Claudine ♥

I just got my itinerary for when I go home so I'm feeling a little bit weird.
(NOVEMBER 23rd!!!!!!!!)

Things are good though! We had a wonderful week, Maria has a baptismal date for September 24th and another one of our investigators, Claudine, accepted a date this week for September 17th! I've already talked about Mariaso I want to talk about Claudine a little bit. Claudine is amazing, she has gone through so much in the last year and it is amazing to see how perfectly it has prepared her to accept the gospel. We weren't worried when she said before that she didn't feel prepared to accept a baptismal date, because she is praying and reading the Book of Mormon every day. And people who sincerely do those things have the desire to make covenants with Heavenly Father. Which is a desire she now recognizes :) We're really excited for her. She kept asking "But do you think I'll be READY?" which was a funny question. She's ready now. We taught the Word of Wisdom and tithing a couple evenings ago. "So, Claudine, will you obey the commandments of tithing and the Word of Wisdom?" "Well of course I will, I want to be baptized so I'll follow all the commandments of God so that can happen." She makes teaching really fun :)

Ummmm I really love Sister Calderon still. She finishes her mission next week which is cool for her and all because she'll be with her family but I feel a little bit sorry for myself #anotheronebitesthedust. I'll let you all know what happens with transfers! This transfer's missionaries are leaving a week early for school but new missionaries are coming in at the normal time so there's a week of limbo, don't know what I'll be doing. I'm hoping to be a solo sister for a week...probably won't happen.

Funny moment. We pulled up to a dinner appointment and Sister Calderon REALLY had to use the bathroom. We prayed in the car before going in and she prayed that WE would be able to hold it. and I as we were walking up to the house I said "That seems like kind of a 'you' problem, what's up with the 'we'?" And she said "It's a 'me' problem as long as I can hold it, otherwise it becomes a 'we' problem!"
And I just thought that was really funny so I wanted to share it with you all, with her permission.

Soooo yeah, that's my life. We've started doing role plays with members to help them know how to share the gospel which has been way fun.

We went on exchanges with one of our sister teams this week which was awesome! It was a new experience being on the STL side of exchanges. I totally know what I'm doing as a missionary these days, so that's cool. Exchanges were good. Although I don't like people telling me their issues, it's nice knowing how to better serve those I'm asked to serve.

I'm a happy camper :) I love you all, (OH, and we tried to give blood this week. Sister Calderon was successful. They said my veins are just too darn small.)
Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

Sister Lonas

English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Things are really good! That said, no idea what to share.

This week I`ve been studying the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation in Spanish and my major impression has been the magnificence of the constancy of the restored gospel. True doctrine is true in any language and regardless of the missionary teaching or the person being taught. People say stuff sometimes like ``Well that`s just not ME.`` Which just is never true. Different people are prepared to receive the gospel at different times, but the truthfulness does not depend on the preparedness of the receiver. If that sentence makes any sense at all. Feel free to disregard things I say that don`t make sense.

We have a new investigator this week who speaks un peu de Francais, but whose first language is Portuguese (miracle, we had a Portuguese Book of Mormon in the apartment that we had noticed the day before and kind of been like, haha, now we`re set for when we start teaching the throngs of Brazilians we see every day) and we found out that we both totally understand Portuguese so that`s made us feel cool. We taught using mostly pictures, and it was really cool when we had her read a few verses from the Book of Mormon and she was just so grateful. Turns out, the human population in general is much more humble than I am.

We got to teach with President Phillips' wife this week! She came out with us and for our first lesson, the woman didn't show up so we went contacting with Sister Phillips and it was awesome. People ask us a lot if we're nuns, and this time they thought that she was our Mother Superior.

Ummmm I'm sure other things happened but I think that's all the typing I've got in me for today. I really love you all!

Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

Oh yeah, and I can participate sometimes in Spanish lessons. The gift of tongues is real.

Miracles

Monday, August 1, 2016
Okay.  I'm going to try to be more informative this week.

First things first. We teach some people in Spanish and I can totally understand what's going on but cannot add much, and mi Hermana is leaving me in a few short weeks and I don't know if I'll have a Spanish speaking companion after that... SO I asked President for permission to start learning Spanish and got the green light.  Which is pretty funny.  

Man, I never know what to even say, I feel like so much happens every week and it's a little bit discouraging to try and plan on telling y'all everything because that's just not going to happen. You'd think these were things I would have worked through at this point in my mission life. Guess not.

Miracle number one from this week: We found this woman named M___ who was dumpster diving because she just moved from Columbia and she was only able to bring 50 pounds of stuff with her. We helped her bring her treasures back to her apartment and talked to her about our calling and she hugged us a lot and she said we could come back and share a message. But we weren't able to set a specific appointment because she wasn't sure when her sons were going to have work and stuff (sorry if this isn't making any sense, I'm typing fast) ... so we went and passed by once and she wasn't home and then on Saturday (I think) an appointment fell through so we decided to go to M___'s and she was just on her way out of the apartment to go for a walk. We walked with her and she told us that she told her son when she was leaving that she was just going for a walk, but that really she was going to talk with God and that when she saw us, she knew He had answered her prayer.  We made a return appointment for the following day and brought her a Book of Mormon and when we pulled it out she started crying and she said that her birthday had just passed and she had prayed and asked God for a book of scripture to help her strengthen her relationship with Christ. She had only been able to bring a section of the New Testament with her from Columbia and she felt like she needed more.  So that was cool.  God is super nice.  I'm sure glad our appointment fell through on Saturday.

I am very, very grateful for the experiences I have to see God working in the lives of his children. We have a Father in Heaven who loves us very much!

Miracle number two was with a couple from Columbia (that's been a theme this week) (Quebecois people are generally less open to talk about religion than...not Quebecois people).  Long story short, they met a member of our branch when they were visiting Quebec before moving here three months ago.  As in they moved here three months ago, and they were visiting like five months ago.  So they met Frere P___, and he invited them to meet the missionaries and they've been super busy with the moving life BUT we had an amazing lesson with them this week and after teaching the whole Restoration, Y___ (the wife) was like "I agree with everything you've taught." And then we invited them to be baptized and they said yes so we'll see when that happens ... but yeah, good stuff.

Sister Training Leader life is way good times, We had Mission Leadership Council this week and my main impression has been "Cool, I totally know what I'm doing." which is a lot better than the alternative.

I sure love you all, I hope this has been a satisfactory update, next week I'll plan on going back to writing about what I've been studying and thinking about.

Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥ 

Mission Leadership Council July 2016

The ghost in the Institute Building :)

Okay so I have to leave really soon and my keyboard is kind of struggling but there is a lot to say....that I probably won`t say. Like, I definitely won`t get through even a significant portion of everything I want to express.

So, this is a branch, not a ward! I was wrong about us not having a car, they didn't used to here but we do because...now we're Sister Training Leaders...bummer. I really wanted to be on buses. We don`t have a real chapel, but we have church in the rented rooms they use for Institue. So we don`t have a building, but we call our collection of rented rooms the Institute Building. And this week the mouse for the keyboard disappeared so we called the Elders to ask if they took it and they said no and then said, "Well, have you heard about the ghost in the institute building?"  No...  "It`s the Holy Ghost". And we think it`s a lot funnier than it is.

I`m really happy. Long story short, Sister Calderon is amazing. I was wrong (actually, the zone leaders were wrong), she only has one transfer left. And it`s a short transfer and we`re almost a week in, so we have four weeks left together. But everything is just perfect and I feel like God said, "Here you go, Sister Lonas...rien ne t`empeche, your time in this situation is limited, work hard and make things happen`` And that`s what we`re doing and it`s just really good.

I have to go, but I have such a testimony that Heavenly Father puts us where we need to be when we need to be there. We have real investigators with real intent. Turns out people have been prepared in places other than Chapel Hill :)

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

Sister Lonas

(A wonderful sister in Rebecca's last area sent me this picture after she dropped Rebecca off at the bus station to travel to Quebec.)

I'm going to Quebec!

I'm going to the St Foy ward, which is in downtown Quebec City and I'll be Sister Training Leader! No more car for me. Crazy. It still doesn't feel real. Which it should, I'm already almost done packing. My new companion is Sister Calderon and she actually finishes her mission before I do so I might be sending another companion home. She and I used to be in the same zone, I don't know her really well but she seems nice and I'm excited to get to know her better :)

That said, I've cried a lot in the last day and a half or so. I kind of thought I was being transferred, but it's still hard. I love this ward so much. A special relationship is formed when you serve people and serve with them and eat in their homes and I just...don't really want to leave. It feels like I'm leaving a bunch of my best friends....because I am. I am SO GRATEFUL that I'm serving somewhere I can realistically come back and visit. I've also been really touched by the tears that have been shed by others over my being transferred.

I'm going to miss the R___'s baptism. I'm going to be honest, that was the first catalyst of tears when they told me I was being transferred. Fortunately, I don't have to be there for them to be baptized. I am SO HAPPY they are taking that step and that they're doing it as a family, and when it happens I'll send home pictures :)

I'm going to miss Sister Hilaire so much. I don't even know what to say about that, I just...am going to miss her. It stinks that we're from different countries.

My testimony of the Savior has grown here more than anything else. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of available hope and peace and eventual exaltation for EVERYONE. It's not our place to decide who is and isn't prepared to accept the Atonement in their lives. That's God's job. Of all the things I will be held accountable for at the last day, I would rather not be asked why I tried to steal God's job.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, and that we can find answers by reading it. To all of our questions. All of them.

I'm stoked for the rest of my mission, I'm glad I'll be busy learning a new area and using public transportation and speaking French! For those of you who are just barely joining my fan club (either by request or because I thought you might want to know how my next few months go) because you live in Ottawa, I really do want to keep in touch!

I love you all! Keep me in your prayers and I'll keep you in mine,
souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

Oh yeah and PS we had an incident in the church this week with a bat. Pretty fun stuff. I learned that I do not have a graceful reaction to a bat flying in my direction. But neither did the other three adult women with me, so I don't feel too ashamed of myself.

I'm still in Canada!

I don't even know what happened this week, but I think it was good! Cause I'm feeling really happy and REALLY tired. Which means that, hopefully, good things happened and I was working hard.

The Rivieres have now told everyone about their baptismal date and have invited their extended family and stuff (they've been waiting a long time...it's a big deal) so August 13th is still feeling legit for them. We went over the baptismal interview questions with Suze (the mom) and she was like "Well, I've known all that is true for years. YES, I'm ready." We're really excited for them. The gospel is so true, it's crazy.

We met our new mission president! It's weird, it'll take some getting used to, but I am so very grateful that when I first saw President Phillips it was natural to shake his hand and say "Hi, President" and the words that came out of mouth were not "Hello, impostor." I thought it would be weird to call him President but it wasn't! It felt okay. So that's good. It's good to remember that he's new at being our mission president, but he's been a stake president for years and he was bishop for years before that. He knows what he's doing. And more importantly, he's been called by God so even when he DOESN'T know what he's doing, we still support him and sustain him and do everything we can do help him so the Lord's work in the mission as he helps us.

So that's been good times. Sister Hilaire pointed out to me this morning that I say "good times" or "good stuff" whenever I'm just kind of ready to start talking about something else haha. Which in an email doesn't make a lot of difference, but could probably be rude in other contexts now that I realize what cues my saying that.

I don't remember if I've already written about this. If I have, skip this part. I've been taking a suggestion from Elder Bednar in studying the Book of Mormon by taking a clean paperback copy of the Book of Mormon (we have a few of those) and with a specific topic in mind, reading it and marking it up and taking notes all geared towards what I learn on that one specific topic. My topic is humility. I am learning that many more things than I thought fall under the category of humility, and that most of the weaknesses I've come to recognize in myself can be traced back to pride. Along with faith, hope, charity, and patience, Christ's Atonement is the what, how, and why of humility. I am eternally grateful for the experiences I have daily which help me to recognize ways I can improve myself as a missionary and myself as a person. And I am eternally grateful that, because of the Atonement, that doesn't have to be discouraging. I can be happy even in my own imperfection and know that God and the Savior want me to become better and they do and will continue to help me.

I love my Savior, I am so grateful to have the knowledge I do of the Restoration of the fullness of the gospel.

Transfer calls are on Saturday, so I'll let y'all know :)
I love you, Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

Sister Lonas

Happy Fourth of July!

To be honest, I forgot it was Independence Day in the states today until my mom reminded me just now, but for over a week I've been singing patriotic songs in the apartment (my French companion loves it) and doing my best to embrace my culture to get ready for America's birthday. Except on Canada Day. On Canada Day, I pretended to be Canadian.

It's really fun being in the capital of Canada on Canada Day! It's a really big deal. I'm grateful to be serving in Ottawa right now, because they don't really celebrate the holiday over in Quebec because they would rather not be a part of Canada, anyway. In Quebec, July 1st is moving day. But all the way out here in the outskirts of the mission (sometimes I feel like we were banished here, in the land where the rest of the mission forgets about us and we don't get mail and we never know who was transferred where), we got to see fireworks and everything!

So, here's something funny. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting, right? And you know how our ward is in English but does French translation? Normally, people submit their talks early to the translators (or if you're us, you just write your talk in both languages), and then the translators read off your talk in French while you give it in English. So, after I gave my talk a couple of weeks ago, we were musing about how in the world they do it on fast Sunday and the general sentiment was "Well, I'm glad we don't have to worry about it." Ha. Jokes on us. We got a call asking if we could do the simultaneous translation during fast and testimony meeting because the normal translators were going to be gone for the holiday. So, THAT was entertaining for all the French speakers!

We went to the temple this week! That was nice. Another one of my ancestors is endowed now, so that's really good. I love doing family history and I love going to the temple.

We have a new mission president! We still haven't met him, we were planning on meeting him tomorrow at zone training but we were just told that Sister Hilaire and I are going to have interviews with him tonight, so we get to see him a little earlier. I'll let y'all know if I like him or not. Kidding, I'm sure he's great, it's just still weird not having actually met him. The mission feels different without President Patrick.

Y___ is moving to Gatineau...so that's a bummer. It's not too far, though, and there are still missionaries there, so it should all work out fine.

I have a testimony of the Restoration of the Gospel. I know this is Christ's church and Joseph was a prophet. How fortunate are we to have modern prophets to help us know how the Lord would have us apply unchanging doctrines to a constantly changing world. I'm grateful for religious freedom and for opportunities we have to defend that and other rights. I love The United States of America and it will always be my home, as much as Canada grows to be more a part of me every day.

I love you all! Remember who you are and make good choices ♥
Sister Lonas