Logan May 26, 2014

I had a great birthday. Elder sloot and i decided that we needed to have killer birthdays because the are 7 days from each other so we planned a sick bird day. let me give you the low down of the day. i will describe it the way it is written in my planner. sit down buckle up and enjoy. 

6:30 wake up. say hey its your birthday! you can do what you want to (as long as it is in accordance with the rules of the white handbook)

8:00 start personal study. remind yourself to stay focused and keep the eye on the prize. but also keep in mind that its your birthday so you can do what you want to! (as long as it is in the white bible)

9:00 companionship study. celebrate together what amazing lads we are. and then drink some hot kool aid. make it cherry. and make sure you talk in a british accent. 

10:00 language study. think of all possible phrases that one could say that relates to birthdays. then translate into french. 

10:30 Bounce and get to the apple store to do emails. (you already know what i said so i need not repeat myself.)

12:00 get on the metro and make your way to the Botanical Gardens of Montreal.

I will describe this part in more detail for you. so We went to the olympic park which is right next to the metro stop. took some pictures. it was cool. i think natalie would have loved that place. and we walked to the gardens. we payed and walked in. and it was like we entered into a different world. we saw plants from all over the world. it was really cool. then we went to the insectarie. we saw bugs from all over the world. it was so interesting. 

5:00 POUTINE TIME. so we went to my favorite poutinerie. la banquese and we ordered poutine. then we asked the waitress if we could put sparklers and candles in our poutine and if she could take a picture of us. it was quite fun. and the poutine was divine. so high in cholesterol but hey ji am young and spry. 

 and before we knew it pday was over and we went back to our area and preached the word. it was super fun. we are planning on going to the temple tomorrow. the date of closure got extended. so we get to go one last time before she closes up for a year and a half. 

then sister donna fed us on thursday. she is such  a great lady and so kind. she even made me a birthday cake and gave me a gift. i opened it and what should it be but the album night visions by imagine dragons. oh no. haha temptation. it was so kind of her and i didn't have the heart to explain the rules of the mission so i just took it and put it in my suitcase. and there it shall remain until the end. it was so nice of her though. she knows me a little too well haha. she knows i can't resist candy or cake and she knows my love for ID. unfortunately i have gotten fat from all the sweets. haha  but it has been so fun going to her house 

while we were giving a spiritual though about the armour of God somehow gambling came up. i can't remember how but strange things happen when teaching certain people. and this person said one line that i thought was really funny, "always bet on Jesus.... but we should never gamble." haha so remember family always bet on Jesus. and never gamble. 

My dear sister Natalie sent me a package. it was a great gift. shout out for the new sister training leader!!! dont mess up!! haha i am only joking you will do great! pretty  soon you will be home and that will be weird. 

we had a great lesson with Derek. He wants to quit smoking so bad. it is tough for him but we gave him a blessing and i he felt the spirit. he has had some really hard addictions but i know he will be able to make it through. Stay away from drugs my friends. they have ruined his life, but now he is repairing himself and becoming a new person. it is amazing to see him change. 

I hope you have a great week family. i love you all and miss you tons. i know why i am here and i know Families are together forever! 

Natalie May 26, 2014

Well hello all!

transfers came this week! and I got a call from Pres on Sunday calling me to be a Sister Training Leader in PARIS! I'm going to be serving in a ville called Torcy with one of my good friends Soeur Linton. Which means I'll be dying in Paris!! Woot woot! it was my biggest dream, and is such a testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows who I am. The even cooler part is that I'll be doing exchanges in all of my old villes! It is absolutely insane. and I am very excited.

It's going to be hard to leave Valenciennes. This ville has made me. And taught me so much. More than I ever thought was possible. There are people here that I will never forget. Members, amis, companions, and every random person that I've met over the past 6 months. It has been an adventure of a lifetime. And I've loved every minute of it!

So, this week....we had a BAPTISM!!! Our amis Amanda got baptized!! It was such a sweet and cool service with so much support from the ward. It was incredible to watch her father and mother stand and support her. Alongside the ward, we've reaactivated her dad, and I'll never forget watching his face as he baptized his daughter with the ward in front of him to support him. Feelings that you cannot explain. She was so happy.

This week we were running around like crazy. We had a fun little moment in a city called Denain. It is one of the poorest cities in France. There is a museum there so we went and visited! We had it all to ourselves, there was a cute little french lady who came and asked if we wanted a personal tour. So we said yes! It was SO fun! And the history buff in my just DIED. I learned so much about France and about the area I've been serving in. There are so many incredible stories and people and rich heritage! I love France so much!

We also visited Jacqueline. It started to sprinkle...sprinkle being the key word...and she insisted that we take her scarves and sweaters home to cover us so we wouldn't get sick! As we had just been in the worst storm ever without umbrellas and were just fine. haha So we did as mamie said. And i decided to have fun with it. So i just sported it like she would and walked like a little old lady home. We got a good laugh out of that one. Pictures included for proof. We had some fun stares from people.

Well folks, this is my last time signing out from my little Valenciennes chapel. I have loved it here with all of my heart. The people here have become sacred parts of my heart. And I'll never forget them. This ville is more than just a ville to me. It's become my home, and I would love to bring you back sometime to see why. I have been taught sacred truths here that will affect the rest of my existence I believe. I'm so grateful.  I love my mission so much and I'm excited for the adventures that await me in Paris for these last 3 transfers. I know that God lives! Because this week has been nothing but small intricate tender mercies showing me that He knows me. I know that He is leading this great work, and it's REAL. It's so real. and i'm so blessed to be a part of it. The Lord is preparing us for what is coming, and I am so happy that I can be a small part in His plan. I know He lives.

Love you with all of my heart. Mom I hope you have the greatest birthday EVER! I'll be thinking of you!!!

Love

Your Nat girl Sœur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

Logan May 19, 2014

Thank you all very very very much for you kind words and your beautiful aura. i can feel you all here with me celebrating and let me tell you we are going to have some fun today! let me give you the low down real quick. elder sloot's birthday is in one week so we are having our party today. he is great i have laughed so hard the past 4 days. but we are going to go to the botanical gardens in montreal! eat a poutine! create an energy ball.... maybe  and do some great things. i can't wait i am super excited to have some fun today.

So emily i have a little issue to discuss with you. Happy birthday my little sister. i cannot give you much, especially on a missionary budget but this i can give you. go to my room, grab my longboard, take it outside and ride it! for the summer. and dont break it. i did try to make the deal if you didn't date anyone you could but i am going to be nice and say that it is yours. enjoy it. be gentil with her. she is fragile. and most importantly know that i love you very very much. you are a great friend and will be a great missionary one day. i hope that you will have a great day and have lots of fun. you are now 16, i dont know how i feel about this. dont go crazy with the dates. save your money and only accept good boys to ask you on dates. i can't ask them questions in my present situation so i will just have to trust that dad will do it for me. but have fun dont get into trouble and be obedient. you are amazing never forget that i am always here for you. 

man i am 19 now. this is strange. i am not sure if i like it or not. but it is here whether i like it or not. 

so i have been doing some great studies in the book of mormon. i read one of my favourite chapters today. ether 12. read it you won't waste your time. i love faith. i love that faith comes first to witnessing miracles. lets just say i have grown my faith here. and i have seen some great miracles. 

we had a lesson with derek. he had some concerns with the book of mormon. like when nephi chops off the head of laban. a very legitimate concern. so we talked about it and read some scriptures with him and now he loves the book of mormon more than anything it is amazing how the Lord can change someones heart. the Holy Ghost transforms us. He sanctifies us and makes us better. i know that is true.

i have had a ton of fun with elder sloot. we have already become really good friends. we have both been out about a year and so we have really similar experiences.

this is the moon with a ring of clouds.

i drew the urim and thummim. this is what i think it looks likes

 and i ate this. it is homemade poutine. super good. i loved it.

we had a pretty good lesson with pauline. she and remeline are almost ready to get baptized. i cannot wait to see them in the waters. i dont know if i will still be in chomedey but i sure hope so. i love it here. i may just transfer my records. i know more people then our branch president does. that is pretty funny haha. 

well i think we will leave to get a good start on our birthday fun. i love you all. thank you so much for everything. 

thank you so much for all you do for me family. i love you all so much 

elder cameron

Natalie May 19, 2014

Well,

First I must give my younger siblings a birthday shoutouttttttt. Happy birthday EM AND LOGE, I sure hope that you have a great day. Canada, Utah. All over. I've been thinking about you all day and I hope that you can feel my love. Joyeux Anniversaire!

This week was really great and such a learning experience for me. It wasn't one of the easiest weeks of my mission, but I'm so grateful for the strength I gained, and the lessons I learned, to help me become the missionary I am 7 days later. Right now, our ward is suffering through a lot. Families being broken apart, members being offended and almost leaving the church, and other little stressful situations. I've taken a lot of the stress on my shoulders, and I've had to realize that I can do all that i can do, but ultimately it's the Savior that will heal their hearts. Not only the Savior, but His perfect and redeeming love."Do your best, forget the rest, angels do no more" right mom?

As I have studied, prayed, and fasted this week for inspiration to know how to help where I can, the same thought and principle keeps coming back and back. The answer is charity. I firmly believe that if everyone saught to focus on others, with Christ-like charitable love, then each situation would be different, and actually wouldn't be there at all.

Anne C. Pingree said, "Charity, the Savior’s pure love, is the “highest, noblest, strongest kind of love,”  which we “pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart”  to possess. Elder Dallin H. Oaks teaches us that charity “is not an act but a condition or state of being [one becomes].”  Our day-to-day offerings of charity are “written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; … in [the] fleshy tables of [our] heart[s].” Little by little our charitable acts change our natures, define our characters, and ultimately make us women with the courage and commitment to say to the Lord, “Here am I; send me.”

Isn't that beautiful? Charity is who we can become, written in the fleshy tables of our hearts. I have a dear friend out here named Soeur Bradley. For me, she is one of the ultimate examples of charity. We've talked a lot about it and have come to the conclusion that everything, everything! is about love. If love was our motivating force for every action we took, can you imagine the outcome? Can you imagine the kindness we'd feel, the hands we could lift, the smiles we could bring? It makes me sure want to fight harder to have more charity.

We had a lot of rendez-vous this week. We had one set up with the cute older french woman we met. We even had a member set up who drove over an hour to teach with us. We got to the door and she answered and said that she was busy. haha yep, you guessed it. prayed for a lot of charity then! So we prayed and felt inspired to visit a less active to not waste our member's trip. It turned out being incredible where we were able to share love and help her feel hope. Heavenly Father is so inspired. Everything happenes for a reason. Even getting fruged.

We also found a new amis. Her name is Denise. She is from Banat in Africa and moved here about a year ago. Her husband is still in africa so she is raising 4 kids all alone in France trying to make ends meet. We taught her the Restoration lesson and it was incredible to see her open heart, searching for help. She is progressing! And i'm excited to see where she'll go. We found a ton of new people this week! So many miracles and gifts from Heavenly Father. We are not forgotten.

I also was able to finish studying Preach My Gospel this week. For the past couple of months, I studied it all the way through and did every exercise and study inside. I have such a huge testimony of it and I know it is inspired to help us be the missionaries He needs us to be. Including missionaries who have charity and who LOVE everyone. That's what Preach My Gospel is about. That's what missionary work is about. LOVE.

Well I love you all and am so grateful for your LOVE. hope you can feel mine. I know the Savior Lives, and all we need is His love. Then we can truly love others.

Hope you have a happy birthday day and can feel me with ya!

Love,

Soeur Nat Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

This is a beautiful garden area in a little ville close to Belgium

Natalie May 12, 2014

Hey there fam fam!

It was so great talking to everyone yesterday. i loved seeing you! How grateful i am for technology. We are so blessed. Talking to my fam all around the globe! So good to see you.

This week was good! Crazy but good. They have this little folk tale in france that this specific week of May it was rainy rainy rainy with crazy storms and stuff and it's true every year. And it's definitely real! This week the weather has been INSANE. Today it POURED sooo much. sheets of water. I'm pretty sure I'm still soaked. Haven't been dry in awhile.

We saw some fun miracles. Tuesday we had that FHE with the Family Deladeriere and the less active woman! We went and visited her. It was the first time she had seen a member in 30 years. Pretty insane right? She let us in and had 2 friends there with her. We spoke with her and her friends and explained a little bit more of why we were here. We showed the video BECAUSE OF HIM in french and the spirit was so strong. I don't know about you but I LOVE that video and cry my eyes out every time i watch it. After, there was a moment of silence. And I felt prompted to tell them why I'm here. I testified that I'm a young 20 something year old girl. I don't really know a whole lot. And I can't really say anything profound. But i am here in France BECAUSE OF HIM. Because of Him, i left my family, my studies, my dating life, because of Him; Because I LOVE Him. I know Him and I know He know He loves us all. I testified that I knew He knew them too. That they weren't forgotten. We all had tears, and He was with us. Daniele, the member looked at me with tears in her eyes and smiled. I'll never forget it. Her friends were receptive and said they want to know more. We found out she left the church because of a tithing issue and a remark that a member had made. 30 years of missed blessings because of that. Crazy. So we set another rendez-vous to come back. It was a special little moment.

We also went to Paris for our exchange like I was telling you about. Learned a whole lot too. Like not to eat African food like never again no matter how stinkin good it is. haha All 4 of us got food poisioning and had some fun memories RUNNING home. Had some fun laughs about that.

This week I learned a lot in my studies as well; I did something kinda fun! I've been studying the Godhead and I went through and highlighted all the things that talked about Heavenly Father in my patriarchal blessing. I was amazed to see how much His name alone is brought up. It was a testimony to me that He knows me. He loves me. And He is aware of me. I love Him so much. It was a really cool experience and something really fun to do! You might want to check it out too and see how the Godhead is in your blessings too. I'm going to do the Savior this week.

Last night after we skyped, we had a little time left. We decided to go check on a less active. She wasn't there, so we kept walking and found a woman sitting on a bench. We went and contacted her adn told her how much God loved her. She began to cry and told us that her husband had just died and she was all alone. She had a big grocery bag filled with alcohol and she said that's what she does to numb up. We testified that the way to feeling more of her husband wasn't through drinking, it was through the Savior We boldly testified that there is hope and happiness ahead, if she can embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love moments like that. Where people feel Him for the first time in a long time. That's one of my favorite parts of my mission. Watching the feelings of emotion hit their hearts through the Spirit and His words through us. It's an honor to be a witness of His miracles.

"When you have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to feel you can reach and rescue others."

Pres Monson said this, and I know it's true. Because I've been the one on the other side being rescued as well. We watched Ephriam's rescue and I really loved it. It reminded me a lot of Trek (ps so excited for you guys to go this summer!!) and i thought of me and loge being in the family learning how to rescue together. And now we're doing it together out here. Pretty cool. I know that as we strive to become more like the Savior, we can be answers to others' prayers. We can Continue The Rescue, Cross the River, and Choose the Right. Good old Heritage Tours taught me those CTR reminders. Still in use today. I love this work, it's the greatest work in the world.

I love you guys and am so grateful for you. I hope you have an incredible week. Thanks for being a part of my rescue.

Love,

Sœur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give more

Logan May 12, 2014

hello fam

it was great to talk to all y'all yesterday. even though i was bombarded with questions it was great to see you all.  it will be interesting to see what elder sloot is like. i dont really know him at all. but i am sure he is great. 

so i told you all of the low down on our investigators. pauline is going to get baptized, kelly is kelly, we have some new prospects to work with so things are looking up for us.

thanks so much for the package that will come soon. can you believe i am turning 19 that is weird. i will be 19 on the 19th of may and i will be in laval quebec. 4 years ago if you told me that i would have told you you're crazy. but its true. i am so happy to be a missionary. even though sometimes it is hard and sometimes i miss my family my friends my banjo and music, i know that i can get the most joy right now in my life from serving the Lord. 

i dont have much to say this week because i told you basically everything but here are some pics for you

Logan May 5, 2014

hi fam.

this week was great. but it was long and tiring i am glad it is p day. 

i got the package. thank you so much it was amazing to have all of that candy! it was sosososososososososo good. i cried when i saw those cadburys. really i did. tears of joy.

em thanks so much for the letters you sent they were great. you want to borrow my long board eh? well as long as you dont go on a single date until i get home you can borrow it for the summer. deal? haha haha ha haha ha ha aha hahah ha a haha ahahah ahahahah haha haha hahah hahah ha aha haha 

it is your choice.

well there were 2 major highlights of the week first one. we had zone training meeting. it was fun. we road the metro the whole way. i hate public transportation. i got a mad headache the whole way there. but the meeting was good. and then right after the meeting we were waiting to do interviews with president and the zone leaders asked if we wanted to get food. so we went to wendy's. it was swell. we brought back food for the president. stay on his good side you know how it goes. then i got interviewed. it was great. we talked a lot about simple things that we all need to do that will keep us active in the church. you all know them. CPR church pray read the scrips. it was a really good chat we had. 

then the 2nd was the temple! 

i got to do baptisms. it was there first time in my life that i baptized someone. it was so special because we got to go with a less active lady we have been working with for so long. we helped her find names and then i got to baptize her for her grandmother. it was really special. i also got to baptize david our recent convert for his father. it was really cool. we did over 120 names. really fun. 

it was  a really special week. can't wait to talk to you guys on sunday.

here are some pictures for you. sorry the letter was not as lengthy as some other missionaries that have the cameron name but i will tell you more sunday haha.

Natalie May 5, 2014

Hello everyone!

what an INSANE week! From being in Paris, to finding new amis, to crazy miracles. I don't even know where to start.

So we went into Paris on Tuesday for zone conference. We went with the Paris zones because we had legality the next day when we'd be having ours. Tender mercy! We went with some of the equipes in our zone. We had great training from Pres and Soeur Poz and then, get this...we had

district meeting....
under the Eiffel Tower....

yeah. It was pretty much awesome. Elder Walton did a training as we sat on the grass. It was a pretty perfect moment and one I will never forget! I love France. I love it I love it I love it!

Then I had interviews with Pres and Soeur Poz. It was my last interview with them and it was really surreal. I will miss them so much. They gave me tons of advice for my life...and my husband...yikes. Things that i will never forget! It was incredible.

Wednesday, Soeur Williams had blue legality so i went out with Soeur Lefrandt, my MTC comp!, and Soeur Anderson, sister in law of Phil Sagers! Crazy just right? She's super solid. They both are! We actually got asked by the church to be filmed for a documentary about the church. So we got followed around by a camera for awhile. The girl interviewing us was really cute and kind. She asked us a ton of questions, so we asked her a ton of questions too! She was believing and catholic. After we had contacted around Paris, we stopped in the middle of the place de hôtel de ville and taught her a lesson. It was unbelievable. We all testified of the gospel and what it meant to us, and why were here. She was really touched and said she was interested in learning more. We took her back to St. Meri, the church, and prayed with her. I prayed for her and her family and her life, and the spirit whispered things to say. At the end, the spirit was thick and she thanked us. A little while later she sent us a text thanking us and saying she was really touched by the prayer. And she would be in touch because she wanted to know more. MIRACLE! It was pretty incredible.

This week we also did a ton of less active work. There was a holiday in France where there were NO busses or trams so we had to walk everywhere. It was crazy. We walked a lot of miles searching for less actives. We stopped by a family that hasn't let missionaries in in a long time. We knocked, adn these cute girls came to the door. They said their mom wasn't home and their dog ran out. We got the dog, and their mom came to the door. haha We told her who we were and just told her that we were here to meet her because we'd heard so many great things about her. At first she was skeptic, but we just showed her love, and she soon changed. She told us we could come back!! Miracle! Then, our DMP meeting got cancelled like everything else that day, so we decided to go to another less actives. We showed up, and she let us in! We walked in adn there were 2 other women. One was a TJ or a JW in english. Aka Jehovah's witness. aka yikes. We definitely got TJed. Slash talked at for a long time; Daniele, the less active kindly told us that she probably wasn't interested. So we testified and left.

While walking to the church, we were feeling grateful for our testimonies and the clarity that we have as members. We felt a little run over by that woman, but soon saw another woman. She was a little older and walking towards us with her groceries. We stopped her and I testified that God loved her. A smile came on her face and she changed. After talking for a moment, she told us that her life was hard right now. She has a handicapt son who is 40 years old and she is exhausted from taking care of him. She began to cry as we testified to her that she wasn't alone. We told her that she wasn't taking it on alone, that the Savior was with her. She was really touched and thanked us for touching her life. We gave her our info and went on our way.

THEN, we were at the church and ran into a member! I had a feeling to ask him about the less active woman we met with the TJ and he told us he knew her well! That she became a member when he was the branch president. He told us that the Spirit told him to set a RV with her and us to the a FHE with her and her husband. So, we left the church, and mustered up all the courage we had! We walked back to her house! And she was surprised to see us. I laughed and told her what had happened and she was really happy that they'd thought of her. Her husband walked over and I told them how much I loved their home. It's really old, 1700's old. I told them how much I loved history, and they perked right up! Turns out they are historians, and for the next 40 minutes, they recounted the history of Valenciennes and tons of historic facts. I WAS IN HEAVEN! And it was such a tender mercy! Because we built a relationship and they told us we could come back. As we left, she told us that she wasn't a TJ. She was just studying with that woman. There was something in her eyes! And this week we're going to go back with the members and have an FHE. I'm really excited.

We had a baptism of a little boy in our ward. That was fun to be with the ward! And yesterday, we had a rv with Amanda. She's our little 9 year old we're preparing for baptism. If you remember, our first rendez-vous she didn't really know who Jesus was or what baptism was. So yesterday, we brought little pictures from the Restoration lesson and told her that she was our teacher and we were her students! She was excited and taught us the Retab. From start to finish with the pictures. She knew everything! It was such an incredible experience to watch her and hear her testify of the Savior. That little girl is a miracle. It's been so cool to watch her grow.

We also have the other family the Gillot's that we're preparing for baptism. We just reactived them and they have come 5 sundays in a row!!! MIRACLE! She even gave us a referral and we went yesterday to contact her. She told us that her husband had recently passed away and could use hope. So we went by and heard men's voices at the door and got nervous and kept walking for a bit...haha so then we prayed and went back and literally right the very moment that we walked by, she randomly walked outside. I walked right up to her and contacted her and testified of eternal families. She looked shocked and told us her husband had just passed away. She told us she didn't believe in God. We began to testify of teh blessings the gospel had brought our families and her heart changed. She asked us to come back!! MIRACLE! So we're going back this week. oh man alive. I love this gospel.

This week I devoted my studies to getting to know Heavenly Father more and more. I learned so much about His character. About His perfect love. And all He does for us. I know that He is our Father. That He is Perfect and lives by a celestial law. I know that He loves us more than we can comprehend, and if He was unjust, or unloving, or unfair, He would cease to be God. That's what makes it that much more incredible. I love Him. And He was in every detail of my life this week. We are busy going back to all the sweet women we found last week and they are becoming new amis! I know He is leading us to these people.

 19 And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles. MORMON 9:19

I believe in miracles! and I know God is real. I love my mission and I love this country. This week we'll be going into Paris once again to do an exchange. I love Paris so much. And Valenciennes. I love it all. Thanks so much for your love. I'm so excited to SEE you in 6 DAYS!!! woot woot!!

Love,

Your Sœur Cameron

100% No regrets I've promised to give MORE

Logan April 28, 2014

WOW double-you-o-double-you

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

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

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

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

ok here you gooooo

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

1. COPS ON FOX

2. Table tennis champion

3. what once was lost now is found.

4. DEREK IS THE MAN

5. ROBERT AND SYLVIA ARE THE MAN AND WOMAN

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

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

it was fun though. 

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

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

#4 derek is the man. 

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

hello it is elder cameron

hey elder cameron it is elder heinzlemeir 

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

i am great how are you?

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

well what are you doing right now?

not much 

want to come teaching with us?

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

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

cool what is his address?

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

so we are excited about that. 

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

wow

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

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

elder cameron

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

elder cam

Natalie April 28, 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,

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

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

Primary Activity Day