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
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