Monday, March 4, 2013

I lack the creativity to come up with interesting titles

Hey everyone,

Another great week. A week filled with awesome rendez-vous, hitch hiking, failed attempts at making cookies, and baptism. We had great rendez-vous with new and old amis. We met this awesome new ami named Caroline. She works aton so she is always super tired but she still makes time to see us. She has strong faith and i can always feel such a strong spirit during our lessons. I know that she can feel that to. I'm excited to keep teaching her.

So last monday when we went on a hike with Alain we had to take a long bus ride to get there. The hike was great but afterwards we came to the bus stop and found out that the buses had decided to go on strike and weren't running for the rest of the day. We were about to call a member to come pick us up but the next thing i know Alain flags down this car and they said that they would give us a ride. They were super nice and we thanked them aton and gave them a pass along card.

We decided that we would make cookies for some people this past week. We had a recipe but it made like 5 dozen so we decided to cut it in half. Our measurements were anything but accurate so we had a couple of failed batches. But we were persistent and finally figured things out and came up with a good batch. If at first you don't succeed, try and try again.

Last but not least, Alain got baptized and confirmed this week! It feels so great to see the steps he is making and to see how it is changing his life for the better. So the water in the font was really cold for the baptism. We tried boiling some water and adding that in but it didn't really have much effect. So when he was baptized it pretty much took the breath out of him because of the sudden cold, but he was still super happy. It was probably a huge contrast to the warmth that he felt sunday morning when he was confirmed and baptized by fire. He looked so happy and filled with the spirit the rest of the day. I really felt such a strong spirit too. I love the feeling every time I help out in blessings or other priesthood ordinances. You can actually feel Christ working through you. It really hit me that when we are serving others and helping out in His work, He is with us. He is always there to guide us and comfort us. We have a loving Father in Heaven who is always there to listen to our prayers and send us His spirit, and a perfect older brother who was willing to give all He could in order to provide us with the means of finding happiness in our lives. And they are always there rooting for us, and helping us every step of the way. I feel that guidance every day. Whether it's a feeling that i need to speed up and soon after catching a bus i would have otherwise missed, or a prompting to turn around and talk to someone on the street that i had just overlooked who turns out to be an awesome person who is interested in learning more about the gospel, or feeling like i should share something in a rendez vous that touches someones heart to the point of tears. God isn't someone who just sits up in heaven and watches what happens, He is constantly working to bring happiness to His children. He loves each of us and will help us if we just accept it and listen to the spirit.

I love France, I love being a missionary, I love this gospel, and I love all you.

Elder Swenson

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