May 19

Salut my loved ones! Well. I really don't even know where to begin with this week. So, I thought I would tell you a story in pictures :)

As you see, this is a picture of me and a bunch of missionaries and McDonald's. Haha. I didn't get a good picture with everyone looking so...this will have to do. Wednesday we went to have an exchange in Bordeaux with the sister training leaders. It was a good day despite the fact that we had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to get on the train. Bleh. But, I always like working in Bordeaux, so it was fun! And then Thursday morning we woke up. And had to wake up at 5 in the morning...not much better. But we had to wake up to go to our District Meeting which was supposed to be in Pau. Well. Long story short...we were apparently supposed to get off in a city called Dax and switch trains to go to Pau. but no one told us and our tickets didn't say. Sooo we didn't get off. And then all of a sudden I see two elders on the train I know, Elder Heck and Elder Withers. And then realized that they were headed to Bayonne...and all of a sudden the train annoucned that we were on our way to Bayonne. Which is definitely NOT where Pau is. Haha. But, not way too far, it wasn't too big of a deal. So, we ended up having to go to the district meeting in Bayonne. Which actually ended up being WONDERFUL because I love all the missionaries in this district :) So, it ended up being a good day but actually super, super exhausting. Oh and we ended up eating at McDonald's because Elder Heck left 5 kilos of Shephard's Pie on the bus. Hahha it was literally the worst. We had no food. But hey, all works out because we got to go to McDonald's :) So, then we headed back to Tarbes. This is us SUPER tired on the train ride home...

 ​I don't know why my hair looks so red....
So, we went home and finally got to sleep in our own beds :) and then we woke up the next morning and got to go to a WEDDING! for two members in our branch who are literally like our best friends.They are pretty much the only members that teach with us and they are litereally incredible. And I love them so, so much. It was so fun to be able to spend pretty much the entire day at their wedding! And we got to decorate for their reception! It was a blast. So we spent like all morning decorating and then we went to the wedding :)

It actually ended up being a really awesome day with a ton of miracles because there were SO many inactives at the wedding. And also 4 of our amis came!! It was like a ward activity..haha. But it was so fun. Except for the part where we had to go home at 9:30 while the party was still going on...but, it was a wonderful day. One of the funnest days I have had on my mission. I didn't get any really wonderful pictures...but my companion did and I will have to steal them from her later.

Voilà, wedding photos!

This is what a French wedding looks like! In France you have to get legally married before going to the temple.

The Bride and Groom with two of our amis! (the two on the end)

​With one of my favorite jeune filles Maily who made ALL the cupcakes for the wedding. So great.

​We look a lot less tired in this one :)

So, there is a little rundown for you of my week. And to end of the week, we saw a really cool miracle on Saturday! The office called us and gave us a referral of someone who had put their information in on the website. So, we called him and he said that yes he was interested and so we went to go see him Saturday morning! He is a wonderful little miracle. His name is M--. Honestly...I can't even explain it but a lot of the big miracles I have seen on my mission have just fallen into my lap. People who are elect. I feel like when we are being diligent and working hard, Heavenly Father just gives them to us. It is so crazy. And that is what he did with M--! It was SUCH an amazing lesson. He even brought up baptism at the end without us even saying anything...the Spirit was so, so strong. He is such an adorable and humble guy and I definitely see him getting baptized. It was really cool. I just love seeing people that are literally prepared.

And I am so so grateful that Heavenly Father trusts us enough to work with His children to bring them back to Him :) I have been doing a lot of asking my Heavenly Father this week of helping me to feel of His love for me, and He really has answered my prayers. I just feel so grateful this week to know that I am a daughter of God. And that He really does love me. I can see how much He loves me just through all the blessings I have in my life. I just feel like I am showered with them. I feel so, so grateful to be able to be His servent. And He doesn't seem to stop blessing me. I am just so happy. I love every second of this work, even the really difficult times. Because I know the difficult times just make the wonderful times even better :)

Sorry it was just kind of a random email this week. But, just know I am happy and doing well! Also, transfer calls this week....I am praying to be able to stay here. I feel like I will, but we will see what happens!

Je vous aime!! Bisous!!

Love, Soeur Magleby

The Gospel=Change

A crappy picture of Bayonne, but there you go.

What we did today for P day. Hung out in a beautiful park and drank Limonade. It was wonderful.

Annd then there was this one time we got stuck in Lourdes. Haha

Hello my darling family!

Yesterday was SO wonderful. Honestly it kind of freaks me out a bit to see you. I just usually try to block out of my mind how much I really miss all of you, but then seeing all of your adorable faces just really reminds me of how much I miss you! But, it's all right :) I have been blessed to have never been too homesick on my mission and really I just am so grateful to have such a wonderful family I miss so much. Honestly, thank you all for being so wonderful. You all have such a light about you and I feel so strengthened and encouraged everytime I get to talk to you. So, thank you for that :) 

I have had a really, really great week. It was just one of those weeks where I really felt carried by the prayers of all the people that are praying for me. I know there are a lot, and I feel like there are times where Heavenly Father really grants me with the opportunity to really FEEL of those prayers, and use them to help carry me and help me with my work. And I am really grateful for those moments :)

As you have noticed there are a lot of weeks where I tend to see a theme...and this week there definitely was one.  About how much the Gospel changes people. How it changes us. And how you can literally SEE this change.

I got the opportunity this week to go on exchange with an awesome sister Soeur Eschbach in a beautiful ville called Bayonne! It was a really just wonderful day spent in a beautiful place. And we had this really cool experience with a lady on the bus. We had a longish bus ride, about 30 minutes. So we got on and sat across from this about 40 year old lady. I was planning on contacting her but before I could even say anything she started talking to us and asking us about HOW in the WORLD we could believe in God if we can't see Him. That is one of my favorite questions. There are SO many people who tell me they don't believe because they can't see. I will honestly never be able to understand that. I don't have to SEE Him to know He is there. Because I can FEEL that He is there. And that to me, is a lot more important than seeing.

Anyway, so we get into this whole conversation. And she is a super nice lady so it wasn't like we were straight up arguing with each other, but she was pretty blunt with her opinions. And then she learned we were Mormon and she started saying straight up to us that we are a sect. And I told her nicely, that no, we actually are not a sect. But she was like "Nope, I know you are. You just don't know it yet because you are young. But you will see in a few years and you will realize you are a sect and you will think back to this conversation." And I just kindly said "Madame..I invite you to do the same thing. You will think back to this conversation again in a few years, if not sooner. And you will want to know what our message was. And when that moment comes, I invite you to find us and to ask." Haha. Anyway, so we had a pretty intense conversation for about 25 minutes and she was super stubborn. But then the craziest thing happened...and all of a sudden the look in her eyes was different. And she looked at me and said "Alright, I will admit. You have convinced me. I believe you. So if I were to go with your church what would I have to do?"

It was so amazing. In almost an instant...she changed. Completely. And she even told us she loved us as she got off the bus. But we sadly didn't get her number, but I know she will meet missionaries again some day :)

Second example. We have an ami named Gen--. He has been taught for a while, and we are on about our 7th lesson with him. But we have had to reteach a lot because he really wasn't grasping everything we were saying. And he is 22 and even though I know he has a sincere desire he has been trying to play off the too cool to care 22 year old card. But I know he cares, but he just hasn't been acting like it. But we kept our faith in him. And then he showed up to our rdv Saturday. And he was a different person. He ACTUALLY brought his Book of Mormon with him this time. And the way he even listened was different. And his answers to our questions were amazing. And then he prayed at the end. And even though it was in Spanish and I didn't really understand...the Spirit was SO strong. And then we set a baptism date with him. He was changed.

The Gospel changes lives. That is something I hear often and I think we all hear. But I just feel so, so grateful to have a front row seat to see this change in peoples lives.

The power of the Atonement is beyond our comprehension. He can literally CHANGE us. In as little as an instant. As long as we let Him. We are all here to change. To become better. And all we have to do is let Him change us. And He will mold us into everything He wants us to be :)

I am so grateful for my Savior in my life. I would be nothing without Him.

I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week.

I will see you soon!

Bisous!

Love,

Soeur Magleby

Happy Cinco de Mayo!‏

Hello my dearest loved ones! Well, another wonderful week here!

To be honest I felt quite a bit of opposition this week. I had a couple days that were a bit hard to get through. We have just randomly had a few amis that have fallen off the face of the planet this week! People that we can't seem to get in contact with no matter how hard we try. BUT we had an amazing day on Sunday, saw tons of miracles, and got back into contact with a lot of our amis who were lost!

I told you about Ka-- last week. Well, we had a really really awesome rdv with her last Monday but after that she has completely dissappeared. We can't seem to get a hold of her. So that has been a little hard, but I really have faith that we will be able to see her again. She is too amazing to get lost.

Honestly we found a lot of awesome miracle potential amis this week. We had a day where we went porting for a couple hours and literally every one who answered the door and let us talk to them. We had so many amazing conversations through the questionnaire! It was really such a cool experience. I really felt the spirit with us strongly. That is something I have really loved about this transfer so far. I really feel like Soeur S and I are good at working together and it is probably the most obedient and diligent I have been on my entire mission and it has really made all the difference. I just been able to see so many miracles that it has been absolutely incredible. I feel like Heavenly Father is really watching over our equipe here right now. And I know that He always is, but it just feels nice to be able to feel it :)

The best part of my week was by far Zone Conference. I can't even tell you how excited I am every other transfer that I get to have my interview with President Roney. I can't even put into words how much he inspires me. I really try to go into those interviews super prepared so that I can make the most out of the time, and I felt like I really did that this time and I really learned SO much. I had some really awesome answers to questions I had. I just feel so so blessed to have such an amazing mission president. We also have some awesome changes happening in the mission that I feel like are really going to make a difference. I love that it feels like we are always trying to change the way we do things to really be the best we can and to really get baptisms!

We have made a goal to double our baptisms and also...that we are all going to have a baptism on July 5th at 6. Every equipe in the mission. How cool is that? Haha. I am so stoked. I know that we can do it.

I have made a personal goal that I want to baptize a family of 4 on July 5. Pretty huge goal...but I know that if I work hard it really can happen. And now I am accountable to you so, there ya go.

Also some exciting news from the week, I talked to Soeur C and Co-- is doing amazing!! Apparently they went shopping today and bought him a suit (he had no dress clothes before) and he is going to get the Priesthood in a couple weeks, AND he has been teaching a ton with them. And appartently he is the one that keeps asking them if he can teach. AH!! :) Sorry, I am just SO excited. It is so so cool to see where he is going. I am so excited for him.

Sorry this is a super short letter this week. But honestly, things are going super well. Also I got to see all of your faces next Sunday so I am super stoked about that. You should all prepare a list of questions for me because I know it is super hard to answer all the questions you always have. but if you have anything you would like to know, that would be the perfect time!

I love you al SO SO much.

I know the Savior lives. I know this is His work.

I don't know how I am still going on everyday. I feel so emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted.  but somehow, I still do it.  And somehow...I am still happy doing it )

I think that is the true power of the Atonement. Not only does He gives us the opporuntiy to repent. To change. To become more like him.   but because of Him...this life is a HAPPY and beautiful experience :)

Love you!

The simple things

I ate my first kebab this week.....my companion promised me it would be good and I finally gave in.

...it was good.

Pit stop in Bayonne this week!!

Soeur S, me, and our adorable member Val

Wow. You are all so wonderful. I just so much LOVE today after reading all of your emails. Thank you all so much! Thank you for taking that time to just write me even just a short little email. It really means so much to me and it really helps push me throughout the week. I feel super loved today and that is the best feeling ever!

Well, this week. Was super busy and crazy. I feel like last Monday was SO long ago and it has been forever since I have talked to you! I really think that is because I have just been so busy and I feel like we have done so much in just a weeks time. I am still loving it here! I feel so so blessed. I just feel like my entire mission I have been blessed with awesome villes and awesome companions. I really don't know what I did to deserve it.

Soeur S and I have been working hard this week! We have taught more lessons this week than I almost taught my entire last transfer...haha. I love it though. I love actually TEACHING as a missionary. Because that is what I am here to do! I have seen so many miracles this week I couldn't even describe them all. And also we currently have 9 amis so I also couldn't even begin to tell you about all of them even though I wish I could because they all are so wonderful.

We have one engagé right now, and he has been taught a while and is super ready for baptism except for the fact that he can't seem to stop smoking...we have had like 4 lessons in a row just trying to encourage him to stop smoking, but it is super hard for him right now.  He has a date for around the end of May, so we are really hoping that as we pray like crazy that he will be able to quit by then! He is really wonderful though and I am hoping we get to see him baptized this transfer! Other than that all of our amis are really quite wonderful but they each just have small worries that we are trying to overcome.

One of the biggest miracles I saw this week was Ka--! She is so wonderful. She was one of those who I almost let pass me as I was walking but I really felt the spirit tell me to talk to her. So I did, and it was literally like a 15 second contact because she was in a hurry but in that time she gave me her number and told me her sister is a member! Which is crazy. So, we had our first rdv this week and apparently her sister was baptized 3 years ago in a different ville in France, and Karine got taught by the elders quite a bit around the same time, but she never got baptized because they then ended up going back up to Guadeloupe, and they just barely came back to France. And she said she isn't really even sure why she gave us her number but just did and now she wants to start all the lessons over from the beginning, and she has a HUGE desire to learn.  She is truly one of those miracle people. She even offered to say the prayer at the end because she was so excited to start praying again...and she has a little boy who is adorable. So yeah, very cool miracle we saw this week. I can't wait to see her progress. We are actually are headed over to her house as soon as we are done emailing today, so I will update you next week! 

Also this branch is just amazing. I have been praying like crazy to love them with all that I have, and I really felt like my prayers getting answered this week. I already feel like I would be sad to leave them. Not gonna lie, some of them are a little crazy. But that is what makes me love them even more! Haha. And they are great at helping us teach, it is wonderful.

Speaking of prayers getting answered. I feel like I just have a huge list of moments where my prayers got answered this week. One very specific one..we had Zone Training this week in Bordeaux. And we have to get on a train at 6 in the morning to get there. And turns out there was a strike going on that day (super common in France) so the trains weren't running right. Long story short..we had left Bordeaux at 2.30 and it was 8:00 and we still weren't home, when it should have taken 3 hours...We ended up having to take like a 3 hours bus ride. And by this point I just felt so sick. It happens often on days where we have to travel like that...but I was feeling extra terrible. And then I got on the bus and got SUPER bus sick. this sounds like a really silly story, but honestly it just really built my faith this week. I pretty much just felt like I wanted to die I felt so crappy. And I still had 3 hours on a bus, and I just almost couldn't even take it. So I prayed. And nothing. And prayed really hard again. Nothing. And then I got frustrated and I was just begging Heavenly Father to help me because I didn't know if I was going to make it home. And I prayed for a third time, with all the energy of my heart. And almost as soon as it came I didn't feel sick anymore. And I was able to make it home that night without a problem.

I know this doesn't sound like a  big deal..but it honestly built my faith this week. Even if it just was the simpiliest silly little thing. I know with all of my heart that Heavenly Father does answer our prayers. Even the simple ones. He is simply our Father and really just wants to hear from us. the Spirit will always invite us to pray to Him, no matter how unworthy we feel. If we don't feel like praying or we feel to unworthy to pray to Him..we can know it is not coming from the Spirit.

Talk to your Heavenly Father. As often as you can. He is waiting to hear from you. He loves you.

And I love you all so so much! Thank you for all you do for me, I can never thank you enough.

Bisous!

Love,

Soeur Magleby

Simply wonderful

Throwback to my last week in Limoges

Cou cou my darling family.

I have good news.  I love it here! Haha. It really has been a wonderful first week.

All of you are shooting me with questions like crazy so I will try to answer some of them:

 

First off, Soeur S is awesome. I have been so blessed with companions. It has been interesting to work with her because we do our work a little differently, but she has really already taught me a lot. She is a super hard worker and dedicated missionary and SO sweet and I really couldn't ask for more. Also she is from West Valley so pretty much we are from the same place so that already gives us a lot in common. But we really do have a lot of things in common, and it has made it a lot easier to work.

 

The branch is wondeful as well. It really isn't that tiny, we had 40 people come to Sacrament meeting this week. I really expected it to be a lot smaller. But it is really great! The members are really adorable here as well. They are super easy to love. They work with us quite a bit as well, it is really wonderful. I have already became good friends with a member here. I actually knew her from before when I was in Pau, but she literally is incredible. She does everything for us and finds people on the street for us. It is so awesome. And actually yesterday she got her mission call....it was so fun. She had been waiting for it forever. And she waited to open it until right after church when everyone was there. It was so awesome. (PS she is going to Germany)

I really loved watching her open her call and see that look on her face and see how excited she was, because it really brought me back lots of memories to that moment, more than a year ago now, when I opened my own call. And it really made me remember how I felt at that moment. How much hope I had. How just downright EXCITED I was for my mission.

 

I remember so clearly that moment of reading those words "France Lyon Mission". And I just took a second and sat there and look around myself, more than a year later, and looked and where I was at. How different I am now from that girl who first opened that call letter. And how much I know love these people I serve. I had no idea what was in front of me at that moment. And I just feel so, so blessed to have already had all the experiences I have had on the mission, and I am just so excited to see what still lies ahead in this wonderful experience!

 

So, yeah. Comp is great. Branch is great. Amis are great. The city is great. No cockroaches in the apartment.  Sooo I would say things are going pretty well :)

 

We have seen a lot of little miracles this week. Everything from contacting people who have family members who are members of the church, to teaching almost full lessons on peoples doorsteps. It has been so fun. There really is a lot of work happening here. In Limoges, we obviously saw a ton of amazing things and did a lot of work there. But honestly apart from the amis I would tell you about every week, we didn't have a lot of other stuff going on. My favorite thing about working here so far is that we have been really busy! We are teaching a lot. We are visiting members often. It just feels really good to be really busy, and it has really given me the opportunity to just really focus on the work I am doing. I don't have even a lot of time to think and I have just been focused on everything I am doing at the moment. It has made me feel like  a lot better missionary. 

 

That is really it for the week. It was just a simply really good week. But I am also glad it is over, haha. It is a little hard just to be completely new at everything and not feel like I know anything that is going on. So I hope this week I can just focus on getting really adjusted here.

 

This week I was just really grateful for the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I felt the Spirit really strong with me this week as I was testifying to people. The Holy Ghost is just something I am constantly focusing on. On learning how to really recongize the Spirit in my life. It has been a harder language to learn than French. I have to work on being worthy of The Spirit every single day. And honestly, sometimes it is really hard. But when I feel the Spirit testify through me..there is really greater feeling. So I guess I woulds say that is something I have really learned this week. The importance of the Spirit. Don't ever forget it. Don't ever forget that the Holy Ghost is literally our best friend. Don't take it for granted.

 

I love you all so much.

I will talk to you soon!

Bisous!

Love,

Soeur Mag

TRANSFERRED‏

 

Hello my dear family.

 

Yes, it happened. I left Limoges :( Literally one of the most sad days of my mission. But, in a good way of course. I just felt like I was leaving my family. As I was packing up my things I literally felt like I did when I was leaving home going to the MTC. Spending 6 months serving those people really made me love them like a family. I prayed so hard to love them that it may have worked a little too much...haha. I really created life-long friendships in that ward. Those 6 months I spent in Limoges really changed me. And by the time I left, that entire ward had changed. They are not the same people as when I arrived. I was so blessed to be able to see the change made in them. It really was a ville of miracles. And our adorable bishop gave me a present this morning when I left...he gave me a tee shirt that they had made an iron on for that has a picture of the Limoges gare and it says "J'ai servi à Limoges. La ville des miracles!" (I served at Limoges. The city of miracles!) it literally was just the cutest thing ever. I think that just really shows how close I got with these members. They gave me a tee shirt when I left, haha ;)

 

And then, we ended this week, and I ended my time at Limoges with the most beautiful miracle that could EVER occur.  Co-- is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

 

There are really no words to explain the feelings that I had as I watched him go under that water, and then later recieving the Holy Ghost.  I feel so, so blessed. That I was able to be an instrument in the hands of my Heavenly Father, to be able to bring one of his lost sons back to Him.  It was such a beautiful experience. I can't wait to see what lies ahead of him on his journey :)

 

And I am sorry I don't have a lot of time tonight, I just wanted to get on to let all of you know where I am at now!

 

I am now in a city near Pau, so I have been here before. I am back to where I started! Haha. But I am excited because I will get to go back to Pau for district meetings, it will be fun. So far so good here! It is a teeny tiny ville. And it is a branch, not a ward. But I am really excited to see what awesome things can happen here!

My new comp is Soeur S. I knew her before and I was super excited when President told me I was going to be her comp because she is really sweet. We have only been together a few hours, and I already love her!! It will be a good transfer. She is from Utah but she is Mexican so yes she speaks Spanish, haha.

I really just can't convey how happy I am with my life right now. It truly has been an absolutely incredible week. All I really feel right now is so, SO blessed. I am so beyond happy to be a missionary for my Father in Heaven. He has blessed be so immensly. I just don't know what I did to deserve all of these blessings.
I love you all so much. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Sorry not a lot to say this week but yeah....had a baptism.So that pretty much sums up the week for me. Haha.

Je vous aime!
Bisous!
Soeur Magleby

A Prophet's Voice

Me and my birthday burger ;)

Annnd then my cute companion

Hello my darling family!

Well. First off, thank you all so much for the birthday wishes! It means so much to me. You all sacrifice and do so much for me and I just hope you know how much I really appreciate it.

 

I have had a really wonderful day today! I feel super lucky that my birthday just happened to fall on a P-Day. It couldn't get anymore perfect! I woke up this morning and my companion had put like three adorable birthday cards on the table along with an adorable French journal and crispy M&M's. She knows me so well. It was adorable. And then after studies we headed to the mall and did some good shopping for a couple hours. And then we went to an adorable little classy French restauarant annnd don't make fun of me but my American side definitely came out and I ordered a burger and fries. Aw man, it definitely was perfect though. Hehe. So, that is my birthday so far. Just thought you would all want to know how I spent my birthday in beautiful France. Pretty much the same as always...and it was perfect ;)

 

Welp. This week, frankly, did not have a lot happen. So I decided I just really wanted to talk about today about how much I absolutely LOVED conference. My goodness. It was incredible. I felt like I was just eating up every single talk. It really helped because I felt like I did a lot better at spiritually preparing myself before this conferenced. I really prayed a lot that I would get the personal messages I needed to feel out of this conference. And it definitely worked! I got a lot of answered prayers to questions I did not even know I had.

 

But one of the biggest things I just took away from this conference is just how grateful I am to have a living prophet on the Earth. I never realized before my mission JUST what that meant. Because I have just always grown up with that knowledge. But going around and telling people we have a living prophet and then people telling me how crazy I am, it has made me realize just what that really means to us. I just literally would be lost without their counsel. I had this really funny moment that made me learn a lot, when we were all sitting in front of the TV with all our pens and notebooks and Co-- looked at us and said "What is that?" pointing to our notebooks. And I was like "What do you mean what is that? It is stuff for us to take notes.." and he was like "Yeah but don't you already know everything?"

It really hit me right then. That Co--, who is at the beginning of his "covenant path", looks at us as missionaries and how much we know, and just assumes that we know everything about the Gospel. And yes, obviously, my mission has helped me grow A LOT in knowledge. To the point that I am not even sure WHAT I knew about The Gospel before. But also, my mission has made me realize how much I DON'T know. And how I will never be able to learn it all. Not in this life. Therefore, we NEED the prophet's counsel. We absolutely need it. Because we will never know enough. Ever. Not until the end.

Which brings me to the next biggest topic that I have learned recently...Trust. Trust in the Lord. Heavenly Father has really been trying to teach me this lately. I can see it. Trusting in Him and in His Son. For me, that is one of the key ingrediants. Sometimes I stress myself about how much I don't know. How much I still have to progress. How far I still have left to go on this journey. But, I know and have a huge testimony now that AS I trust in the Lord...Everything will work out.

Also, here is one of my favorite quotes from conference:

"If you let Him be the leader of your family, everything will work out." (President Eyring)

What a HUGE amazing promise. From a prophet of God. If we just put our Savior first. Let Him lead and guide our loves. And most importantly, our families.
Everything will work out.  It will all work out. I PROMISE you that.

How grateful I am to have a loving Heavenly Father who loves us SO much that He called a prophet to speak to us in our day.  Now THAT, is a miracle.

Another miracle? Co-- is getting baptized this Saturday. Things are all worked out. All he has to do is get through this week...and he will be able to take his first step on this amazing covenant path of life. I am so excited for him. I will update you all next week.

I love you!!!

Love,
Soeur Magleby