Logan September 29, 2013

hello my family. i love you

ok let me answer everything for mother so she doesn't get mad at me. transfers are in two weeks. i am doing well. photos will be inserted. have not bought my coat yet but don't worry i am looking. you know i love to look fashionable. ok i think that was it. if i am missing something just know i am human and am aloud to make some mistakes. oh yes i did get jeans package and i already have a letter going to them. so i am one step ahead of you mommy! hey question for all yall. i don't need a package right away but if one gets sent in the near future do you think you could get me a watch band for my ipod? i realized i don't have mine and i would very much like it. but i don't need it right away so no rush. at all. 

ok here was the week for all y'all 

went on the best split of my life with elder christensen who is from american fork. didn't know him though because he is one year older than natalie. but he is so funny. we had a great time together. he only has 2 transfers left and he has a lot of knowledge. i love him. he took 5 years of french from madame so he speaks like a native which gives me hope. 

when he gave me the interview we talked about why i am out on a mission. i told him about trying not to get caught up in the wave and stuff. now that i look back that was really hard. it was so crazy everyone getting their calls and then when you get out here it is a shock. you can do all the mission prep you want but it is just like riding a bike. don't know how until you do it. 

oh also i got a letter from natalie my sister. in french which was super fun. she made me a sweet cover for my planner. so next transfer i will use it! because every transfer we get a new one. 

we had a miracle this week. so a long time ago we met a man named leo. doing knocking. we had a great conversation with the guy but nothing happened. but we got a call from an unknown number this week and it was him! and he said he wanted to meet with us! so we went over there and had the most spiritual lesson ever! it was great.

so i don't have a ton of time left. sorry to cut it short but here are some great pics 

these are super fun. 

Natalie September 29, 2013

Hello my dear  family,

How are you all doing?? I am doing so fantastic! and have so much to tell you. One of the best weeks of my mission! The work here in Melun is insane and on FIRE! Like never before. This past week we've seen so many miracles.

Soeur Casagrande is our new missionary! We went and picked her up from the gare on Tuesday. She came straight from her home in Dijon and we took her to President. She will be serving with us until her VISA comes for her to serve in the Salt Lake City Temple Square mission. She is amazing and we are learning so much together. She connects with her people here in France and we've learned a lot from her and the french culture! She is so great. We are speaking and speaking and speaking french. I love it! My french is getting much better. The perks of having a french comp! We love her.

This week we had a rendez-vous with our ami Atalia. She is 15 and is the sweetest thing. We had an incredible lesson with her and at the end I felt prompted to invite her to be baptized. We hadn't planned on it but the Spirit had another plan. I invited her and much to our surprise she accepted! It was such a testimony to me that God knows His children. We will prepare her to be baptized in 4 weeks. She is incredible and even came to church yesterday! It was a miracle. I had a feeling to go outside of sunday school with the phone so I did and there she was! She was lost and just happened to be walking by right when I went outside. I am so excited for her! 

This week we also had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders. One of my great friends Soeur Garrett came to Melun with Soeur Casagrande and I. We had a great plan for the day but all of our rendez vous fell through and I was feeling discouraged. We knelt down and prayed to know where to go and I really felt strongly about going to Savingy. It is one of my favorite cities in our area that I've felt really strongly about. We went and were in the gare. Soeur Casagrande was talking with a woman and we weren't really seeing a whole lot of success. Soeur Garrett felt prompted to tell me that there was a reason we were there and I knew why. At that moment my mind flashed back to September 6th, the day before my birthday. Soeur Grewar and I had knelt down and prayed that we would be able to find a family on my birthday. We prayed to know where to go because we knew there was one waiting. When we opened our eyes we looked at each other and both said Savingy at the same time. Then Soeur Grewar asked me about who this family would be. I had a strong impression that they would be french (which is rare in this area because we mostly teach Africans) and there would be 3 kids. I had a distinct image come into my mind of an area with a bridge and an apartment building that we hadnt been to yet. The next day we tried to make it out to find that area but we didn't have the time. I've been waiting for a moment to get over there. But when we were in the gare my mind flashed back to that moment and I knew that family would be there. I immediately starting walking and left the gare. I cant explain to you how it felt. My body just started moving. 1Nephi 4:6 came to my mind. " And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."  We started walking down streets and down pathways that I'd never been before. There were random alleys and random turns. I had no idea where we were going but I felt like someone was literally guiding us. We kept walking and came to a forest with a sidewalk next to it. The road looked like it was going to end but for some reason I said this road should end but its not going to. We kept walking and turned and the road kept going. On the other side of the road I looked ahead, and there was the bridge. The bridge I had seen weeks before. With tears in my eyes we kept walking and walking. We came to a pathway that led to apartment buildings. There was a family sitting there on a bench. We contacted them and I knew it wasn't them so we kept going. We walked a little further and I stopped and knew it was the right building. We walked up to the building and the doors were all locked. We walked around and tried another. Still no luck. We were about to turn to another building when just as we were walking by a  french woman came outside onto her deck. My heart was pounding so hard. I walked straight up to her and words starting coming out of my mouth. Testifying boldly that God knew exactly who she was and that He sent us to her that night to tell her she was loved. I testified of eternal families and of the power that comes from knowing Christ. I'll never forget the words being put into my mouth in pure french. I know and testify that it wasn't me speaking. I'll never forget the look in her eyes and the hope in her heart. I asked her her name and she said Melanie. I asked if she had kids and she said yes. Then I asked her how many kids and she said 3. With tears in my eyes I testified again that God knew exactly who she was. I asked her if we could pray with her and she said yes please! So I prayed and Heavenly Father put the words in my mouth that He wanted her to hear. Blessing her that she would feel His love and comfort at this time in her life. After the prayer was done I asked her if she felt anything. With tears in her eyes she touched her heart and said, yes, right hear. We were all in tears. We gave her a family proc and set up a time to come back and see her this next week. She said that she was very interested in learning more and was going through a challenging time in her life and had many loved ones who were passing away frequently. We testified that God had a plan for her.  I'll never forget her face.

I know and testify that the Spirit is the true missionary in this work and we are all the instruments. I am SO grateful for the power of the Holy Ghost and the miracles that I have seen because of His guidance and help. Yesterday we were porting (knocking doors) down one of my favorite streets in Melun. It had just rained and it was so quiet and peaceful. It has a very old feel and I think I'm drawn to it because it reminds me of my favorite time period.  Here is a picture of it. It is very old and I can almost feel the spirits walking down it every time I'm there. I imagine couples from the 40's walking with strollers and old fashioned cars. There is a red cross station and we walked up to it. This sign was on the wall and said that two young people had been killed on that road in active service for the red cross during WWII. I was really touched because of how strong I feel the spirit every time I'm there. I know that there is missionary work on both sides of the veil and that those people are being found too, just as we're finding their posterity. God is preparing them. And He is preparing us for His Son to come again. 

Well I'm doing so great. I hit 6 months this week! Can't believe all the amazing experiences I've received. I love my mission with all of my heart.I am the happiest I've ever been. I know that God lives and this is His work! What an honor it is to be a small part in it. 

You are all in my thoughts and prayers everyday and I love you so much. Thanks for your support and love. I feel it so strong all the way out here and it means the world.

I hope you have a week full of miracles! LOVE YOU!

Love

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets, I've promised to give more

Logan September 23, 2013

hello my family whom i love so dear. 

how are all y'all on this fine fall morning. 

your son is doing well. 

man i wish i could have seen the primary program. that is the best part of the whole year. its good to know that the ward members are not changing too much haha. 

oh man i can't wait for briggs letter. that was the highlight of the week when i got his letter. and yes i did draw a picture... only because he drew me one. 

yes emily i do know elder tam. i have only met him once. he is a chinese elder so he is always on the island of montreal. i have only been on the island 4 times. 

yes dad i will be careful while driving. good thing i don't drive until i am senior comp. and so i have a while. well at least 3 weeks who knows what will happen at transfers. 

so this week i went on a split in saint jean, with elder hurtado. he is from idaho, his dad is the only mexican radio dj in idaho, how neat is that! thats pretty neat. we did some knocking there, and got like 8 potential investigators! yeah thats how we do it! placed a couple copies of the Book of Mormon. that was special and found a cool santa clause mask here take a look for yourself. 

it is a little creepy i will admit. haha it was fun though. 

we went out to dinner too. elder hurtado and i thought we deserved a nice meal so we went to this pizza place. it was delicious. but while we were there the radio was on. and it is hard enough for me to not pay attention to the radio in places such as these. but then to make things worse franz ferdinand came on. yes emily you know how much i love this group, and so i may or may not have been tapping my foot and lip syncing just a little bit. don't worry i repented of this apostasy. 

so then we went back to the apartment and i asked who plays the violin? because i noticed there was one there. and elder hurtado said elder grant, but the thing is elder grant got transfered. elder hurtado said elder grant didn't want it anymore and he got a mandolin instead(because of me) and so he said you can have it if you want. so guess what i have a violin! haha crazy i know but it is super fun. i am learning how to play so mom you and i can jam when i come home! how neat is that? 

here is a photo of that

still wearing the mask while i was playing. i thought it was more of a phantom of the opera theme. what do you think? haha

another cool story while i was on splits we got to ride bikes! i love riding bikes. you know this i rode my bike to school all the time. so it was a great experience. and i may or may not have almost got hit by a car. but don't worry mom i used my great biking skills that i learned from before the mission and i got out just in time. ha. and i was wearing a helmet too. 

but it was a fun split. i enjoyed it most thoroughly.

how is school for you all? enjoying high school em? who is your seminary teacher? if you see brother andersen tell him i love him. 

i love you all and pray for you everyday.

i will know share a special experience: so we passed by louise. she is the lady with cancer who will most likely die. and she opened the door and was in tears. it had been a very hard day for her. she was dealing with a lot of stuff. we offered to give her a blessing and we did. the spirit was so strong i thought i could swim in it. a feeling of peace came over and she was calm. i testify that the Priesthood is the power of God. he gives it to us to serve. God knows the needs  of all of His children. I love you all and know that God will be with all of you in every moment. Never fear to ask for His help. he will send his helpers. I know Jesus is the Christ. I know it. I will not deny it. 

elder cameron

Natalie September 23, 2013

Hello my dear family! 

How is everyone doing? it was so great to hear from you all. Sounds like life is just great over there in dear old Utah. Life here in France is amazing and I'm doing fantastic! I just got off the phone with President Poznanski and he just informed me that I will be training a visa waiter! She is french and is going to the Temple Square mission. We are going to go pick her up at the gare tomorrow morning and I am so excited. It will be an adventure! This transfer is off to a great start.

Soeur Elliott and I have had an absolute blast this past week. We have laughed more than ever before in our lives. We were in the MTC together so we have a lot of inside jokes and a lot more from out here. We did a video diary of our lives the other night. It's called "the boo-boos in nous" Boo-boos are the traditional African big mama dresses that everyone wears here and we are determined to get them! Stay tuned. Soeur Elliott is hilarious. She is so great and I love her so much. Today we went and spent all day playing in Paris. We went to the louvre and got crepes and paninis and such. It was a dream. I love Paris!

The work here in Melun is fantastic. We had a lot of great lessons this week and met some great people. The ward here is amazing and I sure do love it. Yesterday we had a missionary sacrament meeting. We have a blue here in Melun as well! His name is Elder Grahm and he is from Denmark. He is a boss and we're super lucky to have him. He reminds me of you Loge. He is 18 and is already changing lives. Elder Grahm and Soeur Elliott both spoke and did amazing. Then they had recent converts and our ward mission leaders speak as well. The four of us sang Abide With Me and the spirit was really strong. The ward felt the power of missionary work and I think it pumped them up even more. It was really neat. It was neat to look out and see all of their love.

This week we got really excited about member missionary work. President gave Soeur Elliott a cool idea to do with the members! It's called pray port and report. You go into a family's home and pray with them. They pray for you that you'll be able to find people in their area. You leave and go porting and return in a few hours to report on what you found. We felt really strongly to do it with one of the families in our ward. The family Ducly. They are incredible; The mom is from Peru and the dad is french and they are such great examples to the ward. Soeur Ducly is facing a lot of physical challanges right now but is still continuing to be a huge light to those around her. They invited us over for crepes the other night and we left them to read Elder Anderson's talk called It's a miracle from last general conference. We challenged them to pray all week so that we could return and do the pray port and report with them. They accepted the challange and we are going next week! We set up times to do it with our bishopric and ward mission leaders to get everyone involved. I'm so excited to see the miracles!

The quote for the week: "Any time you feel alone, Anytime you feel afraid, anytime you feel inadequate; anytime you feel like you're not good enough, I need you to imagine kneeling down and looking into the eyes of your Savior, because I bear witness that you're all going to have a chance. You'll all have a chance to see your Savior and when you do, I promise He won't comment on your net worth. He won't comment on your hair or your style. He's going to hold you so close that you're going to know from the inside out that Jesus is the Christ, the most High God and He's going to take you to His Father. He loves you. He knows you. He is with you everyday and all He needs you to do is stay in who you are. Don't get caught up in your natural man and don't get caught up in how great you are. Get caught up in your essence. You are a son and daughter of the Most High God. He loves you, and we love Him" Matt Townsend

Well I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your love and prayers. I can feel them and can use them extra this week! You are in my prayers and thoughts and I want you to know how much you mean to me. I hope you have an amazing week.

Love you!

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give More

Logan September 16, 2013

hi y'all

emily i hope  your doctor thingy goes well. mommy how are the children? doing ok tout seul? all alone in french. daddy inventories? how are they? sounds like a busy week this next one! em how are the football games? i know you just go to flirt and not to actually watch football. don't worry it was the same when natalie was there too. i never flirted in highschool. so stay away from boys. but seriously have fun. highschool is a blast. just pay attention in french because one day you will use it and you will look back on how you acted in that class and say wow i wish i would have paid attention. don't worry that isn't at all what i am thinking currently. 

well basically this last week was pretty good. I went on a split with a visa waiter who is from quebec. his name is elder blais. i spoke in french for 24 hours straight. it was great! he is going to paris so natalie look out for elder blais. he is hilarious. picture a tall skinny man who loves science. elder blais is he. i love him haha. while on the split we paid a visit to a man named MERLIN yes i believe i mentioned him in previous emails. but we went to see his art workshop. it was so cool. he does modern art. he showed us all the stuff he is working on and all of his finished art. it was so cool. he is the opposite of what you think he would be like. hopefully we will meet with him again and get some good lessons with that man. 

guess what. i ate sea food 3 times this week. it was nasty. but i can't complain because we are eating at other peoples houses. mommy i am glad you never made us eat fish. or keish. that is gross to. but everyone eats it up here. 

guess what else. frere barry is getting ready to go into the temple. he is a convert of a little over a year now and he asked us if we could go to the temple with him. it is looking like a yes from president so we will just have to get a for sure date and then we are good to go! i am super excited for that. 

we have been looking for service this last week. we went to this place and asked them if we could offer serivice and they sent us to another place, and another, it was frustrating. but we were at this second hand store and who should we see but manuel! he is an investigator that we had that moved to quebec city. he just came back for the day. i think it was a sign from Heavenly Father saying I am keeping my eye on you manuel! it was so cool. we gave him our emails so that he can keep in touch with us. super cool. he needs to get baptized. he is so ready.

we had a lesson with louise. the lady who gave us kisses. frere barry came with us. so we went to his apartment before to pick him up and he was watching Yanni. haha dad  don't you love yanni? he has amazing lushous hair.  

speaking of hair. JESSICA YOU FOXY MOMMA. careful those kids may like you a little too much if you know what i mean!

well that seems to be all for this week. i am well. i love you all. thank you for your support. always remember God is there. He will always be there. He knows us and He loves us. His Son died for us so that we might live. There is a way back to Him. and i am here because I know His plan. To share that plan with the people of quebec. I love you all. and pray for you every day. 

elder cameron

Natalie September 16, 2013

Hello my dear family!

Boy do I have some miracles for you; first off transfers were today! and i am staying here in Melun. I am SO happy. One of my good friends from the MTC is coming here to serve with me! Her name is Sister Elliott and she is beautiful! We were in the same district and room in the MTC and we're SO excited to serve together. 

This past week has changed my life and mission and I cant tell you how happy I am to be a missionary! I am so happy and grateful to be here. This week was my last week with my dear Soeur Grewar and I will miss her with all of my heart. She leaves for home in Australia on Thursday. She has become one of my dearest and closet friends. Her example, light, testimony, and love for others has changed my life. She is the most selfless person I know. She is constantly giving to others and trying to make others feel loved. Her faith is the strongest I know and her love for the Savior motivates every action she takes. She already has a list of "potential amis" of family and friends who she wants to share the gospel with. She is the sole member of the church in her family and is such an inspiration to our mission--especially me. I will miss her with all of my heart. We couldn't have asked for a better week to end our time together.

Tuesday we had a rendez-vous with our ami Claudette. She is homeless and only has the clothes on her back, her bible that she keeps in her front pocket, and a small bag of extra items. She has had a life full of struggles but holds on to her faith and God. She isn't super interested in the Book of Mormon or learning a lot about our church, but she faithfully comes to church every week. She loves to talk and teach us too which is fun. She loves the hymns so this week we decided to just sing hymns for our lesson. It was absolutely incredible and the spirit was so strong. We discussed each one after we sang it. I have such a testimony of the power of music. During the lesson I heard the spirit whisper, "This is my daughter and the love you are feeling for her right now is only a small part of what i feel for her. Love her. Listen to her. Show her I'm here. She's lost. Find her." After that my feelings for her have grown so much and I just love her. I know that some day she will accept the gospel. We invited her to come to the Elder Oaks conference and some incredible members brought her. She loved it. 

Thursday was the 3 year anniversary of Soeur Grewar in the church! We had such a fun day celebrating and being grateful to be members of the church! We did service for a less active who is a professional painter. She's the cutest. We've been trying to find out why shes not coming to church for the past 6 weeks. Little by little as she trusted us more and as we served her more she started to open up and we found her problem this past week! It was such a testimony to me that as we serve people and treat them as the Savior would, then they'll open up and trust us. I love that. Now that we know her problem i look forward to helping her and getting her to come back. That night we went over to Dominiques house for some food. haha she is HILARIOUS. Because Soeur Grewar is leaving she gave her a parting gift...THE WORLD'S SHARPEST KNIFE!! She then proceeded to give us her own infomercial. Soeur Grewar is really excited to try it out when she gets home. haha She also made us hot chocolate with goats milk. need i say more? actually probably yes...haha So Soeur Grewar trys the hot chocolate and her face was HILARIOUS; I tried a sip and my mouth went on FIRE! It was burning! We were like Dominique! What is in here? In french when something is spicy and it hurts you say, "ça pique!" She then proceeded to tell us that she put cayenne pepper to make the taste of the goats milk better. We died! haha Then she tried it and waited a second then said, "ah oui, effectivement, ça pique..." haha we started laughing hysterically and none of us could stop! it was such a fun moment. oh how we love Dom Dom.

Saturday we went over to Soeur Cunche's home and visited her. She is one of my heroes and has taught me so much. We talked about the scripture in Romans about nothing being able to separate us from the love of God. We had a beautiful discussion and the spirit is strong; She has changed the gospel in France and i feel like its such an honor being in her home. I love her.

Sunday was one of the most historic days for the church here in France. On August 1, 1976 President Spencer W. Kimball prophesied in front of 4,500 people assembled in Paris that one day there would be a temple in France and that France would be covered in stakes; Yesterday on September 15, 2013 I was there to witness the fulfillment of that prophesy in Versailles. Elder Oaks came to organize 10 stakes here in France! There are no more districts! I got to shake his hand as he came and greeted us through the stands. He also announced the most exciting news I've received yet...THE TEMPLE IS FINALLY MOVING FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After 29 years of great efforts made to get land and permits, the church has finally started the construction on the temple here in Paris, France. The world is CHANGED here and is moving forward full speed ahead. What a blessing it is to witness it! As the new stake president stood and bore testimony, the spirit bore witness to me that this is God's work! The leaders here are inspired and the Lord is here with every step. President and Soeur Poznanski also spoke and WOW do I love them. They have changed my life. Sister Oaks also came with Elder Oaks and bore her testimony in french. It brought us all to tears. It was such an incredible meeting and I know that France is in great hands.

Well I want you to know how much I love you all! I love the Lord and I love my mission with all of my heart. I am so happy and excited to see the new adventures that this transfer will bring! I am so sad to see Soeur Grewar go home! But I am excited to see the miracles that await us all.

LOVE YOU ALL

Soeur Cameron

100 % No regrets. I've promised to give more

Elder Oaks