BONJOUR!!!!!!! My absolutely stunning family and friends inside and out. Oh YOU BEAUTIES.
HOW I loveeeee all your emails and photos this week. Just what I needed. You are all very inspired in your emails, it's incredible. SO THANK YOU. I RECEIVED a lot of emails....so I apologize beforehand if I cannot reply to them all. But I appreciate it SOOO much you don't even know. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!
Wow lots and lots of callings, they all sound incredible. They will all do amazing jobs!! Can't wait to meet all these new people. The ward is going to be different when I get home isn't it. So great new people though! It's growing!!
READY SET GO, let me tell you about the extremely fast extremely epic week I just had...
So on Monday night. We took the train into Lyon. And all the stls had dinner with sister brown. Oh it was too much fun! The place reminded me of harvester (so as you can imagine I felt right at home...first meal when I get home..) haha. Anyway... We had a really lovely discussion on how we can help our sisters and become one together. In unity. It's a little problem right now in the mission, just the unity between all the sisters. So we came up with a load of ideas. And they are going to be great!! One idea for example, sister brown has given us all little whiteboards and each morning we write "I love soeur FAGG because..." And change it everyday (obviously I do not write it for myself...but for my companion. It's so lovely waking up and just reading something good about yourself written by your companion (you can tell it was an Americans idea, because it's very cheesy. But you need cheese sometimes. It works!! Haha)
Tuesday we had the conference with president. With all the stls and the zone leaders in the mission. I learnt a lot from this conference. The spirit was very strong, and I loved being a part of it. One thing I loved was "expect miracles" .. We will have and live miracles if we ARE expecting them. I love it because it's SOOO true.
They focused a lot on simplicity of our teaching too. But I'll speak more about that later..as we presented that in Thursday..AHHH.
But president has introduced two new things into the work. There is now a brochure that's been made, and it's the pathway to the temple. It is genius. The temple is at the end, and the steps they have to take along the way are on there. At each step they sign once it's been achieved etc. it's great because for example. Recent converts, can sign the baptism part and they can see they are on the way to the temple, they are getting closer and closer. I hope that makes sense. Because it's genius.
Business contacting!!- another new tool. So when missionaries go contacting it's normally either knocking on doors or just talking to the people on the street (if there are people)... But president wants us to make sure we are contacting all areas, and business contacting is contacting the people we are missing right now. So we go into business...like bakeries and start talking normal, etc then we get onto the topic on missionaries (which is very easy) and voila. You know they will always be there, you can go back and you never know where it will lead. Also the assistants shared an experience where they went into a photo printing place and starting printing photos of temples. Haha genius!! I'm excited to do this now!!
So Thursday...dun dun dun...haha it was zone training and we presented in front of the zone. And it went really really well. I was a little nervous. But it went great! We presented on teaching simply. And emphasized how this is another language to these people, the Holy Ghost testifies of truths, as we teach clearly and simply, we give the Holy Ghost room to testify of the truths we are teaching.
"The gospel is so simple a child can grasp it." But yet we can spend a whole lifetime studying it!!
MIRACLE OF the week!!!- so two girls, aged 18 and 21! We met with them for the first time. And we became friends instantly. It was so comfortable. They both are so honest with us, they started to explain how they are expecting a big sign to know if God is there or not. They want a clear sign. But we taught on faith. And they were so excited. They are so excited to learn more and to recieve an answer to their prayers. They both have such a huge desire to know the truth and to know if God is really there. And Heavenly Father works with that desire. So it was such a miracle and I'm so excited to help them!
On Friday we had the conference with LINDA K BURTON!!! It was incredible. A moment I will never forget!! We ate lunch first and she sat right opposite (kinda pooed my pants in that moment) then got my cool. And we started speaking!! Haha. She was in London just three weeks ago, I found out she lived in New Zealand etc she was telling us stories of her travels and spiritual experiences..it was just so lovely to get to speak with her on a personal level!! We didn't have time to take pictures unfortunately!!
Also I saw ELDER HOMER. Haha it was a little strange knowing he had just been with you all just last week. As he saw my name tag. He held my hand and I said straight up "so how's my family?" Haha. He loves you all. And he just looked and me (still holding my hand...for like 2 minutes) haha..and he just said "they are so proud of you." Nearly made me cry. It's was a lovely moment. He really is a spiritual giant!
So ready to hear what I got from the conference...I can't put it all in but here we go..
- they focused a lot on BECOMING ONE through Christ. If we are not one, we are not his.
- brother burton shared an analogy. With a suit jacket. He called up an elder, small elder and took off his jacket. (Brother burton is tall and a lot bigger) and he placed his own jacket in the elder. And said this is what it is like when you recieve your call. It doesn't fit. It is too big for you. But throughout the mission, you figure out how you can fit into it. When it finally fits, we go home. And the jacket comes off (the call) but what is left? The person you became! I loved this SO MUCH. As we return from our mission the badge comes off but we still continue to do what we were doing on a mission!
-elder homer spoke about "are we fulfilling our call?" Are we doing all we can? Are we doing what we were called here to do?... It made me think a lot. It's the same with any calling in the church. Are you doing what you were called to do?...
He shared a story of missionaries getting ready at the airport to go home. All were crying. Tears of gratitude for their missions, didn't want to leave. But there was one who had different tears and it was tears of regret. He had wasted the last two years not doing what he was called to do. And they were gone. Elder homer emphasized his love for each one of us, and how he does not want anyone of us to be this elder at the end of our missions, use this precious time we have to do what we were called to do..
Sorry I'm going on. It you can tell I just loved it!!
This week I have come to fully accept that my English accent is not going to leave me...it's ok because it keeps me unique. Hahaha. We were walking along the street and a dog jumped up on me, the owner apologized and all I said was "cest pas grave" and immediately she said "your English!! What part are you from?" HAHAHA it must be so strong..,.but hey!!
So my PONDERIZING scripture last week was ether. And I've lived thinking about this verse all week, but personally I have seen my weaknesses be made strengths through Christ and through the help of my Heavenly Father. I am a witness that this is true! Any weakness can be made strong if we humble ourselves and let him lead the way!
My new scripture this week is alma 37:6. Through small and simple things are great things brought to pass!
This week we have another busy one, a lot is happening. We have district meeting on Wednesday, then on Thursday we have an exchange with our sisters, and then a finding day in Fribourg. And then a conference with president on Friday and then the ward Halloween party on Saturday and Emily's birthday of course. And voila!! Crazy!! So excited for it all though. It's going to be another great one.
So ...it's been kinda stressful and you know all the chocolate you send...it's like gone! PAHAHAHA in two weeks!!! In my defense I shared a but with members etc!! Haha but my companion is from Denmark and a tradition in her family is to do a sugar free November before christmas comes, so we start that this week. (SAVE ME) I don't know how I am going to cope, hahaha but it will be good for me! Haha
Our Amis baptism has now been moved to the 07-11-15. So in a couple of weeks because he has chosen to be BAPTISED in the lake!!!! So exciting!! It's going to be FREEZING but excited for it!!
Studies...
"If we haven't realized yet Saran is NOT and never will be the winning team" - I think we all know this. But if you don't...slap yourself found the face and wake up. Haha. Satan wants all the glory for himself, he cares nothing for us. We will loose if we stand with him.and his loss is inevitable!! We need to look at our lives in terms of eternity. And just change for the better.
We we're teaching a lot about faith this week. And we spoke to our ami about signs and receiving answers. I feel it is natural and normal these days for us to expect an angel, a voice from heaven or a visit from God for us to receive an answer. For me all the answers I have RECIEVED have been through small feelings, through the scriptures or through the words of another!
Our stake president spoke in our ward yesterday and he spoke about Christ being alone in that one moment. When he suffered for us he had to be alone in order to feel and take upon him everything. He suffered more than we can imagine, for us, individually. It causes me pain to think I caused him pain in that moment. BUT what an act of complete, unconditional love. He just loves us. He suffered ALONE so we would never have to suffer alone. He is always there. His hand is outstretched ALWAYS. And he knows how to help us, he knows how to comfort us and he knows how to lift us. I love him so much and I know that he loves me too.
I love you all. I am so thankful for you all in my life, you are my heroes. I tell you that every week but I don't think you realize it yet. Haha. Just keep being the incredible people you are!! Ok!! We can do this!! There is always a reason to be happy and always a reason to smile! So keep it up. Your amazing.
I LOVE YOUUUUUU
LOVE YOUR ONE AND ONLY...
SISTER FAGG XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
HOW I loveeeee all your emails and photos this week. Just what I needed. You are all very inspired in your emails, it's incredible. SO THANK YOU. I RECEIVED a lot of emails....so I apologize beforehand if I cannot reply to them all. But I appreciate it SOOO much you don't even know. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!
Wow lots and lots of callings, they all sound incredible. They will all do amazing jobs!! Can't wait to meet all these new people. The ward is going to be different when I get home isn't it. So great new people though! It's growing!!
READY SET GO, let me tell you about the extremely fast extremely epic week I just had...
So on Monday night. We took the train into Lyon. And all the stls had dinner with sister brown. Oh it was too much fun! The place reminded me of harvester (so as you can imagine I felt right at home...first meal when I get home..) haha. Anyway... We had a really lovely discussion on how we can help our sisters and become one together. In unity. It's a little problem right now in the mission, just the unity between all the sisters. So we came up with a load of ideas. And they are going to be great!! One idea for example, sister brown has given us all little whiteboards and each morning we write "I love soeur FAGG because..." And change it everyday (obviously I do not write it for myself...but for my companion. It's so lovely waking up and just reading something good about yourself written by your companion (you can tell it was an Americans idea, because it's very cheesy. But you need cheese sometimes. It works!! Haha)
Tuesday we had the conference with president. With all the stls and the zone leaders in the mission. I learnt a lot from this conference. The spirit was very strong, and I loved being a part of it. One thing I loved was "expect miracles" .. We will have and live miracles if we ARE expecting them. I love it because it's SOOO true.
They focused a lot on simplicity of our teaching too. But I'll speak more about that later..as we presented that in Thursday..AHHH.
But president has introduced two new things into the work. There is now a brochure that's been made, and it's the pathway to the temple. It is genius. The temple is at the end, and the steps they have to take along the way are on there. At each step they sign once it's been achieved etc. it's great because for example. Recent converts, can sign the baptism part and they can see they are on the way to the temple, they are getting closer and closer. I hope that makes sense. Because it's genius.
Business contacting!!- another new tool. So when missionaries go contacting it's normally either knocking on doors or just talking to the people on the street (if there are people)... But president wants us to make sure we are contacting all areas, and business contacting is contacting the people we are missing right now. So we go into business...like bakeries and start talking normal, etc then we get onto the topic on missionaries (which is very easy) and voila. You know they will always be there, you can go back and you never know where it will lead. Also the assistants shared an experience where they went into a photo printing place and starting printing photos of temples. Haha genius!! I'm excited to do this now!!
So Thursday...dun dun dun...haha it was zone training and we presented in front of the zone. And it went really really well. I was a little nervous. But it went great! We presented on teaching simply. And emphasized how this is another language to these people, the Holy Ghost testifies of truths, as we teach clearly and simply, we give the Holy Ghost room to testify of the truths we are teaching.
"The gospel is so simple a child can grasp it." But yet we can spend a whole lifetime studying it!!
MIRACLE OF the week!!!- so two girls, aged 18 and 21! We met with them for the first time. And we became friends instantly. It was so comfortable. They both are so honest with us, they started to explain how they are expecting a big sign to know if God is there or not. They want a clear sign. But we taught on faith. And they were so excited. They are so excited to learn more and to recieve an answer to their prayers. They both have such a huge desire to know the truth and to know if God is really there. And Heavenly Father works with that desire. So it was such a miracle and I'm so excited to help them!
On Friday we had the conference with LINDA K BURTON!!! It was incredible. A moment I will never forget!! We ate lunch first and she sat right opposite (kinda pooed my pants in that moment) then got my cool. And we started speaking!! Haha. She was in London just three weeks ago, I found out she lived in New Zealand etc she was telling us stories of her travels and spiritual experiences..it was just so lovely to get to speak with her on a personal level!! We didn't have time to take pictures unfortunately!!
Also I saw ELDER HOMER. Haha it was a little strange knowing he had just been with you all just last week. As he saw my name tag. He held my hand and I said straight up "so how's my family?" Haha. He loves you all. And he just looked and me (still holding my hand...for like 2 minutes) haha..and he just said "they are so proud of you." Nearly made me cry. It's was a lovely moment. He really is a spiritual giant!
So ready to hear what I got from the conference...I can't put it all in but here we go..
- they focused a lot on BECOMING ONE through Christ. If we are not one, we are not his.
- brother burton shared an analogy. With a suit jacket. He called up an elder, small elder and took off his jacket. (Brother burton is tall and a lot bigger) and he placed his own jacket in the elder. And said this is what it is like when you recieve your call. It doesn't fit. It is too big for you. But throughout the mission, you figure out how you can fit into it. When it finally fits, we go home. And the jacket comes off (the call) but what is left? The person you became! I loved this SO MUCH. As we return from our mission the badge comes off but we still continue to do what we were doing on a mission!
-elder homer spoke about "are we fulfilling our call?" Are we doing all we can? Are we doing what we were called here to do?... It made me think a lot. It's the same with any calling in the church. Are you doing what you were called to do?...
He shared a story of missionaries getting ready at the airport to go home. All were crying. Tears of gratitude for their missions, didn't want to leave. But there was one who had different tears and it was tears of regret. He had wasted the last two years not doing what he was called to do. And they were gone. Elder homer emphasized his love for each one of us, and how he does not want anyone of us to be this elder at the end of our missions, use this precious time we have to do what we were called to do..
Sorry I'm going on. It you can tell I just loved it!!
This week I have come to fully accept that my English accent is not going to leave me...it's ok because it keeps me unique. Hahaha. We were walking along the street and a dog jumped up on me, the owner apologized and all I said was "cest pas grave" and immediately she said "your English!! What part are you from?" HAHAHA it must be so strong..,.but hey!!
So my PONDERIZING scripture last week was ether. And I've lived thinking about this verse all week, but personally I have seen my weaknesses be made strengths through Christ and through the help of my Heavenly Father. I am a witness that this is true! Any weakness can be made strong if we humble ourselves and let him lead the way!
My new scripture this week is alma 37:6. Through small and simple things are great things brought to pass!
This week we have another busy one, a lot is happening. We have district meeting on Wednesday, then on Thursday we have an exchange with our sisters, and then a finding day in Fribourg. And then a conference with president on Friday and then the ward Halloween party on Saturday and Emily's birthday of course. And voila!! Crazy!! So excited for it all though. It's going to be another great one.
So ...it's been kinda stressful and you know all the chocolate you send...it's like gone! PAHAHAHA in two weeks!!! In my defense I shared a but with members etc!! Haha but my companion is from Denmark and a tradition in her family is to do a sugar free November before christmas comes, so we start that this week. (SAVE ME) I don't know how I am going to cope, hahaha but it will be good for me! Haha
Our Amis baptism has now been moved to the 07-11-15. So in a couple of weeks because he has chosen to be BAPTISED in the lake!!!! So exciting!! It's going to be FREEZING but excited for it!!
Studies...
"If we haven't realized yet Saran is NOT and never will be the winning team" - I think we all know this. But if you don't...slap yourself found the face and wake up. Haha. Satan wants all the glory for himself, he cares nothing for us. We will loose if we stand with him.and his loss is inevitable!! We need to look at our lives in terms of eternity. And just change for the better.
We we're teaching a lot about faith this week. And we spoke to our ami about signs and receiving answers. I feel it is natural and normal these days for us to expect an angel, a voice from heaven or a visit from God for us to receive an answer. For me all the answers I have RECIEVED have been through small feelings, through the scriptures or through the words of another!
Our stake president spoke in our ward yesterday and he spoke about Christ being alone in that one moment. When he suffered for us he had to be alone in order to feel and take upon him everything. He suffered more than we can imagine, for us, individually. It causes me pain to think I caused him pain in that moment. BUT what an act of complete, unconditional love. He just loves us. He suffered ALONE so we would never have to suffer alone. He is always there. His hand is outstretched ALWAYS. And he knows how to help us, he knows how to comfort us and he knows how to lift us. I love him so much and I know that he loves me too.
I love you all. I am so thankful for you all in my life, you are my heroes. I tell you that every week but I don't think you realize it yet. Haha. Just keep being the incredible people you are!! Ok!! We can do this!! There is always a reason to be happy and always a reason to smile! So keep it up. Your amazing.
I LOVE YOUUUUUU
LOVE YOUR ONE AND ONLY...
SISTER FAGG XXXXXXXXXXXXXX