This week has been crazy! Okay not really but still it was crazy for me trying to adjust to the schedule and being in a country where I don't understand anything! I can't even read nutrition labels on what I'm eating! ha It was soo good though. We saw SO many miracles seriously. The Lord answers prayers! It's incredible :) I love France so much, there is so much diversity here and I love it. My companion is Aubree Foster and she's from North Ogden. She is incredible! She hits her one year mark on Thursday. I love her so much, she gives wonderful advice and always points out my strengths. She is a huge blessing to me!
The people here are so great. That typical mean snobby French person doesn't exist! Until you mention God haha then they shut you down pretty quick. But for the most part they are so kind and willing to listen. The members I absolutely adore. They are soo kind to me! In Relief Society we have a mission minute where we talk about miracles we've seen and the blessings that can come from missionary work and I get up there to talk and the whole time the sisters are helping me with the right conjugations and the words I'm looking for, it is so sweet.
Church is wonderful. It is a little difficult because it is SO much French in one place at one time and tons of people try to talk to me and I just have to be patient in understanding. But I will tell you the church is the same in whatever language. Even though I don't understand the talks and lessons I still feel the Spirit so strongly. I love church so much, it is such a blessing!
So in the morning we have three hours of studies and then we usually go contacting in Centre Ville right where we live. Then we have lunch and afterwards we usually have some appointments, dinner and language study then back out for contacting and porte a porte. It's kind of exhausting but in a good way. I know I'm working hard and consecrating my time to the Lord so that makes me happy :)
As of this week we technically don't have any progressing investigators. The work is pretty slow right now. We had one with a baptismal date but she dropped us sooo last week we did a LOT of finding. And we saw so many miracles. Everytime we stopped and prayed specifically for someone with an open heart, immediately after we found someone! It was incredible. Thursday night we were in a neighborhood knocking on every single door and it was pouring rain. And of course we forgot our umbrella so we were just soaked and freezing but we kept going. We both knew there was someone! We stopped to pray. Then we turned and knocked on a door and they were accepting!!! They were in the middle of dinner but invited us to come back! It was amazing. Seriously I cannot describe to you how many miraculous things we see every single day.
We face a lot of rejection. So much. But when we find that person who is searching for the answers to their questions and their heart is open and ready I cannot contain my smile! My heart just soars and it makes all of the rejection worth it! I love it. Being a part of this work is the biggest blessing ever!
We are here to help people and being able to do that everyday is so cool. I meet so many different people every day and it's really cool to be able to uplift them in someway. We met a girl this week who just barely broke up with her boyfriend and she was just so distraught. So we talked to her and told her about prayer and then prayed with her. We'll meet with her again soon but I know that she found comfort in prayer! Prayer is an absolute blessing and I know I took it for granted before my mission. I have such a strong testimony that we can receive peace and comfort and the strength that we need through prayer. We go through so many tough things, there is a lot discouragement and sadness but when you get down on your knees and you pray with sincerity you can know with absolute surety that everything is going to be okay. That the Lord has a plan, and He is aware of your struggles and He will give you the strength to keep moving forward. I know that Heavenly Father wants to hear from us! We are His children and His is anxiously waiting to bless us if we just ask! I know when we turn to Him in prayer we are never left alone and never left unaided.
Another lady we met was Isabelle and I love her with all my heart. She is so sincere and so humble. She was so excited about the idea of prayer and we're giving her a tour of the church on Friday! I hope she comes! We get bailed on a lot. But it's okay. It just makes me sad that these people can't understand how important this gospel is and how much it will help them. It hurts my heart so much when we talk to beautiful families about the plan of salvation and they just shake their head that they're not interested and I'm just like Don't you understand? This will bring you so much happiness you can't even imagine!' This work is hard because it's our purpose to bring others to Christ and when they won't let us do that it breaks my heart. But I know that they just aren't ready yet. And someday they will be, and we are planting seeds! And there are those who are ready and waiting for us! We just have to find them. Well that basically sums up my week. Lots of contacting, lots of miracles and lots of rain :) Loovin it!
Ha as far as food goes we mostly eat cereal, sweet potatoes and chicken, and Soeur Foster makes THE best chili in the world. So it's good :) oh and lots of pastries haha we going to do better this week about eating more fruits and vegetables and less pastries hopefully It's a really good life. We take the tram and bus everywhere and get stranded and lost and have to run for the trams all the time. We get stuck in the pouring rain and we endure super stinky houses (I can't even begin to describe the smells here) We get rejected and we get laughed at. (They laugh when we tell them they're children of God. I'm like why are you laughing? It's the truth people!) But we find those who are searching for the truth. We comfort and we help families. We pray all the time and we study beacoup. And we are so happy. So happy to be a part of this work! Honestly, it's the best thing I have ever done and I am so grateful my Heavenly Father is letting me serve a mission no matter how hard it can be! I can't tell you how happy I am. Yeah it is really hard and sometimes I just want to go to bed and give up trying to understand this lady speaking in rapid French but at the end of the day it is all worth it. And everyday the French gets better! So it's absolutely wonderful :) Thank you so much for your support and your prayers! I love you all soo much!!!
Avec Amour,
Soeur Hawkes
P.S. sorry no pictures this week we literally bolted out the door running for the tram so I forgot my camera, sorryyy! I promise next week I'll have some!
and also I bought a coat here so I am toasty warm! No worries :)
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