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

Soeur Hoover and I in front of our house

 

Last Monday at Point des Chateaux with the pineapple we found

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

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

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

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

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!

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 ;)