Members building the Kingdom...

Salute à tous et à toutes ! 

Comment ça va ? 

On a eu UN BAPTÊME !!!!!!!!! 

That's right !!! Oresti was baptized!!!!!!! Oh my gosh it was one of the most stressful/ amazing experiences I've had on my mission. 

The service was so wonderful and the entire ward was there to soutenir (support). I will give more details in later paragraphs. 

Some highlights of the week:

 - I started driving !!!!!!! No !!!!!! I'm very upset about this. If there is one thing I have learned thus far on my mission, it's that I love looking out the window.. It's one of my favorite 'me things' to do. And now that I have to drive I can't look at beautiful France, so that's a bust. But on the other hand I am super good at whipping around round-abouts. Don't worry everyone we are in good hands, Soeur Dunkley is behind the wheel. 

- we had a lesson with this women named Kaheejhad, she seemed really nice. But when entering into her vous, her husband was NOT at all happy to see us. We were in a very uncomfortable spot. Then for the rest of the lesson, basically we sat there for 45 minutes while he told us how wrong our message was... haha. We tried numerous times to leave but he wanted to make sure we 'understood'. Well afterwards we were super down, o we decided to do some finding. I was telling my friend earlier that one of the things that I have to do to relieve stress is actually talking to random people about the gospel. Which is what were supposed to do so that's good. En tout cas, we left to find and we found these two amazing people who excepted a BOM and agreed to meet with us again. It was a shock that that occurred back to back here in Cholet, given that is it a smaller, more difficult Ville. We were very blessed indeed. 

- I RECEIVED THE BEST PACKAGE IN THE WORLD FROM MA MÈRE. Oh My goodness gracious. I was in tears. We come home after a long day of planning the baptism with members and such, and I find this technicolored box with my name all over it. Inside was a beautiful yellow dress, which I wore for the baptism, dairy free cookies and protein bars, wash cloths, and at least 7 FOLDERS FULL OF FHE ACTIVITIES. HOLY MOLY. My comp and I sat and planned out our rdvs for the next following week with how we will use them. Oh my gosh I am so grateful. Thank you mom and family !!! You're amazing !!! 

- lastly THE BAPTISM. 

Okay Sunday, super long day. Met at the church at 8h00 to practice our song, "souviens-toi" its a french song. Definitely recommend looking up the lyrics. Talks about the importance of remembering why we came to this earth. 

Anyways, we had a surprise ami (friend) show up at church, his name is José! What a timid man !! Super cute though. It was funny to see him because his flannel was completely unbuttoned... We had to ask him to button it up and he said, malheureusement, il n'y a pas les boutons ! So We just asked him to keep it covered. 

After church, we had a ward repas or meal. The members wanted to do this so that Oresti would have food right before his baptism, because, being an 18 year old boy, you're always hungry. How sweet is that?? The entire ward got together. Truly one big family. 

Afterwards we had the service. It was so good. Oresti told us "je ressent fière " or I am proud. And you know what? He should be !! He took that leap of faith !! I am proud of him. 

- another highlight is that we are bombarded with members wanting to invite us over. We had a goal last week to make daily member contact, however now this week We do not need that, given they are the ones contacting us. It is actually quite overwhelming. They've set up a schedule for the ward to make dairy free meals for us. I have honestly never felt so loved !! Wow !! 

With that said, i might have mentioned this before, but this ward is truly building the kingdom of Zion. When I look at everyone I see a family, building upon each other, brick by brick. C'est magnifique !!!! 

As far as my title for my email, one thing that I have taken up is painting with water colors. Whenever I am stressed from the day, right before bed I just start painting. SO basically I have been doing a lot of that given the baptism.

I am grateful to be here in Cholet. I am seeing my purpose as a missionary being fulfilled piece by piece. God has given us so many miracles. Please pay attention, he wants to hear from you. He wants your love. Devote your time to him and you will be blessed !!!!! 

I love you all !! Read the scriptures every day !! They are a literal guide book. 

Soeur Dunkley  Memv