Thursday, October 23, 2014

I LOVE FALL

Since I don't have Instagram....  here are the pictures I would have instagrammed this week :) haha.

Fall in Lyon! It is so beautiful. This picture doesn't do it justice.
I love my comp :)

Long story I will tell you later...but we had to go to a police station and be questionned. Yup, I am a rebel. Hahaha
WE ARE OBSESSED. This is how Soeur Bragg and I are surviving. Coconut water!



Sorry my subject line has nothing to do with anything...except for the fact that Lyon has PERFECT fall weather right now. I am kind of obsessed with it. It just helps me to be even happier everyday, so that's good :)

This week was really great. I learned a lot, honestly. This transfer has been really interesting for me. You could probably tell last transfer I was just really happy all the time and we had tons of success. Not to say it was "easy" because it never really is...but this transfer has just been one of the hardest ones I have had. Mostly just in the fact that the work here has been really hard. We are just facing lots of opposition...just amis dropping us, no one answering the phone, everyone being too busy, us trying our best to teach 20 lessons a week and almost killing ourselves to get it...I am obviously still insanely happy, but it has just been especially hard lately. I just really want to be a good example for all of our sisters, but it gets really frustrating with peoples' free agency. Haha. But I really feel like I have been learning soo much these past few weeks. Even though it has been a little hard...I am so so grateful, because even in this past week I have learned so much. I really honestly feel like Heavenly Father is just trying to get me to learn as much as I possibly can before I get home..and I am really grateful for that. So I really have nothing to complain about, because I was able to learn a lot this past week through the opposition we faced. Also yesterday we fasted and got some really great blessings from our Zone Leaders, so I feel a million times better today :)

As for this week...there were some really awesome highlights. Especially with Michal and Barbara. They are both doing soooo great!! Michal got the Priesthood this week! And our amazing bishop gave him the blessing, so the spirit was sooo strong. That was such a cool moment to be involved with. And then..he passed the sacrament yesterday!! And the day before he had gone shopping to buy a suit :) So there he was, passing the sacrament in his classy suit. I felt stupid because I just couldn't stop smiling. I just feel so blessed to be able to see people change their lives in this way. It truly is incredible. And B-- has literally just become my best friend...I love her so much. And she has started going to institute three times a week studying the Doctrine and Covenants, it is so great for her. She is definitely learning a lot. Haha. And then the most excited thing...is that BOTH of them are going to the temple this weekend!! And they are both taking TWO names with them to be baptized for their ancestors!! Gosh. I am way too excited for them. It literally is the best feeling in the world. I just think about how much I love the temple...and to think that these people that I got blessed to teach are going to be able to feel these SAME feelings. Gosh. I am so excited for them.
So, that has been the most exciting part of my week :)

Also, So-- finally came back in the picture! (The Spanish one) The story with her is kind of long...but to make it short, she went to Spain for a week and during that week having no contact with us was really hard for her..so she said she didn't even pray for a week. So she kind of faltered a bit. I honestly was really worried for her. So we had a good lesson with her the week before last, and she committed to reading again and praying more, because she really realized for herself how much she needs the church. She said she feels so sad without it. Well, duh. Haha. Anyways, we got to see her this week and she is her normal wonderful self again :) She is adorable. The only problem is she is working like craaaazy right now, so that has been hard because we barely have time to see her. All she has to do is stop smoking and then she can be baptized. But also..she is moving to Spain in November. So she might not be able to baptized here. But, no matter what, she will definitely be baptized.

And for the last major thing I learned this week..we got to have interviews with President. ...over the phone interviews. Haha. Because Elder Kearon is coming for our Zone Conference, he had to do interviews over the phone. I at first thought it would be super weird, but it ended up being SO great. I just felt like I was talking on the phone with my best friend. I love him so much.  I really prepared and asked him questions that of course I got beautiful answers to. It would take too long to tell you EVERYTHING I learned..so in summary, one of the things I learned from him.
I asked him about doubts. How sometimes I feel like I have way too many doubts, and how I can help to push those out. They aren't ever huge doubts, just regular ones because you know...we are human. And he taught me a lot. But I  LOVED something he said. He said that there is one thing we need to root our testimony in, that we can never deny. And that is the fruits of the Gospel. We KNOW that living the Gospel makes us happy. And we can see the fruits of it. And no matter how hard anyone tries, that is something we will never be able to deny.

And it is true! I know that with all my heart.
I know that when we live these principles...we are happy.
And that is what it is all about.  Mosiah 2:41. Still glad it is my mission scripture.

Let's all just remember how HAPPY we are and never let ourselves doubt again :)
I love you all!
thank you as always for your incredible love and support.
I will see you soon.
....way too soon.
Love,
Soeur Magleby

We're all in this together.‏

Leadership council...pretty much our entire MTC district was there! These are all of us who came in together :)
It was Soeur Bragg's birthday this week so we went out to dinner with a couple members....GNO. It was so fun.
We all got together at the office and ate cake, it was a fun day :) Also yes...it rained.
Yeah....leadership council was fun :) haha





Yes, I am quoting High School Musical.

What to even say about this week! Honestly, this week was full of lots of meetings. Sounds super boring. Not for us though :) But that was pretty much our focus this week, and I feel like we accomplished so many amazing things and miracles this week even if they weren't your average "missionary" everyday miracles.

We can start with Leadership Council. It was seriously one of my favorite moments of my mission. We have just had a new tactic in the mission, to make our entire mission even more united. But espcially to unite us all with our zones. We studied a lot about the Strippling Warriors and how we can be the Helamans of our zones to lead all of the warriors to success! Obviously I am not a Zone Leader and we just have a group of sisters to be in charge of instead of a zone...but it really changed the way that we work with our sisters.  I just feel like we keep progressing more and more in the mission, and it is the absolute most amazing thing to be a part of! This all sounds really boring...sorry, I am not sure how to really describe this. I think I say that a lot. I just have so many amazing experiences everyday and for the most part I kind of struggle to really put it into words..but really, I just felt the mission change this week. I just felt really blessed to be able to be a "leader" in the mission and to be able to be a part of this. We are just working harder than ever. And I feel Christ, just right there with us. I know that He is really leading us in all of these efforts, and especially that He is leading President Roney. I love this meeting we get to have with President Roney because it is a different experience to be able to be taught from him in this way. I just feel so so blessed. Have I said that before? ;)

But I had one of my favorite experiences this time around at Leadership Council....we were reading in the scriptures how all the sons of Mosiah got blessed before they went to go off on their crazy missions.. and President was like "How do we do that? Alright, we are all going to give each other blessings." And then literally...every single person in that room got a Priesthood Blessing. I am sure it sounds weird...and it sounded weird to us at first, but as we started doing it...the most incredible Spirit just entered the room. I can't even describe it. A bunch of missionaries just in this little room in the middle of France....all recieving blessings. It was one of the coolest things I have experienced. And I feel like I actually really needed the blessing I was given...it really helped me a lot. And then after I got my blessing I just sat next to Soeur Bragg and we just sat around and looked at everyone receiving blessings. And it was just one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. I am so grateful for the Priesthood. It is so powerful. I have had so many experiences on my mission that I just have felt the Spirit so strong that it literally is undeniable..and I know it is moments like that, that are going to push me through the hard times throughout my entire life. Because the things that I feel...I literally can't deny it! Ever! Anyway...it was a really great meeting.

And then after that Soeur Bragg and I must have been pumped like crazy because we both immediately got on a bus and talked to two great people who we mad rdvs with..and then had a MIRACLE lesson. His name is Serge. He is the "brother" of Barbara..(they aren't actually related..just African and from the same country so they call each other brother and sister..) and if everything goes well...he is totally going to be baptized this transfer. Barbara is being so cute. She just wants so bad for him to be baptized. And she made him pray and everything, and she taught him how to pray. It is so cool to watch Barbara get such joy out of teaching the people Gospel..when just a few months ago she was in Serge's position :) Gosh I just love the Gospel.

And then we had a really awesome Zone Training as well, teaching our Zone these things. It has just been a great week of feeling pumped and united with the whole misision! As always...things are just going well. It is hard...literally every single day. But at the end of the day I just can't help falling asleep with a huge smile on my face because I just love my life so much.

Thank you for all your prayers. You don't know how much I really feel them. I love you more than you even know. I hope you all have a wonderful week, and don't forget to smile and serve the Lord with all your might!

I will see you all way too soon.
Love you!
Bisous!
Love,
Soeur Magleby

Sunday, October 19, 2014

A prophet's voice

This is how we spent our P-Day :) At an absolute ADORABLE café. And yes I am literally eating cheese and bread...haha. #sterotypicalfrench

Okay...for this to make sense you should go look back at my pictures from a while ago..when I was in Limoges. We redid our district picture because we were all together except for those who are home now. Anyway..I thought it was funny. Haha.
Reunited with my MTC comps!! I really love them so much :) It is so cool to see how much all of us have changed.
Me and my adorable comp :) Yes we are as happy to be together as you assume we probably are. Sorry I look 5 years old.
Hello my dear family!

GENERAL CONFERENCE. Was it great, or was it great?? I know I have said this before...but it honestly feels like Christmas as a missionary. I wish I would have realized my whole life just how important general conference is. It really is just pure revelation fed to us for 8 hours. Straight from God. What more could we ask for?? This time around I tried really hard to really ask and pray about questions before the conference, and I can tell you that every one of my questions got answered. It was actually a very cool experience. So, I pretty much feel like I am on a spiritual high right now. Listening to all of those special witnesses of Christ just really does that to me. They really are special witnesses. I just feel such a confirmation every single time they testify that our Savior lives. It is the best feeling in the world. And oh my goodness how much did they talk about prophets? I think it might be important for us to listen to and sustain the prophets and apostles..haha. That was crazy. But obviously so important. I really am so grateful for a living prophet! That is one of the biggest things that we get to testify to people everyday. And I love it. I have grown such a big testimony on my mission of just how incredible blessed we are to have our prophet. And that he really is a prophet of God!

So let's all do our best to apply everything we learned this weekend! It is obviously really important :)
As for this week...it was pretty much just craziness. As Lyon STL's and having the apartment where all the sisters stay..the first week of the transfer is always crazy. This past week was kind of out of control. Haha. There were just a lot of transportation issues that happened. And we had a ton of missionaries that went home as well. Let's just say last night was the first night I got to go to bed at 10.30...haha. It was pretty exhausting. But it was also pretty fun, because I got to see so many missionaries I love! But we were just so involved in helping everyone out this week we didn't get much time to do work in our sector. I guess it was just a different kind of work I can say...so we didn't have much happen this week. Mostly running around helping missionaries and then having lots of meetings with our ward leaders. Which is actually really great. But just boring missionary stuff :) Actually had a really wonderful moment this week though of just PURE JOY. Those moments are my favorite. And I have had so many on my mission!

I don't know if I have talked about my bishop here in Confluence...but he is one of the most inspirational men I have ever met. I am kind of obsessed with their family. Okay, maybe a lot. His wife is American and they lived in America for 12 years then came to France just because pretty much the Spirit told them to...and now they are doing AMAZING things here. And we got to go to their house this week with M and eat pizza and have a beautiful night together :) and there was this moment where the bishop was playing the guitar, and we were all sitting around the table rocking out to a great version of "I hope they call me on a mission' and I just looked around and all the angelic kids and the beautiful smiles on their faces, and M being cute and trying to sing along, and just the pure joy that I could feel in that room. It is something so hard to explain. But I just feel the Spirit so strong in their home. They give me the perfect example of what my what I want my future family to be.

The family is where we find the most joy in this life. It is so true. I have spent a lot of time studying that on my mission. And I know it is so true. The home is the place the closest to the temple. I think about my future family everyday on my mission and how excited I am to apply everything I have learned as a missionary. That is one of the reasons I am so grateful for my mission. I now understand the importance of family. It is literally at the center of God's plan. And I just am so devoted to raising a family centered on Christ.

And I am so grateful for the family I was raised in. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for that. There was no way I would be here without you guys. And without being raised the way I was.
I am forever indebted to you. I love you all so much. Thank you for all you have done for me and all you do for me everyday.
Like President Monson said...let's try a little bit harder to be a little bit better this week :)
I love you all so much!!
Have a great week!!
Love,
Soeur Magleby