Fin.

I don't really know what to say. This week was a really good one and full of really sweet miracles. Small, but sweet. I really love being a missionary even when it is really hot and the people are mean. Just to find that one person that asks you, but really, why are we here? ... that is enough to make you happy. 

Just watch this video. It is really good.  

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001 

I feel really happy to be a missionary. I really love my ward and this city. I don't feel ready to leave yet but I feel good about the things I have seen here and the things I have done. So that is positive. I don't really have anything overly inspirational to tell you. Just that things have changed a lot over here in France. I don't feel like the same person... because I'm not. A better version of me hopefully :) I could probably use another year and a half to keep getting better and better but it had to end one day. I knew that. 

The loudest message I think I've had from my mission is that we rarely achieve what we want if we just sit around and wait for it to happen... and even if we do get up and try, we won't get very far without the Savior. They know who they want us to be and how we can get there. But it's hard for us to see. So we can try if we want... to do this alone. But we will never achieve our potential in this life without the help of our Heavenly Father. Sometimes we let pride get in the way. Sometimes we are tired. But if we can find a way to put our trust in them, things will get better. That's all there is to it. LIFE is hard, not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that is true. 

The Savior lives. He loves us. He cannot wait to bless us, if we let Him. LET HIM. 

I'm looking forward to a really good week :) Then next week, well. We'll deal with that when we get there. I love all of you more than I can say. Thanks for being faithful readers! Talk to you soon :) 

Sœur Loder 

WEEK TWO?

Gosh, already week two. 

For those of you who remember, I marked every week as week two in my planner. Usually I'm really bad at tricking myself but this seems to be working out pretty well for me :) 

So this week we had zone conference in Bordeaux where we got to hear from Elder Ballard (an apostle!) and he gave us some really incredible instruction and promises. One of the things that stuck out to me the most is that, basically, the attitude we have shows how much we love the Lord. It says something like that in Preach My Gospel too, but it is so true. If we get up with a happy heart then we know that we are putting our faith in Him and that we love Him :) So yeah, lots of other things but that one was my favorite! 

It was cool because it was a four zone conference (usually it is only one or three zones) and there were so many missionaries there that I love love love with all my heart! It was perfect because well, at your last zone conference you bear your last testimony. All the departing missionaries do it. We were all sitting up front and the elders had gone (four elders and four sisters) and I was the first sister. I felt okay until the moment I was standing up to go to the mircophone. In those five steps, the reality of everything kind of hit me in the face. I don't remember what I said. But I didn't cry until after so let's just say it went pretty well. It was a really good conference.

Unfortuntely almost every single person we were supposed to see this week did not come to our rdvs so that isn't very nice. It is kind of hard to plan so carefully for things just to have people never come and never answer the phone... it doesn't make you feel very good. It turned out to be a really good week and we still taught lots and lots but it was quite exhausting. We went back down to Ax les Thermes and it was kind of... rough. We had a potential there that never found us and she was really offended by it so we walked over to our amie who was going to be baptized a few weeks ago and we learned that she has gone backwards. It was a really hard rdv. She drilled us with questions and as we answered them she didn't believe us and we left just feeling really sad. She came to church this week... I was surprised after all the things she said to us. Hopefully she can feel something. But there isn't a lot we can do except love her. She has to make the choice now. 

The elders baptized a really awesome lady this weekend. She is really close with all the missionaries and her baptism was awesome :) Sr Hiltunen played piano for E Liechty and I. We sang a nice song for her and her baptism was just so nice :) Even if the ward is difficult the Lord is still blessing us to find the people who are ready. I love Toulouse! Even if all the members are all telling me I look awfully tired these days. I'm not surprised. It's all good :) 

I love you all! 

Sr Loder