Logan December 30, 2013

i hope all of you had a great christmas and also i hope your new year is great as well.

it was fantastic to talk to all of you! i loved speaking real french with justin and hearing the almost real french from nat. can't wait to do it all the time.

emily i am glad you got to jam with haley. i am very jealous. i miss that a ton. mais c'est bon.

dad how is the ward doing? how are all those priests? are they getting ready to submit their papers? you will have to inform me of the calls when they come. 

so bad news i left my camera at the apartment. so you will have to go a week with out seeing my face. apologies. but dont worry next week you will get twice as much! ha imagine that! or it may just be like half as much as natalie sends.... haha

so after we got off from the computer we ate lunch with a scottish man and his scottish wife. it was so funny. we talked football for like an hour. and by football i mean soccer! but he told me some history of clan cameron and so funny stories. there was one story that had a song along with it so he sang it in his scottish accent. it was great. hopefully we will get to talk to him again he seemed like he liked us. so maybe we will have a sweet story to come. 

so you know the movie back to the future? and how marty mcfly says thats heavy doc? well a guy in our ward said thats heavy and i  turned to elder duran and i said, " is there something wrong with the gravitation pull in the future. then he laughed and we had to hold it in haha.

we had a sweet story. a lady in our ward just had a baby, but she had her i think the day after christmas. so we were there on christmas at their house and had a great lesson with them. so we decided to go and buy and gift for the baby. now that i think about it, it may have looked really weird seeing 2 20yearold guys buying baby clothes and freaking out how cute they were! haha it was pretty funny. i had a good time. we bought the cutest clothes. that baby girl will look so chic. 

and we got to go to the temple! i got to do confirmations in french! it was super cool. i loved it. i want to do that all the time. the priesthood is the same no matter the language. there is still a lot of power. super cool experience. we got to go because david went with the branch. it was super cool to see our recent convert doing baptisms for the dead. 

well that is all for this week. love you all lots and lots.

elder cameron

here is a narwal one for you emily. it is an icicle that we found on our balcony 

and rhona my typewriter

Natalie December 30, 2013

Well hello everyone!

It sure was great seeing everyone on Christmas. One of the best Christmases ever.

This is a picture of us on Christmas Eve after working out in the rain all day. haha it was a Christmas eve i'll never forget! We had a lot of fun. We were drenched head to toe.

We had a great week though. It was a little tricky with all of the parties going on and such. French people like their fêtes. But I thought I could get you up to date on all of our amis and what's going on in Valenciennes. So here they are!
Kathy is our ami with a baptisimal date. She is golden and is looking forward to her baptism. The sisters found her last transfer. She is a single mom with two boys and will be getting baptized this month.
Kaprice was also found recently. She is from the Congo and has 3 kids. Her husband is from Texas. She is incredible and asks some of the most profound questions. I love teaching her! This week we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she was so surprised to find out that she lived with God before this life. It shocked her but it was so cool to watch the change in her face. She learned about the Celestial kingdom and told us how much she wanted to get there. She naturally brought up questions and came to the conclusion herself that she needed to be baptized to get there. It was SO cool! So she will be getting baptized soon too. We just need to get her to come to church! She's leaving to the states for a week and will have a date when she gets back. I love her.
Erika is around 24 and is the one who brought her African sistas with us at the church the other day! We just found her too and are excited about the progress that she is making. We look forward to teaching her and her friends this week.
We also have a few families here and there that will be coming back after the holidays. The work is really great and the members are amazing. I love it here! I have been so blessed with my areas and companions. Soeur Whisler is a dream. We are having a blast.
So funny story. We ported into this little old lady last week named Nicole. Bless her heart. She's this little cute 78 year old. She is alsthymers and diabetes and a whole other array of problems. She mixes up her words a lot and man she's cute (mom you know how i love my old people) well this week we came and taught her the restoration. Every time it was time for her to talk she'd tell us a story about the Great war or about her grandkids. haha it was getting pretty funny. We taught the first vision and after she said, "ya know what, i have this disease, gosh i can't for the life of me remember what it's called. what is it again?" I replied, "oh you mean, alsthymer's?" and she said "yes! oh yes. that's the one. i can never remember what it's called." hahaha oh how cute is she. I was dying; She's a sweetheart and we probably won't be teaching her much but will continue to do service for her. Love her. 
Well this week i was getting really excirted for my new year's resolutions and miracles! And I found a lot of great things in the scriptures. In the Bible Dictionary it says that "miracles are powers or mighty works or a natural result of the Messiah's presence. Miracles are a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If miracles cease it is because faith has ceased." How cool is that! If we strive to have the presence of the Messiah in our lives, then miracles are more likely to come.That led me to the word faith! And I LOVED studying more about how faith is a principle of action and power. I've decided that that will be my word for 2014. FAITH. I've written my miracles for 2014 and realized how much faith I need to develop to see them happen. I'm so excited to see what the new year holds. It is going to be an incredible one! For with God, Nothing shall be impossible!

Well I love you all a lot! Thank you so much for your love and support. I hope you have a great and Happy new year. Hope dad got some fireworks to blow off . You are all in my thoughts and prayers and I'm so excited to see what's in store for all of us in this great new year. Looking back at 2013 it's incredible to see how blessed we are! We are blessed. Life is beautiful.

Sure do love you.

Sœur Cameron

100 % No regrets. I've promised to Give MORE

Logan December 23, 2013

merry christmas joyeux noel!

how is everyone doing?? 

we had a good week sister jeary took us to the bifteque. it was a super nice restaurant! she is so funny, so as we are driving more then half way there she says oh yeah the place is out of your area i forgot to tell you. oh well too late now. elder duran and i looked at each other and said oh man. it was super tasty though

 

then i went of a split with the ZLs it was awesome i had much fun with elder johnson. he is from delta. i worked in kirkland. it is the west of the island of montreal. it was so fun. 

sorry it has to be rushed this week because we have to go to a less actives house soon

church got canceled again for weather so we did the sacrament ourselves. dont worry we got permission. i love you all. i will send pictures next week. sorry it is so short. but we will talk Wednesday. love you, so excited!!!!!

elder cam

ps em i got your letter. thank you so much made my day

Natalie December 23, 2013

Bonjour tout le monde!

What a beautiful week we had here in Valenciennes. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Even if there's no snow. We dedicated our week to "proclaiming his name" and bearing witness of the Savior as our gift to Him. It was incredible. What a special time to be a missionary.

Here are some snapshots of our week: Had a rendez-vous with our friend Erika. We showed up to meet her and she walks up with this big group of her friends! They're all from Africa and naturally, my sistas. We were laughing and laughing and talking like we were friends in the womb...We walked to the church and taught them about the Savior. We gave them a chapel tour and ended up singing Christmas hymns in the chapel. A lot of Hallalujahs! It was so incredible and they kept saying, wow my sisters, the spirit is here. The spirit is here. And they were right! I have such a testimony of the power of music.

We were porting in an area and knocked a door, the women let us in because she heard the word
American. We went in and began teaching her and learned that she had just lost her husband. All of a sudden words came out of our mouths testifying that SHE WAS NOT ALONE. She began to cry and cry and told us how lonely she'd felt that day. We testified of the Savior's birth and life and that because of Him, we never have to be alone. She showed us pictures of her grandkids and we spent some time with her. It was so great and we will be going back to visit her! Mary Vonne is our new beautiful friend.

We also had a rendez-vous at a sweet members home. Turns out she has 15 cats and exactly 2 dogs living with her in her little squater and yes, we may or may not have seen them all, by name. haha As we were teaching they were climbing all over and jumping on us and all I could do was sing, "keep calm, and carry on" in my mind...thanks just. haha it was a real adventure and a memory I will never forget.

We also had our Christmas mission conference. We met up with a few other zones and it was so special. President and Soeur Poznanski made it feel like home for us. I was surprised to see 5 or 6 other missionaries from AF there too. it felt just like home! And was such a tender mercy! This is Elder Ryan Hall! One of Loge's friends from HS and the little brother to Jared Hall.

We had a fun time catching up! He's great! I also got to see my MTC district and all of my friends! Here is a pic of all of us together. soeur hilton and our elders!

It was so great to see everyone. We were also so surprised to have our letter from home! thank you so much. It meant the world. President and Soeur Poznanski also gave us each a temple recommend holder with the Paris temple that will be built soon on the front and a quote on the inside about us coming back. it was so special and i'll treasure it forever! We also made some videos and they should be on FB soon.

Throughout my mission I have devoted my studies to the Savior--specifically Characters of Christ. In the past few months I have been in the New Testament and in the past week I have been studying the Nativity specifically. It has been incredible and I've learned so much. I have studied each character in the nativity and I have learned that each one individually teaches us more about the person who the story is centered on! They teach us about the Savior in ways I have never thought about. We see Him in each person. We find him in the character of Mary when she accepts the role of being His mother and her faith when she learns that, "For with God, nothing shall be impossible" luke 1:37 We see Him in the strength of Joseph as He walked with courage alongside Mary as He protected them. We see it in the humilty of the shepherds as they witnessed the angel bringing tidings of great joy! "The trustful and unsophisticated keepers of sheep had not asked for a sign of confirmation. Their faith was in unison with the Heavenly Communication. They waited not but went in HASTE for in their hearts they believed, yea, more than believed, they knew, and this was their tenor of their resolve" James E Talmage
And we see Him in the wisemen, who we don't know much about. And I've learned that it's that way maybe for a good reason. We each can serve the Savior, and praise Him without our name being signed.
And most importantly, we learned of the Savior; that He chose, to come into this world, in the most humblest of circumstances. He, the King of Kings, chose to be born in a stable, and live a humble life.  I know that He lives! I know it I know it I know it. I know that He gave His life for me! With a heart overwhelmed with gratitude for Him, I know that the only way we can repay the smallest part of what He gave us or to show Him our gratitude, is by striving to become like Him, and to become His disciple. I know that as we waste away our lives in His service, in His name, we too can see our faces and stories in the Nativity. I also know, that just as Mary looked forward to the coming of a Messiah, we too are looking forward to the Second Coming of our Messiah. I know that He will come. I know it. And how excited I am for that day! When He will come in His glory and reign as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. I look forward to that day when He will come again. I know that He'll hold me so close that I'll know from the inside out that Jesus is the Christ, the most High God, and He'll take me to His Father. I know it. I know He lives because I know Him. I have seen Him every single day of my life and more specifically my mission. I love Him and I love His perfect Atonement for each one of us.
I love you all so much. And I'm so grateful for this special Christmas. Though we're all far apart I know that the Savior will link us together. I love you all and CAN NOT WAIT to skype you in T minus 2 days! woot woot! I love you so much!
JOYEUX NOËL

Love,
Your Soeur Cameron

100 PERCENT NO REGRETS I'VE PROMISED TO GIVE MORE!

Logan December 17, 2013

Hello 

i am so glad that you got the small gift. sorry it wasn't much but i thought you would like the kinder surprise. they are the greatest. how are you all doing? how are the holiday plans? 

these week was a good one. we started it all off by elder duran getting a colonoscopy. he has irritable bowel syndrome. so that is that. haha that day was super long. we spent most of the day inside because elder duran had to cleanse his bowels and such. so i did a lot of studies. then the woodruffs came and got us. they are a senior couple. they are really nice. 

this week some jehovah witness knocked on our door. first time in my life! we saw them coming so i got out my quad and sat down and made it look like i was studying intently. it was pretty funny. they gave us a pamphlet. we should have given them a book of mormon. but we didn't think of that until after they came.

sunday came and a huge storm blew in. and church got canceled. first time in my life! what. so we went out and all of our lessons got canceled. not the best day. so then we decided to dig people out. so we did a lot of service. we dug one lady out and her two kids helped us. they were 7 and 9. i talked to them while elder duran dug. they were funny french kids. 

oh i forgot to tell you. i was in the stake christmas party. i played the mandolin. it was fun. i arranged a medley and played it at the thing. it is weird not getting an instrument for christmas this year. it doesn't feel right! haha. 

but i guess is did. i got a small stuffed guitar. that was cute mom!

love you all so much and i hope your christmas is the greatest. 

my words of wisdom for the week are as follows. follow your heart. 

how poetic. 

love you guys.

elder cameron

.

Leo-Pold got baptized!!!!! and i got to go! this is him in white. what a guy. he was so totally prepared to receive the gospel

this is louise. we taught her too in  mont saint hilaire. she is going to get baptized too! hopefully soon. but we are unsure because she has cancer, in her bones. she is awesome!

Natalie December 17, 2013

I left the beautiful town of Melun. The family Ponnelle drove us to the gare and i got to say my last goodbyes; i love that place and will never forget it!!
So mom get this...remember how when I was like 16 and i couldn't even drive across AF because I was so nervous and stuff? Well your little girl took a train all by herself across France! All alone. woot woot! Look who's growin up! It was a pretty cool train ride. it was like 2 hours I think and I just looked out the window and saw the same green rolling hills and fields that I saw when I flew in. They looked a little different this time. I saw faces and people and my heart was so full. I LOVE FRANCE.
So Valenciennes! It is beautiful! We have already seen so many miracles. It is the very north of france just close to Belgium. It is very cold! But very beautiful.  My companion is the cutest thing in the world. Her name is Soeur whisler and she is from Nevada. We get along so well! She's the cutest thing.
We have done a lot of finding. We went porting the other night. We knocked a door and the guy opened the door and in english was like "hello sisters, you want to come in right?" We were surprised but said, uh yeah that'd be great. We went in and turns out, his wife had been contacted by misionaries a few months ago. He thought we were passing by! He has been taught by missionaries for years. He even had a D&C and Book of Mormon and everything! It was crazy. He knows everything and has been taught everything. He is a brilliant man and loves studying religion. We had a cool rendez-vous and at the end I testified of the Savior. He asked me how I knew that Jesus was the Christ. That morning I had studied all the names that you gave me Mom! So I was able to testify of all the names I found and that I knew Christ lives. It was so cool and the spirit was strong. He invited us to come back! And we went yesterday. I'm excited to keep teaching them.

We also went and did a passby. We walked in and all of a sudden this wave of stench hit us! and these two women were gutting sheep. 3 of them to be exact! it smelled SO bad! For a circumsision party. OH MY HECK; we were dying. we all just laughed and laughed like we were all best friends. We will be going back to visit them soon. I really love the people here!

We are seeing lots of miracles and having lots of fun in the process.

 

Well I love you all a lot! and i CAN NOT WAIT to skype you all soon!! Woot woot! let me know. I talked with just about times so hopefully we can make it work with loge too.

I know the church is true! and i love you all so much.

Love

Your Nat girl

100% no regrets I've promised to give MORE

LOVE YOU

Logan December 9, 2013

good morning my friends and family.

how are you! i am good. dont worry my nose is great mom it doesn't really feel bad anymore. like at all. i think i just had a little cold or something but it feels fine. 

i am doing great. i am healthy, and working hard. so my comp goes in for a colonoscopy tomorrow so prayers would be nice!! 

i am so grateful for christmas. i love the spirit of christmas and all the fun things that happen. it has been fun to see the decorations go up and everything. 

this last week we had a lesson with kelly our investigator and with a less active at the same time! it was a miracle she invited us over for dinner, she is single so we needed another guy so we brought kelly along. he asked some great questions and the less active answered them! and testified. it was so cool. she has been doing great as of late. she hasnt missed church in a while. she is awesome. 

So we had a funny/disappointing story happen. kelly went to the casino and won 5000 dollars. haha
 were sad because he has to stop before baptism and he wins money all the time! it is frustrating haha. but we are still working with him... pray for him haha

we got a pic with santa this week. i am sending a little something something home so you will be able to see it. it is something real special!

so basically, i have some funny stories for you. first story. we went to visit a super old lady named sister jarry. she is so funny. but this week she said that a gay guy moved in with her grand daughters. she said she wasn't too worried, its nice to have a man in the house and she isn't worried that he will do anything to them hahaha. i laughed so hard.

hey em! have you heard anything about copper club? i need to know how they are doing. check up on my boys you know

well i love you all. keep on keeping on. i will see you soon hopefully we can figure out when we will google hangout and stuff.

so in studies this week i studied recognizing the spirit. it was so cool. i learned a lot. buy something in particular was to have the spirit guide our prayers. i have tried it this week. and it has been super cool. my prayers are a lot longer and not so repetitious. and also to pray for gifts of the spirit. it has been great to see them come in places i needed them. 

love you all. merry christmas and a happy new year

elder cameron

Natalie December 9, 2013

First off, the big news. I am being transferred on Wednesday to Valenciennes! I am super sad to leave my Melun, but I'm excited for a new adventure. 

This week has been absolutely incredible with so many tender mercies and the knowledge that I know that God knows me! I knew I would be leaving Melun and it was really hard for me! I love this place and have left my heart here. I have so many people who i love and adore and so many investigators that I might never see again in this life. I think this is one of the hardest parts of the mission. The whole leaving thing and saying goodbye! But, God knew me, He knew my heart. And He gave me individualized tender mercies to know that He knew me, He knew what I've done here, and He knew where I would be transferred too. I know He lives!

So last week we spent our pday in Paris. We walked down Champs Elysée and they have all these incredible lights and things up! It was so magical. There was Christmas music playing and it was incredible; I will never forget seeing the Eiffel Tower all lit up! One of the coolest moments of my life. We also went and said goodbye to my château in Fontaine Bleu. It was one of my favorite places in all of France. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve here in France. My heart is here and I love it with all of my heart.

So this week we tracted in my favorite places and visited my favorite people. We went to Savingy and tried to exit the gare, but the door was shut. It was so weird! So we went the other way and thought of Melanie! I don't know if you remember my story about the woman we found who's apartment was next to the bridge? Well for the past 12 weeks, we have returned and returned multiple times a week to find her and teach her. We didn't have her family name so we couldn't ring in. The first time we found her she was out on the balcony. Every time we were in her ville we stopped by to see if it was God's time to find her out there again. This last time we went and prayed like usual in our little spot. We walked up and...she wasn't there. We walked up to the port of the apartment and looked through the names not knowing which one was hers. We saw one that caught our eye, and at the same moment, someone came and opened the door! We walked in, our hearts beating fast. Walked down the hall to the apartment that would be hers, and rang the door bell. She opened the door and was there! She was excited to see us and we talked with her for awhile. She was literally just leaving, but she set up a rendez-vous with us to come back tomorrow which is my LAST DAY in melun! Tender mercy anyone?? We looked at her family name, and it was the one we were about to ring. Isn't God incredible? I'm excited to see how it goes on Tuesday.

Right after we met with her we had a Rendez'vous with Soeur Nzengo. She's less active and is one of my favorite people in the world. We had an amazing time with her, then she said she heard i was leaving and bought me a cake. She walks out with my all time favorite pâtisserie! A Paris Brest! It was insane. I was dying. 

Then yesterday, after saying goodbye to all of my members, we went over to the Ponnelles. They have become my family here  in Melun. I helped their kids with english and piano and they have welcomed me in like family. They call me the big sister. Dang I love them! So get this. This weekend they got robbed. Someone stole their keys, his wallet holding all of their Christmas money, and other important papers. It was awful, because lately because of financial difficulties they may be losing their home. After all of that, she prepared a whole meal in my honor. She made homemade lasagna, escargot, oysters and flan. It was unbelievable! One of the most incredible examples of q charater of Christ I've ever seen in my life. She is constantly thinking of others. She even included us in helping them decorate their Christmas tree. It felt like home. If you could remember them in your prayers that would be great; I love them so much. They are seeing me off at the gare on Wednesday.

I love my missionary life with all of my heart. It'll be one of the hardest things I've done to leave this place. I've loved every single day and have seen so many incredible miracles. I love it so much. I know that God's hand is here in Melun and I look forward to seeing it in Valenciennes as well. 

Thank you again so much for the Christmas packages. You will never know how much they meant to me. I still can't get over it. It was way too much. I am so blessed. I love you all so much and i miss you! But I look forward to seeing your faces in a few weeks for Christmas.

Thanks for being the best family in the world.

Love,

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give more

pictures; walking along the Seine, the tower itself, jumping in Napolean's forest of over 70;000 trees!! it was a blast. i walked down the path and felt like i was in Pride and Prejudice!