God Given

Our private chef

As always, I will start with the most interesting thing I did this week to explain why I am emailing today: Elder Pesnell and I were asked to go to a church owned property in Geneva to help people park for a UN conference on Freedom of Religion, so we did but no one really came in cars, so we parked four cars and then nothing. So the couple that was over it invited us to attend and it was very interesting to learn about the role of freedom of religion in countries and what is happening to make it available for people all over the world. Then we were able to go to the fancy dinner, but, since we were the peasants, we ate while hidden in the back kitchen where the professional chef was. We became good friends with him, Clement, and he gave us all the delicious, gourmet, French food our little stomachs desired. What a fun service activity! 

Breakfast at the park

Anyway, our week was great! I had a lot of cool experiences this week. Our amis are doing well also! We were able to meet with Lorrane a couple times, and when we do it in the mornings we just go to a park. Well, when we showed up, she had a breakfast there for us and the Austins (the senior couple we were teaching with). It was so kind! We taught fasting and told her of the ward fast and prayers for her to understand and receive an answer. She told us that at the same time, that night, she was trying to sleep and couldn't get to sleep at all. She eventually decided to pray and that's when she got her answer! It was so cool to see the results of faithful fasting and prayers! We also went with her to the Volpicellis house, with another member, Celine, a foreign exchange student from Maine who is the same age and height at Lorrane haha. (Were trying to convince Celine to go on a mission) And then Lorrane came to conference and loved it! She said she really liked President Uchtdorfs talk. She also wanted to move her baptismal date to the Sunday of Easter, so that's what it will be now, and since transfers are on Monday, I hope I'm still here! She also gave us breakfast again, and is going great! She was a little frustrated that MacDo was giving away free coffee last week for the first time ever, but she didn't give in! 

We also had a ward activity on Friday, and the ami of the soeurs came. She knows the church is true and just won't talk about baptism. I felt that I should talk to her, so we talked for an hour about baptism and what's holding her back. It wasn't going anywhere until the end, when the spirit prompted me to ask her if she thought God would tell her the truth if she asked. She said yes. I asked her if she had already prayed about baptism. She said no. (This is where the spirit got super strong) I said "Put him to the test" and all she could say was "Bien dit". I know if she really asks she'll get an answer! 

We also went to lunch with this super nice old member Soeur. But she walks very slow and talks very a lot, so she bought us crepes and then we listened to her, but the only problem was that we were done with ours in 2 minutes and she didn't take her last bite until 45 minutes later haha but everyone needs to feel loved, so it was worth It! 

We also were given a referral of an ancien ami who lost contact with the church for a couple months but is now ready to be baptized! His name is Lawson and he's African, and has a sincere desire. We just need to fix a couple things so it may be in a little bit, but I'm excited to help him! 

A cool little story is that I was contacting a man on the bus who spoke English. We were talking about commandments and how following them makes us happy. He said "what commandments has God given you?" So I started saying love others, go to church, etc. And he stopped me to correct himself. He reposed the question, " what commandments has God given you." I felt the spirit put an answer in my mouth and I said "He commanded me to go on a mission." I received yet another confirmation that this is what I am supposed to be doing right now, and that I have been following God's personal commandment to me for a long time now! It was a cool experience. 

I really loved General Conference. I feel comfortable saying that this is the first conference I've ever listened to where it flew by and i was left wanting more! All of the messages, as always, were inspired and I felt the Spirit so strongly as I listened to the Prophet and Apostles of God bear fervent testimony. I loved President Nelsons talk about coming to know Christ and learning of Him. I also really liked Elder Sabins talk and what made it even better was that I was able to meet him a couple of months ago, and he even made a joke about me in front of everyone so I felt a connection there. And of course, President Monsons talk was so amazing and so full of power. I LOVED IT ALL!! We are so lucky to have this opportunity! 

Other than that, we had district Meeting, were able to give a lot of blessings, ate with members and testified of Jesus Christ as every opportunity! I love this gospel and I love my Savior! I have complete faith in Him and His plan for me and each one of us. I can truly say that these past years have been the best of my life! 

Avec amour, 

Elder Hall 

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