Week 69 "Lasagna"

Beautiful miracles are happening with members and missionaries working together. 

So like I said last week, the Volpicelli family prayed for a missionary opportunity and received one. On Monday night, we were able to do a FHE with the Volpicellis and their friends, the "P" family from Italy. The Dad loves to cook and made the most incredible lasagna I have ever eaten. The mom is from Bolivia and actually knew the missionaries when she was younger! She read some of the Book of Mormon but then lost contact with the missionaries. The daughters name is "C". She is 9 years old and has so much faith. When "C" came to the FHE the other night, she was holding the Book of Mormon in her hands with a bright yellow homemade bookmark to mark her page. She has read 3 pages of the Book of Mormon and had brought it to school with her that day! When we invited the family to be baptized, "C" thought for a second, looked right up at us and said, oui. I am seriously so inspired by the faith of this 9-year-old girl. It is such a special experience teaching this family. Especially because the Volpicellis get to be apart of it and feel of the joy of missionary work. We are teaching the "P" family again tonight at their house! 

Second huge miracle. "L" BROUGHT his friend "A" to church yesterday with him. She is also from Italy. They both stayed all 3 hours at church yesterday PLUS the baptism after church. "A" is super open to learning more and kept saying "see you next week!" to members at church. She will be joining our lesson tonight as well with the "P" family. 

It is crazy because I didn't do anything special to have this family meet the church. God has been preparing them their whole life. And, it is the member who brought this family to church. We never know when miracles will happen. Sometimes I work hard on my mission to find new amis, and I want the results right away. But I have learned that we just need to keep being diligent with following the spirit and in God's timing, we will receive the blessings. When everything in our life seems to be falling apart, we just need to keep pushing forward. One step at a time. Because God will not leave us. We must advance forward and keep trusting in him and his perfect plan. Easier said than done. I'm still working on this. But I'm trying. And I'm learning. 

Wednesday we went to Lyon for a Thanksgiving with President Johnson. 

From the conference, I learned the mission is only the beginning of hard experiences. My life will not suddenly snap into easy mode after I finish my mission. Trials and huffing and puffing are a part of life. It is how we grow. I also loved something President Brown said in MLC. He said, "relax, and listen." He was talking about when we teach or talk to people. How we just need to relax and sincerely listen to what they are saying. The spirit will guide us. The spirit will touch the people. 

I was also able to see my BFFS, Sœur Cusick and Sœur Goold at Conference. Sœur Cusick literally waited by the door for an hour for me to arrive and then cried when she saw me. Hahahaha. I love her so much. 

Love 
Abby

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Week 68 "Happy Birthday to my Daddy"

Jason and Abby Baptism Day May 2005

Dad! Today is your birthday! November 20th! Happpyyyyyy birthdayyyy! I love you dad. I feel so blessed to have you as my daddy. Things that remind me of you.... Protein drinks, Freshly cut lawns and the smell of grass, Sunday walks, Hot tubs, Annoying animals and wandering dogs, Utah Utes and football games, Hawaii, Fall, Cool weather, Chocolate chip cookies, Carrot cake, Pollyanna and game nights, Going to bed early, and  Marathons. 

Dad, you inspire me to work hard and give me the confidence that I can do anything. You have a perspective that makes it seem like everything is going to be okay. I'm grateful for your advice you gave to me to "be present." It has carried me through these past 3 years of my life and certainly my mission. I hope you eat something unhealthy for your birthday! I love you so much daddy and can't wait to give you a big hug in a couple months. Happy birthday! 

This week we went down to Aix en Provence to pick up my legality. We went to a boulangerie for breakfast and I got a warm, flaky pain aux chocolate. I DIED! I forgot how good fresh croissants and pain aux chocolate taste. Here in Suisse, we sure do have good chocolate. But France really is where they have the boulangeries and patisseries. Oh man, I'm going to miss that when I go back to America. I also bought a Santon nativity in Aix. I have been dreaming about buying one my entire mission. So I did it! Oh it is so cute and will look so cute in my future home lol. It was also fun staying over with Soeur del Mundo. She cracks me up. She is so real and we just love laughing together. Oh... and I got my french legality! 

Manor cafe for breakfast this week.
  

So guess what? Last week we had a soirée familial with the family Volpecellis. We invited them to pray for missionary opportunities every day. So they did. Then, a couple days later, frère Volpecellis friend, "L", asked him if he could come to church with him. So yesterday, "L" and his daughter showed up for church! They are from Italy. It was such a miracle. AMAZING things happen when missionaries and members work together. So now tonight, we are teaching "L" and his family here at the church in a couple houses. Wow! This is the quote we shared with the Volpecellis: 

"Brothers and sisters, fear will be replaced with faith and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with missionary opportunities. Then, we must demonstrate our faith and watch for opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father’s children, and surely those opportunities will come. These opportunities will never require a forced or a contrived response. They will flow as a natural result of our love for our brothers and sisters. Just be positive, and those whom you speak with will feel your love. They will never forget that feeling, though the timing may not be right for them to embrace the gospel. That too may change in the future when their circumstances change."

I invite you to do that! Pray for missionary opportunities. I promise you the Lord will give them to you. And oh what joy you will feel! 

Geneva Zone for our district meetings this week.

Sometimes I am fearful. It is still scary talking to people on the mission. Even after being here for over a year. I can understand the people and communicate. That is not the problem. But it is hard! I sometimes worry more about what people think of us. Or I doubt and say, eh, they won't be interested. Or I just get scared to be vulnerable and get rejected. Choosing to have faith over fear takes a constant effort. Faith is a living thing. We have to feed it. I think it is natural for us to doubt sometimes and think of the worst possible outcome. But Christ's way is always full of light. It is always replacing fear with faith. Even if that step of faith is so small. It is hard for me at times to see the results of my efforts here as a missionary. But I know this is where God called me to serve. So I will continue to take those daily steps of faith. To the very end of my mission and for the rest of my life to come. And I know one day, it will all make sense. 

Love Soeur Jones 

Making decorations for the Holidays

This is our house in the background. We live in the basement

Top of cathedral Saint Pierres

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Week 67 "Old Ladies are the Cutest!"

I love being in Genève with Soeur Wilson!

Soeur Wilson is from Bakersfield California. She has curly hair. She likes to paint. She is a little angel that makes me dinner. SHE LIKES TO CLEAN. And fold towels like me. She was trained by my MTC companion, Soeur Goold. She is on her 9th transfer. She has really long pretty eyelashes. She is really patient and positive.

One of my favorite things to do as a missionary is visit widows in the ward. Old ladies are so cute and I just have so much compassion for them. They are so lonely and need someone to talk to. They are filled with wisdom and life experiences to share! They love their family and love to talk about them. This week we visited Soeur "G", an old widow in the ward. We read some of the Book of Mormon with her and sang hymns. Her daughter was there. She listened to the spiritual thought and was touched by the scriptures we read about Christ having compassion on the children. You could just tell she had so much love for Christ and still loves him so much. But she hasn't come to church in years because of members that offended her. That makes me sad because she has such a love for Christ but doesn't want to come back to church. 

It reminds me that we are imperfect humans. And as members, we will never be perfect members of the church. So we just need to forgive and know that even members of the church make mistakes. Because the reason we go to church is to strengthen our relationship with Christ and serve others at church! We also took Soeur "G" on a walk around her neighborhood after. We stopped by her friend "J's" house and took the two old ladies for a walk. I felt so much pure joy during that walk. Widows really need someone to listen to and love them.

Soeur Bonnamy is the new sister in the English Ward

A member named "J" did one of the most inspiring things I have ever seen on my mission this week. We went over to "J's" house to eat lunch and share a spiritual thought with her. Her family situation is difficult right now so we shared decided to share the "courage" video about Esther with her. Midway through the video she says, " Pause the video." And we were super confused. But then she says, "I need my friend to watch this video. She really needs this." And right then and there, she calls up her friend (who is her next door neighbor) and invites her over. Her friend "G" is going through some really hard trials right now because she found out she had cancer a couple years ago. As "G" sat down, "J" explained to her that this is something she has wanted to talk to her about for a very long time. She sat there with tears in her eyes telling "G" how much she loved her and how she wants to share the thing that is the most precious to her, the gospel. We started the video over. At the end, both were in tears and he spirit was so strong. I admire "J" so much. A- for having so much faith to invite her friend over. B- for acting on the prompting of the spirit the second it told her to invite her friend. THAT takes courage. Wow. It was so so inspiring to me.

Elise got baptized! She is the Elders Ami

This week was hard. Every single RDV with our amis got canceled. I felt discouraged. I felt like giving up. Sometimes, we give so much effort. We expect our efforts to have a certain result. And when they don't, it takes a lot of faith to keep going. To keep trusting that one day, we will see the results of our efforts. I had one night where I just felt so low. Like I was in a hole. And as I prayed to my Heavenly Father that night, I felt like Christ was the only thing that could give me light. The only one who could lift me up out of that deep hole. I thought of Christ during my prayer and he just gave me this feeling of hope. The next morning, I woke up feeling at peace. It was Sunday. And I just felt this feeling of a fresh start. Like a clean slate. I felt pure joy taking the sacrament and just an overwhelming feeling of love from my savior.
I also learned that most often, Heavenly Father answers our prayers through other people. Soeur Fidalgo was an answer to my prayer. On Sunday she got up and bore her testimony about how much it helps her family to have the missionaries come over. She explained how every Friday night she has the missionaries come over and eat and share a spiritual thought. And how it is always exactly what she needs to hear. That just meant so much to me because it helped me see that we are affecting so many people's lives that I don't even know. It is a miracle to be the answer to someone else's prayer.

I love this month of November. I have been trying to be more grateful this month and I am just so much happier when I remember all my blessings. I love this video: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2017-02-6300-principles-of-peace-gratitude-princeofpeace?lang=eng

Love Abby


Christine was baptised! She was our ami from Montpellier with Soeur Poissinnier.
Right after she was baptized, she requested to FaceTime in with all the old missionaries who taught her. 

Soeur Poissinnier from Montpellier was facetiming with us. 





RAIN

Drinking Hot chocolate in the cutest vintage café






Friends from Nice. Fileberton and Christinne!

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Week 66 "No One is Ever Poor by Giving"

Another transfer down. And a new transfer begins! I will be staying in Geneva! I will be receiving Soeur Wilson. Soeur Goold trained Soeur Wilson last year so this will be crazy being comps with Soeur Goold's Bleue! I am currently just waiting at the gare right now for Soeur Wilson to get in. I don't know a ton about Soeur Wilson other than her
hair is so cute and curly. And she is a great person and missionary!

This week we saw our ami "K". It was sooooo cool. She has a cousin who is a member in Texas. We were able to skype he and his little boys into the lesson. She hadn't talked to her cousin in 10 years and we were able to get in contact with him and tell him his cousin was being taught by the missionaries. So it was so cool for her to see him and they talked in Spanish together. He testified about how the gospel has blessed his family. The little boys even told how they
know the Book of Mormon is true. It really was a testimony to me that the most important missionary work we will ever do is the work within our own family.


We also saw "F" after a lonnggg time this week. She says that since she met with us, she has had a better relationship with God, has been teaching her boys to pray, and even found a job! I  looking forward to seeing her again this week.


This week I had a monumental moment. I have a goal to be more selfless. It is sooooo completely human to be selfish. To not want to share. To think "it's mine." To think of what would be best for us first rather than best for others. It's natural. It's human. But I want to be better about it. So last night about 6 other missionaries stayed at our house. No one had eaten. And the food is so expensive here in Suisse. So me being human, didn't want everyone to eat our food. But then I remembered my goal. And I saw my peanut butter in the corner....peanut butter that you never find in Europe. 
I thought and then made a decision. I told everyone they could eat my peanut butter and any food in the house they wanted. Hahaha. I know this sounds silly. But for me it was a step just a little closer to becoming more Christlike. I shared my peanut butter!

I am inspired by my Dad. He is so giving and never stingy. I am trying to be more like him. He shared with me a quote that says, "No one ever became poor by giving." So I challenge you- whoever is reading this- to give something this week. Whether it is your time, listening to someone even when you are tired, playing with your little sister when
you don't want to, letting your mom borrow your favorite shirt, giving your best friend the bigger half when you split the dessert.... just give something! You will walk away feeling like you have more! I love this season of thanksgiving. Super hard to believe I only have 12 more weeks of the mission. I'm just going to let the end sneak up on me.

Love,
Abby

Halloween

 

Winter is coming in Geneva

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