December 26, 2018

Bonjour famille!! I hope that each and every one of you had the most beautiful Christmas! I was not sure how a Christmas away from home was going to feel, but I am so pleased with how it went! I don`t understand how exactly it works but service brings joy. It does not compute, but somehow it just works. I felt so much joy this Christmas season because I spent the whole time trying to be like Jesus and turn outward. There were moments where I really missed my mom! haha!| But if there is one thing I know for sure, it is that Christ is my rock. Unlike the world, he does not vary, he does not change. He is constant. I never have to wonder if i can trust him or if he will be there because I know that he will. By divine law I know that he will always be there for me to fall back on for a time. I love him so much for that. Helaman 5:12 is my favorite scripture because I know without a doubt that he is and will forever be the one constant while everything else shifts and leaves. As missionaries and as a district, we organized a brunch on Christmas day specifically for the people who would be spending Christmas alone. It was a very beautiful thing. We all ate pancakes and drank hot chocolate and talked and sang Christmas songs. I had a sweet experience while everyone was singing silent night. I truly felt my Saviors love and it brough me to tears. It was the most healing and safe and comforting feeling. Only his love can have that kind of effect on a person, because only his love is that strong. I am so grateful to him for letting me feel that. It brought my heart a lot of peace. I have prayed this Christmas to find the soul sick. I truly have. I have come to know without a doubt that Christ is the only one who has the all healing balm. It covers pain of all kids, saddenss and trials. It cover them in this life and in the life to come. It covers and it heals and it makes stronger and it protects. His balm does so much. And he gives it so freely. Thats the miracle of it. All we need do is open the door. I hope that you all felt the joy of this season. I hope that Christ was always in your vision and in your hearts and that you were all able to feel the love i know that he has for each of you. He truly is the gift and he offers his healing to us every day. I love him. He will forver be the reason I am here. I love him. Much love, Soeur Bates

December 19, 2018

Bonjour Family! What a week! Transfers happened and i am still here in Quebec City! My new companion sister Cameron is sweet and and quiet. we will get along great i can tell. Sister Lawrence got transfered to Longuile Sud, right off of Montreal. She is going to be an STL! Im so proud of her! This week has been so crazy though, saying goodbye to people and visiting everyone! The days have been full! Also I am a tech sister now so i am part of a commmitte that helps post things on the missionary facebook page. That will be a lot of fun! We also had a service project at the beginning of the week. All of the missionaries got to help paint this community center for our light the world iniciative, light your community. It was seriously a blast! The people were so nice and asked questions about what we did as missionaries. It was such a cool experience, and really good seeds planted! They were very apprecative and we were so grateful for the oppertunity! We also went on exchanges. It was so much fun! I got to be with sister Jules. She is so fun!! I love being around her! we got to teach this awesome guy named Schiller. He is so cool and so open to learnign more. The ward Christmas party was also this week! Man these Quebecers really know how to throw a party! It was so lovely! The theme was international so they had foods from all sorts of ethnicities. It was so cool to try all the different cultures. Thats one of the best things about being here! the diversity is beautiful! On sister Lawrenece`s last day in Quebec, we went to visit a lot of ward members. holy smokes this ward is amazing and so so kind to missionaries. It is such a blessing! The only problem was that we had 3 DAs back to back. I didnt know it was possible to be this full. I actually thought my stomach was going to burst! haha! But i really do have so much love for these people. For the members, for our amies, for strangers ive never met before. The love of Christ really is such a beautiful gift. I am so grateful that as a missionary it comes so easily. If everyone loved the way Christ loved, literally every problem in this world would be fixed. I am trying to make His love be the driving force for all that I do. I love Him. I am grateful for this short time I have to serve Him. I have a testiumony that he loves each person infinitely. I know that He will bring usthrough every situation He puts us in. and i know that we will emerge better from it. I love you all and i hope that you have the most joyous and spirit filled Christmas and that above all you will feel His love. It is the most wonderful feeling. Love, soeur Bates

December 11, 2018

Bonjour Family!! This has been pretty much the best week of all time! ANNICK GOT BAPTIZED!! We have been working with her for such a long time and it finally happened! My joy is full! SHe got confirmed on Sunday and her babies got blessed the same day. It was such a sweet meeting. Another cool thing that happened, was that we invited Solange, Zeinaba, and Victor to come to church and they came! They`re only kids but they came! They are the cutest and they had such a fun time at church! We hope that they will come back next week! It was wonderful because President Phillips came to see the confirmation so he got to talk with Annick a little bit and meet the kids. It was beautiful! Earlier this week our friend Nicolas gave us a referal. One of his friends Sophianne. We came and taught her and she LOVED our message! We are going to try to schedule another date with her to come back and teach her more. She was seriously so kind and open and curious! We also went to visit Joyeuse (Joyous) who we met last week on the street. She has 10 brothers and sisters! TEN! And when we walked in her dad, was reading a restoration pamphlet from our church. (we did not give them a pamphlet) They had received it from a missionary months ago, but had never been taught afterwards! We were like, whoa that`s from our church! and he was like, really? wow tell me more! It was so crazy! They were from Tanzania so we gave them a Swahili pamphlet and he was so surprised! (They always are when we do that haha) Needless to say, this week we made 7 new amies!! 7!! AND a baptism! That`s crazy!! To top it all off, we had a special Christmas Zone Confrence yesterday! It was beautiful! I am so excited to spend Christmas here! I know that i will never be closer to Christ than I am now, doing the things that He would be doing on Christmas day. I am so excited for that. I know that we will see mircales. truly. We plan on making a Christmas breakfast as a district for the people in our ward who are alone on Christmas morning so that they can have some joy and friendship. There are so many people who, for them, Christmas is not as happy of a time. I just want to share as much joy as a i can with the people who are soul sick and need the soothing balm of Christs love to heal their broken and hardened hearts. We have really been praying to find the soul sick. Its been at the forefront of my mind this whole season. I want to challenge you to find the soulsick this season and help them to feel even a little of the love that theur Savior has for them. They are so beloved in His eyes. I have a testimony that as we see people the Christ sees people, our eyes and hearts will change and we will feel pure joy and so will they. Mircales will occur, that is a promise. I love my Savior. He is my best friend. I am here in His name. And i couldnt think of a more honorable name to wear. I love Him. I know He lives I hope that your week is lovely and full of light! Love, soeur Bates

December 4, 2018

Bonjour Family! This has been my favorite week in the mission! I`m serious, it was so so good! December 1st was the worldwide day of service and it was just glorious! We were driving to visit an amie when i locked eyes with a girl walking down the street. I knew we had to pull over and talk to her. The thing with that, is usually when we turn the block, park, and try to find them, they have already disappeared.. It`s bizzare haha. But i felt so good about this one. we parked the car in record speed and jumped out and ran. It was timed way too perfectly, we met her exactly at the corner and stopped her! Her name is Joyeuse (Joyful) How cute is that!? We told her about our message and she gave us her address and said that we could come back on Friday! It was a miracle. Truly. After that we felt very inspired to go visit a woman in the ward named Lana. We just asked her if we could clean her house and she said yes! we swept and mopped and made the beds and it was so much fun! She gave us a loaf of bread for our help. That was a sweet little miracle too because just that morning we ran out of bread which was a bummer beacuse we couldnt buy any more until today. And of all the things she could have given us, she gave us bread... It reminded me just how much God is in the detials of our lives. The bread was a small thing, but sometimes he gives us those miracles to remind us that he is there and he is aware and looking for oppertunities to bless us. Earlier that last week we did what is called a drop pass by for Rachelle. She is awesome and I love her but getting appointments with her has been nearly impossible. So we were going to pass by her and if she wasn`t there or ready, then we would drop her, but if she was and we felt inspired to keep her, then we would. When we got there, she had fogotten about our appointment and said this would have to be our last meeting beacuse she would be really busy from here on out. She told us that she could only give us 5 minutes. We said okay! we showed her this video called heavenly father, earthly father (its beautiful, i would highly reccomend you watch it) she loved it beacuse it showed her the true nature of god. After that, she told us that no, she needed to see us again. she told us to call her on the 16th and she would make time to see us. that was crazy because she told us her schedule with starting school and a new job, and it was a valid excuse, she literally has no time now. but i know that the lord consecrates our time when we put him first. she also told us that as soon as we walked in, she realized that her prayer was answered. Our last visit, (almost a month ago) we invited her to pray and ask god if he was there and if he was really her father. she said she prayed all week and got her answer. she also asked him to help her to get her life together. that next week she got a new job and started school. She realized that was him helping her do that. She is changing. she is seeing the Lord in her life, and it is beautiful. One of the most beautiful things this week was that Annick passed her interview and she is getting baptized on the 8th of Dec. We are beyond excited and so so happy that she has made this decision and is following through! I realized this week what i wanted my own personal mission vision to be. It is in 3 nephi 17:20 when Christ tells the people he taught "and now, my joy is full" Sometimes i will be sitting in a lesson teaching people that I have so much love for, or someone I love will understand a gospel principle, or ill see them change and grow and i just can`t explain the joy i feel. Christ truly said it best. "my joy is full" everytime i think my joy cant get any fuller, He allows my heart to grow more and it fills up with more and more joy. I love these people with all of my heart. I truly do. I love this work beacuse it is allowing me to feel love and joy that i have never before experienced. I know that this is truly the Lord`s work. I love Him. I hope all of you are doing well and finding joy in your lives. Love, soeur Bates