White Knuckles

Bonjour à tous ! Quoi de neuf ? 

I seriously cannot believe another week has gone by, and that it is SEPTEMBER ! La vache ! Where has the time seriously gone! So much has happened this week! But first, let me give you a few updates on things that have happened in recent posts! I haven't been too good on updating you with some of our progress, so hopefully this is a bit of redemption! 😉

 

David Remember the Turkish man from a few posts ago? The friend we talked with through Google Translate for an hour? Well...He came to church last Sunday, like he said he would...and let me tell you, Google translate saved us again! Throughout sacrament meeting I was translating from French ---> English --->Turkish. It was an experience! 😂 It was easier for me to type English into Google Translate, but the speakers were talking faster than my poor thumbs could type and David could read...so I would listen for a few minutes to get the main idea, translate that into English into Google Translate to be translated into Turkish. It was quite the process! David seemed to really enjoy sacrament meeting and every once in a while would take my phone to type a question, which we would discuss. Honestly, it was pretty fun! Would do it again. 🙃 He had to leave early for work, but he said he enjoyed it and really liked being there! In fact, it was his first time ever being in a church! Sweet! Since then we have been running into David everywhere we go! (Toul really is a small town.) 😉 Saturday Soeur Letourneau and I went to the Cathédrale Gardens to get some work done when we ran into... yep, you guessed it, the one and only David! We were just about to call some of our amis when he came over and started talking to us! Oddly enough the conversation slowly became a little weird then ending with him tending to a wound he had with a piece of paper and fountain water. Soeur Letourneau and I took that as a cue to take our leave. 😉 We bid farewell and continued on with our work. 

This week we also went to see Sandy! Seriously a highlight of my week! She just got back from going to the Temple and so we sat and listened to her talk about her experiences. It was incredible! We had an amazing conversation about the temple and the spirit was so strong! At the end we closed with a prayer and asked Sandy if she could offer it. She said yes and that she would start in English, finish in English, and say the middle in French to make Satan jealous! Haha! 🤣 It was so awesome! This week I hope you find ways to make Satan jealous too! 

Unfortunately, we haven't seen our sweet window cake man, Claude, this week, BUT never fear! My time in Toul is not over yet so we WILL see him again! We are actually planning on making him some cookies, (American chocolate chip cookies, of course. Thanks Uncle Cory!)  so it won't be just cakes being passed through the window!  😂 

Mais ben, other than that I don't have too many huge updates on anyone else. Everyone is slowly starting to come back from vacation, which means we get our amis back! 

This week was pretty eventful though! I feel like I went to bed absolutely exhausted each night! (Which, I believe is a good sign. 😉) Tuesday we had dinner with the Clauses (my branch President and his wife) at the restaurant again because we hit the goal of 24 lessons! We have been having dinner with them every week - booh yah! It was probably one of the most fun dinners ever! Our favorite Tahitian couple even joined us and we laughed and had such a great time together! It was so sweet, President Claus said I'm not allowed to leave unless we have a baptism in Toul. 😂

Wednesday we had our district council meeting, but in person! ...And in Metz! The chapel is so cool! It's a super old home that was owned by a noble, but turned into a chapel. The baptismal font there is honestly the prettiest one I've ever seen! I also let Soeur Letourneau drove from Toul to Metz, and honestly I have never been so stressed about driving in my entire life! I was absolutely white knuckling it the whole way there AND back. One second we were driving through the country side, the next through à tiny town, then on the motorway, and then in the middle of town. It was really stressful, 😅 BUT we made it to and from Metz without a scratch and in one piece! We did have a couple close calls, however, but not on us! I also can't say if I would want to drive there and back again. I think once was enough for me....crazy drivers! Just shows that God loves His missionaries! 😂 

In between each of the white knuckled drives we had a good district council and then we all decided to go eat at Subway! It was fun to talk with some of the older missionaries in our district and hear their stories! I love to get together with other missionaries! 

This week we did A LOT of finding! Our amis are starting to come back from vacation, but while we wait for everyone to return we are hitting the streets! This week we decided to pull up to a neighborhood right across from the regiment and do some door knocking. We knocked for about 2 hours, and believe it or not, almost every single door was answered! It was crazy! I have never had so many people answer their doors! We had some super interesting conversations, along with some pretty weird encounters, but it was so good! We handed out a lot if cards, got a phone number, and even handed out a Book of Mormon! 

We knocked on this one door and waited for a bit with no response, but as soon as we were about to leave I saw the curtains pull back and a face appear in the window. Naturally, I waved. An older man came out and of course we began talking. We explained who we were and why we are here and the conversation slowly turned into things that are happening in the world and how he couldn't understand why all of it was happening. He mentioned that he was religious at heart, but had a lot of questions that he never got answers to, and was doubtful he ever would. One question was the classic on of, "If God loves us so much, why do bad things still happen in the world?" We talked about how there will always be opposition in all things and how we have the bad so that we can know the good. We then introduced The Book of Mormon and shared that this book contains answers to all the questions he was asking. We explained what it was and how it has helped us in our own personal lives. He questioned the proposition at first, but then accepted the book. We also placed our calling card inside and told him to contact us with any questions, and that he could also access The Church's website to look for answers himself if he wanted. He seemed so distraught by everything he had heard and seen from the news, and it broke my heart a bit to see him so affected by it all. We also talked about our agency and how we all have the ability to choose for ourselves between good and bad and that is part of why these terrible things happen in the world. After talking a bit more and placing The Book of Mormon in his care, we bid farewell to him and carried on knocking on plenty more doors. 

I do not know if he will read The Book of Mormon, or if it will sit on a shelf and collect dust, but I do know that God loves us. Yes, the world can be a very sad place. We cannot help or control the actions of those around us but we can certainly control our own choices and actions. Use your ability to choose to choose joy! 

 

We also met two other amazing people this week! One of which we were kind-of already acquainted with. Every morning for sport we go to a track to run, and every morning we always wave to a man who is heading off to work. However, we haven't seen him a lot recently. The other day, we we were walking back to our apartment from the parking lot we saw a man walking in front of us, just a few meters away. He seemed kind of familiar, and turns out it was him! I had the biggest urge to talk to him but we were kind of far away from each other and it seemed like we were going to go in different directions. I was trying to plan out how we could naturally and casually catch up to him when he stopped to check something on his phone - #Miracle - and were able to catch up to him! As we passed I stopped and said hello and asked how he was doing. To provide more context, I explained to him that we waved to each other everyday. His face lit up! He was so excited to meet us! We explained who we were and what we did and asked if he was interested, and without hesitation, he said yes! Woah! We gave him our card, exchanged numbers, and are planning to have a rendez-vous this week! 

Incredible! I'll do my best to update you on how it all goes next week! 

Saturday, Soeur Letourneau and I were walking to a park to get some work done. On the way we stopped at Jeff de Bruges for some ice cream (seriously the best ice cream ever)! We then passed a bus stop and there was only one guy sitting there. I immediately asked myself, "What if?" (I promised myself that if I ever ask this question when I see someone then I have to talk to them.) Book of Mormon in one hand, and ice cream in the other, I stopped and asked how his day was going and from there we began talking as if we were old friends! We explained that we were missionaries and what we do, as well as that we love talking to everyone about Jesus Christ! We talked to him a bit more then asked if he was interested in learning more. He said that he was super interested and that he was actually a Christian! Cool! We continued talking and he mentioned that he actually met the Elders once in Nancy and that he really enjoyed talking to them. No way! We of course talked more about that! 😂 I then asked if he liked to read and we began talking about The Book of Mormon. He seemed sooooo interested in it! We gave him the copy I had in my hand and he actually seemed genuinely excited to receive it! We asked of he would be interested in setting up a rendez-vous and talking more, and he said YES! WHAT! We exchanged numbers and invited him to church as well. 

Sunday came and he didn't end up coming to church because he had plans, but we are planning to have a rendez-vous this week! So so exciting! 

There are so many more things that happened that I wish I could share with all of you but for the sake of time we can talk about them when we see each other next! 😉

Spiritual Thought

This week I want to share a scripture that comes from... yep! the one and only Book of Mormon! This scripture discusses that if we do not understand the things we learn it is because we do not ask to know them: 

"Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark." ( 2Nephi 32:4) 

To truly understand we must put forth the effort to know. Ask of God! I have done so and I can tell you that when I put myself on my knees and ask in sincere prayer for Heavenly Father to help me understand, the understanding does come! It has never been all at once, but the more effort I put in, the more I understand. I invite you all to do so for yourself! Seek to know! Through sincere efforts and desires, the Lord will bless and help you!

I love you all so much! Have an amazing week! 

À bientôt ! - Soeur Hansen 💕