They're letting us have a P-day-ish type thing today since we don't get one next week, because we arrive in France on Tuesday.
I'm pretty scared to go to France, because I'm not really confident in my
speaking skills in English or French. But I'm also really excited. I'm excited
because this is what I'm on a mission for, to help other, real people know
Christ and receive help, happiness and comfort through Him and His gospel. And I
know that the Savior knows my weaknesses and will help me as I give my heart
over to him and do as He asks.
Tuesday, Feb 25-
There was a really good devotional on Tuesday night by Elder Snow of the
Seventy about working with members, and encouraging us as missionaries. I really
liked when Elder Snow told a story about how Joseph Fielding Smith went on a
mission, and for 2 1/2 years never baptized anyone or had pretty much any
measurable success, but he found comfort in knowing he was where the Lord wanted
him to be, doing what the Lord wanted to do, helping prepare others to receive
the gospel. This helps me know that whatever happens, I'm doing the Lord's will
and the Lord's work, helping His children.
Wednesday, Feb 26 -
I hosted on Wednesday... it was... an experience. :P I get really scared of
talking to people for no apparent reason, so when I was supposed to go up to one
of the cars dropping a new missionary off, I was so afraid, so paralyzed with
fear that I couldn't do it. One of the ladies standing on the sidewalk had to
comfort me and pretty much force me over to the car to talk to the new
missionary and take her bags. She ended up being really nice, and we talked a
lot. She's going to Armenia, which is pretty darn awesome. I didn't even get
lost when I took her to get her books, took her to her residence, then took her
to class. And for those of you who know me well know that is an impressive feat.
I hosted another new sister as well, who is going to California. She was really
nice and I didn't get her lost, either. Yay! I'm glad I got to have this
experience even though it scared me at first. I know that it is only through
doing things I'm not comfortable with that I will grow and become a better
missionary.
My companions and I skype-taught someone who had gone to Paris on her
mission. That was cool, and I felt like we helped her, and she helped us.
Thursday, Feb 27 -
In-Field Orientation pretty much describes all of my Thursday. From 8 AM to
5 PM, everyone that was going to be leaving next week had to go to In-Field
Orientation. It was actually a good experience. We were taught a lot of the
things that weren't really talked about in-depth in class. I really liked that
we got to practice things like contacting in various situations and how we
learned specific ways we could work with members. This helped me be less afraid
and more comfortable about doing things like that, which I'm grateful for,
especially since the day we fly in to France we'll be talking to people on the
metro and trying to hand out Books of Mormon and pass-along cards. I'd like to
talk about all of the things I learned at the orientation, but I wrote four
pages of notes, and I don't really have enough time to type it all up. :D The
best things I learned were to trust in the Lord more, that He has been preparing
people specifically for me to teach, and that I need to simply do what He asks,
and just talk to people and He will help me.
Also, I got a package full of magically awesometastic stuff from my family.
Huzzah! I was so excited, and I might or might not have opened the carrot cake
M&Ms in the package and eaten them during In-Field Orientation. :D
Friday, Feb 28 -
Hmm. Friday. Don't remember much about Friday...
We taught Siliane for the last time. We taught her about the Word of Wisdom
and she accepted it pretty easily. Because she's fantastic. We were about to
teach her about the Law of Chastity, but our time ran out. Darn.
When Frere Kellett came after dinner, we did a funtastic scavenger hunt
where we divided into teams and found sticky notes and translated them as they
directed. Soeur Rasmussen was on my team and totally won! Because we are
amazing. :D There were some pretty amusing sentences on the sticky notes, like:
"S'ils veulent, ils pourraient frapper le train avec un poisson." ('If they
want, they could hit the train with a fish') and "Frere Kellett etait nomme un
parraseux par son district mechant! Il pleurait pendant des heures apres... :( "
('Frere Kellett was called a sloth by his mean/evil district! He cried during
the hours after'... As an explanation, we were comparing everyone in our
district to animals, and for some reason Fr. Kellett ended up being a sloth :D
Apparently that bork-ded his lil heart. :P ).
Saturday, Mar 1 -
We had a good zone conference about how important the Atonement is to
missionary work, how we should keep the Atonement at the center of our teachings
and in the center of our lives. I enjoyed it a lot, and it helped me focus on
what is important, and gave me a greater desire to serve others and help them
know Christ.
I cried a lot today. We had to say goodbye to our teachers, and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I love them so much. They have helped me more than I can ever thank them for, and have shown so much love to me.
I cried a lot today. We had to say goodbye to our teachers, and it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I love them so much. They have helped me more than I can ever thank them for, and have shown so much love to me.
It was actually a little bit easier to say goodbye to Soeur Chard, because
she was less emotional about it, and though I love her, I don't have as deep of
a bond with her as I did with Frere Kellett. Plus, she's probably going to visit
France while I'm there. Which is chouette/cool/fantastique.
When Frere Kellett came to class, he told us mission stories and had us do
a testimony meeting as a district. He started, and he was so overcome that he
couldn't speak and he started crying. I loved hearing the testimonies of each
person in my district. They're so strong and love the Lord so much. They're such
great examples to me and they brought the Spirit into the classroom.
It was really, extremely difficult to say goodbye to Frere Kellett. He had
tears in his eyes (as did I) as he said goodbye to each of us, giving the
sisters long, sincere handshakes (because he's not allowed to give us hugs) and
hugging each of the elders. I'll miss him. He taught me so much, and the care he
had for each individual person in our district was touching and inspiring.
Whenever he saw I was discouraged, he came up to me and asked if I was okay and
genuinely tried to help me, always saying the right things to give me comfort.
If I had an older brother, I would want him to be like Frere Kellett.
I love you! I will email more thingamadoodleness as soon as I can!
Soeur Williams
An expliquation de la photo - We compared everyone to an animal in our
district (Elder Nez was a narwhal, I was a unicorn, Soeur Ridd was a deer, Soeur
Rasmussen was a wolf, Elder Wallace was a hyena, Elder Bigelow was a cheetah,
Frere Kellet was a cheetah, and Soeur Chard was a frog), then, on the
chalkboard, we drew us going to war against the shadows because Soeur Chard's
nickname on her mission was Shadow Slayer. Frere Kellett's was Midnight Hawk,
which was why we wrote that on the board as well. :)
Other Photos - District with each of our teachers.
