October 29th

Dearest family and friends,

What a happy outpouring of love you gave me in your emails last week! Thank you!
I had so many letters to read this week, what a blessing! I didn't get a chance
to personally respond to Doreen Kopf or Janene or Joyce...but I just want you to
know I love you all and that I am thankful to have such strong women of God in
my life. Thanks for your example and your support. I love you!


Last week was a delight! I spent the rest of pday with the Talence Soeurs, who
sacrificed most of their day to help me get the apartment all cleaned up for my
mission daughter! I was so thankful for their help because it was really
important to me that she come into the mission to a nice clean apartment and it
was just so great. We have one of those colored cardboard/foil happy birthday
signs just like the one mom always hangs for us at home, and so we covered the
part that says 'day' with a giant blue smiley face so it said, 'happy birth :)'
hahaha. Mission lingo at its finest.

So anyway, I had a delightful train ride to the other side of France, all by
myself - the Waldron special. I love it! Train rides are great opportunities to
reflect and read and pray and just look at God's creations. Did I tell you that
I stopped through Montpellier? IT WAS SO GREAT! Aime, the second member I ever
met there and one of the most celestial people on this planet, came to the gare
to greet me with the Soeurs that are currently serving there. I was so happy to
see him in his wheelchair at the bottom of the stairs waving. We ate an ice
cream in the park and reminisced. It was so so wonderful. I love that city.
Mussole has already moved back to Africa. I would have loved to have seen him,
but I was just so happy to be there. I also got to speak to one of my old amies,
Dina, on the phone. She is a wonderful lady who is struggling with addiction to
cigarettes and other things, but I love her a lot and remember powerfully
testifying to her and her son about the Savior and the Plan of Salvation made
possible through Him. They are wonderful and she is hoping to be baptized soon.
Prions avec foi!!!

Speaking of old amies.......SHINE WAS BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!!! BY HER HUSBAND,
ONY!!!!!! ETERNAL FAMILY IN THE MAKING! I wish I could express how incredibly
wonderful and happy this is. I love them. I love Mongolians. I love the gospel
and know that it has changed their lives for ever and it is changing their
country. Wow! Isn't that great? Sr Bicchierri is STILL in Geneva for her sixth
transfer, which I think is great, and she is now with an italian companion...too
fun. Sampson is doing great from what I hear, but Stephane and the Hernandez
family are still needing lots of prayers.

My new companion is an incredible miracle machine! We are having a great time.
It is reminding me of the beginning of my mission. I love her a lot. She and I
are the same age, which I happen to love since I am on the older end of the
sister missionary spectrum at the moment. haha. But really, I am so blessed to
have such a diligent companion who knows why she is here and is determined to do
the work of the Lord.

Roger really needs our prayers this week. He has asked Kevin to baptize him
(cool!) and we are trying to get everything arranged for Saturday. He would like
us to pray for his mother, who is very invested in the Catholic faith and who he
loves very much, that she would be accepting of his choice and that he can be
healed from his troubled mind. He comes from the Ivory Coast, and I am sure he
has lived through things I can't understand, but I know that the grace of Jesus
Christ is powerful unto the delivering us from all things which bind us down,
mentally and physically, and we are excited for the Lord to answer our prayers
with miracles in his life. Lets pray for him to have this experience of
deliverance and to be ready for his baptism this week.


I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love learning it. I love that answers to
the questions of life are given to us through the words of the prophets. I love
that this morning I 'just happened' to be reading Alma 15, and how perfectly
that applies to Rogers needs. I love that prayers of faith, combined with
obedience produce miracles. I love that I have the gospel in my life. It's not
easy to be a deisciple of Christ, but it is so so beautiful. As someone who has
done a bit of creating in her life, and who has had the opportunity to observe
many beautiful creations of others, I know that things of beauty are created
through much effort. So, let's all create a wonderful week by living our
covenants and being happy.

LOVE YOU FOREVER!

Soeur Waldron

Oh and le'ts pray for miracles for Kevins family some more, and for Carmelle and
Christelle.
BISOUSSSSSS

More Purpose in Prayer

I am so delighted to be emailing you again this week! The title of this one corresponds with daddy's. and one of my all time favorite hymns, "More Holiness Give Me."

Can you believe it, I am actually staying in a ville for a third transfer!!!! This is the first time my whole mission that has happened! My beloved Soeur Kohler got on a train this morning to go to Marseilles. Tomorrow I get on a train to go to Lyon and pick up a brand new missionary who I will be training! YAY! I am super excited to train. This is about the time of year that I arrived in the mission field last year. There is a sense of familiarity about the leaves changing and the gray foggy sky. I love this time of year. It just feels right. 

So, for today I get to spend some time with the TALENCE SOEURS! We meet in the same building with our wards, and their ward is the ward that Leigh Anna served in while she was here. Lots of people still remember her and I am excited to spend a little time in their secteur, and hope that I will get to do an exchange there :) There were elders there up until two weeks ago when they switched and went to Lormont. funfunfun.

This week was incredible. I know that the prayers of the Lord's servants on behalf of Kevin's family have been heard and answered! I am infinitely and eternally thankful, and this is only the beginning! His mother is normally at their home in Gabon, and got back into town a little while ago. We finally got to meet with her this week! She asked us for a Book of Mormon and all of the brochures and his older sister Marlyne stayed for the discussion with us. (she has the cutest child in the world named matthis) Anyway, it was incredible. At this point we have now met seven of his brothers and sisters, the only two I still don't know are david and servanne. His little brother Alvigne came to church with us on Sunday and got to witness Kevin be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood and Julien as well (i think Cheng would have recieved it as well but there were lots of tram praoblems on Sunday and he ended up having to walk a ways to church in the rain...he is such a champion). Remember the story about the wonderful little 17 year old girl who miraculously found us?! She is now friends with tons of people at church is is just doing so very well and I got to see her twice this week and that was just the greatest of joys. YES!

Mom and dad I am so impressed at your ability to include the precious details of missionary life in your emails. I will try and do a better job! Here are a few things that happened this week.

We were on the tram one day and this man, not of a Christian faith, decided to follow us and talk to us about religion. He had some pretty strong opinions, but we were just calm and listened and only shared our point of view when he asked, nonetheless we stated the truth simply. These situations can often turn another direction if you aren't careful, but in that moment I was just so aware of what I was representing and tried my hardest to just keep it under control, especially so those around us could see that missionaries are tolerant and we love people of other faiths. After he got off of the tram my companion and I just said 'he was nice.' and that's it. I noticed that the woman that had been sitting accross from me the whole time looked rather familiar, and asked her if we had met before. It turns out that we had. I didn't know exactly what to say, she had obviously just overheard the whole exchange, and so I just complimented her cool African necklace. She took it off and gave it to me right then and there. She is the mother of four children, and is from Ivory Coast (like Roger) and lives close to the less active member who teaches me piano once a week (have I told you about her? she is great and from Bulgaria. mom would be proud that on her bday I had my first piano lesson at her house and I can now muscle my way through two hymns....like riding a bike I guess :) she and I also bonded over a song from macedonia that I learned in BYU folk dance...turns out they really do sing it in Macedonia! It is a small world after all!)

That was a long parenthetical bit of information, wasn't it!

Here's my closing thoughts. Like my parents in Washington DC, living in big European cities for the past year has caused me to consider a lot of things that we just aren't confronted with on a day to day basis in suberbia. I am convinced that God lives and He wants us to love eachother. Love changes everything. It really does. I would like to echo the words of so many in General conference that encouraged us to love and cherish eachother. We must rise above fault finding and judgemental behavior and love everyone, for each soul is of infinite worth. We are children of God, we are brothers and sisters, and we need to act that way. I pray that I may have more charity. I pray that we may all share this great love with one another. I pray that the Lord will bless and keep you all this week. I pray that the Lord will bless my dear country and home of America in this time of election and our freedoms may always be protected and that we always be grateful for them. And I pray that you will pray....that we will all pray, with more purpose, that the Lord may grant us the blessings He so desperately wants to give us.

All my love!

Soeur Waldron

The worth of souls is great in the eyes of God

Hello!

 

I spent most of my email time writing the last letter I sent you, so this might be a bit short.

 

This week was a very sacred. I had so many special experiences, and felt the Spirit of the Lord comfort my heart and testify of the truthfulness of His gospel on several occasions.

 

October 13th was an anticipated day for me for many reasons. We were all so excited for Julien and Cheng's baptisms. Their stories are true miracles, and it is all just too beautiful for me to express. For a very personal reason, the date of their baptism was a very special thing for me, and it was just incredible to see the tender mercies of the Lord and how aware He is of us, and how He rewards us for our diligence and faith with blessings from on high.

 

I have been pretty ill with a cold the past few days, but it has been a blessing because it has caused me to be much more quiet and contemplative. The day of the baptism I got up at the appointed time, and scurried around a bit but eventually decided it would be best for everyone if I just slept a little longer. I got up at 7:50 and was on my knees at 8:00 for companion prayer...miracle. I spent the entire personal study hour in Alma 5 and was truly lead by the Spirit in my study. I love the Book of Mormon. Later that night, after the baptism, we were invited with a couple of our friends and with Julien (Cheng couldn't come) to a member's home where we enjoyed an evening of testimony and love. The best part was that I just got to listen to the conversion stories of our dear members for a really long time, and I was forced to just be quiet and listen and wait upon the Lord until it was my turn to talk because I really didn't have much of a voice. (I know this might surprise you, but I tend to be quite the talker...haha, so it was good to keep me quiet...its especially difficult right now because my good companion has a hard time with french (you could pray for that) and so I talk even more than normal, hahaha) Frere Tran noticed that I seemed 'at the ready' as I had opened my scriptures to where I had read that morning, and was able to share my testimony, it felt really great. Our friend roger accepted an invitation from my companion and I to baptism for the third of November, and we are all really happy and proud of him.

 

Carmelle is changing and it is incredible. On the tram on the way home from church yesterday, she told me how she has been praying, even in her mind while on the tram, and how it is becoming natural for her. She really had no intention of continueing her study with us for anything but more info on what we believe, but her heart is changing and she is feeling the spirit of the Lord. When she left the baptism the other day, she told me 'c'est la premiere fois que je sort d'une eglise en se disant 'wow, c'etait geniale!!' (this is the first time that I'll leave a church saying 'wow, that was great!') She has a hard time denying the ever so sly remarks of Julien about an impending baptism. Ha. Lets pray that her heart keeps changing.

 

Alexia is hard to see lately, but we will be seeing her tonight so that is good. Lets pray for her too.

 

I just love this work. I know it is true. Jesus is the Christ. He died for us. He loves us. When we love and forgive people, it makes us feel good because His Atonement is taking place in our hearts. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

 

I would like to ask that you please remember Kevin's family in your prayers. Especially his mother, his two youngest brothersm and his older brother. His family needs so much help.

 

here's everyone's names:

 

Josianne and Fortune

 

Guillaume

Kevin

David

Nelson

Alvigne

 

Nadege

Helga

Marlyne

Servanne

Evelyne

 

I love you with all my soul.

 

Soeur Waldron

October 8th

My dear ones,

 

What a happy time it is to gather together as a worldwide body of Saints for General conference. This past weekend was a great one, and a sacred one.

 

We watched the recording of women's session on Saturday afternoon in our lovely chapel in Talence. Our amie, Carmelle, was running a bit behind and we were already at the church, so Soeur Buchanan (from the Lormont equipe) and I sat in the bakc in the French room and let our little companions go and watch in English tranquillement while we waited for Carmelle to arrive. We ended up staying with her in the French room, and she had a lot to soak in. She is a young adult in one of those inbetweener states of life where she hasn't got a whole lot to do. She has white eyelashes on her right eye, and is always smiling. But, she isn't quite sure if God is really there. She is a joy to teach, and is really interested in learning, especially about geneology. fun things.

 

The next day, we got there and a cloud or something was interfering with the Priesthood session that they were broadcasting for the men, its not general conference overseas without a few little gliches. :) Everyone started singing and made the best of it, and Soeur Kohler and I were busy making food for some of us to eat afterward. Cheng and Julien are both doing great, and everything is on schedule for them to be baptized this weekend. Poor Cheng is sick and a little apprehensive, and really busy...so we are getting one of the mandarin speaking elders to give him some counsel before the big day. If you could pray for him I would appreciate it. Some of his concerns are finding an apartment, and just overall being ready for his baptism. There are a couple of other chinese members, but its still hard.

 

I am so thankful to live in a time when there are prophets and apostles on the earth. Heavenly Father loves His children, of that I am sure. As I consider all of the wonderful things I learned this weekend, my heart is filled with love and gratitude, and a sacred feeling of hope for the future. I pray that we may all ask ourselves the question 'can ye feel so now?' and evaluate and eliminate every little thing, every pavillion that could be keeping us from the love of God. I love this work. I know it is true. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the most pure and wonderful truth, and I am so thankful to have benefited from it my entire life. May we be the lower lamps than burn brightly, and allow the love of God to radiate within us unto the convincing that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and our friend. I love you.

 

Soeur Waldron

Sweet Hour of Prayer

My beautiful family! 

The Lord is working mighty miracles here in Bordeaux. He lives, and He is directing His work all over the world. There is so much good in this world, and I hope that we may all fill our lives with it every day and continually build up our defenses against the destroyer. 

One of the ways I know God loves me is how I feel when I apply the council of His servants in my life. This week our mission President has asked us to study prayer, and it is changing my life and my mission. I have so much to do to improve my prayers. I know that God is listening to us, and I am thankful for the incredible opportunity I have had to literally teach hundreds of people how to speak with Him. Some people come to Bordeaux to taste wine, but we am here to help them taste something much much better, even the sweetness of the love of God. Neat.

So this week we had an incredible miracle, one too sacred to even express in words. We met with a 17 year old girl who learned about the church about a year ago when she saw a TV show about it, and decided to look online. She comes from a non-christian family, and when she mentioned to her mother some ideas about looking into Christianity, she was told that she would be disowned if she joined a Christian church. This scared her, and so she stopped pursuing it for a while, but eventually she couldn't stay away. She somehow got a hold of our phone number through the church's website for the new temple that will be in France (I found out later that one of the young adults in Geneva is working for the website or something and she is the one that gave our number to her....small small world) and last week we met with her. We went to a large public garden to speak together outside, and it was as if I had met a sister I had known my whole life. Her testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is deep and powerful, and when we gave her her very long-awaited copy of the Book of Mormon she held it like the most precious treasure in all the earth. It really made me stop and consider what I am doing and why, and how incredible this work really is. It was incredible to hear her speak of her experiences with prayer, and how the Lord has been answering her prayers. Andm because I had followed President's council to study prayer in the Book of Mormon, we were able to read some really wonderful stories about prayer together. I wish I could express how beautiful the whole thing was. Unfortunately we can't teach her without the permission of her parents, but I know the Lord will prepare the way. Lets all remember her and her family in our prayers. 

We have so many incredible people we are working with here in Bordeaux. We see miracles every single day, and we know that the Lord is preparing this land for a great miracle. I know that God lives and that the power of prayer is real.

Have the most incredible week ever. Prions, et marchons avec foi en chaque pas.

All of my love, 

Soeur Waldron