Bonjour à tous! This week I was reminded of a very profound statement that my wise father once told me. "Missions are all about everything going wrong but one thing going right." That is a very true statement. Because in case you didn't know, almost every day as a missionary, something goes wrong. But it's when one good thing is able to come out of it, that makes all the opposition worth it. I'll give you some insight as to that from this past week. First of all, my comp and I had planned a really cool RDV with some members and inactives in Puget Theniers, an outer-ville. There is only one bus that goes out there the entire day. Well, we get to the bus stop even a few mintues early, so as to not miss it. Well, we wait and wait, and the bus is late. So we both look down at our phones for literally 30 seconds as a text came in, and my comp looks up right as the second as the bus goes zooming past us. We didn't see it in time to flag it down, so we missed it. We kept our chins up though and decided to go take a train there instead. It was more expensive and would get us there later, but we decided to do it anyways. Well, when all is said in done, we finally get out to this ville. That evening we went and visited this inactive. Well, we got her talking about how she met the missionaries for the first time, and she ended up sharing her whole conversion story. Her whole demeanor changed, and she had a new light come in her eyes, as she remembered the joy she had felt when she was living the gospel. So, she looks at us and tells us she is coming back to church, because she knows that's where she needs to be. That made the whole crazy day worth it. There were like 5 other examples I wanted to give from this week but I won't have time. I just want to tell you that also, attitude is everything. If there's one thing I've learned on my mission, it's that you CHOOSE your happiness. You can choose if you want to let a situation that's out of your control make you mad or use it as a time to practice patience and trust with the Lord. You choose if you want to love people unconditionally or if you want to let their little quirks bug you. You choose if you want to be stressed or feel God's peace. You choose if you want to let things not going the way you wanted them to make you sad or to look for the good in them. You literally have control over the amount of joy you want to feel in this life! Things are always going to go wrong, life will never be perfect! But it's how you react to those situations that will shape you into who God knows you can be. The last quick thing I wanted to touch on was how wonderful it's been doing our mission's Project Elijah. As I've been filling out my "My Family" booklet and really studying more about the family as an eternal unit, and then teaching others about it, I've felt a very special spirit. It's a spirit of forgiveness, a spirit of unconditional love, a spirit of unity, a spirit of joy. As I reflect about my family, all I can feel is deep gratitude and love. All bitter memories are seemingly unimportant and all that comes to my mind and heart now are their wonderful qualities and memories I have with them. I think that is a huge part of the spirit of elijah... Strengthening and fortifying your family right now. I invite you all to really focus on the good qualities that each of your family member's has, tell them how grateful you are for them, and look for new ways to love and serve them. Let the spirit of Elijah into your homes to bring your families unto Christ TOGETHER. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Love, Soeur Shields
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November 2015
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