We had a couple of great lessons! Some of our lessons go great and some not that great. But I love it when they are absolutely phenomenal and you can tell that person is intently listening to everything you are saying and having the spirit testify to them. That's happened a couple of times and it is so powerful. We had a couple of lessons that way this week and I just love it when our amis say "il faut que je lis" because you KNOW they felt the spirit. And also you just want to sing out loud because THAT'S what you've been trying to get across all lesson long!! Hahah but it's nice. Not going lie though, it's really disapointing when some people accept some of our message but have no motivation to ACT on it. Like people will tell us that they believe that it's possible that our prophet truly talks to God but then won't come to conference to see it themselves. It makes me want to ask them - Aren't you at least a little CURIOUS to hear from a person who claims to speak the words of the Lord and who this whole church of 15 million people support?? But that's ok. Some people aren't ready I guess. Anyway it's still all going good!
We were porting in an apartment building and there was this lady watching us. Like just chillin out on the balcony staring at us. She was this short very tan slightly round lady with a really sour face and dark expression. So we say 'bonjour' as we pass and she starts muttering to herself while backing away and rubbing her hands. And mostly we were all really confused and sort of scared but we just keep on going. Then as we continue porting on that level we see her sneaking glances at us from around a corner and we were spooked but keep working. Then we go to pass her in the hallway again and she jumps at us while yelling and we stopped stock still. And she mutters something and points at her head. So by this time we're freaked out enough to decide to get out of there and as we continue walking past her to leave we hear her turn and start following us REALLY closely. We don't want to turn and look but we can hear her flip flops flopping RIGHT behind us. We started seriously picking up the pace and practically run down the stairs out of the apartment building. And then when we paused on the floor down to see if she was following us we hear her jumping up and down right on the spot above our heads next to the stairs and then starts moving again. And we just ran out of there practically as fast as we could.
We had a lesson with a lady named Soeur Sebastian and at the beginning of it she asked me if I was Reunionese. Which I get at least once a day but normally every person we talk to for a while always says that. But I said no no and then when we were introducing ourselves I said "Je m'appelle Soeur Stewart" And she was like "How did you pick up your American Accent so fast?! And I said "no no I've only been here four weeks" and she said "you picked it up in four weeks?!" So then I had to clarify from the beginning that I was in fact American just like my other two companions and had only been in Reunion for four weeks. We still have communication issues everyday. Mostly people always second guess that I really am from the US and not Reunion. I guess cause my companions are both white and then all the Elders are too and I look so islander that they are just like 'really? Are you really from the US?'
During that same lesson we told her that we needed to go. (Because people LOVE to talk and will just talk TO you for 30 minutes at a time) So we said we need to go and she was like "oh would you like something to drink" Just to be polite you know. And we said oh that's ok, we're good. We should probably be heading out and she looked at me with these sharp eyes and said "You aren't thirsty?!" Like it was unthinkable. And we were already running late. But I didn't know if this was one of those you-have-to-eat-and-drink-everything-on-a-mission type of circumstances so I just lamely tried to say "Oh we're fine" and then she said "I'll go get some juice" So then we had to chug down the THICKEST mango juice I have ever had in my life in about two minutes because we were already late to our next apt. And we did it and then all felt kinda weird afterward....
So we were at an amis house way up in the mountains and he has this amazing garden. Well the member we brought with us was talking about how in Madagascar they make this really good fruit salad with green papayas and its so delicious. And since he had a whole tree of them the member asked if she could have one. And he is incredibly nice (and lives alone so he doesn't have anyone to eat his garden with) he was more than obliging. And he decided to send us home with a yellow one too. It was HUGE. I will send a picture. So all of us were really looking forward to eating this delicious tropical fruit that came straight off the tree. And we got it home and chopped it up and took a few bites before we realized...Papaya is desgusting. It sort of tastes like...sweet with a lighter fluid aftertaste. Gross. Anyway we were REALLY dismayed to find that now we had a watermelon/pumpkin sized papaya and hated all of it. So we left it as a treat for the missionaries during a meeting and everyone else seemed to like it just fine. So it all worked out.
One of the nicest advantages to being American on this island is that that fact alone pulls people in. Most people have NEVER met an American in their entire life especially not on Reunion. So they are really interested in why we are there. And even more interested when we are tourists. So that's pretty cool. But this week we found the most enthusastic response yet. We walked up to this girl to ask for directions, who was probably 16 or 17 and she asked us where we were from. When we said The United States she screamed and sort of started acting like a big fan. She kept saying "America!! OH MY GOSH" And then she yelled up to an apartment above us and started calling people down saying "These girls are Americanes!!" And she just kept screaming when she said America. It was pretty wild. I feel like I have a small idea now of what it would be like to be a celebrity.
Anyway, those are the stories from this week. No baptisms yet but we still have four investigators with dates. The earliest one is on the 9 of november!!
Sister Stewart
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