Week 11 in French Guyane

Bonjour a tous,

It has been a crazy week down here in Guyane. Sadly we didnt have our first baptism but a lot else has happened.

We had a week of great experiences making food with less actives, investigators and members. Wednesday we made Roti and Curry with Ramona, a less active member. Attached is a picture of me with the chicken before she killed it. The Roti was awesome. It's an interesting experience seeing your food walking around the yard and then having it on your plate an hour later. Friday we were visiting one of our new investigators, Marie, from Haiti, and we made Banan Peze with her. All the missionaries talk about Banan Peze and I finally got to try it. I'll attach a photo. We also got more Banan Peze on Saturday at a member's house. We ate well this week.

This week we had a problem with our water bill so our water has been off since Thursday. It has been an adventure, haven't showered since Thursday but life is good. It's all part of the experience.

We have been working hard tring to find new people to teach. Because we are in a trio we do splits sometimes with members. Yesterday we were doing splits and I got to teach a lesson with one young woman from the branch. I was nervous about it but it went well. We taught Meredith the restoration. I was feeling very inadequate in my teaching skills and my French but it went well and I felt the spirit. We were able to extend a baptisimal date to Meredith.

It's cool to think I speak French! Not perfectly or fluently but I can get my point across and the Lord is there to help me. He is always there watching out for us and guiding us. Looking back I have seen so many times when he was guiding us to find people or visit people. He is always there and he loves us all so much because we are His children. Have a good Thanksgiving week!!

Love,

Soeur Banks

 

Week 10 in Guyane Française

Bonjour,

We had a pretty good week down here in South America. We are excited to be having our first baptism this coming Saturday!! Marie came to church again on Sunday and is ready to be baptized! 

 
We were also able to set another baptisimal date last night with Anjellica. She is 12 and originally was planning on going to Guyana to be baptized by her Dad. We had been thinking about it a lot and felt that she needed to be baptized here in the branch she will be attending. We had tried and tried to have a lesson with her so we could set a baptisimal date but she was never available. last night we went over and her Mom told us that she is no longer going to Guyana so she can be baptised here! We talked to her and set a date for November 29. I love seeing the inspiration of the spirit.
 

We contacted a family with a pet monkey this week. I almost got to hold it but it was scared of me and my companions. we think it was because we are white. Contacting is always an adventure here in French Guyane.
We have a really sweet couple we have been teaching that we love. Their names are Anthony and Eay. They have such big hearts and are so concerned for all of the struggling people in the world. We asked Eay to start reading the Book of Mormon last time we visited and when we came back she said she had read a little. She had read to 1 Nephi 13! We were so excited! Most people won't even read the introduction and she read 13 chapters! We are excited to see them and continue teaching them. 
 

I'm running out of time to write but I have been reading in Mosiah about King Benjamin and have learned so much from his teaching. I'll talk more about it next week when I have time, but go read it; its amazing! I love you all and have a great week!!

Lots of love,

Soeur Banks

Week 9 in South America

Bonjour,

It has been a good week 9 in Guyana Français. We saw some miracles. As you might remember a few weeks back I wrote about a less active family that we had been looking for for a long time that we finally found. We have been visiting them every week but they have not put any effort forward to coming back to church. Last Sunday during testimony meeting a member (he is a recent convert, he was baptized at the end of August) got up and bore his testimony and we thought how he could help the father of this less active family. We took him to our lesson with the family this week and it was amazing. It turns out the dad and the member used to work together a long time ago. They talked about their conversion stories and by the end everyone was crying. That member was exactly what this family needs. It was an amazing experience. We are going to keep bringing him with us to our lessons with this family.

Another miracle this week was our investigators Marianela and her son, Eusery, finally came to church because one of the members was able to pick them up. It's really hard for them to come because they don't have a car and she has triplets who are only six months old which is a lot of work to take them all out. They are the cutest! They came to church and loved it. They made friends with the members and another family offered to take them to church next week. Our branch here is the best, I love them with all my heart.

So much has happened this last week that I can't write it all. I'm so happy to be down here. I know that our Heavenly Father is watching over us and is guiding us as we do his work. He loves us and wants nothing more than he wants us to return to him. I love it down here and I love all you back home as well. Keep reading the Book of Mormon every day, its the best thing to do!!

Lots of love,

Soeur Banks

My 8th Week in French Guyana

Bonjour,

We have been working hard here in French Guyana. The three of us (Sister Riley, McDaniel and I) call ourselves "a wall of righteousness" because we block the road if we walk in a row; We definitely get a lot of weird looks because we are three white girls walking around Matoury or driving around in our silver truck.

They don't really celebrate Halloween here like we do in the states but Saturday was Day of the Dead. They clean up their cemeteries the week before and then decorate the graves with flowers and candles. They do other things at the cemeteries on that day as well. The cemeteries are so colorful right now. We walked around one of the big cemeteries in Cayenne earlier today. They don't really celebrate Halloween, but the big holiday is Carnival in February. They say in French Guyana it gets really crazy, the craziest part of the mission is on Carnival because the Brazilians really get into it. Hopefully I will still be down here for it.

I sent a few pictures this week. I hope you like them and they give you a little taste of life down here in Guyana Français.
We have been teaching a lot and have found some great people. We are looking forward to some baptisims this transfer.

Love you all lots and lots,

Soeur Banks

Me Sister Riley and Sister McDaniel on her first day in the field.

Chelande (recent convert she was baptised in July) and her neighbor Nana
wearing our badges being sister missionaries! The best thing to be!

Me and Mamie Lulu, another recent convert. She is 83 and the
sweetest old lady in French Guyana. We visit her every week.

Me, Sister McDaniel and our investigator Cecil and her little siblings.

Our branch in Cayenne. It's not everyone but a good number of them, taken a couple of weeks ago.