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
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