THIRTY

Bonjour tout le monde!

Another wonderful week in Rimouski! I don't have a lot of time to write today—I'll do my best!

Monday we had Soirée Familiale (Family Night) with the Lévesque family and Frère Hébert. We gave a lesson about the importance of a testimony and then had everyone write their testimony in a Livre de Mormon (Book of Mormon) to give away. We got the idea after knocking into one of Julie's friends, Isabelle. She knew that Julie was a Mormon and was very nice to let us in to warm up (this was sometime last week I think.) She was pretty set on not having a religious conversation so we thought of what we could do to help motivate Julie to talk about the Church with her. We gave her the special assignment of writing her testimony to Isabelle.

Frère Lévesque, Soeur Lévesque, Julie, Frère Hébert, Elder Ruby, and some kid...

Tuesday we experienced a miracle! Okay, so remember Jean-François, the one who basically told us to get lost? Well remember what I was saying about truth and how it changes people? And remember how I said that I was impressed to leave the Book of Mormon with our card behind? Yeah so... On Tuesday we got a phone call from an "unknown" number. The second I answered it I realized who it was. It was Jean-François calling back to apologize. He told me that he was extremely sorry about what he said about the Book of Mormon and for kicking us out. He told me that he saw it after we left and was super angry. He said that he went to pick it up and felt "this weird air" (that's a direct translation) and wasn't angry anymore. He said that he read until Jacob and decided that he had to do something about it. So he called us and invited us over to talk. He asked us to bring another copy that he wanted to give to his friend. (She has been in a lot of abusive relationships and doesn't trust men anymore so we weren't able to get any info to contact her but she has our number now so we're just waiting for the call!) When we got back to his apartment we noticed that he had cleaned the whole place and had put on a white shirt and shaved! I was so happy! You could see such a difference in his face and his attitude. He had a lot of questions and we had a lot of answers. It was probably one of the best lessons I've ever been in because the Spirit was leading it and all three of us could feel it. It became pretty apparent that we're going to have to go really slow with him because he wants to finish the Book of Mormon before we talk about anything else. He is dyslexic and so he reads really slow (according to him, but he's in Jacob already!) He also doesn't want to pray until he feels like the time is right. We have to be really careful with him because I feel like what happened last time came because of stress from reading aloud. I have a lot of hope and faith for Jean-François! And people say that miracles have stopped!

Normal U-Haul truck?  Look again:

America baby!

Wednesday it snowed almost 2 feet! We were really worried because we had a lesson planned with a less-active that hasn't come to church for 5 years and she lives almost 45 minutes away from Rimouski. We knocked most of the day and didn't really get to talk to anyone, but that's okay! We were able to make it out to Mont-Joli where Debbie lives. We brought Frère Hébert with us. He is so cool! His mannerisms are hilarious. When we got onto the highway we were right behind a snowplow which was a blessing because the highways were almost completely shut down. The lesson went really well. We talked a lot about her early experiences with the church and her testimony. She had a lot of questions about the priesthood which we were able to answer in a way that clicked with her. She still has a very strong testimony about prayer and continues to keep a prayer journal. We decided that we are going to go out and visit her once a week and try to help her come back to church. She even had some computer questions for me after the lesson—go figure!

So much snow!

(I'm short on time!)

Thursday we knocked all day! We met a guy and gave him a copy of the Family Proclamation and he invited us back. (When we went back on Saturday he was busy and told us to come back the next Saturday.)

They make huge hills of snow all over the place.  Huge hills.

A card I made for a lady we met last week.  She was really nice and we talked about genealogy.  ("The Family is like a tree")

On Friday we did our weekly planning and then got knocking! That night we met someone who really opened my eyes. The very first week in Rimouski we were knocking and in between houses we met a lady named Marielle. I'm not sure if I wrote about her or not. She is a Jehovah's Witness and is super nice. Anyways, when she opened the door she recognized us right off the bat and invited us in. We read the Family Proclamation with her. She got stuck on a few parts and it led to a huge conversation about Adam and Eve and I was super worried that we were just about to get into a Bible bash. I let her know that if it turned into that that we were going to leave so she tuned it down a bit and let us talk and explain and we did the same. She really explained their viewpoints on the reason we are here which helped because I've never quite understood some of their basic beliefs. It was getting late and we had to leave but she invited us to an event they're having on Tuesday. When we got home I dove into the scriptures to try to understand a few points better. I turned to Alma 42 and studied it from every angle approaching it wanting to learn and praying for understanding. I wish I could tell you everything that opened up to me as I read but here is not the place nor the time. I have a great appreciation for the Book of Mormon and the real spiritual power that lies within it. I urge you to seek for an understanding of the scriptures and of the Plan of Salvation.

Takin' out the trash

I decided to crack out the ol' typewriter and type out my entire planner for the month.  We'll see how that goes...

Saturday morning we drove out to the St-Jacque family's house for breakfast and a lesson. They are so nice! They were the first people we met when we were driving up to Rimouski. I am dying that I didn't take a picture with them! They are such a nice little family! The rest of the day we knocked and knocked! We got a call from Mathieu and he invited us over to study the scriptures with him. He had some questions before receiving the Aaronic Priesthood and wanted to make sure everything was good. He is such a cool guy. His kids are wild, his wife is too, and he's just trying to do the best he can with what he has. He's a good friend of ours.

Driving out to the St-Jaques

Sunday we had church and President Dupont was there! We extended all of the calls and then got the branch a little more organized. Mathieu received the Priesthood and was so excited! We also got the branch working on an Easter party for this Saturday. We knocked the rest of the day and passed by some less-actives who weren't home.

Okay, that's all the time I have!

Avec amour,

Elder Ellis