1/4/2016 0 Comments One year--Forty Days--9 FastsBONNE ANNÉE MA CHÈRE FAMILLE!
Wow, what a week! I hope you are all as pumped for this new year as I am! This is going to be a year of miracles; I can feel it! This email might be a little shorter depending on how fast I can type before my iPad dies, they changed the wifi at the church and now it doesn't work, so we made a quick change of plans and headed to McDonalds for emails today! Missions are interesting because you would think everything on the mission would be so perfectly planned that you never have to wonder what you are going to do...in fact, it is quite the opposite! Missions are made up of backup plans, in fact, you even have about 3 back ups for each backup plan for when those plans fall through! It is quite the roller coaster! But it keeps things interesting! ;) This past week I was praying really hard to know what we need to do to find people who we can teach. Contacting on the street is not the most effective use of our time, as you can probably imagine. Which is understandable, I mean... How many of us actually listen to the random people who try to stop us on the street for things? I know the things going through my head when I see people who are going to try and stop me usually consist of things along the lines of, *head down, don't make eye contact, pick up phone, cross the street, walk fast, quick! * hahaha Well I am pretty sure the same things are going through everyone else's heads because that is exactly what they do! ;P So, I prayed to know what we could say to people to get their attention so that they would stop and listen to our message, giving the opportunity to the spirit to touch their hearts. After much prayer, I felt impressed to tell them "exactly why I am here." I wasn't quite sure what that answer meant, because I am here for so many reasons! So I prayed again, and then I thought to myself..."Why am I here?"...I am here because by the convincing power of the Holy Ghost, I have come to know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth, in its fullness; and by its grace, we can be perfected in Christ, and return to live in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. I am here because I know, that we are here on this Earth to gain experience; to learn and grow and become more like our Savior. We are here to build strong families, not just for this life, but for the life after as well. I know that we can be with our families for eternity. Personally, I can't think of a more incredible reward than that. This gospel has brought me so much joy, so much peace, and so many blessings, I cannot bear the thought of anyone missing out on such a gift. That is why I am here. With that, I decided that I was going to be bold the next person I saw. I was going to walk up to them and tell them exactly that! Well, shortly after we left our apartment that morning, we saw a young woman walking quickly to the train station. I felt immediately impressed to give her a Book of Mormon. I pulled one out of my bag and quickly stopped her. I told her exactly why I was here! I explained The Book of Mormon and closed with one of my favorite scriptures from it, Moroni 10:3-5, which reads..."3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." After reading the scripture, I looked her in the eyes, holding out the Book of Mormon, and said (in French of course), "Noblesse, I have asked to know the truth for myself and I have come to know, by the power of the Spirit, that these things are true. I know that your Heavenly Father loves you and he wants you to ask so that he can answer you. Will you ask him?" She was quiet for a moment and my heart was pounding so hard I though for sure she could hear it. Then she looked at my companion and me and said, "Oui, bien sûr"... Or in other words... "Yes of course"!!! We were so happy we wanted to give her the biggest hug ever! But, she was late for her train... So, she had to run! But before she left we were able to get her number, and she was sad because she wanted to learn more but she doesn't live here in Angers and then we told her that there were missionaries where she lives as well and we would give them a call for her; she thought that was so awesome, she was really excited! So we said our goodbyes and then we called up the missionaries for her in Paris :) I am bummed that we don't get to teach her but that's okay because either way, she gets to hear the best message ever! <3 Man, my iPad is dying fast so I am going to have to be selective with which miracles I share this week...which is really a bummer because there are SO MANY! And they are all so wonderful! But I will do what I can :) Before I go on, I wanted to talk a bit about the new year. If you are anything like me, you are probably really excited to make some awesome goals for the year of 2016! If you haven't done so already :) This year I wanted to do something extra special for the year because this year for me is what we call a "blackout year" on the mission. Meaning, I will be on a mission for the ENTIRE year of 2016! This is really cool because not many sister missionaries have the opportunity to have a black out year, you have to go at just the right time! So, as the new year was approaching, I was very anxious to set my resolutions for 2016. Though this year I decided that I wanted to really involve the Lord in the process of making and setting goals. I knew that by doing so, I would be able to know what the Lord would have me do, rather than just what I would have me do. I began praying and fasting with the question in mind, "Lord, What Lack I Yet?" As some of you may remember, this question comes from a talk given in the last general conference. I came across a scripture (3 Nephi 27:27) when the Lord says "what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am." As I pondered this question I began to think of many Christ like attributes and which of those I needed to work on... The answer...? ALL OF THEM! There is no way I could master all of them in a year... But, I felt impressed to do all that I can to develop those attributes. So, this year is the year of 40 day fasts! It takes 40 days to build a habit! Every 40 days, I am going to take a day to pray to know what is keeping me from being the most Christ like person that I can be, and then I will set goals to work on it for the next 40 days. I will have 9 fasts this year :) I titled my first fast..."Attitude of Gratitude"! I felt prompted to focus this first fast on being more grateful for the many things the Lord has given me. This fast is a fast from negativity! 40 days, without negative thoughts or words! It's been an awesome first few days :)! I keep catching myself mid sentence and changing what was coming out of my mouth originally to something positive hahaha :) keep me in check! ;) Another part of this fast is to have gratitude prayers every hour from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, each hour I think of something the Lord has blessed me with, and thank him for it! It's amazing how much we have been given that we don't even think twice about...Lined paper, telephones, wireless internet, arch supports, watches, Skype... Just few random ones ;) This week has sure been a great one! I wish that I had more time to write all of the experiences that I had but my iPad is near the end of its life...But I am so grateful for free wireless internet at McDonalds! If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been able to email you today! :) I hope you are all as excited as I am for this new year and that you have the opportunity to set some awesome goals for this upcoming year! I would love to hear all about them! You are all incredible and I am so grateful for each and every one of you! I love getting emails from you and seeing your smiling faces in the pictures you send! Thank you so much for all your support! With TONS of love, 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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