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!
Monday, April 30, 2012
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
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