Bounjor Tous!!! Cava bien?
2 weeks ago, my companion
and I were privileged to be the witnesses at little Lorenzas baptism.
She was baptized by her father and at her baptism there were 33 non
members. The stake president told us to call in an extra team of
missionaries. So we had help from the Drummondville Elders to contact
each non member at that baptism. It was a spiritual event. The family
has 4 beautiful little children and they sang ``families can be together
forever`` before the baptism and the spirit was so powerful. All the
non members were there to witness it. In fact, there was more non
members than members. After the baptism, we contacted everyone and I met
the Grandfather and Uncle of little lorenza, and they spoke Italian,
English, Spanish, and French so I got to speak with them in 3 of the
languages I know. It was an awesome conversation. I told them I would
visit them when I move to Montreal
because they live there and its 2 hours away. I will soon send the
Elders over to them because the Uncle really enjoyed the unity in our
church and told me they don't have that in his catholic church.
Anyways... the baptism was great. We got some potentials but all in different cities. We sure have the trust of the members here in
Victoriaville, they really do rely on us for things. Its nice.
We met a man a week back who was an ex-jehova witness. We
had a pretty heated conversation about religion and while we had him
read the intro to the Book Of Mormon he closed it like it was blasphemy
before his very eyes. (he was a very kind guy though) ... as he closed
the book as if though he was going to be sick, we testified to him but
everything bounced right off. Later that night, I thought to myself,
wow... how.... just how. Its like I`m ``throwing my pears before
swines.`` ... Anyways, that experience taught me a good lesson.
So in correlation meeting with the branch president
(because we have no ward mission leader) My companion and I have began
to start the tradition of FATHERS AND SONS here in Victoriaville. We are
making preparations to have a camp-out at the end of this month, and I
am stressing this activity to the members so they can bring their
friends and sons plus fathers. We are starting up great activities for
the members, such as movie night, culture night and etc. Its going well
so far!
Its my 2nd transfer already and by the end of this month
it will be my 3rd. Time is going so fast. But my companion and I are
staying in VICTO! :)
The biggest miracle we have had here thus far is CLAIRE.
CLAIRE is what you call, an ``ETERNI-GATOR``. She has been a
on and off investigator for the past 8 years and her best friends are
Mormon. She has had a baptismal date before and it fell through. None of
her family are members. (2 kids 2 parents) In fact her mother is a
Eternigator as well. Her and her mother. Her father is against the
church, super prideful and catholic. The son follows the fathers
example. They are originally from Haiti. Anyways, one day she texted us
for a lesson. That lesson changed her life forever. As we taught and
talked to her, we decided to give her a new baptismal date. She rejected
it at first, but we said according to what the spirit directed and she
was then ok with it. I was so in tune with the spirit that I said a lot
of bold things to her this day and I made her pray then and there in
front of us, that if she would be baptized on a certain day. She ended
up praying and started crying. I testified to her that this
day would be a day her and her family would remember forever and that
the wait was over
.... This Friday (or Saturday) she will become the ONLY
member in her family and my companion will have the blessing of
baptizing her. Her father and brother refuse to come. But I know she
will be blessed and will be an example to them. She also told us in an
appointment that she wants to serve a mission (in south korea hahaha)
... Her testimony is so strong and even as a non member, in high school
she finished Seminary as a scriptorian. We are so happy. I can`t put it
in words. The ward is wonder how did we do it. We just tell them its not
us, its the Lord. I`m sure the ward thinks we`re big hot shots or
something because of our 3 baptisms together. People are just ready...
ready for the mix Elder Fontaine and I bring to the mission field in
Victoriaville.
So both of the brakes on my bike broke last week and it was soooo
hard to stop. My companion told me to brake by using my back shoe on my
back tire and my shoe got THRASHED. hahahaha...
We tend to get rained on quite a bit... you can never
tell when you will get POURED ON. And since we dont have a car... we are
always biking! Its fun though.... COLD but fun...
oh and we got groceries on bikes... it was quite a sight....
We met with a less active named Guille. We always visit him but this
time we visited him, he told us his convert story and said he saw an
angel and thats what made him be baptized. Crazy stuff. He saw his angel
twice... weird.
I love people who stare at us and forget the light turns green. I also
love people who talk about us behind our backs and say mean stuff. But i
hate being called Jehova witness. The Jehovas here are hardcore, they
take ``tracting`` to a different level. The force themselves upon people
so people fear men in ties and with books ... haha. Its always their
first impression of us. ``La temoigne de Jehova!!!!`` NO! WE`RE THE
MORMONS.
Teaching
English every tuesday is rather fun. I get relate to people here
learning a new language just like me! They`re are so hilarious. One of
my students brought me and my comp. a fruit smoothie last week. She is
so sweet!
Also, the families from France here eat FRENCH CHEESE. Hardcore
moldy stuff and, I can`t eat it. They always joke around trying to give
it to me and im like noooo! I`m lactose intolerant! and my companion is
from france so he helps the members force me to eat it ... ahhhhhh
hahahahaha... its an experience.
The Becquereau family says they will make escargot for me soon... OH MAN.
We
found a new investigator named Bruno. In a nutshell, he let us in, he
was super kind, and he said that THE BOOK OF MORMON WAS THE ANSWER TO
HIS PRAYERS. He believes in some weird stuff though.... so we`ll see
happens with him. We`re excited for him. He said he literally prayed
the week before to have a new set of scriptures because he felt that the
bible didn't contain the fullness of the gospel. PRAY FOR BRUNO! :)
Well, I guess I`ll end this email with some of my personal feelings.
Before
my mission people always told me I was humble. That they always admired
my humility. Well, Being on the mission I have learned that I am not as
humble as people think. Being quiet and obedient does not make one,
``humble``. Not being able to teach people as well as I could in
English, not being able to say what I want to say in my prayers, not
being able to target a persons needs the moment I meet them and ask them
questions they might need to hear at that time in English, not being
able to sound as good as my companion when I know I could do just as
well in MY language.... THAT IS HUMBLING. Praying for the strength to
retrain my pride. Constant prayer with heavenly father to give me the
energy to learn and loosen my tongue... THAT IS HUMBLING. Being on my
mission is really teaching me true, and Christ-like humility. I am so
grateful for all the
trials I have already been through, and I pray I can be more humble.
Think about what you could work on and pray for the strength to achieve
that goal. The Lord will strengthen you. I promise, because I know how
hard it is now. I love it here and I love you all. Keep choosing the
right and until next time where I write you another huge letter.
Elder Castrejon
