Hi Y'all or as they say in Creole
Bonjour a Zot!
Where to start about this week...not too many grand things. First an update on Sylvest before the funny stories. He came to church this past week!! Whoo Hoo! And our lesson this week went amazing! We taught L3 and really tried to emphasize how important it is that baptism has the right authority. I think they understand a bit better now. And he continues to read every night and he says that he thinks the BoM is true! So we talked about what is the significance if the book is true. Because I think he recognizes that the Book of Mormon is scripture and that church is good, but he just hasn't put together the final piece that IF those things are true - The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the earth with the Lord's authority. And I said that, but I think they just need more time to feel a witness of that too from the Holy Ghost - it's only been two weeks after all. Unfortunately, his daughters weren't there...they were at catechism because Sylvie (the fourteen year old) still "needs" to do her first communion... It's just such a strong tradition that even when Sylveste recognizes that this church is good and the one he wants to go to instead of Catholic church, it still is like a "traditional rite of passage" for Sylvie to do communion. I really hope that we can know how to teach him in the way that will be most clear and touching to him this week, perhaps it is a matter of time too but I want to make sure I'm trying to be the best teacher so they can understand and feel the truthfulness.
This week I spent a surprising amount of time in the hospital/doctor's office for not being sick. The first reason was to teach someone, and the second was for my companion to do visa work. One of the Sisters in a nearby town has a father who is dying and in the hospital in our town. He has never accepted or joined the Church but now he said he would listen to the missionaries. Since the hospital is in our area we accompanied the Sr to go teach him. The lesson was...interesting. He didn't really seem there for much of it and he is so Creole that we can't understand what he is saying. However, it did make me appreciate the Plan of Salvation so much because even though right now it's sort of a sad situation I know that soon he will have the chance to accept the gospel without having the physical restrains he has now. And his daughter, who worries so much about him, will know what happens when he passes on and will now that she will be able to see him again. It also made me realize that hospitals very strongly remind me of dad and all these memories came rushing back of us buying hospital food (specifically the delicious sandwhiches from Kettering and the green twizzlers that are my favorite) and waiting for him to finish with a patient and him taking me in after I broke my collarbone. So know you were well thought of this week :) Then we went so Sr Isham could have an apt and be cleared to get her long term visa. And I just wanted to tell you that the Doctor was wearing vanns, crumpled slacks, had a four day beard, and a button-up shirt with a pattern that showed chest hair. No white coat in sight. It wasn't reassuring. Luckily, we weren't sick.
So this week we actually were invited to eat at a member's house - which is crazy! So just like most missions, when members feed us they always tend to overfeed us. I think you might remember my story from one of my first weeks where the family kept telling us "Serve yourselves! Serve yourselves! Please, sisters take more!" and we stuffed our selves. Well this story now takes the cake (pun intended). We show us to this sister's house (it's just her and her son) and we chat for a little, then we give a 30 minute message. After that we had been at her house already for an hour so we were like "ok, we'll need to leave in an hour' since we hadn't even started eating yet. So she says "ok, we better start with dessert then". So we have some ice cream and little cookies. Then she brings out dinner afterward - I had assumed it was finishing cooking while we had eaten dessert. She had baked a casserole with tuna and noodles and white sauce. Yum. We eat up. It's fairly small for Reunion standards but it feeds all of us comfortably. I am thinking "For the first time I won't have to stuff myself!" So I take seconds to show her how much we appreciate it. Then when it is finished she goes in the kitchen...and brings out a pizza! A whole pizza! That she had made by hand. Whew...ok, so then we eat pizza. I'm thinking "Wow, had to stuff myself again - no wonder I'm gaining weight". Then she goes into the kitchen and asks "Do you have more room? I made more!" And this time she brings out a big bowl of quinoa and oven-cooked chicken in sauce! WHAT?!? So then I had to shove down a chicken breast on a bed of quinoa. And boy was I feeling a little green at that point. She had made THREE separate meals!! Like literally each meal could have fed us. Luckily she didn't take offense when we said we were full and instead sent us home with all the leftovers. I mean it was all good, but three meals!? Too much!
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