Ma chère famille,
I can't believe it is all coming to an end. I went to the mission home with all of the outgoing missionaries (21 of us) on Wednesday and it suddenly became reality. I didn't get to have that much time with President during my interview since there were so many of us, but it was good and when he asked me if I was happy with my mission, I responded, "Yes!", because truly I am, and I felt at peace as I was able to answer his question. It has been the most amazing experience of my life! There aren't really words to describe it. No one can know what a mission is like unless they do one themself. I have learned soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much and seen the hand of the Lord working in my life and the lives of others. I have seen so many miracles! If there are people on this earth (which I know there are) who don't believe in God or in miracles they are so wrong. I have a miracle to share with you from this last week. I don't think I told you about Paola. We met her the day we went to Colmar. That morning Soeur Alves felt prompted to bring a Book of Mormon in spanish , she almost decided to leave it, but thankfully she grabbed it right before we headed out. When we were in Lille we started talking with people and Soeur Alves walked by a woman but quickly stopped to talk to her. Her name is Paola and she is from Equador! Soeur Alves was able to use her Spanish and told Paola that she had a gift for her. She handed Paola the Book of Mormon and Paola was so excited that she gave both of us hugs. Soeur Alves told her how she had felt prompted to bring a spanish Book of Mormon with her and Paloa was very touched. Before we even shared anything Paola gave us her number and address and fixed a rendez-vous.
Sadly the day of our rendez-vous we were on exchanges and Soeur Alves and Soeur Johnson missed their train so they were two hours late in getting to Paola's. When they arrived at her appartment they couldn't figure out which doorbell was hers, so they tried calling her, but it was a bad number. We were so sad, because Paola had been so sincere and we had no idea how we were going to get ahold of her. We tried passing by another day and figured out which doorbell was hers, but it didn't work, and the door to the apartment building was locked. We went through an entire week without any contact with her. Soeur Alves was so good to pray every day they some how we could find Paola again. Last Monday (it had now been 10 days) we had to go to the mall in Lille to buy some things so we decided to do our grocery shopping there even though we always do it in Villeneuve D'Ascq. We we got to the grocery store we tried to print some photos but then there was a problem with the machine. We had to wait and get help from the employee and then wait even longer to get our money back. By the time everything was solved we had lost about one hour of time. Both of us were very frustrated inside and tired, but we didn't say anything, we just wanted to finish our grocery shopping as fast as possible. We went to the vegetable isle and a woman shouted "Hey!" Soeur Alves turned around and it was Paola!!! We were so happy to see her! We both almost started crying. When we asked how she was doing she said, "malo." (not good). She said she had waited all day for us on Thursday and asked why we hadn't called. We explained everything and she said, "no, I know I gave you the right number." We asked for it again and realised that because of her spanish accent we had gotten one number wrong. She even grabbed our phone to make sure we had the right number and then had us put our number into her phone. It was truly a miracle that we saw her! We told her we usually never go to Lille to do our grocery shopping and said that truly the Lord had led us there. We found out at our rendez-vous that she wasn't supposed to be there either. Her friend wanted to go to the mall and Paola didn't want to, but her friend made her come. While her friend was shopping Paola decided to walk around in Carrefour (the grocery store) and that's when she saw us! Truly miracles exist. After she left the store, we didn't want to kneel down in front of everyone, but we both said prayers in our hearts and then looked up toward heaven and said thank you.
I am so excited for Soeur Alves and Soeur Tollefson (her new companion, who is awesome), to continue the work here in Villeneuve D'Ascq. I know this gospel is true, that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for us and I have seen so many lives change thanks to his atonement. I know that he restored his gospel through a young, humble, farmer boy, Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is true, and I know it was translated by the power of God. I love that Book and I receive so much inspiration and revelation from it. I know it is true because I have taken my own time to read it and pray about it and Heavenly Father has answered me through the Holy Ghost. I bear you my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I love you all, I hope you all continue to strengthen your testimonies of the restored gospel daily. I will see you soon
Love, Soeur Reeves
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
week 69 - the Spirit testifies of truth
Bonjour à tous!
Happy Father's day yesterday dad! Thank you for being such a wonderful father! and Happy Birthday tomorrow! and happy wedding anniversary mom and dad on the 22nd as well as Happy Birthday to Jon!
I have one more week in Villeneuve D'Ascq! and it's going to be wonderful! I would suggest to not write any more letters unless you send them today. Otherwise I might not get them.
We had a great week, for the few lessons we had they were amazing and full of the spirit! A former investigator, Henriette, who we had stopped seeing, because she would never fix rendez-vous ran into us at the bus stop a couple of weeks ago and said, "It's been so long since you've come over, when can I see you again?" We immediately fixed a RDV and went over on Tuesday night. At the beginning Soeur Alves got to know her and when we prayed we asked if she had any family members or friends that we could pray for and she was very touched by that. We re-taught the restoration and focused on the importance of authority. This time she understood really well, to the point that she re-explained to us. When we bore testimony of the first vision and the Book of Mormon it was simple, but the spirit was so strong. Henriette had a smile on her face and told us that's what she had been searching for. She told us that she would start reading the Book of Mormon that night. We then gave her the soft invite to baptism, for those of you who don't know what that is, we ask them if they will be baptised when they know that these things are true. She said yes without hesitation. I was shocked! She has had such a change of heart! She reacted so differently the last time that Soeur Edgerly and I went. Whether it was because the Lord had prepared her through his spirit, or because she was touched by our testimonies, either way I know that it was the spirit working through us. After our lesson I turned to Soeur Alves and said, "It is especially after moments like this that I don't want my mission to end." I love being a servant of the Lord and doing his work. I love you all so much!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Father's day yesterday dad! Thank you for being such a wonderful father! and Happy Birthday tomorrow! and happy wedding anniversary mom and dad on the 22nd as well as Happy Birthday to Jon!
I have one more week in Villeneuve D'Ascq! and it's going to be wonderful! I would suggest to not write any more letters unless you send them today. Otherwise I might not get them.
We had a great week, for the few lessons we had they were amazing and full of the spirit! A former investigator, Henriette, who we had stopped seeing, because she would never fix rendez-vous ran into us at the bus stop a couple of weeks ago and said, "It's been so long since you've come over, when can I see you again?" We immediately fixed a RDV and went over on Tuesday night. At the beginning Soeur Alves got to know her and when we prayed we asked if she had any family members or friends that we could pray for and she was very touched by that. We re-taught the restoration and focused on the importance of authority. This time she understood really well, to the point that she re-explained to us. When we bore testimony of the first vision and the Book of Mormon it was simple, but the spirit was so strong. Henriette had a smile on her face and told us that's what she had been searching for. She told us that she would start reading the Book of Mormon that night. We then gave her the soft invite to baptism, for those of you who don't know what that is, we ask them if they will be baptised when they know that these things are true. She said yes without hesitation. I was shocked! She has had such a change of heart! She reacted so differently the last time that Soeur Edgerly and I went. Whether it was because the Lord had prepared her through his spirit, or because she was touched by our testimonies, either way I know that it was the spirit working through us. After our lesson I turned to Soeur Alves and said, "It is especially after moments like this that I don't want my mission to end." I love being a servant of the Lord and doing his work. I love you all so much!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, June 11, 2012
week 68 - faith and diligence produces miracles
Ma chère famille,
Happy Birthday to Lyla and Tyler this week! (I hope I have the dates right)
A week ago we received a call from our zone leaders during our morning studies who wanted to give us a little training about diligence and sacrifices. They asked us to reflect on the things that we could change and do better and the little sacrifices we could make. That evening we recieved a call from our district leader telling us that president wanted us to fix the goal to have a baptism on Saturday. Some people might think that President Poznanski is crazy, but Soeur Alves and I were excited and said, "If we have faith and work our hardest, and if it's the will of the Lord, we will have a baptism this Saturday." We didn't have a baptism this weekend, however I'm not sad, because I know we did our best, and we were more diligent than we ever have been. Every time we had a few extra minutes or while we were traveling from one rendez-vous to another or when we had to go to Colmar for my legality (5 hour train ride there and a 5 hour train ride back) or traveling to and from Brussels for sister exchanges, we talked to people! We looked through our area book to find former investigators, and part member families who would be able to be baptised in one week. Through, prayer, fasting, diligence, and faith we truly did our best to have a baptism. Although we did not have a baptism, we have progessed so much and have many more potential investigators and two new investigators. Throughout my mission I have only once fixed the goal to have a baptism when I didn't already have an investigator with a baptismal date. President Poznanski has really emphasized faith lately and I realised that zero is not a goal and it definitely does not show our hope, faith and desires. We found out at the end of the week why President Poznanski gave this challenge to all of the missionaries. There was not one baptism scheduled for this last weekend, and President felt that we could not have a weekend without baptisms. We ended up having 5 in the mission! Almost all of our key indicators (statistics) as a mission increased this week.
Soeur Alves and I had many little miracles all throughout the week. For example, we found Veronique! On Tuesday we were moving like crazy, because we only had until 3 o'clock before we had to take our train to Colmar and I turned to Soeur Alves and asked if it was worth it to try and pass by Veronique's (we had not had contact with her in over a month). Soeur Alves felt that we should and after getting off the metro and heading to her apartment there was an old Muslim couple that needed help getting back to the metro. We helped them find their way and quickly turned back to go to Veronique's. We saw a woman in the distance and both of us said, "Let's contact this lately". As we got closer I recognised her and said, "Veronique!" She, and we were so excited to see each other. We found out that she had been in Italy because her grandfather passed away. Now she is home and still wants to get baptised and no longer has a job for the moment but is supposed to talk with her boss, so we reminded her to tell him that she can't work on Sundays. She promised us she would. I know that the Lord blesses us when we are obedient and when we have faith and follow the spirit. I love this work! I hate thinking about the fact that it's coming to an end, but I will work hard until the last moment and I will continue to be a missionary for the rest of my life! I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Birthday to Lyla and Tyler this week! (I hope I have the dates right)
A week ago we received a call from our zone leaders during our morning studies who wanted to give us a little training about diligence and sacrifices. They asked us to reflect on the things that we could change and do better and the little sacrifices we could make. That evening we recieved a call from our district leader telling us that president wanted us to fix the goal to have a baptism on Saturday. Some people might think that President Poznanski is crazy, but Soeur Alves and I were excited and said, "If we have faith and work our hardest, and if it's the will of the Lord, we will have a baptism this Saturday." We didn't have a baptism this weekend, however I'm not sad, because I know we did our best, and we were more diligent than we ever have been. Every time we had a few extra minutes or while we were traveling from one rendez-vous to another or when we had to go to Colmar for my legality (5 hour train ride there and a 5 hour train ride back) or traveling to and from Brussels for sister exchanges, we talked to people! We looked through our area book to find former investigators, and part member families who would be able to be baptised in one week. Through, prayer, fasting, diligence, and faith we truly did our best to have a baptism. Although we did not have a baptism, we have progessed so much and have many more potential investigators and two new investigators. Throughout my mission I have only once fixed the goal to have a baptism when I didn't already have an investigator with a baptismal date. President Poznanski has really emphasized faith lately and I realised that zero is not a goal and it definitely does not show our hope, faith and desires. We found out at the end of the week why President Poznanski gave this challenge to all of the missionaries. There was not one baptism scheduled for this last weekend, and President felt that we could not have a weekend without baptisms. We ended up having 5 in the mission! Almost all of our key indicators (statistics) as a mission increased this week.
Soeur Alves and I had many little miracles all throughout the week. For example, we found Veronique! On Tuesday we were moving like crazy, because we only had until 3 o'clock before we had to take our train to Colmar and I turned to Soeur Alves and asked if it was worth it to try and pass by Veronique's (we had not had contact with her in over a month). Soeur Alves felt that we should and after getting off the metro and heading to her apartment there was an old Muslim couple that needed help getting back to the metro. We helped them find their way and quickly turned back to go to Veronique's. We saw a woman in the distance and both of us said, "Let's contact this lately". As we got closer I recognised her and said, "Veronique!" She, and we were so excited to see each other. We found out that she had been in Italy because her grandfather passed away. Now she is home and still wants to get baptised and no longer has a job for the moment but is supposed to talk with her boss, so we reminded her to tell him that she can't work on Sundays. She promised us she would. I know that the Lord blesses us when we are obedient and when we have faith and follow the spirit. I love this work! I hate thinking about the fact that it's coming to an end, but I will work hard until the last moment and I will continue to be a missionary for the rest of my life! I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Friday, June 8, 2012
week 67 - joy comes from sharing the gospel
Bonjour à tous!
Highlights of the week! On Tuesday when we had our rendez-vous we were running late so we tried to call Benoitte to let her know, but she wasn't responding so we were afraid she wouldn't be there but headed over anyway. When we got off the metro we passed by the bus stop to see when the bus was coming. We had about a 12 minute wait and thought we might get to her home sooner if we walked quickly. Sitting at the bus stop however was an African woman with her baby and something told me that we should wait for the bus and talk with her. I looked at Soeur Alves and we both said we should wait for the bus. I then turned to the African woman and started talking to her and asked some questions about her baby and then she said, "I know who you are. I'm Gilberte you or your friends came by my house the other week." "What?" I thought to myself trying to remember who Gilberte was, maybe a former investigator that we had tried to visit, or maybe the Elders had passed by. She told us her address and recognized the name of the road, so I told her, "Yes, I think it was us who came by." She then told us that she used to come to the church and even got baptised. It then clicked and I remembered that we had passed by some in-active members the week before but she had told us she was too busy to see and that she would call us. We had left her a note letting her know that we would love to meet her and if she needed anything she could call us. While talking with her at the bus stop we learned that she had been baptised 5 years before but her life got so busy with her kids that she quit coming to church. We invited her to come back and again she said she's too busy right now. I asked her if her life was better when she came to church and she thought about it for a second and said yes. She admitted that when living the principles and commandments life goes better. We haven't had a rendez-vous yet, and she didn't come to church, but she said she for sure wants to see us before I go home. So if she doesn't call us before then we will. ;) and we also left her a happy mother's day card (It was yesterday here in France). I've seen that it makes a difference when we keep in contact with in-active members and show them that we care. When we showed up to Benoitte's it was perfect timing because she had just finished cleaning and put her baby down for a nap and we were able to have a great lesson. I know that the Lord helps us in this work and I'm so grateful that both Soeur Alves and I listened to the spirit and talked with Gilberte. Who knows if she would have been willing to tell us who she was.
On Wednesday we had an amazing Zone conference with Elder and Sister Teixeira who were doing a mission tour. It was mainly focused on faith and finding new investigators which is exactly what I needed. After the first half of the training an Elder gave the prayer and blessing on the food. Elder Teixeira asked him to pray and ask the Lord to help each of us apply the teachings we had learned. Oh my goodness! The spirit was so strong during that prayer. I will never forgot the feeling that came over me. Everyone afterward was full of the spirit. Many of us missionaries sat there for a minute before getting lunch so that we could right about it in our journals/notebooks. Elder Teixeira talked to us to about casting pearls before swine, not that he was calling us swine, but he said that he had pearls for us and he didn't want to share it unless we were willing to listen and then do those things that we learned. He said to keep our minds and hearts open to the spirit so that we would know how to use those pearls. Towards the end he said that he wanted us to leave the conference and act immediately. He said that too often he goes to zone conferences and missionaries linger around afterward and chat and it's so long before the finally leave. He said he was going to stand at the podium and wait until all of us left after the conference. We had two and half hours before our train ride home and some other missionaries wanted to go to Grand Place, but Soeur Alves and I both took this to heart so after we said goodbye to everyone we asked the Brussels missionaries for their phone numbers and the church address. We walked out the door and started to walk to Grand Place but Soeur Alves and I stayed behind the other missionaries and decided to contact people. It's always hard at first, but after the first person it gets easier and easier and it's great to have a companion at your side cheering you on. Most of the people we talked to at first were not at all interested, but then we saw a young African woman (haha, we always go for the Africans because they're always nice and they love talking about Jesus. Don't worry we contact French people too). Her name is Sandra and she wasn't interested at first and said she was in a hurry, but Soeur Alves quickly said, "We just came from a conference and it was amazing and we really want to share this with you." (ha, something that Elder Teixeira said to go ahead and say). Sandra stopped and looked curious. She didn't have much time but we were able to share a quick summary of our message on the restored gospel and we got her number and address! We then talked with another young woman named Melissa (who is African, but from England) and she had already talked to missionaries back home. While talking with her however we learned that she had misunderstood what the Book of Mormon was and we asked if she'd be willing to meet with the missionaries and learn what the book is truly about. She accepted and we were able to get her address and number for both Brussels and London. We may have only gotten two referrals, but we were filled with joy! By the time we got to Grand Place we really weren't that interested to be there. We were more content sharing the gospel with people than sight seeing. We had just enough time to meet up with the other missionaries, get some dinner and get to the train. We were then able to talk with Odile who sat accross from us on the train (this time an older French lady).
We truly find joy in doing the work of the Lord and the gospel brings more happiness than any material possession. We were able to fix a rendez-vous with Aimée. She's a friend of Clever (the V. D'Ascq Elders investigator) who just got baptised on Saturday. She came to show her support for Clever and was very touched during the baptism. I asked her if she would like to learn what Clever had learned and if we could teach her our message. She was happy to fix a rendez-vous!
Bonne semaine! Choisis le bien!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Highlights of the week! On Tuesday when we had our rendez-vous we were running late so we tried to call Benoitte to let her know, but she wasn't responding so we were afraid she wouldn't be there but headed over anyway. When we got off the metro we passed by the bus stop to see when the bus was coming. We had about a 12 minute wait and thought we might get to her home sooner if we walked quickly. Sitting at the bus stop however was an African woman with her baby and something told me that we should wait for the bus and talk with her. I looked at Soeur Alves and we both said we should wait for the bus. I then turned to the African woman and started talking to her and asked some questions about her baby and then she said, "I know who you are. I'm Gilberte you or your friends came by my house the other week." "What?" I thought to myself trying to remember who Gilberte was, maybe a former investigator that we had tried to visit, or maybe the Elders had passed by. She told us her address and recognized the name of the road, so I told her, "Yes, I think it was us who came by." She then told us that she used to come to the church and even got baptised. It then clicked and I remembered that we had passed by some in-active members the week before but she had told us she was too busy to see and that she would call us. We had left her a note letting her know that we would love to meet her and if she needed anything she could call us. While talking with her at the bus stop we learned that she had been baptised 5 years before but her life got so busy with her kids that she quit coming to church. We invited her to come back and again she said she's too busy right now. I asked her if her life was better when she came to church and she thought about it for a second and said yes. She admitted that when living the principles and commandments life goes better. We haven't had a rendez-vous yet, and she didn't come to church, but she said she for sure wants to see us before I go home. So if she doesn't call us before then we will. ;) and we also left her a happy mother's day card (It was yesterday here in France). I've seen that it makes a difference when we keep in contact with in-active members and show them that we care. When we showed up to Benoitte's it was perfect timing because she had just finished cleaning and put her baby down for a nap and we were able to have a great lesson. I know that the Lord helps us in this work and I'm so grateful that both Soeur Alves and I listened to the spirit and talked with Gilberte. Who knows if she would have been willing to tell us who she was.
On Wednesday we had an amazing Zone conference with Elder and Sister Teixeira who were doing a mission tour. It was mainly focused on faith and finding new investigators which is exactly what I needed. After the first half of the training an Elder gave the prayer and blessing on the food. Elder Teixeira asked him to pray and ask the Lord to help each of us apply the teachings we had learned. Oh my goodness! The spirit was so strong during that prayer. I will never forgot the feeling that came over me. Everyone afterward was full of the spirit. Many of us missionaries sat there for a minute before getting lunch so that we could right about it in our journals/notebooks. Elder Teixeira talked to us to about casting pearls before swine, not that he was calling us swine, but he said that he had pearls for us and he didn't want to share it unless we were willing to listen and then do those things that we learned. He said to keep our minds and hearts open to the spirit so that we would know how to use those pearls. Towards the end he said that he wanted us to leave the conference and act immediately. He said that too often he goes to zone conferences and missionaries linger around afterward and chat and it's so long before the finally leave. He said he was going to stand at the podium and wait until all of us left after the conference. We had two and half hours before our train ride home and some other missionaries wanted to go to Grand Place, but Soeur Alves and I both took this to heart so after we said goodbye to everyone we asked the Brussels missionaries for their phone numbers and the church address. We walked out the door and started to walk to Grand Place but Soeur Alves and I stayed behind the other missionaries and decided to contact people. It's always hard at first, but after the first person it gets easier and easier and it's great to have a companion at your side cheering you on. Most of the people we talked to at first were not at all interested, but then we saw a young African woman (haha, we always go for the Africans because they're always nice and they love talking about Jesus. Don't worry we contact French people too). Her name is Sandra and she wasn't interested at first and said she was in a hurry, but Soeur Alves quickly said, "We just came from a conference and it was amazing and we really want to share this with you." (ha, something that Elder Teixeira said to go ahead and say). Sandra stopped and looked curious. She didn't have much time but we were able to share a quick summary of our message on the restored gospel and we got her number and address! We then talked with another young woman named Melissa (who is African, but from England) and she had already talked to missionaries back home. While talking with her however we learned that she had misunderstood what the Book of Mormon was and we asked if she'd be willing to meet with the missionaries and learn what the book is truly about. She accepted and we were able to get her address and number for both Brussels and London. We may have only gotten two referrals, but we were filled with joy! By the time we got to Grand Place we really weren't that interested to be there. We were more content sharing the gospel with people than sight seeing. We had just enough time to meet up with the other missionaries, get some dinner and get to the train. We were then able to talk with Odile who sat accross from us on the train (this time an older French lady).
We truly find joy in doing the work of the Lord and the gospel brings more happiness than any material possession. We were able to fix a rendez-vous with Aimée. She's a friend of Clever (the V. D'Ascq Elders investigator) who just got baptised on Saturday. She came to show her support for Clever and was very touched during the baptism. I asked her if she would like to learn what Clever had learned and if we could teach her our message. She was happy to fix a rendez-vous!
Bonne semaine! Choisis le bien!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, May 28, 2012
week 66 - people who are prepared
Bonjour à tous!
Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone enjoys their day off. :) It's also a holiday here in France, but not the same one. And it has been beautiful these past 5 days! Finally after two long months of rain we have sun! We had a good week. Maybe not as far as statistics, but in our spiritual progression, yes! We found, thanks to the Elders, another new investigator. Her name is Benoitte and she's from Congo. We had a really good lesson with her. At first it was kind of bumpy, but as we talked with her and got to know her and followed the spirit she really opened up and we were able to leave with a strong spirit. She told us that a year ago the missionaries knocked on her door, but she was in the middle of moving, so they asked her if she needed help. She was so grateful, because she had a three year old and two month old baby. She said that the Elders came back the next day with four other missionaries and helped her move all of her things to a new apartment. After that she lost her phone (or it broke, can't remember) so she no longer had the missionaries phone number and has not had contact with them since. Then last Monday the V. D'Ascq Elders knocked on her door and she immediately let them in. They weren't able to stay since she's single, so they told her Soeur Alves and I would call and we could pass by that week. The Elders immediately called us and we immediately called Benoitte and we were able to see her on Wednesday. She told us that she knows there's a reason that God sent us to her and that we must have something for her. It was so neat when she shared this experience with us! She was supposed to come to church yesterday, but sadly didn't, however we're going to see her tomorrow, so hopefully we can help get to church and respect the commitments we give her. She is very sweet and was happy to receive the Book of Mormon. I know that the Lord prepared people for us to teach. You can help too, by finding these people for the missionaries. ;) Love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Memorial Day! I hope everyone enjoys their day off. :) It's also a holiday here in France, but not the same one. And it has been beautiful these past 5 days! Finally after two long months of rain we have sun! We had a good week. Maybe not as far as statistics, but in our spiritual progression, yes! We found, thanks to the Elders, another new investigator. Her name is Benoitte and she's from Congo. We had a really good lesson with her. At first it was kind of bumpy, but as we talked with her and got to know her and followed the spirit she really opened up and we were able to leave with a strong spirit. She told us that a year ago the missionaries knocked on her door, but she was in the middle of moving, so they asked her if she needed help. She was so grateful, because she had a three year old and two month old baby. She said that the Elders came back the next day with four other missionaries and helped her move all of her things to a new apartment. After that she lost her phone (or it broke, can't remember) so she no longer had the missionaries phone number and has not had contact with them since. Then last Monday the V. D'Ascq Elders knocked on her door and she immediately let them in. They weren't able to stay since she's single, so they told her Soeur Alves and I would call and we could pass by that week. The Elders immediately called us and we immediately called Benoitte and we were able to see her on Wednesday. She told us that she knows there's a reason that God sent us to her and that we must have something for her. It was so neat when she shared this experience with us! She was supposed to come to church yesterday, but sadly didn't, however we're going to see her tomorrow, so hopefully we can help get to church and respect the commitments we give her. She is very sweet and was happy to receive the Book of Mormon. I know that the Lord prepared people for us to teach. You can help too, by finding these people for the missionaries. ;) Love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, May 21, 2012
Les Photos de Villeneuve-d'Ascq
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| Soon after my arrival in Villeneuve-d'Ascq. There's a huge park across from our apartment with horses and a lake and pathways in the forest. |
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| Grand Place in Lille |
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| Soeur Murray and Soeur Carter at Zone Conference |
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| Monday night after the huge snow storm. The buses quit going because of the snow and then it started to melt! We had to walk on the ledge along the side. I felt like a rat. Our boots were soaking wet by the time we got home. |
week 65 - following the spirit
Salut!
Happy Birthday this week to Sam and Jessica! I hope you enjoy your birthdays, and we'll see if Sam is like some of the other grandkids who eat their entire cake by themselves. Thank you for the wonderful experiences that you shared, Dad, Laurie and Ryan, and Mom for the talks that were given. They're all such inspiring stories. Just to let you know, since you're probably wondering. Veronique has disappeared. Ha, I have taught so many Africans that are amazing and want to get baptised and then they disappear and we never hear from them again; we call and their phone number never works, or we pass by their house multiple times, but no one is ever there. (I think it's often from legal problems or family problems back home in Africa). Alexandre called and said that he talked with his wife, but she is still against us coming, the Elders coming, or the senior couple. He said since she won't let us come over, he might try passing by the church sometime. Who knows, it might be a while. We have planted a seed, but I'm sure missionaries in the future will get to watch it grow.
On a happier note... We got two new investigators this week! Last Monday we were supposed to go eat at some member's home but they cancelled at the last minute because the mom was sick. We had totally forgotten to make a back up plan, I think because we thought we were for sure going since we had confirmed the night before. We said a prayer asking the Lord what he wanted us to do. We had made a plan to pass by some in-actives during the week and at the same time contact in those areas to try to find new investigators. We decided to go to the north part of Villeneuve D'Ascq by the Metro stop Jean Jaurès and pass by some in-active members. Either they weren't home or they had moved, and then a man told us that we weren't aloud to proselyte in apartment buildings (the sign confirmed it). We started to walk back toward the metro. I feel like we were like Nephi when he said, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." (1 Nephi 4:6). Soeur Alves pointed in one directed and said, "I think the Metro is by there." I didn't think it was, but I was tired and didn't want to say she was wrong so I kept my mouth shut and followed her. As we were walking along the path we walked past a couple who we knew were not from France and who looked like islanders. Soeur Alves stopped and asked them if we were going in the right direction for the Metro, they said, "no," and that it was on the other side of the neighborhood. We thanked them and then they asked, "are you Christian?" We said yes and asked if they were too. They said yes and then we started talking with them and found out that they're from New Caledonia and they asked what we were doing here so we told them we were missionaries. They know the name of the church, since there are a lot of members in Polynesia and they had met the missionaries once before. We asked them if we could come over and share our message with them and they said yes!
We had our first rendez-vous with them on Saturday night, they're names are Geneviève and Jean-Christophe and have 4 adorable children and their family is very important to them. They are very open people and so kind and Jean-Christophe had an amazing story of how he was converted to Jesus Christ and totally changed his life. I'm so grateful we followed the spirit (and that I kept my mouth shut.) I know that we were led by him to Geneviève and Christophe and I'm excited to keep teaching them. We gave them both copies of the Book of Mormon and the family Proclamation. I hope we can get them to come to our church activity and sacrament meeting this next weekend. (We also have two men in our ward who served in New Caledonia).
I know that the Lord prepares people by his spirit and his angels.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Birthday this week to Sam and Jessica! I hope you enjoy your birthdays, and we'll see if Sam is like some of the other grandkids who eat their entire cake by themselves. Thank you for the wonderful experiences that you shared, Dad, Laurie and Ryan, and Mom for the talks that were given. They're all such inspiring stories. Just to let you know, since you're probably wondering. Veronique has disappeared. Ha, I have taught so many Africans that are amazing and want to get baptised and then they disappear and we never hear from them again; we call and their phone number never works, or we pass by their house multiple times, but no one is ever there. (I think it's often from legal problems or family problems back home in Africa). Alexandre called and said that he talked with his wife, but she is still against us coming, the Elders coming, or the senior couple. He said since she won't let us come over, he might try passing by the church sometime. Who knows, it might be a while. We have planted a seed, but I'm sure missionaries in the future will get to watch it grow.
On a happier note... We got two new investigators this week! Last Monday we were supposed to go eat at some member's home but they cancelled at the last minute because the mom was sick. We had totally forgotten to make a back up plan, I think because we thought we were for sure going since we had confirmed the night before. We said a prayer asking the Lord what he wanted us to do. We had made a plan to pass by some in-actives during the week and at the same time contact in those areas to try to find new investigators. We decided to go to the north part of Villeneuve D'Ascq by the Metro stop Jean Jaurès and pass by some in-active members. Either they weren't home or they had moved, and then a man told us that we weren't aloud to proselyte in apartment buildings (the sign confirmed it). We started to walk back toward the metro. I feel like we were like Nephi when he said, "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." (1 Nephi 4:6). Soeur Alves pointed in one directed and said, "I think the Metro is by there." I didn't think it was, but I was tired and didn't want to say she was wrong so I kept my mouth shut and followed her. As we were walking along the path we walked past a couple who we knew were not from France and who looked like islanders. Soeur Alves stopped and asked them if we were going in the right direction for the Metro, they said, "no," and that it was on the other side of the neighborhood. We thanked them and then they asked, "are you Christian?" We said yes and asked if they were too. They said yes and then we started talking with them and found out that they're from New Caledonia and they asked what we were doing here so we told them we were missionaries. They know the name of the church, since there are a lot of members in Polynesia and they had met the missionaries once before. We asked them if we could come over and share our message with them and they said yes!
We had our first rendez-vous with them on Saturday night, they're names are Geneviève and Jean-Christophe and have 4 adorable children and their family is very important to them. They are very open people and so kind and Jean-Christophe had an amazing story of how he was converted to Jesus Christ and totally changed his life. I'm so grateful we followed the spirit (and that I kept my mouth shut.) I know that we were led by him to Geneviève and Christophe and I'm excited to keep teaching them. We gave them both copies of the Book of Mormon and the family Proclamation. I hope we can get them to come to our church activity and sacrament meeting this next weekend. (We also have two men in our ward who served in New Caledonia).
I know that the Lord prepares people by his spirit and his angels.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, May 14, 2012
week 64 - the Language of Music
Ma chère famille,
It was so fun talking to Mom and Dad, Ryan, Allyson, Julie, Jaclyn and Kristen, Uncle Stan and Aunt Lou yesterday! Mom I think I forgot to tell you Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for being the most wonderful and amazing mother in the world! Congratulations to Jeff, I'm glad many of you were able to be together for that (I'd love to see some pictures). Congratulations Jaclyn! I loved seeing your ring (I'm expecting some pictures from you too). Happy Birthday to Julie, Audrey, and Natalie (got it right this time!) this week! I can't believe you're going to be a teenager Audrey!
Last Monday we had finished everything we needed to on P-day and on time, so we felt great, but then after we left our rendez-vous that evening we saw that we were going to get home late, so we called our district leader to let him know and we hurried to make it to the next bus. The metro arrived at our stop and as I exited, who was on the other side of the door to get on? Alexandre! He quickly stepped back onto the platform and walked out with us. I was so excited to see him again! It's been weeks, and we had tried calling him again about a month ago, but he wouldn't ever answer, then I got an email from Mike letting me know that his girls were still praying for Alexandre and his wife so I called him the next day. This time he answered and he said that he wants to see us, but his wife is still against him taking the lessons. When we ran into him, we and he knew that it wasn't coincidence. He said he's been trying to think of a solution, so we told him we'll keep praying for him and we invited him and his wife to the BYU concert on Saturday. Sadly they didn't come, but I not it was not an accident that we ran into him, and it makes me think of Isabelle with her dad and the fact that she wouldn't get baptised because of him, but the Lord softened his heart and when he met the sister missionaries he was very happy to fix a rendez-vous. Thank you Mike and your daughters for your prayers. Even if it's not while I'm here that his wife's heart is softened I know that one day she will change.
The BYU concert that we had on Saturday was the wind symphony and Jacqueline came with frère and soeur Derone (our ward mission leader and wife). She also brought Kévin her little neighbor who's like a grandson to her. Kévin was present at our last RDV with Jacqueline and Sary. When frère Derone saw Kévin with Jacqueline he invited him to come with them to the concert. He's only 15, but as long as he's with Jacqueline his mom lets him do anything with her. Frère Derone said that he feels like Kévin will be the key to Jacqueline and Sary getting baptised. During the concert the symphony played "A poor wayfaring man of grief" and then they sang a hymn at the end and Soeur Derone said that during both songs Kévin had tears rolling down his cheeks. He told frère Derone that he felt really good while he was in the church and wants to come to our service sometime. They're going to talk with his mom and hopefully he will be coming next Sunday. It was funny when Kévin told frère Derone that he wanted to come to church he looked and Jacqueline and said, "If I go you have to come with me." Sometimes it's children that help bring others into the church. When we were at the concert I also thought about the fact that music is a universal language. Everyone in the world understands and can be touched by music; there is a special spirit that comes with it and I'm grateful that the music that the BYU symphony played touched Kévin.
I love you all! I know this gospel is true and that we are part of the church of Jesus Christ here on the earth today. I hope you all have a wonderful week. A là prochain!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
It was so fun talking to Mom and Dad, Ryan, Allyson, Julie, Jaclyn and Kristen, Uncle Stan and Aunt Lou yesterday! Mom I think I forgot to tell you Happy Mother's Day! Thank you for being the most wonderful and amazing mother in the world! Congratulations to Jeff, I'm glad many of you were able to be together for that (I'd love to see some pictures). Congratulations Jaclyn! I loved seeing your ring (I'm expecting some pictures from you too). Happy Birthday to Julie, Audrey, and Natalie (got it right this time!) this week! I can't believe you're going to be a teenager Audrey!
Last Monday we had finished everything we needed to on P-day and on time, so we felt great, but then after we left our rendez-vous that evening we saw that we were going to get home late, so we called our district leader to let him know and we hurried to make it to the next bus. The metro arrived at our stop and as I exited, who was on the other side of the door to get on? Alexandre! He quickly stepped back onto the platform and walked out with us. I was so excited to see him again! It's been weeks, and we had tried calling him again about a month ago, but he wouldn't ever answer, then I got an email from Mike letting me know that his girls were still praying for Alexandre and his wife so I called him the next day. This time he answered and he said that he wants to see us, but his wife is still against him taking the lessons. When we ran into him, we and he knew that it wasn't coincidence. He said he's been trying to think of a solution, so we told him we'll keep praying for him and we invited him and his wife to the BYU concert on Saturday. Sadly they didn't come, but I not it was not an accident that we ran into him, and it makes me think of Isabelle with her dad and the fact that she wouldn't get baptised because of him, but the Lord softened his heart and when he met the sister missionaries he was very happy to fix a rendez-vous. Thank you Mike and your daughters for your prayers. Even if it's not while I'm here that his wife's heart is softened I know that one day she will change.
The BYU concert that we had on Saturday was the wind symphony and Jacqueline came with frère and soeur Derone (our ward mission leader and wife). She also brought Kévin her little neighbor who's like a grandson to her. Kévin was present at our last RDV with Jacqueline and Sary. When frère Derone saw Kévin with Jacqueline he invited him to come with them to the concert. He's only 15, but as long as he's with Jacqueline his mom lets him do anything with her. Frère Derone said that he feels like Kévin will be the key to Jacqueline and Sary getting baptised. During the concert the symphony played "A poor wayfaring man of grief" and then they sang a hymn at the end and Soeur Derone said that during both songs Kévin had tears rolling down his cheeks. He told frère Derone that he felt really good while he was in the church and wants to come to our service sometime. They're going to talk with his mom and hopefully he will be coming next Sunday. It was funny when Kévin told frère Derone that he wanted to come to church he looked and Jacqueline and said, "If I go you have to come with me." Sometimes it's children that help bring others into the church. When we were at the concert I also thought about the fact that music is a universal language. Everyone in the world understands and can be touched by music; there is a special spirit that comes with it and I'm grateful that the music that the BYU symphony played touched Kévin.
I love you all! I know this gospel is true and that we are part of the church of Jesus Christ here on the earth today. I hope you all have a wonderful week. A là prochain!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, May 7, 2012
week 63 - open your mouth
Bonjour ma famille!
Guess what St. Dié finally has a companionship serving their full-time! I'm so grateful that the members there started to realise that they needed to do their part too, because it's not missionaries who should do all of the finding. I know the Elders their can help save the branch before all of those members die. (All of the active members are pretty old). Sad news, I no longer have a camera to use. Well, I still have a camera, but I don't know why it went crazy on me, same problem as my first camera. Like I said last time, thank goodness for companions and thankfully mom and dad are picking me up so I can take some more pictures with you.
I know I've mentioned before but something I would probably never do back home, is run after a bus in a skirt. I think last week we ran after one every day! They're so nice to stop and I'm pretty sure that all of the bus drivers on line 41 now know who we are, because we're probably the only two girls walking around in skirts, carrying scriptures, that run after their buses. (Unless the Jehovah's Witnesses do it to ;) Jk don't add that to the blog).
We had a good week although none of our investigators came to church :(. We're trying to work on that this week and help our amis understand the importance of the sabbath day and coming to church if they want to be converted. They main thing we're going to focus on this week is contacting and finding new investigators and I was so inspired yesterday at church. Three different members bore their testimonies and shared their experiences of giving out a Book of Mormon (yeah! they kept their commitments!). Each shared the fact that they started by praying and asking Heavenly Father to help them know who to give it to. One sister gave one to a man on the metro, another to a friend and another who felt like she should give it to a client at work ended up giving it to someone else when the opportunity came. I'm so grateful for their example of praying and when the Lord put the person in their path they gave them the Book of Mormon.
Rosita is doing well and is back from the hospital, but sisters are now coming to the Lille ward, so we're going to have to pass her, but I'm grateful that we can give them and investigator since they're doing a whitewash. I know how difficult those are. I just have time to share a little experience about a few weeks ago. There was a strike (you know France and its national sport of strikes) so there were no buses this day. It was a Monday and thankfully a member was able to drop us off to do our emails. We took the metro on our way back, but because there were when we got to the station there were no buses. A girl came up and asked us when the next bus was coming and we told her there weren't any. She walked one way and we went another. We weren't very happy to walk for 30 minutes and there weren't many people out to talk to along the way. After about 15 to 20 minutes the same girl came walking up behind us and asked if we wanted a ride. I was shocked! That doesn't happen often here in France. We told her sure and her dad showed up in about one minute to pick us up. It was only about a two minute drive from there to our apartment so we didn't have much time to talk with them, but we were able to give Vincenne (the girl) and her dad (Christophe) a card and told them it had our number and the address of the church and of course we wrote a big MERCI! on the card. They haven't called us, and I don't know if they've looked up the church website or if something will happen in the future, but I know that little miralces and experiences like that don't happen by accident and we need to take advantage of every oppurtunity Heavenly Father gives us, even if it's just for a couple of minutes. I hope to have many more little experiences like that before I come home.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Guess what St. Dié finally has a companionship serving their full-time! I'm so grateful that the members there started to realise that they needed to do their part too, because it's not missionaries who should do all of the finding. I know the Elders their can help save the branch before all of those members die. (All of the active members are pretty old). Sad news, I no longer have a camera to use. Well, I still have a camera, but I don't know why it went crazy on me, same problem as my first camera. Like I said last time, thank goodness for companions and thankfully mom and dad are picking me up so I can take some more pictures with you.
I know I've mentioned before but something I would probably never do back home, is run after a bus in a skirt. I think last week we ran after one every day! They're so nice to stop and I'm pretty sure that all of the bus drivers on line 41 now know who we are, because we're probably the only two girls walking around in skirts, carrying scriptures, that run after their buses. (Unless the Jehovah's Witnesses do it to ;) Jk don't add that to the blog).
We had a good week although none of our investigators came to church :(. We're trying to work on that this week and help our amis understand the importance of the sabbath day and coming to church if they want to be converted. They main thing we're going to focus on this week is contacting and finding new investigators and I was so inspired yesterday at church. Three different members bore their testimonies and shared their experiences of giving out a Book of Mormon (yeah! they kept their commitments!). Each shared the fact that they started by praying and asking Heavenly Father to help them know who to give it to. One sister gave one to a man on the metro, another to a friend and another who felt like she should give it to a client at work ended up giving it to someone else when the opportunity came. I'm so grateful for their example of praying and when the Lord put the person in their path they gave them the Book of Mormon.
Rosita is doing well and is back from the hospital, but sisters are now coming to the Lille ward, so we're going to have to pass her, but I'm grateful that we can give them and investigator since they're doing a whitewash. I know how difficult those are. I just have time to share a little experience about a few weeks ago. There was a strike (you know France and its national sport of strikes) so there were no buses this day. It was a Monday and thankfully a member was able to drop us off to do our emails. We took the metro on our way back, but because there were when we got to the station there were no buses. A girl came up and asked us when the next bus was coming and we told her there weren't any. She walked one way and we went another. We weren't very happy to walk for 30 minutes and there weren't many people out to talk to along the way. After about 15 to 20 minutes the same girl came walking up behind us and asked if we wanted a ride. I was shocked! That doesn't happen often here in France. We told her sure and her dad showed up in about one minute to pick us up. It was only about a two minute drive from there to our apartment so we didn't have much time to talk with them, but we were able to give Vincenne (the girl) and her dad (Christophe) a card and told them it had our number and the address of the church and of course we wrote a big MERCI! on the card. They haven't called us, and I don't know if they've looked up the church website or if something will happen in the future, but I know that little miralces and experiences like that don't happen by accident and we need to take advantage of every oppurtunity Heavenly Father gives us, even if it's just for a couple of minutes. I hope to have many more little experiences like that before I come home.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, April 30, 2012
week 62 - obedience
Salut!
Sorry I missed Nathalie's birthday! So Happy Birthday Natters! even though it was a couple weeks ago. I can't believe she's 2 now! I remember I held her in my arms for who knows how long, because it was the last time I could hold a baby until I got home from my mission.
Anyway... We had a good week. We got to do exchanges. I went to Evry with Soeur Rowley, this is the third exchange I've done with her, and Soeur Alves stayed here with Soeur Ingraham. It was great, I learn so much every time! Soeur Rowley and I have always wanted to serve together, but at least we got to do exchanges 3 different times throughout the mission, she goes home next week. Soeur Alves gave Jacqueline and Sary the baptismal invite, and they both got nervous and said that the other should do it first and then they would. They're such a funny couple. We're worried they're not married, but the bishop was excited and said he would love to have the ward put on a wedding. I love the members here, they're so fun and kind and always want to help.
On Sunday the Elders' recent convert, Cedrick, blessed the sacrament. It was so great seeing him in a suit and he looked so humble. Even though we haven't worked with or taught Cedrick, I've gotten to see him progress from when the Elders started teaching him to now and it's been so neat. I didn't get to have the blessing of seeing Shazi receive the priesthood, so it was neat to see Cedrick. He bore the most powerful testismony at his baptism, and I thought, "now that is someone who is not only getting baptised, but has been truly converted."
This last week when Soeur Alves and I did our weekly planning we talked about things we could do better to work on being obedient. It was really small, simple things, that some people might think don't matter, but I've seen in my mission that it does matter, so we made some goals of how we could fix those little rules that we were not keeping. I have never felt my burden become so light. I didn't really notice that I had one, but I when I took the sacrament yesterday I felt so clean and I felt like nothing can prevent us from having success. It's really not about the success though, I told Soeur Alves that I wanted to change these things for the sake of our amis. I know that if I'm not doing all I can to keep all of the commandments and mission rules, I should not expect our investigators to progress and respect their commitments. In relief society a scripture was read. Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. It reminded me of a scripture that Evan shared with me Jeremiah 7:23 and how it changed his mission (hope he doesn't mind me sharing). But it's true that once we make the Lord's will our will, everything changes, especially our outlook on everthing, and our priorities. I'm excited to finish these last couple of months here in my mission and to do all of it for the Lord and help others come unto Christ.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
P.S. I'm excited to talk to you in a couple of weeks!
Sorry I missed Nathalie's birthday! So Happy Birthday Natters! even though it was a couple weeks ago. I can't believe she's 2 now! I remember I held her in my arms for who knows how long, because it was the last time I could hold a baby until I got home from my mission.
Anyway... We had a good week. We got to do exchanges. I went to Evry with Soeur Rowley, this is the third exchange I've done with her, and Soeur Alves stayed here with Soeur Ingraham. It was great, I learn so much every time! Soeur Rowley and I have always wanted to serve together, but at least we got to do exchanges 3 different times throughout the mission, she goes home next week. Soeur Alves gave Jacqueline and Sary the baptismal invite, and they both got nervous and said that the other should do it first and then they would. They're such a funny couple. We're worried they're not married, but the bishop was excited and said he would love to have the ward put on a wedding. I love the members here, they're so fun and kind and always want to help.
On Sunday the Elders' recent convert, Cedrick, blessed the sacrament. It was so great seeing him in a suit and he looked so humble. Even though we haven't worked with or taught Cedrick, I've gotten to see him progress from when the Elders started teaching him to now and it's been so neat. I didn't get to have the blessing of seeing Shazi receive the priesthood, so it was neat to see Cedrick. He bore the most powerful testismony at his baptism, and I thought, "now that is someone who is not only getting baptised, but has been truly converted."
This last week when Soeur Alves and I did our weekly planning we talked about things we could do better to work on being obedient. It was really small, simple things, that some people might think don't matter, but I've seen in my mission that it does matter, so we made some goals of how we could fix those little rules that we were not keeping. I have never felt my burden become so light. I didn't really notice that I had one, but I when I took the sacrament yesterday I felt so clean and I felt like nothing can prevent us from having success. It's really not about the success though, I told Soeur Alves that I wanted to change these things for the sake of our amis. I know that if I'm not doing all I can to keep all of the commandments and mission rules, I should not expect our investigators to progress and respect their commitments. In relief society a scripture was read. Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. It reminded me of a scripture that Evan shared with me Jeremiah 7:23 and how it changed his mission (hope he doesn't mind me sharing). But it's true that once we make the Lord's will our will, everything changes, especially our outlook on everthing, and our priorities. I'm excited to finish these last couple of months here in my mission and to do all of it for the Lord and help others come unto Christ.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
P.S. I'm excited to talk to you in a couple of weeks!
Monday, April 23, 2012
week 61 - patience
Bonjour!
Happy Birthday today to Carrie! and tomorrow to Nyall! I won't worry about guessing your ages. ;) Congratulations Jessica and Reid! I'm excited that I'll actually be there when this baby is born. When does Max turn one? and Jenny and Mike, when is Sam's birthday? I'm glad you're all doing well. It's fun to receive news from all of you! I have the best family in the world! We had a good week, but my goodness so much rain! and hail. We started laughing when we ran from Jacqueline and Sary's to the metro because it was sunny when we left their house and then about 5 seconds later a bunch of wind came and then it started pouring rain so we started running with our umbrellas in front of us like shields to protect us and then it started hailing. It's the first time Soeur Alves has stood under hail (she's seen it one other time in her life but was inside). We were able to fix a baptismal date with Veronique! She said she's going to talk to her boss about working on Sundays, so please pray for her. Even though the members helped a lot with Evelyne everyone has their free agency and for the moment she's too stuck in her evangelical ways to change. We're a little worried because we won't be seeing her for two weeks. Even though she didn't agree with how our church meetings went and didn't like the idea of being baptised again we told her to pray because she knows that God will always give her the right answer and she can know the truth through him; so, for the moment she said that she will pray and if He tells her it's true and that she needs to be baptised by the proper authority then she said she will. Now we just need to hope that she will actually pray about it and that she will be humble enough to accept and follow the response she gets, because we talked about real intent with her and that if the Lord tells her it's right, then she needs to follow through with it. My goodness was it an intense lesson, but she's still open to seeing us again.
This week Soeur Alves and I have both started to get a little sick... :(. I don't know if we picked up some germs at the hospital when we went to visit Rosita and a sister from our ward who is also there, but in any case I wasn't excited because I got sick last transfer too. I was trying to fall asleep the other night and I said to Heavenly Father that I don't want to be sick, because I only have two months left and I want to focus 100%. Then I remembered something that I've learned during my mission. "Patience is a virtue." I've learned a lot of patience with my companions, with our investigators, with the members and especially with myself and the Lord. When we went and visited Rosita some scriptures came to my mind that I decided to share with her and I think I needed it more at that moment than she did.
2 Corinthians 1:2-7
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
I don't remember when I read this chapter, nor do I remember what was going on in my life at the time; all I remember was that I was alone in my room and I was going through a difficult time, whatever the trial was, when I opened my scriptures and fell upon this chapter. It helped me realise that just as Christ suffered for us so that he might know how to succor us, everytime we suffer, we too will know how to succor and console others. We will be able to serve others as we have been served. I know that when the Lord allows us to have trials it is for our own profit and learning and when we humble ourselves and have patience the Lord makes us strong.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Birthday today to Carrie! and tomorrow to Nyall! I won't worry about guessing your ages. ;) Congratulations Jessica and Reid! I'm excited that I'll actually be there when this baby is born. When does Max turn one? and Jenny and Mike, when is Sam's birthday? I'm glad you're all doing well. It's fun to receive news from all of you! I have the best family in the world! We had a good week, but my goodness so much rain! and hail. We started laughing when we ran from Jacqueline and Sary's to the metro because it was sunny when we left their house and then about 5 seconds later a bunch of wind came and then it started pouring rain so we started running with our umbrellas in front of us like shields to protect us and then it started hailing. It's the first time Soeur Alves has stood under hail (she's seen it one other time in her life but was inside). We were able to fix a baptismal date with Veronique! She said she's going to talk to her boss about working on Sundays, so please pray for her. Even though the members helped a lot with Evelyne everyone has their free agency and for the moment she's too stuck in her evangelical ways to change. We're a little worried because we won't be seeing her for two weeks. Even though she didn't agree with how our church meetings went and didn't like the idea of being baptised again we told her to pray because she knows that God will always give her the right answer and she can know the truth through him; so, for the moment she said that she will pray and if He tells her it's true and that she needs to be baptised by the proper authority then she said she will. Now we just need to hope that she will actually pray about it and that she will be humble enough to accept and follow the response she gets, because we talked about real intent with her and that if the Lord tells her it's right, then she needs to follow through with it. My goodness was it an intense lesson, but she's still open to seeing us again.
This week Soeur Alves and I have both started to get a little sick... :(. I don't know if we picked up some germs at the hospital when we went to visit Rosita and a sister from our ward who is also there, but in any case I wasn't excited because I got sick last transfer too. I was trying to fall asleep the other night and I said to Heavenly Father that I don't want to be sick, because I only have two months left and I want to focus 100%. Then I remembered something that I've learned during my mission. "Patience is a virtue." I've learned a lot of patience with my companions, with our investigators, with the members and especially with myself and the Lord. When we went and visited Rosita some scriptures came to my mind that I decided to share with her and I think I needed it more at that moment than she did.
2 Corinthians 1:2-7
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
I don't remember when I read this chapter, nor do I remember what was going on in my life at the time; all I remember was that I was alone in my room and I was going through a difficult time, whatever the trial was, when I opened my scriptures and fell upon this chapter. It helped me realise that just as Christ suffered for us so that he might know how to succor us, everytime we suffer, we too will know how to succor and console others. We will be able to serve others as we have been served. I know that when the Lord allows us to have trials it is for our own profit and learning and when we humble ourselves and have patience the Lord makes us strong.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, April 16, 2012
week 60 - service and the importance of members
Salut!
Happy Birthday last week Brennan! Are you 4 or 5 now?! I still can't believe how fast all of the grandkids are growing up! We had to drop Rosita's baptismal date because she's in the hospital again. Please pray for her! In fact many of our amis are sick at the moment. We've had really cold weather lately so that might be part of it. On Thursday Evelyne and her son and daughter came with us to the Bishop's house for dinner! It was great! I was surprised she accepted the invitation to come to the home of a stranger, but I'm very glad she came. Bishop and Soeur Duez were so welcoming and the spirit is so strong in their home. We had a simple lesson about how the gospel blesses families and shared the story of the stripling warriors. We each took a turn bearing testimony of how the gospel has blessed our families and then Evelyne said she was so grateful that God had helped her get to where she is now; she has only been religious for the last 4 years. She also said that it is thanks to God that she was with us that night. Then Bishop Duez invited her family to come to church and they came! Her kids especially loved it and I was so proud of the young women for being warm and welcoming to Coralie, because I've introduced other girls to the young women, in which case they weren't at all integrated. I'm grateful we're part of such a great ward! During my mission I have seen how much of a difference it makes when the members are involved in missionary work and in working with your investigators. Missionaries are called to an area to help the members build and strengthen their ward, not do the work for them, our main purpose it to teach and prepare people for baptism, but we can't do it without the help of the members, especially if we are not united with them.
Two weeks ago we got a call from a member, soeur Tornar, in Paris whose sister, Fabienne, lives her and is in the process of moving. Soeur Tornar asked us if we could come help clean Fabienne's home. We were happy to help and shocked when Fabienne came to church the next day. Soeur Tornar is the only member in her family and she said that Fabienne had nothing against the church, but was never interested. Fabienne loved sacrament meeting and was very impressed by the church. She needed more help packing boxes and doing a final cleaning job, so with the help of our DMP and Bishop we were able to find members to come help us. The Elders and other men did all of the packing, and then Soeur Alves and I went with two other sisters to do some of the cleaning. Fabienne was so grateful at the end that she told her sister she wants to meet with the missionaries and she would love to have us stop by! Sadly she's moving the center of France but we told her that we will send the missionaries in her area. She has already looked up the address of the church where she is moving and is excited that it's not too far from her. I'm so glad that Soeur Tornar asked us to come help her sister. There are many ways we can do missionary work and touch the hearts of others. Next time you have a neighbor who is moving or needs help cleaning or painting, don't forget to involve the missionaries ;)
I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Birthday last week Brennan! Are you 4 or 5 now?! I still can't believe how fast all of the grandkids are growing up! We had to drop Rosita's baptismal date because she's in the hospital again. Please pray for her! In fact many of our amis are sick at the moment. We've had really cold weather lately so that might be part of it. On Thursday Evelyne and her son and daughter came with us to the Bishop's house for dinner! It was great! I was surprised she accepted the invitation to come to the home of a stranger, but I'm very glad she came. Bishop and Soeur Duez were so welcoming and the spirit is so strong in their home. We had a simple lesson about how the gospel blesses families and shared the story of the stripling warriors. We each took a turn bearing testimony of how the gospel has blessed our families and then Evelyne said she was so grateful that God had helped her get to where she is now; she has only been religious for the last 4 years. She also said that it is thanks to God that she was with us that night. Then Bishop Duez invited her family to come to church and they came! Her kids especially loved it and I was so proud of the young women for being warm and welcoming to Coralie, because I've introduced other girls to the young women, in which case they weren't at all integrated. I'm grateful we're part of such a great ward! During my mission I have seen how much of a difference it makes when the members are involved in missionary work and in working with your investigators. Missionaries are called to an area to help the members build and strengthen their ward, not do the work for them, our main purpose it to teach and prepare people for baptism, but we can't do it without the help of the members, especially if we are not united with them.
Two weeks ago we got a call from a member, soeur Tornar, in Paris whose sister, Fabienne, lives her and is in the process of moving. Soeur Tornar asked us if we could come help clean Fabienne's home. We were happy to help and shocked when Fabienne came to church the next day. Soeur Tornar is the only member in her family and she said that Fabienne had nothing against the church, but was never interested. Fabienne loved sacrament meeting and was very impressed by the church. She needed more help packing boxes and doing a final cleaning job, so with the help of our DMP and Bishop we were able to find members to come help us. The Elders and other men did all of the packing, and then Soeur Alves and I went with two other sisters to do some of the cleaning. Fabienne was so grateful at the end that she told her sister she wants to meet with the missionaries and she would love to have us stop by! Sadly she's moving the center of France but we told her that we will send the missionaries in her area. She has already looked up the address of the church where she is moving and is excited that it's not too far from her. I'm so glad that Soeur Tornar asked us to come help her sister. There are many ways we can do missionary work and touch the hearts of others. Next time you have a neighbor who is moving or needs help cleaning or painting, don't forget to involve the missionaries ;)
I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, April 9, 2012
week 59 - the gospel blesses families
Ma chère famille,
Happy Birthday to Lindsey!!! Is she 2 or 3 now? I can't believe how quickly these little babies are growing up. We fixed a new baptismal date with Rosita again. This time I think it will go through because Soeur Alves is such a positive, optimistic person who makes Rosita laugh. It helps a lot because this way Rosita doesn't complain as much about all of her problems like she did before. She came to a baptism on Saturday and then church on Sunday and she loved both of them. It's been neat to see her change as she makes an effort to read the scriptures and pray. Little by little she's been feeling less alone. The baptism that we attended on Saturday was amazing! His name is frère Pirage from the Valenciennes ward; he was taught by our District leader and his companion. Frère Pirage's daughter joined the church 2 years ago and the family was completely against it. A year later she decided to go on a mission, which her family thought was the most foolish thing in the world. While she has been on her mission she has prayed and prayed for her family and she asked the missionaries to stop by. The Elders went to visit her family and they let them in. In the first lesson the Elders committed the Pirage family to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Elder Cooper, our district leader, said he was really nervous to go, and thought it best that they wait to invite them to be baptised. Thankfully his companion was bold and invited them to be baptised when they received an answer that their message was true. They responded yes! Elder Cooper told us that he is very grateful that his companion had enough faith to invite the Pirage family to come unto Christ. Frère Pirage immediately started reading the Book of Mormon and porgressing, his wife has been a little slower, but is getting there. At the baptism the spirit was so strong! Thanks to technology his daughter who is on her mission was able to watch the whole thing on skype. She then bore her testimony and we all got to watch it live on a screen in the chapel. Frère Pirage then bore his testimony and in it he talked about the experience of have their daughter join the church and he said the day he dropped her off at the airport he felt like he had made the biggest mistake in letting her go. He then turned to her, looking at the camera, and asked for forgiveness. Everyone was crying! He said he was so happy now and he couldn't wait for their whole family to progress together. His wife was full of tears. It'll be so neat to know that one day after their daughter gets back from her mission, and a year after Soeur Pirage is baptised they will be able to be sealed in the temple.
Even though I didn't teach this family I felt joy and love for them as I heard their story and saw how happy they are. I'm always excited when the other missionaries have experiences like this, because we're all in this work together, and missionaries that come after us might teach our investigators, or we might baptise someone that another missionary found. Even when missionaries leave and move on the work continues and the Lord keeps calling more servants to his vineyard. I'm grateful that I get to be a part of it. Make sure that you all remember that every member is a missionary even if you are not called full time. I love you all! Please pray for Veronique and Rosita!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Happy Birthday to Lindsey!!! Is she 2 or 3 now? I can't believe how quickly these little babies are growing up. We fixed a new baptismal date with Rosita again. This time I think it will go through because Soeur Alves is such a positive, optimistic person who makes Rosita laugh. It helps a lot because this way Rosita doesn't complain as much about all of her problems like she did before. She came to a baptism on Saturday and then church on Sunday and she loved both of them. It's been neat to see her change as she makes an effort to read the scriptures and pray. Little by little she's been feeling less alone. The baptism that we attended on Saturday was amazing! His name is frère Pirage from the Valenciennes ward; he was taught by our District leader and his companion. Frère Pirage's daughter joined the church 2 years ago and the family was completely against it. A year later she decided to go on a mission, which her family thought was the most foolish thing in the world. While she has been on her mission she has prayed and prayed for her family and she asked the missionaries to stop by. The Elders went to visit her family and they let them in. In the first lesson the Elders committed the Pirage family to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Elder Cooper, our district leader, said he was really nervous to go, and thought it best that they wait to invite them to be baptised. Thankfully his companion was bold and invited them to be baptised when they received an answer that their message was true. They responded yes! Elder Cooper told us that he is very grateful that his companion had enough faith to invite the Pirage family to come unto Christ. Frère Pirage immediately started reading the Book of Mormon and porgressing, his wife has been a little slower, but is getting there. At the baptism the spirit was so strong! Thanks to technology his daughter who is on her mission was able to watch the whole thing on skype. She then bore her testimony and we all got to watch it live on a screen in the chapel. Frère Pirage then bore his testimony and in it he talked about the experience of have their daughter join the church and he said the day he dropped her off at the airport he felt like he had made the biggest mistake in letting her go. He then turned to her, looking at the camera, and asked for forgiveness. Everyone was crying! He said he was so happy now and he couldn't wait for their whole family to progress together. His wife was full of tears. It'll be so neat to know that one day after their daughter gets back from her mission, and a year after Soeur Pirage is baptised they will be able to be sealed in the temple.
Even though I didn't teach this family I felt joy and love for them as I heard their story and saw how happy they are. I'm always excited when the other missionaries have experiences like this, because we're all in this work together, and missionaries that come after us might teach our investigators, or we might baptise someone that another missionary found. Even when missionaries leave and move on the work continues and the Lord keeps calling more servants to his vineyard. I'm grateful that I get to be a part of it. Make sure that you all remember that every member is a missionary even if you are not called full time. I love you all! Please pray for Veronique and Rosita!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Flan Suck
Thought you might like to see Soeur Alves and I doing the flan suck. ha! When we were at Mission Council President allowed the Elders to do this "activity" during lunch since it was Elder Hall's (one of the assistants) last mission council. The Elders then dared Soeur Alves and I to do it. At first I said, "no way!" It was fun watching the Elders do it, but I didn't want to humiliate myself. Then I thought, "Why not? It'll give them a good laugh, and if they weren't all here I would try it for fun anyway." Soeur Poznanski couldn't believe that we ended up doing it. It was funny, none of the French missionaries wanted to do it. So for the flan suck, you put it on a plate and then when they count to three you have to suck the whole thing into your mouth and swallow it in one gulp! I didn't even get close! Some the Elders did it in 1.5 seconds!
Love, Val
Love, Val
Monday, April 2, 2012
week 58 - what a simple smile and hello can do
Wow! Congratulations mom! Yesterday, Soeur Alves and I were walking up to the front door of the church when one of the Elders asked, "Are there really 13 kids in your family?" "Yes." I said. I didn't really think anything of it since people often bring it up. Then Elder Metcalfe came walking out and while handing me a brownie said, "There's the famous girl! So, 13 kids in your family and what's your dad's name?" Confused I said, "Melvyn." Elder Metcalfe then looked at all of the Elders and said, "Yep, it's her." I was so confused and asked what on earth they were talking about! They were surprised that I didn't already know and Elder Metcalfe said, "Your mom is in the new Relief Society Presidency!" I took a step back and said, "What?! Your joking!" (It's not something a missionary expects to hear when walking to the church to watch general conference). He looked at me and asked, "Would I joke about something like that?" Elder and Soeur Metcalfe, the senior couple, had already watched the Saturday afternoon session at home since they have a computer. All of the missionaries just started laughing and I was still in shock! In fact my stomach still hasn't settled down since yesterday! Even though it's not my calling, I can't keep my mind off of how this will affect everything in the future, so I've just been praying that Heavenly Father will help keep me focused on NOW and my mission. I guess it just reminds me of when Mom and Dad got there mission call; I remember Ryan, Allyson, and I stayed up all night talking. Don't worry about me though, everything will be okay, it's always just kind of shocking at first ha. However, like Allyson said, not at all a surprise! We have one of the most amazing mothers on earth! The most amazing for us! When we started watching conference it was confirmed when they announced the auxilaries. I started thinking of all of your amazing attributes mom and I know that God has called you for a very special reason. After conference many of the members came up to me to congratulate me, or rather you and they all talked about how amazing you must be. They're excited to hear you speak at the next Relief Society session and then say, "We know her daughter!" I think I told you that Soeur Murray, Creager and Carter are serving in a threesome and they called to congratulate you. They said soeur Carter was jumping up in down in her seat and said, "Her daughter is my mom!" haha, for those of you who have served a mission you know that that means I trained her. They all feel like they know you and weren't at all surprised when they heard your name announced; they're very excited for you.
Oh I also saw Christina Nelson! She was singing in the choir from the MTC!
Anyway, Soeur Alves is amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better companion, especially for my last two transfers. President Poznanski invites one sister companionship to mission council each transfer and this time he invited me and Soeur Alves. I felt very privileged and it was a great opportunity to learn more about leadership and also to represent the sister missionaries. During the training Soeur Poznanski talked about recognizing little miracles each day, not just looking at baptisms as our only miracles. It then brought to my mind a story that Soeur Creager shared with me last Wednesday during transfers. I shared this story at mission council because it made me think of the effect we can have on other peoples lives. Soeur Creager was at church in Colmar two Sundays ago and had brought her journal for the members to sign since it was her last Sunday. She and her companion were the last ones at the church with one other sister who was the last one to write in Soeur Creager's journal. When she finished and handed the journal to Soeur Creager she started sobbing and Soeur Creager asked her what was wrong. This sweet sister looked up at Soeur Creager and told her how much she was going to miss her and how much she loved Soeur Creager and Soeur Reeves (me). She told Soeur Creager that before the two of us came to Colmar she had decided she was going to leave the church. Many members judge her for her past and she felt like no one loved her. The Saturday before my and Soeur Creager's first Sunday in Colmar this sister was going to say to her husband and children that they, as a family, were never going to go to church again. She prayed and cried that night and had a strong feeling that she should go to church. The next day Soeur Creager and I were the first people to welcome her and her family. We said, "Hello," with smiles on our faces, as we were excited to get to know each of the members in our new area of Colmar and talked with her and got to know her and her family. I had no idea that she had even considered leaving the church and I don't even remember that Sunday because we said, "Hi," to everyone that came in each week. She told Soeur Creager that we changed her life and she finally felt like someone loved her and cared about her. She said too that we gave her an enthousiasm for missionary work and it's true that she gave us lots of referalls. Now looking back I see that she invited us over for dinner more than a lot of the other members and I love her and I know the person she is now. (We can't let people's past actions get in the way of loving them and forgiving them). After hearing this story and sharing it at mission council it made me cry and have even more love for this wonderful sister who showed so much love and kindness to me and Soeur Creager. We never know what is going on in people's personal lives and we don't know the affect we can have on them simply by being kind and showing love toward them. I hope that each of us will put forth a better effort to smile and say hello to everyone and look out for and be aware of family, friends, and especially people in our wards. If you ever see someone sitting alone, go and sit by them. Truly, I had no idea, but now I will never forget what our simple smile and hello did.
Be a miracle for somebody else! I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Oh I also saw Christina Nelson! She was singing in the choir from the MTC!
Anyway, Soeur Alves is amazing! I couldn't have asked for a better companion, especially for my last two transfers. President Poznanski invites one sister companionship to mission council each transfer and this time he invited me and Soeur Alves. I felt very privileged and it was a great opportunity to learn more about leadership and also to represent the sister missionaries. During the training Soeur Poznanski talked about recognizing little miracles each day, not just looking at baptisms as our only miracles. It then brought to my mind a story that Soeur Creager shared with me last Wednesday during transfers. I shared this story at mission council because it made me think of the effect we can have on other peoples lives. Soeur Creager was at church in Colmar two Sundays ago and had brought her journal for the members to sign since it was her last Sunday. She and her companion were the last ones at the church with one other sister who was the last one to write in Soeur Creager's journal. When she finished and handed the journal to Soeur Creager she started sobbing and Soeur Creager asked her what was wrong. This sweet sister looked up at Soeur Creager and told her how much she was going to miss her and how much she loved Soeur Creager and Soeur Reeves (me). She told Soeur Creager that before the two of us came to Colmar she had decided she was going to leave the church. Many members judge her for her past and she felt like no one loved her. The Saturday before my and Soeur Creager's first Sunday in Colmar this sister was going to say to her husband and children that they, as a family, were never going to go to church again. She prayed and cried that night and had a strong feeling that she should go to church. The next day Soeur Creager and I were the first people to welcome her and her family. We said, "Hello," with smiles on our faces, as we were excited to get to know each of the members in our new area of Colmar and talked with her and got to know her and her family. I had no idea that she had even considered leaving the church and I don't even remember that Sunday because we said, "Hi," to everyone that came in each week. She told Soeur Creager that we changed her life and she finally felt like someone loved her and cared about her. She said too that we gave her an enthousiasm for missionary work and it's true that she gave us lots of referalls. Now looking back I see that she invited us over for dinner more than a lot of the other members and I love her and I know the person she is now. (We can't let people's past actions get in the way of loving them and forgiving them). After hearing this story and sharing it at mission council it made me cry and have even more love for this wonderful sister who showed so much love and kindness to me and Soeur Creager. We never know what is going on in people's personal lives and we don't know the affect we can have on them simply by being kind and showing love toward them. I hope that each of us will put forth a better effort to smile and say hello to everyone and look out for and be aware of family, friends, and especially people in our wards. If you ever see someone sitting alone, go and sit by them. Truly, I had no idea, but now I will never forget what our simple smile and hello did.
Be a miracle for somebody else! I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, March 26, 2012
week 57 - miracles - people are prepared
Ma Chère famille,
Well, transfers are this week. Soeur Edgerly is going home :(. I will miss her, she has been a great companion! I'm staying here in Villeneuve D'Ascq and my new companion is Soeur Alves. She is Tahitian! So I will be speaking French 24/7! I saw her the day she came in but didn't get to talk to her. I talked to her on the phone though and she sounds very nice and happy and I've heard that she great, so I'm really excited! :D I've heard that she likes cooking a lot, I just hope I don't gain weight, ha.
Last week I had to go all the way to Colmar and back (Five hours both ways!) to do my legality because they still haven't sent my card for my titre de séjour. Don't worry I'm still legal and will be able to stay in France until the end of my mission, but it was kind of ridiculous. We were able to talk with to different women on the train though and they were both very nice. I was able to get an update on Colmar and guess what?! The Colmar Soeurs met Isabelle's dad! They were helping Isabelle and her family move when her dad stopped by and he started asking them all sorts of questions. He is now taking the lessons and was very excited about the Book of Mormon! Isn't that crazy! This whole time Isabelle hasn't gotten baptised because of her dad and now I think her dad is more interested than her! The Lord certainly answers prayers. The soeurs are also teaching France and her daughter Iris. I think I mentioned France. She was a referral from a member, but she wasn't very interested. Soeur Schott brought France's daughter, Iris to a branch activity and she loved it and asked if she could start taking the missionary lessons! I'm so glad the work is flourishing in Colmar.
For Villeneuve D'Ascq... When we were on the train on our way back from Colmar Jacqueline called us. (Our ward mission leader, Frère Derone's, neighbor). She said that she and Sary, her husband had been thinking about us and wanted to call and say hello. We thought that was very kind of the them. She then said that Sary wanted to talk to us. He got on the phone and said, "I want you to come teach me how to pray." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was shocked! (They had told us they were no longer interested, but we had just received a Book of Mormon in Cambodian so we dropped it off anyway, and then Soeur Edgerly's friend just got home from his mission in Cambodia so she asked him to write a letter to Sary in Cambodian. When we dropped it off I guess Sary had not realized that it was addressed to him but to Soeur Edgerly, so when he read it he read it for her. After we left he re-read it and was very touched by the testimony of Soeur Edgerly's friend.) We immediately fixed a rendez-vous and they ended up inviting us and the Derones over for lunch. Frère Derone said that's a very good sign, because they hardly ever invite people over to eat. When we got to there house Sary pulled out his French and Cambodian copies of the Book of Mormon and as he was turning pages I could see he had taken all sorts of notes and he had tons of questions for us. It was so neat to see that change that has come over him the effect the Book of Mormon has had on him. He shared 1 Nephi 10:19 with us because it really touched him. It was funny because he's not sure if he'll be able to change his ways but he said he wants his children and grand-children to have the Book of Mormon in their lives. We told Sary that of course he can change and that he will receive and answer if he prays and asks God if the Book of Mormon is true. He said a very sweet prayer at the end of the lesson. Then yesterday when we were at church Sary and Jacqueline came walking in right before Relief Society and Priesthood started. We were so schocked once again! Sary wasn't sure when he would come to church, we thought maybe he would come in a few weeks, but they both came! Jacqueline said they wanted to surprise us and the Derones. They both really enjoyed church and all of the members were very welcoming and friendly.
We are going to set a baptismal date with Veronique! We asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and she said, "Yes." She told us that she had gotten an answer and that she knows that it is true and that's why she was happy to have us come back. We committed her to baptism and tried to fix a date, but she has to look at her work schedule to make sure she's not working the day we suggested. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and she looked so happy. She wants her husband to meet with us too, but their schedules are totally opposite at the moment. We're praying that their work schedules will change and that we will be able to meet her husband as well.
The Lord is in charge of this work and I know that he and his angels are preparing people to receive the restored gospel.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Well, transfers are this week. Soeur Edgerly is going home :(. I will miss her, she has been a great companion! I'm staying here in Villeneuve D'Ascq and my new companion is Soeur Alves. She is Tahitian! So I will be speaking French 24/7! I saw her the day she came in but didn't get to talk to her. I talked to her on the phone though and she sounds very nice and happy and I've heard that she great, so I'm really excited! :D I've heard that she likes cooking a lot, I just hope I don't gain weight, ha.
Last week I had to go all the way to Colmar and back (Five hours both ways!) to do my legality because they still haven't sent my card for my titre de séjour. Don't worry I'm still legal and will be able to stay in France until the end of my mission, but it was kind of ridiculous. We were able to talk with to different women on the train though and they were both very nice. I was able to get an update on Colmar and guess what?! The Colmar Soeurs met Isabelle's dad! They were helping Isabelle and her family move when her dad stopped by and he started asking them all sorts of questions. He is now taking the lessons and was very excited about the Book of Mormon! Isn't that crazy! This whole time Isabelle hasn't gotten baptised because of her dad and now I think her dad is more interested than her! The Lord certainly answers prayers. The soeurs are also teaching France and her daughter Iris. I think I mentioned France. She was a referral from a member, but she wasn't very interested. Soeur Schott brought France's daughter, Iris to a branch activity and she loved it and asked if she could start taking the missionary lessons! I'm so glad the work is flourishing in Colmar.
For Villeneuve D'Ascq... When we were on the train on our way back from Colmar Jacqueline called us. (Our ward mission leader, Frère Derone's, neighbor). She said that she and Sary, her husband had been thinking about us and wanted to call and say hello. We thought that was very kind of the them. She then said that Sary wanted to talk to us. He got on the phone and said, "I want you to come teach me how to pray." Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was shocked! (They had told us they were no longer interested, but we had just received a Book of Mormon in Cambodian so we dropped it off anyway, and then Soeur Edgerly's friend just got home from his mission in Cambodia so she asked him to write a letter to Sary in Cambodian. When we dropped it off I guess Sary had not realized that it was addressed to him but to Soeur Edgerly, so when he read it he read it for her. After we left he re-read it and was very touched by the testimony of Soeur Edgerly's friend.) We immediately fixed a rendez-vous and they ended up inviting us and the Derones over for lunch. Frère Derone said that's a very good sign, because they hardly ever invite people over to eat. When we got to there house Sary pulled out his French and Cambodian copies of the Book of Mormon and as he was turning pages I could see he had taken all sorts of notes and he had tons of questions for us. It was so neat to see that change that has come over him the effect the Book of Mormon has had on him. He shared 1 Nephi 10:19 with us because it really touched him. It was funny because he's not sure if he'll be able to change his ways but he said he wants his children and grand-children to have the Book of Mormon in their lives. We told Sary that of course he can change and that he will receive and answer if he prays and asks God if the Book of Mormon is true. He said a very sweet prayer at the end of the lesson. Then yesterday when we were at church Sary and Jacqueline came walking in right before Relief Society and Priesthood started. We were so schocked once again! Sary wasn't sure when he would come to church, we thought maybe he would come in a few weeks, but they both came! Jacqueline said they wanted to surprise us and the Derones. They both really enjoyed church and all of the members were very welcoming and friendly.
We are going to set a baptismal date with Veronique! We asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and she said, "Yes." She told us that she had gotten an answer and that she knows that it is true and that's why she was happy to have us come back. We committed her to baptism and tried to fix a date, but she has to look at her work schedule to make sure she's not working the day we suggested. The spirit was so strong during the lesson and she looked so happy. She wants her husband to meet with us too, but their schedules are totally opposite at the moment. We're praying that their work schedules will change and that we will be able to meet her husband as well.
The Lord is in charge of this work and I know that he and his angels are preparing people to receive the restored gospel.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, March 19, 2012
week 56 - importance of the Book of Mormon
Salut!
I want to thank the Finlay's for sending their Christmas/New Year's card, that was so nice of them; and thank you to Evan for his letters. I forgot to tell you Happy Birthday Brittany (and happy St. Patrick's day ;o). Also I don't know when Max and Sam's birthdays are, if you could get back to me on that, that would be great.
Well a little update. I forgot to tell you about Veronique. On Monday night when the huge snow snorm came in Soeur Edgerly and I went out to go do our emails since the buses were finally working. We saw a woman standing by the Bus stop and I thought to myself, "We've been stuck inside all day, we have an opportunity to contact a woman and I'm not going to let it pass me by." I told Soeur Edgerly that we should go contact her so we went up to her and started to talking with her. Her name is Veronique, she's Catholic and from Afica. We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and she asked, "Do you sell that book?" We told her no and that it was free and asked if she wanted it. She said, "Yes!" and the rest of the bus ride she kept thanking us. We had our first RDV with her and she understood really well the importance of authority and at the end when we gave her the soft commitment to baptism she said yes! I was shocked, because most Catholic people I have taught say that they have already been baptised. It was a really good lesson though and I know she felt the spirit and that's why she has nothing against being baptised again. We have another lesson with her on Wednesday, so I hope we can fix a baptismal date.
We finally got ahold of Raïssa. She's near Arras at the moment (that's where Soeur Carter and Soeur Murray are serving). She's not sure when she'll be back, so we asked if she's willing to meet with the other sisters while she's there and she said yes, so I hope they're able to see her. Soeur Murray actually contacted Raïssa when she was here, so it's thanks to her that we found Raïssa!
We also taught Charli and Valéri a week and a half ago. They are two young men from Gabon doing their studies here. I saw them staring at my plaque in the metro so I started talking to them and, even though they're 7th day Adventists they were open to having a RDV. We taught them once and they're both anxious to read the Book of Mormon. We passed them to the Elders since they're single men and they just happen to be good friends with the Elders ami, Clavier (I think that's his name) so it was perfect; and both Clavier and Charli came to church yesterday. We have awesome Elders in our ward, so I was happy to pass them and I'm always excited when we find people for the Elders (as Evan pointed out in his letter we should never joy in the failure of others, but joy in their success). I have found that we're much more unified with the Elders when we are excited for each other, supportive and help each other out. We also got a random call on Saturday morning from a man named Robin. He said that Elders had contacted him a couple of years ago and given him some brochures. He said he knows we're not the same missionaries, but he wants to meet with us because he's starting to ask a lot of questions. Yesterday we couldn't find any women who could come teach with us, so I called Robin to ask if the Elders could come see him, he said yes and when I started to confirm his address he said he was in the hospital! (So he can only have two visitors at a time anyway.) He said, "I really need to see someone, send the Elders as soon as you can." Thankfully they were available and I'm anxious to find out how it went. I was shocked that we got a random call from someone; it reminds me of when Regna called us back in Versailles, because she knew she now needed the gospel in her life. As we're told in Preach My Gospel when we are working hard and worthy of the spirit either the Lord will lead us to those who are ready or lead them to us.
I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.
I just want to mention one last thing. We had a RDV with a less-active family and the dad told us why he had gone inactive. He no longer has a testimony because he had some deep doctrine questions that never got answered. I looked at him and asked, "When did you last read the Book of Mormon?" It's been almost 20 years! And he's only read the whole thing through once or twice! He thinks that he's past the point of needing to read it and says that he has more knowledge than that Book can give him. Soeur Edgerly and I both bore testimony of receiving personal revelation through the Book of Mormon and that it's not about having a certain amount of knowledge. My goodness, the prophet even reads the Book of Mormon every day, and who knows how many times he has read it. We challenged this brother to have his personal prayers morning and night for one week and then hopefully next time we can get him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. I just want to throw out a warning to all that if you at this moment are not doing your personal scripture study in the Book of Mormon you need to start now. I have learned so much from it during my mission! It has made me so sad to see how many people go inactive simply because they quit reading the Book of Mormon and/or praying each day and then they quit going to church. I know that the Book of Mormon comes from God and that it contains the fullness of the gospel. I have grown to love my Savior Jesus Christ by reading it and I find answers to my questions. Please, please, please don't ever miss a day of reading it.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
I want to thank the Finlay's for sending their Christmas/New Year's card, that was so nice of them; and thank you to Evan for his letters. I forgot to tell you Happy Birthday Brittany (and happy St. Patrick's day ;o). Also I don't know when Max and Sam's birthdays are, if you could get back to me on that, that would be great.
Well a little update. I forgot to tell you about Veronique. On Monday night when the huge snow snorm came in Soeur Edgerly and I went out to go do our emails since the buses were finally working. We saw a woman standing by the Bus stop and I thought to myself, "We've been stuck inside all day, we have an opportunity to contact a woman and I'm not going to let it pass me by." I told Soeur Edgerly that we should go contact her so we went up to her and started to talking with her. Her name is Veronique, she's Catholic and from Afica. We started talking to her about the Book of Mormon and she asked, "Do you sell that book?" We told her no and that it was free and asked if she wanted it. She said, "Yes!" and the rest of the bus ride she kept thanking us. We had our first RDV with her and she understood really well the importance of authority and at the end when we gave her the soft commitment to baptism she said yes! I was shocked, because most Catholic people I have taught say that they have already been baptised. It was a really good lesson though and I know she felt the spirit and that's why she has nothing against being baptised again. We have another lesson with her on Wednesday, so I hope we can fix a baptismal date.
We finally got ahold of Raïssa. She's near Arras at the moment (that's where Soeur Carter and Soeur Murray are serving). She's not sure when she'll be back, so we asked if she's willing to meet with the other sisters while she's there and she said yes, so I hope they're able to see her. Soeur Murray actually contacted Raïssa when she was here, so it's thanks to her that we found Raïssa!
We also taught Charli and Valéri a week and a half ago. They are two young men from Gabon doing their studies here. I saw them staring at my plaque in the metro so I started talking to them and, even though they're 7th day Adventists they were open to having a RDV. We taught them once and they're both anxious to read the Book of Mormon. We passed them to the Elders since they're single men and they just happen to be good friends with the Elders ami, Clavier (I think that's his name) so it was perfect; and both Clavier and Charli came to church yesterday. We have awesome Elders in our ward, so I was happy to pass them and I'm always excited when we find people for the Elders (as Evan pointed out in his letter we should never joy in the failure of others, but joy in their success). I have found that we're much more unified with the Elders when we are excited for each other, supportive and help each other out. We also got a random call on Saturday morning from a man named Robin. He said that Elders had contacted him a couple of years ago and given him some brochures. He said he knows we're not the same missionaries, but he wants to meet with us because he's starting to ask a lot of questions. Yesterday we couldn't find any women who could come teach with us, so I called Robin to ask if the Elders could come see him, he said yes and when I started to confirm his address he said he was in the hospital! (So he can only have two visitors at a time anyway.) He said, "I really need to see someone, send the Elders as soon as you can." Thankfully they were available and I'm anxious to find out how it went. I was shocked that we got a random call from someone; it reminds me of when Regna called us back in Versailles, because she knew she now needed the gospel in her life. As we're told in Preach My Gospel when we are working hard and worthy of the spirit either the Lord will lead us to those who are ready or lead them to us.
I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord.
I just want to mention one last thing. We had a RDV with a less-active family and the dad told us why he had gone inactive. He no longer has a testimony because he had some deep doctrine questions that never got answered. I looked at him and asked, "When did you last read the Book of Mormon?" It's been almost 20 years! And he's only read the whole thing through once or twice! He thinks that he's past the point of needing to read it and says that he has more knowledge than that Book can give him. Soeur Edgerly and I both bore testimony of receiving personal revelation through the Book of Mormon and that it's not about having a certain amount of knowledge. My goodness, the prophet even reads the Book of Mormon every day, and who knows how many times he has read it. We challenged this brother to have his personal prayers morning and night for one week and then hopefully next time we can get him to start reading the Book of Mormon again. I just want to throw out a warning to all that if you at this moment are not doing your personal scripture study in the Book of Mormon you need to start now. I have learned so much from it during my mission! It has made me so sad to see how many people go inactive simply because they quit reading the Book of Mormon and/or praying each day and then they quit going to church. I know that the Book of Mormon comes from God and that it contains the fullness of the gospel. I have grown to love my Savior Jesus Christ by reading it and I find answers to my questions. Please, please, please don't ever miss a day of reading it.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, March 12, 2012
week 55 - the spirit, preparation, and prayer
Salut!
Comment ça va? Well, as for me we're doing good B-). The sun is out and it's warm, we have had two different season within one week. I just hope it stays this way; although it's usually pretty gray here and we get a lot of rain, not as much as Washington, but much more than California. Anyway, it was a good week except for the fact that we don't know what has happened to Raïssa. It's so bizzare because she was so amazing and everything went so well the first week and the members that drove her home from church said she loved it and had all sorts of questions. We were supposed to have a rendez-vous on Tuesday, but she wasn't there. We finally go ahold of her on Wednesday and she said that she would call us on Thursday after she did her grocery shopping. She didn't call, so we called her, but she didn't answer, so we decided to pass by. Here's where the interesting part comes. As we were walking to her house the thought came into my mind, "maybe you shouldn't go," whether something bad would have happened, or she would have been upset, or we would have gotten home late, I don't know; but, I shrugged the thought off. The closer we got to her home the more I kept feeling we shouldn't go, but I wanted so badly to see her and just figure out what's going on. Finally I thought, "at least ask Soeur Edgerly what she thinks." I stopped walking and told Soeur Edgerly how I was feeling and she told me she had been having the same exact thoughts. We turned around and as we walked away the feeling of insecurity left me. I don't know why we weren't supposed to go, but whatever the reason I'm grateful we listened to the Holy Ghost. Members have tried calling Raïssa as well, but she still hasn't replied. For right now we can only pray for her and ask the Lord what we should do.
Alexandre was supposed to come to church, but the night before he sent us a text telling us he couldn't come, but that he was still good for our RDV Sunday afternoon. When we got to his place he asked how church was and then told us he was sorry he couldn't come but that his wife is against it. He asked us what he can do for his wife to help soften her heart. We hadn't at all planned on teaching what we did, but I know because we had prepared for what we were going to teach we were inspired and given the words we should share with Alexandre. Soeur Edgerly and I both thought of the scripture 3 Nephi 18:21 and committed him to pray each day with his wife and his children. We told him we don't want to pull him away from his wife, but want to strengthen their family so that they can one day be an eternal family. We then read the Family Proclamation with him and he loved it! His wife then came in and in a very stern manner told us that she does not agree at all that her husband becomes Mormon and that he has no need to meet with us because he already knows Christ and is saved. We asked if we could explain to her why we were there, because she knows nothing about us or our message. She said no and walked back out of the room. Alexandre asked us to please pray for his wife so that next time she will at least sit down with us and we can explain things. Alexandre loves the Book of Mormon and wants so badly for his wife to accept. I know as missionaries we're asked to not have family and friends join in on special prayers or fasts, but when you pray for me can you please pray for Alexandre and his wife? I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers and I know that there is great power in prayer.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Comment ça va? Well, as for me we're doing good B-). The sun is out and it's warm, we have had two different season within one week. I just hope it stays this way; although it's usually pretty gray here and we get a lot of rain, not as much as Washington, but much more than California. Anyway, it was a good week except for the fact that we don't know what has happened to Raïssa. It's so bizzare because she was so amazing and everything went so well the first week and the members that drove her home from church said she loved it and had all sorts of questions. We were supposed to have a rendez-vous on Tuesday, but she wasn't there. We finally go ahold of her on Wednesday and she said that she would call us on Thursday after she did her grocery shopping. She didn't call, so we called her, but she didn't answer, so we decided to pass by. Here's where the interesting part comes. As we were walking to her house the thought came into my mind, "maybe you shouldn't go," whether something bad would have happened, or she would have been upset, or we would have gotten home late, I don't know; but, I shrugged the thought off. The closer we got to her home the more I kept feeling we shouldn't go, but I wanted so badly to see her and just figure out what's going on. Finally I thought, "at least ask Soeur Edgerly what she thinks." I stopped walking and told Soeur Edgerly how I was feeling and she told me she had been having the same exact thoughts. We turned around and as we walked away the feeling of insecurity left me. I don't know why we weren't supposed to go, but whatever the reason I'm grateful we listened to the Holy Ghost. Members have tried calling Raïssa as well, but she still hasn't replied. For right now we can only pray for her and ask the Lord what we should do.
Alexandre was supposed to come to church, but the night before he sent us a text telling us he couldn't come, but that he was still good for our RDV Sunday afternoon. When we got to his place he asked how church was and then told us he was sorry he couldn't come but that his wife is against it. He asked us what he can do for his wife to help soften her heart. We hadn't at all planned on teaching what we did, but I know because we had prepared for what we were going to teach we were inspired and given the words we should share with Alexandre. Soeur Edgerly and I both thought of the scripture 3 Nephi 18:21 and committed him to pray each day with his wife and his children. We told him we don't want to pull him away from his wife, but want to strengthen their family so that they can one day be an eternal family. We then read the Family Proclamation with him and he loved it! His wife then came in and in a very stern manner told us that she does not agree at all that her husband becomes Mormon and that he has no need to meet with us because he already knows Christ and is saved. We asked if we could explain to her why we were there, because she knows nothing about us or our message. She said no and walked back out of the room. Alexandre asked us to please pray for his wife so that next time she will at least sit down with us and we can explain things. Alexandre loves the Book of Mormon and wants so badly for his wife to accept. I know as missionaries we're asked to not have family and friends join in on special prayers or fasts, but when you pray for me can you please pray for Alexandre and his wife? I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers and I know that there is great power in prayer.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, March 5, 2012
week 54 - snow! and 2 new amis :)
Bonjour ma famille!
This is going to be a very very short email. We were stuck in our apartment almost all day because of a huge snow storm that came in! We went to do our groceries, which is only two blocks away, and by the time we came back to our apartment we were soaking wet and our toes were frozen. The snow was really slushy and no buses were running until this evening. We have a new ami, Raïssa who has a baptismal date for April 7th! She's a miracle! We started teaching Alexandre as well and had a great lesson. Well, I wrote a letter today instead, since I wasn't sure if we would have time to do emails. I have to go but I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
This is going to be a very very short email. We were stuck in our apartment almost all day because of a huge snow storm that came in! We went to do our groceries, which is only two blocks away, and by the time we came back to our apartment we were soaking wet and our toes were frozen. The snow was really slushy and no buses were running until this evening. We have a new ami, Raïssa who has a baptismal date for April 7th! She's a miracle! We started teaching Alexandre as well and had a great lesson. Well, I wrote a letter today instead, since I wasn't sure if we would have time to do emails. I have to go but I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, February 27, 2012
week 53 - referrals
Ma Chère famille,
Happy Birthday to Greg and Connor this coming Friday! Congratulations Megan with your baptism! I'm so proud of you! You're just making the first step in coming unto Christ. Remember that you have the gift of the Holy Ghost now and he can guide you each day as you make good choices and repent if you ever do anything wrong.
It was a good week, except for the fact that I have had a cold all week. That's okay though, because we still found some new investigators. As for Stephanie, we still haven't seen her... we finally got a hold of her and I guess she didn't have the courage to tell us how she really feels. We found out from our DMP that she doesn't want contact with the church anymore. We were pretty disappointed because we have no idea what has happened or gone wrong; she even told Soeur Edgerly and Soeur Johnson that she had prayed and she new the Book of Mormon was true. The members who are good friends of hers are going to visit her and hopefully find out what's going on. Hopefully I'll get to meet her some day and she will have a desire to actually go through with her baptism. I talked with a man on the metro the other night though and he wants us to come and teach his family! His name is Alexandre, and he's from Africa. I said hi to him and then he looked at me and asked, "Don't you usually travel in two?" I told him that my companion was sitting a little further down (we try to sit separately so that we actually talk to other people and contact them) and then I asked how he knew the church. He was taught once by the missionaries about 3 years ago. We had a great conversation and then he said, "I'll give you my number and address and then you and your companion can come over and teach me and my wife and children." Yeah!!! I didn't even have to ask for his number! We'll hopefully be seeing them tomorrow night.
We started teaching a couple this last week! Jacqueline and Sari. She is French and he is Cambodian. They are the neighbors of our DMP and were referred by his wife. We had a great RDV and Jacqueline said she wants to know the truth, because right now she has no beliefs. Sari actually met the missionaries 30 years ago and has a Book of Mormon and even went to a general conference. We thanked brother and sister Derone for the referral and they thanked us saying they wouldn't have even thought about it had we not asked. So, rather than waiting for the missionaries to ask you for referrals I encourage each of you to pray and think about a friend that you can invite to meet with the missionaries. It doesn't matter what their reaction is, because we'll never know if we don't ask.
I love being a missionary! and I know we will see more fruit and blossoms both litterally and spiritually as we continue in this transfer. Thank you all for your love, support and prayers!
Love, Soeur Reeves
Happy Birthday to Greg and Connor this coming Friday! Congratulations Megan with your baptism! I'm so proud of you! You're just making the first step in coming unto Christ. Remember that you have the gift of the Holy Ghost now and he can guide you each day as you make good choices and repent if you ever do anything wrong.
It was a good week, except for the fact that I have had a cold all week. That's okay though, because we still found some new investigators. As for Stephanie, we still haven't seen her... we finally got a hold of her and I guess she didn't have the courage to tell us how she really feels. We found out from our DMP that she doesn't want contact with the church anymore. We were pretty disappointed because we have no idea what has happened or gone wrong; she even told Soeur Edgerly and Soeur Johnson that she had prayed and she new the Book of Mormon was true. The members who are good friends of hers are going to visit her and hopefully find out what's going on. Hopefully I'll get to meet her some day and she will have a desire to actually go through with her baptism. I talked with a man on the metro the other night though and he wants us to come and teach his family! His name is Alexandre, and he's from Africa. I said hi to him and then he looked at me and asked, "Don't you usually travel in two?" I told him that my companion was sitting a little further down (we try to sit separately so that we actually talk to other people and contact them) and then I asked how he knew the church. He was taught once by the missionaries about 3 years ago. We had a great conversation and then he said, "I'll give you my number and address and then you and your companion can come over and teach me and my wife and children." Yeah!!! I didn't even have to ask for his number! We'll hopefully be seeing them tomorrow night.
We started teaching a couple this last week! Jacqueline and Sari. She is French and he is Cambodian. They are the neighbors of our DMP and were referred by his wife. We had a great RDV and Jacqueline said she wants to know the truth, because right now she has no beliefs. Sari actually met the missionaries 30 years ago and has a Book of Mormon and even went to a general conference. We thanked brother and sister Derone for the referral and they thanked us saying they wouldn't have even thought about it had we not asked. So, rather than waiting for the missionaries to ask you for referrals I encourage each of you to pray and think about a friend that you can invite to meet with the missionaries. It doesn't matter what their reaction is, because we'll never know if we don't ask.
I love being a missionary! and I know we will see more fruit and blossoms both litterally and spiritually as we continue in this transfer. Thank you all for your love, support and prayers!
Love, Soeur Reeves
Monday, February 20, 2012
week 52 - Bienvenue à Villeneuve D'Ascq
Salut!
(Just in case you're wondering how to say Villeneuve D'Ascq, you pronounce it, veel-nuv-dask, kind of.)
I love Villeneuve d'Ascq! It's a very different culture from Alsace/Colmar, but they're really nice people here. They also have a dialect called Ch'ti. (and yes it sounds how it is written (sh-tee), you can tell who speaks it because they all throw in the sh sound as they speak French). The members here are great! It's a huge ward, so very different after coming from two small branches. Rather that 2 and 6 pages in the ward directory, there are 26! We're really going to try and work with the members, because there's kind of a separation between missionaries and members. So, Soeur Edgerly and I came up with a plan to go contacting near members homes and then do short visits to get to know them, share a message and get referrals. This way if we teach people in their areas, we'll automatically have integration members/families. We also have an Elder companionship in our ward, who are the zone leaders and they're both new to Villeneuve d'Ascq too (they got the pleasure of doing a white wash!) The bishop had the three of us speak yesterday and then we met with our DMP (ward mission leader) and we've fixed some good goals with him. We have to invite ourselves to eat at members houses, because no one ever invites missionaries to eat, but they don't get offended if we go up and ask. We're hoping to get to know the members better this way. We really want to work with in-actives, because there are a lot and quite a few part member families too.
We have an amie, Stephanie, who has a baptismal date, and hopefully we'll fix baptismal dates with her son and daughter too. A member invited her to church and she loved it and was immediately willing to meet with the missionaries. The only thing is, I haven't met her yet, she's cancelled the last two rendez-vous, because she and her children have all been really sick, and we can't call her, because they live in Belguim :P. (yes, part of Belguim is in our ward) It's kind of frustrating, but that's okay, because the Lord helps things work out if we do all we can, and we're planning on buying a phone card today.
We have another amie, Rosita. She's an old lady, very kind and funny, but has a lot of health problems so it's hard to meet with her as well. She did have a baptismal date, but she's not really progessing, so we're having to push back her baptism. Yesterday we had a great RDV with her as we taught about how to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She said she still has received an answer so we talked about how God answers our prayers and what the Holy Ghost feels like. She felt a lot better after we came and saw her. It's amazing how when we listen to our investigators and the spirit we're able to know the needs and ask inspired questions. We helped her remember a moment when she had felt the spirit and we promised her that she can feel that again if she continues to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.
I love this work, and I'm excited to see V d'Ascq progress! Soeur Edgerly is great and she's wanting to work hard since it's her last transfer, she told me she wants to go home on a boost and not become lazy right before she leaves, so we'll continue working hard, with the spirit and doing what the Lord wants us to do.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
(Just in case you're wondering how to say Villeneuve D'Ascq, you pronounce it, veel-nuv-dask, kind of.)
I love Villeneuve d'Ascq! It's a very different culture from Alsace/Colmar, but they're really nice people here. They also have a dialect called Ch'ti. (and yes it sounds how it is written (sh-tee), you can tell who speaks it because they all throw in the sh sound as they speak French). The members here are great! It's a huge ward, so very different after coming from two small branches. Rather that 2 and 6 pages in the ward directory, there are 26! We're really going to try and work with the members, because there's kind of a separation between missionaries and members. So, Soeur Edgerly and I came up with a plan to go contacting near members homes and then do short visits to get to know them, share a message and get referrals. This way if we teach people in their areas, we'll automatically have integration members/families. We also have an Elder companionship in our ward, who are the zone leaders and they're both new to Villeneuve d'Ascq too (they got the pleasure of doing a white wash!) The bishop had the three of us speak yesterday and then we met with our DMP (ward mission leader) and we've fixed some good goals with him. We have to invite ourselves to eat at members houses, because no one ever invites missionaries to eat, but they don't get offended if we go up and ask. We're hoping to get to know the members better this way. We really want to work with in-actives, because there are a lot and quite a few part member families too.
We have an amie, Stephanie, who has a baptismal date, and hopefully we'll fix baptismal dates with her son and daughter too. A member invited her to church and she loved it and was immediately willing to meet with the missionaries. The only thing is, I haven't met her yet, she's cancelled the last two rendez-vous, because she and her children have all been really sick, and we can't call her, because they live in Belguim :P. (yes, part of Belguim is in our ward) It's kind of frustrating, but that's okay, because the Lord helps things work out if we do all we can, and we're planning on buying a phone card today.
We have another amie, Rosita. She's an old lady, very kind and funny, but has a lot of health problems so it's hard to meet with her as well. She did have a baptismal date, but she's not really progessing, so we're having to push back her baptism. Yesterday we had a great RDV with her as we taught about how to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She said she still has received an answer so we talked about how God answers our prayers and what the Holy Ghost feels like. She felt a lot better after we came and saw her. It's amazing how when we listen to our investigators and the spirit we're able to know the needs and ask inspired questions. We helped her remember a moment when she had felt the spirit and we promised her that she can feel that again if she continues to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.
I love this work, and I'm excited to see V d'Ascq progress! Soeur Edgerly is great and she's wanting to work hard since it's her last transfer, she told me she wants to go home on a boost and not become lazy right before she leaves, so we'll continue working hard, with the spirit and doing what the Lord wants us to do.
I love you all!
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Colmar photos
With commentaire by Soeur Reeves
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| Colmar during the Winter |
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| All of the rivers were completely frozen! |
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| Little Hélamen, one of the Tomadon babies |
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| The Kokesha family - they are from Congo, they're such a great family and such good missionaries! |
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| Part of the extended Tomadon family |
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| Me eating ESCARGOT! |
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| It's so good! Soeur Creager and I enjoyed eating it together ha! |
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| It's not as scary to think about when you don't buy them in shells |
Monday, February 13, 2012
Shazi's baptism: It was a great day!
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| Soeur Reeves, President Tomadon, Shazi and Soeur Creager |
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| Shazi and Jeremy who gave him the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday |
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| Shazi and frère Santgerma, one of the witnesses |
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| Shazi with Josué Tomadon, another witness for the baptism |
week 51 - Last week in "Cold"-mar (as Soeur Creager calls it)
Oui, c'est vrai... It's my last week in Colmar 8-(. (Or it was, I actually only have 2 more days). I have come to love the people here so much! I love the members of this branch and the branch in St. Dié. I love our amis, I love the beautiful country side and the food; but, as mission life goes, it comes to an end and we have to move on. I actually started crying in sacrament meeting yesterday when President Tomadon asked me to speak for a few minutes. I told the members that I didn't even cry when I had to say by to my family. I will always hold a special place in my heart for Colmar. I was pretty positive that I would be transfered. Every time that I have been, I knew before hand, and the same thing happened when I trained. I find it a blessing that I have a feeling because it helps prepare so that I'm not shocked. I think what I have love most about serving here is seeing the progress that we have made since we arrived, as well as the miracles that have come about. We truly had almost nothing to work with when we arrived, but through much prayers and fasting, working with the spirit and the members and using our area book Colmar has because a successful ville. I have grown sooooooo much since serving here.
To top it off... on Saturday Shazi was baptised! It was so wonderful! On Friday night he asked us to pray for him so that he would be prepared and ready the next day for his baptism. He was so happy! After his baptism he told me that he felt a new light in his life and I told him he would feel even more on Sunday when he would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He bore his testimony after he was baptised and he ended up telling the whole introduction of the Book of Mormon, plus Joseph Smith's testimony by heart! He was up there fort quite awhile, but everyone loved seeing his faith and enthousiasm to share what he has learned. He also shared that two questions he has had his whole life were answered when he met with the missionaries and he bore testimony that he knew this church is true. He then said he is going to go back to Pakistan and help build up the church there.
Oh we love Shazi! He has experienced a true conversion and he has changed so much since we first met him. We're definitely going to ask for his help if we teach people in English, or even French.
I know that we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ here on earth today and that if people will come unto Christ they can have a change of heart and have faith in him and repent. It is something that each of us need to day daily. I love being a missionary!
Oh, ha, by the way I'm being transferred to Villeneuve d'Ascq. It's in Northern France, right next to Begluim. Soeur Creager served close to there in her last area and says that it's beautiful, but it's a big city, so I'm leaving the country, that's okay though. I'm excited and I know it'll be another great adventure! I'll be serving with Soeur Edgerly, she is an awesome sister missionary! This might be my only transfer with her though, because I'm pretty sure she's going home next transfer.
I love you all! Bisous, Soeur Reeves
To top it off... on Saturday Shazi was baptised! It was so wonderful! On Friday night he asked us to pray for him so that he would be prepared and ready the next day for his baptism. He was so happy! After his baptism he told me that he felt a new light in his life and I told him he would feel even more on Sunday when he would receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. He bore his testimony after he was baptised and he ended up telling the whole introduction of the Book of Mormon, plus Joseph Smith's testimony by heart! He was up there fort quite awhile, but everyone loved seeing his faith and enthousiasm to share what he has learned. He also shared that two questions he has had his whole life were answered when he met with the missionaries and he bore testimony that he knew this church is true. He then said he is going to go back to Pakistan and help build up the church there.
Oh we love Shazi! He has experienced a true conversion and he has changed so much since we first met him. We're definitely going to ask for his help if we teach people in English, or even French.
I know that we have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ here on earth today and that if people will come unto Christ they can have a change of heart and have faith in him and repent. It is something that each of us need to day daily. I love being a missionary!
Oh, ha, by the way I'm being transferred to Villeneuve d'Ascq. It's in Northern France, right next to Begluim. Soeur Creager served close to there in her last area and says that it's beautiful, but it's a big city, so I'm leaving the country, that's okay though. I'm excited and I know it'll be another great adventure! I'll be serving with Soeur Edgerly, she is an awesome sister missionary! This might be my only transfer with her though, because I'm pretty sure she's going home next transfer.
I love you all! Bisous, Soeur Reeves
Monday, February 6, 2012
week 50 - power of the priesthood and spirit
Bonjour à tous!
Shazi's getting all ready for his baptism on Saturday! I'm so happy for him and the sooner he has the gift of the Holy Ghost the better, because he needs that feeling of comfort and peace. Gospel wise he's doing great, but as far as personal life he's been having a very hard time. :( He misses his family soooooo much and all he wants to do is help them, but he probably can't get a job for another 6 months. He's been so stresssed that he's been having awful headaches and can't sleep at night. Yesterday however in gospel principles we taught about the priesthood and each of the members in the class bore powerful testimonies of the power of the priesthood and how it has blessed them in their lives. Afterward two of the Tomadon brothers gave Shazi a blessing. Josué who speaks some English sealed the anointing and gave the blessing, it was a very simple prayer as far as words, but it was so powerful. That night we had a RDV just accross the street from Shazi's place, so afterward we called Shazi to say hi and ask how he was doing. We told him to look out his window and he was so excited to see us and he said he was feeling much better. I'm so grateful that we have the priesthood here again upon the earth.
Shazi is such a great missionary! Soeur Creager and I went on exchanges this last week with Luxembourg. Soeur Creager and Soeur Worsham stayed here in Colmar, but they missed their second train that morning and the next one wasn't for 3 more hours! So nothing went as they had planned, but Soeur Creager kept feeling strongly that she needed to call Shazi, even though we didn't have a RDV set up with him. She called him and then asked if his friend from Pakistan was home (the one he had invited to church). She was, so Soeur Creager and Soeur Worsham went and taught her with Shazi. Soeur Creager said that Shazi did such a good job helping them teach and bore strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. His friend, Arooj, is going to reflect on it and will hopefully come to Shazi's baptism this Saturday. As soon as he gets baptised maybe we'll just bring him to all of our RDV's with us. 8-)
Shazi's getting all ready for his baptism on Saturday! I'm so happy for him and the sooner he has the gift of the Holy Ghost the better, because he needs that feeling of comfort and peace. Gospel wise he's doing great, but as far as personal life he's been having a very hard time. :( He misses his family soooooo much and all he wants to do is help them, but he probably can't get a job for another 6 months. He's been so stresssed that he's been having awful headaches and can't sleep at night. Yesterday however in gospel principles we taught about the priesthood and each of the members in the class bore powerful testimonies of the power of the priesthood and how it has blessed them in their lives. Afterward two of the Tomadon brothers gave Shazi a blessing. Josué who speaks some English sealed the anointing and gave the blessing, it was a very simple prayer as far as words, but it was so powerful. That night we had a RDV just accross the street from Shazi's place, so afterward we called Shazi to say hi and ask how he was doing. We told him to look out his window and he was so excited to see us and he said he was feeling much better. I'm so grateful that we have the priesthood here again upon the earth.
Shazi is such a great missionary! Soeur Creager and I went on exchanges this last week with Luxembourg. Soeur Creager and Soeur Worsham stayed here in Colmar, but they missed their second train that morning and the next one wasn't for 3 more hours! So nothing went as they had planned, but Soeur Creager kept feeling strongly that she needed to call Shazi, even though we didn't have a RDV set up with him. She called him and then asked if his friend from Pakistan was home (the one he had invited to church). She was, so Soeur Creager and Soeur Worsham went and taught her with Shazi. Soeur Creager said that Shazi did such a good job helping them teach and bore strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. His friend, Arooj, is going to reflect on it and will hopefully come to Shazi's baptism this Saturday. As soon as he gets baptised maybe we'll just bring him to all of our RDV's with us. 8-)
For the exchange I was obviously in Luxembourg with Soeur Dawson. I love her! She's so fun and such an amazing missionary. I can't remember if I told you that she's a convert of the church, so she can really relate to these people and she is so good to always follow the spirit, she never doubts any impression she receives. Oh and the two women that Soeur Worsham and I contacted when I did my first exhange up in Luxembourg, Dora and Tina, are both getting baptised! (Well Tina actually got baptised on Saturday!) Also, I can't remember if I ever told you about Sister Pelous in Versailles. She is the wife of a member there and had been meeting with the missionaries for 3 years, and still hadn't been baptised. While I was there, we would teach her once a week, but we could never figure out what was keeping her from being baptised. We tried teaching about multiple things. I know she had never read the Book of Mormon, nor prayed to know if it was true, so that could definitely have been it. We started having to give her reading assignments and foused more on building our faith instead of baptism. Well, Soeur Murray told me that she just got baptised! I'm so happy for her and her husband and family. He's been waiting for so many years for this and now next year they will be able to be sealed as an eternal family. (Allyson, make sure Soeur Powers knows, I'm sure she taught Soeur Pelous).
We got another new amie on Wednesday, named Desir. She is from Congo, and is our ami Adrien's niece. She is stellar and understood very clearly the apostasy and restoration. At the beginning of our lesson we explained why we are here and told her that as she studies and comes to know the truth for herself she will have the desire to be baptised. She asked us, "How can someone get baptised a second time?" We told her to listen and that we would explain during the lesson. By the end of the lesson we committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true and then we asked her if she would be baptised when she receives her answer. She said, "YES"! She didn't even have any more questions or doubts, it's amazing how, if people will just listen the spirit can testify and they can feel that our message is true. Adrien on the other hand won't listen and searches scriptures in his bible all the time trying to prove us wrong. Haha, he's so funny. He's a tough one, but maybe he'll see Desir's example.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
We got another new amie on Wednesday, named Desir. She is from Congo, and is our ami Adrien's niece. She is stellar and understood very clearly the apostasy and restoration. At the beginning of our lesson we explained why we are here and told her that as she studies and comes to know the truth for herself she will have the desire to be baptised. She asked us, "How can someone get baptised a second time?" We told her to listen and that we would explain during the lesson. By the end of the lesson we committed her to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true and then we asked her if she would be baptised when she receives her answer. She said, "YES"! She didn't even have any more questions or doubts, it's amazing how, if people will just listen the spirit can testify and they can feel that our message is true. Adrien on the other hand won't listen and searches scriptures in his bible all the time trying to prove us wrong. Haha, he's so funny. He's a tough one, but maybe he'll see Desir's example.
Bisous, Soeur Reeves
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