Sister Victoria Beeny France Lyon Mission

We had a beautiful week! Our district leader asked us if we ever get tired of having super successful weeks, haha... We said of course not!! We were able to go to Zone Training this week and be filled with the spirit by learning how to set goals! I was soooo excited, because it is something that I struggle with. After applying what we learned, I truly have developed a testimony that by setting goals, we can fulfill our wildest dreams!

We had some pretty miraculous days! One day this week, everything fell through... Bummer, but we didnt what was necessary and passed inactives and old amis! And we found some of the coolest people ever! Things fall through for a reason... The Lord has His hands in all things. We had things fall through yesterday as well, so we were On the Road Again, and went to visit to less active brothers in the rain. We had to stand out front their homes because we couldnt go in alone, but they were in desperate need of spiritual strength. We were able to testify to them and pray with furvant care. It was touching to see how much the Lord loves His children.

This week I was able to look at the world differently. I am a pretty stubborn person... I like things to

be perfect, and I like them to be perfect IMMEDIATELY! That has made me a slightly impatient person: with others, and with myself occasionaly. But I have learned that things are always in the Lord's timing. I have especially seen this with my amis throughout my mission... Some amis advance very quickly: Jean-Francois was baptized after 4 weeks of working with him, and others take their sweet time, measuring out a mountain of faith with a teaspoon. Gratefully, the Lord does not ask us to arrive at the finish line in a set amount of time; He simpy asks us to make progress each day, so that one day, we can meet Him at the finish line and he can reward us with a crown of righteousness. Our stable amis in Angouleme are very similar.

Audrey, who is engaged to a righteous return missionary, has been taught by missionaries for a year and a half. The first day I met her, I was astonished that she wasnt a return missioanry herself. Her knowledge of the gospel and Christlike demeanor is surprising for someone so young in the faith. She is an outstanding example. I have learned patience from her. But, I have seen change. She has changed drasticly since the beginning. And even now I see her mold more to the will of the Lord each day that I see her. I am so grateful for her slow, but every steady pace towards the waters of baptism and the alter of marriage.

Remember Stéphane, our baptism from February? He is doing so wonderfully! I love him so much... We are able to see him. I can tell that he is continuing to progress little by little in his testimony, exactly the way the Lord intends us to.

Our new Chinese ami Margaret has blown me away within the past two weeks! She came to church
yesterday, and absorbed every second as if she had been thirsting for the truth her entire life. She is so warm and welcoming to us in her home, feeding us every moment she gets. We worked in her garden, and planted a baby tree! I will love watching that tree grow, just as we watch Margarets faith grow each time we visit her. She is well on her way. Jonhse, our African ami has progressed little by little. He offers beautiful Portuguese prayers that bring tears to Soeur Paulos eyes. He is progressing steadily towards his baptismal date the 10th of Mai.

Steve is another impecable example of change. When we met Steve, he agreed to meet with us out of

sure curiosity!! he wanted to see what Mormons were like and compare us to what he has seen on TV. The first time we met with Steve was in a café. He used profanity and made no promises in reading the Book of Mormon. Our third RDV he had read a little, and allowed us to pray with him... by the fifth RDV he was saying amen at the end of the prayers, and by the seventh RDV he said the closing prayer. Today, he prays with vigor, attends church weekly, comes to our FHEs and sees us as often as possible. He researches LDS.org for talks and reads the scriptures with delicacy so that he ensures comprehension. I know that he will be baptized one day, even if its not this weekend. We had a specifically touching RDV this week. We were discussing baptism and confirmation and the blessings that follow. He understood, as always. He explained to us his doubts, that he had intended at the beginning to join our church. I suddenly opened my mouth and said "You met with us out of curiousity. Your curiosity has been fed. Do you believe that the things we have shared with you are true?"... He took a long moment examining the book he was holding in his hands. He looked up with tears streaming down his face and said "I am starting to believe."

Our amis are incredible. We are blessed missionaries. I know that the Lord is leading them along the path, little by little, patiently awaiting the day they will leave the darkness and leap into the light of the gospel. I know that this is the church of Jesus Christ. I am beyond blessed to be sharing this truth with the people of Angouleme France.

I love you all :)
Have a fantastic week.

Avec tout mon amour,
Soeur Beeny

Just a little look into President Roney's mind... I shared with him a fun fact in my email last week... "Fun Fact of the Week: In high school one of my friends got me a Skittle Flavored chap stick for my birthday... Well, I had an allergic reaction to it, and my lips were HUGE for like a week... Imagine the shame as people asked what happened and I had to tell them that I am allergic to Skittles Chap stick, haha... I will never live down the shame!" His response... "Be grateful it was not skittles deodorant." NUFF SAID!

Well, Ill just say that it was not the easiest week of my mission... in fact, we had a lot of heartaches and let downs. Thankfully, I was assigned to give a talk yesterday for our wonderful Easter celebration. My theme was the atonement of Jesus Christ. My studies of the atonement prepared me for a disappointing and frankly unlucky week. As things fell through, and people rejected our message, the only thing that kept me afloat was the testimony of the atonement that I forged every morning during studies. The Lord loves us, and He was looking out for me this week :)

Church was phenomenal yesterday. There is nothing better than being able to bear testimony,

especially of the Savior and His eternal atonement for us, His brothers and sisters. The spirit was eminent in our little chapel as the 22 of us came together to worship the Lord on such a monumental day. As our Guadaloupien, body builder, Elders quorum president spoke of the suffering of the Savior in the garden of Gethsemane from the pulpit, he wept like a child. The back of my eyes pricked as I looked out over our little congregation and we sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives". Every eye was filled with tears of gratitude and remembrance. I declare that I too know that my Redeemer Lives.

Alexandre, our new ami from last week got deployed to Mali for war this past week... sad. Henriette has been so busy with work that we ha vent seen her in 3 weeks. Marie-Benoit got incredibly sick this week, and hasn't been able to see us. Valentin is heading to Pau for 2 weeks for vacation, so we wont be able to see him for a while. Theirry has been such a bum and wont come to our RDVs or church. Even our engagé Jonhse didn't show up to church or our RDVs this week... It was just unlucky. Then Steve told us that he found anit-Mormon material online and watched videos for hours. He has lots of questions... You can imagine my fear and disappointment. After this unlucky week, we received a referral from the Internet! WOOO!! First one of my mission. Filled with excitement we called and fixed a RDV with this woman to deliver her a Livre de Mormon. We felt very blessed. We felt as if the Lord was rewarding us for a difficult week after we had remained diligent. Not even an hour later, the woman called us back and cancelled the RDV and told us that she didnt want us to contact her again. Ouch. Anti Miracle. At this point, I felt like Satan was toying with us.

We found a new ami this week whose name is Margaret... Well actually her name is Hyo-Jo or something like that... She is from Taiwan! She speaks Chinese, English, French, and lots of other cool languages! We met her the first time two transfers ago on the bus. She met missionaries in Taiwan, and then again in Poitier France. She met with them once or twice, but stopped after that. We have seen her probably 4 times on the bus in the last 2 months, and she finally gave us her number and address! She lives alone in a HUGE home with a HUGE garden. We were able to love her and be with her and teach her yet again the beautiful truths of the restoration. Her setback is that she does not believe that the native Americans, or the south Americans are truly descendants of the Jews... That's why she has a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon... Well, we told her the usual: Read and pray and you will know for yourself.

Even though there were some tough points, we still saw some pretty sweet miracles. Yesterday we

went to find some old amis, and after a woman answered the door and told us she wasn't the man we were looking for, we asked if we could do the questionnaire. She invited us up because she couldn't hear us from the balcony. Then she invited us inside because it was too cold. Then I saw plantains on the counter and said "I love plantains!" and then she pulled out a tray of fried plantain and we went to the living room and taught her the restoration. The Lord is watching out for all of His children :)

We are still seeing progress with Steve and Audrey... We are hoping to see their baptisms sometime this transfer. Please keep them in your prayers!

A lot of our amis have been coming from a logical standpoint: Atheist, agnostic, faith isn't necessary, faith is too hard, standpoints. Our amis are desiring a PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH before they commit to anything. Well, doubts and a lack of faith weigh down our hearts and minds with fear and discouragement. As our amis questioned, and questioned again, I found myself responding "I don't know the answer to everything, but I know that the Lord loves us. He wants to bless us, and keeping the commandments will allow Him to bless us."... After repeating this so many times this week, and receiving skeptical looks from everyone and their dog, I began to ask myself if that simple answer is truly enough. Other personal difficulties have surfaced in my mind, and they too began to question my faith. The truth is, this is what happens as a missionary: our faith is put to the ultimate test. We cant convert someone farther than we are converted. But, I realized that I know enough. I don't know it all, but I know what is important. I decided to choose faith this week. I regained my spiritual balance on my knees and through study. I read my patriarchal blessing as if they were statements that I was making myself, and I realized how much power has been endowed to me, Soeur Beeny. I get knocked down, but I get up again. I know that this is the true church of God upon the earth today. And you can know too. I love the Savior, and I know that His atonement is real and living and life changing for every person that wants it to touch their lives.