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."