Exchanges in Torcy with Soeur Wade!

Maria was baptized!!!!!!! It was such a great day!! She does not look super happy in her picture but I promise she was beaming the whole day she was just glowing with happiness. 

Bonjour à tous!

 

I am now in my second ville!! I am writing this email from an Internet Cafe, that is a new experience for sure...but Tours is absolutely beautiful!! I love it so much already!! It is really different than Angers but I know that Heavenly Father put me here for a specific reason so I'm really excited!

My last day in Angers on Tuesday was really great! We went porting in a neighborhood and found a new amie! Her name is Abou and she is so sweet. We knocked on her door and I explained we were missionaries here to help strengthen her faith in Christ and then asked her who was Christ was to her. She was stumped by the question and admitted she didn't know much except He was the Son of God. We talked a little more and then she let us in. The longer we stayed the more comfortable she felt, and she opened up about her testimony of prayer and expressed her desire to learn more about God and Jesus Christ. It was so cool! We prayed with her and set up another RDV! That night we went to the Family Regnier's with our amie Danielle and had an FHE. It was SO fun! We watched the Retab movie and talked about it then ate quiche and cake and played games! It was so much fun and I absolutely adore the Regnier family. It was so good for Danielle to feel the wonderful Spirit that was in that home. And now she has a baptismal date!!!! Soeur Denning set it up a few days after I leftI I am so excited for her! I was so so sad when we left but I know we will always stay in contact!! It was the perfect last day in Angers!

On Wednesday, I met Soeur Bennion at St. Merrie and we went off to catch our train. We got just a tad bit lost though and finally found the train station and we were booking it for our train with all my heavy bags and suitcases, I was running so hard and panicking because I didn't want to miss it so we were running and praying and just as soon as we hopped on the train started moving. So we started our transfer out with MIRACLES!! and it just keeps going!! We have so many amies and we are getting so many lessons it is absolutely nuts!

Tours has a branch, not a ward so we are few but strong. I love our Branch and I can't wait to help it grow and grow!! We are having a baptism this Saturday. Her name is Maria and she is from Portugal and doesn't speak any French. The last sister missionary who was here would speak portuguese with her and translate at church. Unfortunately, I don't speak any Portuguese! So our last few meetings have been interesting, it was really cool to see the Spirit work with us and even though we couldn't communicate very well we could all still feel the Spirit. We are working on finding translators so I pray all goes well this week!

The sister missionaries have only been in Tours not about 10 months now so there is a LOT of work to do. This ville is booming with people to talk to and places to see! We are seeing so many miracles everyday and although adjustments are hard I have seen Heavenly Father's hand in every day. He is helping me out so much! He has helped me out so much with the language and all of the sudden I'm not stuttering or searching for my words in lessons as much anymore. He has really blessed me to be able to help the people here! I miss Angers a lot. It was my home for so long and I loved those people with all my heart. But I know that I am supposed to be here in Tours and Heavenly Father has given me a love for these people already! And before I know it I'll be homesick for Tours instead of Angers! Soeur Bennion and I were joking and said by the end of our missions all our heart will be here in France!! It's so true though that we really give our hearts to this work as missionaries and what a blessing that is! I am so grateful to be a part of this work and I am so happy to be in Tours!

Thank you so much for your support and prayers! I love you all so much!!

avec amour soeur hawkes

                                                  I got to see my mission mama at transfers!

                     La Famille Regnier and our amie Danielle (who by the way has a baptismal date!!)

                                                                      Transfer Day!!

                                              Soeur Bennion and I safely on our train to Tours

Bonjour ma famille! 

I am being transferred!!! I'm moving to Tours!! It's about two hours East of Angers so I'm not going too far but I am leaving my bleue ville! I can't believe it. My heart hurts so much to leave everyone here and especially my companion! But I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and I am supposed to be in Tours! I know that is where He needs me and so I am really excited for this new adventure! 

This week was really really great. We saw so many miracles it was an incredible last week together! On Saturday night we decided to go visit one of our amies that lives about an hour or so from Angers. We took the bus and planned it out perfectly so we could take the bus home and be on time. Welll we didn't actually know what stop to get off we just thought we'd watch for it. We ended up getting off too early and walked about forty minutes looking for Leanelle's house. While we were walking, Soeur Denning's shoe broke, the sole came off and she ended up walking on her tights! It was so hilarious! I've added a picture of the result. We were laughing so hard at the ridiculousness of our situation. We were walking along the highway in the middle of the French countryside completely lost on a Saturday night and Soeur Denning had one shoe! But we found Leanelle's house and she told us she got home just five minutes ago and if we had come any earlier we would not have found her!! Miracles!!! Then she told us she had a really hard week and everytime she has a difficult time the missionaries show up!! So it was definitely a tender mercy that we were able to come be with her that night and she accepted a soft invite for baptism!! Heavenly Father definitely watches us over each one of us and knows our needs perfectly! 

This week I studied a lot about grace and I discovered this great quote:

"If we exercise faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ the enabling power of His Atonement strengthens us in our moment of need and His redeeming power sanctifies us as we put off the natural man. This brings hope to all especially to those who feel that recurring human weakness is beyond the Savior's willingness to help and save. In His mercy, He allows for improvement over time rather than demanding immediate perfection." -Elder Craig Cardon 

I absolutely love that and I know with all my heart that the Savior's Atonement makes up for everything. His Grace is Sufficient. It was a tender mercy that my farewell talk was on grace. That experience and the things I was able to learn while preparing for it prepared me for the challenges I have faced here in France. I know that the Savior knows me personally. He suffered for me and He knows how to comfort me. The enabling power of His Atonement has strengthened me many many times out here and I know He will continue to support me as I adjust to my new ville. I know that we can do all things through Christ who will strengthen us if we just exercise faith in Him. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of this wonderful truth and even more for the opportunity to be a missionary and to share it with everyone here! 

Thank you so much for your support and prayers. I love you all soo soo much!!!

avec amour soeur hawkes 

                                                 What remains of Soeur Denning's shoe.

  Sunday night Soeur D got a call from the Assistants! She's training! That's when we knew I was leaving and we both cried for a while. and then took pictures because we don't have enough together yet!

                                                           Angers District Transfer 3!

Bonjour à tous!

I'm coming up on the last week of the transfer. What. I can't believe it! Next Monday, I'll have the news if I'm staying or not! So if you send the package before that you could just send it to the mission home :)

This week we saw SO many miracles!! We have 5 amies!! We started this transfer with ZERO. And now we have five!! Heavenly Father really is answering our prayers and there are absolutely people who are being prepared to accept this gospel! 

On Wednesday we were contacting and everyone had rejected us. We were on our way home and we saw a woman with her three kids, I turned to Soeur Denning and I was like maybe she'll be nice to us! So we went up and talked her. She was totally interested in meeting with us. Her kids are so adorable and we gave her some brochures and our number. She has so much faith and she prays with her kids everyday. On Thursday night we went by and taught them. It was so wonderful! She has been so prepared, her questions are soo good! Her little girl told us how she knows God loves her and He listens to her pray every night. I love them so much! We are going to do an FHE with them this week! We FOUND A FAMILY!!!!!!!!! I am so beyond thrilled!!!! I can't wait to go back again! She is so incredible and I adore her kids. Her husband is in Africa right now for work but hopefully he'll be back soon to take the lessons with the rest of his family. I am so excited Heavenly Father led us to this family so that can have the same happiness and peace that I have!

Then Friday night we were waiting with the Bishop for a less-active family we were going to meet with. They never showed up so we headed to pass by some old amies, on our way we saw an old lady walking her dog, usually I'm a bit apprehensive about contacting old ladies (they can never understand my American accent and they are usually really mean to us) but I was like we need to talk to her!! So we stopped her and talked about eternal families and true happiness and she was so soo sweet and we invited her to come see the church and she was all for it! So we went back, she met the Bishop and then we introduced the Book of Mormon and taught her to pray! The Spirit was so strong and she has so much light, I love her so much! We walked her home and invited her to church! She accidentally slept in though and didn't come but we stopped by afterwards and taught her the retab. It went really well and we fixed another rdv! It was so great and the Spirit is always so strong with her! I know she has been prepared to accept our message! 

When I saw Lenaig at Church she was like Soeur Hawkes I love your mom so much! She is super super nice and so wonderful! It is so cool that you were able to talk together! How fun!! I'm glad my French is getting better! It's definitely not where I want it to be but it's definitely WAY better than it was before so I'm grateful :)

So this week was wonderful.  Full of great adventures and miracles and answered prayers! Thanks for your letters and the fun Valentine! It was so great!  Thanks you so much for all your support and prayers! I love you all so much!

avec amour soeur hawkes 

 We went to a ward activity! No one told us it was a hike. So we did it in our skirts...hah it was a grand adventure!

                                                           Angers!

 You'd think it's Spring the grass is so green here! But it rains EVERYDAY sooo that explains it I guess :) Angers is the best-the weather here is soo warm.

                              This is what we hiked up. It wasn't too bad and the view was amazing!