Week 8 (20-26 August 2018)
This has been a week of growth for many of us and that is very good.
Monday was zone conference for the Santo zone. We had good discussions and it was a time to learn and be edified. We learn so much also. We always conclude with the bearing of testimonies. So uplifting!
Tuesday was so enjoyable for both of us as we went to work with missionaries. I went with the sister training leaders, Sisters James Nila and Meyer, and they had 3 set appointments.
The first one was not able to make it and we had the opportunity to speak with a young lady (15 years old) and her siblings. Sister Meyer gave them the pamphlet on the restoration, one each. We were sitting in this little hut with a dirt floor and the flies were driving me crazy. I looked at the two sisters to see if they were bothered as much as I, but even though the flies were all over them also, they were just paying attention to the children in front of them, as if they were all in an air conditioned, fly free environment. As sister James Nila was explaining about the restoration, one little brother (about 8 years old) was looking at his pamphlet and then I noticed that he was kissing each page that had a picture of the Savior. So sweet! After seeing that, the flies did not bother me either. I was enjoying the sweet spirit in that humble abode. I found out the children go to a french school so I was able to speak and say the prayer in French! We also met a man building a house with his sons who spoke French. He read my name tag and asked me if it was a French name. I told him it was and that I came from Quebec, Canada. So he started speaking to me in French and his sons also go to a French speaking school. We gave him a pamphlet and he did set up an appointment with the sisters for next week.
As we left for the second appointment, a lady selling can goods in a little wooden kiosk said hello and asked us who we were. After a very nice conversation with her she accepted to meet with the sisters next week also. The people here are so nice and open. You would never know how hard sometimes their life is. Like this lady, she was all smiles and sweet and when the sisters asked her where she lived, she said she was moving that very day after her work from an area called BanBan, quite a ways from where we were, on the same street to be closer to her work. Her husband is in Australia to pick fruits. A lot of people have to do this here to earn money for the children's school and they are usually gone for 3 to 6 months. They have 3 children , one of them died a few years ago because of sickness. The sisters asked her if we could help her move and she said simply that she did not have a lot of possessions and she would be fine. As we left she told us: "see you next week" shaking our hands and smiling.
Which reminds me of our cleaning lady Margret. We gave her a lift back home last Thursday because she was bringing a bunch of empty bottles to collect rain water. It has been so dry these past few weeks that a lot of people are running out of water (so are some of our missionaries). We have been blessed with rain this week and we are so thankful. She was going back home with her arms full of those bottles having to take 2 buses in the rain...I was glad we were home to see that. I gave her a big fabric bag ( Costco actually) with a zipper and two handles and we told her we were going to drive her home. When we got to her street, we could not even drive her up that road because of the mud and huge potholes. She said she was fine, took off her shoes , grabbed the big bag, a gallon of drinking water and her umbrella and off she went, waving at us the best she could, a big smile on her face, telling us "Mi lavem yufala" " I love you" as we were turning around to go drive back home. Only then did she start up the hill with another lady who had come off the bus. Margret is leaving this coming Friday to go pick up fruits in Australia for three months. I will miss her. Her 27 year old daughter Miriam will take her place cleaning the mission home and office.
The sisters taught the lady at the second appointment about the plan of salvation. She has two darling little girls. Her husband is out picking fruits in Australia also and he will be returning in a month. It was the last week of a school break, so we got to see many children which I enjoy so much. The only downside is that I miss our children and grandchildren more after the visits. Although this past week we got to see a lot of them on video Messenger and Skype. We had three birthdays, Mason on the 22nd, Dylan on the 24th and Melany, our daughter-in-law on the 25th. It is always a boon to see our children and grandchildren's faces, blow kisses, having some kiss us on the screen of mom's phone and hugging it. We feel those hugs and kisses and it is so good. We love you so much and our appreciation for our Savior's Atonement grows so much more.
After the third appointment, the lady had just received a bag of "strong back" to cook. I was asked if I would like to taste them. And I said yes, why not. For those who know how unadventurous I am, it is quite a surprise. I was surprised at my answer as well. Because of time, they were not boiled before roasting on the open fire, so they were a little tough but tasty. It reminded me a bit of beef jerky.
We came back home Tuesday night, tired but happy for those experiences.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we got busy planning our next series of zone conferences that will start Sept 4th. I asked Heavenly Father to guide me to what I should read to know what we should address for those zone conferences. Heavenly Father answered my prayer. As I was looking for something, can't remember what, I found a DVD that the previous mission president had made on training the trainers. After watching it, it gave me some ideas that I shared with Benoit. He thought of a document he had that would be good and so we started working on the presentation "Taking care of one another". When we shared what we had prepared with the assistants , it touched one of them and he said it was an answer to his prayers. I also started reading "Saints" volume 1, now on Gospel Library under the topic Church history that sister Meyer mentioned to me. I was touched by some specific parts that I felt applied to the missionaries. Several events transpired at the end of the week with missionaries having problems where we could already share what I had learned and what we had prepared confirming to us that Heavenly Father helped us meet important needs. We are so thankful for this wonderful work, it truly is Heavenly Father's work. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly Jesus Christ's church with all the teachings and ordinances that we need to prepare to return to our Heavenly Father with our families. Jesus will come again and we are preparing for His Second Coming. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and another testimony that Jesus is the Christ. It goes hand in hand with the Bible to reveal to us where we are from, why we are here and where do we go after this life. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real and they love us. What a marvelous blessing to know these truths.
It was a week filled with growth. We love our experiences. We love the missionaries. We love the people living in our mission boundaries. What an adventure!!!
Mo mifala lavem yufala tumas. And we love you very much.
The new car
Corossol. A fruit that grows in the mission home's front yard
sweet. But I think this one was too ripe.
Monday was zone conference for the Santo zone. We had good discussions and it was a time to learn and be edified. We learn so much also. We always conclude with the bearing of testimonies. So uplifting!
Tuesday was so enjoyable for both of us as we went to work with missionaries. I went with the sister training leaders, Sisters James Nila and Meyer, and they had 3 set appointments.
The first one was not able to make it and we had the opportunity to speak with a young lady (15 years old) and her siblings. Sister Meyer gave them the pamphlet on the restoration, one each. We were sitting in this little hut with a dirt floor and the flies were driving me crazy. I looked at the two sisters to see if they were bothered as much as I, but even though the flies were all over them also, they were just paying attention to the children in front of them, as if they were all in an air conditioned, fly free environment. As sister James Nila was explaining about the restoration, one little brother (about 8 years old) was looking at his pamphlet and then I noticed that he was kissing each page that had a picture of the Savior. So sweet! After seeing that, the flies did not bother me either. I was enjoying the sweet spirit in that humble abode. I found out the children go to a french school so I was able to speak and say the prayer in French! We also met a man building a house with his sons who spoke French. He read my name tag and asked me if it was a French name. I told him it was and that I came from Quebec, Canada. So he started speaking to me in French and his sons also go to a French speaking school. We gave him a pamphlet and he did set up an appointment with the sisters for next week.
As we left for the second appointment, a lady selling can goods in a little wooden kiosk said hello and asked us who we were. After a very nice conversation with her she accepted to meet with the sisters next week also. The people here are so nice and open. You would never know how hard sometimes their life is. Like this lady, she was all smiles and sweet and when the sisters asked her where she lived, she said she was moving that very day after her work from an area called BanBan, quite a ways from where we were, on the same street to be closer to her work. Her husband is in Australia to pick fruits. A lot of people have to do this here to earn money for the children's school and they are usually gone for 3 to 6 months. They have 3 children , one of them died a few years ago because of sickness. The sisters asked her if we could help her move and she said simply that she did not have a lot of possessions and she would be fine. As we left she told us: "see you next week" shaking our hands and smiling.
Which reminds me of our cleaning lady Margret. We gave her a lift back home last Thursday because she was bringing a bunch of empty bottles to collect rain water. It has been so dry these past few weeks that a lot of people are running out of water (so are some of our missionaries). We have been blessed with rain this week and we are so thankful. She was going back home with her arms full of those bottles having to take 2 buses in the rain...I was glad we were home to see that. I gave her a big fabric bag ( Costco actually) with a zipper and two handles and we told her we were going to drive her home. When we got to her street, we could not even drive her up that road because of the mud and huge potholes. She said she was fine, took off her shoes , grabbed the big bag, a gallon of drinking water and her umbrella and off she went, waving at us the best she could, a big smile on her face, telling us "Mi lavem yufala" " I love you" as we were turning around to go drive back home. Only then did she start up the hill with another lady who had come off the bus. Margret is leaving this coming Friday to go pick up fruits in Australia for three months. I will miss her. Her 27 year old daughter Miriam will take her place cleaning the mission home and office.
The sisters taught the lady at the second appointment about the plan of salvation. She has two darling little girls. Her husband is out picking fruits in Australia also and he will be returning in a month. It was the last week of a school break, so we got to see many children which I enjoy so much. The only downside is that I miss our children and grandchildren more after the visits. Although this past week we got to see a lot of them on video Messenger and Skype. We had three birthdays, Mason on the 22nd, Dylan on the 24th and Melany, our daughter-in-law on the 25th. It is always a boon to see our children and grandchildren's faces, blow kisses, having some kiss us on the screen of mom's phone and hugging it. We feel those hugs and kisses and it is so good. We love you so much and our appreciation for our Savior's Atonement grows so much more.
After the third appointment, the lady had just received a bag of "strong back" to cook. I was asked if I would like to taste them. And I said yes, why not. For those who know how unadventurous I am, it is quite a surprise. I was surprised at my answer as well. Because of time, they were not boiled before roasting on the open fire, so they were a little tough but tasty. It reminded me a bit of beef jerky.
We came back home Tuesday night, tired but happy for those experiences.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we got busy planning our next series of zone conferences that will start Sept 4th. I asked Heavenly Father to guide me to what I should read to know what we should address for those zone conferences. Heavenly Father answered my prayer. As I was looking for something, can't remember what, I found a DVD that the previous mission president had made on training the trainers. After watching it, it gave me some ideas that I shared with Benoit. He thought of a document he had that would be good and so we started working on the presentation "Taking care of one another". When we shared what we had prepared with the assistants , it touched one of them and he said it was an answer to his prayers. I also started reading "Saints" volume 1, now on Gospel Library under the topic Church history that sister Meyer mentioned to me. I was touched by some specific parts that I felt applied to the missionaries. Several events transpired at the end of the week with missionaries having problems where we could already share what I had learned and what we had prepared confirming to us that Heavenly Father helped us meet important needs. We are so thankful for this wonderful work, it truly is Heavenly Father's work. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is truly Jesus Christ's church with all the teachings and ordinances that we need to prepare to return to our Heavenly Father with our families. Jesus will come again and we are preparing for His Second Coming. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and another testimony that Jesus is the Christ. It goes hand in hand with the Bible to reveal to us where we are from, why we are here and where do we go after this life. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real and they love us. What a marvelous blessing to know these truths.
It was a week filled with growth. We love our experiences. We love the missionaries. We love the people living in our mission boundaries. What an adventure!!!
Mo mifala lavem yufala tumas. And we love you very much.
Puis-je vous suggérer un site internet pour des prévisions météo pour plusieurs villes de votre mission? Ce site vous fournira surtout les prévisions de quantité de pluie en millimètre pour des périodes de trois heures échelonnées sur 5 jours et réviser chaque jour. Le site s'appelle windy.com et il est mondial. Une fois sur le site, il suffit d'inscrire dans l'espace avec la loupe le nom de la ville dont vous désirez connaître les conditions . Au bas de la page s'affichera alors les 5 jours divisés en trois heures avec les informations de quantité de pluie, force et direction du vent, etc. Ce site m'est très utile dans ma ville de Villasis, Pangasinan. Prévoyance pour mieux organiser nos journées de lessive!😄😄😄😄
ReplyDeletemerci beaucoup Serge. Cela va s'averer tres utile pour la saison des oluies qui arrivent bientot. Au mois de juillet nous avons un missionnaire qui a termine sa mission. Son nom est Villasis des Philippines. :)
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