Monday 27 July 2015

Guess What!

Hey guess what!!! 

My friend, whom I`ve been referring to as "Jane," got baptized last Saturday! :D I`m a little sad that I didn`t get to be there for it (since it was in Québec) but I got to hear all about it from the other missionaries that night. YAY! She`s so wonderful. I have no doubt that she`ll continue to be strong in the church. :)

Other than that, there isn`t a lot of big news this week. We went on exchanges, so I got to serve in Montréal for a day, which was fun. I also got assigned to give a talk in sacrament meeting in a couple of weeks. Oh, and we taught a LOT this week! And found three new amis! It was great!

We also met up with a less-active who recently moved back into our area. I`m super excited to work with him. In our very first lesson, he basically told us that he knew the church was true, he needed to repent, and he would come back to church the next day and maybe bring his nonmember girlfriend! (He didn`t end up coming. Something came up. But still.) Which brings me to another point this week - I`m pretty sure that if everyone who told us they would come to church yesterday had actually come to church yesterday, we would have nearly doubled our numbers in sacrament meeting.... ha ha bear in mind though that this is a small branch, and lots of families are on vacation.

Well, that`s about it! I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

Soeur Shaver

Monday 20 July 2015

An instrument in the hands of God

Hola!

We had interviews with our mission president this week. When President Patrick greeted me as Hermana Shaver, I was like, "I`m not even wearing my Spanish nametag." and he answered, "I know. I`m just letting you know that I know." ....Soooooo now I`m scared. My Spanish hasn`t exactly improved dramatically since I got to the mission field..... :P

This week was pretty interesting! Lots of rain and lightning. Lots of mosquitos. Lots of emotional breakdowns (not us - people we work with). Lots of miracles though, too. Probably the most beautiful part of being a full-time missionary is that we get a front-row seat to the Atonement of Jesus Christ working powerful and monumental changes in people`s lives. I wouldn`t trade this for anything.

Check out this cloud!

The other day we walked into a lesson with a relatively new investigator. within the first three minutes he told us, "It`s not true. I don`t believe it." We reasoned with him and he gradually softened - but it wasn`t until the member we brought with us began to testify and share her personal experiences that he really sat back and listened attentively. Bearing testimony invites the Spirit so strongly. By the time this investigator said the closing prayer, he was thanking God for putting us in his path, and saying that maybe the message we brought was the thing he`d been looking for. 

I wish I could record everything I see and hear! But I can`t... so for now, I`ll have to settle for sharing things I`m learning. One thing that struck me this week was the phrase used in the scriptures, "an instrument in the hands of God." Heavenly Father needs different tools for different tasks, and He knows which one will be the perfect fit. In the short three months that I`ve been in the field, I can already see how He has been shaping me throughout my entire life to be the instrument He needs me to be right here and right now. It`s such a huge blessing to know that He trusts me enough to let me be a part of this work!

Have a great week! :)

Soeur/Hermana/Sister Shaver

Québec with Sister Davis

Saint-Jérôme with Sister Hinkson

Our apartment in Saint-Jérôme


Monday 13 July 2015

Bienvenue à Saint-Jérome!

Bienvenue à Saint-Jérome! It`s so different from Québec! It`s a very rural area and we do a lot of driving. Rather than covering part of a big city, like my last area, we cover multiple little municipalities spread out over a large area. We could actually drive to Ottawa faster than we can get to some of our farthest members! It`s very green. I`m glad I get to spend most of summer here. :)

My new companion is Sister Hinkson. She`s great - and she`s excited about going home at the end of the transfer! Hallelujah! I was so worried I`d be killing someone who would be really upset. That would have made it really hard for me. 

The strangest thing about my new area is the living arrangement. We live with a nonmember family with two teenage boys and three cats. So, it`s basically like being home! They`re amazing. They speak Dutch, French, and English (in that order, as far as I can tell). Sometimes we come home and there`s leftover food for us. It`s wonderful!

I know I`m where I need to be right now. I haven`t even been here a week, and already I`ve had experiences that I know Heavenly Father wanted me here for. It`s such a blessing to realize that He trusts me to care for so many of His children. I love being a missionary!

Welterusten! :)

Soeur Shaver

P.S. sorry, I may not have time to get back to everyone`s emails today

Here are some pictures from my ward in Québec City just before my transfer:




Tuesday 7 July 2015

TRANSFERRED

Guess what!!!!! I`m moving!!!! The trend in this mission is that most missionaries stay in their first area 
for a long time (often 4-6 transfers) but not me!! 
After less than three months in Quebec I`m going to the St Jerome branch (still French-speaking)! 
A cat staircase and A LA CLAIRE FONTAINE! 
These are both in Old Quebec.

I`m actually switching places with a Sister in St Jerome - she`s coming here and I`m going there! 
My new companion will be one of my trainer`s past companions. 
I`m "killing" her (meaning this is her last transfer and then she`s going home).

It turns out that leaving is sad. I`m going to miss a lot of people in la paroisse de Québec. The saddest part is that I won`t be here for Jane`s baptism in a couple weeks. She came to church yesterday for the first time since investigating the church years ago and loved it! She fits right in with the ward and was participating lots in her classes. She is SO ready! She was upset when I told her I was going. :( It was really lucky though that transfer calls came the night before a fast and testimony meeting at church 
because I got to bear my testimony one last time. 
This is what it looks like when you write a talk without a computer.

But hey, other than that, some cool things happened this week! I gave my companion a haircut. First time. 
It went really well (luckily for Sister Davis ;) ).
Cutting her hair :3 

We had a zone training meeting about focusing on Christ. It was really good. 
I just love being around missionaries! 
A scripture case I made. I gave it to a less-active member whom I love.

I think that`s about it for this week... it was pretty slow. Next week I`ll be in St Jerome!!! I`m so excited!
Soeur Shaver

We're practically in Hawaii!
My mom sent chocolate and Soeur Davis' mom mailed her a coconut!

Wednesday 1 July 2015

"The word of God is beautiful."

Alrighty! So this week was pretty great!

Remember Jane? I think I talked about her last week, or the week before. Well, Sister Davis and I felt that she was ready for baptism, and we prayerfully selected a baptismal date for her - July 25th. She has been so prepared by the Lord and already knows pretty much all of the doctrine and has this super strong desire. When we went to see her this past week, she was super excited to choose a baptismal date and when she looked at her calendar, after eliminating a few choices, she decided that the absolute best day for her to be baptized would be July 25th! That`s when we told her that we had picked the same day - her face was PRICELESS! And the best part is that she recognized it was God at work in her life! Finally, after many of our investigators have expressed a desire to be baptized, one of them has actually accepted a specific date!!! :D

I gave a 10-minute talk in sacrament meeting on missionary work yesterday! In French! I am SO glad I knew French before coming out on my mission. It`s been so helpful! And my talk went really well. I lost count of how many people thanked me and told me that it touched them. Basically, the take-home message was that if you`re making excuses not to do missionary work, you don`t understand or appreciate the Atonement. It turns out that people really like bold talks. And the bishopric has called a special ward fast for missionary work in Quebec this month. YES! They`re "getting" it!!

This weekend we dropped by a new investigator and ended up staying to help her prepare to move. She`s this cute young single mom from Cameroun (Africa), and the great part is that two of her friends were there too, and one of them was really interested! He was like, "Oh, these are the mormons you told me about! Yeah, I want to learn more! Maybe I`ll come to your church soon." Awesome. Haha but then we went back the next day and our amie wasn`t there but the two guys were, plus another one of their friends (ALL from Cameroun. How?) and tried to teach a lesson but it was hard because the third friend just tried to hit on us half the time. -.-  "The word of God is beautiful."

Anyways, that`s all for this week! Love you all!

Soeur Shaver