Work Progressing in Epinal

Bonjour à tous,

Well my French has been getting a lot better recently. I now understand a lot and can express all of my ideas. I am not fluent, but that is ok. 

We got a new ami!!!!! I am soooo happy for that! It was actually a really bomb experience!

Me and my district leader were on exchanges and we had some time for tracting (door to door). We went to an area where there are a lot of apartments, said a prayer and felt like we needed to go into a certain building. We got inside and walked all the way to the top (9 floors!) The first guy we talked to was a Jehovah's witness and not interested (tough luck). He told us to leave. We knocked on every door and finally came on a guy who came from Sudan! He spoke little to no French and very broken English, but fluent Arabic! (Oh boy) He let us in and we tried to explain to him who we were and eventually got another time set up to meet. We walked out of his house and as we were walking into the elevator to go home, a lady walked out and Elder Melanson (district leader) started to talk to her. She mentioned that her kid just died. And we shared a scripture from alma about that. She then cried and we told her that God is there for her. She continued in saying that she is a devout Catholic and is very very strong in her faith. We told her that is great and we appreciate all of the work she has done in her faith and staying true. We showed a video and she cried some more (I did too). Then I testified and pointed out the feeling she had as the spirit and we asked her for another time to meet and she was really hesitant. But she said we could come back and if she is there then we will talk some more. We prayed with her and left that feeling very optimistic about the meet. I plan to go over again tomorrow night and teach her some more.

So that was super cool! There was also a Christmas parade in Épinal yesterday, elder Anderson took some pictures of the cool floats. We also have been seeing an increase in member activity here. After church on Sunday a member came up to us and told us she wanted to host a night at her house this Wednesday so we can bring any amis, and she will invite her friends over!!! Super cool and I really hope that that goes well.

Well have a good week everyone! And don't forget to light the world this Christmas!

Sincerely
Elder Payne
France, Paris Mission

Christmas decorations in Epinal

Star Wars X-Wing fighter parade float