Sister Victoria Beeny France Lyon Mission: Our God Is An Awesome God

Yesterday I took a train from Angouleme to Bordeaux, Bordeaux to Montpellier, Montpellier to Lyon, and Lyon to Clermont-Ferrand... 13 hours of travel to get to the place the Lord certainly needs me right now... I was just a little devastated to leave the charming Angouleme, but I know that I did good work there, and that I need to do good work here now. The tears are wiped away and the smile has returned! It has been raining for the past week, and Im pretty freezing... I even broke into my winter suitcase. THAT AINT RIGHT. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do, ya know? Its been raining up a storm. Last Wednesday there was a HURRICANE. Soeur Paulo and I were at the chapel in a RDV when it started... our ami left and we looked out the window. The parking lot had become an ocean filled with billowing waves of death!! Ha ha, so we picked up our umbrellas and headed out to work. The Lord blesses us in times of need. Opposition is ever present, but that doesn't mean we don't move forward buoyantly with faith!

My last week in Angouleme was filled with the Spirit. We had many, MANY tombez-vouss...

seriously like 13 of them. We sadly were not able to teach many lessons. We stayed diligent and we found so many potentials!! Angouleme looks like they will have a busy summer ahead of them. There was one afternoon where we went down a road, we weren't sure where we were going exactly, but we talked to every person placed in our path. We had two FANTASTIC conversations with some men. We enlightened their hope and shared the love of the Savior. We were able to share the joy and knowledge of the Book of Mormon with them. Fantastic people. Soeur Paulo will baptize them for me :) We were able to see Steve and Stéphane quite a few times. I love the focus on recent converts... The branch needs these recent converts... and they need them to stay! It was a blessing to see both of my recent converts in Angouleme bless the sacrament together this past Sunday. The Lord was showing the fruits of so many missionaries and members labor. He is such an awesome God. Steve and Stéphane are some of the greatest miracles of my mission. Continue to pray for them and their progress. I will miss them both so much!!

We had to go to Tulle again for my legality, so we headed out on Monday night, spent the splendid morning there, and then came back Tuesday night. My appointment only took a minute, so we got to see more of the lovely ville and took enough pictures to last my entire mission! I also realized that I am becoming strangely obsessed with French cows. Why? I couldn't tell you. The mission is making me weirder than I was before.

Margaret is doing fantastic. We watched Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration together. She loves

films, and she sympathized so much with the dedicated efforts of the Christian saints that withstood so much torment at the beginning of the restoration. She also had us over for dinner on Saturday night. She is growing so much in her faith, and she fits in SO PERFECTLY on the old lady row in sacrament meeting. The members have just embarrassed her! Pray for her to continue to find her footing in the gospel. I hope to hear that she will be baptized the 5th of July :)

My last Sunday was sad and beautiful. Only 16 people in Sacrament, but still strong and vibrant as always. I love the branch there. They are the strongest members I have ever met in my life. I will miss them with all my heart. Soeur Paulo covenanted with me to take care of them and see that our work does not end in vain. I love her and I will miss her with my whole soul... My heart is a portion Portuguese now. Te amo Soeur Paulo!

Our studies in the mission lately have been focused on the words of Elder Anderson, as he will be visiting the mission in two short weeks. To prepare, I have been immersing myself in his talks, and they have brought me incredible spiritual insight. As I struggled with my new call, I wondered what the Lord had in store for me... my new companion is Soeur Grunke, who is in her 6th transfer, from Cologne Germany. I wondered how I will do with another culture shock! Well, as I turned to my studies, I found spiritual support from the Lord through the words of His apostle. "Two men can do anything, as long as one of them is the Lord."... "By definition, trials will be trying... with faith comes trials of faith, bringing increased faith."... "The sun never sets on righteous missionaries testifying of the Savior."... "It's a miracle. It is a miracle."... "No force in the entire world can stop the work of God."... "By His grace He will do for you what you cannot do for yourself." The Lord loves us. He speaks through His righteous servants. I trust Him. I love Him and I am ever so grateful to be His missionary in the beautiful country of France! Turn to Him, and rely on Him. I love you all. Have a wonderful week.