Bonjour Ma Famille et Mes Amis!
I am so grateful this week, grateful and overwhelmed oh my goodness. Mais, le don de langes est vrai!! The gift of tongues is true!!
Okay first off, CONFERENCE.
Conference was incredible, I have to admit, we began our day with a lot of complaining, we had to sit in these stiff chairs for more than 4 HOURS, I missed the waffles and blankets. So Soeur Larsen and I wore the BIGGEST scarves ever to use as blankets during conf it was a good time.
Immediately once we sat down, the Spirit confirmed that this is where we needed to be. It was absolutely breathtaking to participate in the solemn assembly, for those of you who don't know necessarily what that means: our prophet Thomas S. Monson passed away and because of the amazing stewardship and organization of the church, we were able to sustain our new prophet, and dear friend to Monson, President Russel M. Nelson. This meeting was held to hear the words of the apostles and new prophet. There were so many talks that I just absolutely loved. However due to the sake of time I'm just going to briefly cover a few. First off, Lynn G Robbins, wow. As soon as he brought up the subject of failure I immediately thought of French -let's not forget the one time I called Jesus a girl- he mentioned that failure is a tutor, not a terminator. This stands for all parts and pieces of our lives!!! Every time you fail, think of a way to rebuild, reconstruct and reconfigure, Houston didn't just abandon those houses destroyed by the hurricane, Thomas Edison didn't quit after his first explosion, they kept going!! Failure is here for a purpose, it can be such a tool to help us relate to others and develops ourselves. Practice thinking differently on the outcome of your mistakes, I promise you, you will receive blessings. With that said, Christ helps us not only to overcome sin, but overcome the failures of our hearts. Be sure to distinguish the two.
David A Bednar taught us to always remain Meek, that word is so powerful. It encompasses everything that Christ is and teaches. One thought I loved, was that Christ, on the way to be crucified, used his Heavenly Power to heal a soldier’s ear, that same power that could have prevented his suffering. Can you imagine having all that God has to give, and not using it for yourself? But to save the lives of others? Really puts life in perspective.
Sunday Afternoon was INCREDIBLE. Did anyone else jolt in their chair over Bishop Gerald Causse? He is a bishop from France. He talked about the construction of the Paris temple, and the process to complete it. The spirit was definitely involved with that, the mayor was completely supportive after their look and investigation into the church. The lord knows what’s up there. Also I loved how Causse's talk was all about the people and their covenants to God. That is literally all the God needs, is us, and our promises. Inspired.
AND OH MY GOODNESS THE TEMPLES.
I cannot believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is able to establish a temple in a place like Russia, where so much religious and political issues collide; we have accomplished something that would take 10 times longer in our government. This could potentially be an aide to our foreign policy and relationship with Russia, India and so on. Absolutely God sent. The Church is so forward I love it.
and shout out to Sister Dumas for getting a temple in Richmond Virginia, you go girl, you pushed that work along.
After conference, the sister missionaries had SUCH an opportunity to have a private meeting with Sister Elaine Dalton, one of the most inspiring women I have ever met. She talked about never giving up. I love this quote " You never make a decision to turn back or quit when you're on a hill", it’s so true. We cannot give up when it gets hard, otherwise, why even try? Our trials and experiences in our lives are meant to strengthen us just like that hill (and just like my squat workout).
After the devo, I realized I left my water bottle in the room, so Soeur Larsen and I went back and low and behold there is Elaine Dalton! We got a pic and got to chat with her, she looked me in the eyes and told me keep going, God loves you, and I just melted like jello I mean common. Anyways here are the pics.
Oh we had chick fila for dinner on Monday and it was amazing.
Wednesday, I got to host today!!!! That basically means that we bring in the new missionaries and make them feel comfortable and basically distract them from being separated from their family. I had a girl named Sister White, she was so cute, from Australia, going to Saint George. We toured around all day it was so fun. Got to show her around.
I leave for France in 10 days..... 10 JOURS. Can you believe it?? I'm so excited yet nervous as well.
Today was amazing, we truly spoke our language!!!! Soeur Larsen and I had a crazy idea. So we were sitting in class and were going over passé composé, and Soeur Allred (our teacher) is conducting the lesson. We have to teach Florence in 15 minutes. I, OF COURSE, have an impression to change our lesson plan 15 MIN before it starts. We were changing from the restoration to repentance so two very different topics. But the spirit told me, so we did, bless her heart. AND it was one of the best lessons we have ever heard. We have been praying for Florence for a while. She a real person investigating our church, in real life she's my teachers brother in law. Anyways, because of our prayers and meetings these past couple of weeks Gary (real life Florence) threw away ALL of his alcohol. All of it!! And he watched conference it was a miracle!! We prayer so hard. So this lesson we talked about completing that repentance process and how faith brings repentance which bring the spirit and baptism. All in all, amazing lesson. We read Enos 1:4-8,12 and we told her to place her name in the scripture.
Afterwards I bore testimony of how repentance has changed my life. Because I used that gift of the atonement, I saw a whole new light in my life. I care more for others, I think more clearly, I have more motivation, I know I have power in my words AND conviction in my words, I know God loves those he places in my life, I have new hobbies and goals, I am more patient, and I know I can rely on him. Granted I am NOT perfect. AND I still struggle with more is these characteristics; but that's the thing about improvement, it's continual, Christ never said get to this point and stop. He atoned for our sins so we could break our barriers and become like him.
ALSO FAMILY THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR THE EASTER BASKET. THANKS bc now I miss you all more than ever.
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