Mighty As a Lyon: POWER PONIES AND THE GOSPEL

Wow! I don't know why, but seriously every time that I start to write home I can't believe that it has already been a week! Time flies when you're having fun!

SEARCHING FOR LESS ACTIVE FAMILIES

This week, we really have made an effort to find less active families. It is hard to do when you are serving in a small town and you have to bike a ways but that's all right.

So our first attempt to find a family was made on Monday. All we had on the ward (congregation) directory was the name of a road. So, we find the road on the map and are off! We look on all of the mailboxes on the road but we couldn't find their name anywhere. So, I was a little disappointed because a member had told us how awesome this family was BUT then we found a herd of ponies and it made me feel a lot better. Ha ha ha. I didn't realize how much I missed horses until I saw all of these pitiful excuses for horses. But, in any case, I was happy.

The next day we decided to go look for another family that lives in La Force (really small ville outside of Bergerac). So we take our bikes and start off. On the map, it really didn't look that far but after biking for about 35 minutes we realized it was farther than we anticipated. We decided that we already devoted that much time to find these families that we might as well go all the way there when we come to this HUGE hill. For those of you that live in Jasper, it is like the hill going up Mount Sherman, although it was super steep, it wasn't nearly as long. Although, it was probably a good 800 meters. Gah, I peddled for as long as a could, but then gave up and started walking my bike. haha

But! We finally made it to La Force, found the first address and the member didn't live there anymore. So we pull the Branch directory out and realize that there is only one member family supposed to be here in La Force. I just started laughing because the situation was kind of ridiculous. We had ridden our bikes for like 45 minutes up this HUGE hill and there was one person that wasn't even there! But! Ca va. C'est la vie! haha

Moments like that are when you just have to laugh and keep going!

AIDER LES AUTRES

We did a lot of service this week, as usual! We first helped a woman in our ward destroy a tree in her front yard. We showed up and she told us to get rid of the tree right in front of her house. We asked her if she had any tools and she had a pair of clippers and this saw thing. Haha. So we cut all of the branches away and then just started grabbing onto to the tree and pulling as hard as we could. The end result isn't very pretty but she was happy!

We also helped a member with her iPad this week...ha ha. She needed to move all of her pictures to her computer so she had space to take MORE pictures for her trip to Algeria. Unfortunately she didn't have the right cable so we had to do it via email. It was all right though, she only had 1,408 pictures and you can only send five at a time. HA. When I was called to France I never imagined I would be helping people in this manner. Ha ha ha Too funny.

We also helped a member move this week! He is super cool. He is from Spain but he speaks English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. It was nice to help him out because we got to see other parts of our sector that we can't see without a car. This area of France is BEAUTIFUL. I will have to send some photos.

Probably the funniest thing this week we did was read scriptures with a member named Soeur Poissonier. She is older and had only been a member for about three years. Each time we go over to read scriptures with her, we ask her where she is in her reading and she randomly opens the Book of Mormon and says "Verse... blah blah blah." She also swears when she can't say the words right. It makes me laugh so hard.

WHY DO FARTS MAKE ME LAUGH?

So…if you think that after I come home that I won't think farts are funny, think again. Ha ha ha. We visited a member this week who "babysits" old people. I'm not sure how else to put it. So anyway, we are having the rendezvous and we just got done saying the closing prayer and are eating when the man that she is watching comes in and asks where the bathroom is. She says it is down the hall or whatever. We continue to talk and the man walks down the hall but I don't hear a door open or close---but I did hear quite a sound. Honestly, this man is farting so loud from the bathroom that I know that everyone heard it and just chose to ignore it but I can't do that. I wasn't raised that way... I start laughing uncontrollably and start pretending to be looking in my planner for something until I can compose myself.

And I just realized this is the second week in a row that I am writing about farts. So maybe I will stop. Ha ha!

PREPARING FOR ELDER ANDERSON

President Roney had invited us to really prepare for Elder Anderson so that we can have miracles and be spiritually prepared for his visit and message. In preparation, I have read almost all of his talks that he has given in General Conference and I thought that I would share a few things that really stuck out to me.

There are two major themes I have found in reading his talks. One is "Faith vs. Logic" and the other is "Trials are for our benefit" It has been a really interesting week of studies doing this. He has become one of my favorite apostles! A quote that really stuck with me from one of his talks was:

"Like the intense fire that transforms iron into steel, as we remain faithful during the fiery trial of our faith, we are spiritually refined and strengthened."

I have found this to be very true. I look at the trials that I experienced before my mission and because I was able to endure them with faith, they refined me in a way that has benefited me on my mission and will continue to help me throughout my life. God trusts and loves us so much, that He gives us trials that pushes us to our absolute limits because He knows we will learn principles that will build our faith, strengthen our resolve to follow the Savior, and to obey His will.

I promise you that if you are patient in your trials of faith, you will receive specific blessings sent specifically for you.

God loves us and wants us to be happy :)