Week 47: Sister Sunday

So this week flew by and it ended crazily because it was a sister Sunday! To work backwards, Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about the plan of salvation and then played the piano all Sunday for all the music, and then me and my colleague taught Sunday school and then we also taught relief society! We had to prepare so many lessons this week it was crazy but it was good:)

Two of our amis came to church and the best news of it all was my three kids in Poitiers got baptized!!! That made me super stocked and happy for them:)

Our other ami with a baptismal date will hopefully be baptized just before or just after Christmas if everything goes well:)

This week was Thanksgiving and we had district meetings on it! So we did a makeshift thanksgiving meal and it was great:) We may not be with our family,, families, but we still have a mission family that we got to spend time with and share what we are grateful for. 

This week we ran a lot for buses and worked at the farm, which was Sister Nikka's last time which was so sad but it was okay because we finished it off strong by catching chickens haha by ourselves which was funny but good :)

We have been all over and pretty busy but it has been overall good and this week we are planning on ending it strong! We have to make a "little" trip to Bordeaux because France and her government is slow but it will be fun, and to make up for it we worked this morning a little so we wouldn't be leaving our sector empty.

Something funny actually was today we passed by a new ami we met porting and after we were inside drinking water and eating a little cake she asked us where we met and how we know each other, she recognized us but couldn't remember! She is so cute and not too old but I think her memory is leaving a little, we met her last week but she had forgotten until we reminded her of course;) She was cute haha and she had us promise we would pass by again next week:) I don't think she would be able to remember enough to progress fully but she enjoys our little messages and prayers and that's service enough for her:) She is an adorable mamie! :)

I hope you all are having a great start to your holidays! Cant wait to hear, and see the photos all about it:)

Love,
Sister Mikayla Beatty

Week 46: We need to clean the baptismal font

So the big news of this week was one of our eternal amis has accepted a propositional baptismal date finally AND it's in two weeks! It is super duper exciting because her husband is already a member and he can baptize her and it will be starting this family on its path to being completed in the temple in one year and it's really really cool and exciting and I love them so much and it was a very cool surprise:)

It might end up being one week after the original proposed date but its all good because she and him will start this journey together to go to the temple soon:)

The other exciting news is my three kids from Poitiers should be getting baptized this week by their Dad and I cant wait, I pray everything for them goes well :) <3

Other than those exciting things this week we toured a castle, had an early Christmas celebration, and walked our butts off.

The castle was cool and because its winter and school time we were pretty much alone the entire time so we could be as goofy and silly and take as many pictures as we wanted without being judged and it was fantastic! X) we almost missed our bus to come back to the church to do emails but we ran and made it:)

At Zone conference we did silly skits and funny things because when December rolls around we will be too busy to do those silly things as we Light up the world:)

When everything from the church comes out for this Christmas, I would love you all to do the acts of service with me and all the other missionaries and people around the world, and to see what I am talking about look at LDS.org.... hint hint it might all come out this week....maybe a day after thanksgiving;) haha:) It will be so cool and
amazing and I can not wait for this Christmas season to share the joy and light that the birth of Christ has brought into my life:) I will also be reading one chapter in Luke every day since there are 24 which is perfect to lead up to Christmas if you want to join in with me on that too:) Makes it seem like we are a little bit closer together when we are doing the same things;) <3

This week has me pumped for the Holidays and remembering everything I am grateful for which is surprisingly much easier as a missionary because sometimes its even the simple things like thermostats and air conditioning and umbrellas:) to big things like Christ and his life:) enjoy thanksgiving! I am excited for mine, it will be with the zone!:D and then don't die Black Friday!:) I love you all too much!:)

Have an amazing thanksgiving week and then get ready to light up the world:)

Love,
Soeur Beatty

Week 45: Beach Monday, Snow Tuesday:)

This week was funny just because it was such a stark contrast between the one day and then the next! We weren't super ready for it but it was already there when we woke up so we live with it;) It's been cold but its okay because we were lots of layers:) and that's easy to bundle up:) we also drink lots of herbal teas and hot chocolate! 

That's basically been our week:) 

We walked all over in the rain, snow, and shine:) Trying to find people who will listen to us, we'll first stop and then two listen, it's hard and some days it's harder but it's okay because every day is filled with miracles and we can see and feel the spirit's guiding hand which is amazing as we choose were we go or get invited over to a member's house or just to see. This week we had zone training in preparation for zone conference which is tomorrow! And then afterwards we went to Geneva for an exchange with our sister training leaders, which was fun to see another city here but it was weird, because in this city you hear everything but French and English, Spanish, Italian, German, Romanian, Russian, like everything under the sun, it made contacting interesting but it was fun:) I was with Sister Rauzduel and she is great!:) 

Some funny things that happened this week was we played a game called in English "word mash" and you wear these strange things on your mouth and you have to say sentences and have everyone guess what you are saying and it's hard but really funny and interesting to say the least, hopefully the strange videos go through x) 

This week was full of miracles as well, and one was a lesson from God for us which was cool. On Wednesday this week we were trying really hard to teach and find those who are ready and things weren't working out for us. We
missed the first train so we had to wait 30 minutes for the next one and then only ended up with 25 minutes to contact and we worked hard but only one lady left her door slightly open for us and we didn't get too much out but we asked to pray, she said no and slammed the door. 

It was like an almost lesson but not really and we were sitting there trying to figure out if we were going to count it and we decided no because it wasn't a real lesson and we decided to work our faith that we would still find 20 lessons that week somehow even with none from Wednesday and it was a little stressing because with exchanges after meetings we are out of our sector for two whole days! But we didn't feel right counting that, and so we went to our family home evening and then went home and then so flash forward to after zone training and we are on the train to Geneva for our exchange, we were completely led by the spirit in hind sight which was so cool, there were four trains to choose from and we picked one but when we got there we got on the other one across the track that was already there and we walked on to the train and walked almost to the end of the car before sitting down by this little old lady. And halfway through our hour trip she got out some mints and then put them back into her bag and then without hesitating took them back out and offered us each one, we then proceeded to talk with her for the remaining thirty minutes and taught her about families and the plan of salvation and at the end I was scared to ask her but I asked her to pray and she was like BIEN SUR! 

And we prayed right there on the train! With a few people staring at us but its okay because it was so cool and she was so sweet and left with a card:) And in my mind during that lesson I heard Him say that this is the result of us not counting the half lesson and to have faith in Him.

Its hard to have faith and every week is its own struggle and trial but I am learning so much and very happy and hopefully someday soon I can see the results of all the work we have been doing:) 

This week we got invited in 3 or 4 times which is cool and I think its partly thanks to this bad weather that people are kind and this next week we are going to re-pass people with cookies to thank them and hopefully maybe one of them will become a new ami, we will see! 

I love you all and I love this work:) 

Sister Beatty

   

Week 44: I hear goats, I smell cows, I see sheep. Llama!

This week was FULL of animals and yes we found a llama farm in the middle of all the normal stuff haha which was really funny, it actually belonged to a very nice protestant pastor that ended up hearing us out and praying with us which was fun:)

We worked on a farm, had district meeting, saw crazy funny miracles, and walked our poor rain boots off!

It rained buckets and we seriously were so wet some days, nothing we were wearing was dry and it was a little crazy but fun:)

We go help out some members on their farm each week and in return they feed us and we give a little spiritual message and its really fun!:) This week I climbed onto the top of a sugar beet mound/hill/mountain and helped cover the beets up with tarps BECAUSE IT IS SUPPOSED TO SNOW!!!! There is already snow on the mountains so when we went on Saturday we started helping them get ready for winter:) It was really fun and funny and I wish I had a photo of that but we didn't have the camera, but we did get some photos with the baby cows when I spray cleaned their igloos clean with a scary water gun which my companion took a video of so hopefully it goes through! Haha:) It is fun I love them:)

At district meeting we talked about working with members and getting the work going on all levels with everyone involved and it is great and me and Sister Nikka are super excited for everything we have planned these next few weeks!:)

This week we saw some fun miracles and two I am going to share:

The first I want to share happened on Thursday, it was so funny, me and my companion, Sister Nikka laughed so hard all day just because of how it happened but so that day we missed our bus to go to our outer ville so we ended up taking two trains so we could still get to our rendez vous on time and we got there on time  to the ville and started walking to the members house, we passed house 19 and hers was 24 so we thought it would be just around the forest bend because we were hiking in the forested mountains to get to her house and we went around the bend no houses! So we walked and walked and ended up at house 52 and then were totally lost and turned 
around and knocked on the next door we saw and said we were lost and asked were to go, a little old lady answered and she was so shocked it was really funny and sweet and we were able to go our rendez vous but we were going to miss the train going home because we had been so late getting there but the members ami friend drove us to the gare and we get to the gare and we are waiting at the voie 1 like the poster says and we see a train pull up at voie 3 and we are just standing there until we realize the train at voie 3 is ours! 

So we ran down the stairs to voie 3 but when we gt there the train directly in front of us says ferme and the sign says Lausanne, Sister Nikka got on the train but I was confused staring at the signs and didn't so she got off the train and we were standing 
there trying to figure out what was wrong and going on and finally concluded calmly that this was our train and
as we turn to the train Sister Nikka just says super calmly "the train is leaving" and I was like "what do you mean?.....THE TRAIN IS LEAVING!" And we totally missed it because we couldn't get on the train x) We laughed so hard because we had even been driven to the gare but we concluded that actually the spirit stopped us from getting on the train and wouldn't let us feel the urgency of the train leaving because we needed to stay or something really bad happened on that train. But we went porting while we waited for the next train and the second door we knocked on was a miracle lesson which was really cool!

The second was we have made it a goal to knock on every door in our sector and so because of this we have the chance to run into friends of members or less actives or old amis and every one in between and that happened! On Friday we were contacting and the last door ended up being a sweet young mother and she let us in to warm up a bit and pray and at the end before we left when she looked at our card she realized it was the same church she thought it was and turned out to be a good ami of some of the members and also has already been taught a few
lessons by the missionaries but it was the elders before which is why she didn't recognize it at first. It was amazing:)

I'm loving Switzerland and everything we are able to do out here:)

Love you all! Have a great day!

Sister Beatty

Have a great week!