Bonjour à tous! What an incredible week! So, I don't have much time. It's been a busy day, as I've been in the process of...moving!!! Ahh! Yep, I got transferred. I'm now in Lyon, training an extremely special sister with whom I am so excited to work. Her name is Sister Kimber and we're going to have such a wonderful time here in Val de Soane! As I thought about what to write today, the overwhelming feelings that have come over me are just of a deep, sincere love for this work. The reason why I feel such a deep love for this work is because I've developed a deep love for my Savior. And the reason why I've developed a deep love for my Savior is because I've grown to have an immeasurable love for the souls He has put in my pathway here in France. I would be lying if I said my heart isn't broken by leaving Annemasse. My heart has been stolen by the sweet souls there. There's a little piece of my heart left in each of the villes I've served in. I can't express at what point I am grateful for every last person that I have had the opportunity to meet. I have a family here. They consist of almost every race, every age, and every background. But what they each have in common is the fact that they are a child of God. He loves each of them more than I can even imagine. And because I am in His service, I get to love them and serve them in the way He would. There is no greater way to help souls come unto Him than by showing them His love. More than ever before, I have seen more changes of hearts in these past few months thanks to this outpouring of Christ's love. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to keep expanding my family now. I know that this work is a labor of love. It's hard work, but it's so fulfilling as we grow to love those put in our path. The most important thing that I want for any member, less-active, or investigator that I get to work with is to know that God loves them, and that I love them. It is when this love is felt and understood that they do what it takes to change their lives around. Why? Because their love for God grows as well, and when we love Him, we want to follow Him. Have a wonderful week! Love always,Soeur Shields
Bonjour à tous! Comment ça va? Oh là là! It was a crazy busy week. I feel like I blinked and another week had already passed. Time flies when you're having fun! This week I read a talk by Russell M. Nelson called "Be Thou an Example of the Believers" from the October 2010 General Conference. I invite you all to read it! He explained the many ways we can all be missionaries. I know sometimes it's hard to figure out what you can do to help. Or, maybe you already have figured out what you can do, but the hard part is putting it into action. I'd just like to give you a little perspective from the full-time missionary's standpoint when we have members who understand and act on their role as a member-missionary. So the week started out with a FHE at an awesome family's home with our ami Gwen. They warmly welcomed him into their home, put their arms around his shoulders, and made him feel like part of the family. They shared powerful conversion stories that related so well to him. Gwen got to feel of the spirit that is abundantly present in their home. He now has a baptismal date for the 19th of September. I owe all of that first to the Holy Ghost, because it is thanks to him that hearts are changed. And secondly, I attribute his ability to feel the Holy Ghost to the many members, such as this family, who have given him the opportunity to feel what the gospel is. And those special feelings are what helped him to accept it. Another wonderful couple invited us and Nadia over to their home for lunch. Nadia struggles with her family accepting the thought of her changing her religion. This couple were both of other faiths before, and despite their family's desire for them not to change, they followed their hearts and were baptized. Their bright countenances are evidences alone of the joy that that decision has brought them. This greatly touched Nadia, and slowly but surely her eyes are being opened to the fact that when you take a leap of faith, God catches you on the other side. We were also invited this week to Saïd's home. He's a recent convert of about 5 months, and we've been working on building a great friendship with him and his family, as his wife is not yet a member. We get there and they tell us that the evening before they had invited over David and Silvia for dinner! Saïd is such a great missionary that not only does he work on bringing the gospel to his own family, but he helps our amis as well. David and Silvia said they had such a good time together, and that they're much more comfortable at church now that they feel like they have friends. And even tonight we're going to have FHE at another family's home with them! And thanks to Saïd's patience and love, his wife was willing to listen to our message. I know she's slowly but surely coming around. Lastly our dear Soeur Morel, my 86 year-old mamie, is hands down the best missionary in the ward. She has us over every week for lunch and tells us to bring our amis. Our amis feel closer to her than any other person. But this week she went above and beyond that! She met a lady and started talking about the gospel (already a gold star) and then she comes to find out that this lady was an amie of the elders a few years ago! Apparently the elders both left at the same time and her information had gotten lost in the change. So Soeur Morel had us over to lunch with her, and we spent a great time together. She loves the church and wants to see us again! I'm so grateful that we have members who are willing to open their mouths and simply bring up in conversation the topic that they hold most dear to their hearts. I often hear members say in testimony that the gospel is their greatest source of happiness, or that they owe everything they have to the gospel, or that it's their greatest treasure. Is it that for you? If it is, I would think that talking about it would be nothing more than a natural instinct. It's like if you have a deep passion for football, how easy is it to bring up Friday night's game with someone? It's as easy as breathing. If we have a deep passion and love for the gospel, as we all claim to, then shouldn't it be the instinctive topic to first leave our lips when we see our friends and family? I'm equally as grateful for the members who understand what it means to fellowship. They open up their hearts and homes to our amis, and help make this new and foreign culture they've entered into seem much more like home. And that's what it should be. Christ's true church restored to the earth today is home. But for those who are new to it, it can seem scary and they can feel alone. So I hope that you will step out of your comfort zone and help the missionaries in your ward in bringing our Father's children home to Him. We can't do this without you. I love Sunday's like yesterday where I look around me at church and see my friends lovingly surrounded by more of my friends. The smiles I saw on Saipo's, Nadia's, Gwen's, David's and Silvia's faces at church yesterday were real. They felt the love of Christ because they felt the love of those who understand what it means to be His disciples. Nothing brings me more joy. If I get transferred next week, not gonna lie, it will be really hard. We're teaching over 15 people right now, and I owe that to the fact that these two wards I work with just get it. It's such a blessing to serve here! It's been amazing to see the progress from when we first got here until now. The Lord is hastening His work! Love always, Soeur Shields
P.S. Wanna hear a cool/funny miracle? So, during this lunch at Soeur Morel's we look down at our watches and realize we have to catch a train to be at our next RDV in 10 minutes. So, we book it out of there and literally sprint the entire way (which isn't short) to the train station. With our black skirts flying in the air, stomachs filled to the brim, and panting like dogs, we got many a strange look by the lovely citizens of centerville Annemasse. The whole time we're praying that we'll make this train. We get to the station and the train is there and we literally run straight onto the train. We go to find a conductor since we hadn't been able to buy our tickets, and she didn't even end up making us pay! But wait, it gets better. We go and have 2 awesome RDVs in this outer-ville (Cluses), and at the end of our second RDV, we look at our watches again and realize our train to get us home is in 20 minutes, and we've got at least a 30 minute walk! So, we book it out once more. We'd had enough sprinting for the day, so we power-walked it instead. We're also praying this whole time that by some miracle we'll make this train. We get to the station and we see no train...but then we hear over the intercom that our train was a few minutes late! We rush up to the platform literally as the train is pulling in. We hopped on and made it home safe and sound. We couldn't stop laughing and looking at the sky shouting, "Dieu nous aime!" (God loves us) It was quite the adventure. :) Sent from my iPad Bonjour bonjour! It was a busy week! As promised, I'm going to share what we learned last week at Zone Conference. Let me start with a verse from D&C 128:22. "Brethren and sisters, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren and sisters; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free." Now I'd like you to imagine the following: A missionary on the other side of the veil is vigorously working to teach souls about Christ's gospel. They pray, fast, and teach with all their heart, might, mind, and strength. They grow a deep, charitable love for those whom they teach. At last, after exhausting all their efforts, one of their dear friends decides to accept the message. They want to become a part of Christ's family. They want to obey Him so that they can live with Him again as an exalted being. This missionary must then look at their friend, eyes filled with tears of both joy and sadness. Because then they have to tell their friend, "I'm so happy you've chosen this, but there's nothing more I can do. All you can do is wait." Can you imagine the anguish and frustration that must attack the hearts of both the missionary and their friend? As a missionary here on this earth, I can tell you that there would be nothing that would tear at my heart strings more than not being able to help an ami progress when they so badly want to. We learned that this scenario is not a rare occurrence on the other side of the veil. Do you understand what this means? These missionaries and their friends are waiting for us to help them! They need us to go to the temple and perform by proxy these sacred ordinances of salvation. How could we be so selfish to make them wait? Why do we take this so lightly at times? God has constructed 144 of His holy houses around the world to allow His children both on this side of the veil and the other to have the opportunity of exaltation. Performing the work for our ancestors is vital, and that alone should cause us to have a sense of urgency to attend the temple. But there's so much more. These sacred houses of the Lord are the designated places on earth for us to be able to learn with the most fine-tuned spirit how to become more like Christ. If these holy buildings are fit to host Christ Himself, don't you think He will minister to you there through the Holy Spirit? We can learn so much more about ourselves there. As we recognize who we are, and who we have the potential to become into the eternities, we become a student of the Lord in His holy school. We learn to resist temptation with more ease. Peace can come to our troubled heart. Confusion can become clarity. Difficult decisions can become apparent. In the temple, we are able to realize just how great our purpose is here on this earth, and "with increased purpose comes increased motivation." The more often you attend the temple, eager to learn, the greater your motivation will be to live up to your potential every single day. That is how the temple helps us endure to the end. And it makes sense that the temple would be the key for us to endure to the end, because the temple is what also grants us our "end." The temple is what makes exaltation possible. We make the most holy of covenants with God there, and then we go back as frequently as possible to be able to stay true to those covenants. If we can do that, we get to live with our families forever, in a never-ending state of joy. I'm so grateful that God has revealed to our mission president that sharing this message is the way to hasten His work here in France and Switzerland. It just makes so much sense. The temple is why we're here. As I was told in the MTC, my work as a missionary is done when I am dwelling in the celestial kingdom and on one side of me is my family, and on my other side is all those whom I've had the opportunity to teach and baptize. That is possible thanks to the holy house of the Lord. PLEASE GO! Allez-y! Much love, Soeur Shields P.S. For more info on temples, go to temples.lds.org or beta.mormon.org
Bonjour à tous! First of all, sorry for not emailing yesterday. We had our tri-zone conference and so we're taking our pday today instead! You'll hear all about that conference next week. It was a good one, a real good one...the suspense! Hehe. ;)
Wow, where to begin...this week has been so full! I can't pick just one message to share with you all today, so I'm going to do something I never do and just kind of take you through the week and give you a little insight on the many things I've learned. Dad--you'll really like this email. You'll finally get good detail into my daily life. ;) So right off the bat! On Tuesday we had to make a little trip to my beloved Chambery because I had to pick up my visa stuff. We were only there for a couple of hours but I saw 2 major miracles just in that amount of time. As we were walking to the prefecture, I ran into a less-active sister from the branch there that I had worked a lot with. When she saw me she squealed my name and we had a big happy reunion. She's been doing great and seems worlds better than the first time I ever met her. Then it gets crazier. After I had finished my appointment, I hear another "Soeur Shields!" I turn around and there is my old ami Gilles! We talked a lot and I was pleased to find out he still has weekly contact with the elders there. There is no coincidences in this work! I know God had us there in those spots in those precise moments. Alright moving on. There's a recent convert in the ward who was really struggling with feeling the spirit in her life. She received her patriarchal blessing a few weeks ago and feels like ever since then, Satan has been attacking her more than ever. That often happens when we come to realize the potential we can achieve--Satan wants to bring us down so we can't obtain it. She hasn't had a desire to come to church or read her scriptures, but she recognized she didn't like that. So, we gave her loads of materials, from church CDs, to magazines, to DVDs, to help her invite the spirit in. Then the elders gave her a priesthood blessing. Once she came out, her eyes were literally just shining and her smile was radiating. There was such a tangible difference afterwards. It's incredible how real and powerful the priesthood power is. I sure hope that you priesthood holders look for every opportunity you can to bless the lives of others. And I hope you others look for every opportunity to be blessed. So then we had a Zone Finding Day in Annecy. We basically all just storm the ville at once to help the missionaries there find new amis. We had 2 different activities. The first was doing our contacting questionnaire using our new approach about the temples. Our old questionnaire was all about families. We'd ask things like "What is the importance of your family to you?" And then we'd tie it into the gospel and that we share a message that families can be together forever. Well now, we still ask what is the importance of your family to you, but now we tell them how their family can be together forever. We bring up the temple right there on the spot, explain how it's a sacred house of the Lord where we can make promises with God, and He with us, and that those promises can bind us together forever as families. It may seem odd to bring up temples during the first 5 minutes of meeting someone. But if you think about it, it's really not odd at all. We are here as missionaries to help make eternal families. That is our purpose. Baptism is just a step to get there. We're seeing great success from this approach. Not a shocker, since it's what God told our mission president that this country was ready and needed to hear. And God is always right. The second activity was pretty funny. We gave out slips of paper to random people that said "j'aime votre ____" (I like your ____) Let's just say the French aren't accustomed to this type of behavior or compliments...So we got a lot of interesting reactions. But we sure had fun doing it! I'm tellin ya, comfort zones don't exist here in the France Lyon mission...haha. I love how much we learn to become people-persons here. Nothing of this nature intimidates me anymore. Alright onto Friday! I went on exchange with a very special sister. Something that I love about this role as a sister training leader is getting to learn so incredibly much from these remarkable soeurs. With this particular sister I had been noticing that lately she's seemed kind of down. She is one who has a a bit of a difficult barrier to break down in order to know her true feelings. But I was determined to do so, because I'd been praying all week for the spirit to help me to help her and to know her needs. Well we talked quite a bit that evening, and I felt the spirit leading my questions and responses to her. She finally revealed to me some really seriously painful experiences she's been dealing with in her family back home. I was so grateful that the spirit opened her heart and mouth, because it gave me the opportunity to give her the counsel and love she so badly needed. The next day during our exchange she really helped me too. That's how this whole companionship thing goes...you both learn from each other and edify one another. It doesn't matter if one is a leader. I firmly believe I was put into this position because God saw my need to learn from so many amazing soeurs the lessons which they had already mastered. So we taught Saipo together, and my eyes were really opened. Saipo told us that she's talked to her sisters again, and they're still completely against her being baptized. Legally, it's a pretty complicated situation. But basically how it went down is that I kept trying and trying till I was blue in the face to get Saipo to understand that baptism is what she needs. I just love her so much and want what's best for her. But what this Soeur helped me realize, is that while that may be a righteous desire, is it necessarily God's will right now? She decided to share the Mormon Message "Courage", and while I thought she'd tell her to take courage and go against her sister's wishes, instead she told Saipo this: "You've already displayed so much courage in talking to your sisters, in reading your scriptures, in coming to church, and in continuing to take the lessons. You've shown God your faith. You've done all He expects of you. He's proud of you. Now you continue to do those things, and watch and wait patiently for His arm to be revealed." That's exactly what Saipo needed to hear. Her baptism will no longer be this weekend, but I do know it will be one day. It will be the day that God desires, not Soeur Shields. This is His work! If you're still reading this ridiculously long email, there is one last thing I'd like to share. Due to the traveling this week, (visa, finding days, district meetings, etc) I missed out on getting to have a few of my regular morning personal studies. I know that seems weird since I'm a missionary, but sometimes even we get super busy and don't take the time to submerse in the scriptures the way we should. I'd skim a conference talk there on one train ride or glaze over a BOM chapter on another leg of the trip, but nothing substantial enough. I woke up one morning at the end of the week feeling terribly empty and sad. I seriously couldn't find any source of happiness, and I didn't know why. I tried everything I could think of...praying for myself, for my companion, for our amis, calling up our sisters, singing hymns, etc. But nothing was helping me feel better. Later that day we were teaching a lesson to Nadia about how to invite the spirit into our lives. We taught her that it's through doing the little daily things, especially deeply immersing ourselves in gospel study. It hit me why I felt the way I did. I was spiritually starving and I needed to nourish myself! As soon as I could, I dove into a conference talk. The peace and calm that washed over me was almost instantaneous. More than anything I just felt happy. Can I please beg of you not to spiritually starve yourselves? The gospel tastes better than a slice of baguette with Camembert cheese! Never go a day without deeply and meaningfully studying this beautiful gospel. That very night I had a really vivid dream. I had finished my mission, and I looked down at my shirt to see my plaque. But, my plaque was no longer there. It hit me that I was no longer set apart full-time to represent Jesus Christ as a missionary. A deep sadness came over me. I felt complete emptiness and the tears just started flowing. I wanted nothing more than to be a missionary again. But to calm my troubled heart, a thought came to my mind. I realized I was still a missionary. I didn't have a plaque anymore, but what did that change? Not much. I could still deeply study the gospel every day. I could still share my testimony. I could still give service to others. I could still invite others to come unto Christ. I felt much the way like Alma the Younger did when he said, "my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain." I take great joy in knowing my missionary service will never be over. I hope you know that this is true for each one of you who have taken upon you the name of our Savior. Well, sorry for writing a novel, but I had a lot I wanted to share! I hope you all have a wonderful week. Que Dieu vous bénisse! Love, Soeur Shields Ello everybody! It was a pretty sweet week. I read a talk earlier and it explained that the message of the current living prophet is God's number one priority right now for the world to know. So, off the top of your head, could you tell me what President Monson's last conference address was about? I hope so, because that's the message that is the most urgent in God's eyes right now for His children to know. I'll tell ya anyways. It was all about the blessings we receive from attending the temple. This means that regular worship and participation in temple work is the most important thing to our Heavenly Father right now. The reason for which I'm especially moved by this subject this week is because of a new focus our mission is taking. We had leadership council this past week, and our president's message really inspired me. In case you are unaware, next year, France will have their very own temple! As a mission, we are taking a big head start on preparing this nation for such a sacred blessing. Why? Because exaltation is not possible without the temple. Woah! Did you ever think about that? You could live a very good life, be baptized, render all the service in the world, spend every minute of every day obeying the commandments, and still, it wouldn't be enough. You have to make the sacred covenants in the temple and then stay true to those covenants for the rest of your life in order to receive the highest degree of glory that our Heavenly Father has for us. As we teach people this concept more freely and from the very start of our lessons, their perspective will broaden but they won't lose their focus. Their focus will still be to get baptized, but they will just see it as a little step in the eternal process of coming unto Christ. Going to the temple to participate in the ordinances of salvation therein will become their real objective. And isn't that the real objective for us all? For those of you who live within a reasonable distance, do not hesitate another minute! Go to the temple! If there is a reason of personal worthiness preventing you from being able to enter, repent of those things and do not procrastinate it another second. There are anxious souls, your own family even, who want the same joy of eternal life that you want. Don't deny them of that for any excuse. Don't deny yourself the blessings of peace, comfort, and clarity that come from being in this sacred House of God. We have a promise from our prophet that in our Heavenly Father's House, "...we will be better able to overcome temptations and to bear our trials." He also tells us that, "In the temple we can find peace. As we attend the temple, there can come to us a dimension of spirituality and a feeling of peace which will transcend any other feeling which could come into the human heart...Such peace can permeate any heart--hearts that are troubled, hearts that are burdened down with grief, hearts that feel confusion, hearts that plead for help." I can't tell you what I'd give right now to be able to sit in the temple for just 5 minutes. So I hope that those of you who can go, do go. And to give you a quick update on some awesome things that happened this week. Well Saipo is now on track to get baptized the 16th of August! It was a really special moment when she finally agreed to it. We all got down on our knees together and she told Heavenly Father that this is her goal, and she asked for His help in accomplishing it. She showed Him her faith and her righteous desire to become part of His fold by being willing to make this goal. Then on Saturday a child in our ward got baptized so we brought her to that, and she is ready! But, she is deathly afraid of water....haha. Bless her heart. So, thank you for your prayers you've already given on her behalf, and please keep them going, they work! Gwen also came to the baptism and yesterday, out of the blue, he decided he wants to get baptized in September... WHAT! We freaked out a lot. The Spirit has a power that isn't make-believe. He really can change hearts after much heart-felt prayer. It's such a blessing to be a witness of this truth. Lastly, David and Silvia are as strong as ever. They persevered through all 24 hours of their very first fast, and even paid fast offerings. They told us it wasn't even hard, and that it actually felt good to know they were making a little sacrifice. So proud! Well, that pretty much sums up the highlights of the week. I deeply love this work and every trial and blessing that comes with it. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love, Soeur Shields
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