Week 14 in Marksville: THE FREEZE!

 Bonjour amis et familles!


Well, another week has come and gone down here in Avoyelles Parish. The work was kind of slow, but that was because of THE FREEZE! It sleeted and froze rained (don't quite know the past tense of 'freezing rain') after it snowed, so everything was covered in a layer of ice for the majority of the week. Check the pics attached. But some cool things still happened like they always do!

MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK

The worldwide pandemic and all its accompanying rules and guidelines aside, we weren't able to meet in-person with anyone this week due to the unprecedented weather. So we resorted to calling people and asking them if they were staying warm, and then transitioned into sharing an uplifting scripture. Some people agreed for us to call them again, and that is the definition of a 'new person' to teach!

We later did some service as things were melting for people in the branch. Like clearing roads and yards of fallen trees, and fixing water pipes. Turns out Elders Groom and Kephart know enough about plumbing to do the latter. I was a big help with the trees though. The pipes were above my paygrade so I was the 'hand people things' guy. 

One cool thing that's related to the fixing pipes thing - it was for this family who doesn't often make it to church. I have little doubt that our act of service did not inspire them to attend the next day, and for the first time since I've been here, the whole family showed up! In fact, the entire Branch Presidency (the President and his 2 counselors) was there for the first time since I've been in Marksville, which was such a vital sign for this little Branch of Zion. I've been so blessed to serve in this tiny town with this tiny branch. It's helped me to know even more that the Church is the same everywhere. 

FUNNY QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Elder Groom, why is your phone in the toaster?"

Oh, the pranks Elders play on each other. Elder Taylor put Elder Groom's phone in the (unplugged) toaster. Because, why not?

SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK

I kind of touched on this in 'moments', but my spiritual thought this week is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, l'Église de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours, Iglesia de Jesu Cristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias (pretty sure that's the Spanish?), is the same church everywhere you go. It is Christ's restored Church on the Earth today, and therefore, this must be the case. It follows, then, that it doesn't matter where in the world I serve - I'm teaching the same gospel I would be teaching if I was teaching it in French, or Spanish, or Dutch, or Amharic, or Mandarin. I'm so happy to be serving the Lord in His Vineyard, and doing my part to gather Israel. There's nothing I'd rather be doing. 

Je vous aime tous, 
Elder May

PICTURES
1-4 THE FREEZE
5: The truck gets pretty muddy out here in the country. We say that's a sign of pride. The vehicle coordinators disagree.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 15 in Douala: The old Ice Cream <=> Restored Gospel exchange (March 7, 2022)

Image
  Bonjour amis et familles! This week was highlighted by interviews with President and Sister Miner and Zone Conference, and lowlighted by the news that I have developed athlete's foot. But I'm keeping a good attitude and it's been a good week regardless! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   So a little bit of contextual background here: there's this lady down the street from us that serves soft-serve ice cream from a machine. Over the past little bit, my comp and I have been frequenting her machine at least twice a week. By creating this friendship (and enjoying some decent soft-serve ice cream), we have now started talking about the Gospel with her, and we even had a little lesson on Saturday with her. She seemed interested and asked us some good questions. We now have an official appointment with her next week. SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK  Alma 24:27: "...thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people." I love this so ...
Read more

Week 6 in Douala: Some new friends for the New Year! (Jan 2, 2022)

Image
Bonjour amis et familles!  Bonne année! Happy New Year! It's 2022! Whaddya know about that? We had a pretty good  week  to ring out the old year and start the new year. Some new people with a bunch of potential. Some fun meals to celebrate the New Year. Let's get into some details: MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE  WEEK   I had an exchange with Elder Knight, a newer American in the mission who I lived with for a  week  and a half at the beginning of this transfer. As we were trying to teach this guy at his haircut place (we kept getting interrupted by customers and stuff), a customer came and started talking to us. He became more attentive than the guy we were actually teaching, and started asking questions about the Restoration pamphlet we gave him. A couple of days later, we had a lesson with him, Paul, and his wife, Annetta. It went really great, and I could tell they felt the Spirit during our lesson. He called us the next morning wanting to meet again, b...
Read more

Week 9 in Douala: Welcome to the Brain (Jan 24, 2022)

Image
  Bonjour amis et familles!  To anyone who noticed, yes, the last 2 weeks have both said 'Week 7 in Douala.' First time I've actually done that (and I've been on the mission for 69 weeks now!).  This week was pretty good. Got off the spiritual high of all the Elder Sitati conferences and got back into the grind of everyday missionary work. Let's get into the thick of it: WHEN IN AFRICA: Elder Balanganayi claimed to see a water snake as we were crossing a bridge while contacting. I agree with him. This thing's head was too skinny to be a duck. It was probably at least 2 feet long. Sadly I don't have good pictures.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We've been trying to get a second lesson with Paul and Annetta, who we met 3 weeks ago, ever since that first one and we just weren't connecting. But we were able to have lessons with both of them this weekend, in the most unexpected way! First, after trying to set a day and time that would work with Paul...
Read more