~Lyndi-lou and Eddie too...~: The Waters of Warenne

Sunday, June 21, 2015

We had some great things happen this week. We taught some great lessons. We met some new people who are interested in the Church. We went to Paris. We had a baptism.

Today we had our first baptism and the first one actually in Charleville-Mézières for several years. We have been preparing for this baptism for a couple of months now. We found a great place to baptise our friend. In Charleville there is a little lake called Lac du Warenne. We found a quiet little spot to perform the baptism. Ed made a little shelter for changing in.

Setting up the Change Room

Church went very well today. Our High Councilman was there. We had some great talks and a great lesson. We had a musical number. There were 23 people there altogether. The spirit was strong.

Right after our sacrament meeting, which is our last meeting of the day, we started the baptismal program. We had a talk on baptism and had another musical number. Then we headed to the lake.

Our entire branch was there, as well as 4 other friends who are coming to church. There we were in a natural setting performing such a sacred ordinance. We felt very close to our Heavenly Father.

Elder Dayley performed the ordinance and Ed and Elder Rivas acted as witnesses. Everything went very smoothly. The weather cooperated, the location was amazing and the water was warm.

We headed back to the church right away. We finished off our baptismal service with a talk on the Holy Ghost. Ed welcomed our new member into the Branch and presented her with a new Leather-Bound Book of Mormon.

We followed this with a Branch luncheon which was amazing and gave everyone a chance to relax and socialise. What a great way to welcome a new member to the Branch.

As much as the baptism was the highlight of our week it was not all we did this week. We went to Revin with the younger missionaries to teach a family that moved here from Nigeria. They were a great family and were very enthusiastic about the gospel. We also continued teaching other investigators who are approaching their own baptism dates.

On Tuesday we went to our district meeting. We learned about technology and how to safely use it as a missionary tool. The Zone Leaders were there and they have already received I-Pads. They shared with us how to use these in missionary work. This week our younger Elders will receive an I-Pad too at a tri-Zone Conference on Tuesday in Brussels. This is a huge innovation in missionary work and will have a big impact on it. Missionaries will have their own Facebook page and will be able to contact far more people electronically. Of course, with technology comes pitfalls. We are pleased to say that the church and the mission is putting in some excellent safeguards to protect everyone. It is an exciting time for missionary work.

"The Canadians" at our meeting. Us, Elder Powelson from Cardston and Elder Branchflower from Kamloops

Our District with our visiting Zone Leaders

We had a great activity in our Branch on Wednesday night with a message from Florine and a game and snack afterwards. What a great opportunity to get together, learn and have fun.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of going to Paris to spend the afternoon with our Stake President from Canada and his family. We had a lovely afternoon together and a great visit. We met them at the Eiffel Tower, went for lunch, visited the Roman arena in Paris, walked around Notre Dame and the St. Michel area. We had a lovely visit and great conversation. We had the opportunity to share our missionary experiences with them. It was a great afternoon.