"We're gonna survive, you know..."
I said that to Elder Tolman on Wednesday morning. Basically, as fun as organizing zone conferance was (and it really was fun), there were a few moments when everyone was coming at us with their problems at the same time, and we honestly just didn't have answers for them. So in one particularly stressful situation...we just left. Well, we left to go get the new senior couple, but it was good way to give us some calm time. For a little while. And as we were just kind of sitting there with steam coming off of us, I had that thought and said it to Elder Tolman. He smiled.
We're still alive. But it really was a very full week.
Monday was filled with preparing/cleaning for the upcoming visitors. Tuesday, President and Sister Mehr and the assistants showed up, as well as the ten missionaries from Martinique. We got them all sleeping somewhere, somehow. Wednesday was the Zone Conference itself. Assistant Elder Anderson came with me to go pick up our four sisters for the conference, and...the car battery died outside of their appartment. So we got to push start the car with four sisters. Super fun. The Conference itself was super cool. But hold on. Thursday was all of Guadeloupe's interviews, and we actually managed to get some really cool proselyting time in. Also more on that later. Friday, the Monson's (an administrative couple from Trinidad) and the Richmond's (our very own new senior couple!) showed up. So we got them going to their respective places, got everyone somewhere. Saturday was the beginning of our District Conference, which was really cool. I got to translate one talk into english, and I got to translate one other talk into french. Which was super tough. People complimented my french, but I'm sure they didn't understand everything. Sunday was the other part of district conference. Super fun as well. And then, today, we woke up at 4am to go watch the sunrise at Pointe des Chateaux! See the picture.
So, for a little more detail (but not much),
So President came into Zone Conference with the intention of teaching us about the difference between repentance of sin and remission of sin. Really bold stuff. But, he got about five minutes in, and a few questions came up, and we basically spent his entire teaching time giving what he called a "spiritual jam session". Which I found to be a perfect name for it (everyone just shows up with their brain and not much else and we're just like "yeah, let's just make stuff up, ya know?"). It was actually really cool. But one of the things that I really took away from Zone Conference was from Sister Mehr, who talked about repentance. What we focused on was the fact that repentance cannot be complete, or cannot be effective, if it is simply the process by which we stop sinning. God has not given us repentance just as a way to empty ourselves. We need, rather, to focus on how we can replace the wicked things within us light and truth. That is truly the process by which we become "new creatures"(Mosiah 27).
Thursday!!! We went to teach a woman named Fabienne, who we had already taught two times before, and who had come with her two young sons to church theSunday before. We had set a baptismal date with her for the 8th of February. So that night we followed up on the baptismal date, and she told us that it seemed really fast to her (something that we had heard before). So, we asked her if we could make a plan together, to see just what it would take for her to be ready by that date. She ran and grabbed her planner, and we proceeded to write in the dates of all of our rendezvous before her baptism. We were all just very excited. It was a huge blessing for me to see how people are prepared for the gospel; she shared a story about how right at the end of the year she had been going through some really hard times, and that she had started to really pray and ask God for more help and direction in her life. And then, a few days later, we showed up at her door!
Also, the Richmonds are a very kind couple from Tahiti. Very, very polynesian. They had us eat with them Saturday as soon as we went grocery shopping. They basically used half of what we had just bought for them for that one meal. Then, there was Sunday after church, when they invited us to eat again, and cooked just about all of the other half of food for us. So...there goes that. They're just so loving and caring. Also, we had to teach them how to send an email to their children. So...it might take them a while to get on their feet, but they're gonna be super helpful in the long run. We're really happy to have them.
So basically I just spent all my time to write a bigger family email. So sorry for not getting off any personal responses this week, but thank you! I love you!
-Elder Santos
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