Fun at district meeting PICS

Fun at district meeting

Zone conference with my companion and her pioneer dress, so classy can't stand it!

Sisters in Nice

This past week was a week of BOLDNESS!

 10 February 2014

BONJOUR, it's Soeur M! Or Soeur Metsätahiti (people think for some reason that I am from Tahiti... Oh well!)

Still in Bordeaux and life is great. This is the 3rd transfer that me and my companion are together and we really work well together, which is fantastic!

For this transfer we've had different themes for each week. Last week was the week of restoration and we tried to teach and testify of the restoration of the gospel every given opportunity. It was really fun having a certain theme and somehow we kept finding and seeing opportunities which were perfect for our theme.

This past week was a week of BOLDNESS! I thought before my mission that I was brave and bold but actually I wasn't. :D Being brave and bold is something missionaries need always practice onbecause that is how we're supposed to be; brave and bold. It requires A LOT of faith in the Lord though. :) This week we contacted a lot of people and personally I tried to fight my "fears" by contacting big groups of people. I love contacting, it's so much fun meeting so many different kinds of people and talking to them about their believes and lives. 

You always meet interesting people also. For examle this one guy got mad at me for not wearing any red even though I said I like that color. :D I also met a guy who believed in fairies and taught me all about different colored aura's people have around them. the french people are super funny, I love them! :)

This one day we were walking through Gambetta when this one guy basically dragged us in into a boutique and made his co-workers confess their sins to us. We were so confused but it was so hilarious. We were all just cracking up because nobody knew what was going on. :D

Our ami's are doing great, we have a couple of ami's who are preparing to e baptised and I am so happy for them. It's crazy how muchyou can learn to love someone so much and want them to choose the right. One of the greatest gifts given to us is free agency and we can never decide anything in anyone's behalf. We can just invite people with love and help them with all of our power and might. :)

I am so happy to be a missionary!

Love, Soeur M

P.S Jasmi is the best blog updater ever!

Crazy times at a museum!

Selfie

Contacting

Happy hippo in BDX

SO JUST BE HAPPY!

3 February 2014

Tranfer 2, week 2

This week we worked really hard and ahd some really good contacts and even a few miracle lessons on the street. But we're having hard time finding people who actually want to have lessons with us... Until Sunday night!

Last week we contacted this older man who had just lost his mother and was really sad about that. He wanted to learn more about God's plan for us and how we can be together with our families after death. We set up a rendez-vous at his house but when we went there he wasn't there. We left him a Book of Mormon and a little note. We tried passing by him a few times but he wasn't there. He lives quite close to us so on Sunday night we decited to go see if he's home, one last thing before going home. We went there and he answered the sonnerie and let us in! We couldn't go in to his apartment though because we didn't have another female with us but we talked to him in the hallway and gave him a lesson! He was accepting the things we talked about, like the Book of Mormon and restoration and was excited to read. We fixed another rendez-vous for Friday and now we'll just pray that everything works out!

We also taught our miracle less-active lady who did a 180 turn in one night. She was like a different person when we saw her. She seemed happy and all the cynicism was gone. We talked about repentance and she had been studying the subject on her own. She really loved the scripture we shared especially when she noticed she had marked them when she was young.

Saturday was really nice day. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with the adorable chinese girl and she had made us dumplings.

Then the highlight of the week! We went to eat chez the finnish couple in our ward. Finnish meat balls! And warm cranberry juice! From finnish Arabia cups! I was coutente. They're such a nice couple and their home is so Finnish. I just want to die!! I really don't need to feel homesick while serving in Clermont.

And one thing that I've learned this week. BE POSITIVE, HAVE GOOD THOUGHTS AND BE OBEDIENT!! That's the key to missionary work and the key to life. We're on this earth to have joy (2. Ne 2:25), and sometimes you need to seek for the little happy things in the dark times to have that joy but it's worth it. Christ suffered for us so that we could be happy. 

SO JUST BE HAPPY! SOYEZ HEUREUSES!

À la prochaine, soeur H

At the finnish couple's house

We went to primary

Nothing else to eat on fast sunday

And miracles started happening!

27 January 2014

Transfer 2, week 1

Soooo, my old companion died (finished her mission) and I got a new one, soeur Green. She is adorable, we have so much fun!! I have a feeling this will be an amazing transfer.

And we've already seen some crazy miracles!!

On tuesday we had anti miracles... Only one of our rendez-vous worked out. But that was an awesome rdv with a less active old lady who only has two teeth! So cute!! She loves us so much. he had all her scriptures ready when we came to her house and she showed us letters from missionaries and her old temple recommend and baptism certificate. Ohh she's precious.

Wednesday was full of tombez-vous*... Though on our last train ride of the day we had a few awesome contacts, handed out a Book of Mormon and found a long lost less-active member! Miracles.

Thursday also started with antimiracles. We had a lot of them. At around 5pm we were at the chapel after another tombez-vous, both of us feeling tired and a little discouraged. We knelt down to pray and decited to go and try to visit some people on the other side of the road.

And miracles started happening!

First we went to this family's door who's dad we have contacted a few days earlier and who had given us their address. The dad was home and would've invited us to come in but his wife wasn't home... But we fixed a rdv for another day!

Second, we went to see if this peruvian family from our ward was home, some members of the family are less-active. The dad, who's less-active, opened the door and invited us to come back another day. (we went and it was awesome! Soeur Green speaks a little spanish so she totally sparked them by praying in spanish! And we got invited back again wohoo!)

Aaaand the biggest miracle of the day: there's a less-active lady who me and soeur Kofoed tried to pass-by many times but she was never home. Well, we decited to go there again anf this time she was home. She looked a little confused and first we thought ahe didn't want anything to do with us but she invited us in. And we ended up talking to her for an hour! Or a little more... Hehe. She told us everything, how she's been inactive for 12 years, all the doubts she's ever had and also all the commandments she's broken... Soeur Green shared the story of how she gained her testimony and then we shared Moroni's promise (Moroni 10:3-5 in the Book of Mormon). She told us she had tried to do that but never got an answer and that she denies the existance of the Holy Ghost. She also has a 12-year old son who was first just watching TV but then got really in to it and at one point he brought out an old Book of Mormon! We also ended up staying for dinner and had the best chicken ever. So yummy.

We left feeling good but thinking that it might take a loooong time before she'll be reactivated because she's in denial and found a lot of the things we said ridiculous. Although she did say she wishes she could be like us and be able to say that she KNOWS the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is true.

Well, two days later we receive a phone call from this lady. She tells us how she's been thinking about our words a lot and that she tried to find the scripture in the Book of Mormon that we shared with her but she couldn't. So she took out her hymn book and found he childhood fave hymn "Aimez vos frénes" (Love one Another), started singing it and suddenly started crying! She wondered if this is a sing of God, if God sent the sister missionaries to her because it's her time to come back to Church and she prayed and decited to come to church on Sunday!! AND SHE DID!! After 12 years of inactivity!!!! Just unbelievable. God id good. So good. And this is only the first week of the transfer. Too great!!!

Other than that, my french is still awful but getting better. OHH and we had blues conference and I saw all my MTC friends!!!!! <3 Though me almost missed the thing because we missed our train in the morning, but the Burtons saved the day and drove us to Lyon! They're superheros.

GROS BISOUS TO EVERYONE! <3 Soeur H

* people we fixed a rendez-vous with don't show up.

Blues conference

The PAWS!

27 January 2014

Woo I'm still in Nice!

I just want to start off by telling that my companion Soeur Bailey is absolutely insane. That kid is crazy! Never have I met anyone like her. First off she is from America so that explains a lot.. secondly, she is from New Mexico so that explains it even more. She even speaks New Mexican, which is english spoken in a spanish accent. One of the members here actually thought that she was speaking in an other language. I'm just going to tell a few things she's done so that you can understand who I have to live with.. So this one time my companion couldn't find her planner, we thought she's lost it for good. We were freaking out because we had a lot of lessons planned and new numbers of potential investigators in it. She was freaking out dramatically! She was depressed and went lying under the table, almost losing all hope. I followed her under the table and there we were and didn't know what to do with our lives. We said a prayer to find the planner. After her wanting to sink into the deepest depression.. we found the planner on her table..

One time she was talking to an Asian man and then they were waving their hands to say goodbye and then suddenly she just high-fived the guy. Not awkward. Oh and she falls all the time! Like no sense of gravity or balance in her head. One time she opened a peanutbutter can with her bare hands and got some legit warrior wounds on her hands. One day she bought a toy gun and surprise attacked Soeur Hodder by shooting at her. Yhen she bought a whisel. I do not know why. She also has this funny blue flowery grandma nightgown that she wears every night. So the fact is that she is going to be a princess one day so that is why she sometimes practises her performances to us.One night she sat on the floor in her nighty and sang the little mermaid. I know, she was born to be a disney princess.

Just this last Sunday she gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting and as she was walking up she stumbled on something and almost fell flat on the ground in front of everyone. Talk about princess-like elegancy! It was funny though. The newest thing is called the PAWS! She makes me put my hands in hers and lock them together and look each other in the eyes. That's how we build companionship unity! Oh and one time we happened to be in the middle of locking paws when the bishop of our ward walked pass and laughed wierdly at us. Definitely building confidence in us!

Everyday is and adventure with Soeur Bailey and I love it! I've really been blessed to see her face every single day for the past 7 weeks. She is an inspiration for me and her enthusiasm is admirable. She touches people's lives and help to uplift their faith. She is an one of a kind missionary!

One of the greatest experiences we've had together was our investigator's baptism. He had a date fixed for him but we were thinking about pushing it with a week. But when we sat down with him in the beginning of the week, we all felt that we should keep the original date.This meant we only had one week to prepare for the baptism. After a lot of organising, we made it! The baptismal service was beautiful and so full of the Spirit. I know that God prepared Nic (our investigator) to hear about the gospel and to accept it. Nic made a lot of changes in his life and they were not easy ones. I feel like mt life was blessed by having this opportunity to see Nic change for the better and see how the gospel blessed his life. Happiness shines from his face and his faith and hope for the future are clear. Nice is a city of miracles!

- Soeur N

P-Day!

Romans 12:21

13 January 2014

Transfer 1, week 5

Bonjour, 

Romans 12:21

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

- Soeur H

Bonne Année tout le monde!

6 January 2014

 

Transfer 1, week 4

Bonne Année tout le monde! My full year as a missionary starts now! New Year's resolution: learn french and be the missionary the Lord wants me to e. (Easier said than done)

Me and Soeur Kofoed ended the year 2013 by watching the District 2 and the Legacy, eating popcorn and drinking Shcweppes. And obediently went to bed at 10:30.

The first day of 2014 was spent in Lyon, we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. It was cool, I really liked seeing how other missionaries do things. I spent the day with Soeur Vidal, she's awesome even though she made me give a spiritual thought at a member's house...

Thursday after we got back from Lyon we had a mangez-vous with a Tahitian family in our ward. They are so awesome!! Their faith is so strong and they just love missionaries and missionary work. The family's little 5-year-old boy is also the most adorable thing, we even got bisous from him when we left!!! Too cute.

On Friday we had another mangez-vous and we got to taste frog legs!!!!!!! That was so awesome and they didn't even taste bad, little bit like chicken.

Frog legs!

Sunday we had a really cool experience after church. We had a rendez-vous in the afternoon at church and had some time before that so we decited to go porting (= tracting, knocking on doors) the houses nearby. As we were walking we were contacting the people we saw, well, Soeur Kofoed was and I was just smiling hehe. Then we saw this man in his late 50's walking on the other side of the road and Soeur Kofoed told me to contact him. I was like oh well, I might as well he'll probably just walk away mid sentence so I don't have to say much. I crossed the road and started talking to him anf it turned out he was actually really interested! He asked all these questions like is this something new compared to other Christian churches? (HECK YES IT IS!) and when we told him about the Book of Mormon he got super interested! We told him a little about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what the Book of Mormon is. We gave him a copy of the book and he said he really wants to read it and to understand it moore he would want to meet with us and come to church on sunday. He was so awesome!!! And since we weren't too far away from the chapel we walked there and he got a church tour from a member who was still at the chapel. We'll just pray and hope everything goes well and he'll feel the goodness of our message when he reads.

2. Nephi 32:5

For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.

- Soeur H