February 26, 2019

Bonjour! This week flew by! Seriously I don't understand how it is already almost March! The time flies when you are hard at work I guess! We had some great experiences this week. Sr Stephenson and I did a special fast for the gift of tongues. And we also did a language fast the same day. So we gave up food water and English all day Saturday haha! It was rough. But it was the best day ever for finding! We found a family who didn't speak hardly any French at all, only Spanish, But with the little Spanish I knew and the little french the knew, we found out that their families are members in Peru! We were able to schedule a time to come back. We passed them along to the Spanish elders. I have such high hopes for them. That was the first house we knocked! Miracles do not usually happen that early on, so we were so grateful for it! The whole night was very good. We knocked a lot of doors and a lot of very kind people answered. We had a lot of contact with people from different countries that didn't speak any French at all. There wasn't a lot we could do except leave our card or a pamphlet behind. There are so many languages here that I have never heard of! One Muslim woman let us in and gave us orange juice. Her little boy translated for us. Sweet little guy. We shared a video with them and even though they didn't believe in Christ as the Savior, they really loved it. It was very special. We had a lot of similar experiences like that this week. It has been bitter cold this week! Last night we had 75 km winds and it was -30. But we went knocking anyways. Everyone was like, what are you doing out in this weather?? Go home!! I love knocking in storms though. It feels like an adventure. We had a beautiful lesson with a woman named Lourdia. We showed her a video of Christ's baptism. I chose the one in English instead if French by accident though. I was so embarrassed. She could not understand what they were saying, but by the end, she was crying. We knew that she felt the spirit so strong. The spirit speaks the universal language and she felt it. We invited her to baptism and she said that she would pray about it and talk to her husband too. We really really hope that she remembers what she felt in that moment and desire to have that with her all the time. She is so awesome. I love being a missionary so very much. It is such hard WORK but it is by far the most rewarding. I find joy in the fruits of my labors. I love tasting of the fruit. I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I love that he never changes in a world that changes so much. I love the feelings of joy I get as I serve my Heavenly Father's children. I hope that you all are doing great! I love you all so very much! Much love, Soeur Bates