Some Special People

  Since arriving we have met some individuals who have faith-promoting life stories.  The first week here, we met Dianne.  She is confined to a wheelchair (one of those motorized ones!) as she is paralyzed.  I wrote earlier about her strong Quebecois accent, although she can speak English.  We go to her apartment each week for a Family Home Evening of sorts; mostly we sing a hymn, and then the single man who also attends reads a chapter or two of the Book of Mormon.  Dianne is an inspiration to us--her positive attitude is reflected every time we see her.  She doesn't have much, materially, and is certainly restricted physically, but spiritually she is immeasurably wealthy. She is happy to be alive, and she makes us appreciative for all we have been blessed with and reminded that we need to express our gratitude continually.
    Another lady we have come to know is Gisele.  Her story of how the missionaries found her demonstrates how Heavenly Father truly knows His children.  As a child, Gisele was drawn to religion and carried her Bible with her constantly.  She told us she had always believed in God, and was devout in her Catholicism.  However, as an adult, her husband was abusive and she felt there was no way to survive except to divorce him.  Of course,  the Catholic Church does not accept divorce, and Gisele felt ostracized from the church.  One day she was praying to God to send someone to help her. There was a knock on her door.  Voila! Two missionaries asked if there was a man there--they had talked him earlier and he had told them to come to this apartment. At the time, Gisele was living in a garage apartment, behind a house, not seen from the street, and with no number on it.  Gisele knew no one of that description, but she asked them about what they were doing and invited them in.  They couldn't go in but they gave her a pamphlet to read.  She read it all that afternoon, and saw references to an "Alma".  She called the missionaries and asked them who this was, and they said he was a prophet in a book of scripture they had.  She told them she needed that book!  They returned with a member, and when they gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon she told them she knew it was true before she opened it. By the way, the Elders never saw the man again.  She was baptized in 2008, but due to some very serious health problems, she has slipped away a few times.  We found her name on the less-active list and went  to her apartment the first week we were here. We left a card at her door when she didn't answer.  When we called her later, she asked that we come to see her. We are now teaching her every week and she told us she would like to get to the temple before we finish our mission.  We are hopeful that we can accompany her.  Her health is declining, so time is not on our side. Each week we take her home at some point during the 3-hour block when she can't stay any longer because of the pain. The first night we visited her, she looked me in the eye and told me that I was on my mission so that I could help her.  It was a confirmation to me that I needed then.
   There is another lady I want to write about, and her story is just beginning.  She came to church today and stayed for the full three hours.  She first saw missionaries in Quebec City awhile ago.  She and her husband were eating at a MacDonald's and she saw two young men in white shirts and ties. One of them got his food and sat at a table, then waited until the other sat down before he started to eat. She was amazed at his politeness--young people today don't do that.  She spoke to them, told them she wanted to know more,  and they took her name and sent missionaries to her here.  She has had just two lessons, but today at church, after Relief Society, I gave her one of our missionary cards with our name and number.  She said, "Oh, does this mean you will be my visiting sister?  Today we talked about them and I would really like to be assigned one."  I had missed most of the RS lesson to take Gisele home, but I gather the lesson was on some aspect of visiting teaching.  This is what we would call "a golden investigator" !  (And just so no one will surmise that my French has progressed miraculously, let me add that this woman speaks fluent French, English, and Spanish).  We are going with the Elders later this week to teach her again.
   There are others to write about, but I will leave those for another time.  Missions are great.