July 7

Keep your face always to the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you

Well. I am leaving my lovely Tours. 

I am so sad to leave! I feel torn a bit. Because Tours has a piece of my heart now and it has become my home. When I first arrived here to Tours I struggled to love it and look at me now! 4 months later with tears in my eyes as I prepare to leave my home. Crazy how that happens...but deep down I know that I have down all that I could do here and now Heavenly Father needs me somewhere else. In Belgium to be exact.

I am going to the beautiful city of Liège. I am so soups excited!! I can't wait for this new adventure! I will miss Tours dearly but I know that I have done my work and now it's time to hand it to someone else to love. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be here in Tours. I have learned so much here and have felt so much love for the people and from them. Tours is absolutely beautiful and I will miss it. I will especially miss Soeur Bradley. She has taught me so many wonderful things the few weeks we have spent together. With her, life is always beautiful. Elder Maxwell said,"Brothers and sisters, this mortal experience through which we are passing is one in which beauties abound; subtleties and delicacies are all about us, waiting to be noticed. Wonders are everywhere to be seen. It is, however, the observing meek, who will contemplate the lilies of the field, will ponder the galaxies and see God moving in His majesty and power." and that is absolutely Soeur Bradley, she always pointed out all the beauties that surrounded us not only in our physical surroundings of Tours but in all the experiences that we had and all the people that we met. I loved being with her and feeling so loved all the time and enjoying the beauty of Tours, but I'm excited to see Belgium and learn more things from my new companion! 

This week we were able to meet President Babin and his wife, in Angers. I absolutely ADORE them. We were able to have a quick 5 minute interview with them as a companionship and they absolutely glowed with love for us. The formation they gave was exactly what I needed to hear. They shared with us their goals for us their new children and it was all about loving ourselves and having a strong relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. They played the song You are Loved by Josh Groban and Soeur Bradley and I were so excited because we already listened to that song every single day! I love that song and we decided that is our new mission theme song. Don't give up. You are loved. When things get hard I just need to say to myself, "I know why I am here. I am loved and I will continue." I really loved everything they told us and I felt so much love from them I felt my heart was filled to the brim. They are absolutely incredible and I am so excited to get to know them better. 

They also shared the Mormon Message from President Eyring. Choose This Day. which was from a conference talk he gave titled This Day. I studied it this morning and it was absolutely perfect. he gave two promises. 

"Hard as things seem today, they will be better in the next day if you choose to serve the Lord this day with your whole heart. Your circumstances may not be improved in all the ways which you desire. But you will have been given new strength to carry your burdens and new confidence that when your burdens become too heavy, the Lord, whom you have served, will carry what you cannot. He knows how. He prepared long ago. He suffered your infirmities and your sorrows when He was in the flesh so that He would know how to succor you. The other promise I make to you is that by choosing to serve Him this day, you will feel His love and grow to love Him more."

I felt so much hope and love as I read these promises. I have already seen them come to pass in my life and I know they will continue to do so. On Wednesday, I was struggling a lot, I was really sick and my anxiety was very high. We came home for our dinner hour and after I napped I got ready to go out porting for the night but I felt the dread and the panic building up inside. I sat down and cried with Soeur Bradley as she comforted and reassured me. We talked it out and she said a beautiful prayer and we left. That night I saw so many tender mercies from my loving Heavenly Father letting me know it would all be okay and that He was aware of me. We met some wonderful people that night and I felt the Savior near as He helped me carry the burden that had become too heavy to carry that day. I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father is aware of each of us and He knows us completely and perfectly. I know that the Savior is always there  with open arms ready to help us carry our loads each day. He suffered for us and He knows how to help us. 

Yesterday we went porting and we found a beautiful miracle. Her name is Florence and she's from Africa. We knocked on her door and asked if we could pray with her and she let us right in and twe talked about our faith in God and His Son, Jesus Christ and what that means to us. Florence is so believing and she has a rock solid testimony of her Savior and she was so impressed that two young American girls were walking around knocking on peoples doors asking to pray with them. She said, "Don't worry about anything. Christ already conquered your problems 2,000 years ago. Don't walk in your problems. Walk in victory. What you are doing is SO COURAGEOUS." She was truly an answer to our prayers and the whole time we were with her all I kept thinking was, "my life is so beautiful." only as a missionary would I have the opportunity to knock on people's doors only to find miracles and answers to prayers behind. Florence was the 4th person to let us in this week. I have no idea how many other doors we knocked on and rejected us but those four people  are the only ones that matter, they have changed my life. Each person I meet here teaches me so many new things. I feel so blessed to be a missionary. I adore my beautiful Tours and it will forever hold a special place in my heart but I am excited to go to Belgium and see many more miracles. Change is always a little scary but I know that I will always walk in victory. 

all my love, soeur alicia hawkes

My new address!! 

23 Boulevard d'Avory #71 4000 Liège Belgium