Continue in patience until ye are perfected

This week was so good. Being a missionary in Liege is such a huge blessing!! 

Here is our Tuesday in the words of Soeur Hosking:

TUESDAY: District Meeting! Now that Belgium is all one zone we all meet in Bruxelles for district meeting. That takes most of our day, which is a struggle, but we make it work! And it's always fun to go into Bruxelles as a district. We got to meet the 4 Elders that are in our district but a different ville, lets just say that we are going to have a lot of fun this transfer :) We have two Bleu's in our district! I'll show em the ropes ;) So on our way home Sr.Hawkes and I were chilling in the Gare awaiting our train when at the last second the Voie changes! We have to sprint across this fairly large Gare and we have 3 minutes to do it. I am proud to announce that we made it. I jumped into the train as the door was closing and I felt like I was in a spy movie. "I think we lost him, the package is safe and aboard the train. Stripling Warrior over and out" Anyway, we had a lesson and it was so cold and rainy our ami made us wait in her house until right before the bus came. Meanwhile she fed us snacks and warm herb tea :) The TV might have been playing and we might have seen that they did a study about if fist bumping, handshakes, or the kisses on the cheek they do here spread less germs... They think kissing does. Oh how I adore this place :)

it was a preeetty good day! anywho

Wednesday evening we went to walk across this really pretty bridge and contact. But, instead of us doing to contacting we got contacted. Twice. By men. (Side note: men in Europe are creepy. Well, not all of them but a good amount) The first one started talking to us and then told us as he was leaving to tell our branch presidents son hello... We were like whaaaat? We told the Elders to look for him in their phone. Then this guy stopped us on the street. We had a really good discussion about the Gospel with him! We got his number and he asked for ours (we slipped him the Elders) and he told us we could talk about it over a cup of coffee sometime. Uh, no thank you. We called Elder Jones to give him the referral and could not stop laughing because in the middle of the contact we had laughed and when he asked why we were laughing we go, "The Gospel just makes us so happy!" We told Elder Jones about this and he tells us to "Stop being so gosh dang flamboyant!" We have too much fun. THE GOSPEL JUST MAKES US SO HAPPY OKAY? 

On Saturday we went to see Patricia who recently was baptized. She had been really struggling with health problems and also with her nonmember husband. She told us all of her worries and struggles and we listened sincerely and the whole time I was praying that we would somehow be able to help her feel better and say what the Lord wanted her to hear. We shared scriptures and personal experiences and testified of the strength from the Atonement of Christ. All of the sudden she began to cry. She said over and over "oh I feel so much better, thank you so much" she explained that she finally understood why it was so important to read the scriptures! I was a tad bit suprised because that hadnt exactly been what we were talking about at the moment but it was a lesson for me that it honestly does not matter what I say. If I have the Spirit; our amies and anyone else we talk to will hear exactly what they need to. It was a huge testimony to me that this work is so much bigger than me! I just show up each day ready and willing to work and the Lord does the all the real work. Just like Bishop Stevens said in General Conference, " the miracle of the Atonement makes up for the imperfections in our performance." Because of His Atonement, my small and imperfect efforts are enough. Soeur Bradley used to always say, " God can draw straight lines with crooked sticks" I may be a crooked stick but with the grace of my Savior; it can be enough. 

Another lesson I learned from Patricia was the need to recognize negative and destructive thoughts. She had really been struggling because she was listening to the lies that Satan kept insisting were true. As she shared her worries with us, we explained that any negative thought that comes into our minds is not from God. Our loving Heavenly Father would never want us to beat ourselves up or tell us that we make too many mistakes. She seemed almost shocked to realize that her negative thoughts were from Satan and not God! Sometimes it can be so hard to make that distinction. I was thinking about that all weekend and it's something I have been trying to defeat my entire mission! I found a quote by President George Q Cannon that helped open my eyes. He says, “Whenever darkness fills our minds, we may know that we are not possessed of the Spirit of God. … When we are filled with the Spirit of God we are filled with joy, with peace, and with happiness, no matter what our circumstances may be; for it is a spirit of cheerfulness and of happiness. The Lord has given unto us the gift of the Holy Ghost. It is our privilege to have that Holy Ghost reign within us, so that from morning till night and from night till morning we shall have the joy, the light and the revelation thereof.”

I love the idea of being filled with joy and light from morning till night! That is what Heavenly Father has in store for me if I only recognize my negative thoughts and change them for empowering ones! I think that is one of the greatest barriers to my happiness, is listening to Satan's lies! Brigham Young said, "if a negative thought comes into your mind, tell it to go to Hell because that's exactly where it came from." ha love it! totes def my new way of living. 

So a few weeks ago I mentioned some less actives we had seen and how miserable they were. Well this week we went to see Laurence again and she was so much happier! We asked her what had changed and she said after we had left she began to pray daily again! Prayer is so powerful!

On Friday everyone bailed on us again but we decided to go out contacting and on a whim decided to pass by an amie, Staline who we had lost contact with. She was home and we had a killer lesson about faith and repentance. It was so cool and the Spirit was so strong! We are hoping to invite her to baptism this week! There is a reason behind all the frudges for sure! The Lord knows where we are really needed. 

Well my time is about up today but please know how much I appreciate your prayers and support! i love you all so much and I pray for you daily! 

 quote for the week: 

"The work of our missionaries is a magnificent expression of God's redeeming love." -Elder Christofferson

avec amour soeur hawkes

Christelle is one of my favorite people! she is moving to Colorado this week so we met one last time last week and had a beautiful discussion about the Book of Mormon. I am so excited for her adventure in the states! 

Verviers

                                Soo we did a pass by a little train ride away and found some lovely buildings!                                     

On the bus to FHE

What is my life.

Soeur Hosking says that phrase "what is our lives?!" all the time so I thought it was only appropriate to use as a headline. Sometimes we are just so flabbergasted by how ridiculously blessed we are we just have to shout WHAT IS OUR LIVES?! 

This week was lovely as usual. Serving with Soeur Hosking is always such an adventure. I absolutely adore her! 

On Wednesday we went back to Bruxelles for my legality and on the train ride back we might a girl from Serbia! Her name is Ana and we are basically best friends because we spent like THREE hours on a train together because it broke down halfway through our journey. we chatted with her a little bit in French right as she sat down but the conversation died and she pulled out a newspaper so Soeur Hosking and I started talking about gauffres and chocolate in English (it was lunchtime) and then Ana gets up and says in English, "will you watch my bags" and goes to the bathroom! Sr Hosking and I just stare at each other in shock then quickly go back through our conversation to make sure we didnt say anything embarrassing. When she came back we got to know each other and she is headed to Holland to study politics, so we had a few conversations about the US government and Serbia and then she asked us what we are doing in Belgium. Then we had a delightful conversation about God and His restored Church. We gave her a brochure and helped her with her bags onto her next train. It was so fun to meet her and I hope we get to see her again someday! I am sure she will meet the missionaries in Holland and get baptized! 

Later that day we went to see another amie but when we showed up she wasnt there. Her friend Mattieu opened the door and saw our tags and said that Rachel had told him all about us. So he started asking a lot of questions and we left him with a Book of Mormon and a Retab brochure. He then gave us his number to give to the Elders. Best frudge ever. 

On Thursday we saw Enza again. I absolutely adore her. She went on and on about how beautiful we are and that we are her angels. So cute. She also mentioned that when we are there her pain isnt quite as bad. The power of the Holy Ghost!! Then we talked about prayer and the love of God again. She is getting there. I never realized what an incredible blessing it is to know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and wants me to pray to Him and talk with Him. Enza is having a hard time trusting the idea that God actually loves her. I feel so blessed to have grown up with the knowledge! and so blessed to be able to help Enza realize that God is waiting for her and that He loves her more than she could comprehend. Being a missionary is the best experience. I spend all my days sharing God's love. In Belgium. With Soeur Hosking. And we eat waffles, Belgian chocolate and Frites. And we see miracles every single day!! So spoiled. 

So later we went by to see Valerie but she wasnt there. We called her and she said she was at a friend's hous. So we call Laticia to see if we can come early and she says, "Sure! I am here with Valerie(our other ami) and Joycely (a member)" I  got off the phone and we were SO confused. But, sure enough, they were all there. It was an interesting lesson. We were for sure very thrown off by it all. But hey, we got to see them all and they are all friends! So that night we went to see a less active who lives pretty far away. We are the last ones on the bus and in the middle of no where the bus driver tells us to get off. We say we are going to Vise and he just points in a direction and says "It's that way" So confused we get off and start walking. We soon find ourselves in this ghetto carnival and decided to call in back up. We call the Elders and ask them to locate us on the map and point us in the right direction. Never fear, we found a bus that took us all the way there; It was quite the adventure. But lets be real, when is it not an adventure. 

Friday we played therapist. AKA we went to visit some less actives. They have such hard lives and we try our very best every time we go to bring them a little happiness and hope. The first one we saw was Soeur Walmag, she is really old and so sweet but she has a hard time seeing the happy things in her life despite the bad. So we talked about gratitude and shared Uchtdorf's talk. She ended up listing blessing after blessing in her life and by the time we left she was all smiles. 

Later we went to see Laurence and she refused to see the good in her life and would only look at the bad. She is telling us how if she didn't have all these people who cared about her and she died alone in her house no one would know. We had tried so long to reason with her but she would not listen. Eventually she looked at Soeur Hosking and goes "What if I died here? What happens then? Huh?" Soeur Hosking responded with, "Well, then you would be with God." I laughed out loud in the lesson. Yet, somehow the woman still really likes us... Friday we were laughing so hard at everything and anything. I know that the Lord knew we would need help dealing with all those sad people so He gave us irrational joy. Heavenly Father is so great and knows just what we need!

Saturday was Samedi sports so Soeur Hosking and I pretty much battled it out on the soccer field seeing as we couldnt really touch anyone else. We left with a few bruises and my pride was a little dented. She had gotten the best of me and scored the winning goal...next week will be a different story though for sure. 

Later that night we had a Retablissment Smackdown with Christelle. She has been meeting with the missionaries forever but is still super into her church. So being as she is leaving for the states we laid it all out on the table. She was a little taken aback, but by the end she even stayed for our Branch Missionary meeting so she could ride home on the bus with us. She is a gem. Also she is moving to Colorado for a year! So she will be attending our church over there. 

Sunday was exhausting. We do splits each week so we can each attend our branches and it just wipes us out. But the Spirit is always there to give us strength! So that was our week. Full of miracles and adventures and happiness. I have learned here in Liege that happiness is a conscious choice not an automatic response. I can wake up everyday and smell the cigarette smoke and see the empty mailbox and the scary drunk men or I can wake up and go running in my favorite park and eat waffles and see miracles! haha happiness is the design of my existence. and I plan on living life to the fullest. especially my mission. Because the time is so short and so precious and I want to cherish every moment that Heavenly Father gives me. As President Uchtdorf says, 

"There will always be things to complain about—things that don’t seem to go quite right. You can spend your days feeling sad, alone, misunderstood, or unwanted. But that isn’t the journey you had hoped for, and it’s not the journey Heavenly Father sent you to take. Remember, you are truly a child of God! Yes, the road has bumps and detours and even some hazards. But don’t focus on them. Look for the happiness your Father in Heaven has prepared for you in every step of your journey. Happiness is the destination, but it’s also the path. “Peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” is what He promises. That is why He commands us to “be of good cheer”

alors. look for the happiness that Heavenly Father sent you here to have :)

love always soeur hawkes 

This week is the beginning of a new transfer and...Soeur Hosking and I will continue to be companions, covering two sectors. Which is definitely NOT what we were expecting. We have spent the last two weeks having great adventures but preparing to go back to our own sectors at the end of it and receiving two more sisters here in Liege however because so many sisters left the mission they had to shut down a lot of sister equipes including one here in Liege. So Soeur Hosking and I will continue working together over two sectors, it is a little bit crazy but we will definitely always be busy!!

Working with Soeur Hosking is soo much fun! we see so many miracles together and we are always busting up laughing and singing songs. I adore her. This week we went with the Elders to Enza's house to give her a blessing and it was such  a wonderful experience!! Elder Van Tonder gave her a beautiful blessing promising healing and hope and lots of joy to come! He talked a lot about how loved she was by our Heavenly Father and that He was aware of her situation. After receiving the blessing she said she felt a lot of peace and so much better. by the end of our rdv she said that her symptoms felt a lot better as well. Priesthood power. After the Elders left we had a beautiful discussion about God's love for each of us and what a lifeline prayer is for us personally. Enza has never really prayed and she said she would like to hope God loves her and knows her but she wasnt sure. We promised that if she prayed and asked Heavenly Father would answer her prayer. So she did. Right there with us she said a heartfelt sincere prayer and the Spirit filled the room to the brim with love. It was amazing! I love Enza so much and I love being a missionary and having these wonderful miraculous experiences all the time! 

So on Sunday Soeur Hosking did splits so that we could each be in all the meetings of our own branches, it was a little stressful but I think it worked out all right. I was sitting in our amies sunday school class when there was a knock on the door and in walked Gwen and Williams with their baby!!!!!! I was so excited but no one else in the room recognized them so I was the only one grinning ear to ear and Frere Scheurch was looking at me wondering who it was haha it was the greatest present ever to see Gwen there. All the members were so kind and friendly and now they are in love with her adorable baby. Earlier this week we had gone to see Gwen and she told us she didnt have time to read the Book of Mormon so we shared a few of our favorite scriptures and our testimonies and at the end she said you know the baby sleeps more now and if you give me a copy in English maybe I'll understand better! So I promised to bring her a copy to church and when she came the first thing she said to me is where's the book? haha so I gave her an English copy and she said that she and Williams had already read the first chapter together!!!! oh my lanta I was sooo happy!!!!! I cant wait to see them this week, we are going to invite them to baptism! 

Last Friday we went to Brussels for my legality and it was a beautiful adventure!! The legality office was actually closed. So we have to go back another day but we decided to profit since we were already there and we had time before our train back. So we hopped on the metro to go to Grand Place where the Carpet of Flowers was but...we didnt know how to get there. So we leaned over to the woman sitting next to us and asked for directions and she offered to show us the way since she was headed to that part of town anyway! Then we had a wonderful discussion about what we're doing here in Belgium and she was floored that we left our families and studies for 18 months to move to a foreign country and to teach people about God. Then we walked all the way to Grand Place chatting along the way and then she bisoued us goodbye and I forgot to ask her name. But it was so fun to meet her and as she left she said she was absolutely delighted to have met us! I love being a missionary and living in Europe to meet all these amazing people and to have incredible experiences! I am so spoiled. On Friday I saw the biggest tourist attraction of the season in Belgium and then sat at a lovely little cafe to eat a delicous belgian waffle. Also I forgot to mention that we went into a Belgian chocolate shop and bought a box or two. seriously. So spoiled. It's Soeur Hosking's favorite phrase to say in French :) 

I feel so blessed to be here and to have the opportunity to share my testimony everyday! 

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

avec amour soeur hawkes