Logan November 25, 2013

can you believe it. 6 months in the mission field. wow how neat is that.

i forgot that it was thanksgiving this week. you lucky people. i wish that i could stuff my face. but i am starting to get fat. it is not funny. 

it is funny that you talked about family search dad because i met a man in our branch who said that we are related then showed me the camerons in his line. he has his tree way back to like 1600. he is one of those addicts to genealogy. there is one in every ward so i hear. haha

and get those journals going! i endorse everything that was said. 

emily i was so pleased to see this picture that you put together. how neat is that. we are in the same positions and everything. i think i will send it to braydel. 

so we had transfer calls and elder Cameron is going to.......... stay! with elder Duran. so i will be here for Christmas.

thank you so much for the package which will come soon. i am excited to now wait until Christmas to have my presents!!!!! hahahahaha i bet emily is jealous. so how is school em? how is french class. has brennen talked to you yet. i love him so much. please tell him that. 

this week was an interesting one. i went on a split with elder jason. he is from Guadeloupe and he is a convert of 2 years. it was so cool i got to practice french with him. i could understand him a lot better then those Quebecers. we were in a lesson with a man who was 91 and still drives. he was from England. we is a less active man and doesn't consider himself Mormon anymore. but he was really nice. but elder Jason testified of Jesus Christ and he shed a tear and the spirit was so strong that a man that has been a convert of two years could testify with such power. he is great. we then ate at a pub with a member. a man in a kilt served our food and i was super jealous. i need to get one. after all i am Scottish.  and bagpipes i need those too.

so then we met another 90 year old man who also still drives just like the other. but we gave him a BOM in Armenian. how crazy is that. 

here is a picture of elder jason he is a funny guy.

here is a picture of me as a ninja. i know how real is that.

and here is a picture  of a great sunset. next to the the river

it is so beautiful here. i love it. 

i hope you are all well. i am grateful for each and everyone of you. this week i have been reading about temple marriage because a less active had a question but i learned a lot about covenants and what we have to do to be like God. i highly suggest that for scripture study you read D&C 132 this week. it was awesome. i know that we all have potential to be like our Heavenly Father and if we stay true and endure to the end we will make it with each other. i love you all and thank you for your example to me. GOOD NEWS leo from mont saint hilaire is getting baptized! i love that guy. i may get to go too. love you all 

elder cameron

Natalie November 25, 2013

Bonjour Tout le monde!

Well it was really fun chatting with everybody today! Glad you were all online. Glad to hear that everyone is doing great! Things here are going really good. We had some great experiences! 

On Tuesday we decided to go out porting to find a family for the elders that serve in our ville. They have been so great and have given us so many referrals. It was Elder Gram's birthday so we wanted to specifically find a German family for him because he's from Germany. So we went out and searched for 4 hours going door to door. It was so much fun! We followed random German flags that were waving randomly in the sky. haha it was funny. The last street we went down we got let in our first house that day. This beautiful woman from Ghana opened the door and let us in. We had a great lesson with her and she wants us to come back. We didn't end up finding a German family that day.

We continued to pray throughout the week and we randomly got a call from a man. He told us that he had been taught by misisonaries a year ago and was really interested in taking the lessons again! We told him that we had just the people for him and his family. We passed them along to the elders and they got in contact with them! It was the coolest tender mercy. 

Then we had a rendez-vous with one of our families. We were waiting at the bus stop and a guy asked us for a cigerette. We told him we didn't smoke then he saw our tags and got really embarrassed and apoligzed like 900 times and told us he went to church yesterday and he's a man of God! haha it was pretty funny. He started asking us questions about our church and finally he found out that we were "mormons' and he got really excited because he wanted to know more about us! We told him that we had elders that would love to teach him more. So then we passed his nubmer off to them! Tender mercy number 2!

Then we actually went to our rendez-vous with Petula and her family. The brother of the dad was there and at the end of the lesson they started to ask some questions...like if we could date on our missions, or if we could marry nonmembers. At first we just answered them normally. Then we realized that they probably weren't just asking in generalities! haha Pretty soon he pretty much proposed to us. yep us! He didn't really care which one! He was happy to have the hand of either one of us. or probabaly both! pretty sure he'd read up on pologamy as well. haha we were dying! He told us that he'd get baptized for sure and do whatever was necessary. He was dead serious. He told us he'd even move to the US because he's always wanted to. So we swiftly left that lesson. haha but turns it out its really cool because the family is finally progressing. And they have a 12 year old son who is really interested who happens to really need the elders in his life! So we decided to pass them on to the Elders! So that made 3 families for the elders. God answers our prayers in HIS timing and HIS way! It was so cool!!

So sunday we show up to church, and the Elders had an amie waiting for US! They had found a woman who is golden and they passed her to us. Wow it was so cool! It is such a blessing to serve in a ville where all 4 missionaries work in unity. it was so neat.

So I don't know if you have had a chance to watch the CES broadcast from Elder Osguthorpe, but if you haven't i would highly recommend it! It was incredible; i printed it and read it this week. Here is my favorite quote from it:

"The song of redeeming love is a song of rejoicing in the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is not necessarily a song with notes and lyrics; it is a song of feelings. The words we might use to express our gratitude when we want to sing the song of redeeming love are constantly changing, depending upon the specific blessings we receive. But this feeling of gratitude for the Savior is like a song. It can play itself over and over again in our heart every time we think about how the Redeemer has saved us from everything that would pull us down.

I know that we can accept His invitation to come and be strengthened, to come and be forgiven, to come and feel His infinite love. Then, with a smiling heart, we will want to sing the song of redeeming love. Not just once in a while—we will want to sing this song always. When we feel strength to do something difficult, we will sing the song in our heart. When we allow truth to find us and enlarge our soul, we will sing the song. When we feel forgiven, we will sing the song. And when we feel His love, we will sing the song."

Oh how beautiful the song of redeeming love is! And what a beautiful time of year it is to celebrate it. We have so much to be grateful for! I will miss you this Thursday. We will have a district meeting all day to celebrate; in honor of Grandma Peg I'm doing the rolls! Wish me luck right? haha And also awhile ago we planned a thanksgiving activity for the ward and we're really excited because we're actually doing it! Everyone is coming Saturday with their friends and nonmembers to enjoy an American holiday. I'm really excited! 

As you know my comp's mom just found out she has a brain tumor. She will get it removed the 16th of December. Their family could really use some prayers right now! Her mom's name is Liz and they are incredible. Thanks for your prayers!

I hope you all have a beauiful Thanksgiving. And know how thankful i am for all of you! Eat an extra Costco pumpkin pie for me and Loge. And have a turkey bowl! You will be in my thoughts. So grateful for you!

Pictures:walking to church this week! Making American cookies with the cutest kids in our ward, also showed them how to make a New York cheesecake; it was the funnest! and coming home from porting in the cold all day! We love warm trains!

Love you all so much! Have a beautiful week! You are in my thoughts and prayers

Love,

Sœur Cameron

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

Logan November 18, 2013

so to answer those questions. happy half to you too em. yes we have a microwave. some advair would be nice i have like 25 left. and i think i am good besides that. thanks so much for the money i got a coat and it is a good one so dont fear mother. that is all...

i have some terrible news. i lost my parker and it is no where to be found. i cried myself to sleep 4 nights in a row.  i have become very attached to that pen and it is gone. but it is ok it was starting to be like gollum and the ring. my precious is lost!!!! 

but other than that we had a great week. we had a mission conference with Elder Pieper. what a man. he is so incredible. he talked to us about finding our answers to our question by understanding the doctrine first. it was so cool. a lot of times we just ask how can i do this how how how, when really when should ask what is the doctrine then why is it important then how should i proceed. it was really good and we put it too the test. the results are amazing. 

there was a latan danse class this last week. we got to go because we had less actives there. but dont worry i kept my danse moves to myself. instead i talked to a hatian man. he is one of the sisters investigators, but they were busy and so i talked to him. super interesting guy. it was cool. it is so cool to have full conversations in french now. i love it so much. 

we had a little scare with our recent convert David yesterday. he used to be a TJ or a jehovahs witness. but he got baptized but yesterday he went back to their church but while he was there he felt so bad about breaking his commitment to the lds church and specifically God so he is writing a letter to their church excommunicating himself. he is so cool. he has such a strong testimony of the gospel. 

So how are all of you. are you ready for christmas? i have been singing songs for the past month i am so excited. how is the ward doing? any news? love you all so much.

elder cameron

Natalie November 18, 2013

Hello dear family,

What a beautiful week. Thank you so much for your prayers and your e-mails. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family! This week I stopped stressing about things I couldn't control and just enjoyed the beauty of the life of a missionary. I enjoyed talking with so many different people and just saw the beauty. We saw a lot of fun things this week:

We were doing some porting in Fontainebleu in a beautiful area just next to the castle that i showed you last week. We were having so much fun and kept having the funniest moments. We walked past a house and this woman was outside on her porch. I contacted her like normal and she said, "oh dears i know! wait one moment and i'll come out" we looked at each other and were like hmmm ok? haha that normally doesn't happen. She came out and told us it was way too cold to be outside and that we needed to come in! We kept saying we were missionaries and she said oh i know i know; haha well turns out her husband was in the house, and she definitely had alzshymers (sorry don't know how to spell). We got a good laugh out of that. It felt so good to be welcomed...even if she thought we were someone else. 

We also had a neat experience with out Muslim friend we met a few weeks ago. She is our age and we have become great friends! We contacted her one night and she cried because she was so touched by our message. This week she gave us a referral of a friend she has who is Christian and has two children. She thought our message might help her! She took us to dinner the other night and we had the coolest lesson! Her friend just kept looking at us and saying that she's made a lot of mistakes in her life, but she could see the virtue in our eyes and really wanted that. She texted us today and wants to have lessons with us! What a miracle. If you can, please pray for her and her children! Her name is Nicole. 

We also had a surprise conference with President Osguthorpe (general Sunday school president) and Brother Ridd (First counselor in the General Young men's presidency). Our area authoirty Elder Boutoille came too. All 4 paris zones went to Versailles and we got to meet them and shake their hands. When they walked in we were all singing hymns standing in line. The spirit was so strong. We got to shake their hands and talk with them one on one for a bit. They are the kindest men ever. Elder Ridd talked about having real intent in everything we do! Praying, working out, even eating! It took on a whole new meaning and I've been trying to apply it in my missionary life. It makes such a difference and I've learned we can apply it to everything in our lives! President Osguthorpe talked about having desire and determination to do the work. He shared a quote from Elder Maxwell that says, "We all need more deserved specific praise" So I'm taking this into affect! And i just want to seriously thank you all for the amazing people you are and the difference you've made in my life. I love you so much! Today's challenge: give deserved specific praise!

Afterwards, they talked to us and mingled as we ate. President Osguthorpe was talking with my companion and told her that we as the missionaries, are the most prayed for people on this earth. He told her that one of the first things we do when we teach children to pray is to pray for the missionaries. He told her to take advantage of those prayers and show these children that miracles come from prayers in our behalf. It reminded me of a quote from Elder Holland:

"Live now for these generations. Live now for the deacons and beehive girls who will one day have you return and sit up and watch you in sacrament meeting, who don't have a blessed idea what a mission is and have no idea what it means to go to Manaus or Belem (or Paris or Canada!) And then you look them in the eye and say that they too can serve. that they've got to take their turn in the relay race of eternity. you live right now in a way that you can pierce their hearts and touch their lives"

I totally believe in the power that comes from prayers--especially those of the children of our church! This week in our ward was the beloved primary program! the best day of the year. When we walked into the church there were our children there to greet us running to show us where the best place to sit was. This year we had our annual pouters, criers, and the ones who forget their lines. But for fun we had a great arrangement of the army of helaman on the tuba and called to serve on the trombone. That was a real crowd pleaser! The coolest part of the whole thing was the spirit we felt. I have a dear friend in our ward who's husband is not a member. We met with her this week and challenged her to pray to know how to invite her husband to come to the primary program to see their kids! We prayed for her like crazy and were so surprised to find him there on sunday! The first time ever! he camee!!! An absolute miracle. We watched him throughout the program and he was really moved and had tears in his eyes. THAT is the power that comes from children. They basically taught him the first 3 lessons and even talked about baptism. I was blown away. I think they should just go ahead and lower the mission age all the way down! We could use some of their testimonies out here. 

I have such a testimony of this! And we as missionaries are living for them. For those deacons and beehives who will be at our homecomings. For the little primary kids who pray for us everyday! We are living and praying for miracles to show them the faith of their prayers because THEY ARE REAL. I am so grateful for all of your prayers and they are felt.

This week we visited the Paris Opera house! It was absolutely UNREAL. Here are some pictures that we took there.  And here I am eating the last gaufre of Soeur Cunche. We said goodbye to her this morning as she heads to Texas then onto Canada (logan's ward) for the holidays. I will miss her so much and will never forget the impact she made on me! Say hello for me loge!

Well I love you all. i am praying for you and working hard for you! 

Hope you have a beautiful week.

Love

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give more

Logan November 11, 2013

HELLO

how are all y'all. i am doing dandy. this week has been a good one. we have had a lot that went down.

but first YEAH FOR EMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUTURE MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so pleased that you have decided to do this. so now that you have decided READ PREACH MY GOSPEL. i wish i would have read it more before the mission. it will help you so much. so during your personal scripture study incorporate PMG in there and it will do wonders for you. and the other suggestion i had was talk to your friends about it at school. one time brayden and i had a gospel discussion in the library. it was one of my favorite memories of our friendship. see if Haley wants to. and then dont date boys at all. ha

how is school going mom are the kids as funny as ever. i have some funny kid stories for this weeks email. dad how is work. busy for the holidays i am assuming. man it is weird not working another Christmas at the HOB Lob. i love that place. i really do. if you guys go in there give them a shout out for me. 

so this week i ate the healthiest meal i have ever had in my life. i thought i was going to be exalted right there. it was kind of gross though. ha. it was with this these members in our branch. the brother has cancer and they are eating really healthy to help his body. and the wife is kind of a hippy. for example we had tofu and rice and beans and kale chips. yeah i thought of you mom.  we helped them put up their TEMPO which is a cover for the car. and then they fed us. and it was the second time that i have watched a YANNI concert haha i didn't know how much i loved him until now, 

then i went on a split with elder grant. he was my first distict leader and now he is my zone leader! quel chance! it was good. we went to richards house. he told us about the hockey match that he played haha. he is hard to teach because he loves to talk. a lot.  but it was a good lesson we talked about alma 32 and faith. 

then we had stake conference this week. saturday night we had the adult session. it was so good. the stake president after 10 years got released and so we have 2 members of the 70 here. elder pieper and elder smith. and we have mission conference on tuesday. super excited for that. but saturday night elder pieper called up all the missionaries and we sang called to serve. it was as if there was a chorus of angels behind us. i have never felt like that before. it was cool using music and missionary work at the same time. then sunday we had the general session. i tried really hard to pay attention but there was this little girl that sat next to me and she was so funny. haha she told me how her favorite color is violet and then she named all the colours of the rainbow. then she looked me in the eyes and said. do you know what the fastest animal is. the cheetah. it is my favorite. then she read a book with me. haha i had a good time. 

then we went back to laval to work. we stopped at the church to eat dinner. and there was a family there. there was this little girl there who loves the missionaries so i played tag with her. it was fun haha. she was practicing her english and I practiced my french. 

so as i said we have mission conference tuesday and i am super excited. i have been thinking of questions i want to ask. i have been reading in mosiah as of late. and the words of king benjiman are in my mind. let us serve as many people as we can. because while we serve we show love to our neighbour and our God, who gave us life. something has come to my mind lately. a lot of missionaries are so concerned about the rules that they forget about why they are here. it reminds me of the Pharisees at the time of Christ. they wanted to look good and didn't care about their fellowman. it is important to live the higher law. to do things out of love, not to look good. i love you all and pray for you everyday. good luck and seek those missionary opportunities 

oh look some poutine!

Natalie November 11, 2013

Hello everyone!

This week was another good, hard, crazy week! Learned so much and am not the same person I was 7 days ago. We had exchanges, interviews, zone conference and much much more. Last week, most of our amis dropped us, and this week all of our rendez-vous fell through! haha I don't really know what's going on in France right now, but I do know that the work must go on, and it does! Oh how grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who knows us individually and fits us to the tasks that lay before us. No matter the challenge, we can do it. Through each challenge we face, He carefully molds us into someone stronger--someone fit to fight. And never give up.

I have always had a special place in my heart for the unsung heroes in life. I love Hyrum, Sam, and even Samwise! I love their loyalty, and their dedication to doing what's right for their brothers, friends, or whoever they support.This week I studied about the life of John the Baptist. And I've come to find out that he is another unsung hero that lived an incredible life. I love him! And he's now on my list of people to meet someday. Through the scriptures, we learn that John was called to prepare the way for his second cousin, the Savior Jesus Christ. Probably the most well known story of John is the moment when he baptized Christ. John was exactly where the Savior needed him at that moment--in the water. The moment we first learn of him, he's doing exactly what he was called to do.

I also learned that as Christ's ministry began to develop, John's followers started to leave him to follow the Savior; Some of the people asked him about it, and this was his humble reply: "He is as the Bridegroom; and I am only as the friend of the Bridegroom, His servant and I rejoice greatly in being thus near Him. His voice gives me happiness; and thus my joy is fulfilled" He humbly honors the Savior in every situation! Soon after, John was thrown in prison because of peer pressure from Herod's wife. The Savior sent men to tell John that "the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached." I can't imagine how he must have felt learning of the things that he had prophesied of and the things he'd dedicated his whole life to seeing.  I imagine him sitting alone in that dark and dreary cell, pondering and just imagining the things the Savior was doing. It breaks my heart to think of his last few days. Soon after, he was beheaded unlawfully and his life ended. When I first studied this, I was really sad to see what had happened of him. He had dedicated his life to preaching the word of God, and he wasn't even there to see it. It reminded me of our missions. Sometimes we work so hard it hurts, and almost nothing seems to come of it. Sometimes we work so hard in a city and see "nothing" come of it in our own eyes. I was sad for him. As I continued to study in Jesus the Christ, I was reminded that "In May 1829, a resurrected personage appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey, announced himself as John known of old as John the Baptist, laid his hands upon the two young men and conferred upon them the priesthood of Aaron which comprises authority to preach and minister the gospel of Repentance of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins." God didn't forget John. He was called again, to help usher in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ--the same gospel that he had so diligently worked for. God remembered him and all the good he humbly left in his life. And because of Him, there are missionaries all over the world baptizing just as he did in his life.

This week, I was feeling a little like John. Every single one of our rendez-vous fell through and the work all of a sudden came to a slow, hard pace. It was hard! We were working hard and trying to find success--but it was hard to find. Sunday night, we decided to pass by a family that we've been trying to get in contact with. We knocked on the door, not knowing if they were busy or would let us in. She opened the door and we looked in to find aunts and uncles and extended family. They invited us in and we asked if we could pray with them! My companion Soeur Elliott said an incredible prayer, and the brother in law said "bravo. That was incredible." He then began to ask us questions. And lots of them. At first I was nervous, because I thought he was just going to try and prove us wrong like a lot of them do! But we soon found out that he genuinely wanted to know more. We then had an experience that changed our lives. With each question, words flew out of our mouth. Answers that we didn't even know! It was crazy. Our french was spot on and the Spirit was THICK. It was incredible. He told us that he was seriously impressed with us. He told us that he was an Evangelical preacher and had never been so impressed by girls our age. He asked us what made us different and how we weren't of the world. I boldly testified of my parents and the lessons they taught me, and how I came to know for myself that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the World. And He is the reason I'm here. We each bore testimony of the Restoration and the need to prepare for the Second coming of the Savior. He prayed for us at the end calling us "warriors of God". It was so powerful and as we were walking out the door he leaned over to his sister in law and told her how proud he was of her that she let us in. 

Just as God didn't forget John, He didn't forget us either. He used us for His work and He didn't leave us alone. I know that this is God's work and it is real! There is no way that two twenty something year old girls could sit in a small apartment in France and boldly answer questions and questions and questions from an Evangelist preacher and have it not be His work! That's exactly it. It's His work. His time. His gospel, and His Son. And that is why we're here. We're not here for it to be easy, because I learn over and over that it's not easy and it's not supposed to be. But it's worth it! And with every hard situation, comes amazing and incredible blessings.

Today we visited one of Napolean's castles and it was absolutely beautiful. We walked where he walked and took a tour inside their rooms. It was crazy! i'm reminded over and over and over again that this is where i'm supposed to be! I'm happy and healthy and living my dream. I know that this is the most important work that I could be doing in my life right now and its completely changing who I am. Couldn't be happier.

Love you all so much and hope you have a beautiful week!

Love,

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets I've Promised to Give More

This...duh duh duh... is Napolean's castle. probably my all time favorite place I've visited so far.

this is the TOP of the list when ya'll come and visit someday. seriously

absolutely amazing.