Hebrew has been slacking this week so I will have less commentary about all that!
1st experience: Sylvana, SO the italian lady that we found last week turned out to be very humble and ready to be taught and we had some wonderful success teaching her the gospel this week. The funny thing is that she has an italian accent and so we could never understand what her name was so we thought the first time that she said Silviano (obviously a male name so we asked later and we got Silvian, then later we finally got the full and real name Sylvana). Anyway we had a great several rdvs with her. She is really going through a hard time and the Gospel is going ot help her so much! She was so ready to accept baptism because all she wants right now is to change and become a new person, so obviously she was ready to try anything. So we fixed a date for the 4 of April which is general conference so we may move it off. In any case getting her to church was the most exhilarating feeling because we just knew how much it would help her and then when we passed she had a very small perspective and had forgotten. But with lots of LOVE, PATIENCE, and PERSISTANCE we succeeded and she came. We got there an hour late but it was still amazing!
After church we had a ward meal which was absolutely amazing! Elder Steinbock tried to make the chocolate cake from scratch twice again and failed so he had me try and luckily it worked because all the members loved it!
Another fun thing was district meeting; the sisters loved it and said it was the funnest, most balanced meeting they have had. All of the Relief Society decorations went well. I used a picture that grandma Jeri had sent me and had some flowers for the centerpiece. There were a pack of 30 twix bars on sale so I bought those and used them as bait to get the sisters to talk whenever there was awkward silence. We talked all about our families and it just felt so good! Everyone was just feeling so happy talking about their families! I brought a box of relief society tissues and it was great because Sr Bridgwater was sick, but as well everyone was feeling so good that two sisters cried during the meeting. That felt good because I knew that I had found the perfect balance between fun and spiritual. That is a good feeling knowing that not only can we have fun and feel the spirit but that it should be like that. I felt so strongly the support and love of our Heavenly Father. I know He is there and I know He guides our lives.
Another great experience was that our proprietaire (landlady) invited us over for lunch with her family! It was so fun! They live in a little village outside of Limoges. She has lots of little grand children and it was very fun! It felt like our family! They fed us really yummy steak (another specialty of Limoges) that was very yummy, along with other yummy plates! Then we did a tour of their village (it only took about 15 minutes.... ) and then we headed home, stopping in at a store where all the products are made in the region. We bought home made yogurts that were very good. It was so fun to be able to teach the gospel in our conversations with her, since she is not a member, and to be able to influence those kids who are going to see missionaries someday and then want to know what it is that we do!
We also ate at a non-member families house Vincent and Gaëlle with the sisters. They fed us Raclette and it was sooo good!
I guess I should throw in as well that on Thursday we went over to Jacques' house and he taught us (mostly me) Hebrew and then we taught him. I was able to read pretty fluently (not understanding....) so that was fun. He is coming along but the best part was that at the end some other people showed up who are learning Hebrew as well and so we got to sparc them and introduce them to the Gospel a little. One lady has Jewish roots but is Christian at the base.
Voilà ma semaine! (So there is my week!) C'était une preuve que notre Père Céleste se soucie de nous. (It was proof that our Heavenly Father worries about us.) Je vous aime tous! (I love you all!)
à Bientôt! Ciao!
Elder Pettingill
Elder Pettingill
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| Soap bars they carved for district meeting for each person |
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| Getting ready for district meeting |
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| the centerpiece |
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I think this was from dinner with the sister missionaries and a member family |
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