The Homecoming

Home Sweet Home 

May our lives of service always affirm that God forsakes no one

Bonjour à tous!

Wow. I cant believe how fast 18 months flies by. It feels like just yesterday I opened my mission call and here I am at my last P-day. We had a beautiful last week. We prayed with so many people on the street, I think Heavenly Father knows that is one of my favorite things as a missionary so He sent me lots of lovely people who were ready and needed it. He really answered all my prayers this week and I couldn't have asked for a more marvleous final week as His missionary! 

On Tuesday we had a lot of great plans and one by one they all fall through so we prayed to know where God needed us to be and we were able to visit one of our less actives and cheer her up quite a bit! And then we passed by a woman we had met porting a few weeks ago and she and her boyfriend let us in and we were able to teach them the Retab!! It was so cool because they are so open and ready! We shared the First Vision and asked Valerie what she thought about it and she said, "I can feel that you know it's true." YES. that is the Spirit my friend! We left them with the brochure and they promised to read it and were excited to learn more! It was such a great end to our day! 

Wednesday we went out contacting in Hellemmes and we were able to pray with THREE people! One of them, Virginie at first was pretty against us because we said we believed Jesus Christ is the Son of God and she wanted none of that so we steered the conversation more to the Plan of Salvation and we discussed God's love with her. At the end we said a prayer together and when we finished she was so, so touched. She said she had really needed some spiritual support and she knew thanks to us that God was reaching out to her again and she wants to come to church! I love when God uses us to remind His children of His love.

Thursday we went contacting in our Parc Barbieux because we got fruged. It's cool to see that everything happens for a reason. Because we didn't have that rdv we were able to meet Lea! She is an adorable French woman who is so humble and ready for the Gospel. We prayed with her too and she was so grateful. She really needed us that day and I am so glad God guided us straight to her! Later that evening we took Anais to the Famille Carpentier. I adore them and her!! It was such a wonderful evening. Anais is doing so well. She came to church again for the FOURTH time even though she had had hardly any sleep the night before. She is getting so many friends in the ward and really finding her place here. I love her so much and I will be so sad to tell her goodbye! 

I am so grateful for all the people that Heavenly Father has put into my life these past 18 months. My amies, members, less actives, recent converts and missionaries I've served around have all helped me become the person that God needs me to be. Each one of them has such a special place in my heart. Especially my companions! Each has been an answer to my prayers and I love them so much. They have all helped me so much on my journey here in France and Belgium and I could never forget them and what they have done for me. I have absolutely loved being a missionary and wearing Christ's name proudly on my chest every day. My mission means absolutely everything to me. Pieces of my heart are scattered all over Angers, Tours, Liege and V D'ascq.  I've given everything these past 18 months and God has given me so much more in return. Soeur Hosking once said, "my mission has set me free" and I completely agree with her. My mission has liberated me-giving me so many opportunities to develop a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father and with my Savior Jesus Christ. I rely on His Atonement more than I ever have before and that has allowed me to learn to love myself and others around me more. It has been so incredible to witness His love and kindness everyday, to have opportunities to share my testimony and offer a better life for others and to have so many chances to improve myself. I feel like I have found myself out here. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me such a beautiful mission that has changed and helped me so much. 

One of my favorite things I have learned as a missionary is that change is a lot more possible than I thought. My farewell talk was His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox and boy can I tell how I have learned that is true. It's been a theme throughout these months and Christ really is mighty to save. I am so weak and so flawed but the good news is: that is okay. Because of Christ's Atoning sacrifice He makes up for the imperfections in my performance and bit by bit, day by day I can progress and improve. And that is exactly why my mission has liberated me. I've learned to give myself permission to make mistakes and to let go of these idealistic dreams of being perfect all the time, every day. Heavenly Father doesn't want us to be perfect right now, He just wants us working and striving and struggling and trusting Him when He says, My Grace is sufficient for you. I know that God loves us. So much more than we could ever understand. We have a loving Father in Heaven who watches over us and wants nothing more than our happiness. I will never ever be able to thank Him enough for the past 18 months, and for all of you. For your support and prayers and love. It has meant so much to me during this year and a half. I love you all so, so much. I cant wait to see you all again! 

avec beaucoup d'amour soeur alicia hawkes 

selfies in the metro. il faut. and with canada infused tea at carrefour ha! 

French cathedrals

Parc Barbieux. This is where we come contacting when its sunny out. We spent our P-Day here walking and talking and laughing and eating pastries. I will miss these soeurs so much! 

pastries and vieux lille

Our lovely recent convert Oceane. She cried when we told her we were both leaving. (Soeur Walton is going to Liege!!! now she'll finally understand my obsession ha) Oceane told us she wants to be a missionary next year. She said she wants to be just like us because we've taught her to be strong and courageous. Made me cry. I love her so much and I am so grateful that she has been such a huge part of my life here in VDascq! I will miss her so much!! 

Judith. Our amie from Fiji. We met with her one last time Sunday night and shared The Hope of God's Light Mormon message and she was moved to tears. The Spirit really inspired us to pick that one because her journey has been really similar. I felt so much love for her during that lesson and I know that God is trying to reach out to her and He was able to do that through us! We were able to talk to her about God's love and how much He loved her personally and it was so wonderful to be able to remind her that God is there and His love is real! I love moments like that. I am so grateful we've had at least a few short weeks together with her! 

Be thou humble and the Lord shall lead thee and give thee answers to thy prayers

Can I just say how selfish missions are? really though, I feel like i have benefited the most from mission and I am so grateful for all the experiences I have here and all the wonderful things the Lord teaches me every week. We had a glorious week, full of mercy and miracles! 

So on Tuesday we were kind of having a rough day because we kept getting fruged and everyone was cancelling on us and it was FREEZING cold. But we went porting in the dark anyway and we were just praying our hardest for some miracles but were only getting doors slammed in our faces. Finally we're walking down the main road headed to the metro when I randomly decide to knock a huge house to our right, we've got nothing to lose. A lady poked her head out the window up a few flights and tells us to come back in 15 minutes. we were like uhhh okay. So we ported around the block for a bit watching the clock. Finally we ran back and she let us right in! We got to know her and her two daughters a little bit. She told us she wasn't believing at all and i thought that was interesting since she let us right in. But we began teaching the plan of salvation and i just relished the experience of sharing such a precious truth with a beautiful French family. We didn't have much time so we asked if we could come back and explain more and then she told us that she and her partner Julie don't have the same viewpoint as us but she appreciated us coming over. We were disappointed for sure but we both felt so strongly that God loved her and that we had done what He wanted us too, we reminded her that He was there watching over her. It was a beautiful miracle and I am so grateful we were able to meet her. 

Wednesday was a beautiful day!! we didn't have a single rdv set. which hasn't happened since I arrived in V D'ascq so we prayed really hard to know where the Lord needed us to be and we went contacting in our lovely Hellemmes. We walked around in the beautiful sunshine telling strangers about God's love and His plan for us. it was wonderful! But no one was really listening so I just said aloud I really want to help someone feel God's love and pray with them!! and then we turned the corner and met Lucie! God is way too good to me. We talked to her for a good twenty minutes about God's love and prayer. We didn't pray with her but we did give her a brochure and got her number and hopefully we can see her later this week! quel miracle! And then. We got on the metro to head home for lunch and we saw none other than our amie Laurence! She has cancelled all our rdvs lately so we decided to give her a break and then voila there she was! We chatted for a bit and then she said so can you come over tomorrow? haha uh yes I think we can. It was such a glorious day full of God's tender mercies! 

Thursday we met with Laurence and we gave her a Book of Mormon. She was pretty skeptical of it but we shared our testimonies of how much the Book has helped us and she was willing to read it and try for herself. Then she invited us over for lunch this week so we'll be checking up to see how she liked it, i really hope she was able to recognize the Spirit that comes from the book of Mormon and that she can realize how much it will help her in her life! Later that day we went to Lunch with the Redd's at the most lovely cafe in center of Lille. Then we bought yummy pastries and just had a wonderful time with them. They are serving in Liege right now so it was great to get all the news from the members and missionaries in my favorite place! it made me miss it so much though. But i am so grateful for the Redd's and their kindness to us! 

I'm running out of time but I wanted share a quote from President Uchtdorf that I found this week. He said, "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves but by thinking less about ourselves." I have found that being more humble has helped me overcome a lot of my weaknesses. I still have a lot to learn but Heavenly Father certainly has taught me a lot about meekness and submitting to His will. I've learned that if I just trust Him if I just let go of my pride then I am able to allow Christ's Atonement to change my heart and bit by bit i am able to let go of who I was and become who He needs to me to be  because "If we learn to be humble, look at things with a more eternal perspective, and put our trust in the Lord, all will be well." 

I love you all so much and i am so grateful for you!! avec beaucoup d'amour soeur alicia hawkes 

Statue in Croix

Cathedral in Lille

So we were contacting in Hellemmes and we found a cute little alley. 

Sometimes we take random selfies in trees.

We were walking down the road in Croix the other day talking about the people that we missed  and there was a beautiful perfect rose sitting on the wall!! so we took it home to put in our vase. It was our little miracle that day.

Fajitas!

Exchanges

 We went to Lunch with the Redd's at the most lovely cafe in center of Lille. Then we bought yummy pastries and just had a wonderful time with them. They are serving in Liege right now so it was great to get all the news from the members and missionaries in my favorite place! it made me miss it so much though. But I am so grateful for the Redd's and their kindness to us! 

"The tender mercies of the Lord are real, and do not occur by coincidence" -Elder Bednar

Bonjour à tous!! 

Today we had a miracle! i think it's Heavenly Father letting us know that He is aware and He loves us because this last week was a little rough. But it just means there are lots of miracles and happiness ahead! like today! So we were on the metro on our way over to the church to do our emails and Soeur Walton and I were just chatting away in English and the woman next to us leans over and says " you speak English?!" and thus began our friendship with adorable Judith from Fiji. She is here studying and was so excited to find fellow English speakers. She was so kind to us and congratulated us on our efforts to bring the world God's love. we were able to exchange info and we'll be seeing her later this week! it was a wonderful start to a new week! 

yesterday we were able to go with the Elders to visit a member who wasn't able to make it to church. She wanted a blessing and the Sacrament. It was such a sacred experience to watch them up close as they prepared and blessed the Sacrament and then offered it to her. They treated the ordinance with such reverence and respect that the Spirit was so strong. I was reminded of the wonderful significance and blessings given to us through the Sacrament. I am so grateful that we can receive a new beautiful blank page of a week to begin again and try to be better than before. And the best part is the Atonement has two parts! one, to cleanse us from our mistakes and then another to enable us to overcome our weaknesses little by little and do better each week. I am so grateful for the assurance that progression and change is possible! 

this week we also had exchanges. it was so fun to be with Soeur Nielsen! We were able to go with our amie Anais to a family in our ward and have a great FHE. We had pizza and they loved our American cookies. Then we had a beautiful lesson about the Sacrament and the blessings that are available. The Spirit was so strong and Anais was so excited to go to Church after that! I love her so much and I am so grateful for her in my life. I really hope that she continues to progress and one day accepts the invitation to be baptized so she can enjoy all the blessings of the Gospel!

So I was studying about gratitude...and there's a great talk by a Brother Huntington and he talks about when King Benjamin was expressing how indebted we are to Heavenly Father. Brother Huntington says, "King Benjamin also said (and I’m paraphrasing) that if we were to muster up all of the thanks and praise we could possibly give, that would still be insufficient, given the multitude of blessings we receive from God. King Benjamin was not saying, “Well, you can’t possibly thank God for what He has given you, so why even try?” On the contrary, I believe he was saying that we ought to do our very best in thanking God and rendering our heartfelt thanksgiving to Him every day of our lives."

I owe Heavenly Father so much that the only thing I can do is do my very best to live my life in thanksgiving to Him and even then it would still not be enough. But I should do everything I can so that my life is a reflection of His love. I love the quote that says, "Don't shine so that others can see you, shine so that through you others can see Him." And as President Monson says, 'gratitude unlocks the doors of heaven and we can feel God's love." When we search for Heavenly Father's tender mercies we can see so much clearer His presence in our life and as we live gratefully for all the blessings He gives to us we can become living testaments of His love. 

I can never thank Him enough for my mission, for the experiences and the people He has given me here. I just pray that I will be able to work diligently the last few weeks He has given me. I am so grateful for the changes He has helped me make and most of all I am so grateful He sacrificed His Son for me personally because I know that through Him, each day can be a new beginning and I can continue to improve and become more like Him despite my weaknesses. I am so grateful for the love He has shown me for not only myself but all those around me. God is so, so good and He loves each of us more than we could ever realize and all He wants is our happiness. I am so grateful for all the things He has taught me here in France and Belgium and I am so grateful for each of you! for your love, support and prayers, i really do feel them! thank you :) 

avec beaucoup beaucoup d'amour, 

soeur alicia hawkes 

Chocolate and Crepes

 I love these soeurs so much! we ate way too much together...haha!

Waiting for the metro

I know He loveth His Children -1 Nephi 11.17

Bonjour à tous! What a marvelous week!! 

For starters, do you remember Reine? Well we met with her again on Saturday to see how she was doing and it turns out she is making plans to move out. Glory hallelujah. keep her in your prayers please! we had planned on doing a short lesson about faith and repentance with her but she kept flipping through the brochure and asked us if we were going to teach her about baptism! She has been baptized three times and asked us if they were valid. We kindly but firmly told her that we must be baptized by someone holding the proper authority of God. She got really quiet, and Soeur Walton asked her if she wanted to get baptized by someone holding this authority and Reine looked at us and said "I want to be baptized by someone who has the power of God, so I can be clean from all my sins and my past just like you said." we were so excited. she will be getting baptized on 4th April! She has a lot to learn before then but I know that Heavenly Father is excited for her decision too so He'll help us help her for sure :) 

Also this week we had zone conference. my last one. what the what. it was so sureal to stand up and give my "dying" testimony but i was grateful for the occasion to share just a teeny tiny bit of what I've learned and how much my mission means to me. We had interviews with President and Soeur Babin and they gave me some really good advice for my last few weeks in the field. Soeur Walton and I work so hard every day trying to help our amies and others feel God's love and recognize the truth of our message. I'm trying every day to cherish every moment and enjoy living in France and speaking French and eating crepes and pastries and talking to strangers on metros and testifying of the Savior's sacrifice for everyone. It is so hard to believe that in just a few short weeks i'll be back in the States. But until then we are working hard every day! We have four really solid amies right now. Reine who has a baptismal date! We're also teaching an adorable young French girl named Anais. She was born and raised Catholic so she believes her baptism as a baby was valid but she loves learning with us and she adores all the members and coming to church. Then we have Asia, our muslim amie, she is such an honest seeker of truth but she is so fixed on logic and facts it is really hard for her to have faith. We're trying really hard to help her find a testimony of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. And then we have our lovely Vivian. She does not have any Christian background but she loves the Gospel and has really learned to believe in God and His love for her but the language barrier is a huge obstacle and she is a crazy busy student. I just really pray that this week Heavenly Father will help us know specific ways to address their concerns. We are working a lot with the members trying to get them to FHEs and integrate our amies to I think that will really help them a lot. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people. My companion, Soeur Walton has become one of my very best friends and she is the best last companion i could have asked for, she is so patient and so kind and she just loves everyone. She is so amazing and i am so grateful Heavenly Father let me finish my mission with her. The members in our ward are out of this world incredible. They are so supportive and they always make our amies feel right at home and so loved. They are so helpful and so kind to us. And our amies. i just love everyone of them! I am so grateful Heavenly Father put them in my life! 

Also. I received the best news today. Our Australian amie who moved back a few weeks ago? She emailed us today. The Elders showed up at her doorstep last week and she had a lovely long chat with them. She thanked us for making sure she wasnt forgotten and expressed how grateful she was to be able to meet with missionaries. She said 

"The work that you girls do really is incredible, I'm so proud of you all! You've helped me in so many ways by restoring my faith and belief in God, ultimately leading to a more worthwhile and wonderful life. Thank you so much!!"

Soeur Walton read her email and just started crying we were so happy. I am so excited for her to keep learning with the missionaries and Sr Walton and I intend to fly to Australia for her baptism whenever that may be! 

So yeah. i feel super blessed and super happy. It's strange to be so close to the end but this week I studied a lot about faith and I loved the scripture in Ether 12:4 that says, 

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.

Faith truly is our anchor and ties us to Christ. Faith is what keeps us going in the hard times, it is what assures us that all will be made right and that Someone much grander than us knows what's going on and He always has a plan. If we truly believe that God and Jesus Christ love us than we never have reason to panic or worry or live in the past. Faith is always pointed toward the future and we can live joyously knowing that because of Him and His sacrifice every day can be a new day and we can try again and again and again. And that. is why I believe in a loving merciful Heavenly Father because He gives me hope that even when I don't know what is going on or how I can help those around me, He does. And He will help and guide me always. I know He loves each of His children so much because I have felt it time and time again and I am so grateful that I have been able to be His instrument here in V D'ascq and I am so excited to continue working hard and seeing miracles for the next few weeks :) 

avec beaucoup d'amour soeur alicia hawkes 

Sometimes after a long day of porting and contacting in the rain and getting dropped by amies we come home put in crazy messy buns, selfie in the mirror and make crepes with suzette sauce to make the world right again.