Brandonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!! My friend, it was your BIRTHDAY THIS LAST WEEK HOLYY COWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!! Man, Monday afternoon last week, we got home and I looked at my calender... ah shoot it's Brandon,s birthday on Saturday. Brandon you're a stud. I love Brandon because he is the coolest. I don't know what inticed such a nice man to join our family, but hey, we'll take him! Thanks for being such a great example. Keep up the hard work you big 26 year old!
Oh, and happy anniversary to mom and dad!
Hey, Dallin, what do you REALLY think about missions? I don't think your letter home was clear enough (EDITOR'S NOTE: DALLIN'S ENTIRE LETTER LAST WEEK WAS HIS DISAPPOINTMENT IN JABARI PARKER NOT SERVING A MISSION).
So. We had a great week! As you can imagine. We had a zone meeting in Quebec on Tuesday, which was awesome, and also got to have interviews with President Patrick. What a great man. We talked about the goals for the branch, and what we can do. The Zone meeting was great, where we talked about how to use members in lessons, dress standards (hah) and our commitment to the Lord.
Coming back to Rimouski, we stopped in Riviere-du-Loup and visited a less active brother, Frère Breton. The first time we visited him about 3 months ago, it was the first time in 10+ years, and wow he was just sunk deep in questions and doubts and these false ideas he's created to make it feel better. And it was great to see that this time was better, but he was still pretty deep down. So, I got to share with him my feelings about all those ideas, and then talk about the Book of Mormon. I don't know how to describe that lesson... But it was great to see that he's open enough to at least realize what's true is true and makes sense, and when other things don't. He said he wants to come some day to Rimouski to see us at church, which was a shock! So we'll pray that he does.
We visited our friends this week, Sister Lafortune, Sister Bujold, Frère D'Amours, Steeve Bourgoin, Philippe Bourgoin. We tried to reach concerns that they have, ranging from being offended by another member, being depressed about health problems, not really understanding what it means to prepare for the priesthood, and a long history of bad feelings towards the church due to a mean ex-wife. Whew! But I look back over the week, and no one is DRASTICALLY or magically changed, but that's okay. We tried our best to teach true doctrine, and when that doesn't work, just show true love. And it's very rare that that doesn't have an effect on people, even if small. It must be a lesson I am to learn here, which is great.
Due to the Easter weekend, a lot of active members were absent at church! So we were 8 total yesterday. The Fourtinas couldn't come up, and neither did the Levesques, the Duponts, the Leblonds, Chantale Plourde, and some others. But church was absolutely wonderful. Even if Elder Smith and I gave the talks and then I taught a combined priesthood and relief society lesson since the sisters didn't have any one to teach them hah. What valiant saints they are, coming to church and learning and growing together, even with only 6 'members' and 2 of them had to go after the 2nd hour. Miracle - Sister Bujold drove one hour out of her way to go pick up Sister Woods (who is slowly loosing her battle with cancer) to bring her to church. What a wonderful act of love for a fellow sister in the branch!
Easter was great, with church, a couple hours of walking to contact and pass by friends (Elder Murphy - Dominican Republic style), and then a dinner at Sister Bujold's home, with Sister Lafortune and her husband Roland, and Frère Hébert. What great friends.
Love to you all! I'm grateful for what Christ did those many years ago, which gives us the faith, hope, and love for everyone. Have a great week!
Love
Elder Murphy
No comments:
Post a Comment