Monday, June 23, 2014

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 cafĂ©! 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










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