4-18-16

Hello the people. The week was swell.

Events I experienced:
Monday was pretty good. Nothing interesting to report. I'll have an interesting p-day eventually.

Tuesday! Tombez-vous the whole day. But we still got to have a good lesson with San! She's awesome. We were contacting afterwards, and the lady stopped us mid-sentence asking, "do you have pre-marital sex before marriage?" and of course we said "no" then she laughed and said "well that doesn't interest me" and walked off. Lots of people probably agree with her, but they usually aren't as bold about it haha. Right after, we contacted this guy who was uninterested in the end, but a Tahitian guy came up to us, he had been listening to us preaching! His parents are members of the church in Tahiti, and he's in the military in France. We got his number and set up a rendezvous for Saturday! His name is Jo, he's 7th day Adventist and he's super cool. Then an American family who's been here for a few weeks on vacation flagged us down as we were walking and invited us to have ice cream with them! They're cool. The ice cream was even cooler. Hahaha. I'm funny. We closed the day with a RDV w/ Nes. We watched "The Sabbath is a Delight" by President Nelson. It was a great time, I think it really helped. At least Nes knows how much we care about him, that we're his friends.

Wednesday, a blitz in Limoges! I was with Elder Swanson, it was a good time. We got to see Mon, a recent convert, and after that (and a meat pie chez lui) he took us to teach his friend Hap (great name), because she wants to start studying the Bible. A very typical request of Africans. But once they get the Book of Mormon they love reading it!

Thursday, district meeting! In Poitiers. I taught everyone about the Sabbath day and extending invitations to get our Amis to church as best we can. Not only inviting them, but preparing them and the ward to come to church and have a great experience. After the meeting, I had one of the best experiences of my mission. I have a baptismal interview to the Poitiers sisters' Amie, Am. She was found last transfer, and I remember hearing about when she was found, this it was really cool to put a face to the story. She was very well prepared and the interview was very touching. I imagined her changing herself as she met with the missionaries, all that she's gone through, and the feelings were indescribable. It was very fun, getting to do the interview. Just a big testimony meeting. I could feel my own testimony growing as I testified to her about baptism and the reality of what she was doing with her life. Best day ever!

Friday, we left from Limoges to Brive, got back, did some quick prep, and went to Tulle to do my legality. Luckily, it went well without problems. Only problem is, now I need to get my legality at Tulle. So if I leave next transfer (likely, since I have done 4 in Brive) I'll have to come all the way back here. Oh well. Free vacation as they say. After we got out of the prefecture, we passed lots of old Amis and less-actives. We found a TJ family to teach! We're coming back next Friday so we'll see where that goes. We got back to Brive and went directly to see the Ob family! The dad was there, so we took advantage of the opportunity to teach the Retab again. He loved it! And they're coming to church on Sunday, all 7! Baller. "Beeeeest daaaaay eeeveeeeeeer!" ~SpongeBob

Saturday. We got bodied. Two tombez-vous and delays. Weekly planning and baking stuff for birthdays and the ward meal tomorrow. I started a daily scripture text to send out to everyone, and we got a few old Amis to respond! Well worth it. Some members and less-actives expressed gratitude as well. It took lots of time because the phones here suck. Limited functions and just....not user friendly. Mais bon. A good day quand même.

Sunday was great, we went to Bordeaux after church for our zone p-day tomorrow. We had 7 Amis at church, but got dropped by our family of 7. Ouch. Really unfortunate, but that's all we can do. Ça va alors.

Monday was super fun! We went to Arcachon, to the Pilat Dunes, the tallest dunes in Europe. They were sick! Really beautiful and super fun. I didn't get burned either. There are sand cliffs you can jump off of and it's super fun.

Lessons I learned:
All we can do is all we can do. No more, no less. When bad things come, continue to do your best and don't worry about rest. President Benson put it his way: "The great test of life is obedience to God. The great task of life is to learn the will of the Lord and then do it. The great commandment of life is to love the Lord." No more, no less.

(free) Advice I have:
ALL OF GENERAL CONFERENCE. SERIOUSLY. But more specifically, "Tomorrow the Lord Will Do Wonders among You" by Jeffrey R Holland.  I love Jeffrey R. Holland. His talks are the best. But this talk is special. I'm not sure if I have ever heard a better talk in my whole life. If you read this talk and don't like it, "check yourself before you wreck yourself" as a wise man once said. All jokes aside, an exceptional talk. If you want a morale boost, look no further.

Love you all! Stay classy.
Elder MacArthur

Ben & Elder Storti with a cool American family on vacation in Brive

Elder Kimball and a double rainbow

Bordeaux Zone P-day at Pilat Dunes