"Why are you guys freaking out? We planned for this!" - Sœur Gerritsen (Week 42)

This week has been absolutely INSAAAAANE. Instead of doing my usual try-to-talk-about-everyone-and-everything-and-only-get-through-like-one-tenth-of-what-actually-happened I will stick to the huge miracles!!

Halloween selfie.  Very scary

I'll start with Giovanni!!

Remember how last week when I wrote you we hadn't even seen him for like 2 weeks? I was honestly starting to think that an accident had happened or something. But then we passed on Sunday night and the lady answered who had been taking care of him who explained that he had just been so sick that he had to stay in bed for that entire time. :( So we decided we should fast for him. So on Wednesday we fasted that he would be healed and would be receptive to us again (up until then we still hadn't talked to him). We decided to go and pass him that same day while we were fasting. We knocked and HE ANSWERED THE DOOR. (Mind you we had done this about 15 times in the past week with no response.) He let us right in!!!! It was honestly as if nothing had happened for 2 weeks. Same old Giovanni and his health seemed to be a lot better! Apparently he got a new phone as well -- of course. So he gave us his new number. Wow it was so good to see him.

Curtis (Gerard's son). So cute!

That night we did a whole lot of praying - of gratitude and to know where we should go from there! We had set his date for November 8th but that was back when we had a lot of time to prepare him and he still needed to come to Church one more time to qualify. We prayed to be inspired what we should do. The next day we went to zone conference and heard from Elder Kearon of the 70. During a portion of his talk he spoke of inviting people to baptism with urgency! He gave an example: "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized next Saturday?" BOOM. There was our answer. Giovanni's date was set for next Saturday. I had immediate confirmation. We went back to see him on Friday and he was pretty hesitant about it. But we were bold and had to be really firm, but also reassuring that he was ready and we would help him to feel that he was ready as well!! He accepted to pray about it to know that it was the right date.

Classic selfie from Sœur Gerritsen

The next day the Colignon family invited him and his son Raphael (7) over to their house for a family home evening. It was absolutely perfect... The spirit in their home was incredible and Giovanni felt loved and comfortable. And Raphael and the Colignon boys became friends super quickly.

Sunday they BOTH came to Church!!! (Raphael had never been before.) After Church we had the "do or die" lesson scheduled to ask him if he thought he could be ready. This was the best lesson I have ever had in my entire mission. I don't know if I have ever felt the spirit burn so strongly as I testified (we were on splits my companions were teaching Nathan.) Our member Anna was the PERFECT person to help. She assured Giovanni that his baptism would be one of the best days of his life and that he really was ready. GIOVANNI ACCEPTED. HE IS GOING TO BE BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY.

Check out the castle in the background

Holy cow. When I told Sœur Jackson she just lost it! Tears and all! This is truly a huge miracle. Just a week ago we had no one that could have been baptized before the end of the transfer. But we have worked so hard this transfer (harder than I've ever worked in my entire life) and we promised Heavenly Father that we would do everything we possibly could to find someone who was ready to make a covenant with Him. And HE BLESSED US.

Soeur Gerritsen's first solo contact!

I want to talk about faith. I've never understood this concept as much as I do now. This morning I found this scripture in Moroni 7: 


33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

There you have it! When we exercise our faith we can literally do exactly as the Savior would do. All day long as I work I try to imagine how Christ would teach his children, how he would be diligent, how he would rely on the Spirit, how he would be patient and rely on Heavenly Father's greater knowledge and timing. Yet, he would expect miracles as he worked. I've found as we expect miracles to happen (refer to my subject line for this week that Sœur Gerritsen said to us), THEY HAPPEN. Pretty cool.

Another enormous miracle!!! This one is short haha.

Elder Pettingill

This week after coming home to Annecy from zone conference we were closing on the end of the day and trying to be inspired where to go. (Yes we had plans, but we had several options.) Someone who we hadn't even planned to see that night came to our minds. The Sonnerat family! The husband is less active and the wife isn't a member. However they have children and grandchildren who are active in the Church. We went and saw them and bore powerful testimony of Church attendance and even invited Frere Sonnerat to repent as we listened to the spirit. (NEVER would have done this of my own accord.)

I looooove Soeur Beeny!

Just before Sacrament Meeting started...not only did Frere Sonnerat walk in but HIS WIFE TOO!! We didn't learn until later, but apparently Sœur Sonnerat hadn't been to Church for 30 years.The members were in complete shock to see her there. One even said to me: "Am I dreaming?????"

Really cool.

Okay, lastly I just want to talk about Gerard. :) He is a huge miracle, but he is a miracle that is taking time to come to fruition. I know without a doubt he will be baptized next transfer. Without a doubt. And I don't know if I could have said that before this week! I doubted at first if he was understanding the important of baptism in OUR Church. I had the impression he thought all churches were good. I've really seen everything click for him this week. He is more engaged, keeps commitments, he came to Church all on his own this week and was there right on time! He is just wonderful. And we love his son Curtis (5). We have a goal to try to get his wife more involved in the lessons! She works a lot and when shes there she is super distant, but I think she'll come around. :)

Jackson, Everett, Gerritsen.  Best comps ever!

Okay, I know I already shared a spiritual thought but I have to share one more!!!

This week during Relief Society we were talking about gratitude. Something I think we could all work on. I had this cool revelation as we read the story of the 10 lepers. (Luke 17)

 11 And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
 12 And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

View from apartment

 13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.
 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.
 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God,
 16 And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

Samedi Foot (Saturday soccer)

 17 And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?
 18 There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.
 19 And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

Building relationships through soccer

When we read this story don't we all assume that we would be the one leper who returned to thank Christ? I am not so sure that the other 9 lepers who didn't return were ungrateful for what Christ did for them. I think that each of the 10 lepers were grateful that they were healed! I think that the difference is that only one took the time to actually go back and say thank you. How often do we actually kneel down and thank Heavenly Father for specific blessings he has given us? I know that I don't do it enough. Do we thank him for our health? Do we thank him that we were protected that day? Do we thank him that we have the gospel? Do we thank him for our families?

During the lesson Sœur Colignon made a comment that I loved. She said that Heavenly Father does not command us to be grateful for his own happiness, he commands us to be grateful so that WE can be happy. I know when I am conscious of everything I have been blessed with I am much more full of the spirit and I feel joy!

Soeur Gerritsen and Everett

Ponder about this and figure out how you can be more grateful. :)

Okay that's all for this week!!! I'll let you know how things go! Please pray for Giovanni!! He needs as many prayers as possible as we prepare him like CRAZY this week!!!

Bisous!!!
Sœur Everett

PS We had 20 lessons again. :) I honestly don't ever want to go a week without getting 20 lessons ever again!

Week 2 in Pau!! (Week 32)

Holy moly is this going to be one miraculous transfer... because the opposition is HUGE. I don't even know what to write about this week seeing as we couldn't do much because I felt like dying most of it...

Soaking wet.  It rains every single day.

I've been sick the entire week.  Boooo....

I got sick on Tuesday night (after being out ALL day long and having everything except our last rdv fall through) and I have felt sick ever since. I think its starting to get better, but I'm so worn out from being sick that any physical exercise I exort brings me back to feeling terrible. (I thought I was completely healed on Sunday, then after church all of my energy was completely drained and I was back to feeling sick again.) Its been horrible - but can I just say how lucky I am to be with Soeur Bagley?? She is an angel. I will now devote an entire paragraph to her.

Our favorite food

My dearest companion

Soeur Bagley is sent to me from heaven. We were best friends in the pre-existence, I'm sure of it. She knows exactly what I need to be happy and she is so sensitive to my needs. This week as I've been sick she has cleaned the apartment, cooked for me, and she's been on-the-minute obedient with the morning schedule, even while I've been sleeping (WHAT - talk about virtue). She even does comp study opening song and prays for the prayer list alone. She is wonderful. She also knows how to crack me up... she says and does the funniest things, it keeps our spirits up. :) She has been so good to me this past week, she knows how I feel because when she first got to Pau she got sick too.  We can talk for hours, and we never get tired of each other! I just love her. The other day she said the funniest thing.. I have no idea what we were even talking about but I suggested that we go and do something and she responds "There is no way in the Telestial Kingdom that I'm doing that." I laughed for about 10 minutes (still laughing about it). The members love her too. Man I could go on forever..

Zone Training!!!! (I love Soeur Bayles!!!!)

So good to see Soeur Beeny!

Ok let me talk about the Leangs. I LOVE this family - they are definitely a tender mercy for me because I miss my old DMP Frère Vital who would always make us nems. And now I have a new family to make me nems! I feel right at home with them. This week we spent a lot of time with them because they invited us to dinner, we went over and helped them make nems for the ward party, and then the ward party that was a HUGE hit!!! We had SOO many potential amis there it was incredible! The ward is on fire with missionary work, let me tell you. Sooo many people brought their friends. It was a really really good activity - best I think I've ever been to! And they're having another in February (like a talent show thingy, I'm so pumped!!)

The Leangs making 600 nems for Chinese New Year

We love nems!

As far as amis go I don't really know who to talk about. We say a few people this week, but I don't have a TON to say! Things will really pick up this week, I assure you all!!!! I'm feeling progressively better, so Pau is going to explode I know it!!

As for a thought this week I've been thinking about D&C 84:88 - we should all notice better the angels that are surrounding us! The Lord promises to send them to help us, and I can definitely feel them near.

Love you!!!

Soeur Everett

NO LONGER A BLUE

First of all, can I just say how excited Soeur Richardson and I were when we saw the picture of our moms together??? We might have screamed in an internet café... (sorry everyone.) But hey, first things first. IM STAYING IN CARCASSONNE!!!! WITH SOEUR RICHARDSON!!!! We are sooo pumped to keep going. We absolutely love being companions - she is literally the most easy person to get along with in the entire world. She basically has no faults. I just absolutely adore her!! We're going to kill it this transfer, just wait and see!!




(Clockwise) Soeurs Everett, Beeny, Richardson, Mann

I am so sad that Soeur Beeny left us, but I know there are so many people waiting for her in Chambery. Soeur Beeny is just amazing. I can't even begin to describe how much I love her!! We're certain that someday on our missions we will be companions... but until then I'm going to miss her so much!!!!  Soeur Caldwell is Soeur Mann's new companion.  She came into the mission with me.  SHE'S AMAZING!!

Narbonne

This week was FILLED with miracles!!!!! I'll admit last week wasn't the best week in the world, but this week MORE than made up for it!!! I felt like Heavenly Father was putting so many amazing people in my path, letting me know that he doesn't want me to get discouraged, but to keep working hard! And guess what? Hard work ALWAYS brings miracles!!!

I can't even count how many miracles I want to share, so I'm just going to have to write a lot really briefly!!!

First of all, today as we were walking back from the GARE after picking up Soeur Caldwell we ran into CHRISTIAN!!! This is the first time we have talked to him since he decided not to get baptized and he told us that he missed having us over and that he wants to see us this week!!! AH!!!

On Tuesday we had exchanges with the other sisters and I had a chance to work with Soeur Mann - she is just incredible. Together we contacted 226 people and holy cow did we see a ton of success. I think my favorite miracle that we contacted together is named Kilian. He reminds me SO much of Nicolas!!! Another tender mercy from Heavenly Father. He knew how sad I was that I wouldn't be able to teach Nicolas anymore, so he sent me Kilian!!! He is in the army as well and he has had a lot of hard things happen in his life and now he just isn't so sure about God. I told him that God put us in his path for a reason, and that the least he could do was give it a chance. He completely opened up after that. We gave him an overview of the Book of Mormon and he agreed to read it and meet with us!! We're meeting with him tonight, I'm so excited!!!

Next, Max!!! Soeur Richardson and I contacted max a few days ago. He is very curious about religion and told us that everything we were saying to him made sense. We tried to give him a Book of Mormon but he said he didn't feel comfortable taking it before we had met for a little bit (I don't really get that reasoning....). Anyway, so we set up a rendez-vous for a couple days later. I ended up going to this rendez-vous with Soeur Beeny actually. But we went there and waited for him and he didn't show up. After waiting a bit we decided to leave and contact. About 5 minutes into contacting.... WE SEE MAX. He apologized and said he completely forgot but that we could have the rendez-vous right then and there. SO WE DID. We had a wonderful discussion about the Book of Mormon and he told us he would take it and read it! He accepted baptism but said that he needed to read the entire book before he could be baptized. But HEY, I invited someone to baptism in the middle of the street. And he said yes!!

News about the Phelipes!!! Anderson told us that his papers are ALMOST finished!!!! Only about 2 maybe 3 weeks left and they will be able to be baptized!!! IM SO EXCITED!!!! (Soeur Caldwell asked me what the best thing that happened to me on my mission was so far, and I told her the Phelipes - they are my whole life right now, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.)

Ok one other thing. Soeur Richardson has been SOO sick this past week - thank heavens we have angel sisters that live with us and went on exchanges all week so we could all see our amis. But if you could keep her in your prayers, that would be great!! :)

Seriously, this week has been absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see what this next transfer will bring!!!

Love you all so much!!!

Soeur Everett

P.S. John - Marcos is working on his letter to you!!! He is translating it with google translate as he goes... he has been taking english in school so he knows some. Anyway, apparently its a long process, but a return letter is coming soon!!

Carcassonne!! (Week 17)

I greatly fear that my time in Carcassonne will be over after this week... Carcassonne feels like HOME now, I don't want to be taken away!!!! But wherever the Lord wants me, I'll go! I just hope the Lord wants me in Carcassonne for awhile longer. :)

 



Lovely Soeur Mann

This has been quite an interesting week. Just about everything and anything we planned fell through. Even our ami that was supposed to get baptized on Saturday called bishop 2 days before the baptism and said he needed some space for awhile because he felt too pressured. But even though this week has been hard I've seen SO many tender mercies from the Lord. On Tuesday we had 4 member-present lessons scheduled and ALL of them fell through. BUT as we left the chapel we decided we weren't going to be discouraged and we went out and contacted like crazy!!! We did this everytime something fell through this week and because of all of the things that fell through we have been able to find SO many people who have been looking for the truth!! Moral of the story is that God knows whats best!! It's not our fault if people use their agency as long as we did our best! Plus, God knew that all of this would happen, and he knows who he wants us to teach right now and its our job to allign our will with God's! So even though it was a hard week, I still find peace and joy in knowing that I am at hand to do what God wants me to do. :)



Flowers from Nadia (a member of the ward)

Now all of the GREAT things that happened this week!!! President has been encouraging us to go to members houses and practice our missionary lessons for them and have them correct our French. This week we got to go to Dior's house (bishop's daughter) and eat lunch and visit with her and her sister Adhna (I LOVE THEM.) The Martin family is SO cool and so humble about it. Dior is a fashion designer. She used to work for Chanel, but then she decided to move to Australia where she met her husband and she now lives there with her two ADORABLE children. She is staying in Carcassonne for about another month so she is renting a home for the next month (that's where we went for lunch). Adhna is just as cool. She speaks English fluently because she decided to self-immerse herself in English by going to LDSBC right out of high school. Now she speaks without a French accent and sometimes I think she speaks English better than me haha. Anyway, it was SO fun to have lunch over there and teaching them a lesson was SO helpful for our French - we'll definitely be doing that more often!!


Soeurs Mann, Everett et Beeny

I think I've told you in past letters that we teach the Andersons French every week (a less-active family in our ward). This week especially I have seen how much they've progressed since we've started teaching them!! The 16 year old daughter has never learned a word of French before in her life and at our last rendezvous she gave the closing prayer IN FRENCH. I was so proud of her. :))


Jean François, the ami of Soeur Mann and Soeur Beeny

Anyway, things are going really well!!! I know tons fell through this week, but I really am so happy!! There are so many people in Carcassonne just waiting for us to find them and bring them the truth and I feel blessed that I am one of the people that gets to do it!! I can't wait to e-mail you next week about all of the new people that we are going to teach this week!!!

I love you all so much!!! I miss you and pray for you!!

Soeur Everett

P.S. Mosiah 4:9 - so much better in French, but English is good too. :)

Another wonderful week in Carcassonne :)

What a week!!! SO much travelling this week, but it was so much fun!!! First of all I want to reiterate a little bit what I was saying last week, but I absolutely love the sisters in my apartment, they are some of the biggest blessings of my mission right now, they are incredible!

Sensei is the Best DMP (Ward Mission Leader) in the Church

Sensei in his younger days (yes he is a karate teacher)

We got to go to Aix for Zone Conference and it was AMAZING. And.... I got personally invited by President to sit by him during lunch (that makes 3 conferences IN A ROW - yesss). It's always fun to catch up with missionaries that you haven't seen in a while!! Conferences are just the best, so uplifting. The other place we went to this week was Bordeaux!!! We got to see do exchanges with our amazinggg sister training leaders. They are the absolute greatest, I love them!! Exchanges are always so much fun. It's just fun to do something a little out of routine sometimes. :)

Soeur Mann et Soeur Everett

Soeur Everett et Richardson

Ok right now I am in a "hat phase" so if in ever picture I am wearing a hat, don't be too surprised. Also, if anyone wants to send me a hat in the mail, feel free to do so. :)

 

So this week we went over to the Anderson's house (the less-active family from New Zealand who speaks English). We go over once a week to help them learn French and it is seriously so much fun every time!! I absolutely love this family - mostly because they remind me so much of you all. While we were there Sister Anderson invited us to go to a rugby game with them sometime (because Brother Anderson plays for the Carcassonne rugby team) - we asked President for approval and......HE SAID YES!!!!! I'll let you know how fun it was!!!!!

Soeurs Everett et Beeny ("The Look")

Ok now for the MIRACLE!!!!!! About a week ago we contacted this man on the street named Nicolas. He immediately told us he was sorry but he was atheist. BUT I persevered (thank goodness) and I told him that our message was for everyone regardless of their previous religious beliefs. We started teaching him a little bit about the restoration and the plan of salvation (he had a lot of questions) and told us that he would love to meet with us and talk more because he was really curious. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him he could start to read it. On Wednesday we had a rendezvous with him (which HE called to confirm) and he started off by saying "its been way too long!! sorry I've been super busy." We asked him if he had read any of the Book of Mormon and he said "Yeah but not very much, only to about the end of Nephi." He read 60 PAGES!!! And he came with questions!!!!! We extended a soft baptismal invitation (an invitation without a date) and he agreed!! I'll let you know how things go with him, but he is super great!!

One last thing. I am getting really comfortable with conversational contacting. I can strike up conversations with people at bus stops, on trains, on buses, and its fun!! The other day I asked a girl what the French word was for phone case (by pointing at it and asking "qu'est-ce que c'est?") and from there we had a wonderful conversation about the Book of Mormon!! Being a missionary is one of the most fun things ever, I am absolutely in LOVE with missionary work - it really is fun when you make it fun!!)

Well that's about all the time I have for today to write to you, so I'm going to end it here. I love you and pray for you every day!! Keep sharing the gospel, its your most important job!!

Love,
Soeur Everett

I LOVE MY MISSION!!!

First of all, THANK YOU FOR THE LETTERS EVERYONE. Getting letters as a missionary is SUCH a wonderful feeling, so feel free to keep writing to me!!! :) Also dad, the sheet music??? I almost cried from happiness. And of course right away we had a jam session and sang "Minuit Chretiens" (O Holy Night).  Thank goodness for a companion who plays the piano amazingly, am I right??? But seriously, thanks everyone!!!

This week was AMAZING!!! (As usual.) And of course General Conference made it all the more amazing!! I want to hear all about everyone's favorite talks!! My favorite talk by far was by Elder Richard G. Scott in the Sunday morning session. I felt like it was just for me. :) I can't wait for the Liahona so I can read everything all over again!!!! (Also, I haven't watched Sunday afternoon session yet... maybe there will be something I like more in that one... who knows!)

Sunset from our apartment in Carcassonne

Now for some MIRACLES!!!!! Ok brace yourself for the best miracle ever. So last Wednesday we go over to give Frère Pondela (an inactive member in our ward) a lesson. When we got there he invited his 18 year old daughter to join us. A lesson that we originally planned for Frère Pondela turned into the first lesson for Deborah!!! Everything we said about the church made sense to her. When we talked about modern-day prophets she said "of course that's true." It came to a point in the lesson when I knew we needed to invite her to baptism. I whispered to Soeur Richardson in English that we needed to do it and she told me I could go ahead and do it. All of a sudden the words that we recite every morning were completely erased from my memory so I told Soeur Richardson she had to do it. She invited her to be baptized on November 10th and SHE ACCEPTED. Absolute miracle.

This week is going to be soo much fun. We have a Zone conference in Aix-en-Provence so we will be staying in Montpellier tonight and tomorrow night and spending the day tomorrow out in Aix!!! I'm SO EXCITED!!!! Also we have exchanges with the sister training leaders from Friday to Saturday so we won't be here all that much this week. But I can assure you, miracles are still coming!!!

I just want to dedicate a section of this letter to the amazing sisters I serve with here in Carcassonne. I feel like I don't talk about them nearly enough, so it's about time I express my love!!!

First of all, Soeur Beeny. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. We have been together for about 9 weeks and I've grown really close to her!! She speaks French REALLY well and she is just so enthusiastic about everything! She is really inspiring to me because it seems like she is never down and never out of energy! She is also soo willing to serve us - she always cooks for us and is doing dishes and vacuuming and whatnot all the time. There are so many things I have learned from her and soo many more things I can learn from her as well. She is AMAZING.

Second, Soeur Mann. :)) We haven't spend a whole ton of time together but she has one of the sweetest and most sincere hearts of anyone I have met!! Actually, she reminds me a whole lot of Anna!! She is so incredibly loving and Christlike!!! Whenever anyone needs to talk in the apartment about anything, she is always there to listen and comfort. She definitely has the gift of being able to love people as Christ does.

And of course.... SOEUR RICHARDSON. She is literally an angel sent to me from heaven. I can't even begin to explain how much she means to me and how much I love her!!! She is always looking for ways to make me feel incredibly good about myself. I don't think my self-esteem has ever been higher than it is in this time that I've been with her!! She is so sincere and SO loving. She loves being a missionary and her love of the gospel radiates when she teaches people and invites them to come unto Christ.

Sticky Notes of Encouragement

I AM SO BLESSED to be with these wonderful sisters!!! I'm so glad that I still have these next 3 weeks to live with them and I KNOW that after our missions we will be friends for the rest of our lives. :) Anyway, I know this letter was a little different than usual, but I really wanted to tell you about the wonderful sisters I live with!!

I love you all SO MUCH and I miss you!! Please keep writing me, its soo good to hear from you!!

Love,

Soeur Everett

P.S. Mosiah 2:5-6, 9 I LOVE CONFERENCE.

Soeur Richardson always makes creative titles, but I don't know what to say!!!!!

Wowwww what an amazing week!!!! We have had just so many miraculous things happen that I don't know where to begin!!! (I feel like I say this every week, but that's a good thing, right??)

Soeurs Richardson et Everett

First of all... On Thursday when we were on the train on our way to Montpellier, Soeur Richardson turned to me and said, "Soeur Everett. I woke up in the middle of the night and you were talking in your sleep about I don't even know what. Mostly because it was in French." YES.

Angel Feet

 

I think one of our biggest miracles was Saturday. We made a goal that we were going to contact 150 people that day and when we woke up the next morning we realized that it was pouring rain and that hardly anyone would be out to contact. But of course, we contacted anyway!!!! I was completely shocked at how many people were actually in Centre-Ville to contact, but we talked to so many really cool, really elect people. And so many people were interested to listen to us!! When we had contacted around 145 people we were extremely exhausted (something about contacting for a couple hours straight does that to you...), but of course we had to make it to 150 before coming in. The 147th person we contacted was this lady named Elizabeth. She works for UNICEF here in Carcassonne! As we were talking she mentioned that they were actually looking for volunteers to come and that she would love for us to help!!! I LOVE when we are blessed with service opportunities!! And after she told us about that we asked if maybe we could meet with her and tell her more about the gospel and she said "You know, normally I would say no, but today I'm going to say yes. Why not!" Such a blessing!! It's amazing what Heavenly Father does when we try our hardest to reach our goals.




Are there Hobbits in Carcassonne?

Miracle #2: This week we focused on 3 less actives in our ward: the Anderson family, Claude, and Nadia. While I was leading the opening hymn in Sacrament meeting (my ward chorister talent lives on!!!!!!!) I saw the Anderson family walk in, then Claude, THEN NADIA. I practically started crying in front of everyone. So we had all of our baptismal engagés at church AND all of the less actives we worked with that week!!

Ok now for the spiritual bit. :) I was reading in the Book of Mormon a few days ago and came across a passage of scripture that just hit me so hard. I have read the story of the brother of Jared crossing the sea countless times but I have never seen these scriptures so metaphorically before. (Ether 6:5-10). I just think about how this is like us in life. We have the fullness of the gospel in our lives and we are safely secure in our "barge" that is "tight like unto a dish." When trials come we can know that they will never be too much for us to handle - as verse 7 says, as "they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters." Verse 8 is my favorite verse of this passage. It says that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land. I LOVE THIS. We all have trials in our lives, and sometimes our trials are really really hard. But we can take comfort in knowing that God has a PERFECT plan for us and that the trials or the "winds" will always blow us towards the "promised land" or the Celestial Kingdom. :) I hope I explained this analogy well, but when I read it I just fell in love with it.

I hope you have a wonderful week family!! Keep praying for me and my amis!!

Love you!
Soeur Everett