It's beginning to look like springtime
Dear tout le monde,
This week has been a little all over the place. Consequently I think I'll make this a miscellaneous email. Even more so than usual. XD
Earlier on in the week we were going through old amis and we found a lady who looked like she might be ready for another visit so we passed by her house. She was really nice and invited us into her apartment. She's from Turkey but speaks English. The first thing she told us was that her cat was lost and she asked us to pray for it. After that we did some of the points from how to begin teaching and followed on her previous experiences with the missionaries. She remembered quite a lot from the lessons she had a long time ago and she got straight to the point for why she hadn't joined the church. Her main reason was that she didn't believe that God had given us modern prophets. Her reasoning came from how Christ had told his followers to beware false prophets and I felt it was understandable. But also from John's words from Revelations about adding words to his book. I wonder if John knew how much trouble he would cause with that verse haha. ;) But we read Amos 3:7 and explained that she could go to the source of all truth, even the source of the Bible, to know that the Book of Mormon was true and from there modern prophets. I hope that she will retain her interest in meeting with us. She told us she would come to church but then didn't end up coming. :/ The next day I read a talk from Jeffrey R. Holland called "My Words Never Cease". I highly recommend it. It was given just at the time President Monson was sustained as prophet.
I'm so excited for this general conference! It's a year to remember!
Another person I'd like to tell you about is a man named Dwho technically lives in the English ward but he really is a member of the French and Spanish as well. He speaks French, English, Spanish, some Portuguese, and some German. He is really an inspiration because of his conversion story. He used to be drug addiction and alcoholic when the missionaries met him. I don't know all of the details but after he met them he turned his life completely around and now just a couple years later he is such a powerful member! He loves sharing the gospel and has brought us multiple people to teach, he's super into family history and is constantly at the chapel helping people with their own, he goes to the temple all the time, and he takes care of every member he finds in need of help. I don't know if you remember C but he's been a support for her for a long time. He is so inspiring. It really shows how much the Gospel can change the lives of people.
Another cool story this week was getting a call from missionaries in Salt Lake about a man named G who said that a missionary named S had contacted him in Balexert here in Geneva. They had called us because Sœur S is the name closest to S. She didn't remember contacting him at all and was really confused, but of course we were happy. So then we went on exchanges with the sister training leaders and she got to teach him with one of them and a senior companion. The senior couple asked him how he had been contacted and he said that Sœur S had just asked him about a bus stop and he had noticed that she just had a different kind of peace about her and she didn't have earphones in and a phone out like everyone else. And he saw her name tag and looked up the church! It was so amazing!
Another thing I've been thinking about these last two transfers is the importance of members in missionary work. Before at home I never really took supporting the missionaries that seriously, but it's so important! It's important for us as missionaries to have members in the lessons with us, and to have a good enough relationship with the members to be trusted enough to get referrals from them. And I was thinking about my plaque. I love putting my plaque on every morning, but really as a missionary it's just an outward expression of the plaque that we all have as members after our baptisms.
One fun thing about Geneva is there are musicians playing in the streets quite a bit. My favourite are the ones playing accordions. It is just another fulfilled stereotype.
Also chocolate chips don't exist here. You just chop up chocolate.
The numbers are slightly different here in French Switzerland compared with France. (I prefer Swiss ones) for example in French seventy is soixante-dix but in Switzerland it's septante. And eighty is quatre vingt and in Switzerland it's huitante. I think that's how they're spelled. XD
I love you all!
This week has been a little all over the place. Consequently I think I'll make this a miscellaneous email. Even more so than usual. XD
Earlier on in the week we were going through old amis and we found a lady who looked like she might be ready for another visit so we passed by her house. She was really nice and invited us into her apartment. She's from Turkey but speaks English. The first thing she told us was that her cat was lost and she asked us to pray for it. After that we did some of the points from how to begin teaching and followed on her previous experiences with the missionaries. She remembered quite a lot from the lessons she had a long time ago and she got straight to the point for why she hadn't joined the church. Her main reason was that she didn't believe that God had given us modern prophets. Her reasoning came from how Christ had told his followers to beware false prophets and I felt it was understandable. But also from John's words from Revelations about adding words to his book. I wonder if John knew how much trouble he would cause with that verse haha. ;) But we read Amos 3:7 and explained that she could go to the source of all truth, even the source of the Bible, to know that the Book of Mormon was true and from there modern prophets. I hope that she will retain her interest in meeting with us. She told us she would come to church but then didn't end up coming. :/ The next day I read a talk from Jeffrey R. Holland called "My Words Never Cease". I highly recommend it. It was given just at the time President Monson was sustained as prophet.
I'm so excited for this general conference! It's a year to remember!
Another person I'd like to tell you about is a man named Dwho technically lives in the English ward but he really is a member of the French and Spanish as well. He speaks French, English, Spanish, some Portuguese, and some German. He is really an inspiration because of his conversion story. He used to be drug addiction and alcoholic when the missionaries met him. I don't know all of the details but after he met them he turned his life completely around and now just a couple years later he is such a powerful member! He loves sharing the gospel and has brought us multiple people to teach, he's super into family history and is constantly at the chapel helping people with their own, he goes to the temple all the time, and he takes care of every member he finds in need of help. I don't know if you remember C but he's been a support for her for a long time. He is so inspiring. It really shows how much the Gospel can change the lives of people.
Another cool story this week was getting a call from missionaries in Salt Lake about a man named G who said that a missionary named S had contacted him in Balexert here in Geneva. They had called us because Sœur S is the name closest to S. She didn't remember contacting him at all and was really confused, but of course we were happy. So then we went on exchanges with the sister training leaders and she got to teach him with one of them and a senior companion. The senior couple asked him how he had been contacted and he said that Sœur S had just asked him about a bus stop and he had noticed that she just had a different kind of peace about her and she didn't have earphones in and a phone out like everyone else. And he saw her name tag and looked up the church! It was so amazing!
Another thing I've been thinking about these last two transfers is the importance of members in missionary work. Before at home I never really took supporting the missionaries that seriously, but it's so important! It's important for us as missionaries to have members in the lessons with us, and to have a good enough relationship with the members to be trusted enough to get referrals from them. And I was thinking about my plaque. I love putting my plaque on every morning, but really as a missionary it's just an outward expression of the plaque that we all have as members after our baptisms.
One fun thing about Geneva is there are musicians playing in the streets quite a bit. My favourite are the ones playing accordions. It is just another fulfilled stereotype.
Also chocolate chips don't exist here. You just chop up chocolate.
The numbers are slightly different here in French Switzerland compared with France. (I prefer Swiss ones) for example in French seventy is soixante-dix but in Switzerland it's septante. And eighty is quatre vingt and in Switzerland it's huitante. I think that's how they're spelled. XD
I love you all!
Sœur Marriott
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