Greve

Hiya out there in the States...

So the biggest news this week is la greve! Greve means strike! And like any french citizen strikes are a part of this island's past time! So this week there was this huge gas strike, which means since thursday, no one could get gas! Why were they striking? I really don't know - something to do with prices. Who was striking? Employees or Producers? ONce again, no idea. But every gas station closed and you couldn't get gas anywhere. What does that mean for the island, what did people do? Either you conserve your gas or break down and start riding the bus everywhere. Literally, those are the solutions. Also this strike was "unlimited" so they were going to strike until their demands were met so it could be weeks and weeks. Which would mean that the food trucks would stop taking food to the stores. And planes would stop flying food to the island because they wouldn't be able to fill up with gas again to leave. Which would mean none of the stores would have food....DUN DUN DUN! Luckily the good people of Reunion stopped striking this morning so hopefully the economy/society here won't descend into ruins and chaos. But that is a scary thing about being on an island! Everything is emported! A couple of the missionaries ran out of gas for their cars so they started walking, hahah Luckily we had enough to last us till today - you could call us the wise virgins ;)

Other than that...pas grandes choses "no big things" to report for this week. Things are still going good. "Doucement, doucement."  My favorite part of the week....1) teaching Sylveste's family. (Sylveste is the name of the father who has two little girls who came to church last week - our first FAMILY!!) LOVE them. Their also like the first real family I've practically ever met on my mission - as far as amis go. 2) We got a new Ward Mission Leader and we went over to his house and he is amazing!!! He is just on fire and so enthusiastic and he was like "Ok tell me when your lessons are and I'll come to them, I want to meet that ami and that ami and that ami - actually all of your amis" This is a big change from our last DMB who was NOT very follow through or hands on. So it was amazing to see someone in the ward on fire and ready to help us with our missionary work - I know that members are one of the keys so know we have another key to help progress the work. I just know that he is going to help motivate our branch and help bring about miracles!! Plus after that his wife fed us DELICIOUS food. So it was litterally the best night we have had in ages! 

Sylveste's family didn't come to church because his little girl didn't feel well, but he DID read the first four chapters in the BOM, which is HUGE!!!! I have litterally met with our longest ami over 3 months and he has come to church at least 4 times and NEVER has he read the BOM. That's how hard it is to get people to read. I LOVE this family so much!! Not just because of the reading (although that is a welcome change) But because his two daughters are so nice and sincere, and even the little 6 year old is so well behaved. His 14 year old daughter says she wants to start reading for herself and she has such a pure spirit. And Sylveste is someone who is genuinely searching and genuinely loves God. Not just someone who says he does. And I feel the spirit so strong in their lessons. Teaching them is definitely the HIghlight of my week. And they have basically convinced me of how much I want to go over to Mada for part of my mission! But I won't tell President that, because if it's meant to happen - if the Lord thinks it's right, then it will and if not then I love the people of Reunion too :)

 Dearly Beloved,

So this week...was another bit of a rough one. We only had 2 scheduled lessons that didn't cancel. BUT I guess it was all worth it because we had a family of investigators come to church!! The other sisters met this man on the street named Sylveste but since he was in our area my companion and I set up an apt with him and taught him. He has two younger girls ages 14 and 6 and at the end of the lesson we committed him and his 14 year old daughter to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Then we invited him and his family to church. Unfortunately, like many of the people on Reunion they have no transportation and just take the bus. But there are only about 4 buses on Sunday that come around so it's really hard to catch the bus to church unless you live near the right stop...which they did not. So we invited them but said we understood if they couldn't make it. But guess who made it! Sylvest and his whole family! They seemed to really enjoy church and now we have another apt with them this week. I am praying so hard that it all works out because I feel like they are really ready and open and faithful to recieve the gospel. 

Other than that...there is not a lot to report from the Reunion island. Things are definitely slow right now. Sharing the car has been a little tricky because ALL of our potential investigators are single men, which means we need to bring a sister with us and to do that we need the car. So we can't ever schedule apt at the same time. So we are getting really good at planning now.

We went on a hike this morning. It was right near the ocean and super super beautiful. Unfortunately I wanted to go closer and was walking on some slippery rocks...and slipped and fell. Ouch! Nothing broken though - only some scraped skin

LOVE YOU, Remember to say your prayers and read your scriptures!

Soeur Stewart