But spiritual thought for the week! I don`t know how I am so happy. It`s ridiculous! I get rejected so much but it doesn`t phase me even a little bit! Seriously when we go out knocking I`m just all smiles and so happy to talk to people even if they want nothing to do with me haha :) But it is a testimony to me that the Spirit is supporting me and that this is the work of salvation. I have so many reasons to be happy and so I can`t help but be happy! :D When we live in the gospel and follow its teachings we are bound to have so many more reasons to be happy :) It doesn`t mean it will be daisies and daffodils all the time, but in the end it is always worth it :) That I am sure of :)
Monday 1st of December!
That night we had a Facebook Home Evening with Granny Addie haha :) But yeah they have some trouble with Facebook, her and the Levesques but it`s ok. But I am grateful that I`ve got super hip grandparents who are just fantastic :D
I made my signature vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg pancakes because we just bought nutmeg and the nutmeg makes such a big difference! Good pancakes turned fantastic spice pancakes! :D But that day we had two lessons from just passing by people which never happens! :D So awesome! Then we made calls in Tim Horton`s for a while and it was awesome because we set up tons of things for our week! Then that night at Ward Council I inadvertently volunteered all the missionaries now and to come to be Family History consultants haha. Should be fun! :D
 |
| Home made cheesecake from the Levesques! They spoil us! |
Wednesday 3rd:
I employed a classic old Brooks trick to keep me warm - pajama pants under my slacks - GENIUS! :D I was super cozy all day! We took Frère Levêsque with us to district meeting and afterward visited Valerie for a great lesson on the Gifts of the Spirit out of D&C 46:11-33 :) But once we got home and had eaten, we only had 2 hours left in our day. But those two hours were awesome! We got in contact with a less active member and invited him to the Christmas party, had a lesson with 2 new amis, Adrianna and Jeffrey (a super young couple of 18 & 20) and then got to see Nannette and meet her brother who is living with her now, and then got to see some people interested in English class! But the cool part at the last one was that Elder Losee knew the friend of the guy interested in coming because he talked to him when he went out to eat at his restaurant! So now this guy, Mahomet, is offering us a bigger space to teach English for free because he`s just so nice! :D Super awesome last 2 hours of a day :)
 |
| Sometimes I explain science stuff to Elder Losee. This was optics and how glasses and eyes work haha :) |
Thursday 4th:
was a day of tons of cancellations but it turned out great anyway. We looked for an old potential at one point but found she had moved. But then Elder Losee noticed an apartment building we hadn`t knocked yet so we went on over and knocked all the doors. Out of just a half hour, there were two people that we found that were interested! One of them had even met with missionaries before, has a Book of Mormon, and loves family history! :D Then we had a good lesson with Roselynn and her mom Cheri, but Roselynn is definitely a 13 year old with a short attention span so we weren`t able to get through all of the Plan of Salvation with her. But her mom was very interested which is awesome! :D Then passing by to set up a rendez-vous, I saw a youth with his guitar case so I stopped him and talked to him about what kind and what not and figured out where he lives and now we`re going to come back sometime! He even had a Doctor Who pin on his coat which Elder Losee and I were excited about haha! After that we had English class but tons of people weren`t able to come which was sad but it was fantastic anyway! :D
Friday 5th:
Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18. Such a great example of cutting the cycle of wickedness :) Just because something has been the same for so long doesn`t mean it can`t be changed! :) After weekly planning that day we found out that someone who got baptized here by Elder Losee is moving back! :D So happy! Then we went out and confirmed with some people coming to the Christmas Party and two investigators and a less active said they were coming... Sadly when they were supposed to get picked up by a member the investigators weren`t home, and the less active just said no. Gah! Agency sometimes haha :)
But we went out to Farnham and had a good lesson on Baptism with Shelley our youngest investigator who`s 9. She wants to be baptized but she doesn`t understand for herself why. No date for her yet but in the future! Then we had our ward Christmas party in St. Jean! Super fun and good food! Even better music though! The bishop put on some background music and it turned out to be Scientist from Coldplay, Marchin` On from OneRepublic, Lion Man from Mumford & Sons, and Bittersweet Symphony from The Verve! I knew every single one haha! :D But to top it all off, we watched Bible Videos and the He is the Gift video which is amazing :) (Find it at christmas.mormon.org or mormon.org/fra/noël if you want French) I loved feeling the Spirit watching those :) And also Kalila made peppermint cookies! Just like Mom makes! It made me so happy because she made them especially for me :D
 |
| Eating our food at the Christmas Party:) |
 |
| The crêche you sent me with all the others at the Christmas party! |
 |
| Peppermint cookies that Kalila made! :D Just like Mom's :D :D |
 |
| Kalila and the Cookies! |
 |
| Singing with the Choir |
Saturday 6th: I finished 2 Kings! Woo! Also I`ve been really enjoying reading the General Conference Ensign :) I really liked Elder Oaks talk about Love and Differences :) Super good! We had a good meeting with Kalila about baptisms for the dead and family history and now she`s on board to get hers going! Then we had a rendez-vous fall through but then we went knocking for another half hour and found 2 more people! One of which has two kids :D
Then after a small dinner we were struggling to figure out what to do because everything fell through. Finally after many calls we decided to just pass by our friend Pierre and his family from Congo. They answered the door and we could see that they were all eating around the table so I was ready to just leave but then they invited us in and invited us to eat with them! They told us that they had been planning on having guests for dinner but they cancelled at the last minute and so they had way to much food! They told us that it was providence that we should come! So awesome! So we had a wonderful turkey meal with them talking about gospel related things and about Christmas coming up. And before we left we watched the He is the Gift video with them and they loved it! In fact Pierre`s wife said she`s going to share it on Facebook! :D So awesome! :D We didn`t even ask her to! Then we went home and had our transfer call to find out that we`re both sticking around another 6 weeks! Elder Losee has been here since April and now he`s the longest Elder to stay in Granby since it reopened!
 |
| Dinner with Philippe and his family |
Sunday 7th: -11 C (12 F) when we left the apartment haha :) Then at church it was great to hear members sharing missionary experiences of planting seeds. We love it when members are working with us! For the 3rd hour we had a great combined lesson on Family History work and I offered my help with getting acquainted with Family Search and getting memories up :) It was cool watching the videos because I kept thinking ``Hey that`s what my family is doing!`` With the 40 day challenge or having a young woman being a consultant, like Hannah :) So cool :) I Love Family History so much!
That afternoon we got to go check out the space that Mahomet is going to let us use. Then we talked a lot about life and religion and got to learn a lot about Islam from him and his brother! Super cool! It all comes down to love and respect honestly for both religions. But that night we had a little bit of a scramble to get things organized to watch the Christmas Devotional but everything worked out! And even right before getting people to watch at their house. the Levêsques came with us and visited a woman we found the day before named Karissa! It was awesome! We got to know her a little, shared a scripture or two, established what we`re here for, and then asked her if it was something she wanted to learn more about and she said yes! She even shared an experience of just 4 months ago that her new baby girl shouldn`t be alive but she prayed a lot and now her girl is still alive! :D Prepared! :D Then we got to watch the Christmas Devotional in French with Samson, Kalila and the Levesques :) So great :) I loved hearing the songs that I`ve sung so many times in choirs past :) I just love Christmas!!
 |
| Christmas Devotional gang! :D Kalila, Samson, and Elder Losee :) |
Now today, Monday the 8th, we`ve got Cafe Rio Pork cooking at home and it`s going to be so good! Thank you so much for importing those garlic and chile sauces! :D i cannot wait to eat it tonight! :D Also today in my personal study I found a great scripture that is a promise for anyone with a missionary out. Mosiah 28:7 I know that I`m going to be alright and whatever happens, it will be for the best :) I love having that assurance :)
Well I want you all to know that I love you so much! I`m doing great and I`m keeping warm don`t worry :) Haven`t hit -20 (-4) just yet ;) The work is exploding here and we have more investigators than we know what to do with haha! I love it! :D The work is truly hastening here :)
I love you all so much and I pray for you!
Avec amour et espérance, (With love and hope)
Elder Kennen Brooks :)
No comments:
Post a Comment