Bonjour à tous!
Today, the great challenge is I am going to try to send pictures. Oh my gosh you have got to be joking me. After I wrot that sentence I plugged in the camera to send the photos and what do you know, I think I took Soeur Deleu's cord or something because it mysteriously doesn't fit in my camera. I am genuinely so sorry, I am a failure at sending pictures, seriously. And I feel guilty now because I was with Marie-Sylvie the other day and she told me how much it meant to get pictures from François when he was a missionary so I promised I would send some home this week and, failure! I will try next week. :)
The miracle story I will tell this week happened on Soeur Mejia's birthday which was Wednesday. After we had gone over to meet a member family we were out porting that night and not having any success, we were about to knock on a door and decided after that door we would take the bus to head back and try finding people closer to home. We knocked on the door, a french woman, about 60 answered. We told her who we were and she said that she believed in God but wasn't practicing in any church. She kept explaining herself and ultimately I thought she was upset with us and wanted us to leave. We said, "If this book, The Book of Mormon can help you come closer to Jesus Christ, does that interest you to learn more?" It honestly took me by surprise when she opend th door wide, said yes and invited us inside. So we sat down with she and her husband. Her husband is paralyzed on one side of his body and has a hard time expressing himself "oui et non" that's about it. He had an accident years ago that left him paralyzed. Anyways, we asked the couple if they both believed in God, the husband just started crying. His wife explained that whenever anyone talked about God he started to cry because he has so much faith in God, especially after his accident. We had a really amazing lesson the first time and set up another RDV. When we came back (Saturday night) we knocked on the door and Madame Rabin opens the door wide, gives us bisous and invites us in. She says, "I just have to ask you a question. Is the family important to you?" We told her that it's the center of our life and we sat down, prayed and started reading the family proclamation with her. She loved it. We asked her if she believed she could be with her family forever Her husband "oui oui oui" and she said, "I hope but I honestly am not really sure." She said more than anything she wants to have peace of mind here on earth and a peace and hope about what will happen to her family after she dies. It was so amazing because we had done some things in studies and practice teaching that we used exactly for the RDV. The spirit was so strong and it was amazing. We are going to see them again tomorrow night again and will teach them the restoration. Please pray for them, the family Rabin.
We got the transfer news on Saturday! Soeur Grewar is leaving and we are forming a trio again, Soeur Mejia, Soeur Deleu and I. It will be great, I am excited! This transfer has been interesting with a lot of new challenges and a lot of growing experiences and I know they will continue. I feel like I am learning a lot about simplifying, focusing on the things that matter most and the doctrine of Christ. When I say that's what I'm learning, I say that's what I want to focus on and be better in.
I love you all, please pray for our mission's goal which is to bring families to Christ for Christmas! The best Christmas present ever. :)
Love,
Soeur Chard
oh ps, I think I just told dad in his email, but I will be coming home in February. So, I will see you soon Schwester Chard. :)
Monday, December 3, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
I am thankful for you!
Hi family!
Happy Thanksgiving! A few days late. We all went to Tours and had Thanksgiving together, we also played football (american obviously). So funny, it was Soeur Deleu's and Soeur Mejia's first time playing football ever in their life. Soeur Deleu learned the "7 banana" trick, aka rush the quarterback. She was definitely one of the MVPs of the team. Soeur Grewar popped a blood vessel on her finger so she has partial use of her right. Aka I had to wash her hair for her two days ago. And Soeur Mejia, I think still at the end of the game thought we were playing by rugby rules. It was really fun. At the end, we were running for our train and got on the train. About five minutes later Elder Burgess turns to me and says, "what if we just got on the wrong train?" and come to find out we had. ha so we were in St. Pierre for about two hours before catching a correct train back to Angers. Overall, it was an awesome Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be grateful for.
On Friday we had our activity we had planned by the missionaries "faisons le tour du monde." All of us in the ward are from different places right now (USA, France, Peru, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) we had a spiritual message and then it was to celebrate the diversity of everyone but how the gospel is what has brought us together. It ended up being really good, some members brought their friends who were able to meet missionaries and meet members and learn a little more about the church, less-actives came and the members got to know each other better and were going out and meeting new people. So overall, it went really well. We were stressed right before (but it was still fun) and it ended up working out.
Oh, I wanted to tell the story of Nadege since I didn't really get the chance to last week because it was so amazing. She told us a little more last week when we went and visited her while Soeur Mejia and I were in Versailles for a couple of days. She was contacted by Soeur Horn and Soeur Jenkins during exchanges on the street at night just before they went home. Nadege said that usually she would just say "ça m'interesse pas" and not pay attention but that night for some reason she didnt. She had just seen the reportage on mormons a couple of nights before and the two missionaries approached her, and it was dark and they were both pretty new so their french was very broken but they just said, "we are missionaries" and then they pulled out a Book of Mormon. She said she couldnt really understand what they were saying too much but she saw their badges and she saw the book and just thought, "sure why not" so she set up a RDV for the next day. The next day, Soeur Horn and I went to go and teach her (right before the first session of conference). She said it was when we came that first lesson that she felt something different. She said she had always been a happy person but there was something different. I remember the first lesson she asked us what made us so happy because we were always smiling and she could see that we were really happy and she wanted that too. From the beginning she progressed so quickly, she came to church every week after that, we met her most days during the week. The second time after she went to church, we walked home with her and ended up having a really spiritual experience and invited her to prepare for baptism and she agreed. When Soeur Mejia and I were there with her that night she kept talking about how she knew there was support of members and she would be joining a new family, etc. etc. I wanted to make sure she had a testimony of the doctrine of the gospel so I asked her, "do you have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true?" She said, "Oh, yes, Soeur Chard, I will tell you how I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon." Our last lesson Soeur Horn and I taught her together was really emotional for her and basically we told her the importance of gaining her personally testimony of the Book of Mormon and invited her to really get on her knees and pray to know it was true. She said a couple of days later had been really difficult for her and she was in the bathroom just crying and just fell on her knees and prayed to know that the Book of Mormon was true. That day she started looking to move to a different apartment because there were some problems at home and Soeur Horn and Soeur Hurrell texted her to see if all was okay, she told them the problem and ultimately they were able to help her find a place to stay with one of the members. And there were experiences like that that for Nadege showed her that God was aware of her, loved her, and was showing her the correct path to grow closer to Him. It is people like Nadege that make all the hard days of a mission worth it because when you see the gospel change somebody's life like that you begin to understand more the incredible blessings that we all have because of the gospel and how much it brings us every day.
Have a great week everyone! Danielle, I am praying for you, you are prepared, I promise.
I love you!
Soeur Chard
Happy Thanksgiving! A few days late. We all went to Tours and had Thanksgiving together, we also played football (american obviously). So funny, it was Soeur Deleu's and Soeur Mejia's first time playing football ever in their life. Soeur Deleu learned the "7 banana" trick, aka rush the quarterback. She was definitely one of the MVPs of the team. Soeur Grewar popped a blood vessel on her finger so she has partial use of her right. Aka I had to wash her hair for her two days ago. And Soeur Mejia, I think still at the end of the game thought we were playing by rugby rules. It was really fun. At the end, we were running for our train and got on the train. About five minutes later Elder Burgess turns to me and says, "what if we just got on the wrong train?" and come to find out we had. ha so we were in St. Pierre for about two hours before catching a correct train back to Angers. Overall, it was an awesome Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be grateful for.
On Friday we had our activity we had planned by the missionaries "faisons le tour du monde." All of us in the ward are from different places right now (USA, France, Peru, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) we had a spiritual message and then it was to celebrate the diversity of everyone but how the gospel is what has brought us together. It ended up being really good, some members brought their friends who were able to meet missionaries and meet members and learn a little more about the church, less-actives came and the members got to know each other better and were going out and meeting new people. So overall, it went really well. We were stressed right before (but it was still fun) and it ended up working out.
Oh, I wanted to tell the story of Nadege since I didn't really get the chance to last week because it was so amazing. She told us a little more last week when we went and visited her while Soeur Mejia and I were in Versailles for a couple of days. She was contacted by Soeur Horn and Soeur Jenkins during exchanges on the street at night just before they went home. Nadege said that usually she would just say "ça m'interesse pas" and not pay attention but that night for some reason she didnt. She had just seen the reportage on mormons a couple of nights before and the two missionaries approached her, and it was dark and they were both pretty new so their french was very broken but they just said, "we are missionaries" and then they pulled out a Book of Mormon. She said she couldnt really understand what they were saying too much but she saw their badges and she saw the book and just thought, "sure why not" so she set up a RDV for the next day. The next day, Soeur Horn and I went to go and teach her (right before the first session of conference). She said it was when we came that first lesson that she felt something different. She said she had always been a happy person but there was something different. I remember the first lesson she asked us what made us so happy because we were always smiling and she could see that we were really happy and she wanted that too. From the beginning she progressed so quickly, she came to church every week after that, we met her most days during the week. The second time after she went to church, we walked home with her and ended up having a really spiritual experience and invited her to prepare for baptism and she agreed. When Soeur Mejia and I were there with her that night she kept talking about how she knew there was support of members and she would be joining a new family, etc. etc. I wanted to make sure she had a testimony of the doctrine of the gospel so I asked her, "do you have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true?" She said, "Oh, yes, Soeur Chard, I will tell you how I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon." Our last lesson Soeur Horn and I taught her together was really emotional for her and basically we told her the importance of gaining her personally testimony of the Book of Mormon and invited her to really get on her knees and pray to know it was true. She said a couple of days later had been really difficult for her and she was in the bathroom just crying and just fell on her knees and prayed to know that the Book of Mormon was true. That day she started looking to move to a different apartment because there were some problems at home and Soeur Horn and Soeur Hurrell texted her to see if all was okay, she told them the problem and ultimately they were able to help her find a place to stay with one of the members. And there were experiences like that that for Nadege showed her that God was aware of her, loved her, and was showing her the correct path to grow closer to Him. It is people like Nadege that make all the hard days of a mission worth it because when you see the gospel change somebody's life like that you begin to understand more the incredible blessings that we all have because of the gospel and how much it brings us every day.
Have a great week everyone! Danielle, I am praying for you, you are prepared, I promise.
I love you!
Soeur Chard
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Elder Anderson visits the mission
Hi!
There is so much to say this week and I wont even be able to say a quarter of it but I will try to hit some of it.
this wednesday i went back into paris to pick up my new comp. soeur Mejia! She's awesome, so I started her on the training program last week and she should be here for at least one transfer, if not more. It has been such an interesting experience now working with training two new soeurs before they go through the MTC. I have been thinking a lot about how missionaries can be the most prepared before they leave on their mission, especially now since they're cutting down the amount of time they will have in the MTC. the biggest thing I have found is preach my gospel. Anyone you know who has their mission call or is preparing to leave on a mission, encourage them to read through preach my gospel before they leave for the mtc. Not just the four lessons we teach but the entire book. It will help them know what to focus on in the MTC.
so, Rahel (angers) and Nadege's (versailles) baptism were this weekend and it was awesome! While I was in Paris for the end of the week I got to go and see nadege and she told me more about her conversion process and experience. and Rahel got baptized on Saturday. Both these women are two amazing people with so much faith.
Elder anderson is what I wanted to talk about the most because it was the most amazing thing I have ever heard on my mission. He is now one of my favorite apostles, probably because I will always feel a special connection to him. He served his mission in Paris and then was mission president in Bordeaux. Briefly what he said:
"We want you to know how proud we are of all you missionaries here in this mission. I know there's a lot of pressure on you. this is not Sao Paolo, Brazil. It's harder to bring families to the gospel here in this part of the world. It's hard if you have a sensitive soul and you hate rejection. You have been called of god here and you can do this. Baptisms is not the most important measuring stick of a mission. It's a good one, but it's not the only measuring tool. Please study faith and do not limit yourself. I promise you will be guided by the spirit."
"I need you missionaries to have enough faith that the effect you are having is much deeper than what you can see with your own eyes."
"for years we have been hearing 'a new day for france, a new day for france.' You are the light for these members here in France. You are the flame that helps them have hope for missionary work. When you see the progress of the church throughout the entire world, you stress less. God is really in control. the work is moving forward. the Lord promised He would establish a righteous line of peple in every single country. He is doing that here in France. There is a strong line of people and the church will not fall here either."
"You can't see your whole missionas baptismal goals. Please dont see your mission in those terms only. You are a witness of Christ here. Our biggest challenge in France here is holding onto our youth. You dont always have to be teaching someone off the street although that is also very important. Have part of your mission be to strengthen the conversion of these youth. Please look inside the church as your missionary work.
Don't just think of baptisms, think of strengthening the church of Jesus Christ. We need to find and strengthen true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow christ, memorize scriptures about His doctrine. Learn it, embrace it and teach it.
You all need to use repentance. There's something powerful that comes from having your sins washed away and becoming a new person.
Galations 5:22-23, the fruits of the spirit. Notice one of the fruits of the spirit is long-suffering. that means we have to learn how to endure difficult things.
Please see yourself as a disciple of Christ to EVERYONE. At the end he blessed us that we would find enormous satisfaction in our missionary service, regardless or independent of how many baptisms we saw on our mission. He blessed us we would feel deep inside us that we were accomplishing our missionary role. He challenged us to be a disciple of Christ to everyone. to strengthen the struggling bishop, the primary child, our companion, the person in the street, the eighteen-year-old boy who shoud be preparing to serve a mission.
It was the most amazing talk I have ever heard because everything he was saying were conclusions I had in a lot of ways personally come to and hearing him give a talk like that was a confirmation for me. He didnt come in and tell us to up the number of baptisms necessarily or that suddenly all French people are going to be interested to talk to us if we have enough faith, but instead it was helping us understand the importance of our calling. He said at one point that in a secular country we need not be afraid of speaking of Christ, we need to speak of Him everywhere.
It was so amazing and afterward so many ideas started coming to my mind of what we can do in Angers. It all comes back to the family, how to strengthen the family. We started talking about our ward mission plan for 2013 and as we were talking we thought that instead of focusing member missionary work outwards to their friends, we need to do what we can as missionaries to help them turn back inward to teaching the gospel to their families, and by doing that they will have opportunities to share their experiences with their friends as well.
I love you all and hope you have a great day!
Love,
Soeur Chard
There is so much to say this week and I wont even be able to say a quarter of it but I will try to hit some of it.
this wednesday i went back into paris to pick up my new comp. soeur Mejia! She's awesome, so I started her on the training program last week and she should be here for at least one transfer, if not more. It has been such an interesting experience now working with training two new soeurs before they go through the MTC. I have been thinking a lot about how missionaries can be the most prepared before they leave on their mission, especially now since they're cutting down the amount of time they will have in the MTC. the biggest thing I have found is preach my gospel. Anyone you know who has their mission call or is preparing to leave on a mission, encourage them to read through preach my gospel before they leave for the mtc. Not just the four lessons we teach but the entire book. It will help them know what to focus on in the MTC.
so, Rahel (angers) and Nadege's (versailles) baptism were this weekend and it was awesome! While I was in Paris for the end of the week I got to go and see nadege and she told me more about her conversion process and experience. and Rahel got baptized on Saturday. Both these women are two amazing people with so much faith.
Elder anderson is what I wanted to talk about the most because it was the most amazing thing I have ever heard on my mission. He is now one of my favorite apostles, probably because I will always feel a special connection to him. He served his mission in Paris and then was mission president in Bordeaux. Briefly what he said:
"We want you to know how proud we are of all you missionaries here in this mission. I know there's a lot of pressure on you. this is not Sao Paolo, Brazil. It's harder to bring families to the gospel here in this part of the world. It's hard if you have a sensitive soul and you hate rejection. You have been called of god here and you can do this. Baptisms is not the most important measuring stick of a mission. It's a good one, but it's not the only measuring tool. Please study faith and do not limit yourself. I promise you will be guided by the spirit."
"I need you missionaries to have enough faith that the effect you are having is much deeper than what you can see with your own eyes."
"for years we have been hearing 'a new day for france, a new day for france.' You are the light for these members here in France. You are the flame that helps them have hope for missionary work. When you see the progress of the church throughout the entire world, you stress less. God is really in control. the work is moving forward. the Lord promised He would establish a righteous line of peple in every single country. He is doing that here in France. There is a strong line of people and the church will not fall here either."
"You can't see your whole missionas baptismal goals. Please dont see your mission in those terms only. You are a witness of Christ here. Our biggest challenge in France here is holding onto our youth. You dont always have to be teaching someone off the street although that is also very important. Have part of your mission be to strengthen the conversion of these youth. Please look inside the church as your missionary work.
Don't just think of baptisms, think of strengthening the church of Jesus Christ. We need to find and strengthen true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow christ, memorize scriptures about His doctrine. Learn it, embrace it and teach it.
You all need to use repentance. There's something powerful that comes from having your sins washed away and becoming a new person.
Galations 5:22-23, the fruits of the spirit. Notice one of the fruits of the spirit is long-suffering. that means we have to learn how to endure difficult things.
Please see yourself as a disciple of Christ to EVERYONE. At the end he blessed us that we would find enormous satisfaction in our missionary service, regardless or independent of how many baptisms we saw on our mission. He blessed us we would feel deep inside us that we were accomplishing our missionary role. He challenged us to be a disciple of Christ to everyone. to strengthen the struggling bishop, the primary child, our companion, the person in the street, the eighteen-year-old boy who shoud be preparing to serve a mission.
It was the most amazing talk I have ever heard because everything he was saying were conclusions I had in a lot of ways personally come to and hearing him give a talk like that was a confirmation for me. He didnt come in and tell us to up the number of baptisms necessarily or that suddenly all French people are going to be interested to talk to us if we have enough faith, but instead it was helping us understand the importance of our calling. He said at one point that in a secular country we need not be afraid of speaking of Christ, we need to speak of Him everywhere.
It was so amazing and afterward so many ideas started coming to my mind of what we can do in Angers. It all comes back to the family, how to strengthen the family. We started talking about our ward mission plan for 2013 and as we were talking we thought that instead of focusing member missionary work outwards to their friends, we need to do what we can as missionaries to help them turn back inward to teaching the gospel to their families, and by doing that they will have opportunities to share their experiences with their friends as well.
I love you all and hope you have a great day!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Monday, November 12, 2012
The Language .. .AAhh!
Hi everyone!
First of all, I think I was physically sick when I heard the election results of the United States. It's so sad to me what is happening to our country.
The big news of the week is that I'm getting a new companion this week! The office called a few days ago and said that there is another visa waiter coming in who will be serving in Arizona spanish speaking mission. She is from Torcy (right outside of Paris). So I'm restarting the training program with her, I am going into Paris Wednesday to pick her up. Soeur Grewar is taking over the training program with Soeur Deleu and we are opening another companionship in the city. Honestly, I am super nervous. But it will all be good. Just pray for all of us please!
I think the biggest struggle for me this transfer has been the language. Which is really ironic and weird to me because I was not expecting that at all. I think just coming from training a blue who was just learning french to suddenly being immersed with a companion where we only speak french all the time has been a huge adjustment for me. It's also weird because although I'm now speaking french more or less all the time, I feel like it is getting worse. I'm super self-conscious about it and am now constantly doubting myself. It's also interesting because most of my mission people have been telling me I speak pretty well and I get to Angers and random people on the street are calling me out on my french. So, that does not really help with confidence boosting on the language.
We were teaching someone the other night, her name is Estelle and she had invited over her friend to listen. This friend had read the introduction of the BOM and had tons of questions about what was what. He asked a question at the beginning, I started answering and he stops me and says, "you have an accent that makes it difficult to understand you, you're from where?" I just had to swallow all my pride and seriously use all my courage to keep talking and trying to teach. After having so many comments about my language the last week I was so frustrated and I just didn't want to even try to speak french anymore. So I'm just trying to take it as a challenge, and am trying to dig in deeper so that I can improve. Whenever we have opposition in anything we can choose to accept things for the way they are or try to overcome them. Please pray for me to have the gift of tongues! This morning I made some good language goals and am going to change some of the things I am doing so that I can improve.
Estelle is a woman contacted by the elders and was passed to us. Long story short, we went in and decided first lesson needed to be Word of Wisdom. Pull out the Bible to read about the Word of Wisdom and how our bodies are gifts from God and she lights up a cigarette then and there. We read DandC 89 whild she is smoking. It was super bizarre experience. She said she wants to stop and currently smokes 30 a day and is now trying to decrease. We gave her a BOM and committed her to read it whenever she felt the desire to start smoking. Please pray for her.
Training in a three-some has been very interesting. a totally different experience than training Soeur Horn. Training Soeur Horn was so much fun, I knew the city, we had developed trust with the members already, I loved all the people we were teaching, we had vision and it was so fun. This is completely different because Soeur Deleu hasnt been through the MTC yet and is feeling like she doesnt know enough. And it's different because language is not a barrier in this situation. I tell Soeur Deleu though, she is one of the most optimistic people I have ever met, connects with people really well and is always wanting to improve. She's already great and will just keep getting better. I just am trying to figure out how to train this time because it's so different. It's an interesting challenge to try to balance the needs to two companions, and trying to understand the area and the people and the members and the people you're teaching and trying to teach and your own personal challenges and still just trying to have fun and not stress too much. It's a good challenge that I'm sure prepares you for life. Soeur Grewar and I were talking about the training program yesterday and feel like we need to make some adjustments for how we will do it. I'm excited to start over with the program again with another french visa-waiter, because I think I'm going to try to go about it a different way. Focusing more on faith in Jesus Christ and setting goals. And the more we can all grow faith in Christ that we will know what to say in lessons, to learn to trust your companion, that there's people prepared to find, that God helps us the way, the knowledge that comes as a missionary will come more quickly and confidence in our calls as missionaries also grows.
My companions are both awesome. Two of my very favorite companions on my mission. We have so much fun together and I feel so grateful we have met here so we can be friends forever.
My favorite thing I've studied on my mission is the "character of Christ, Atonement of Christ, and conversion to Christ" that dad sent me about six months ago. I dont know how many times I have read it. My most read things on my mission= the BOM, Preach My Gospel, the susan fulcher case study and that talk probably. haha Because I think the three points in that talk are the most valuable lessons I have learned, am continuing to learn and hope to continue to learn throughout my mission. Emphasis lately is on the Character of Christ. It's so good.
Rahel is getting baptized this weekend! Her mom just signed the form yesterday. She is sixteen and is originally from Ethiopia. I love to watch people change with the gospel of Christ in their lives. Nadege (the woman soeur horn and I started teaching) is also getting baptized next week! Because of her decision to be baptized, her uncle kicked her out of the house and she is now living with a member. She is amazing and I feel so blessed to have met her and take part in her teaching.
The last thing is that President and Soeur Poznanski asked that we all ask our families to pray for the goal we have set as a mission. The goal is that each companionship is able to find one family who is prepared for the gospel before Christmas to be baptized as a family. It's really cool because in preparation for Elder Anderson to come the mission set a goal for 78 baptisms by the time he came between the beginning of September to when he comes and as of yesterday there were 74 baptisms. Much more than ever before in our mission in that amount of time. So cool. So please pray for the mission and for the members and for families to be prepared to receive the gospel right now. Thank you!
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Soeur Chard
First of all, I think I was physically sick when I heard the election results of the United States. It's so sad to me what is happening to our country.
The big news of the week is that I'm getting a new companion this week! The office called a few days ago and said that there is another visa waiter coming in who will be serving in Arizona spanish speaking mission. She is from Torcy (right outside of Paris). So I'm restarting the training program with her, I am going into Paris Wednesday to pick her up. Soeur Grewar is taking over the training program with Soeur Deleu and we are opening another companionship in the city. Honestly, I am super nervous. But it will all be good. Just pray for all of us please!
I think the biggest struggle for me this transfer has been the language. Which is really ironic and weird to me because I was not expecting that at all. I think just coming from training a blue who was just learning french to suddenly being immersed with a companion where we only speak french all the time has been a huge adjustment for me. It's also weird because although I'm now speaking french more or less all the time, I feel like it is getting worse. I'm super self-conscious about it and am now constantly doubting myself. It's also interesting because most of my mission people have been telling me I speak pretty well and I get to Angers and random people on the street are calling me out on my french. So, that does not really help with confidence boosting on the language.
We were teaching someone the other night, her name is Estelle and she had invited over her friend to listen. This friend had read the introduction of the BOM and had tons of questions about what was what. He asked a question at the beginning, I started answering and he stops me and says, "you have an accent that makes it difficult to understand you, you're from where?" I just had to swallow all my pride and seriously use all my courage to keep talking and trying to teach. After having so many comments about my language the last week I was so frustrated and I just didn't want to even try to speak french anymore. So I'm just trying to take it as a challenge, and am trying to dig in deeper so that I can improve. Whenever we have opposition in anything we can choose to accept things for the way they are or try to overcome them. Please pray for me to have the gift of tongues! This morning I made some good language goals and am going to change some of the things I am doing so that I can improve.
Estelle is a woman contacted by the elders and was passed to us. Long story short, we went in and decided first lesson needed to be Word of Wisdom. Pull out the Bible to read about the Word of Wisdom and how our bodies are gifts from God and she lights up a cigarette then and there. We read DandC 89 whild she is smoking. It was super bizarre experience. She said she wants to stop and currently smokes 30 a day and is now trying to decrease. We gave her a BOM and committed her to read it whenever she felt the desire to start smoking. Please pray for her.
Training in a three-some has been very interesting. a totally different experience than training Soeur Horn. Training Soeur Horn was so much fun, I knew the city, we had developed trust with the members already, I loved all the people we were teaching, we had vision and it was so fun. This is completely different because Soeur Deleu hasnt been through the MTC yet and is feeling like she doesnt know enough. And it's different because language is not a barrier in this situation. I tell Soeur Deleu though, she is one of the most optimistic people I have ever met, connects with people really well and is always wanting to improve. She's already great and will just keep getting better. I just am trying to figure out how to train this time because it's so different. It's an interesting challenge to try to balance the needs to two companions, and trying to understand the area and the people and the members and the people you're teaching and trying to teach and your own personal challenges and still just trying to have fun and not stress too much. It's a good challenge that I'm sure prepares you for life. Soeur Grewar and I were talking about the training program yesterday and feel like we need to make some adjustments for how we will do it. I'm excited to start over with the program again with another french visa-waiter, because I think I'm going to try to go about it a different way. Focusing more on faith in Jesus Christ and setting goals. And the more we can all grow faith in Christ that we will know what to say in lessons, to learn to trust your companion, that there's people prepared to find, that God helps us the way, the knowledge that comes as a missionary will come more quickly and confidence in our calls as missionaries also grows.
My companions are both awesome. Two of my very favorite companions on my mission. We have so much fun together and I feel so grateful we have met here so we can be friends forever.
My favorite thing I've studied on my mission is the "character of Christ, Atonement of Christ, and conversion to Christ" that dad sent me about six months ago. I dont know how many times I have read it. My most read things on my mission= the BOM, Preach My Gospel, the susan fulcher case study and that talk probably. haha Because I think the three points in that talk are the most valuable lessons I have learned, am continuing to learn and hope to continue to learn throughout my mission. Emphasis lately is on the Character of Christ. It's so good.
Rahel is getting baptized this weekend! Her mom just signed the form yesterday. She is sixteen and is originally from Ethiopia. I love to watch people change with the gospel of Christ in their lives. Nadege (the woman soeur horn and I started teaching) is also getting baptized next week! Because of her decision to be baptized, her uncle kicked her out of the house and she is now living with a member. She is amazing and I feel so blessed to have met her and take part in her teaching.
The last thing is that President and Soeur Poznanski asked that we all ask our families to pray for the goal we have set as a mission. The goal is that each companionship is able to find one family who is prepared for the gospel before Christmas to be baptized as a family. It's really cool because in preparation for Elder Anderson to come the mission set a goal for 78 baptisms by the time he came between the beginning of September to when he comes and as of yesterday there were 74 baptisms. Much more than ever before in our mission in that amount of time. So cool. So please pray for the mission and for the members and for families to be prepared to receive the gospel right now. Thank you!
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Angers
Hi!
I can't believe Danielle gets her call this week!!!!! Let it be known that I predict the Eastern U.S. I cant believe also that I am going to find out a week later than anyone else! Maybe you could communicate to someone and have them call me to tell me the news during the week. Just an idea. :)
Last day in Versailles was amazing, on tuesday we had lots of RDVs with our amis and it was amazing to watch how these people want to change or want to change. Nadege is the one we really need prayers for, she wants to be baptized. she has been through so much in her life and is such a good woman. We taught her the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday night and she was just sobbing at the end, she has had a difficult family life. the amazing thing about her is in her trials she is turning to pray, the scriptures, now the BOM and God. Pray for her please!
Angers is great so far and I am so happy to be here! The very best part is because of my two companions. I LOVE both of them and couldnt ask for better. Soeur Horn and I were on our way to St. Merri to switch companions when the assistants called and said, "Soeur Chard, where are you? You are supposed to be here because you are doing the training program again." So, we hurried right over and come to find out we are doing the twelve week program again. This time though my blue is Soeur Deleu, french from Chartres. She's actually waiting for her visa so she can go to Temple Square visitor center. (I told her that I am for sure sending my family over to meet her as soon as she gets to the mission). she it's a completely different experience from training Soeur Horn because she's french so suddenly 24/7 everything is in french and doing the training program in french instead of english, and also because we are in a trio, very different and also because I didnt start in Angers before starting the training program so that's a lot of learning together and also because Soeur Deleu hasn't been to the MTC yet so it's totally starting from scratch.
But soeur deleu is my favorite ever. She is a little ball of sunshine and learns so fast and I seriously absolutely love her. My favorite is language study, and I help her with english, you learn how to speak english more correctly when you are actually teaching it. She's such a fast learner and is doing so well with the adjustment to missionary life.
Soeur Grewar is a convert of two years from australia and I absolutely love her as well. Her conversion story is amazing (her friend introduced her to the church about eight years ago), she's always been a really good girl with good values and has tons of faith, joined the church and said after she joined the church she studied three hours personally every day because she realized how much she had to learn to help her better understand the gospel. The friend who introduced her to the gospel is serving a mission right now in Japan and while she was working on her papers Soeur Grewar decided to serve a mission as well. Because she wants to be as prepared as possible to raise a strong family in the gospel and be as converted as possible to the gospel. She is so legit, super obedient and a really hard worker.
the three of us together have so much fun. Soeur Grewar is in her fourth so is still learning french and it's a blessing to have soeur deleu, it helps both of us a lot to always be speaking french now.
Yesterday at church was great. Emmanuelle got confirmed, it was a woman Soeur Grewar and Judd met two weeks ago and go baptized after eight days of lessons. It's my favorite asking new converts how they feel after they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Emmanuelle was so happy and it was so amazing being there with her. We are going to teach her about the temple tonight for FHE.
I hope everyone is doing well and praying for Mitt Romney! :) I feel like I need to wear an american flag shirt here because I am now the only American, I love it. I told my companions that we definitely have to celebrate Thanksgiving anyways.
Have an incredible week! I love you all!
Love,
Soeur Chard
I can't believe Danielle gets her call this week!!!!! Let it be known that I predict the Eastern U.S. I cant believe also that I am going to find out a week later than anyone else! Maybe you could communicate to someone and have them call me to tell me the news during the week. Just an idea. :)
Last day in Versailles was amazing, on tuesday we had lots of RDVs with our amis and it was amazing to watch how these people want to change or want to change. Nadege is the one we really need prayers for, she wants to be baptized. she has been through so much in her life and is such a good woman. We taught her the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday night and she was just sobbing at the end, she has had a difficult family life. the amazing thing about her is in her trials she is turning to pray, the scriptures, now the BOM and God. Pray for her please!
Angers is great so far and I am so happy to be here! The very best part is because of my two companions. I LOVE both of them and couldnt ask for better. Soeur Horn and I were on our way to St. Merri to switch companions when the assistants called and said, "Soeur Chard, where are you? You are supposed to be here because you are doing the training program again." So, we hurried right over and come to find out we are doing the twelve week program again. This time though my blue is Soeur Deleu, french from Chartres. She's actually waiting for her visa so she can go to Temple Square visitor center. (I told her that I am for sure sending my family over to meet her as soon as she gets to the mission). she it's a completely different experience from training Soeur Horn because she's french so suddenly 24/7 everything is in french and doing the training program in french instead of english, and also because we are in a trio, very different and also because I didnt start in Angers before starting the training program so that's a lot of learning together and also because Soeur Deleu hasn't been to the MTC yet so it's totally starting from scratch.
But soeur deleu is my favorite ever. She is a little ball of sunshine and learns so fast and I seriously absolutely love her. My favorite is language study, and I help her with english, you learn how to speak english more correctly when you are actually teaching it. She's such a fast learner and is doing so well with the adjustment to missionary life.
Soeur Grewar is a convert of two years from australia and I absolutely love her as well. Her conversion story is amazing (her friend introduced her to the church about eight years ago), she's always been a really good girl with good values and has tons of faith, joined the church and said after she joined the church she studied three hours personally every day because she realized how much she had to learn to help her better understand the gospel. The friend who introduced her to the gospel is serving a mission right now in Japan and while she was working on her papers Soeur Grewar decided to serve a mission as well. Because she wants to be as prepared as possible to raise a strong family in the gospel and be as converted as possible to the gospel. She is so legit, super obedient and a really hard worker.
the three of us together have so much fun. Soeur Grewar is in her fourth so is still learning french and it's a blessing to have soeur deleu, it helps both of us a lot to always be speaking french now.
Yesterday at church was great. Emmanuelle got confirmed, it was a woman Soeur Grewar and Judd met two weeks ago and go baptized after eight days of lessons. It's my favorite asking new converts how they feel after they receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Emmanuelle was so happy and it was so amazing being there with her. We are going to teach her about the temple tonight for FHE.
I hope everyone is doing well and praying for Mitt Romney! :) I feel like I need to wear an american flag shirt here because I am now the only American, I love it. I told my companions that we definitely have to celebrate Thanksgiving anyways.
Have an incredible week! I love you all!
Love,
Soeur Chard
Monday, October 22, 2012
Seven on Sunday!!!
Hi family!
Sorry this is going to be fast because we are in a big hurry but yesterday was one of the best days of my mission for sure.
We had seven amis there at church. Way way way more than I have ever had at church at one time my entire mission. Here is the run-down of them:
1. Nadege. She's amazing, Soeur Horn and Soeur Jenkins found her during exchanges a couple of weeks ago and she is progressing so quickly. On the way home from church (she lives really close to us so we walk home with her) she broke down and started crying telling us some things she is going through. We talked to her for a while, super spiritual experience and ultimately she is preparing for baptism now. She's amazing.
2. Pema and her two kids, Champa and Tenzin. This family is Buddhist but she feels something special about Jesus Christ. Since we started meeting with her she has been praying to God and so have her two kids. She told us that last week she was offered a full job contract and she recognized that as a blessing from God. Her two kids went to primary, and came into sacrament with missionary plaques on. The intermediate hymn came around and Champa drags me up to the stand because she wanted to sing with the other primary kids so Champa and Tenzin sang "i hope they call me on a mission" it was awesome.
3. Maria Gomis (ask soeur dawson for her story) appeared after having disappeared for months. She showed up at church for the first time with the Ya Family. Last night we went over to teach her for the last time before I got transferred. She told us she believes this church is Christ's and she wants this for her family. She said she wants to come to church for entire time (she had to leave in the middle of sacrament meeting) and then wants to set a baptismal date.
4. Marianna Nop came to church for her first time going to a church in years. At the end of Sacrament Meeting she said, "I feel so good here, I'm so glad I came." She was awesome.
5. Bettina who we have been teaching since I first got her. We stopped teaching her when Soeur Horn got transferred in because she wasn't progressing. We walk in to church and Bettina is sitting in the relief society room I was so happy and she said, "I told you I would come, it's your last Sunday!" She fasted and prayed and is almost finished with the Book of Mormon and is prepraing to be baptized in December now when she is back with her family.
It was an amazing day. Soeur Horn and I also were able to sing/play together during sacrament meeting, Elder Gubbay and I gave our leaving testimonies because we are both leaving, and Nicole Alvine had her missionary farewell. It was such a good Sunday and we saw so many miracles. I really felt like it was a gift from Heavenly Father for my last Sunday here, it was amazing, everything just worked out perfectly and our amis progressed so much from coming to church.
I am excited to go to Angers! I'm really excited for my new companions. The visa waiter (Soeur Dreurer I think?) is awesome, I have met her before at STake Conference, she's waiting to go to Temple Square mission (by the way, that's where Nicole Alvine is going, and I told her I would send my family to go visit her, she has helped us so much, she's basically already a full-time missionary), and Soeur Grewer I have heard a little of her conversion story, she has a lot of faith, I am really excited to serve with her. Angers is supposed to be a great ward, it's the center of the stake up in the Angers area and it's actually the home ward of the Poznanski's!
Have a great week everyone, I am praying for Danielle and her mission call, she will be an awesome missionary.
I love you, have a great week!
Soeur Chard
Monday, October 15, 2012
Bonjour ma famille!
Bonjour ma famille!
Thank you so much for all of your emails today, they are always a highlight of my week. I can't wait to hear when and where Danielle is going on her mission. Best thing you can do and so amazing that she has been able to get everything in so fast. Not by chance. :)
This week was awesome. In brief:
Nadege Soeur Horn and Soeur Jenkins found during exchanges contacting. She's awesome, looking to make life changes and says that while others go to rely on their families or their friends, she feels it's important to rely on religion and God while she is going through this difficult time. We started teaching her and she reads the BOM, she prays and she has a serious appetite to learn as much as she can. She came to church for all three hours on Sunday and said she really loved it because unlike other churches, she loved that it was members sharing with each other and teaching each other instead of just being talked at the whole time (it was fast and testimony meeting). She asked us a few days ago when we came, "I see you both have so much light and joy. How do you have that?"
Sidestory, we contacted this family a couple weeks ago and were talking to them a little while and at the end of the contact (they said they werent interested in learning more) but she said, "i hope my daughter is like you when she is your age." and I asked her why and she said, "because you can see that you believe what you are teaching and I would rather have my daughter be doing something like that then going out clubbing." You just pray people like that keep getting contacted by missionaries (they told us they had been contacted by missionaries just a few weeks before) and will really feel the desire and understand that they can have that same light and truth for their own lives and their own families.
Pema is from Tibet and we found her sonnerie porting last week. Her english is broken, we teach her in english. She is Buddhist but she told us, "even though I'm Buddhist I feel some type of need and desire to learn more about Jesus Christ and who He is." Last week she told us that since we had been coming (three times) there was a different spirit in her home. She said she had been fighting so much with her husband and was thinking of divorce. Since we started coming she said she didnt fight anymore and there was more peace in her life. She prayed to God (Heavenly Father) for the first time that night with us and both of her children came and prayed with us as well.
The next time we went over to Pema's her friend, Ajour was there. Ajour is Christian and when we committed her to start reading BOM she said, "yes, absolutely. And I will testify that it is true when I know it is true." Please pray that we teach her again this week as well.
Elda is a woman who has been searching for the true church for years. She was contacted by the Assistants and they passed her over to us. We went over and taught her and immediately when we sat down she started attacking us with questions. I said, "before we keep going can we please start with a prayer?" She asked me to say it since I was "avoiding" her questions ha. Well, anyways, we talked about the Holy Ghost and how that will testify to her that the message of the Restoration is true. We asked her to begin reading the Book of Mormon before we came back. She said, "Absolutely not." She didnt want to blindly start getting into anything. We asked her how she ever is going to know if what we are teaching her is true if she won't try reading. Ultimately she said she would read 2 Nephi 2. She is super cool, because she has been searching. Please pray that we will be able to teach her again this week.
Fréderique is doing really well. She is already like a member of 10 years and it has only been a month. My favorite is when she will ask us questions about the gospel through text because she's studying on her own. She read the entire "gospel principles" book in a week and would like to possibly serve a mission. We had a lesson about genealogy and temple work last week and are hoping that she can prepare to go on the ward temple trip to do baptisms next month. Her sister Siliane is also doing well, she is still studying in the south of France.
Maria (Soeur Dawson and I taught her) also got back in contact with the member friend last week and said she wants to come to church this upcoming Sunday. Pray for her as well please!
I love you all and am so grateful for all of your support, prayers and influence in my life. I get the transfer email this Saturday, so we will see where I am going! ah! I am excited. I have absolutely loved Versailles and am also excited for a new ville.
I love you! Je vais vous envoyer les photos des que possible. Désolé! (have pops translate that one. :) )
Love,
Soeur Chard
Thank you so much for all of your emails today, they are always a highlight of my week. I can't wait to hear when and where Danielle is going on her mission. Best thing you can do and so amazing that she has been able to get everything in so fast. Not by chance. :)
This week was awesome. In brief:
Nadege Soeur Horn and Soeur Jenkins found during exchanges contacting. She's awesome, looking to make life changes and says that while others go to rely on their families or their friends, she feels it's important to rely on religion and God while she is going through this difficult time. We started teaching her and she reads the BOM, she prays and she has a serious appetite to learn as much as she can. She came to church for all three hours on Sunday and said she really loved it because unlike other churches, she loved that it was members sharing with each other and teaching each other instead of just being talked at the whole time (it was fast and testimony meeting). She asked us a few days ago when we came, "I see you both have so much light and joy. How do you have that?"
Sidestory, we contacted this family a couple weeks ago and were talking to them a little while and at the end of the contact (they said they werent interested in learning more) but she said, "i hope my daughter is like you when she is your age." and I asked her why and she said, "because you can see that you believe what you are teaching and I would rather have my daughter be doing something like that then going out clubbing." You just pray people like that keep getting contacted by missionaries (they told us they had been contacted by missionaries just a few weeks before) and will really feel the desire and understand that they can have that same light and truth for their own lives and their own families.
Pema is from Tibet and we found her sonnerie porting last week. Her english is broken, we teach her in english. She is Buddhist but she told us, "even though I'm Buddhist I feel some type of need and desire to learn more about Jesus Christ and who He is." Last week she told us that since we had been coming (three times) there was a different spirit in her home. She said she had been fighting so much with her husband and was thinking of divorce. Since we started coming she said she didnt fight anymore and there was more peace in her life. She prayed to God (Heavenly Father) for the first time that night with us and both of her children came and prayed with us as well.
The next time we went over to Pema's her friend, Ajour was there. Ajour is Christian and when we committed her to start reading BOM she said, "yes, absolutely. And I will testify that it is true when I know it is true." Please pray that we teach her again this week as well.
Elda is a woman who has been searching for the true church for years. She was contacted by the Assistants and they passed her over to us. We went over and taught her and immediately when we sat down she started attacking us with questions. I said, "before we keep going can we please start with a prayer?" She asked me to say it since I was "avoiding" her questions ha. Well, anyways, we talked about the Holy Ghost and how that will testify to her that the message of the Restoration is true. We asked her to begin reading the Book of Mormon before we came back. She said, "Absolutely not." She didnt want to blindly start getting into anything. We asked her how she ever is going to know if what we are teaching her is true if she won't try reading. Ultimately she said she would read 2 Nephi 2. She is super cool, because she has been searching. Please pray that we will be able to teach her again this week.
Fréderique is doing really well. She is already like a member of 10 years and it has only been a month. My favorite is when she will ask us questions about the gospel through text because she's studying on her own. She read the entire "gospel principles" book in a week and would like to possibly serve a mission. We had a lesson about genealogy and temple work last week and are hoping that she can prepare to go on the ward temple trip to do baptisms next month. Her sister Siliane is also doing well, she is still studying in the south of France.
Maria (Soeur Dawson and I taught her) also got back in contact with the member friend last week and said she wants to come to church this upcoming Sunday. Pray for her as well please!
I love you all and am so grateful for all of your support, prayers and influence in my life. I get the transfer email this Saturday, so we will see where I am going! ah! I am excited. I have absolutely loved Versailles and am also excited for a new ville.
I love you! Je vais vous envoyer les photos des que possible. Désolé! (have pops translate that one. :) )
Love,
Soeur Chard
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