Barev!
Soeur Bradley and I lovingly dubbed this week "la semaine de la persécution". Yelling, fist-pumping, finger-pointing persecution. It got to the point that we would just look at each other, wide eyed and mouths gaping open, and start laughing. Like, "Oh here it comes. Might as well take it with a little humor." But as in ALL things, after the storm comes the calm and the beautiful. And this week was wonderful. We had so much fun meeting people and doing missionary work this week.
We decided to get back to our roots and do some batiment porting. We had been doing a lot of houses, and it was time for a change. Oh my goodness how I love those humble people. Door after door with each person from a different part of the world, and the smell of curry or pimento or spices in every hallway. We were let in by a beautiful Muslim family from Africa who listened to us with so much love and respect. We prayed and talked about how their faith has given them a strong foundation, and then shared how our faith has done the same for us. That same night we met a woman from Armenia who asked us to come back. We went back and had the best lesson with her. She told us all of the stories of how God has led her. The whole time, her cute little son was sitting there translating the French that she didn't understand. She has been led her whole life and has acknowledged it, which is the most incredible part. I am led so often, but I think I forget to acknowledge it, which then leads me to think that God has momentarily forgotten me. Not true, never true. She is such a good example of looking for God in the details of her life.
Yesterday at church Soeur Bradley and I had the opportunity to teach amis class to some of the Elders' amis. One of them is a boy from China who is studying physics (and other insanely smart sounding things that I don't even understand) in France. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and at the beginning we asked him what his purpose in life is. He responded by telling us that it was to live as purposefully and well as he could so as to bring honor to his mother and father. We told him that similarly, we have a Father in Heaven, and He has given a way for us to live to bring honor to His name, but ALSO to find joy and live a fulfilling life and existence. He listened so actively and intently, and at the end of the lesson we asked if that made sense or if he had any questions. He said,
"So I think what I understand and believe is that there is a God who sees everything. Much more than I can see. And He is giving me a path that will lead me most simply and most successfully to meaning." He then stood up, walked up to the board, and asked if he could use the chalk. He then starts drawing a diagram. He draws one line. It is a straight line, that leads to an end goal. He then drew another line, that is curvy and windy, and then put little x marks to the side of it. "So this straight line is the path that God wants me to take because He knows exactly where it will lead me, and it will lead me to happiness. The curvy path is how it is when I try to live it myself. The x's represent the things that I think will bring me happiness but they are really only distractions. The first path is the simplest path and the best path." He then sat down, and then I asked if he would like to teach the rest of the lesson :)
I talked to him after class and he says that he has always been searching for meaning, and when he was little he would read book after book from Chinese philosophers, but he never found the answers. He then said he likes this because it is simple. It is! It is so simple! And I complicate it so often! But when we follow what God has given us, it leads us to a life that is more simple. Not less exciting, or less interesting, or easier. Just more simple, because we have an eternal perspective. It reminded me of this scripture:
"The words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." ALMA 37:45
I like that there is a path for each person that will lead us to "a far better land of promise" if we will follow the course.
And then Soeur Bradley and I became a little obsessed with Asians and contacted every Asian we would see on the street.
I love you and hope you have a happy, hope-filled week.
beaucoup d'amour,
Olivia
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