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Bonjour everyone! Oh what a wonderful week here in France! My time here just keeps getting better and better. I've never felt so blessed and so grateful in my whole life. We had a zone training this week that changed my LIFE! I received a lot of inspiration and motivation to be the missionary that God needs me to be. I realized that I haven't been planning and working in the way that I should. Not that I was doing a bad job, I just didn't realize that I could be doing this in so much more of an effective way! If you want to teach more lessons, you have to plan for them. If you want miracles, you have to plan for them. If you want to meet more people, you have to plan for them. So, my companion and I re-did our way of planning after this training. Our mission just came out with a new Standards of Excellence, and we decided that we need to actually plan to be reaching the mission's Standards of Excellence every day. These are the best and highest numbers that the mission has reached in each of the different categories of types of work. That is not easy...because that consists of things like 20 lessons a week, 7 contacting conversations in a day (not just asking people to talk to us, but actually getting them to answer our questionnaire), 3 amis at church per week, 1 baptism per month, etc. We don't want to reach the mission's best in just a few categories, but ALL of them! And if you want to do that, you have to PLAN for them! God doesn't just let huge success fall in your lap. We have to do our part and prepare and make ways for these things to happen as best as we can. So, we decided to vamp it up big time. Every single day we're writing in our planners the time of day we're going to have our miracles, and how we're going to achieve them. Instead of just walking from one appointment to the next and trying to get some conversations on the way, we write down that we won't allow ourselves to get to the next destination until we have at least 1 lesson. A lesson consists of teaching a gospel principle and ending with a prayer. You might think that sounds weird to do with someone on the street...but guess what? People are actually willing to do it! Not a lot, but some people are! You've just got to find them is the trick. And when you talk with literally every person, you finally find one. It's the coolest thing. So, with our new and improved planning and miracle-expecting attitudes, we have had such a productive week! There is nothing I hate more than feeling like I'm being unproductive, not working my butt off, or that I'm slacking in any way. That's why I'm so glad that we've just really decided to raise the bar, because we know that as we work this hard every single day, God will recognize it, and therefore trust us more, and then lead us to those people who are prepared to hear the gospel. This is all part of becoming a consecrated missionary. This is something I've been focusing a LOT on this past week. This is a total change of your mindset and attitude, one of complete and utter dedication and devotion to the work. This means my thoughts and actions are focused on the Savior and His work all of the time. I have noticed such a huge change in my work since I've worked towards becoming a more consecrated missionary. It has made me have an attitude of serving a mission not just because I know that this is the right thing for me to be doing in my life right now, but because I love the Savior and want to take part in His work. This is HIS work. I can testify of that. He knows how to do it, who is ready to hear it, how to speak French, and what needs to be said to each person. All I have to do is be worthy of having the Spirit with me, so that I can be the instrument in His hands, so that He can shape me and mold me into whatever He needs me to be at that moment with that person. I love this place so dearly, and I dread the day I have to leave. I love my Savior Jesus Christ, and I have never been happier than I as I am right now, as I devote my life to serving Him. It's the least I can do for Him after all He's done for me. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and love! You all are the greatest. Love always, Soeur Shields