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Bonjour à tous! What an awesome week! We went all over the place. I was back in my beloved Chambèry for a zone activity, and I got to reunite with old friends there. We had stake conference in Genève and I got to see basically the entire Chambèry branch there, so that was even better! We spent a lot of time with the other missionaries all around. I really love my mission family. :) I've been really touched this week by the power that comes behind uniting as one team as members and missionaries. I read a quote this week by Gordon B. Hinckley, as he explains the 3 things that everyone who has recently become a member of the church (or anyone who is learning about the gospel in my opinion) needs from the members of their ward. He says that each of them need an assignment, need to be nourished by the good word of God, but the part that I really want to focus on is this--they need "a friend in the church to whom they can constantly turn, who will walk beside them, who will answer their questions, who will understand their problems." They simply need a friend. This week we have started the lessons with our new amie, Saipo. Well, we get a call from this awesome sister in our ward who asks if we'd like to come over for dinner, AND if we have an ami that we'd like to bring with us. We were like, as a matter of fact, there's a brand new amie that we'd love to bring! So, we bring Saipo to this family's house and it was just wonderful. This sister threw her arms around Saipo and made her feel like a part of the family right off the bat. She willingly opened the doors of her home to our amie, but more importantly, she opened her heart and made her feel loved. Saipo left that night feeling like she was finally a part of something, and she is so excited to keep continuing on with us. A lot of that is thanks to this Christ-like sister in our ward. It is wonderful if you can become friends with the investigators of the missionaries, but you know what's just as good, if not better? Bringing YOUR friends TO the missionaries. Earlier this week we got invited to an FHE at a sister's home and she invited her non-member friend to come as well. We were able to laugh and get to know each other, and then we were able to simply testify of a few gospel principles. Then this sister powerfully shared why her religion is so important to her, how it's made her happy, and how she truly loves her friend, and this is what she wants for her too. Do you know how much more meaningful it is for an ami to hear those words coming from their life-long friend versus a missionary they met an hour earlier? It makes all the difference, because they have that trust already built up, and they know their friend only wants what's best for them. It doesn't always have to be big things like these two examples. We had two other members this week simply ask if they could give an ami and a recent convert a ride to Stake Conference. And then we had another member go and sit next to our ami and the recent convert during the meeting. It's simple gestures like that too that go a long way. Little bits of Christ-like love and friendliness are what will make this work spring forward at the rate the Lord needs. Because the fact of the matter is, is that the missionaries will leave, but the members stay. So we need the members there to have "adopted" our amis into the fold of the ward, so they know they belong there. Because everyone belongs in Christ's church. We can't do this work without you, and you can't do this work without us. So, I ask you: When was the last time you had the missionaries in your home? When was the last time you had them bring one of their investigators to your home? When was the last time you helped them teach a lesson? When was the last time you took the courage to introduce your friend to them? When was the last time you even asked them who they are teaching? When was the last time you made an effort at church to befriend the investigators they bring? When was the last time you went with them to visit less-actives? When was the last time you made the effort to make a recent convert your friend? We understand you don't have time to do this full-time like we do, and that's not what we're asking for. You don't have to do all of these things at once. We're simply asking for a little help every now and then... A little spurt of courage. A little spurt of selflessness. A little spurt of Christ-like love. Aren't we all His disciples? I love you all and thank you for what you already do! YOU make the difference. Love Always,Soeur Shields
Salut! This week was really interesting. A lot of times in life your placed with a lot of good decisions before you, and you don't know exactly which to choose. Or you're placed in positions where you're needed, but you're not always sure how to go about this responsibilty to best fulfill it. But what I've learned is that God expects us to do our part, to make our efforts, to make a plan, and then come to Him and present our plan. Then we act. And after we act, we'll find out why He had us go down a certain path or do a certain thing. Because the witness comes after the trial of our faith! I'll give you some examples. So the biggest one probably came with the fact that we wanted to reach the standards of excellence this week, particularly for the number of lessons we taught. Well, we had told God on Monday of that week that we were going for the standard this week, and we were going to work hard, but we would need His help in accomplishing it. We would need Him to soften the hearts of the people here, and to place the prepared people in our path. Our part would be being obedient, and opening our mouth with everyone. So we did that. We worked hard teaching and teaching all week, but come Sunday, we were still 4 lessons short. Well, we knew that He could help us since we came to Him with our plan. And so after church, we hit the pavement. Right off the bat, we met one prepared person after another. All 4 accepted to listen to us, and 2 even agreed to seeing us again this week. This isn't exactly normal here... And might I also mention that the people we talked to weren't by the sheer looks of them, who we would think of as being prepared. But turns out, they were those searching the most earnestly. We got a big lesson in learning that God knows who is prepared, we don't, that's why it's our job to talk to everyone. Well, we accomplished our goal for the week, and it was a huge testament to me that God provides a way. And once we commit to doing our part, He always does His. Another thing, we had planned at the beginning of the transfer to have a specific less-active that we wanted to focus on by the end of the 3rd week of the transfer (yesterday). Well, by the end of Saturday, we still didn't have one that we felt like should be the focus. We had made dozens of calls to less-actives, with no success in any being willing to see us. Well, Saturday night, we get an unexpected call from a less-active who asked if we could accompany her to church the next day and then even see her this week. We knew once again right away that this was God helping us accomplishing our goals. Since we had done our part, He did His. I've been joking with my comp this week that we've finally realized that we've actually been in a trio all along on our mission. You and your comp, and then God. He is the perfect companion too, let me tell ya. Haha. I'm really grateful for His help! Lastly, we did 2 exchanges this past week with our sisters. The night before each of their exchanges, my comp and I still didn't know who should go with who. We had been praying about it, but we didn't feel a strong pull either way. We decided it was God telling us either way would be fine. So, we picked and went with it. Well, on my first exchange, I quickly realized that it was so vital that she and I were together that day. We both are struggling with many of the same things, and we both really just needed someone to talk it out with. We were able to come up with plans together of how to make our weaknesses strengths. On the other exchange, I took a sister with me who speaks Spanish. We went to our ami's house to teach her, and little did we know, but their cousin is there, who speaks nothing but Spanish. She sat down and wanted in on the lesson. So the sister I was with was able to translate the whole lesson into Spanish, and the cousin loved it and wants to learn more! It was really cool to me that God let us make the decision, and then it was after we took the leap of faith and went with it, that we saw why it had to be the way it was. So that's all for now! I hope you all have a wonderful week. Love always,Soeur Shields
Boooonjour! This past week was super filled with a lot of great lessons, as we spent the first half of it in Lyon for our leadership training. There was a statement made there that really stuck out to me. And that was: The 2 most important things we've been given in this life are time and agency. I am so grateful to have 6 more months to CHOOSE to use my TIME to become more like Christ. As I was preparing to skype my family this week, I thought about the kind of changes I've made in the last year since the last time we were together. A HUGE wave of gratitude for the Atonement washed over me. I thought a lot about the person I was before my mission. I wasn't anyone terrible I'd like to think, but I know I could have been someone better. I have a lot of regrets, I have a lot of things I wish I could take back, I have a lot of things I wish I would have done differently. I don't think I'm that unique in wishing those things. And as I've been a missionary, I have come to realize a lot that needed to change about myself. I'm still working on changing a lot of those things, so I can become more like my Savior. It will be a forever on-going process, I'm well aware. For those of you who know my mission story, over the past year I've come to figure out that a huge reason why the Lord needed me on a mission, was because He needed me to make a lot of changes. That's one of the billions of reasons why I'm so grateful I chose to come out here. But before you think I'm just sitting here beating myself up, I want you to know how this train of thought actually makes me really happy. We watched the video "Because of Him" at leadership council. If you haven't seen it, go look it up on lds.org right now! But there is one part in there that talks about us getting "second chances", thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That part hit me so hard this week as I watched that. I thought about how that is so true. And we don't just get a second chance, we get a third, a fourth, it's endless. The Atonement is infinite. I felt an incredible amount of peace, love, and gratitude just fill my entire being as I saw that scene. I knew that was the spirit telling me that no matter who I was before, it doesn't matter in the eyes of the Lord anymore. When we repent, when we really change, He forgives us and He sees us only through eyes of love for who we can become. We don't have to regret who we once were, we can just be grateful that we have the opportunity to become someone better each and every day. I can't thank my Savior enough for giving His life for me so that I can keep trying to be better every time I mess up. I can't explain my love for Him and how clearly I know He loves me. I would be remissed if I didn't attribute much of my testimony of the Savior and His Atonement to the lessons taught to me by my mother while growing up. Like the Savior, she always freely forgave me. Like the Savior, she still loved me even when I messed up. Like the Savior, she saw me only for who I could become. Like the Savior, she sacrifices all every single day, to help me be happy and become the person she knows I can be. Like the Savior, she leads and guides me through her example of pure love and charity towards others. Like the Savior, she makes me want to be a better person and serve those around me, just as she has always served me. I am so grateful for my dear mother. For those of you who get to talk to your mom more than just an hour and a half a week, please tell her how much she means to you. First figure out why, and then tell her. Let her know how loved and appreciated she is. I love this work. I love what I'm doing, and I love what it's doing to me. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love always,Soeur Shields
Bonjour à tous! I don't have much time, but I'll let you know real quick how the first week of the white-wash here in Annemasse went. One word: tiring. haha. But honestly, it was really great, and I like it here a lot. It's beatiful being tucked up in here in the Swiss Alps. Sometimes I feel like I'm in the Sound of Music or something. But we sure did have a full week! We had a lot of opposition to be honest. White-washes are never easy, but we had some added factors. It has been raining literally all week, we've gotten onto wrong trains, ended up in wrong villes, we don't know anyone here, we've gotten lost several times (luckily my comp is great with a map), had a LOT of rdvs fall through, had a lot of people not want to talk to us or let us in their homes, etc. It may sound like I'm just complaining, but I promise this has a point. It doesn't sound much different from the typical grind off missionary work, but added all together into one straight week made it a bit exhausting. Well, you know how in the scriptures it says that we have to endure to the end, and then we'll have the reward? And how we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith? Well, it's true! On many of these days where literally one thing after another went wrong, we were blessed to see some really cool miracles right at the end there. For example, we were walking to this awesome rdv we had planned, when we get a call that they had to cancel. So, we try our back-up plan, and they weren't home. At this point it's the end of the day, rainy, cold, and we only have about 30 minutes until we can go home. Pretty tempting to just go back...But, we decided to port (knock doors) instead. We go to door after door, and no one wants to talk, and they think we're crazy for being out there in the dark in the rain. But I liked it actually because it left a distinct impression that they'll never forget. haha. But anyways, we go do one last door. Well, this sweet mother of 2 lets us in. She tells us we have 3 minutes. Well...45 minutes later, this lady exchanges phone numbers with us. We did the project elijah approach with her, got her talking about her family, and then she lets it out that she lost a son and her mother. Immediately we could feel the presence of thoset two angels standing there with us testifying. This lady who said once we first got in that she "couldn't understand why a loving God would let such awful things happen" by the end of the lesson was saying maybe it is possible that trials are tests, meant to help us turn closer to God. It was just so incredible to see the power of having the spirit and ministering angels with us. That's just one little example, but there were many others. Almost every day this week after everything had gone wrong, some little miracle happened right at the end of the day that just made me realize that everything happens for a reason. In the moment we may think everything is going wrong, but really, God just works in mysterious ways. He has everything happen in His way, according to His timing, so that we will be in the right places at the right times, to meet those of His children who need us and are ready for us. He wants us to trust Him and keep perservering with trust and faith in Him, no matter how hard it may seem, and then we see a witness as to why we had to endure that moment. But that always comes after. :) I hope you all have a splendid week. Go make the world a better place! Love, Soeur Shields
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