6/20/2016 0 Comments Bonjour À tous!Bonjour À tous! Je suis toujours vivante!
To kick off an incredible week, Soeur Clements and I were in the middle of studies when I got this crazy prompting to go outside early, finish studies later, and try to pass by Eugenie--a woman that we have been trying to contact ever since I got here. So, we threw on our coats and shoes and headed out the door! We got off the metro and as we were walking down the street, Soeur Clements sees the back of this woman's head from way down the street and she yells, "THATS EUGENIE!!" Without hesitation we took off running down the street to catch her before we lost her. Don't worry, we were behind her so she didn't see us creepily running toward her ;). We finally caught up to her right as she turns and walks into a book store on the corner... DOH! Well... we weren't about to give up that easily... Yup, we followed her into the bookstore... At this point I am sure you are all thinking that my companion and I are just a little creepy. You may be right. But, this is Eternal Salvation we are talking about! As we walked around the bookstore and checked out the newest collection of French Cuisine books, we just happened to run right into Eugenie ;)... She was SO happy to see us, she kissed us four times EACH! We were able to fix another rendezvous and it was such a miracle. Ahhh, what a way to start the week!! :) Later that night we tried a new thing that we like to call "Power Hour." Power hour is the hour right before a rendezvous with a member family. It's "Power" because we go to their neighborhood and look for as many miracles as we can find during that time! Then, we get to tell the family about all of the cool miracles that we had right there in their neighborhood! This night in particular, we went out to visit the family Stagno. We started with a prayer as we stood at the end of their street. Then, starting with their next-door neighbors, we knocked on every door on the street. Normally, it wouldn't take very long to knock one street because people don't ever let you in haha. Lucky for us, miracles happen :) The second door we knocked on was a sweet young mom with her two little kids. Initially she said she wasn't believing, or interested. But, we felt prompted to testify to her about the sacredness of the family. We began to teach how the gospel strengthens the family. As we taught, her heart was touched by the spirit and she listened very intently, as did her little kids. Wendy allowed us to leave her family with a prayer and by the end of the prayer she had tears streaming down her face. They invited us to come back and have family night with them next week :). During that power hour, we ended up teaching 5 lessons, finding two new family's, and 3 new Amis. All on the very same street as the family Stagno. They were thrilled to hear the news :) It was an incredible testimony to all of us of the Lord's work and how important it is to invite those around us to hear his gospel.. "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men." (D&C 24:12) The Lord truly does give us this strength when we open our mouths to declare his gospel. I have seen it and I have felt it. Exchange miracles are real. Every time we have exchanges, we see a ridiculous amount of miracles! It's amazing! This week we had an exchange with some missionaries who had been really struggling to find the motivation to get out and work. Well, after that exchange I can tell you exactly why they were having those struggles... In teaching with these two sisters, the spirit was so incredibly powerful when they opened their mouths and bore testimony of the ways the gospel has impacted their lives. It was clear that the investigators truly felt their love, and their honesty. We saw an unbelievable amount of miracles that day and I would like to share just a few of them. A Nice New Shirt and a Future Baptism: The first miracle began up in Belgium. We were walking around in the pouring rain when we happened to knock on the door of a Russian family, who happened to be inactive members of the church, with a daughter who wanted to be baptized. We were drenched and had no coats so they invited us in to share a message with them and they gave us new shirts to change into. Their daughter is 12 and really wants to be baptized but her family is struggling to get to church. So, until we can get the whole family back to church, we were able to call a member family who lives down the street from them to take the daughter to church with them every week :). Marbrerie: By the time dinner rolled around, I was absolutely exhausted. I laid down for a few minutes to take a quick power nap and was awakened by the continual circling thought of the word, "Marbrerie". I opened my eyes, looked at the sisters, and told one of them to grab their shoes and come with me...we were going to Marbrerie! Marbrerie is a neighborhood a few metro stops away from our apartment. We don't go their often because it's not the safest place in our sector. But, we really felt strongly about going at that time. As soon as we got off the metro we saw a woman sitting down and both of us knew we were there to talk to her. Feeling prompted to share the message of the Plan of Salvation, we talked about eternal families. She was so touched. We fixed another rendezvous with her and then as she was leaving she told us that she had just barely found out that she was pregnant. After teaching Delphine, we received another prompting to pass by a part member family who lived around the corner. The wife, Dora, isn't a member and we have passed by her house about 10 times since I have been here. She hasn't been there a single time. But, 11th time is a charm... Right? Well, It must be!! Dora answered! I was so in shock I couldn't even get anything out of my mouth Lol. I started speaking French and she just stared blankly at me. Turns out, she only speaks English haha. My English is a little on the rough side but I managed to explain who we were and she invited us in to share a little message with her. The spirit in the lesson was so powerful. By the end of the lesson, Dora committed to start reading the Book of Mormon. So after having seen all these incredible exchange miracles, having heard them testify, and having felt the power of the spirit in the lesson, my verbal response for the sisters was... "No wonder Satan doesn't want you to have motivation to go outside!! If you did, you would baptize every single person in France!!" This applies to each and every one of us. Next time you are feeling unmotivated to do something you know is good, do it anyways! Because if you don't, you will have missed out on the miracle that God prepared for you and that Satan didn't want you to have. Baby's First word: The Lille sisters have been teaching a cute little family with a baby boy who has high functioning autism. When they met the family the little boy couldn't say a single word. The other day during a lesson with the sisters the little boy yelled his first word and the parents where absolutely dumbfounded. Can you guess what he said?... "MORMON!" Hahaha yessss!! If that isn't revelation than I don't know what is ;). Friday we got a message at 6:30 in the morning saying we were doing an emergency evacuation drill. We have never done one of those so we were all pretty confused haha. I guess it's a good thing we did it then right? ;) Even though it was freezing and pouring rain, we managed to make it out safely! Hahaha :) This week we saw so many miracles and had 75 total lessons! It was crazy! To finish an awesome week we had a "Meet the Mormons" activity in the middle of town and we had so many people coming up to us and asking about "The Mormons" that we didn't have enough members or missionaries to respond to all of them! They were seriously lined up waiting to talk to us! It was amazing! We also got transfer calls! I will be staying an STL in Villeneuve D'Ascq and my new companion will be Soeur Cornetta! I haven't met her yet but I have heard she is great :) She is a Francophone (speaks French) and she doesn't speak English. So that will definitely push me in the Language ;)! I'm stoked! Well, that's it for this week folks! Love you all! Oh! And remember... Miracles happen, even in France!!! ;) Xoxo- Soeur Wyson (Tracie)
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6/13/2016 3 Comments French Spiders Fly...Coucou à tous !
There is a ridiculous amount of spiders here. They are everywhere! Not to mention, they fly!! I remember learning about these things in my middle school biology class. It must have been a sick joke. Flying spiders?... Right... Well, sadly, the rumors are true...these little guys fall straight from the sky! It's actually quite interesting, and disgusting... They make little web parachutes so that they can catch the wind and travel farther. Then, as soon as they see something nice to latch onto, they release!! Eeeeek. Doesn't that just give you the hee-be-da-ba-gibies? The other day I was out finding with Soeur Johnson. We were in the middle of a really great contact when I see this spider comin' in for the kill. Yup, straight into her hair. Between being terrified of spiders and not wanting to throw off her groove, I was in quite the dilemma. But, needing to act fast, I quickly grabbed her hair and yanked that little dude out! I guess you could say I felt pretty heroic ;) We both felt like spiders were crawling all over us for the rest of the day. They probably were, haha. Sunday in the Metro we were talking with the elders when all of the sudden Soeur Clements' eyes double in size and she says..."Ummm...Elder...? Would you be offended if I slapped you right now?" Very confused, the elder looked back at her, but before he could respond she shrieked and her hand came flying through the air to slap a spider that had gotten a little too comfy on his collar, Hahaha. Everyone in our apartment has been waking up with bites all over their legs. We all had a bit of a bed-bug-panic and washed all the sheets in our apartment. When that didn't work we decided to do a little further investigating... Can you guess what we found? Did you guess, Spiders? If you did, you were right. Those little creeps had been dropping in from the tree right outside our window. Now the only struggle is... Our apartment is a furnace. With no air-conditioning, no windows to open, and a dryer that manages to turn our apartment into a sauna... We are beginning to wonder what's worse. Heat exhaustion...or the spiders? We still haven't opened the windows so I guess it's safe to say no one likes spiders. Well, that's enough talk about spiders... As my companion is tackling the last 9 days of her mission, this past week has consisted of a lot funeral (I mean farewell) errands, and many more to come. Thus, I don't have very much time to write today. But, I wanted to share a quick miracle before wrapping up :) Our district spent an entire day in Valenciennes to help the missionaries out. They set up a "finding Bingo" to give us some fun objectives to complete, such as contacting people on Family history, or giving out a Book of Mormon. We contacted just about every single person in the entire Ville before seeing anything happen. We were pretty discouraged at this point because we had talked to so many people and had absolutely no success in finding someone to teach. As the day was coming to an end and we were running low on energy, we decided to contact one last person... Rafael, a young Christian boy about our age, happened to be on his way to a soccer game when we stopped him. We had a great conversation and presented to him, a Book of Mormon. If that contact was not miracle enough in itself...Later that night as we were headed home, I turned my head and glanced down the street just in time to see Rafael... Walking and reading the Book of Mormon that we had given him. This experience reminded me of one of my favorite scriptures as a missionary, ... "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." (Alma 26:27) With Love, Sister Wyson Salut Family!
Last week I was signing in the metro when I noticed a young man who just couldn't seem to stop staring. So, naturally, I called him out on it ;). After asking him if he had ever seen people do sign language, he responded by saying, "Actually, I was more impressed with the fact that you were signing while switching between perfect French and English every other sentence" ... I had no idea I was doing that, and it definitely wasn't perfect French haha, but I thought it was pretty funny :) I wanted to talk to him a little more but, of course, the next stop was his... I quickly pulled out a card with our number on it and threw it to him as he was getting off--without explaining ANYTHING hahaha. He texted us later that night and I think it's safe to say he wasn't texting us with intentions of fixing a rendezvous to talk about Jesus, haha. Don't worry, I told him that we were missionaries before Inviting him to come to dinner with a family in our ward the next day ;). After doing a little (a lot) of investigating, he came to the conclusion that we weren't organ traffickers and that we weren't just leading him into a trap; he agreed to come. Yes, he really thought that. Oh boy hahaha. When we first got to the rendezvous it was a disaster. They had forgotten we were coming and so the husband wasn't home yet. There were kids screaming and running everywhere. Then, we we thought it couldn't get any worse, the wife lifts her shirt up (without blanket or warning) and just starts breastfeeding right in front of our brand new ami!! Soeur Clements and I wanted to die. Then she asks, " So what made you interested in taking the missionary lessons?" (At this point he literally had no idea he was about to get a missionary lesson...we didn't get that far in the metro...) of course he was confused and says... "Huh? What do you mean?" (Face palm). We managed to play it pretty cool but we were both definitely panicking on the inside hahaha. Luckily, somehow, the rendezvous made a dramatic turn and ended really well. Emanuel had so many golden questions and the spirit was very strong. Though I probably wouldn't suggest inviting people to soirée familiale without actually telling them why you are there haha... It's kind of awkward. ;) But, lucky for us... Miracles happen... Even in France ;)! Aside from that exciting rendezvous, this week consisted of lots of exchanges, being sick, a Muslim holiday, and an ENORMOUS gay pride festival. Starting with exchanges, Soeur Romney and I spent about 4 hours knocking on every door in an entire neighborhood without a single response. Then, as we were leaving, we got swarmed by Muslims who where all on their way home from the Mosque. Turns out we chose to proselyte in the most Muslim populated neighborhood in the North, and we chose to do it on Ramadan hahaha. Sunday I was sick again. The entire sacrament meeting I had a bad migraine. My face got so pale and sweaty that eventually I went outside to try to get some air so I wouldn't throw up. The elders followed me out to see if I was alright and one of the elders looked at me and said, "Man... You have been through so much this week...is there anything we can do to help?" Just then... A soccer ball flys out of nowhere and nails me in the head hahaha. Just my luck. Thankfully I made it to the bathroom before throwing up. Elder Congerton called while I was sleeping and asked if he and elder Conley could come give me a priesthood blessing. When my companion asked me I said no because I am stubborn, and I have always been hesitant to let anyone other than my dad give me blessings. But, knowing how stubborn I am...They came over anyways haha. I learned a very beautiful and humbling lesson that day as Elder Congerton gave me one of the sweetest blessings I've ever heard. After the blessing he looked and me and expressed how much the Lord loved me. It was such a humbling experience when I realized, no matter which priesthood holder the blessing comes from, it's all the same power. To add to the sweet blessing, Elder Congerton made us a yummy, dairy free, fruit cake :). I'm a lot better today so whether it was the blessing or the cake, I'm grateful that miracles happen--in France! ;) Other things that happen in France...Gay Pride in France...I have never seen anything like it. The entire city was rainbows, loud music, screaming, and parade floats filled with cross dressers. It was impossible to talk to anyone. No one wanted to listen to the missionaries talk about happiness when there was an enormous party raging all around them. As we were being run over by enormous crowds of people trying to chase after and jump on the floats, I really felt like I was living Lehi's dream. That night I came across a beautiful conference talk by President Boyd K. Packer, which you may remember as “a cookie and a kiss." He testified that “the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth … is essential … and is the source of human happiness. Through the righteous exercise of this [creative] power, we may come close to our Father in Heaven and experience a fullness of joy, even godhood. The power of procreation is not an incidental part of the plan; it is the plan.” I was hesitant to share this in my group email, knowing it is a very sensitive subject for many. But as I looked out at all these confused people, my heart just ached for them. In a world of confusion, so many of the answers and assurances that we are searching for can come through daily searching and studying the scriptures and with sincere and pleading prayer, but there are no such promises on the Internet, magazines, festivals, or other forms of worldly excitement. "Sisters [and Brothers], I do not know why we have the many trials that we have, but it is my personal feeling that the reward is so great, so eternal and everlasting, so joyful and beyond our understanding that in that day of reward, we may feel to say to our merciful, loving Father, “Was that all that was required?” I believe that if we could daily remember and recognize the depth of that love our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for us, we would be willing to do anything to be back in Their presence again, surrounded by Their love eternally. What will it matter, dear sisters, what we suffered here if, in the end, those trials are the very things which qualify us for eternal life and exaltation in the kingdom of God with our Father and Savior?"- Linda S. Reeves I would just like to add my testimony to that of Sister Reeves, that our bodies truly are sacred gifts from our Heavenly Father. I know that as we keep our lives pure and clean, always relying on the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. We will be able to overcome our weaknesses, find true happiness, and as our Father has promised us, one day receive “all that [our] Father hath.” With an enormous amount of love, Sœur Wyson Ps- Happy late birthday Jar!!! Not sure how old you are because I can't even seem to keep track of my own age. But you look great ! ;) 5/30/2016 0 Comments A Little "Vacation"Rule #1- ALWAYS double (and triple) check the platform number before getting on a train...
I'm sure you're all getting bored of all my train stories but this one definitely blows the others out of the water. I will say this, if our mission President hasn't yet questioned his decision in calling sister Clements and I as STLS, I'm sure he is probably questioning it now hahaha. Tuesday night Sister Clements and I got on the wrong train on our way to Brussels for zone conference and we ended up getting stranded somewhere in the Netherlands. It all started with an emergency train ride to Belgium. My companion and I stopped at the train station to grab tickets for a zone conference when we found out there was going to be a strike and that there would be no trains going to Belgium that day. Thus, we had to sprint home, pack our bags, and jump on a train to Brussels that same night. We made it safely to Brussels where we had a connecting train to Liege. Unfortunately, we only had a matter of minutes to make the change between one train to the next. We sprinted to the platform barely making it in time to jump on the train. We took the train for a few hours before we realized how unusually long it was taking us to get to Belgium. Not to mention everything was in some crazy language that neither of us knew. I made a joke to Soeur Clements about us accidentally taking the wrong train and ending up in Germany or something. She wasn't too happy about that but it ended up being a good thing because it pushed us to ask someone hahaha. Thankfully, the only other man in the car happened to speak some English. We asked him how much longer until Liege and he looked at us shockingly and then said... "If you're planning on taking this train to Liege you've got a looooonnnnnggg trip ahead of you. You are going in the complete opposite direction!" Our hearts dropped... At this point I knew we had two options, laugh or cry. I looked at Soeur Clements and said, "We're not in Kansas anymore toto!" She didn't think it was quite as funny as I did but I sure got a good laugh! It was definitely a "Come what may and love it" moment :). The nice man drew us a map and showed us where we were in comparison to liege (nowhere close) then he told us that at the next stop we needed to jump off immediately and get on another train to a city named Bruge in Belgium, then, from there we could hopefully find a train to Liege. The stop came, we jumped off and ran up to the platform man to ask where the train to Bruge was. He pointed and yelled that it leaves in two minutes. Here we go again... We sprinted with our luggage to the train and somehow made it (Miracles happen). We met a really sweet Dutch young man on the train who happened to speak English and he let us use his phone to call our mission president. At this time, it was about 10:30pm. While Soeur Clements talked to President I was able to talk to this young man about the Book of Mormon and why we were there to begin with so that was a really cool experience :) President was funny, he just said, "Well, Ummmm, I think the best thing to do is just go back to Liege!" Hahahaha oh president... Why didn't I think of that!? ;) When we got to Bruge, the sweet kid bought us tickets for the next train because our credit cards didn't work up there. We were so so so grateful to have met him. We ended up leaving him with a Book of Mormon and our emails so that he could write to us if he ever had any questions or anything. He actually did email me to make sure we made it safely, that was really nice :) Our train to Liege got to Bruge around 12:30 and then we arrived in Liege around 2:30am. We got off the train not knowing where we were going to sleep for the night or how we were going to get there since no buses run that late. Luckily, when we got off we were greeted by the sweet mission couple serving in Liege (Few times have I ever been so excited to see someone hahaha) We managed to get a couple hours of sleep that night before presenting our formation to all missionaries at zone conference that same morning hahaha. So, moral of the story.... ALWAYS double (and triple) check the platform number before getting on a train! ... Oh, and In case you're curious, the Netherlands is beautiful... and very cold ;) The next day we took another train back to Lille to give our formation a second time at another zone conference. Then, we had exchanges on Friday with our Soeurs from St. Quentin. We have been all over the place lately. But, our presentation and exchanges both went really well! The past few days have been rough trying to get out of bed because when you lose sleep on the mission... You never get it back. We are very grateful to have made it to P-Day :) Saturday we got to spend some time with my sister Natali and her husband! They were passing through Paris and decided to take a quick train up to Lille for a few hours to visit. It was so enjoyable having them here and being able to show them around a little bit :) Plus, I got to eat at a real restaurant for the first time in 8 months, it was the best! I'm sick today so I don't want to stare at this screen too long. But, I always like to share a quick spiritual thought before wrapping up my emails :) We gave a formation to the missionaries about how to present the Book of Mormon and we kicked off the formation by calling two volunteers to run and pass a baton, explaining that "the pass off" is the most important part of the race because it determines how the next runner is going to finish the race. We related the passing of the baton to the passing off the Book of Mormon. Like the presentation of the baton, the way we present and pass off the Book of Mormon determines the way our investigators, friends, family members, and/or neighbors will finish the race. Though we had many important points, one of my favorites was "Soyez Inspirer" or "Be Inspired". At the beginning of my mission my mission president encouraged us to contact with 3 inspired phrases that have been prepared and ready to use. Then, keep a prayer in your heart to know what the person needs in the moment you stop them. Expanding on this inspired idea, we encouraged the missionaries to study the Book of Mormon and find 3 inspired scriptures, one for each inspired contacting phrase, that they would be able to use in various teaching situations. In doing so, they would be able to introduce the Book of Mormon immediately and go straight into teaching our special message of the Restoration. "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men (D&C 11:21)." To close with words much more powerful than my own, "Now we not only need to say more about the Book of Mormon, but we need to do more with it. Why? The Lord answers: ‘That they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father’s kingdom. We have not been using the Book of Mormon as we should. Our missionaries are not as effective unless they are [teaching] with it. Social, ethical, cultural, or educational converts will not survive under the heat of the day unless their taproots go down to the fullness of the gospel which the Book of Mormon contains. Some of us may not live long enough to see the day when the Book of Mormon floods the earth and when the Lord lifts His condemnation. But, God willing, I intend to spend all my remaining days in that glorious effort." --President Benson Amen! Moi Aussi! (Me too) Love, "The Wysonator" ... (The name I have been given here in the mission since being called STL hahaha) 5/23/2016 0 Comments Voici, Mon email :)Bonjour Family!
I can't believe we are already in our third week of the transfer... Time is passing a whole lot faster than the time it takes me to think of a clever opening line for my next email. So, looks like I will be sticking to the typical "Bonjour Family!" for the time being ;) We kicked off the week on exchanges with our sisters over in Belgium, followed by the tasting of my very first Belgian waffle!! I can't say it compares to French pastries but it was still pretty good ;). I think we were a little too excited to try those waffles because as soon as we got to Belgium we excitedly jumped off the train and ran to Hagandaas... Leaving our backpack with ALL our stuff in it on the train... Glasses, clothes, electric toothbrushes, passports, etc. We got to the bottom of the escalator and saw the Liege sisters and immediately realized what we had done. We turned around without explaining anything to the sisters and we just sprinted back up the escalators. We got back just in time to watch the doors close and the train drive away... Shoot. You can imagine we said quite a few prayers as we tried to keep calm and work everything out with the information desk. Miraculously, the same train came back from Germany that night and our bags were still on it in the EXACT place we left them!! Miracles happen... Even in Belgium! ;) Luckily we had the chance to redeem ourselves to our sweet Liege sisters who were so patient with us through all that chaos hahaha. Apparently exchanges are there to help us teach the sisters what NOT to do hahaha. Soeur Vanauker and I had the chance to go teach a cute couple about the restoration and they were incredible! They gave us like 10 referrals and then fixed another rendezvous with us! We missed our bus on the way home so we made a quick change of plans and decided to do a little contacting until the next bus rolled around. We only made it about 5 steps before we were stopped by a combination of the voice of the spirit and a woman screaming at her kids. I'm not sure which one stopped me first haha. But, we felt prompted to stop, so we whipped around and knocked! She was still pretty fired up when she answered but softened up dramatically when we began to teach about soiree familial strengthening the family. She opened up so much and even invited us to come back next week to have a family night with her family. Before we left we asked if we could pray for her and her family and she was extremely open to it. We asked what we could pray for and then she looks up with tears in her eyes and begins opening up about how she just finished chemo therapy and it had taken a big toll on her and her family. It was such a tender moment. As we left I remember that I happened to have two Belgian chocolate bars in my purse that were given to me a few minutes earlier and I was able to give them to her two little kids. They were thrilled :). It was such a sweet miracle. We even finished just in time to catch the next bus :) Our second day of exchanges I was with Soeur Andrews doing a few pass-by's. Neither of us knew our way around and I am directionally challenged. But, we managed to get where we needed to be... or so we thought. We knocked on the door and then a man answers ... This was definitely not the ami we were expecting... Hahaha. Apparently this was actually not the house we were looking for haha. Although, it turned out to be a huge tender mercy because the family that lived there ended up being really interested and invited us back!! What are the odds!? Our third day of exchanges was back in Lille with the Lille sisters. We taught some really cool people during that exchange! Soeur Johnson and I even found a new ami from Ukraine who told us that she had been praying for years and years to be able to find a way to be closer to God and that she felt he had finally given his answer by sending us to her. It was so sweet :) It only got cooler from there, we introduced the Book of Mormon and then she was like, Oh!! Wait!... She ran into the other room and then came back with a Book of Mormon in Russian that was given to her by her brother, who just happens to be a member in Ukraine!!! What!? It is absolutely incredible how prepared some people are!!! :) She made a joke about not being "dunked" (baptized) right away and I jokingly said... "I was actually thinking tomorrow?" Then she said back... "Well why not today?"...Hahaha we can definitely make that happen! ;) She hugged us so tight before we left. It was nice to get a hug :) Saturday I got reeeeaaallly sunburned because we drove out to the coast for a big service project put on by our stake. We were out in the sun all day and I didn't think to put on sunscreen because I don't usually get sunburned. Well, I have gotten really white on my mission hahaha. So, as a result, now I am really red!! We spent the entire day working in a refugee camp and oh my goodness... What a humbling experience. I felt so sheltered walking into that camp. I honestly had no idea that such places existed. I wasn't sure how I felt at first because we had to take off our name tags and tie fluorescent colored bands around our arm for our security before going into the camp. It kind of made me feel like I should be scared. Though when I got into the camp and looked around at the hundreds of homeless families and young children, my heart just broke for them. They weren't mean or scary, they just wanted friends. They were so thrilled when we would look at them and simply say "Hi". Any one of us could have just as easily been born into a life like that. I wish everyone could have had that experience. Walking around picking up trash in a refugee camp enclosed by enormous grey walls and barbed wire, with families sleeping in plywood shacks no bigger than a small closet. How much more grateful we all need to be for the things we have been blessed with. The most touching part of it all... Talking with those people, they were all so so happy and so grateful to the Lord that they were able to leave their horrible situations in their own countries and come to this instead. This camp is a blessing to them. I can't imagine how horrible their lives in their old countries had to have been for them to want to come live like this. But how beautiful it is that they can be so happy while having so little. I have been so inspired by these people and I feel honored to have had the opportunity to serve among them. Well, I have lots more to write but it is going to have to go to next week's email because we have lots to do! Hope you all have a wonderful week and remember how blessed you all are, no matter what your current circumstances are. :) Xoxo- Soeur Wyson Hello Hello from a little ville called LILLE ! I am officially in the North with my new companion, Sister Clements, as of Wednesday and we have already seen an incredible amount of miracles together! But, between conference calls and trunky meetings (for missionaries going home) we have hardly any time to do emails on Monday. So I am writing today on our way to Mission council in Paris! We may or may not have been feeling a little superstitious about taking a train into Paris on Friday the 13th and ironically, we actually did confront a series of unfortunate events. Luckily, we had an equal amount of miracles to make up for it ;) My new companion is Soeur Clements and she is incredible. It's hardly week two and it already seems like we have been friends since high school haha. Sadly, she is in her 12th transfer so we only get one transfer together before she goes home. But, I'm glad we got at least one! :) We started off the transfer with a bang and set a baptismal date with our ami Lydie during our first lesson together. That was just about the coolest thing ever! We are stationed in a Ville called "Villeneuve D'Ascq" which incorporates several little Villes in Belgium as well as the north/west border of France. It's BEAUTIFUL. Lately I have been getting a lot of teasing from the missionaries and members about who I bribed to land myself in two of the best areas in the mission right in a row haha. They also warned me about this "new dialect" that the people in the north speak. Apparently it's a real thing. Strangely, I find it about 3 times easier to understand haha. The people here are incredibly nice. Just about every single person we stop on the street listens to us! The new problem is finding room in our schedules to fix rendezvous with all of them, Haha! It's a good problem to have. The other day was our first whole day together and we saw the coolest miracle! We saw a woman on the tram with this very pretty bright shirt on and we decided to compliment her on it. She ended up being super nice and we talked for the next 30 minutes on the metro. It started off as a conversation about her shirt and then of course one thing led to another ;)... Her religious background was Muslim but she isn't practicing at all. She didn't really believe in any religion specifically. But, she believed in God and an "after life". We had the opportunity to talk a little about the plan of salvation and then what our role is as missionaries. We ended up getting off at the same metro stop so we walked out with her. As we were walking out we asked her if she would be interested in seeing us again and she was like "oh for sure, let me give you my number". We exchanged phone numbers and set another rendez-vous for this week! Then we asked her if we could leave her with a prayer. Sometimes people get a little weirded out when we say that but she was totally ok with it! We went and sat down on these benches nearby and said a quick prayer with her. The spirit was definitely there and she was really touched. She even asked if she could take a picture with us so she could remember the moment!! How cool is that!? She said she was convinced that we had known each other before this life. SHE IS SO READY!! Soeur Clements and I have been praying to find somebody new who would be ready to progress... She's ready! Miracles happen, even in FRANCE! :)) Friday we had mission council in Paris. My first mission council! It all felt so official while we sat around tables in a giant circle sipping from our little drink cups in our nicest church clothes haha. It was awesome! As we were leaving to go back to the train station to take our train we decided to take a quick little detour to get some gelato while we were in Paris! So we find this cute little place and as we are ordering our ice cream this guy comes up and he's like, "Hey, can I buy your ice cream for you? Well for the two of you?"....uhhhh not going to lie we were a little hesitant at first because we thought he was hitting on us but then he said, "don't worry I'm a member! I served a mission too!" . So we let the nice guy buy our ice cream and we chatted for a second! He was super nice and he even let us take a picture with him and his family! So yeah FREE ICE CREAM IN PARIS!!! But then we ended up missing our train....we sprinted like crazy through Paris to make it in time but we just missed it! We literally got there as it was pulling away haha. One of the workers saw us running around and he was nice enough to help us get some new tickets for the next train. Normally you have to pay a pretty big fee to change your tickets if you miss them but between our feminine charm and our missionary plaques we were able to take the next train without paying anything! FREE TRAIN TICKETS! We met a really hilarious lady named Anais on the street the other day and she even asked for our number! Granted she just wanted it so that she could set me up with her son hahaha. After talking with Anais for a bit we sat down on a bench to make some calls. Next thing we know we look down and we are COVERED in these little tiny green bugs! We were finding and squishing them for the next 24 hours. No clue where they came from but holy smokes there are a lot of bugs here haha. Soeur Clements' legs are covered in bites and we found a spider in her bed last night...gross. Luckily I haven't had any problems yet hahah. It's probably all the spicy food I eat ;) We also got attacked by a pigeon while walking out of the Gare the other day. If we wouldn't have had such quick reflexes it definitely would have hit us in the head haha. It's really hot here because of the humidity but I am totally okay with it because I am so done with winter hahah. Air conditioning would be nice sometimes, but I can't complain much because I am serving in France and living about a baseball throw away from authentic Belgian waffles :) We live in a 4 man apartment with the Lille Soeurs and we probably have a little too much fun with the four of us there haha. Saturday we played soccer with some Amis and I was soooo sore for the rest of the day hahaha. I'm out of shape hahaha. I didn't know what to do so I was just sprinting really fast back and forth following this guy around trying to make it look like I was doing something hahaha. Yesterday was my first Sunday in the Villeneuve D'Ascq ward and it is HUGE! I feel like I am back in Utah with all the little kids running around haha. Everyone here is soooo young and energetic. Our bishop is only 30 years old and his oldest child is 5. It's pretty loud with all the babies but it keeps us nice and attentive! :) As soon as I got to church I was asked to give a talk on the spot along with teaching the “gospel principles class” all by myself. Hahaha. After I spoke I got a thumbs up from a President Uchtdorf's Doppelgänger, they seriously look identical! I felt pretty cool, I will have to take a picture with him next week ;). Sorry that this was such a long and informative email. I know those aren't the most exciting to read. New areas bring a lot of new questions from my family :) But, I wanted to close with a quick little thought... We found a really sweet new ami the other day named Yasmine and we invited her to a ward activity. She had so much fun and she asked a question that has really stayed with me over the past few days. She said, "All the people in your church are so happy and nice all the time. Do they not have trials because they are so obedient to God?" One of the members took the lead in answering the question but later that night, this comment was still running through my mind. So, I prayed and opened up my scriptures. I came across 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and there was my answer, right in the chapter heading! Although opposition is an essential part of our earthly experience, "Gospel light shines on the Saints--Mortal trials are nothing as contrasted with eternal glory." I can't say it more profoundly than that so I won't try :) I often skip the chapter headings and I never highlight them but I just found so much power and beauty in this little heading that I have decided that I am never skipping another one in my life! :) Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine! Avec L'amour, Sœur Wyson Goodbye Souer Burgoyne! Hello Souer Clements!
5/9/2016 0 Comments Baaa-Di-Donk!Lately I have been looking for opportunities to use my favorite French expression that sounds something like... Oh-Baaa-Di-Donk!
I'm not even really sure what it means but it makes me laugh every time! It's one of those "filler" expressions that you can use pretty much whenever you want. But, it usually follows a moment of shock or surprise when someone doesn't really know what else to say... (like when I tell people I have 11 siblings)... Haha Baaa-Di-Donk! Luckily, this week brought many opportunities to practice my new French jargon. Number one: Transfer Calls. Every 6 weeks (transfer) we receive an email from the mission office that contains a little pdf file titled "Le répertoire". This pdf contains our fate for the following transfer. We usually receive Le répertoire around noon so we all gather at the church around 11am to wait. Anticipation is pretty intense as we have no knowledge of where we might be relocating or with whom we might be serving. But, there are exceptions... If you get a call between 9am and 12pm... It is a "special call", meaning a direct call from the mission president about accepting a leadership position. Well, Saturday was Repertoire day and Soeur Burgoyne and I were trying really hard to stay focused in our morning studies. I put the phone by Soeur Burgoyne because I didn't want to have to stare at it. I couldn't help but stare at it anyways from across the room because I was so nervous that it might ring. I didn't know what I was going to do if it rang. We almost made it through the all of our morning studies before the phone rang... My heart dropped so fast. False alarm. It was just a member calling to confirm a rendezvous. PHEW. Hahaha. About two hours later I started feeling pretty safe. I wiped the sweat from my brow, looked at Soeur Burgoyne and said... "Well, I think we made it, we're safe!"...She rolled her eyes at me and said, "Soeur, We still have like 2 more hours!"...then, at that exact moment...the phone rings. She answered and then looked at me with a look that I can't describe but am getting to be familiar with (the same look my trainer gave me when I got called to train). Sure enough, President! I will be leaving Angers this Wednesday to serve as an STL (sister training leader) on the opposite end of the map in a Ville called Lille! (How's that for a rhyme?;) My response... Baaa-Di-Donk!! ;) I don't know much about Lille yet except that I hear it is a gorgeous and enormous ville by the border of Belgium :) There are two wards in Lille so more specifically, the area I will be serving in is called "Villeneuve D'asq" but Lille is a lot easier to pronounce :). My new companion will be Soeur Clements and I have heard only incredible things about her so I am very excited to have the opportunity to serve with her ! I feel a little bit weird leaving my "Blue-ville" but I am so excited to see what new adventures lay ahead! We got invited to another barbecue the other day. I also got food poisoning again. Hahaha. Ba-Di-Donk, I guess I need to just stop eating meat for a while hahaha. Though it was totally worth it because we found an awesome new ami! Oh yeah, also got spit on for the first time yesterday hahaha. Now we know what it's like to be elders here apparently. Luckily he missed my face, that would have been gross. But, we can't complain because Christ was spit on countless times for us. I'm happy to take a few for him in return :). Funny of the week: Members feed us like we have been stranded at sea and haven't had anything to eat in months. The other day we were visiting an really old lady in our ward and she put SIX huge boiled potatoes on my plate with a big chunk of meat. I thought I was going to die. She only gave my companion like 3!! So, as soon as she left the room I grabbed a potato and threw it at my companion and said, "Soeur!! Take one for the team!" ... We take turns "taking one for the team" so only one of us feels like crap after instead of both of us, haha. But, she didn't want to take her turn... So, she catches the potato and literally throws it back into the pot right before the old lady comes back into the room hahahaha. It was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing and the member thought my laugh was really funny even though she didn't know why I was laughing (luckily) hahaha. This is not the first time this has happened... A few weeks ago we were eating at a members house and she put a basket of like 9 different types of bread in front of us and she wanted me to try ALL of them. They weren't small either! But I was SO stuffed! She kept putting them on my plate and then she would walk out of the room and I would sneak it back into the basket hahaha. The only problem with that, she thought I REALLY liked the bread so then she would give me even more! Haha, oh dear.... Luckily she never noticed that the basket of bread never went down in size. Miracle of the week: We have the opportunity to skype home twice a year. Once on Christmas and once on Mother's Day. Soeur Burgoyne and I always wearing black but we decided to wear really bright summer colors for our moms because it was Mother's Day :) ...(this is important for later I promise)...Malheureusement (Unfortunately), we found out that it was Stake Conference in Rennes this weekend so they were going to be cutting the wifi at the church and then on top of that, ALL the members where going to be gone so we had no where to Skype. Our only option was to skype home from McDonald's. The catch is, you have to first buy something to use their wifi, then, the wifi doesn't even work! We couldn't even get enough wifi to tell our families the situation and we were crushed... We decided to walk outside and make a few more calls to members and Amis but no one was available. After several calls and no luck we realized we weren't going to be able to skype home to our families this week... Then, out of nowhere, we hear a man say "Soeurs!! You are the first missionaries I've seen anywhere! I was beginning to be a little concerned!" What!? A member!? Baaa-Di-Donk!! This is the first member I have met on the street since I have been here in France so it was really random. Apparently, this member had been traveling for two weeks with his wife and son who had recently returned from this mission (Elder Davis). We told him our sticky situation and he said "I have the solution, follow me". We followed him to his hotel, which happened to be just across the street, where we met his family and used their hotspot wifi to skype home to our families. They had arrived at the hotel no more than a half hour before and were only planning on staying the night. Brother Davis had originally just gone downstairs to ask about restaurants. But, between my fluorescent orange and Soeur Burgoyne's yellow, he was able to spot us from across the street in his hotel! He was so happy to finally see missionaries that he decide to cross the street and come say hi to us, catching us right in our moment of despair! Miracles really do happen... Even in France :) It was such a beautiful reminder of how much Our Father in Heaven loves us. A skype call home may seem small and insignificant. But, it was important to him because he knew how important it was to us. I don't have much time this morning because I have a lot of packing to do but I wanted to send home a quick email to let you all know that I'm still loving it out here and that the Lord is taking very good care of us :) Love, Sister Wyson First off, Happy (early) Mother's Day! We are all blasted after spending the entire day in Rennes for our zone activity, "The Geezer Games". So, while my district naps on the train, I have been designated as the official 'mother emailer'. So, this email will be going to all of their beautiful mothers as well as mine to explain why none of them got emails from their missionaries today :). Don't worry, we are all "toujours vivant"(still alive)! Aside from the fact that we were up at 4:30 this morning to catch our train... Talk about fatigue!
We had interviews with president this week and we all petitioned with him to let our district stay together for a third transfer. Hopefully this Saturday (transfer calls) will bring good news! Last P-day we had a park day with the elders. We all ran out in our t-shirts and shorts ready to enjoy the sun. Little did we know it was ICEY cold outside. I asked one of the members here when it will finally be summertime in Angers and they told me July. I was hoping they were being funny until it was confirmed by a few others... Looks like we will all be getting our coats and scarves back out. Except for Elder Siedow, he's Russian. During interviews with president, Elder Larsen and I were sitting down in the chapel when we saw a man press his face up to the window and look inside the church. Immediately I said to Elder Larsen, "Hey!! Look! New ami!" He laughed and said he was just a construction worker from the house across the street then...next thing you know, he knocks right on the door and says, "Hey, do you do teachings here?" We ended up teaching him a lesson right there with Soeur Babin (Mission President’s wife) haha! It was awesome. Talk about good timing too, 'Oh hey president! Didn't know you were right there! ;)' hahaha. Geezer Games Our Zone killed it over the past few transfers so the Chefs decided to put on a big activity to celebrate the success we have had here in the Rennes Zone. Originally it was named the "Geezer games" after our zone leaders who have been together for more transfers than anyone can count. Thus, they are the self-proclaimed "geezers" of the zone. To kick off the games we all drew a disability from a hat: blind—eye patch, broken arm--sling, bad back--back brace, arthritis—taped fingers, missing leg-crutches, etc. Then, we were given a series of games that had to be completed as a team, each member with their own disabilities. It was hilarious haha. In order to compete in the Games we had weekly challenges leading up to it. One of them being, study chapters 9-12 of preach my gospel inside and out each day up until the games. Though I have studied these chapters about 100 times already, I am always amazed that I can actually find and highlight things that haven't already been highlighted one of the other 99 times that I read it... (Or haven't yet been highlighted in "pink" haha)...I have a small obsession with gel pens so my PMG is getting pretty colorful. Recently I have become very fond of chapter 9 which talks about finding people to teach. I read through it almost every day because there is just so much to learn from it. Though no matter how many times I read it, the quote that has touched me the most is, "Finding by the Spirit is as important as teaching by the Spirit." Lately my companion and I have really been trying to focus on this principle of finding by the spirit and we have seen so many miracles because of it. When you find by the spirit, he guides you to the people who have been prepared to receive the gospel. Thursday the district was in Angers for exchanges so we went to buy our matching team shirts for the Geezer Games. On our way to the store the elders saw a man walking down the street and jokingly said, "Hey sisters look! New ami!" (Because of our experience with president the day before) ... Well, part of finding by the spirit is never turning down an opportunity so we darted across the street and stopped him haha! Guess what? New ami! ;) He ended up coming to Soiree Familiale that night and really enjoyed it! Soeur Burgoyne and I lucked out on Friday because we got invited to a members house for dinner whose entire family is against all religions, especially ours for some odd reason. I know that doesn't sound like luck right off the bat but we have been PRAYING and BEGGING the Lord for the opportunity to teach her family and this was our chance! Finally! Well we spent ages preparing the perfect lesson, we were so excited. Then, we get to her house... Only 3 places are set at the dinner table... Her family had eaten early so that they wouldn't have to eat with us. We were crushed. After dinner we decided to teach a different lesson than we had originally planned since it was just the three of us. Then, right after we start the lesson... Her nineteen-year old son comes down the stairs! We were able to introduce ourselves and show him that we are normal people haha--his age too!! It was perfect! We all got along really well and Soeur Burgoyne and I decided to quickly change the lesson back to our original one for him. He ended up participating in the lesson and giving us his number so that we could teach him again. :) My companion and I met a couple of big Russian guys in the street the other night who happened to be from the same area that one of my friends is currently serving in. They started speaking English to us and they got a really good laugh over the fact that we were called "sister", but they were surprisingly really nice! Though I kept feeling like they were yelling at us because they talk so loud and their voices were about 2 octaves lower than any male voice I have ever heard hahaha. We tried to get their numbers for the elders in their ville but I don't think they took us seriously...They invited us to come get a beer with them after ;) ... Hey, at least they thought we were cool! We taught our new ami Clarisse for the second time, she is totally awesome. She is a non-practicing Catholic and her first statement when she walked into her lesson was... "I don't understand why there aren't prophets living today. How can we know that the churches haven't just been created or corrupted when they don't even have a prophet to verify it?..." Well, needless to say, we taught about living prophets :). Saturday we had another finding day in Cholet. It was freezing haha. But, it was all so worth it when we met Asim! We were making our way back to the train station and we saw a man getting out of his car. For some strange reason we felt like we were supposed to talk to him so we quickly told the elders to drop us off so we could run and catch him. After we got talking he told us that he was born into a practicing Muslim family but he was searching to find the "right church" himself. We ended up helping him carry in his groceries and teaching him the entire restoration, finishing just in time to make it to our train! The Raveneau Family threw an "American BBQ" for me on Sunday just in case I get transferred next week haha. It was totally awesome. The joke is, when I first got to France they invited us over for dinner and basically the only word I knew was Barbecue because I am really big into barbecues. It was my answer to every question. Favorite food? BBQ! Favorite thing to do with your family? BBQ! Traditions? BBQ! Hahaha. Thus, they promised to invite me over for a real American barbecue before I left :) It even felt like I was with my family too because they have so many kids, haha! To top off our week, Soeur Burgoyne and I got the stomach flu Monday night. I didn't feel too hot then my companion started throwing up on the train ride home. She threw up the entire first half of the night and I threw up the second half. We managed to pull our mattresses out into the hall in front of the bathroom to make things easier. Bunk beds are not prime when you have to scramble around the ladder and into the bathroom every 5 minutes haha. The good news is: 1. We are both conveniently sick at the same & 2. We have the best elders ever. We were originally supposed to have district meeting today but because we were so sick, we weren't able to go. But, the elders got together anyway and made us a big pot of soup with a really nice get well card and dropped it off this morning. Their mothers raised them very well. :) They even went back to the store after and bought us applesauce, saltines, ice-cream, and toilette paper. Haha. A very strange shopping list but we can't thank them enough! (Elders: Larsen, Siedow, Sorenson, and Chen) Well, this email has taken ages to write because I keep falling asleep but I finally managed to get it written! We love you mothers!! :) Love, Sister Wyson, Sister Burgoyne, Elder Siedow, Elder Larsen, Elder Chen, and Elder Sorenson (aka The Angers District!) ;) Indroduction: Soeurs Wyson and Burgoyne leave their property and journey to Brest--
Usually when traveling to another Ville for exchanges, we arrive at the train station where the sister training leaders are cheerfully waiting, ready to greet us with big hugs and bisous. But when they weren't, we knew something had to be wrong haha. We left for exchanges with the sister training leaders in Brest Wednesday morning--which is a 6-hour trip by train. After traveling all day Wednesday, we arrived in Brest around 6:30 that evening. Two hours and several phone calls later, we came to the conclusion that either they were kidnapped, or they completely forgot that we were coming. Luckily, they weren't kidnapped ;) We decided to go explore a little bit while we waited for someone to answer or call us back. After a nice walk to the ocean view, we were able to get a hold of the Brest elders and get directions to the sisters’ apartment. Soeur Burgoyne and I thought the whole situation was pretty hilarious. The best part had to have been the look on their faces when they opened the door and saw us standing there hahahaha...We got a good laugh. Though completely unplanned, it ended up being a really great exchange! For the first part of the day we went to the train station with a group of us sisters and sang, it was so amazing! There is this button next to the piano that people can hit if they "like" what they are hearing and SOO many people were coming up to hit the button just one after another! Some of them hit it several times haha! The acoustics in the station were incredible and the spirit in the room was even better. I think it is safe say that our favorite miracle that day began on our way to the train station when we jumped on the tram and Soeur Burgoyne sat next to a Chinese young man to practice her French. What was really hilarious is that he only spoke about as much French as she does so they ended up just speaking to each other in English haha. Turns out he's studied English for 15 years! His name was Zheng (pron. Chen). He's a student in Paris and he was here in Brest for vacation. He was interested in the fact that we were missionaries, so Soeur Burgoyne told him a little about the church and asked if he was interested in learning more. He said yes so we exchanged numbers and gave him a mormon.org card. We talked to him for a little longer until it was time to get off. Then, when we told him it was our stop, he said he'd get off too so that we could keep talking! (Never happens). He walked with us to the Gare and we taught him about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each one of us took turns teaching a piece and adding our own personal testimony. When asked if he believed in God and Christ, and he said not yet. AKA, he's planning on it but wasn't there yet ;) We even committed him to stop drinking and smoking that first day too! How cool! He stayed the whole time at the Gare with us while we sang and we were able to connect him with the Mandarin elders in Paris before we left. Zheng has truly been prepared to receive the Gospel. He texted us later telling us that our meeting him must have been by the hand of God. Even though our exchange with the STLs had been completely unexpected/unplanned as far as we were concerned, I know that Zheng was right in saying that it had been planned by the Lord :) He always has a plan! On the way home, we took another 3 trains, and for lunch Soeur Burgoyne had gotten a baguette and a wheel of stinky cheese. That was so French of her, hahaha. She offered it to this middle aged man who was sitting across from us on the train (not so French haha). He said no thank you, but we started talking to him about all kinds of things. After an hour and a half or so, we asked him if he'd heard of our church. José is atheist because his mother died when he was young and he doesn't understand why God would let things like that happen to such good people. We had the opportunity to teach him the plan of salvation in its entirety. Soeur Burgoyne even drew the entire diagram on her iPad. He was with us on the next train as well so in the several hours we were with him we managed to teach him just about all of the missionary lessons. Although he still didn't believe in God at the end of the train ride, he told us that it made perfect sense that if there were a God, that this would be his gospel. He even said he would like to read the Book of Mormon out of curiosity and a passion for reading. We took him up on that really quick! We will be sending him a Book of Mormon this week :). As soon as we got home, we went to Claudia’s house. She is the young African mother that we offered to teach how to hold family home evening. She has an 11-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy. We ate dinner with her,... A LOT of dinner... and then finished with a fun object lesson. We mixed corn starch with water which creates a runny liquid that you can roll into a ball. But, as soon as you stop rolling it, it immediately goes back into a puddle. We were going to compare it to testimony, but when they didn't really catch on, we quickly shifted gears and started talking about families, and how if you aren't constantly working to strengthen your family it becomes "mush". At this point they were extremely attentive. We talked about having weekly family nights and how they strengthen the family. As you continue to roll the ball, eventually your hands absorb the water and it stays solid and round. When their family is grown, they will still remain strong because of the work and effort they put into it while they were young. They loved it. To close, Antoine (the 3-year-old) said his first prayer. Carefully repeating each word that exited Soeur Burgoyne's mouth :). Very tender moment. The Self Cleaning Bathroom: I wasn't sure how to start this random story but I really wanted to share it. The title says it all. The other day Soeur Burgoyne and I were on our way in between rendezvous and I had drunk close to a gallon of water in the past 30 minutes because I was SO thirsty...Thus, I was dying and there were NO bathrooms to be seen! Public bathrooms do not exist in France. If you are really lucky, you might be able to find one, but it will cost you and of course... I wasn't carrying around any change with me either. I was ready to embrace my inner "French" and start looking for the nearest bush. Then, VOILA!! A random bathroom in the middle of a giant parking lot! And it was FREE! What's this? An answer to my prayers?! I sprinted to the bathroom and then after closing the door I hear Soeur Burgoyne's muffled voice say jokingly, "Just make sure you don't stay in there for more than 20 minutes!! It is a self cleaning bathroom!!" Then, the moment she says it, BAM!! Here comes the sprinklers! I yelled at the top of my lungs... "SOEUR!!! IT'S STARTED!!!!!" I barely got my skirt back up fast enough to dive back out the door before I was given a nice bath. I guess that's what I get for deciding I didn't need to take a shower that morning, ha! Soeur Burgoyne and I got a REALLY good laugh out of that one. It reminded me of a movie my family watches a lot called I-Robot haha. Apparently I am also a "malfunction magnet". Oh yes, and coming this June, our favorite English person in all the world is going to be getting Baptized! Shout out to Lizzie! (because I know she is reading this, hehe) Don't worry Lizzie, I won't embarrass you too much :) Lizzie has truly become one of our best-friends in the short time that we have known her and we love her so much and are so excited for her :). Love you Lizzie! Passez une bonne semaine! Avec l'amour, Soeur Tracie Wyson 4/18/2016 0 Comments Allez Jambon! (Go Ham!)Happy Mid-April everyone!...
I have to keep reminding myself that it is April because I have been writing "February" on every single day of my planner for the past two months. I just can't keep up with how fast the time is moving! Seeing as my time in Angers is likely coming to an end in the next couple weeks, Soeur Burgoyne and I decided to "Aller Jambon" (go ham) this week! ;) We sat down together and made goals for each day of the week with an overall goal of 70 total lessons this week and 10 new Amis! For a typical week in our mission, the "standard of excellence" is 21 total lessons. But, we fasted Sunday to get the work booming here in Angers and we were ready to start seeing those miracles! We went to work and had an incredible start to the week. Originally we had planned to pass by all the inactive members in the ward but that morning during studies we felt prompted to go out porting and contacting instead. Two of our Least favorite forms of finding haha. But, if you never ignore a prompting, you never miss an opportunity! So we went! We ended up having 9 other lessons and found 7 new Amis, the first day!! It was amazing. We ported into a Muslim lady's house (The same lady that told me several months ago that she would read the Book of Mormon if I read the Koran) we had a great lesson and her son is absolutely brilliant. She has actually been reading the Book of Mormon! Guess I better get reading ;) We were even baptized Muslim haha! I will explain that one... When we ported her house and she was talking about how she speaks Arab, which we thought was super cool. We told her she has to teach us and her response was not what we expected! She was like, "Serious? Come in! I will teach you right now!" Haha! Cool! We sat down and she placed a giant book in front of us with a bunch of crazy symbols in it and begin teaching us to read it. She kept telling us how easy it was and how much easier it was than French....hmmm... Can't say I agree! After she taught us the main rules she had us practice by reading some strange chant-like paragraph. When we were done she was SO proud with how well we spoke...she had to have just been being nice hahaha. She went on the explain how baptism for woman into the Muslim church works. You can probably guess what came next... She told Soeur Burgoyne and I what we had to say and we looked at each other and said... Hmmm, isn't that what we just read? Then she says, "Yeah! That's it!" Hahaha. Oh dear. Well, my email to president is going to be great this week. Oh! She gave me a really fancy French Koran too!!! Later that night we were walking down the street and saw two young men. We smiled and said "Bonjour" as we do to everyone who passes us on the street. A few minutes later, they popped back up out of nowhere and introduced themselves haha. They invited us to go "drink a glass" with them then claimed they meant a glass of "juice" or "Coca Cola" after we told them we didn't drink hahaha. Yeahhh...riggghhht ;) Of course we told them we couldn't go out with them but that they were more than welcome to come to church haha. They totally came!! Not only did they come, they really enjoyed it! We fixed another rendezvous with them and the Elders for Lunch on Tuesday and a friendly game of basketball on Saturday where they are going to introduce us and the elders to all of their friends! Wednesday we spent the entire day contacting and found 4 new Amis and had 14 lessons as a companionship! We were so exhausted after. Thursday morning was easily one of the most intense days of my mission up to this point. We had planned to finish up some book work before heading out on the streets because it was super stormy and there was hardly anyone on the streets. But, we felt strongly prompted to go out and contact in a specific area (which happens to be one of the sketchiest neighborhood in Angers). We had never contacted there before so we figured it would be good! Usually the elders take care of that area but for some reason we knew we had to go there. When we got to the area we saw a woman who looked very concerned, lost, and just about in tears. We immediately felt prompted to stop her. She didn't want to hear what we had to say because she was in a hurry somewhere. But, we knew we needed to talk to her anyways, we started walking quickly with her and asked if we could help her find something. She had been lost in this neighborhood for 2 hours. We put the address into our iPads and walked quickly with her. Turns out, one of her employees didn't show up to work that morning which in the many, many years he has worked with her, has never “not” shown up without calling first. Thus, she was extremely concerned. We found his building and someone let us in. We banged and banged on the door and yelled his name. No response. His neighbors came to help. His car was still there so we knew he must be in the apartment. In the middle of the chaos we asked if we could pray to find him and everyone there said yes without hesitation. Even though none of them believed in God. After the prayer we called the police. They and the fireman showed up. They banged and yelled and then broke into the apartment. The man was found laying dead on the floor next to his bed... The woman started bawling and we sat and hugged her as we prayed again together. We ended up being with her and all the people there for a little over two hours sharing why we were here and what we know to be true. The gospel brings so much peace, everyone became so calm. She stopped crying and listened intently. She couldn't thank us enough for being there for her and said she wouldn't have been able to do all that alone. She said that there must be some "great power" that placed us in her path that day. We saw an unbelievable amount of miracles this week and met so many wonderful people. We ended the week with about 40 lessons and drum roll please... NINE-TEEN new Amis!!!! Granted we didn't get all the way to 70 lessons but we worked very hard and the Lord truly did lead us to those children that he had been preparing. Besides... we would take 19 new Amis over 70 lessons any day ;) I feel incredibly blessed to be part of the greatest work there is to be done here on the earth. The Lord's work. He guides it and he guides us. Miracles happen everyone, even in France!! :) Xoxo- Soeur Wyson 4/11/2016 0 Comments Footloose in the Middle East...Hello From Angers!
I hope you all have had a wonderful week, we sure have!! It started off kinda "eeehhh" if you know what I mean. We weren't seeing hardly any success at all and just about all of our amis temporarily dropped off the face of the planet... The "Vacance" has officially begun (summer vacation). Saturday we were doing weekly planning. It was seeming kind of pointless because none of our plans had changed since we hadn't been able to teach any of our amis. So, we decided it would be good to pray and ask the Lord if he wanted us to plan anyway or go do something else. After our prayer we both felt prompted to call up ALL 140 members in the ward and ask them to bring at least one non-member friend per family to church. With that, also do a ward fast to boost the missionary work here in Angers. We knew it was a huge task and quite a bit to ask on such short notice but we were okay with it because we know God works miracles! The next day we left to church 30 minutes earlier than we normally do so that we could be extra early to greet all of the new amis that were going to be at church! Well... sadly, not a single member even invited a friend to church. We were pretty bummed. The two of us were ready to drop our bags and take a nap... But, we decided to work it off instead :) We knelt down, once again, and spoke to The Lord. We expressed our disappointment after having done the things he asked and not having had a single ami show up to church and asked him to help us find someone who he has prepared to receive his gospel. When we closed the prayer, the phone rang. Claudia! I haven't told you about Claudia because we have never met her before. We found her phone number while we were cleaning out the ancient ami section of our area book a few weeks ago. We called her several times but she never answered. I practically dove on the phone to make sure I got it before she hung up haha. We talked for a while about who we are and why the heck we were calling her haha. She then explained that she had served a TEN-year mission as a Nun in France before she quit and had a family. She also made it very clear that she was very much a practicing catholic and not about to change religions. At this point we weren't sure what to do except ask if we could serve her because we really really wanted to meet her haha. There is no way that was a coincidence that she called when she did! She laughed at the “sweet notion” and told us "maybe in a couple weeks". When she said that, I heard a little kid interrupting her in the background and I felt extremely prompted to ask her about her family. She told me a bit about her kids and then I told her that I came from a family of 12 kids and my companion from 6. Immediately her voice changed and very sweetly she began to ask about my family. After asking a few questions she says very softly..."Actually, you know what? A church that places that much value on the family actually really interests me...Would you mind passing by tomorrow and sharing your message with me?" Our Father in heaven truly does know each and every one of us individually and he has the power to soften the hearts of his children. We went to Claudia's house today and we taught about the answers we can find through the Book of Mormon. Specifically, we focused on some of the questions of the soul. We read through some of these questions in Preach my Gospel with her family and one that really stuck out to her was, "How can I balance my family and my career?" Soeur Burgoyne and I both felt prompted to testify of the blessings that come from holding weekly family home evening and daily scripture study as a family and we offered to teach her how to hold family home evening. They are very excited to have their very first FHE next :) Another cool experience we had with the area book was a sweet Muslim girl named Dina. Same thing... we had called her a billion times and she never answered, then miraculously, she called back! She invited us over to her house even though she had no clue who we were, we were pretty stoked about that hahaha. We headed over and turns out, her entire family is very practicing Muslim and from a Muslim country in the middle East haha. But hey, they invited us! We were at their house for about two hours as they just LOADED up the table in front of us with all kinds of African food hahaha. When we saw all the food, we asked them who else was coming for dinner and they said, "Oh no!! No one! We aren't eating! We made it all special for you! You will eat it all!" Soeur Burgoyne is still pretty new so she thought they were joking... I knew better...hahaha. I tried to laugh it off and tell them that we weren't going to be able to eat it all. I got to a point where my hand couldn't lift anything else to my mouth because I was so full, that's when the little kids started coming up and literally hand feeding it to us HAHA. (Help me Mom! ) It was really good food but holy smokes it was a lot. Definitely gained a few "poids" from that dinner. Lol. After we ate they taught us some cool African dances and the kids wanted to dress us up in their robes. I felt like I was in a completely different mission haha! These people are definitely not French! It was awesome. They are so cultural! They said their people love to dance but that they aren't allowed to dance in public in their country because it is Muslim. So, they moved to France and they dance every day! Sounds like footloose, only a lot more dangerous. So to sum up this week...We ate a lot of food and we saw some really sweet miracles ;) If I had a pound for every miracle we have seen here in Angers!... I would have about as many pounds as I have now after that meal. ;) I wanted to finish with a spiritual thought, as I always do. I am a missionary, after all :) The other day in my personal studies, I was studying about keeping the Sabbath day holy and what we can do to help our amis and the members to better understand what we should be doing on the Sabbath day. I read about Christ healing the blind man and how he taught us that the Sabbath, being a day of rest, does not mean sitting on your couch and "resting" the day away. It is a day set apart for us to rest from the craziness of our every day lives so that we can use that energy to go out and serve instead. As missionaries, Sunday is our busiest day of the week. We don't even get personal studies on Sunday because we are out of the apartment and on our way to church at 8 am. This was so strange to me when I first got here because Sunday had always been such a relaxing day. Though, over my time being here, Sunday has become my very favorite day of the week. Because, it is the only day of the week that will allow me to relive my missionary days even after I go home. I hope that we will come to see the Sabbath as this; one day each week that has been set apart for us to live as missionaries live. I pray that we will seize that opportunity to be missionaries and look for ways we can "invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." Xoxo- Sister Wyson BIG NEWS this week!! No, I'm not changing Villes, I am staying in Angers for at least another 4 weeks :). JACQUELINE is BACK!!!! The other day we were in the middle of planning some lessons and I was hit with this incredibly powerful impression to call Jacqueline--Our ami that had a baptismal date a few months ago but randomly dropped off the face of the Earth and then asked us never to call back-- Frankly, I was still pretty upset with her and wasn't too stoked about the idea. But, good thing I am on the Lords errand and not my own :) So I called anyway! I admit we weren't very surprised when she didn't answer. The next day, we received a text from Jacqueline...more like 20 texts! We were shocked! Though not too shocked because the Lord is much smarter than we are and it was his idea to call her ;). I called her again that night and she explained everything to me over the phone. She couldn't stop crying. It's a difficult situation, her entire family is extremely against religion and gives her nothing but grief about her decision to associate herself with any type of religion. I felt prompted to remind her of the Book of Mormon story of Nephi's family in the wilderness and how his brothers were constantly fighting and murmuring against him and the Lord. They even went to extremes and tried to kill him simply because he was trying to be obedient to the Lord's commands. But, the Lord protected him and he was blessed in abundance because of his faith and diligence in doing the will of the father and keeping his commandments. She was very touched by this story and began relating it to her own life and family. I promised her that the Lord will bless her as she continues to be faithful in keeping his commandments and living his gospel. We closed with a prayer, which I have never done with someone over a phone call. We both knelt down. As I prayed for her I felt I was giving more of a blessing than a prayer. It didn't feel like it was me speaking. I promised her many things that I know came from the Lord and told her she was a good person, despite what her family may say. Her Father in Heaven told her how much she was loved. She began to cry and couldn't thank me enough. Though it wasn't me, it was the Lord. We convinced Jacqueline’s husband to let us come over to help them prepare for her oldest sons birthday party on Friday. We convinced them by telling them we would teach them how to use their BBQ haha. We cooked SOOOO much chicken! Holy smokes! Literally, smoke! We used a REAL outdoor French brick oven! Though we didn't tell them that we had actually never used one of those babies ourselves, hahaha. They thought we were pros! The chicken did taste pretty professional ;). We smelled like nice ol' campfire for our next rendezvous. Such a good day! Saturday we had a rough morning. I wasn't feeling too hot, Soeur Burgoyne has a nasty cold, and I threw up during conference. Not too pleasant. To add to everything else, conference made all us missionaries feel a bit "homesicky". But, The Lord loves his children SO much... Just when we felt like we were about to crash, we received a phone call. A little background about this phone call: When Sr. Burgoyne and I first got to Angers we sent out a mass text to everyone in our phone and area book hoping to see/meet/reactivate some of those Amis or potential Amis. Well, 2 months later, we get this call from a woman named Marie who said she would love to see us and that she was "always free!" She was found by the Elders when they lived in our apartment more than 10 years ago! I definitely teared up. I was so happy. Tender mercies of the Lord. That's what keeps us going :). Speaking of conference, it was AMAZING wasn't it!? I am going to have to re-watch it in English because I can't share all the quotes I loved with you...seeing as they are all in French. I am bummed though because we didn't get to watch all of the sessions since the time change is wacky. We watched Saturday morning session at 6 Saturday night, Priesthood conference at 10:00 Sunday Morning, Saturday afternoon session at 2:00 pm, and Sunday morning at 6:00 pm Sunday night. It was the most tranquil day of my entire mission! ;) I solved my "food problem" with the members. People here eat and feed you SO much. But, I am pleased to announce that I have made it through SIX member meals in the past week AND A WEDDING without leaving completely stuffed. I have started doing something where when they grab my plate I say, "Je mange comme un petit oiseau" ..."I eat like a little bird" haha. I literally don't let them serve me more than you would serve a 2-year-old child. It was tough at first because you're way hungrier than that but, by the time the 6 course meal is over, you have eaten the perfect amount! Haha! We ate at FeiFeis the other day. She is a single Chinese woman in our ward who used to be an actress. She is very wealthy. She lives on an absolutely ENORMOUS property out in the countryside about an hour out of town. We love going out there, though we don't get to do it very often. She is great and makes incredible food. And a LOT of it! hahaha. Knowing this, I basically fasted the day before we went to her house. Then, during our meal, used my new strategy. I literally dished myself the tiniest, tiniest spoon of rice and chicken. All the missionaries where looking at me really weird and then one elder says...is that seriously ALL you're going to eat!? I advised them to do the same but they didn't listen hahaha. 7 VERY heavy courses later, they wished they had! They were on the verge of throwing up, but I felt great!! My spiritual thought today is a little bit different than usual. I was speaking with a sister missionary the other day who is preparing to go home and she was expressing her frustration with the weight that she had gained on her mission because even though she is working so hard to lose it, she still has some stretch marks left on her legs from the unavoidable weight fluctuation that comes from serving a mission. I have been thinking a lot about this comment lately. I have even noticed that I have a few small marks of my own. I examined the marks carefully and began to think of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and all the stripes he took for us so that we could have eternal life, "...He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:5) It was a tender moment as I thought....Surely, after all the stripes he took for me, I can gladly take and proudly wear these small stripes as I serve in his name. We all have stripes of our own that we have acquired through the various challenges of life, whether visible or not. We can choose to view our stripes negatively, or we can choose to see them as sweet reminders of the infinite atoning sacrifice that our Savior Jesus Christ made for each and every one of us. I pray that we will choose to wear our stripes with pride and gratitude because It is by his stripes that we are healed. Love, Sœur Wyson 3/28/2016 0 Comments Only the Gospel Joyeuses Pâques !! (Happy Easter)
A few weeks ago a very VERY drunk man named Samba followed us to church. He was hammered. It was really funny at the time because Soeur Burgoyne and I had prayed so hard to get someone to church and then we realized...we should probably be a little more specific about the things we ask for. We weren't very excited about having a weird drunk man in the church. Neither were the members. But, nevertheless missionaries never turn down an opportunity to teach, haha! The elders gave him their number. None of us really expected that he would even remember what had happened that day, nor that we had even met. We were ok with that. A week went by and nothing unexpected happened. The next Sunday, we were sitting in Sacrament and then to our surprise, Samba walked in! We had no clue how he had found his way back but somehow, he managed! We were all pretty shocked. I think he was shocked too. Haha. He told us he didn't know what it was but that something was drawing him back to the church and he had to come back this Sunday to see what it was...HOW COOL IS THAT!? He met with the Elders that week and the rendez-vous ended up going really well! Last Sunday, Soeur Burgoyne and I decided to pray and fast again that the Lord would help us get someone new to church. Guess what? This time, Samba came back to church a THIRD time... AND... He brought a friend!! Samba and his friend are now both taking the missionary lessons :) This week has been the longest fast week of my mission. It has been going foreeeevvveeerrr and yet, it is already over! Funny how that works. Traffic manifestations made missionary work a bit more interesting this week; there were no buses or trams so we had to walk everywhere. We have been averaging about 8-10 miles a day. That adds up when you are walking in skirts and Church flats, haha. Thankfully we have iPads now so we don't have to carry around all of our books as well! :) It feels so good to be outside and walking around, enjoying all the beautiful creations of the Lord... It also helps a lot with digestion hahaha. We went to a yummy creperie that Eva, one of our Amis, works at. Apparently it is famous. It tasted famous! Haha. We got these amazing galettes (dinner crepes) filled with butter, potatoes, sour cream, onions, ham, and other yummy things. We were pretty full...but she insisted we order dessert haha. So we finished off with a banana split! They thought that was HILARIOUSLY American. Apparently banana splits are not French at all. We ordered and the waitress just starting laughing and said...where are you from? Of course... The United States. We are proud to be American ;). We were grateful for the lack of buses after that lunch. The 6 mile walk home gave us plenty of time to digest everything we ate hahaha. Before we left, we gave the waitress a 3 Euro tip. It wasn't very much but people in France don't leave tips. So, we decided to gather together what change we had to give to her. She was so touched. She didn't even know how to thank us. It's so beautiful that we all have the power to touch lives with even the simplest acts of kindness. In fact, one of my favorite experiences of my mission so far came from a simple smile. My companion and I were on the tram and I saw an old lady who seemed quite down. It hadn't been the best day for me either and I was finding it a bit difficult to be smiley. But, I smiled! The old lady immediately lit up and told us that we were "absolutely amiable young women" and that she has never met anyone our age who would care enough to smile at "an old person" they didn't even know. It was then that I realized just how many things I had to be smiling about. The Lord blesses us with so much. We have reason to rejoice! There are also always going to be things we can frown about. But, we can choose to smile! I am so grateful for the counsel that President Uchtdorf gave in the past April Conference, "Everyone’s situation is different, and the details of each life are unique. Nevertheless, I have learned that there is something that would take away the bitterness that may come into our lives. There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious. We can be grateful!" Two Random Funnies: On our way home for the night we saw two college age boys digging through the trash can outside our apartment hahaha. We live above a Boulangerie. They throw away all their bread at the end of the day because it isn't completely "fresh" anymore. It was funny because they were nice looking, very clean cut, young men. Yet, they were pulling bags of bread out of the trash can... The boulangerie wraps it up so it is sanitary, it just seemed strange haha. We made a comment to them about what they would be doing with all that bread haha. Their response was..."student life.." I got a good laugh. I know how that is. That joke turned into a pretty solid missionary conversation and we ended up going home that night with some really yummy bread! We ate a lot of chocolate this week. A member gave us a box of assorted chocolate and we ended up taking one little bite out of each one just to test the different flavors. That was a bad idea. I dumped them all in the trash after to get rid of the temptation to eat more. Soeur Burgoyne later confessed to have eaten the chocolate out of the trash can whilst I was busy doing something in the other room.😂 She couldn't bear the thought of all that good French chocolate going to waste. I thought that was HILARIOUS. -- Lizzie is still incredible. We love her. She is practically our companion haha. I can't even count the number of times people have mistaken her for another sister missionary. We might as well be a trio! :) I was extremely touched by something that Lizzie said to us during our lesson yesterday and I wanted to share it with you. I hope she doesn't mind me sharing because she reads my blog (Hi Lizzie!), I was just so touched by it :) ... Together we were discussing how we can find answers to all of the great questions of the soul in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lizzie explained to us what it was like growing up in a home without the gospel; having so many questions and no way of knowing how she can receive or find answers. She tried asking her parents, her grandparents, her sister...Yet, no one seemed to have the answers she was searching for. She didn't even know what she was searching for. She just had unanswered questions. At a later point in time, she met the missionaries on the bus and started learning about the gospel. For the first time in her life, she was receiving answers. That's when Lizzie realized what it was that she had been searching for. It wasn't just curiosity after all, it was a hunger to know the truth. "12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it-" (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12). Many of the people we will teach often do not recognize that they are looking for the restored gospel until they have found it. They don't always know where to look or who to ask. Many might even think the search is useless and give up. These people are our friends, our family, our neighbors, our coworkers... "Therefore,...we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven--" (Doctrine and Covenants 123:13). In Preach my Gospel, one convert said, “When I heard the gospel, it filled a hole in my heart that I didn’t know was there.” My wish is that when we are placed at the Judgment seat of The Lord in the last days that we fall to our knees because we have given every ounce of strength and energy we have in bringing others to the light that the Lord has so graciously blessed us with. We have the truth they are searching for. We have the light that will fill the holes in their hearts they didn't know were there. That truth and light is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that they are children of a loving Heavenly Father, members of His eternal family. “We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the human family” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson). Avec l'amour, Sœur Wyson 3/23/2016 2 Comments Let It Shine!My Dear Family and Friends,
I would like to share a few thoughts with you that I have felt prompted to write. I am sure that by now you have all heard about the attacks here in my mission. I want you to know that despite the recent attacks, I know that this is exactly where I need to be. Faithfully serving the Lord and his people in their desperate time of need. I recall many of the things people said to me when I received my call to Paris, France. Most of them along the lines of..."Wow! You should enter the lottery!" or "What on Earth did you put on your papers to get sent there!?!" I would agree that being called to the Paris, France mission felt like I had won the lottery. It was a dream that I never dared to dream. If I had, any other mission call would have been utterly disappointing. Though, over the short 6 months that I have been out, I have realized... a mission call is not a matter of winning or losing the lottery. Though some may seem more lottery worthy than others. Each area is different, with different challenges, and different perks. Though all things considered, we have the same mission: To Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Making the decision to serve a mission wasn't an easy one. I haven't lived very many years, but, It was the toughest decision I have made in the 19 and a half years that I have been on this Earth. I knew that as soon as I made the decision to serve a mission, I would be giving my whole heart and will to The Lord for the next 18 months of my life. Going home was never an option. If I chose to go, it meant, I was choosing to stay. The Lord doesn't send us out here for us to decide that it is "too hard", pack our bags, and go home. Of course it's hard. It is no secret that missions are a challenge. I also knew that in making the decision to serve, I would have to trust in the Lord enough to know that wherever he sent me was exactly where he needed me. I trust in the Lord with my whole being. I know he protects his missionaries. We can feel his protecting power. That doesn't mean that bad things don't happen. As you may have heard, 3 missionaries were seriously injured in the attacks... So how can we say the Lord protects his missionaries when things like this happen? One of the hospitalized missionaries is a good friend of mine. When we received the update on him, it was that, his body is covered with awful burns and his legs filled with shrapnel. Yet, the thing that he said to tell us was that he was determined to finish out his mission. Many might wonder why on Earth he wouldn't just go home after all he had been through; they simply don't understand the mighty cause for which we are serving. I admire this elder because even through the pain he must be in, he understands that burns to our physical body, no matter how awful, are nothing compared to the spiritual burns that are caused by the bombs going on around us every single day. We were already at war. It is my testimony to you that Christ is the light and life of the world and that he, Our Lord and Savior, is our only source of healing and protection. Without him, we cannot be healed from our spiritual burns and we cannot be protected from Satan's threats. "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up--that which ye have seen me do..." (3 Nephi 18:24) Through these dark times, we have the power to hold up our lights so that they might shine unto the world and dispel the darkness. We have the light for which these people are searching..."Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (3 Nephi 12:16) My wish is that you will make the decision to always hold up your light. Because no matter how dark the world gets, we do not have to live in darkness. This is my testimony to you in the name of our Savior--our light--Jesus Christ. Amen. Love, Sister Tracie Laina Wyson 3/21/2016 0 Comments Just some thoughts...Bonsoir Family!
I had so many experiences this week but I feel the most important thing for me to share with you in my email today is my testimony of the Savior, his power, his peace, and his love for each and every one of us. I gave my first sacrament talk in French yesterday. It was on very short notice, as it always is with missionaries haha. TEN MINUTES LONG. Ten minutes speaking in any language is pretty long, but in French it felt like I was giving a sermon! Though I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to speak because I learned so much in the process of writing and giving it. When I had originally written my talk, I was following very closely a general topic I had been given. Then, after having finished, I felt extremely impressed to start over and rewrite the entire thing. It isn't easy to write a ten-minute talk in French, but the prompting was so strong, I knew I needed to listen. The Lord made it easy for me because there was no question in my mind about what it was that he wanted me to say. As I delivered my talk, I looked out on the congregation and wondered who it was that the Lord needed me to change my talk for. I won't deny that I felt pretty special thinking The Lord had decided to use me to deliver this "special message" to someone in the congregation. Though now I believe that "someone" the Lord was trying to teach, was me :) I won't be sharing my exact talk with you today (as it was entirely in French) but I wanted to share some thoughts with you that have touched me deeply this week. Jesus Christ is the only source of enduring peace. When we have correct knowledge of and faith in him, he gives us the power to hush our fears. Though the peace that he gives is different than that of the worlds..."Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.." St. John 14:27 The peace that Christ gives allows us to view our lives through the precious perspective of eternity. In doing so, we are able to concentrate more consistently on our heavenly destination. The Gospel of Jesus Christ provides purpose and direction in all aspects of our lives. Heavenly Father loves us so much that he paved a pathway for us to return back to him and he sent his son to walk the pathway first before us so that we know exactly where to go and what to do. Then, our Father in Heaven gave us the Holy Ghost, or as we learned in preschool...a "safety buddy"; a constant companion to hold our hand and guide us up the path. Other resources he gave us include: prayer, scriptures, prophets, missionaries, parents, teachers, and other leaders. Though sometimes, even with ALL of the resources God gives us to walk this path, we become distracted and we lose sight of our heavenly destination. Like God, Satan also has many resources. Though his resources are used to keep us from progressing because he knows, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true and only pathway to happiness. My dad shared something with me this week that really rang true to me. He said, "the world is so filled with distractions... There is so much noise. It is hard to stay focused on the light of Christ when the neon lights of the world are blazing in your face." This made me think of one of the most well-known biblical stories, which is also a personal favorite of mine :)... In the Book of Matthew, The Lord’s Apostles were in a ship that was being tossed in the middle of the sea. Jesus went to them, walking on the water. But, because they did not recognize Him, they began to cry out in fear. Then he spoke unto them, saying, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid." Peter answered the Savior and said, " Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." The Lord invited Peter to come and Peter then walked on the water to Jesus. “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid,” began to sink, and cried out, “Lord, save me." Without hesitation, Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him. When Peter had his eyes fixed upon the Savior, he stepped out of the boat and miraculously walked on the water. It wasn't until he became distracted by the wind and the waves of the sea that he became afraid and begin to sink. I have always admired Peter's faith. He had so much faith that he stepped out of his boat in the middle of the sea to walk on water out to Jesus Christ. Even after he had momentarily become distracted by the "neon lights of the world" blazing in his face, he still had enough faith to call out to the Lord and say, "save me". He had faith that the Lord would not let him sink. The Lord is incredible. He has blessed us with so much. It's such a privilege to be one of his messengers. I know Jesus Christ lives and directs His work on the earth. I have felt his power, and I recognize his hand as he works miracles in the lives of those we teach. I witness his miracles every single day. I know that as we look to the Savior and press forward on the path he has paved for us, using the resources he has given us, we will be able to press through the distractions of the world and continue to walk toward him. Though at times we may become distracted in a world full of neon lights, wind, waves, and boisterous noise, we can receive the strength to call out to our Savior so that he can extend his hand to us. This strength comes from learning and living gospel principles and choosing to follow him. I love my Savior with all my heart. I know his power and his peace are real. I feel it in my life every day. He is our Redeemer, and I know that he lives. Je témoigne au nom sacré du Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Amen. I am sorry I didnt share a bunch of goofy experiences this week, I felt impressed to share this with you all instead. I love you and can't wait to talk to you all next week <3 Je vous aime ! Avec BEAUCOUP d'amour, 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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