Pictures from France

Soeur Folituu and Sister Jenni Lake
At Celine's Baptism
(Doesn't Jen look happy?)

Coulliero

Septermber 28, 2009

I have to tellyou that this week was such a good week. It was a very neat experience to attend the bapsim of Celine. On Wednesday we went to see her. Like always she prepared a good lunch and we passed a couple of hours talking. She has been well prepared. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. Saturday finally came. Jean-luke and Celine got all dressed in white and were absolutely beautiful. I dont have the words to explain how touching to witness the baptsim. It was amoment that Jean-luke has been waiting for and praying for for a long time and moment that Celine has been preparing for to quite some time. You could see the great love they have for each other. As I talked with Celine after she couldnt quit smiling she is so happy. I was able to talk to Jean-luke for a minute and he said he didnt realize that his love for his wife could go so deep. I love that family. I think that within a little moment Lea, celine's daughter will be baptized as well. I look forward to hearing form them when they go to the temple to be sealed. What a special occassion it is to see an ami make covenants with our Heavenly Father.I am so excited for our other ami Marie. She is making such progress and really has the desire to learn more and to change her life. The sad thing is that she has been coming to the ward for so long that there is a lot of doubt from the members. As Sr. Royer and I have talked everyone can change. Yes it takes some people more time than other but the beauty of the Atonement each and everyone of us can repent and change our lives. I pray that the ward will see the change that we have seen and help her in her journey and preperation for baptism.

September 21, 2009

We are preparing for the Baptism of Celine this week. She is amazing her and her husband have done most of the work. Are job has been easy; Satan has been working so hard on her to place the doubts and fear in her mind. She is so strong and every time she works through it She is so cool!There was another baptism this last Saturday. We had invited one of our amis to come with us. Her name is MArie. She has been in contact with the church for close to 10 years and never attended a baptism. It has been crazy the since we started really teaching her she has not been progressing but after the Baptism we talked about the importance of baptsim and making commitments with the Lord. She was really touched by the spirit of the baptism and wants to be baptized. It is so cool to see how it takes time and just the right moment for the spirit to touch the heart those who you may think it is impossible to touch. Just this morning we had a really cool appointment. We had fixed a rendez-vous with Henriette last week and this morning was the only time she could so we went. As we had studied and prepared for the lesson we felt she really needed more of an understanding of the Book of Mormon. During my personal studies I found some Verses in 2 Nephi 29 that really explained why. Then in the few chapters just before Nephi prophecies of the coming for the the Book of Mormon. As i studied I thought how cool is that for him to see our day and to see how it will all unfold. What I didnt realize was how much that study would help us during the lesson. She asked some questions that if I wouldnt had studied this morning I dont think we would have been able to answer confidently. The spirit guided us and helped us use the scriptures to explain the answers. I am so grateful for the guidence of the spirit. In something that I thought was little turned out to be a big help in the end.

September 14, 2009

It is the start of a new mutation, with a new companion and a new spirit. The work continues to go forth Celines baptism is in just a week and a half she was not so happy when Sr. Folituu told her the other night that she was leaving. Sr. Folituu has told me that it is a fulfillment of her partriarical blessing that she wont see the fruits of her work while she is here. And it is also kind of funny because she had been in Nice just before I came and she had been teaching Violette and Marc who were baptized my first week and here in Perpignan with Celine. Celine continues to be so strong she is so ready to dive into the font. There was another baptism this last week. The spirit is always so strong at a baptism. It is such a cool experience to see the change in people as they take upon them the name of Christ and make those first covenants. Thursday when we went to our Zone development we had been told that we would be doing some work and each companionship would be doing something different. The Elders had called us Wednesday and told us to bring clothes so that we could do some service. We were all excited to know that our task was going to be service. The morning started out a little rough i forgot my tag at our apartment and didnt realiwe it until we were on the train. But Heavenly Father blessed me and My new magnetic tags were waiting at the chappel when i got there. I was so excited! Well at the end of the normal development and after our interviews with president we were given an agenda and a map and then we were introduced to a memeber from the ward in Carcasonne that we would be working with for the afternoon. It was a really fun afternoon. We got to go out and contact and porte a porte. On our agenda we were given specific roads to go to and certain times to be in at the differents places. I have to say that it was a good afternoon to work with the sister from carcasonne and to search for the elect. We were able to meet some nice people and to work with the members. All around it was a good experince. I can testify that it doenst matter where we go if we have prayed and asked the Lord for direction for who he wants us to talk to and what he wants us to say he will place those people on our paths. He helps me to open my moth and helps me know what to say. He is by our side to help us at all times . I Know that with all my soul.

September 7, 2009

On Tuesday we had our District meeting as we were finishing we were getting ready to take a picture in the foyer of the chappel when this lady comes to the door. As we started talking we found out she was baptized almost 20 years ago but has been inactive for wuite awhile. She said she had been looking thought her things and found the picture taken the day of her baptism and she wanted to come to the chapel and see if anyone was there. The craziest thing is Sr. Folituu and had already planned to pass by her house that afternoon. The Lord works in mysterious ways. We ended up going to her house the next day and talking with her. She told us she feels completely alone in her life. It was cool to just talk with her and get to know her a little bit. We invited her to the baptism of the elders on Saturday and she came. It was amazing the difference in her face. Elder Blosil and I were talking about it. Going from Tuesday to Wednesday it was like there was a light that had turned on in her she was filled with hope and a little happiness. She came to church with us yesterday and we are going to see her again tonight. It is really cool to see some one refind the joy in the gospel.Our amis Celine is progressing really well and is so excited for her baptism. Yesterday at Church i could tell something was bothering her. As we talked she said that it was like a constant battle between the little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other all week. The adversary is working his hardest with her. We talked and gave her some suggestions of things to do like pray; read the scriptures or even call us or her Husband when she needs a little encouragement. I was thinking about it Satan knows when we have made a decision to do something right and between the time we make the decision and the time we actually accomplish our goal whether it be baptism or going to the temple or on a mission. he is going to try us and work as hard as he can to get us not to do it. I think of a a quote also that says "It is important to know that Satan exists and has power but is even more important to know that God Exists and has more power." We just have to decide who we are going to listen to or what power we are going to use.