Bonjour tout le monde! SO...LOTS happened this week. I hope I can quickly tell it all. It's going to be all over the place, so bare with me. The week started off in Lyon at Jedi Council...that's what they call leadership training. I'm totally a fan of that... Anyways, our mission is starting to launch off this awesome new approach. It's called "project Elijah". That's to say that we're using the spirit of elijah in our work now...and that's to say that we are going to be doing family history work! Why are we going to be missionaries to the dead when we are here to be missionaries to the living you might ask? Because, we're about to enlist thousands of more missionaries here in Lyon. Who are these going to be? The sweet ancestors of those who we're teaching here. That's right. We are going to be calling down the powers of heaven and of ministering angels. We are going to be using this whole cool family history work approach in all of our work, and by so doing, we'll tap into the spirit that comes when you do your geneology work. Every person that we teach here is bound to have an ancestor somewhere down the line who has since accepted the gospel, and therefore this person is going to want to stand by our side and testify with us to their loved one. Basically the coolest principle ever. Not gonna lie, geneology has been something I've always stunk at. I always pushed it off for the older generations to do. But after hearing prophet after prophet testifying of the importance of this work, I felt guilty for never having taken this commandment seriously. So I decided after my mission I'd become really involved. But, our President is now giving us the chance to become involved as missionaries! We have all the technology available to us now to make this work so easy and fast. Back in the day they had to carve into golden plates, all we have to do is click a mouse. God has given us so many tools to make this work move forward with incredible speed. Take advantage of it!
Ok...so. Our amie Caroline, the one who is the most prepared person I have ever met. We had another meeting with her on Saturday afternoon. It went incredibly well. She had been meeting with other faiths to discover which she liked best. With one particular faith, she said how they preach that only a select few of their faith will actually be saved. I had been praying really hard to let God speak through me, and that my words wouldn't come out of my mouth but that His words would. Well, I said "God is not a selective God. He lets all of His children have a chance to come unto Him because He loves us all equally." She just started crying and said, "thank you! I can feel something from what you just said! I feel like you're an angel talking to me!" Even though it was a simple statement, it was exactly what she needed to hear. And so she then told us that she has come to figure out that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes sense, feels right, and goes with what she believes in. That was so wonderful to find out that the spirit had been working with her. So, we continue to talk, and the conversation was incredible. She just told us how much she loved everything we've been teaching her. So, we told her we are holding a baptismal service on March 14th. It was so cute, she goes, "wow, I'd love to come!" And we said, "We'd love for you to come too, in fact, we'd love for you to be the one getting baptized. It's for you." Haha. With that, her eyes got super wide and a huge smile spread across her face. She just cried and cried with joy. She kept saying "Me? I can get baptized this soon! ME?!?" It was precious. We were all tearing up and hugging and it was a beautiful moment. My companion and I left on cloud 9. Literally I have never felt so happy...not happy. Joy. Pure joy. It's so true that bringing souls unto Christ gives you undescribable joy. It was even Valentine's day and my companion and I just thought how this would forever be the greatest Valentine's day of our lives. Nothing could ever top this! It was a blissful evening. And then Sunday came. Caroline came to church for her first time! My heart burst with joy when I saw her walk through the doors. The whole 3 hours were great, so I thought. After church we went into a room with her to talk about if she had any questions. She seemed very hesitatnt and her whole demeanor had changed. She confided in us some information that would prevent her from getting baptized for a while. Something she could get over with time, but she doesn't feel worthy to get baptized because of it. Just as strong as my joy had been the night before, my sadness now became just as strong, if not stronger than my joy had been. All I could do was say a prayer to please let God speak through me, because I was literally speechless. I opened my mouth and what came out was, "Caroline, God can't save perfect people." She just looked up with tear-filled eyes and a huge smile and she said "I feel like something just hit me across the face. Those words just pierced my soul. Literally, when you said that, I felt something move over me. Are you an angel?" I was like no...And she was like "I'm sure you have to be an angel! I can feel it!" It was a very humbling moment for me to know that God really did speak through me. I am literally just His mouthpiece. We're going to keep working with her to get her baptized. I have faith it can happen. But of course, it will be done according to the Lord's will and His timing. It really was quite an incredible week. Thank you all for your prayers! I love you! Love, Soeur Shields
Ok...so. Our amie Caroline, the one who is the most prepared person I have ever met. We had another meeting with her on Saturday afternoon. It went incredibly well. She had been meeting with other faiths to discover which she liked best. With one particular faith, she said how they preach that only a select few of their faith will actually be saved. I had been praying really hard to let God speak through me, and that my words wouldn't come out of my mouth but that His words would. Well, I said "God is not a selective God. He lets all of His children have a chance to come unto Him because He loves us all equally." She just started crying and said, "thank you! I can feel something from what you just said! I feel like you're an angel talking to me!" Even though it was a simple statement, it was exactly what she needed to hear. And so she then told us that she has come to figure out that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes sense, feels right, and goes with what she believes in. That was so wonderful to find out that the spirit had been working with her. So, we continue to talk, and the conversation was incredible. She just told us how much she loved everything we've been teaching her. So, we told her we are holding a baptismal service on March 14th. It was so cute, she goes, "wow, I'd love to come!" And we said, "We'd love for you to come too, in fact, we'd love for you to be the one getting baptized. It's for you." Haha. With that, her eyes got super wide and a huge smile spread across her face. She just cried and cried with joy. She kept saying "Me? I can get baptized this soon! ME?!?" It was precious. We were all tearing up and hugging and it was a beautiful moment. My companion and I left on cloud 9. Literally I have never felt so happy...not happy. Joy. Pure joy. It's so true that bringing souls unto Christ gives you undescribable joy. It was even Valentine's day and my companion and I just thought how this would forever be the greatest Valentine's day of our lives. Nothing could ever top this! It was a blissful evening. And then Sunday came. Caroline came to church for her first time! My heart burst with joy when I saw her walk through the doors. The whole 3 hours were great, so I thought. After church we went into a room with her to talk about if she had any questions. She seemed very hesitatnt and her whole demeanor had changed. She confided in us some information that would prevent her from getting baptized for a while. Something she could get over with time, but she doesn't feel worthy to get baptized because of it. Just as strong as my joy had been the night before, my sadness now became just as strong, if not stronger than my joy had been. All I could do was say a prayer to please let God speak through me, because I was literally speechless. I opened my mouth and what came out was, "Caroline, God can't save perfect people." She just looked up with tear-filled eyes and a huge smile and she said "I feel like something just hit me across the face. Those words just pierced my soul. Literally, when you said that, I felt something move over me. Are you an angel?" I was like no...And she was like "I'm sure you have to be an angel! I can feel it!" It was a very humbling moment for me to know that God really did speak through me. I am literally just His mouthpiece. We're going to keep working with her to get her baptized. I have faith it can happen. But of course, it will be done according to the Lord's will and His timing. It really was quite an incredible week. Thank you all for your prayers! I love you! Love, Soeur Shields