Bonjour Bonjour!
Well this week has been a milemarker for me...ONE YEAR AS A MISSIONARY!
Yes it feels surreal. Does it feel like its gone by fast?
Absolutely
Does it feel like missionary life is all I've ever known and 'real' life feels like a lifetime ago?
Absouletly.
But its good. Missionary life is good. Actually its the best, and well if its not...I dont remember otherwise. All I remember is there was once a time in my life where I slept till noon...now that just sounds so very sinful.
En plus, this week the missionaries in our ward were asked to do a Young Mens/Young Womens activity titled "What I wish I had known before my mission"...ironic timing. So here some of little reflections...and maybe some of the lessons I've learned along the way.
Well this week has been a milemarker for me...ONE YEAR AS A MISSIONARY!
Yes it feels surreal. Does it feel like its gone by fast?
Absolutely
Does it feel like missionary life is all I've ever known and 'real' life feels like a lifetime ago?
Absouletly.
But its good. Missionary life is good. Actually its the best, and well if its not...I dont remember otherwise. All I remember is there was once a time in my life where I slept till noon...now that just sounds so very sinful.
En plus, this week the missionaries in our ward were asked to do a Young Mens/Young Womens activity titled "What I wish I had known before my mission"...ironic timing. So here some of little reflections...and maybe some of the lessons I've learned along the way.
A. Knowing how to speak french is overrated. Honestly, whether you speak great or not, people are either prepared for the message or not. Even if you can do fancy things like use subjunctive and have a fabulous accent...if they arent ready they aren't ready. Alors...search for the ones who think your humble speaking abilites are charming. Ask Moses...speaking well is overrated. The important thing is...just speak.
B. The Lord has a plan...and I have NO idea what that plan is. Be obediant. Have faith. Choose to be happy.
Someday you'll look back and see God's plan was there all along.
C. If you pray before every meal..the Lord will protect you when you eat fish head, mystery meat, strange tofu-fruit-soup that apparently qualifies as ice cream in the Philippines and the really cheap groceries that are available on a missionary budget.
D. Humans smell bad. Just live in a big city... you'll know what Im talking about.
E. The scriptures rock. Where else can you read about guys chopping off arms, people seeing visions, bloody carnage covering the land, people wandering in the wilderness following directions from a golden ball, and Jesus....and somehow these stories teach you what job you should take, what school you should go to, how to be patient with people, and that God loves you on bad hair days. Its like magic...or its like inspired!
F. Half the people you meet on your mission think your crazy for leaving your family, studies, and country for preaching the word of God.
The other half think your fantastic...but already believe in God and don't want to listen your message.
Then there are the chosen few who believe...and they are totally worth it.
B. The Lord has a plan...and I have NO idea what that plan is. Be obediant. Have faith. Choose to be happy.
Someday you'll look back and see God's plan was there all along.
C. If you pray before every meal..the Lord will protect you when you eat fish head, mystery meat, strange tofu-fruit-soup that apparently qualifies as ice cream in the Philippines and the really cheap groceries that are available on a missionary budget.
D. Humans smell bad. Just live in a big city... you'll know what Im talking about.
E. The scriptures rock. Where else can you read about guys chopping off arms, people seeing visions, bloody carnage covering the land, people wandering in the wilderness following directions from a golden ball, and Jesus....and somehow these stories teach you what job you should take, what school you should go to, how to be patient with people, and that God loves you on bad hair days. Its like magic...or its like inspired!
F. Half the people you meet on your mission think your crazy for leaving your family, studies, and country for preaching the word of God.
The other half think your fantastic...but already believe in God and don't want to listen your message.
Then there are the chosen few who believe...and they are totally worth it.
Ok.... in reality these are funny and they don't even scratch the surface of what I've learned this past year. Mostly Im just filled for gratitude for all that I've been given this year and all I've learned. The mission really does teach you so much for life. And I still have so much time...and so much to learn!
Ok so on to what happened this week....
We have been doing lots of finding this week...and we've had some miracles. One morning we were porting, and everyone just kept slamming thier doors in our faces...and it was frustrating. And we were walking along talking about how we just want someone to just hear the name of our church and welcome us into their home. Well we knock on this door and this little boy answers and we tell him who we are and ask him if his parents are home. And said ya, and then went to get them. Well his dad came to the door and was super excited and was like "come in come in!" and invited to sit in his living room. Once we were all situated he was like "well, I dont know much about Mormon doctrine...teach me.'"
HAHA YA!!! Just what we were asking for! Literally, so this guy's name is Bruno and he is really Christian and was legitimally interested. He told us he had heard that mormons aren't Christian and basically asked for our testimonies of Christ. It was really neat. After we were done he said "well I dont know why people think you're not Christian"...and we were kind of like, ya, neither do we! It was really cool...he invited us back to his bible study group he has every couple weeks in his home so we will see how it goes...
Then another night we had gone out to the suburbs of Brussels, which is a little tricky because it is generally more dutch speaking, but its where we found Kedinnetse so I though we should give it another try. Well it was a rather unsuccessful night, and then our bus was late. So we finally get back to the metro system, and we sit down and there is a guy across from us holding his bible, but he was on the phone! So we waited, and we had to get off the metro, so we just handed him a passalong card and got off. Well not even twenty mintues later he called us! He actually called us! It was amazing...he told us he had seen men with plaques like ours...and asked if we could come over an answer some questions. So we fixed an appointment...and we went over he had his wife and three children just sitting there waiting for us! It was amazing. They are such a cool family. We are going to really start teaching them this week so I'll keep you posted.
Ah the mission is wonderful. Just when you think that all the little things you do don't matter...the Lord gives you a tender mercy and it all feels worth it again.
I love you!
Soeur Smith
Ok so on to what happened this week....
We have been doing lots of finding this week...and we've had some miracles. One morning we were porting, and everyone just kept slamming thier doors in our faces...and it was frustrating. And we were walking along talking about how we just want someone to just hear the name of our church and welcome us into their home. Well we knock on this door and this little boy answers and we tell him who we are and ask him if his parents are home. And said ya, and then went to get them. Well his dad came to the door and was super excited and was like "come in come in!" and invited to sit in his living room. Once we were all situated he was like "well, I dont know much about Mormon doctrine...teach me.'"
HAHA YA!!! Just what we were asking for! Literally, so this guy's name is Bruno and he is really Christian and was legitimally interested. He told us he had heard that mormons aren't Christian and basically asked for our testimonies of Christ. It was really neat. After we were done he said "well I dont know why people think you're not Christian"...and we were kind of like, ya, neither do we! It was really cool...he invited us back to his bible study group he has every couple weeks in his home so we will see how it goes...
Then another night we had gone out to the suburbs of Brussels, which is a little tricky because it is generally more dutch speaking, but its where we found Kedinnetse so I though we should give it another try. Well it was a rather unsuccessful night, and then our bus was late. So we finally get back to the metro system, and we sit down and there is a guy across from us holding his bible, but he was on the phone! So we waited, and we had to get off the metro, so we just handed him a passalong card and got off. Well not even twenty mintues later he called us! He actually called us! It was amazing...he told us he had seen men with plaques like ours...and asked if we could come over an answer some questions. So we fixed an appointment...and we went over he had his wife and three children just sitting there waiting for us! It was amazing. They are such a cool family. We are going to really start teaching them this week so I'll keep you posted.
Ah the mission is wonderful. Just when you think that all the little things you do don't matter...the Lord gives you a tender mercy and it all feels worth it again.
I love you!
Soeur Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment