McDONALD'S AMI
We just got the go ahead to go to Paris. We leave on Monday or Tuesday and could be there through Christmas. The mission is getting 17 new missionaries who arrive next week and we are only losing 2, and so they have asked us to let them use our apartment while we are gone. It looks like we are staying with some members and we have no idea what kind of room we will have there, so we are only taking the bare necessities.
We met a man at McDonald's who was very interested in what we were doing there on computer. He was interested in the church and in Genealogy. We explained what we were doing and then we asked him if he would like to be taught by the missionaries. Well, we had a meeting with him at our apartment last Monday. He came with a large folder of papers that he had gotten off the internet about the church. He had them bound and everything. They were written by a disgruntled ex-member. As it turns out he was an Ex-T.J. Temoine-de-Jehovah (J.W. or Jehovah's Witness). He started off saying that he didn't want to change anything and just wanted to learn more about other religions and talked and talked and didn't let anyone say or teach anything. The Elders were disappointed you could tell. They told JoAnn in English that we would just bear simple testimonies and call it good. They had her give her testimony of how and when she knew the church was true and they translated. Everything began to change after that. He seemed to start to feel the spirit. Then after we had all finished and we were ready to say a closing prayer, he asked Arnold to say the prayer. After the prayer, he had tears in his eyes. He had really felt the spirit and even said that he had. He said Arnold reminded him of how his father used to pray - very powerfully. During the course of the discussion, Elder Downs (one of our Zone Leaders) asked him if he prayed and found that our church was true, would he be baptized. He said he would, but he wanted to be baptized by a perfect person. Assuring him that he would never find a perfect person in this life until the Savior returns, we asked him to pray about the restored gospel and the Book of Mormon and he said he would. His name is Jean-Claude Caid.
The next day, we were again working at McDonald's and he and his wife (?) came in. He came up to us and said that he had prayed as we had asked and had gotten an answer and it was incredible. He knew we were going to Paris in a few days for 2 months or so and he told us, with tears in his eyes, as he left that he wanted to be baptized in two months and he wanted Arnold to baptize him.
We are meeting with him and the Elders at our apartment again on Saturday. Arnold says he will remind Jean Claude that he is far from perfect, but he’s sure he knows that. What miracles the Lord works! We have been waiting somewhat impatiently to go to Paris and because the Archives were closed we have been doing indexing at McDonald's. If we had gone to Paris when we were originally supposed to go, we never would have been indexing at McDonald's when Jean Claude happened to come in and see us and start to talk to us - the new missionaries would not have had a place to stay while the Mission goes to work finding them a new apartment. We are amazed at how things ALWAYS work for the best, even when they seem to be going against what we think things should be.
We met a man at McDonald's who was very interested in what we were doing there on computer. He was interested in the church and in Genealogy. We explained what we were doing and then we asked him if he would like to be taught by the missionaries. Well, we had a meeting with him at our apartment last Monday. He came with a large folder of papers that he had gotten off the internet about the church. He had them bound and everything. They were written by a disgruntled ex-member. As it turns out he was an Ex-T.J. Temoine-de-Jehovah (J.W. or Jehovah's Witness). He started off saying that he didn't want to change anything and just wanted to learn more about other religions and talked and talked and didn't let anyone say or teach anything. The Elders were disappointed you could tell. They told JoAnn in English that we would just bear simple testimonies and call it good. They had her give her testimony of how and when she knew the church was true and they translated. Everything began to change after that. He seemed to start to feel the spirit. Then after we had all finished and we were ready to say a closing prayer, he asked Arnold to say the prayer. After the prayer, he had tears in his eyes. He had really felt the spirit and even said that he had. He said Arnold reminded him of how his father used to pray - very powerfully. During the course of the discussion, Elder Downs (one of our Zone Leaders) asked him if he prayed and found that our church was true, would he be baptized. He said he would, but he wanted to be baptized by a perfect person. Assuring him that he would never find a perfect person in this life until the Savior returns, we asked him to pray about the restored gospel and the Book of Mormon and he said he would. His name is Jean-Claude Caid.
The next day, we were again working at McDonald's and he and his wife (?) came in. He came up to us and said that he had prayed as we had asked and had gotten an answer and it was incredible. He knew we were going to Paris in a few days for 2 months or so and he told us, with tears in his eyes, as he left that he wanted to be baptized in two months and he wanted Arnold to baptize him.
We are meeting with him and the Elders at our apartment again on Saturday. Arnold says he will remind Jean Claude that he is far from perfect, but he’s sure he knows that. What miracles the Lord works! We have been waiting somewhat impatiently to go to Paris and because the Archives were closed we have been doing indexing at McDonald's. If we had gone to Paris when we were originally supposed to go, we never would have been indexing at McDonald's when Jean Claude happened to come in and see us and start to talk to us - the new missionaries would not have had a place to stay while the Mission goes to work finding them a new apartment. We are amazed at how things ALWAYS work for the best, even when they seem to be going against what we think things should be.
posted by Arn and Jody | 4:10 AM
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