Week 30...I'm staying Orléans

We talked to Gabi for quite a while this week. I think is general she is happy to being staying another transfer in Orléans. She's not a big fan of change. Esteban was telling me that even though it is hard, transferring is the best to start fresh, see new places and have some diversity in the mission. Hopefully when the time is right for Gabi to transfer she will be able to appreciate the change and new opportunities rather than it causing her more stress. Here is her letter this week. 

Bonjour !

We got transfer information yesterday and me and Sœur Popoca are doing another one together in Orléans!! 

So this week was great! We were able to visit a lot of members and it was so fun! I have multiple sets of grandparents in France!

We were also able to teach George about the word of wisdom. We were a little worried because he'd told us before that they drink coffee in Africa often. But when we started to talk to him about following the prophet and about how we've received revelation that we shouldn't drink coffee he completely agreed and said that it was the word of God. He is so receptive to everything we teach an its so amazing! George has been having a few struggles with his family recently so keep him in your prayers!

I hope you all have a great week!!

Love, Sœur Uboldi

Pictures !!

1: buffet last p day!

2: visiting the Javoys!

3: frère javoy crowning me queen after eating the galette de roi (it's a French holiday tradition thing)

4: dinner with the Neveus!

5: saying bye to the elders! 

A few more pictures!

Church with Mama Miriam

Orléans at night!

Last district council 

We got gaufres again!

And a few beautiful photos of Gabi

Week 29...I found Destiny!

This week we had a very short conversation with Gabi on the way to the airport. Kylie, Daisy and I were heading to California. She sounded great but in a hurry with all she had going on. I am so grateful that we have the chance to check in each week even if just for a few minutes. Here is her weekly email. 

Bonjour tout le monde !

So this week we had a lot going on with zone conference and exchanges! It was a great week!

So this week we were finally able to teach Alberto and we taught him about faith and repentance and it was a great lesson! We taught with Sœur Javoy and she really helped to explain the Book of Mormon and she bore a really powerful testimony!

We also had exchanges this week and I was able to teach Marie! We taught about how the gospel can help us through our difficult times and how we can feel the spirit. She told us she feels the most joy when we come to her house and its one of the best parts of her week. We explained it was because the spirit was there during our lessons. It was so great to teach her and then she invited us over for family night yesterday. She made a huge African meal for us and 3 other sisters in the ward. It was so fun to share a message with her and then hear all the great stories she told to all of us!

This week we were also able to visit mama Miriam and she was so happy to see us! We surprised her with cookies and she told us she felt the love of God while we were with her! She told us about her struggles and we told her the gospel would help her through and we prayed with her. It was so sad to hear all of her trials but it was amazing to see the faith that she has during it all.

And then yesterday I was able to have a cool experience on public transportation. We decided to go put finding on the tram yesterday and I've never been great at talking to people on transportation but I was really praying for help as we went out! When we got on the tram there were so many people on it and me and Sœur popoca were a pushed a little bit away from each other. So I looked around and saw a man sitting close to where I was standing but I was scared to talk to him. I kept getting the feeling that I needed to say something to him but I kept pushing the though aside. And finally it became an overwhelming feeling that I needed to talk to him and it would be ok, I wasn't alone doing this. So I opened my mouth and started talking to him. He immediately told me he didn't speak French but he spoke English so I started to talk to him in English. I told him I was a missionary for the church of Jesus christ of latter day saints and I was here to share a message of happiness. We were able to talk for a few more minutes and exchange numbers and he told me his name was destiny so I thought that was pretty great too! It was a miracle to me and reminded me of Alma 26:12 "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

I know God gave me strength because I was weak. I know he helped me then and has helped me countless times. He helped me to open my mouth when I was scared and that was such a miracle. God is used to working with imperfect people. He himself has chosen to work through the weak and the simple and he knows what we are capable of. I know God sees us and loves and I know that through him all things are possible!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Sœur Uboldi 

Pictures!

1: we got to pass by the temple!

2: singing at a refugee camp

3: ferris wheel!

4: us after family night at Maries!

5: passing by Notre Dame! 

Week 28...Loving the People!

Well, Gabi enjoyed her 1st and only France Christmas! When we talked to her she was in Paris for interviews I think she said. She had been to the Louvre and was doing some shopping so that's exciting. Here is her letter for the week

Bonjour tout le monde !!

I hope everyone had a super awesome Christmas! It was so great to be able to talk to my family and open presents with them! I love the gift of technology!!!

So this week we were able to have a temple tour with George and he loved it! He understood everything they said and he said he was excited to go one day! The temple really does make everything so much better!

This week we ate at a lot of members houses and it was awesome! I feel so loved in this ward! One day in particular was awesome because the bishop had invited us, George, and a few members over! It's was so fun to here all the members tell their conversion stories and then to hear George say how he was grateful to have met the sister missionaries! The dinner was so fun especially with our member Miriam who tells us we have to call her Mama Miriam! I love her so much and everywhere she goes she's making people smile and laugh!

And finally we saw a fun little miracle yesterday! We were looking for some addresses of people who had been found before so we could set up some rendez-vous, and we had the address for someone but we didn't have a last name. So as we were searching for a specific person but there were only last names on the doorbells so as we looked through all of them we both felt like it was the second one and we rang the doorbell and it was her! We have a rendez-vous set up next week! I love little miracles like that!

This week was so fun and full of some great experiences! I've really come to realize that Heavenly Father has placed the perfect people in my life at the perfect time. Whether it be members, amis, companions, or just the most random people. I've seen how people have helped me through so many different things and it's really fortified my testimony that God knows his children and he knows their needs. I'm so grateful for a loving Father in heaven who has given me everything I need to keep going and to progress!

I hope you all have an amazing week!

Love, Sœur Uboldi

Pictures!

1: contacting

2: dinner at the bishops

3: opening presents with my family

4: rendez vous with George

Week 27...We got stuck in the elevator

Today was so great! We got to talk to Gabi as we were getting ready for bed and she was just waking up to Christmas morning. We were "with" her as she opened her presents. What a blessing technology is that we are able to be so far away but still feel like we are together. Gabi seemed in good spirits and had a great day playing games and eating at a members home. I am so glad that someone took them in for the holiday. Here is her letter for the week. Also she hit her 6 month mark a few days ago!! And Also, I can't believe they were stuck in the elevator! That's crazy!

Bonjour tout le monde !

So I hit 6 months this week!! It's crazy to think I've been out this long! Time is really flying!

So before I jump into the Great things that happened allow me to explain our few unfortunate events! Number one: our water heater starting leaking like crazy! So we made a little ramp thing to direct it into the sink but it was still getting everywhere, so we were basically stuck inside all day without heat, but we got a lot of phone work done and the technician came the next day and we should be getting it all fixed up this week! And number 2: we were coming home on Sunday with 2 big presents and we squished 5 people into this tiny elevator! There was barely room for us to fit but we all got in and the elevator got stuck in between floors!! We were stuck there for around 30-45 minutes waiting for a technician to come and let us out! Those things happen in movies but you never expect them to happen to you! But all is well, it was a fun experience and we all laughed and now I'll be taking the stairs so I'll be losing some pastry weight! So really it could've been a blessing in disguise!

This week we had a great lesson with George! We taught him about the priesthood snd about temples! George told us he knew the power of the priesthood was real because he saw it work for him when he received a blessing when he was in pain. His pain had disappeared and it was a miracle. It didn't happen all at once but the pain went away and he told us is was because of the priesthood. He bore his testimony to us and he continued to thank Heavenly Father for everything he's done for him. I'm learning more from these people than they could ever be learning from me.

We were also able to eat at the Neveus again! And that home is so filled with the spirit! I love visiting, they treat us like their kids and they do so much for us! 

Church was one hour this week and after sacrament meeting everyone stayed in their seats and the bishop called me and Sœur popoca up to the front. We thought we'd forgotten to prepare a testimony or something so we were a little scared but when we got to the front everyone thanked us for the work we're doing and they gave us 2 Huge Christmas presents! It was so nice of the ward!

Then we had lunch at the Penvernes with George, Marvel, Alhassan, Ibrahim, and Mohommed. Sœur Penvernes a champ for feeding all of us and her family! You know it's hard to be sad about spending Christmas away from my family when it feels like I have one here! 

I've been so blessed with everyone here and I'm so grateful to be a missionary especially at this time of year! There is no better way to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world than to spread that same message of joy. That we have a Savior who died for us and because of him we can have eternal life and we can live with our families forever. This Christmas season that's the best gift I could ask for! I'll happily spend a Christmas an ocean away from my cute family so that I can tell others that I know they can be with theirs forever!

I know my Savior lives and I know he loves each of us more than we know! I hope you all have a Merry Merry Christmas!!!

Love, Sœur Uboldi 

Pictures!!

1: district council gift exchange!

2: teaching Marie

3: we took pictures by a cool bridge

4: lunch with members, recent converts, and George!

5: us being stuck in a mini elevator! 

Week 26...Grocery Shopping for our Rendez-vous

Sounds like Gabi had a wonderful week feeling a lot of love from the members. I am so grateful to these people who I do not know who are taking care of my little girl. Elder Packer arrived after a 2 hour bus ride to deliver the girls' Christmas presents from home. This couple have been a miracle in so many ways. So grateful to them. It sounds like she is having good success with her investigators or amis. What a blessing to be able to share this happiness with others. Here is her email for the week. 

Bonjour tout le monde !!

I hope everyone's had a great week full of Christmas things!

So this week we went to visit a less active member who lives pretty far away. The bus ride was about an hour and when we got there she told us all about her life and then asked us to go grocery shopping with her and her 3 year old daughter! It was a weird experience but it was fun, hopefully she'll be able to come to church soon! After that rendezvous we zoomed over (and by zoom I mean a one hour bus back and then another 20 minute bus and then walking for 15 minutes) to the Neveus house for dinner! I love this family so much! They have us over so often and they really are just amazing so it's always a good time when we get to visit them!

Then later on in the week we had a rendez-vous with Alodie ! This lesson actually went really well and she was super engaged in what we were teaching! She shared her testimony with us and told us she'd come to church! Then we had dinner at the Javoy's house. These are also some amazing members who I love so so much! They bear their testimony so often and I feel the spirit so strong in their home and they always make sure to remind us that their home is the missionaries home so we are always welcome! After dinner they walked us home in the dark which was so so nice of them!

The next day we got to visit Sœur Bonavera who is an old woman in our ward. Her health isn't very good and she lives alone. She's so so sweet and when we got their she gave us both sweaters and backpacks which was super nice! We were able to talk to her about faith and family and it was amazing! Keep her in your prayers! That night we had a ward party and it was a talent show! George came which was awesome! He kept telling us how excited he is for baptism and we are just as excited for him! He told us he new he had his family back in Africa but he knew he had a family here in France with us and the ward too. His faith and desire are such a miracle and it's been so amazing to see him grow stronger and stronger in the church everyday.

And one quick side note, George wanted to see a picture of my family and when we saw it he couldn't tell which one was me and which one was my mom! Everyone here who sees pictures always says I look just like her!

Then we had Sunday and George came And drum role please... ALODIE CAME!! we didn't see that coming but we were so so happy! Miracles!

Then yesterday we did a whole lot of finding and we were so tired but it was good for us!!

This week was great! And I really found joy in everyday! I've loved hearing the stories of all these different members and people who have all found the gospel in different ways. Their faith is so strong and its an example to me. Each person is a convert and I've lived seeing how they are continually working on their conversion like we all need to be. True conversion is doing the little things everyday. It's growing our testimonies each day and living as disciples of Christ. Their are many people who are converts or a amis or members their whole lives but all of us still have to do the same work and grow our faith. I've loved learning that, especially this week!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, Sœur Uboldi 

Pictures!!!

1: us with George after our ward talent show

2: us in a new town and we were slightly lost so we took a selfie

3: a fun bridge in Orléans

4: dinner with the Javoys! I love them so much!

5: dinner with the Neveus! We really do have the best members ever! 

Just a few more photos

1: elder packer bringing me my package! It was a Christmas miracle! I love the packers!

                            2: about ten seconds after this picture it started pouring but its OK!

                          4: finding near the cathedral

                            5: gotta love the wind! 

Week 25...Best Day Ever!!!

Well, Gabi moved to a new P-day. It works nicer for my schedule but they are all pretty sad about it because most missionaries have their P-days on Mondays so it keeps her fro being able to communicate back and forth with her mission buds. I am so excited about George! I have been praying for him as I know many other have. I love that they have found someone who is accepting to the gospel and finding the happiness that can come only from Christ. It looks like France is a beautiful place to be at Christmas. I am excited for her to be there and celebrate this wonderful time of year actually preaching daily of Christ. 

Here is Gabis weekly email. 

Bonjour tout le monde !

So my p day is now Tuesday! I think I forgot to say that but now everyone knows so it's ok!

This week we did lots of finding and had a couple lessons. It was good! Our mission also got trained on online proselyting so if I'm blowing up your Facebook that would be why!

So this week I also had one of the best days/moments of my life! This week the elders in my district had a baptism at our church so we invited George to come with us. The baptism was amazing and you could really feel the spirit and I could tell George was too. So after the baptism ended we sat down with George and asked him how he felt and he said he felt the spirit and he knew all of this was true. As he bore his testimony to us the spirit filled the room. We felt prompted to share Mosiah 18:8-10 with him and we told him we knew he had strong enough faith to be baptized and asked if he had the desire to be baptized. He told us he did and we were able to set a baptismal date for January. We were so beyond happy for him. He has such strong faith and after we set a date he continued to tell us a lot of struggles he's going through but he told us he felt something different when he met with us. He felt something here and he knew it was true. It was such a testimony to me to see someone who's going through such hard things to come unto Christ and be strengthened in him. I know without a doubt that this gospel is the only way to true happiness. I've seen it in George and I've seen it in myself. God blesses us not by taking away our trials but by giving us what we need to endure to the end and to endure with joy.

I'm so grateful that I have this gospel in my life and I'm so grateful that I get to share it with others and that I get to see how it can change lives for the better!

I hope you all have a great week! Go make someone smile!!!

Love, Sœur Uboldi 

Pictures!!!

1: venez et voyez (come and see) invitations!

2: gaufres

3&4: Christmas time in Orléans is BEAUTIFUL

5: and we got to go to Chartres for district p day so that was a blast! 

Week 24...Miracles aren't always immediate

I love Gabi's letter this week. It starts off kind of rough, which made the Sunday so much more sweet after going through the difficult week. Isn't that how life is? We don't really recognize how good something is until we have been without it. I am so glad Gabi is learning these important life lessons at an early age. She is seeing that opposition makes the joys and positive so much sweeter. Well she has another 6 weeks with Soeur Popoca so she is excited about that! I love how they created their own little Thanksgiving feast together and ate snails!!! Who are you and what have you done with my daughter???!?

Bonjour tout le monde !

So I'm going to start off with an update! My p day will be on Tuesday from now on so that'll be different! 

This week we had a lot of days full of finding. And after days and days we still hadn't found anyone interested. And then we got to Saturday. And Saturday can be described as a series of unfortunate events. First of all the trams and buses weren't working in the direction we needed to go for our rendez-vous and then once we got on one that was working we were late. Then we get off at the wrong stop and then we had the wrong address and so we were basically running around like crazy. Then after all our setbacks we got to our rendez-vous about 45 minutes late and it was a rough lesson and things weren't clicking. Then our next rendez-vous got canceled. So it was a hard day that had followed a hard week but we prayed to be able to keep going so we went out that night and went finding and sadly we didn't find anyone interested. 

Then we had yesterday. No one had confirmed that they'd come to church but 3 of our amis came! And it was amazing! Marie came and she brought a notebook for notes! Alberto came and told us he wanted to have another rendez-vous soon and that he was sorry he'd been so busy and then he talked to all the members and made friends! And George came even with his hurt leg and he was able to sit through the whole entire 2 hours without pain and then he said he wanted to meet with us on Saturday! 

This week had a lot of setbacks but it made all those miracles on Sunday so much better! Heavenly Father sees our efforts and he knows how much we can take and he knows how to help us. I prayed for miracles on Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and all week long but I didn't see them until Sunday. I love the quote from Elder Anderson that says "Miracles are not always so immediate. At times we thoughtfully wonder why the miracle we have so earnestly prayed for does not happen here and now. But as we trust in the Savior, promised miracles will occur. Whether in this life or the next, all will be made right. The Savior declares: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”" 

I know his church is true and I know that miracles and blessings always come even if they aren't always when we want them to! 

I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Love, Sœur Uboldi

Pictures!!!

1: batting for hours and hours in the rain

2: we found the Orléans O

3: finding 

4: our ginormous Thanksgiving dinner we made for ourselves!

5: me and Sœur Popoca! I love her so much!!

P.s. Another miracle just happened! Me and Sœur Popoca found out we're staying another transfer together! Whoop whoop!!!!

And then I added this one because I LOVE IT...