BIG news of the week! The baptism and confirmation for Holly was successful! I'll get to that in a moment though, I did a lot of stuff this week.
Alright on Wednesday we went into Paris for our exchanges with the Zone Leaders, Elders Christensen and Chang. I taught a lesson with Elder Christensen first and it went pretty well! I was really trying to focus and listen to the spirit and be able to understand. As I tried and focused on this man, I stopped worrying about what to say. I did make it a little too complex when I spoke but by the end I was feeling the spirit and understood what he was saying. As he spoke I felt prompted to ask him that if he prayed right now and had the faith, did he think God would give him the answer to if the Book of Mormon was true. He said he had the faith, so we all knelt down and he offered a prayer. The room filled with the spirit and the truthfulness of this Gospel was again confirmed to me. As he prayed I said my own silent prayer that he would receive an answer to his question. He finished his prayer and we knelt in silence for a few minutes. The spirit was so strong and when he stood up, he said that he could feel the presence of the Lord, he could feel his spirit. It was a really cool moment and he committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon every night. It was a great testament of the Lord truly directing and being a part of His work.
After the lesson we went and did some contacting. We weren't having that much success, so I made the comment that the grass is always greener on the other side - so we switched to the other side of the sidewalk. We ran into this woman from New Zealand, who was super cool! She spoke very officially and proper and told us how she is a devout Christian and doesn't need the Book of Mormon. She kept talking with us though because she was very impressed that two young men were out trying to spread the Gospel of Christ. She made the comment that she would like her two daughters to marry "fine young men like us," then she added that one is already married and the other is engaged - darn! So we kept talking to her and Elder Christensen asked her a killer question, "Why are there so many churches?" She didn't know the answer, so we explained the restoration and then asked if we could pray with her. Elder Christensen gave a really beautiful prayer and asked that the woman's heart be softened. After the prayer ended she was very touched and accepted the Book of Mormon because she was so impressed by us! Super cool experience, the hand of the Lord was there. Funny moment in the contact, Elder Christensen was pointing his finger at her and she scolded him for pointing because it's rude.
I'll just skip to the next day when I went on an exchange with a brand new, transfer one, missionary all by myself. WE HAD SUCH A FUN TIME! He has had a rough time during his training, so he was really eager to get out and do some contacting because he hasn't had the opportunity to do it yet. So we went right to work and began contacting. To my amazement, I was given the ability to understand the French as it was spoken and the words were given to me to speak. The hand of the Lord was there as we went about his business. We may have messed up the numbers we got, but we still had fun. We also went and gave a blessing in French and the words were again given to me to speak. I wasn't nervous because I knew the Lord would be with me. The imperfections of man will never hinder the work of the Lord.
The next morning we went contacting again and had a cool experience. We handed out his Book of Mormon and wanted to hand mine out as well, so we went about trying to do that. We ran into a woman who said she didn't have enough time to talk with, but right before we were about to go back to the apartment we decided to go down a side street. Well there was nobody on the street, so we knocked a few houses - no luck. Then we see someone walking from the other end of the street and sure enough it was the woman we had contacted earlier! She walked up to us and asked who we were. again the words were given to me to understand and speak. She asked us about our church and said she wanted to go to one of our meetings. So we gave her a card and then I gave her a Book of Mormon! It was a tender mercy and another testiment to me of the Hand of the Lord in His work.
I can honestly say, and it might be a little sad, but after these two exchanges and all of these tender mercies - I really felt like a missionary for the first time. I was giving it my all and I could see the Lord directing myself and my companion to where we needed to be.
So on Saturday Holly was baptized. Her father did the baptism and it went great...almost. I was a witness and because of my more quiet nature, I didn't say anything when he said the words to the baptism wrong. So everyone thought the baptism was good and I did too because the other witness hadn't said anything either. But then I started thinking about it and got worried, so we called the Mission president to ask his opinion and he said we should probably redo it, just to be safe. So we did a secret baptism while everyone was eating and redid it. It's all good now though! I learned a valuable lesson that night. If someone's salvation is on the line - SPEAK UP! It was a very happy occasion for Holly and her family. It was great to see her love for the Lord manifested in this covenant with her God. On Sunday I was privileged to stand in the circle as she was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and receive the Holy Ghost. The spirit was so strong in circle and I felt an overwhelming feeling burning in my bosom. It was a great day. I'm happy for them.
It's been a long week, but I have been surviving. As a missionary you experience the world differently and that is a blessing. I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else, but it is a great blessing to try and help others become more like their Father in Heaven. Hard times still come though, not everyday is perfect and the hard times really seem to mold you into the person you are trying to become. I'm learning a lot right now, I know it's for my benefit, my on the job training. When the natural man wants to turn in, you should turn out because that is what Christ would do. So I am trying to turn out and love my neighbor.
Thanks for reading my weekly's, I hope that you each are able to get something out of them. I pray for you all each night, for your well being and success in all you do. I love you all very much! Keep up the good work and always put your trust in the Lord and turn out to help others.
-Elder Molinari
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