Logan January 27, 2014

good day

wow that is cool for parker and abby. that is crazy. i will be past a year when they leave. 

mom my asthma is fine i take my meds everyday because if i dont it is bad but if i take care of it in the morning i am fine. so i have a little routine. i actually ate vegetable cookies this past week. but that is the extent of my veggies. haha the members dont feed us that much and eating healthy is pricey. but i will try mommy. 

em i am glad you liked my letter. i love to use the old type writer. it is pretty fun. i would bring it home with me but unfortunately it is a little heavy so it may not make the trip. 

we went bowling last monday. i twas fun. i won. ha. i bowled a terrible game though. i remember the days before the mission when i went bowling almost every other day for 2 months for school. i lost my form. 

there was a fire in our town. it was crazy i have some photos.

whole place is pretty much gone. i feel so bad for the families who lived there. it was an apartment building. it looks like they lost everything. but the firefighters did save half of the building. it was super cool. they did a great job. i am pretty sure there were no fatalities.

this is my crazy district.

 

 

 unfortunately my glasses broke this past week. but being the eagle scout that i am and my basic macgiver skills i fixed them using a paper clip. i know impressive.

so yesterday sister bellman came to church. background on her. she is a less active member who has been smoking since she was 13. she is like 70 now. she finally quit and she finally came to church. it was so great. she seemed more confident in herself and she was feeling the spirit. she would go up to people and say, hi i quit smoking! haha she is a little crazy but we love her all the same. 

there is a hymn that we dont sing often that i really liked.  does the journey seem long is the title. i was really touched by the lyrics and the music also. i highly suggest that you all take a look at this one. 

1. 1. Does the journey seem long,
   The path rugged and steep?
   Are there briars and thorns on the way?
   Do sharp stones cut your feet
   As you struggle to rise
   To the heights thru the heat of the day?
2. 2. Is your heart faint and sad,
   Your soul weary within,
   As you toil 'neath your burden of care?
   Does the load heavy seem
   You are forced now to lift?
   Is there no one your burden to share?
3. 3. Let your heart be not faint
   Now the journey's begun;
   There is One who still beckons to you.
   So look upward in joy
   And take hold of his hand;
   He will lead you to heights that are new--
4. 4. A land holy and pure,
   Where all trouble doth end,
   And your life shall be free from all sin,
   Where no tears shall be shed,
   For no sorrows remain.
   Take his hand and with him enter in.

it is my prayer that we remember that Jesus is always there. He will always be there for us.  I am so pleased that i can share this message with all i come in contact with. I love you all and pray for you each day. and as my grandfather Cameron says "may the Lord take a liking to ya". 

elder cameron

que la force soit avec vous

Natalie January 27, 2014

Hello everyone!

This week was so great. Man I'm loving life. It's a dream out here! So Wednesday I arrived in Paris to get my new daughter. We had a training from president and all the trainers sat on one side of the room. Then all the new bleus came in and sat on the other side. It feels like I was just over there on that other side. The minute I saw her, I knew she was mine! My bleu's name is Sister Richards and she is the cutest thing ever. She's from Tremonton Utah and is 19 years old. We get along so well and are already working our tails off out here. She has such a desire to work and be obedient and have fun in the process! And we're doing that. I LOVE IT. This week the rain has started to pick up and many nights we've been out in the pouring rain for hours knocking doors and loving every minute. It's been a blast.

We've already seen so many miracles. A few weeks ago, Sister Rybin from our home ward wrote me asking me about one of her friends living in Valenciennes that she knew years ago! I found out that she lives down the street. About a 2 minute walk! So this week we were able to deliever a letter and talk with her. It was so much fun. She's the sweetest lady ever and was so excited to hear about Sister Rybin. What a tender mercy! We will be able to visit her more this next month. Here is a picture of us at her home!

We also did a lot of finding in my city the Quesnoy. It was so fun! We walked and walked for a couple of hours knocking doors and contacting people. We found a lot of great people and we found a family! They asked us to come back so hopefully there is something great there. I love that city so much. And I have a dream of opening a branch there. We're going to work so hard and knock every door in that city. I feel so led in that city as if people are leading us exactly where to go. I have such a connection to it! I was wondering if you could research it maybe and see if we have any ties to it? I don't know what it is but there's something or someone special there. I can feel it every time I step off the train there. It's so special.

This week we had a Rendez-vous with Kathy. It's been hard because she isn't keeping commitments because she has no time. She is a single mom going to school, working, and doing an internship. We're at a loss to know what to do with her. We know that she knows it's true, she just has a hard time trying to make time for it. Which is understandable. This week had a rendez-vous with her and explained sacrifice and how God will always remember us. He'll never leave us alone or leave us in the dark. We will continue to work hard for her. She could use some extra prayers! That would be appreciated. Kaprice is still in the US and our other amis have been a little busy. So it's been a week of finding! And less active work. It's been great.

We have 3 new missionaries in Valenciennes. The elders white washed in. One of the Elders is Elder Ireland! He actually did an exchange with Loge in Canada before he came out here while he was waiting for his visa. Small world isn't it! I also met a few other elders who knew loge this week. It's fun that our missions are so connected. Elder Ireland also has a blue so we're a great bleu ville with a lot of fire and desire to work! We have a goal to create more unity in the word and work hard for them and with them. We're so excited and are working closely with some incredible members.

One of them is Claudine. She just returned home from her mission in DC about 6 months ago and is getting married in May. She's busy with school and wedding things but always sacrifices time for us to help us with anything everything. She's incredible and I want to be like her and work with the missionaries when I get home.

Well this week i also said goodbye to my mom Soeur Miller at the gare. I can't believe how fast time is flying. She was in my spot when she was training me. Time is flying. Loving every minute of it.

This week we were asked to study Elder Kearon's talk "Come unto Me with Full Purpose of Heart and I Shall Heal You" to prepare for his conference on Wednesday. I'm really excited. You should read it too. This is one of my favorite lines so far, "Our Savior is the Prince of Peace, the Great Healer, the only One who can truly cleanse us from the sting of sin and the poison of pride and change our rebellious hearts into converted covenant hearts. The Atonement is infinite and embraces us all. The invitation given to the Nephites, when He ministered to them as the resurrected Christ, is still in force for you and me: Have ye any are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them. Not one of you has thrown away your last chance. You can change, you can come back, you can claim mercy. Come unto the only One who can heal, and you will find peace."

He's coming Wednesday and I get to play the piano for a special musical number! Wish me luck!

Well I love you all. Glad you got your seeds dad! I hope you enjoy them.

Hope you have a great week and know how much I love you! Working for you.

Love

Your Sœur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

 This is our 3 generation picture! Soeur Richards, Me, My mom Soeur Miller

 One of the big cathedrals in our city at night!

Meeting Sister Rybin's friend! 

Logan January 20, 2014

happy happy birthday daddy dear. happy days will come to you all year, if i had a wish then it would be a happy happy birthday to you from me!!!!!! thanks dad for being my dad. i wrote a poem for you

my father is the best

he is better then the rest

he has a green thumb

and he's really not dumb

he is my friend 

my friend to the end

so here is to you

dont go coo coo

i composed this in about 13 seconds so forgive me for the rhymes. a little elementary. but father thank you for all you do! you are a great man and you honor your priesthood. thank you

oh let us turn our thoughts today to martin luther king

and recognize there are ties between us

all men and women living on the earth

ties of hope and love 

sister and brotherhood.

we are bound together in our desire to see the world become

a place in which our children can grow free and strong

i forgot the rest

but i love this man. martin luther too

 how are all y'all doing?? this week was a good one. we had a ton of less active recent convert work. it was fun. we read the book of mormon a lot with this old guy names jean guy. he is a great guy. he has a good heart. unfortunately he is old so he forgets somethings, like commitments we leave with him. but hey life goes on right. 

one of our lessons we went to richard's house he showed us a playlist he made for when his girlfriend will return to him and repent of her sins. it was really funny but it had some great songs on it. all from the 80s and he was shocked that i had a fairly good knowledge of this time period when it comes to music.

this is a picture of nice wooden shoes that a less active had. she is super funny. her name is sister donna. and every time we go she makes us food. and it is always super tasty. and she is a little irreverent.... haha but she is super funny.

I had a really spiritual experience yesterday. i watched a mormon message at a priesthood meeting for the stake where an 18yr old football coach gave a blessing to his player. the spirit hit me super hard. i am 18 too you know and i have this same authority with me. it was really cool to see. not many eyes were dry in the audience.

well catch you later! have a great week. have a great birthday daddy!

elder cameron

Natalie January 20, 2014

Well hello everyone!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDIO!! I hope you have a great great day. You have a little surprise on its way in the postal service. Sure hope it gets there soon! I sent it last week. Hope you enjoy it!

So I got the news yesterday that I will be training a new bleu! I'm so excited and have felt God preparing me for someone. I'm excited to go pick her up on Wednesday in Paris. She has no idea what's in store for her out here! This mission has completely changed my life upside down and all around. I can't wait for her!!

This week has been incredible. And I also got some other exciting news!! I'll give you a little flashback. On May 18, 2013 Soeur Miller, my trainer, and I walked in the rain for hours contacting and finding. It was my 2nd day in France and we were there with no amis, and no potentials. We had talked to 30 people that day with no one that was interested. I was overwhelmed, missed home, and was dealing with a huge culture shock. As we got on the bus, we had the impression to contact a woman sitting down. We told her who we were and why we were here. And she listened. She told us she was searching for God, her husband had just been killed in a war in Africa, and she was here in France alone with her 11 year old son and no one else. She had nothing. We testified to her that God had found her, by sending us to her. That was the day that we found Anne-Marie Lily. We invited her to come to church the next day, and much to our surprise, she came. We continued to teach her and her son William throughout the rest of my time in Tours. We set many baptisimal dates and she accepted, but always backed out last minute. My last week there, little they decided to be baptized. We met them in town to go with them to the church. Anne-Marie met up with us and told us she wouldn't be baptized, but William told us that he would be. Anne-Marie had to go get off the bus to come to the baptism later. We were on the bus with William devestated. We asked him if he wanted his mom to be baptized and he said yes! We asked him what we could do to help her. And with his 11 year old faith, said, "I will get baptized, and I will receive the Holy Ghost. My mom will see the difference it will make in my life and she'll want it too." And so he did! He was baptized that day, receieved the priesthood not long after he turned 12 and has been passing the sacrament in Tours ever since. I got a call yesterday from my trainer. It is her last week on her mission. She told me that Saturday, exactly 8 months to the day after we found Anne-Marie, she was BAPTIZED!!! Words cannot express how happy and overjoyed I am! This work is real and it's on His timetable, not ours. The spirit is the true missionary and we are just His hands. I love Anne-Marie Lily! And I don't know if I will see her again in this life. But I know I'll see her in the next. With her husband and little William by her side. Oh how beautiful it will be! President Monson said, "Through your dedicated service at home or abroad, those souls whom you help to save may well be those whom you love the most" Oh how true that is!

This week has been full of that! We went and worked with our member Soeur Trouillard all day again. Each month she gives us a full day! Her only day off. She comes and drives us to our rendez-vous and teaches with us. She's incredible! We had a rendez-vous with an ami who is struggling because she just lost her father to causes from his job. She was mad at God. Soeur Trouillard's uncle was literally going through the same thing that very day! And she was able to testify to our amie and bring hope to her heart. It was incredible! and such a testimony that God sends people in our lives at specific moments to help us.

We also found a lot of great people this week! We found a girl last night who was so impressed that there are young people who believe in God! We will be teaching her this week. Man the work is on FIRE here in Valenciennes! I'm so excited for the new bleu coming in and for all that is in store for her.

Life is great! And i'm so happy. I'm so grateful for this opportunity and for all that I'm learning. My life will never ever be the same! Well I love you guys. Hope you have fun celebrating dad's 70th birthday...woops...;sorry bout that. Know that I'm singing to you from over here! I'll eat crêpes in your honor.

LOVE YOU

Sœur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

the shire and le quesnoy!

Logan January 13, 2014

hello there.

this week was pretty good. our street got shut down at 11:00pm. saturday night. that was pretty crazy. there was a small fire in an apartment building across the street and down a little ways. so we went out on our balcony and got the chairs and the hot chocolate and watched it for a bit. felt a little apostate but hey that doesn't happen everyday. i got some cool pics and a funny video. unfortunately it may be too long to send home.

 you can even see the firetruck with the giant ladder. they didn't end up using it. the cause of the fire is currently unknown. 

also i think natalie may find this lady familiar soeur cunche all the way from france!

 wow look at that. she is a super nice lady. it was fun to talk to her. she said, "oh soeur cameron elle est magnific. je l'aime." and then i said moi aussi. haha 

i now have a testimony of keeping journals. so a missionary that is in mont saint hilaire right now called me and asked me a question about a lady that we visited. i could not remember her name and so i said hold on a minute i will check. and then i found it in my journal. that is why we are a record keeping people my friend. he needed something and because i committed to keep a good record i had it. that was neat. so keep writing. 

we had a great sabbath day. first i met sister cunche. then they asked me to lead the music. you know me always willing to lend a hand so i did with a lot of energy to keep the spirit of the hymns. haha. kelly our investigator was making fun of me afterwards. haha he is a super funny guy. unfortunately he is not making a ton of progress.  then this man gave a talk where he quoted bob marley. i was laughing the whole time. it was a really good talk. it was about being happy and not worrying... so you can probably guess what he quoted. then a girl gave a talk about how she stood up and said no to alcohol. it was a really touching talk. she is the only active member in her family. she is 16 and her dad doesn't talk to her anymore really because he is "too busy" with work. but she has  a really strong testimony and loves Heavenly Father so much. it was a great talk. 

well i love you all a ton! and i pray for you every day! with out fail. i hope you have a great missionary week! ha yeah

elder cameron of the shire.

Natalie January 13, 2014

Well G'day my dear family,

Thank you so much for all of your emails and for the updates. I'm so happy that everyone is doing well. Things here are going really great and so beautiful. Surprisingly it's not that cold. This past week we had a really cold day, but besides that it's beautiful. It was supposed to be the coldest winter and was supposed to break records. I guess it could still happen, but it hasn't come yet! Counting my blessings. knock on wood.

So this week I went on one of the funnest adventures of my life! When I came in on my first trainride into Valenciennes, there was a small countryside city that caught my eye. Every since then, i've been thinking about it. And this week, we finally had a day to go out! So we bought train tickets, put on our adventure boots, got a map, and went out! This is Le Quesnoy. And this was our first look.

The city is about 1000 meters square...exactly...aka super SMALL and it's surrounded by these ruins. They are barriers set up during war.

This was a random path we followed. During WWI, the city was saved by New Zealanders who came and defeated the Germans. They built a huge memorial in their honor surrounded by this beautiful wooded area.

then...we went to the SHIRE. check this out! We went down another path, and we ran into this.

Don't worry, I ported it to see if Bilbo was home...he wasn't.

We went and ported for a few hours and found a few people that want us to come back! My goal is to port every single house in the ville before I leave. I'm so excited! There is something about this ville. There is a special spirit. I can almost feel the ancestors of the people that live there now. It's super tiny and reminds me of Stars Hollow. I can't get enough of it. This week we'll be going back to continue the work. I love it!

This week we also had a rendez-vous with our ami Kaprice. We committed her to be baptized and she accepted! Her date is set for the 22nd of February. happy bday jess almost. she's so great and is really progressing. She is going to the states for a week so if you could keep her in your prayers that would be great. We have 2 baptism dates rolling on right now. Both hopefully for the end of February. We are finding new amis like crazy! And the work is picking up. I LOVE IT; Having the time of my life.

This week we also found out that our new mission presidents got called. President and Soeur Poznanski will be finishing their mission in July, and our new Presidents are french as well. They are from the Evry ward which is in my old district! We've heard great things. Man I don't know how I'm going to handle saying goodbye to the Poznanskis. They have changed my life in more ways that I will ever know. They are some of my heroes and I love them so much. They have changed the church here in France and have served with all of their hearts. i want to be like them.

Well I love you all so much. I hope you have a great week adn know that you are in my thoughts and prayers! Keep calm and carry on!

Love
Soeur Cameron

100 % No regrets i've promised to give MORE

ps sorry the pics didn't upload. i will try to send them seperately! LOVE YA

Logan January 6, 2014

hi there. elder cameron here.

i am staying in chomedey for another transfer with elder Duran. huzzah! i like chomedey even though it is in english. 

this week was a good one. we went to a members house for new years and the little kids attacked us for the whole night. haha it was funny. there is this little girl she is 4 and she already has that canadian accent. ''i am getting big eh?" haha it was super funny. i laughed real hard. 

we went to a less active ladies house for a lesson and she was making fun of her grandson how he is too light on his toes. haha we were laughing really hard. she is a super funny lady. 

hey em guess what i did. so being in canada i am exposed to real maple syrup. so one time we ate spaghetti and i decided to eat it like elf does. so i put maple syrup on it. it was delish! you should try it 

we got in contact with pauline again. had a great lesson with her. she said she and remeline her cousin are going to start coming to church. i sure hope they do. she is a great lady. she is so willing to help and to make food for anyone! she tells us that often. i just want to cook for lots of people she says haha. she is great.

I got some really sweet gloves.

Natalie January 6, 2014

Well hello everyone!

Thanks so much for all of your emails and news. Can you believe I hit my half way mark this week? Man I can't believe how fast time is flying. I'm loving every second of it! This week was crazy busy and felt like it was a couple of months! We had district meeting, exchanges, new year's parties, lots of lessons, and great miracles! I will tell you about some of them;

So a few weeks ago I told you about finding Vincent and his wife Elizabeth. Well, we had a rendez-vous with them this week. Vincent is very intelligent and knows a lot about religion. He was born Catholic, then became Evangelical slash protestant and a whole other array of different religions. It's kinda weird. He has studied our religion extensively which isn't always the best thing...haha. In our 45 minute long rendez-vous, he brought up every single contraversial topic that is brought up at our church. Every single role play situation I've ever gone through in Mission Prep came true. haha Polygamy, black's and the priesthood, joseph smith's wives, BOM not being consistent, and the list goes on. His critisism started to hurt. I thought of Loge and our mission prep adventures and laughed. At first it was pretty exhausting and frustrating that every single "hard situation" in Mission prep and the MTC was coming true (shout out AF East Stake Mission Prep program), but then I remembered what I've always learned in those situations: OPEN YOUR HEART THEN YOUR MOUTH AND SPEAK. So I did. With a power that wasn't mine. I boldly testified that I was only 21 years old with poor french, and had never studied religion before. But I could stand before God and say that I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true Church on this Earth. And that in the coming day, our Savior will come back and reign again, and that's why I'm here. Not to convince people or fight with them, but to testify and help them prepare for when He'll come again. We testifed that he'll have a chance to stand before the Savior one day too. We testified of Joseph Smith, of the Book of Mormon, and living prophets today. I'll never forget the Spirit burning in that room confirming that what we were saying was true. I saw it in his eyes that he felt it too. He got scared and started telling us that as young people in our church we could make a difference and revolt or ask questions against our priests and leaders to question the contraversial points of docterine in our church. haha we kindly told him it wasn't necessary and excused ourselves from his home. I'm not going to lie, he was good. He had hard questions. But not at one moment did I doubt what I believed. The Holy Ghost was with me every single moment giving me comfort and words to say. I will forever be grateful for Him and the friendship we have. Through the strengthening and enabling power of the Atonement, He turned a weak little 21 year old girl into a mouthpiece with power and authority to stand up against a brilliantly educated man. And that, is a miracle of a mission. I know that power and authority is real! Because I felt it, and I used it. I love that feeling, and it has changed my life.

The rest of the week was so much fun and full of great experiences. For New year's day we went to the Duez family. He is our DMP aka ward mission leader and we work closely with him. He is amazing! And reminds me of what dad will be like when he's an old grandpa. His little prances and jokes and such. I love being in their home. We had a real 4 hour french meal with them. It was the best meal I've eaten out here! Escargot, beef, potatoes, cheese! ah all courses were unbelievable; We spent the day with their children and grand kids after. Such a tender mercy. Made me miss all of you guys and think of our family gatherings someday when we all have kids!

We also ate with the Copola family! They are Italian and are so much fun! They have twins who are around 16 years old. We were talking music and they told me they loved Imagine Dragons. I told them some of the band members were members and they FLIPPED. it was so cool. Then I told them that my sister was friends with one of them and they flipped even more. Cool to see the affect that Dan and his band are still  having on the world. They are really big out here in France.

Well it was weird hitting my half way mark. Honestly I am just so grateful to be here as a missionary. I look back at these past 9 months and I am so grateful for the one on one moments I've had with my Savior and all the time He's spent with me. My mission has meant the world to me. In so many ways. The miracles I've seen, the people I've met, the experience I've gained. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Everything--every moment has been a gift from God, and is evidence of His love for me. I'm so grateful that I have 9 more months of this incredible ride and experience to serve others and bring blessings to you. I've loved every single day of my mission and I've been so bleseed. My life will forever be affected by my 18 months in the Paris France Mission! 2nd half...HERE WE COME!!!

 These are my favorite patisseries right now! speculos mervielleux! so so good. Got them to celebrate! 

And this is our porting experience out in the beautiful country! fields and fields of green. AH i love it.
Well i love you all so much. And i can't thank you enough for letting me be here. Thank you for your love and support and all that you do for me. I really felt your prayers this week! Stronger than ever! It was so powerful. I'm so excited for this week to go find teach and baptize some people! Love it.
LOVE YOU ALL
Soeur Cameron
100% No regrets! I've promised to GIVE MORE!!

Logan December 30, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

elder cameron

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

and rhona my typewriter

Natalie December 30, 2013

Well hello everyone!

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

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

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

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

Sure do love you.

Sœur Cameron

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

Logan December 23, 2013

merry christmas joyeux noel!

how is everyone doing?? 

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

 

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

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

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

elder cam

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

Natalie December 23, 2013

Bonjour tout le monde!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,
Your Soeur Cameron

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

Logan December 17, 2013

Hello 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

how poetic. 

love you guys.

elder cameron

.

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

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

Natalie December 17, 2013

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

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

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

 

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

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

Love

Your Nat girl

100% no regrets I've promised to give MORE

LOVE YOU

Logan December 9, 2013

good morning my friends and family.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

love you all. merry christmas and a happy new year

elder cameron

Natalie December 9, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for being the best family in the world.

Love,

Soeur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give more

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