The Lord's Wind

Contacting in front of the Mairie! Finally got some pictures of me contacting. Not the best, but thought you would enjoy it.

 

Hello my beautiful loved ones! :)

Well. It has been a really fun week. Also a really hard one.
 

For a quick update on N--, we have not been able to see her much this week. She has been out of her mind busy with work. But it has been really sad because she is letting her work kind of overtake her life and has forgotten what importance the Gospel has in her life. I have no doubt that she is going to be baptized, but it won't be here in Limoges. Her work is making her have to move, most likely to Bordeaux. So that is good news that it isn't too far! When she does get baptized, hopefully I won't be too far away so I was still get to know what is going on with her. It is a little sad though. I just had so much hope and was so excited to see her get baptized. All I know is that this girl is going to do amazing things one day, because she is facing so much opposition. But I know that whatever happens will be what is supposed to happen!

This week we decided to do another one of those contact 1,000 people. It was really fun. It really gave me the opportunity just to work and not think about all these things that could be distracting me. Work is always the cure. For everything. And I always feel so much better about life when I just put myself into the work as much as I can. Also, it is  exhausting. I  wish you could see my companion and me when we wake up in the morning. It is a really funny sight. But contacting that many people in a week always leads to miracles and also really funny experiences.
 

We will start with miracles. Co--! He is from Romania. He is 22 years old. He is awesome. He needs the Gospel in his life. One of those guys with a really sad family history. We have already taught him twice, and his whole disposition has already changed. It is so fun to see. Also we found a random Romanian Book of Mormon in our apartment...that was a miracle. His face completely lit up when we gave it to him. Talking to him in Sacrament meeting yesterday and he was so cute and telling me he just couldn't describe what he was feeling and somehow he just feels SO happy, a kind of happiness he can't even describe. And he just feels like he had been lacking something, and now he has it.
 

Yup. That is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ does for you.

That is one of my favorite things about the mission. Whether I get to see it through to the end or not, Heavenly Father blesses me so much that I get to see so many people find the truth. And have them recongize it is the truth, even if they don't exactly see that yet.

That, more than anything, builds my testimony like crazy.

Okay, funniest moment of the week. As you know, we are focused on families. So I literally run after every stroller that I see. So, I see a family. With a stroller. I walk up to them and contact them. They just give me this weird look for a minute, and tell me that sorry they don't speak French very well. So as I am just telling them that c'est pas grave and am leaving my card with them, these two very official men walk up and ask for all their passports. Even though they weren't in uniform, I knew they were cops. So I am still awkwardly standing there, and the lady just looks at me and smiles and says thank you and takes the card, and I just slowly and awkwardly back away from the situation..and then I end up seeing them straight up arrest this guy and take him away in a police car. Hahaha. It was one of the weirdest experiences. Also hilarious. I contacted a guy as he was getting arrested. Soo, there is that. I decided I wanted to start writing you more funny experiences in the life as a missionary. Because there are soo many.
 

Honestly, the past few weeks have been a little interesting for me. I just feel like every day I am having to drag myself out of the apartment, and having to conciously put my feet in front of the other. It has just been weird because I have never been someone who lets NOT working as hard as I can be an option. But I have really had to push myself these last couple weeks. We have just been having a lot of opposition, and I guess that is what has been getting me a little bit down. But honestly..I have learned SO much this transfer. Especially through these trials. I feel like I am a different missionary than I was even a couple weeks ago. So even in the midst of afflicition when it is often hard to keep the faith, I always have trust in my Heavenly Father that He knows exactly what He is doing. He is the one with the plan. And I have so much faith that as long as I do my best, I will be rewarded beyond my comprehension. It is so hard to always remember that. But as long as we turn to our Heavenly Father instead of away from Him..we will always be blessed. Always. I know that now.
 

I invite you all to look up a talk. It is called The Lord's Wind by John. H Groberg. Really old talk. But our bishops wife gave it to us because she knew we were going through a hard time. It is one of the best talks I have ever read. (Editor's note:  here's a link to that talk http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1993/10/the-lords-wind?lang=eng)
 

Sometimes we pray as hard as we can and don't understand why when we have been praying so hard that the Lord isn't just throwing miracles at us.  It is because he is giving us opportunities to grow. To come closer to Him.  To be His wind.

I am so grateful for the opporunity to be His literal servant. It blows me away everyday.  No matter what the trials, I know when we stay faithful, we will always come out on top.
 

I love you!

Bisous!

Love,
Soeur Magleby