September 7th.... 1 Year Anniversary

Yes yes, the rumors are true.... I HAVE BEEN OUT FOR A YEAR. my goodness.... it's crazy. 

This week as flown by!!!! Moncton. Dartmouth and NFLD Zone conference.... so much fun! But i am a wee bit tired now... just a little bit. The conference was jam packed with info and it was very uplifting and inspiring! We had the couple who is in charge of the medical stuff in our mission (and like 6 other missions) come and give us a training on how to stay healthy and stress free. Then Brother Cartier who is the CES representative in the east coast (and the institute teacher here in Halifax) gave us a training on how to study the scriptures and get the most out of our personal study. That was an awesome training! It is amazing how much you can get out of a single verse of scripture. 

THEN President gave a training on member presents and near the end said "and now the STLTs are going to train you on IPERF" (a new concept that we had just learned about from president the night before) So we had zero idea he wanted us to train on it.... and we barely understood it ourselves....but we did it. And it turned out pretty good. It was a fun surprise.... 

It was so great going back to Newfoundland again! Me and Sister Fenn both served there so it was a good time. And my old comp Sister Pitcher was just made STL there so we got to go on exchanges with them :) It was a struggle getting to NFLD though. The assistants put my name on the ticket as Emily Fenn, so i couldnt use the ticket. And to get my name changed on the ticket was a hour and a half long process.... and the check in for my flight was closing in 10 minutes... so i had to buy a whole new ticket (didnt help that it was 5am so nobody was answering the phone) ive decided that airports are the biggest rip off in the world... so sneaky with all there hidden fees and silly rules. anyways, it was great once i got there but a bit stressful. I had a nice chat with the assistants after that. But all is well!!!! 

I am loving serving with Sister Fenn, she is so fun!!! We are getting along great :) 

I may have sinned.... i didnt write in my journal all week.... MY BAD! so i dont have much to tell...Sister Fenn almost got hit by a car in Halifax and then we got in a car crash in NFLD. THAT was fun. I would tell details, but i think its funner to just leave it at that. 

The greatest thing that i learned at Zone Conference is that their are two reasons to read the scriptures: 

1.To be changed

2.To obtain light and truth that will save me, my family, and those i serve. 

And if these are not the reasons we have in mind as we read, then they need to become the reason! 

Thanks for the emails and the support, It is a blessing to reflect every monday on the love and care i receive from those at home. Love you all lots :) 

Sister Lambert 

August 31... Hipster or Homeless

Yes, the new hit game here in Hali is "hipster or homeless" we feel that the "rugged" look is starting to a get a little too much... i know mom is going to be laughing when she reads this considering she thought i looked like a homeless person about 50% of the time. 

So we had transfers this week. My new companion is Sister Fenn and she is AWESOME. She is hilarious! We are going to have a darn good transfer... The transfer time was pretty crazy! We had 8 Sisters in our apartment, but it was a blast haha It was 4 of the sisters who were going home and we just had a good night.... it was so heart breaking to see all those sisters going home. I realized that every sister that i had looked up to when i first came out is home now. :( Now im going to be an old lady in the mission. there are only a few sisters who have been out longer than me! ahhh! And so many new sisters coming out! We had 7 this last transfer and another 6-7 next transfer! Woohoo!! 

So we started working with a less-active who is the most interesting person ever... But i love her! Every time i see her i just imagine what she can become, she is going to be a solid member one day! She has some really crazy tattoos, few piercings and a mohawk. She was going to join the circus (walking on glass, and people would staple money to her body...) BUT she backed out and so thank goodness for that.... We spent an hour cleaning a layer of nicotine off her walls the other day.... on the way to salvation!!! one step at a time. 

We had the Halifax YSA conference this weekend! It went great!! People came from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec and PEI. It added up to about 100 people (thats a lot for the east coast) We got to attend the devotional and we came for all the meals....(cant say no to free food) Quit a few less actives came and we had our investigator John come for the second half.(John is from China, and so John is his english name) We had to leave to go to a lesson, so we asked the Elders to keep an eye on John while we were gone (make sure people are talking to him and that he is having a good time)  When we get back Elder Dudley comes up to me "hey we named him!" ....what? They decided to change his english name from John to Rickie... because apparently Chinese people can just do that. John/rickie was so excited. They had roleplayed different names and that is what they decided. So now we have to go change his teaching record to Rickie. But he was jumping off the walls with excitement.

So over all it has been a great week. Last week i was pretty stressed about things, but my companion is da bomb and so is President so im a little more calm now. The anxiety is gone and im just really excited for what lies ahead! 

Tomorrow we are going to Moncton for zone conference, then Zone conference in Dartmouth wednesday, and then thursday we are flying to Newfoundland and staying till saturday... i and then lessons all in-between!! woohoo! 

Love ya all. Hope everyone is doing great :) 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :)

August 24... Lots of Training

Oh well hello everyone.... Long time no talk! 

Okay. CRAZY heat wave has hit Nova Scotia.... IM DYING HERE.

This has been a pretty crazy week! First off, I am now in a trio!!! But just for the week. One of the cole harbour sisters got sick and needed to go home and so sister Smith is now here with us in Halifax 😊 it has been a blast since she speaks some Chinese and our investigators love it! So Sister Smith and Sister Howell are BOTHA going home on Thursday soooo this is going to be a short email, I got two dying missionaries to keep busy here! 

We had transfer letters!!! Drum role..... I'm staying here in Hali (WOOHOO) and Sister Fenn is going to be my new companion! Which I am so excited about because I love her! She is so fun! 2 days before transfers I was telling president that I had a feeling that Sister Fenn was going to be my companion (because we are the only STLs that have been out for 2 transfers, everyone else is newer or going home) and so when I saw him at our weekly meeting on Sunday he's like "I didn't make her your companion cause you asked me to okay? Don't think you can just go around requesting companions..." Hahaha I get what I want here.... Guess you could say I run the show 😉

This next transfer is going to be CRAZY. I'm over 6 sets of sisters now. That wouldn't be too crazy but it doesn't help that they are spread over the whole mission. So I have to help train 4 new STLs and then I have 2 sets of regular missionaries as well. I'm going to be going to Newfoundland again next week because I might be giving a training at zone conference and to go on exchanges with the sisters there... Then we are going to be teaching all of our investigators as well as the assistants investigators because they are going to be traveling with the member 70 that is touring the mission this transfer. So they will basically be out of there area for 2-3 week. All while trying to fit in my 5 other exchanges in the first 3 weeks of the transfer. Woohoo..... Oh, and president said that he wants me to become an "expert" in working on campus. Since our mission focus is going to be on the YSA and institute he is going to give me this transfer to get really good at working on campus and then the next transfer train the mission on it... He told it to me AND the assistants but they are going to be gone for pretty much the first 3 weeks of the transfer so they put it on me... And sister Fenn of course, but she doesn't know it yet. So this transfer has felt so crazy and went by sooo fast... And next transfer is going to be even more crazy and go by even faster! But it's okay.... We got this...with a whole lot of the Lord’s help. 

I'm sorry but I have no spiritual thought this week! We went to Peggy's Cove today with Ryan and the Tegge girls (they are from Edmonton, one went to school here and the other served her mission here) it was lots of fun! 

Love you, I might not have time to respond personally to very many of you! Sorry!!! 

August 17--- I'm 20!

Yes, it is true. I am now 20. But that was a whole 3 days ago, let's move on. 

Sorry my email is late. We have a senior couple in the YSA Ward, the Excels. And they took us to the beach today! It was so nice! 

So at the beginning of the week we went on exchanges with the Bridgewater sisters, Sister killpack and sister Lybbert. They are so fun! Sister Killpack came back with me to Halifax. She couldn't believe how many lessons we had in the day! Then we spent the night in Bridgewater and then went to district meeting in Annapolis Royal. (It is beautiful there btw) 

We had an awesome Skype call with all the STLs this week, their are 5 STLs going home at the end of this transfer so we made the topic "what I wished I had known when I first became an STL" it turned into a wonderful discussion on the things we had learned over our transfers as leaders. What I shared is the importance of being vulnerable to Christ. Vulnerable towards his love and direction, always looking for His guidance. Really becoming dependant on Him. And then furthering that to the sisters we serve. Being humble towards feedback and showing them our weakness and our dependency on the Savior. Oft times we think that a leader should not show weakness when in reality showing our weakness can be the most powerful way to strengthen others. That's something that has taken my whole mission to figure out, but it has been what's changed me. 

So on the day of my birthday they had a YSA barbecue, and yes mom, they did sing me happy birthday...thanks to the elders who ratted me out. In the morning Sister Howell decorated the apartment and made me a massive cookie for me. it was fun :) I can honestly say that this has been one of my best birthdays! We had weekly planning where I got to reflect on the amazing people we are teaching and working with, then we went street contacting and set up 4 lessons within an hour! Then went to the branch activity! It was a great day! And of course I really appreciate the wonderful cards and packages I recieved! Everyone made me feel very very loved. Thanks for thinking of me on this day. I especially loved the photo album with everyone's pictures in it! It was so fun! I look at it all the time now haha 

I'm sorry but I am going to be making this email a bit short cause I don't have a lot of time but I love you all! Thanks for all the love you show to me, i always appreciate it! I'm on an iPad right now so I can't send my pictures but I'm gonna take one on here of my sweet new Chinese name tag I ordered... We have 7 Chinese investigators right now so I decided that I deserve it haha 

August 10th... That's How IT's Done Folks

Yes it is true. Today is my 11 month mark. And YES it is ALSO true that i am going to be turning the big 2-0 on friday..... the teen life of wild games and adventures is over... or have they just begun? i guess only time will tell. 

My goodness what a fun week this has been! I must repent, i only wrote in my journal once this past week, and it was last night... and this morning... 

So on Tuesday we got 3 new investigators! They are all chinese (of course) Sam and Amber are students, they are dating and so darn cute. They have been here for 3 years and have pretty good english. We are also teaching Ambers mom Mandy, she has only been here for a month, and has brutal english, luckily we have some pretty solid Chinese members in the ward to help us out. In our first lesson Sam said "do you always talk to strangers on the street?" and so we explained how thats how we find people to teach, and he's like "i introduce you to my Chinese friends, you teach them so you dont have to talk to strangers on street anymore" hahaha it was great. On Sunday Sam and Mandy came to church, our recent convert sharon translated for Mandy and we sat with Sam. The gospel principles lesson was on tithing, Sam turned to us and said "i want to pay tithing" "okay great, you don't need to pay tithing unless you are a member though" "what do i need to do to become mormon?" "get baptized, do you know what baptism means?" "no" *explain baptism* Sam: "okay,i want to do that" ....... and thats how its done folks. 

We also started teaching another girl who lives next door to our investigator Glenna, her name is Kim. She converted to Muslim 9 years ago but is very interested in what we teach. She has a 2 page list of questions for us! We went over and started answering some of her questions. When we started we said that we are not perfect teachers, and we may not be able to answer all her questions but that doesn't mean that there is not an answer, and that the ones we don't know we will write down and study. Then Glenna stops us and says to Kim "if the sisters dont know the answers, you can just read the Book Of Mormon. It answers lots of questions" .... gotta love when an investigator teaches for you. 

How great are the people we are teaching right now???? so great... 

YES I DID GET TO GO TO NEWFOUNDLAND THIS WEEK! AND IT WAS SO GREAT! So we were supposed to go tuesday night, but then we may or may not have missed our flight... woops. But fret not, we left wednesday morning instead. We get to St. Johns safely and work with the St. Johns sisters for the day. We went to the Regatta which is apparently the oldest boat race in North America. It was pretty sweet! There were thousands of people there and it was pretty insane. The Sister i was with has some pretty bad anxiety so we took it pretty easy while we were in the crowd. It is hard to talk to people about the gospel in large and loud crowds, but i still managed to pass out at least one Book Of Mormon. Then we went to Bay Roberts and had an awesome time with Sister Christiansen and Sister Fenn. Im 99% sure Sister Fenn is going to be my next companion, she is an awesome sister! 

I forgot how easy it is to talk to Newfies. They are just so nice!!! You really will not meet a kinder soul, sadly more often then not they are also very content with mediocrity, making them hard to teach. But you will have a hoot talking to them!! 

But i am happy to be home in Halifax. There are some great works going on here and im very excited for these next couple of months!!! 

As for my birthday. The YSA is having a activity in honor of me turning 20. okay... well they might not know its my birthday, and they may have planned the activity before i got here... but my plan is to just walk in and be like "wow!! for me? THANKS guys!" and hopefully everyone will just play along.... 

I know these 7 months are going to fly by, and i hope to cherish every moment. It was a very cool experience to be back in my first area and see the progress i have made over the last 11 months. And i still have so much more work to do!!! And so little time!!! So i better get off this computer and get to work! 

Love you all lots, thank you for the early birthday wishes! have a great week me duckies' 

Love, 

Sister Lambert

August 3- It's a great day to be Alive!!

What a wonderful time to be alive, am i right? yes i am. 

Halifax is bumpin' right now!! There is a buskers festival on the water front and so there are always tons of people downtown. They also have cruise ships coming in and so half of our street contacting consists of trying to tell the tourists from the locals. Not that tourists don't need there souls saved, but they can be saved by missionaries in there own darn country. Us and the other metro sisters are going to see all the buskers for our prep day today :) 

Since i have been in Halifax, i have grown such a deep love for Chinese people. Oh my heavens they are so much fun. And once baptized, they become the best member missionaries! The Elders are teaching a kid from China named Chris, he is hilarious! And he just LOVES church. I was sitting beside him in sunday school and asked him what he thought of church so far and he was like "i like here. I feel like family. i keep come back" it was awesome :) YSA really are the best fellowshipers. 

i find it interesting how so many members seem to get worse at being friendly as they get older, dont you think it would be the opposite? 

We went on exchanges this week to Cole Harbour and Amherst. I spent the day with Sister Smith in Cole Habour, she is the sweetest sister! I am sad that she is going home this transfer. We got to go to North Preston to contact some referrals me and Sister Shannon had got our last day there. I finally got a picture by the sign, i was pretty stoked. 

It was funny doing the Amherst exchange. I got to bring Sister Mangelson, who was my first trainer to Hali with me. It was fun spending the day together and seeing the progression we both have made. 

We are getting more and more busy in Halifax! I love it!!! I just running around and never having a moment to stop. (and im not being sarcastic, i really do love it, it is exciting) we are going to be in NFLD wednesday and thursday so we are trying to mash everything into the other days. We are hopefully going to be having 3 baptisms is august and early september. :) 

Now for the spiritual part... 

Something i have always wondered is why scriptures are sometimes so harsh. i would always get a little frustrated when i finished teaching an investigator about how loving our Heavenly Father is and how much he wants us to find joy and then later we read a scripture that includes a nice little threat about fire & brimstone. 

BUT i finally understand why. I was reading in 1 Nephi, and this is when Nephi was having yet another problem with Laman and Lemuel. and he talks about how there hearts were softened. 18:20 "And there was nothing save it were the power of God, which threatened them with destruction, could soften their hearts" 

The only way to soften there hearts was with some threats and a good ol' rebuking! I was thinking how crazy that was that people needed to be given threats to finally make there hearts open enough to receive blessings. But then i realized how often that happens in my own life. How many times did i not realize how much i had hardened my heart to the promptings of the spirit until it had been completely removed from me for a space of time. Or how often have i waited to thank God for blessings that i had received in the past until God has withheld them from me. Now i have never been directly threatened with fire and brimstone, but i sure have received a kick in the butt here and there to remind me that this isn't my show, and that i need to soften my heart and become more reliant on our Heavenly Father for guidance. A goal that i have made for myself is to have frequent self evaluations. Considering the blessings i have been given, the actions i have made, and the things that i have done. Hopefully as i do this i will be able to stop myself from hardening my heart. Always being aware of my spiritual welfare. I feel i should not have to wait until God withdraws the spirit or blessings from me to realize how much i need Him.

So hopefully others can learn from this as well, do a inventory! Where is your spiritual dependency on God and our Savior? 

Thanks for the love shown to me, i truly appreciate it :) 

Love, 

Sister Lambert 

July 27...Flashback to YSA

Hello everyone! What a wonderful week filled with miracles and learning :) 

So i had a flashback to my YSA year as a FHE Mom when we were asked to plan the FHE activity for Monday night! We played chair soccer, reminded me that the Elders, although representatives of Jesus Christ, are still just 19 year old boys.... it got pretty competitive hahaha.  

we had a crazy day on tuesday! MLC followed by 4 hours to do 4 lessons before running off to Fredericton for Zone Training (a 4.5 hour drive) and then I GOT TO SEE SISTER PITCHER. Oh my lans, i sure do love that girl. We got to do some street contacting with them for a bit, i went with a sister that sister pitcher is training, she was awesome! I am amazed by the new sisters that had come out just the transfer before, they are all super stars! it was so much fun being in my old area, talking with my old companion and seeing the progression we have both made in the short 2 months. 

We then went on exchanges with the STLs in St.John, which is a great city! Tons of crazy people...makes it pretty fun for street contacting. We met this one guy who just walked up to us and was like "hey, can i have a discussion with you guys?" and then we had an amazing talk about the gospel and how it can bless families. He and his girlfriend just had a baby and he is really starting to consider the importance of religion in his child's life. It is remarkable to see God preparing his children for the gospel! 

          Friday was CRAZY! we were out of our area for 2 days so had a whole lot of catching up to do. Being busy is so much fun though! It keeps things exciting and entertaining. You feel so much more accomplished at the end of the day! We had a lesson with a chinese girl named Minmin. Have you ever met a chinese hippy? well she is a chinese hippy. We brought a recent convert from China named Sharon. Minmin would go off about how we can't limit ourselves to one God and how if God loves her than he will love her even if she doesn't believe in Him and does nice things for people. Sharon didn't like that and they would get into a heated discussion. The problem is that they would get in these discussions in Chinese... so me and Sister Howell just had to sit and wait till they were done and then we didn't know what they talked about so we didn't know where to go from there... the problems of teaching people who don't know english very well... 

I saw Elder Gibb!! He came with the Amherst branch to the temple and they needed someone to be the escort for a recently returning member who hasn't been to the temple in 20 years. Sister Howell taught her for a while and so she got to be the escort and of course i got to go to. It was fun catching up with him a bit, he is doing great! He is going to do really well in Amherst. 

We started teaching this woman who is so amazing! We had a great lesson with her. She was put up for adoption as a baby and recently reconnected with her birth mom after 55 years. She found out that her mom had joined The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. And so she requested a Book Of Mormon and now she wants to learn all about it! We had a spirit filled lesson, she told us about her son who had passed away 11 years ago and was never baptized but she feels that he is still with God. We were able to testify to her about eternal families and the blessings of the temple. She cried when she heard that her son could still be baptized and is so excited to continue to learn. She readily accepted the invitation to be baptized. There are a lot of changes she will need to make between now and then but we are excited to see the blessings the gospel is going to bring into her life! 

I feel so blessed to have the promise to be with my family for time and eternity. It is such a comfort to know that i have a Heavenly Father who loves me enough to give me a wonderful family and endless opportunities to stay with them forever. As i sat in the temple this week i reflected on the events in my life that have lead me to the testimony and understanding i now have of this perfect gospel. I do have to go because i have to do a 45 minute training tomorrow in missionary leadership council (which i found out about last night and am freaking out about) 

It is great hearing from everyone as always... congrats to my aunty Mari on the beautiful wedding! I am so happy for her :) 

Love you and miss you all :) 

Sister Lambert

July 20.... Halifax

Well hello everyone!! What a fun week this has been!

I am now in Halifax and i am loving every moment!!!! I am just so excited about everything that has to do with missionary work right now!

So it was sad leaving Cole Harbour, since Sister Shannon was going home we spent more time than i usually would during transfers saying goodbye to members, packing, and preparing the maps and books for the new sisters coming in.
On our last day we decided to go knocking in North Preston. For those who are not aware (and im sure most of you are not) North Preston is the largest black community in all of North America! And it was sooooo much fun. There is not a single white person in the whole area and we were getting the weirdest looks. Cars would drive past us, turn around and drive past us again like 6 times. I think a lot of them thought we worked for the government or something. There were some moments where i thought i was going to get jumped.... but i didn't. so all is well. Everyone we talked to was sooo nice... super Baptist, but so nice. It was a good time haha 

We went to the temple for transfers and it was weird saying bye to Sister Shannon after as well as Sister Spencer who was one of my trainers!! 2/3 of my trainers are home, and the 3rd (Sister Mangelson) is going home at the end of this transfer.... crazy!

And now Halifax! It is so so great here! Sister Howell is great! We get along really well and i have so much to learn from her! And everyone here is so ready and prepared to hear the gospel! Just the other day we walked around our apartment to a bus stop and got 5 potentials and set up 3 lessons.... THAT NEVER HAPPENS. only in Halifax... We are currently teaching 2 people from China, 2 from Nepal, and 1 girl from Bolivia... it is so diverse and exciting here! (and we are teaching a couple canadians of course...) But this has been a very humbling time for me! It has been a great because i am learning to teach more simply and take out the filler words in my sentences. (which im sure you can tell by the million run on sentences in my emails) 

So we are covering both the family and Ysa ward in Halifax. It is a hoot and a half. We went to the church at 8:30am for correlation and then didn't leave till 4:30pm, just enough time to make some calls and then head to the mission home for dinner and a meeting with President & Sister Pratt and the APs, that meeting goes till 8pm and then we ran to a lesson with a Child of Record we are teaching. it was a looong day. And it is going to be like that every sunday!! woohoo!  

I am really excited for the responsibilities we are given for this transfer (now that i know what they actually are) This upcoming week we get to travel to my favorite place of Fredericton NB for zone training, and then go on exchanges with the STLs in St. John. In a couple weeks President is flying us out to NFLD for exchanges which i am so excited about! Me and Sister Howell both served in St.Johns so we are hoping we get to spend some time there in our travels! 

OH and i have a ipad!!! Only about 6 missionaries in the mission have them, us, the APs and 2 other elders. They are so handy to have!

When we met with President Pratt on sunday we talked about the focus for this upcoming transfer, what the members need, the missionaries need, and what we need to do to strengthen the missionary success here. Our focus is on keeping the sabbath day holy. It is the Churches focus right now and is really such a simple answer to so many diverse and complex issues. And as missionaries, we can sometime be surprisingly bad and keeping the sabbath day holy. Not in the way of playing sports. But we are bad at making Sunday separate from every other day. Since we focus so much on the Lords work everyday, it makes it hard to remember that sunday needs to be different from every other day. We are going to be focusing a lot on encouraging missionaries to finish all they need to do before sunday, and use the sabbath day as a time to meet with member in the ward, less actives, and doing service. I have come to know as i have studies the purpose of the sabbath the many blessings that come as we focus on the savior. There is a talk called "The Sabbath is a delight" by Elder Nelson that talks about how we need to not focus on the things we can't do on sunday but instead focus on the good things, that blessings that come. I hope everyone can take a moment to read or listen to that talk and consider there own sabbath day activities! My favorite part of the talk is when he says "

my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my Heavenly Father.12 With that understanding, I no longer needed lists of dos and don’ts. When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, “What sign do I want to give to God?” That question made my choices about the Sabbath day crystal clear."

I feel blessed for these opportunities given to me. This transfer is going to be a huge growing experience for me! I Cant wait to see what lies ahead. 

Lobsters, Nuns. and Transfers

Transfer time has come waay to fast. I was pretty calm about transfers since i had just gotten to Cole Harbour and my companion was going home i knew i was going to stay here and i was already 90% sure who my companion was going to be. All was well. Then we get to the church with the Elders.... and my NAME IS NOT UNDER COLE HARBOUR. So i am getting transferred. I am going to be serving in the Halifax YSA ward as an STLT... Sister Training Leader Trainer....I don't even know all that this entails but from what i understand It is nothing too crazy. It just means that instead of being over the regular sisters we are over the STLs and go on exchanges and do trainings with them. I am excited! It will be so much fun :) although i am very sad i had such a short time here in Cole Harbour. i really loved it here. Maybe i will come back! 

My new companion is Sister Howell! She served with Sister Pizzey and she is an awesome missionary! i am really excited to serve with her, im going to learn a lot from her in this time. She is going home in a transfer so i will have to learn as much as i can in this next 6 weeks! 

So last monday we went it Pier 21, it is a museum. Pier 21 is where all the immigrants came into Canada back when the east coast was a bumpin' place. It was cool from a family history perspective but also pretty boring from a 19 year old girl with a short attention span perspective. I got some pretty sweet pictures though. 

I went on exchanges in New Glasgow this week which was fun. I was with Sister Taylor again. this time we didn't run out of gas which was a nice improvement from last time... We went to a Lobster Carnival (only in the east coast) and we later knocked on a house that had a bunch of Catholic Nuns living in it... they thought it was great that we were Sisters to, and how we started so young... we corrected them a bit and talked for a while. They ended up taking a Book Of Mormon which is pretty cool.... 

I big personal barrier was broken this week. I sang a duet with sister Shannon in sacrament meeting this sunday. i was beyond terrified but it actually went really well. It started as a way to get a less-active to church. He played the guitar to Nearer My God To Thee and we sang, the second verse Sister Shannon played the flute. It turned out really nice. 

I continue to feel so blessed for the many opportunities i have been given on my mission. I was reflecting on this in my personal study and came across Mosiah 2:22 -24

  And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

and then again in 41:And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

THAT IS WHY. I always knew of this promise of course. But i had such a confirming moment that i was doing the will of the Lord, i was following his commandments. And it is because of this i feel happier than i have ever felt. i get to teach people about something that can bring happiness into every situation. I get to help the sisters in this mission progress and feel confident about there abilities as well as learn from each of them. And i have friends and family from home giving me constant encouragement and love. 

 Alma 26:12

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I hope everyone can have an opportunity to reflect on the blessings they have received. And if you feel that you are in need of more blessings, reflect on the things that you feel may not be aligned with Gods will and change it. Because this promise of obedience leading to happiness is for everyone! 

Love you all, i will get off the soap box for the time being. 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :)

June 15th...Real Success

Well hello everyone, it is great to read all your emails and see what great things are happening in everyone's lives!

First off, a big happy birthday to my beautiful mother!!!! Wish i could be there but at the same time i don't, because i like it here.... 

So i am loving it here in "Cool" Harbour (as Paige would say) the members are great and there is so much potential here! this place is going to be exploding with missionary work in no time!! 

We had our Zone Conference this week. It is the last one we will have with the Leavitts which is sad but we are getting more and more excited for the new President that will be coming at the end of the month! 

They always have everyone prepare 5 minute talks and then at the conference ask 2 people to give there talk on the subject given, and then after everyone shares what they liked and what that person can work on.... of course.... thanks to my awesome luck.... i was asked to give my talk. I was asked to talk on using time wisely. I talked on the importance of prioritizing our efforts and used the example of Alma in chapter 32, and how he taught the prepared. It was a great reminder to me that we truly are here to find those who are prepared to hear the word of God. 

There is a Board Walk here that is so beautiful! It is in Eastern Passage which is a area near Cole Harbour. There are small beaches, fun shops, restaurants and great walking paths. I am so lucky to be serving in such a great place! We saw a family from our ward there and they took us out for dinner, it was great. I will send a picture!

So yes yes.. it is true. I have now been out for 9 months.... and yes... that does mean that i am now half way done my mission.... which is sooo crazy. I can not believe how fast my mission is going by.... but lets just not think about it. moving on... 

We went to a members home this week and her husband is an amazing musician! He plays the guitar and he showed us a few songs! I introduced him to the song `Nearer My God to Thee`and he LOVED it. So he played it on the guitar and me and Sister Shannon sang. It was so fun! It was a great way to bring the spirit into the life of someone who isn`t yet willing to invite it in himself. 

I have had some really great personal studies this week! One that i would like to share with you is when i pondered a quote i have that says:
 ``There is nothing more vital to our success and our happiness here than learning to hear the voice of the spirit. It is the spirit who reveals to us our identity, which isn`t just who we are but who we have always been. And when we know that, our lives take on a sense of purpose so compelling that we can never be the same again``

I find that there are a lot of people who are scared of change. They are scared of the truth, of feeling the spirit, because if they allow it in, it will give them a reason to change, a reason to make sacrifices in there life. People have a false sense of joy that they cling to, not realizing that they are allowing themselves to be content with mediocrity. They are allowing there views of themselves and others be shaped by man rather than by God. The Spirit allows us to become `who we have always been`. Our true selves, not a manipulated version of ourselves that has been pushed around and changed by the worlds ever changing idea of ``success``. I chose a quote that will be a theme for this transfer. It is `Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value`. I know that Heavenly Fathers idea of ``Success`` is a lot different than what we imagine it to be. I want to be of value to my family, my friends, my mission President, and my Heavenly Father. I know this will be through helping bring the spirit into the lives of others so that the spirit can in turn teach them the truths of our message.

June 8th.... New adventures

Hello everyone :) i must say, transfer time sure is an adventure!! It has been weird going from an area where i knew everything about everyone and i knew my way around to an area where i don't know a soul, and i feel like a lost puppy just following around Sister Shannon! But i will get more comfortable as time goes on. This is Sister Shannon's last transfer so I will most likely be here for a little while longer :)

So we had Sister Drew stay with us for a few days before transfers because her companion went home early for health reasons. We had a blast for those couple days! It was a good end to my time in Fredericton, visiting with members and making sure all was organized for Sister Pitcher and her new companion. We drove to Moncton to pick up there new companions (hit a bird on the way... woops) and then me and the other missionaries getting transferred to Nova Scotia took the transfer van right to the temple :) OH MY how much i missed the temple!! What a relief it was to be in the house of the Lord. The peace that is in the temple was really what i needed to calm my nerves and remind me of my purpose here on my mission and ultimately in life. 

After I met my new companion Sister Shannon and we went right to work! I am really excited about this area! I was amazed at the size of the ward on Sunday! And it was even a low attendance that day! i am so excited to be in an area with so many strong members who all live in town! (unlike Fredericton where 80% of ward council lives 45 min out of town) And it throws me off to be walking into the church building and seeing President and Sister Leavitt..... that's never happened before..... 

Being an STL is not nearly as scary as i thought (so far) but God has been really answering my prayers by giving me the confidence i need to fulfill this calling. Its funny though to realize how much really does go on in a mission. I used to think that because im doing good that im sure EVERYONE is doing good as well! Who knew that missionaries actually had problems... and need help and encouragement... 

Today i am emailing a bit late because we went to Martinque beach with the Pitts (a senior couple that lives next door to us. They work in the temple and are from Montana) It was a beautiful beach and after they took us out for local fish and chips! So good! I am going to love serving around a senior couple.... Brother Pitt has the same cheesy humor as Dad so i always get a kick out of that haha

I don't have much of a spiritual thought this week, but i would like to say how much i appreciate the spirit in my life. It is an amazing blessing to have that comforting presence in a time where most people would feel pure panic. Going to a new area, living with someone you don't know, in a place where you have no family or really even friends and still being confident that you are where God needs you to be and knowing that you have a whole community of people who love you without even knowing you. What a blessing! It is a reminder to me that I am being carried by the Holy Ghost and guided by a Heavenly Father who loves me dearly.

I hope everyone is safe and happy, i thank all of you for the words of encouragement! 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :) 

June 1st.... transfer to Cole Harbour, NS

So transfers letters have come... and they are pretty crazy... but i think that maybe i'll just tell you about it another time... 

JUST KIDDING (don't kill me mom) They are finally sick of me here in Fredericton and kicking me out.... I am going to be serving in Cole Habour Nova Scotia as a Sister Training Leader.... you may ask "Sister Lambert, does President really think that you can be an STL?" and my answer would be "i guess so..." you may follow up with a "But why?" and my answer would be "I DON'T KNOW" but... i know that the Lord knows i can do it, which must mean that i can do it. And so i am very excited to be serving these sisters! I also get to live right beside the temple which is SO exciting!! And i will be serving by the mission home for President and Sister Leavitt's last month in the mission and get to be here for the new mission president coming in! So that will be fun :) 

My new companion with be Sister Shannon and i know nothing about her except i'm pretty sure she is from Ontario.... but that's all my knowledge. 

I am very very sad to be leaving Fredericton... i have grown great freindship's with a lot of members and i will miss the people that we are working with. I am so lucky to have gotten to know the people here and i am so grateful for social media so that i can stay in touch with many of my now close friends! After i gave my leaving testimony in the ward one girl did the hunger games whistle and held up the 3 fingers (for anyone who has seen the hunger games movie) it was SUPER inappropriate but pretty funny...  

I am sad to leave the young women here. We had a really awesome lesson with one of them about modesty the other day. My and this girls mind work the exact same and so i relate to her perfectly. It was a great spirit filled lesson that really reminded me of why I am here and that we as missionaries are sent to specific places for a reason. I know that i needed to be here in Fredericotn for this time but now the Lord has work for me to do in Cole Harbour. 

Our last Pday was a pretty fun way to end my time here, we went to a waterfall with the Elders and a older member of the ward. He loves taking pictures so got a ton of pictures of us. He even made us pose in a few of them so some of the pictures looks like cheesy 60's family portraits. It's awesome. 

I don't know if any of you saw it on the news, but Fredericton had a pretty crazy flash flood this week. Nothing bad, no serious damage but the power was out for a while and the weather was pretty insane. But do you know what sucks? I MISSED IT. We were on exchanges so i was in St.John and missed all the cool craziness.... but oh well.... 

To end off, i had an amazing experience with family history this week! I would like to tell you all a small tale of my ancestor Gudmund Gudmonson. He and his wife and 10 kids were baptized into The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints in Iceland in the late 1800's and moved to Utah after being rejected from family and neighbors for there beliefs. It is a great story and there is lots to tell but for the sake of time and length of the email i want to share one part of the story

 "He was a very religious man and had many faith promoting experiences. He was a great believer and had great faith in prayer. At one time when some of the Saints treated the family so badly father doubted if the Church was right so he prayed to the Lord to guide him and to show him the way. This he soon found and spent his entire life working in the church, paying his honest tithes and offerings."

I know to many this does not seem like that big of a deal. But if Gudmund had chosen at this brief trial of his faith to become offended, resulting in inactivity, who knows if i would be here serving a mission right now. Who knows if his family would have stayed active, then resulting in his grandchildren and great grandchildren not being raised with a knowledge of the gospel. I know this may seem a bit extreme but i have worked with soo many less actives who have chosen to be offended, and because of it, their kids aren't baptized, or they have taken on the attitude of there parents, creating a hate for the church, then losing the joy they could have found in the gospel, simply because they had parent who chose to be offended. It is so important to remember that our decisions do not effect just us. I'm sure Gudmund didn't think in 1866 "oh i better stay active in the church so my great-great-great-great granddaughter can serve a mission" but it does not mean his choice didn't effect me. It changed my life as much as it did his.

I pray for those who have made the mistake to take offence, and i pray that i will never make that same mistake. 

I don't know what my new address is going to be, so stay tuned, i will have to let you know next week! I am excited for the adventure that lies ahead of me. I know this will be a time of great growth and i am very excited! I love you all, and thank you for the love and support you all give me! Miss you lots, sorry if the last part seems a bit intense but it is something that i am very passionate about! I know this gospel is true and i hate to see people miss out on the joy that comes from this truth due to the decisions of others. 

Love ya'll

Sister Lambert :)

May 18..... Interesting people in Fredricton

Hello everyone? Think you could forget about me? I don't think so... 

So first i would like to say. I am living in the best part of Canada. I've decided. Not in a "wow im going to move back here right after my mission" but in a "man, i love it here" kind of way. Does that make sense? 

So to start off. I have found such a great love for family history! We are now required by our mission president to do an hour of family history every week and i am seriously loving it! What a fun and exciting way to spend out time! Becoming connected with those who have passed on really brings a special spirit into your life and helps you recognize the true eternal perspective behind missionary work! 

So one of the reasons i started by talking about how great it is here is because we get the opportunity to go on the "walking bridge" fairly often and it is a bridge that tons of people go on and it has a great view of the city and the river. I will send some pictures! 

Another fun thing about the walking bridge is the interesting people we run into..... Just the other day we were talking to this guy who is hard core Pentecostal (the ones who speak in tongues and stuff) as well as a Druid. What is a druid you may ask? He is a guy who claims to have the power to heal through prayer as well as spells. He told us some pretty crazy stories, gave us some warnings about the blood moon that is coming (stay inside folks) and he claims to receive all this power from God but it is a bit questionable who the power is really coming from... anyways, long story short, he was actually pretty nice, committed to read the Book Of Mormon and when we left he gave Sister Pitcher a normal hand shake but then when i shook his hand he held on to my hand for a good 5 seconds while staring VERY deeply into my eyes, I KID YOU NOT when i say i seriously think he was attempting to cast an evil spirit into me or something. I was not feeling a very good vibe from him... But one of my favorite parts of serving a mission is the many interesting people we meet!! 

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite scriptures 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

I love this scripture for many reasons. 1. We need to constantly remind ourselves of the grace of God. 2. To remember that any challenge given to us is a blessing in disguise. It gives us an opportunity to become more dependent on our Heavenly Father, and find the trust that he will lift us up in times of need. 

3."for when i am weak, then i am strong" - it is only when we show unto God our weakness, showing our humility and readiness to learn and to serve, then we are made strong. It is the same as gaining physical strength, it takes, effort, discomfort, time, and a whole lot of motivation. But with these thing we can also expect results. If we do all that our Heavenly Father asks of us, we can expect blessings! 

How great it is to be lead by such a reliable guide. To follow our Father who loves us dearly and who will never disappoint us. 

I love you all, hope all is going well. I hope everyone is reading there Book Of Mormon and praying daily, doing the small things that bring big blessings! 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :) 

May 11.... not what we have done but what we have become!

Well yesterday was so much fun!!! It was so great to see my amazing family :) It is so crazy to see how everyone is still the same yet so different! It has officially been 8 months and the kids have all grown so much! It was so cool to see! Being able to see and talk with my family really helped remind me the joy that comes from a gospel centered home and reminded me of why I am here on a mission. What a small sacrifice it is to be away from my family for 18 months to help other families come together for time and eternity! 

So Fredericton is the best place to serve...ever. Now that the snow is gone we have found out that Fredericton has a million fun bike and walking trails. There is a trail right beside the church and after 5 minutes of walking down the trail you feel like you are in the middle of a forest. It reminded me of hikes iv'e done in the past and it was a peaceful feeling to at least feel like i was outside of a city, even if it was just for a moment! 

I got to spend the day in St.John this Saturday for exchanges with my STL (sister training leader) and that was a fun time! I really love it in St.John, lots of interesting people! We taught a pagan girl and it is always fun to see the similarities between different religions and build on the truths that people have, helping them gain more and more truth. This girl was pretty funny, we talked to her about prayer and she said that she meditates so we then talked about how prayer can be a form of meditation. She said she would pray with us if we would meditate with her, i was super excited to try it out but sadly my STL was not as fond of the idea so it didnt happen.... next time.... 

       We also taught this lady from China and she was hilarious. She wouldnt even pay attention to what we were teaching, she just kept saying "woow, you two sooo pretty, so so pretty" "wow, you two work so great together, so pretty" "can i take picture?" and when she prayed at the end she said "thank-you for letting these two beautiful beautiful girls come teach me" she was so funny, and so cute. Me and Sister Christiansen laughed about it for a good while after. 

So we have a study guide that we follow for personal study, each day we take at least 15 minutes to study the assigned lesson in Preach My Gospel. This week we are studying Life On Earth and The Atonement. It is truly amazing how it really is only through the atonement that all things are made possible. There is a quote i read in a talk this morning that said "The final judgement is not just an evaluation of a sum total of good and evil acts - what we have done. It is an acknowledgement of the final effect of our acts and thoughts - what we have become. The atonement is what helps us to become. To change and become who our Heavenly Father wants us to be. I hope everyone can have an opportunity to think about the commandments of the gospel and our actions accordingly, and if those actions are helping change us to become who He want to become. 

It was so great seeing everyone :) i hope you all have a great week :) Love you!

Sister Lambert 

April 27.....Light is worth the fight!

Yes, i know that my emails have been super lame lately, for that i am sorry! i just haven't had any crazy "email worthy" stories lately. Not that my life is boring, things here are going amazing!! But typing out stories just does not do that story justice!

So this week it has been raining.... non stop. Sooo fun. But every once in a while it stops raining for an hour or two and when that happens me and Sister Pitcher run outside and do some street contacting so that we don't get stuck inside all the time. And i don't know what i am doing differently this week but for some reason, almost every one i have talked to is SO CRAZY. There was one guy who walked up to me and was like "you watch movies?" "uh... no, we are missionaries and..." "well crap. Well here. take this movie anyways." and he hands me a Planet Of the Apes movie. Its the legit movie, bought from a store. And he walked away after... so now i have a planet of the apes movie in our apartement... i don't know if thats apostate or not but i love the movie so im thinking of just keeping it in my suit case for when i go home...

We are teaching this girl who is a student at UNB and SO ELECT. She is loving the lessons and said to us this week "I can honestly say that since I have met with you guys, my life has been so much better. I have never been so happy in my entire life and i know that is not a coincidence" WOOHOO. But here is the porblem... she is moving to Ontario... next week. And hasn't been to church enough times to get baptized. So now we are prepping her to get baptized in Ontario!!!

I feel so blessed to have the key that brings happiness into the lives of so many people. And to have the technology to stay in contact with these people to continue to help them grow and become better.

I was studying this morning about our pre-earth life. As we come to know more about our existence and experiences before this life, the more we understand our purpose here.

I was reading in Section 93 of the Docterine and Covenants and its says:

24 And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;

So we learned about Gods plan before we came to the earth, and we continue to learn as we grow and gain experience on the earth. We continue to gain truth.

27 And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth his commandments.

As we are obedient we can gain more and more truth, and it talks in this section about how truth = light.

Now keeping this in mind, i thought of a less-active we visited this week. She has not been active since she was a teenager (she is in her late 40's now) but she stayed very spiritual still. The rest of her family is active and so she has always had contact with the church. As we got to know her in our meeting she expressed to us her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. She told us of some concerns that were small and can easily be resolved and a concern that she has forgotten a lot about the teachings and has lost a lot of knowledge over the years. We asked if she would be willing to take the missionary lessons. She thought about it for a minute and then declined. Confused, i asked her why and she said "Because i know that what you will teach me will bring me closer to God, which is great. But i also know that I am doing some things in my life that God does not want me to do. I know that as i come closer to God those things will become more apparent. And i like my life right now. I just dont want to change."

John 3:19

19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

We have the truth of the gospel. We have that light. But what i learned this week is that many times people do not have a problem with what we teach. They have just grown too familiar with darkness that they are not willing to make the changes necessary to find that light. They are scared to become accountable, to take ownership of there sins and mistakes; not realizing how much this is hindering their progression.

The story told this last Conference by Elder Clayton talks of a little girl trying to find her way to the light and he said "She saw a light in the distance and fought her way to it" Sometimes obtaining light is a struggle, it takes effort. But we do not want to become like this less active, content sitting in darkness. We know better. Light is worth the fight!

What a blessing it is to share this light with others, to constantly be searching for those who are willing to make the changes needed to obtain that light, that glory, and that joy that our Heavenly Father offers us.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! Mothers day is coming up and i am excited to see my family! I love you all, i hope all is well, thank you for your love and support :) 

April 20..... Staying in Fredricton

Yes yes yes yes, we did have transfer letters... And i am staying in Fredericton with Sister Pitcher. This is my 4th transfer in Fredericton and my 3rd transfer with Sister Pitcher! And im lovin' life! I am so so so happy to be staying here a little longer! I have such a great relationship with the members in this ward, and i seriously think that by the time i leave i will also be friends with most of the less-actives...and college students...and downtown peeps... basically my goal is to know everyone in Fredericton! 

One of the Elders here got called as assistant to the president this transfer... poor soul, only been out 10 months. He is freaking out and it has been hilarious to watch. Blessing of being a sister... i dont have to worry about that!

The new zone leader coming to Fredericton was in the MTC with me and Sister Pitcher, so that is really fun :) 

The further i go into my mission, the less and less emails i get... but surprisingly i have been getting more letters! Which are waay more fun anyways :)  

I forgot my journal and scripture journal so im trying to think what happened this week... 

John Paul got baptized! Hopefully you can see the pictures on facebook! He is the coolest kid! He is so excited about the gospel and already counting down the days till he can go on a mission! He really reminded me how exciting it is to have this gospel in our lives. It is such a blessing given to us and i think a lot of the times we forget how lucky we are to know these truths. He also reminded me about who we are trying to find and teach. There are so many prepared people out there!! 

Im sorry this is going to be a short email, the weather has been so nice and so we are actually going to get our bikes fixed today!! Only problem is we live at the top of a HUGE hill that i know im going to die trying to go up... 

Love you all!! I promise me and Sister Pitcher will be better at taking pictures this transfer.... 

Love, 

Sister Lambert 

April 13..... Spiritual Knowledge

That's right folks... it got up to like +14 yesterday... and today is lookin pretty dang nice. 

So to start off with some funnies... Sister Pitcher is seriously hilarious. Sometimes i laugh a little more at her than with her but i just cant help it... I have to share two funny quotes from her this week. 

first, we were saying bye to someone after a lesson and were giving hugs... when we leave Sister pitcher just looks at me with such sad eyes and says "I have such nerd problems... she squished my glasses against my face" ... I know it doesnt sound as funny over email but if you could see the legit sadness and concern in her face when she said it, you would laugh to. 

second. We were rushing into the apartment to grab something and im a fast walker to begin with so i was ahead of her, and all I hear is "I feel like a wiener dog chasing a greyhound" and we had to stop and laugh for a few moments. 

I know these probably are not funny to other people. But im still laughing about it as a type...  

I love it here in Fredericton... with all my heart... we are getting transfer letters on sunday and i DONT WANT TO LEAVE. I have been here for 3 transfers now so it is that awkward medium where i could easily stay... but people are usually in an area for around 3 transfers so i could just as easily leave... 

Something that i love about serving in a mission with small wards is how close you get to the members. What  a blessing to be building up great friendships everywhere we go! 

I read a talk this week called "Why 1820?" by Hyrum Smith (not Josephs brother Hyrum, a different Hyrum) and it is the funniest, sassiest, but inspirational and factual talk i have read in a while, i encourage everyone to read it! It talks about why God needed to restore the church in America in the year 1820, instead of (for example) a boy in europe in 1420... 

It is an amazing gift to have the knowledge of the Gospel in our life. And it is amazing that we have been chosen spirits to come to the earth in the last dispensation.

 I have been studying a lot on the topic of "Knowledge" and what it really means to have knowledge of the gospel. Because it is not necessarily to know where every scripture is and the ability to quote every prophet that has lived. But it is to consistently learning, and coming closer to our Heavenly Father through action. Action is such a huge part of spiritual knowledge. Having that perfect balance of work (scripture study, prayer) and faith - knowing that you will receive answers and blessing from the work that you put in. As we work to balance these things, we will become more like our Savior, and we will build our capability to serve him. 

I hope everyone has a great week! It sounds like a pretty crazy week for a lot of my family and friends! I hope that everyone travels safely! 

Love you all lots, i am blessed to have so much love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Lambert :) 

April 6...... How Great Was Conference!

Happy Easter everyone :) :) 

Soooooo I know everyone wants to talk about it so lets just start with it.... HOW GREAT WAS CONFERENCE! I am so so sad that it is over.... me and Sister Pitcher are thinking of rewatching it during our meal breaks for.... the rest of our missions. 

I love that they talked so much about family, mainly focusing on marriage. For a family to progress in the way of the Lord, the parents must first be unified in purpose, and the best way to do that is to be unified with our Heavenly Father. I loved the statement given by Elder Packer "Romantic love is incomplete". So many times on my mission i see people so enveloped in a unhealthy relationship that leads to so much emotional distress. This is not what our Heavenly Father wants for us! Like said in conference: the key to happiness is to marry a worthy partner, in the temple, and growing a family in the gospel. 

In honor of the Easter season i spent my personal studies this week studying the atonement of Jesus Christ. And what a blessing this study has been! I loved the initiative the church put out "Because He Lives". So many people do not fully understand the power behind that statement. Recognizing that God and Jesus Christ live, and have bodies of flesh and bone truly brings into play the realization that we CAN have a very personal relationship with them. I really loved Elder Hollands talk on the atonement. What a perfect way to grasp the importance of Christs atonement. We need Him. We need to be completely vulnerable to Him, because without Him, we will fall. 

Let us grasp onto Christ this Easter season. Like Elder Nelson said in his talk "How will i change?" I think we all very constantly notice "what" we need to change, but i hope we all consider "how" we will change. Set goals and make plans on how you will accomplish the things the spirit testified to you this conference.  

Like Elder Renlund said "Don't be Latter Day Quitters!!" 

On a fun little side note, we had a good rest of the week as well. It was +13 on friday, and sooo glorious, i didn't have to wear a coat, and we talked to sooo many people! There are some great walking paths here in Fredericton that were just swarming with young families and couples! It was so great! I got into a bit of a debate with one guy for about 10 min... he told me he knew everything about our religion so didn't need to talk to us. I kindly corrected him (because if he knew everything, than he would obviously be baptized... and then translated...because even the prophet doesn't know everything) and so he yelled at me a little bit for a few minutes... but long story short, he thought Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses were the same thing, and when i corrected him he got a lot nicer and then praised us for being so brave and kind for sharing the word of God. And we invited him to watch conference... so hopefully he does.... 

Also.... on friday i will have officially been out for 7 MONTHS!!! AHHH!!! the time is going by crazy fast.... i don't like it! Everything just needs to slow down!! 

I hope everyone is doing amazing. And i hope everyone loved conference as much as we did!! What a great opportunity to self evaluate and improve our lives and relationships with our Heavenly Father!! Love you all! 

Sister Lambert