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.

您好 (Nín hǎo)

So the subject of this email is hello in Chinese, because our adorable Chinese amie, Vivian is teaching us Chinese! i can now introduce myself and say I love you! Haha! It's so great. I love how our amies truly become such good friends to us, I am going to miss them all so much!

So this week was marvelous! 

Monday night we went with Oceane to a cute young family's house for FHE and talked about fortifying families and we had a yummy dinner, it was so much fun. i am so grateful for the members and their kindness to us, and Oceane is just the star of the ward, everyone is so supportive and loving, which she really really appreciates. 

Tuesday after District meeting we went to Belgium to be with the Family Fraikin, I absolutely ADORE them. They are such good people and they take such good care of the missionaries, and they always feed us the best Belgian foods, its to die for. 

Wednesday was really dramatic and sad because our amie, Reine got kicked out by her boyfriend because she came to our Church, so we running around and calling tons of people trying to find a solution for her and help her out, for the moment she is back with her boyfriend and they have discussed things but it is still a very delicate situation. the thing is she still wants to keep learning with us and coming to Church despite the consequences. She is so wonderful and wants so badly to do what's right and I really pray that things will get better for her. 

Thursday we visited a less active woman and her cute kids. She was baptized almost ten years ago, then moved and lost contact with the church, she ran into the Elders and asked for our number! She is so great and I cant wait for her to come back to church! we're going to start teaching her children the lessons so they can get baptized this year! 

On Friday we had a ward activity where everyone brought a dish from their home country, the Elders brought pancakes and we brought Peanut Butter cookies, because NO ONE eats peanut butter, i have no idea why. And our amie Asia who is Algerian came and brought a delicious dish that i do not know the name for at all ha but one of the members came up to her and asked for the recipe and then bam! best friends. the member, Sr Degrave invited Asia over for dinner and we've got an FHE set up with them now and I was just beaming! I love when the members make our amies feel right at home, and Asia and her daughter just had the best time and cant wait to come to church! 

I was chatting with Asia afterwards and mentioned that I would be going home next month and she was like wait what?! she said i am so disappointed! but you must be excited? i said yeah i'm excited to see my family again but i love my mission and sharing the Gospel with everyone and she said, "yeah, i can feel how much you love it. I can feel how much all of you, the missionaries, the members you love this gospel and you love God, its incredible." it was so cool! it just gave me so much happiness to know that she can feel how much this means to me and feel that from each of the members as well. 

On Saturday we finally saw our less active Martine, for about a month she stopped answering phone calls and her door, we finally started taping pictures of the temple  on her door each time we passed by in an effort to get through to her! but she answered the Saturday and i almost died i was so excited! she has been really sick apparently but will start coming back to Church soon, it was such a tender mercy that we were able to see her again. I adore her. 

Later that night we had our Valentine's Dinner together, it was so fun! We had Raclette and mug cakes with ice cream and Sr Walton made white chocolate popcorn. Soo good. I love serving with these Soeurs, they are so wonderful and I am so grateful they are in my life right now! 

On Sunday we went with our amie Anais and made crepes with our Tahitian members, Vainui and Hinerava, it was so fun, i love them all so much! Afterwards we went porting and met some wonderful people! One man said he had a hard time believing in God because of all the misery in the world and Soeur Walton just testified so strongly of a loving Father in Heaven and of hope and love and it was incredible! He gave us his name and number and we'll be seeing him later in this week! It was really cool to see that Heavenly Father truly gives us exactly what we need to say to touch the hearts of His children, i love that. 

So this week I was reading in Alma in the war chapters about the army of Helaman and when they weren't receiving any help at all and they were all alone and very scared. i loved the story because it showed how much faith they had and how willing Heavenly Father is to help us. Alma 58:9-12 it says, 

And now  the cause why they did not send more strength unto us, we knew not; therefore we were grieved and also filled with fear. Therefore we did pour out our souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, yea, and also give us strength. Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him. And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to maintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our liberty.

Sometimes I am filled with fear, especially when the future is unknown or I'm not sure how something will turn out but every time that I turn to Heavenly Father in prayer, He always "visits me with assurances" and I know that everything will be okay. I have definitely seen that when i place my trust in the Lord, somehow all things end up really well. I know that He is there and that He loves each of us and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be one of His missionaries here in France to share His love with all of His children here in France. The work isnt always easy, but it is absolutely worth it. I am so grateful for each of you, for your love and support and prayers! thank you!! i love you all so much!

avec beaucoup d'amour soeur alicia hawkes 

We built a fort!

This was our table from our Valentine's candlelight dinner! that's a raclette mission in the middle and Raisin juice at the end haha! 

Pastries? I think yes. My diet starts tomorrow.

Tournai!