Upcoming General Conference

Oh how lovely was the Morning

HELLO! 

Well, this was a pleasant surprise to have a mailbox REMPLI <I think this means filled> with new emails! I must be the most loved Sister missionary in this whole world. THANK YOU!!! You are all a blessing to me. And, I got a real letter in the mail from Daddy this week...thanks dad! I loved it!

Well, I like to save my emails to read later, so I haven't heard all of the good news and waht not yet, but I will have lots to read! Yippee! I did see that our geese friends have found their way back to the church. I hope there is another mother's day surprise with new little baby geese. And you can tell me, when I talk to you on the phone! WOO! That will be great. Maybe we can skype again :) <Yes, I am looking forward to Mother’s Day because it is the other day of the year that I can talk to her on the phone-Christmas being the first>

This week went by really really fast. We had Zone Conference in Geneva, District meeting here in Renens, and lots of mangez-vous with the members, so that makes time go by pretty fast. I can't remember if I told you or not but every Sunday night we eat at the Jaquet family's house. Frère Jaquet is Suisse and his wife is from Chilé and they have three kids, and it is always a good time. Last night we had mashed potatoes, and sausages and gravy, and a French dessert that is basically like a bread pudding wtih prunes in it. Delish. We got permission from Preisdent Murdock to watch those animated Book of Mormon movies when we are at their house, and they have them in Spanish. So, Frère Jaquet was translating the spanish to French, which I still translate to English in my head...needless to say my brain was a little overlaoded. Ha! So much to learn.

We taught some new people this week. Raja is from India and we met him on the bus. He was raised in a Baptist family, so that is neat because he has a Christian background. We also had a rendez-vous with a guy named Matthias who is Swiss and we found PORTING <I think this means going door to door>!  Miracle of miracles! Ha, l but really, that is not an easy thing to do. 

IVAN GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY IN MONTPELLIER! So cool. I am so happy. Even though I hardly taught him, I was there when we contacted him on the street, and Sr. Madsen and I taught him the first lesson together and it was it was our last rendez-vous together and also one of our best...bref(really useful word that we don't really use in English, basically you say it when you are rambling in order to change the subject)...its exciting. We have three amis <friends/people they have contacted> here who came to church yesterday!!! Their names are Sereke, Tonino, and Luciano. Luciano was actually baptized when he lived in Brazil, but he was never confirmed....not quite sure how that happened but he is going to be baptized again here soon (this needs to be done because the ordinance wasn't completed last time) and we are really excited to be teaching him. We are also working with several part member families in our ward who I am growing to love more and more. 

Well, in a few short days I will have been on my mission for 6 months. Wierd. That seriously seems impossible to me. Didn't I just get here? I have already learned so much, and it seems like the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know...that being said I am excited to continue to grow and progress in knowledge and truth throughout the rest of my mission and my life.

Tonight we are going to be teaching a couple of family home evenings, and we will be talking about the Priesthood and the Temple. These two things are irremovable facets of my life for which I am eternally greateful. Thank you, Dad, for always being an example of a righteous priesthood holder, and for leading our family in love and righteousness. Thank you, mom, for fulfilling your role as mother. Thank you, Spencer, for being the truest friend I've ever had, and for teaching me about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and for continuing to support me in what I am doing. I love all three of you forever. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ, I am thankful for His Grace which allows me to have hope every single day. I am so thankful for the Priesthood that has been restored to the earth in our day, which is the power of God on earth necessary to bring about the salvation of men....by which power we can accept the marvelous Atonement of the Savior in our lives. 

I learned that the white cross on the Swiss flag is a symbol for peace. I like that. I am thankful to be here with a message of peace for the children of the Lord. 

Have a beautiful week! I love you!!!!

Love, Sarah

PS a couple of requests for the mail....

american recipes (anything delicious)

any spanish tips

some more family pictures 

thats all :)

Now let us rejoice!

I am thankful for the wonderful chance to write to you again after another week in Renens! It's hard to believe, but we are already halfway through the transfer! Lets talk about the week. 

We finally had a teaching appontment with Efrem, who is from Ecuador and has been coming to church with his friend who is a member. We taught him with a recent convert named Cesar Alayo (he is from Lima!) and he translated for us. Ha, our attempts at Spanish are truly comic at times. But, we are excited to have begun teaching him. Did I tell you about Lucy last week? She is from Mexico, and is living here with her husband (he is Suisse) and little girl. She came to church for the first time in a long long time on Sunday, and its quite an amazing story how she decided to turn her life back around and come unto the Lord again, and it is a beautiful process to see how the Lord is immediately blessing her efforts. She is a true example to me, and we are excited to start teaching her and her family a bit...I know that the power of the Atonement of Christ is real, and it is never too late for someone to change. This week I read a talk entitled 'the Fourth Missionary.' It was written by a mission president to his missionaries, and it was something that I found truly powerful. It is by Lawrence E. Corbridge. It helped me identify some of the things I can improve upon as a missionary and as a person, I am so thankful for the opportunity I have had on my mission to learn how to repent and change, and I am thankful for this wonderful gift that we have each and every single day of our lives.

Yesterday was an incredible Sabbath day for me. I woke up and was truly filled with the spirit of peace, and it was a joy to go about the Lord's work in that attitude. We were invited to eat at the Vigliotti family's home after church, which is a very homey little place just outside of town. It overlooks a large field, surrounded by trees, sometimes Its beyond imagination how beautiful things are here. We had many beautiful moments, I enjoyed listening to their grandaughter Ashley play the harp, watching Sister Vigliotti carefully open the window to serve us the apple tart she had cooling just outside, and discussing the words of life as we sat around the kitchen table. She shared with us an anecdote that she had heard once at a stake conference I believe which went like this. there once was a lumberjack, who found work chopping down trees in the Canadian forest. He was a large, burley man, who was truly worthy of his hire. Every day, he was to chop down ten trees, and he met this quota with ease for the first several months. But, as time went on, he started to only accomplish nine, and then eight. Why did he stop meeting his potential? He was still just as strong, and there were still plenty of trees to chop.

He didn't sharpen his saw. That morning I had read in the Book of Mormon, Alma  chapter 37, the counsel that we should 'not be slothful because of the easiness of the way' and after hearing that story, I feel that I finally understand what that means. I have been trying to apply this to myself, and identify in what ways I have been lazy in my efforts because things come easily to me, or are readily accessible. I know that for us, the way that we sharpen our axes is by continually feasting upon the words of Christ. It is by this that we can continually confront the adversarial forces that would bind us down. I love verse 45 of chapter 37 that reads 'the words of Christ, if we follow their course, (shall) carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.' I know that the words of life will help us as dynamic beings to consistently change in ways of righteousness. So much to ponder!

Here are a couple of funny stories from the week and then I had better get going. Every fourth Sunday of the month, we have a ward potluck. (so, this was last week) I decided that every time I am going to make something American for everyone to eat, and this time it was rice krispie treats. It was nothing short of hilarious to watch them timidly approach the foreign object, and dissect the large pieces of marshmallowey goodness, uncertain if they could muscle it all down. Well, in the end everyone was seriously amazed and wanted to know how to make it. Ha. Not to mention, the marshmallows were like 5 Francs!

Fun fact: Did you know that the Golden Gate bridge was designed by a Swiss architect?

Verb of the day: Vagabonder - to wander. I laughed when I saw this in my Preach my Gospel manual, and I also got Elton John song stuck in my head. (Kings and vangabonds believe the verrrrrrry best!) I'm not even sure if those are the words. Ha!

Alrighty, well, I am over an out! Love you! Have a blessed week.

love, Sarah

Improve the Shining Moments (Hymn #226)

That is the song in my heart right now, and my desire for each of us...to cherish every shining moment of this life!

First of all, I have been neglecting to thank everyone who has written me lately! I'm sorry! Many thanks to grandma judy, grandma dayton (happy birthday!), Frère Bize, Todd and Susie Erickson, Anna, Soeur Engstrom, Janene, Alison Adamson (weird...still getting used to that name), Martha McKay. Also - sorry that there have not been many food/cheese updates. Honestly, I started to lose track, and I normally eat really good cheese at member houses and don't really know what I'm eating I just know its delicious! Brother Phil Nelson and Uncle Brandon and Aunt Rachel, will be happy to know that I ate raclette this week and it was divine, even though it will take about a weeks worth of morning exercises to recover from - ha. 

Alrighty so this week was pretty great! We had some truly miraculous experiences, I will share a quick one in the interest of time. Where to begin. There is a member of our ward who has been passing though some difficult things lately. She has really been struggling, and when we met with her this week she was having a discouraging day. After a bit of an exhausting conversation, feeling like we weren't helping much, we felt inspired to challenge her to, later that day, offer a prayer of gratitude to her Heavenly Father and thank Him for all of the blessings she had in her life...not asking for anything, just thanking Him. Well, it worked! She texted us the next morning and told us how she was filled with happiness and the Spirit because she was grateful. If you had seen her the day before, you would be convinced of how miraculous this is. Gratitude really does change our souls! The Lord has given us so much, and He wants us to be happy! Its not always easy to recognize, but I do know that is true. 

Spanish. I need to learn Spanish. There were probably 9 or so people in our gospel doctrine class this last Sunday, and a good 6 of them were native Spanish speakers. We have Preach my Gospel and pamphlets and things in Spanish, but I'd like to just work a little bit on the basics of Spanish because its almost a daily need, in street contacting and at church, for example tonight we are teaching a man who literally speaks like five words of French, but we will be at a member's home from Peru so that he can translate. So, that is something new...I will probably be dedicating a little portion of my language study time each day to learn Spanish (don't get me wrong, there's still much French to be learned, too!) Languages! People! So many good things.

Well, that's all the time I have for today. I discovered a new favorite scripture this week, it is Alma33:23 - and it is beautiful. 

“And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen.”

Miracles are happening here every day, and I pray that each of us may allow the Atonement of Christ to work miracles within us individually each day, too. 

I love you!

Soeur Sarah Waldron