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

It's a small world after all...

Okay so first, my cousin, Isaac, is in the hometown of Sister Hilaire (Grenoble, France) right now so he sent pictures from church of him with her family and then ALSO a picture of him with an Elder I served with right when I came into the mission and I realize this is weirder for me than it is for anyone else but I just cannot get over the craziness of how small the world is -- especially for members of the church.

The attached picture is of our zone meeting last week when we said goodbye to President Patrick. And next Tuesday we'll meet President Phillips! I feel a little bit right now like we don't have a mission president. But I think I'll feel better when we meet President Phillips :)

Side note, I use "we" a lot more these days, and I'm never really sure if I'm using the royal we, referring to me and my companion, referring to missionaries in this mission, or referring to missionaries in general. It changes. Sorry if I don't always make sense.

We got a text a little bit ago saying that the R__'s have chosen a baptismal date! And like, it's solid this time! August 13th :) Next transfer, so I'll be super bummed if I leave Ottawa, but the important thing is that they are finally doing it, and they're excited about it :) 6 years has been way too long for them to wait. I'm just so happy that they have everything finally worked out to the point where they CAN be baptized, and they want it, and they're doing it as a family :) God's timing is not my timing. I am so excited for the day the R__'s can go to the temple and be sealed as a family for time and eternity.

Eyes update: better! Still not supposed to wear contacts but things are looking up. Haha get it?

Hair update: (it's been a while) My hair was looking REALLY bad for a while because of my roots growing out after dying it but I had this blonde hair spray stuff recommended to me by Sister Beaumont and that along with a slight haircut has gone a long way. So I'm feeling better about myself, these days :)

Sorry I'm jumping all over the place, but as for Y__ it's going to take a little longer than we were hoping. Her life is really hard right now. I have so much sympathy for that and love for her, but it's hard when someone pushes away the Savior in such critical moments when He wants so much to help. It's a good lesson for me that Christ will not help us if we don't want Him to. If we can take just the smallest step towards Him, He will grow exponentially on our efforts, but He won't make us to anything we don't want to do. Even when He knows we're making poor decisions. A lot of this doesn't apply to Y__, it really isn't as dramatic as all that, the experience has just made me reflect on my own life and the lives of others I've seen change or not change in the last... however long I've been out here.

I have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I have said it over and over again and I will continue to repeat myself, and it will be more true each time I say it and it will never lose value. I know that Christ is my Savior and your Savior. I know that He loves us. I know that EVERYTHING He does is BECAUSE He loves us.

Also, unrelated, Canada got really hot. I hope you all are having a good week :) Shoot me an email, let me know how you're doing, keep me in your prayers!
I love you,souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

P.S. this other picture there is us at a ward activity with Yannique--
Sister Lonas

Hearts of the Fathers

I gave a talk in church yesterday on "The Heart of the Fathers"...maybe I'll attach it. I didn't actually talk about my dad very much (sorry dad, I just didn't want to make everyone else feel inadequate about their own fathering), I mostly talked about family history and Heavenly Father. What's written on the paper is shorter than my whole talk ended up being, but the French one is closer to what I actually said (even though I spoke in English)! It was weird having to write out word for word what I wanted to say, and then translating it (with help from my companion) because this ward is technically an English ward but there are enough French speakers that they do French translation as well.

(Here's an excerpt from said talk:)

... So, here's the second thing I wanted to talk about. I can't really hear the phrase “the heart of the father” without thinking about the scriptures in Malachi and 3 Nephi that describe the turning of “the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers”. This is a scripture we read and use often in studying about family history. In this case, “fathers” means“ancestors”. There is a whole big group of people that, with the “heart of a father” want to be reunited with us for eternity and are waiting and watching for us to make the effort. And we are not alone in that effort! Elder John A. Widtsoe, a former member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said about family history that “those who give themselves with all their might ... to this work receive help from the other side. ... Whoever seeks to help those on the other side receives help in return.” I suggest that “Fathers' Day” is about our fathers, and also their fathers, and their fathers, and everyone else we think of when we think about our own family trees. And the “heart of the father” is something that each of us can feel as we make the efforts to get closer to the vision of eternal salvation with our Father in heaven and with our families.

...  James E Faust taught “Noble fatherhood gives us a glimpse of the divine”. This is true because God is the perfect father. I know that I do not fully understand and appreciate everything that my dad, my brother, my home teachers, and my mission president have done and do for me, and I understand even less of what God does for me. We have, in reality, a very limited view of His plan for each of us individually, and most of what he does is behind­the­scenes. My relationship with my dad while I'm on my mission gives me somewhat of a better sense of how much our Father in Heaven wants us to return to him. This, I believe, is the “heart of the Father”. This great desire to help one another in the quest for salvation and the vision of being reunited eternally in our families with Heavenly Father, including all the smaller steps and efforts made to achieve that goal.

What else happened this week... we got cancelled on a lot, but it freed us up to be where people ACTUALLY needed us to be. We set a baptismal date with Y___ for July 3rd but then Tamika got sick so they couldn't come to church yesterday, so we'll probably have to push it back a week. But even as I write this, I'm on the phone with one of the ward young womens leaders who's helping to figure things out so Tamika can go to girls camp in a couple of weeks :) Things are good.

We said goodbye to President Patrick on Saturday. President Phillips comes in like a week. Honestly, I feel weird about it. But I know that President Patrick has been called of God to serve here at this time just as much as I have, and President Phillips is called by the same authority. He is the mission president that I will need for the rest of my mission, in the same way that President Patrick was the mission president I needed up until now.

This week I wrote a couple of limericks on fatherhood in my journal and if I could remember them and if they're any good, I'd write them down and send them. Maybe next week.

Sister Hilaire is great :) the language barrier is getting less funny, though, as she gets better at English, so I'm trying to speak French more. Also, just because I need to be speaking French more. She LOVES how enthusiastically I sing to EFY songs in the car. ("You are embarrassment, what if someone we teach sees you??" "Then they'll know how much I love Jesus, isn't that what we want??")

Really though, I've been thinking a lot lately about how my love for the Savior has grown. I really want to read Jesus the Christ again, there's just no time. Post-mission goal. I think I've sent these verses in an email before, but please read Luke 22:41-43. What would you do to strengthen the Savior during the critical moment in eternity? Now read Matthew 25:40.

I know that as we reach out to others in love, no effort is wasted.

I love you! Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥

God is Too Good

That might have been a subject line on an earlier email? Not sure. It's still true.

I have almost no time (we went downtown with our district today to visit Parliament!) this might be really disjointed. Bear with me.

This week, the Elders found a woman who prayed them there because her brothers-in-law have been trying to get her in touch with the missionaries for a couple of days and she couldn't because she doesn't have internet or anything and she heard the Elders knock on the door next to hers, came out because she thought there was someone at her house, and was like "Oh great, I knew you'd show up sooner or later." They passed her off to us because she's a woman, we gave her a church tour on Saturday (with lots of help from members, she lives far-ish from the church and doesn't have a car and we can't meet with her at her house because she's living with strangers) and we showed her the baptismal font and she wanted to stand in it so she did and she cried and just kept saying "This should have happened a long time ago." and so, conclusion, the person to pray for is Yannique and her two kids, Tamika and Anthony. Tamika is already set to go to girls camp and they want to be baptized before the next youth temple trip so hopefully they'll be on that, too.

Real conclusion, God puts people where they need to be when they need to be there. He answers prayers, He loves us, and He prepares the way for His children to hear the gospel because the gospel it TRUE and because by believing it, living it, and loving it, we can have more joy than can be found in any other way of life. Eternal joy. With our families.

My eyes (both of them now) are not great, but getting better. Some days are better than others.

I love you all!

Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes ♥
Sister Lonas