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
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