Let the Holy Spirit Guide

This past week was SO humid! It's all everyone seems to be talking about. We live high up in our apartment building and the air conditioning doesn’t seem to work. Sweating while we sleep … needless to say, I hardly slept at all and was dead tired all week, but we got through it! Haha, all of us just laugh about it when wake up and say, "woahhh! It feels like I’ve been hit by a bus!" It's hysterical.

As you know, lately we have been working on developing Christ-like attributes. This week, Soeur Francis and I have been focusing on Patience ... yep, the opportunities definitely presented themselves. I have never seen so many cancellations of appointments with people my entire mission! Haha, we just made the most of it and reverted to our back-up plans.

We went out to eat with my pen pal's parents ... it was so nice being able to spend time with them! They really are like my French parents out here - it is so neat knowing that Camille is back with my family and that we had the opportunity to spend some time with them. I explained to them what our missionary day was like and we were able to continue to share what the gospel of Jesus Christ means to us. It was so neat! It will be fun to see them when the kids are both back from the US and hear about their experiences! They wanted us to have a "real" French dinner experience at a nearby restaurant, and there were soo many different things on the menu. Of course, it was all in French, but they went through and explained every item to us. We ended up trying duck liver!!! It wasn't too shabby, haha. I've had worse.

Thank you for all of your prayers in behalf of our amie, AsTou! She is incredible and is so prepared! It is amazing to see how a woman with a Muslim background has come to know that Christ is her Savior. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and said she notices a difference when she doesn't read her scriptures; and she feels more at peace and happy when she does. She wants to be baptized! We fixed a date with her for August 17th!! Her son Miguel wants to be baptized when he turns 8 years old too! It is truly amazing how, with the help of the Spirit and the Lord, we are able to find, teach, and baptize in a matter of a month and a half! We are merely instruments in His hands!

We had the chance to go to Paris for Soeur Francis' legality! Soeur Wynn (my best friend from the MTC) was there too, and we had the chance to be companions for the day! It was amazing! President Poznanski gave us training and really emphasized the importance of following our promptings of the Spirit … pushing us to act. He said that "everyone can FEEL the Spirit ... but not everyone chooses to ACT on the Spirit." He promised us that we will make the most progress on our missions and in our LIVES if we do our best to follow the Spirit. It's so true! That is how we find people … when we humble ourselves and follow the Spirit, guiding us to those who are prepared. He also told us about the importance of finding and teaching FAMILIES. We never know how many generations can be effected when we share the gospel with families that will one day be sealed together in the temple.

Soeur Wynn and I were sent on a scavenger hunt in the streets of Paris. It was so incredible being able to spend that time together!!! We contacted and talked to every person with a stroller we saw (haha) in the effort to find a family to teach! At one point, Soeur Wynn was talking with a family about the church, when a stroller a few feet away began to roll by … I dashed across and began to share the gospel with that family too!!! It was INCREDIBLE! Both families said they were going to try to come to church this Sunday!

I finally got to see the EIFFEL TOWER! I had been waiting my whole life to see it! It was HUGE, and filled with tourists! It was so special being able to see it as a missionary, and I even had the chance to give a Book of Mormon away to a woman from Portugal underneath the Eiffel tower! That’s something you would never otherwise have the chance to do! She said she would read it and is super interested in learning more. It was such a wonderful day and experience to see the greatest sight in Paris! Maybe one day I'll be able to serve there!

Next Sunday the Stagno kids have their baptism!! They have made so much progress! Please keep them in your prayers!!! The two older, teenage girls had an amazing and life-changing experience at EFY last week. I know they need to be baptized and continue to stand in holy places in order to become the young women the Lord knows they can become.

For our Prep day on Monday, we had the chance to go to the Zoo in Lille! It was so much fun! The other three sisters were laughing at me because I was in such awe of the way the gray owl was spinning its neck around! I loved it! I was also able to identify the type of monkeys we saw … I guess I had too much “Planet Earth” and “Animal Planet” growing up, haha.

Thank you so much for all of your love and support. My mission has (by far) been the greatest experience of my life. It's incredible being able to teach and testify to people from countries all over the world. My perspective has completely changed and I know that the church of Jesus Christ has truly been restored. Continue to do all you can to act on the promptings of the Spirit! It is so important! I love you all and you are in my prayers!

Love,

Soeur Madeline Vance

Sweating and Searching

I can’t believe the other day I hit my 5-MONTH mark! Why is time so distorted out here? The days feel like weeks, and weeks pass right before my eyes. Soon I will have finished a third of my mission! It's just crazy to think that I will be coming home right around this time next year! Enough of the trunkiness ... haha!

What a great week! But yes, it's soooo humid here! We sit in metros stuffed with people and there's just sweat dripping down my shins. More often than not, I feel claustrophic, like I'm swimming in warm water, haha! It’s THAT sticky here. All part of the work, eh?

I tried coconut at one of our meals with the Stagno family. The father cracked it open with a screwdriver right there in front of us. I was laughing just watching his technique and he was so shocked that I had never tried it before. So naturally, they all watched me, like an animal in a zoo exhibit, as I chowed down the coconut. I wasn't much of a fan, but hey, I tried it! Luckily I won't be stranded on any islands with that as my only source of food.

Remember the young beautiful Muslim African woman (Astou) I was telling you about last week? We had a wonderful soiree familiale (Family Home Evening) with her and her sweet 7-year-old boy named Miguel at a member's home last week. We just talked about Jesus Christ and testified about how we know that God has a plan for us and that we are on the earth for a reason. That reason is that one day we will be able to return to live with God, Christ, and our families! She accidentally overslept and missed church on Sunday, but came to the baptism of our Bishop's 8-year old son after church to see how it went. During the baptism, I kept a silent prayer in my heart that she would be able to feel the spirit. Soeur Francis was playing piano, and I was leading the music as we sang, so we weren't able to sit next to her and answer any questions she might have had during the service. Afterwards, I asked her what she thought of the baptism and she said, "It was beautiful. When I saw that little boy go under the water and come back up again, I had goose bumps and felt a good burning in my heart!" I was then able to tell her that those feelings were the Spirit! She grew emotional as she listened to the testimony of our Bishop about overcoming trials with the help of our Savior.

What a neat experience! I know attending baptisms can be such a sacred experience for those who are searching to know the truth or come to better know Christ! The other day we challenged her to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and she said YES!!! We are thinking of setting a date for the beginning of August. Please keep AsTou in your prayers; that she will continue to progress.

Last night I had a really cool dream. I was on my mission here in France, and my entire family had come to visit the area I was serving in (in real life that is not allowed, haha). They all showed up for church on Sunday, and made efforts to talk with the members and thank them for their kindness towards me while I have been serving here. It was funny, because my sister, Lydia, walked up to a man with a dictionary in hand and said, "Bonjour Monsieur", and then froze … not knowing how to complete the rest of the sentence she wanted to say. She just laughed and smiled and ran off. I was busy working with the members, fixing appointments for the upcoming week and was running around trying to keep track of our amis and talking to them by answering their questions. My father went out of his way to shake the bishop's hand and asked him if there was anything he could help with. My mother was helping the young mothers with their children who were throwing tantrums. My family later accompanied me to all of the lessons that Soeur Francis and I taught, and testified in the most choppy French I have EVER heard ... but they testified with POWER. The spirit was so strong, and those we were teaching had a desire to learn more and find out for THEMSELVES if the things they were saying were true.

I know to most, this was just a silly dream, but to me it was a testimony to me that my family really is doing all they can to support me and help me with this work. They are striving to be the best examples they can be to my pen pal, Camille, while she spends these last couple weeks with them in the USA. They are also a part of all that I do, and I can feel their prayers when I need them most. I am so grateful for them and everything they do for me.

Chapter 9: (just kidding). Sorry this is so long! This past week, our mission leaders invited us, within our companionships, to "pray and fix goals that will force you to rely on the Lord and His grace." We make daily goals regarding the number of people we will teach, but usually they're safe … goals we know we can attain if we stick to the schedule we planned the night before.

Thursday night, we had plans to eat at a member's home with one of our amis, but last minute, it ended up being moved to Friday night. We were left without a plan, and decided we needed to FIND. We knew we only had a chunk of about 45 minutes to an hour before we left our apartment. So with this challenge in mind, we prayed that we would be able to give out two copies of the Book of Mormon and fix three appointments with people for next week, to come back and teach them when they had more time. We prayed that we would be able to accomplish this goal, and told Heavenly Father that we were going to do all WE could do, by talking to everyone we saw, and told Heavenly Father that we needed His help in order to reach this goal.

So, we set off for a nearby park. It's a huge, super-green and beautiful park with a lake right in the middle of it (Parc Duheron). We talked to every person that passed us on the street during the 20 minute walk there ... nothing … not interested, didn't have time, Atheist, strong practicing Islam ... you name it. We entered the park and came to a fork in the path. We stopped and said another prayer, and asked Heavenly Father to help us know which way to go. Afterwards, Soeur Francis and I looked at one another, nodded our heads and continued walking straight. Three young women in their 20’s were approaching us, so Soeur Francis stopped them, and introduced herself. She then explained how Christ had changed her life and asked them if they happened to believe in Christ as well. All at once the women said with tons of excitement, "YES!" I was taken back a bit, but even MORE so when the African woman in the middle said, "Do you have a minute? If you want, we can all go sit at that picnic table over there and discuss more about your message." Soeur Francis and I looked at each other in shock with nothing but smiles on our faces and said, "Of course!"

Their names were Lea, Patricia and Clarisse. They were all good friends and were students at a nearby university. Lea told us that she had only seen Americans in movies and asked if it was okay to get a picture with us! Haha, we then began to talk about Jesus Christ, and we ended up teaching them the first lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith! It was hilarious because Lea was so fascinated by us that she just took out her camera and was videotaping us the whole time we were teaching and have a discussion. They asked tons of questions and we gave them the two copies of the Book of Mormon that we had brought with us and set appointments with all three of them for the following week! We all clicked so well and were laughing together by the end of the night. They left, and the sun began to set on the beautiful lake. Soeur Francis and I knelt down, offering a prayer of gratitude to the Lord and for His grace; for blessing us with that tender mercy of meeting our specific goals we had fixed. I know the Lord answers our prayers, and that we will receive help if we pray sincerely and specifically!

Soeur Francis and I made the goal to focus on one Christ-like attribute a week. Last week we studied and prayed for Charity. It is incredible to see how the Lord not only blesses us with that gift of loving those around us, but also gives us opportunities to demonstrate our charity. The other night, Soeur Francis and I were riding home on the metro after a long day, when a middle-aged man sitting across from us stared at our name tags and gave me a dirty look. He then started openly ripping on us as two Christian-American young women, saying we were lost and in the wrong place. He turned to a girl who he didn’t even know next to him and kept saying the rudest things right in front of us!! He started to raise his voice and then went on to say that he was Buddhist and that there was no place for us here. I don't think my companion understood most of what he was saying, but my blood was boiling. The spirit had left and I felt defenseless. I was trying to make the decision whether to open my mouth and say something or let it go. Then the word, "charity" flooded into my mind and peace entered my heart. The girl next to him, who was about our age, turned and told him that he needed to be respectful. It was so cool! He then got off a few stops later, turned back at us and sarcastically said, "bonne soiree!" or “good night!” I smiled at him and returned the salutation. It was so neat how my troubled and defensive heart was calmed in a situation when I didn't know what to do! I know that man is a child of God, and I am so grateful for the young French girl, Justine, who stood up for us! Like it says in the scriptures, "without charity, we are nothing." I've realized that it is a commandment to pray for charity all the time!

I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. There are so many stories and experiences I wish I could share. I know I am where I am supposed to be and I am so grateful for the many people I meet every day who make me want to be better. The ward of Villeneuve D'Ascq is incredible!!! Do all you can to open your homes to the missionaries … it truly does make a difference!

To those of you preparing to serve, I recommend reading the talk "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E. Corbridge. It has changed my entire perspective and motivates me to do all I can to better these people's lives and bring them to Christ!

You are all in my prayers! If you have any specific questions, shoot me an email! Until next week! I love you all! Take care and find ways to have charity!

Love,

Soeur Madeline Vance

Faith in a Boulangerie

It's been wonderful to hear that my pen pal Camille had a great experience at EFY with my sister this last week! Aww ... EFY … I went five times! Yes, and I even thought of going one summer as a counselor. It was at EFY where my testimony of Jesus Christ was truly fortified as a young teenager (haha, I’m still a teen for another couple months!). I know the Spirit is so strong during the week at those camps and that you really should try and do all you can to allow your children to go! I can't think of a better investment. I am so grateful for my family's efforts in helping fellowship my dear friend Camille. I know our families will be friends for the rest of our lives. Thank you to so many of you who have reached out to her...I know she is being touched by your kindness and examples!

This week was a week of CONTACTING!! That means Soeur Francis and I were literally trying to talk to everyone we met … in the streets, in the metro stations, on the buses ... everywhere! Soeur Francis and I are on the same page and have the same desire to find those people here in France who are searching for the gospel in their lives and are ready to accept it. The other day in Tourcoing, in extreme northern France, Soeur Francis and I went into a nearby boulangerie to grab a sandwich after a long day in the heat. I saw a young, beautiful African woman enter the restaurant with her little boy's hand in hers. The impression came to me that I needed to talk to her. I know it was the spirit guiding me, telling me to act. When it comes to things like this, I have learned that it is my responsibility to follow the Spirit and ACT. As we left the store and began walking down the street, I encouraged my companion to go up to her and start talking with her.

We discovered that her name was AsTou. She was from Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and told us she was Muslim. At first I was confused, why did I feel prompted to talk to this woman, when we don't even have the right to teach her? (It is too dangerous for them, because if they convert to Christianity, it complicates relationships within their families back home and their lives become endangered). So we thanked her for her time anyways, and asked her if she had any Christian friends that she could give a pass-along card to with the name of our church, the church website and the address on it. She began to look at the card, and asked, "Wait, what exactly is your church?" Taken by surprise, we explained that it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a Christian church found in countries all over the world. She began to ask more and more questions. By the end of it, my face was just beaming with joy as I testified to her that I know our families can live together forever and that Christ really did restore His church on the earth today. Her little boy, Miguel, who is 7 years old, then chimed in and said, "I believe in Jesus!" It was adorable. AsTou then said that her parents were Muslim, but that her husband and son were Christian. She was never a practicing Muslim and has been searching for a way to better know Jesus Christ. We exchanged our numbers, set up an appointment to meet with her again, gave her a Book of Mormon, she began reading it, she came to church, and she felt the spirit and loved it! It seems like such a small thing to go up to someone and open your mouth, but I know that it can set off a chain reaction ... the beginning of her journey to come unto Christ! We are having a dinner and family home evening at a member’s home this week with AsTou. What an incredible opportunity to see the fruit that came from acting on that small prompting of the Spirit.

I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve. Nothing brings me greater joy than meeting these people here and sharing what I hold most dear to my heart; my testimony of this restored gospel. The Savior is becoming my best friend. I am learning that we cannot have both fear and faith in our lives! I encourage you all to read Hebrews 11 and Ether 12 to find incredible examples of people with unwavering faith.

Have a wonderful week, and find ways to replace your fear with faith!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Soeur Madeline Vance

The Miracles in LIfe

My sweet family and friends … WHAT A WEEK!!!!

I was able to see my pen pal, Camille, the day before she left for the United States this past weekend! She is at EFY with my sister and family as I write this! What an exciting experience - I know that our families will be lifelong friends.

Soeur Francis and I saw a week of miracles! Monday night, I decided to take Soeur Francis "porting", or tracting, for the first time. It had only been about an hour, but when you knock and have door after door slammed in your face as you are introducing yourself, time seems to move in slow motion. It can be a bit disheartening after a while, and after several people expressed their disinterest, I slowly grew tired and began to lose a little hope. I thought, "It's a shame that Sr. Francis has to have such a disappointing first experience with porting. Maybe next time." I felt bad that she had to end the night like this, especially since she was already struggling with the language, the transition into missionary life, and a bit of homesickness.

Then my thoughts flashed back to what I had said during my prayer in our apartment only hours earlier ... asking the Lord to specifically let us find a new ami (or a new person to teach). We both had the faith that the Lord would help us succeed. I knew we didn't have a lot of time left and we needed to be heading home soon to be on time. Sr. Francis then said, "We need to say a prayer." I agreed and she offered the prayer - asking the Lord to help us find someone. I told her to go ahead and "pick one more house ... I'll follow YOU."

As I walked behind her, it reminded me what it felt like to follow around my trainer, Sr. Evans, only a few weeks earlier. I knew I needed to start BELIEVING that we were really going to find someone. The song from the movie, The Prince of Egypt, came to mind and I quietly began to sing the song "There Can Be Miracles" quietly to myself, in an effort to boost my faith.

Sr. Francis' faith was evident in every step by the speed of her pace. You could tell she was trying to follow her promptings of the Spirit, guiding her where to go, as her head was on a swivel. It was then that I realized that I needed to have greater faith, to truly believe we would find someone. I didn't want to limit what the Lord could do with MY lack of faith! It reminded me of the scripture found in 1 Nephi 4:6 of The Book of Mormon where it says, "I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

Sr. Francis then pointed to a cute little house across the street. It was decorated with a heart wreath hanging on the door and as I peered inside the window I saw the floor covered with toys for children. "There's a family in there," I thought to myself.

We decided to go with the "Montana Way" approach - our inspired mission President has asked us to knock on doors and ask if we can leave that person with a prayer and bless their homes. We took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A man answered the door and Sr. Francis then proceeded to ask him if we could enter and pray with his family. He looked back and forth between us a few times and then said, "Hang on; let me check ... I'll be back." The man came back down the stairs after talking to his wife and said, "Vous pouvez entrer" or "you can come in!" I thought I misheard him and asked him if he was sure. He confirmed and asked us to follow him up the wooden stairs. As we did, we followed him into a little sky blue bedroom, decorated in Winnie the Pooh. It was only seconds before two little boys in pajamas trailed in behind us. The man introduced himself as Arnold and we came to find out that the two little adorable boys’ names were Lucas and Pablo. The sweet wife, Ingrid, came into the room and sat down on the bed.

As I looked around at this cute little family, it all just felt like a dream - the two little kids peered up at me; Sr. Francis and the father and mother looked at me for direction. When I asked the little boy what his name was (about 3 years old) and he didn't respond, I figured he was just too young to understand and brushed it off. The father then turned to me with concern and asked me if I would include Pablo and his language/memorization problem in my prayer. I said that I most certainly would, and asked them if there was anything else I could include. They then opened up to us and explained the other things they were struggling with, including the father's brother who was struggling with Schizophrenia and their parent's bad health. I then asked if it would be okay if we all kneeled down together for the prayer to show respect. They agreed, and as we did, the Spirit immediately flooded the room. As I began to pray, I could feel our Heavenly Father's love for this sweet little family. I blessed each of them individually and asked specifically for the Lord to bless them with the things they were struggling with in their lives. My heart burned with joy as I closed the prayer and looked into the eyes of the mother, wiping the streaming tears from her cheeks. The father's voice trembled as he thanked us, and told us that his wife prays for little Pablo every day. The Spirit was so strong and we then explained our purpose as missionaries. The little boys had to get to bed and we had to get home, but we left them with the brochure, "The Family: A Proclamation To the World" (explaining the importance of families and how we can fortify them), and invited them to read it. As we were leaving, we told them that we would love to come by another time and share more about our message. Arnold led us back down the stairs and to the door, shook our hands, thanked us again, and said, "A bientot!" or "see you soon!"

As the door closed behind us and I began to walk down the street in front of Sr. Francis, my eyes filled with tears. My emotions overcame me and I stopped in the middle of the street, putting my head in my hands and began to weep. Sr. Francis put her arm around me and gave me a huge hug. I told her it was the first time I had been let into a home, and that we had just found a young family. As we embraced, we expressed the greatness of God; blessing us with this miracle at the end of a long day. 

Heavenly Father really does love us. He tries our faith so He can bless us with miracles if we believe they will come. This was one of the greatest moments of my LIFE ... not my mission, my LIFE. Helping this young family come to know of God's love and plan for them through a simple prayer is WHY I am out here. I know that our mission president is an inspired man of God. He asks us to be obedient, follow the rules and follow his counsel because he KNOWS things like this will happen if we do!!! The Lord is preparing His people ... and He will lead us RIGHT TO THEM, if we listen to the Spirit and find them.

Last week was also the 4th of July! I LOVE YOU AMERICA,  haha! We celebrated at our district meeting by having a great meal … "breakfast for lunch" … and I made some killer scrambled ham and cheese eggs! Not the plastic powder kind they feed you in cafeterias ... but the delicious fluffy kind like my dad makes!! Everyone commented on them and seemed to really like them. Thanks papps! We also ate some American style cakes and sang a few songs like, "America the Beautiful", etc. No fireworks, but hey, it was good enough for me.

We also had a bapteme on Saturday for our amie, Sophie!!! She is an older French woman that we have been teaching since I got here in the beginning of April. She is hilarious - we get along so well and she is the one that reminds me of my aunts on my mom's side! The baptism was at 3:00pm and we asked the elders to start filling the font earlier that morning to be sure it would be ready (it usually takes a couple hours to fill). We were running late, and sprinted to the church 10 minutes before it was going to start. We went to flip the switch to turn the water off, but when we peered into the font, we saw that there was literally only 4 inches of water!!! We looked at each other in disbelief and frantically said, "What are we going to do?!?!" Luckily, we were the only ones there, but everyone would be arriving at any minute, including SOPHIE! I didn't want her to grow frustrated or annoyed and have her call off the whole thing!! We sprinted to the kitchen, grabbed the biggest buckets and bowls that we could find and started filling them with water and began to splash them into the font with hopes of filling it. Ward members began to file in and we tried to remain calm by asking them for help as we presented our little dilemma. Men in suits took off their coats, rolled up their white shirt sleeves, and got to work.

It turns out that some people working construction nearby cut a line and messed up the water pressure, so the water was barely dripping out. A couple of the men at the church grabbed vacuum hoses and hooked them up to the sink and began filling it. The water was freezing cold so we even had some people boiling pots of water on the stove. Sophie arrived and just laughed at the whole situation and was amazed by the team work of the members of the ward. Water was dripping down the hallways as we carried buckets and the ward members kept mopping and mopping. We were just LAUGHING about the whole thing! Talk about having opposition!!! It took about an hour and a half with everyone’s efforts and the baptism went through. It was a wonderful service and everyone felt the spirit super strong. Sophie even brought a non-member friend to the service named Catherine and she wants to learn more and have us teach her the lessons now too! Sophie seemed to gleam with a new light as she came up from the water. Her smile was brighter than ever and joy just seemed to burst from her laughter.

These are the moments … the times that make everything else in the entire world WORTH IT. No personal problem or trial of mine can even contend with the joy I feel when I am able to be an instrument in helping these people come unto Christ.

My brother has a little under a month left on his mission in California. I know he is tearing it up out there and I am so grateful for the example he has always been to me. My confidence to share this message comes from my faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ. The Lord keeps His promises and doesn’t allow us to be confounded before men; no matter their ideas, thoughts or beliefs. I know what I know to be true, and I could never deny it. My testimony is the thing I cherish most in my life, and no one will ever be able to diminish it by what they say.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO! I hope you are able to feel something as you read these stories and blog entries … these are experiences and miracles I witness EVERY WEEK! You can too, if you put your trust in the Lord and find ways to build your faith by serving others.

I love you all and wish for you to have a wonderful week. Please pray that Soeur Francis and I will be able to find new amis and that we will be led to those we can help and serve.

UNTIL NEXT WEEK!!!

Soeur Madeline Vance