Liege Love

Ohh. where to start. I absolutely adore Liege. I am so in love!!! Beautiful red brick and old cobblestone streets as far as the eye can see. We live right in centreville and a wonderful gauffre shop is right down the street and cathedrals are the view from our balcony. Liege is beautiful. Getting here though was quite the adventure. We took a train into Paris then I had to navigate through the metros with my suitcases and go to a different train station and went to Brussels. I waited in Brussles with a few other missionaries for a few hours and then we finally got on our train to Liege. And it was going the wrong direction!!! so then we had to get off, go back to brussels, find the right train and finally we made it to Liege. It was quite the adventure.

Our branch is so fabulous. I love them so much!! there are two branches here, so 4 missionaries for each one and the building is huge so I feel like I'm  back in the states because it's so big and there are so many people! I love them so much already I can't wait to get to know them better!

Soeur Margaret Melville is my new companion and I adore her. She is finishing her mission this month so she is a pro at this mission stuff in my eyes so I am trying to learn as much from her as I can!! She has such a gift with people. One minute they don't even want to talk with us and the next they've given us their address, two phone numbers and we have a rdv set! She is amazing. She is from Ohio and she is so kind and her french is beautiful! We live with another equipe of sisters and it seriuosly SO much fun all the time. I laugh so hard everyday and we all go running each day together and it's just great :) 

So last week I left my home of Tours. It was really difficult. I loved the people there so so much! I was talking with soeur bradley and she said that as missionaries we have pieces of our heart scattered all over France. and it is so true. but soon there will be pieces of my heart scattered in Liege as well! I can't express my gratitude and happiness for being here. Heavenly Father has blessed me so much and I am so happy to be here and meet the wonderful people of Belgium! 

I love Liege so much but for the first few days I was having a bit of a hard time and this quote kept coming back to me.

"What do you think destiny is?  A smooth path that never jostles you?  No.  When you walk in your destiny, you will crash and fall more times than you can count.  But the secret is to hold on to God's vision for your life - and for the lives of those He puts under your charge.  No matter how many times you fall, crash, and fail, you get up.  You getup and face your obstacles." 

Walking in our destiny will not be easy. It isn't supposed to be but it's through those falls and crashes that we can learn and grow and progress! Just because it is hard doesn't mean that it isn't what you're supposed to do. It's always the hardest things that are worth the most doing. I love the idea of keeping a hold on the vision God has for my life-for my mission! His plan is perfect, I just need to always continue to trust Him. He needs me here in Liege and if I do my best and stay worthy of the Spirit then it will all work out. I am so grateful He put me here Liege. I can't get over how perfect and beautiful it is. I feel like the luckiest Sister missionary ever! I am so blessed! I just hope that I can do everything that He needs me to and that I can help make this ville stronger! 

thank you all so much for your support and prayers, I really feel them everyday! I love you so much!!! 

all my love,

soeur alicia hawkes