Logan June 30, 2014

God bless america.

man i sure miss this holiday. i didn't think i would but i sure do. the fireworks, the watermelon, the american pride. consider yourselves lucky. 

mommy, that LOTR quote was great. i think i will be viewing this talk soon, very soon, probably right after i finish this email.  thank you so much

we had a pretty good week. we visited a lot of people did some service, laughed, had some fun. you know just the usual missionary experience. we went to our kenyan friends house again this week. sylvia is the investigator and robert is the member. we talked about how repentance works, why we need to and the power that we receive when we do. i was reading in the bible dictionary in preparation for this lesson, i was reading under fear. why fear you might ask? well maybe you should flip on over there and it will make sense. now i cannot recall all of the information word for word but i do remember that it said that fear is the opposite of faith, Heavenly father does not want us to fear, whenever there is a vision on earth the messenger usually starts off by saying fear not, Jesus Christ said fear not it is I, to the apostles when he was walking on water. Our Father in Heaven wants us to have faith in Him so we can shut out the fear that is caused by sin and by the natural man, or Satan. It was a really interesting study. it changed some ideas that i previously had and gave me some ideas for how i can personally progress. I think every time we take the sacrament we cast out some fear. we may have fear for what lies ahead in the coming week but when we strengthen ourselves by taking the sacrament then we can look at the situation differently. sometimes i have fear to contact people, but when i show faith that fear is taken away. 

we also had a great lesson with Osa, i dont know if you know her, so i will explain osa really quickly. she is a less active, she was born in nigeria and moved to quebec and was found by the missionaries. she is a single mother and struggling to get through school. so we went over just to see how she was. we didn't really plan a lesson or anything. but when we got there we felt like we needed to share some things. so we asked her how she was doing, she seemed sad so i asked her why are you sad osa, then she told us some things she is struggling with. we were able to use the scriptures and follow the spirit and teach a lesson that normally as missionaries we dont like to teach. it was probably one of the best lessons i have ever had on my mission. the spirit was really strong and even though she is not quite ready to come back she felt the Holy Ghost. 

yesterday was a great week at church. we had a couple of great talks. our pianist for the branch gave a talk on the power of music. she explained how each one of us should sing the words to every song no matter how we sound. the words really are meant to draw us closer to God and the invite the spirit to our meetings. it was a great talk. then in the 3rd hour we had a combined meeting with the RS and we watched a talk given by president Hinckley when they released the proclamation to the family. i havent really heard much of this ordained women thing but apparently it is causing a lot of friction so we had a lesson about it. it was really good. after the talk was over there was a discussion and a man bore testimony about the RS. i will admit i have never heard a man give a testimony with more emotion about the RS in my life. it was a little bizarre but it was a great testimony. 

well family it has been real. good luck with all of your activities this coming week. pray for missionary opportunities. i love you all very much. as of right now mother i don't need much, just your prayers. 

elder cameron

Natalie June 30, 2014

Hey everybody!

So surprise! I'm now in a trio with 2 of literally the greatest sisters in my mission. Soeur Henson came and joined the league of Torcy this week after her companion went home. We have already just had the greatest week ever. I always dreamed of serving with Soeur Henson, she is a hero of mine. She and Soeur Linton began their mission 1 transfer ahead of me, so they'll be dying this next transfer! We have all combined everything we've learned together throughout our missions, and are having an unbelievable time together! I don't know how we got so lucky! It's been a dream.

One thing we learned is that Soeur Linton and I sleep talk to each other all night...haha One perk of having a trio. Poor Soeur Henson.This week after the Poznanskis left I guess Soeur Linton started talking in her sleep saying, "Franck don't leave. You can't leave us!" And I mumbled in agreeance with her. Soeur Henson was laughing pretty hard. I think we were pretty traumatized when they left us.

Speaking of leaving us! We got to go into Versailles for legality on Friday and had to stop by the mission home. We literally walked up to the mission home the minute President and Soeur Poznanski were walking out of the house to leave their mission. All the office couples and missionaries were on the porch waving goodbye, everyone crying their eyes out. Soeur Poznanski saw us walking up and just started crying. "Mes soeurs!" I will never forget it. Literally, the world's greatest timing. We hugged them and got to see them off as they picked up our new mission President and his wife. President had his usual jokes and his little twinkle in his eye and Soeur poz was full of tears as we said goodbye. But they told us, it was only au revoir. or See you again. We were literally the last missionaries to see our Poznanskis. God knows us pretty well. A treasured memory we'll never forget.

This week was so cool. We have an ami named Hawa. She is African and is muslim and christian. We had a rendez-vous with her and randomly at the end felt inspired to ask her to be baptized. We looked at her, and i'll be honest; i didn't know what to expect! But she looked at us and said, yes! of course! so we have a baptism on the 12th of july! She is great and has 2 little twin girls who are a year old. I'm so excited about her and we'll be seeing her a lot.

We also have another amie who the sisters before us found. She dropped them and then randomly called us and said she wanted to see us. We went and it's been incredible. She's studying with another member and came to church 2 weeks in a row. Last week we talked about repentance and forgiveness. She just sobbed the whole time. Later she told us that she had someone she needed to forgive and couldn't progress until she did it. It was her father. She hadn't talked with him in over 20 years. This week, she found him. She set a rendez-vous with him and she asked us for help in knowing what to say. THAT is the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in someone's life. We showed the mormon message of Christ Williams about forgiveness. And she was so touched.

Today we spent our Pday trecking out to the mission home to take some cookies to our new mission president and his wife! It was so fun and they are so GREAT. They took a minute to talk with us, and let me tell you. They were definitely called for this calling. I loved them the minute I saw them, and if anyone can replace the poznanskis, they can. We went to the mission home and talked with Soeur Babin for a minute. We shared with her the things we've been learning, and she shared her thoughts as well. It was a special moment I won't forget. I love her already. It's neat how you can love someone so much without really knowing them. You can feel of people's goodness.

This week, our studies have literally blown us away. We have learned so much about Heavenly Father and what He wants us to do. I am so grateful for Him and for His love.
"Like the Father, let your warming sun and nourishing rain fall on the just and unjust alike. Jesus intimated that this kind of love is who we really are--the very perfection completeness and fulness we came here to obtain. We become ourselves most when we are most true to God and to one another" C. Terry Warner

Sorry i have to cut this short, just want you to know how much i love you. I am so grateful and can feel your love! i LOVE you and know that love is the strongest force and power. It's the force that carried the Savior to do the unthinkable, and it will carry us as well.

Love,

Soeur Nat

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

these are all the elders serving in my ville. we have all become such good friends. they are hilarious. this is in the mission van going to legality! and this is the mission home. so beautiful.

Logan June 23, 2014

First before i tell you the news about transfers i would like to quote the wise words of Aragorn: Hold your ground, hold your ground..... i see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me, a day may come when the courage of chomedey fails, when we leave our area and break all bonds of missionary service there, but IT IS NOT THIS DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it is true i am staying in chomedey for a 7th transfer. can you believe that. it was october when i came to this land, and it is going to be august before the next transfer comes. so if i play my cards right i will get transferred next time and go to an area for one transfer while derek is in the MTC and then i will train him when he gets here! haha we will see..

girls camp sounded like it was fun. if you could call it camping. hahaha but i am glad you all had a good time. now trek is on its way. em you will love trek. i had the greatest time there. i can't believe my trek brother is already home. i like davey. he is a great lad. tell him i say hello next time you see the lad. 

I bet you didn't know how strong the Lord can make his missionaries. literally we moved a piano. there is no way that we, mortal men, could have moved that ancient relic with out the strength of the Lord. lets just say there were angels in the outfield. we had to take this thing up some stairs. but we soon realized that the corner we had to get it around was just a little bit too tight. so being the quick witted elders that we are we turned it on its side (yeah it might need a tune) and we snuck it through the tight squeeze and in to the new room. we defiantly offered a prayer of gratitude after that one. it was a fun memory. i thought i was going to get smashed by a piano. that would have been a sad way for elder cameron to go. but i am still alive

the whole time we were moving it sister jeary( the owner of the piano) her friend, who is 80 years old was telling us that back when he was our age he could have put the piano on his back and carried it all the way by himself. haha he is a funny old guy. even if he isn't trying to be. his name is Jose. he is an italian and a very stereotypical one at that. haha he is a non member and we keep trying to get him to come to church. he said he would come this last week but he didn't show up. so maybe next week. 

I ate chicken gizzard this week. I asked to know what it was after i ate it so i could get it down. but it was actually pretty good. i would eat it again. i probably wouldn't buy it but i would eat it if it was offered to me. we were fed that from sylvia our investigator from Kenya. it was a really good lesson. we talked about our life on earth. we discussed the things that we have to do to make it back to our Heavenly Father and to be happy. It truly is just living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 5 simple steps bring a multitude of blessings. I think she will get baptized soon. 

we went to a store that is similar to DI. i know mother you are already worried. but dont fret we bought some sick sweater vest. cardigan style. and there was a special so we got them half off! imagine that. a 1.50 for a great looking sweater vest. incredible. i am quite the savvy shopper. 

I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and i came across this scripture: 

The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him.

 50 Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound.

I love this scripture. One day we will be with our Father in Heaven again. And we will know that He is there and that He is the source of all light and truth. We will be quickened by Him and if we stay true and faithful to the covenants we have made with Him we will be able to understand all that He does. we truly will become like Him. That is a crazy thought. Sometimes in our world and in this life it seems a little too good to be true. There is a lot of heart ache and a lot of things that are unfair. But if we endure this life well than we have the promise that we can live as He does. 

I know He is there and that He loves us very much. I love being a representative of His Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for all the support and the prayers that you have given. The only reason i can stay here and do this work is because of You. i Love you all very much

Natalie June 23, 2014

Bonjour ma famille!

What a WEEK. Holy hannah it was an insane one that i'll never forget. It was one of the craziest of my mission. So we had 3 exchanges this week with soeurs from Nogent and St. Quentin; and a surprise one with Evry!. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I got to go with Soeur Henson, one of my great friends on my mission! Her mission has been insane, and she is one of my heroes. Strongest woman i know. Traveling is a little exhausting and Soeur Linton and I are working like crazy. My body has never felt so tired in my life DOG tired. But the crazy thing, is that each day, I just wake up like the next and somehow we make it through! He gives us energy when we need it, and we use it. God is carrying us and taking care of us. Yesterday we had to sprint from our apartment to the gare to catch a train and literally, I promise that there were angels carrying us. Not the first time that's happened. We have so much help from both sides of the veil!

Speaking of help. We also had our last zone conference with the Poznanskis. Double U OH Double U. Can you say best conference of my mission? They gave their "dying testimonies" and blew us all away. Just get ready for the next General Authority and wife to take over the world. Seriously. They changed my life in more ways than I can count as I've served with them for these past almost 16 months. Soeur Poznanski shared a thought from a speech given by the president of France at the commemoration for D Day about the young American soldiers that came to save their country that day exactly 70 years ago this summer.

"They were 20 years old, some a little older some a little younger. For them, 20 was the age of duty, the age of commitment, the age of sacrifice. Just what were these young 20 year olds thinking about? Surely, they were thinking of their mothers, of their fathers, or their other loved ones. Nonetheless, these young men didn't hesitate for a moment as they stormed the beaches of France; Defying their fear, they forged ahead in support of a noble cause, and continued to push forward until they finally liberated us. All who set foot on French soil that day were heroes. They are they who pressed forward for our freedom, those who brought with them a ray of hope."

Soeur Poznanski said, "When I heard this, I thought he must be talking about our missionaries! We love you and we thank you for stepping foot in France and saving our people." She emotionally bore testimony of the Savior and how He has carried them through their mission. They have seen A LOT of difficult things. And honestly, I wouldn't wish being a mission president on anyone. It is HARD work! They have literally given every single day out here. They have sacrificed so much. Every single day never holding back. They are continually pushing me to be like them.

We were able to do our training on the Atonement and the spirit was so strong. Such a testimony that God is using us. Literally, the only thing we can do is give our wills to Him. That is the only thing we can give to Him. The Poznanski's have lived a life time legacy of this and will continue to forever.

At the end, we did our musical numbers and we got to do our special arrangement! It was so incredible to see how the spirit wrote the whole thing and worked His magic. We practiced once before, and it worked out pretty dang great. The Spirit was strong and we were all crying like babies...especially the elders. It was pretty cool. It was neat to pay tribute to the Poznanski's to help them feel the changes and differences they've made in all of our lives.

At lunch, Soeur Linton and I had the chance to eat alone with the Pozanski's and he took a second to talk about Torcy. Because we are out of our ville so much, and because of Torcy right now, we haven't been having a ton of success. He cornered us and told us he wanted to talk to us. He said, les soeurs! Sisters! BREATHE. do what you can do and enjoy the journey. Give it to the Savior and He'll do the rest; sound familiar? thanks mama. He said, sisters, before you go home tonight, decide to find a new amie. And you will. So we took his advice, and we went out with that faith! We felt prompted to visit a part member family. We were walking with a dad and ran into one of his friends and he introduced us! We really hit it off and their family invited us to come over the next day! Parents and 3 kids. We went, and now they are new amis and taking the lessons. can you say miracle? That goes to show you how inspired Pres really is. I will miss him dearly.

We also had another neat experience! I did an exchange here in Torcy a year ago. We visited a less active named Soeur Ponce. After I did the exchange the sisters stopped seeing her because she wasn't really progressing to come to church. We were going to go visit a less active this week the ward gave us, not knowing who she was. When I showed up, she recognized me! And i recognized her! And we had an incredible rendez-vous. We listened with love, and asked questions and found out why she wasn't coming to church. 3 years ago she was offended and stopped coming. Wow this is a huge problem in Europe, and in the world. I said a silent prayer, and literally the spirit filled my heart and mouth with words. It was an experience I'll never forget. I explained why we go to church, and how the Savior will carry us, not others. We were all crying, Soeur linton bore an incredible testimony of Him and His love. And we invited her to come to church. So she said YES. the first time in 3 years. And she's coming with us Sunday. Miracle. God is so real and He loves His daughters and sons.

Today for P-day our good friend Elder...not so Elder anymore...Glover came with his family and took us to lunch at Hard rock café! Man i love America!!!! And Americans. Made me feel at home.  It was so nice of them and we had a blast. Loge, there was a little Foster the peeps in the background../thought of you. little houdini action going on. Elder Holland once said that if you hear your favorite song on your mission, consider it a tender mercy from the Lord, and listen and enjoy it. It's His way of showing His love for a minute. So we did! and I enjoyed it. with my nice big burger.

Well, i guess that's all for this week! Off to teach a lesson; But I love you all so much. I know this work is real; And I know that God is so real. More real than ever. He loves us. and He wants us to be happy. He'll do whatever He can so we can feel that love. I have a huge testimony that God puts certain specific people in our lives to teach us lessons and to give us heroes. I've been reminded of many this week from my companion Soeur Linton who has become one of my dearest and best friends, my President and Soeur Poznanski who have given me a pattern and goal for who i want to become, and for my incredible family. Who are my life. And my life's greatest examples. I love you more than you know, and I think of you every day. I hope you can feel of my prayers. And my heart. Love you so much

Love,

Soeur Cameron

100 % No regrets I've promised to give more

Logan June 16, 2014

you may be asking yourselves why did i entitle this letter as "the last week of my 3 transfer planner" well it is quite simple really. back in february i made a 3 transfer planner. all planners are just for one transfer so i combined 3 of them together using a very large spiral ring and have been using it since. and this week is the last full week of the transfers. we get calls on saturday to see if i stay or if i go. so we will see........... any guesses from the outside? i have been here since october 2013, it is june 2014. for all those who didn't know.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD. i hope you had a great day. there were some really cool talks given by the family cunche in our branch. they both talked about their fathers and how they were great examples to them. I am 100% in accordance. My dad is a great example to me. I love you dad! thanks for all you have done and do and will do for me. haha you are swell.

emily you dont even have to remind me about the world cup. Everyone else here is doing it for you haha. there is a deacon in the branch that was describing in great detail a match. i was quite angry that i could not watch it. I never thought i would miss it so sosososososoosos much. 

we had some pretty cool stories this week. we got a referral from salt lake for a man named george. so we went to his house and talked to him. he is a truck driver and visited utah. he went to salt lake city and went to temple square. a girl came up to him and told him a little bit about the church and stuff. she told him that she is going on a mission soon to some south american country. it was pretty cool. she told him to go to mormon.org and to request the missionaries and a book of mormon. so good work from that future missionary to be brave and talk about the church with a greek guy from quebec. we will see what happens 

we have been sharing some mormon messages. we shared the one about lot's wife and the one about tuning into the spirit. they worked really well. i love the picture that tuning into the spirit gives us. it is an older man who fixes his really old radio and tunes into the right station so that he can get the correct message. if you have your dial off just a little bit you can get two stations at once and the message dosent mean anything but if you tune in to the correct station then you can learn a lot of information. It was really powerful to share with our investigators. 

we had zone conference this last week. it was really good. kind of long. from 9 to 4. but we learned a lot. we talked about the restoration of the Gospel and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how both of these can change our purpose as a missionary if we understand them. I believe it is the same for everything else in life. the more we understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ the more our life makes sense and the closer we can come to Jesus. He told us to follow Him and to learn His way, and this is how we can do that. Faith, repentance, keeping covenant, learning how the Holy Ghost works with us, and endurance, that is it. it is so simple but takes a lifetime to get good at it haha. i am defiantly still working on it, and have a long way to go until i get even close to what our Saviour has but we are all on our way.

funny story. yesterday at church i was just watching this little girl for like 10 seconds. she was handed a clean diaper and she grabbed it and held it close to her face and then started to cuddle it. i had to bite my finger because it was super funny. she is only like 2 years old and she is super cute.

this looks like a good album cover with the animals and everything.

i am doing well i love you all. i hope you have a great week. i am praying for you.

I know why i am here and I love it

elder cameron

Natalie June 16, 2014

Hey fam fam!
This week was great. Crazy! but great. We had 3 exchanges and lots and lots of time spent on trains. haha I think we spent over 10 hours on trains or something like that? We had so much fun with the Tours soeurs, going to Arras, and then ending in Valenciennes! I got to back to my ville. It was so much fun. But so exhausting. After our last train coming into paris, we took the RER to Torcy for our DMP meeting and made it towards the end of it. The elders all looked at us and had these scared looks on their faces. haha we looked like we didn't ride the train, we got hit by it! We felt like that too. But all is well and we're having a blast being busy.

I had a fun surprise on exchanges in Arras with Soeur liabeuf! She is a bleu and just got here. She is from the South of France and has been in the church for 3 years. She asked me where I was from and she told me American Fork. She was excited and told me that she stayed there for a couple of days last summer! I was shocked and asked who she stayed with. And she told me the Elder who baptized her. I asked his name and she told me the name of none other than DAVID SMITH. Small world right? I told her that I grew up with him and his family lived right down the street. She was so surprised and we had a fun time talking about her time with the Smith family. She adores them, as she should, and was so touched by their kindness. Sounds just like them right? She told me her conversion story and the huge impact that David made on her decision to join the church. Pretty incredible. I thought it was so neat. As missionaries sometimes we never know the impact we'll have. Thanks to the missionaires that found and taught her, she is now serving a mission changing countless lives here in France. Her story is incredible. I was really moved by her faith and courage and commitment to God. Way to go David Smith!

We also went to Valenciennes the next day and I was able to go with Soeur Williams! It was so much fun and we were able to pass by people that we had found together. We stopped by Patricia and she told us about the day I found her clear back in January. It was so cool and such a fun Rendez-vous. She is now progressiong. I love that. It was fun being back there.

I also have some HUGE NEWS. Get ready for this. After years and years of obstacles and problems the PARIS FRANCE TEMPLE just got cleared on Friday to FINALLY MOVE FORWARD. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH MIRACLE. Elder Anderson came here on Friday and announced it and we are dying. It means the world and the members here are so happy. We have focused all of our work now on the temple and preparing these people to go. in 2 and a half years, it will be done. My dream is to come back. Mabye that can be our trip? hint hint?
This week is the Poznanski's last week. Wow. I can't believe it. Friday, we are having our last zone conference with them. Soeur Linton and I were asked to give a training after the AP's and before the Poznanski's for their last zone conference. pressure. yikes. haha could use some prayers! we are going to talk about the atonement and missionary work.

this is the video I watched in my very first zone conference that changed my whole mission and set the tone for everything I have done. http://youtu.be/I6FKiNVbw3Y we decided to show it and focus on the Savior. We also arranged the last musical number. Soeur poz loves music so we decided to arrange God be with you till we meet again with our mission song. we added in all the languages spoken in our mission, and i'm really excited to see how it turns out. It was an incredible experience writing it and feeling the spirit write it. I will try to film it.

This week I have really enjoyed all the beautiful things we have around us. I found the most incredible talk talking about how refined our Heavenly Parents are.

 http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1633

"The nearer we get to God, the more easily our spirits are touched by refined and beautiful things." Elder Callister

I know this is true, and I know that God wants us to enjoy life and the beautiful things too. I have felt Him so much here! Not because it's Paris France, but because I know He's my Father. And He's with me wherever I go.

I love you all and am praying for you. i hope you have a beautiful week!
Love,

Soeur Cam

100% no regrets I've promised to give more!!
Me and Soeur Liabeuf on our exchange, patricia, the gals in valenciennes

Logan June 9, 2014

hey y'all.

thanks so much for the package! everything is perfect. thanks so much. i love candy! thanks for the pants. they are great. and the shirt! just how i like it. 

well this week was splendid. kind of long but it was full of great activities. 

we finally got to visit an investigator we have named sylvia. she is from kenya. super cool. she wants to be baptized and has read a ton in the book of mormon. her husband is a member, also from kenya. He wants her to get baptized but he says over and over again it has to be her decision.

we had a baptism in our branch. a little boy got baptized yesterday after church. It was really tender. his dad was so proud of the little guy. I "got" to play piano for the occasion. I struggled through a couple hymns that i dont really know how to play but i think it was ok. i have to play in sacrament meeting for 2 weeks. our one pianist is gone on holiday. so i have been practicing a little bit. I am defiantly better than i was at the beginning of my mission thats for sure. if only i had listened to my mother and kept going with lessons. or if only i had never told anyone that i can play like 3 hymns. well lessons of life right? but the baptism was great. we had 3 investigators there. it was super cool. they all felt the spirit i am sure. 

rymilee, from jamaica, was there. she stayed for the whole thing too. even the food after the ordinance. we talked for a little about music and art. she is a great artist. maybe i will take some pictures of some of her work to show y'all 

things are going well here in Chomedey. transfers are 2 weeks away so we will see if i stay for another or if my time here is done. will keep you posted. 

i have been studying a lot about recognizing the spirit. something i have struggled with and still do. I think that most of us dont realize that we can feel the spirit all the time. if we are living worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost then we have the right to feel his presence. It is one thing to read Galations 5 and say if you feel this then you are feeling the spirit, and actually applying it. But something hit me this week. the spirit works differently for everyone that is true but one thing that is common to everyone is that when we can feel the spirit we feel the love of God in our lives. so i guess this week i am going to try to make choices that God would approve of, think His thoughts, and serve out of His love for His children.  so i invite you all to join me in this noble quest. Try to feel the love of God and to share those feelings with all we come in contact with.

 

this is the moon and the street outside my building at night and this is kellys car . 

quote of the week from Kelly: the western sun is going down but there is still some warmth in it. 

i just shook my head after we were talking about procrastination of his repentance. haha he is a good guy and really funny. but a little frustrating. 

we love him though.

so David, our recent convert, got a calling as building coordinator, a big name to say that he stays after for a little bit to help clean up. he does such a great job with it though. he loves having a responsibility. he stayed after the dinner after the baptism to clean. we said to him, "dave you're doing such a great job!" and he looked at me with that heroic look in his eye and said with a majestic voice, "thats what being building coordinator is all about" if we could all respect our callings like david does this church would rock!

well cats thats it for this week. i love you all

peace!

elder cam

Natalie June 9, 2014

Hey hey fam!

Wow what a week. It was pretty crazy with exchanges and getting used to this whole STL thing, but it was super fun too. We had a blast! I absolutely LOVE Soeur Linton and I know we were best friends before this life too. She is so incredible and I learn so much from her every day.

This week we went on an exchange in Blois with 2 cute soeurs. We saw so many miracles together and found a lot of people! For exercise we ran up the palace steps and did a Tahitian dance! Soeur Tehorihi is from Tahiti and taught us how to dance. It was pretty hilarious to see all of us white girls try to move our hips. But alas, it was a great workout, just from merely laughing at what we looked like. It was so cool and I learned so much from their faith. We found a woman porting who told us how much she loved America and Americans. She asked us to think of her as we got on the plane. It was so sweet. We found a lot of new amis for them!

They made a goal to contact 1000 people in their transfer. We were so inspired that we decided to do the same thing and invite all of our soeurs to do it! We have 7 teams of soeurs so that makes 7000 people contacted. 1000 contacts for every baptism. Our goal is to each get a baptism this transfer for the Poznanskis as they leave and for the Babins coming in. They leave the 27th of June. I can't believe it. Today the mission home flooded and they have so many other trials all of a sudden! They could use some prayers. I love them.

Since we made our goal, we have seen so many miracles! We have found so many new people and families! And we are excited about the work here. Torcy is a big ward and the most American I've served in. I LOVE IT! I live in a city just outside of Torcy that was designed by an American. It's so beautiful! The cleanest city I've seen in France. We are blessed.

This weekend we had Regional conference! Elder Uchtdorf came to Switzerland and we broadcasted it with all the surrounding european countries. It was pretty unbelievable! Elder Anderson came with his wife, and Sister Reeves as well! They were BOSS! I felt so pumped up to just be a fighter! That's what this world needs!They encouraged us to be devoted to God and choose to start now!He talked about how one family truly can make a difference! What a testimony that is. I believe that. I've seen it out here with the members in France. Though the church is small here, there are specific families that have been called by God to strengthen this country. And they are doing it. What a miracle it is to watch it. I studied the parable of the 10 virgins and i saw our church today written all over it. This is it! This is the time to stand and make a difference! I love it.

Well I sure do love you all and i'm grateful for your examples of doing this. You are the greatest examples of it for me. I miss you and i'm praying for you all. Dad i hope you have a great Father's day! I hope it's this week, because it's this week in France. Either way, you're the best dad in the world.

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEEK
Love
Natgirl

100% no regrets I've promised to give more

Logan June 2, 2014

OH WE'RE HALF WAY THERE, OH, LIVING ON A PRAYER
take my hand and we'll make it i swear!

so basically i am over the hump, thats how the expression goes. i have now been out for more than a year! how strange is that. i have been thinking a lot about this time last year and all of the crazy emotions that were racing through my head. wow. thank you all for being the greatest family i could ever ask for. you have helped me stay out here in the mission field. and i can t thank you enough. 

we went to the temple on tuesday! it was so great. i loved it so much. i felt the spirit like crazy and i am sad that the temple is now closed for a year and a half for reconstruction. the next time we see the temple it will be totally different. how neat is that going to be.

so we had to get a new car this week. our car was a recall car so we had to take her in and get a new one. we got a nissan altima and lets just say there is a little bit more power in this bad unit that the chevy cruz. yeah it is pretty great. i was driving and thought i was pretty cool so i gave her a little more juice. and then there was a truck next to me. we were both speeding not too bad on my part. but then i saw a cop and i dramatically slowed down. and on went his lights. oh no!!! but wait he pulled over the truck and not me! haha yes justice.... kind of .. haha but i had to do some repenting and now i follow the speed limit. to exactness. but yeah that is my story.

thank you so much for the birthday gifts and other such things you are all so very kind. still havent got your package mom and dad but i think it will come soon.

mom you will love this story. so we went on an exchange with the zone leaders and all 4 of us slept at their apartment. so as we were preparing for bed i offered everyone a bit of coconut oil and lavender to put on their faces and pillows. so i got everyone to do it. and then the next day they all asked me if they could do it again haha. success mother!!! i thought you might like that story. 

this weekend we had stake conference. it was kind of cool because it was broadcasted from salt lake to all of canada. how cool is that. President Eyring and elder Holland were there. it was very good. they talked a lot about missionary work and how we can all be better in sharing out testimonies. 

this last week a member called us and offered to have one of our investigators over at his house and we could all watch a movie. we watched how rare a possession. it was really cool. the member is a great missionary and derek really liked the movie.

look at the beauty that i am surrounded by. how great are these shots. i am quite pleased that i was able to catch them before they disappeared. 

and did you know they offer cremation for animals? apparently it is a pretty big sea

thank you all so much for all you have done for me. the gifts the prayers the jokes. all of them help me out so soso much. you are all my favorite people and i thank you again. i love you all. 

elder cameron

Natalie June 2, 2014

Well hey fam!

What a crazy week. i feel like it was about 2 months long.  Let me walk you through what happened. So, Tuesday night I went to my dear family's house. The Rousseaux's. To say goodbye; Talk about ripping your heart out!! It was almost as hard as saying goodbye to you. They have become my family out here. And I will miss them so much. Lots of goodbyes. had to say goodbye to my dear Soeur Williams, and some of my dear friends who left the field this week. Man. Not a huge fan of those! But I also got a lot of hellos. And that was fun too.

I absolutely LOVE Torcy! I love it I love it I love it. Let me tell you why. I have done 4 exchanges here since the beginning of my mission and have always felt close to it. My companion Soeur Linton is one of the greatest human beings to walk this planet!! We are already best friends and are having a blast. I absolutely love here. I am serving with Elder Tanner Stucki from good ol' American Fork! We went to High School together, entered the MTC together, were in the same MTC district together, and now he's my zone leader and i'm the STL in the same ville. He's awesome and it's fun having a little bit of home with me! We're having a blast. We also got a new equipe of elders who speak chinese! One is from Quebec loge!! His name is Elder Columbe. We also started off with a bang by going to a stake RS activity. It was kinda like a super saturday. We ended up doing ZEN exercises, learning how to cook french food, and finger painting. living the life! We hung out with old women all day and I have never felt happier. We had so much fun.

When I got here we dropped off my luggage and went out to WORK. It was so much fun. We talked with everyone. We got on the bus to go to a rendez-vous and started talking with a lady and her son. She was super interested and we set a rendez-vous with her because she wanted all of her children to come and listen too. Family! Then we visited a woman and girl they'd found a few days earlier. We had an incredible lesson and they were amazing! They became new amis and gave us a referral. Then we left, found another woman and got her number, and visited less actives. It was an incredible 4 hours and totally set the tone for our transfer!

So we went to mission council with all the other leaders of the mission. It was bittersweet because it was the Poznanski's last one. I will really miss them; but we prepared for the Babins who'll be coming this month. It's so crazy. I get to do exchanges with all of the sister's in my sister area. I am over 6 equipes so i'll be travelling all over for the next couple of weeks! going to be insane. I'm really excited. 

So this week in my things as i un packed I found this from Soeur williams. Throughout the transfer I asked her what kind of animal she'd be, and she asked me what kind of animal i'd be. I didn't know! So she wrote me a letter and told me she'd thought about it, and she wrote this poem for me. 

The Spark

Scraggly, scrawny sparrow fallen from high above

wings dragging, shivering, wandering years to fly back toward the sun

but doesn't know how

A voice coming from above--powerful, gentle, reaches the trembling bird on the cold rocky ground. "That's not where you belong, wandering in darkness so far from the sky

come up here, come to me" But how? wondered the lost sparrow.

How, without sight, without flight?

The voice agine, "look inside and you'll see"

Searching reluctantly inside expecting only to find darkness and confusion,

the sparrow was surprised to see a spark of light

crackling, dancing, shimmering bright.

A realization dawned, the spark grew brighter.

Not a sparrow but a pheonix!

With this new understanding, the spark exploded into flame

travelling through the bird's being. 

warming, filling, transforming the sparrow into a pheonix glorious and bright

Now in the air, burning, shining, soaring above the darkness above the despair

Rising toward the furthest reaches of the Great Tree.

When the branches strethced towards the sun, the pheonix looked down 

at the place it had come and saw countless sparrows wandering lost and alone

"now that you know what you are, how that your spark has grown, 

help those below find that spark in themselves

help them know they're not alone

Can you say incredible? I cried like a baby. I know that we are all called to become pheonixs like she says in her poem. And once we know who we are, we can share it with the world. I'm so grateful for the opportunity we have as members of the church to be His disciples. I know its real.

Sure do love you all so much. Have so much fun with Sam tonight. Tell him i miss him.

I know this gospel is true. And everything on my mission has led me up to this moment. We are working so hard and i know we're going to find incredible things waiting for us! Here we go!

Love

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

saying goodbye to the rousseaux's, jacqueline bought me a tarte, mommy