En Garde! - 13 avril 2015

Bonjour à tous!

What a splendid week. The sun shone, the temperature was beautiful, no tights, we had Zone Conference, we met our goal to teach 21 lessons, we met some amazing people and invited them to come unto Christ, and we had a blast doing it. :)

Esther, our wonderful amie
who is preparing for baptism too!
Villiers-sur-Marne, Paris

It was a week full of miracles. Soeur Tane and I decided that it was totally possible to teach 21 lessons in one week. 3 lessons a day, seems easy enough, right? Here in France that is not extremely easy to do, or so everyone says and thinks. I've never taught that many lessons in one week, nor have many companionships that I know of. Well, with a change of thought, a whole lot of prayer, and a whole lot of trying, we were able to reach that goal with a whole lot of heavenly help. I truly felt that we were directed to many of those we met and taught this week. It was SO cool to see Soeur Tane on fire and so excited to work. Of course, it was also a week full of trials and difficulties, but we both were able to learn, start over and try again.

Our 21st lesson was with a Jehovah's Witness who just Bible-bashed us, to which we loving listened, testified, and thanked her for talking with us, even though she completely drove away the spirit and left us feeling stupid. After we walked away from her, I asked if we could say a prayer to get the spirit back. It was so comforting to know that He is there for us, He loves us, and we truly are His messengers. We then sung, "Let us all press on" in French and it pumped us right back up. The words in french for the chorus are, "En garde! voici nos ennemis. Courage! Nous avons Jésus-Christ!" I love it. What beauty there is in the gospel of Christ.

Valerie, one of our progressing investigators, decided for sure that she wants to be baptized the 26 of

Valerie and her daughter Anais
Aren't they just adorable?
She's gonna get baptized! I just know it!

April. As in 2 weeks from now. Ah! So cool. There is still a lot to teach and a lot for her to understand, but I have the faith that she can do it. We taught her the Word of Wisdom on Thursday and guess what? She told us that since she met us, something told her that she needed to limit her coffee drinking, and she has! She doesn't drink or smoke, which is super rare in France. It is so amazing to see the ways the Lord has prepared her to follow Him, without her even knowing.

On Wednesday, we had an awesome 8:50pm miracle. We just had 10 minutes left until returning home for the night, and we decided we were going to teach one more person. We prayed for

Elisa, our lovely Brasilian miracle
We had a little lesson in Portuguese,
Spanish, and French.
Definitely with the gift of tongues.
Soeur Tane prayed in Spanish.
Super cool miracle.
Chelles, East Paris

just one more miracle. As we finished praying, we walked just a bit down the street to a bus stop where a lady was standing just chillin with her phone in hand. I looked at Soeur Tane and we both knew she was the one. Liaqui is her name and she is absolutely delightful. She is from China, but has been in France for a long time, so luckily she speaks French, and has visited America quite a bit for work too. We shared with her the message of Easter and the joy and happiness we can have by following Jesus Christ and His gospel. Turns out she is going to move, so we offered to help, to which she accepted, we got her info, and ah! MIRACLES!

Zone Conference was wonderful. I love conferences. It was mostly about finding new amies and how to better contact, find, and teach by the spirit. Faith over Fear was the training given by the APs and it was just what I needed. A phrase which my mom wrote to me came to my head, "what would I do if I wasn't afraid?" Reflecting on why I am sometimes hesitant to open my mouth and share the beautiful message I carry helped me to realize there is no good excuse. I then decided to have more faith and just do it. #nike The Lord is with us and we can do it!

And Zone Conference was a mini high school reunion too. Gotta love serving with Darts! It is so fun

Davis Darts Class of 2013
at Zone Conference <3
Elder Blackham, Elder Tidwell, Elder Garcia,
Elder Hedquist, Soeur Hogan, Soeur Simpson
Saint Merri, Paris

to see so many of us in the same mission.

Well, I wish you all a wonderful week. Life is good in Nogent! Just 2 more weeks until transfers. "Killing" Soeur Tane has been an adventure and I'm sure it's going to get even crazier in these final 2 weeks, but the Lord has supported me so much, and her as well. I know we can do it!

I love you! Be good. Be courageous. Just do it!

Love,
Soeur Kate Simpson