A Strange Week with Amis

Soo, this week was a little tougher than normal. Honestly we worked pretty hard, it was nice to get a full week of work after all the holidays, but we didn't really see a ton of success. It's kind of just one of those weeks you feel a little discouraged about, you look back at what you could have done differently, don't find too much, and know that you just need to shrug it off and try again. We had some interesting things happen this week though

#1- Let's just say that the plan of salvation got sidetracked by incest

#2- A bomb went off in a trash can while my companion was on an exchange

#3- We got asked to do an exorcism

#4- I got kissed by a man (not on the lips thankfully)

Needless to say, it was a strange week. I was a little bit sad at the end though, because we had to stop teaching someone because they just couldn't even open to the IDEA that God could or did exist and our two amis with a baptismal date are getting snagged on the Word Of Wisdom. It's all good though, we can't really do a ton to change the choices of others and this week the idea of God being the only person that can truly convert someone got emphasized a lot. The missionary purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, I think this week more than ever I learned that an invitation can be rejected. All there's left to do after that is to find someone else to invite, and that's exactly what i'm going to do! ;). haha, I have no idea how anybody but a missionary could possibly apply this to their life, but that's my spiritual thought for the week (hey, it's my job to give it, not to apply it).

HAVE AN AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, STUPENDOUS, MOMENTOUS week everybody

Stay classy

Love the missionaries

because we love you

Love,

Elder Michael Beneamato Bruno

Hard Work in La Harve

MMMkay!

Tuesday

Tuesday was actually a lot of fun, we had district meeting and the AP's were there. I really love the AP's and it was a lot of fun meeting everyone in our zone. It kind of felt like a day off too, which was fun except for the fact that I don't think I understand anything that they taught (French is killing me!). I'll get it though, I at least can answer people when they ask me questions now!

Wednesday

Wednesday started out pretty bad, it rained all day (and then it rained all day the next day, and the next, all the way until Sunday where we had a nice day, but we were inside for most of it). All that happened was that we got rejected pretty badly. After a little while I just stopped talking and I let my companion do the talking. He stopped in the Gare for a couple minutes, turned to me and asked me what he could do because something was obviously wrong. I just talked about how it was kind of tough. It makes it harder because my companion had a trainer who told him exactly what to do and he hated it. He promised himself that he wouldn't ever be like his trainer, so now he just kind of leaves it up to the people he trains to figure it out. I don't know if you've ever been in the situation where you just had to figure it out, but trust me when I say it's really scary. I just told him that I'm a little new here and I'll try my best if he gives me a little guidance now and then. From this point on we started doing A LOT better. Since we decided we were going to talk to everyone we saw, we walk down the street side by side and whichever side a person is walking down determines which person gets to talk to them. It makes it a lot easier than trying to decide who contacts who, but it's kind of scary because it turns the 1/10 people that I used to contact to 1/2. It's fun though and on Tuesday we met two or three people. We accomplished the great feat of getting two phone numbers! It was awesome.

Thursday

THURSDAY WE TAUGHT 3 LESSONS! They were the first three lessons of my entire mission and I don't remember much of them other than the people didn't seem to be very interested after we taught them with the exception of a teenage Muslim boy (we didn't know he was Muslim when we contacted him otherwise we wouldn't have been allowed to contact him) who agreed to read the Book of Mormon and keep meeting with us if we would read parts of the Qumran he printed out in English. It was interesting to say the least and pretty confusing, but we figure if he's going to keep his part we need to keep ours as well.

Friday/Saturday

Not going to lie when I say that Friday and Saturday just seemed like a blur of people being kind of rude and saying no, it was a lot more fun to go out contacting though and despite getting rejected a hundred million times, and a lot of tombe-vous, it actually seems like we set up a solid week next week. We got our first referral from the office and we're going to see her tomorrow and there's a couple people who responded to us when we called REALLY OLD investigators (I'm talking like 5 or 6 years old). I'm pretty excited about next week though! We have interviews with President, Exchanges with zone leaders, and a very busy week ahead of us!

Sunday

Even Sunday was a lot better, I tried to be more friendly to the members and we asked a couple if we could visit them this week. A random guy showed up to church and we fixed a rendezvous on Wednesday. It was crazy because he just showed up and before he left he told us how much sense we made as a church. Oh yeah, me and Elder Hall taught the lesson too this week for investigators class(Gospel principles is what we call it back home i think) and we rocked it! An old lady invited us over to eat on Saturday too, so I'm pretty excited.

OTHER STUFF!!

So, what do I want to talk about this week? I guess just talking it out. This week whenever I got frustrated or upset about something I would just let people know. I know a lot of times people can get annoyed of you complaining or think that you're sharing too much information, but I think that's worth getting whatever beef you have off your chest. Letting something fester just leaves feelings of resentment and anger and if you don't talk to people about the problems you have with them with the willingness to compromise on those issues, you're going to blow up eventually. I feel stressed out all the time here and it's cold and wet and nobody will talk to us, but this week has been a thousand times better just because I've spoken my mind. So, my message for this week is don't bury your problems, just fix them. I know it's not easy, but it's better to pay the price to fix things when they break then it is to try to go through life broken.

HAVE AN AWESOME WEEK EVERYBODY, help out your missionaries (Trust me when I say that they need it)

Love, 

Elder Michael Beneamato Bruno

First Week in France

Tuesday

So, tuesday started out pretty crazy. We basically were on the plane until 9 am. The plane ride was rough though, we went through a lot of turbulence and I really thought I was going to throw up everywhere. there was a really awesome spanish lady who sat next to me though and she tried to help me out as much as she could. By the end of the flight I had her and her long time boyfriend talking about what they believed in. First Book of Mormon handed out in France. We met President Poznaski and his wife and all the AP's who are pretty awesome, Other than that we just kind of looked around with really big eyes

Wendsday

Wendsday was awesome! it started out really awesome where we got up (we were sleeping at a hotel) and ate a pretty awesome breakfast (the food here is much different than the MTC). Me and Elder Oviatt talked to a guy from Congo on the Metro with the presidents daughter (I joked that she was a member present) and we gave him a book of mormon. Second Book of Mormon handed out in France. We had an interview with president Poznaski and then we had a slide show interview that showed who are trainers were and where we were going. Right now I'm in Le Harve (which means the Harbor in French) and it's in Normandy and i'm being trained by someone on his second to last transfer (which means I'm going to kill him). It's kind of a weird story. Elder Hall has basically done it all. He was DL, ZL, and AP and then he started training someone. The weird thing is that you usually train someone for two transfers. After Elder Halls first transfer with this super buff, 24 year old Hawian world champion swimmer he got switched. He's training me in something even more difficult than a whitewash. We're Opening. That means that we literally have nothing to work on. We're coming into Le Harve to help another companionship, but we essentially are starting completely from scratch. Anyways, after a very long train ride in which I slept most of the time and at the end we talked to a guy that apparently gotten into doing LSD (Which was one of the strangest conversations I've ever had in my life) we arrived in the very hostile city of Le Harve

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

I'm going to be honest when I say that these three days are just a blur. I have to say that I don't think I understand anything that people are saying. All I understand is that they don't seem very interested. So far we've had one lesson taught after which a man said he wasn't interested, five tombé-vous (which we call a rendez-vous that fell through) and I don't even know how many people who are just not very interested. Before I left the MTC they said not to worry, French people aren't as mean as everyone says they are. Don't believe people when they say that!!!! French people can be pretty mean. Anyways, thursday friday and saturday are just a blur of cold, windy, rainy (did I mention that that's basically all the weather in Normandy ever is). And getting really good at saying Merci, Au revoir

Sunday

Sunday was a lot better, we went to church and even though I didn't understand anything that people were saying, they were all really nice. We still didn't have any success trying to contact people, but a lot of people talked to us and we got some rendez-vous set up for later this week, so fingers crossed.

Other stuff!

I have to say, despite being rejected a hundred thousand times, I don't feel too discouraged. There were times this week when I just felt like crying because it was so bad, but I'm starting to feel better about it. There's someone out there who's waiting for us and we're going to find them, We're working hard and doing what we're supposed to and I know that the Lord is out there preparing people for us. This week I think Elder Hall reported the worst numbers he's had his entire mission. I don't know if it's because of me or not, but we almost got a 0 for every category you report for and he said he had never gotten 0 for everything. The lesson we taught was nice and we're doing okay contacting, but I know I can do better. In my interview with President Poznaski he asked "are you a bold missionary?". I said Yes! I'm not a liar and I know I can be bolder and be better in this next week, so boldness! I guess my message for this week is be bold. There's no reason to be scared in life, we just need to bold in everything we do. Be bold, regardless of how you feel or what's wrong, Be Bold!

Au Revoir!

P.S.

I ate a kebab today and it was delicious

Arrival in Paris

To the Family of Elder Bruno 

Sister Poznanski and I were delighted to welcome your son , Elder Michael Beneamato Bruno , into the France Paris Mission on 29 Oct 2013. He and his MTC companions were enthusiastic and all arrived in good health.  He spent his first day eating some good food, visiting with me, contacting non-members in the heart of Paris, and sharing testimonies.  We enjoyed his spirit.

The next morning, after a mission orientation, Elder Bruno left for his first assignment to work in the Le Harve 2 Area with Elder Hall, who will be his trainer.  Their apartment address is:

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Any packages or letters you would like to send will reach your missionary at this address.

We feel very privileged to work with your him.  We also realize the responsibility we share with you to help him continue to grow spiritually as he faithfully performs his duties.  May the Lord inspire us all to sustain him in this challenging and exciting assignment.  We hope you will join Sister Poznanski and me in praying each day for your son , his companion, investigators, and all of us serving in the France Paris Mission.

A positive, supportive letter from home every week does wonders to sustain a missionary’s morale.  Proverbs 25:25 states:  As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. If you have any questions, or if we can assist you in any way, please contact us at our office (001-331-3480-0483) or home (001-331-3976-8402).

Sincerely,

Franck Poznanski

President, France Paris Mission

Dear Families of our Missionaries,

I am pleased to be able to send you this little E-mail to announce to you the creation of the Facebook of the Paris France Mission.

We hope to be able to place photos of the events that take place here in the mission every 15 days so that we might share with you the Spirit that animates our mission.  Your comments our welcome, but we hope you understand we will not be able to respond to each one individually because of time.

We are very grateful for the support that you give through your prayers and the E-mails for your children. It is very precious.

Some amazing things are happening in this mission thanks to the faith, the perseverance and the desire of our missionaries to better fulfill the reason why they are here on mission. They are continually putting amazing efforts into raising the bar and to see the fruits of their labors.

We are very grateful for these chosen youth who have been place in our care and we assure you that we are doing all that we can to make sure they are taken care of. We love and care for them dearly.

We invite you to join our group, so that you might be able to participate in the great moments unfolding in each photo. Here is the name : “France Paris Mission Poznanski”

Sincerely,

Sister Poznanski