Magic land

I live in a Magic land. Seriously. Everything is like a dream here in this city.

 

I have had a really awesome first week of the transfer! I love Soeur C. We get along super well. Most importantly, we work really hard together and laugh even harder. It is so much fun! She is so sweet and just a really hard worker, so I have absolutely no complaints! Also, she is amazing me at helping me with my goals. As I think I mentioned recentely, I am working really hard this transfer to become more of a consecrated missionary. Which means I am doing everything I can to completely put my entire focus on the work I am doing here, including my thoughts. And she has been really awesome at helping me with this goal. Which means pretty much we just do lots of deep doctrine discussions while we are out working all day. It has made it way fun as well, as we have had a lot of fun trying to answer our questions together. Also she is the first companion I have had who is willing to talk in French with me throughout the day! It has already helped me so much. Obviously we still speak English, but it just helps so much when I do more than just talk to people on the street and members in French. I honestly have seen huge progression in my French the last couple of weeks. It has been really cool to see. I am SO FAR from where I need to be. But honestly, I have just been praying for help so so much and working as hard as I can..and I am definitely seeing miracles come from it. It has been so cool to see how much I have learned!
 

Alright, back to magic land.

First off, N- is still doing amazing. We got to teach her a couple times this week and both times they were literally incredible. We tried to teach her The Gospel of Jesus Christ but she pretty much ended up teaching us. Seriously. This woman is incredible. Then it got a little hard because we had only taught her twice for the week, (we were planning on more to have her baptized by the 8th) and then she called us in the morning and said that she was super super sick and couldn't have us over. So we of course, offered to have someone give her blessing! She of course said yes even though she literally had no idea what that meant. She called me when we were at the church for a young women activity, so I started calling members and it seemed like no one was free to go give her a blessing. And I was getting a little nervous, and then our wonderful bishop walked in the door! I asked him if he could go and the amazing person he is, he said yes without hesitation. A miracle. Because this was such a needed experience for both N- and the bishop!

 

I'll explain what I mean. It went really well. The bishop explained everything to her and told her blessings have to work according to HER faith. And she was like "Of course. That's not a problem." Of course. She has so much faith. And then they gave her the blessing. And as soon as it was over, she said she had this huge feeling come over her entire body and she felt so much better. And actually, we just ran into her before coming here to do emails today! And of course, she said she is completely better. And that it worked. Miracle!
 

The reason I say that was an amazing experience for the bishop is because he got to see what a miracle N- is. And see how much faith she has. And it made him realize what amazing things are happening here in Limoges. Which meant yesterday at the end of Sacrament Meeting he stood up and pleaded with the ward to help us, to work with us. He talked about how there are AMAZING things happening in Limoges and how we need their help. And that was just after an amazing sister in our ward got up and talked about how much teaching N- with us had blessed her.
 

Getting the members on our side is everything. And it is happening!

I kept saying to you that I felt like things were happening here in Limoges.
And now, THEY ARE. It is amazing the turn around I have seen the ward do since my first transfer. God is hastening His work. And I get to see that right before my eyes. It is incredible!
 

I am so happy right now. I feel way too blessed. I don't know what I did to deserve this. I just know I am exactly where I need to be and I couldn't be happier about it.

Just in case you are worried, N- is still going to be baptized on the 8th. We are going to have to teach her like crazy this week, but it is going to happen!

I love you all so much. I thank my Heavenly Father for my amazing family so many times a day.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Je vous aime!
Bisous!

Love,

Soeur Magleby

Le cinquième mutation

 

Salut my loved ones!

I hope you have all had a wonderful week!
 

So, as you all already know, I am staying here in Limoges!! I had a feeling I would be staying. But I was also terrified that I might leave. But, voila! Here I am! I am so excited to stay. Because you all know what that means...I get to be here for N--'s baptism! More on her in a moment.

My new companion is Soeur C-.  I didn't know Soeur C before, but things seem to be going great! I will definitely keep you updated. But I am pretty content so far. It was pretty heartbreaking to leave Soeur L though. I definitely teared up, which has never happened to me before. She is definitely a friend I made on the mission that I am going to stay friends with!

 I am excited to start a new transfer though. It always gives me the opportunity to start anew. And to set new goals. See what things I need to improve to be a better missionary. So, I am looking at this transfer with positivity. I think it will be a good one! Full of miracles, that is sure.
 

So, had my first baptism on Saturday! It was so amazing. Everything went absolutely PERFECT. I was so pleased. I felt like the entire ward was just on Cloud 9. This ward has not seen a baptism in two years, and everyone just didn't even know how to handle it they were so happy. It was such an amazing moment to see Fr-- enter into that water. After everything that she has been through. She is finally officially back. And her testimony she bore at the end was so beautiful. And she was SO happy to get the Gift of the Holy Ghost back into her life. It was just an absolutely amazing weekend full of so much love!
 

And of course, I am sure you are all dying to know about N--.
She. Is. Amazing. She came to Fr's baptism because she was so excited to see how everything works. She LOVED it. There was this amazing moment when Fr was in the font, and as she went under the water I just felt the Spirit SO strong, and I looked over at N- and she was just bawling. And she looked at me and tried to explain what she was feeling. And I just smiled through my tears and said "I know. I feel it too."

She told me at the end of the service about how excited she is for her own baptism. She is seriously already a member. She is friends with everyone. And they all love her. And we have a lot of rdv's to go teach her at member's houses.
 

I am SO excited to be a part of this experience. She is so incredible.  And her son is amazing and loves Jesus and primary SO much. The only heartbreaking thing is she is in the middle of divorcing her husband, and he won't let their son go to church. So she can't take him. And it breaks my heart. But, things will be okay.
 

I am so excited for another transfer here in Limoges. I love this city. I love these members. I feel good about this transfer. I am finally in the spot where I really know what I am doing as a missionary, and I am just ready to give it my all.  I have been reading a lot of talks on becoming a consecrated missionary. And it has changed me a lot. I just really realized this week that I only have 11 more months to serve my Heavenly Father. And to be a representative of my Savior. And literally nothing else matters more than that right now.
 

I put everything else aside. Because for right now, nothing else matters.
And this transfer I am really going to do everything I can to accomplish all that Heavenly Father wants for me. No matter how hard it is. No matter how many trials come.
 

A scripture I read today in Moroni 8 today really answered my prayers when I read "perfect love casteth out all fear."

I am going to do my very best to perfectly love every single person around me.
And then I have absolutely no reason to be afraid. Of anything.
 

I am so, so grateful to be exactly where I am right now.

Je vous aime BEAUCOUP!!

Passez une bonne semaine!

Bisous!

Soeur Mag

Heavenly Father is with us

I have been absolutely dying to email. Hold on tight everyone: I have some amazing stuff to tell you this week....

So, this transfer. As you have been able to see, has been pretty hard. Hard in the way that we feel like we have been working like crazy, but it seemed like everything was dead ending. We would find someone who we were so excited about. And then we would lose contact with them. It has been a super good transfer, but just really hard, because we have not been seeing a lot of the fruits of our efforts (not to say that all the small miracles we have seen have not been awesome).  We have just really had a test of diligence.

Well. Heavenly Father is with us. And He rewards us for our diligence. And He decided to show us that this week. It started on Friday. We got a phone call from an unknown number on our phone. She told me her name is Na--, and that she had just talked to Frère L--, a member in our ward. And she told me she got our number because she wanted to learn more about our message. So, we fixed a rdv for the next day. I hung up and I was super stoked. Of course, any phone call like that would make me super happy. I had no idea what was in store.

We texted Frere L-- because we thought he might have referred her to us. But he told me he had no idea who she was, she had just called the old church number. Old number, might I emphasize. We later learned that that number was not even supposed to work. But she called through. And she found us.

To give a little backstory: I had been feeling a bit of temptation this week. Nothing too huge, but, I was just feeling weirdly super lazy. And was not have a big desire to work. Which happens sometimes… but this week it felt super hard to overcome. And I couldn't figure out why. And I tried to tell myself that it might be because something amazing was about to happen. I also decided this week, to start praying for something really specific. I had been praying for Heavenly Father to SHOW me why I am here. I feel why I am here. I feel the importance of my calling. But I didn't see it. I wanted to see something that was going to show me why Heavenly Father has called me here. Here as in Limoges. Or in France. Or on a mission at all. I had just been really praying for Him to help me see the work that He has for me to do here.

So as we were walking up to this rdv...I kind of told myself it was going to be a miracle. So I was kind of expecting it. Once again, I had no idea....

We walked in. And we see her ADORABLE little five year old boy. Literally one of the cutest kids I have ever seen. And she is so sweet and nice. And then she says "Alright, you are probably wondering why I asked you over here." And then she begins to tell us her story.

I wish I could explain in words this rdv to you. But literally..no words I have could even begin to describe it. She tells us her story. God has literally been preparing this woman her entire life.

It is a pretty long story and kind of hard to explain. But 20 years ago she lost her mom and it was really hard on her. And one day, she literally fell to her knees and just started bawling. And she kept describing to us this crazy feeling that she felt. This huge overwhelming peaceful feeling that she couldn't even describe. And she told us that this experience changed her whole life. She has not forgotten it ever since.

She then had a little contact with the church. She met someone who was a member. But then she moved to France (she lived on an island close to Madagascar..I don't remember the name) and when she came to France she lost the church contact information. And she has been looking ever since. And she finally found us.

We started teaching her the first lesson, the restoration. And she understood everything PERFECTLY. And then when I recited the first vision she just had these tears falling down her face. And she told us she felt that same feeling she felt that time she prayed. By the end of the rdv she was literally testifying to us of how much she knows that church is true. We asked her to be baptized on Feb. 8th and I have NEVER seen anyone so excited.

There was this moment that happened, that I hope to never forget as long as I live. We were all kneeling on the floor, about to pray. She brought her adorable five year old son into her arms. She looked at him at said "Hey, do you know who this girls are? Their names are Soeur Magleby and Soeur L. And they have finally showed us the way." And then she looks over at us and says "Today was the beginning of my new life. And the 8th of February will be the real beginning."

Words cannot begin to explain what I felt in that moment. I walked out of that lesson with tears falling down my face. I have never been so humbled. I am so humbled that Heavenly Father has chosen me to be an instrument in His hands to be able to bring his daughter back to Him. 

N-- literally just fell into our laps. We didn't do anything to find her by our own efforts. But, He blessed us for our diligence. And it was an amazing answer to my prayer.

I know exactly why I am here. And I couldn't feel more blessed. Or feel more happiness. She came to church yesterday and LOVED it. She is so excited for her baptism. And I couldn't be more excited for her.

Miracles happen. Heavenly Father is preparing His children. He loves us all so much. So as you can see, this week was amazing.

Transfer calls this week. I am pretty scared. I don't want to leave. But, whatever happens, I know that it will be exactly where I am supposed to be.

I love you all so much. Our Savior lives and He loves you. Don't forget that.

Love,

Soeur Magleby

2014

Sometimes I find burritos in France and then I have to take a picture of myself eating them.

Us hanging out with one of my favorite little girls in the ward. She is so hilarious.

My favorite little future missionary. Her name is Abigal. She calls us "les madames" We are pretty much best buds. 

Hello my dear loved ones.

You all did a really great job at emailing me this week, so this email might be a bit shorter because I really want to take the time to answer each of you back personally!

In a nutshell, (is that a saying?) this week was FULL OF MIRACLES.

This whole looking for families thing has been the most motivating thing for me that has happened in the mission so far. I am not even really sure why. I just love this whole focus on families and I am doing everything in my power to try and find these forever families! I am constantly thinking of families. I am studying eternal families. I am praying for families. I am using the love from MY family (that's you) to motivate me. And I feel the most motivated that I ever have on my mission!
And because I have literally been like insanely concentrated on this goal...I feel like Heavenly Father is literally throwing all these potential eternal families in our laps.

Porting. For three hours. But we decided porting was going to be what would get to us to these families. We found a family of four who are interested and told us to come back. Now, before we get too excited..so far the two times we have tried to go back she has not been home. But I am not giving up hope!! And then we get a call this week for a referrel. A family. Moving to Limoges that have been taught for a few months.

There have just been so many little things I have witnessed this week that are really showing me that Heavenly Father is aware of us. And He is blessing us for our dilligence. It has been a little hard with the work here in Limoges this transfer..but finally things are happening. It is giving me so much faith in the Lord's timing. Our bishop is amazing. We just got a new DMP who is AMAZING. We are still really struggling to get members to teach with us. But great things are happening here. It is so exciting. Finally!

One of the most AMAZING things that has happened this week is Fr--. Alright. I feel terrible I haven't told you about Fr-- yet. So I am now going to spend the rest of this email doing so.
Fr-- was baptized about 30 years ago. She was a member for a few years, and then some bad things happened in her life. She made a lot of bad choices. So she got her records removed from the church. About 6 months ago...she decided to come back. I wasn't in Limoges yet when it happened. When I got in Limoges they had already started teaching her the lessons. She decided she wants to come back. So we re taught her all of the lessons. And we have seen her every week for the past two months. We have had so many amazing experiences. She is so, so amazing. One of the most faithful people I have ever seen. But to get rebaptized, it has been a really long journey for her. She has had to have sooo many interviews. But finally a few weeks ago, she got cleared to set her baptism date! And then of course, that is when the opposition came. She was having it like crazy, wondering on if she was making the right choice. I had such a good talk with her at church a couple weeks ago. Anyway, we have been really helping her overcome the opposition. And she has done such an amazing job. And now... SHE IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON THE 18th!! I am sooo excited!! She is doing it the Saturday before the transfer is over because she wants us to be there. I couldn't be more excited for her. I can't wait to see her came back and stay for good!!

Anyway, that is the most exciting news for my week. I am pretty dang excited about it.

Meanwhile, I am just being a really creepy stalker of all things family. It is a pretty fun time.
I am so grateful for you. I am so grateful for eternal families. I am so grateful for the temple, where we get to have the chance to be eternal. That is joy, above none else. I love you all so much!
Happy 2014!

Love,
Soeur Magleby

P.S. Editor's Note----- I asked Karissa about the "Fresh Burritos" sign--because it just didn't look like France.  Her reply: "They use lots of English words here. I don't feel awkward speaking French. But I definitely feel awkward when I have to walk into restaurants and order things like "chicken dips" in a french accent. Hahaha." 

Don't look back

Christmas Eve! The amazing family we spent our Christmas Eve with! Minus one taking the picture.

 

So there's this thing called Mormon Messages inspire my life. Gosh, I love them so much. Our church is so cool! The newest Mormon Message is a message about New Year's. And as soon as I watched it I knew it would inspire me for my letter this week!

First, it was so awesome to be able to talk to all of you on Christmas. It was so awesome to be able to hear your voices! It just felt good to see that you all are the same wonderful family that I know and love. I had such a wonderful Christmas! I already told you all about it. But it really was a wonderful day. I was just so happy and full of love. And after we skyped we ended the day watching The Aristocats. So I was pretty much skipping as we were walking home, it was such an amazing day. My heart felt a little bit like it was going to explode I was filled with so much love.

I won't lie, it was a little hard. The day after Christmas was pretty hard for me. I am not really sure why. My theory is that I went from having a day and spending it with people I love and feeling so loved, and then the next day we went streetboarding and everyone seemed to be unusually mean. There was honestly a moment where I just wanted to give up and sit down and cry. So, the after-effects of Christmas were a little bit challenging. But, I kept pushing on no matter what my feelings were. And I was on my knees praying. A lot. And now I am back to my regular old super happy missionary self!

This week really taught me a lot. I learned a lot about love. A lot about how you, my wonderful family love me. And a lot about how much my Heavenly Father loves me. I really am learning more and more that understanding our Father in Heaven's love for us and our Savior's love for us is a life-long journey. I don't think it is something we will ever be able to truly comprehend. But there are those moments where you feel just a wink of it. You feel just a small percent of the immense love that they have for us..and that is what keeps me going.

 

So this week was not the easiest week in the world, but it was definitely one of the most memorable I have had thus far on my mission. I will never forget the Christmas I spent as a missionary. I am so grateful for that experience! Thank you once again for everything you all did to make me have an amazing Christmas!!

Something else this week, as a mission we have turned our focus towards families. And Soeur L and I have decided to tackle this challenge. We are one hundred percent focusing everything we do on finding a family here in Limoges that is prepared to hear the gospel. It has already been a blast as we have spent hours porting, finding these amazing families. Who, thus far, have all told us they are not interested. But I have faith that as we keep being diligent, Heavenly Father is going to lead us to a family that He has prepared for us. I can't wait to see what He has in store!

Then ever since I watched that Mormon Message there was another theme I had for my week.
Don't look back.

I always love the new year. It is an opportunity to change. To set goals for the new year.

And most importantly, it is a chance to leave our past behind and look forward to the future.
No matter what our past holds. We can change. And we do not have to be afraid of our future.

We never know what the future holds. I am sure that for all of us this year will consist will plenty of ups and also plenty of downs. But we can look to the future with hope. Because we can know that no matter what, we will have the Savior on our side. And that God has a huge plan for us. And that even though we may not understand until after this life, everything is exactly how it is supposed to be.

 

So, let's start this new year with hope.

 

Let us forget our past. Accept what we have now, and make the most of it.
 

Have faith on our Savior that anything is possible with Him on our side. Don't dwell on the past.
And let us do our very best to follow the Savior this year. To serve those around us.
To become better people.

I promise that as you put Him first, and as you forget the past and move forward with faith, you can make this year everything you want it to become.

Thank you so much for your love. It is what keeps me going.
I wish you could understand our much I literally mean that. But it really is.
I love you all so much.
Happy New Year! Don't have too much fun without me!

Love,
Soeur Magleby

Skyping - Christmas Day

Learning

Soo..I decided to wrap your packages and wait until Christmas to open them. This is our Christmas tree and all our presents.
I thought you would enjoy that.

 

This whole life is just one huge learning experience. It is all about our progression.

It really hit me in a weird way yesterday, during church when our Gospel Principles teacher asked;

"If God knows the plan, if He already knows what bad choices we are going to make, the good ones and the bad ones, and if He knows what is going to happen in the end...why do we even need to be here?"

Progression. Experience. Learning. That is why we are all here. That has been the theme of my week.

We had our Christmas Zone Conference last Tuesday. Definitely the best Zone Conference I have had by far! And not only because it was Christmas and we had a feast and all got our packages. But it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had a long time. I don't know if ever really wrote home about it, but back in August, President Roney's daughter and her husband lost their baby that only lived for a week. He talked about it a lot with us missionaries so we were all aware of the sitatuion. And at Zone Conference this week, he had his son-in-law came talk to us about their experience.
This family is beyond words.I was literally bawling by the end of his talk. They are such an inspiration to me. He told us this story with so much light. This heart-breaking story. He was literally glowing the entire time he was talking to us. He talked about how much this birth of their child changed their entire lives. How it made them better people. And made everything in their life brighter and more meaningful. He took this event in his life, the hardest thing anyone can go through of losing a child, and used it to help him see how Heavenly Father answers his prayers. And how much He loves Him.

It blew my mind. I obviously have no idea how I would take that situation if I was ever in their spot. But I am pretty sure I wouldn't be as Christlike as this amazing family is as they have gone through this trial. Such an amazing example.

It really got me thinking. I meet so many people everyday, who tell me that God doesn't exist. And often, I ask them what it is to lead them to this point in their life where they can't even  believe in God. And many times, I have heard the response that they lost someone important in their lives. A lot of times they tell me they have lost a child. And so they can't believe in God anymore. I was thinking about that a lot after this conference. How some people can take an experience, and have it lead them to believe that God does not exist. And others can take this experience to help them see how much God loves them.

That is what this Gospel does for us. That is what Jesus Christ does for us. We can literally overcome any trial, any heartache, because we have the Savoir on our side. And that is why I am so grateful for my Savior this Christmas season.  Because without Him, I literally could not been doing anything I am doing.

Often times I fall asleep at night wondering how in the world I am able to keep going. And I know that I am not doing this alone. There is absolutely no possible way I could be. It makes me think of President Uchodorf's talk a couple conference's ago.

That even in our darkest hour, the light of the Savior will always shine through.
Our Savior's light will always carry us through the darkness, no matter how dark it may be.

As I walk with Him everyday, I see it. I see Him changing peoples lives.
There is literally nothing else that can bring us more happiness.

 

I have learned so much this week. Through Zone Conference, through really amazing personal studies, and through working really hard and not really seeing any fruits of our labors this week.

I have learned so much. And so, now that I look at it, this last week I accomplished a lot.

 

Because I learned. And that's why we are all here.

I love you so much my amazing family. Keep pushing on. Be happy. Especially during Christmas. Look to the Savior and His light.
He is always there for you.

Je vous aime.

Merry Christmas!!
I will talk to you soon.
Love,
Soeur Magleby