Hey people!
I don't have much time to write today, so I apologize for the shortness of this email.
Monday, July 14 -
Since it was Bastille Day, there was a lot of craziness going on. There was a concert right by our apartment where some dude named Bob Sinclar sang and whatnot. Then at 11 PM there were fireworks. Lots of fireworks. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night. :P

Tuesday, July 15 -
I don't have much to say about Tuesday that I can think of right now, sooooo.... yep. Tuesday. Stuff happened. I think.

Wednesday, July 16 -
I had Zone Conference on Wednesday, and it was so amazing. I pondered and wrote down questions that I had, and every single one of them was answered during the conference. President Babin talked about consecrating ourselves to our Heavenly Father, and how that should be our ultimate goal as missionaries, as children of our Heavenly Father.

The Sisters at Zone Conference.

Thursday, July 17 -
We had an awesome miracle happen on Thursday. We went back to the woman we'd met porting a few weeks ago, Madame Jonnquel, the one who was so nice and said she'd love to have us come back. When we got to her house she said that she'd been waiting for us, and that she was happy to see us. As we taught her, she was so open and she said what we were saying made sense. When we taught about the Book of Mormon, before we even asked her to read it she asked us if she could read the Book of Mormon, because that would be the way she would know more and know if it was true. She also asked us to come back again because she wants to know more and have us help her with her questions. Madam Jonnquel has such a great desire to know more about Christ and to help others, and that's the most important thing. It all starts with our desire to do what Heavenly Father wants us to do, and he will help us do the rest. I have a feeling that she'll get baptized. I even almost called her Sister Jonnquel a few times.

Friday, July 18 -
On Friday, we went to the Rousseaux's house. It was so hot outside, exactly the opposite of how it was the last time we were at their house. We went outside in the blazing heat and had another miracle happen. We went to visit the lady we'd seen a few times before, Michele, and asked if we could share a small thought with her. She said yes, and we started teaching her about how the gospel blesses families, because she loves her family so much. We shared a scripture in the Book of Mormon, and she was so excited because she didn't know we were Mormon, (we'd only told her the formal name of the church) and she said she loves watching things about Mormons, that she'd watched some emissions (I'm not sure if that's the right word in English, that's just what they call them in France) on on Mormons. She said she'd love to learn more about our church, what exactly we believe, who we are. It was so amazing, because before we weren't really sure if she was interested, but now we know she is and she wants us to come back. I feel like she's one of the people we were meant to find in Iwuy.

Saturday, July 19 -
We did a service project at the Gillot's house in the morning. Soeur Gillot asked us if we would clean out her basement and it was pretty creepy. They call basements "caves" in French, and I can see why. There was mold and dirt and dust and slugs and spiders everywhere. We swept up the dirt and dust and threw away moldy boxes and unidentifiable stuff. Then, it was of course my job to suck up the many spiders and spiderwebs with the vacuum. Some of the spiders were so big that the vacuum struggled to suck them up. So creepy. I'm not even scared of spiders, but that kinda freaked me out. It was really fun though, because I love doing service, as always, and Soeur Holmes and I laughed at each other every time we screamed. Good times. Soeur Gillot was so grateful that we did that for her, and I always love helping her and her family.

Sunday, July 20 -
I don't have much to say about Sunday either... we taught the lesson for the Young Women and Young Men. That was intimidating because they didn't really want to listen. But I felt the Spirit carrying me, and I felt the support of the Savior throughout it all. I hope that the Spirit was able to testify them and help them through me.

Jacob 4:6-7 :
6 Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.
 7 Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.

I know that through faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ we can have the power to do all things. I know that though we are weak, he is strong and anything is possible with his help. I have felt the strength of the Savior carrying me through each day and helping me do things that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

Soeur Williams

Sunny Days

Hiya!
Happy French Independence Day everyone! I shall celebrate it today by... writing emails! Yay!
This week was a good one, though slightly uneventful. It did rain every single day for pretty much the whole week. And when it wasn't raining, clouds were covering the whole sky. Yesterday was the first day I've seen sun in a while... Anyway, this week was good, even though it felt more like January than July.
Tuesday, July 8 -
It was Soeur Holmes' half-birthday on Tuesday, so of course we had to celebrate by going to this special bakery to get Merveilleux Nords (the delicious speculos pastry I got with Soeur Cameron when I first got here).  We ate that, then Soeur Holmes decided that it would be a good idea to find a different way to walk from there to the hospital where Patricia was staying, instead of taking a bus. So, we started walking... and soon found ourselves on a highway. And then it started raining. And it was too late to turn back and go catch a bus. So, we walked on the highway in the rain and sang hymns at the top of our lungs. It was pretty fun, actually.

Merveilleux Nords

Rainy highway funtimes

Wednesday, July 9 -  (Still raining...)
We went with a member, Soeur Rocquet, and taught Jacqueline about the gift of the Holy Ghost. We testified of the Holy Ghost's power to help us and how we can only have the gift of the Holy Ghost after baptism. Jacqueline was still worried about being baptized. She was afraid to change and she felt like she was betraying something. Soeur Rocquet shared a perfect experience, because she was baptized not too long ago and she's 70 years old, and she was a Catholic before, just like Jacqueline. Soeur Rocquet said she knew that she couldn't have gotten through the hard times in her life without the Holy Ghost there, always with her, giving her the comfort, support and encouragement she needed. She told Jacqueline to do what is best for her and what will give her the most happiness, and not worry about what her family will think. Soeur Rocquet said she knew she wouldn't have been able to overcome a lot of her trials if she wasn't a member of the church. After that, Jacqueline was silent (not normal for her :D She always has something to say) and she really seemed to be thinking about what everyone had said. The Spirit was very strong.
After that, we went to Iwuy and visited Michele, an older lady we'd met three weeks ago, and we prayed with her. She said we could come back again. After doing some finding we returned to the Rousseaux's and they fed us. And Soeur Holmes showed them the wonders of a Pazookie (I giant, not-all-the-way-cooked cookie with ice cream on it) and they adored it. Now we're definitely their favorites. :)

Frere Rousseaux enjoying some delicious Pazookie-ness

Thursday, July 10 - (More rain)
Not much of note happened on Thursday. We visited Soeur Manet and read the Book of Mormon with her, and Soeur Cameron came to Valenciennes to pick up papers for legality.

Friday, July 11 - (Lots of clouds)
We visited Zahia in the afternoon, and we got to her apartment a little bit early, which was good, because she almost forgot about our RDV and was leaving the apartment. She was a little bit tired that day because she's been fasting for Ramadan. We decided to share a short message with her about faith and how we can show our faith in God. She has a lot of faith in God and she says she shows it by serving others, because she knows he loves all his children and is happy when we help those around us. She is an amazing woman and loves Heavenly Father and loves Jesus Christ as she learns more and more about him. After the lesson, Zahia asked us to walk with her to the tram and invited us to eat couscous at her house after Ramadan is over. I'm so excited! She's from Algeria and I've heard Algerians can make some darn good couscous. :D
We went porting in the evening and weren't having much success when we knocked on one man's door and we told him we were there to pray with people and leave a blessing on their home. He smiled at us and said that was so kind of us. He gestured inside at the house full of people and said he had guests, but told us he would love it if we came back later. It's so amazing the little miracles that I see that Heavenly Father gives us each day.

Saturday, July 12 - (Still cloudy)
We went to a stake soccer tournament thingy with our ward and Soeur Holmes and the elders played while I talked with the members who weren't playing and let some of the little girls from our ward take pictures with my camera. It was really fun, we got a lot closer with the members here and they were so glad we came and did that with them.

Sunday, July 13 - (We could see the sun! Yay!)
As we were greeting the members at church on Sunday, there were some people I didn't recognize, but I figured they were members who were visiting a family in our ward, so I didn't think much of it. Then one of the members came up to me and took me to those same people and told me they weren't members and asked me to talk to them. So I did and found out a little bit more about them. There was a girl named Mylene and a guy named Martin, they were both in their 20s and they were interested in learning more about our church. In fact, Mylene had been living in Washington for studies, and she'd been living with a member family and had gone to church every single Sunday for 6 months. She had been taught by the missionaries, she loved church, she wanted to see if it was any different in France, and she invited her friend, Martin to come with her. We taught them during Sunday school and they're both such amazing people. They're very open to learn more, and we made a RDV to see them again next week. It was such a miracle, the perfect miracle to end our week. It's very, very rare to have non-members just come to church here without someone inviting them, and they were both so ready to hear the gospel. Plus, since it's Soeur Holmes' last transfer on her mission, we'd been praying to be able to find one new investigator a week, and by Sunday we hadn't yet found anyone. Then Mylene and Martin showed up. Heavenly Father truly knows and loves us, and miracles can happen if we put our faith and trust in him.

Doctrine and Covenants 122: 9 -
"Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remainwith thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever."

I love you! Have a great week!
Soeur Williams

I'm Proud to be an American!

Pony!

Salutations!

I have felt really patriotic this week. Even more so than when I was in the United States. Yay America! :D

Monday, June 30 - 

We had a lot less time to email and shop and clean on Monday because we had to go into Belgium for Zone Conference. Which I was fine with because I love Belgium. But once we got to the train station we found out that all of the Belgium was having a strike (all the train workers, I believe) so we had to take a bus to Belgium. It was a long bus ride, but we finally got there. When we did, we went to eat with a recent convert of Soeur Holmes' from when she'd been in Belgium. We got some delicious pizza and afterwards I tried some lavender flavored ice cream. It was pretty good. :)

Tuesday, July 1 - 

We had a really amazing Zone Conference on Tuesday. It was basically an introductory Conference for our new president and his wife -- President and Sister Babin. They are so inspired and the room was so filled with the Spirit as each of them spoke. They shared their objectives for the mission and told us what we could do to be the best missionaries we could be. They have high sights for this mission and I know that we will be able to reach them. The Babins emphasized that we need to center everything on Christ, everything we do each day. We need to picture Christ in our minds each time we go out, each time we talk to someone, each time we make a decision. We need to try to teach as he taught, to love others as he does, and to do what he would have us do. They also told us how we need to know the love God has for us and to know that we are his children before we can go out and have that love for others and tell them they are children of a loving Heavenly Father. 

I'm so excited to see how this mission is going to change with the Babins. I know they are inspired by the Lord and they have so much love for him and for us.

Wednesday, July 2 - 

In the morning we went to Jacqueline's house and when we got there she was very distressed because her apartment is breaking down, her water wasn't working so she couldn't take a shower an the people who had said they'd come to fix it hadn't come yet. We calmed her down and comforted her and let her get it out for a little while. Then we talked to her about faith and about baptism. We promised her that miracles would happen as she acted on her faith, that her family's hearts will be softened and that the Lord will bless her more than she can imagine. We asked her if she'd ever prayed to know if she should be baptized and she said she hadn't. So we asked her to do that. I know that if her heart is open that the Lord will answer and give her the reassurance and comfort she needs.

We saw Kathy, an ami from Martinique who had been taught before and who'd had a baptismal date, but was so busy that she stopped keeping commitments. Now that she's done with school we are starting to visit her again and re-teach her the lessons. She's an amazing woman and I know that she is ready for the gospel in her life.

Thursday, July 3 - 

We visited Patricia in the hospital because she'd just had surgery on her knee and was recovering. We shared a scripture with her, prayed with her, and promised to visit her later in the week. We had to keep it short because we had to catch a train. Even with the small time we spent with her, we had to run to the train. But we made it. We took the train to Orchies, where our Ward Mission Leader, Frere Duez, lives and had a meeting with him. Then we ate some really good Shepherd's Pie and some homemade raspberry ice cream and a raspberry tart. I love being at the Duez's house. :) Not just because of the food, of course. They're awesome people. :D

Friday, July 4 - 

WHOOO! INDEPENDENCE DAY! AMERICA! FREEDOM! That's how I felt all day on the 4th of July. So patriotic. I love America. Even though we're in France, we celebrated. Soeur Holmes and I wore red, white, and blue clothes, we sang patriotic songs, we ate ice cream and watermelon, etc. We also went to Iwuy and did some porting and we passed by some of the people who had said we could come back. Then we went to the Rousseaux's house for dinner. Soeur Rousseaux surprised us and said she'd bought stuff so we could make red, white and blue bracelets. And the Rousseaux's did a barbecue for us. And Soeur Rousseaux bought dollar bill and Coca-Cola napkins. :) They're such a fun family. 'Twas verily a good day.

Saturday, July 5 - 

We went to Chantal's house and studied the Book of Mormon with her. It's really incredible to see the improvement she's made since we first started meeting with her and reading with her. She used to have so many questions, and a lot of them were about the technical details. Now she has fewer questions, she understands a lot more, and she has a lot of profound insights on what she reads. As always, I felt God's great love for her as we discussed with her. I know that she's progressing and gaining a stronger testimony because she started to act on the things she was taught.

We went from there to the Gillot's house to do more service. Soeur Gillot had taken all of the stuff they'd put in their basement upstairs and wanted our help to sort through it. They were really gross boxes, filled with mold and spiders, and we ended up throwing a lot of stuff away. Though it was a lot of work, I loved it. It's always good to have the opportunity to serve. Soeur Gillot was so grateful to us because she usually has to do things like that alone. 

The Elders giving service

After that, we visited Patricia in the hospital again. She was doing much better. She seemed so happy and she wasn't in as much pain. We chatted with her for a little bit, then we talked to her about the importance of reading and praying each day in order to receive strength and to fortify our faith.

In the evening we had cool experience with the guidance of the Spirit. We prayed to be able to find people who were ready, went on a random bus and decided to stop when we felt like it was the right place. So we did that, then we felt like we needed to go to a certain neighborhood by the bus stop. We did that, too and we ended up finding two families who said we could come back later.

Sunday, July 6 - 

In sacrament meeting, Chantal bore her testimony for the first time since she's been baptized (and it's been almost a year, I believe) ! It's so amazing to see her as she grows in her conversion to the gospel. 

In the evening after we did planning, we went out to visit an ami that we'd never met before, but who was in our Area Book, named Erika. On the way to visit her, we contacted all the people who were out (though there weren't many, because it was really cold and rainy outside). The very first person we contacted, a 17 year old girl named Prisca, was really nice. She is from Africa and lives in a foyer (a place for homeless foreigners) and she believes in God. She was really open to hear our message and she gave us her number and agreed to meet us again next week. It was so awesome. We showed Heavenly Father we were willing to do the work to find people, and he sent someone our way who was ready.

We went to Erika's house and even though she didn't know us, she was so happy to see us. She let us in her house right away and we got to know her a little bit better. She says she believes in God but she feels like something is missing. I know that as she learns more about the gospel, she will feel filled and she will know that she's found the truth, the true church of Jesus Christ. I felt so much love for her and I can't wait to meet with her again.

I'd like to share one of my favorite scriptures this week (hopefully I didn't already share it):

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10 - "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God."

It's really short, but also really powerful. It's good for when we're having a hard time loving someone or getting along with someone -- all we need to remember is that they're a child of God and they have a great worth in his eyes. But it's also good for all of us to remember for ourselves -- we are of great worth to our Heavenly Father. He's always there for us, he sees our potential, he never forgets about us, and he loves us more than we can imagine. We are of worth, even if those around us don't think we are. All that matters is what our Father in Heaven thinks of us -- and he thinks of each of us highly. We are his children and we matter so much to him.

Soeur Williams

The apartment complex where the Moerman family lives

CHICKENS!!!!

The cherries answer to the ice cream prayer.

Souer Williams with her district. She's made it through 3 transfers!