Hello my dear ones!

I am so pleased to be writing you this crisp autumn day! The leaves are falling more and more quickly and winter time is here. This week I celebrated my 'One year since I've lived in Europe' day, and so now it has offically been a year since my feet touched American soil. Wierd. It was fun for me to read what I did my first day in Dijon last year....remember me telling you about my first contact with Soeur Madsen? I described it in my journal as a moment when I knew with greater surety, looking into the eyes of this French woman on the street and testifying to her, that we really are children of God. It is a great trial of faith to be a new missionary in a new land and a new language, and I am just thankful for all the Lord has given me, and I am just hoping that Soeur Bayles is having as a great a start to her mission as I did.

 

So, this week was great. Thanks to a bunch of recipes sent by (my Anut) Leigh Anna, we had all kinds of Thanksgiving miracles! The senior couple heros, the Johnstons from Washington, made the entire zone thanksgiving for our meeting on Thursday, with TURKEY and everything, and Soeur Bayles and I made the recipes Anna sent and used them to bring Thanksgiving to a bunch of people who had never had it before. It was really fun. We also got to eat with a family who recently moved here from Idaho.

 

At our zone meeting (in our mission we have a meeting with the zone the week after our conferences to really anchor in our hearts what we learned) we talked about what we learned with Elder Andersen's (of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles) visit, and how we are going to apply it in our work from here on out. Church leaders have the vision of doubling church membership in Europe by 2020 as I understand it, and we know that this is only possible through a lot of faithful missionaries and members, united in prayer and in work. Elder Andersen mentioned in his visit how the restoration requires that there be a righteous people accross the world and that it's an impossible task to bring the gospel to the whole world but we must do it! I think (Lyon France Mission)President Roney would add that things that are impossible for us are completely possible and normal for God and His angels, and so we just need to have faith, do our part, and allow them to work through us to get this done. We know that there are many people who are ready for this gospel message...some of them already know it, and have chosen to live lives without the blessings of the gospel for the moment. Others may have never heared restored truth. As Elder Andersen said we bear wistness of Christ to those who are members and those who are not...its our responsibility, we are His servants.

 

We also know that this is going to be a DELIGHT! Which is probably why President came up with a new mission activity called 'the missionary game' which is basically a game, yes like a board game except there's no board but there is a di, and we play it with members to help them come up with new, fun, simple ways to share the gospel with their friends. What we do is one person rolls the di and whatever number they roll leads us to a sheet of paper with questions. There are six categories of questions, with a number of questions listed in each category, so when we roll a six for example, you ask the first question in category six, and then the next time you roll a six you move on to the next one. bref. Each question starts with 'who do you know that.....' and then the second part is something like 'has recently moved to the area' or 'would make a great seminary teacher' or 'is stressed' or 'likes to play sports' or 'is a great parent' etc. They are great. So you ask the question to the group, and for each name they give they get ten points. After a while, you move to step two, where you all kneel together and say a prayer to bless each of these people individually. Then, we come up with a plan of action...what we can do to get these people connected with the missionaries (invite them to a ward activity, have FHE with the missionaries, give them something on mormon.org and tell them the missionaries' phone number, etc.) and we vote on the ideas, and the winning ideas get ten points each. Voila. I have no idea if that made sense but, it is really a working. We have played it twice, and we recieved 16 member referrals. 16!!!! To give you an idea of how enormous that is, in my mission I think I have recieved less than 16 member referrals in the past year....

 

This is a marvelous work. The success we have here doesn't have anything to do with us, but everything to do with Heavenly Father, and miracles that come from His hand. He lives. He loves us. He knows this work is true, and He knows that it can be done....and He has chosen dorky 18-20 somethings to do it (lets not forget our senior couples too....way to go mom and dad!) and I know that even though we are small and simple tools in His hands, He is using us to accomplish this great work of restoration. I love the gospel. I love repenting. I love seeing others repent. I love loving people and I literally love everyone here so so much. This is the last week of the transfer, and I normally never express a desire to stay or leave, but I would really love to stay for Christmas. I know that the Lord will inspire President with the right thing, though.

 

Thanks be to God for our bounteous blessings which He accords us everyday. I thank Him for His Son, for His gospel, and for my knowledge of it.

 

I love you.

 

Sarah

 

PS Landry is getting baptized December 22! NEAT! I would love it if you could remember him in your prayers

November 19, 2012

Hello :)

It has certainly been a blessed week.It has been interesting and adventuresome to see how the Lord has answered our prayers in all kinds of creative ways.
I have been praying to become more organized. How has this prayer been answered you may ask? Larvae infestation. We were in the middle of companionship inventory when I looked up on the ceiling and found that we had all sorts of little friends that had joined us. YAY! It was honestly hilarious. Disgusting, but really fun. Sr. Bayles and I are now certified larvae slayers, and our apartment is more organized that it ever has been before (creepy crawilies are a great motivator to get things organized.)

Another day we were on our way to a members home when the tram broke down. A flock of us found ourselves accross the street waiting for a special bus to come and take us further down the line. It was great to see how this crowd of people who normally don't converse at all on public transport all suddenly found that they had something in common...they all really wanted the bus to come, and everyone was being suddenly conversational! It was great! I have been on my mission long enough to know that these situations are acutally not inconveniences, but great chances to have a miracle! This time his name was Rodrigue. He is from Benin, but spent a lot of time in Ghana as well and so he chooses to speak with us in English. He came to church for the first time yesterday, and guess who spoke? Our only other ward member from Ghana. Awesome.

Another day we had to go to the prefacture for legality...which was a long day of sitting, but our mongolian ami ends up coming in and we were able to touch bases with him. He's been living in his car and we found out he found a house for him and his wife and two kids and they are moving in this week I believe! Elder Arnold just called to say that they ran into them in town, too, and that they are still really excited to continue meeting with us. Good stuff!

Soeur Bayles and I had some of the most beautiful teaching experiences of my mission this week. We visited a family with less active children on Tuesday, and although most of the kids decided not to join us for the spiritual thought, we were able to teach the parents and their 16 year old who is in a really critical decision making moment...whether she will follow the example of her older siblings and the world, or her parents and continue faithful in the gospel. It was Tuesday, and we reminded them of the words of Elder Kearon to make the conference last past that day, and as we invited them to pray daily that they could be 'the light in the lives of others' as Elder Andersen suggested, there was such a sweet spirit in the room.

Another wonderful experience was on Soeur Bayles' birthday on Thursday. We invited one of our amies and some young adult sisters in the ward to come and eat with us for our lunch hour. Afterward, we proposed to come with our amie to her home for a quick lesson. It ended up that another friend of hers came over, and we taught a serendipitous first lesson to a wonderful French woman who knows many truths about our Heavenly Father and His love for us. We are very excited to continue meeting with Danielle.

So many other good things I could say. We learned a lot about how to work with ward leaders, how to teach together, how to teach with the spirit. Life is good and our faith and our joy is improving daily! Its wonderful!

Our ami Landry who came to conference is doing great! He came to the baptism this weekend and to all of church, and we will be teaching him at the institute tonight. He's so elect its insane!

We have a lot of amis who are struggling to progress. Its a great opportunity for us to put our faith into action and seek the Lord and pray for miracles.

Life is happy. Remember God lives and loves you. Study His gospel and your life changes for the better every day.

Have a good week!

Love Soeur Waldron

Nov. 12, 2012

Hi family!
I took some time to actually read my emails today, rather than just printing
them out for later so this will be a quicky.
I am happy to report to you this week about the very sacred experience which it
was to have an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, Elder Neil L Andersen, and also
Elder Kearon of the seventy (he spoke a while back about wearing sandals so as
to not step on scorpions, remember?) and President and Soeur Murdock (I think
she meant the Roney's-her new mission president and his wife. The Murdock's were
there before.) speak to us at the Bordeaux stake conference and our special zone
meeting. Words cannot express how incredible it was and how very much I have
learned. I love that.

Elder Andersen is a lot like Jesus. He smiles a lot, and loves everyone. I have
observed that general authorities have this incredible capacity to love, and I
know that this is because they have worked very hard to obtain the Christlike
attribute of charity...no matter who you are, when you meet them you feel like
they came just for you. That's what it will be like when we meet the Savior
again, I am convinced.

Here are just a few thoughts from the conference. Elder Kearon reminded us that
'it takes a good conference to last past tuesday' and encouraged us to apply
what we learned from this great meeting, by binding ourselves to act and to
change and to make it last and to claim the blessings of strength, courage, and
happiness and joy that can be ours. He echoed the advice given us in Isaiah 58
'is not this the fast I have choses.....to undo the chains that bind' and
exhorted us to mighty prayer and fasting and dedication. He said that if we are
having a hard time, perhaps it is because our prayers have become routine, and
suggested that we fast with a purpose. I got to meet him and speak with him for
a moment, we talked a bit about Danville and he mentioned that when he grows up
he wants to be like Elder Wilson...I agreed. Are they in Mongolia, by the way? I
love them. I am thankful for the love hey've always given our family.
Elder Andersen and his family spoke to us in French, which was a treat! They
love this placem and spoke about their time here with tenderness. They love the
French people, for good reason. France is a wonderful country, he reminded us,
and though it has become very secular there is still the light of Christ. There
are worthy covenant keeping people in this landm and that is not going to stop,
and the adversary cannot and will not stop it despite his unforgiving winds of
apostasy the kingom of God is being restored here every day and all over the
world. Elder Andersen told us 'We are the light in the lives of others,' and so
we must be. How do we obtain this light, by learning about Jesus, applying His
teachings, and keeping our covenants. God is a God of promisesm and He is bound
when we do what He says. Let us keep the commandments. Let us not be
discouraged, but let us partake in the light and Joy of God daily.

I love you!
Sarah

The Gospel Makes Me Happy

Where do I even begin? There are so many beautiful things to say and we just
have so little time! Especially today. But, for good reasons :)

This morning we went to Kevin's home with Sr. David and taught his little
brothers Alvigne and Nelson their first official lesson. YESSSS! It was
seriously so wonderful. They are adorable boys, with great questions. You can
probably imagine it. Sixteen and fourteen year old brothers, right around that
age where we really start making decisions about who we want to be...but of
course, we are too cool to say anything about it outloud, at least at the
beginning.


They were still in bed when we got there so their big sister went and woke them
up...Ha. It was so great. We taught them the first lesson and gave them a
chapter in the Book of Mormon to read (Alma 32) with Kevin before Friday and
some questions about faith to ponder on :) Funfunfun.


As for the rest of the week. Leigh Anna will be happy that I read her email that
I'd printed off on Halloween morning right before studies, so I found out that
the Giants had won the World Series while already wearing orange and black.
WOOOO! I had a little bit of difficulty calming down for companionship
prayer..ha. And, we taught Carmelle at Sr. David's on Halloween and all carved a
pumpkin together! It was their first time! We accidentally chopped off one of
his teeth, which made it a more legitimate experience I think. We named him
Jean.

And of course, Roger's baptism! It was a wonderfully simple and powerful
service. He chose Kevin to perform the ordinance, and that was particularly
special to me. What wonderful miracles we have experienced here in Eysines. What
a beautiful thing it is to see people accept and live the gospel and help others
receive it. Kevin played a really big role in helping Roger choose to be
baptized, as well as many other members. Julien gave the talk about baptism
during the service, and it was so incredible. Roger shared a powerful testimony
the next day in church. He testified of how one never meets the missionaries by
chance and how he knew that the Lord had led us together, and what caused him to
choose to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Kevin also bore
his testimony, and Julien blessed the sacrament. Can you believe how blessed we
are? Cheng is still doing great too, really busy with school, but really great:)
Christelle even came to church, two weeks in a row now! Thank you for your
prayers! Keep them coming! :))


We all joined in a special fast together on Sunday with the recent converts and
a bunch of young adults to prepare our hearts for this weekend when Elder Neil
L. Andersen of the quorum of the twelve apostles will come and speak to us. We
fasted together Sunday, and then my companion and I printed off different talks
given by him, a different one for each person to read throughout the week to
help us prepare to hear him at stake conference this weekend. This year they are
celebrating 20 years since the creation of the Bordeaux stake, and seeing as
Elder Andersen was the mission president then (I think at the same time?) it is
really providential that he be there. We are all excited. He will also be having
a special zone conference with the missionaries, so we are double excited.


The gospel is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is His true
and living church, He directs this work. I am so happy that I still have five
precious months to represent my Savior every single day. I am so happy that you
are doing the same thing, mom and dad., God is a God of miracles, and He is
ready and willing to bless us. Another special thing that happened this last
Sunday was that many of the young men and young women bore their testimonies
about the temple, as they had all been in Madrid all of last week to do temple
baptisms (where baptisms are performed in behalf of those who died without being
baptized for themselves). They have two weeks of vacation at the moment, and as
another member of the ward noted it is really touching to see that they
sacrificed 50 percent of that time to accomplishing the work of the Lord. It was
beautiful to hear these young people bear testimony. In particular, a young
woman who has been less active, who although she was not able to participate in
the baptisms she was touched by the testimonies of her friends and bore a
tear-filled testimony that she had felt the Spirit for the first time in a long
time and how wonderful that was. It was incredible.


I love Lehi's dream in the Book of Mormon (1Nephi chapter 8). I know that we are
not meant to partake of the fruit (partake in the Love of God/make and keep
sacred covenants) only one time, but over and over again. The tree does not run
out of fruit, and we should not stop eating after just one bite! Not only that
but the iron rod which represents the word of God(see 1Nephi chapter 11:
25) doesn't disappear either. Some of us may mistakenly believe that if we have
'fallen into forbidden paths and are lost' that it is game over, no more chance
for you. But it is not true. The Savior beckons to each and every single one of
us to come unto Him, and no matter where you find yourself in Lehi's dream at
the moment, it is not to late for you to come back and eat of the sweet fruit of
the gospel. Even if you are locked up in a hidden chamber of the great and
spacious building, the Savior and His infinite Atonement is mighty to save even
the vilest of sinners and He wants you with Him. He loves you as you are, but He
can make you a better version of you if you give your heart to Him and become
sanctified. (Helaman 3:35) I know this because I have felt it, I have felt the
Savior's redeeming love and the happiness repentance and obedience brings. Feast
upon the words of Christ and trust Him. Forgive others. Forgive yourself. Do
everything you can to allow the Lord to forgive you. Let's all do this together,
every day. And smile.

I love you so.

Love Soeur Waldron :)