Life is Crazy!

Hey Mom!

How are you? It’s always so good to hear from you! Things here are going really well…it’s been an interesting week. It’s crazy to see how many ups and downs I’ve already had and I’ve only been out here like 3 weeks. That’s another crazy part…it feels like I’ve been out here for at least 2 months already! I was talking with the zone leaders and one of the ward members, Jared, the other day and they were all shocked when I said I’ve only been out here about 3 weeks and Jared said “Wow…you don’t even LOOK like a greenie anymore!” I guess I’ve adjusted to everything pretty well and fit in well with the ward so they think I’ve been here longer. It makes things a little easier.

So I’ve gained an even stronger testimony this week of the truthfulness of the Elder Holland’s conference talk last October on the Ministry of Angels. I know there are angels around us all the time. This weekend was a bit interesting…on Friday night S. Williams and I went out to eat with the AP’s at this restaurant that our friend April recommended to us. We didn’t quite know how to get there, so this man gave us directions, but he gave us the wrong ones and we ended up on Rue St. Catherine, which is off limits completely for missionaries. That’s where all the strip clubs and barsand everything are, and it’s not a very fun place at all. While we were walking toward it, these 6 guys in their late 20s, early 30’s came up and started talking to me and asked how long I’d been in Montreal “saving people” and I answered their questions and one in particular just wouldn’t leave me alone. The AP’s thought I had contacted them and didn’t want to interrupt if it was a good contact, so they didn’t say anything at all. It was so awful though…I really don’t like situations like that in the slightest. But I finally said goodbye and walked away. Then after dinner (we were a bit late getting home), we were waiting for the metro and this VERY strong Catholic man, Andre, came up to E. Ronndahl and me and started talking to us. S. Williams had talked to him before about a month ago, and he had called us 3 times in one morning to try to convince us that we should be worshipping the saints. So we talked to him for a minute and he was very respectful to E. Ronndahl but didn’t listen to anything I had to say at all. It was just interesting. So then Saturday evening we ran into him again on the metro. He came up to us while we were in the middle of talking to some else and was very vocal about how the Catholic church is the only true church and the Book of Mormon is a false book and on and on and on. I tried talking to him, very diplomatically, and he wouldn’t even let me talk at all. It shook me up a bit and I was ready to cry at the end of it. Not fun. So then yesterday was Stake Conference (I’ll talk more about that in a minute), but afterwards we went to the Metro and ran into him yet again! He asked me if I had thought about what he had said, and I said that I had. He asked me what I thought and I said that I know the Book of Mormon is true and he started yelling about how we’re going to Hell and the catholic church is the only true one and we know that because it’s the ONLY one that won’t support gay marriages, won’t let a woman be a priest, and has been around since the time of Christ. We didn’t argue, but responded quietly. I say we, but mean me; Sister Williams didn’t say anything during the whole thing. He said something else, I don’t quite remember what, but I responded with “I believe there are good people in every religion” and he said “no. No there aren’t. There are good people in the Catholic Church and false prophets and gangsters in every other religion.” That was a kind of funny statement J But then he got on the metro still yelling about how Lionel-Groulx (the name of the metro) was a Catholic priest and he had built that place and we had never done anything like that. It was not a very fun experience. So I was shaking by the end of it, like I could barely stand, and we got on the other metro and almost immediately this other man came up to us and “warned” us not to talk to him, because we were children of the devil and we come in all self-righteous with our books (we usually carry a copy of the Book of Mormon everywhere we go), but he didn’t need that and he didn’t want to hear our false rumors and preachings. I tried to thank him for his concern, but he interrupted me and said that he was sure I was grateful and he could see exactly what I was thinking written all over my face, and I just smiled. He kept going on and told us we were going to Hell and said we didn’t even know anything about God, we only knew about our father, the devil, and then as he was getting of he asked “You don’t even know anything. Who is God anyways?” And I responded that God is our loving Father in Heaven, and he said “yes he is, but you wouldn’t know that because you don’t know anything about Him. He’s not your father.” It was so awful…I don’t enjoy confrontations like that at all, and I was already shaken, so I just started crying as soon as he got off. But getting back to the Ministry of Angels part from earlier…I was blessed enough to have one standing nearby. There was a giant of a man next to me who didn’t speak any English hardly, but he started trying to comfort me. He kept patting me on the back and used his finger (S. Williams said it completely covered my face…he was a huge man) to wipe my tear off my face. It was so sweet. Then he gave me a hug and told me it was Ok and not to cry. He asked if I was Mormon and then where my parents were and then gave me another hug as we were getting off. It was so sweet. I know that my Father in heaven does know me and knows what I need and He does send people to help us whenever we need it. It was wonderful. And thank you for your prayers…I know they help me.
Anyways, in other news…it has been a good week! We still go contacting a lot, it’s always in the metros. We’ve been asked by our mission president to contact 3 hours a day, so we’re in the metros at least that long talking to people. But some of them turn out SO well! We ended up getting the ugly ties earlier this week and had to wear them on our bags all week long until we committed someone, so finally on Thursday we did! We talked to this guy that S. Williams and S. Orozco had contacted while we were on splits the other day, and we committed him to be baptized! I hope it works out…it went so well in the lesson. We had 2 members there with us, which helped a lot, and he stopped in the middle of the lesson to ask how he could join our church, so we told him about baptism, and asked him to be baptized on the 19 of December. He hesitated slightly so we said we didn’t want to push him, but we knew he could have an answer by then, and he said we weren’t pushing at all. It was all just so out of character for him…he never talks to people on the metro, but he felt he should talk to the sisters and then he actually showed up to the appointment which surprised even himself. Then he finished with “Don’t worry…I’ll be a member before long.” It was SO exciting! We also talked to a girl Stephanie who was so excited to meet with us…she said she had just had such a happy feeling when we called to confirm the appointment and she was excited to learn more. It was really great! Earnest came to church, but then got sick and went to the hospital so we haven’t seen him since. But on the plus side, our less active/recent convert who told us on Monday he didn’t want to talk to us or come to church again called us 2 days ago to tell us it was his birthday! S. Williams talked to him for about 30 minutes and by the end he had decided NOT to go to the strip club with his friends and went and said a prayer and then went to bed instead! It was really exciting!

Oh, and it was so funny…every time I tell someone I’m from WV, they mention the John Denver song. I didn’t realize it was so popular until we were in English class the other day and this Chinese man asked where I was from. I told him, and he just started singing “Country roads take me home to the place I belong…” it was SO funny. I loved it. The people here are really great. And I just LOVE the elders in our mission. There are so many incredible ones. I was sick on Wednesday and so we had a million calls from people telling me to feel better soon and giving advice (eat oranges for vitamin C, boil ginger and honey and drink it for sore throats, etc.) Then E. Berrios and E. Jest (the zone leaders for the other zone that we do laundry and groceries with each p-day…I love them) called me another night because they thought I might be having a hard time and sang a song for me over the phone. Then we’ve had 2 sets of elders make us cookies this week just for the fun of it and several call us each night just to make sure we’re doing OK. I love it.

Oh! And Stake conference was yesterday which was SO fun. Elder Cook came and spoke and he has some hilarious stories. He said there was a boy in his high school who he hated and who hated him. They ended up getting their mission calls on the same day, to the same mission, and were bunk mates in the MTC. They became good friends, but each night the other elder would pull out a huge picture of a gorgeous girl and say “She’s waiting for me” and E. Cook would say “You’re such a loser…she’ll never wait for you!” They ended up becoming good friends. The girl didn’t wait though… Elder Cook married her instead, haha. It was pretty funny. So that was fun. And one of our less actives came, which is always exciting. And Rob is doing SO well! He was there and LOVED it, and he also went and visited the temple with the institute group on Friday and sat and read his scriptures and Robyn said he was just beaming the whole time and absolutely loved it. I’m so excited for him. So things are going really well here!

I’m glad to hear things are going well at home! You should video tape the girls and then send it to me…if you put it on an SD card, I’ll be able to watch it on my camera…or there’s probably another way to do it too. I don’t have my camera with me now, but I do have some pictures to send…we went to this huge cathedral last week for P-day, so I have several pictures from that. I’ll try to remember it next time and send it to you. But I’m glad to hear things are going well and I hope this week is wonderful for you! I love you tons and tons! Thanks so much for the letters and the prayers…I miss you!

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey