Can't Touch This - June 22, 2013

Surprise! I get to email this morning :) only for a little while though.

I'm soooo ready to get to France... only two more days.

Tuesday night's devotional was by Elder Gay of the 70... it was so powerful. He said "Missionary work is a revelatory work." SO TRUE! I never thought about it that way, but it is one hundred percent doctrine! This work would be NOTHING without the Spirit. We have all learned that here at the MTC. I can't wait to experience it out in the field.

In the pictures I sent you, the one of Mariah and I, the skirt I'm wearing is called "The Skirt of Shame". Remind me to tell you about it on Monday, haha.

So, this past week was pretty rough. I got sick. Probably 1 in 10 people got food poisoning this past week... and I was one of them. It started Tuesday afternoon. I started feeling ill but didn't think anything of it, but Tuesday night about 30 minutes after getting into bed I had to run to the bathroom. I was throwing up all night. I couldn't sleep. I had the worst stomach ache I've ever had in my life. My roommates got up around 5 am on Wednesday morning and I decided to try to get up and brush my teeth... well when I got to the bathroom I blacked out and woke up on the floor. It was so scary. I'm fine now, but I  literally woke up on the floor and all I could do was pray to Heavenly Father that I would have the strength to get up and get back to my room. I did. I got up and crawled to my room. My companion still hadn't woken up. So when she did wake up I had to tell her everything that happened. She and Soeur Francis, our Sister training leader were freaking out. I started crying and told them I wanted to go home (Words I never thought would leave my mouth). Then something amazing happened. Soeur Francis gathered up all our sisters and they knelt around my bed. Through tears Soeur Francis offered up one of the most sincere, heart felt prayers on my behalf. I didn't feel any more healthy after the prayer, but I knew that the Lord had endowed me with power through my calling and that I would be able to suffer through this trial. I am so grateful for my Sisters, especially Soeur Francis, and for their enduring faith in the Lord. I am going to miss them so much this coming week.

So yeah, that took up a bulk of this week. I spent all of Wednesday in bed, but by Thursday I was perfectly fine! Thursday was our in-field orientation... it was a long day, but it was a great day filled with the Spirit. The words they spoke keep echoing through my head. "No one can set the expectations for your mission." DAAANNG! I needed to hear that. They continually used France as an example. They told us that there are stereotypes about every mission in the world and that they are FALSE! No one has ever served my mission. They may have served in my mission, but they didn't serve with my companion and live everyday like I will. They won't meet the same people and they definitely won't live the plan that the Lord has layed out for me. So to all you people that told me "France is a hard mission" or "France is the lowest European baptizing mission" or "Don't be disappointed when you only have two baptisms", in your face! You can't set my expectations for my mission. You don't determine it and other missionaries don't determine it. THE LORD DETERMINES IT! The Lord has prepared people for ME to meet. That's right. ME. And there's nothing you or some dumb statistic can do about it. You can't touch this. :) I am so excited to experience France for myself and work as hard as I can. It's going to be REMARKABLE!

So that took kinda long to write... I am about done packing and I could still pack like 30 more pounds of luggage, so I'm looking forward to buying 30lbs of cute French clothes to bring home... (JK... kinda). haha.

Anyway, I love you all and miss you very, very much. I CANNOT WAIT TO CALL ON MONDAY!!!

Avec tout mon amour,

Soeur Victoria Beeny

It's the Final Countdown! June 17, 2013

Okay, now to tell you about my week in 12 minutes.

 

 

I got my travel plans! AHH! It's the final countdown. One week. So we leave the MTC at 6am on Monday June 24th. We fly from SLC to Chicago, to London, then to Lyon. That's right ladies and gents; I will be in France for 17 months and NEVER see the Eiffel Tower. What a shame... but it's cool. I'm there for the Lord, not for myself! So I'll be able to call you from the SL airport AND from the Chicago airport. YAYY!!! So expect a call around 9 or 10 your time and then I'm not sure about Chicago... but I'll let you know then.

It was another great week here at the lovely MTC. I got to host on Wednesday and I will this week too. Which means I host the new missionaries and take them around campus to get their stuff, drop off their luggage, and take them to their classrooms. It was sups fun but sad because I saw WAY too many moms and siblings crying. I cried like 12 times that day... It was fun though.

We got new missionaries in our district, and it is really fun because they think we're geniuses at French because we've been here for almost five weeks... little do they know, haha. However, my French teachers told us that Soeur Roberts and I are the most advanced in our French and the best companionship in our teaching abilities. BOO YA! We were so excited to hear that. The most exciting thing this week was our lessons. We invited both of our investigators to be baptized... Delphine said she would pray about it. Raphael said YES! HE SAID YES! He isn't a real investigator, but it was real to us. It was the greatest feeling in the entire world. Like seriously. Saving souls is way more thrilling than Sixflag's Goliath. It was heartstopping. I cannot WAIT to get to France in one week and get to work. REAL WORK! However, I am getting worried about the French... I can speak, but I can't understand as well still. But alas, I know it will come with time!

So Soeur Roberts and I were asked to teach Sunday school yesterday, and we taught about The Book of Mormon... very basic and duh as missionaries we all know everything we need to know already... but it was an incredible lesson. The spirit spoke to me so sincerely while we were teaching. Thoughts came to my mind that I have never even thought before. I said "The Book of Mormon can answer ANY question we may have about life. It brings us peace and joy, and helps us come unto Christ and build a better relationship with the Lord; but Le Livre de Mormon, when we read it in French, will give us the gift of tongue. This book, it can teach us a new language. It can do ANYTHING we need it to do. Especially on our missions." WOOOWW! I couldn't believe those words came out of my mouth, but as soon as they did, I knew they were true. I read the Le LdeM everyday, and I have seen my French improve so stinkin much.

I love it so much here. I am going to miss my district with my whole soul. We have become very close, and the idea of leaving them breaks my little heart. The idea of no longer being Soeur Robert's companion fills my eyes to the brim with tears. She is so special to me. I don't know what I would do without her.

Okay, well just know that I love and miss you all so stinking much. This is the true gospel upon the earth. The Book of Mormon is a miracle. it is more than a book, it is an EXPERIENCE! So please, experience the Book of Mormon everyday together as a family and individually. The Lord loves you and is aware of you. He is aware of me and I know it. It is manifest to me EVERY SINGLE DAY! I love serving and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else... except maybe France already, haha. Okay, Love you.

 

Avec tout mon amour,

Soeur Victoria Beeny

Stayin Alive - June 10, 2013

June 10, 2013

Okay, so about my week... well, I have a mysterious rash on my legs that I have had since last Saturday, so it's been over a week. I thought I was allergic to the grass, but I guess not. The doctors here don't do much... so yeah, they gave me allergy medicine. One of my roommates had rash cream, and I've been using that, but it's still not gone and I've been using it for four days or so. But it is getting better. Also, one of my earring piercings was infected this week. I couldn't wear earrings all week! I had to put hydrogen peroxide or whatever it is on it every morning and night. it kept bleeding, but it's gone now. Lastly, while playing beach volleyball this elder stepped on my foot. but it wasn't just that, he dug his heal into the top of my foot and turned. So I have a perfectly round shaped piece of skin missing from the top of my foot. It's about the size of a silver dollar. It's like a rug burn. it's okay now... It's starting to scab over, but I've just been barley hanging on this week! haha, I think it's funny :) I'm stayin Alive though...

Otherwise, it was just a normal week. It went by SUPER fast. I am so happy, because in two weeks, I'll be leaving for France! AWWWW!!! I'm so totally excited. And I'll get to talk to you on the phone :) I have a layover in England apparently, so I'll get to call you from there or something. Not exactly sure, but I'll have my travel plans next week I believe and I'll be able to fill you in more then.

I still love my companion. There are moments we get on each other's nerves, but that is totally expected and we are able to talk well together and resolve issues. Communication is key. I love her and we are very sad we only have two more weeks together, but both of us are very anxious to get to France. However, our district has had some drama this week. We had a plan to all sing together last week. As we were practicing, an Elder and a sister got into an argument and then two of the elders refused to sing with us. It was soooo dramatic. Some of them need to seriously get over themselves and stop being so puffed up. It was resolved after about a day, but nonetheless our Christlike attribute to work on this week is Charity and Love :) haha, we'll get there. We've been together for about a month now. This was bound to happen sometime! But I love them all so much. It breaks my heart that all of our elders and 3 of us six sisters are going to Paris... I won't be able to see them! They are going to be incredible though.

Everyone says PDay is the best day, but honestly Sunday is. It is so nice to just completely be filled with the Spirit. It's incredible. I love the MTC. Yesterday was an incredibly enlightening day for me.

Just know I love you soooo sooo much and I miss you all and think about you often.

I love this gospel and there is no other place I would rather be. Keep praying for me as I am for you.

This is the ONLY true gospel upon the earth. It is our way back to the Lord. He loves us. Christ lives. Le Livre de Mormon is the word of God. Read it. It will fill you with love.

Avec tout mon amour,

Soeur Victoria Beeny 

 

 

 

Another Week, Another Story - June 3, 2013

The Days are like Weeks and the Weeks are like Days. TRUE STATEMENT! Haha, we have very long days and we fall into bed at 10:30. I'm really good about getting up on time though. 5:30. It's great to start the day by literally rolling out of bed onto your knees. It's a blessing to be here. We received two new "investigators" (our teachers role playing) this past week. Delphine and Raphael. They're awesome. We really enjoy teaching them. There were ups and downs this week though. We are getting super good at teaching about the Restoration... we just need to practice teaching other lessons as well. 

I've been having a hard time focusing on living in the moment. It's hard to not let your mind wander

back home, or over to BYU's campus which is a short walk away. I've been missing home. Well, the Lord knows me and my struggles. We had a devotional last Tuesday night by a member of the 70 and he talked about forgetting yourself and dedicating your whole soul to this work. I need to repent and humble ourselves before the Lord and realize that this is HIS time, not mine. It was an inspired talk and I'm so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that loves me.

Soeur Roberts and I had the opportunity to teach class one day this week. We have a lot of French knowledge when you put us together. I am really helping a lot of the other missionaries. I have been teaching them different verb tenses. I love Soeur Worshom, one of my teachers. Frere Magre is pretty sweet too. They are incredible teachers. We are lucky to have them.

Wednesday was cool to see all the new missionaries. Soeur Robert's boyfriend got here on Wednesday. THEY ARE SO CUTE! She's been a little distracted, but she's getting better about it. Also, I got to see lots and lots of friends from my Provo ward that arrived last week. IT WAS SO FUN!

Okay, so the bad news. I had a breakdown on like Thursday I think. No joke. My teacher did a role play in class of our ultimate goal in becoming skilled teachers of the gospel... the lesson was beautifully flawless. I'm not sure how we were supposed to feel after his demonstration, but I automatically compared his lesson to all the dinky lessons I have given. I was completely overwhelmed with feelings of incompetence. I started crying and freaking out. Soeur Roberts was really worried about me. I just didn't know how I was going to get to that level. My teacher took me out of class and had a one on one with me. I told him I feel like I've been working so incredibly hard on the language, learning the lessons, following the spirit, but I'm not seeing the results I want to see. He told me he's been teaching missionary lessons for 3 years, and I can't expect to be there yet. I need to be patient with myself and understand that I will learn over time and that I am doing incredible where I am. I felt better afterwards and I was able to be alone for a minute to pray. The Lord comforted me and I was reminded of my success so far and how far I've come in the last three weeks.

Anyway, the rest of the week was awesome. We were taught how to street contact and how to knock doors. IM SO EXCITED! Like seriously, we have a countdown on our classroom wall of how many days until we leave. In 3 weeks/21 days I will be leaving for the beautiful country of France! Our teacher was talking about how every French stereotype is completely false. If you go into France and you learn to speak their language and you're not the average annoying American tourist, that the people will love you and really listen and talk to you. You just need to know how to approach them. So I'm excited to see :)

Yesterday was awesome. I love Sundays at the MTC. We had a fireside last night by Ted Gibons. He's an actor. He did an hour long monologue as Willard Richards, Joseph Smith's personal secretary. he talked about the last week of Joseph's life. It was mind blowing and super spiritual.

Again, I love it here. It will be hard to leave my district. Will you go add them all on FB for me? Kjersti Roberts, Paola Sarmiento, Heidi Francis, Ashley Doyle, Brinley Bingham,  Chase Player, Kenn Garner, Jordan Brown, and Hayden Rigsby. They're awesome I lOVE THEM!

Okay I serioulsy have to go... LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Keep the faith. Keep moving forward.

 

Avec Amour,

 

Soeur Victoria Beeny

 

 

 

 

 

P-Days Rule! May 27, 2013

Well it's easy to say that PDays absolutely RULE. We have so much fun writing and just chilling out together. I love my district. We probably have TOO much fun together. The hardest thing for all of us is not hugging one another... I mean we can hug the girls, but we can't hug the Elders. It's rough. We can't even touch when we're in pictures, haha. It's ridiculous, but necessary. Go listen to the French cantique (hymn) Souvien-Toi. ITS AMAZING AND MY FAVORITE. The translation is beautiful too. So look up the words.

We taught our investigator Murielle twice last week. The lessons went well. Soeur Roberts and I are such a great team. We keep hoping we'll be able to serve together in France... but who knows if we'll get that lucky. We invited Murielle to be baptized, and she said she would think about it. Mine and Soeur Robert's French is improving a lot as we work together. The best way to improve is to practice speaking and conversing. We speak in French together a lot. We also have Language Study for maybe two hours a day where we study unassisted. Soeur Roberts and I use that time well. I taught her all of the verb tenses, which helped a lot, and we're working really hard on learning vocabulary. ITS INCREDIBLE. We learn more individually together than with our class, because we're still learning really basic French that both of us have already mastered. It's great being able to teach her and to learn from her too. I know more grammar, but she probably knows more random French vocab. I seriously love her so much. She is one of the greatest friends I have ever had. She is incredibly patient with me and keeps me focused. She is helping me develop into the missionary that I truly need to be. She's also hysterical. We have so much fun together. We joke around. She wakes me up in the morning and I love it, haha. We teach well together and are very good at building each other up. I'm seriously so lucky to have her.

But anyway, Murielle was being pretty stubborn and wouldn't really commit to anything. All we could do was testify to her. We taught her last on Wednesday, but couldn't teach her Thursday because we were in San Francisco.

 

 

 

 

 IT WAS SO FUN. Well, pretty fun anyway. We woke up at 2am to meet at 3am to leave... well the driver forgot to pick us up, so we sat around until 4am to leave. Our flight was at 6:15, so we got to the airport and ran to our flight. I sat in First Class! WHAT WHAT! It was aweseome. I sat with

Soeur Bailey, another sister going to Lyon. She is incredible. Her life story is very tender and I hope I will get the opportunity to serve with her in France. But anyway, we got to SanFran and met our driver who took us straight to the French Consulate. They weren't open yet, so we all split up into our companionships and went street contacting. SO FUN. We talked to 5 people within about 20 minutes, and I gave away my first pass along card! AHHH! It was seriously so much fun. We are so pumped for France. We went to the French consulate, they met with each of us for probably 5 minutes each, speaking in English, took our pictures, our fingerprints, and then we were on our merry way. We went to Pier 39 for lunch.

We went to Boudin, a French bread/soup place (DUH. We're so French) I burned the snot out of my tongue and I couldn't taste anything for days. We had lunch then walked around the pier. There were lots of Foreign tourists... and we met a French couple! WE SPOKE TO THEM IN FRENCH!! AHH! AND THEY UNDERSTOOD US AND WE HAD A REAL CONVERSATION! We talked to them about the concept of eternal marriage and being together forever. They were really sweet. We didn't have much time, so we gave them a passalong card and told them to go to Mormon.org. We were so freaking excited we were almost in tears as they walked away. We feel so prepared for France... even though we don't leave for four more weeks. Anyway, I passed out during the flight home. We took the Trax back to Provo after our flight. My companion and I talked to two men on the way home and were able to have some very sweet conversations with them about Jesus Christ. We gave them both passalong cards. It was seriously the best day ever. Not because of SanFran, or because of our day off, or because of the consulate, but because we received REAL experience and are so inspired and ready to serve in France. It's so amazing. She told me that one of my talents while teaching is really staying engaged with the investigator. I am able to put all my focus on them and it makes them feel loved and gives them a reassurance that I truly care about what I'm teaching them and that I know it is true. It's pretty sweet.

So last week our teach Frere (Brother) Magre told us that we would be receiving another teacher this week in addition to him... we were all confused. On Friday Murielle (our "investigator") walked into the room in church attire.... SHE IS OUR NEW TEACHER! They pulled one over on us. She was just role playing. It's awesome. She's awesome. She served her mission in Paris and now she knows all of our strengths and weaknesses. She is going to be a phenomenal teacher. We are so excited to have her.

We still haven't gotten into very much French, and I'm starting to become impatient, but a lot of the missionaries in my district are still behind and not understanding what we're learning... It's frustrating and they know I'm getting frustrated, so they're getting frustrated with me. So I'm

trying to be patient and I'm starting to help everyone a little more every day. It's been fine. I'm learning as I teach.

Soeur Roberts and I have memorized, the missionary purpose, the first vision, the invitation to be baptized, and Moroni 10:4-5 in French. This week we'll be working on two other scriptures as well... we are improving together a lot. I'm so grateful for her.

Yesterday we were able to watch Sister Monson's funeral services... it was very moving. My heart hurts for President Monson. He's in all of our prayers (which are in French).

Okay, I need to write Win back... Love you so much. I'm hand writing Aubrey. So look for that. Did she get my letter last week? The Rainbow one?

 

Love you! DearElder me!

 

avec amour,

Soeur Victoria Beeny