Being an Instrument in the Hands of God
Salutations family and friends! I present to you another weekly of Sœur Sami Hopkinson from Rouen, France! I can't believe we're already in the month of March, that is nuts! Just a year ago I received my mission call to serve in the France Paris mission and here I am now 9 months later, hitting my halfway mark with 9 more months to go! Time better slow down please!
We were able to meet with our amie C_____ who's getting baptized on the 24th of this month and she is doing so well in her progression! By the end of next week, she should be completely done with smoking so we are keeping her in our prayers and hoping that she will be on track for baptism. For that rendezvous with her, we watched the latest conference talk given by President Nelson about the Book of Mormon and she told us it was a wonderful talk! She also said that she knew that she had to keep a habit of daily scripture study and how important the Book of Mormon is as well. It was a touching moment for me when she told us how she knew that President Nelson was the living prophet today and that she knew the Book of Mormon is true.
After our district meeting on Tuesday, Sœur Erichsen and I went out to do some finding. The first thing she did was tell me to contact the first African man I see and so that's what I did. Strange enough, the first 30 minutes we were out talking with people there wasn't an African man in sight. We did manage to talk with people who spoke better Spanish and thought that I was able to speak and understand them...looks like I'm gonna have to learn another language to convert more people in France haha! After an hour of finding, we were going to make our way back to the church for a ward council meeting, but I still hadn't talked with an African man yet. I was determined to keep going to find him but time was running out. We walk down this one street we normally take to the church and I finally see our hopefully new African ami! I made my way towards him and started a conversation with him. I only managed to tell him that we were missionaries but he reads my badge, claps his hands together, looks up to the sky, says in a British accent "Yes! Jesus Christ! Thank you!", and then looks at us to explain that he was out right now looking for a church to go to. He was also very ecstatic that we spoke English as well. We ended giving him a church tour and he seemed very interested to learn more so he told us that he would come to church to see what we were like.
Since we got smartphones, we've been going through the contacts on the old Nokia phone we had and so far we've met some cool new people from that! We met a guy named Clement who was taking lessons from the elders here in Rouen about a year and a half ago. He's a very soft spoken guy and I think he has a lot potential of getting a baptismal date in the near future. Sometimes when we do calls we end up talking to weird, crazy, or creepy people and it really can get entertaining at times. When Sœur Erichsen does some calls, she'll get these cute little kids trying to act professional over the phone and it's funny to listen to! Gotta love being a missionary!
One of the worst times on the mission is when you get sick. Back when I was a bleue and had my trainer with me in Tours, she and I got sick for a week. It was the worst part for me on my mission. Last week I ended up getting sick...in Paris on exchanges. Being sick on the mission is not fun at all but lucky for me Sœur van Duyse had some medicine for me. We arrive at St. Merri and pulls out all of these essential oils and whatnot, it was like going to a witch doctor who had these magic potions! I'll just say that in the end I felt a little better than before but not quite entirely healthy. Yesterday I was battling a fever so we stayed indoors. Sœur Erichsen is such a trooper and bless her heart she is just one heck of a great companion!
H_____ is our ami who got a church tour from Sœurs Erichsen and van Duyse a few weeks ago. We met with him on Tuesday and he is a super golden guy! We taught him about the restoration of God's church on the Earth and he understood it pretty well. Towards the end he started to ask questions for us to answer and one question threw me and Sœur Erichsen off guard: "What are the qualifications of getting baptized?". When he asked that, she and I looked at each other and we knew that he was ready for the baptismal invitation. We explained to him about the lessons he had to have before baptism and then went on to extend the invite to him. He looked at the both of us and said, "Yes, I want this in my life" and that led to him setting a baptismal date in April! Those kind of moments on the mission are just amazing to witness because you can see the change in people as they are guided by the Spirit and choose to follow the example of Jesus Christ.
Alma 26:8
"Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work."
I feel so blessed to be here in France as a missionary. Over the last 9 months I've been here, I know that I have been an instrument in the hands of God bringing about His great work among the people of France. He loves us so much that He sent His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We can turn to Them for love when we need it most. We are all children of God and He wants nothing but the best for us.
Have a fantastic week everybody! I love and miss you all! Sorry for the lack of photos!
Love,
Sœur Hopkinson
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