Soeur Ethington | Week 26

Hello hello! 

This week has been another busy one! It's funny, every time I write my weekly updates I think, "wow, there's no way that I can have a busier week than this one," but then I am always pleasantly surprised that the next week is even busier than the first. I AM SO BUSY and it is the best thing ever.

In our companionship, we have made the goal to invite at least 140 people every week. I'm not sure I've mentioned it before, but in our mission, we are all encouraged to invite at least 20 people per day to meet with the missionaries. While this may not seem like a difficult thing to do, it is a challenge for us who only have half the day in our sector. So Sister Sorena and I have been inviting everyone we come across, even if we are in a hurry to make it to a rendez-vous or catch the train. We have already seen the fruits of our labors, those being more Books of Mormon handed out and us finding people who we wouldn't have thought would be interested.

On Wednesday, we went finding in a cute little town called Igny. While we were there, we knocked on some doors and talked to 60 people. Not a single one of them was interested, but that's not the cool part of this story. 

Soeur Sorena and I had prayed and both felt strongly that we needed to go to Igny. While we were on the train headed there, we talked to all the people we could. One of them was this cute girl named Coralie. When we introduced ourselves and asked if we could sit next to her, she responded that she knew about the Church and already had a Book of Mormon! She went on to tell us that she was at her friend's wedding and had met a member named Sarah. Sarah told Coralie about the Church and the Book of Mormon, and even offered her one on the spot! Coralie took it, along with the phone number for the sister missionaries in Versailles. She had since been wondering if she needed to read the Book of Mormon, but she wasn't sure. When she saw us, it was a sign for her that she needed to read it. 

But the story doesn't end there!! On Sunday, Soeur Sorena was asked to introduce herself during sacrament meeting. She stood at the pulpit and talked about how important it is for members to do missionary work too, and she told the story of how Sarah gave Coralie a Book of Mormon. At the end of the meeting, a woman named Liliane ran up to us and thrust her phone in our hands. On her phone was a picture of Coralie at Liliane's wedding! Suddenly, the big picture clicked in my head. The whole time we had been talking to Coralie, I kept thinking I recognized her from somewhere but couldn't figure out where.  Once Liliane showed us the picture, I realized that the reason I knew Coralie is because she was at the wedding of Liliane and Michel that I went to about 2 months ago! 

It was an amazing story that made me think a lot about how important member missionary work is. I didn't get the chance to talk to Coralie at that wedding, but a member named Sarah did. Because of Sarah, Coralie is now going to read the Book of Mormon. How amazing is that? I am so grateful for her courage and diligence in the work of the Lord. You don't need to have a plaque to be a missionary! 

On Friday, we visited the Valenzuela family. It was amazing and that family is GOLD. There are 6 kids from ages 9 to 18, but they are all best friends. The entire dinner and lesson, not a single person said an unkind word or was impatient with each other. We practice taught the Restoration and the whole family loved it, especially the 18 year old son. We are hoping that our examples inspire him to serve a mission! We invited them to each invite someone to venez et voyez, and they said they will. 

Miracle of the week:

Yesterday, Soeur Sorena and I were walking to our car from the church building. As we approached the street where our car was, Soeur Sorena pointed to a large apartment building and asked if I think any missionaries have ever knocked on doors there. I responded that I didn't know. As we got closer, we saw that the door to the building was WIDE OPEN. That NEVER HAPPENS. We were already so late to our temple shift but we decided to go inside anyway for 2 minutes. We prayed with faith that God would direct us to the door of a family who needed us. The first door we knocked on, nobody answered. Immediately, my heart sank. But then, we knocked on the door right next to it, and a man came to the door. He had no pants on, but that's not important. The miracle was that his name is Oscar Hernandez, and he has a cute little girl named Penelope and a wife, and they are super interested in learning about the Gospel! As we walked out of that apartment building, we were full of joy and gratitude that God had 1. opened the apartment building door for us, and 2. led us to the wonderful Hernandez family. 

Thanks for reading! 

À bientôt,

Soeur Ethington

Us and our roommates, the Versailles Soeurs! (Soeur Amott and Soeur Montalvo)

My cute companion, Soeur Sorena, and I. Yes, my hair is still wet. No, I don't care. 

Zone Conference, last transfer. 

I guess it kinda looks like I dunked my head in the fountain. That's not the case. Darn.