"...what comfort this sweet sentence gives..."

Hey everybody!

So this was another fun-filled week in the mission...I really do love being out here :) It started out on Tuesday (well, I guess Monday but we didn't really do anything too special for p-day) when we stopped by a potential that we found last week, Serge. We weren't sure if he would be home or not since we didn't have an appointment or his phone number, but he was there and the lesson was WONDERFUL! :) We talked with him a bit at the beginning without really an order, and then he started talking about faith and showing our faith. I mentioned that one way that we can do that is by praying and asking God for help and then started talking about how Joseph Smith (we had already read a scripture in the D&C so we'd kind of introduced Joseph Smith) had shown his faith by praying and asking God which of all the churches was true. We talked about how there are millions out there that all claim to have the truth, but we learn in the Bible that there is "one Lord, one Faith, one baptism" and so he knew that there should be one that was perfect for everyone, but he didn't know where it was. We then told the Joseph Smith story and he was realyl touched. He started talking afterwards about how when he was little, he was Catholic and the Catholic church was the ONLY true church, and his mom told him that if he even looked at a protestant church, he'd be damned. Then he took an intro to religion course in college and found out that every religion believes that they have the truth, but what he LOVED about our church is that we asked God directly and we encourage everyone to ask God directly. We then started going through an actual first lesson a bit more with "God is our loving Heavenly Father" and how we're blessed with families and prophets to help and guide us during this mortal existance. We also talked about the Book of Mormon and he didn't quite understand at first, but then we were sitting in the garden and Sister Leonard explained that if I closed my eyes and she described the garden, I'd have one view. But if he described the garden, I'd have a different view of it. It was through both explanations (or both testimonies...the prophets in the Americas and in Jerusalem) that truth is known, or an accurate description is given. He said he found it really intriguing and he doesn't like to read very much, he has a hard time concentrating, but he was going to try and read anyways. We then asked if we could set an appointment for the next time and at first he said we could come back the first week in August, but then I explained that there wasn't very much time in the trasnfer and for purely selfish reasons (I enjoy his insight) we'd like to meet with him more often. So he suggested this Tuesday, which is PERFECT because we're going on splits with Victoriaville that night and we were supposed to set up extra appointments. I'm so excited for him...he's in his 50s probably, his parents both died within the past year, and he has a wife and 2 college-aged children who both still live at home, and one of them has attended church in Montreal before. It was so neat :)

Then on Wednesday we went and visited Lyse and taught her about temples and geneology and she is SO excited to do the work for her parents and grandparents. We committed her to have all the work ready so that in December (the next trip for baptisms) she can do the work for them and she said she would definitely do it. She is so set. Then I guess yesterday in Sunday School she bore her testimony about how she met the church (I don't exactly know what she said...we weren't in the class). She said 2 weeks before she had prayed and asked God to show her if there was a true church and if so, where it was. 2 weeks later we showed up and at first she was just happy because of the companionship. She had been so lonely that she was excited to just have people over to talk to, but then it actually grew into a real testimony and now she is so pleased with the friendship she has with us, with the members, and the knowledge that she has of the truthfulness of the Gospel and she knows that she will never feel lonely again. it's so neat. I wish I could have heard the whole testimony, but we just heard the highlights from our neighbor, Frere Caron. We were in the nursery helping because there was only one adult in there and like 7 kids, and that's a bit difficult. So we were there and it was SO much fun....there was one little boy that reminded me a lot of Jacob (only a lot younger than Jacob) and it was so cute. It was fun :)

Then also this week we had English class, which is always fun. And it was pretty neat...we forgot to start with a prayer which we normally do because we got distracted talking about things. Usually we talk a bit, say a prayer, and then have the lesson that we prepared, but this week one of the woman's boyfriends had surgery for cancer and so we ended up talking about different medical terms for a really long time and then there were only 10 minutes left and I had forgotten. But then at the end when I was asking what they wanted to talk about next week, one of the woman, Guillaune, stopped me and said "Before we finish, can we please say a prayer? I think it'd be good for Martine." It was really neat that we've been an example to these people and they know that because of our faith, we can pray to God and ask Him for help in our lives and in the lives of others. I love it.

Then we also did another little service project...one of the couples in our ward, the Lefebvre's, got sealed this weekend. She's been a member for about 20 years, they've been married about 15, and he finally joined the church last year and they just got sealed. So On saturday, while they were at the temple, we went up and heart-attacked their house. Then yesterday we were invited to their house for dinner with the elders and they were asking who had done the heart-attacking and we denied it, and so did the elders, but they ended up thinking that it was the elders who had done it, and the elders were just very confused until afterwards when we told them it was us. It was so fun...I loved it :) Then last night the Victoriaville sisters came up...we're having our zone activity today (we played foo-foo ball but it got cut short when Elder Wilson kicked the ball accidentally hitting a woman and they went crazy and said they were calling the police...interesting experience.) and then tomorrow we're having the first half of Zone Conference. Then in the evening we're going on a split, and Wednesday we're having the second half of zone conference. It should be fun! I'm excited for this week :)

But anyways, I hope you all are doing well! Have a wonderful week! I love you all :)

Love, Sister Nicole Lindsey