Happy New Year! (update #73)

 Hello everyone and Happy New Year!!

For a funny story from this week I will quote Elder Alvarenga:

"We all had a great time! After district meeting, we went to Dominos and got pizza! 🍕However, the most unexpected thing happened, heavy rain started pouring while we were on our way back to the church. We all started walking a little faster then I turned around for a minute and as she was walking against the wind, protecting herself from the rain and having Sœur Brooksby holding on to her left arm, Sœur Goold stop paying attention to her pizza box and her pizza slid out of the box and fell on the dirty sidewalk 😬😂! We were all shattered... oh well they still got to eat a pizza so in the end everyone was happy! 🍕 "

It was pretty funny hahah.

So one day this week I was honestly just having a weird/ rough day for no good reason and then I felt really guilty about not being the kind of missionary I would want to be after 17 months. All of us are imperfect and we know that, but sometimes our imperfections get pointed out to us and it hurts a little bit, haha.

I love this scripture from the Book of Mormon (with my own little disclaimer added in there):   

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness {and it will probably really suck for a minute}. {But don't worry about that because}, I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."


I am so eternally grateful for little moments like these that remind me exactly how human and imperfect I am, because it reminds me that all I can do is "rely fully upon the merits of he who is mighty to save."

We have seen so many many miracles in the last couple weeks that it is clear to me that Heavenly Father is not letting my many weaknesses in the way of Him doing His work.

Some of the miracles from this week include:

--Lucille getting her patriarchal blessing (click the link to learn what a patriarchal blessing is)!!

--Hearing from Kevin after 3 months of nothing!! Turns out he's been to visit the temple in Paris and was super happy to hear from us and wants to see us when he gets back from vacation!

--Seeing my favorite people (Soeur Wilson and Soeur Rutter and Soeur Jones) at MLC!!!

--Watching "Beauty and the Beast" and playing games with the Thomas family  for New Year's Eve. (watch Jill Thomas' instagram stories for occasional glimpses of Cami)


This time of year just makes me so grateful to be living in this beautiful place amongst these beautiful people. So grateful to have 4 more weeks to enjoy it. (And so pumped to see all of you in 4 weeks)!!

Thank you for you faith and love and prayers and letters. They mean the world to me!!

Love,
Soeur Camille Goold

 

The Last 12 Weeks (update #66)

Bonjour!!

I don't have a ton of time so this is going to be super short, here are some highlights of this week:

1. Lucille bore her testimony on Sunday about how God answered her prayer about where/ when she needed to be baptized. The ensued being that she needed to be baptized in our church on the 2nd of December. It was really cool because the room was kind of loud with people whispering/ kids crying, but as soon as Lucille started speaking, the room went silent. The spirit was so strong as she testified of her personal experience finding answers to her prayers. There is something so powerful and beautiful in the humility of a new and growing testimony. Hearing Lucille share her's was one of my favorite moments of my mission.

2. We received transfer calls and Soeur Gowans and I are staying together!!! YAY! It's Soeur Gowans' last transfer as a missionary and I only have 2 left which is INSANE. As a missionary there's a training program for new missionaries called "the first 12 weeks." And it's absolutely crazy to think that I'm officially starting my last 12 weeks. I honestly still feel like a little bleue that doesn't know what's going on hahah.

3. The sisters from Carcassonne have been staying with us since Thursday (they just left today).

On Sunday morning Soeur Gowans and I wanted to play a joke on them so I went and put on my nightgown with my missionary tag and everything and acted like I was going to wear it to church. I was asking for advice about shoes/ if I should wear it with a belt or not etc etc. It was SO FUNNY!! Because they were all so uncomfortable because you could tell nobody liked the dress... but not a single person said anything. All 3 of them were going to let me wear my nightgown to church hahah. I even asked "does it look too much like a robe" and they all said "no, you should wear it" hahaha. Don't worry, I didn't actually wear my nightgown to church ;) we did have a good laugh though.. I told them this picture was so that I could show my mom that I wore the dress she sent me to church lol.

Have an incredible week, I love you!!

Love,
Cami

Life in Toulouse (update #62)

Bonjour!!

This week has been a great week and I'll just share some quick highlights:

1. MLC!! Always so inspiring and also fun to see my favorite mission friends. 

I know it's only been a week but seeing Soeur Rutter (and Soeur Jones) again was a major highlight of the week.

2. Soeur Gowans!! It was probably pretty obvious how much I loved Sister Rutter, and I do miss her a lot... but Soeur Gowans is the only companion I think I could've gotten next. She's incredible. She's half-Korean, funny, chill, low-stress, thoughtful and so much fun to do missionary work with.

3. Marie! Our beautiful amie, Marie, came to samedi sportif, a baptism on Saturday AND church on Sunday. During Sunday School class she raised her hand and answered all the questions about the three kingdoms of glory... such a cool moment haha.

4. Lucille! She is the friend of a member who came to the baptism Saturday and church on Sunday. She's from Martinique and so fun and cool. I love Islanders. They are so loving and believing and open. We are hopefully going to see her again soon, but I seriously just love that the biggest miracles in missionary work always seem to come from members simply sharing who they are with their friends.

Well, it's been a beautiful week here in Toulouse! I still have a lot of people to get to know and a lot to learn, but I already love it here :)

I love you!

Cami