Called to Serve. Paris, France: Even a Little Gesture Brings Good in Someone's Life

Hello!

Graffiti Under the Main Bus Stop in Luxembourg
Adam Looking Very Sharp

Sounds like you guys had a pretty good week back home, and an even better one planned for the next. It's crazy to think that another marching band season is starting to finish up. I still feel like I just left and that you're still in last year's season somewhere.

Well, I should probably just get into it since we had a lot of crazy adventures this week.

Things really started to pick up around Wednesday when we headed into Belgium to find a referral. Long story short, we missed the last bus and ended up having to walk for a couple hours to make it back home. As we were waiting for a train, we had enough time to explore and we found the really big cathedral there (it wasn't too hard to find), and an American tank. In one of the pictures, since it's it's close to Halloween, I think we found a ghost..... :) Anyway, eventually, our train came, and we got home, nice and tired. (More Photos Below.)

Playing Chubby Bunny for Family Night

Thursday was our exchanges with Metz, they both came here and we went to Subway for lunch (my first time in over 14 months). Elder Pratt and I ended up going to the Oates family for an early dinner and had the wonderful opportunity to drink American Dr. Pepper with them. :) They're really an awesome family, so kind to us and really into doing missionary work. Later on, we went to our usual YSA soirée familiale (Family Night) thing. The "activity" that they had planned was to play that "chubby bunny" game. In the end, I ended up competing with Elder Faura, the Tahitian and, well...Tahitian's don't like losing. We got to 15 marshmallows before he finally beat me. It was super fun though, and we were able to really connect with some of the guys there.

Friday, we had a lesson with Ramiro, and we taught him with Paula, who will be leaving on her mission tomorrow. It went super well and it resulted in our awesome Sunday...

Saturday we had an awesome "Home-teaching Blitz" activity that really got the ward psyched about missionary work, or at least the 17 members of the quorum that were there, which was most of them. Ugh, I'm running out of time here, so I can't really tell you much more about it. But it was a really effective idea.

Sunday was one of those days where it all came together. Ramiro, who is meeting also with the Jehovah's Witnesses and an Evangelical church, came, with his girlfriend Rosa, and ended up staying for all three hours for the first time due to this miracle: One of our biggest challenges as missionaries is to integrate people with the ward members, that is, to help them have friends. This time, the Lord prepared it all for us. Turns out, one of our members has known Rosa for a long time already! And one of the non-members who was there as well! Can you say blessings?? Then, even after the three hours ended, Rosa and Ramiro stayed for another two hours for Paula's farewell meeting and meal, which was SUPER spiritual. They loved it and Ramiro said at the end that he loves our church and loves coming to it. So many blessings for us.

Serious Bathroom Construction

All in all, a really good week. Our bathroom has been under construction all week, so we've been showering at the Oliver's, and that's been kind of weird, but hopefully tomorrow we should be good to use our own again.

And to finish, just a little follow up story from Lorient.

Remember the inspired pizza thing? (See Post from September 1, 2014.) When we bought pizza, Elder Lloyd and I, and everything just kind of worked out? Well, turns out it REALLY worked out. As a part of that whole evening, one of the people we had talked to came back a few minutes later with a friend of his who was a Jehovah's Witness, kind of challenging us to battle it out or something, which wasn't very nice. But, we're missionaries, so we responded in the most Christlike way we could, just talking to him and respecting his believes while listening to what he wanted to tell us. Turns out, Elder Lloyd met him again in the street a couple weeks after I left, and he and his new companion taught him. And then taught him again. And again. And a few more times until his baptism just yesterday. We never know what our actions will bring about. There's a new Mormon message* out about that, if you guys haven't seen it yet, Mom, I think you'd like it. Finding out that something we do, even just a little gesture like that, brings about good in someone else's life, that's what this is all about. That's why I'm here, and that's why I keep working. Two years is a long time, but when you're changing other people's lives, it goes by pretty fast.

Have a good one, and keep smiling!