Bonjour everyone! So we started out 2015 with a bang! We had a district meeting before the New Year in which I learned some pretty simple yet life-changing type stuff. I'll have to attach a picture to explain it, but I'll try to sum it up. So, there's a circle, and in the circle it says "comfort zone" and then outside of the circle it says "where the miracles happen." That is incredibly true. Nothing in this world is going to change if we don't first make something change within ourselves and step out of our comfort zone! So, our ZLs challenged us to a really tough game this week. We called it "Operation: New Years--New Amis". (Yes I named it that just for you, dad. ;) ) So, the objective was to get as many lessons, conversations, and RDVs fixed for the week as possible, in the hopes of finding new amis. The numbers they set seemed ridiculous...not even close to possible. I started out the week thinking there was no way. What little faith I had! Thankfully I have a companion who is full of faith, and was fully confident that we were going to be able to do it! ...And, we did. We worked our butts off, but let me tell ya, it was all God. I'll give you a few examples. While we really were focusing the work this week on finding new amis, we couldn't neglect the other aspects of missionary work; working with less-actives, recent converts, and members. So, we had just finished cleaning the home of a sister in our ward, and it had taken longer than expected, so we had to go straight home afterwards to make it home by 9h30. We hadn't yet met our goals that day, and we had very specific numbers we had to reach each day to accomplish this huge goal by Sunday. Well, we walk to the tram hoping that maybe someone would be at the stop so we could start a conversation with them. Not a soul in site once we got there...so we were a little disheartened that we wouldn't get to meet our goal that day. We sit down at the tram stop, and this older man comes walking up to the tram stop. By the looks of him, he didn't appear to be our normal type that we have success with. But, we figure, might as well try anyways. One thing leads to another, and by the end of the tram ride, we had taught this man a lesson on the tram, and set up a RDV with him for the next day. And the next day...he actually came to his RDV! He just started reading the BOM. It was so cool to see how God literally provided us with people when we had nothing left we could do. Another example, we go out contacting, and we start talking to these two teenage girls. We can tell pretty early on that they're not at all interested. But we had prayed about where to go contacting earlier that morning, and we felt like this was where we needed to be. As were talking to these girls, this other slightly older girl comes and sits not too far away from us. We were discussing the fact that God listens to our prayers with these girls, and all of the sudden this third lady chimes in "yes He does, what they're saying is true. Listen to them." So...we finish our conversation with these girls, and then go over to the other lady. We got to know her and then set up a RDV with her for tonight! She is super excited to see us again. Are you seeing a pattern here of how God is the one literally putting all of these people in our path? Again, we get on a bus to go to the church. Like I said, we've got to go out of our comfort zone. In France, you don't talk to strangers on public transportation...it's like taboo. But, we do it anyways, because we have a message that everyone needs to hear! So, despite the awkardness, every tram and bus, we find some strangers to talk to. I got in this bus, looking around and not feeling too excited about going and making someone feel weird. Haha... But, I do it anyways. I sat next to this one nice lady. We get talking, (I have become a pro at how to bring up ice-breaker conversation starters...Try thinking of about 20 new ones per day) And we come to find out as we're talking that she's actually requested a BOM online from LDS.org before because she was curious. The missionaries had given her one, and she read the whole thing! Here on the bus, we meet someone who knows everything and said she just needs someone to answer her questions about it! So, we will be seeing her soon. Am I the only one freaking out at how God literally just placed His super prepared children directly in our path?!? It's soooo cool! Another kind of funny story...Our apartment has a balcony right from where our desks are where we study. In the middle of comp study, my comp looks out the window and says "that guy out there...we need to go talk to him!" So, I didn't question her inspirtaion, so we went down there and started talking to him. We come to find out that he is in the process of setting up a stand because he is a Jehovah's Witness and he's about to start his proselyting...haha pretty ironic? Well, we decide we're going to stay and teach him anyways. Even though nothing came of that lesson with him, because he made it very clear he doesn't want to change, we know we had to go there for a reason. God wants to see that we're making efforts. He wants to see that we're willing to trust inspiration and act on it. And if we do, He knows He can trust us with more revelation. So, by the end of yesterday, we had gone above and beyond the goals that were set. We hit numbers that we didn't even know were possible. But you know what? We realized the numbers are the least important thing. At the end of each night as we were writing in our numbers for that day, we didn't feel happy that our numbers were high, but that we could honestly say we let go of every fear and gave it our all. We left our comfort zone and let God mold us into who He knows we can be. And we both realized that what we felt at the end of the week more than anything else, was just pure love. We felt so much love for our ward, for the people here in Montpellier, for each other, but especially for the Lord. We saw how He literally works with us, because this is HIS work! We know we gained a lot more trust with God this week, because we showed Him that we have faith that through Him, all things are possible. I want Him to feel like He can trust me with anything, because that's when we'll start seeing the work here explode. If I had given into my fears and doubts, I wouldn't have been able to be an instrument in His hands. There isn't a better feeling than giving it all over to the Lord, and feeling Him work through you. Last thing, did you all set some goals for 2015? I hope so! Because you're not going to go anywhere if you haven't figured out where you want to go! Break it down into categories, and write a subgoal for how to accomplish each big goal. If you're having a hard time thinking of goals, think of this: the closer you come to Christ, the more He shows you what's holding you back from becoming like Him. So, spend some time studying Christ and His attributes. The more you learn of Him, the more you will understand what parts of you are not like Him. Do you need to be more forgiving? Do you need to pray with sincerity? Do you share the gospel with others? etc. I promise you as you study His life, you will learn what you need to change about your own life to become more like Him this year! Have a fantastic week my dear ones! Love Always, Soeur Shields
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