Little Miracles

Hey everyone-

I could say that these past few weeks have bad, we've been having only a few lessons here and there, and I just had my lowest stats for the week on my mission, but it's good that that doesn't determine success. We have seen a few cool things recently. A few little stories that I hope will help you with whatever situation you're in.

A few weeks ago we had a reference for this guy, and set up our first lesson where we found out he was a protestant deacon. He said straight up that he wasn't going to change religions (we'll see about that) but he wanted to talk about God. This week we had the first real discussion with him and we talked about the Plan of Salvation a little bit. He started by asking a lot of questions, trying to stump us a little. He said that he was asking these questions to help us prepare for the things people would throw at us. He didn't think we were that bright, or knew the bible that well, but he was a little surprised when we answered all of his questions, or when we showed him a verse that showed that we lived before this life, even though he didn't believe in that.

When we talked about after this life, we used 1 cor 15 and talked about the Kingdoms of Glory. He was very surprised that there were scriptures to prove what we were talking about, and said that he would reread and study that chapter afterwards. I think that was when he started to realize that we knew what we were talking about. We also talked about mercy and justice and I asked him what his thoughts were on that. He thought for a while, and then said that he thought it was mostly mercy that would let us go to heaven. He then asked my opinion and I shared the story of the farmer who borrows money. He signs a contract that if he didn't repay in time, he would have to go to prison. Well, after the time is up, this farmer hasn't gotten enough money from his crops to repay the man. He must go to prison. But another man comes in and pays off the debt for the farmer. Now the farmer owes this man everything. The man says that it will be hard to repay, but it will be possible. So we talked about how in this story we are like the farmer. We can't enter into God's Kingdom, unless Jesus is there to pay for our sins. Thanks to Him, through hard work and repentance, we can receive mercy and God can have justice.

When we told this story, you could see him being enlightened and gain understanding of Christ's Atonement. That was really cool. At the beginning of the lesson he didn't really want to learn, but by the end he felt the spirit testify that what we said was true, and he accepted it. I'm sharing this story not to talk about how good I am or how much of the bible I know, because that's not true. Je me vanterai de mon Dieu, car avec sa force je peut tout faire. Looking back on this experience, we talked about a lot of different things and I'm surprised at how I answered them.  It's definitely the spirit working through us!

We also have an investigator who is Catholic, but he wants to get baptised. However, he wants to get divorced from his new convert wife before he does. We've tried to talk about eternal marriage, but he wasn't interested, as he wanted to get divorced. Then, yesterday, he came to church. Normally he goes on the other side of Tahiti, but he felt like he should come to our chapelle that day. It was then that we found some good member integrators for him, we talked a lot, and invited him to a Fireside that night. At the fireside, they talked about eternal marriage. He was really interested, and want's to learn more. If he had spent the day on the other side of Tahiti, we wouldn't have been able to invite him to the Fireside, and he wouldn't have learned about eternal marriage. I just love to have those little miracles here and there.

Well,  those are a few cool stories. God is really there to help His children. He loves us so much. I know that there is always a way to get though our difficulties and there are blessings hiding behind each trial. Faaitoito everyone! Bonne semaine!

Elder Lewis