Well I guess I should start off by catching everyone up. This has just been an insanely crazy week. We had Zone Conference this Wednesday where we all had our chance to talk to President. He comforted all of us (like he always does, he is seriously the best President we could have asked for). The next couple days kind of spiraled down after that. Soeur Richardson was suddenly transferred up to Lyon because of some health issues. I had been with her for 10 WEEKS and she was being taken out of my life completely unexpectedly! But I took comfort in knowing that this was the will of the Lord and that in the end, this is what Soeur Richardson needs.
I think it’s about that time to give Soeur Richardson gets a little “ode.” She is an angel - an absolute angel. She is one of the most selfless people I know. All she ever wanted was to make sure I was happy and that I felt like the best person in the world. She is obsessed with sticky notes and loved leaving them for me in unexpected places for me to happen upon. (This is something I'm definitely going to keep doing.) She is so humble, but she is INCREDIBLE with French - someone tells us the word for something or a way to say something and she doesn't forget it! After ONE time!! It’s really amazing. And she is such a great teacher. She explains the gospel eloquently, yet simply. People can just feel the spirit and God's love when she's around them. I am SO lucky that I had 10 weeks with her. She will be someone that I love forever. Whether or not she stays here on her mission, I know that she changed many people’s lives, including my own.
Alright let’s talk about how Carcasssone is on FIRE right now!!!! Now that we are in a trio we have double the people to teach and double the miracles going on! I can't even believe all of the people we have in our teaching pool!! During weekly planning we planned for 23 lessons and 12 amis at church - it sounds crazy, but it’s COMPLETELY possible with all of the people we have here!
Ok I need to tell you a couple miracles. So since Soeur Richardson left on Saturday night we lost our pianist for the primary program which was the NEXT DAY. Soeur Caldwell and I frantically tried to learn all of the songs (there had to be about 12) in just a couple hours... I don't think the ward realized how big of a deal it was that we had to play. We were extremely worried that we were going to mess up! Especially when this program was so important to so many people! Even though we had barely practiced these songs, somehow we made it through the entire program....without ANY noticeable errors. I just about cried for joy when it was over. At times during the program I didn't even know what I was playing. Literally I could feel God leading my hands. Truly a miracle.
Now for something even better... JEAN PHILLIPE!!! He is just about as elect as they come. He now has a baptismal date for December 19th and every time we see him he talks about how excited he is to get baptized! Wow, I'm just about to cry right now writing about it. I feel so lucky to be able to teach him. He understands everything as if knew it all before. After we taught the plan of salvation, he explained it to our recent convert who didn't quite understand it. He is just wonderful. I just pray that I can stay here another transfer and see him be baptized!! But we'll see where the Lord wants me to go.
Well I guess that’s all I have for this week! I hope you're all healthy and happy. Thanks for all the letters you send me!! I have about 10 letters to write today... but more than likely I won't have time so IM SORRY!! Just know that I really appreciate them even if it takes me a while to get back to you. :)
Love you so much!
Soeur Everett
I think I'm going to go with my favorite scripture for this week - 2 Nephi 2:24. Don't forget to give the missionaries people to teach! :)
Monday, November 25, 2013
Monday, November 18, 2013
Good 'ole Carc
Hi fam!!!
Ooh là là, WHAT A WEEK. It has had plenty of ups and downs, but let's just focus on the ups, eh? :) The work is still on fire here!! Carcassonne is just a ville of miracles, that's for sure!! I just love this little ville. I would be content staying here my entire mission.
So on Friday we had a lesson set up with a potential ami named Jean-Phillipe. In all honesty, I wasn't expecting him to come because tombez-vous (no shows. literally "drop you") are just way too common now-a-days. But HE CAME. We had a wonderful first lesson. The Spirit was just burning in the room and you could tell that he felt it because he accepted everything we said. He thanked us for the free copy of the Book of Mormon and agreed that he would start reading it and that he would be at church on Sunday. Maybe I just need more faith or something, but I wasn't sure if I was expecting him to be at church either. There's just WAY too many people who promise to be there and then don't come!! But HE WAS THERE. Our amazing DMP (ward mission leader), Frère Vital immediately took Jean-Phillipe under his wing and stayed with him all of church. Jean-Phillipe said to me after how much he loved it!! But wait it gets better. So after church Bishop goes up to him and asks him if he could meet with him really quickly. So they go up to his office and have an interview. When they came out Bishop told me that he invited Jean-Phillipe to come to his house for dinner. So all 4 missionaries, Jean François (the other soeurs' recent convert), and Jean Phillipe all went to the Martin's for dinner! It was the most AMAZING day. We had a little Family Home Evening with everyone and on the car ride home (they live about 40 minutes outside of Carcassonne), all of us got to hear the Martin's life story. Including how they were converted to the gospel. I literally wept as Bishop bore his testimony of how the gospel has changed his life and how SURE he is that this is the true church. As we dropped Jean-Phillipe off, Bishop said he hoped to see him again. And Jean-Phillipe said "toujours" (always). Again... I cried. It was seriously one of the best days of my mission. I am just so grateful that Heavenly Father is trusting Soeur Richardson and I with Jean-Phillipe. He is so prepared for the gospel. About as elect as a person can get.
Wow, everything else from this week dulls in comparison to Jean-Phillipe. But I'll just share one more miracle!! Does everyone remember Nicolas who just out of nowhere moved to Lyon?? Soeur Richardson and I had the impression that we should see how he was doing and if he had gotten in contact with the missionaries up there. When he texted back he told us that he hadn't had time to meet with the missionaries but that he was coming back to Carcassonne this week and would love to meet with us again. Wait, can I just repeat that? HE'S COMING BACK TO CARCASSONNE THIS WEEK AND WANTS TO MEET WITH US AGAIN. I literally jumped up from my chair and screamed. (Sorry neighbors...)
We have a lot of progressing people right now!! Things are just going really really well!! I couldn't be happier with the people that the Lord has trusted us with!! I just hope I am doing everything he expects me to do! Keep all of these people in your prayers!!
Love you SO much family!!
Soeur Everett
Instead of a scripture this week I have a quote. It's from a talk about how to be the best missionary possible, but it applies to everyone. Read it carefully.
"Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God."
-Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge
Ooh là là, WHAT A WEEK. It has had plenty of ups and downs, but let's just focus on the ups, eh? :) The work is still on fire here!! Carcassonne is just a ville of miracles, that's for sure!! I just love this little ville. I would be content staying here my entire mission.
So on Friday we had a lesson set up with a potential ami named Jean-Phillipe. In all honesty, I wasn't expecting him to come because tombez-vous (no shows. literally "drop you") are just way too common now-a-days. But HE CAME. We had a wonderful first lesson. The Spirit was just burning in the room and you could tell that he felt it because he accepted everything we said. He thanked us for the free copy of the Book of Mormon and agreed that he would start reading it and that he would be at church on Sunday. Maybe I just need more faith or something, but I wasn't sure if I was expecting him to be at church either. There's just WAY too many people who promise to be there and then don't come!! But HE WAS THERE. Our amazing DMP (ward mission leader), Frère Vital immediately took Jean-Phillipe under his wing and stayed with him all of church. Jean-Phillipe said to me after how much he loved it!! But wait it gets better. So after church Bishop goes up to him and asks him if he could meet with him really quickly. So they go up to his office and have an interview. When they came out Bishop told me that he invited Jean-Phillipe to come to his house for dinner. So all 4 missionaries, Jean François (the other soeurs' recent convert), and Jean Phillipe all went to the Martin's for dinner! It was the most AMAZING day. We had a little Family Home Evening with everyone and on the car ride home (they live about 40 minutes outside of Carcassonne), all of us got to hear the Martin's life story. Including how they were converted to the gospel. I literally wept as Bishop bore his testimony of how the gospel has changed his life and how SURE he is that this is the true church. As we dropped Jean-Phillipe off, Bishop said he hoped to see him again. And Jean-Phillipe said "toujours" (always). Again... I cried. It was seriously one of the best days of my mission. I am just so grateful that Heavenly Father is trusting Soeur Richardson and I with Jean-Phillipe. He is so prepared for the gospel. About as elect as a person can get.
Wow, everything else from this week dulls in comparison to Jean-Phillipe. But I'll just share one more miracle!! Does everyone remember Nicolas who just out of nowhere moved to Lyon?? Soeur Richardson and I had the impression that we should see how he was doing and if he had gotten in contact with the missionaries up there. When he texted back he told us that he hadn't had time to meet with the missionaries but that he was coming back to Carcassonne this week and would love to meet with us again. Wait, can I just repeat that? HE'S COMING BACK TO CARCASSONNE THIS WEEK AND WANTS TO MEET WITH US AGAIN. I literally jumped up from my chair and screamed. (Sorry neighbors...)
We have a lot of progressing people right now!! Things are just going really really well!! I couldn't be happier with the people that the Lord has trusted us with!! I just hope I am doing everything he expects me to do! Keep all of these people in your prayers!!
Love you SO much family!!
Soeur Everett
Instead of a scripture this week I have a quote. It's from a talk about how to be the best missionary possible, but it applies to everyone. Read it carefully.
"Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God."
-Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge
Monday, November 11, 2013
Amazing Week!
This past week was SO good!!!! There was just one day that really stuck out from all the rest so I will probably just focus my letter on that one day!! This week President called "M-week" - all week we worked extra hard as a mission and focus on the same things daily. Friday was planned out to be the most hard-working day of all, and I have to say that I could definitely see the miracles that came from working so hard!!!
Sadly for me and Soeur Richardson, we were on exchange on monster-day, but hey, DOUBLE THE MIRACLES. I was with Soeur Warren - one of the Sister Training Leaders from Montpellier. We worked SO hard. We started off the day with a visit to a member in our ward and contacted the entire way there (Soeur Warren is just about the best contacted I've ever seen). On our way there we got a coordonnée. Then we had lunch at the church with our DMP - SO GOOD (he used to be a chef but then he changed his job to a karate teacher...aka he's an amazinggg cook).
After lunch with Frère Vital we had planned to have a lesson with Nadia (a less active in our ward), when she showed up she had a man with her. She told us she tricked him into coming and that she got him to come into the church building because she said she "needed to use the restroom" hahaha. Oh well, surprise member-present lesson AND new ami!!!! AND our less active is doing missionary work. Ah, what could be better???
After our lesson with Michel we had a lesson with a pretty new ami, Mireille. In the middle of our lesson.... DEBORAH PONDELA. She is an old engagé that we haven't seen in about 2 weeks and who knew that she was BFFS with Mireille's son and daughter!! WHAT. She was so happy to see us and said that she had been out of town for a long time and that she wanted to see us next week!!
Don't worry it keeps getting better. So we walk outside of their apartment and the first person we contacted was super interested. His name is Fabrice!!! He's a practicing Catholic but he said that recently he has had the thought in his mind about why everyone just assumes the Catholic church is the best and that maybe there was something else out there. He said usually he wouldn't have said yes to us, but he had just barely been thinking about it so he thought to himself "why not!" We ended up having a lesson with him at his apartment THAT NIGHT. He was super grateful for the Book of Mormon and said he would definitely start reading it!
And we had a great lesson with the Phelipes... but you all already know the Phelipes are amazing.
Crazy day huh!? I couldn't believe how much the Lord blessed us that day. But he does when we work hard!!
The work is just going SO well here!! Last week for weekly planning I ran out of room in my planner to plan for all the amis we have. Keep us in your prayers!
Que Dieu vous bénisse!!!
Soeur Everett
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| Homemade chicken noodle soup |
Sadly for me and Soeur Richardson, we were on exchange on monster-day, but hey, DOUBLE THE MIRACLES. I was with Soeur Warren - one of the Sister Training Leaders from Montpellier. We worked SO hard. We started off the day with a visit to a member in our ward and contacted the entire way there (Soeur Warren is just about the best contacted I've ever seen). On our way there we got a coordonnée. Then we had lunch at the church with our DMP - SO GOOD (he used to be a chef but then he changed his job to a karate teacher...aka he's an amazinggg cook).
After lunch with Frère Vital we had planned to have a lesson with Nadia (a less active in our ward), when she showed up she had a man with her. She told us she tricked him into coming and that she got him to come into the church building because she said she "needed to use the restroom" hahaha. Oh well, surprise member-present lesson AND new ami!!!! AND our less active is doing missionary work. Ah, what could be better???
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| Soeur Caldwell |
After our lesson with Michel we had a lesson with a pretty new ami, Mireille. In the middle of our lesson.... DEBORAH PONDELA. She is an old engagé that we haven't seen in about 2 weeks and who knew that she was BFFS with Mireille's son and daughter!! WHAT. She was so happy to see us and said that she had been out of town for a long time and that she wanted to see us next week!!
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| The mists of darkness |
Don't worry it keeps getting better. So we walk outside of their apartment and the first person we contacted was super interested. His name is Fabrice!!! He's a practicing Catholic but he said that recently he has had the thought in his mind about why everyone just assumes the Catholic church is the best and that maybe there was something else out there. He said usually he wouldn't have said yes to us, but he had just barely been thinking about it so he thought to himself "why not!" We ended up having a lesson with him at his apartment THAT NIGHT. He was super grateful for the Book of Mormon and said he would definitely start reading it!
And we had a great lesson with the Phelipes... but you all already know the Phelipes are amazing.
Crazy day huh!? I couldn't believe how much the Lord blessed us that day. But he does when we work hard!!
The work is just going SO well here!! Last week for weekly planning I ran out of room in my planner to plan for all the amis we have. Keep us in your prayers!
Que Dieu vous bénisse!!!
Soeur Everett
Monday, November 4, 2013
BONJOUR!!
I have so much to talk about so I'll just get going!!
On Tuesday our ami Romain invited us over to dinner with him and his friends. Since I had never had rabbit before he promised me that he would make it for me for my first time and that he would have all of the missionaries over - he kept his promise!! We had so much fun!! Romain is really cool but he isn't progressing towards baptism at all.. So for now we'll just wait until he shows a little more interest in the gospel rather than just our friendship before meeting with him again! But hey!! He made us a delicious meal!! (Thank goodness he didn't show us the head of the rabbit before we ate it... I don't know if I could have stomached that!)
Christian update!!!! We had a really really good rendez-vous this week where we just talked about everything that hadn't been communicated well. He told us that he knows that the church is true--if he didn't he wouldn't be coming to church still. He just feels like everyone is putting too much pressure on him to get baptized and he doesn't want to get baptized just so we can have another baptism for our numbers. Thank GOODNESS he brought that up because Soeur Richardson and I could care less how many baptisms we have, we just care about Christian!! We told him that we respected the timing that he wants and that we would let him tell US when he wants to get baptized. The spirit was strong and our friendship is renewed!!! So I'm happy. :) OH and he came to church. :)
Ok time for a little ode to Soeur Caldwell. Even though we are the exact same age in the mission, I don't think I've ever talked to her for longer than 5 minutes. She is SO COOL. She is a design major at BYU and she's 21 so she is practically finished with her undergraduate and she's already accepted to the masters program. She has really high ambitions!! She is so relaxed about everything - I love this about her because I tend to stress out over things, so its really nice to have someone there who just takes things slowly! She is just hilarious - we all DIE laughing when we're with her. I'm so excited to have her here in Carcassonne and get to know her better!!!
Super huge miracle from this week!!! So about 4 weeks ago I contacted this woman on the street named Mireille. We contact a lot of people who give us their number and then we never hear from them again so I kind of forgot about her since she wouldn't answer our calls! Well one day we decided to call again and she ANSWERED. She gave us her address and we ended up having a rendezvous with her and her kids!! They are practicing Catholic, but are very open to meeting with us and finding out for themselves if what we are sharing is true!! I'm super pumped about them!!
Ok one last thing I guess...there's just so much!! So 2 days ago Soeur Richardson and I were out contacting!! We were passing a bus stop and usually I don't contact people who are sitting there but somehow I ended up contacting this man who was sitting waiting for his bus. I don't even remember deciding to contact him. Anyway we ended up talking to him for about 30 minutes and he missed his bus TWICE to keep talking to us. He told me I had a lot of "heart" :) It was SUCH good conversation completely led by the spirit!! He really opened up to us and now we will be meeting with him on Wednesday!!! :)
I love you all, thanks for all your support, love, and prayers! I can feel it. :)
Soeur Everett
P.S. Look up Luke 6:2-5 and then go to the Bible Dictionary under "shewbread" - REALLY great studies this morning; hope you like this as much as I do!!
On Tuesday our ami Romain invited us over to dinner with him and his friends. Since I had never had rabbit before he promised me that he would make it for me for my first time and that he would have all of the missionaries over - he kept his promise!! We had so much fun!! Romain is really cool but he isn't progressing towards baptism at all.. So for now we'll just wait until he shows a little more interest in the gospel rather than just our friendship before meeting with him again! But hey!! He made us a delicious meal!! (Thank goodness he didn't show us the head of the rabbit before we ate it... I don't know if I could have stomached that!)
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| Romain and his friends |
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| The only thing left was the rabbit head... |
Christian update!!!! We had a really really good rendez-vous this week where we just talked about everything that hadn't been communicated well. He told us that he knows that the church is true--if he didn't he wouldn't be coming to church still. He just feels like everyone is putting too much pressure on him to get baptized and he doesn't want to get baptized just so we can have another baptism for our numbers. Thank GOODNESS he brought that up because Soeur Richardson and I could care less how many baptisms we have, we just care about Christian!! We told him that we respected the timing that he wants and that we would let him tell US when he wants to get baptized. The spirit was strong and our friendship is renewed!!! So I'm happy. :) OH and he came to church. :)
 |
| Yes, the French celebrate Halloween |
Ok time for a little ode to Soeur Caldwell. Even though we are the exact same age in the mission, I don't think I've ever talked to her for longer than 5 minutes. She is SO COOL. She is a design major at BYU and she's 21 so she is practically finished with her undergraduate and she's already accepted to the masters program. She has really high ambitions!! She is so relaxed about everything - I love this about her because I tend to stress out over things, so its really nice to have someone there who just takes things slowly! She is just hilarious - we all DIE laughing when we're with her. I'm so excited to have her here in Carcassonne and get to know her better!!!
 |
| Soeur Caldwell |
Super huge miracle from this week!!! So about 4 weeks ago I contacted this woman on the street named Mireille. We contact a lot of people who give us their number and then we never hear from them again so I kind of forgot about her since she wouldn't answer our calls! Well one day we decided to call again and she ANSWERED. She gave us her address and we ended up having a rendezvous with her and her kids!! They are practicing Catholic, but are very open to meeting with us and finding out for themselves if what we are sharing is true!! I'm super pumped about them!!
Ok one last thing I guess...there's just so much!! So 2 days ago Soeur Richardson and I were out contacting!! We were passing a bus stop and usually I don't contact people who are sitting there but somehow I ended up contacting this man who was sitting waiting for his bus. I don't even remember deciding to contact him. Anyway we ended up talking to him for about 30 minutes and he missed his bus TWICE to keep talking to us. He told me I had a lot of "heart" :) It was SUCH good conversation completely led by the spirit!! He really opened up to us and now we will be meeting with him on Wednesday!!! :)
I love you all, thanks for all your support, love, and prayers! I can feel it. :)
Soeur Everett
P.S. Look up Luke 6:2-5 and then go to the Bible Dictionary under "shewbread" - REALLY great studies this morning; hope you like this as much as I do!!
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