Bonjour ma famille,
It is hard to believe this is the last letter I will be writing from the mission field. This week has been weird as I have been saying goodbye to so many people. It still does not seem real. It has been a great week!
Wednesday we had the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast, which was amazing. Now I just wish I had more time to apply the things I learned. Biggest miracle of the week, we got a huge shipment of copies of the Book of Mormon!! It has been about a transfer since we have had Book of Mormons to hand out, but we finally got some. Now the work can really move forward!
The scripture that has been on my mind this week has been 2Nephi 25:26, specifically the first three lines, "We speak of Christ , we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ..." and if I can take the liberty to change a couple words at the end,"so that our family and friends can know to what source they can turn to obtain a remission of their sins." I feel like this is a perfect missionary scripture, that is what we do. I have definitely felt that I have rejoiced in Christ, spoken of Him and preached of Him. Like Elder Andersen said in the broadcast Wednesday we must "always have Christ on our lips", if we do not know what to say "Testify of Him".
If there is one thing I have learned while serving here it is that He is always there. He never forgets us even though we might forget Him at times. He loves each one of us personally and more than we can imagine! He restored His gospel again on the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith so that we can make covenants and learn and grow to live with our Heavenly Father again. And most importantly, that Jesus is the Christ. It is through Him that all of this is possible.
I know missionary work does not end for me on Thursday when I am released, just full-time missionary work. Saturday a sister called us to tell us about her friend, she was so excited and said she would tell us more before church. We ran into her in the parking lot before church and she excitedly told us the story. She had been praying to know who she could share the gospel with. As she prayed Heavenly Father gave her three names, and she said that when she received the three names, He said these people are precious. She gave us the name of one of the people who is her neighbor, but she said she has not met the other two yet.
Missionary work is how we can find joy; I thought I knew what the joy of the gospel was before my mission, but I have found an even greater joy as it has increased through sharing. I am sad to leave this place and these people I love, but I am excited to see the people I love back home too.
I love you. Je vous aime. And I will see you soon. A bientôt!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, January 25, 2016
Monday, January 18, 2016
Semaine 71
Che famille mwen,
It has been a good crazy week here in Gwada. The Soeurs de Guyane flew back Tuesday morning. Our plans for the rest of the transfer changed a bit too. The Sisters of Martenique, both companionships, were supposed to be coming to Gwada to work with us, but plans changed so there are no more exchanges for the rest of the transfer. Kind of sad, because I will not get to see those Sisters again. We do get to skype them for a little meeting Wednesday.
We have had some awesome lessons this week. Last night we taught Tatiana at the family Eclars house. It was amazing! She has had a hard time understanding the plan of salvation so we have been talking a lot about faith. Our lesson last night was beautiful, the Eclars are celestial people. We felt like it was a turning point in Taitiana's conversion.
We started teaching Maggie this week with Sister Kasango. Alain, Gladys' boyfriend, is bound and determined that they are going to be baptized as a family all on the same day. They have a big chalkboard on their porch. When we walked into the lesson Diana showed us the list of questions they had made on the board about God. When we called the other day to reconfirm our rendez-vous I asked if they had read in the Book of Mormon, she replied that they were reading together right then!
We have some awesome investigators. I will be sad to leave them.
Sorry so short this week. I'll write more next week for the last email. I love you and hope you have a great week!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
It has been a good crazy week here in Gwada. The Soeurs de Guyane flew back Tuesday morning. Our plans for the rest of the transfer changed a bit too. The Sisters of Martenique, both companionships, were supposed to be coming to Gwada to work with us, but plans changed so there are no more exchanges for the rest of the transfer. Kind of sad, because I will not get to see those Sisters again. We do get to skype them for a little meeting Wednesday.
We have had some awesome lessons this week. Last night we taught Tatiana at the family Eclars house. It was amazing! She has had a hard time understanding the plan of salvation so we have been talking a lot about faith. Our lesson last night was beautiful, the Eclars are celestial people. We felt like it was a turning point in Taitiana's conversion.
We started teaching Maggie this week with Sister Kasango. Alain, Gladys' boyfriend, is bound and determined that they are going to be baptized as a family all on the same day. They have a big chalkboard on their porch. When we walked into the lesson Diana showed us the list of questions they had made on the board about God. When we called the other day to reconfirm our rendez-vous I asked if they had read in the Book of Mormon, she replied that they were reading together right then!
We have some awesome investigators. I will be sad to leave them.
Sorry so short this week. I'll write more next week for the last email. I love you and hope you have a great week!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, January 11, 2016
Semaine 70
Bonjour a tous,
It has been an exciting crazy week! The sisters of French Guyane, Soeur Hyde and Soeur Gomez, came to us last Wednesday and we had a great exchange. We have found that exchanges are always full of miracles. I'll tell you about some in just a minute. We took the sisters to the airport Friday to go back home and their flight was cancelled...and the next available flight to Cayenne is Tuesday! Crazy! Longest exchange ever! It has been great. They were a little sad that they were not able to be with their investigators, especially at church on Sunday, but we have had a great spiritual miracle-filled time together this week!
It was truly a week of less-actives. We had found less-active members at church on Sunday! It all started on Thursday, we had an appointment to visit a less-active sister we have never met before who lives in the Elders' area. Our Branch Mission Leader asked us to see her. So Thursday we called her to reconfirm the rendez-vous and after a kind of crazy series of events the only information we had was the area she lives in and the number A2. With that very broad information in the Elders' area that we do not know very well, we set forth with determination and the Spirit, after a prayer to find her. We parked the car got out and right away, right in front of the car found A2! But it was not actually her. We decided to try a different complex, and we found A2! It was locked; but luckily her neighbor was just walking up and showed us exactly where in A2 she lives and opened the door for us. It was a miracle. There is no way we could have found her on our own without the spirit guiding us through his still small voice.
The best part is this less-active sister found herself a ride to church and came on Sunday! Another less-active sister who has decided to come back and prepare to go to the temple came too! We had a great lesson with her about tithing this week.
Another miracle story. Soeur Gomez and I were contacting yesterday and walked up to this nice lady and her kids. We said hello and explained who we were and she said "I know." We asked her if she had talked to the missionaries before and then she explained that she knows the church because she was born into the church. We found a less-active member!! It is so cool to see how the Lord guides us to where we need to be through the Spirit. Through little thoughts like "we should start contacting from the back of this complex" or "we should talk to this lady." It is amazing to see how the Lord works in our lives. It is our job to be ready and prepared, in tune to hear the still small voice.
I feel so blessed to be a missionary and to be surrounded by so many great sisters! Time flies and I still can't believe it is coming to an end soon.
I love you, have a great week. See you soon.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
It has been an exciting crazy week! The sisters of French Guyane, Soeur Hyde and Soeur Gomez, came to us last Wednesday and we had a great exchange. We have found that exchanges are always full of miracles. I'll tell you about some in just a minute. We took the sisters to the airport Friday to go back home and their flight was cancelled...and the next available flight to Cayenne is Tuesday! Crazy! Longest exchange ever! It has been great. They were a little sad that they were not able to be with their investigators, especially at church on Sunday, but we have had a great spiritual miracle-filled time together this week!
It was truly a week of less-actives. We had found less-active members at church on Sunday! It all started on Thursday, we had an appointment to visit a less-active sister we have never met before who lives in the Elders' area. Our Branch Mission Leader asked us to see her. So Thursday we called her to reconfirm the rendez-vous and after a kind of crazy series of events the only information we had was the area she lives in and the number A2. With that very broad information in the Elders' area that we do not know very well, we set forth with determination and the Spirit, after a prayer to find her. We parked the car got out and right away, right in front of the car found A2! But it was not actually her. We decided to try a different complex, and we found A2! It was locked; but luckily her neighbor was just walking up and showed us exactly where in A2 she lives and opened the door for us. It was a miracle. There is no way we could have found her on our own without the spirit guiding us through his still small voice.
The best part is this less-active sister found herself a ride to church and came on Sunday! Another less-active sister who has decided to come back and prepare to go to the temple came too! We had a great lesson with her about tithing this week.
Another miracle story. Soeur Gomez and I were contacting yesterday and walked up to this nice lady and her kids. We said hello and explained who we were and she said "I know." We asked her if she had talked to the missionaries before and then she explained that she knows the church because she was born into the church. We found a less-active member!! It is so cool to see how the Lord guides us to where we need to be through the Spirit. Through little thoughts like "we should start contacting from the back of this complex" or "we should talk to this lady." It is amazing to see how the Lord works in our lives. It is our job to be ready and prepared, in tune to hear the still small voice.
I feel so blessed to be a missionary and to be surrounded by so many great sisters! Time flies and I still can't believe it is coming to an end soon.
I love you, have a great week. See you soon.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, January 4, 2016
Semaine 69
Bonjour a tous,
Bon ânée! It sounds like your new year is starting out nice and freezing cold. The year is starting out well here in Gwada.
We finished off 2015 strong. We saw Bethina on Tuesday, she is awesome. She has really been studying and searching for the answers to her questions. She has found her answers through the word of God in the scriptures and modern-day prophets and by using the gift of the Holy Ghost. She is an amazing recent convert with a solid testimony. Tuesday was a miraculous full day. Gladys and Alain read together in the Book of Mormon, Stephanie has been ponderizing! It was a great day! We finished off the year of 2015 helping a sister in the branch paint her wall, it's always good to end with service. She gave us a bag of fruit and told us that they have a tradition. You eat a piece of fruit at midnight on New Year's and you keep the seeds and put them in your wallet. If they stay there all year you will have more money in the year to come. I now have a bunch of maracudja seeds in my wallet.
Had a great exchange with Soeur Covey on Wednesday. It was awesome to see how pure testimony and sharing personal experiences can soften a person's heart. We saw a lot of great things happen together during our exchange.
The Lord is always watching over His work. He guides us when He needs us. Sometimes it is to meet the relative of a member, who already knows a lot about the gospel and gives you cool Guadeloupean dishes. That happened this week. We were able to see the sweetest older sister in our branch on Saturday. She is old and kind of lonely. She is a talented seamstress with a solid testimony of Christ. We passed a lovely moment together, she showed us the beautiful quilt she has been working on for about 17 years and we talked about the gospel and family history work.
We taught a beautiful family on Saturday! We followed up on this guy we contacted and he has a wife and two kids; the best part is that they are married!! We had a great restoration lesson with them, the spirit was so strong testifying of the truth as we shared the first vision and bore testimony.
The gospel is the only thing that will save the world. It is wonderful to see the joy the gospel brings everyday, but also sad to see so many people reject it. But God has given us our agency for a reason.
It was wonderful to see a less-active sister we have been teaching come to church yesterday for the first time in forever. She has decided she wants to go to the temple, so she is turning around her life! It is beautiful to see her changing.
I love the gospel and I love sharing it! I hope you have a great week and find a way to share the joy of the gospel with somebody!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Bon ânée! It sounds like your new year is starting out nice and freezing cold. The year is starting out well here in Gwada.
We finished off 2015 strong. We saw Bethina on Tuesday, she is awesome. She has really been studying and searching for the answers to her questions. She has found her answers through the word of God in the scriptures and modern-day prophets and by using the gift of the Holy Ghost. She is an amazing recent convert with a solid testimony. Tuesday was a miraculous full day. Gladys and Alain read together in the Book of Mormon, Stephanie has been ponderizing! It was a great day! We finished off the year of 2015 helping a sister in the branch paint her wall, it's always good to end with service. She gave us a bag of fruit and told us that they have a tradition. You eat a piece of fruit at midnight on New Year's and you keep the seeds and put them in your wallet. If they stay there all year you will have more money in the year to come. I now have a bunch of maracudja seeds in my wallet.
Had a great exchange with Soeur Covey on Wednesday. It was awesome to see how pure testimony and sharing personal experiences can soften a person's heart. We saw a lot of great things happen together during our exchange.
The Lord is always watching over His work. He guides us when He needs us. Sometimes it is to meet the relative of a member, who already knows a lot about the gospel and gives you cool Guadeloupean dishes. That happened this week. We were able to see the sweetest older sister in our branch on Saturday. She is old and kind of lonely. She is a talented seamstress with a solid testimony of Christ. We passed a lovely moment together, she showed us the beautiful quilt she has been working on for about 17 years and we talked about the gospel and family history work.
We taught a beautiful family on Saturday! We followed up on this guy we contacted and he has a wife and two kids; the best part is that they are married!! We had a great restoration lesson with them, the spirit was so strong testifying of the truth as we shared the first vision and bore testimony.
The gospel is the only thing that will save the world. It is wonderful to see the joy the gospel brings everyday, but also sad to see so many people reject it. But God has given us our agency for a reason.
It was wonderful to see a less-active sister we have been teaching come to church yesterday for the first time in forever. She has decided she wants to go to the temple, so she is turning around her life! It is beautiful to see her changing.
I love the gospel and I love sharing it! I hope you have a great week and find a way to share the joy of the gospel with somebody!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, December 28, 2015
Week 68
Boujour a tous,
I hope the rest of Christmas was great for all of you. I loved talking to you. Our Christmas evening finished off nicely watching Inside Out, a great choice for the one movie we get to watch a year as missionaries. It is a fabulous movie, very well done; many tears were shed by most of us while watching it. Soeur Hoover and I, afterwards, had a great time relating it to the gospel. As missionaries we are helping people make core memories as we introduce them to the gospel, give them the Book of Mormon and ask them to pray about it. Some of the most important core memories ever! The rest of our week was great, we saw some great Christmas miracles:
It all started Wednesday evening, all of our branch was invited to the home of Frére et Soeur Cesarin for a Christmas party, to sing and eat food. They asked us to invite our investigators. We stopped by Nadege's a couple of hours before to invite her and her family. As we were explaining where it was I mentioned the name of the family and her boyfriend knew their son! Random miracle! They said they might come and we left with a prayer in our heart that they would. We showed up at the party and the other missionaries were the only people there with a couple of members. Typical, everything starts late here. The party started and guess who showed up...Nadege, her boyfriend, Alain, and her two kids, Diana and Stephen! We were so excited! When we had to leave, the members took such great care of them, they had a great time.
Saturday we had a lesson set up with Nadege. Almost every lesson we have had we have invited Alain to join, but he has never accepted our invitations. Saturday we sat down and Alain was already there, ready for the lesson! We asked him if he was going to stay and he said yes! Miracle! We planned to talk about the Law of Chastity, how perfect for both of them to be there! Yes, we were a little nervous at first to talk about it with the both of them, but it is exactly what they needed and it was a beautiful lesson! We also had some fun playing hangman all together afterwards.
But the miracles don't stop there! Nadege had not yet been to church because Alain was not willing to take her and the kids, but they all came on Sunday!!! It was such a happy day! The lessons were perfect for them and what they need right now!
Soeur Hoover and I were talking about how the gospel changes us. We have already seen such a big change in Nadege since she has started learning about the gospel. The change is starting in Alain as well. The joy and hope the gospel brings is contagious! It is the joy of following the plan God so lovingly has given us. It is the peace and assurance that come in keeping His comandments and trusting in His words. Nadege has more hope and a desire to learn more and follow God!
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest Joy. As missionaries we find more of that joy everyday scattered through the work. The gospel is great, what more can I say.
I love you and have a great New Year!!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
I hope the rest of Christmas was great for all of you. I loved talking to you. Our Christmas evening finished off nicely watching Inside Out, a great choice for the one movie we get to watch a year as missionaries. It is a fabulous movie, very well done; many tears were shed by most of us while watching it. Soeur Hoover and I, afterwards, had a great time relating it to the gospel. As missionaries we are helping people make core memories as we introduce them to the gospel, give them the Book of Mormon and ask them to pray about it. Some of the most important core memories ever! The rest of our week was great, we saw some great Christmas miracles:
It all started Wednesday evening, all of our branch was invited to the home of Frére et Soeur Cesarin for a Christmas party, to sing and eat food. They asked us to invite our investigators. We stopped by Nadege's a couple of hours before to invite her and her family. As we were explaining where it was I mentioned the name of the family and her boyfriend knew their son! Random miracle! They said they might come and we left with a prayer in our heart that they would. We showed up at the party and the other missionaries were the only people there with a couple of members. Typical, everything starts late here. The party started and guess who showed up...Nadege, her boyfriend, Alain, and her two kids, Diana and Stephen! We were so excited! When we had to leave, the members took such great care of them, they had a great time.
Saturday we had a lesson set up with Nadege. Almost every lesson we have had we have invited Alain to join, but he has never accepted our invitations. Saturday we sat down and Alain was already there, ready for the lesson! We asked him if he was going to stay and he said yes! Miracle! We planned to talk about the Law of Chastity, how perfect for both of them to be there! Yes, we were a little nervous at first to talk about it with the both of them, but it is exactly what they needed and it was a beautiful lesson! We also had some fun playing hangman all together afterwards.
But the miracles don't stop there! Nadege had not yet been to church because Alain was not willing to take her and the kids, but they all came on Sunday!!! It was such a happy day! The lessons were perfect for them and what they need right now!
Soeur Hoover and I were talking about how the gospel changes us. We have already seen such a big change in Nadege since she has started learning about the gospel. The change is starting in Alain as well. The joy and hope the gospel brings is contagious! It is the joy of following the plan God so lovingly has given us. It is the peace and assurance that come in keeping His comandments and trusting in His words. Nadege has more hope and a desire to learn more and follow God!
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest Joy. As missionaries we find more of that joy everyday scattered through the work. The gospel is great, what more can I say.
I love you and have a great New Year!!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, December 21, 2015
Semaine 67 Joyeux Noel
Salut,
Joyeux Noel tout la monde! It's almost Christmas! Time is flying! We had a great Christmasy week here on Gwada. We have been sharing the Savior is Born video with everyone we can here. We had a great district Christmas program Saturday. We are excited for the activities of Christmas this week.
Here Christmas involves a lot of singing. They do this thing called Chante Nwel, which is Creole for Sing Christmas. Basically you get together with family and friends, eat and sing Creole Christmas songs, then eat a bit more budan and then keep singing some more. Most of our branch is getting together at a member's house on the 23 to Chante Nwel together, it is going to be awesome. We were also invited to a Christmas party chez le famille Eclar ,who are some of the coolest greatest members of all time, Christmas Eve. It won't quite be the Mulvey family Christmas party, but it will be amazing.
We had a great lesson in Relief Society (le Societe de Secours) yesterday about missionary work. It was a great lesson and discussion about our duty to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as members of His church. We have all taken upon us His name by entering into the waters of baptism and have made the covenant to be witnesses of Him at all times in all things and in all places.
We were talking to a sister after a lesson she accompanied us to. She told us how she will be spending Christmas with her parents and nieces and nephews. They usually dance and have a great party in the evening, but she made a great plan. She decided she wants to teach her nieces and nephews what Christmas really is, why we have all these parties and festivities. She has really caught the spirit of Christmas which is truly the missionary spirit. This time of year is known as a time of sharing, so sharing the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ should be our first priority. Sharing the gospel brings the greatest joy.
We have seen miracles while teaching Nadege and Diana this week. It is so great to teach them because the spirit is always there and they are so willing to learn and accept the gospel. It is an environment where the spirit can edify and comfort. She is going through some hard things, but she is starting to see the light of the gospel.
Have a great Christmas! I hope yours is white and beautiful. Ours here will be beautiful in a different hotter kind of way! I keep expecting it to get cold because it's Christmas but I'm still sweating my brains out. I love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Joyeux Noel tout la monde! It's almost Christmas! Time is flying! We had a great Christmasy week here on Gwada. We have been sharing the Savior is Born video with everyone we can here. We had a great district Christmas program Saturday. We are excited for the activities of Christmas this week.
Here Christmas involves a lot of singing. They do this thing called Chante Nwel, which is Creole for Sing Christmas. Basically you get together with family and friends, eat and sing Creole Christmas songs, then eat a bit more budan and then keep singing some more. Most of our branch is getting together at a member's house on the 23 to Chante Nwel together, it is going to be awesome. We were also invited to a Christmas party chez le famille Eclar ,who are some of the coolest greatest members of all time, Christmas Eve. It won't quite be the Mulvey family Christmas party, but it will be amazing.
We had a great lesson in Relief Society (le Societe de Secours) yesterday about missionary work. It was a great lesson and discussion about our duty to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ as members of His church. We have all taken upon us His name by entering into the waters of baptism and have made the covenant to be witnesses of Him at all times in all things and in all places.
We were talking to a sister after a lesson she accompanied us to. She told us how she will be spending Christmas with her parents and nieces and nephews. They usually dance and have a great party in the evening, but she made a great plan. She decided she wants to teach her nieces and nephews what Christmas really is, why we have all these parties and festivities. She has really caught the spirit of Christmas which is truly the missionary spirit. This time of year is known as a time of sharing, so sharing the joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ should be our first priority. Sharing the gospel brings the greatest joy.
We have seen miracles while teaching Nadege and Diana this week. It is so great to teach them because the spirit is always there and they are so willing to learn and accept the gospel. It is an environment where the spirit can edify and comfort. She is going through some hard things, but she is starting to see the light of the gospel.
Have a great Christmas! I hope yours is white and beautiful. Ours here will be beautiful in a different hotter kind of way! I keep expecting it to get cold because it's Christmas but I'm still sweating my brains out. I love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, December 14, 2015
Semaine 66
Che famille mwen,
Sounds like it is getting nice and cold and snowy back home. This week on Gwada it has been extremely hot! Hotter than usual, I think my tan got a little darker too! It's Christmas time, but doesn't completely feel like it.
We have been sharing the new Christmas video with everyone. When we ask people if they like Christmas, the response is usually the same, something about how they like it but Christmas is for kids. That is where they have it wrong. Christmas is for every single person on earth, because Christ was born and lived and died for every single one of us. Christmas is great, and one of the best times of year to preach the gospel.
In exciting news, Bethina was baptized on Saturday! It was wonderful. I will tell you a little of her story. She is the sister of two members. Her sister, Wina, lives in Baie-Mahault and her brother lives in Guyane. They have been members for a few years. Bethina encountered the church in France a few years back while studying there. She immediately loved it, but because of some circumstances in her life she could not be baptized then. She kept coming to church and her siblings have been praying that she would make the decision to be baptized and make the necessary changes in her life. And she did! She came to us a couple weeks back and told us she was getting baptized on the 12 of December! We have worked hard with her these last couple of weeks to review all of the lessons with her and prepare her for baptism. It was amazing. She was so happy and told us that she could not believe it was finally happening! Her cousin baptized her. It was a very happy day for her family who are members of the church! They have waited a long time for that day.
Transfer news...Soeur Hoover and I are staying in Baie-Mahault together!! And I couldn't be happier! I love Baie-Mahault and Sister Hoover; it will be a good place to finish. We have some awesome people who should be getting baptized this next transfer.
As a companionship we are hoping to make these next six weeks the best six weeks . It is crazy how time flies.
I love you and have a great week!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Sounds like it is getting nice and cold and snowy back home. This week on Gwada it has been extremely hot! Hotter than usual, I think my tan got a little darker too! It's Christmas time, but doesn't completely feel like it.
We have been sharing the new Christmas video with everyone. When we ask people if they like Christmas, the response is usually the same, something about how they like it but Christmas is for kids. That is where they have it wrong. Christmas is for every single person on earth, because Christ was born and lived and died for every single one of us. Christmas is great, and one of the best times of year to preach the gospel.
In exciting news, Bethina was baptized on Saturday! It was wonderful. I will tell you a little of her story. She is the sister of two members. Her sister, Wina, lives in Baie-Mahault and her brother lives in Guyane. They have been members for a few years. Bethina encountered the church in France a few years back while studying there. She immediately loved it, but because of some circumstances in her life she could not be baptized then. She kept coming to church and her siblings have been praying that she would make the decision to be baptized and make the necessary changes in her life. And she did! She came to us a couple weeks back and told us she was getting baptized on the 12 of December! We have worked hard with her these last couple of weeks to review all of the lessons with her and prepare her for baptism. It was amazing. She was so happy and told us that she could not believe it was finally happening! Her cousin baptized her. It was a very happy day for her family who are members of the church! They have waited a long time for that day.
Transfer news...Soeur Hoover and I are staying in Baie-Mahault together!! And I couldn't be happier! I love Baie-Mahault and Sister Hoover; it will be a good place to finish. We have some awesome people who should be getting baptized this next transfer.
As a companionship we are hoping to make these next six weeks the best six weeks . It is crazy how time flies.
I love you and have a great week!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, December 7, 2015
Semaine 65
Ma chere famille,
It has been a busy week in a few different countries, and we are very tired of airports. We had some great exchanges with the sisters of Martinique and Guyane. We got to meet a lot of people and learned a lot as well.
We started off in Martinique with Soeur Driggs and Soeur Jacobsen. They are a companionship of great faith. They have an awesome investigator who read through Ether in the Book of Mormon! She owns a bakery. They had a lesson on the Sabbath day and asked her to close her bakery on Sunday. Without hesitation she said yes! She understands that God will bless her when she keeps His comandments. Mosiah 2:22-24.
I spent my very first day in the mission field in Martinique, as I was waiting to go down to Guyane. We ended up visiting a member that I visited that day. This sister had just been baptized the week that I visited her the first time It was a moment of reflection for me as we talked with this member, I saw how much her faith had grown since her baptism almost a year and a half ago, and I also reflected on how much my faith has grown since the last time I was there. It was a great time in Martinique, with lots of walking and some fantastic lessons.
Then we headed down to Guyane. Back to my mission birthplace. The sisters there are preparing for a baptism this Saturday! They have been working hard with Enock to help him prepare. He recently moved to Guyane, and came to the realization that he moved there to find the gospel. We were able to visit him twice while we were there. He has a strong testimony and desire to learn. As we were teaching him about the temple and we showed him a picture, he could not wait to go. He felt the sacred spirit of the temple, even though it was just a photo. He has been truly prepared by the Lord. Also, we had the opportunity to see our recent convert, Marianela, again. She is moving to France this week so I was lucky I got to see her again.
I learned so much from the sisters this week and feel blessed to have the opportunity to visit and work with them. I am always touched by the love and kindness of the people we are around.
We are excited for a baptism this week. Battina will be getting baptized this Saturday if all goes as planned. We are excited for her and we had a great lesson with her this morning.
This week will be another exciting week with zone conference, baptism and transfer calls. Time flies. Next week is the start of my last transfer. I never thought that day would come. I still feel like I just got out in to the mission field.
I hope you have a great week. I love you.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
P.S. We did watch the First Presidency Devotional last night and it was amazing! I loved Elder Bednar's talk and I was thinking of Nick as Elder Whitney was talking.
It has been a busy week in a few different countries, and we are very tired of airports. We had some great exchanges with the sisters of Martinique and Guyane. We got to meet a lot of people and learned a lot as well.
We started off in Martinique with Soeur Driggs and Soeur Jacobsen. They are a companionship of great faith. They have an awesome investigator who read through Ether in the Book of Mormon! She owns a bakery. They had a lesson on the Sabbath day and asked her to close her bakery on Sunday. Without hesitation she said yes! She understands that God will bless her when she keeps His comandments. Mosiah 2:22-24.
I spent my very first day in the mission field in Martinique, as I was waiting to go down to Guyane. We ended up visiting a member that I visited that day. This sister had just been baptized the week that I visited her the first time It was a moment of reflection for me as we talked with this member, I saw how much her faith had grown since her baptism almost a year and a half ago, and I also reflected on how much my faith has grown since the last time I was there. It was a great time in Martinique, with lots of walking and some fantastic lessons.
Then we headed down to Guyane. Back to my mission birthplace. The sisters there are preparing for a baptism this Saturday! They have been working hard with Enock to help him prepare. He recently moved to Guyane, and came to the realization that he moved there to find the gospel. We were able to visit him twice while we were there. He has a strong testimony and desire to learn. As we were teaching him about the temple and we showed him a picture, he could not wait to go. He felt the sacred spirit of the temple, even though it was just a photo. He has been truly prepared by the Lord. Also, we had the opportunity to see our recent convert, Marianela, again. She is moving to France this week so I was lucky I got to see her again.
I learned so much from the sisters this week and feel blessed to have the opportunity to visit and work with them. I am always touched by the love and kindness of the people we are around.
We are excited for a baptism this week. Battina will be getting baptized this Saturday if all goes as planned. We are excited for her and we had a great lesson with her this morning.
This week will be another exciting week with zone conference, baptism and transfer calls. Time flies. Next week is the start of my last transfer. I never thought that day would come. I still feel like I just got out in to the mission field.
I hope you have a great week. I love you.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
P.S. We did watch the First Presidency Devotional last night and it was amazing! I loved Elder Bednar's talk and I was thinking of Nick as Elder Whitney was talking.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Week 64
Bonjour a tous,
It has been a great week! I have to say that Thanksgiving did not seem like Thanksgiving at all, but it was great. Not everyone can say they ate sloppy joes with a member of the Seventy on Thanksgiving, but now I can. MLC was amazing! It was a day packed full of spiritual edification and learning. Elder Hugo E. Martinez of the Seventy who is in the Caribbean Area Presidency was there with his wife, she is so cool and has so much spiritual knowledge, he does too.
We talked a lot about the apostle Peter and his conversion. How he turned from being a fearful, unsure, and sometimes overconfident-in-himself apostle to a solid, powerful witness of the living Christ. His change came as he received a personal witness of Christ. After he went forth preaching with the power of God, healing and performing miracles with no fear because he knew the Christ and what he was doing in his name. He is like all of us missionaries when we get out into the field. We are fearful, unsure and sometimes overconfident in our own abilities, but we can become witnesses of Christ and we learn of him and put our trust in him. It was a great MLC, that was just a small part of what we talked about. We are excited to share it with the other missionaries tomorrow as we teach zone meeting.
A lot of other great things have happened this week too. After prayerful consideration we handed one of our most progressing investigators, Yves, over to the Elders. It was a little sad, but it will be the best for him in the long run.
We are teaching the cutest most prepared mother and daughter, Nadege and Diana. We were able to teach them twice this week and both lessons were so full of the spirit. I have never before seen someone as prepared for the gospel as Nadege. As we taught them about the Plan of Salvation they set their sights on the celestial kingdom, and as we talked about eternal families she gave Diana the biggest hug. She told us yesterday that she hasn't felt this close to God in a long time. She feels that there is someone or something in the way of her coming closer to God, but we promised her that as she reads the Book of Mormon and prays and follows the doctrine within, she will be able to overcome whatever challenges come her way. It is the word of God, it has the power to do that. She knows how the spirit speaks to her and she points it out in every lesson. We walk out of every lesson so happy and so excited for them! They said they will come to church on Sunday! I love them so much!
This week is going to be another busy week. Soeur Hoover and I are going to Martenique and Guyane for exchanges. It is going to be crazy, but fun and edifying and full of the spirit.
I hope your week will be as great as ours is going to be! Love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
It has been a great week! I have to say that Thanksgiving did not seem like Thanksgiving at all, but it was great. Not everyone can say they ate sloppy joes with a member of the Seventy on Thanksgiving, but now I can. MLC was amazing! It was a day packed full of spiritual edification and learning. Elder Hugo E. Martinez of the Seventy who is in the Caribbean Area Presidency was there with his wife, she is so cool and has so much spiritual knowledge, he does too.
We talked a lot about the apostle Peter and his conversion. How he turned from being a fearful, unsure, and sometimes overconfident-in-himself apostle to a solid, powerful witness of the living Christ. His change came as he received a personal witness of Christ. After he went forth preaching with the power of God, healing and performing miracles with no fear because he knew the Christ and what he was doing in his name. He is like all of us missionaries when we get out into the field. We are fearful, unsure and sometimes overconfident in our own abilities, but we can become witnesses of Christ and we learn of him and put our trust in him. It was a great MLC, that was just a small part of what we talked about. We are excited to share it with the other missionaries tomorrow as we teach zone meeting.
A lot of other great things have happened this week too. After prayerful consideration we handed one of our most progressing investigators, Yves, over to the Elders. It was a little sad, but it will be the best for him in the long run.
We are teaching the cutest most prepared mother and daughter, Nadege and Diana. We were able to teach them twice this week and both lessons were so full of the spirit. I have never before seen someone as prepared for the gospel as Nadege. As we taught them about the Plan of Salvation they set their sights on the celestial kingdom, and as we talked about eternal families she gave Diana the biggest hug. She told us yesterday that she hasn't felt this close to God in a long time. She feels that there is someone or something in the way of her coming closer to God, but we promised her that as she reads the Book of Mormon and prays and follows the doctrine within, she will be able to overcome whatever challenges come her way. It is the word of God, it has the power to do that. She knows how the spirit speaks to her and she points it out in every lesson. We walk out of every lesson so happy and so excited for them! They said they will come to church on Sunday! I love them so much!
This week is going to be another busy week. Soeur Hoover and I are going to Martenique and Guyane for exchanges. It is going to be crazy, but fun and edifying and full of the spirit.
I hope your week will be as great as ours is going to be! Love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, November 23, 2015
Week 63
Bonjour a tous,
What a week it has been and what a week it is going to be! This week I will be in Barbados for three days for Mission Leadership Council (MLC) with the Herringtons and Elder Martinez of the Seventy and his wife. I am excited! Soeur Hoover will be keeping our area going with a temp. It is going to be a crazy but awesome week!
This week we were able to serve our members a lot. Saturday we went and helped a sister do some gardening at a house she is watching. Gardening is really fun here because it always involves machetes. I got to hack through some overgrown vines.
We also got brand new bikes this week after having some technical difficulties with the other ones. They are beautiful bikes, we are so excited. In the words of Elder Richmond (senior couple) "Christmas came early".
While I was on an exchange this week with Soeur Covey we saw a really cool miracle. We had made an appointment to come back and see a family at 6, but when we came back they were not there. Soeur Covey said she felt like we were going to find a family that evening, so we said a prayer and started contacting. We found a family who were a little interested, we talked for a few minutes and set up another rendez-vous. We rode a little further and decided to contact a house whose gate was open and we to-to-toed. We noticed there was a man standing on the deck, he came down and we started talking. Turns out he was waiting for his three daughters, who showed up while we were talking. His three daughters were interested too, and he asked them when they wanted us to come back. We have an appointment Tuesday. It is cool to see how we were led there in exactly the right moment. If we had been there 5 minutes later the gate would have been closed and he would not have wanted to talk because his daughters would have been there. If we had been there 5 minutes earlier he would not have been waiting with the gate open and his daughters would not have shown up at the right moment during our conversation. This is truly the Lord's work.
With Thanksgiving this week we have so many things to be grateful for, but especialy the atonement of Christ and families. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I love you and know I am grateful for you too!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
What a week it has been and what a week it is going to be! This week I will be in Barbados for three days for Mission Leadership Council (MLC) with the Herringtons and Elder Martinez of the Seventy and his wife. I am excited! Soeur Hoover will be keeping our area going with a temp. It is going to be a crazy but awesome week!
This week we were able to serve our members a lot. Saturday we went and helped a sister do some gardening at a house she is watching. Gardening is really fun here because it always involves machetes. I got to hack through some overgrown vines.
We also got brand new bikes this week after having some technical difficulties with the other ones. They are beautiful bikes, we are so excited. In the words of Elder Richmond (senior couple) "Christmas came early".
While I was on an exchange this week with Soeur Covey we saw a really cool miracle. We had made an appointment to come back and see a family at 6, but when we came back they were not there. Soeur Covey said she felt like we were going to find a family that evening, so we said a prayer and started contacting. We found a family who were a little interested, we talked for a few minutes and set up another rendez-vous. We rode a little further and decided to contact a house whose gate was open and we to-to-toed. We noticed there was a man standing on the deck, he came down and we started talking. Turns out he was waiting for his three daughters, who showed up while we were talking. His three daughters were interested too, and he asked them when they wanted us to come back. We have an appointment Tuesday. It is cool to see how we were led there in exactly the right moment. If we had been there 5 minutes later the gate would have been closed and he would not have wanted to talk because his daughters would have been there. If we had been there 5 minutes earlier he would not have been waiting with the gate open and his daughters would not have shown up at the right moment during our conversation. This is truly the Lord's work.
With Thanksgiving this week we have so many things to be grateful for, but especialy the atonement of Christ and families. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I love you and know I am grateful for you too!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, November 16, 2015
Week 62
Bonjour ma belle famille,
It has been a great week full of service and teaching! We are teaching a really cute older couple, the couple I wrote about last week who already had a BOM. It is a fun tricky experience because they are very involved in their current religion, so we are trying to help build their faith in the restoration, then when their questions come out about the doctrine that we know they don't agree with, they will already have a strong foundation of faith in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They are so cute and sweet. I loved the look of happiness on the husband's face when Sister Hoover gave him his own Book of Mormon in Creole. He was so happy and touched.
We were able to serve a bit this week. We go over sometimes and help one sister in the branch feed all of her chickens and other birds. They have a nice big turkey that they have been fattening up for Christmas. We also got to help our ami, Norine. Norine is a really sweet lady from Dominica. All of her family is in Dominica or other islands so she is all alone. She works all the time selling peanuts to earn money to fix her house in Dominica. She is always working so she never has time to clean or do anything around the house. We told her we were coming over to help her. When we got there she was really surprised because she thought we were joking when we said we would help her do her dishes and clean.
We have some amazing investigators right now, who have great questions and are starting to really study to find out more. Our ami, Tatiana, came to church yesterday saying she had been thinking a lot about what we had talked about the night before. She is following Moroni's promise to read, meditate and pray!
I love the scripture we have been ponderizing this week 1Nephi 7:12. Look it up, sorry I cant write it in, I only have it in French with me right now. It talks about faith and how the Lord can do all things according to His will for us if we have faith in Him. So let us be faithful. Faith is the first principle of the gospel and our foundation in all things. When we have faith in Christ and his atonement all things are possible.
I hope you have a fabulous week. I love you.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
It has been a great week full of service and teaching! We are teaching a really cute older couple, the couple I wrote about last week who already had a BOM. It is a fun tricky experience because they are very involved in their current religion, so we are trying to help build their faith in the restoration, then when their questions come out about the doctrine that we know they don't agree with, they will already have a strong foundation of faith in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They are so cute and sweet. I loved the look of happiness on the husband's face when Sister Hoover gave him his own Book of Mormon in Creole. He was so happy and touched.
We were able to serve a bit this week. We go over sometimes and help one sister in the branch feed all of her chickens and other birds. They have a nice big turkey that they have been fattening up for Christmas. We also got to help our ami, Norine. Norine is a really sweet lady from Dominica. All of her family is in Dominica or other islands so she is all alone. She works all the time selling peanuts to earn money to fix her house in Dominica. She is always working so she never has time to clean or do anything around the house. We told her we were coming over to help her. When we got there she was really surprised because she thought we were joking when we said we would help her do her dishes and clean.
We have some amazing investigators right now, who have great questions and are starting to really study to find out more. Our ami, Tatiana, came to church yesterday saying she had been thinking a lot about what we had talked about the night before. She is following Moroni's promise to read, meditate and pray!
I love the scripture we have been ponderizing this week 1Nephi 7:12. Look it up, sorry I cant write it in, I only have it in French with me right now. It talks about faith and how the Lord can do all things according to His will for us if we have faith in Him. So let us be faithful. Faith is the first principle of the gospel and our foundation in all things. When we have faith in Christ and his atonement all things are possible.
I hope you have a fabulous week. I love you.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
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| Soeur Hoover and I in front of our house |
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| Last Monday at Point des Chateaux with the pineapple we found |
Monday, November 9, 2015
Week 61
Bonjour,
It has been a crazy transfer week dropping off at the airport, picking up people at the airport, fixing bikes etc... but it was great. Saturday was a great day because an investigator in Abymes was baptized. Anny finally got baptized! I have talked a little about her before. She has been taught for a long time and her boyfriend, now husband, is a member. They finally were able to get married on the 31 and she was baptized on Saturday! It was a happy day, and the results of much faith, patience and also the diligent love and teaching of many, many missionaries.
We saw a really cool miracle the other night. We had the goal to get one last solid contact before going home. We started on a little side street. The first lady was not having it, for here the gospel was not important at that hour of the evening. We walked a little farther down to a house with a light on. We toto toed (knocking/yelling 'is anyone there?' Creole style), and no one came out, but Soeur Hoover could see someone so we tried again. An older man came to the gate and his wife. We walked up and started talking. A moment later the lady went off to the side and came back with a Book of Mormon in her hand. We opened it and our names and number were written inside the front cover in my handwriting, weird. She then went on to explain we had talked to her daughter around the corner the other day and we gave her the Book of Mormon, but she left it at her parents house. Her daughter had left it, and she had picked it up and started reading it, in her words she said, "I started reading it to know if it was true"! Wow, already following the invitation of Moroni and we had not even talked to her yet! We went in and talked for a few minutes about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was there as we testified of the book and its importance for them and for us. We are excited to go visit them tomorrow with an awesome member who has a similar background as them. The Lord is always preparing people for the gospel.
Life is good on the butterfly-shaped island. This morning we had the opportunity to go to Point Des Chateaux, which is a beautiful cliff on the edge of Gwada, look it up its beautiful. We went at sunrise this morning to set some zone goals. It is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, sorry I don't have time to send pics.
I love you, and hope your week goes well! A la prochaine.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
It has been a crazy transfer week dropping off at the airport, picking up people at the airport, fixing bikes etc... but it was great. Saturday was a great day because an investigator in Abymes was baptized. Anny finally got baptized! I have talked a little about her before. She has been taught for a long time and her boyfriend, now husband, is a member. They finally were able to get married on the 31 and she was baptized on Saturday! It was a happy day, and the results of much faith, patience and also the diligent love and teaching of many, many missionaries.
We saw a really cool miracle the other night. We had the goal to get one last solid contact before going home. We started on a little side street. The first lady was not having it, for here the gospel was not important at that hour of the evening. We walked a little farther down to a house with a light on. We toto toed (knocking/yelling 'is anyone there?' Creole style), and no one came out, but Soeur Hoover could see someone so we tried again. An older man came to the gate and his wife. We walked up and started talking. A moment later the lady went off to the side and came back with a Book of Mormon in her hand. We opened it and our names and number were written inside the front cover in my handwriting, weird. She then went on to explain we had talked to her daughter around the corner the other day and we gave her the Book of Mormon, but she left it at her parents house. Her daughter had left it, and she had picked it up and started reading it, in her words she said, "I started reading it to know if it was true"! Wow, already following the invitation of Moroni and we had not even talked to her yet! We went in and talked for a few minutes about the Book of Mormon. The spirit was there as we testified of the book and its importance for them and for us. We are excited to go visit them tomorrow with an awesome member who has a similar background as them. The Lord is always preparing people for the gospel.
Life is good on the butterfly-shaped island. This morning we had the opportunity to go to Point Des Chateaux, which is a beautiful cliff on the edge of Gwada, look it up its beautiful. We went at sunrise this morning to set some zone goals. It is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, sorry I don't have time to send pics.
I love you, and hope your week goes well! A la prochaine.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Week 60
Ma chere famille,
Transfers were this weekend.....I'm staying in Baie Mahault with Soeur Hoover!! I am so excited because we have just got the work really up and running in Baie Mahault and we have some awesome progressing investigators. This past transfer my testimony of member referrals has grown so much. Our progressing investigators are all referrals from members, who we teach each time with members present. Just as President Hinckley said, there is a better way to do missionary work than just going from door to door, it is working with the members.
We started teaching a referral from a member who is preparing for a mission, her friend's name is Yves Andre and he is very interested in the gospel. He came to church last Sunday with her and we had our first lesson with him later in the week. He had a list of questions for us when we started and he came to church again on Sunday. He has a real desire to know more.
We had a crazy evening Thursday, my bike got a really bad flat tire, unfixable and we were about 7km away from our house and it was about 8:30 pm. A nice guy, who I had actually contacted in Abymes a couple of months ago, stopped to help us, but there was not much he could do. We ended up locking our bikes to a lamp post in a field of scratchy plants and started walking home. A couple of kilometers in, we decided we were not going to make it home any time soon. Good thing we have awesome members who are willing to come get us. The famille Kasango rescued us and took us home.
We had the awesome experience of teaching a huge family on Sunday. It was the biggest group of people I have ever taught. They had a lot of their children and grandchildren there. In total, it was a group of about 15. It was a cool experience, we are going back on Sunday to see them all again. It makes me reflect on how much the Lord blesses us and helps us grow. Before my mission or at the beginning if you had told me to teach a group of 15 people the restoration I would have been terrified, but the Lord blesses those he calls.
He loves all of his children and wants us to come unto Him. He blesses us each individually as we act on our faith and desire to become more like Him. I am so happy to be teaching this gospel and I am amazed at how fast time flies. I love you and hope your week is great. A bientôt.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Transfers were this weekend.....I'm staying in Baie Mahault with Soeur Hoover!! I am so excited because we have just got the work really up and running in Baie Mahault and we have some awesome progressing investigators. This past transfer my testimony of member referrals has grown so much. Our progressing investigators are all referrals from members, who we teach each time with members present. Just as President Hinckley said, there is a better way to do missionary work than just going from door to door, it is working with the members.
We started teaching a referral from a member who is preparing for a mission, her friend's name is Yves Andre and he is very interested in the gospel. He came to church last Sunday with her and we had our first lesson with him later in the week. He had a list of questions for us when we started and he came to church again on Sunday. He has a real desire to know more.
We had a crazy evening Thursday, my bike got a really bad flat tire, unfixable and we were about 7km away from our house and it was about 8:30 pm. A nice guy, who I had actually contacted in Abymes a couple of months ago, stopped to help us, but there was not much he could do. We ended up locking our bikes to a lamp post in a field of scratchy plants and started walking home. A couple of kilometers in, we decided we were not going to make it home any time soon. Good thing we have awesome members who are willing to come get us. The famille Kasango rescued us and took us home.
We had the awesome experience of teaching a huge family on Sunday. It was the biggest group of people I have ever taught. They had a lot of their children and grandchildren there. In total, it was a group of about 15. It was a cool experience, we are going back on Sunday to see them all again. It makes me reflect on how much the Lord blesses us and helps us grow. Before my mission or at the beginning if you had told me to teach a group of 15 people the restoration I would have been terrified, but the Lord blesses those he calls.
He loves all of his children and wants us to come unto Him. He blesses us each individually as we act on our faith and desire to become more like Him. I am so happy to be teaching this gospel and I am amazed at how fast time flies. I love you and hope your week is great. A bientôt.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, October 26, 2015
Week 59
Ma chere famille,
Bonjour, j’espère que votre weekend c’était bien passe. We had a great week and a crazy weekend. Had the oppourtunity to go on an exchange with my old companion Sister Driggs this week! It was fun, just like old times; On our exchange we found a really cool, prepared man named Henri. He is an older guy, but he is still as lively as ever. He was very accepting and he understood the scriptures very well. He invited us back. Soeur Hoover and I went back to teach him later on in the week. He shared with us how his wife died a couple of years back and we talked more about the Book of Mormon. It felt like our lesson was a bit all over the place, and we were not sure he was understanding what we were teaching him. There was a moment when the spirit came and caught his attention. We were testifying and we simply said the line" I know you can live with your wife again for eternity". He heard that and we could tell it touched him because of the look in his eyes, that was something he truly wants. It's cool to see the simpleness of the gospel. God has made his plan and doctrine so simple that a child can understand so we all can return to live with him again. We have to be brilliant in the basics.
We are seeing this with one of the recent converts in our area. As we started reteaching him the lessons after baptism he asked us why we were reteaching him this because he already knew it, he asked us only to teach him new things. We kindly explained that we continue to learn the basic truths all throughout our lives because those are the things that are important. Just like President Uchtdorf said in conference "Are we making our discipleship too complicated? Simplify!" I love how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is 5 things; faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Simply, it is to follow the example of Christ. It is the greatest blessing to be able to follow his perfect example on earth today because of restored priesthood authority.
We have an awesome branch. Our members just love and embrace our investigators. A member invited our investigator, Lionel, over to their house for crepes last night. They are so welcoming and willing to share the gospel with their friends. Our most progressing investigators right now are referrals from members. The best way to do missionary work is through members, I have a testimony of that.
It is avacado season here and it is wonderful; At least twice a week people give us avacados. They are not wimpy bumpy American avacados they are huge and wonderful! The West Indies are wonderful!
Have a wonderful week, I love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Bonjour, j’espère que votre weekend c’était bien passe. We had a great week and a crazy weekend. Had the oppourtunity to go on an exchange with my old companion Sister Driggs this week! It was fun, just like old times; On our exchange we found a really cool, prepared man named Henri. He is an older guy, but he is still as lively as ever. He was very accepting and he understood the scriptures very well. He invited us back. Soeur Hoover and I went back to teach him later on in the week. He shared with us how his wife died a couple of years back and we talked more about the Book of Mormon. It felt like our lesson was a bit all over the place, and we were not sure he was understanding what we were teaching him. There was a moment when the spirit came and caught his attention. We were testifying and we simply said the line" I know you can live with your wife again for eternity". He heard that and we could tell it touched him because of the look in his eyes, that was something he truly wants. It's cool to see the simpleness of the gospel. God has made his plan and doctrine so simple that a child can understand so we all can return to live with him again. We have to be brilliant in the basics.
We are seeing this with one of the recent converts in our area. As we started reteaching him the lessons after baptism he asked us why we were reteaching him this because he already knew it, he asked us only to teach him new things. We kindly explained that we continue to learn the basic truths all throughout our lives because those are the things that are important. Just like President Uchtdorf said in conference "Are we making our discipleship too complicated? Simplify!" I love how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is 5 things; faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Simply, it is to follow the example of Christ. It is the greatest blessing to be able to follow his perfect example on earth today because of restored priesthood authority.
We have an awesome branch. Our members just love and embrace our investigators. A member invited our investigator, Lionel, over to their house for crepes last night. They are so welcoming and willing to share the gospel with their friends. Our most progressing investigators right now are referrals from members. The best way to do missionary work is through members, I have a testimony of that.
It is avacado season here and it is wonderful; At least twice a week people give us avacados. They are not wimpy bumpy American avacados they are huge and wonderful! The West Indies are wonderful!
Have a wonderful week, I love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, October 19, 2015
Week 58
Ma chère famille,
It has been an adventurous week! Soeur Hoover and I ventured down to French Guyana (Guyane) to work with the sisters. It was a little strange to be in my old area again, but it was loads of fun as well!
We had an awesome experience on the plane on the way down to Guyane. We started talking to a lady in the airport in Gwada. The conversation started out about Guyane; She started telling us more about the culture, how it is really a melting pot of different cultures but there are some real natives. It turned into the perfect opportunity to introduce the Book of Mormon, which is the history of the ancestors of the native people of Guyane. She was very interested as we told her more and she expressed to us her faith in Jesus Christ and how it has become more important to her in recent years. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she started to read. She was sitting by us on the plane and we were able to talk more. She read for almost the entire flight. We stopped in Martenique for a short layover, and she leaned over to us and said "It is not by coincidence that we met today, I need this book in my life right now". It is cool how the Lord leads us to those who need his gospel. We gave her contact information to the Elders in Guyane and they have an appointment with her next week. The Lord leads us to these people and he leads these prepared people to us.
Another miracle along these same lines happened once we got to Guyane. I was showing one of the sisters where some less actives live while the other sisters taught a lesson. I went to show her the house of an older sister who was baptized a couple of years back who had gone to France for health reasons. We decided to stop in and see if she was back. Turns out she is still in France, happy and healthy, but her son was there. We had tried teaching him while I was in Guyane but he was never interested. We started talking to him and he told us that that morning he had prayed with his niece that God would send him someone good to help him in his life, and then we showed up. He was so happy that God had answered his prayer, he gave us his number and told us to call him. It was so cool to see how we were led there to help him. Nothing is by coincidence.
We had a great time in French Guyane, the sisters are great down there. I was blessed to have the opportunity to teach with all of them while I was down there. I also had the opportunity to see Marianela! It was a very happy reunion! Euseiry was not there because he stayed with his Dad in the Dominican Republic. It was great to see her again and hear her bear her testimony of the Book of Mormon to her sister.
We saw miracles and the hand of the Lord in the work in Guyane and Gwada this week. I have learned a lot and have been very edified by the events of this week. We are excited to keep working with the other sisters this week in an exchange with the sisters of Abymes and next week as the sisters of Martenique come here to work with us. I hope you have a great week filled with the spirit!
Bisous,
Sœur Banks
It has been an adventurous week! Soeur Hoover and I ventured down to French Guyana (Guyane) to work with the sisters. It was a little strange to be in my old area again, but it was loads of fun as well!
We had an awesome experience on the plane on the way down to Guyane. We started talking to a lady in the airport in Gwada. The conversation started out about Guyane; She started telling us more about the culture, how it is really a melting pot of different cultures but there are some real natives. It turned into the perfect opportunity to introduce the Book of Mormon, which is the history of the ancestors of the native people of Guyane. She was very interested as we told her more and she expressed to us her faith in Jesus Christ and how it has become more important to her in recent years. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she started to read. She was sitting by us on the plane and we were able to talk more. She read for almost the entire flight. We stopped in Martenique for a short layover, and she leaned over to us and said "It is not by coincidence that we met today, I need this book in my life right now". It is cool how the Lord leads us to those who need his gospel. We gave her contact information to the Elders in Guyane and they have an appointment with her next week. The Lord leads us to these people and he leads these prepared people to us.
Another miracle along these same lines happened once we got to Guyane. I was showing one of the sisters where some less actives live while the other sisters taught a lesson. I went to show her the house of an older sister who was baptized a couple of years back who had gone to France for health reasons. We decided to stop in and see if she was back. Turns out she is still in France, happy and healthy, but her son was there. We had tried teaching him while I was in Guyane but he was never interested. We started talking to him and he told us that that morning he had prayed with his niece that God would send him someone good to help him in his life, and then we showed up. He was so happy that God had answered his prayer, he gave us his number and told us to call him. It was so cool to see how we were led there to help him. Nothing is by coincidence.
We had a great time in French Guyane, the sisters are great down there. I was blessed to have the opportunity to teach with all of them while I was down there. I also had the opportunity to see Marianela! It was a very happy reunion! Euseiry was not there because he stayed with his Dad in the Dominican Republic. It was great to see her again and hear her bear her testimony of the Book of Mormon to her sister.
We saw miracles and the hand of the Lord in the work in Guyane and Gwada this week. I have learned a lot and have been very edified by the events of this week. We are excited to keep working with the other sisters this week in an exchange with the sisters of Abymes and next week as the sisters of Martenique come here to work with us. I hope you have a great week filled with the spirit!
Bisous,
Sœur Banks
Monday, October 12, 2015
Week 57
Ma chère famille,
This week has been crazy, good and crazy. Started out rough; everything was falling through and we ended up contacting a lot, and people were not receptive. We had some really beautiful families and other investigators who turned us down. The good thing is it got better. We saw some miracles.
I had the opportunity to do my first exchange as Sister Training Leader. Soeur Hannigan came to be with me in Baie-Mahault for a day. It was awesome And we saw some really cool miracles. We were able to set a baptismal date with this lady named Tatiana that we met the other day. We had some great lessons.
In the evening we were doing some contacting, we did not have a lot of time and we wanted to teach at least one more lesson. We prayed to find someone to teach. As we were praying we both opened our eyes and saw a young guy on the corner. After we ended our prayer we contacted a guy who was walking by who turned out not to be that interested. We looked over and the guy on the corner was gone. We both felt like we would have talked to him. We looked around and he was just a little farther up the street, walking. We jumped on our bikes and went to talk to him. His name is Jeremie. When we asked him how he was, he said he was really sad. His friend had just been really mean to him and basically ended their friendship. We started talking to him about the Book of Mormon, and gave him one. By the end of our conversation he said that he felt so much better! He said he was going to start reading the book. It is so cool to see how the gospel has the power to help us find joy, even in such a short moment like we had with Jeremie. The word of God has the power to heal a wounded soul, in the words of Jacob.
Our week turned around for the better and we saw even more of the hand of God in His work. There are so many cool experiences that if I had more time I would tell you about. He is always watching out for us, he loves us and his grace is sufficient for all men. I know that is true.
I am excited for the adventures this week will bring as we visit the other French sisters in Guyane! It is going to be awesome, but a little weird to go back to where I started. We are both really excited! Have a great week, I love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
P.S. This morning we hiked a waterfall called Les Chutes des Carbets. Here is a pic of Soeur Hoover and I since I have not yet sent you a pic of us. It was a fun and beautiful hike with my fun and beautiful companion!
This week has been crazy, good and crazy. Started out rough; everything was falling through and we ended up contacting a lot, and people were not receptive. We had some really beautiful families and other investigators who turned us down. The good thing is it got better. We saw some miracles.
I had the opportunity to do my first exchange as Sister Training Leader. Soeur Hannigan came to be with me in Baie-Mahault for a day. It was awesome And we saw some really cool miracles. We were able to set a baptismal date with this lady named Tatiana that we met the other day. We had some great lessons.
In the evening we were doing some contacting, we did not have a lot of time and we wanted to teach at least one more lesson. We prayed to find someone to teach. As we were praying we both opened our eyes and saw a young guy on the corner. After we ended our prayer we contacted a guy who was walking by who turned out not to be that interested. We looked over and the guy on the corner was gone. We both felt like we would have talked to him. We looked around and he was just a little farther up the street, walking. We jumped on our bikes and went to talk to him. His name is Jeremie. When we asked him how he was, he said he was really sad. His friend had just been really mean to him and basically ended their friendship. We started talking to him about the Book of Mormon, and gave him one. By the end of our conversation he said that he felt so much better! He said he was going to start reading the book. It is so cool to see how the gospel has the power to help us find joy, even in such a short moment like we had with Jeremie. The word of God has the power to heal a wounded soul, in the words of Jacob.
Our week turned around for the better and we saw even more of the hand of God in His work. There are so many cool experiences that if I had more time I would tell you about. He is always watching out for us, he loves us and his grace is sufficient for all men. I know that is true.
I am excited for the adventures this week will bring as we visit the other French sisters in Guyane! It is going to be awesome, but a little weird to go back to where I started. We are both really excited! Have a great week, I love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
P.S. This morning we hiked a waterfall called Les Chutes des Carbets. Here is a pic of Soeur Hoover and I since I have not yet sent you a pic of us. It was a fun and beautiful hike with my fun and beautiful companion!
Monday, October 5, 2015
Week 56
Bonjour a tous,
It has been an amazing spiritually full week! Especially this weekend with General Conference!
I loved so many of the talks, but one of my favorites was Saturday morning by Larry Lawrence about the Holy Ghost and personal revelation. He said the Holy Ghost is an ideal traveling companion. The Holy Ghost talks to us so personally and so honestly. That is so true and my testimony of that has grown so much since being in the West Indies. He guides us personally according to our desire to follow His will.
Conference is my favorite weekends of the year. I Learned so much and have a new outlook and motivation to preach the gospel.
We had the miracle of our investigator, Tatiana, coming to conference. And one of our members brought his friend, Frank. Frank is Evangelist but was touched by our focus on the family and the message of families in conference. He told us he is coming to church next week and he has some friends he wants us to talk to! The family is so important. I loved when Elder Bednar quoted Elder Perry and said "Family is the center of life". It is not by coincidence that God put us in families, and specifically in the famlies we have. Families are how we can progress together towards exaltation having eternal joy, here and after this life. I love you my family; but I am so grateful I have this short time to help others to have joy with their families forever.
This is God's true and restored church on the earth, I know that is true. He has called prophets and apostles to lead and guide us so we can have joy no matter what our circumstances through Christ. I love this gospel and the Savior. Have a great week, love you.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
P.S. on a funny note. We came home from conference to find our bananas had been eaten by some kind of animal. We were slightly disturbed that something was living in our house. We cleaned it up and were trying to figure out what it was that devoured our bananas. Make note that it was only the bananas, not the cereal or the chips or a number of other things it could have gotten into. We thought maybe it was a fruit bat. When I walked into our bedroom I found a nice splatter of bird poop on my bed. Looks like a bird flew in the partially opened window in our bathroom, ate our bananas, got stuck in our bedroom perched on the top bunk and then proceeded to poop out his banana feast on my bed. Good thing we had extra sheets. Adventures in Baie-Mahault! A little bird pooped on my bed ;)
It has been an amazing spiritually full week! Especially this weekend with General Conference!
I loved so many of the talks, but one of my favorites was Saturday morning by Larry Lawrence about the Holy Ghost and personal revelation. He said the Holy Ghost is an ideal traveling companion. The Holy Ghost talks to us so personally and so honestly. That is so true and my testimony of that has grown so much since being in the West Indies. He guides us personally according to our desire to follow His will.
Conference is my favorite weekends of the year. I Learned so much and have a new outlook and motivation to preach the gospel.
We had the miracle of our investigator, Tatiana, coming to conference. And one of our members brought his friend, Frank. Frank is Evangelist but was touched by our focus on the family and the message of families in conference. He told us he is coming to church next week and he has some friends he wants us to talk to! The family is so important. I loved when Elder Bednar quoted Elder Perry and said "Family is the center of life". It is not by coincidence that God put us in families, and specifically in the famlies we have. Families are how we can progress together towards exaltation having eternal joy, here and after this life. I love you my family; but I am so grateful I have this short time to help others to have joy with their families forever.
This is God's true and restored church on the earth, I know that is true. He has called prophets and apostles to lead and guide us so we can have joy no matter what our circumstances through Christ. I love this gospel and the Savior. Have a great week, love you.
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
P.S. on a funny note. We came home from conference to find our bananas had been eaten by some kind of animal. We were slightly disturbed that something was living in our house. We cleaned it up and were trying to figure out what it was that devoured our bananas. Make note that it was only the bananas, not the cereal or the chips or a number of other things it could have gotten into. We thought maybe it was a fruit bat. When I walked into our bedroom I found a nice splatter of bird poop on my bed. Looks like a bird flew in the partially opened window in our bathroom, ate our bananas, got stuck in our bedroom perched on the top bunk and then proceeded to poop out his banana feast on my bed. Good thing we had extra sheets. Adventures in Baie-Mahault! A little bird pooped on my bed ;)
Monday, September 28, 2015
Week 55
Bonjour a tous et a tout,
It has been a crazy and eventful week, now we are in Baie-Mahault! I'm with my cute new companion, Soeur Hoover. She is from Midway, Utah. We moved to Baie-Mahault Tuesday night. We live in a peach colored hallway with a turquoise kitchen and a pink bathroom. We have iguanas in our back yard and a nice view of the Gwada countryside.
Blanking an area is an adventure! We have been visiting our members, getting to know them and going through our area book to find people to teach. We have some awesome members in our area. This branch is so excited to have sister missionaries again.
On Friday we were venturing out to the far reaches of our area to visit a member. While we were looking through our area book we noticed there was an old investigator, Winnifred, who lives in the same area. We wrote down her number so we could call her if we had time. As we were biking along later that day we stopped to talk to a lady who was walking around the road. We started talking and we introduced ourselves and asked her what her name was, she replied that her name is Winnifred! Miracle! Out of all of the people who live in Baie-Mahault we were led to find Winnifred, the old investigator we found in our area book this morning! And it was definitely her, because let's be honest how many people do you meet with the name Winnifred and she said she used to talk with the Elders and she really wants us to come over and talk to her again What a miracle, she must be very prepared for the gospel because we were definitely led to meet her.
As we have been exploring our area finding our members we have definitely been led by the spirit, we have not gotten lost yet! We are excited to see what this new transfer in Baie-Mahault brings! Have a great week!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
It has been a crazy and eventful week, now we are in Baie-Mahault! I'm with my cute new companion, Soeur Hoover. She is from Midway, Utah. We moved to Baie-Mahault Tuesday night. We live in a peach colored hallway with a turquoise kitchen and a pink bathroom. We have iguanas in our back yard and a nice view of the Gwada countryside.
Blanking an area is an adventure! We have been visiting our members, getting to know them and going through our area book to find people to teach. We have some awesome members in our area. This branch is so excited to have sister missionaries again.
On Friday we were venturing out to the far reaches of our area to visit a member. While we were looking through our area book we noticed there was an old investigator, Winnifred, who lives in the same area. We wrote down her number so we could call her if we had time. As we were biking along later that day we stopped to talk to a lady who was walking around the road. We started talking and we introduced ourselves and asked her what her name was, she replied that her name is Winnifred! Miracle! Out of all of the people who live in Baie-Mahault we were led to find Winnifred, the old investigator we found in our area book this morning! And it was definitely her, because let's be honest how many people do you meet with the name Winnifred and she said she used to talk with the Elders and she really wants us to come over and talk to her again What a miracle, she must be very prepared for the gospel because we were definitely led to meet her.
As we have been exploring our area finding our members we have definitely been led by the spirit, we have not gotten lost yet! We are excited to see what this new transfer in Baie-Mahault brings! Have a great week!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
Monday, September 21, 2015
Week 54
Bonjour a tous,
So as you know transfers are this week...and as you know I will not be staying in Abymes for a 7th transfer...I'm going to Baie-Mahault with Sister Hoover! Baie-Mahault was an elders area that was closed last transfer. It is not too far from Abymes, but over across the bridge onto Basse-Terre. It is part of the Lamentin Branch (there are three branches on Gwada: Abymes, Lamentin and Basse -Terre). We will still be on bikes, which I am very happy for because it is the most effective way to do missionary work. I will finish training Sister Hoover. She came out last transfer and Sister Guernsey started her training in Goyave, but Sister Guernsey is finishing her mission tomorrow. Other exciting news, Sister Driggs is training! She will be training Sister Hannigan in Abymes! Along with this transfer call, President has also called me to be the Sister Training Leader for all of the French-side sisters. Its going to be a busy transfer blanking and area training and traveling around being Sister Training Leader, it's going to be awesome! I'm looking forward to it.
I am sad to leave Abymes, it has been a great 9 months here. It still doesn't feel real that I'm leaving. We were able to visit the less active sister from the DR (Dominican Republic) with our investigator Anny who is also from the DR! We had no idea what was going on during the lesson because it was all in Spanish, but we got to teach a little bit. It was great to get them together. We were talking to Anny yesterday and she explained to us some of the problems and trials Lucia is going through. She said that Lucia does not believe that the Book of Mormon can help her right now. Anny's response was we have to pray and fast for her. Anny has such great faith and love and desire to share the gospel! She is going to be a solid member. She also shared with us more of her life story. The gospel has transformed her life, it is amazing! We are going to keep working with them both. Lucia said she feels good when we are there. That is a start with the spirit. We are going to keep visiting her and praying and fasting. It is not by coincidence that we met Lucia at this time in her life.
We had the coolest experience. So many things fell through Saturday. We decided to contact a little. We had no idea where we needed to go. We said a prayer and started riding. We rode into a apartment complex. As we were going around the parking lot none of the stairwell doors were open, but one, so we locked up our bikes and went in. We always start on the top floor and work our way down. Hiked up to the top and as we worked our way down nobody wanted to receive us or our message. We kept going down. On the second floor a lady answered and immediately let us in, I was surprised. We talked for a few minutes and shared the Book of Mormon with her. As we prayed at the end she said she felt something there with us. We explained the Holy Ghost to her. She loved it! For the rest of the time we were there with her she would point it out when she felt it. She also told us that she had been praying because she has been having a hard time; She prayed that God would send her someone to help her, and then we showed up. I was amazed. I have always heard missionary stories like that, but never thought it would happen to me. It is amazing that we were exactly where the Lord needed us in that moment to answer our sister's prayer. He loves us.
This week was a great end to my time in Abymes. I will miss this area and the people and Sister Driggs, but the future holds great things. I love you and hope you have a great week!
Bisous,
Sour Banks
So as you know transfers are this week...and as you know I will not be staying in Abymes for a 7th transfer...I'm going to Baie-Mahault with Sister Hoover! Baie-Mahault was an elders area that was closed last transfer. It is not too far from Abymes, but over across the bridge onto Basse-Terre. It is part of the Lamentin Branch (there are three branches on Gwada: Abymes, Lamentin and Basse -Terre). We will still be on bikes, which I am very happy for because it is the most effective way to do missionary work. I will finish training Sister Hoover. She came out last transfer and Sister Guernsey started her training in Goyave, but Sister Guernsey is finishing her mission tomorrow. Other exciting news, Sister Driggs is training! She will be training Sister Hannigan in Abymes! Along with this transfer call, President has also called me to be the Sister Training Leader for all of the French-side sisters. Its going to be a busy transfer blanking and area training and traveling around being Sister Training Leader, it's going to be awesome! I'm looking forward to it.
I am sad to leave Abymes, it has been a great 9 months here. It still doesn't feel real that I'm leaving. We were able to visit the less active sister from the DR (Dominican Republic) with our investigator Anny who is also from the DR! We had no idea what was going on during the lesson because it was all in Spanish, but we got to teach a little bit. It was great to get them together. We were talking to Anny yesterday and she explained to us some of the problems and trials Lucia is going through. She said that Lucia does not believe that the Book of Mormon can help her right now. Anny's response was we have to pray and fast for her. Anny has such great faith and love and desire to share the gospel! She is going to be a solid member. She also shared with us more of her life story. The gospel has transformed her life, it is amazing! We are going to keep working with them both. Lucia said she feels good when we are there. That is a start with the spirit. We are going to keep visiting her and praying and fasting. It is not by coincidence that we met Lucia at this time in her life.
We had the coolest experience. So many things fell through Saturday. We decided to contact a little. We had no idea where we needed to go. We said a prayer and started riding. We rode into a apartment complex. As we were going around the parking lot none of the stairwell doors were open, but one, so we locked up our bikes and went in. We always start on the top floor and work our way down. Hiked up to the top and as we worked our way down nobody wanted to receive us or our message. We kept going down. On the second floor a lady answered and immediately let us in, I was surprised. We talked for a few minutes and shared the Book of Mormon with her. As we prayed at the end she said she felt something there with us. We explained the Holy Ghost to her. She loved it! For the rest of the time we were there with her she would point it out when she felt it. She also told us that she had been praying because she has been having a hard time; She prayed that God would send her someone to help her, and then we showed up. I was amazed. I have always heard missionary stories like that, but never thought it would happen to me. It is amazing that we were exactly where the Lord needed us in that moment to answer our sister's prayer. He loves us.
This week was a great end to my time in Abymes. I will miss this area and the people and Sister Driggs, but the future holds great things. I love you and hope you have a great week!
Bisous,
Sour Banks
Monday, September 14, 2015
Week 53
Bonjour tout le monde!
It has been a busy fun week here on Gwada. We had Zone Conference, which was amazing! Learned a lot; it was a smaller conference, just the Guadeloupe missionaries, nobody else flew in from Martenique or St. Marten. I had a great interview with President Herrington Thursday. Found some stuff out about next transfer, but I'll let you know all the details next week. All I will tell you is that my time in Abymes is coming to an end. I am sad to see it end, but the future holds some exciting things.
Today we took an adventure as a zone. We went to Les Saintes which is a group of islands off the coast of Guadeloupe. It was beautiful, sorry I forgot my card reader and I cant send pics. It was like all of the pictures you see of the caribbean on postcards. We got to explore Napolean's fort there and hang out on the beach. It was super cool and I only got a little sun burnt:)
After Zone Conference on Wednesday our lesson with our member fell through so we went to check up on some people. We felt that we should stop by to see Lucia, the less active we found a couple of weeks back. We knocked and nobody answered at first but after a couple of minutes she came to the door in tears. She has been having a hard time being in Gwada with none of her family here, not having anyone and not speaking the language. We were able to give her the Book of Mormon in Spanish and talk with her for a little while. It is cool to see how God puts us where we need to be in the moment someone needs Him. He never leaves us alone, He is always there for us in our moment of need. He makes all the difference. It was a great contrast to see Lucia and her faith to accept the help of her Savior in her hardship compared to one of our other friends. We talked with him for a while on the street in front of his house the other night. Faith is so important, the faith and humility to accept God's will and accept the help of His Son to continue. He has given us all the tools we need to be happy in any circumstance. Just like we learn in Mosiah 24 as the Lord made the people's burdens light, He did not take them away, but He lightened their burdens and made them strong so they could bear them because of their faith. There is a reason faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel, it gives a strong foundation for all other things.
I hope you have a great week. I am looking forward to a great last week here in Abymes. Love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
It has been a busy fun week here on Gwada. We had Zone Conference, which was amazing! Learned a lot; it was a smaller conference, just the Guadeloupe missionaries, nobody else flew in from Martenique or St. Marten. I had a great interview with President Herrington Thursday. Found some stuff out about next transfer, but I'll let you know all the details next week. All I will tell you is that my time in Abymes is coming to an end. I am sad to see it end, but the future holds some exciting things.
Today we took an adventure as a zone. We went to Les Saintes which is a group of islands off the coast of Guadeloupe. It was beautiful, sorry I forgot my card reader and I cant send pics. It was like all of the pictures you see of the caribbean on postcards. We got to explore Napolean's fort there and hang out on the beach. It was super cool and I only got a little sun burnt:)
After Zone Conference on Wednesday our lesson with our member fell through so we went to check up on some people. We felt that we should stop by to see Lucia, the less active we found a couple of weeks back. We knocked and nobody answered at first but after a couple of minutes she came to the door in tears. She has been having a hard time being in Gwada with none of her family here, not having anyone and not speaking the language. We were able to give her the Book of Mormon in Spanish and talk with her for a little while. It is cool to see how God puts us where we need to be in the moment someone needs Him. He never leaves us alone, He is always there for us in our moment of need. He makes all the difference. It was a great contrast to see Lucia and her faith to accept the help of her Savior in her hardship compared to one of our other friends. We talked with him for a while on the street in front of his house the other night. Faith is so important, the faith and humility to accept God's will and accept the help of His Son to continue. He has given us all the tools we need to be happy in any circumstance. Just like we learn in Mosiah 24 as the Lord made the people's burdens light, He did not take them away, but He lightened their burdens and made them strong so they could bear them because of their faith. There is a reason faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle of the gospel, it gives a strong foundation for all other things.
I hope you have a great week. I am looking forward to a great last week here in Abymes. Love you!
Bisous,
Soeur Banks
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