This past week seemed really long! We had a lot of planning we did for the
weekend that we focused on throughout the week.
The week was another battle. With one last transfer on the horizon, I'm
taking stock of our current arsenal and setting a battle plan in motion for this
last push. So we've hoping and praying and working to find those steady amis
that will be ready to go next transfer.
This week had some emotional ups and downs.
Jean Valere, who came to church on Sunday lost his phone and we lost
contact with him. We had a rdv fixed for Thursday with him, but because he lost
his phone when we called him it went straight to voicemail and we assumed he had
already left for Togo (which he had told us he was planning on doing this week).
So we did not show up to our rdv. We would later find a note in the institute
center from him telling us that he had lost his phone and had come to our rdv
and had not found us there, and that he would be leaving for Togo and hoped to
find us again in the future. And thus is the tragic loss of Jean Valere, for we
have no way to contact him now, he is lost. major bummer. I expect him to return
in miraculous fashion midway through next transfer.
We taught two new people this week who both fixed follow up rdvs. One is a
french lady named Eva who was too thrilled to meet two Americans who believed in
Jesus Christ
The second is Mavis a Nigerian man who had known the missionaries nearly a
year ago, who called us randomly to fix a rdv with us. He is in a retab clinic
for a recent accident and leg surgery he had. We fixed a baptismal date with him
for June 27th in our second rdv! very exciting. However his current residence is
not in our ward boundaries, but where he lived before was so we'll have to see
whether or not we have to pass him to another equipe.
Other miracles occurred this week. On Tuesday we met a really cool Dutch
kid named marco, who is really interested by what we do but because we were in a
rush we weren't able to get any contact any information. But we would go on to
catch him on Friday at a fluke time as he was leaving a tram and we were getting
on it and we got his number to see him another time.
Saturday we had a lesson scheduled with a man from the Congo named Jules.
He wasn't answering his phone either but having learned our lesson earlier we
went to the rdv anyways. We had his street address but not his apt number. By a
miracle we made our way into the building and guessed which apt was his. (his
name wasn't on the mailbox, we just chose the two names that seemed the most
Congoan and rung both of them). He wasn't even there, but family members he is
staying with were. In fact it was this huge family from Angola and Congo, maybe
8 little boys running around making lots of noise, but we met the Grandma and a
brother in law to Jules. They let us in gladly and we sat for a little bit
waiting for him to return home before deciding to leave our number. Then the
brother in law (Sebastien) had some questions about who we were. He loved it and
we whipped our super amazing ipads and shared easter video about Christ Because
He lives, with him and the whole family (all 8 little boys-it was so funny).
They were just in awe and Sebastien was super touched and gave us his number to
pass to other Elders in the city where he lives so that he can stay in contact
with us. Really cool!
Anyways miracles happen still, the problem being that they seem to be
happening for people that live outside our ward sector haha. But thats
ok.
I'm really excited for these next 7 weeks. Even though there are downs to
this work, I always find myself saying, I love being a missionary. There is no
work more thrilling than this!
I love you!
Elder Montgomery
