Week 65 - Atheism

People were in my room this week. In Utah. People as in not my family. Twice?! Different people both times?? 

If I had a nickel for every time I had a companion that was born in a very foreign country on another continent but then moved to Canada at the age of 4 and their mom is a convert so they (the companion) grew up in the church but for some reason ended up going to a catholic school and wear a size 9 1/2 shoe

I would have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

This week I was like

So is God real or???

So then I was like alright, it's just you and me God, I'm gonna try and strip any outside influence, I don't want to have a belief that comes from someone or something else, or myself, but from YOU. So I was like, well I gotta do it HIS way then, and see if it's true. Aka the Book of Mormon, prayer, church, etc. And BAM I had several very powerful experiences where I felt the spirit so so insanely strong, and because I had already taken out any other affecting factors, It was just so cool because it was clearly, undeniably the Spirit. PURE CONFIRMATION BABY

So something I really really better understood is that it's all about your relationship with God. Religion itself was created by Christ JUST to support your relationship with God (and consequently, your relationship with others as well). When you make a covenant (baptism) you BECOME an active participant in your relationship with God. Us being human means we can't perfectly love God as he perfectly loves us, and so that's why we need Christ, we need someone on our end of the relationship (and God's) who can love God perfectly on our behalf. I liked that a lot. I felt the Spirit testify to me that God is acting. He's the perfect and infinite active participant in all relationships, I like that. 

So maybe life, or the experiences we have, happens in seasons, but our desire can always stay the same, and THAT'S what we're accountable for. We're not accountable for our experiences, but for our desires. I love that.

"Change and decay in all around I see;

O thou who changest not, abide with me!" -Hymn 166

Yvrose is so incredible, I see her relationship with God (you can see people's relationships with God because they shape their actions) and it really is a great example for me. That's what the Book of Mormon is, it's a TON of examples of POWERFUL relationships with God, and shows us that we can have the same type of relationship through Jesus Christ. That's cool

Yvrose (baptized a few months ago) joined a lesson with Suzette (baptized 19 years ago, but stopped coming to church) by calling in. And IT WAS SO GOOD! They're both Haitian and so from the start they were speaking creole and it was just SO good for both of them. Insanely cool dynamic!!!! 

Church was great because I went to strengthen my relationship with God through our "relationship changer", aka COVENANT! Remembering Jesus Christ does good, helps me FEEL it you know? 

So when I say "I know that Jesus Christ lives and is our personal savior" it's not just because logically it makes sense. It's because I've wondered if God actually exists, and if there was actually a relationship between me and that Being, and so I gave God's word a try. And in trying, He stepped in and showed me that all His promises are true and real and He IS there. Bon bagay. 

Week 64 - The last mustang standing

Last week we lost a few soldiers elders Doyle, Hansen, and (Parker) Smith went home! NOOOOOOOOOOOO

End of Mosiah/beginning of Alma is a part of the Book of Mormon that I really really love a lot because of how much it shows CORRECT justice/mercy in social systems, and it teaches how in God's kingdom, ALL ARE EQUAL, and all are treated with equity As I've been reading I keep thinking "hmm... This is like that one time in clone wars..." 

Injustices are corrected through Jesus, either now or after this life, but regardless of when justice is served, His mercy is given freely NOW, and THAT'S what's really gonna serve you, not so much the justice part

Monday night we got a call from elder Roberts who told us... SŒUR NWAKA WOULD BE JOINING US AND WE WOULD BECOME A TRIO!!! WOOOOOOOOO !!! I was SO excited, Sœur Nwaka and I never thought we would get to serve together! Which is weird cus there's only 5 sisters.

But yeah, Thursday we got her from the airport and it's been great having her! She has this thing where she wakes up at 4 AM And then doesn't sleep again. Aka just wakes up. Yeah. And I'm jealous because imagine what you could do with all that time...... Okay yes so she's an insomniac that's it

Yooooo Sœur Miath the old lady member chick Mrs worldwide Nephi that we visit, she told us "after my second husband died, I refused to remarry! Because I will NEVER share our love with ANYONE!" AWWW SŒUR MIATH I was dying at that  also, I am getting all the juice making secrets from her

Had a job interview 

OHHH we met a dude for the first time at his house and he shook sr Kaberry's and sr Nwaka hands but then when he shook mine HE PULLED ME IN FOR BISOUSSSS WHAAAT aka the two kisses on the cheeks that WE NEVER DO WITH GUYS and yeah. IMMEDIATE RED FLAGGSSS. Point is, my companions both kept their eyes open during the prayers and I kept stepping back but the dude kept stepping forward, I was trying so hard not to laugh, oh man. Hmmmm maybe we're gonna let the elders teach this one.....

Met someone who was like "oh yeah I had a friend that I went to university with in Martinique who's a member of your church, her names Roseline Occolier, but she remarried so I don't remember her new last name..." and I was like "TELGA!!!!" And that was a tender mercy cus #MartiniqueMembers so yeah that was a fun connection that we had

Is it okay to hit children if it's a part of the culture? Tell me. I've been going back and forth in my head about it. Tell me now.

Yvrose's daughter is now comfortable around me YES BÉBÉ COME TO ME shes like 2

I was like "OH! DID I MISS THANKSGIVING??" Then I was like ahhh no, at least one of my companions would've said something. But then I was like NO! THEY'RE BOTH CANADIAN! AND EVEN MORE, NEITHER ARE FULL FLEDGED CANADIANS EITHER SO THEY WOULDN'T EVEN FULLY CARE ABOUT CANADIAN THANKSGIVING! So it was then that I pannicked because I thought I had missed Thanksgiving

Thats all

Week 63 - Somebody that I used to know

Another great week woo yeah we had sœur Monteiro for the weekend cus she had to fly down to French Guiana this morning, man what a fun weekend!!!! She's so freaking funny, when she's telling stories she'll say the funniest line of it in English cus it makes it even more funny with her accent, I always laugh so much with her. It was really fun to have her, and on Sunday we went to the Lamentin branch so she could play piano for the primary program THEN went to the Abymes branch for the second hour so we could teach the relief society lesson. We were... Very late. And you know these ladies in the relief society make comments as if God himself asked them to preach a sermon so I didn't even need to really teach the lesson, it was nice 

OHHHHH earlier in the week, Sœur Monteiro and I went to GroupAMA, one of the cars insurance company, and WOOOOWW why did I enjoy it... Everyone I don't know why but I'm so in love with the way Europe does their accident reports it's so nice and so convenient I wanna go to France and hit someone's car just so I can fill one out. Anyways, we were there to solve something from way back when I was in Martinique, and turns out I needed to go sign something with a lady IN Martinique. Well. I can't do that. I'm in Guadeloupe. SO YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHO I SIGNED MY RIGHTS OFF TO (Yes all of my rights every single one of them)?!?! THE elder milkman  that was a fun call. Oh speaking of elder Michaleson, joyeux Toussaint !

Visited my favorite member of the Abymes branch SŒUR MIATH!!!!! She gave us some homemade juice (caribbean specialty ) and man I love that lady OH when we first started to see her, I thought she was LYING when she said she signs 30 hymns everyday but when we saw her this week, WE WERE PROVED WRONG I was like "yo can we sing compte les bienfaits ?" And She responded with "number 156" WHAAAT??! This lady basically has the entire hymn book MEMORIZED ah she's so funny she's my fav

Had a great discussion with Yvrose, she's the coolest. Listened to a lot of Hank Smith talks, went and cleaned a lady's garden as service and WOW we saw soooo many creatures and they were not great nor small. NASTY CENTIPEDE THING AN THICK (Pic of it after elder Janke attacked it) A HUGE TOAD (which I grabbed and relocated NO I DIDN'T KILL IT) a fat lizard, cockroaches, many bugs.

It was a pretty great week honestly and I am very grateful, I feel like every week I'm like "oh man, I sure hope I get through this week" and then BAM God fills up the week with so many random things that happen and there's just always so many little miracles.

And it's PEOPLE, who are always the hugest miracles. ALWAYS ALWAYS. If you're mean to one person, you're putting down someone else's miracle so DON'T

All the missionaries (minus basse terre rip) had lunch at Sœur Rinaldo's place and she was going off telling a story that at one point she stood up and pointed at Sœur Monteiro and yelled "AND YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??!" and Sœur Monteiro had zoned out before so she didn't realize Sœur Rinaldo was just retelling a story, and afterwards told me that she almost responded as if Sœur Rinaldo was yelling at HER. But then she said "J'ai écouté la voix dans me tête qui m'a dit "tais-toi" " go ahead and smack that into Google translate HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYBODY