The Gospel Changes People (update #74)

Bonjour!!

I'm going to miss greeting people like that. Bonjour is such a happy way to say hello. Anyway, life in Toulouse is incredible!! Honestly I've never felt happier to be exactly where I am.

This week we got to see Marie twice and she is doing so well. We have an ongoing "joke" that she needs to get baptized right now so that she can go on a mission asap. Obviously she's not going to get baptized just to be a missionary... but she would be the best missionary AND it is so cool to see how much the gospel and God have changed her life over these past few months. She's still her crazy, fun Marie-self, but she's happier. She has more peace. It's literally so beautiful to see how the gospel WORKS when we apply it. And I'm just happy to be able to do that with people who have some of my best friends (Marie, Lucille, etc)

Speaking of Lucille, her sister Léa got baptized this week!! It is so cool to see how Lucille's faith and decision to follow Christ is already blessing and influencing her family. At Léa's baptism I talked a lot to their other sister Lydia who's also studying to become a nurse. She told a lot of stories about how in her volunteering at the hospital she's felt a lot of power in praying for her patients, even though most of them are not believing and don't know she's doing it. She talked about how she can really see God's presence in every step of the healing process. It made me really excited to continue to make God the #1 priority in my life after my mission. Whether it's in missionary work, nursing, or anything else I'll do, I love that God will always be present if we let him.

This week we got to go to Béziers and Montauban for exchange!! It is such a blessing to be able to travel around and see so many beautiful Southern French cities 😍

Montauban is a classic, small, old French village.

Soeur Turner and I spent the day talking to a lot of fun people and hanging out with the CUTEST old French catholic couple ever. 

While we were there we got to watch the "prince of peace" video (except it was in French)...

and the grandma was reading all the words out loud. Hearing that sweet, humble, wise, old French woman read those beautiful, poetic words about the Savior was one of the coolest experiences ever. Jesus Christ truly is the light, life, and hope of the world. And I'm so grateful for these little moments to FEEL the power of that message on a real, personal level.

Béziers on the other hand is basically the mini California of southern France!! So beautiful, we didn't even need a jacket and there were palm trees everywhere. We got to visit a couple really cool Romanian families before heading off to our train to a little outer ville. We ended up missing our train which meant we had an awkward hour to kill before the next train. Instead of sitting in the train station Soeur Hopkins said we should go walk around the park across from the gare (train station).

 Technically we're not allowed to go contacting (talk to people) there and missionaries often get stopped by police, so we were mostly just going to walk around and see Béziers. Well... Heavenly Father had a different plan. We ended up talking to the cutest young couple with a sweet little baby. We talked about eternal families. With tears in her eyes this kind, young mother said (something like): "I've been asking myself for months what would happen to my family after this life. I was scared that we wouldn't be together after death. You just answered my prayers."

Heavenly Father knows us. He knows the burdens that weigh on our shoulders and the worries that occupy our minds. And He will send help.

Words can't really express how happy and grateful I am to be here in France with these beautiful people in this beautiful country. Have a wonderful week!!

I love you!

Soeur Cami Goold