Children of a King



The B--'s :) Some of my favorite people in the ENTIRE world

 

Salut ma famille! :)

Well, I am kind of in this strange situation where I had an AWESOME week but for some reason don't seem like I have much to write about this week. So sorry if this letter seems a little bit shorter.  But I would like to tell you about the MIRACLE day that we had this week! It actually was quite a crazy day. Usually we have three hours of studies in the morning, but our ami could only see us at 9 AM so we left the house at 8. I actually hate when my studies get thrown off..I am kind of stubborn about it. But, it ended up being worth it :) And we were able to do them that night. So, all is well.  But, we left the house at 8 in the morning and we were literally non stop working until 7 at night. I was exhausted by the end of the day. But it ended up being one of the best days I have had!

 

Our first rdv that morning was with our ami Love. Yes, her name is Love. She is wonderful. She is also African. Which means that I love her like crazy...but also that she is the hardest person to get in contact with. She is just really hard to have rdv's with. So, we show up at her apartment. And ring her doorbell. And ring it again. And then knock. And then stand there. We were determined not to leave that place until we had a rdv with her. And first miracle of the day...she opened the door!! Dilligence. Haha. We ended up having a super amazing lesson with her teaching The Restoration. It felt like one of those perfect lessons that I watch on The Distrct..haha. It just felt so perfect. She has a daughter in Congo that is a member. And she talked to her daughter and told her she started taking the missionary lessons and her daughter told her that she has literally been praying for this moment to happen to years....  and it just really hit me. That I have done the exact same thing. Prayed for my family members in the exact same way. And there I was, sitting in her apartment, being a literally answer to HER own daughter's prayers. I can't really describe it. But it was a beautiful, beautiful feeling.

 

And then, we set a baptism date with her for the end of April. I really have a lot of faith that she can make it, even if it takes an effort! She is really wonderful. I mean obviously, her name is Love.

 

And THEN we went straight from that lesson to a lesson with Co--.  Back story, we had had a lesson with him the day before. Where we very boldly testified to him that literally the only thing holding him back from baptism is himself. Not having faith in himself. So, we told him that we had prayed about it, and we wanted to set his date for the 12th of April. So, just in a couple weeks. And he told us he would pray about it.

 

So, back to our miracle day. We are sitting outside waiting for him to meet up with us, and he come and sits down by us. And he just looks at us and says "I made a decision. The 12th. I am getting baptized." (but in French)  I WAS SOOO HAPPY! We had walked out of our rdv the day before I just texted SO many people and asked them to PLEASE pray for Cornel to fix his date for the 12th. And then he sat down and told us that.

 

PRAYERS WORK. Like, really though. HUGE miracle.

 

And I actually feel like it is going to happen this time. I am still not letting myself FULLY believe it, but, I feel pretty good about it. My goodness am I so excited for him.

 

So, we set two baptism dates in one day with two amazing people. And then we went and had a really wonderful rdv with the Young Women.  I know I have said it multiple times...but I literally can't explain how much I love this ward. It is going to be SO hard to leave them when the time comes.

 

I really never realized how much I would truly love the people I am serving here. I think the biggest lesson I learned this week is just how much I really love getting to have a front row seat to really SEE how much Heavenly Father loves His children. I get to se it every single day. In the way that He works with His children. He knows us so well. He knows exactly how to work with us.  How to answer our prayers. How to give us trials to help us grow.

 

I promise you, that HE knows YOU. Personally.
Our Savior has literally felt it all before. They know exactly how to help us go. How to help us progress. How to help us become better. How to help us acheive our goals. And how to comfort us in times of need.

 

Don't ever forget the simple fact that you have a Savior who knows you better than you know yourself. Trust in that. Have faith in that. And don't ever let go.

 

I love you all.
I hope you enjoy General Confernence this week!!!! I am sooo excited.

I will talk to you soon!

Je vous aime!
Bisous!

Love,
Soeur Magleby

Qui suis-je?

Went to an adorable French cafe today. Just thought you would all like to know I am still myself :)

 

Bonjour all my wonderful loved ones!

 

Welp. It has been actually quite an amazing week. We definitely have seen some miracles. And even though I wasn't QUITE jumping out of bed of happiness this week...I was still so happy all week long. I will try to go in order of the wonderful events that happened this week.

 

First off, just to let you know about Co--. He still has not refixed his baptism date. It actually has been sad, but also not the worst thing in the world. He just is really struggling with accepting the law of chastity. But, he will get there. I know he will. He just finished 2 Nephi. And he is literally praying everyday about the things we ask him to pray about. I have so much faith his prayers will be answered. So even if his baptism does not happen as soon as we would like it to, I know that he will be baptized, no doubt!

 

We found a new ami this week, Sa==. He is SO awesome. He was our little miracle. We decided for some odd reason to just walk home this day instead of taking the bus like we always do. And we were crossing the street, and I say a guy on the other side of the street walking towards us and I turned to my companion and said "Look at that guy, he is awesome! I want to talk to him." But before I could even say anything he walked up to us and was doing this funny smile as if he knew us. And he then started telling us about how he knew the missionaries in Spain, and how he had just got to Limoges a few months ago and has been wanting to know if there was a church here. MIRACLE. Also, yes, he is awesome. The reason I wanted to contact him is because he was dressed super well and was holding a really nice Nikon camera so, there ya go. Haha. He has a lot of faith and is such a nice guy I can't wait to teach him more.
So, that was our cool little miracle or the week.

 

We have also had a lot of fun using the questionnaire this week. I now realize I have not told you guys about this. But our (amazing) mission president has come up with a survey for us to use as we are contacting. And at first it was really weird, just a whole new way to contact. But I am so in love with it! It has really made me become a better contactor. It makes me a lot less nervous just to contact people on the bus and ask them if I can just ask them a few questions. I have just really loved the effects of using this questionnaire this week. We obviously face a lot of rude or weird or down right crazy people as missionaries, but also we get to talk to a lot of AMAZING people. And that is seriously one of my favorite parts of missionary work. Is how many inspiring people I get to talk to everyday. And I am just so grateful for the amazing inspiration of our incredible mission president!

 

Speaking of, Zone Conference. That is what I had yesterday and why I am on on Tuesday today. The best Zone Conference I have had my entire mission. By far. It was exactly what I need. I felt the Spirit SO strong. I just feel like I am on a spiritual high right now. I learned so much. I am going to do my best to try to convey with you a really cool concept I felt the Spirit teach me this week and especially yesterday, but bear with me as I try to put my feelings into words...

 

Who are we? Who am I? Who are YOU?

 

Children of our Heavenly Father.

 

And I think we all know that. But have you ever taken a second to figure out what that actually means?  It means that we have a divine calling. It means that we each have our own individual plan. It means that we are all here, exactly when we are, exactly where we are, for a precise reason.

 

We literally were all sent here with a calling to fulfill. As Saints in the Latter Days. We were all sent here at this time for a reason, for a calling.  YOU have a calling that Heavenly Father has sent you to fill. To build up His Kingdom. And the immensity of my calling has really been hitting me this week. I wish I could put it more into words. But it is difficult.

 

I just know more than anything, that me, being a missionary right now, is exactly what I was called to do. I am just so grateful for this calling I have received. There are times on my mission where I literally can FEEL myself fulfilling something that was designed before this world began. It is really the most beautiful feeling.
Sorry, this is getting a bit deep. But I just wanted to leave you with one more thought.
Yesterday at Zone Conference we had someday named Elder Lund come talk to us. He is an area seventy but also a good friend of President Roney. And a lot of what he said really touched me. He was awesome. But he said something that really hit me.
He said, to us missionaries, "This is real life. That other life out there, that is everyone else just trying to live what our real life actually is."

 

A mission is us living a lot closer to our "real life". Meaning, our life with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Who we really are. As children of God. Being a missionary is being surrounded by and thinking about the Gospel 24/7. And THAT is the closest to our real life than I will even get on this Earth. This 18 months of my life will be really coming almost as close as I can be to who I really am.

 

It also made me think a lot about the temple. Gosh, I miss it so much I can't even explain. In the temple, I feel closest to our "real life". To who I actually am. And it is the greatest feeling in the world.  And I just know that any of the happiness we feel here on Earth is not anything compared to how HAPPY we will be after this life.

 

As long as we do what He asks of us. And follow Him. Trust in Him.

 

I invite you all this week just to really take a second to reflect on who you REALLY are. And then, do the things that your real self would have you do.

 

I am sorry if that is complicated or really deep but, there you have it. That is the biggest thing I learned this week.

 

Alright, long enough email. I love you all so much. I pray for you like crazy.
Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Soeur Magleby

Le bonheur

More sun this week! I was....happy? ;) Haha. But the sun has already gone away a bit this week...but it was fun while it lasted!

I have one conclusion at the end of this week.  SOMEONE must have been praying extra hard for me this week.

 

I don't really know what has gotten into me. But I have been like literally jumping out of bed every single day I have been so happy to start the day.  And let me just tell you...as much as I would like it to be, that is definitely NOT how it is usually. This week I have just felt so overwhelmingly HAPPY. So I just really wanted to focus my email on happiness today.

 

We have had a pretty crazy week. It went by super fast. Mostly because we ended up spending THREE days in Bordeaux. Annnd it ended up being for no reason. Pretty sad, actually. Well, we did have zone training. And that was awesome. But that was on Thursday and we left for Bordeaux on Tuesday. We went to do my companion's legality so she can continue to legally live in France...but then ended up that we didn't even need to go. All in all, we ended up in Bordeaux for a whole day with absolutely nothing to do. Terrible, right? I mean what gets worse than getting stuck in beautiful Bordeaux for a day? Haha ;) It was kind of a hard day because we literally had nothing to do but contacting alll daaaay loooong....BUT it was beautiful. The sun was shining, perfect beautiful weather, and we were walking along the water in a beautiful city in France talking to people.  Yeah. I definitely had one of those OH MY GOSH I AM IN FRANCE moments. Sometimes I just feel like I forget a little bit. And then sometimes it just really hits me. And I get really super overwhelmed at how incredibly BLESSED and LUCKY I am to be here.  So, yeah. I love being in France. I feel more blessed than I could put into words.

 

Also, another event of the week. Co--. Oh Co--. So, as you know, his baptism was scheduled for this Saturday. But as we all also know, there is something called opposition that likes to get in the way. That is really quite frustrating at times. but after all the experiences I have had recentely, I have really learned to just be patient with it. In summary, Co-- will not be getting baptized this Saturday. But, I refuse to lose faith in him, and I have a feeling that we would only be waiting just a couple more weeks until he gets in that water. But honestly..I never know. If I have learned anything it is that I literally just never know what is going to happen. God's plan for His children seem to have a lot of twists and turns, but that I know will all be for the better.

 

Without gong into to much detail, he is just struggling with accepting the law of chastity. It is just something that he has never thought about it before and he honestly does not think that he will be able to live it. But, he is still reading the book of Mormon like crazy and praying to know if it is true, and I know and have so much faith that if he just continues to do that, that everything will be okay. And that he will really be able to recieving a witness from the Holy Ghost about the truthfulness of this Gospel.
So, there is that. Also another fun event of my week is a got to watch a MOVIE!!!
For those of you that know me...which is all of you....you know what that means to me.

 

A member wanted to show us Ephraim's Rescue, and we got it approved by President.
Such a huge tender mercy for me this week. I just felt the Spirit so strong by watching that movie. And I just felt a renewed energy for the work. It is a movie about the pioneers, and gosh really just seeing everything they went through..it honestly made me feel proud to maybe feel a little bit like them. Not in ANYWHERE close to them of course, but just in the way that like seeing their completely frozen feet they usually had to end up cutting off made me feel a lot better about my feet that just maybe hurt a little bit every night I go to bed. It just really made me feel proud that even though my sacrifice is nothing near theirs, I am out here, making a sacrifice for my Savior every single day. And even though it sucks to have my feet that hurt me almost everyday, it almost makes me feel proud. Proud that I am sacrificing so much for my Savior.
Sorry, I Don't know if that really makes sense. My thoughts are a little all over the place today.

 

Sorry this letter is not too long, I really wanted to take the time to individually write to a lot of you today.   But, back to my happiness topic.

 

I. am. so. happy.
I know I say that a lot. And I am really am usually always happy. Well, most the time.
But Heavenly Father has blessed me so much this week. He has helped me to be 100 percent, honestly and truly, happy. It has been such a huge blessing. And I am going to work as hard as I can to really take this attitude with me for not only the rest of this week or transfer, but for the rest of my mission. I just have had so many overwhelming moments where I have felt SO happy to be His missionary this week. And so, so blessed. And that is really how I need to feel all the time.

 

Happiness. That has always been my favorite topic. I think you all know that. And it forever will be.  If we are happy, truly, nothing else matters. I really believe that. That is our greatest goal. The plan of happiness. That is all that Heavenly Father wants for us. And even though we have challanges, aka not everyone wants to be baptized exactly when I want them...everything will work out in the end if we just do as He asks of us. Because that is all He wants for us. Because He loves us. And because He is our Father.

 

I invite you all this  week to really focus on just being simply, happy! That is our biggest goal. And why not make it our daily one as well?

 

I love you all so much.
Thank you for your prayers and helping me to be as happy as I am.
Have a wonderful week!
Bisous!

Love,
Soeur Mag

Another SUNNNY week in Limoges!

 

Well, that is kind of a lie. It has not been ANOTHER sunny week because it has literally rained every single day for the past transfer. But this week we have seen the SUN! It feels really strange. I left the apartment today without a coat. I forgot what that feels like. It is put me in a good attitude though. So, I love it!

 

This week has been a huge rollercoaster ride. Many ups and downs.

 

I would like to focus on the ups :)

 

First off, Co-- is doing awesome. It is looking good for his baptism on the 22nd. But.. I have learned a lesson and I am not going to convince myself it is happening until he is ACTUALLY underneath the water. But for now, things are looking great. His only stress right now is he is reading through the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi and was really stressed about how he doesn't understand, and pretty much all I had to say was...yeah, me either. Haha.

 

My biggest highlight of this week was an International Night that the Relief Society put together! It was just seriously one of those PERFECT moments. I just cannot even put into words how much I love these members. Especially these members here in Limoges. I realized this week that a lot of them have ACTUALLY started to call me by name, which has made me really happy. Because I am not just another one of those missionaries. They actually know who I am! They are just like my family now. I have such a huge place in my heart for every single one of them. And this Sunday as a mission we devoted our Sunday to doing our best to endear our members. And we definitely succeeded with that one. First off, I talked this Sunday. And pretty much told them how desperately missionary work will not go anywhere without their help. Gosh, I still got really nervous talking in French. But the last time I talked in Sacrament was my first transfer. So it was actually fun to be able to see my progress from there! And then we made all the members these amazing truffles that Soeur C has taught me how to make, and they were just all absolutely dying over them. And then we stuck a bunch of cute notes in all the hymn books telling them we loved them. Everyone was just smiling from ear to ear yesterday. It was one of the best Sundays! And we ended it with a miracle of a member coming up to us and asking if we would like to teach our ami and their house and eat dinner with them. Miracle! All in all...man I have grown a huge love for the members here.

 

Anyway, that was a rant. Back to International night. There have been a lot of moments on my mission where I take a moment, look around myself, and literally am just so happy with my life. There is no where else I would rather be. And I had another one at our activity this week. We had a lot of inactives and amis come, and it just turned out to be an incredible night. They had us missionaries present something on America. We gave them all a quiz about America. They pretty much got everything right except no one knew what the Super Bowl was. Haha. But then the BEST part of the night was our Relief Society President is Tahitian and apparently has a bunch of family here...and they ALL showed up and played awesome music for us and danced. It was so cool. And then they did a haka and it was literally the coolest thing ever. Sadly my camera died but I will forward you my companion's pictures:

 

This week we took a fake trip to Tahaiti...

We danced... :)

 

 

Anyway. It was definitely the highlight of my week.

 

Now, for the low part of my week. I don't like focusing on the bad things. So I am going to make this short. But Na-- is going through a huge trial right now, and she has completely isolated herself from the world. I tried to talk to her and she told me it is nothing against us, but that she does not ever want to talk to us again. And she has completely lost her faith. She told me that she no longer believes in God. And I tried to tell her how much Christ is there for her and she kept telling me it was not true.

 

Literally the absolute hardest moment I have had as of yet experienced on my mission.
But also, one of the moments I have grown the most.
I am so grateful for this experience with Na--. I have grown so much. I have gotten so much stronger. I have never prayed so sincerely as I did at that moment.
And my prayers were answered. I felt like I was literally carried through this week. There is no other way I could describe it.

 

I stumbled on a talk that completely answered my prayers and said these words:
"Life is hard, but life is simple. Get on the path and never, ever give up. You never give up. You just keep on going. You don’t quit, and you will make it."

 

I know that is true.
There are so many times that we literally just want to give up in life. We feel like we honestly cannot go any farther. But we cannot ever give up. Ever. We have to stick it through to the end.

 

Our Heavenly Father WANTS us to be happy. He wants it. And sometimes it is so hard to get there. But as long as we don't give up, we will be blessed beyond our imagination. I know that now. And I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed me wih the amazing opportunity to learn this lesson.

 

I love you all so much. Thank you for all you do.
Don't give up. Just keep going.

I will see you soon;
Bisous!

Je vous aime!

Love,
Soeur Magleby

Six semaines...plus

My district this last transfer. I think this picture does well at describing us.

 

Hello my dear loved ones!

Okay, going to be honest. I don't have a lot to say this week. I have been racking my brain with what I could tell you about this week, but there has not been a lot that has been going on. This week was a lot of traveling, and exchanges and what not. But, two big pieces of news this week:

 First, I am staying in Limoges! Another six weeks. I was really happy when I got the call. Definitely felt like I was leaving because I have been here three transfers, but I really wanted to stay with Soeur C--. And voila! Wish granted. It honestly just feels like home here now. So I am really excited to have another transfer with all these people I just love so dearly. Especially my amazing companion! I really feel great about this transfer. I am not quite sure what it is. I always love the beginnings of transfers, because it is a great opportunity for a fresh start. And at the beginning of this one, I just feel really great about it. I feel like I have learned SO much my last five transfers. And even though I have sooo much more to go, so much more to learn, I feel like now is the time in my mission where I really just need to APPLY everything. Just really show my Heavenly Father that I am grateful for all that he has taught me and do the best work I can. I don't know if I explained that well. In summary...life is good.
 

The other awesome news of the week is that Co-- has a baptism date! March 22nd. Super excited about it. I really have a lot of confidence in him. He is progressing really well. He is already in 2 Nephi. And he is praying so much to know if the Book of Mormon is true. I had a really cool moment in the rdv when we set a date with him. We taught him with Fr--.  I am pretty sure you remember but Fr-- is the one that got baptized a couple transfers ago. Gosh, I just love her so much! She has done such an amazing job at helping us teach Co-- when she was all nervous about to begin with. But I just had a really cool moment, where we asked Co-- if he had prayed about a date. And he was still a little wishy-washy on why it was important to set a baptismal date. And Fr-- just jumped in and gave an amazing, beautiful testimony of her baptism. And how she had all this opposition. And how setting a date helped her. And then how her baptism was one of the most perfect days of her life.
 

I just felt so full of emotion. Because I was there with Fr-- through all of that. I saw her come back to the church and decide to get re-baptized. And then have a TON of opposition that I really feel like we worked through together. And then the beautiful day of her baptism.  And now there she is, testifying to our ami about what a beautiful experience it all was. And I got to hear her strong testimony, after having a front row seat to watching her gain that testimony.  It was just such a beautiful moment.
 

I feel so much love in my life right now. And I am going to do all I can just to even feel more. Because that is our focus as a mission right now. Love. Focusing on love. Honestly, I am so stoked about this. Because loving people is something I feel like I have always been able to do pretty well, and I am super excited to just work as HARD as I can to love everyone in my life.  And most importantly, to love my Savior.
 

I am so grateful to be able to work side by side with my Savior in this labor of love.
I wish I could describe to you what kind of happiness it brings, when my Savior and Heavenly Father just let me feel for even just a split second of the love they have for me.  It is incredible.
 

I hope you know how much they love you. IF you don't, take a second to ask our Father in Heaven. He will let you know.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.

Have a wonderful week!
Bisous!

Love,
Soeur Magleby



this is what we found outside after church....




they work on these all year...

those girls were cold... I'm sure of it...