Wild Pig!!

Bonjour!

Wow this week has been really interesting! 

MATHIEU:

He is progressing like a champion. We had a lesson with him this week and it was so great. We sat down and before we started teaching he whips out his computer and shows us all of his notes on the book of mormon! He writes a summary for each chapter so he makes sure he understands it better and doesn't forget it! Holla. He's the coolest 18 year old I know! Our lesson was on the plan of salvation and it was really great. The spirit was strong and I felt like it touched him. So he is still getting baptized but we don't know when cause he has to come 3 times before he gets baptized and he hasn't been to church yet, but now that he moved out of his grandmas house and he doesn't have to take her to mass he can come! So keep him in your prayers:)

GLADYS:

I don't know if I already told you this story so sorry if I have haha so a couple weeks ago we were on a bus coming home and I go sit down next to this woman and start talking to her. She saw my tag and said "I'm already baptized" and I'm thinking "yeah you are probably catholic or something" so we keep talking and then she points at my tag and tells me she is already baptized into our church! So I'm like what?! She's been inactive for like 15 years and she's lived in poitiers for 10 and she didn't know there was a church here. We are going to visit her this week and I am super excited to see what comes of it!

FRERE CHEVALIER:

Had a bomb lesson with him this week as well! He started reading the Book of Mormon and praying again, he told us he feels a difference in his life and he sees how the Lord is blessing him. I was so pumped for him! Please pray for him to stay strong! 

EXCHANGE WITH SOEUR ZENGER:

So Soeur Zenger came to Poitiers on Thursday and we did an exchange and it was so so so so so so so good! Ah I miss her. We had a lesson with Yazid and I didn't tell him that Soeur Z was coming, and so when he saw her he freaked out and it was so fun and my heart was so happy. We then went on to have a killer lesson about the Prayer and the Book of Mormon. We read 3 Nephi 11 together about when the Savior comes and it was beautiful. Yazid was really touched by the Spirit. At the end of our lesson, he told us he would never leave the church:) just about the best words you can hear your convert say! After Yazid we went and saw Soeur Rousselle and talked to her about Project Elijah and how we are trying to help people connect to their ancestors, she wants us to give her another My Family book so she can share it with her doctor! The spirit of elijah is really making miracles here in our mission!

ZONE CONFERENCE:

I love Zone Conference. It's the highlight of every transfer. I love getting spiritually fed by President and Sister Roney! Of course at Zone Conference we talked a lot about Project Elijah and how we are really trying to help these people connect to their ancestors. It's been cool cause as I have been trying this new family questionnaire people really do open up. Before our questionnaire was about prophets, we had a family one too, but not like this one. Those questionnaires were good and sparked a lot of interest, but this one is incredible. The first question we ask people is "what member of your family has made the biggest sacrifice for you or has been the best example?" People really start to open up, it then invites the Spirit super fast, and then it gives us a great lead to talk about the Gospel and how the family is so important. I'm excited to keep going with this!

Also in Zone Conference we watched Meet the Mormons! It was SOOOOOOOOOO good and everyone should watch it! I loved it! 

So at ZC the missionaries who are going home give their dying testimonies. A sister in our mission who I love gave a beautiful testimony that really touched me. She was talking about how her favorite story in the bible is in John 9 when Jesus heals the man who was born blind. The pharisees ask him how was he healed and who did this and why? The man replys something like "whether this man is a sinner I know not; whereas I was blind, now I see." The sister compared this to her mission and how she felt like before her mission she was "blind" but now, "she see's" I loved when she said that. I still have quite a while on my mission, but I feel like I am beginning to see:)

WILD PIG ATTACK 2015:

Ok so we were on the train home from ZC and everything is normal and we are sitting with the Angoulême soeurs and just having a jolly good time, when the train makes this awful noise and comes to a screching hault! We are all like what in the world is going on??? So the lady comes on over the speaker and tells us they are going to check it out, like 20 minutes later they come back on and tell us that we have hit a giant wild pig and it broke the train!!! So we were stuck on this train for 4 HOURS!! No water. Always bring water on a train, you may hit a wild pig. We were going crazy and so tired. Our poor district leader, and zone leaders couldn't go to sleep until we got home! We got to angouleme at like 11 ish and then went back to poitiers the next morning! haha it was definitely a night to remember!

BRANCHE ACTIVITY:

Saturday was crazy and started out bad! So saturday we had this branch activity. Our dmb thought it would be a good idea for the branche to do some contacting with the missionaries as part of the activity. So we were all suppossed to meet at the church at 3 and head out contacting. Well everyone, starts sending us these texts saying that they aren't coming contacting but they will show up at 5 to watch the movie. So I'm super irritated, cause I knew all along that they didn't want to do this, so I had no idea why they agreed to it. SO we show up at 3 and the only people there are Dominique and Catherine. We were all a little frustrated, but Dominique said a killer prayer and we went out and worked. It had been raining all day, but for the 2 hours that we were contacting, the rain stopped and there was a tiny bit of sun.:) No one gave us a number, or wanted to see us again, but everyone was nice, and a little old lady bought us juice, and we testified of eternal families and I was happy:) The Lord blessed us and I am so grateful  for Dominique and Catherine and their willingness to help us out.

After contacting we met up with everyone else at the church and watched Ephriams Rescue and it was SO GOOD. Everyone go watch it, everyone was crying. Like I have always known that the pioneers did so much, but it really hit me on Saturday. I am grateful for the sacrifces they made so I have the Gospel in my life today. The day ended really good:)

This week was interesting but I saw so many little miracles. The Lord is always with us and he will never leave us alone. He loves us. I love you! Have a great week!:) 

Love,

Soeur Holmes