September 17, 2012

For my letter this week, I thought that since last week I didn't have much time to write about the work I would just include a little from my correspondences with President Roney over the past couple of weeks. He is a great mission President, and you can see how imporant it is for him to make us feel loved and appreciated. I serve with such incredible leaders, and among such incredible people. I love it here. The Gospel is a gospel of love. Do you remember the Ensign from last September (I think?) which was all about the Book of Mormon? I bought it in the MTC and have been reading it. I love the article by Elder Nelson about how the Book of Mormon shows us God's love. I know God loves us so, and that His plan is perfect, and that all of the promises in the Book of Mormon apply to our lives personally.

One story I alluded to in the letter to president from last week and this week was about Cheng. Last week was his second week at church, and he noticed that we were all dressed nice so he came in his button down shirt. We gave him his chinese Book of Mormon, and by the end of church he had read through first Nephi chapter 10. We taught him afterward, and he said that lately he has been studying a lot about books and how they are written and he just knows that this book is true. He believes it. Last week I explained to him a bit about baptism, and he Googled it throughout the week because he had questions. Yesterday we told him that there would be a baptisimal service on the 13th of October and before we even finished our sentance he said 'could I join on that day?' He is already concerned about how to go to church when he moves back to China in like three years. He is incredible.

I was having a rough morning the other day and I sat down next to a familiar looking girl, but didn't contact her right away because I couldn't figure out if we had already spoken before; and I was a bit grumpy, lets be honest. So, I sit down and five seconds later I hear this 'exusez-moi? Vous etes qui actuellement?' And boom. Come to find out she is also Christian and had just moved to Bordeaux for school and was looking for a place to go to church! It was great. Another time, we walked onto the tram and this Chinese man starts talking to us in English as if we were old friends, and same story...student here, wants to come to church with us. He came on Sunday and was happy to find a couple of his friends in the Talence ward. Chang is so cool. Another day, I sat down, and was again just having a bit of a hard day, and the man across from me says:
'Qui est Jesus-Christ pour vous?'
Me: 'Il est Mon Sauveur et Redempter'
Him : 'Etes-vous sure?'
Me: 'oui.'
Him: 'C'est bon alors. C'est vrai. Et il ne faut pas avoir peur...c'est tres bien ce que vous faites'
Me: (seeing that our stop was coming) 'Je crois que nous devons discuter encore'
He agreed and we taught him at the church last week. His heart was touched and the Spirit testified as we gave him a church tour and the short version of the first lesson. The best part was Soeur Kohler telling the first vision. Was it perfectly pronounced French? No. Was it heartfelt? Absolutely. Did he understand? One hundred percent. He took notes during our rendez-vous and said he considers us his family. We invited him to baptism (not yet with a date, but we will) and I know he is going to recieve answers to his prayers and study the Book of Mormon with real intent.

Another time I was on the crowded tram and had FINALLY found a place to sit, when the Spirit was like 'go a little further' and I realllly didn't feel like it, but I went. And I found her. A woman who had met with the missionaries and long since lost contact. 'Tu sais, ils mavait inviter a lire le livre de mormon et prier et je n'ai j'amais fait.' I know the Spirit led me to this woman. I am excited to speak with her again.

On Sunday we met with a family who gave us their coordonnees after having offered to take their photo for them downtown. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I have never in all my days of being a missionary felt more like I was at home than I did at theirs, and not just becuase it was a real house...but because it was filled with people who loved each other and filled their family roles. They are going to read to Book of Mormon. Its gonna be great.

Just before coming here I met a Tahitian girl streetboarding (teaching on the street) . At first she was really pressed. At the end, she gave me her phone number and address and said she had been wanting to visit with people like this, and hoped that we could come over every sunday afternoon.

So many miracles, so much grace and mercy. The Lord is so good and I just want so much to be good so that He can accomplish good through me

There are lots of great things to do here in the Lord's vineyard. I am so happy to be a missionary. I am so happy that my parents went to the MTC on Monday, and that we are a missionary family. I love the Savior, and know that through living His gospel the greatest happiness is in store. I am thankful that even though I sometimes feel lonely or doubtful or as if I am failing, the Lord has never left my side and never will. Nothing makes me happier than living the gospel.

Have a great week! Soeur Waldron

A cool miracle from this week. We had confused the name of one of the people we were going to go and teach and we thought he wouldn't come to our meeting and hadn't arranged for a member to come, not wanting them to come for nothing. We called the person and realized it was someone else, and he was on his way to our meetingm and was bringing a friend. We needed a member, pronto. We weren't having any luck, and got on the tram, hoping we could find a solution when over the crowd I saw the face of one of the young adults in our ward who we don't know as well, but who returned from his mission to Albania a year ago. Golden! We waved him down and found out he was on his way home (aka not busy at all) and he agreed to come with us and the lesson was INCREDIBLE! The two guys who came are named Maxime and Constantin, and they really weren't sure what they were getting themselves into at first. But, as we did the church tour, we used the classrooms and the pictures to teach the doctrines of the first lesson, and ended up teaching almost the whole thing while standing. We explained the Joseph Smith story while standing in front of a picture of the First Vision, and I watched them as they stared at the image with real intent and listened carefully to what we were saying. Then, as we explained that God prepared more ancient scriptures to come forth in our days, as a living witness of Christ and of His truth restored, they could barely stand still they were so excited to see what it was. We finally sat down to debrief a little and we continued to answer their questions. We taught them how to pray and knelt together in prayer, and they both commited to read and pray in preparation for our next meeting. And there you have it, two 19-20 year old's sitting in the chapel and speaking and seeking under the influence of the Spirit of God. THIS WORK IS SO COOL!

Did I mention how much I love la Paroisse d'Eysines? A lot. I feel like three hours of church and a linger longer and a ward movie showing of 17 miracles was not nearly enough time for me to love everyone I wanted to. We have an incredible member of our ward named Soeur David who is pretty much becoming our third companion, she is wonderful! We ate at her home my second day here in Bordeaux, and since that moment have been creating such a beautiful friendship as we have shared testimony, taught together, prayed together, she's even been contacting with us! My companion is incredible. I feel a new power in my life as well, knowing that my parents are now enlisted in this great cause full time, too. They had a great week at the MTC and should be in Washington DC by now.

I love the Lord. Sweet is the work.

Love,

Soeur Waldron

Spiritual power springs from obedience, not an empty bucket

Hello my dear family,

Thank you so much for your inspiring emails this week, I love and miss you dearly. 

The title of this letter by the way is my new favorite quote from Elder Teixiera. 

Emails are such an interesting time of my every week. I feel like I go through every emotion possible, and usually I feel this urgency to express the deepest sentiments of my heart, and often I leave feeling as though I haven't even scratched the surface. Last week I spent a couple of hours before coming to emails trying to gather together all sorts of notes and things I had taken over the week so that I could share some inspirations with you, but I ended up not having the time to get it all typed out and so that made me kind of sad. I wish I could express with words what great things the Lord does for us and how incredibly He answers my prayers every day, but words just aren't enough, so I will just continue to thank Him and you, and sing praises at every occasion possible. 

So this last week we had some pretty miraculous things happen. Elder Teixiera from the Quorum of the Seventy came to our Zone Conference, and we were all edified so much. He gave us some really special promises, as a Zone, as a district, and even to Sr. Kohler and I as a companionship, concerning our work and our amis specifically. It was really powerful, and we have tried really hard to put into practice the things he has asked us to do and we are being blessed for it. But, the highlight of the week was definitely Kevin. I haven't gotten to talk about him much, but Kevin is just the best. He came right after Zone Conference for his baptisimal interview since our district leader was in town from Agen (prune capital of the world!_ anyway, and oh my goodness it was just so powerful! The Zone leaders gave Kevin a blessing of comfort...he has a lot of concerns for his family and just wanted some comfort before his baptism. I haven't felt the Spirit that strongly since I was in Geneva. IT was incredible. We got to meet one of Kevins nine siblings the next day, and her two littlest children...he has a great family, and they really need prayers. This is a true miracle waiting to happen. When Elder Teixieras family joined the church, there were 42 people baptized by the same companionship. So, maybe that gives you some insight as to why he was so interested in our work, and our investigator with 9 brothers and sisters. Anyway, its a great priiledge to be a small part of this miracle and I know that as we are faithful and obedient the Lord will prepare all things that are expedient in Him. I am excited to see how things will unfold, and just pray that the Lord will make me equal to my task.

Kevin's baptism was great. Sometime I will have to tell you the hilarious mishaps, wardrobe mishaps, lowering water levels in the font while the speaker kept on going and going, and so many other hilarious things that I just can't do justice here. Lets just say Kevin is lucky that he didn't have to get baptized in a dress, ha.

I know God lives and I love His work. I am so grateful to be here in Bordeaux. Yes, this is probably the most beautiful city I have served in yet. Although, they are all beautiful in their own ways, I love it here. I am so proud of you, mom and dad, and your decision to serve the Lord. I have several things I want to mail to you but I am afraid it wont get there until after you leave so maybe you could give me your address in dc. I need to give that to the mission office anyway, HAVE A GREAT TIME AT THE MTC! On Monday I will give you some secret tips, like how to find the cream soda tree, and narnia holes, and what to eat in the cafeteria. I think dad that you will actually have your own gym! Seriously, you two are going to be heros....I love senior missionaries. I was really sad to leave geneva for a lot of reasonsm but one was because I didn;t get to stay longer with the Cairns from scotland. There is another senior couple here named the Duleys that are so incredible, I had a sleepover with them when I was new and they just had a baptism last week of a man who has been married to a member for YEARS and they just basically loved him into the gospel. Did you know that brother perry's (from our ward in alamo) parents are serving in Nice? I met them on sunday.

I want copies of your farewell talks! 

ok, well I love you. I know that the gospel is true, and that obeying God's commandments is the way to freedom, happiness, and peace. I know that our family will be together forever if we choose so. I love the Savior. I love you! GODSPEED! thanks for answering my prayers each week you write me

Sarah

PS this week I am memorzing all of our missionary scriptures from our plaques :) ONWARD EVER ONWARD as we glory in His name! Let us declare with boldness the gospel every day! WOO!

The Vision

Hello my dear ones,

We have had a blessed and wonderful week here in Bordeaux. Miracles occur and prayers are answered constantly around us, to my convincing more and more that God lives and He loves me. We can see these things every day if we will tune ourselves with our spiritual senses.

Last week we had our second disctrict meeting of the transfer. The 'super trainers' came and did a training to help us prepare for 'E-DAY' the 'E' standing for 'Endear.' Ever since President Roney got here, we have been changing the focus of the mission to really just love people more. We studied the story of Ammon from the Book of Mormon, and his interactions with King Lamoni, and just as he 'endeared' the king, we are doing the same thing with the members, serving and loving them. Yesterday was the big day where we all as an entire mission were to go out and love the ward with every possible effort we could make, and you could just feel how different it was. One of the things we did was something we like to call 'Post-lude!' where you find out what hymn will be sung last during Sacrament meeting and put a nice post-it note on that page for the person to find. It was so fun to see everyone find their little notes! We felt so sneaky! At church I felt like everyone was just an extention of my family, and I am just so happy and excited to continue to get to know the members here.

This week I did an exchange with the Soeurs in Lormont, which is just outside of Bordeaux, and I learned so much from Sr. Taylor, my companion for the day. We lived so many miracles together! At the end of the day we went and ate at a members home, and we discussed many delightful things together over a lovely meal of tomatoes, cheese, bread, couscous and chicken. Somewhere in our discussion, we discussed the great writers J.R.R Tolkein and C.S. Lewis, two incredibly enlightened men who loved Jesus Christ. One of the ideas I loved that Sister Fortina brought up was 'Il y a du bon dans ce monde, et on doit se battre pour ca' which means, 'there is good in this world, and we need to fight for it.' That is our calling. We live in a world of a lot of corruption and confusion, but as disciples of Christ, when we have His light with us, we will continue to shine brighter and brighter against this backdrop of filth. As President Monson said in his recent conference address, 'May we continue to oppose evil wherever it is found.'

Sister Kohler and I have spent a lot of time this transfer talking about the word 'Vision' and how important it is to have one. There is another conference talk about it that I read this morning http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/having-the-vision-to-do?lang=eng that I find quite incredible.

Another great talk is one called 'the forth missionary' Icant remember who wrote it, but a lot of my thoughts of late come from there.

I have learned that the only way to true happiness is by leaving behind all of our visions of what we think is best, and fully submitting our view and our desires and our everything to the Lord. He can't help what He doesn't have, and our talents, time, energy, and all of those sorts of things are things He gave us in the first place. The only thing we can really give Him is our will, and that is a little more complicated. I love the Lord, I want to serve Him my whole live. I love my family, and I want to serve you my whole life. I am blessed beyond measure, and beyond all things that I could possibly deserve.

I love you. Have a super week!

Sarah

August 20th

Bordeaux is lovely, and really really hot. At this moment I am sitting in the internet cafe with my companion, hair all braided up and a scarf around my head.We have one little fan which we prop up on our desk in our one room apartment, which provides us oscillating gusts of air on oaccasion through the night, but mostly we just expect to wake up dripping wet. Its great! haha. Hopefully it should cool down in a couple weeks.

We have two great amis who are progressing! Kevin, who will be baptized the first, is doing so well. He's 22 and just loves the gospel. We ran into him by chance on the road the other day, and he proudly showed us the contents of his satchel....the Book of Mormon and Gospel Principles...'Voila, J'ai tous qu'il faut!' he said....such a solid guy. He has nine brothers and sisters, and his parents live here in Bordeaux. They are originally from Gabon, I believe, which is close to where Stephane is from. Then there is Delphine, who is French, and also in her twenties. She's been looking into the church for about a year now, and we are just really loving teaching her. I think she is starting to make some big progress towards understanding who the Savior is, and what He has to offer us....and as we teach her, I am beginning to understand that a lot better myself. We just love her. This week we also did some service with the Elders for a less active lady from Shri-Lanka, who lives with her son. She has been pretty oppressed in her life, and we just have been helping her clean up her kitchen. We shared with her the scripture in Proverbs 31 about how special women are and how imortant they are to God, and that is a message she hasn't really heard in her cirumstance. We made her smile and she made us smile and we came out as the cockraoch champions of bordeaux! Dun dada! Haha, it was a good time.

This week we are really hoping to find some new people to teach, and to continue to get to know the ward. It should be great!

I know that God lives, and He loves us. We are His children and we were created in His image. All things tesitify that He lives, and the prayer of faith is the secret to a happy day, and a happy life. I have a lot of things to improve and repent of and I am thankful the Savior provided me the way to do that. I am glad that we have a prophet on the earth to lead and guide us. It makes me feel good to testify of these restored truths, and it helps me build my faith. Lets all pray for more opportunities to testify this week!

Love love!
Sister Sarah

August 6th

Hello everyone,

 

I've attached a photo that was sent to us by a couple who is serving their mission in Bordeaux. They are in charge of checking on the apartments that the missionaries are in. They went and saw Sarah and her companion and said that they are in a safe area and have a nice landlord. They went to lunch with them and took this photo.

 

There is some news in this email that we decided to let Sarah share with all of you.

 

Love,

 

Laura

 

 

Mon, Aug. 6, 2012 5:37 AM

Subject: The truth always sets me free!

FAMILLE!!!!!!

So. I had just sat down at the little internet cafe here near St. Cathrine (I decided that I am going to throw in some random location specifics juste pour Anna, that way she can imagine where I am and she can tell you all about it!!) and moms email was one of the first ones I read. I had just barely started reading when I got distracted buy the little box in the corner where it shows all of the pictures I've been sent recently. I saw that there was one of these two pieces of paper, and I didn't remember seeing it before so I stopped reading and clicked on it right away. (yeah, I'm still really easily distracted...some things never change.) I look at it and I read Sister and Elder Waldron, and assuming that you had just taken a picture of mine and Spencer's mission calls together, I thought that was cute and wondered if you had framed them in a special way or something. Upon further inspection, I read that Sister Waldron had actually been called to the Washington DC North Mission...and for a second I was trying to remember if for some weird reason I was in the wrong place or something.....and then it clicked, and the whole internet cafe (consisting of the one leaders, two random people and the guy who works here...) gets to hear....

"MY PARENTS ARE GOING ON A MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" 

Yeah. I had kind of a huge reaction. Ha. I AM SO EXCEEDINGLY HAPPY ABOUT THIS I CAN HARDLY STAND IT!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow. You are going to be the best missionaries ever. I love that for the next six months we will all wake up at six thirty and put on the black name tag. I love that Spencer did that in Perufor two years of his life. WE ARE A MISSIONARY FAMILY!! That’s cool that you are going back to the east coast, daddy! I really am not sure how to express how perfectly happy I was to hear this news, and how thoroughly wonderful I think our family is, especially our Heavenly Father, who has blessed us in so many ways. I love that I have the best parents in the whole world, and that I have the single most awesome brother ever. I also love that I am serving in Bordeaux.....Anna, I love it here. I feel so at home. I love spiritually creating you here with your companion, it motivates me to work hard and to keep our legacy going. It is such a beautiful city, with so much culture and so many of our brothers and sisters waiting for the gospel!! I was able to bear my testimony on Sunday and I mentioned how happy I was to be here and how you had served here several years ago. A woman came up to me after the meeting she is from the Talence ward but just was visiting for the day. She asked 'Comment elle s'appelle, votre tante, cela qui a servi ici ca fait quelaques annees?' Me 'Dayton, Soeur Dayton (Dieton....haha, I love it the frenchy way) and she knew who you were RIGHT AWAY!!! !Ahhhh oui oui, je me souviens qu'elle avaiat une jolie voix!' Her last name is Verrieras, and she is an older single lady, who comes from a family of six or something. I told her you and I would come back and visit her someday. ha. By the way I think the elders are still in your old apt in Talence, I will ask them. Apparently its way past its time and they are looking for a new one, but I will ask them! Was there a tile backsplash in the kitchen? I am fully intending on nourishing and harvesting seeds that you have planted here...even if you were in Talence I know our paths will cross!!! :) love it

Man, email time has gone by way fast today. Just to close, I want to share with you my testimony that I know that Christ lives and He has established His Kingdom on the earth again today. The Church is still being restored every single day as we share it with our brothers and sisters. I know that this is true, and I'm really not ashamed of it. In a world where it is popular to believe in relativity and where people seek to remove themselves from all dogma so that they can have so called freedom, we are here to proclaim that truth exists, and that God wants us to know it! This simple truth does not make us closed minded, intolerant, or captive....for when understood by personal revelation through the Spirit of God, this foundational truth that God is our loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for us, Christ being at the center of it, inspires us to be more loving, more patient, to listen to each other more, to forgive each other more quickly and more readily, to speak kindly of other people and to respect them and love them unconditionally, to seek the welfare of our fellowmen, to do all things that are good. To repent. It gives us the desire to do everything we possibly can to work out our Salvation with God, and to help those we love feel of His goodness. 

During my mission I have come to know and understand a lot of things. Something for which I am particularly thankful today is the temple, because it has been a year ago today that I received my personal endowment. I read my journal entry from August 6th 2011 today, and it was truly the most wonderful day of my life.  I love the temple. I never could have imagined how much I would miss it during my mission. Those of you who can, will you just go to the temple for me this week? If you can’t go inside or if its far away from you, then just go sit outside or read about the temple on lds.org. I would love to get some emails next week about your testimonies of the temple. 

A scripture in the Book of Mormon that became really meaningful for me during studies today was in Mosiah where we learn that all promises the Lord has given to us are STILL promised to us only on condition of repentance. That is the great hope of the Atonement. As I reflect about the promises that I made that day, I think about how holy and pure I felt. I think about how deeply and perfectly I felt the gospel was true. I think about how desperately I wanted to keep my promises with exactness. And then, I realize that life is not perfect. Since that day, I have had good days and bad days...in other words I have been human. Sometimes I have struggled to feel that same joy that I felt, and I have fought against discouragement, fear, and doubt...things that do not come from God. But, even in those moments, I always remembered that I felt that way that day, and I had faith that the Lord would see me thorough. And He has. He does every time. So, if you feel any of the things I mentioned above, or things like unto them, if you have made covenants with the Lord through baptism, or in the Holy Temple, and feel like your desire and motivation to keep them has dwindled, or your conviction has been shaken,,,,or maybe you are just tired and a little lonely, I invite you with all of the love in my heart to just come back. Just do it. Look unto Jesus, the ‘author and finisher of your faith,’ leaving behind all of the sin and the weight which ‘doth so easily beset you’ (Alma 7:15 & Hebrews 12:1-2) and run towards Him, just flee from all evil and run towards the Savior who is standing at the gate with open arms to greet you and let us do it together. You can count me in, Let us repent and feel the overwhelming joy that comes from the eternal miracle of forgiveness. Let us forgive one another. If you haven’t done the invitation I gave a little bit ago to forgive just do it, you will be free.  

I love the Savior, He is my best friend. I love Him, and I know that He loves all of the people that I love, and that is really important to me, because I love some pretty great people. If I could, I would make a list of all the people I love. I would start with my parents and Spencer, and then I would go into my extended family and loves ones, I would start naming my friends ever since Jenny Graham in kindergarten, to my teachers in school and at church, all the way to my precious friends from university, to my companions, to my amis and convertis. And then I would keep going. If I could I would look you each in the eye and say thank you, thank you, thank you. I love my companion, and being with her reminds me of so many of you.

Daddy and Grandpa Ralph, I hope you have the best birthdays ever. Good luck with the race, dad, and be safe in all your adventures...the Lord needs you in Washington DC. Mom, keep on being the best smiler in the world. I really miss your smile and I can’t wait to see it again someday, as we see each other as returned missionaries.

Let’s be pioneers every day and put faith in every footstep!

Thanks for being the best team ever. We will fear not, for the Lord is on our side. He is truth, and He will always set us free. 

Love, Sister Sarah Waldron

PS We have great amis here and the work is going great :)))))))))))))

L'amour de Dieu, sa force aussi

My dear, wonderful, perfect (for me you really are!) family!

The title of this email is my new favorite hymn, I love it with all my heart and and you should look it up in the cantiques and translate it. its great.  

I first just want to tell you how much I love La Mission Francaise de Lyon. I love my mission. I don't know how I could be more blessed than to be here, especially in my new area......BORDEAUX, FRANCE!!!!! (cue Aunt Leigh Anna shouting for joy.....) Yep, I am here....still have not stayed in a ville longer than two transfers...its quite the adventure. I am in what is now called the Eysines ward, but we live in Bordeaux and work here in the city...I am still trying to figure out our secteur. Its super beautiful here. My companions name is Sr Kohler, I knew her in the MTC as she is only one transfer younger than me. We're basically planning on having the best transfer ever. I feel super motivated to do my best, and love imagining my Aunt Anna talking with the same people or walking the same streets when she was on her mission here, I am so happy to continue your legacy!!!!

In a very personal way I just know that this is where the Lord would have me be right now. I remember when I got to Geneva I thought to myself nothing could get better than that, but I just had this peace as I left....Sr. Bicchierri is still there, and she is companions with Sr. Ellsworth, who was one of my collegues at the MTC. The are going to be a dynamic duo, and I can not wait to see all of the miracles that will happen. I'll keep you posted. 

So the last week in Geneva was pretty wonderful. We spent a great deal of it doing service, and I love that. I love to serve. I also love talking about the gospel. So basically the mission is the coolest thing ever. A few of the wonderful things that happened. Long story short, the Mongolian sisters reallllllllllllly needed a new apartment, and we have been helping them for months. At the last and critical moment, we found out that a woman in the ward had just had people move out, and was looking for someone to move asap, and we moved them all in saturday before I left. I wish you could understand what a HUGE miracle this is. We also continued to help Raouda move, I will miss her beautiful family. I did an exchange with Sr. Thompson, who was trained by sr. madsen right after i was, and she and I had one of the best days of my entire mission. We basically just loved people all day long and tried to be like Jesus, and we just smiled and laughed and cried and had a great day. Being with her in France made me miss france, and then voila now I am back! anyway, it was a great last week....I think for pretty much everyone in the mission. 

I got to say goodbye to all of the convertis, except Stephane. Will you please remember him in your prayers? and the Hernandez family, bibiana, kiara, and gabriel, could really use the help of our combined faith and prayers. Ony and Sampson both came to the gare to wave me off...they are living breathing witnesses to me that the Book of Mormon changes lives. I love all of these precious souls that I was able to teach and see enter the waters of baptism in Geneva, and even though its hard to say goodbye, I look forward to serving and loving new people here in France!

 

Please know I love you endlessly. Please know I love the Lord, and try and love Him more each day, even when its hard. I pray that my service here is able to bring blessings to your life. 

I know Jesus Christ is our Savior, He lives.

Bisousssss

Soeur Waldron

But with joy, wend your way

Hi!

Here is my one minute email. Isn't great that I'm so busy?

This was a good week, my companions and I are learning a lot together, and we could just really use prayers this week. It's Sr Bartlome's last week in the mission, so that's on the mind a bit.

We began serving a new family, the mother's name is Raouda and she was actually contacted by one of our amis...long story, but pretty great. We are helping them move, and its a happy thing to serve.

I hope you are having a wonderful pioneer day. This time last year I was getting ready to leave on a mission, and we were celebrating the day with our dear friends the Littlejohns. I love you littlejohn (adamson) family! we also saw the prophet. I remember he drove by in the parade in salt lake, and he saw a couple standing next to each other and he made them kiss...ha, I loved that. Every year on July 24 Utah celebrates the arrival of the first group of pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.

You know what else I love? Changing through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I love how its really difficult, and how sometimes we have to use all of our power to just leave behind that one thing that seperates us from Him, and how free you feel when you do it. I love how we can be sancitfied by the Spirit.

Something we've been talking about as a mission is forgiveness. I invite you to do the same thing we are all doing as missionaries in the France Lyon mission, and to think of a person, or a moment, or a thing that hurt you, really bad, and I want you to think about it and then experience the miracle of forgiving....just choose to forgive, and you will be free again. This person could even be yourself.

Some good things to read would be President Uchtdorf's talk from General conference, and Matthew 22, and Preach My Gospel chapter 6. I want to be more like Jesus. I want to feel more like Him. I want to love more like Him. This week, I am praying for charity, and I am praying for you.
God bless your souls.


Soeur Sarah Waldron

PS>
I just feel to say something. I love how everyone always thanks me for being happy. I love how every time I sit down to write about the week I can only think about the wonderfully incredible experiences I have. Contrary to how it may seem, my mission is actually the hardest thing I have EVER done, and there are moments where I too feel like I really just am not going to make it. But I always do, every time (and this is why I thank you so profusely for your prayers!!! I need them really bad!) And I really have so much to be thankful for, and so much to improve. But thanks so much for all your kindness. okloveyoubye



Here is the link to the conf. talk and the chapter in Matthew. Preach My Gospel is a missionary manual that can also be found on lds.org.

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/the-merciful-obtain-mercy?lang=eng
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/22?lang=eng