Logan July 15, 2013

hello dear family and friends,

i am doing well. emily i can't believe you are driving. this isn't right. stop it. no its fine you can keep driving. your jokes are the highlight of the day. elder rasmussen was seriously on the floor laughing. things are a lot more funny when you are on a mission i think. ha. dad please don't embarrass mother at the parade. but go for the gold. get that candy! mother i am praying for you. you live in a zoo. ha.

my companion elder rasmussen is going home next week. i am going to miss him. he has been an answer to prayers for a great trainer. so i will get a new comp next Wednesday. i hope he will be a good one.

we did a lot of knocking this past week so not a ton of stories but i will do my best to embellish them so they seem a lot cooler then they really are.... hah no i won't.

so we were shopping for groceries and this guy comes up to us, he was a little crazy, and he says man what size shoe do you got? pointing to my shoe. i said i think 10s and he said, those shoes look like real A kickers, but he didn't say A. haha i was laughing really hard. also i found out that the riddle you gave us is false! they did the math incorrectly to fool us! but we are smart!

we had a lot of DAs this week, DA stands for Dinner Appointment for all those of you who were confused. I love our ward. there are some interesting people. i laugh a lot. haha. First DA was at Soeur petite's house. she is old. and her friend came, she is old, and frere barry came. he is old. and peter came. he is really old. and then there was my companion and myself. haha no other place on earth would 2 young guys be chillin with 4 people triple our age. hahaha it is my favorite

next DA was at the famille Blain. they are awesome. they have a small family and the mom is young womans pres and the dad is the young mens pres. so great family for ward council. we did service at there house the next day and the dad pretty much loves us.

next DA was at a Haitian home. I LOVE HAITIANS haha they are so cool. kind of hard to understand though. they always speak french to us then speak crioel to each other so i had no idea what was going on.

WE went to soeur bouviers again. and i got a picutre this time. she is my favorite person ever even if we have to say our names like 12 times through out the course of our stay with her. haha she is always happy. i never leave that place sad.

and we saw some more naked babies. what is with this place?
 

i love you all. keep me posted. Good luck at the parade.

and prepare to be amazed with some pics.

Natalie July 15, 2013

Dear family,

WOW what an incredible week! Probably one of the best weeks of my life. I am SO happy and so grateful to be a missionary. I have seen so many miracles and I can't believe how real the gospel is! I have such a testimony of the power of prayer and of tender mercies.

On Tuesday this week we were on our normal train ride to Poitiers for district meeting. Miller and I decided to consecrate our time to studying the scriptures and prepping for our lessons that night. We moved to a table and opened our quads. We began studying personally and this older man walked up and without looking out our plaques or hearing us speak, he spoke in english and said, "wow that's a big book you've got there." We told him it was the bible and he laughed and said he knew and he took a seat by us. We began talking and he had an english accent. Pretty soon we find out that he's a famous architect named Ivor Richards who teaches at Cambridge University. He has a lot of friends in high places. One of his best friends is the Queen's astronomer! As we talked he bore testimony over and over again that "God is indisputable" We each talked about God and he told us why he believed in Him. It was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had in my life. Here he is, this famous, smart, brilliant man and he was taking a moment on his busy train ride to sit with us and testify of God. I was taking notes like crazy trying to remember all that he was teaching us. As he was getting ready to leave, he teared up and he said, "What you do is marvelous and what's in your heart shines out in your eyes. You have a light, that shines brighter than any I've ever seen. Do you know that?" He kept saying how we were changing the world and giving the world what it needed. He kept pointing to our quads and he didn't even know how right he was! He was pointing at the Book of Mormon! Wow it was an incredible experience that changed my life. He gave us his contact information and asked us for ours. We exchanged it and he left with tears in his eyes.

Wednesday, Miller and I decided to consecrate the whole day to finding a family. We took a random bus to a random city about an hour away. We started walking and told God we were here for Him and they we were ready to find whoever He needed us to find! We started walking and pretty soon we ran into William! It has been a few weeks since we've seen him and his mom Anne-Marie. They had baptism dates set but things came up in their lives and we've been trying like crazy to meet with them. He ran over to us and we started talking with him. We taught him a lesson on the side of the road! We asked him why he wanted to be baptized and he said he wanted to follow Jesus Christ. We gave him some scriptures to read on faith and sent him on his way. That night his mom called us and said she wanted to meet with us! that was a miracle! So we met with her. Anne Marie was struggling with her decision to be baptized becasue she was already baptized in an African church. We have taught her over and over about authority but it never clicked. We were worried! But we had this rendez-vous with her and she said William came home and they read the scriptures together and loved reading about faith. We taught her again and at the end I asked her again if she would be baptized with her son, and SHE SAID YES. She has no issues now and it's full steam ahead! isn't that incredible? We will have 5 baptisms in the next month. Elder Oaks is coming in September and our mission made a goal to get 100 baptisms before he comes. God hears our prayers! MIRACLES. So after we left William that Wednesday, we ran into a little family. We contacted her and testified of families. The mom started to cry! Which is really odd for a french woman. She gave us her info and we have a rendezvous with her this week. THEN we ran into another little African family! We testified of the Savior and she gave us her info! We have another rendezvous with her. Crazy! i know and testify that God lives! and this is His work. Miracles are real! 3 famlies in one day! we were giddy!

Thursday the Tour de France came through Tours!! it was so much fun! We had our little American flags and cheered our hearts out. It was a blast. There were people from all around the world.One of my life dreams fulfilled!!

Friday we took a train to Paris for my legality! I went with my blues and we had health exams and stuff. Then we had an awesome training from the APs then went and explored Paris! And i finally got to see the Eiffel Tower! Wow it was INCREDIBLE. I died. We ate an icecream cone under it to celebrate. 

Saturday we got home and had a rendez-vous with our ami Jacqueline. Her sister was there. Her sister was very negative and kind of mean. We were teaching about the Book of Mormon. My comp was talking about it and the sister interupted her and told her that they needed someone with better french to come over and teach them so they could actually discuss. She said some other rude things and we decided it'd be best for us to leave. All of a sudden this crazy feeling came inside of me and before we got up my mouth opened. I boldly testified of the Savior and His gospel. I told them that I'd been in France exactly 2 months and I couldn't speak french fluently, but we dont' know God through french. We know Him through the Spirit and through His teachings and through Him. I testified that God lives and that He's real. The room was so quiet and the Spirit was so thick. I can't even explain how crazy it was! They looked at me with their mouths open. Then I kindly stood up and said that we needed to go and my comp and I walked out. I know that it was completely the Spirit. And I know that this is God's work! And if someone degrades it, He feels it. It was ah so incredible feeling Him work through me. It was a cool experience!

Ah life is absolutely amazing. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life and I'm SO grateful to be a missionary. I love putting my plaque on everyday and walking and talking and teaching. I couldn't be happier and I know that God is here! We're finding families, our amis are progressing, the branch is finally working with us! The Savior is here.

I love you all so much and you're in every prayer! We're praying for you over here in France and we can feel your prayers! Miller and I are becoming great friends and our unity has never been stronger. Work is happening and we're so happy to be a part of it! God lives!!!

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEEK! LOVE YOU ALL

Soeur Cameron

100% no regrets I've promised to give MORE

Logan July 8, 2013

Hello my dear family, friends, 

i hope you are doing well. this week was alright.

being on the mission i see the strangest things and the coolest things that you would see no where else in the world. for example: romanions that speak english french and german, people rollar blading everywhere they go. a swiss man who plays guitar bugle cowbell harmonica and piano, who happens to be frere ochs. one of my heros.

let me explain the week to you on this lovely day. tuesday was our pday last week, and well it was a doozy. haha just messin. another thing i have learned is there are so many words you can only say with a certain phrase for example: jot and tiddle, sopping, doozy, and many more. sorry back to the story. so we had a zone activity. we showed up wearing the wrong clothes. we were supposed to be in civilians. oops. so we jsut went home. oh well. and played carcassone. the nerdyest but coolest game on earth. then i went on a split with elder hertato. he is hilarious. we had a good time. we knocked into a lot of anglophones (english speakers for all you anglophones out there) and so i could speak to them! it was awesome. we met a lady from england. and she had an accent. she was really old and she was born on Cameron street. instant besties. but she wasn't interested. we gave her our card though.

wednesday

Zone counsil today. we drove to the island early in the mornin. I am now a true montreal missionary. you may ask why i was not before. i will tell you. METRO CONTACTING. i met a man who kills people. it was a joyous occasion. we met the new president today also. Pres cannon went home. he was a really amazing man. i am sad he couldn't be my president for my whole mission. Pres Patrick is now. he has a family of like 8 children. and 5 are still in the home. crazy! he is cool though. his wife's parents are from af but they live in florida. so after that we went to a buffet! it was like chuck a rama but canadian style! POUTIN! it was fun. then we went home and knocked!

one of the things that i have started to do is after every door that isn't interested we sing. l.i.f.e.g.o.e.s.o.n. haha it is entertaining. probably because it happens often. i love it though. we talk to the coolest people that i would have never met had i not been here.

I missed home on the 4th of july i won't lie. i love america. and being in canada sometimes makes me love america even more haha. there are some weird canadian laws here that make me chuckle. and lets face it america is the best and has been for like 200 years. we didn't get any fire works though. instead we lit some paper on fire and sang God bless america. then we ate dinner.

Dad hows the car? you better be careful with that one. the chicks may dig it! haha don't worry mom i kid i joke je blauge. how are you all? how is the homefront? em getting that english packet done? you should. i procrastinated and it was a terrible last week of summer. well last 2 days. or you could probably get away with not doing it. i only did like half and look at me i graduated! but you shouldn't do that..... probably.

mommy? thanks for the quotes. i love that man. i hope i get to meet him in heaven. how are you?

One last funny story and then i will give you my spiritual thought for the week.

We were knocking and this guy answered and we were talking when all of the sudden a naked baby ran out. haha i was laughing so hard. we was chasing a naked baby.

ok spiritual. i was reading in 3rd nephi. Jesus comes to the americas. he wipes out a whole bunch of towns and people. but for some reason he saves this group of people. and after the 3 days of darkness the light comes, and as we all know the light of the world comes. He is the light and life of the world. the Prince of Peace, and so many other titles, but one of the most important is Savior. I know he is my savior and the message that we are sharing out here is that he is the savior of all the world. if we will but repent and come unto Him with a broken heart and a  contrite spirit, we can be saved.

may the Lord take a liking to you

Elder Cameron Diaz.

i guess that is my new name according to my zone.

tout est bien

and may the light of the stars shine brightly over all y'alls heads.

My new scripture case.

Natalie July 8, 2013

Hello dear fam!

Wow it was so good to hear from all of you. I missed you all a lot on the 4th but I felt you near as we did our own celebrations. We had quite the festivites. We wore red white and blue as you can tell from our pictures. We had American flags and even did an opening ceremonies and presented them. We sang every patriotic song we knew and even got a little verclempt during the national anthem. haha We love America! We ate American food and spoke english in our apartment. We missed the festivities in the great land of the US but it was fun celebrating it here. I'm so grateful for our country and the freedoms we enjoy! 

So finally I have some things to update you on with my amis! It is hard in France right now because school just got out and the vaccances begin! All of the french people here go to the south of france for vacations so it's been hard to get in touch with our investigators. 

So the picture:

This is my beloved Kehli family. I love them so much! Soleya (the one blindfolded) is getting baptized in August and we have been over to their home each week to prep her for her baptism. They are the most solid and  family here in Tours. They're always serving and helping others. Frere Kehli is in the branch presidency and is the funniest man alive. They have welcomed us into their homes and have treated us so well. This week we taught on the Holy Ghost and pulled out a few tricks from our childhood. (thanks mom) We set up a maze and assigned Perle (the youngest) to be the Holy Ghost and guide Soleya to the finish while we were yelling and saying other things. They did it and we were all crying we were laughing so hard! I loved it. And it felt like home. I needed that! They will always have a special place in my heart. Love them!

So we weren't able to contact any of our investigators. We would stop by and they wouldn't be home. We would call and they'd never call back. It was so werid and happened all of a sudden. We fasted this past week and prayed we'd be able to get ahold of them. We had a free night and decided to go check on Tessy once again. We've been trying for weeks. She's one of our baptism dates but all of a sudden she just dropped us. We'd called her and she never called back So we decided to try one more time. We went over and stopped outside her door and prayed our hearts out! We knocked, and she answered! We taught her a quick lesson and testified that the miracles she needed in her life would come through Christ. She smiled and said, sisters I've been praying to hear that. Then she commited to coming to church. That night during planning, we got our planners out and started calling everyone! It took awhile! We called every single ami and every one of them answered! And every one of them set up a rendez vous with us this week to meet with them. MIRACLE! I am so excited to meet with them and see their progression.

well I'd better go! But i love you all with all of my heart. Thank you for your love and support. I'm excited to see the miracles this week. They're coming.

Love,

Your Soeur Cameron

100% no regrets I've promised to give more

A beautiful mansion next to our apartment. Turns out this was Napoleon's home. It is so beautiful. 

4th of July festivities!

We even had our own flag ceremony. 

Mail!

American Food!

The Tour de France is coming through Tours.

Logan July 2, 2013

 Well Another week down. Crazy. sorry yesterday was another holiday. but the last one i hope. It was a busy day for us though. it was canada day and none of the quebecois like canada so they all just stay inside and sleep. it is pretty funny. 
 

ok here is what happened in the exciting week of Elder Cameron

Felix called us!!!  Who is Felix? well good question. you may recall a certain story from last week about a man giving us smoothies. that was felix. he called us and wanted to know if we could pray for him because i guess he is going to move with his family to start a new life up north. We said YEAH we can do that. and we asked him to call us when everything got figured out. He is pretty cool. maybe some day the missionaries up there will find him. HE would be a great young men's leader.

The same day we had a DA at Frere Ochs's house. He is my favorite. every week he comes up to us and gives us a hug. you can tell that he has genuine love for the missionaries. His wife has cancer but she keeps getting us to come over to her home for food. they are amazing people. I love them. we ate burgers and well dad they may hold their own in a fight with yours.... they were so good. my companion tried to say flavorful in french but they thought that he was complaining about the burgers. then he explained and we all laughed. good times.

Ok so there is this guy in our ward who looks exactly like the man from mary poppins who loves to laugh. and sings the song you know who i am talking about right? i know jessica does.  well he and his wife give us food every week. they are hilarious. well we went over to their house because they had a neighbor there who is not a member. we were told over the phone that we would knock the door and she would come to the door and we would say hello and she would ask if we had already eaten. we would say yes but then she would invite us in for  ice cream. it was hilarious she planned out what we would do to get in to talk to this guy. He was not interested at all but it was fun to go over there.

at their house we ate something called Sugar Pie. It is just that. Brown sugar, butter, and pie crust. it is heaven! i think i am starting to gain weight! haha just kidding you know i can't gain weight. it is a quebecois thing though. sugar pie and poutin. good stuff up here.

So this guy that looks like the guy on mary poppins asked us if we liked music. I said of course and then he asked if we played. again i responded of course. so he said do you play guitar. i said yes. then he said how about mandolin? then i said oh Yeah! then he went into his room and pulled one out and handed it to me. he told me to play. so i started to play and he grabs a recorder thing like a little flute, you know the ones we learn how to play in the 6th grade. anyways he grabs it and he starts to play along. at first i was thinking an old guy and a recorder hmmm. because he kind of squeaked, but then he just started shredding on this thing. it was incredible. i have never seen anything like it. so we jammed for a little while. haha it was so great

 

I keep forgetting to write about justin's song. my first day here sister cannon gave each of us a disk and said it had justin's song on it. i told her he is my bro and she almost started to cry. she loves that song so much and everytime she hears it  she almost cries.

and now the cannons are home. we now have President Patrick. i have yet to see him. we are going to the island tomorrow though and he and his wife will be there. so we will meet him then.

so then we had ward council. it went really well. we were told we were to take 15 minutes on sunday because it was the 5th sunday, to talk about ward missionary work. so we did just that. we met with the ward mission leader maxim. he is way cool.he is really young and is really funny. so sunday came and we had to give a lesson. i had to give 5 minutes of it in french. it was hard. but i did it.

Plastic money! its pretty cool. i have a picture that you will see.

This lady we had a DA at told me this and dad i think you will like it. if has something to do with seeds

got a really nice note from my great grandparents. i love them. they are great. go camerons!

 

"if a seed was content with being a seed it's whole life it wouldn't grow into a wonderful maple tree" maple tree because it's canada. haha

but i loved that. if we are content with where we are we will never see what we could have become. i think it was like that for me before the mission. if i was content with staying home and not doing anything i would never see this wonderful place or meet this incredible people, or share the perfect gospel. all of those things make me better and make me continue to strive to become better.

I was reading in alma when the stripling warriors fight the lamanites. And of course i read about how they were taught by their mothers. well mom i am now a part of that army. and i do not fear "death" because you have taught me. just as their mothers did you have taught natalie and myself to not fear but to have courage, and now 2 of your children are in the army of helaman, and 2 have already return. and one is preparing herself right now. so thank you mother. because of you lives are being changed.

well how is my family at home? sick rides! anything else new? em girls camp sounded like a blast. i hope you had a great time. dad any crops coming? this lady in our ward has a garden and is amazed on how much a teenager knows about gardening. haha all because of you. but i really didn't know that much.

Well i will talk to you all later. on monday next time haha.

i love you all

Elder Cameron

Tout est Bien

or as the quebecois say

Tout est beau le. tsais?

Natalie July 1, 2013

Dear fam,

it was so good to hear from all of you! Dad I LOVE the car. it actually looks like all of the cars here in Europe. Look at you all classy and stuff. Excited for you all! Em I'm glad you got to go to camp. it sounds like it was quite an adventure! I'm excited to get your letter. I've been saving stuff to send to you. can't wait! Mom it sounds like you're doing great too. Jess and Ammon you crazies running 10 miles! you blow my mind. I'll be cheering for you at your race next Saturday. Just and Shan, so happy for you in Logan. Just I'm so glad you got a job! I've been praying for you a ton. Thanks everyone for all of your love and support. Sure do love you all.

This week has been great! My companion was sick for most of it so we spent a little time in our apartment. It was great though and I spent a lot of time studying and pondering and thinking. I learned a lot. 

This week we also got a new investigator! Her name is Albertina. Her husband is a member and her son was just baptized in our branch and now she's decided she wants to take the lessons. We committed her to be baptized after teaching her and she accepted. My heart is full! Our total focus with them is the temple. We are trying to teach them about the chance they have to be together for eternity. I'm so excited for them!

Our other investigators are having a hard time committing to our engagements. That has been hard to watch. Our baptism dates are being pushed back and they're not progressing as much as we'd like them to. But it is testimony to me that this is God's work. and it will happen on His own timetable. I have faith that it will happen! If not while I'm here, someday.

On Sunday we were able to watch the broadcast and it was incredible! you were right! I will never forget it sitting in a small room in Tours, France with Soeur Miller, Elder Gibson and Elder Walton. I felt so much power coming from them. I love being with other missionaries and feeling of their strength. 

This week I've learned so much about that power and strength. The strength that comes from valient members of the church who understand their covenants. This week I focused my studies on covenants and what they mean. It was funny because I realized that the month of July for sunday school is covenants and ordinances! It was cool! I loved that the broadcast was all about member missionary work! This has everything to do with covenants!

     "Always remember and honor the covenants you make with the Lord. Then you will not need to be commanded in all things. You will be inspired by the Holy ghost, and Christ-like conduct will be a part of your nature. Your greatest hope should be to enjoy the sanctification that comes from this divine guidance; your greatest fear should be to forfeit these blessings" 

True to the faith pg 44

 By understanding our convenants and remembering them every day, we will come to know God. They are so simple yet so powerful. They are vital! Simply put, when we covenant with the Lord, we promise to give Him everything we have. We promise to give Him our time, talents, and resources to build up His kingdom. By doing this we become enlightened and empowered. As I've studied about covenants, I've realized that I was taught long before I actually went to the temple how to keep covenants. 

From watching others: set up chairs for activities, to going at 3 in the morning to give a neighbor a blessing, to spending a week in the freezing cold with 10 thirteen year old boys on a campout, going to girls camps, teaching school, holding screaming babies in nursery, taking a meal to a sick family, helping a neighbor move, sacrificing to help send missionaries out to the field. Time and time again I've witnessed others doing things like this. Giving of themselves constantly for the building up of His kingdom. And I'm not sure if I ever connected that they weren't just serving, they were keeping their covenants.

When we actively do what the Savior would do if He were here, seeking to glorify His name, then He will make us into something more. Something much greater than we could make of ourselves. As we do this we will be glorified in Him. We will be glorified through our sore muscles from putting up and taking down chairs and helping that neighbor move, or from our almost frost bitten hands from scoutcamp or singed eyebrows from a deacon campfire gone bad, bug bites from sitting outside all night from testimony meetings at girls camps, headaches from listening to your school class talk while they're supposed to be listening to you, we'll be glorified in the spit up on our arms from that crying baby in nursery, or from your messy kitchen and burns on your arms from carrying a meal to your sick visiting teaching family, or from sacrificing and going without so you could support missionaries close to your heart and help them serve. We will be glorified in all of this. 

All of these examples are evidence of a true keeper of the covenants. These are marks of a covenant keeper. I can't help but be reminded of the marks of another covenant keeper--the ultimate covenant keeper. Through the Savior's marks on His hands we can be reminded of the covenant He kept with His Father for us. And it can empower us to strive and desire to be better. To desire to have our marks on us. To strive with all of our hearts to be His humble servants. 

This is what a mission is really about--keeping our covenants and I LOVE IT. There is nothing than can bring more joy than helping and serving others. And teaching people about what you love most. I love it with all of my heart.

Well I hope you all have an incredible week and Fourth of July!! I will be thinking of you all on that day. Stay tuned for pictures from my celebrations with Miller. We have quite a day planned out. We are proud to be Americans (And we may or may not be singing "God Bless the USA" from our balcony when we wake up...and the Star Spangled banner) stay tuned...

love you all so much. let me know how all your member missionary work is going! voir les miracles!

LOVE YOU avec tout mon coeur!

Soeur Cameron

100% no regrets. I've promised to give more.

We had a rendez vous with a family in the next city over. So we took the train and walked for about an hour to their home. It was the most beautiful walk ever! There were fields of wild flowers and farmlands and beautiful old buildings. 

My companion turned on David Archuleta's cd with motab and this is what happened as a result.

We just found out the Tour de France is coming through Tours!