Logan April 28, 2014

WOW double-you-o-double-you

seriously. you better buckle up for a crazy week. miracles are real and i experienced a lot of them. 

but first i will respond to any questions: i have not got my package but i should get it tonight. i cannot just go to the office to get it, but the zone leaders went and they have it and i am going on splits with them tonight so i shall get it tonight. thank you in advance. 

Just also want to give a shout out to my sister natalie. she is great. she sent me a letter and i dont know whether to be happy or mad with her because i cried like a little baby. 

also mommy i have a question. once i read a book that you highly suggested/forced me to read. it had  a lot of pictures in it and it was about a boy in a train station and his dad died and he was maintaining the clocks and then he got caught but this guy for stealing, but then there is also some sort of machine that is a humanoid that draws and it turns out that the old man is the guy who created it. yeah he was a french guy so i wanted to know if the book was in french so i need the title. can you give it to me. 

ok here you gooooo

so i have so many interesting things that happened so i shall create a table of contents like in emails past. i hope you enjoy

1. COPS ON FOX

2. Table tennis champion

3. what once was lost now is found.

4. DEREK IS THE MAN

5. ROBERT AND SYLVIA ARE THE MAN AND WOMAN

6. the temple of our God, and fun with maple syrup

ok so i will start with #2. i am the table tennis champion. we played last week on pday. i beat everyone. i am glad that isaac and i trained for so long back in the day. because of those hours of training i had the skills needed to beat all of my opponents. unfortunately i was not tested as well as i would have liked, for all mu opponents were on a beginner level. 

it was fun though. 

#3 you may remember a story of mine a while back. i was coming out of church and i realized that my tag was gone. i began to weep because it was my favorite tag. my first tag in fact the tag that was given to me in the mtc. so that was in january. and after many months of praying and searching and  weeping, i found it! well actually elder duran found it. but we found it! and i jumped for joy. it was really amazing that we could find it after so long. we just had to wait for snow to melt and we walked around on pday. it was so great. 

or #1 COPS ON FOX blainville editon. we got pulled over. it was strange because we were at a red light and we did absolutely nothing wrong. so we pulled into a gas station parking lot and the cop approached us. we were quite scared and a little nervous so my french was shaky. he said. vous faites quoi? what are you doing? we said well driving home after visiting a friend. then he said you speak english. then he told us. i dont mean to scare you guys but your car matches the description of a car involved in robberies in the area. then he looked at our licenses and we told him we were servants of the Lord and then he realized that it was most likely not us. so he laughed then checked our criminal records, then let us go. it was only after he left that we thought of the brilliant idea to ask him if we could take pictures of him hand cuffing us or in the back of his car. but it was probably a good thing that we didn't. 

#4 derek is the man. 

so the assistants to the president called us saturday and the conversation went like this. forgive me for the lack of punctuation. 

hello it is elder cameron

hey elder cameron it is elder heinzlemeir 

hey elder hows it going(have to stay chipper for the aps)

i am great how are you?

i am wonderful. what can i do for you on this beautiful evening?

well what are you doing right now?

not much 

want to come teaching with us?

of course we do(we really did this is not sarcastic.)

ok well we got a call from this guy who lives in your area that used to live in our area and he wants to be taught again so we are going over.

cool what is his address?

so they gave us his address and we went over.  his name is derek and he is great. he has a lot of addiction he is struggling with. we invited him to be baptized and he said yes. then he came to church and we went over again and committed him to a date. he accepted. due to his addictions we chose a date pretty far away. but we are going to help him work through it

so we are excited about that. 

#5 there is this guy that showed up to our branch named robert. he is from repentigny. his wife just immigrated from kenya. she wants to be baptized. he is already a member. it was awesome. it was just a crazy week. so many miracles. 

wow

so #6 we have a temple trip saturday so we get to go. and it is the last day it is open before it closes for over a year. i am super excited. we also may get to go to a caban a sucre. or a sugar shack for all you english speakers. sister jeary is going to take us. super pumped. 

i love the mission!!!!!!!!!!!!

elder cameron

ps i hope you are all well. can't wait to talk to you

elder cam

Natalie April 28, 2014

Hey hey everyone!
What an incredible week we had over here. So many miracles, too many to even count. I'm just so dang grateful to be here. So happy and I just feel so blessed.

So I'm not sure if any of you had the chance to read Elder Utchdorf's latest little devotional talk he gave. If not you should check it out.(https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/seeing-beyond-the-leaf?lang=eng&cid=email-shared) Simply incredible. i'd like to share some of it with you because it really applied to our week!

Loge you'll really like this, "Tolkien began his famous novel The Hobbit with these words: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” If you remember, Bilbo Baggins lived in a comfortable home in the Shire, a small, peaceful village that celebrated gardening, community gatherings, and a meal schedule that included breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, lunch, afternoon tea, supper, and dinner. Bilbo was quite content with the leaf of his life. And it was beautiful for all that. But little did he know of the twigs, branches, trunks, and roots that were all around him. Little did he know of distant towers, trolls, and talking trees. The farther he went from the comforts of the Shire, the more remarkable and strange the world became."
I felt a little bit like Bilbo as I read this. Me growing up in the little corner of the shire with the beauty that I enjoyed. A bubble inside another bubble. I just knew what I knew and I'm not really sure if I ever even scraped the edge of knowing what i didn't know and that there was another world out there and so much more to learn. I never even knew how much I needed to learn, until I came out here. he continues:

"My dear brothers and sisters, one of the most fascinating things about this mortal experience is that there is so much to learn. Isn’t it a remarkable feeling to belong to a church that not only embraces truth—no matter the source—but that teaches there is much more to come, that God “will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.”[xxiii] As a result, we are humble about the truth we have. We understand our knowledge is a work in progress, that the leaf we have before us is simply one microscopic snapshot—part of an infinitely vast forest of fascinating knowledge. Our little world—our small section of experience—may be an accurate and true reflection of our reality. But it is only an infinitesimal atom in the vast universe of what we eventually will know. Isn’t that a glorious concept!"
Isn't that is beautiful?? oh my goodness! This week I really thought about a lot. I thought about just learning from other people in general. Everyone has a story to tell. And this week, I really tried to envision that as I spoke with people. other missionaries, my comp, members, amis, random people on the street! When you listen, people talk. and people have things to tell. As we learn more about people and who they really are they become more and more beautiful. We see every beautiful pattern like inside a leaf. Every principle that we learn becomes a part of that pattern. It's different. and unique. As we embrace other's differences and REJOICE in them, then if we take a step back and climb our own trees, we'll realize that we're surrounded by thousands of individual, unique, intricate leaves that amount to a beautiful, breath taking forest.

As we get out of ourselves and our own ruts and holes, and climb, God will take us higher. He'll get us out of the mud of others and all the tangled weeds and vines that others seem to throw at us, and He'll help us see the beauty that He sees. If we have that desire, we can learn from them. we can grow higher and higher and get out of the mud and swamps.

this week, as I learned others's stories, we found so many miracles from it. Tuesday, I had my legality here in Valenciennes. it's for my 2nd year legality and it's really hard to get it. They are known for being really slow and mean to foreigners. We prayed our little hearts out that I had all of my paperwork filled out and everything good to go. We got there, and apparently i didn't have a paper (they never gave me mind you haha). Normally, if you don't they send you out and you have to schedule another one that will be too late.  instead, i tried to see her as a person with a story. And it worked! She told me that she'd let me slide, and she passed me! MIRACLE!
Wednesday, we went story seeking again and ended up finding 6 women!!! All who wanted to know more. One of them became a new investigator yesterday when we went and had a SOLID rendez-vous with her to learn more about her story. She told us she is searching for God. And no one has ever helped her find Him till us. It was so cool. She's this cute, older, classy classy french woman. neck scarf and all.
We also visited our other ami Magalie to learn more about her story and we really connected more than ever. We invited her to be baptized and talked more about her boyfriend she's living with. They have a daughter together and I testified of my Dad and how incredible it was to have a dad to give me blessings who was married to my mom forever. it really touched her and she said she wanted that. So, she's going to talk to him about getting married so they can get baptized. MIRACLE!
Then, we helped the ward out with their activies and had a BLAST. We really got to know them more as individual lovely people. The kids were a hoot and blast like normal and we had so much fun with them. We ran out in the rain with them to exercise. And at night, we had a "diner presque parfait" An almost perfect dinner! the youth all decorated tables and fed us dinner and we had to rate them. Our dinner was really good and fantsy and our table full of adults just ended up spitting spit wads at the other tables with our straws. it was pretty hilarious. we had some good hits. I love them.
I really have a huge testimony of learning. Gaining knowledge, but also learning about others.
"Isn’t it wondrous to belong to a church that teaches that infinite progress and eternal knowledge await those who set foot upon the path of discipleship of Jesus Christ and follow it in faithfulness and dedication?
I wish you the best in this noble effort as you pursue the great adventure of recording and clarifying history. The roads we travel are certainly not guaranteed to be easy or ever-pleasant, but if we keep traveling in the pursuit of truth, they will always lead back to the ultimate truth—they will lead us to our Heavenly Father, who is the great historian, the great record keeper, the great Creator, mentor, and friend"

I love that. And I can testify that it is true. I LOVE LEARNING. And I can testify that it can change our view. If we learn to learn about others, we'll learn more about God and ourselves.

That's my challenge this week! To seek to learn about others.

Well I sure do love all of you so much! I appreciate all of your love and support, more than you know. I'm praying for you and can't wait to SEE you in 2 weeks! motha's day! woot woot!

Love,

Soeur Cameron 100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

pictures of some of our primary kids, our center piece the youth did, a baguette vending machine! cool huh? #onlyinfrance

Primary Activity Day

Logan April 21, 2014

hey there family, friends, and loved ones.

how is everyone doing? i hope you are all well. 

so shout out to grandpa. i saw a nun the other day and i tried to wink at her haha. i remember the time he told me he winked at a nun in hong kong. 

 

wasn't this last week great. i think so. i love easter and i love church. 

 

so this last week we went to the church,  and we saw some little greek kids playing soccer in the parking lot. they thought we were going to make them leave but i just got out and said you guys can stay if you want. they weren't hurting anyone so i let them stay. then i played a little with them. we played follow the leader and so i did a trick and they had to match. haha it was fun. they thought it was so cool how i was from the united states. 

then we went to a less active lesson. the mason family. they  are great. they have a two year old who loves to climb on us. unfortunately he climbed on my after he peed his pants. so i got a little wet. gross. but we had a great lesson on the atonement and the resurrection. it was great. we shared alma 7:11-13 with them and talked about the way the Jesus Christ can comfort us. 

while we were there i ate squid. it was gross. but i ate squid

then we were parked later and we were making some calls and a car pulled up next to us. they were two jehovahs witnesses. they thought that we were some of them so they started asking us questions. haha it was weird. finally we said we are mormons. you should have seen the look on their faces. it was quite amusing. haha then they just said, well good to see you. and drove away. we got a good laugh

saturday we had an easter fireside full of music. there was a missionary choir. it was awesome. there was a lack of altos so i was volunteered to sing, as i was the only one capable. i take pride in my range. so i stood next to the sisters and sang alto. some may have laughed but it sounded great. the fireside was really powerful. the spirit was so strong and i heard some great music. a little long but meetings tend to do that. 

i finished the book of mormon in french this last week. it was really good. i also finished Jesus the Christ. just in time too. i finished on thursday and had the thoughts of what i read in my mind for the whole weekend. 

sunday was great. i played the piano for sacrament meeting and pauline and remeline showed up. they were even early. they are totally going to be baptized one day. later that night we went to eat our easter dinner at the velesquez family's house. he is our branch pres. it was fun. i got to play with these kids.

hey are crazy haha. lucas is the youngest. the bunny fairy. he likes to climb on us too. he is a little pill. but everyone laughs at him. at this dinner i was the only white person. and the only one who doesn't speak spanish. so i hung out with the kids. i can communicate with them. haha

a man came up to me and said you have got to be the youngest missionary i have ever seen. i said thanks. look man i am almost 19. i didn't say that but i wanted to.

this week was great. full of the spirit and i felt close to my Savior. i love Him. He Lives!

elder cam . 

 

Natalie April 21, 2014

Well it sounds like everyone had a swell Easter! It sure was a great one out here too. It was pretty special being a missionary celebrating the Resurrection of the Savior. We had a lot of neat experiences.

So I dropped of my daughter Soeur Richards at her train and said goodbye. It was hard! She has become one of my dearest and most special friends. I sure do love her. I picked up Soeur Williams, my new companion! And I love her already. She is from Syracuse Utah and is just the greatest. We have already had a lot of fun together.

This week we had a lot of FHE's scheduled with the members to bring their friends and family to learn more about easter! Most of them fell through unfortunately, but we saw a lot of miracles instead. We went to the Bishop's house for one of them and their friend cancelled at the last minute. their 9 year old daughter Pauline had a friend knock at the door and came in to play! She cam and listened to the message we had prepared. We shared a little Mormon Message of the Resurrection and throughout the whole video Pauline was quitely testifying to her friend and answering her sweet little questions. "Who is that on that cross?" "That's Jesus. He died for you. But then He got resurrected so you can live again too. Isn't that cool?" I quietly listened in and my heart was overwhelmed. She is the greatest missionary ever. Her little friend will one day remember those words, and the words that she always tells her! And it will bring her to the church again.

Throughout the week, in our STL zone all the sister's would forward their miracles. It was pretty incredible and unifying to hear of all the miracles our mission was having. the Savior really can change the world, even in France.

In Sacrament meeting, our chapel was FILLED! It was a sight to see. We had less-actives, in-activies, part member families, amis, visiters and more! It was so incredible. And the spirit was strong. there wasn't any specially arranged Randy Cox's numbers, or beautiful flower pieces on the pulpit, but there was such a sweet spirit of the Savior. And we all felt Him there.

Easter night we went and visited Mary France and Dider. She is our recent convert who suffers from being dangerously obeise. She has health issues from her thyroid and now more and more gets added on. She has been pretty hopeless these past few months. But little by little the light has come back. Yesterday we visited her and she was a different person! She was standing and smiling and she looked amazing! She told us that the night before, she had had a dream. And in her dream she saw my face, and all the faces of the people that were praying for her. And she knew that everything was going to be ok. She now has the hope to begin again and to start on her road to recovery. Pretty incredible right? I have a testimony of the power of prayer!

This week I studied President Monson's talk more about Love that he gave in conference. I love this quote.

"Dale Carnegie, a well-known American author and lecturer, believed that each person has within himself or herself the “power to increase the sum total of [the] world’s happiness … by giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged.” Said he, “Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.

May we begin now, this very day, to express love to all of God’s children, whether they be our family members, our friends, mere acquaintances, or total strangers. As we arise each morning, let us determine to respond with love and kindness to whatever might come our way."

I love that and know that it is true! Love and especially the Love given to us through the Savior can change the world! I'm going to take President Monson's challenge as well to try to love for effectively!

Well I LOVE you all so much. Thank you for all of your LOVE and support. I feel your prayers and they mean the world. I hope you all have an incredible week full of LOVE and miracles as well.

Love,
Your Nat Girl AKA Soeur Cameron

100 % No regrets I've promised to give MORE

saying goodbye to soeur richards

Soeur Williams and I with our famous mervielleux nords!

in the words of Jess when she was a small lass "happy easter"

Logan April 14, 2014

hey y'all

emily can drive? what. 

it is good to hear that bro jones is doing a little better. slowly but surely. man temple square. i miss that place. you lucky ducks. 

mom you didn't guess first. justin won fair and square and he will get his prize hopefully at the end of this week. and he is going to love it. man i am so happy for this. because it is his birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so i got him a special birthday gift that only a quebecer would appreciate. i am sure he will want all y'all to try it though. 

so i told president patrick about derek shumway coming to the greatest mission known to the mortal mind. i am trying to slowly convince him that i should be his trainer. haha. so hopefully it works out. i would love for that to happen.

guess what. pauline and remeline came to church! i was conducting the music and they both walked in a little late. it was so great. just to remind you they are our jamaican friends. pauline is like 65 and every time we leave her house she says, "and i love you very much!" she is my favorite haha.

we actually had 4 investigators at church. that is amazing for a little branch of chomedey. we were really quite pleased. kelly came. he is so funny. for all of you who have seen seinfeld kelly is kramer. exactly. he walks in like him and is a little loud. he gives us a good laugh. 

the lundquist family took us to dinner. brother lundquist's little sister was there with her husband. it was fun. i was playing i spy with the girls. it turned pretty competitive and pretty soon everyone was in on it. i slayed. i won like every time. yep thats me the i spy champ. i would go on but my Christ like attribute for the week is humility. 

so a little while ago we went to a man named samuel fortina's house. he is best friends with maxim gaboriault the ward mission leader of mont saint hilare my first area. maxim was my best friend there. so sam is less active but he served a mission and at one point of his life was very active. he just has some things going on. so a while ago we went to his house and had a really good bro down with him. that means chat for all the senior citizens reading this. he came to church yesterday and we talked with him some more. he is great. he goes to the french ward so we dont work with him. but he told us that when we came it meant more because we weren't told to go.  he is just a good friend and we wanted to visit. but it just is a warning to me and all other missionaries. once we return home we can't slip back into old habits or assume that life will be taken care of. you can see the difference in his life and for example justins life. they have both had similar experiences but justin has held strong to the faith. interesting thought. 

so i have learned a lesson. never tell anyone you play the piano. i have to play in church next week for easters. i have some practicing to do. 

i love you all and pray for you. 

in my studies this last week i read about zeezrom. this man is very similar to alma the younger. he was absolutely evil and then felt the spirit. and changed his whole life. then he started preaching the gospel. he is a perfect example of the power of the atonement which is what this season is all about. not just this season but this life. the Atonement is real. I know it. i cannot deny the power that i have felt and that as missionaries we share with everyone. I love Jesus Christ. 

elder cam

I knit ties in my spare time.

Natalie April 14, 2014

Well hello everyone!

First I must thank you for your packages. You will never know how much they meant to me. Thank you thank you for your kindness and the sacrifices you made. I will remember it forever! I just sat and bawled and looked at everything over and over again. We were in heaven. First Cadbury egg in a year along with first reese's egg as well as my Brach's bunnies. Needless to say, I was in heaven. Thank you so much.

Second, we got the surprise of the century. We just found out that Soeur Richards will be leaving and I will be staying. That pretty much never happens in our mission. Very rare! We were devestated to find out she would be leaving because everyone thought I would be gone. It was a shock. But the good news is she got called with serve with Soeur Whisler! My last companion who I love! I wouldn't have her with anyone else. We're really sad and it's going to be really hard to say goodbye. We've become best best friends and we've been through a lot together. I have had some of my most sacred and special moments with her and she will be missed dearly. But we have loads of plans after the mish so in one year get ready for the Richards and Cameron show together once again. She is one of my dearest and most treasured friends. Also I will be training this next transfer again! I will be training a sister named Soeur Williams who is going into her second transfer. I will be finishing her training up!

Wow this week has been a blur. We went to Paris for our Sister's conference! Sounds like you got to see some of our pictures. haha only in Paris right? So we showed up and Soeur Poz had quite the surprise set up for us. We had no idea what was in store for us! first we had a spiritual training from her and pres and they talked about our roles as women and how much they loved us. Then we had a fantsy lunch made by some of the senior sisters which was delicious! All of the sisters in the mission were there so it was SO fun to see everybody and talk! Then we had a Parisian makeup artist come and show us how to do makeup. it was so funny! We were all looking around thinking are we really here? Only Soeur Poz would organize that. haha Then Soeur Poz gave us fashion advice and unveiled a whole table set up with jewlery and scarves and bags. kid you not. We died. She went to tell us that women throughout paris and france had donated them for us so we could all have some things to spruce up our lives. haha seriously she did that. So we all got some jewels and scarves and picked out things we liked! I will treasure them for forever. Then we made some little crafts to give to members. It was so fun and just a nice little time to be with other girls and sisters. There was such unity! It was hilarious to watch Pres go around. He had the famous facebook camera the whole day cracking jokes and not really sure what to do with himself. I love that man! haha He's hialrious. I will miss him.

The rest of the week we spent teaching and visiting members and our amis. Jacqueline did not get baptized on Saturday. It was hard, but I know that one day she will. Even if it's in the next life. I'm excited to continue to work hard with her throughout this next transfer. The hardest part of my mission is teh agency of others. I just wish they could see how much it could bless them. I can see how Heavenly Father probably feels about me at times. I've grown to love Him so much!

This week every day before Easter we have a FHE set up with a member where they will invite one of their friends so we can teach a lesson about Easter. I am so excited to testify of the Savior and the miracle of His Resurrection. I know that He lives. He has carried me everyday of my mission. I know that He is real. and He physically leads this, His church. I know that He knows us. He died for us. And I love Him so much. It is an honor to wear His name on my heart everyday.

I Hope you all have a beautiful Easter and know that I am right there with you.

Thank you again for all of your love and support.
Love you so much.

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

Logan April 7, 2014

i do love conference. it was amazing i have been spiritually edified and i love to learn new things about the Gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was amazing. 

so monday we went and ate dinner with a very french family that natalie will recognize. the family cunche. now remember that the son of the mother cunche is in my ward and the mother is in nat's old ward. it was swell. we ate ratatouille. it was real good. it was prepared by a woman though not a rat. 

we had a really good lesson with one of our investigators. it is a part member family. the lesson was just averages until the member started testifying. it was so powerful. he said: if Jesus existed then He is my favorite Man, if He didn't then my life has been made great from a story. how cool is that quote. think about that for a second. How much better are we living because of Jesus Christ. But i dont have to worry because i know He lives. I havent seen Him nor have i talked to Him, but i know He lives. 

We had a zone training meeting this week. I was asked to share how i obtained my own testimony. It took me a while to organize my thoughts. I had to think for a long time. I realized that there was not one major experience that sealed the deal for me. But it was the simple change that i saw when i was following the commandments, and when i had the spirit with me. 

so conference. wow, where can i start. i loved it all. i continued my tradition of sitting in the nursing chairs and watching it. 

the little girl is elana. she is in the french ward and is really funny. she is trying to learn english so sometimes i teach her words. it is fun to speak french with little kids though. 

you may have seen the picture of me knitting. that is because i did. i am just claking away at a little project i have going. Everyone was making fun of me because i was knitting in the nursing chair. apparently i looked like an old woman. especially when i had my glasses at the end of my nose. 

Talks i loved

elder nelson

elder Perry 

elder Hallstrom (who just came to montreal)

president uchtdorf in the 4th session. 

and all of the other ones.

but in elder nelsons i loved how he said, "where is our faith? in a team in a brand in a celebrity? even the best teams fail, celebrities fade, but Christ will never Fail nor Fall.

how true is that. how many people get too caught up in the lasted thing, or in a team or a person. i have been wrapped up in that web before. but they will always fail us. never will we have lasting happiness unless we are totally faithful to Jesus Christ. i loved that. i could talk about it for ever!

well thats all for me this week 

mom sorry justin already got it. sorry. his prize is going to be mailed soon. sorry mom you missed out. maybe he will be nice and share it for the family. i think he will. 

Love you all lots. Always remember i am praying for you. Emily you must continue of the strait and narrow because just in a few years you will be in mine and natalies shoes. you will love the mission. you will changes lives and you will come closer to your Savior. 

elder cameron

Natalie April 7, 2014

Wow.

That's about all that I can say about this weekend. Can I get an amen for that? I can honestly say that I have never been more moved by a conference than I was from this one! From square one Elder Holland hit a homerun! (like he normally does. Let's all remember the mime that says, "I don't always give the best General Conference talk...oh wait...yes I do" yeah that's about spot on) and I felt literally like he had jumped out of the tv and was talking to me personally.

Like you guys I LOVED Elder Bednar's talk and it was pretty fun. Me and my comp were watching them all leave the conference center and his wife came up to him at the end and give him a little hug telling him he did a good job. We liked that. I would give him a fist bump too. I loved his analogy and everything he had to say. Good man.

I think for me, a common theme that I found was how they were all pumping us up. Especially the youth, to take a stand and be ready to fight for this gospel. Elder Holland's talk hit it right on the nose. Like the sister missionary that he mentioned who got the sandwhich spat on her, I have experienced things similiar, and other situations almost every single day of my mission. Each day I have received persecution for the tag I wear. It was actually kind of funny, because as we were on our way to conference we had some problems, finally got to conference and watched it and felt so FIRED up! When we left, we ran into yet again similiar problems, but I will never ever forget the power and fire that I felt. I knew, that I had the power of God with me, and no one could touch or hurt me. I felt the fire of Elder Holland. On the tram there was a normal little encounter with a man and I could not ignore the power that was shining out. I squared me shoulders, looked the man right square in the eyes, and with a loud voice told him "NO". It was probably the first time he'd ever heard that word. It scared him, and he immediately got off the tram.  We were protected. There is nothing that can stop the work from progessing. There are sure a lot of forces that are trying, but we are so physically and spiritually protected that nothing can get in the way of our testimonies and will to work.

I have been protected every single day of my mission. I have been carried every single day of my mission by the Savior. It amazes me that He does it, because it's not us been persecuted, it's actually Him. It's His name on our hearts, on our tags. And I know it hurts Him. To have His brothers and sisters hurt His representatives--hurt Him. But because of His character, He turns outward to us rather than inward. He carries us and heals us. I have felt literally carried every single day of my mission.

Being here in France, I have come to know just how evil and wicked this world really is. I never understood that before coming here. I had absolutely no idea just how bad it actually has gotten. As I listened to conference, I realized that God is warning us all. The prophets are preparing us! And I am here to testify that things are getting bad; The things I've seen are evidence of that. 

In 2 Timothy 3:1-6 it says.
 1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
 6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly awomen laden with sins, led away with divers blusts,
 7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

I see pretty much every single one of these every day. And more. It is real! We are in the "latter days" just like Elder Ballard shared. But just as we have so much evil, there is SO much good! We are called to be as far away from the world as we can. and I love that! And we are doing it! I love that! I just feel the unity of us all throughout the world who want to fight! Who want to be set apart from the world!

As we finished watching conference, i wanted more than anything for these people here to watch it. I love them. And it hurts watching them live the way they do. Can you only imagine if everyone in the world would have watched conference and implimented what they learned? Ah. i'm so excited to have the chance to share it with them. That's why we're here. To find people that are ready!

Well I sure do love you, I had a great week this week. We didn't have anything too exciting. Just keepin on keepin it on if you know what i mean. This will most likely be my last week here in Valenciennes and it makes me really sad. It is always so hard to leave. But I love the Lord and am excited for all the calls He gives us. All the places He wants us to be.

Hope you all have a beautiful week.

Love
Soeur Nat
100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE