Soeur Ethington | Week 34

This has been an incredible week. 

We started out our week with a training from Aaron Hall, who is in charge of online teaching through mormon.org. We learned so much and were able to set some incredible goals for our companionship. We have already seen a lot of miracles through online teaching since we've set these goals, which shows that God blesses us with miracles when we make goals that stretch us. 

Wednesday was Halloween, which was pretty anti-climactic here in France. I was expecting decorations and music and parties with little kids trick-or-treating, but once it got around 8 PM I realized that we had not seen anyone in costume all day-- and we had even been in downtown Paris that morning! I was a little disappointed until suddenly, the VC doors opened and a group of little kids marched into the center, all dressed in costumes! It was so adorable and such a fun surprise. We didn't have candy, but we DID have pictures of Jesus that we gave to them!

On Thursday night, we had another rendez-vous with our incredible amie Janet. She is so amazing and willing to accept the Gospel that commandments like the Word of Wisdom or the Law of Chastity or Tithing are like baby food to her. We ended up teaching a lot more than we'd expected because she was so ready and willing to accept everything we taught! It was a very powerful lesson and the Spirit was THERE. We set her baptismal date for November 24 and she had tears in her eyes as she accepted it. Janet is such a blessing to us and I am grateful every day that Heavenly Father has given me the privilege of teaching her the Gospel.

We had a wonderful lesson with our new amie Evelyne! We taught her with a member of our ward, Soeur Tchan, and it ended up being a phenomenal lesson. She accepted to read the Book of Mormon and is going to pray to know if it's true. I remember thinking during that lesson how GRATEFUL I am to be a missionary and share so much joy with others. I am going to miss that a lot one day. 

Last night, we had FHE with our cute amies Antonina and Soriana. We went to their apartment and taught them l'Evangile de Jesus-Christ, which was such a fun experience because Soeur Angelique (the mom of Antonina, who was a pioneer for the church in Congo Brazzaville) was there for the lesson. Afterward, we all drank herbal tea and ate African beignets as we worked on their baptismal calendars (they're being baptized the 1st of December). If it weren't for my mission, I would never have met these beautiful people! 

This week was amazing and such a blessing in a lot of ways, but it was also really hard in other ways. We got a text last night from Waldi, the mother of Andrea and Thiago, saying that her husband no longer wants them to learn the Gospel and that we can't teach them anymore. We were really heartbroken. We got another hard blow this morning when Janet called us and told us that her infant granddaughter is in the hospital and is very sick, so Janet wants to postpone our lessons for a month until she can sort everything out. The reason I bring this up is because it is proof that the adversary is working really hard to stop Janet from being baptized. Everything in her life was going fine until the day she met us. Now, she's having financial problems, family problems, and her granddaughter is very sick. I know that all these things didn't just show up in her life by coincidence, and I have a strong feeling that it's because Satan saw good things happening in her life and wanted to stop them. I guess it's a good thing that God is stronger than anything Satan can throw at her. Sister Ackroyd and I spent our morning inside the temple where we meditated and received a lot of revelation as to how we can exercise faith to see miracles in Janet's situation. I am grateful for trials and have the faith that God is acutely aware of the situation and that good will prevail over evil. 

I appreciate all the love and support, as always. Thank you for those of you who sent me emails this week, I always appreciate hearing from you! Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. 

A bientôt, 

S. Ethington

The cat that lives by the temple. He always shows up to cheer me up right when
I am having a hard time! Tender mercy. 

Soeur Ackroyd and I inside the Visitor's Center

Betcha haven't seen the VC's stained glass window at night now, have ya? 

Family home evening! Antonina is on the far right, Soriana is beside me,
and S. Angelique and Edna are there too. 

We went on a Leader Price soup diet for a whole week and it changed me. That stuff is so good. 

Morning view from our apartment!

We all went to the temple for P-Day today