Monday, February 3, 2014

Coincidence?...Probably Not!


L to R...Elder Johnson, Me, Elder Brockbank and his "bleu"
that looks like Justin Bieber!  I served with Elder Brockbank in Strombeek!
Bonjour a tous!  I hope you all have had a great week, even with the Broncos losing!  Mince!  It's been a great week here with a trip to Versailles for the Elder Kearon conference and to finding lots of amazing new amis!  We are being so blessed here in Rouen.  I want to share a couple of things to highlight our week.

At the beginning of this week we started with a lot of finding.  The days filled up with lessons and so we were extra busy at the end of the week.  Friday we started the day with a great lesson with a new amis named Adam.  Later in the day we had a rendez-vous in a little ville, Elbeuf, about 40 minutes by car.  We called Tarolin and asked him to come teach with us.  He picked us up and we were on our way.  When we arrived we started the lesson with prayer.  The baby, Lola, who is 4 months old started crying so Tarolin took the baby and rocked her as we continued to teach the lesson.  By the time we got to Joseph Smith and the first vision, the baby was asleep and her mother, Leolinde, was able to listen attentively.  We read Moroni's promise to her and then asked if, when she knew these things were true, she would be baptized.  The spirit was so strong and we all just sat there as Leolinde continued to read Moroni's words over and over.  For nearly 10 minutes nothing was said.  Just as I was sure she was going to say something Tarolin told her that she didn't have to decide today.  One more minute and I'm sue she would have said, "Yes".  We asked what she'd felt during the lesson and she said, "Words can not describe it!"  We explained that was the spirit testifying of its truthfulness!  I can't wait to go back Tuesday night with Frere Bitanga!  On the way home Tarolin asked if we could stop by a member's home.  The member was killed in a car accident last week and he wanted to check on the wife, who is not a member.  We arrived at the building but didn't have the exact apartment number.  Tarolin sent a text and as we waited for a response we went and saw another friend of Tarolins that lived close by.  We were able to give a spiritual thought and as we got ready to leave Tarolin received a text with the apartment number.  We hit the button to get into the building but no one responded. Just then somebody came out of the building so we went in and decided to try her door.  We knocked but no one was home.  We were getting ready to leave when we heard somebody on the floor above us. Tarolin ran up to see if he knew them. It was a friend of the family who was staying with them and he invited us in. We were able to teach Eunice, the member's wife, along with 3 of her friends.  Each of them had over 4 children.  We started reading from the Bible and then switched to the Book of Mormon.  They were like, "What is this book?" and then they were sitting on the edge of their chairs.  It was awesome!  Yesterday the Branch President went and taught them again and later in the day we went and taught her and her friends again.  They accepted soft baptismal invites and said they could feel the spirit and that it had to be the word of God!  It's so amazing...we get an address, no one's home, someone opens the door and we go in and then a friend of the wife was in the hall when we discover we were on the wrong floor!  Nothing happens by chance and we can hardly wait to teach them again this week!

Thursday we were off to Versailles for the Elder Kearon Conference and it was amazing.  We heard from President and Soeur Poznanski in English and then Elder Kearon.  It was an amazing day with lots of ways that we can "Rise to a new sense of commitment to assist our Father in Heaven in His Glorious work."
We have such an awesome mission president with his wife.  It was crazy to see half of the mission all together.  I can't even imagine how it would be to have everyone there.  I got to see Elder Davis, Elder Eldredge and Elder Cramer.  We got a 4 generation picture with Elder Johnson, (my son) Elder Davis, (my dad) and Elder Adams (my grandpa)  It is rare to have that many generations still all out on missions. (Mission terminology....pretty bizarre, right?)

Here are a few highlights from the rest of the week:
-Ezechais and Romain are doing great and Ezechias blessed the sacrament yesterday!
-One of the less actives we are working with, Thierry, came to church again and called Saturday night to say he was quitting nicotine and cafe!  SWEET!
-Got directions from 3 Chinese people and as they were showing us the way I asked it they were all from the same family.  Pretty dumb of me but they laughed and said that was the best joke they had heard all day!
-Dropped the phone in a puddle but it survived...thank our lucky stars!

That sums up part of the week.  Thanks for all your love and support.  Have a great week and remember I love you all so much.

Love...
Elder Player
Father and Son reunited!
Elder Davis, my trainer, and me!

Four Generations...L-R
Elder Adams (Grandpa) Elder Davis (Dad)
Me and Elder Johnson (My Son)


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