January 29, 2019 transfers... to Laval!

Salut mes amies! What a week! We got transfer calls last saturday aaannnnnd...... im getting transfered to Laval. its just off the island of montreal. it sounds perfect. still very french but not nearly as much as quebec and not nearly crazy as montreal. i am so sad but also so excited! i love quebec avec tout mon coeur! but its also super exciting to be going somewhere new! i will also be half training! so thats nerve racking! my new comp will be sister stephenson and she has only been here a transfer herself. im still worried that i wont be able to speak a lot and i know that she probably wont be able to either so i hope that between the two of us we can figure it out! I feel a lot of hope for this new transfer. i am ready to really just buckle down and be all in. i want to work hard and give all that i came here to give. its such a comfort to know that this is his work ot mine. im just a piece that he moves and uses. i dont have to worry about screwing anything up beacuse he wont let that happen. this is his game and he is the master planner. i am just grateful that he is letting me and all of my flaws be a part of it. i have already seen so much growth just from being here and it has been so incredible. we went on exchanges again this last week and it was so great! we had a very busy day and it was wonderful to get out and work hard! we blitzed my area and found like 4 new people! it was incredible! my area is being dissolved so the other sisters are going to have a serious amount of work. im excted for them. i know that they will take great care of our amies. Sunday i was asked to bare my testimony. i was surprised at how easy the words came. i think im making more progress than believe sometimes. its hard to see because there is not much to compare it too. but im starting to finally get more comfortable speaking. now understanding people is a whole other thing but that will come in time too (i hope, haha) tomorrow, were going to be visting a lot of people, saying a lot of goodbyes. it will be kind of sad. i love these people so much. they are really the resaon that quebec city is so dear to my heart, because of the relatonships i have made. i hope that i will be friends with these people for the rest of my life. i feel like i have known them forever. who knows, maybe i have. i feel a lot of hope for this next transfer. i know that i am on the lords side and doing his erand and i know that he will help me to do all that he has asked of me. i love being a missionary. it is the hardest thing ever. but the joy trumps the difficulty every time. every time. i love this work. im excited and hopeful for this next transfer and the miracles i know will come. i love you all and hope that you are happy and doing well! love soeur Bates

January 22, 2019

Bonjour mes amies!! This has been a really fun week! Sunday we had a really bad snow storm. Church was canceled and we were completely snowed in along with the rest of Quebec. It was crazy! I have never seen 4 feet of snow in front of my door before! Oh Canada. Last P day was super great! We did so many random things! We found this hole in the wall taco place and it was the real deal! Soo good! Then we went to this beautiful cathedral. It was beautiful. I love the culture here. After that we went to this organic store called Avril. That place makes me so happy! We bought facncy sodas and then got poke bowls next door at the sushi place. Then, we went to this music store and played around on the ukes! Speaking of music. My companion is actually a musical genius! She wrote this song in like 20 minutes then we recorded it and posted it for the facebook page. It was so cool! I love her! She is so creative, it blows my mind. It is so cool to be serving with all of these super incredible people! I am so grateful for the mission for opening my mind and my eyes to people and cultures and things i never would have before! This is just the best oppertunity! And I am so grateful to be serving here! We had great exchanges this week too! I wasn't in my area, but sr. Cameron found a family of 5 who are super interested and really wanted to come to church last Sunday! Of course the one Sunday church is canceled! But hopefully we can get them to come next week when the weather isnt so crazy! I have been studying a lot about the true nature of God and it has been so amazing! I feel like I have never loved my father in heaven more than i do now. I am starting to understand that everything he does EVERYTHING he does is for his children. He is truly our father and that's how he loves us. Like a father. But I have discovered that only by doing His work. Its so amazing to me the insights i have gained being here. I came to teach and serve people but in return i have gained understanding. That was more than i bargained for and it is incredible. Yet it's just how He works. He just wants to bless his children with what they need and more. Hidden blessings exist. I know that. I know that I am doing the work of the Father and I am trying to be what he needs me to be. I lkove my Savior and my appreciation for him grows every single day. I love my Savior. I hope that all is well with all of you! Je vous aimes beaucoup!! soeur Bates

January 15, 2019

Salut a tous! What a week! The best part was definitely that SOPHIANNE GOT BAPTIZED! Oh mon do! It was such a sweet and powerful experience! Her whole family came to support her and were very touched by the service. It was a little unorthadox because she asked elder Bills to give a talk on the Restoration so that her family could hear the first missionary lesson. What a cool idea!! They were super into it too! I love that she changed things up like that. I think it left a powerful influence on her family. We hope that they will want to follow her soon. When she received the holy ghost it was one of the most spiritual things i have witnessed. She cried. The gift of the holy ghost was one of the most powerful things to her. When we taught her. it really touched her heart and she wanted it more than anything. I am so happy that she has allowed herself to receive this into her life. The gratest joy she has ever known will surely follow. We also had a really amazing lesson with one of my favorite people, Rachelle. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and drew it out like a path. Baptism is the gate. She looked at it for a long time and said, so i need to get baptized then huh? She told us that she would think about it and we invited her to pray about it. She is also becoming more open with us. She used to tell us that she was too busy, but now she said that we can come visit any day. She has a very sensative spirit and really recognizes the holy ghost. She has made so much progress and I pray that she will continue to do so. There is so much joy that comes from this gospel. I just want everyone to have that! We had a really fun exchange this week too. It was a busy day! Those are the best ones! We found a super cute little family who was really interested! They let us come in and share a video. People here are often really surprised when we tell them how old we are and why were here. I think it really softens a lot of hearts. (Sometimes not though haha!) It really strengthens my testimony of this work. Why in the world would so many youth leave everything behind to tell people about Christ if they didn`t believe it with all their hearts. Its why im here! I am so blessed to be here. I am learning so much about so much! I love working with all of these wonderful people that i wouldnt have met any other way! I hope that you are all doing well. I so appreciate your prayers. They are definitely felt. I love you all! Love, soeur Bates

January 8, 2019 Missions combining! and Pants!

Bonjour a tous! This week has been very nice! First off, PANTS! I am so excited that we get to werar pants! We bought some last p day and i love them! It helps with the Canada cold haha! Also, I got the oppertunity to go to MLC this week in Montreal so that we could give a training on Facebook Finding. It went super well! The missionaries are very excited to implement it! We had a lot of fun filming the video! It was very cool to be around all of the missionary leaders in our mission! They are so awesome and the spirit was so strong! We had driven up with the STLs and it was so much fun! We just sang the whole way home. It is one of my favorite memories. I love the missionaires that I have the oppertunity to work along side. They are all here beacuse they love their Savior. Also, one of our amies Sophianne is getting baptized on Saturday!! We are so excited! She is such a beautiful person and the definition of elect! She has been so prepared for this and is so ready to make the gospel a part of who she is. One of the most amazing things that I found out over Christmas that I dont think I mentioned yet, is that the Montreal mission and the Halifax mission are combining. Which means that I will be serving in my dad`s mission.❤ I know that there are no coincidences with the Lord. I am so honored to say that I will be serving in my dad`s mission. I thought that it was special just to serve in the mission next to his, but this is just incredible. I am so honored. I feel so close to him here and I am so excited to see what happens with this. I am happy to be a missionary. I am learning more about myself and more about who I want to become. This is not easy. There have been some really hard days as of late. But it always comes back to Christ. Having the eternal perspective is everything. As we do that, we realize that there is really nothing to worry about. Everything will end up for our good. That doesnt make the hardships of this life meaningless. They still hurt and that is valid. But Christ`s atonement makes them worth it. I know that there will come a day when we will look back and say "was that all that was required?" My heart is full of joy today and I am so grateful to be a missionary for this the true church. My Savior is the best part of who I am and I am so honored to be representing Him. I love Him. I hope that you all are doing well and are happy. I love you all"! Love, soeur Bates

January 2, 2019

Salut!! What a crazy week! As tech missionaries, we have been working on a video to introduce a new way of finding people in the mission called facebook finding! Its where we add people on facebook and them message them and try to get appointments with them in person. We have already had so much success with it! It is very new and we are one of the first missions to introduce it which is super cool! I am so excited to be behind this! We get to do a training on it at MLC tomorrow so that we can get it going! I think that technology is one of the miracles of the mission. It is so incredible to me that the Lord has chosen this specific time in history for technology to come forth. Now we are using it to find and people, just like the liahona! I know that these really are the latter days and the Lord is revealing all of his tools for helping this work progress rapidly! I am excited to see what mircales come out of this. I feel that there are going to be many. Especially in the youth. They are going to be the generation that welcomes Christ. They are elect. Another cool thing is that we have a new person on date! Her name is Sophianne and she is the most beautiful happy soul! She stopped smoking and drinking coffee without us inviting her to! Seriously she is so awesome! She is set for the 12th! And she is so pumped! While we were teaching her, she kept saying how cool it all was! And how she really wanted it in her life. She has been so prepared and is so ready. I love how this gospel changes people! I will continue to keep working hard to find these elect souls who are ready to give their lives to this great and marvelous cause! This church is full of such joyful people! Sound, solid truth fully understood, sifts out a lot of the fluff of this world which confuses and hurts so many people. I am so grateful to have truth. It makes so much more room for joy in my life. I love this work. I am grateful to be a missionary and I am grateful for my Savior, my rock. I love Him. I hope that all is well with all of you and that you feel joy too. love soeur Bates