Trust in the Lord

My dear family, 

Today I spent a lot of time just reading emails. I needed that, and I thank you all for your love and kindness. I thank you all for the cards and the candies and the emails and all the little things you sent me that made my Christmas cheery and bright. I feel very blessed indeed.

We had a very lovely Christmas. All of the members made a fuss over us and we were spoiled silly. We celebrated at least four and a half times between dinners and zone conference and all of that jazz. It was wonderful. President gave us all aprons that say 'France Lyon Mission' and we signed them, super fun. We had Christmas eve at a Tahitian family's home....I don't know if you've every been hosted by someone from the South Pacific....suffice it to say that we didn't have an appetite for like three days later since we ate our body weight in seafood. I discovered lots of rubbery crustaceans that I didn't know existed and so that was an adventure. I also had my first oyster! Not that bad. Yes we had foie gras, fish eggs, raw salmon, and escargot. The full Christmas experience (lets not forget the buche de noel!) It was fun and the next day we were again treated like princesses by loving members. We had many opportunities to speak about the Savior and testify of Him in word in deed. When we went to Toulouse for the conference, we went in a group of like 30 to a town square and watched a Christmas glow come into the eyes of passers by as they remembered, even if for but a moment, their Savior. It was grand.

When I was serving in Geneva, there was a man who we taught by the name of David. Maybe you remember him. He was living on the street, and was not enjoying the blessings of repentance which he desperately wanted. He didn't speak or read English (or French) very well, but he feasted upon the Book of Mormon and the Spirit of God enlightened His understanding. One day we came to a lesson, and he was excited to tell us what he had learned from his reading. He stumbled somehow upon Alma 23, in which a wicked and war-hungry people experience a mighty change of heart and bury all of their weapons of war to never raise a sword again. David liked the part when, after burying their weapons, they take upon themselves a new name, and by so doing are no longer defined by the name of their wicked past. He expressed the same desire. Before his baptism, we stopped calling him by 'David' which was what he was known by on the street, and he went by his middle name instead, 'Sampson.' Like these people of old, he buried his weapons and took upon himself a new name. What's more, when he was baptized, he witnessed that he was willing to take upon himself the name of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sampson's story is a miracle. It happened because he chose to follow the example of Jesus Christ, repent of his sins, and follow all of the commandments. This new year, may we all take a quiet moment and reflect upon the weapons of war that we shall bury with 2012. Starting tomorrow, our every day lives will never again take the name of '2012' but we will start anew, with a new year bearing a new name. May we prayerfully consider the covenants that we have made with the Savior and seek His help in keeping them, in making them, and in becoming them.

All of my love and prayers,

Soeur Waldron