Amis are FALLING FROM THE SKY! Soeur Burgoyne and I set a goal this week to find 3 new people to teach. As I mentioned in my last email, we had an AWESOME start to our week when Lizzie showed up to church... Each day since has been equally as awesome! The Lord blessed us with SO many miracles. I am not sure how to format them all into a single letter and I definitely can't pick and choose between them...but, I will do my best! This email is addressed specifically to all you missionaries out there :) "Sick Day" I wasn't feeling too great Tuesday so we decided to stay inside for a bit and "take it easy". Well, if any of you know me then you would know...I'm not very good at that hahaha. But, we decided to take the time we had to clean out the entire area book and call every single person/family we could find! I admit that it was a bit frustrating at first that we weren't able to go out contacting and knocking doors all day long like the other missionaries. I felt that I wasn't giving "enough" to the Lord by staying in the apartment and doing book work. This experience made me think of a story in the Bible that my Dad often shares with me...which ironically, he shared with me in an email that I received the same day! Hopefully he doesn't mind me sharing :)...the story is called, "The Widows Mites". "42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: 44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living." This widow did not have a lot to give The Lord, but she gave all that she had. There have been many times in my life when I have felt like the widow, giving my two mites and still wondering if it was enough, just because it wasn't "as much" as others who had given. Sometimes I feel bad when I think that others might be giving much more than I do. I love the question President Uchtdorf posed in the last general conference, "Are you making your discipleship too difficult?" Even though we were limited physically in the things we were able to do that day, we did our best to offer all that we could; trusting that the Lord is able to do his work here even with our small sacrifice. We ended up finding 2 new amis that day :) "He Has Called Me" A few months ago my dad sent me an email about the importance of "playing our strengths" if we want to be successful. I thought a lot about how this relates to missionary work and I remember hearing many, many times the phrase "don't be a cookie cutter missionary". I have wondered why a "cookie cutter missionary" was always associated with a negative connotation. What on Earth does it mean? Why is it bad to be one? Isn't it a good thing? That would mean we were perfect...wouldn't it? I guess what it means is that there is no "right way" to do missionary work, as long as you are being obedient and following the spirit :) Many missionaries get the idea that in order to be a "good missionary" you have to spend entire day out contacting in extreme temperatures, skipping meal times, wearing down your shoes, and knocking on doors until your hands are raw. Oh... And most importantly...remember...you MUST get leadership during your mission. If you don't... You're obviously not a very good missionary. ;).... NO NO NO! This is not why the Lord called you! I love a song my mom wrote called "He Has Called Me"... I love it because even in the title it indicates that the lord called [you] specifically. He called [you] because you have something special to offer that no one else does. He knows your strengths already and he has called you to use them :) I don't know about you but if I went about skipping meals and contacting all day, I would not be a very jolly missionary hahah, nor would I be a very good one! My companion and I both agree that stopping random people on the street and talking about the gospel is not really a talent of ours...not to mention, it isn't very effective, especially in France haha. So, we decided to sit down together and think... "what are our strengths?"... then find a way to use those strengths in our finding efforts :) Here are some of the miracles that came from "playing our strengths" :)... 1. We both LOVE music: Because we love the song my mom wrote so much, we decided to find a way to use it in our finding techniques :) Soeur Burgoyne is a wonderful piano player and so she learned the piano part. But, instead of using the pianos at the church, we decided to use the piano that sits in the middle of the train station so that we could turn it into a finding activity! We aren't allowed to contact like normal in the train station which is a shame because there are always SO many people. But, if people talk to us first, we can teach them! So, we took our music and headed to the train station! Soeur Burgoyne sat down and began to play the song while I stood and sang. People everywhere starting stopping to listen. My heart was beating so fast. When I sang the words, "I will stand as a witness of God" I about broke into tears. It now had a whole new meaning for me as I literally stood in front of so many of his children, who don't yet have the gospel in their lives, with the name of Jesus Christ written on my badge. I was truly standing as his witness. The spirit in that crowded train station was so powerful, and we weren't the only ones who felt it either. After the song finished, several people approached us. One of those people was a young mother with her son. Because we shared the talents given to us by our Father in Heaven, we were able to share the message of the Restoration of the gospel with this young mom and her little boy. We are even more blessed that we get to teach her again next week with even more of her children :). 1. We both need help with French! (Did you know that could be a strength?!): Soeur Burgoyne and I learned that it is a whole lot easier to sit separately on the bus and ask people to help us with our French rather than trying to talk to them immediately about religion. The cool thing is... The conversation always ends up going to the gospel anyway! We have seen so many cool miracles this week because of it! My favorite experience was a cute lady named Yasmine. I was sitting on one end of the tram and Soeur Burgoyne was sitting on the other and we were both talking to people who ended up being in the SAME family! Hahaha. What are the odds? Anyways, Yasmine is a young mom with a 2 year old little girl and in the time that we spent on the tram she basically just adopted me as her daughter hahaha. She was so cute. She even called her entire family over to meet me and they all started kissing me haha! When she was about to get off I tried to get her number but it was too late! :( I was so sad. But before she got off she was like "Do you have a card!?" I throw her a card as she was jumping off the tram and she yells, " I'LL CALL YOU!" ... Well, that's what everyone says who takes a card... We got of the tram at the next stop and I told Soeur Burgoyne, "I almost found a new ami..." Then the moment I said that, THE PHONE RANG!... Most people would be concerned getting a call from a random number but as a missionary it is literally like Christmas hahaha. I picked up the phone and I hear, "COUCOU! ITS YASMINE! I just wanted you to have my number! I will call you again later!" .... 5 hours later we got another call, "Kisses! It's Yasmine! I was just wondering...on this card you gave me...what is 'The Book of Mormon'?.... Can I have one?"... HOW COOL IS THAT!? We have our first lesson this Friday :) This week's email is another short one because it is Soeur Burgoyne's birthday and I have some surprises planned for her so I don't have much time :)...she thinks that I talked to every single member in the ward and "couldn't get a RDV" for her birthday tonight and I "feel horrible". So she thinks we are going to spend the entire night knocking on doors and contacting...poor thing... I'm so mean haha...But little does she know... We will actually be knocking on the door of a member and SURPRISE!! We planned a surprise birthday dinner with one of her favorite member families :)... (which was really hard to do since we are ALWAYS with our companions). I am so excited to see her face!! :D But, to close this email...this week we prayed for 3 new Amis and we worked SO hard to reach that goal. We played our strengths and we relied on The Lord because he called us for a reason and only he knows what that reason is! Well, we are very very happy to say that not only did the Lord lead us to those 3 new Amis...he lead us to EIGHT new Amis! 3 individuals and 5 new families! It is RAINING Amis!!! Hallelujah!! Miracles happen everyone...even in FRANCE!! ;) Xoxo- Soeur Wyson
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Tracie WysonI feel very honored to have had the opportunity to serve as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the France, Paris Mission. Archives
April 2017
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