I'm feeling very unmotivated to write anything down, so we'll see how this goes.
I would expect to feel that way if our week had gone poorly and I wasn't wanting to report bad news. But this was an amazing week. The Lord wasn't even trying to hide his influence. And good weeks always leave me with the dilemma of how to express these experiences and feelings in a way that is both coherent and...enough. I don't want not to share things out of fear that I won't share them well enough, and yet I also do worry that I won't be capable of fully expressing the love I have for the people here and the changes I feel in myself.
We had texted Melinda during the day on Tuesday to ask when we could meet with her during the week. That night, we were heading out after dinner to go to ward council when we got a call saying it was cancelled because Bishop was sick. Our backup plan had been to go visiting teaching with a sister who had asked if we could go with her that night. We called her back to say we could go after all and she said they had ended up rescheduling for another day. So, Sister Schmuhl and I took a minute to try and figure out the best way to be effective that evening, when Melinda texted us to ask if we could come to her home right then.
We did, and it was an incredible visit. She had (and still has) so many questions. She told us that she had never really had a testimony, and even when she was still going to church with her parents, it had always just been a matter of going through the motions. Over the last few months, she has felt herself becoming more open to the church and she says that even though she isn't planning on coming back to church right now, "On ne sait jamais, on verra." :). She wants us to teach her all the missionary lessons as if she were a new investigator. She started smoking when she was 11 and now she wants to quit with the church's Addiction Recovery Program.
We started with the first principle of the first lesson, God is our Heavenly Father and He loves us. This alone sparked many -- many -- questions for her and we are so grateful that she finally feels comfortable asking someone her questions about the gospel. She agreed to pray every day this week just to feel the Spirit and know Heavenly Father is there, and she wants us to come again this week. And when we asked if there was anything we could do for her, she asked if we could help her make baby food sometime :)
I really love Terrebonne. I am impressed more and more everyday with how much I love the members and the people we visit and the people we see and talk to when we are on our way to appointments. When I am concentrating on the needs of people around me, this city is prettier and the winter is easier to survive and I am more capable of being patient with the agency of others.
So, Annie. I stopped talking about her a really long time ago, I don't remember if I ever explained why. She was an investigator whom we taught, she received an answer to her prayers that the church is true and that she should be baptized, and then called it all off due to some conflict in her family. It was really hard and really sad, and we've missed her. Her friend who introduced her to the church is named Raven. The other day, Raven called us kind of randomly to ask if we could come to dinner and, of course, we said yes. When we pulled up to her house, we recognized Annie's car outside. Dinner ended up being with just Raven and Annie, we ate pizza and were able to smooth out the leftover awkwardness of the way things were left (When an investigator drops you, it's kind of like being broken up with. It's actually way worse, but that's the closest analogy with which we've been able to equate it.). Annie says she still isn't ready and doesn't want to stir things up with her mom again, but we are immensely grateful that the friendship is still there so that when things do change -- because they will -- she'll know where to turn, and that there are no hard feelings so we haven't given her any reason to back away, and even that we were just able to see her again. Especially, I'm grateful we got to see Annie again before Sister Schmuhl goes home.
We helped a less active move on Saturday and we're doing it again next Saturday (WHY these people are choosing to move in January, I will never understand. I just move boxes and don't ask questions.) and that has gone as smoothly as could be expected. Surrounding both of those moves, there has been some serious drama and some absolutely angelic members of the ward have made amazing progress trying to fix it.
I mentioned this a little bit before, but we have been trying ever since we got here to be a part of visiting teaching and no one would let us go with them or didn't understand why we would want to and we FINALLY were able to go visiting teaching and we have two more appointments to go this week.
I have two more miracles in my head that would take a whole lot of explaining and they don't actually have anything to do with us. But we're thrilled for the people involved.
We dyed my hair blonde last week. I have funny ways of expressing stress when I can't just take a nap or have some alone time or go to the beach or talk to my mom.
We'll get transfer calls on Saturday and then I'll know who my companion will be for the REST of my mission. Just kidding, chances are slim to none that we'll be together that long but considering my track record, I figure I could very well end my mission with two companions.
I'm not looking forward to Sister Schmuhl leaving. Second to last Pday, we're getting a tub of pistachio ice cream after we finish emails and, let's be honest, we're probably going to eat the whole thing.
It's been a really good week and we have some good things to look forward to this week, as well. Someday, have me tell y'all about the Saga of Empanadas. Spoiler alert, it ends with me finally getting the recipe and now I just have to perfect them before I get home so I can let my family partake in the wonder of the most delicious thing I ate on my mission.
I love you all, and I love Terrebonne! I'm trying to be better about sharing things in emails that actually matter, alongside the stuff that doesn't. I too often skip over the most important events of my week because I don't know how to summarize it and still have you know how much it means to me. This week, Melinda, Annie, visiting teaching, Féline, Z, and Erin meant a lot to me. Sorry I only expounded on half of those. I still have a long way to go.
I am grateful for the opportunities I have every single day to witness the Atonement changing people. It is only as I sit and write about it changing other people that I realize how much it is also changing me. I am grateful for the love of our Heavenly Father and that I am learning on some minuscule scale how to begin loving the way He does.
I hope you have all also had a great week,
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,
Soeur Lonas
Monday, January 25, 2016
Monday, January 18, 2016
I am my mother's daughter
Funny thing, so I direct the music in Relief Society sometimes and the other day I wasn't expecting to, and then at the last second the other woman who does it sometimes stepped out and I was called up to the plate. It was some French cantique that doesn't exist in English. It went fine partly because it wasn't a complicated song and partly because no one watches anyway. But then afterward one of the sisters told me that I am apparently very expressive with my face, and I realized that during the whole song I had been making this "what a weird hymn" facial expression. I asked her if that was a good or bad thing and she said that when I'm directing the music, it's a good thing. Mostly this experience just made me feel very much like my mother.
Second funny thing, we had dinner with this Latino family the other day which is always fun because we communicate in French but it's no one's first language. After dinner when we shared a message and all that good stuff I asked "Who are your friends with whom we can help you share the gospel?" and the husband closed his eyes and said really dramatically "Yes...It's true." Only then did we realize exactly how wide this gulf of a language barrier was. Either that or he was avoiding giving us a referral. Both are viable options.
Investigator-wise, we're struggling a little bit. We'll have a really awesome lesson with someone where they tell us they want to be baptized and set a date and they feel the spirit and we're all on the same page, and then they won't answer our calls after that and their date has to be dropped and when we finally get a hold of them, they're totally willing to meet with us (most of the time) but they've forgotten the progress they made. It's really hard. I don't know how many times we've shared Alma 5:26. It's so sad watching people change and become happier and then forgetting and falling back into old habits. But, we're keeping on keeping on and we're still feeling very hopeful with the potential some of our investigators DO have, even if they don't always recognize it. And we're always looking to make new friends!
Despite difficulties in that area, really good things happened this week. I have a testimony that you can bring about miracles by making cookies for less active members. Thanks to this discovery, I have learned how to make pretty decent cookies out of just about anything. And there have been miracles. Sister P has a daughter named Melinda and the first time we ever talked to her it was to invite her to the temple open house and she basically just laughed at us and said no. Since then, we've been able to do some service projects for her and recently heard from Sister P that Melinda had said she wasn't ready to talk to us about it yet, but was thinking about retaking the lessons. So, like any good sister missionaries, we made her some cookies and left them on the porch with a note saying to text us if there was anything we could do for her. She texted us the next day (Friday) to say she has been really touched by our kindness the last few months and feels like we are the right sisters to be here for her right now. She asked if we could start meeting with her at her parents' house to teach her, and we have an appointment set up for this week. Miracle.
It's getting closer to the time when Sister Schmuhl will leave, which is pretty weird. We've been serving together for a long time. I love Sister Schmuhl so much. I'm really not looking forward to that goodbye. I've been working on exercising faith in not dreading transfer calls. Succeeding to a degree.
BUT it was a great week and this next week is looking like another good one :) I love you all very much and I hope you have a good week as well,
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,
Sister Lonas
Second funny thing, we had dinner with this Latino family the other day which is always fun because we communicate in French but it's no one's first language. After dinner when we shared a message and all that good stuff I asked "Who are your friends with whom we can help you share the gospel?" and the husband closed his eyes and said really dramatically "Yes...It's true." Only then did we realize exactly how wide this gulf of a language barrier was. Either that or he was avoiding giving us a referral. Both are viable options.
Investigator-wise, we're struggling a little bit. We'll have a really awesome lesson with someone where they tell us they want to be baptized and set a date and they feel the spirit and we're all on the same page, and then they won't answer our calls after that and their date has to be dropped and when we finally get a hold of them, they're totally willing to meet with us (most of the time) but they've forgotten the progress they made. It's really hard. I don't know how many times we've shared Alma 5:26. It's so sad watching people change and become happier and then forgetting and falling back into old habits. But, we're keeping on keeping on and we're still feeling very hopeful with the potential some of our investigators DO have, even if they don't always recognize it. And we're always looking to make new friends!
Despite difficulties in that area, really good things happened this week. I have a testimony that you can bring about miracles by making cookies for less active members. Thanks to this discovery, I have learned how to make pretty decent cookies out of just about anything. And there have been miracles. Sister P has a daughter named Melinda and the first time we ever talked to her it was to invite her to the temple open house and she basically just laughed at us and said no. Since then, we've been able to do some service projects for her and recently heard from Sister P that Melinda had said she wasn't ready to talk to us about it yet, but was thinking about retaking the lessons. So, like any good sister missionaries, we made her some cookies and left them on the porch with a note saying to text us if there was anything we could do for her. She texted us the next day (Friday) to say she has been really touched by our kindness the last few months and feels like we are the right sisters to be here for her right now. She asked if we could start meeting with her at her parents' house to teach her, and we have an appointment set up for this week. Miracle.
It's getting closer to the time when Sister Schmuhl will leave, which is pretty weird. We've been serving together for a long time. I love Sister Schmuhl so much. I'm really not looking forward to that goodbye. I've been working on exercising faith in not dreading transfer calls. Succeeding to a degree.
BUT it was a great week and this next week is looking like another good one :) I love you all very much and I hope you have a good week as well,
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,
Sister Lonas
Monday, January 11, 2016
She turned me into a newt
Good news: it wasn't pneumonia.
Bad news: I caught it.
I got better! (Monty Python) But this week was a little weird.
With how much I've talked about having hope and trusting our Heavenly Father, it seems unfair not to express my appreciation for one of the best examples I've had of this principle in my life. There are several people in our ward currently dealing with cancer and we visit them regularly. All of them are handling their situations much more gracefully than I know I would be, but one in particular always has me leave feeling humility and gratitude in a way I don't know if I had before. Her name is Sister P, and she recently sent her son out on a mission with the knowledge that she won't live to see him come home. He's the only one of their five children who is active in the church. Every day, we either call her or go and sit by her bed to read in the Book of Mormon with her because Jonathon (her son who is serving) challenged her to read the Book of Mormon with him before Easter. It's hard for her to hold the book up to read so it's usually us reading to her which is embarrassing because our French isn't anything special but she expresses abundant thanks to us and we usually have the chance to talk for a little bit after we read. The wisdom of her insights on the Book of Mormon exceeds her years (she's only about 55). We council with her regarding what we can do for her less-active daughters. Most powerfully, she always talks about the blessing her cancer has been to her family. The way it has strengthened her testimony and softened the hearts of her children. She tells us specific ways she has seen the hand of the Lord in her life that day.
I know that there are going to be times in my life that are a lot harder than anything I'm going through now. I've known that before and I think my biggest worry has been how to prepare myself in order to not curl up and die in the face of adversity. I still have a long way to go, but I'm beginning to see that I need to be trusting God now so that I'm not trying to shift my trust to Him when everything else seems unstable. If I'm already leaning on someone who cannot fall away, I'll be set. This isn't to say those hard things won't come or that they won't, in fact, be hard, but there is no better way to prepare. And no better way to ensure that those hard things are not the result of decisions I choose to make.
When my life gets hard, it would be wonderful if someone could refer me back to this email I am writing myself.
I love you all a ton! I forgot to make mental notes of what happened this week so I could write about it, so I don't even remember, but I feel like it was a good week. Set a baptismal date. Shoveled some snow. We're still running every morning (except our morning of being sick -- that stunk).
Have a great week, remember that you are a son or daughter of God and that He has prepared a way for you to be happy in this life and in the life to come,
Sister Lonas
Bad news: I caught it.
I got better! (Monty Python) But this week was a little weird.
With how much I've talked about having hope and trusting our Heavenly Father, it seems unfair not to express my appreciation for one of the best examples I've had of this principle in my life. There are several people in our ward currently dealing with cancer and we visit them regularly. All of them are handling their situations much more gracefully than I know I would be, but one in particular always has me leave feeling humility and gratitude in a way I don't know if I had before. Her name is Sister P, and she recently sent her son out on a mission with the knowledge that she won't live to see him come home. He's the only one of their five children who is active in the church. Every day, we either call her or go and sit by her bed to read in the Book of Mormon with her because Jonathon (her son who is serving) challenged her to read the Book of Mormon with him before Easter. It's hard for her to hold the book up to read so it's usually us reading to her which is embarrassing because our French isn't anything special but she expresses abundant thanks to us and we usually have the chance to talk for a little bit after we read. The wisdom of her insights on the Book of Mormon exceeds her years (she's only about 55). We council with her regarding what we can do for her less-active daughters. Most powerfully, she always talks about the blessing her cancer has been to her family. The way it has strengthened her testimony and softened the hearts of her children. She tells us specific ways she has seen the hand of the Lord in her life that day.
I know that there are going to be times in my life that are a lot harder than anything I'm going through now. I've known that before and I think my biggest worry has been how to prepare myself in order to not curl up and die in the face of adversity. I still have a long way to go, but I'm beginning to see that I need to be trusting God now so that I'm not trying to shift my trust to Him when everything else seems unstable. If I'm already leaning on someone who cannot fall away, I'll be set. This isn't to say those hard things won't come or that they won't, in fact, be hard, but there is no better way to prepare. And no better way to ensure that those hard things are not the result of decisions I choose to make.
When my life gets hard, it would be wonderful if someone could refer me back to this email I am writing myself.
I love you all a ton! I forgot to make mental notes of what happened this week so I could write about it, so I don't even remember, but I feel like it was a good week. Set a baptismal date. Shoveled some snow. We're still running every morning (except our morning of being sick -- that stunk).
Have a great week, remember that you are a son or daughter of God and that He has prepared a way for you to be happy in this life and in the life to come,
Sister Lonas
Monday, January 4, 2016
So there's this one Frasier episode...
So there's this one Frasier episode where the radio station announces a new policy of beginning each radio program with a little "jingle". The idea is to have something probably about 15 seconds long that listeners can associate with each respective program, and to set the mood for the show. Frasier, being Frasier, resolves to write his own jingle rather than hire someone to help him, as he is eager to use his own musical talent and because asking for help would require humility. He receives some suggestions from family members but ignores them, convinced that he can come up with something better.
He quickly becomes wrapped up in the obsession of composing an orchestrated (yes, with an entire orchestra) masterpiece with a full choir and several long and complicated verses. He uses countless amounts of time and money and when he presents his completed work to his boss he is told that they were looking for something much -- MUCH -- simpler.
I am prone to over-complication. I have been given simple directives as a missionary, but also just as a person in real life. I have a tendency to ignore the things that seem hard and over magnify those bits and pieces that sound fun to me. By forgetting the "why" behind the guidance I've been given, my resulting behavior does not accomplish the objective or fulfill that forgotten "why". The new year has given me a chance to reflect and make goals to make my mission habits become life habits and how to work hard and where to focus that work -- on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Frasier had good intentions, but in forgetting the purpose behind the jingle, he eventually forgot the instruction he had been given almost completely. It's an easy slope to slip down. There is power in knowing why we do what we do.
The gospel is simple. The commandments are simple. We make them complicated by forgetting where to focus. Simple does not mean easy, but Heavenly Father helps us according to the extent to which we are willing to trust him.
In other news, we hit -20*C today! Last week, we had easily more snow fall than I have ever seen in my life and I shoveled snow for the first time. Talk about baptism by fire. We shoveled driveways and steps and dug so many people's cars out of the snow, it was amazing. It's a really fun way to street contact.
We have a new sister in the apartment, Sister Martin! She's Sister Beaumont's new greenie. She's awesome and super nice, and unfortunately the two of them have been home for a few days sick with what we're pretty sure is pneumonia. Sister Schmuhl and I are still healthy and we're praying that stays the same and that the other two sisters recover soon and quickly.
When we were at a less-active's house this week, the radio was playing while we were getting ready to go and a song by Mariana's Trench started playing -- I didn't know the song but I knew it was them so I'm assuming it was a song off their new album? It was so good; Chase was right. I took my time getting my coat and boots on and just blamed it on my Californianess.
It was a great week! Happy 2016! It's going to be a wonderful year.
Je vous aime, tous. Souvenez-vous qui vous etes, et que le Seigneur vous comprend parce qu'Il vous connait parfaitement.
Soeur Lonas
He quickly becomes wrapped up in the obsession of composing an orchestrated (yes, with an entire orchestra) masterpiece with a full choir and several long and complicated verses. He uses countless amounts of time and money and when he presents his completed work to his boss he is told that they were looking for something much -- MUCH -- simpler.
I am prone to over-complication. I have been given simple directives as a missionary, but also just as a person in real life. I have a tendency to ignore the things that seem hard and over magnify those bits and pieces that sound fun to me. By forgetting the "why" behind the guidance I've been given, my resulting behavior does not accomplish the objective or fulfill that forgotten "why". The new year has given me a chance to reflect and make goals to make my mission habits become life habits and how to work hard and where to focus that work -- on the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Frasier had good intentions, but in forgetting the purpose behind the jingle, he eventually forgot the instruction he had been given almost completely. It's an easy slope to slip down. There is power in knowing why we do what we do.
The gospel is simple. The commandments are simple. We make them complicated by forgetting where to focus. Simple does not mean easy, but Heavenly Father helps us according to the extent to which we are willing to trust him.
In other news, we hit -20*C today! Last week, we had easily more snow fall than I have ever seen in my life and I shoveled snow for the first time. Talk about baptism by fire. We shoveled driveways and steps and dug so many people's cars out of the snow, it was amazing. It's a really fun way to street contact.
We have a new sister in the apartment, Sister Martin! She's Sister Beaumont's new greenie. She's awesome and super nice, and unfortunately the two of them have been home for a few days sick with what we're pretty sure is pneumonia. Sister Schmuhl and I are still healthy and we're praying that stays the same and that the other two sisters recover soon and quickly.
When we were at a less-active's house this week, the radio was playing while we were getting ready to go and a song by Mariana's Trench started playing -- I didn't know the song but I knew it was them so I'm assuming it was a song off their new album? It was so good; Chase was right. I took my time getting my coat and boots on and just blamed it on my Californianess.
It was a great week! Happy 2016! It's going to be a wonderful year.
Je vous aime, tous. Souvenez-vous qui vous etes, et que le Seigneur vous comprend parce qu'Il vous connait parfaitement.
Soeur Lonas
Monday, December 28, 2015
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas a little late
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the temperature spiked very unusually -- at one point it hit 20*C -- and then yesterday we got covered in another blanket of snow and it is currently -11*C. This was my one chance to have a white Christmas and it felt like I was back in Carlsbad. The only day that I actually really wanted it to be cold, I didn't need my coat. We went caroling in short sleeves. Oh well. We have plenty of cold now.
Fortunately, I've been in training my entire life to feel the magic of Christmas even without snow, and Christmas was indeed magical.
I got to skype with my family :) There are a lot of people in my family. They kept having to shift and give different people turns to see my beautiful face. Highlights: Madeleine sang me a song about Christmas that had hand motions and everything. As far as I can tell my family still thinks I'm funny, and (thank goodness) they're still funny, too.
Last Tuesday we had a mission-wide Christmas devotional, which was absolutely wonderful. I really love President and Sister Patrick. Most of the devotional was musical numbers performed by missionaries and Sister Patrick read to us out of Luke. I got to see my MTC district again, which was way fun :) At the end, when President and Sister Patrick wished us all a Merry Christmas individually, President assured me that he hasn't forgotten about me haha and I told him that he's welcome to keep forgetting about me, I've been very happy in Terrebonne with Sister Schmuhl for my whole mission thus far.
This week we're passing off a few of the people we teach to the Elders because we're making more of an effort to, as sisters, only teach women, and have the Elders only teach men. This will significantly thin out our teaching pool, but it's definitely a good direction to be taking. So, this week we will be concentrating on finding new friends! We are going to talk to everyone and invite people to take part in the good news of the gospel, because we love them. I love my calling :)
I love my Lord and Savior. This season, I have enjoyed nothing more than talking about Him all day every day and having the opportunity to share the joy of His birth. Going forward, I am excited to give Him greater focus and always learn more about his life, without waiting for it to be Christmas again.
Merry Christmas, I love you all, mais le Seigneur encore plus :)
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,
Soeur Lonas
Monday, December 21, 2015
Merry Christmas!
It's snowing right now! It's magical! Everything is white and beautiful! It honestly is the craziest thing to me that snow is normal for other people. I just find it so thrilling. Sister Schmuhl thinks I'm crazy, as does the population of Quebec when I am spinning in circles in the church parking lot and they are walking as quickly as they can from their cars to the Uniprix across the street.
I am so stoked for Christmas, I LOVE Christmas! We're eating with pretty much every family in the ward this week so that's frightening -- I've actually made progress on losing some of the weight I gained over the last 6 months but by the time my family sees my on Friday I will have gained it all back. So that's a bummer. But hey! Family! I'm so excited to see you! :D
Our ward Christmas party was the last Friday, it was amazing. Terrebonne knows how to party. It's funny how without a lot of other examples around of wards and their parties, the Mormon culture is not as clearly defined and a ward gathering turns into a very real dance party. I have never had such a hard time keeping a mission rule as I did on Friday night keeping the no-dancing rule. It was really hard. Especially with members trying to pull us on to the dance floor saying "Don't worry! We won't tell anyone!" hahaha. Listening to Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber and Queen and Abba was kind of a little bit torturous. But, at the end of the day, it also reinforced my testimony of why we don't listen to normal music as missionaries. It was pretty hard for both of us to concentrate during planning that night and going to sleep I could still hear "Shake it Off" playing in my head. If I try really hard, I still can.
It's been pretty hard to meet with people, which is understandable because everyone is busy for the holidays, but it makes things tough. However, the people who have let us in have been very clearly softened by the spirit of Christmas that is in everything right now. I have been especially impressed by the testimonies of Christ shared with us by non-members. I love feeling unified to people of other faiths by our similar desires to follow the example of Christ.
We have our mission-wide Christmas devotional tomorrow and in preparation for that, we have been asked by President to read and study the gospel of John in the New Testament. In doing so over the last couple of weeks, I have come to realize that I need to spend more time studying the New Testament. I know the stories of the life of Christ and have heard them my whole life, but reading the actual text is very different and I've realized what details are traditionally left out and which ones are in fact fabricated. My testimony of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ has been strengthened daily in studying John's testimony. It really happened. Christ really is the Son of God and He really suffered for our sins, sadnesses, and pains because He LOVES us. So much. Just after finishing John's testimony the other day, I turned to where I currently am in the Book of Mormon and one of the first things I read was 2 Ne 9:21. All of the Book of Mormon testifies of the Atonement of Christ
2 Nephi 9:21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.
All of the Book of Mormon testifies of the Atonement of Christ but it has never been so powerful to me as it was immediately after reading the closest thing we have to a first hand account of the Atonement. I have so much love for Jesus Christ. He is my brother and He is your brother and He is the reason we celebrate Christmas.
I love you all! Merry Christmas!
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes ♥Soeur Lonas
I am so stoked for Christmas, I LOVE Christmas! We're eating with pretty much every family in the ward this week so that's frightening -- I've actually made progress on losing some of the weight I gained over the last 6 months but by the time my family sees my on Friday I will have gained it all back. So that's a bummer. But hey! Family! I'm so excited to see you! :D
Our ward Christmas party was the last Friday, it was amazing. Terrebonne knows how to party. It's funny how without a lot of other examples around of wards and their parties, the Mormon culture is not as clearly defined and a ward gathering turns into a very real dance party. I have never had such a hard time keeping a mission rule as I did on Friday night keeping the no-dancing rule. It was really hard. Especially with members trying to pull us on to the dance floor saying "Don't worry! We won't tell anyone!" hahaha. Listening to Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber and Queen and Abba was kind of a little bit torturous. But, at the end of the day, it also reinforced my testimony of why we don't listen to normal music as missionaries. It was pretty hard for both of us to concentrate during planning that night and going to sleep I could still hear "Shake it Off" playing in my head. If I try really hard, I still can.
It's been pretty hard to meet with people, which is understandable because everyone is busy for the holidays, but it makes things tough. However, the people who have let us in have been very clearly softened by the spirit of Christmas that is in everything right now. I have been especially impressed by the testimonies of Christ shared with us by non-members. I love feeling unified to people of other faiths by our similar desires to follow the example of Christ.
We have our mission-wide Christmas devotional tomorrow and in preparation for that, we have been asked by President to read and study the gospel of John in the New Testament. In doing so over the last couple of weeks, I have come to realize that I need to spend more time studying the New Testament. I know the stories of the life of Christ and have heard them my whole life, but reading the actual text is very different and I've realized what details are traditionally left out and which ones are in fact fabricated. My testimony of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ has been strengthened daily in studying John's testimony. It really happened. Christ really is the Son of God and He really suffered for our sins, sadnesses, and pains because He LOVES us. So much. Just after finishing John's testimony the other day, I turned to where I currently am in the Book of Mormon and one of the first things I read was 2 Ne 9:21. All of the Book of Mormon testifies of the Atonement of Christ
2 Nephi 9:21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.
All of the Book of Mormon testifies of the Atonement of Christ but it has never been so powerful to me as it was immediately after reading the closest thing we have to a first hand account of the Atonement. I have so much love for Jesus Christ. He is my brother and He is your brother and He is the reason we celebrate Christmas.
I love you all! Merry Christmas!
Souvenez-vous qui vous etes ♥Soeur Lonas
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Discover Why
Monday, December 14
So I forgot to mention that transfer calls were coming this last weekend because I just assumed Sister Schmuhl and I would be staying together in Terrebonne for her last transfer on the mish....and we are! So we really do get to have Christmas together and I really do get to kill her (send her home) in February! I've never heard of companions being together this long who weren't Sister Training Leaders. We are thrilled. Honestly, I just feel so blessed and grateful to get to be with her for this long and in such a wonderful area. Especially because, meanwhile, Sister Shelley is leaving (really sad, she's adorable and we love her) and Sister Beaumont is training AGAIN in Mascouche. I do not envy her. I am perfectly happy with my five transfers of being trained by my Schmuhl mama.
In other fun transfer news, one of my STLs is dying (going home) and the sister coming in to replace her is Sister Perdue!! I am so excited. We're going to get to go on exchanges together, which is super funny and super cool. Yeah, I totally won this round of transfer calls.
I don't know if I've mentioned the Terrebonne elders ever? But they're awesome, so it's super sad that Elder Noorda is leaving to go up to Quebec (even though that's a really cool area), but Elder Mecham is going to be training here, too! New missionaries are so good, they have so much MTC energy (get it? funny, because I'm still basically a new missionary).
And our Sacrament meeting yesterday was centered on missionary work so we sang a song with the Elders which was really fun and went very well and I also gave a talk. Yeah, that was pretty terrifying. I'm pretty sure my French reverted back to me in French 1 and my accent was horrific but c'est la vie (oh good, I haven't forgotten everything). It's done now and it was fun! Great learning experience.
Also I love Christmas! So much! It is such a fun time to be a missionary! We've gone caroling a few times with the Mascouche sisters and it's so cool, we do all four parts (Sister Beaumont is sick, she does bass). It's a big hit. Less actives can't NOT let you in after that, it really is incredible effective. Honestly, we've had some amazing lessons with less-actives this week whose hearts have been touched by the spirit of Christmas. This is such a special time of the year. If you haven't seen the new video yet -- https://www.mormon.org/christmas -- we share it with a million people every single day, and it's still great. I actually like it better in French, but it's good in English, too. I invite you to "Discover Why" Christ was sent to Earth, either in beginning a structure of faith now or deepening your appreciation of the birth and life of Christ by studying the scriptures and sharing the restored Gospel.
I know that Christ lives. I know that our Heavenly Father sent him here to live and die and live again for us, and I know that this and everything else our Father does for us is motivated by his infinite love for each one of his children. I love being a member of Christ's church on the earth, especially during this season of Christmas. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I am so happy. I love Quebec, and more specifically I love Terrebonne. Good thing, too, I'll be here for a good while. I absolutely adore my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ.
It's been a great week, I hope it has for you, too! Don't forget why we celebrate Christmas amidst all the other fun things about the season :)
I love you all! Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,
Soeur Lonas
So I forgot to mention that transfer calls were coming this last weekend because I just assumed Sister Schmuhl and I would be staying together in Terrebonne for her last transfer on the mish....and we are! So we really do get to have Christmas together and I really do get to kill her (send her home) in February! I've never heard of companions being together this long who weren't Sister Training Leaders. We are thrilled. Honestly, I just feel so blessed and grateful to get to be with her for this long and in such a wonderful area. Especially because, meanwhile, Sister Shelley is leaving (really sad, she's adorable and we love her) and Sister Beaumont is training AGAIN in Mascouche. I do not envy her. I am perfectly happy with my five transfers of being trained by my Schmuhl mama.
In other fun transfer news, one of my STLs is dying (going home) and the sister coming in to replace her is Sister Perdue!! I am so excited. We're going to get to go on exchanges together, which is super funny and super cool. Yeah, I totally won this round of transfer calls.
I don't know if I've mentioned the Terrebonne elders ever? But they're awesome, so it's super sad that Elder Noorda is leaving to go up to Quebec (even though that's a really cool area), but Elder Mecham is going to be training here, too! New missionaries are so good, they have so much MTC energy (get it? funny, because I'm still basically a new missionary).
And our Sacrament meeting yesterday was centered on missionary work so we sang a song with the Elders which was really fun and went very well and I also gave a talk. Yeah, that was pretty terrifying. I'm pretty sure my French reverted back to me in French 1 and my accent was horrific but c'est la vie (oh good, I haven't forgotten everything). It's done now and it was fun! Great learning experience.
Also I love Christmas! So much! It is such a fun time to be a missionary! We've gone caroling a few times with the Mascouche sisters and it's so cool, we do all four parts (Sister Beaumont is sick, she does bass). It's a big hit. Less actives can't NOT let you in after that, it really is incredible effective. Honestly, we've had some amazing lessons with less-actives this week whose hearts have been touched by the spirit of Christmas. This is such a special time of the year. If you haven't seen the new video yet -- https://www.mormon.org/christmas -- we share it with a million people every single day, and it's still great. I actually like it better in French, but it's good in English, too. I invite you to "Discover Why" Christ was sent to Earth, either in beginning a structure of faith now or deepening your appreciation of the birth and life of Christ by studying the scriptures and sharing the restored Gospel.
I know that Christ lives. I know that our Heavenly Father sent him here to live and die and live again for us, and I know that this and everything else our Father does for us is motivated by his infinite love for each one of his children. I love being a member of Christ's church on the earth, especially during this season of Christmas. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I am so happy. I love Quebec, and more specifically I love Terrebonne. Good thing, too, I'll be here for a good while. I absolutely adore my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ.
It's been a great week, I hope it has for you, too! Don't forget why we celebrate Christmas amidst all the other fun things about the season :)
I love you all! Souvenez-vous qui vous etes,
Soeur Lonas
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