Chriso is baptized!

Guess what guys!!

CHRISO IS BAPTIZED!!!!!!! It was a really simple, yet perfect baptism. Chriso is really so full of faith. He KNOWS this is all true. He really is an inspiration to me. He's going to go through some difficult things as he tries to get his wife to understand, but he'll be ok. Knowing that this is all true is what gets you through the hard stuff.

Aisata, also showed up so she could see what a baptism is like. The sad thing is that she didn't come to church so now we have to move to date to September because she has to come to church two times before she can get baptized. She's progressing very well and agrees with everything we teach, but that's actually what worries me. Not having questions can often mean that the investigator isn't feeling anything. We really try to bring the spirit to our lessons, but there is something lacking. We've been meditating on it, but I think we'll really have to rely on the Lord to figure out what she needs. He's the only one who really knows. I think I'm going to work on being more specific in my prayers about what we need help with.

We taught Alicia again this week. She's the 11 year old daughter of a semi-inactive woman in the Ward. When she and her sisters walked through the door they were so excited to see us. All of them love the gospel so much and were so attentive even though most of them are too young. Above all I noticed that Alicia's special needs sister, Kecleen, was silently nodding her head and whispering answers to our questions. She is so sensitive to the spirit. We're going to ask President if he thinks she can be baptized.

Vivianne is the referral we got from Soeur Callister right after she moved to her new area. We had a wonderful lesson where we got to see how much she wants to follow the Lord. She's really going through some difficulties because she's basically homeless. She's living with some friends of a friend who aren't very nice too her. We had to hand her over to the Antony Soeurs because she's living in their area, but soon after they called and said she got kicked out and is now living in our area....but only for a week until she can move into a cheap apartment she found. It's all confusing.

We also taught Gina, the woman who's son killed himself a few years ago. We explained the Spirit World to her rather than teaching the first lesson. I'm so glad the Church allows missionaries to adjust the order of the lessons according to the spirit and needs of the investigator. We'll be seeing her on Wednesday.

We also found out this week that we are no longer allowed to contact (immigrant) African women. Apparently it's for safety reasons, just like with Muslim women. This is going to be the hardest on our area because we have the highest percentage of Africans in the whole mission. Plus, French people have the reputation of being much less open. However, if President feels thus inspires that means that French women are ready for the gospel. We've just got to have faith.

I love you all soooooooo much!

Bethany

Pictures 1- Chriso’s baptism  2- The 3 Musketeers (Sis. Callister, Bethany and Sis. Gordon) 3-Eating Falafel’s with Sis. Gordon and Sis. Kimball

Bbbbboooonnnnjjjjoooouuuurrr!!!!!!

Whew, I've been trying to think of creative ways of addressing these emails and I'm running low on ideas. Sorry for the silliness!

I can't wait to see all of the pictures that Dad took on his trip! And hear about it too!

I'm glad to hear about the ward turning out to help the Olsens. I've been reading a lot in Liahona articles lately about how a huge part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is serving others. Life can be difficult, but it's rare for things to be so bad that serving someone who's got it worse doesn't help. "By becoming the answer to someone else's prayer we often find answers to our own" - Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Thanks for the quote SisterRroberts!)

A big welcome back to the McHowells!!! I know that Byrd Springs has missed you!

 

This week we dropped Sr. Callister off at Rue St. Merri for transfers and I got to catch up with things going on in my old areas and with old companions. Miracles: her first day in her new area, Sr. Callister met someone who lives in St. Ouen! This lady was so excited to hear more about the gospel that she called Sr. Callister a few days later and said "Why haven't your friends called me yet?" We're going to teach her Tuesday.

I got to see Sr. Alley for the first time in six months! She and I lived together the first six months of our missions when she was a bleu in Nogent and I was a bleu in Torcy, longer than we were with any of our companions.

 

The new missionaries were not numerous this transfer, but Sr. Poznanksi said the next group would be quite big. Still growing!!!

This week we kept preparing Chriso for his baptism for this Saturday. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation and also encouraged him to tell his wife about his decision. Although, we knew she wouldn't be happy, the church really encourages honestly in the family. Chriso didn't want to at first, but we promised him that if he acted in faith, things would turn out alright. In the end he said he would talk with her.

We also met twice with Aisata and fixed a baptism date with her! It'll be the 31 of August. She surprised us by saying that she was actually Muslim, but had converted to Christianity in her heart in her 20s. However, she didn't feel right in any of the churches she visited, which is why she had never been baptized. We were so surprised! She said that this weekend she was going to tell her parents that she was a Christian because she would like their support. She knows her Dad won't be happy, but she's hoping he'll be supportive. The biggest worry is that he has a bad heart and the shock could be too much for him. We've been praying a lot for her this weekend.

We also taught one of our neighbors in the building we live in, Olga. She's a young mother who is going through a rough time because her husband is living with another woman. He pays for her apartment and comes by to see their baby and eat, but that's it. I felt so bad for her! We've been praying that she'll make the right decision concerning her relationship with him.

I also feel that during this week, we were placed in the path of a lot of other people, like Olga, who are really struggling with life or just questions. I love seeing the look in their faces when they realize that we have something that they've been looking for. It's really been a testimony builder for me to see so clearly the hand of Heavenly Father in this work.

 

Funny-thing-story time: African mothers, like Olga, have no problem nursing during our lessons. This has happened multiple times for me, but it was the first time for Soeur Gordon. It was so funny as she tried to focus and teach the lesson we had prepared! Oh, good missionary times! Haha!

Bethany

The Eiffel Tower and More!

Hello!

I forgot last week to tell you an amazing story so I'm writing it first thing so I don't forget this week too. We've been teaching a man named Chriso that Soeur Callister found with her last companion. At first he didn't talk much and didn't seem to get the lessons, but he kept seeing the Sisters. Then he had a stroke, which made him talk even slower and he seemed to understand even less. When I got here, things were going better and he appeared to like the lessons. He had also been coming to church regularly for several weeks. Really, the only thing stopping him from being baptized is his wife. She doesn't care what church he's going too, but she doesn't like the idea of a second baptism.

After a few weeks of trying to explain that when you know something is the right thing to do you should do it, we were kind of losing hope that he would actually get baptized. Then one day he said, I've decided that I'm going to tell you at the end of the month when I want to get baptized. Then he said he thought it would be in August. We're soooo excited! And he seems to get more and more enthusiastic too! One day he even said that when his daughters found out they were like "Dad, you're going to become a Mormon?!" and he said "I AM a Mormon." And now when he refers to the church he doesn't say "you" he says "we". And yesterday he explained to the whole Sunday School class about how he had felt that for some reason he should let the Sisters in when they knocked on the door despite the fact that he was actually in the middle of watching Catholic Mass on TV. He said the way he feels about what he has learned has a much better spirit than what he knew about God before. He should be giving us a baptism date this Wednesday. I won't be in St. Ouen by that time since transfers are in a week and a half and I already know that I'm leaving. However, if I'm still in the Paris region I definitely want to attend.

Another miracle is that we were supposed to meet with a Philippino woman but because both her French and her English aren’t that great, we mis-understood her text and thought she said she was "no longer eager" to meet us. So we decided not to go to the meeting place. Well, she texted us and was like, “where are you?!” And we felt soooo bad, we thought she's definitely not going to be eager to see us now. I called and she was so nice about it and said that, in fact, "she WAS eager" to see us, so we set up an appointment for next Wednesday! It was a stressful but good ending.

After that, we needed to leave for our next appointment, Thérèse, and since the day had been so stressful we were praying "Heavenly Father, just let us have a nice little appointment now". We got all the way to the church which takes about 45 minutes by public transport, (15 by car in you're wondering) and alas, she wasn't there!! We were so disappointed and after half an hour decided to ask Heavenly Father to inspire her to come. A few minutes later she called and asked if we still wanted to meet and we said YES!!! When she arrived she was a whole lot sweeter than I remember her being when we met her on the street (I think I was thinking about someone else). She sweetly asked us to pray that she could find an apartment so she could bring her children from Africa to live with her. During the lesson she said she wanted to learn how to be 100 percent the person God wanted her to be (melts my heart!). When we gave her the “soft invitation” she said yea, she wants to get baptized, something she hasn't done yet. It was a wonderful end to a crazy day!

Last week, however, our numbers were down. Even though we still teach more lessons than I ever taught in my other villes, we still need to consider what we can do to be better. Honestly, at first I was like "it's fine, we've still got several progressing investigators, a ton of lessons and several investigators at church". I kind of kicked against the pricks a little in wanting to discuss this as a companionship. But then I realized that mediocrity isn't enough eternally and that I needed to humble myself. I've been reading about the fall of the Nephites into wickedness in the Book of Mormon just before the coming of Christ and have come to a realization that accepting doing things halfway starts the ball rolling downhill.

I realize that you can't always bring yourself down for not being perfect, but accepting imperfection reverses progression, which is the opposite of what the purpose of life is! Hello! We are here to learn to be like our Heavenly Father! I'm grateful that He is patient with me. And above all I'm grateful that He sent His Only Begotten to help us obey the commandment, "Be ye, therefore, perfect". I can't do it alone, but I can do it with Him.

Soeur Paxton 

 

We added some pictures off the Mission Facebook page from early July when Bethany and her companion went to the Mission Home to meet the new Sister in their trio.

Cou Cou!

Cou cou!

Ok, I want to start off by saying that I'm sorry to everybody that has written me letters and I haven't written back to yet. We teach so much here in St. Ouen that I just don't have the personal time to write back to people. But I really appreciate it!

Thanks for all of the updates about the new Wards. I like not feeling totally out of the loop.

Dad, how long will your hiking trip last? You should take lots of pictures for me. I bet you'll see some cool things up there. What's your itinerary for getting out there? And what exactly do you have planned? What will you do in a health emergency? How long would it take to get you to a hospital? You should watch lots of Man vs. Wild before you leave.

President and Soeur Poznanski said goodbye to their daughter Marie this week. She flew out to the States a little early to stay with friends. She'll be entering the MTC this Wednesday and will be serving in California.

I found out that two of the YSA (Young Single Adults) from Arras, who put in their papers, got their mission calls. One is going to Houston, Texas and the other in going to Tahiti. Soeur Lai is happy about that!

Last week was EFY (Especially For Youth) here in France and the youth who went bore their testimonies during sacrament meeting. Many of the older ones expressed their desire to serve a mission, including one young woman who was struggling with inactivity up until recently. Evelyn (the woman who randomly showed up at church last week) came back this week and cried during the last testimony by one of the YSA who served as a leader. He told a story about a young man in his group who didn't even know why he was there at the beginning of the week and by the end of the week he told everyone that it was the best week of his life because he learned that the Savior really does love him and that he has a purpose here on earth.

The youth are so strong. I'm only about 6 years old than they are, but I can feel the difference already. The Lord truly is preparing the world for this marvelous work by sending to us people who are more and more prepared to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places.

Another miracle was a family we taught two days ago. We were REALLY late (as in by an hour and a half) and we weren't even sure it was worth it. Especially since we heard that the church their daughter said they belonged to might be a cult. We decided to go anyway and found a wonderful little family from Haiti. Turns out they were taught by the missionaries two years ago and loved what they heard. We don't know why the missionaries stopped teaching them and we can't find a teaching record for them. They already have a Book of Mormon and they read it from time to time! They were so happy to have missionaries back in their home. The mother is very sick and we offered to have the Elders come give a priesthood blessing which they happily accepted with full faith!

We also had a baptism. Technically it's the Elders' ami, but Soeur Callister found him with her old companion and we all kind of taught him at some point. We brought an investigator to the baptism and she really liked what she saw! She wants to come to church again and bring her teenage daughter.

Well, it’s a short letter this week. Have fun in the sun ya'll!

Bethany

No subject

Happy Bastille Day!

 

So I officially hit my one year mark last week. We celebrated by making a carrot cake. We celebrate a lot of things in the mission by making food. :)

I found out last week from Soeur Poznanski that I'm definitely only staying in St. Ouen for one transfer. We were already smashed in the apartment with just two and we didn't even have a third bed or desk. When we called the office to ask how that was going to work, they said they'd talk to President about it. We were hoping maybe they would give us a new apartment! Ahahaha! Oh the dreams of a missionary! Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Sure enough Sr. Poznanski said that we'd just have to be a little squished for three and a half weeks. So we rearranged the apartment to better use the space, gave the new sister a tiny little table as a desk (poor thing) and then Soeur Callister is sleeping on an extra mattress on the floor, which we lean against the wall during the day.


So that means that people probably shouldn't send mail to me until I get transferred again. If you do want to send some you can just email me or send it to the mission home, I'll get it on transfer day:

Soeur Paxto

23, rue du Onze Novembre

78110 Le Vésinet                

France

Wow, that job for Laura sounds cool, but I agree with Dad, that the hiring situation might be more than what it looks like.

That's cool that you got to see your cousin Mom. But I hope I never go that long without seeing my cousins. I don't think I could take it!

The Poznanski's told us about that miracle that their daughter had. It's a good one! Everybody should go on the Mission Facebook page (France Paris Misson Poznanski) and watch it. And yes, Mom, she does have a really cute accent.

 

Friday is when we got the new Sister. We and another companionship that was also getting a new sister went to the Mission home together. The Mission home is so nice! I love going there. And it was Soeur Callister's first time because her bleu group was so big they couldn't fit them all in the Mission home when she first arrived. They only saw Rue St. Merri (where we do transfers) and a hotel. But I digress... the bleu is Soeur Kim Gordon from...you guessed it! UTAH!!! I went from 6 transfers without a single American companion to three in a row from Utah! And guess what: she attends U of U. Horror of horrors! She just barely turned 19 fours weeks ago. A baby. But we're having lots of fun as a trio, even if it is a little much when we contact people. It helps that she already knows French pretty well. All three of us knew some before the mission.

I don't know the name of the hill we went to (to see the great view of Paris), but it's in a town called Suresne and it has an American war cemetery on it. The lady kept saying when we were there: “When you're in the cemetery, you're on American soil. Vous êtes chez vous” (you're home)!

Bastille Day here was incredibly uneventful. All they had were a few fireworks at night. No decorations except at the Champs Elysee. I was a bit disappointed.

Last week I got a letter from my recent convert Delphine, from when I was in Torcy. She's doing well and is still active. In fact...she is working on her papers to go on a mission!!!!!!! I was so happy when I heard that! I confirmed with the Torcy sisters when I saw them last week if it was true and they said yes. Also, Delphine's best friend Mailys, who has been taught since I was there, is finally getting baptized in September. The Torcy sister told me that they're trying to get it sooner, but September is the date she's given herself. Typical of Mailys.

 

This week we taught a family that we had taught the week before, the Henry family. It's a single mother, Jacqueline, with three daughters and her two nephews. They were all there again this time and when we asked if they prayed together and if they read the Book of Mormon they told a wonderful story. Apparently the father of Jacqueline's nephews has had trouble finding a job. They decided to see if they could find help in the Book of Mormon. Jacqueline couldn't remember where it was, but they found a scripture that said they if you have faith and continue to pray, that the Lord would open a way. Apparently it was a great comfort to them. The Book of Mormon does it again! We then had a very spiritual lesson as we taught the First Vision.

FYI, the town this family lives in is the ghetto. Literally, the worse neighborhood in Paris. No members wanted to teach with us because of its reputation. It's funny because it's the town the Elders live in. After we saw it ourselves we decided it's wasn't that bad, but we also don't think we'll be teaching anybody there after nightfall. We did find an amazing Patisserie and saw a guy preaching repentance to the masses. It was very amusing!

After the lesson we had a bit of time and we decided to do some porting and use the Montana Way (asking if we can pray with a family, not just saying that we have a message to share). We felt impressed to do it after President told how many miracles have been happening with missionaries who've been doing it. Plus, I've always enjoyed doing it from time to time. Well, a young family let us in. The mother was a recent convert to Buddhism, but we can tell that she doesn't really have any loyalty to it. She's really just searching for truth. The father is from South America and is Catholic. We had a really good prayer with them and they invited us to come back next week!

On Sunday a woman, Evelyn, just walked into church and said she was on the bus and felt she should attend ours when the bas passed it. She has a very strong belief in God and Jesus and surprisingly didn't freak out when I explained that we had other scripture than the Bible. She was excited to meet real live missionaries and gave us her information so we could explain more. We also had a member bring a friend to church, Cecil, and we taught her afterward. She's a little socially awkward and we think she might have Asberger's Syndrome, but she still deserves the gospel!

Our funny story of the week happened on Wednesday. We had an appointment with a woman, Mimose, we met at the bus stop a few weeks ago. She introduced us to what we thought was her husband, a man named Yres. He actually used to live in Tennessee and knew some Paxtons there, but I said there was no relation. Then Mimose told us that Yres was her pastor. At that moment, being from the South, I knew that this could go really good or really bad. Well, to make a long story short, he definitely tried to Bible Bash with us. I was so amused the whole time. I just kept thinking, "This reminds me of home!" I think the grin on my face might have unsettled him a little bit. Soeur Callister was a little put off at first, but after about a minute she picked up on the fact that the best thing to do in this situation was to explain that we weren't there to argue, just testify and leave. Who knew I would get into a Bible bashing situation in France? That one definitely went in the Mission journal!

Bethany

Happy Late Fourth of July!

Sorry, we are late getting this email out. This week is the one-year mark for Bethany. She entered the MTC in Provo on July 11, 2012. We are so proud of all she has accomplished on her mission. She is truly “putting it all out there!” 

 

 

Happy Late 4th of July!!!

 

This email will be short due to so many emails that I've been getting from people. Many people to write too! Thanks for all of the love!

We celebrated the 4th by making a fruit pizza and listening to Patriotic Mormon Tabernacle Hymns! It wasn't much, but it was fun!

Mom, although the wave of missionaries has died a little I think there'll be a new one soon as all of the kids who were waiting for school to finish start entering the MTC. Like Kayla and Sadie.

 

Well, the baptism didn't happen, but we have another one lined up in two more weeks. SoeurCallister and I are teaching like crazy! We taught 19 other lessons (meaning not with a member) last week. Most of them were right in the street! I have seen so many miracles as the Lord has opened doors for us to teach people we would never have been able to teach without his help.

Something I've also been touched by is the testimonies of people we teach. Before we even start teaching we always ask, "Who is God for you?".  Many people have some very touching stories and very strong testimonies. I have been very moved in the past week. Heavenly Father has manifested himself in everybody's life, we just need to take the time to look for it and be grateful.

We meet Muslims all the time here and while most of them are nice, the conversations don't last long. However, we met one man who I am convinced is prepared for the Gospel. He respected us so much and when he found out we were Mormon he talked about how much he likes our family values and our desire to follow God. He didn't mention polygamy or Mitt Romney all!! God really is what is important to him! I gave him a Book of Mormon which he was happy to except. It's too bad that we really can't teach Muslims.

We also taught another Muslim woman who had some really great questions about why we need Jesus Christ. Why can't God just forgive us? Since he's all powerful and all. At first it seemed like she was just trying to prove us wrong, something so many people try to do. But after a while I could see that she really wanted answers (BTW, we found a lot of the answers in Alma 40 if you're wondering). I loved seeing how she was affected as we taught about the Atonement. She also accepted a Book of Mormon and said she would ask God if it was true.

Yesterday a woman took us to the top of a large hill where we saw the best view of Paris ever. If you go to the Eiffel Tower and Sacre Coeur you get good views, but you can't see either the Eiffel Tower or Sacre Coeur. On this hill we saw everything! We also taught an amazing lesson afterward.

Bethany

 

Qui Allo!

This week we did some good porting and set up several appointments...for the Elders. As usual, they were all men, but we don't mind. We taught the mother of a young lady that got baptized a few years ago named Shioban (pronounced Shivon, it's actually a Welsh name she gave herself because she really likes England). We found her mother as a former amie in the area book, but we didn't tell Shioban because, while she's still very active, we don't know her because she's in Nice for school. While we were on our way, she texted us because she was so excited that we were going to teach her mother.

She will be transferring this week. We will send her new address along as soon as we receive it.

We got a second email from Bethany not long after receiving the one below:

 

I'm going to be serving in north Paris in a ville called St. Ouen. Sacré Coeur is in my area!!! My companion is Sr. Callister, who was Sr. Covington's MTC companion. The fun thing is that we'll be in a trio with a bleu. Sr. Callister will be training!

 

 

Oui Allo?

That's how people answer the phone here; they don't say "Bonjour" as you would think. Just a little tidbit about French culture.

Genial! I'm totally psyched that KC got his mission call. I'm actually almost about to cry. Trying to keep it in though. I haven't cried in 11 months and I'm not going to start now. KC I'm soooo happy for you!

Yes, Aunt Mickey emailed me recently and told me about the Borders. (Recently called as a Mission President in Russia) From what I've heard about them over the past few years it sounds like their ready for the job. Haha! I love that they told everyone they were going to Germany! But Russia, here they come! That story about that mission getting i-Pads is interesting considering what they just announced yesterday during the Broadcast! (It was announced that all missionaries currently serving will receive tablet devices to help with their missionary work.) We weren't able to watch it, but we got an email today talking about the new devices missionaries will be able to use. However, from the looks of it, by the time they implement that stuff in the mission I'll be home. Laura will have to tell me how that is all working when she goes out.

Hey Dad, that trip to (Glacier Park) Montana sounds amazing! And the fact that you and Mom are getting into geo-caching is fun! Who are you people and what did you do with my parents?! Haha! We attempted to do geo-caching my freshman year of college, but failed miserably.

Mom, I definitely know what you're talking about when investigators talk and talk and talk. It's so frustrating and as missionaries you also feel bad for whatever member is going with you. Glad you got to talk about the Restoration though. And I'm also glad to know that even if the mother wasn't interested that at least her daughter committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! It's always nice when a surprise like that happens.

Go, go, go Mom with the Primary! Your organization skills are coming in handy. I know people in the Stake are being blessed through your efforts.

Before I forget. Dad! I found this war cemetery for British soldier, with a few American and Canadian ones, and I looked up all of the people named Paxton in the registry, about 6 of them. I took a picture of it that might help with genealogy. Maybe not, but you never know. Sorry I didn't get their ages!

Ahh, the Byrd Spring Ward Lunch Bunch. Comment ça me manque! I wish I could be there chatting away, but you know, chatting about the Lord is the only thing that beats that! And I get to do it everyday!!! This morning during companionship study I explained to Sr. Covington that before my mission my favorite scripture was Alma 29:1&2:

1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the ^atrump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and ^acome unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

As a missionary I have been able to come as close to being an announcing angel as I possible can. I do it everyday, all day, even on P-day! I get to testify of what I know to be true as my job! I just don't get paid for it. Although I plan on being a “member missionary” the rest of my life, there are only a few years that I'll be able to be this dedicated to the work. And what a glorious work it is. It is the hardest, best thing I've ever done. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for this opportunity.

Her mother, Annie, was very nice and attentive, but we got the feeling that she was really only listening out of respect for the church that totally changed the life of her daughter for the better. She an interesting woman though, who sells organic stuff on Saturdays. We stopped by for a bit the next day to say hello and for support.

On Sunday a young lady in the ward about to go on a mission brought 4 friends to church and one of them was a young woman. She was the most atheist of them all, but at the same time she commented the most and had good questions. I gave her our number and so we'll see what happens.

 

Bethany

 

Pictures are: 1. The cemetery 2. The Paxtons! 3. A ward member 4. Our last district meeting, the numbers are how many transfers we've done. Sisters do 11 or 12, Elders do 15 or 16. We are no longer allowed to extend our missions.