Week 68 - Making new friends with Caribbean people is my favorite

Bonjour!!! 

This week was CRAZY busy but it was so so good!!

HIGHLIGHTS--

-We worked with members a LOT this week (which contributed to the craziness since we had to pick a lot of them up) but it was so worth it. Having a member there makes such a huge difference and I think we were so lucky to work so much with them this week! Plus we can ask them our french questions which is always helpful because apparently I almost accidentally swore at somebody without having the slightest idea haha! Soo



hooray for members!! :D

-We found GOOD donuts at a gas station. I really miss those classic glazed donuts from Krispy Kreme, but these donuts kinda filled that void in my life

-We worked with a member who recently moved here from Haiti, she is the SWEETEST thing on the whole planet. We had lots of traffic driving her to and from the lesson we brought her to, so we chatted almost the whole time and she told me a lot about her life in Haiti, her kids, and her conversion story. She talked a lot about how thankful she is that there's now a temple in Haiti to bless her country with more peace and with more of the Spirit. But I love her so much and I hope we'll be best friends forever :)

-ALSO speaking of best friends, on Thursday this SUPER cute girl from Saint Lucia who is going to serve a mission in the Dominican Republic came to Guadeloupe and stayed with us for a day. She had to see the DR Consulate and apparently it's here in Guadeloupe haha!  Both Soeur Herrera and I are OBSESSED with her, she's the most beautiful and kind person. We took her to the appointment on Friday morning but it was VERY hard to find! Since they speak Spanish it was hard communicating on the phone to find the place and GPSs aren't much use here sometimes haha. But God helped us out by placing two men on our path that we asked for directions from, and they helped us out a lot! Turns out the ladies working in the consulate are SUPER nice, they had all seen the temple before in Santo Domingo and talked about how beautiful it was :) 

-That night we had a MIIIRRACCCLLE!!

The night before, we had briefly talked to these two woman sitting out on their porch. They seemed pretty interested so we got their phone number and gave them a Book of Mormon. Near the end of our conversation, another woman came out of the house and listened quietly, but she said she'd read as well. 

So we ask if we could come back the next night, and they all said sure!

So the next night comes, but the only one who's there in Yvrose, the woman who came in at the very end. As we were waiting for her to come out, I saw the Book of Mormon open with a notebook next to it on a desk on the porch. She comes out and we say a prayer and start discussing, and it turns out she is INCREDIBLY prepared! She had written questions down for us, and then listened intently as we explained the Restoration and continued asking a lot of good questions. We could just tell she really was taking the message into her heart, and she told us she wants to know if these things are true. The Spirit was SO strong and I felt an incredible amount of love for her! As Soeur Herrera walked away from that lesson we squealed and danced around like little girls and then listened to our favorite EFY song in the car haha :)

-The Laynes came and put together a new table for us, so our apartment is looking nicer and nicer!! It was in pretty rough shape when I was first here in January but little by little it just gets better! Soeur Herrera took an apartment tour video today which I think is a good idea so maybe I'll do that too sometime!

-We taught a funny older creole man yesterday about the Restoration and at the end tried to teach him how to pray. He was being so funny about it but now I think he understands and will pray for us in the next lesson we have this week!

-Last night we were working with Sister Layne-- we were going to see this really cool young dominican kid, but he ended up not being there (tears), but we decided instead to stop by and try and visit this woman we've been trying to see for FOREVER. Two of her sons are members of the church. She knows Sister Layne so when we pulled up, she let us come in!! We shared a Bible video with her of Christ talking about His sheep in John 10. I'd invite you all to read it and pay a lot of attention to what he's saying, because I felt that it was so meaningful and important for us to know. The message touched her a lot and it was so cool to see :) 

-All in all, this week was good! On Saturday night I was feeling a little sad and discouraged, because even though we had worked really hard with our friends that week, none of them said they'd be able to make it to church the next day. So I just was kind of wondering, "What lack I yet?" and what Heavenly Father had planned for the next step for each of them. I opened up to D&C 50, which brough me a lot of direction about how important the SPIRIT is and that it goes both ways-- we as missionaries do all we can to bring the Spirit to the hearts of the people, but they also must receive it and act on it. The end of the chapter as well cheered me up and gave me comfort, so I was thankful to Heavenly Father for leading me there :)

I hope all of you have a wonderful week! Is it starting to feel like fall yet over there?

Gros bisous, je vous aime!! <3

Soeur Gardner