Something that hits me more and more here in Granby is that the Lord truly prepares people before they even hear about the church or see us on the street. I remembered the scripture Alma 16:16 - And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming— The Lord sends his Spirit to prepare the hearts of the people so that when the servants, us missionaries, finally show up, they're ready to embark! Although there are many that we prepare for those to come, so many are already being prepared :)
Monday 4th:
I got myself a little uke tuner from the local music shop :) then we went with Fr Donovan to Parc Terry Fox where they had some workout equipment and soccer fields :) We played for a while which was fun. Go Team Granby haha!
 |
| The Granby Mission Team :) |
That night we got to start teaching Armand who we met on the road. Armand is 44 and lives with his dog. When we knocked on his door that night he said he was reading his Bible so we asked if we could join him. It was almost an Acts 8 experience where we got to help him understand the scriptures some and then we started teaching the Restoration. We left him with the Book of Mormon and feeling the Spirit after a short lesson :) Then we also got to teach Michon and Marquis in quick little powerful lessons as well :)
Tuesday 5th:
We exchanged with our zone leaders so it was me and Elder Regnier here working in Granby. It was non-stop! We rushed over to Fr Donovan's then off to Lac Boivin where we got to see Charissa who we taught over a month ago. She is wonderful and just doesn't see the need for an organization so we gave her some homework to read about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and challenged her to find out who Christ really is to her :) Then we chatted with our favorite Catholic Priest Père Marcel before heading over to Elle and Lorenzo's. We had been over there in so long so it was great to see them and find out how they are doing. We got too teach Tania and reemphasize the importance of patience. It was great how the Spirit told her that she needed to read her scriptures more without us saying a word about it :) Then Leon asked us for some brochures that he could give to his friend :) Too great! Talking with Elder Regnier and showing him pictures was fun though :) Later he said "Elder Brooks, at first I thought you were a football player but it turns out you're a rockstar!" Yeah I'm not the slim guy I used to be haha :) He said I looked like I could take someone out :) That's what happens when I workout every day ;)
Wednesday 6th:
Sometimes during personal or companionship study I just become invigorated by the Book of Mormon :) It's so awesome!!! There truly is so much power in it :) After district meeting and unexchanging, we got to teach Armand for the second time with the Levesques though. We finished teaching the Restoration. It was just great because the Levesques were able to help him see similarities between their experiences. Then we left him with the Restoration film to watch as homework :) That night we got to teach Oscar about self-mastery. Once again one of those lessons not found in Preach My Gospel haha :) But it turned out to be so inspired because Oscar doesn't feel like he's in control so we're going to help him take control of his destiny :) Branch council was awesome that night again!
 |
| Rooster tie! (His birthday present that finally arrived.) |
We taught Nannette about the Plan of Salvation (just continuing from the first half the night before). It was awesome because we set a goal to better involve her through inspired questions and our prayers were answered! She becomes more open every lesson! In the afternoon we made some passbys. We ran into Damon our Jamaican friend who had a haul of scrap. Then while we were talking to him who should walk by but our old buddy Mathis! We talked to him and he said that he was changing his life little by little now. We asked if we could help and we set up a lesson! Woo! That night we got to pass by Armand and he was super enthoused! He had watched the film and said he had some good things to talk about in our lesson the next day :) That night it was almost time to turn in but we took a walk around one of our favorite blocks. There weren't too many people out but one guy was riding by on his bike and we said hello. All of a sudden he pulls a u-turn nearly falling over and says "hey vous avez l'air gentil!" (hey you seem nice!) So that's how we met Sylvain :) We talked to him for a while and set up a return appointment :)
 |
| Damon and his scrap in back :) |
We started off by teaching Mathis. He's changing a lot already on his own and it was interesting because certain things stuck with him from what we taught him. He remembered the vision of the tree of life a lot and especially the Great and Spacious Building which was really cool :) Then we got to teach Armand :) What a pleasure! We followed up on the film and he said he felt just like Joseph Smith because he has lots of questions and is looking for answers. We then answered some of his questions by teaching the first half of the Plan of Salvation which was awesome. Then to give him a committment I asked him to pray about what we taught today and he said that he already had. Then he shared that when he did that morning he just felt joy. SO COOL! :D We explained about the Spirit and testified that he could keep having that feeling as he continued :) Too cool though :) We helped Tania out with moving some things around and shared a little message too which went well. We had dinner with the Levesques and the Castels. They are just a darling brand new little family. We ended that day over at Manuel and Melanie's... Sadly Manuel is back to square one with no progress... :P
 |
| typical subway sandwich now :) I understand EAT FRESH now! |
Saturday 9th:
We taught Shelley that morning. We wanted to check up on how she was progressing spiritually so we asked he why she wants to be baptized. She gave us pretty much the perfect answer - "I have faith in God and I want to follow the right path." Can't ask for anything better than that! Then as were talking a little more she got up and went over to her non-member dad, asked for and got permission to be baptized! So awesome!!! :D That afternoon we got to meet Jeffrey a super chill 16 year old with earrings, a backwards baseball hat, and a cigarette between his fingers. He turned out to be pretty wise for his age and also open to religion which was cool. We talked to him for a good half hour and left him with a Book of Mormon and our info. Then we helped out a member named Sr Valette who moved her stuff down here in preparation for her true move in June :) That night while we were walking around.... We had a flash rain storm where it just DUMPED. Thankfully we weren't too far from our car but we got completely soaked. It was really warm though which was nice :) We also got to teach Sylvain for the first time that night. In asking for his expectations he said he wanted to find the right path so we read from 2 Nephi 31:20-21 which explains the path wonderfully :) We committed him to be baptized right there! And he accepted!
Sunday 10th:
There were so many people at church! We had Armand, Mathis, Sylvain, Leon, and Shelley, plus the african family who only speaks Kirundi. It was so awesome!!! :D Sylvain and Armand loved it being it was their first time :) After church we made our calls home which was fun :) Everyone is growing up so fast! It was fun to meet Elder Noel's family too :)
In the evening we got to teach Gonzalo again about the Restoration. It was funny because after the lesson he was wondering why everyone doesn't believe it haha! Too good! We committed him to find out and then be baptized which was awesome :) Then we passed by Jeffrey's house... Things were a little heated. His mom came out and we were worried that was going to be the end. Turns out religion had been a hot topic that evening for them... But we actually stuck it out and talked to her and helped her understand what we are here for and ended up answering a ton of her own questions. As we explained about the gospel and the restoration she kept muttering that it was true. But it was amazing the peace that came. She said she wanted to come to church without us inviting her too! It even turned out she does family history work with Family Search because it's number 1! Amazing!! We left her with a Book of Mormon and some other materials and she was so grateful she gave us hugs haha :) (that doesn't happen too often for missionaries) The Lord is preparing people to accept the Gospel! :D
So this week has been awesome :) The work keeps filling up so much! We can't believe it ourselves :) But the Lord is preparing so many and helping us actually doing it :)
I love this work. I love the Lord. I love Granby :)
Bonne semaine! (Good week!)
Elder Kennen Brooks :)
(Video follows - go to the blog to see it.)
No comments:
Post a Comment