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