Soeur Alyssa Trotter: Simply Put...It was Simply Amazing (Week #51)

Date: November 14, 2016

Location: #5 Orléans

Companion: Soeur Robertson

Well My Friends,

This week was, simply put, one for the books. It never ceases to amaze me, who God puts in our path, and when. He takes the most inconvenient circumstances, and turns them into something you remember for the rest of your life. This week, we were blessed with a man named Simplice.

This week, me and Souer Robertson were given the task of bringing the main meal to district meeting, and for one reason or another, we decided to make soup. Well, to feed 8 people, you need a ton of soup. And not thinking before hand, soup is a little hard to transport when you don't have a vehicle. So here we are, walking though the train station, the streets, on trams and buses, with giant pots of soup. Haha on the bright side people kept telling us in smelled good, so at least we are good in the kitchen.

So, as we get on the tram, I notice a middle aged African man, just staring at us. And at first glance, I could've sworn this man was trying to figure out why the heck we were holding a bunch of soup. And I didn't give it a ton of thought. But something pushed me to look at him again, and I could see his lips moving, trying to make out the words on my plaque! Totally not what I thought! So I knew I needed to say something. And as the words came out of my mouth, "Have you ever seen plaques like these before," He decided to speak up at the same time, and He asked, "What are you guys doing here in France? What does that say on your plaque?" Well, my heart started to beat a little faster because I just felt something within me telling me that something was special about this man. So, he asked for our number, and of course we wanted His, and we went our separate ways.

Flash forward 3 hours. Our phone rings, and who is it? It couldn't be the man from the tram! People never call us first! But he DID! And he wanted to meet. The only time that we could do it was that same night, and he agreed to meet us at the church, so that we could show him around and have a lesson. And HE CAME! Words can't explain, and I can't remember everything that happened that night, but this man is something else. He comes from Congo, and he explained that when he was in Africa, he used to always see our church, and he never knew what it meant when he saw "Latter Day Saints." And He always wanted to ask, but he never did! And the years went on, and he found himself in France. And he started on a search, to know which church was the Church of Christ, and would pray and pray and pray to know. And he said that he has never stopped looking. And He said that when he saw us get on the metro, with those big bowls of soup, he didn't know why, but he felt something inside of him pushing to talk to us. And I would like to believe that it was that same person pushing me to talk to him. And I think it pushed us at the exact same time. I mean we interrupted each other!

And He explained that He felt something tell him that he had found something good, something from God. I don't have the words, but the look on his face when we told him that there is another book that testifies of Christ, that there is the true church of Christ restored to the earth, it was something I can't explain. He was so happy! And He kept saying, "Teach me more, please give me more." And we had a member with us who was just dumbstruck. Haha. And we told Him that we

had to go, that it was getting late. And He looked at us and said "You have to explain this. I have to read this book. I have to know. What do I have to do to know. This is too important." So we told Him the Book was his, we testified of its power, and Simplice was seriously so happy. I have never seen anything like it. It was a changing moment for me. To see someone get that excited about that book. It was a reminder of how much of a blessing the Book of Mormon actually is. He flipped through all the pages, saying "These are different names than the ones I know! Are these other prophets? There were other ones? How do no other churches have this? This is too important!" And we couldn't get him to put the book down!

Basically, we ended up practically running out of the church because we were going to be late. And when we got to the tram, we ended up having to wait for while for the next one to come. And Simplice came walking up a few minutes later, and we started talking again. And somehow baptism came up. And I told him that there was a baptismal service the 17th of December, and before I could explain, he said, "What do I have to do to be baptized on December 17th? What do I have to know? How do I prepare?"

Since that night, Simplice came to church. He loved it. He kept talking about this church and how he loved that He feels like it is a big family. And how he knows it is from God. He even signed up on the ward list to bring drinks to the ward party and he came to church an hour early to be in the choir.

I learned a lot this week. But mostly I learned of the important of being anxiously engaged in the gospel. I think that sometimes, because the gospel is such a constant in my life, I forget just how exciting it is. How refreshing it is, how true it is. And what that actually is. If the Book of Mormon is true, this church is the Kingdom of God on the earth today! It IS Christ's church, He IS the center of it, and it is led by a living prophet. We have a book that testifies of Him, that is given to us to lead and to guide us. That really is incredible.

I am super excited for what is going to happen this week, in these coming months for all of our amis, but in this moment, Simplice. He has something in him, I can feel it. It isn't going to be an easy road for Him, that is certain. But he knows what he is looking for, and if he has an open heart, he will find it. I think that he already has, and from the sounds of things, he knows it.

Never forget just how happy and exciting the gospel is. It changed everything, it changes us, it changes our lives for the eternities. We have something grand, something bigger than we can comprehend. Remember the feeling you had, when you first knew the Book of Mormon was true. The joy that fills our hearts. And if you haven't yet, I invite you to read it. There is power in those words. A power that doesn't come from how well we explain things, or from how much we study. It simply comes from God. He inspires us and He fills our hearts. And we can know it is true.

God really blessed me this week. I learned a lot about the importance of listening to our hearts. When we know something is good, whether it is a book, or a feeling we get to talk to someone on a tram, we have to do it. Because doing so could change just about everything, for our own lives, or for the person we talk with. When we follow what we feel, we are led to people, we are led to miracles. God never ceases to amaze me. This mission is insane. But it is something I would never take back. Ever. It has changed my life.

I love you all :) I am having so much fun and I am working really hard.

Soeur Trotter