Friday, January 2, 2015

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Nouvelle Yeat!

Bonjour!

J'espère que vous avez passé une joyeuse noël! C'était bien pour moi!

This week was really great!  For Christmas day we didn't really have a lot of stuff that happened festive. Most of our time during the week was spent walking everywhere and giving people cookies that we made and caroled just the two of us, we made a ton of cookies!  Saturday was one of the greatest days ever. Elder Stewart-Johnson and I started a fast before we headed out that afternoon and right afterwords Fr. Abenzoar called us up to help him clean the group building.  When we got there he was going crazy zealous for missionary work!  He was asking when he could come with us to see all his friends, he finished painting his house and is ready to start inviting everybody over to learn about the gospel and even called up a few of his friends on the spot to talk to us.  Right after we stopped by, a lady that I had contacted with Elder Drennan came over. Her kids were sick and it seemed like they hadn't had such a Merry Christmas.  So Elder S-J and I sprinted home to make them a big ol' batch of cookies, I even cut them into gingerbread men and Christmas tree shapes. We gathered plates of cookies and sang silent night for them.  It was very moving even if we weren't the greatest singers.  Then as we were walking Fr. Abenzoar showed up to take us around. I realized that we were close to where Davis and Cindy lived so I asked if we could stop by and say hello.  We were there for a good little while and had an incredible discussion with them.  They were telling us how they wanted to be a part of a church but never felt right anywhere, but it felt good at our church.  They have one of the happiest families ever, its incredible!  Their 5 year old daughter Mindiya is so cute haha! Every couple of minutes she would run up to her mom and ask her to kiss her boo-boos haha.  I testified about temples and how the family can be together forever.  The spirit was incredibly strong!

Better yet was the next day, Sr. Duflo was at church, the Pommier family, and David and Cindy.  It was a miracle. Sr. Duflo and Sr. Pommier testified a lot about the church during Sunday School and I had a hard time keeping from crying and just prayed that David and Cindy could feel the spirit too.  David even asked me if he could choose who would baptize him during church. I can not deny that the Lord is preparing people, he sure has prepared this family, it amazes me every time I think about it.

During my personal study I had a thought about Christ. Christ had a perfect knowledge of everything, everything was before Him.  Past, present, future.  Imagine how successful He must have felt as he was going about His life!  With every action, every step, every word, every miracle, He saw perfectly the impact of what He was doing.  For example, as he opened the eyes of a blind man, surely he knew the significance it had for the blind man as well as his family and friends.  Yet, He also knew perfectly that one day some guy on an island in the Caribbean would read the account of what He was doing and be comforted, someone He knew by name and loved profoundly, not to mention every other person that ever read that account.  If only we could see the eternal perspective of what we were doing right now, how much more hopeful and grateful we would be.

I love all of you so very much!
avec amour,
Elder Call


Christmas dinner with the missionaries




My two former companions, Elder Johnson and Elder Glover




Using my new apron and making cookies




Our Christmas Bûche that we bought (Yule log)