November 30... Tour de Faith

This week was crazy. But so rewarding! 

So to start we had our zone conferences this weekend. Since me and Sister Weckesser were giving a training we went to all 3 (Moncton NB, Dartmouth NS, Gander NFLD) But even though we were only in our area for a day and a half we still got two new investigators and they are pretty cool! Good things are to come here in Halifax :) 

In the zone conference the Assistants gave a training on follow-up, then President announced the mission goals for 2016, then we gave a training on basically how we are going to accomplish these goals and on planning smart. It was a really good conference. THEN PRESIDENT ANNOUNCED THE "TOUR DE FAITH". I am putting this in capitals because we have been planning it for a month or so now and I am SO stoked. Basically it is a competition between Elders and Sisters. It is a week long challenge to shoot off the new mission goals. The standard for the week is 3O hours of finding and at least 300 contacts. We have different challenges each day (how many Book Of Mormons can you pass out, how many baptismal invites can you give, etc.) and so we will have daily winners and then over-all winners. And whoever loses has to serve dinner at the Christmas Conference and the winners receive prizes. Needless to say it is going to be awesome. So this is starting TODAY. Let the games begin... Being in Halifax we have a pretty sweet advantage when it comes to contacts so we have been taken out of the daily winners running but we still can contribute to the over all total. We have made a goal of 1000 contacts this week. The family sisters have the same goal. It's going to be so awesome. We are gonna be so tired and so sick of talking to people but it will be sooo worth it. Pray for us!!! 

We ended our long week of conferences in NFLD and went on exchanges in Bay Roberts. I love it there. It's small, but soo pretty. And Newfies are just the funniest people in the world. I will send a picture of the seal skin Santa hat I found at a craft fair we contacted at haha The only bad part of our trip was getting home from the airport at 2am Sunday and still needing to get up at 6:30am because we need to be obedient because we NEED the blessings! Plus we were doing a mission wide fast to start off the Tour Da Faith, so my brain was basically out of commission all day haha. It was a struggle.... 

With that said, I feel so blessed for the opportunities I have been given on my mission. At the beginning I dreaded the idea of EVER having to give any type of training or even talk in front of missionaries or members. But these experiences that I've had really made me love it! I LOVE giving trainings now. Preparing them will always be a struggle but the spirit that is felt as you present is remarkable. And getting to know all the missionaries along the way is a huge blessing. I find it amazing how God knows exactly what we need to grow and progress not only in our testimonies but in all other skills that can benefit many aspects of our lives. I hope to make the best of these last 4 months and do all I can to fulfill my purpose here and take as much knowledge and experience home with me. 

Love you all :) Have a great week! Watch the new Christmas video that the church put out because it is adorable, and start thinking of ways that you are going to serve the Lord this Christmas Season :) 

Love, 

Sister Lambert 

November 16..We have a Prophet!

Hello hello everyone! 

Another wonderful week has come and past and new adventures yet await! 

So this week we had the opportunity to attend a Remembrance Day ceremony! And oh my goodness, the spirit was so strong! And I found that to be really cool. It reminded me that this is still a country built on God. It was touching to have an opportunity to remember those who have and do fight for our freedom. This week happened to be the week I was reading through the war chapters of the Book Of Mormon. And it was upsetting to me to think about how we are still fighting today for the freedoms that the Nephites fought for (and at times the Lamanites) but I went to the ceremony with a few American missionaries so it was a nice time to show off some Canadian pride! 

We helped out at a family history fair this weekend!! And man oh man.... I am so pumped about family history! On Tuesday they taught us missionaries how to index... And then we taught people how to do it on Saturday! Then we also got to learn a little about how we can expand on our own family trees :) I am so stoked. 

My dearly beloved companion Sister Fenn is going home tomorrow :( it is a heart breaking day... I will miss her greatly! I have loved serving with her! But I am also really excited to say that I am going to be staying in Hali for another transfer and I will be serving with Sister Weckesser. She is a sister I already know pretty well and she is awesome! We are going to get along great :) She is a fellow Alberta dweller... She is from Rocky Mountain House and lived in Edmonton for a year so we probably know some of the same people! 

My spiritual thought is based on the craziness that is exploding on social media due to the policy change made last week (from what I hear, I really don't know what is going on with social media...) but the other day I was reading the account on Alma 30 when Korihor goes and is leading away the hearts of many to believe in his wicked teachings. 

"18 And thus he did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men" 

This account made me think of the people in the media and even close friends and fellow members who are being lead away from the teachings of the Prophet due to worldly views and pressure from society. BUT what I absolutely love about this story is how the people of Ammon react to these teachings:

"19 Now this man went over to the land of Jershon also, to preach these things among the people of Ammon, who were once the people of the Lamanites.

20 But behold they were more wise than many of the Nephites; for they took him, and bound him, and carried him before Ammon, who was a high priest over that people.

21 And it came to pass that he caused that he should be carried out of the land." 

And so with this in mind, how do we react to teaching against the church? Do we allow these negative thoughts and teachings linger in our mind and in our homes? Or do we bind them up and cast them out? 

With this said, I am not saying that we should not ask questions and I am not saying that it is a bad thing to address doubts. But my advice is to keep it between you, the Lord, and If needed trusted priesthood leaders. But don't listen to the voices in the media. Those who try and look to other sources are simply allowing Korihor like characters into there life, risking the testimony that they have built from years of spiritual confirmations. We must look to the one source of ultimate truth with a spirit of humility and understanding. 

But hey, I trust you all to find the truth :) I will tell you that I know that we are lead by a Prophet that is called of God. And although I may not have a perfect knowledge of why the changes were made regarding the children of same sex couples, I DO have a knowledge of Thomas S Monson being called of God. And that is enough for me to have the faith and patience to know that understanding will come with time. 

Love you all :) have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Lambert

October 26..Women and the Priesthood

Hello Hello ladies and gents. Hope everyone had a great week! 

Our week her in Halifax was great! 

We had 2 exchanges this week, one with a new STL who is just soo awesome! We had so much fun with her :) And then the other exchange was with the sisters we are over in Dartmouth. They don't have a car so we did a lot of walking and busing... It was so much fun! I felt like an old school missionary. good times. I did "bus contacting" for the first time and it was so much fun. I absolutely loved it! You basically just start conversations with the people around you and then casually turn it into a gospel conversation. I made it into a personal game to see how creative i could get at starting conversations. Then once you get the conversation started it is easy to turn it into a gospel conversation. We has some good contacts from it :) 

So this weekend was the Nova Scotia stake conference. On Saturday  Sister Fenn and I attended the Priesthood leadership session... let me repeat that... On Saturday me and Sister Fenn attended the Priesthood leadership session.... yes it was weird, and yes we got weird looks from the men thinking we were those crazy people who think that women should be ordained with the Priesthood. I assure you that we were invited. President Pratt asked us to come! They broke into groups and we went into the session with the Branch Presidents, Bishops, and Ward Mission Leaders (and a few others) and they were discussing the talk given by President Nelson on Women in the church and how they need to be stepping up in leadership roles. President had us come with the intent giving an example of the benefit of having women leaders when it comes to making decisions and deciding trainings and focuses. It was a really good meeting. They talked on how they can involve the women in the wards and branches (mainly though branch/ward council) and how they can encourage women to take lead in local communities and in missionary work. 

There were two comments that i remember the most. One was from our ward mission leader in the YSA ward "we are sitting here as a large group of men, trying to think about how we can involve the women more... what is wrong with this picture?" And the second was from our institute director Brother Cartier, he said "The first thing we need to change is this attitude that we are "giving" women leadership opportunities, President Nelson clearly teaches us that women will be taking there rightful and needful place" 

Needless to say, it was a good meeting and i feel really blessed to have been invited to it. At the very end, President Pratt had me and Sister Fenn do a 10 min role play of the restoration for the purpose of showing the brethren the power that comes from a sisters testimony and to break down the idea that males are better teachers... WE WERE SO NERVOUS. Like thank-you President for putting the views of all the sisters teaching skills on our shoulders. gahhh... but it went good. I said a million prayers and then the spirit guided us through.

This morning i was reading in Preach My Gospel under "Our Life On Earth" and something that really hit me this is how we are given 3 main purposes in this life. 1. have joy  2. prepare to meet God   3. gain a physical body. And so i was thinking a lot about how we need to plan our lives around these 3 things to make sure we are achieving all that God desires of us in this life. We need to make sure that the things we are doing bring everlasting joy. We need to make sure we are making and keeping covenants that prepare us to return to our Heavenly Father, and we need to make sure we are taking care of the bodies that God has given us. I decided that every year i am going to make  3 specific goals and plans that will help me to achieve these goals. And these goals will be things that will help me to work towards the 3 main purposes. And so that is my soap box for the week. I hope everyone can take a look at the things they are doing in there daily life and really ponder on if those things are helping them to achieve those 3 main purposes. :) 

HALLOWEEN IS THIS WEEKEND :) woohoo!! I hope everyone has a great weekend!!! The missionaries will all be trapped in our apartments at 5pm for the evening... woohoo... but what im excited for is all the on-sale candy we will find on monday! Not that i need any.... On monday i am expecting pictures from everyone of their awesome halloween costumes :) 

have a great week :) Love Ya! 

Sister Lambert