November 27, 2018

Bonjour famille! This week has been such a normal missionary week (meaning every odd thing that could possibly happen totally happened.) We had some really discouraging days and also some super stellar ones too! There was one day this week where we had five appointments and every single one of them canceled or just wasn`t there. It was rough. We didn`t really know where to go or what to do, but we know that it is always better to "go and do, not sit and stew" so we chose a person and went! He wasn`t home either. (go figure haha!) But looking back it was such a blessing because the next day we didn`t have a lot of appointments, just visit with Kaite, a returning member who is one of my favorite people ever. We had a nice visit with her and she prayed at the end of our lesson and asked very out of the blue that people would flock to us and want to hear this message. I knew after she said that, that something amazing was going to happen. After her lesson, we went to visit this sweet sweet family that i absolutely love to death! They are a cute family with 4 of the most presious little children. We have been really focusing on the 12 year old daughter, Solange beacuse she is just so solid. Last time, we asked her to read 1 Nephi 1 and she did it!! (I cant even explain the joy we feel as missionaries when people actually keep commitments. it seriously makes us so so happy!) and she also marked all the words she didnt know. we were able to go through each one and define them for her, to help her understand. We also had a little "story time" with the kids using the child book of mormon (which is like my favorite thing ever) we read through the 1 nephi chapter which was a good review for Solange and really fun for the kids. I am was so impressed. These kids just absorbed the story into their little hearts! By the end they knew all the names of all the characters and could repeat the whole story back to us! There was such a feeling of love in the room with all of these sweet little kids, gathered around us on the floor, listening intently and eagerly. They flocked around us like a bunch of babay chicks, just like Katie asked. I have a lot of love for those children. 9 year old Zanabab prayed for us at the end. It was the first time she has ever prayed and I got to witness it. She reminds me of little Annaleigh. Just the sweetest little thing. After that beautiful lesson, we decided to visit a woman that hadn't been taught for months named Christina. We had a super awesome chate with her. we showed her the "He lives" video. she loved it so much she asked us to send it to her. We got a return appt. after that, we visited this super cute family that we had met really close to where we live. The mom`s name is Marianne. She was so so kind! She said that we were very brave to be serving missions. we shared "Beacuse of Him" with her (we love showing videos haha) as soon as it started, her four children came out of the woodwork and flocked to the video! (again, just as Katie said) It was so cool. She invited us back again and said that she wanted to feed us dinner which we are always grateful for! haha it was such miracle filled day! I am so grateful for the trials of the week because I appreciated that one day so much more! The worse things you go through, the greater your capacity to love the good things the come. I love being a missionary. I love these people with more love than i have ever before experienced. I know that trials make us stonger, and help us feel love more deeply. And i know that they help us draw closer to our Heavenly father. I know that just 5 minutes in His love makes the whole trial worth it 100 times over. I love my Savior more than anything and I love Him more and more each day I serve in his name. I love in mosiah 9:18 the simple phrase, "and we did go forth in His might". I know He gives us the strength we need when we need it. He did not send us here to fail. I know that. I love you all and hope you are well and happy! Love, soeur Bates

November 20, 2018 'I have never felt happiness like this before'

Bonjour mon famille! This been probably my most favorite week in the mission yet! First we had zone conf. with elder Hamilton from the 70! that was increible! he was incredible! He opened our eyes to things we could be doing better to help our amies d`leglise. he spoke a lot of true conversion. In these last days. testimony is not going to get you through. Its a darn good place to start, but without action, consistent and heartfelt action, we will never reach true conversion. true conversion is where our testimonies are so strong that we don't have to hope or wonder or rely on faith anymore because we know! That is the point where nothing on this earth will be able to pull us away from the truth because it is the biggest and best part of who we are. But that can only be acheived by doing those small and simple things. I have never known more than i do now, the impotance of daily scripture reading and prayer. They matter! It is absolutely critical beacuse there is nothing else that will build our testimoinies on the rock than that. and when the wonds come, (and they will.) we need to be firm. i know that there is no neutral ground in this. We are either choosing Christ, or we are choosing Satan. There is no neutural ground. and if we are not moving forward we are moving backwards. there is no neutral ground. I know that is true. We had invited several people to come to church who never responded which is very normal. That usually means no. So we weren`t expecting anything crazy, but then we were sitting in sacrament meeting and Alfred and like 4 of his kids walk in! We had passed them on to the elders so we werent really sure what was going on with him, but they managed to get them to church! It was incredible! And then, we look up and Maria Isabelle is there! she is the absolute sweetest lady. she has a little boy who is close to Oren`s age and is the shyest but sweetest little tyke! we had brought members to lessons with her before so they went and sat with her and totally took her under their wing. it was truly tender. She loved the meeting and she loved all of the people. I love this ward so very much! They do the most amazing job of welcoming everyone! SO many people came up to her and made her feel loved. She truly felt it. She wants to come back and she wants to bring her husband. Also, during sacrament meeting, Annick leans over to us and asks us if there is a baptisimal service on the 8th of December and we said "well yeah there sure can be!" She said "okay then sign me up!" so we had two amies come to church, and another amie invite herself to baptism! I wasn`t sure if my heart could take it. I am certain I know how Christ felt when he said "and now my joy is full" i have never felt happiness like this before. It is such a testimony to me that this work is right. There is no greater joy than bringing others to Christ, and helping them find the path that will lead them to true joy also. It is my mission and my purpose and I love being a part of it. I love you all. I know that is is the true church. I know that truth is truth no matter what others want to believe. I love being a missionary. I say that every time, but i truly do. This is the best work i will ever be a part of. I know that Christ is our savior and he lives and guides us at the head of this church. I love Him. Love, soeur Bates

November 13, 2018

Bonjour! Wow! We got a lot of snow this week so I finally broke out my Canadian coat! This week has been a bit trying. But I am grateful because I know that it is beacuse we are working with truly elect people! Satan doesn't push unless he sees a force that will thwart his work! So I know without a doubt amazing things are happening. Both sister Lawrence and I have felt that there is something stirring in the air. Something big is coming and we are so excited to embrace whatever it is. We worked very hard this week to stay busy and make every minute of the Lord's time count. He truly truly consecrated our time. There was an area we were in yesterday where we both had this undeniable feeling that there was a very specific person that we needed to meet. A woman passed us and we decided that we should go talk to her. We actually chased this woman down into her appartment building. We dont do this kind of thing very often, but we really really felt like we needed to talk to her. We caught her on the stairs and she was so kind and said that we could come back and talk to her. Afterwards, we felt like our work in that area was done. It was incredible. We have also been teaching a man named Samuel. He asks the best questions and is so so genuine. He has already told us that he wants to make sure this is completely right, but if he finds that it is, then he will be all in. We asked him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We are waiting for a response. I know that if he does it right, and prays with real intent, there is no way he will not know for certain that it is true. That is how pure truth works. I have been studying truth a lot this week. Lots of people only like to believe what is convienant, but just beacause someone doesnt like gravity, doesnt mean they will float if they jump off a cliff. Truth is truth regaurdless. God works in truth too. When he says something is a certain way, it is that way. He won't change that for one persons convenience. That would be unfair and God is not an unjust being. I have seen that pattern a lot in the scriptures as a missionary. I am so grateful to belong to a church where basic doctrines are unchanging and constant. I don't have to wonder, I know. I also know that the way to acquire truth is constant. Just read Moroni 10:3-5. I so love the simiplicity of this gospel. The more I read the scriptures and words of the prophets, the more I know that it is true.

November 6, 2018

Bonjour! This week has been so great! We had stake conference and we had a member of the seventy come, elder Hamilton. I got to meet him, just happened to walk by! And the most beautiful thing happened. One of our amies, David who just got baptized like two months ago met him too. (He had no idea who he was talking to haha) but elder Hamilton asked him how old he was and he said 14. Then he said, ``in 4 years, you are going to go on a mission to Africa, and you are going to save your people``....... WHAT??? it was the coolest thing I have ever heard! He blessed him with that! It was truly a miracle! I didn`t understand a lot of the conference beacuse i am still learning to understand, but the spirit was so strong. elder Hamilton said that because the missionaries here are so diligent, there would one day in the near future be a temple in Quebec City! That is amazing!! Something else cool that happened was that our sister training leaders called us and said that they felt very inspired to have one more exchange. it was really odd because we had just had one, but they both felt like they needed to have one so we did yesterday. It was lovely. I went with sister Ferger, which was special because she is going home on Wednesday. I was really grateful to be her last exchange. We had a lot of really good contacts yesterday and I learned so much form her. She is truly the missionary I aspire to be. Another cool miracle this week was that we randomly found some Napali pamphlets in our cupboard. We both felt really inspired to bring them with us and that day we met someone from Napali named Bhim Jaj. AND the next day we met a woman named Kalpana who is also from Napali. That was a cool miracle because we had only like ten minutes to spare before we had to run to an appointment. we chose one building and one door. I had been eyeing the building and sr Lawrence chose the door. She let us come in! We gave her a Napali pamphlet and she was really surprised we had one! We talked a little about our message and we told her where our church was and she recognized it! she said she had a friend who went there. She also said that her friend gave her a book. I was the Book of Mormon! And she had been reading it! She is almost halfway done! She said that it has made her believe in Jesus!. We were internally screaming as you can imagine. Later as we were looking on area book, we found that missinaries had knocked on their door before but only the grandma who only spoke Napali answered. The missionaries then couldnt communicate with them, but beacuse of them they ordered pamphlets in Napali which is why they were in our cupboard. Heavenly Father always makes sure that things work out for his faithful children. It was an amazing experience. We will be going back to teach her and her family more. She is elect. The last cool thing is that transfer calls were on Saturday and I will be staying here with my trainer for another transfer! I am so excited! I am so ready to work hard and make this next month and a half I have in Quebec city one of miracles! I hope that all is well and that you feel your Savior`s love every day. Love, soeur Bates