After P-Day last week we were asked by the Soeurs to go and give a blessing to one of their members. They visit this member every week, Brother Arnold. We went off to the hospital to see him. When we arrived he was expecting us and excited to see us. We asked if we could give him a priesthood blessing and explained that this is the same priesthood that Christ and His disciples used. He asked for a blessing and right after he said, "Wow! That gave me hope and was good for me." We stayed and talked with him and learned that he "believed" but was not active. We asked questions and learned that because of stress from work he now had a blood clot in his brain and it was very serious. He told us that he used to pray and read the scriptures and that it helped him a lot. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how it helps us, strengthens our families, and gives us peace. He was so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon that night. The Soeurs are still teaching him and he's really excited about the gospel and how it can help him and his family.
Wednesday night we went to an area, Bonsecours, where the Warenghien family had prayed and felt like we should go there. We took the bus and we stopped at a neighborhood with newer homes and where we felt there might be young families. After checking to see when the last bus stop was we realized we only had 25 minutes to port. The first house was a young family with 4 or 5 kids. They had met the "mormons" before and were interested to hear more about it when the husband was there. We were able to port 8 house and 3 families were interested and want us to come back this week. It was so awesome that in 25 minutes we could find three young families and shows us again that amazing miracles happen when members and missionaries come together.
Thursday night we had a "frudge" (no show) and decided to go do some porting in the hour we had left. We decided to go close to our apartment but no one seemed interested and expressed that we were interrupting their dinners. At 8:55, always the last few minutes and when your faith has been tested, we saw a family walking down the street. They didn't speak French very well but spoke Romanian. We didn't speak Romanian so we asked if we could come back and share some stuff in Romanian. The husband said "no" but the wife said "yes, he doesn't know what your saying." They have 3 children so we will pass by and teach them this week with Romanian supplies on board. Wish us luck!
A few more highlights:
...Gabriel came to church again and asked awesome questions about the priesthood. We watched, "Finding Faith in Christ" and now the goal is to re-activate him and help him receive the priesthood.
...Thierry made the decision to quit drinking coffee and said he knew he could do it with the help of the Lord! Awesome rendez-vous!
...WE ate with the Warenghien family on Saturday and had crab/avocado salad, steaks with pepper sauce and dijon mustard, potatoes, cheese, bread, fresh fruit and madelines for dessert. Yummy!
Yesterday (Sunday) was filled with pictures of people I've come to love and saying goodbye to them. Wilfried bore his testimony, that was awesome, and Ezechias and Romain were all there too. I'm so thankful to have met these amazing people. The pictures will do most of the taking this week and now I'm off to Nogent, France. It is just outside of Paris and we will have metro passes to go anywhere in Paris on P-days. It's only 15-20 minutes away by metro. Soeur Berge started her mission there and said it's an awesome, huge ward with lots of young families and said that I'll love it! Wednesday morning I'll be off for Nogent and start a new journey there. We will have a 4 man apartment and my new companion is Elder Alexander. More info next week!
I hope you all have a great Easter and know how much I love you all. If you have a few minutes send me a letter at my new address:
Les Missionnaries
Elder Chase Player
33, Rue Maximilien Robespierre
94120 Fontenay Sous Bois
France
Much Love...
Elder Player
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| The Barnjak Family |
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| The Bitanga Family I love this family so much. They've been like my parents here in Rouen! |
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| Cool Forest we found while porting! |
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| The Famous Warenghien's! |
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| District 6 picture with Transfer Numbers! Sisters were at a conference! |
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| Frere Dupre |
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| Convert Sunday School Class |
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| My 3 Converts in Rouen |
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| In front of our Apartment in Rouen |
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| Gabriel and moi! |
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| Transfer prophecies in my BuBu |
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| Little island in Rouen! |
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| Porting in France with the trees in blossom! |
He has had such sweet experiences in Rouen, I'm sure it will always hold a dear spot in his heart. Kind of mind blowing to realize he began his mission 11 months ago today!
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