Los Milagros

This week we went on exchanges twice and had zone training so we were busy, I would talk more about that except that nuestros milagros (our miracles. she switched to Spanish :)) were pretty unrelated.

So, milagro 1) Mariana hasn't come to church yet because she works on Sundays so we've been working on that with her but she's been afraid to talk to her boss about it. But she came to the women's session of General Conference on Saturday at the church and it was definitely a turning point for her. The closing song brought half of the relief society to tears, starting with Mariana. We can tell someone a million times that they have to come to church and they have to do this and that, but it will never replace their own experiences with the Spirit.

2) I don't remember if I've talked about Kody and Sally but they're awesome, Kody has participated much more in lessons so we've been trying to gauge how Sally is feeling about things. We felt like we should pass by them during the week (normally we have a lesson with them every Saturday) and it was perfect, Sally said "You know, I'm just about sure now that this church is true, I just have some questions about temples." She had known members of the church back in Togo and had always felt like the temple was a big scary secret. So then on Saturday, we brought a member that they got along well with and taught the Plan of Salvation, connecting it to the "why" and "what" of temples. Turning point for Sally.

3) I'm pretty darn sure I haven't talked about Franco, but he was a former that we started teaching a few months ago who has known about the church for years and years, and long story short, he came to church for the first time this week! Milagro.

We're feeling pretty good about how people are progressing. Ironically enough, the list of investigators with baptismal dates and the list of our most progressing investigators is not the same list of people. But, we're definitely not complaining.

I've been studying about faith, by the way. I've learned a lot about the powerful motivation that faith IS, not that it encourages or cultivates.

I don't remember if I said this last week, but I think I'm done fearing man more than God. Time is too short to waste.

Also, I'm not willing to admit how much ice cream I ate this week.

I love you all so much, keep making miracles happen, you're in my thoughts and prayers.
Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

Put it all on the sacrifice table

Hello, avid readers.

This was a great week! I'm tired. We had to move back some baptismal dates because our investigators haven't been coming to church. Here's a fun puzzle for you, why are people more willing to commit to getting baptized on a specific date than they're willing to come to church even once? Let me know when you find some solutions, because we're stumped.

I've been thinking a lot this week about the quote on the box on page 19 of Preach My Gospel. I assume you all know the one I'm talking about. :) When people don't come to church, or don't read the Book of Mormon, or don't act on spiritual promptings, it shows a misunderstanding of doctrine. Unfortunately for the render of the invitation to do those things, the invitee has to CHOOSE to understand

I've also been thinking about consecration. Don't hold anything back from the Lord. It just makes no sense. Our lives aren't that long. But eternity sounds pretty darn permanent. Don't pick and choose what you're willing to put on the sacrifice table.

Here's my favorite quote right now that was in the September Ensign, from Susanna Wesley to her son, John Wesley (the founder of Methodism):
“Would you judge the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, [of the innocence of malignity of actions? Take this rule.] Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind; that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.”8

Those are all the inspiring things I've got for today. 

 I really really love all of you, Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

Whoa I just skimmed my email from last week...I sound like I had so much energy. Maybe it goes in waves, and next week I'll be feeling chipper.

Have a good week!
Sister Lonas

Follow the Stomach

I love being a missionary. This was one of those weeks that made me feel like I could do this for the rest of forever.

Heavenly Father knows so well how imperfect we are. He knows there will be times when we know we didn't even do our best. And yet He will still magnify the efforts we do put forth to bless us and those around us, according to our hearts and our desires and our love for Him and others.

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Hilaire this week! Which was wonderful :) I missed my daughter, but she's an awesome missionary, I'm super proud of her. I don't remember if I said that she got transferred up to the Quebec ward? So we're in the same district now and I'm her STL (Sister Training Leader) so yeah, we got to go on exchanges :)

Quick miracle, we were going for a lesson with Mariana and while we were walking up the stairs in her apartment building Sister Martin was like "I smell Haitian food" and she was right, it smelled super good. I pointed to the door from which the smell wafted as we passed it. Apartment number 5. Mariana wasn't there so we left, went back down the stairs, and had gotten halfway down the street before my beautiful and intelligent companion suggested that we go back and try to contact that Haitian family. In her words "Maybe they'll feed us!" Well, I couldn't argue with that, so we turned right around, we re-entered the apartment building now saturated with the smell of salmon and Haitian rice, and knocked on apartment number 5. The smell was almost overpowering as the door opened and the mother of the large Haitian family recognized our tags immediately and told us that they had studied with the missionaries for years and weren't actually completely sure why they had stopped. Long story slightly less long, she gave us their number and said we call to see when they're available for us to come back. Disclaimer, they didn't feed us dinner. But we did go directly to the nearest Chocolat Favoris right after, so not all was lost. And that's my "Follow the Stomach" moment for this week.

Also there are people we're actually working with, we had another lesson in Portuguese this week and my comprehension has gone way up with the new knowledge of Spanish, we made a bunch of new friends, prayers are real and God answers them.

I love you all very much!
Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

queridos familia y amigos

Okay. A lot to say. Not a lot of time.

Sister Martin is awesome! I don't remember if I mentioned last week, but she and I lived together for a transfer at the beginning of her mission! I'm so grateful I don't have to get to know someone brand new, these last few days have just been so fun as a companionship. I am very grateful for her as my companion :) 

The Spanish learning is going wonderfully! I no longer have the option of leaning on Sister Calderon, Sister Martin and I are at about the same spot Spanish wise and we are learning so much together every day! We receive much divine help. I'm not terribly concerned about losing my French, the branch is still in French along with most of our lessons but we've successfully taught two lessons in Spanish and we pray exclusively in Spanish together. It's pretty cool, we know that we wouldn't be picking it up this fast in any other situation. It is so motivating knowing that what we are learning is for specific people whom we love.

I think I've mentioned before my humility/pride study in the Book of Mormon. Well, that's still happening and here's something I learned this week. Pride is choosing not to have all the blessings of the Atonement -- and Atonement which has already been accomplished, and which is infinite. The power and influence of the Atonement in our lives individually is limited only by our own pride.

I love you all!! Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥
Sister Lonas

Mission Leadership Council - September 2016