Week 36

Salut!

First I want to say Happy Birthday to Aidan today, Shelby yesterday and Eric tomorrow!  I forgot to mention Emily in my last email.  Soeur Creager's sister has the same birthday as Emily so we made a cake for both of them and sang happy birthday and then each blew out a candle for our sister.  It was fun to tell each other what we love about our sister's.  Thanks for your thoughts, Allyson and Mom about Emily.  Ryan what an awesome miracle with Carlos!  Good luck with that and transfers.  Mom and Dad and Greg and Brittany I'm glad you're having fun in spain.  What great stories about President Taylor getting to see his converts.  I can't wait for that day. 

This was a miracle week with finding new amis.  We did some pass bys of former amis and got to the appartment of one girl but couldn't find the appartment number.  We started to walk back to the car when we realized we had mixed up the apt. number with someone else's so we ran back and found the appartment, but when we got to her floor we didn't know which door was hers so we said a prayer and then decided to knock on one of the doors.  A man, named Empire, opened it, so we asked him if he knew the woman we were looking for, he didn't, but we took the opportunity to introduce ourselves and invite him to hear our message.  He told us that he had a Book of Mormon and had met with the missionaries once but they went home to the US and no other missionaries ever came back.  We quickly asked for his number and fixed a rendez-vous.  We went back Friday night and found out that we had misunderstood each other when fixing the time for our rendez-vous, so he was confused why we were there at 8 instead of 7 o'clock.  Empire had invited his friend Victor to come over and Victor told us that he was going to leave when we didn't show up at 7.  Thankfully Empire told him that he knew we would come and that Victor should wait, so they were very happy when we showed up and we were very happy that they were still there.  It was an awesome lesson!  We told them why we were here and what our objective was, and that they had to do their part in reading, praying, and coming to church if they wanted to know that our message is true.  They both said yes and Victor told us that's why they were meeting with us because it's what they want in their lives.  At the end of the lesson we committed them to read and pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet and then we asked them when they receive an answer that it is true if they would follow the example of Jesus Christ in being baptised.  They both said yes!  Victor said they were ready to come unto Christ. 

It's so amazing when the Lord puts people in your path who are ready to hear the gospel.  We have another lesson with them tonight and hope to fix a baptismal date with them.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Christine, our ami in St. Dié is doing well and agreed to fix a baptismal date at our next rendez-vous. 

I love my mission and I love the Lord and I love inviting others unto Christ!

Bisous, Soeur Reeves

Week 35 - Colmar

Bon voyage!  (to Mom and Dad and Greg and Brittany and whoever else might be traveling at this time)

I'm excited for you mom and dad that will be such a fun trip!  Congratulations to Lesley and Alana!  I'm so excited that they're both getting married!  That's crazy that Evan is already done with his mission, you'll have to tell him hi for me Dad.  I love that you ran into President Staheli at the temple and that you got to do sealings for people from France.  Question for Jon and Leah.  Did you go to Colmar when you went to Germany and France for Christmas?  I saw the picture of you in the family caldendar and one of them looks just like Colmar.  You'll have to let me know.
This week was a little crazy with having to update the area book and figure out where everything and everyone is, but we will start to see the fruits of our labors.  Yesterday we did some pass bys and passed by a family that our Branch President had asked us to.  We parked the car and started to walk down the street and saw a woman walking her dog, so we asked her if she knew where number 10 was and she turned and pointed to the house right next to us.  She then said, "Do you want to come in?"  We were surprised so then we told her, "We're missionaries for the church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We're looking for the Fehlmann family."  She laughed and said, "Yes, I know, I saw your plaques.  I'm Soeur Felmann."  It was crazy that we ran into her as soon as we got there and we hadn't even checked the addresses.  She was so nice to us.  We went in and met her husband and daughter Rebecca (who looks just like Rebecca Trupp!  and she's half German!)  It's been great to go around and meet all of the members and they're excited to work with us.  We've challenged each of them to think of friends or family that they can invite to church or have family home evening with.  They're excited to start praying and looking.  I know that through working with the members we will find many who are prepared and they will automatically have a support system.
Soeur Creager and I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting yesterday and both talked about ways the members can be good missionaries as well coming unto Christ themselves.  I know that when we come to understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ and grow closer to him our desire to share the gospel with other grows. 

Bisous,
Soeur Reeves

Week 34 - Colmar

Salut!

 

Sorry, I don't have much time to email, we have had such a hectic day and week.  I love it here in Colmar but I hope that I never have to whitewash an Elder's ville again. (Now I probably will every transfer for saying that.)  No, it's okay and besides the members here are amazing!!!!  The relief society presidency called President Poznanski and asked if they could clean our appartment before we got there;  Soeur Dubaut then gave us dinner.  It was a 2 1/2 hour train ride to get here and that's not including the time it took to switch trains.  Thankfully the Elders in Strasbourg met us at the gare to help us with our suitcases and get into the other train.  While they were helping us they helped another man with his bags who noticed all of our tags; after the train started the same man walked past us and asked who we were and he told us that our two friends had been so nice to help him.  We then asked if he could help us with our suitcases when we got to our stop (the train was going to Lyon and only stops at Colmar for about 2 minutes, so we knew there was no way we could get our bags off by ourselves).  He said of course and then started to ask us all sorts of questions.  We didn't have too much time to talk because our train ride was pretty short, but after we got off we gave him a Book of Mormon and our number telling him to call us because we could send some missionaries to him in his home town.  (We had already written a thank you note and our testimonies in the Book of Mormon because we knew that he would say yes if we asked him to help us with our bags).  He hasn't called, but I hope that he has started to read the Book of Mormon and perhaps he will refer himself to the missionaries online. 

Colmar is gorgeous!!!  You should all look up pictures of it online and when I get the chance I'll take pictures of it.  We actually cover two branches: Colmar and St. Dié.  We have a car!  So we drive two St. Dié which is about an hour away by car and we get to drive through the mountains and all of these adorable little towns!  I really owe the Lord a lot for putting me in such a gorgeous area with amazing members.  We've already been invited to Branch Council in both Branches and set up multiple family home evenings and other rendez-vous to get to know the members better.  It makes me laugh, they were all so excited to get sister missionaries; there have been Elders serving in St. Dié and Colmar for 45 years now.  The soeurs from the Relief Society Presidency have called us multiple times to make sure we're doing ok and ask if there is anything they can do for us. 

I'm so excited and feel blessed to continue with the work here in Colmar. 

That's awesome Ryan that you baptized Maria!  Continue with the good work.

 

Bisous,

 

Soeur Reeves

(for Elder Reeves, Adieu; you can see that it's almost the same as your other language)

Week 33

Bonjour ma chère famille!

Jon and Leah you're moving to Australia?!  That's crazy!  How exciting!  I hope I can come visit you in the future!  Thank you Allyson for your letter! 
Ryan, I never get your emails . 
Well for my news... I have been transferred to Colmar!  It's really close to the border of Germany and the "Black Forest."  All of the members and missionaries that know it have told me that it is the most beautiful town in all of France, especially at Christmas.  I've also heard that it's freezing there right now too, but thankfully I've already pulled out my winter coat because it was freezing here in Nogent this weekend.  I'm excited for my new companion, Soeur Creager.  I went on exchanges with her last transfer and she was Soeur Carter's companion in the MTC.  She is very sweet and a very devoted missionary.  She is from Morgan, Utah, but about half of her family lives in Australia, so she goes all of the time.  Maybe you will meet her family Jon and Leah.  Other exciting news of this transfer... Soeur Carter is training!  You should have seen the look on her face when the assistants called her on Friday.  Her response was, "What!?  I'm too young to train!"  She was in shock for about 20 minutes.  However the assistants explained that it's not the missionaries who have been out the longest who train, but the Lord calls us when he needs us at that time.  I think all missionaries are capable of training, but we are needed for that specific companion.  I know that Soeur Carter will be amazing!!!!  I'm so excited for her and I know she will grow with her companion.  She did ask me however to ask you to pray for her, she was very nervous and stressed this weekend, but she's doing a lot better today and is actually excited.
I'm very excited to go to Colmar, because Soeur Creager because we are going to do a whitewash.  For those of you who don't know what that means, they take the old missionaries out and put two brand new missionaries in.  They're actually whitewashing a lot of areas this transfer and there are no more sisters in Paris!  Only Elders.  I was told that missionaries in the past had a bad attitude about Colmar and say that it's a hard area and success doesn't exist there.  However, President and Soeur Poznanski have been focusing on knocking the walls down, "cassez les murs"  because almost every missionary before coming here hears from others, "Oh how exciting that you're going to France, it's so beautiful there, there's so much history and you'll get to see so many great things.  But you'll probably only baptize one person during your mission."  NOT TRUE!  If you come in with that attitude, then, Yes, you will only baptize one person.  If you come with the faith that the Lord has called you on your mission to find, invite and baptize those who are prepared to hear the gospel then you will.  Of course success isn't measured by your numbers, it's by your diligence and obedience, and if you are diligent and obedient then the Lord will lead you to those who are prepared.  This morning in my scripture study I read in 1 Nephi 15 and then Deuteronomy 4 and both chapters said the same thing, at least to me.  Nephi talked to his brothers about knowing the things of the Lord, and the fact that you can't know unless you ask, and if you ask in faith then he will respond, but you need to keep the commandments. "Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and aask me in bfaith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you."  In Deuteronomy Moses talked to the children of Israel about keeping the commandments and being diligent and remembering that God is a merciful God if he will ask him.  Don't be like Laman and Lemuel who would never invoque the Lord . 
I know that Soeur Creager and I can invoque the Lord and ask him what it is he wants us to accomplish in Colmar and if we are diligent in keeping the commandments we will see MIRACLES!  It will no longer be the ville with no success.
As for the work here, we had a great week!  Especially with Daphné.  I think another Claire has fallen into our hands.  Daphné loved church and the members and Claire was such a great missionary, she and Daphné became friends immediatley!  We taught Daphné the first lesson and when she heard Joseph Smith's vision, she said "Oh, it's by the grace of God."  She is very excited to read the Book of Mormon as well.  She told us she hadn't been to church in over 8 months because there were none that she agreed with, so she would pray and read at home with her son (I think his name is Elijah).  She loved conference and said that all of our leaders were so humble and she could tell they were real servants of God.  I'm very excited for Soeur Carter and her new companion to continue with Daphné. 
I'm going to miss Nogent so much, I have loved it here, but I know the Lord has a work for Soeur Creager and I to do in Colmar.

Love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves

Week 32

There's going to be a temple in Paris, France!!!!! Just to inform you if you weren't paying attention at conference ;). We had already heard about it because there was an article printed in the Parisien, but then I guess they started publicizing it in Salt Lake too. However, President Monson sent a letter to all of the members in France saying to not talk about it and that it wouldn't be official until and if it was announced in General Conference. My heart was pounding yesterday! I was so anxious, it was bizarre that President Monson spoke in the middle of the session instead of the beginning and then the Paris temple was the last one he announced! I was so nervous he wasn't going to say it! I'm so happy for the members. I know it is something that will help all of them as well as the missionary work here in France.
I love General Conference! I'm so grateful that we live in a time with living prophets and apostles upon the earth. It's crazy I feel like Elder Scott's talks are always directed toward me and what I need to hear, I learned something from each of the talks though and received losts of answers about the concerns of our amis.
The Elders met a woman named Daphné this last week and after they said, "Hello, we're missionaries..." and before they could get another word in she asked, "Where is your church?" and told them that she's been looking and praying for a church to go to. She ended up coming to two of the sessions of General Conference and loved them! She hasn't even had any lessons yet! The Elders are passing her to us, because we have a new rule that only the sisters can teach single women and only the Elders can teach single men (if both companionships are serving in the same ward). (Yes we have had some problems with people wanting to see us for the wrong reasons). So we gave the Elders lots of new amis. It seems like it's always after the test of our faith and hard work, when it seems like we're having no success that the Lord gives us a miracle, and it wasn't something that we accomplished on our own. I'm very excited to teach Daphné! She is so sweet and very ready to listen.
One of our amis only came to an hour of conference and thankfully we caught him right before he left. I guess some of the talks brought back hard memories of his past and he told us he feels like he is lost, that he is dead spiritually and can't do anything about it. We told him he can, because Jesus Christ died for him and he can repent. He said no, and that everyone else will automatically be saved no matter how wicked they are, but not him. We realized then that he doesn't understand the atonement and bore testimony to him that it doesn't work like that, that we need to repent and can repent. We told him the story of Alma the younger and had him read some verses from Alma 36. He ended up reading the whole chapter and then looked up and said, "I need to think." He then left. Soeur Carter and I prayed and prayed that everything will be okay and that he will have a desire to come unto Christ and be cleansed for him. I so badly wished that he had stayed for Elder Christofferson's talk. It was perfect! I love how he said we can have joy in repentance. I know that's true and I know that Jesus Christ used his agency to suffer for us so that he could know how to succor us. May we each repent each day and ask for his help in overcoming our weaknesses that we may become perfect in him.

I love you all,

Soeur Reeves