Another Article from France

This week was pretty sweet, lot's of fun experiences!

Recently Elder Taylor and I have been making appointments with members so that I can give them a missionary lesson. They are just short 30-60 minute meetings and they are benefiting me SO much, since I haven't had the opportunity to teach, in french, the restoration, plan of salvation, or the gospel of Jesus Christ while I have been in Caen. 

So we visited our Ward mission leader this week on Tuesday and I taught him the restoration. He was super happy to have us over at his house. We could really see how much joy it brought him, since he used to have the missionaries over every single week when his wife was active. His wife and all of his children, except one are inactive and having the missionaries over causes contention between him and his wife, so we usually can't go over. This day she was not home though, so we took advantage of that. 
The gift of tongues was working way hard during that lesson and the spirit in that room was so strong you could almost grab it. The faith of Frere Richard is incredible and I was completely humbled to get to teach him a lesson in his home. The words seemed to flow from my mouth and for the most part of the lesson I did not have to think about what I was going to say, the words just came. Both Frere Richard and Elder Taylor were impressed with my lesson, but I take no credit for it. I know, without a doubt, that it was the Spirit of the Lord allowing me to speak. There is no other way I could have spoken like that.
It was an incredible learning experience for me. As I would finish a gospel truth, Frere Richard would add in some additional information about what I had just taught. Each time that I used a scripture or when I quoted the first vision, Frere Richard would say it all from memory with me. His faith is incredible and I am blown away by how strong his testimony is even after facing terrible opposition against him. He told us some stories about his life and when his wife went inactive. All in all it was an amazing experience to be able to talk with him and give him a lesson, which we all knew was true by the confirming spirit that bore witness to our hearts.

The next day we were able to give another member, Clement, a practice teaching as well. He actually leaves for his mission tomorrow! So we came up with a super sweet idea. We would have Clement teach, with me, the restoration to Elder Taylor. I think it was way helpful for him and for me as well. We went through the lesson and it really tested me on my comprehension and understanding of the lesson in French because I needed to be able to pick up where he would stop and explain any principles he left out. It was a sweet lesson and we were able to critique Clement after the lesson, he was super grateful. 

Friday and Saturday we were on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I started the day with Elder Chang. We went and taught an ami in French. To continue the theme of the week, I saw the opportunity to reteach him the restoration because he did not remember any of it. It was very difficult for this man to comprehend what we were teaching him, so we taught him as simply as possible and by the end of the lesson we could see his potential coming through. It was sweet to see that some french words I had never really used came to my mouth as I spoke and I was able to deliver the message in a more clear manner. 
We switched companions later in the day and I was now out with 

Elder Christensen. We went street contacting for the rest of the night, which was a little tough at first since I have been knocking doors for the past four weeks or so. I would stop a person and deliver my door knocking message, which finishes with "are you interested in our message" and then I would just wait because that's usually where they say no and close the door, but there are no doors when you are street contacting, so the first few contacts were pretty awkward when they would wait for me to continue speaking and I would have a blank mind! I got over that pretty quickly though. 

Elder Christensen did something that I realized was way awesome afterwards. Every person I stopped was my contact. He would let me explain who we are, what our message is, and if the person asked me a question and I looked at Elder Christensen to answer, he wouldn't say anything, which then allowed me to comprehend the question and I would answer. It was WAY useful and I think my french got so much better in just those few hours because it was pushing me to actually use what I know. Elder Christensen also helped me notice how some people would not be interested in what we had to say, but the longer we spoke, the more interested they would become. It was cool to see the spirit working through them in such a short amount of time.

When we got home on Saturday we went to Clements farewell party, which was pretty fun! A lot of the ward was there and we had this open testimony meeting sort of thing, where you could get up and say something nice about Clement. I got up and said a few words along with a bunch of other ward members. Then we played some trivia games about Canada and the scriptures. I had to recite  a scripture from memory in French, which did not go very well... Fun times though. I was able to talk with a lot of members and one funny moment was when I was talking with Nicolas, a member, and the other missionaries and the sisters and my companion stood up and got some more food or something. So Nicolas's wife came over and sat down and asked me if it was Nicolas who was making the sisters laugh. He gave me the death stare and told me to tell the truth, I, naturally, got a mischievous smirk on my face and just nodded my head in her direction. She punched his arm and he pretended to punch me, it was really funny - they're an awesome member family.

Sunday was sweet! We had ward conference, so a bunch of the stake leaders were there and I talked with almost all of them - in french! I passed the sacrament as well and they all commented on how they thought I was a young man because I look way young. I met a lot of cool people though and had a long discussion with the Paris Stake's Patriarch, who is way young as well. He knew all about New York geography, so we had a nice little chat. It was a really nice day and I was able to say the final good-bye to Clement! Was kind of weird to see a missionary leaving! 

Way sweet week, I'm having a way fun time in Caen, especially with the ward members. We have set up a few more practice teaching visits this week, which will all be on the Plan of Salvation. I am excited for the progress that will come from teaching these important truths! Nothing is more important than this Gospel and sharing it with others, and I am humbled and grateful beyond measure to be able to share it with others every day!

Bonne Semaine 

Elder Molinari