Following the Spirit

Hi family!

This week was really good.  We had interviews with the Poznanski's, and for sure it was my favorite interviews and so inspired.  I honestly felt like President Poznanski was answering my prayers like it was Heavenly Father talking directly through him.  I was so thankful for it.  He said so many things that comforted me and helped me understand better my purpose.  He said something to the effect of, "Soeur Chard, Heavenly Father is putting you through a refiner's fire on your mission because He's molding you for a purpose for work you need to do later."  One thing that Soeur Poznanski and President Poznanski both said to me in my interviews that has really stuck with me:  "you are relying too much on your own abilities, you need to rely on the Atonement more." 

So the next day we had planned to go porte in Vaucresson.  I am always a person who has to know exactly where we are going, when, and then we stick to the schedule.  I kept remembering what the Poznanski's told me and made the decision that I was just going to try to follow the spirit and not be too concerned about what I thought we should be doing.  (Soeur Dawson is very good at doing that, following the spirit.)  So before we walked out the door I said, "wait, Soeur Dawson.  Tell me who you think we are going to meet who will be interested."  She stopped and then she said, "we are going to meet someone kind of like you.  She kind of looks like you, she'll have a big smile and it will seem like she doesn't really belong."  Then we prayed and left.

We headed over to Vaucresson and it takes about an hour and twenty minutes with trajet to get over there.  We got over to the apartment building we were going to porte because a member lives there and we had felt the spirit strongly last time we had been there so we wanted to go back.  We realized when we got there we only had twenty minutes before we had to head back home, unless we taught a lesson we could stay for forty minutes.  So we prayed, and then walked in to start porting.  We got inside and just felt weird.  We went to knock the first door and didnt feel good so we walked down a level and went to go knock another door.  I was about the knock on the door and I looked at Soeur Dawson and said, "how do you feel?"  She said, "weird."  So we walked out of the building.  At this point we now had about ten minutes left before we had to head back home for the night.  We felt like we should start walking back to the train station.  We were walking and I looked across the street where there were a bunch of nice, gated houses. (usually dont target those ones. :) ).  But I said, "Let's go knock those ones."  At this point we now had zero minutes left before we had to leave to be home on time.  We started walking down the street and Soeur Dawson stopped in front of a house and said, "let's do this one."  So we sonneted and this girl who is about my age who kind of looks like me with a huge smile came outside.  We started speaking in french and then she said, "Wait, do you go to Paris International School by chance?"  This girl graduated in 2010 from Paris International School and her mom is Irish and her dad is British.  I told her I went to FIS, etc. etc.  We asked her if she was religious, she said she believed in God didn't really know about Christ and was open to learning more.  So we got her number and are trying to fix something this week.  She was the one person we talked to in Vaucresson that night but it was such an example to me that when I was finally willing to stop trying to control things so much, that's when we were able to be led by the spirit.  It was awesome.

I am excited for Soeur Dawson to come home and meet all of you, she knows so much about our family, what we do, so much about each of you.  She says she already feels like she'll be calling mom and dad mom and pops.  So, basically you are possibly about to have a fourth Chard girl. :)

I know that the gospel blesses families and I know as we put our faith in the Atonement of Christ we can do anything the Lord asks us to do.  And I know without the Atonement of Christ, we are so limited in our capacities.  I know God loves us and He knows us and He knows already every choice we are going to make and He still always makes it possible for each of us to return back to Him.  I know challenges are given to us to help us learn and grow and that they are all for a purpose.  I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Soeur Chard