Monday, September 17, 2012
Ah Les Missionnaires!
Hello Family!
Today I am spending pday with charlotte searle, I am excited, I think we are going to go to the champs elysees and just walk around and relax. Should be fun.
This week has been very interesting because it's been the worst of my mission as far as numbers but I feel like it was still successful.
Most interesting story of the week was when Soeur Horn and I tried to pass-by a less-active who has been in-active for the last ten years. We had visited a member family in the area and they suggested we tried to see her. So we sonnetted her and she opened the door because she thought it was her daughter coming home from school. She said, "ah les missionnaires! Venez." So we went in and come to find out it was the first time she had accepted missionaries in her house in eight years. She let us sit down and goes on to tell us her life story. It was one of the saddest things I have ever heard. She was a convert and almost her whole family got baptized but all fell away, she was the stalwart. Anyways, she ended up serving a mission. Here's the crazy part, I asked her where she served her mission and she says London. I ask her when and come to find out Boppy was her mission president! Carol Joly, does that tell you anything mom? Anyways, unfortunately didnt have a very good mission experience. Still stayed strong and then she got married in the temple and everything, stayed strong for twenty years. she told us the story of her falling away and seriously it completely broke my heart, it was so so sad. She said that now she believes in God again, in Heavenly Father but she's trying to figure out who Christ is for her. We read a verse from the Book of Mormon and she said she felt something again it was like remembering a lost friend. She accepted a BOM because she had thrown out all her other scriptures and said she would read. Her fifteen year old daughter came home in the middle and was really happy and surprised to see missionaries and said she wants to come back to church. Her youngest daughter who was nine had never prayed before in her life and at the end of our lesson we said a prayer together, it was the first time in this little girl's life she had done it. We are praying for Carole, she is so good and had been so strong for so many years, she said she's not ready to take missionary lessons right now but she said, "your visit was not in vain, thank you for coming."
Everyone in the ward is doing well, I absolutely love the members here and the other missionaries serving here right now, it will be hard to leave. Please keep praying for us this week. Every ami we had has disappeared, and we are literally starting at ground zero. In particular please pray that the members will have opportunities to share the gospel with their friends and will be able to feel the spirit and the joy that comes from missionary work.
I love you all, have a great week. Thank you for all of your love and prayers!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Today I am spending pday with charlotte searle, I am excited, I think we are going to go to the champs elysees and just walk around and relax. Should be fun.
This week has been very interesting because it's been the worst of my mission as far as numbers but I feel like it was still successful.
Most interesting story of the week was when Soeur Horn and I tried to pass-by a less-active who has been in-active for the last ten years. We had visited a member family in the area and they suggested we tried to see her. So we sonnetted her and she opened the door because she thought it was her daughter coming home from school. She said, "ah les missionnaires! Venez." So we went in and come to find out it was the first time she had accepted missionaries in her house in eight years. She let us sit down and goes on to tell us her life story. It was one of the saddest things I have ever heard. She was a convert and almost her whole family got baptized but all fell away, she was the stalwart. Anyways, she ended up serving a mission. Here's the crazy part, I asked her where she served her mission and she says London. I ask her when and come to find out Boppy was her mission president! Carol Joly, does that tell you anything mom? Anyways, unfortunately didnt have a very good mission experience. Still stayed strong and then she got married in the temple and everything, stayed strong for twenty years. she told us the story of her falling away and seriously it completely broke my heart, it was so so sad. She said that now she believes in God again, in Heavenly Father but she's trying to figure out who Christ is for her. We read a verse from the Book of Mormon and she said she felt something again it was like remembering a lost friend. She accepted a BOM because she had thrown out all her other scriptures and said she would read. Her fifteen year old daughter came home in the middle and was really happy and surprised to see missionaries and said she wants to come back to church. Her youngest daughter who was nine had never prayed before in her life and at the end of our lesson we said a prayer together, it was the first time in this little girl's life she had done it. We are praying for Carole, she is so good and had been so strong for so many years, she said she's not ready to take missionary lessons right now but she said, "your visit was not in vain, thank you for coming."
Everyone in the ward is doing well, I absolutely love the members here and the other missionaries serving here right now, it will be hard to leave. Please keep praying for us this week. Every ami we had has disappeared, and we are literally starting at ground zero. In particular please pray that the members will have opportunities to share the gospel with their friends and will be able to feel the spirit and the joy that comes from missionary work.
I love you all, have a great week. Thank you for all of your love and prayers!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Monday, September 10, 2012
It was a WHITE week in Paris
Hi family,
Siliane and Fréderique Doh are now official members of the church! It was the best weekend ever. We met with them almost every day leading up to their baptism (we had to finish teaching them all the commandments) and they accepted everything so well. I promise they were already living basically every commandment and now they just have the blessings that come from the gospel. The coolest part was when we taught them Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. That was the most difficult for them to keep because they both have (had) to work on Sunday. So what happened is last week Fréderique was almost not going to be able to go to church because of work. She said, "you know what, Im coming, I'll see you there. Pray for me please." So they both showed up last Sunday, we asked how they got to church because of work. They had had their doctor write a forge note saying they were sick so they could go to church. I said, "well, I think next lesson is going to be on honesty." but not so secretly we were really happy they were at church.
So they had committed to keeping the Sabbath Day Holy on Wednesday I think it was. Friday just before their baptismal interview we had a special lesson just about how they were going to take upon them the name of Christ the next day and what a beautiful blessing it was going to be, etc. Fréderique said she wanted to tell us a story. She went on to tell us that her employer had called and said she absolutely had to work on Saturday (the day of her baptism) and on Sunday because she has missed the last two weeks. she told them she wouldnt be there because she was going to church. They said in that case, dont bother coming into work again, you have lost your job. She said, okay, well Im not coming in on Saturday or Sunday, so sorry. So about a week ago Frederique told us she had started looking for a new job because she knew it was a commandment to come to church every sunday. A day after she lost her job because she had committed to come to church she got a call from one of the employers she had applied for a job for, and they offered her a job. She said, "I just want you to know that I am not going to work on Sundays." They said, "okay, is it because you are going to church?" She said, "yes." "okay that's great, you dont have to work on Sunday." It was such a testimony to Soeur Horn and I that as we act on faith in Christ without always knowing the outcome in advance, He will always provide for us. It was awesome. Their baptisms were beautiful, and the confirmations were awesome. And the most exciting part is that is was simply because a member invited them to come to church. At the baptism he bore his testimony and said for years he has felt he should talk to these two girls about the gospel but was always nervous too. He finally did it and three weeks later they are getting baptized. He testified of the incredible joy that has come into his life because he shared the gospel with someone else. In Fréderique's blessing of confirmation it talked all about how she is going to be helping advance the work of the Lord through her missionary work. Last Sunday she told Soeur Horn and I that she would maybe like to serve a mission. Isnt that crazy? Siliane just moved to the south of France Sunday night right after her confirmation. She said that she hates planes so much but she wants to come and she said she'll come and visit Soeur Horn and me in Utah and because she really wants to go to the temple in Salt Lake.
Everything else is going well here too. Soeur Horn and I did planning on Friday and came up with a six phase plan to accomplish the vision we want to see here. The vision is to help the Versailles Ward become a Preach My Gospel Ward and to "Gather Israel" (read the definition in bible dictionary... it's 'one who prevails with God') We really feel like we are being led and directed by the spirit to know what to do. We love every minute of it and are having so much fun doing it. It really is an act of faith because it is not necessarily normal missionary work whatsoever. It's focusing a lot less on finding methods like contacting and porting and a lot more on members. It's unlike anything I have done so far on my mission and honestly I dont have proof that it's the right thing to do and that it will be successful, but the thing that we do have to go off is that Soeur Horn and I both have the same vision and both keep receiving new inspiration that helps further our vision and we keep having huge support from the ward. Our mission leader asked us to come to ward council last week to present one of the projects we are doing. We presented everything and everyone started getting really excited about it. At the end the bishop said, "thank you sisters. You have our full support, please show us what we can do to help." He then asked us to present something on the 30th of september to the ward showing the members how to do missionary work. The awesome thing we have been noticing is that members are so ready and willing to help missionary work, you just have to show them how. We are now working really closely with the relief society to do one of our projects and it's so fun. So please pray for us, because when it all comes down to it, we are just kind of going on faith as far as what we actually know what we are doing.
I hope everyone has an amazing week! I love you so much!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Monday, September 3, 2012
NuSkin a la Francais!
Hi family!
This last week has been the best of my mission and I will tell you why:
1. Siliane and Frederique are both getting baptized this Saturday! Such an amazing story. Siliane was the one who came into church by herself and the member introduced me to her. I started talking to her and realized it was her first time talking to missionaries. We set up an appointment and she ended up bringing her twin sister Frederique. We have taught them for two and a half weeks. Basically they were so incredibly prepared before we started teaching them, the spirit was able to teach them so strongly and they are getting baptized this Saturday. the best part is that they way we found these girls was because a member they work with at Carrefour just mentioned they should try coming to church and see what they think. So this story has started a huge turn of events in Versailles.
That same week we met Siliane and Frederique, the Assistants gave Soeur Horn and I this case study about what this sister missionary did in a ward in Boston and it completely changed missionary work in the ward. They gave it to us and said, "try doing this in Versailles." So I read it, and basically it changed my life. Literally. I read it and almost every night since I have read it I go to bed thinking about all these things for missionary work and after being in bed for a couple hours I have to go write down all the thoughts that come into my mind in my journal for about an hour and then Im able to finally sleep without a problem. That same pattern has happened four times in the last week. And I know they are not my thoughts, it is straight up inspiration of the spirit.
So we had a sister training two weeks ago and the Assistants did it and they just mentioned something about the case study in saying they had received it from the Lyon mission (pres roney) and they had given it to Soeur Horn and I are now going to send it to all the zone leaders. After the training they started asking what Soeur Horn and my vision was for the ward. So we told them, that night we set the baptismal date with Frederique, two days later we set one with Siliane.
Then on Friday the elders called to ask if we could help two women move into the Le Vesinet area, they arent members, arent even investigators. We agreed and went over with all the other equipes in our district. WE FOUND THE NU SKIN DISTRIBUTOR. We were unloading boxes and I saw Nu Skin written on it so I asked if she uses Nu Skin and she told me she was a distributor. I was freaking out inside. The lady was super super stressed and was really not too interested in talking about Nu Skin at the moment but ultimately, this woman does not believe in God at all, and I can basically guarantee you had we contacted her in the street it would be "ça m'interesse pas" but we helped her move and at the end she said, "wow, I am so grateful to all of you, how can I repay you? I would love to give your church some of my old furniture, just let me get all my stuff moved in and I will give you a call." At the end the elders asked if they could dedicate her home with a priesthood blessing. She said yes that would be fine. The spirit was so powerful and the other woman (from new zealand who is also so awesome) was really touched, you could see it.
That night same thing, I woke up at night and had to write for an hour. Crazy stuff. Not my ideas. The next day at church the assistants (we've been talking about vision of the mission and of Versailles, etc.) we talked and Soeur Horn and I are helping them plan the mission training they're doing for the mission this transfer. It changes everything, it's so cool.
Basically, what started it for me is this case study. I am so absolutely obsessed about it, I talk about it to everybody. I am so thoroughly convinced that it is the key to success and with it we can baptize three times as many people in the mission. So Elder Gubbay one of the assistants has a brother Elder Gubbay who is assistant to President Roney right now in Lyon. This is what happened. President Roney gave every one of his missionaries this case study, asked them to read it four times and pray for inspiration from the Lord for their ville of what they need to do and then get to work. He told them the following week was going to be an "indear the members week." .... he told all his missionaries to go home and bake cookies. Go home bake cookies and go and visit all of the members in the ward. That week they had 38 referrals. Elder Gubbay told me that part of the story about three days ago and that's the night I woke up and realized that the mission is basically Nu skin.
Leaders to employees to distributors to consumers
Leaders to missionaries to members to investigators
It's the exact same set up, it can be the exact same set up and that's what can change a mission. So it's changing trainings from being focused on tactics of how to teach amis, how to porte, how to find and it is instead giving missionaries the tools to get their vision for the ward they are serving in and show the members the how of how to do missionary work.
Soeur Horn and I started working on this ward repetoire in the ward, updating information for the ward. We did one page of 35 names, using white pages online and we found that only 16 were correct, 6 had changed addresses and 11 were unfindable. The assistants had two of their last baptisms come from people who were already located on the repetoire but had incorrect information, the assistants happened to find those people by miracles. So now we have all the missionaries working to updating that. I talked to our ward mission leader the other day and he said, "well, this is really great, the bishop just wants to know if this is really missionary work?" I told him what we had done with it and why it's such an important missionary tool. HIs response was, "Remy and I are preparing a missionary presentation to present to the bishopric on the 30th of September. Will you prepare a presentation about member missionary work? The members want to help they just dont know how to do it." so good, so good.
So, already the ward has changed and it has only been three weeks really since we have all really been changing our strategy in our district. Yesterday in sacrament meeting basically every testimony was on missionary work and the Atonement and how this church is Christ's church on the earth today. After church multiple members came up to me and said, "soeur chard what's happening, missionary work has never been like this in this ward, what's changed?" I told them it's the members, it's the attitude. The assistants have been setting baptismal dates for every other week, I will just say this. That is not even close to what is average. And now it's carrying out so much further, we're trying to help every zone have what is happening in Versailles happen in their area. It's so fun.
Mom mentioned the reporters on Mitt Romney? Yes there's a lot going on with that. We had reporters film sacrament meeting and I'll send you the link. They are finally finally starting to get that we are normal. It's a good report. The elders you see are Elder Gubbay and Elder Saguibo. Two of the best elders ever, so so good. And from this report there's going to be another baptism next week! A woman who was on the media crew started researching everything about the church and emailed someone to see where the closest mormon church was to her in St Germain. Showed up to Versailles. Soeur Merer (elder gubbay's grandma and grandma connie's friend) introduced this woman to the elders. The elders went over there and this woman had written a whole proposition of why the church should accept her as a member and explaining her situation as a divorcee, her situation with tithing, etc. Basically they fixed a baptismal date with her for two weeks later. These people are just miracles that the Lord is sending us and it's happening for the entire district and it is so incredible. The mission goal that this conference is trying to help accomplish is to have 78 baptisms for the month of September. Something that has never happened but totally can. And Elder Anderson is coming to speak to the mission in November!
Soeur Horn, I absolutely love her, could not ask for a better companion. Seriously could not ask for a better person to work with. She's a hard worker, she offers awesome input and she trusts me, she will try new things and she understands the why behind everything. I absolutely love her and we have so much fun together. We had a RDV with Siliane and Frederique last night and Frederique said she's thinking about serving a mission after she gets baptized. So crazy cool.
I love you all and hope you have a fabulous week! Please pray for Siliane and Frederique this week! And pray for the mission to all see success.
Love,
Soeur Chard
This last week has been the best of my mission and I will tell you why:
1. Siliane and Frederique are both getting baptized this Saturday! Such an amazing story. Siliane was the one who came into church by herself and the member introduced me to her. I started talking to her and realized it was her first time talking to missionaries. We set up an appointment and she ended up bringing her twin sister Frederique. We have taught them for two and a half weeks. Basically they were so incredibly prepared before we started teaching them, the spirit was able to teach them so strongly and they are getting baptized this Saturday. the best part is that they way we found these girls was because a member they work with at Carrefour just mentioned they should try coming to church and see what they think. So this story has started a huge turn of events in Versailles.
That same week we met Siliane and Frederique, the Assistants gave Soeur Horn and I this case study about what this sister missionary did in a ward in Boston and it completely changed missionary work in the ward. They gave it to us and said, "try doing this in Versailles." So I read it, and basically it changed my life. Literally. I read it and almost every night since I have read it I go to bed thinking about all these things for missionary work and after being in bed for a couple hours I have to go write down all the thoughts that come into my mind in my journal for about an hour and then Im able to finally sleep without a problem. That same pattern has happened four times in the last week. And I know they are not my thoughts, it is straight up inspiration of the spirit.
So we had a sister training two weeks ago and the Assistants did it and they just mentioned something about the case study in saying they had received it from the Lyon mission (pres roney) and they had given it to Soeur Horn and I are now going to send it to all the zone leaders. After the training they started asking what Soeur Horn and my vision was for the ward. So we told them, that night we set the baptismal date with Frederique, two days later we set one with Siliane.
Then on Friday the elders called to ask if we could help two women move into the Le Vesinet area, they arent members, arent even investigators. We agreed and went over with all the other equipes in our district. WE FOUND THE NU SKIN DISTRIBUTOR. We were unloading boxes and I saw Nu Skin written on it so I asked if she uses Nu Skin and she told me she was a distributor. I was freaking out inside. The lady was super super stressed and was really not too interested in talking about Nu Skin at the moment but ultimately, this woman does not believe in God at all, and I can basically guarantee you had we contacted her in the street it would be "ça m'interesse pas" but we helped her move and at the end she said, "wow, I am so grateful to all of you, how can I repay you? I would love to give your church some of my old furniture, just let me get all my stuff moved in and I will give you a call." At the end the elders asked if they could dedicate her home with a priesthood blessing. She said yes that would be fine. The spirit was so powerful and the other woman (from new zealand who is also so awesome) was really touched, you could see it.
That night same thing, I woke up at night and had to write for an hour. Crazy stuff. Not my ideas. The next day at church the assistants (we've been talking about vision of the mission and of Versailles, etc.) we talked and Soeur Horn and I are helping them plan the mission training they're doing for the mission this transfer. It changes everything, it's so cool.
Basically, what started it for me is this case study. I am so absolutely obsessed about it, I talk about it to everybody. I am so thoroughly convinced that it is the key to success and with it we can baptize three times as many people in the mission. So Elder Gubbay one of the assistants has a brother Elder Gubbay who is assistant to President Roney right now in Lyon. This is what happened. President Roney gave every one of his missionaries this case study, asked them to read it four times and pray for inspiration from the Lord for their ville of what they need to do and then get to work. He told them the following week was going to be an "indear the members week." .... he told all his missionaries to go home and bake cookies. Go home bake cookies and go and visit all of the members in the ward. That week they had 38 referrals. Elder Gubbay told me that part of the story about three days ago and that's the night I woke up and realized that the mission is basically Nu skin.
Leaders to employees to distributors to consumers
Leaders to missionaries to members to investigators
It's the exact same set up, it can be the exact same set up and that's what can change a mission. So it's changing trainings from being focused on tactics of how to teach amis, how to porte, how to find and it is instead giving missionaries the tools to get their vision for the ward they are serving in and show the members the how of how to do missionary work.
Soeur Horn and I started working on this ward repetoire in the ward, updating information for the ward. We did one page of 35 names, using white pages online and we found that only 16 were correct, 6 had changed addresses and 11 were unfindable. The assistants had two of their last baptisms come from people who were already located on the repetoire but had incorrect information, the assistants happened to find those people by miracles. So now we have all the missionaries working to updating that. I talked to our ward mission leader the other day and he said, "well, this is really great, the bishop just wants to know if this is really missionary work?" I told him what we had done with it and why it's such an important missionary tool. HIs response was, "Remy and I are preparing a missionary presentation to present to the bishopric on the 30th of September. Will you prepare a presentation about member missionary work? The members want to help they just dont know how to do it." so good, so good.
So, already the ward has changed and it has only been three weeks really since we have all really been changing our strategy in our district. Yesterday in sacrament meeting basically every testimony was on missionary work and the Atonement and how this church is Christ's church on the earth today. After church multiple members came up to me and said, "soeur chard what's happening, missionary work has never been like this in this ward, what's changed?" I told them it's the members, it's the attitude. The assistants have been setting baptismal dates for every other week, I will just say this. That is not even close to what is average. And now it's carrying out so much further, we're trying to help every zone have what is happening in Versailles happen in their area. It's so fun.
Mom mentioned the reporters on Mitt Romney? Yes there's a lot going on with that. We had reporters film sacrament meeting and I'll send you the link. They are finally finally starting to get that we are normal. It's a good report. The elders you see are Elder Gubbay and Elder Saguibo. Two of the best elders ever, so so good. And from this report there's going to be another baptism next week! A woman who was on the media crew started researching everything about the church and emailed someone to see where the closest mormon church was to her in St Germain. Showed up to Versailles. Soeur Merer (elder gubbay's grandma and grandma connie's friend) introduced this woman to the elders. The elders went over there and this woman had written a whole proposition of why the church should accept her as a member and explaining her situation as a divorcee, her situation with tithing, etc. Basically they fixed a baptismal date with her for two weeks later. These people are just miracles that the Lord is sending us and it's happening for the entire district and it is so incredible. The mission goal that this conference is trying to help accomplish is to have 78 baptisms for the month of September. Something that has never happened but totally can. And Elder Anderson is coming to speak to the mission in November!
Soeur Horn, I absolutely love her, could not ask for a better companion. Seriously could not ask for a better person to work with. She's a hard worker, she offers awesome input and she trusts me, she will try new things and she understands the why behind everything. I absolutely love her and we have so much fun together. We had a RDV with Siliane and Frederique last night and Frederique said she's thinking about serving a mission after she gets baptized. So crazy cool.
I love you all and hope you have a fabulous week! Please pray for Siliane and Frederique this week! And pray for the mission to all see success.
Love,
Soeur Chard
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Soeur Searle Sighting
Hi Family!
I just saw Soeur Searle a few minutes ago doing emails! It's so fun to have a friend from home here too.
Let's see, this will probably be a shorter one but:
The miracle of the week is two girls named Siliane and Frederick. Last week when we were at church (when Alejandra didnt show up and we were devastated) we went to amis class and this girl was there who I thought was the elders ami because she was sitting next to the elders. Afterwards this girl (Siliane) was talking to Frere Ya and Frere Ya said, "well, I think the missionaries can answer this better." So he brings the girl over to me and walks away. So I start talking to the girl and realize that she has never met a missionary before. So she says, "I have heard a lot of crazy things about your church. I've heard you're a cult, Ive heard lot of things, but I dont believe it and I want to find out for myself. Is there someone who can tell me the difference between your church and other churches?" So ultimately we set up a lesson for later that week. When she came she brought her twin sister. It was Soeur Horn's favorte lesson she has taught on her mission. I know the gift of tongues is real! Soeur Horn did so well in that lesson. The spirit was so strong and they both committed to start reading the BOM, pray and come to church. I swear there is so much opposition against people coming to church. We have the hardest time getting people to church. Ultimately a half hour before church started Siliane texted us to say their boss had just called them in to work so unfortunately neither could come to church. But,they are great and we are seeing them again on Tuesday.
Alejandra, no one knows what happened to her. It is so so sad. But, I also know we have done everything we can do as missionaries, now we are just praying really hard for her and are turning it over to Heavenly Father's hands. But I know everything is going to work out, because she genuinely wants to do what is right and follow God's plan for her. Please pray for her specifically and that our investigators can start coming to church!
I just want to share something about faith because it's something I have been learning a lot about lately on my mission. What does it mean when it talks about missionaries strengthening their faith and what are we supposed to have faith in? So, do you have faith in people keeping commitments, faith people accept the gospel, faith in numbers, or what exactly. And I've been learning more and more that faith is not having faith in other people or in things but faith needs to be rooted in Christ. If we have faith in Christ we know that all things are possible in Christ, we have complete trust and confidence in Him even if we dont understand everything at a time. And then, how do you show your faith? It's by diligently seeking and working. I dont know if that makes any sense there, but it has been something I have been coming to understand more and it changes everything.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Soeur Chard
I just saw Soeur Searle a few minutes ago doing emails! It's so fun to have a friend from home here too.
Let's see, this will probably be a shorter one but:
The miracle of the week is two girls named Siliane and Frederick. Last week when we were at church (when Alejandra didnt show up and we were devastated) we went to amis class and this girl was there who I thought was the elders ami because she was sitting next to the elders. Afterwards this girl (Siliane) was talking to Frere Ya and Frere Ya said, "well, I think the missionaries can answer this better." So he brings the girl over to me and walks away. So I start talking to the girl and realize that she has never met a missionary before. So she says, "I have heard a lot of crazy things about your church. I've heard you're a cult, Ive heard lot of things, but I dont believe it and I want to find out for myself. Is there someone who can tell me the difference between your church and other churches?" So ultimately we set up a lesson for later that week. When she came she brought her twin sister. It was Soeur Horn's favorte lesson she has taught on her mission. I know the gift of tongues is real! Soeur Horn did so well in that lesson. The spirit was so strong and they both committed to start reading the BOM, pray and come to church. I swear there is so much opposition against people coming to church. We have the hardest time getting people to church. Ultimately a half hour before church started Siliane texted us to say their boss had just called them in to work so unfortunately neither could come to church. But,they are great and we are seeing them again on Tuesday.
Alejandra, no one knows what happened to her. It is so so sad. But, I also know we have done everything we can do as missionaries, now we are just praying really hard for her and are turning it over to Heavenly Father's hands. But I know everything is going to work out, because she genuinely wants to do what is right and follow God's plan for her. Please pray for her specifically and that our investigators can start coming to church!
I just want to share something about faith because it's something I have been learning a lot about lately on my mission. What does it mean when it talks about missionaries strengthening their faith and what are we supposed to have faith in? So, do you have faith in people keeping commitments, faith people accept the gospel, faith in numbers, or what exactly. And I've been learning more and more that faith is not having faith in other people or in things but faith needs to be rooted in Christ. If we have faith in Christ we know that all things are possible in Christ, we have complete trust and confidence in Him even if we dont understand everything at a time. And then, how do you show your faith? It's by diligently seeking and working. I dont know if that makes any sense there, but it has been something I have been coming to understand more and it changes everything.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Monday, August 13, 2012
It's my Birthday tomorrow!
Where to start:
Alejandra: bad for the moment. We had a RDV with her on Saturday. We were waiting for her by the bus stop and the bus passed and no one got off. So I called her and she answered and said, "I am so sorry, I was reading over again all those scriptures you gave me in the Book of Mormon and I didnt eve'n realize that I missed the stop, im on my way back." So it started off well. Then the RDV started and we had planned to talk about priesthood authority, and the sacrament to prepare her to come to church the next day and to help her understand more why getting baptized in this church is different from any other. So, we started talking, explained priesthood and she said, "yes, I get it. I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet and I believe the Book of Mormon is true." Then she explained how she feels so confused because she feels so much joy when she comes to our lessons, but then she goes to her other church and she feels good too and her church has given her so much, etc. She asked if we could just cancel the baptismal date for now because she feels so confused and everything has happened so fast. She says she has been praying so so much and reading everything in the Book of Mormon and she just feels confused. The entire time she was saying this the thought to me was to be quiet and let Soeur Horn talk. So I was quiet. And Soeur Horn answered, "Alejandra, I am going to make you a promise. When you come to church tomorrow and you pray to know if this is the church of God that you need to join, you will receive an answer and you won't be confused anymore." At the end of the lesson we kneeled down the three of us and prayed she would receive an answer by going to church the next day. After the lesson, Soeur Horn and I immediately started fasting because we had just promised something really big and we needed all the help we could get. That night we literally called about ten or fifteen ward members to ask them to welcome her when she came to church the next day. We found spanish translators for every meeting. Never in my entire mission have I made so much effort for someone to come to church. The next mormning we wake up and have a text from Alejandra from 2:30 in the morning. She said how stressed she had felt about everything after the lesson and how she had been praying the entire day to know what to do. She said she felt she had got her answer, she felt peaceful about going to her other church and so she was going to follow her heart because she felt that was an answer to prayer. We were so devastated. Yep, we straight up cried. We sent her a text back and told her we respected her decision but we asked her to remember the promise we had given her the day before that God would answer her prayer by coming to church and she would no longer be confused. We told her that was still a promise. She never answered back and we havent heard from her since. It was so sad because we went to church and so so so many people all came up to meet our investigator that we had brought and we had to tell them she hadnt come. It was so sad. Then I look in the foyer and TJ Barden is walking into the hall. I do a double-take and suddenly the whole Barden Family is walking into the church! I just ran and gave Robin a big big hug. She asked me how I was doing and how our morning had been. ha I just got teary-eyed and told her not good. Anyways, it was a huge blessing to have the Barden's at church yesterday. I was able to talk to Robin for a while after Sacrament Meeting, ha we just cried together, it was so good. Im sure she will call you when she gets home to talk to you mom. :) And, please pray for Alejandra. We are gonig to try calling her tomorrow. It's to a point we have done all we can, and we need a lot of divine intervention because I dont know what else to do!
Maria: good. We saw her one last time before she left for the South of France now until September. We went in and her eight and nine-year-old boy came in to the lesson. The lesson before we had taught Maria the Plan of Salvation. So we pulled out the Plan of Salvation again and with Maria, we taught the Plan of Salvation to her kids. It was the most beautiful thing to watch a mom teach her kids the Plan of Salvation for the first time. At the end we committed the nine-year-old Clyde to baptism and the eight-year-old said he will think about it. We asked Clyde if he would like to start reading the BOM and he said yes. So we gave him Enos and then we asked him if he's ever prayed before. He said no. So we along with his mom taught him how to pray for the first time. It was the sweetest thing. Maria is now gone until September, she said she knows this is what she wants for her family and wants to get baptized when she gets back. We are trying to keep in touch with her every week by phone so we can give her scriptures to read with her kids while she is gone. Because, if I have learned one thing, Satan does not sleep! Ah so much can happen in-between everything.
Last Pday I saw the Crockett's.... dad's old mission president's daughter. The one he dated. haha She was freaking out when she realized I was Dan's daughter. And went on and on about Boppy and Grandma BB and everything and how much she loves mom etc. so funny.
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Alejandra: bad for the moment. We had a RDV with her on Saturday. We were waiting for her by the bus stop and the bus passed and no one got off. So I called her and she answered and said, "I am so sorry, I was reading over again all those scriptures you gave me in the Book of Mormon and I didnt eve'n realize that I missed the stop, im on my way back." So it started off well. Then the RDV started and we had planned to talk about priesthood authority, and the sacrament to prepare her to come to church the next day and to help her understand more why getting baptized in this church is different from any other. So, we started talking, explained priesthood and she said, "yes, I get it. I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet and I believe the Book of Mormon is true." Then she explained how she feels so confused because she feels so much joy when she comes to our lessons, but then she goes to her other church and she feels good too and her church has given her so much, etc. She asked if we could just cancel the baptismal date for now because she feels so confused and everything has happened so fast. She says she has been praying so so much and reading everything in the Book of Mormon and she just feels confused. The entire time she was saying this the thought to me was to be quiet and let Soeur Horn talk. So I was quiet. And Soeur Horn answered, "Alejandra, I am going to make you a promise. When you come to church tomorrow and you pray to know if this is the church of God that you need to join, you will receive an answer and you won't be confused anymore." At the end of the lesson we kneeled down the three of us and prayed she would receive an answer by going to church the next day. After the lesson, Soeur Horn and I immediately started fasting because we had just promised something really big and we needed all the help we could get. That night we literally called about ten or fifteen ward members to ask them to welcome her when she came to church the next day. We found spanish translators for every meeting. Never in my entire mission have I made so much effort for someone to come to church. The next mormning we wake up and have a text from Alejandra from 2:30 in the morning. She said how stressed she had felt about everything after the lesson and how she had been praying the entire day to know what to do. She said she felt she had got her answer, she felt peaceful about going to her other church and so she was going to follow her heart because she felt that was an answer to prayer. We were so devastated. Yep, we straight up cried. We sent her a text back and told her we respected her decision but we asked her to remember the promise we had given her the day before that God would answer her prayer by coming to church and she would no longer be confused. We told her that was still a promise. She never answered back and we havent heard from her since. It was so sad because we went to church and so so so many people all came up to meet our investigator that we had brought and we had to tell them she hadnt come. It was so sad. Then I look in the foyer and TJ Barden is walking into the hall. I do a double-take and suddenly the whole Barden Family is walking into the church! I just ran and gave Robin a big big hug. She asked me how I was doing and how our morning had been. ha I just got teary-eyed and told her not good. Anyways, it was a huge blessing to have the Barden's at church yesterday. I was able to talk to Robin for a while after Sacrament Meeting, ha we just cried together, it was so good. Im sure she will call you when she gets home to talk to you mom. :) And, please pray for Alejandra. We are gonig to try calling her tomorrow. It's to a point we have done all we can, and we need a lot of divine intervention because I dont know what else to do!
Maria: good. We saw her one last time before she left for the South of France now until September. We went in and her eight and nine-year-old boy came in to the lesson. The lesson before we had taught Maria the Plan of Salvation. So we pulled out the Plan of Salvation again and with Maria, we taught the Plan of Salvation to her kids. It was the most beautiful thing to watch a mom teach her kids the Plan of Salvation for the first time. At the end we committed the nine-year-old Clyde to baptism and the eight-year-old said he will think about it. We asked Clyde if he would like to start reading the BOM and he said yes. So we gave him Enos and then we asked him if he's ever prayed before. He said no. So we along with his mom taught him how to pray for the first time. It was the sweetest thing. Maria is now gone until September, she said she knows this is what she wants for her family and wants to get baptized when she gets back. We are trying to keep in touch with her every week by phone so we can give her scriptures to read with her kids while she is gone. Because, if I have learned one thing, Satan does not sleep! Ah so much can happen in-between everything.
Last Pday I saw the Crockett's.... dad's old mission president's daughter. The one he dated. haha She was freaking out when she realized I was Dan's daughter. And went on and on about Boppy and Grandma BB and everything and how much she loves mom etc. so funny.
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Monday, August 6, 2012
I"m a Mom!!!
Hi everyone!
Im so sorry this is going to be short because we are going to meet Soeur Ingraham and Soeur Searle in a minute to go to the Eiffel Tower! (Soeur Ingraham was my companion my third transfer remember?)
It was so funny because the few days before Soeur Horn (my blue) came in and I knew I had the training call I just started cleaning EVERYTHING and organizing everything while Soeur Dawson was packing and everything. Soeur Dawson said, "Soeur Chard, you are nesting!" It's so true, I guess it's motherly instincts of something. It's the most strange thing, because you seriously do feel mother instincts. You feel an instinct of wanting to protect them from bad things (people saying rude things, etc) or you feel so proud of them when you watch them succeed at something, it's so fun.
Soeur Horn is my new companion and I love her. She's from Las Vegas and is so sweet and very creative, something I am doing well learning from her. It was so fun seeing Soeur Searle too, I talked to her when we first got to St. Merri and she said, "Whoa, Alyssa you have grown up a lot since your mission." First, weird to hear your first name and weird because it's weird seeing someone who knew you from before the mission then meeting you again at this point in the mission. It sounds like she is doing well, she was actually Soeur Horn's MTC companion!
our first night after I picked up Soeur Horn I told her we were going to go teach a new ami for the first time and so we would be teaching a first lesson. I had called Nicole (she's in the Versailles ward and preparing to serve a mission in temple square) and asked if she would pretend to be an ami and kind of a not very interested one. She agreed, we got there, and Nicole had taken down all signs she was mormon. Pictures of the Temple, gone. Scriptures, out of sight. She answered the door and usually she is so happy and smiley, it was so funny to see her playing as an ami not very interested. Anyway, we went in, taught a first, Soeur Horn did so well, and we committed NIcole to start reading the BOM and pray about it. After we left her house, we talked about how Soeur Horn thought the whole thing had gone, etc. and then I said, "well, she's actually a member!" I think the stress of everything being new was a little much but ultimately I think Soeur Horn was relieved and we went back and had dinner at Nicole's house.
Since then, seriously everything has been working out perfectly. It's kind of bizarre. All the RDVs we have had have been with progressing amis who want to receive the lessons, who keep their commitments and who want to be baptized. My testimony has grown so much that people are already prepared to receive us, the spirit is what converts and their hearts will be opened to the message if they are prepared.
We set a baptismal date with Alejandra!!! (that was Soeur Horn's first real RDV). Dont tell Soeur Dawson, I sent her a letter in the mail telling her. :) We set is for the first of september, so pray that she can keep that date! But, every time Alejandra comes to our lessons, she's read the scriptures we have given her and has taken notes about what she has understood. Last lesson we used something from Doctrine and Covenants and she was like, "wait, I need to write down that scripture so I can read it again later." We told her she doesnt have it in the BOM.... she she downloaded the app on her iphone so she can read Doctrine and Covenants too. We taught the Restoration to Alejandra the night before Soeur Dawson left on her mission and it was the most powerful first I have ever experienced. The spirit was so strong and it was just incredible. Soeur Dawson testified of how this gospel changes lives and told Alejandra she knows it will change hers. After so many hundreds of first RDVs with Soeur Dawson it was amazing to experience what it's like for someone so prepared like Alejandra to receive that lesson. And every lesson we have with her she has been prepared to receive it. She will say, "that's funny, I was just talking about why there are so many churches on the earth last night with my boyfriend." or something, she's amazing.
Maria we had set a baptismal date for the endof the month but we have to refix it because she's out of town until the end of the month for work. She's so amazing though. When she told us she was gone the 25th when we fixed the date we talked about how important it is that she has the gift of the Holy Ghost as soon as possible and testified of the importance of baptism and that it was what God wants for her. She was silent and said, "I know I need to." She wants it and it's amazing as well teaching her the plan of salvation and the questions that she asks are so cool. Once again, it's amazing to teach people who genuinely are searching and who are prepared to receive the gospel in their lives.
Paola and Victoria are the girls we are teaching in spanish. Last week we taught where we come from and where we are going after, tonight we are talking about our life on earth. We also talked a little about baptism and how she can accept the Plan of Salvation by being baptized. Paola said she wants to be baptized eventually, Victoria and Paola are both reading the BOM and praying to know it's true.
It's at a point right now where the mission is so fulfilling because I literally get to witness people's lives changing, new hope coming into their life and watching them receive answers to questions they have been asking their entire lives and have never found answers. I just pray really hard because I have also gained a testimony that no matter what our abilites are, we can't do anything, it is so important to follow the spirit and to do everything in your power but then to turn everything over to the Lord. It is Heavenly Father who helps these people progress, it's not the missionaries, it's the spirit. But it's amazing to be a part of it.
I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Im so sorry this is going to be short because we are going to meet Soeur Ingraham and Soeur Searle in a minute to go to the Eiffel Tower! (Soeur Ingraham was my companion my third transfer remember?)
It was so funny because the few days before Soeur Horn (my blue) came in and I knew I had the training call I just started cleaning EVERYTHING and organizing everything while Soeur Dawson was packing and everything. Soeur Dawson said, "Soeur Chard, you are nesting!" It's so true, I guess it's motherly instincts of something. It's the most strange thing, because you seriously do feel mother instincts. You feel an instinct of wanting to protect them from bad things (people saying rude things, etc) or you feel so proud of them when you watch them succeed at something, it's so fun.
Soeur Horn is my new companion and I love her. She's from Las Vegas and is so sweet and very creative, something I am doing well learning from her. It was so fun seeing Soeur Searle too, I talked to her when we first got to St. Merri and she said, "Whoa, Alyssa you have grown up a lot since your mission." First, weird to hear your first name and weird because it's weird seeing someone who knew you from before the mission then meeting you again at this point in the mission. It sounds like she is doing well, she was actually Soeur Horn's MTC companion!
our first night after I picked up Soeur Horn I told her we were going to go teach a new ami for the first time and so we would be teaching a first lesson. I had called Nicole (she's in the Versailles ward and preparing to serve a mission in temple square) and asked if she would pretend to be an ami and kind of a not very interested one. She agreed, we got there, and Nicole had taken down all signs she was mormon. Pictures of the Temple, gone. Scriptures, out of sight. She answered the door and usually she is so happy and smiley, it was so funny to see her playing as an ami not very interested. Anyway, we went in, taught a first, Soeur Horn did so well, and we committed NIcole to start reading the BOM and pray about it. After we left her house, we talked about how Soeur Horn thought the whole thing had gone, etc. and then I said, "well, she's actually a member!" I think the stress of everything being new was a little much but ultimately I think Soeur Horn was relieved and we went back and had dinner at Nicole's house.
Since then, seriously everything has been working out perfectly. It's kind of bizarre. All the RDVs we have had have been with progressing amis who want to receive the lessons, who keep their commitments and who want to be baptized. My testimony has grown so much that people are already prepared to receive us, the spirit is what converts and their hearts will be opened to the message if they are prepared.
We set a baptismal date with Alejandra!!! (that was Soeur Horn's first real RDV). Dont tell Soeur Dawson, I sent her a letter in the mail telling her. :) We set is for the first of september, so pray that she can keep that date! But, every time Alejandra comes to our lessons, she's read the scriptures we have given her and has taken notes about what she has understood. Last lesson we used something from Doctrine and Covenants and she was like, "wait, I need to write down that scripture so I can read it again later." We told her she doesnt have it in the BOM.... she she downloaded the app on her iphone so she can read Doctrine and Covenants too. We taught the Restoration to Alejandra the night before Soeur Dawson left on her mission and it was the most powerful first I have ever experienced. The spirit was so strong and it was just incredible. Soeur Dawson testified of how this gospel changes lives and told Alejandra she knows it will change hers. After so many hundreds of first RDVs with Soeur Dawson it was amazing to experience what it's like for someone so prepared like Alejandra to receive that lesson. And every lesson we have with her she has been prepared to receive it. She will say, "that's funny, I was just talking about why there are so many churches on the earth last night with my boyfriend." or something, she's amazing.
Maria we had set a baptismal date for the endof the month but we have to refix it because she's out of town until the end of the month for work. She's so amazing though. When she told us she was gone the 25th when we fixed the date we talked about how important it is that she has the gift of the Holy Ghost as soon as possible and testified of the importance of baptism and that it was what God wants for her. She was silent and said, "I know I need to." She wants it and it's amazing as well teaching her the plan of salvation and the questions that she asks are so cool. Once again, it's amazing to teach people who genuinely are searching and who are prepared to receive the gospel in their lives.
Paola and Victoria are the girls we are teaching in spanish. Last week we taught where we come from and where we are going after, tonight we are talking about our life on earth. We also talked a little about baptism and how she can accept the Plan of Salvation by being baptized. Paola said she wants to be baptized eventually, Victoria and Paola are both reading the BOM and praying to know it's true.
It's at a point right now where the mission is so fulfilling because I literally get to witness people's lives changing, new hope coming into their life and watching them receive answers to questions they have been asking their entire lives and have never found answers. I just pray really hard because I have also gained a testimony that no matter what our abilites are, we can't do anything, it is so important to follow the spirit and to do everything in your power but then to turn everything over to the Lord. It is Heavenly Father who helps these people progress, it's not the missionaries, it's the spirit. But it's amazing to be a part of it.
I love you all so much and hope that you have a great week!
Love,
Soeur Chard
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