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July 25 - Week 4(10) - le diarrhea qui vient directement d'enfer

This week we had a "finding day" (all the missionaries in the district go to one city and contact it to death) in Compiegne. The problem is, is that our trains were late, so we ended up having a solid 1 hour and 45 minutes of actual work in Compiegne. We also had exchanges in Auxerre with the district leader, and that was cool. 

I'm going to be straight up, this week was hard and frustrating. We were rarely in Troyes, and I felt that a lot of time was wasted. I also feel like there is such an extreme emphasis on contacting and knocking on doors, but no one talks about other ways to serve people and help the ward (I asked the DL if anyone had started a class to study the scriptures during the week to bring members and people learning about the church together, and he had never heard of anyone doing that------it's in Preach my Gospel!!....!!!!!! We're starting a class like that this week in Troyes, I hope it goes well. I'm not saying we shouldn't talk to people on the street, but there's more than one way to do this stuff. I'm excited to talk about my feelings with President Sorenson this week at zone conference, to hear what he says about it, because multiple apostles have said that the days of knocking on doors are over, and yet our main focus seems to be contacting and knocking on doors.

I also got pretty sick this week. Diarrhea and fever for a good 3 days (during the night I got up probably every 45 minutes to visit my new best friend, la toilette), and then plenty of aftershocks. I actually called the mission nurse because I was worried about it, but we're pretty sure it's just a bug and it'll pass. I'm feeling better now. I probably should have taken a day to sleep, but we had stuff going on, so we just powered through. I'm sorry, my emails can be negative and un-missionary-like. I was very close to deleting the frustration and keeping it Power-Puff-Disney like they tell us to, but I'm frustrated because I care about the work and because I care about the gospel. I'm curious to see how this first zone conference goes, because as of now, I feel that the missionaries lack direction and planning skills. We were lucky to have a member returned missionary meet with us for 3 hours and show us the importance of planning and working with members and finding creative ways to serve and spend time, I haven't seen that anywhere else yet. I know I'm still really knew, so maybe I'm talking too soon. The other missionaries have a lot of faith and work very hard and they're great examples to me of diligence and working hard.

Frustrations aside, we had some cool miracles this week. A couple weeks ago we met with a member who loves the gospel and the scriptures, but hasn't been to church in years. We encouraged him to come back, and felt prompted to tell him that his testimony could be a strength to other members of the ward. And voila, he came to church on Sunday, after who knows how many years, and several members of the ward talked to him and welcomed him warmly. That was a miracle. 

We also met with JP, who was referred to us by a member in the ward, Cecilia. I don't think I've met anyone so sincere before. He's quite the guy, but he felt that God doesn't care about him, and that his sins and things in his past were too much for God to forgive. We've met with him twice, with Cecillia, and they have been very spiritual meetings where we talk about God's perfect love for us, and His desire and ability to forgive us of anything and everything. JP has had experiences during the week when he's felt guided by God, and you can already start to see the change in him as he realises that he doesn't have to hold on to the burdens of the past. 

This next week we only have 3 days (one of those being P-day today) in Troyes, due to a finding day in Auxerre, legality in Paris, and Zone conference in Paris, so we'll be masters of the train and bus system in this area by the end of the week.

The pictures are from finding day in Compiegne, and a cathedral in Auxerre. I forgot my tag when we went to Compienge, so I was another Elder Galvan for the day.



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