
to go see them on Saturday with Sister Swann and they are great! The
kids know so much and are involved and love it and ask questions and
just wonderful things. And now they are going to be baptized at the
end of next month! October 23 is their baptismal date. We are way
excited for them. Just a perfect little family Heavenly Father helped
us find. They couldn't come to church this week because Joel had a
football match. :( sad. But hopefully they come next week!
And oh my days church is a whole different subject. I think we
called/confirmed about 40 people to come. Well throughout the week.
But there are only about 9 solid and then only 2 or 3 show up. I
don't know the math confuses me too.
Joe. Okay so we met Joe on the street by asking his name. Creative
conversation starter I know. Joe's friend has a friend that is Mormon.
We saw him again at the church that week. Joe grew up Christian and
never felt God in his life. He wants proof that God exists. Just to
give some context, it is really easy to find people to teach once in
Ilford, it is much harder to find investigators who are willing and
able to progress. So with this in mind, we put down harder
expectations for Joe. You need to meet with us for 20 mins three times
a week, you need to read a chapter of the Book of Mormon between every
visit, you need to come to church...almost to the point of pushing him
too far. Probably not good. But he just kept agreeing to them! So we
will see how it goes this next week. If he really does keep to his
promise he will be baptized for sure. He has got a great heart.
Simon. Oh Simon is SO GOOD! But we had to refer him to the elders in
Grays. :( Sad. Sister Kinney and I found him on Tuesday. We talked
to him for a bit and gave him a chapel tour. The chapel has absolute
perfect placement in Ilford. It is a great advantage. You can pull
people off the street and give them a chapel tour all the time. And
we saw him again later that week. Taught L1 and put him on date to be
baptized October 23rd. He is christian, but hasn't really found a
church. He was baptized into a different church a year ago, but fell
away from that church. His father passed away about a year ago and
Simon has been looking for answers about the purpose of life and what
happens after. He said he found them, but aren't really sure what his
answers are. He is just a bit tired of looking. But Heavenly Father
answered his prayer one year later! But I am so sad because we don't
get to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. The elders better take
good care of him. But he really took to the Restoration and Book of
Mormon well. If the transition to the elders work, he will be
baptized. We will keep an eye out for him because Grays is in the
zone. We will follow-up on those elders!!
We taught someone who is Pentecostal and their friend who is Muslim in
the same lesson. This is a direct quote from the experience,
"Aminat(who is Muslim), this book is amazing. (referring to the book
of Mormon). It teaches us all about God and how important families
are. It has strengthened my family so much." Turn over to Margaret
(Pentecostal) "Margaret, this book is amazing. It teaches us all
about Jesus Christ and the importance He has in everything." (looking
back we might want to evaluate that lesson again.) hey both are true
statements though!!
So Ilford and Stratford (the two wards who meet at the chapel) had a
party for a young man who just returned home from his mission. Boy
was it a party! So much Jello, Rice and fried plantains. Such good
food. I'll send a picture and a video I took of the experience.
Our companionship motto is "Work hard, and then do it again." We call
everyone and we talk to everyone, and then we do it again. Work hard
and do it again.
Love and miss you all!!
Sister Soulier
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