Getting Shut Down

Albi Branch Missionaries (Soeur Van Lone, moi, Elder Bentley, and
Elder Steinbock)

 Hey everyone!! How are you doing?? Fantastic I hope :)
I have some big news... They shut down cute little Abli ville! 🙁
President Brown called us Friday morning and told Soeur Van Loon and I
that he was very grateful for our hard work in the area, but due to
some problems with the ville, we would be closing Abli for the time
being. Soeur Van Loon and I were shocked! But it's a good move, and I
think it will help the area for the future.

So for me, I was transferred to an area called Clermont-Ferrand just 2
hours west of Lyon. My new companion is Soeur Alberts from Las Vegas,
Nevada. We already have so much in common (I know her cousin Caden
Allred) and are having a blast! I can already tell this transfer will
be incredible! :) I've already met a lot of members they're amazing. I
can tell I'm going to love it here :)

So for my last week in Albi, Soeur Van Loon and I tried to work super
hard and leave it "all in the ville" haha but unfortunately everything
fell through. Despite all that, we were able to have a blast, contact
a little bit, and make sure the apartment was nice and clean and ready
to be shut down.

I don't know what else to say about this week... Haha but I am excited
for my upcoming adventures here In Clermont! Sorry this is so short...
I promise I'll talk about lots more stuff next week! Haha

In the meantime... Be good, be safe, and remember that I love you!! ❤️

Big bisous from France,
Soeur Keagan Robb

Mission Français de Lyon
Lyon Business Centre
59 Rue de L'Abondance
69003 Lyon France

Weekly Scripture:
1 Nephi 1:20
This transfer I am starting the Book of Mormon in English and French!
I am ready 1 chapter every day :) I would like to invite you to start
reading the Book of Mormon again with me, just one chapter every day!
:)
Anyways.. Today during personal study this scripture really stood out
to me in my personal study. The Lord really does give us tender
mercies on a daily basis, and they are not by coincidence. There is a
talk by Elder Bednar called "The Tender Mercies of the Lord" from
April 2005 General Conference that I challenge you to read this week.
Ponder how you can be the "chosen" of our Heavenly Father and then do
it! Recognize the Lord's tender mercies in your life because they are
all around you. I've seen them so much as a missionary. He truly does
love us and plays a major part in our lives.

Dinner at Patrick's house, ( Our professional chef recent convert)

Lessons from Transfer 3

Soeur Robb and Soeur Van Loon

Hey everyone, how are things going? Super great I hope!

So this week has been a tough week! I will not lie, it has probably been the worst week, and I really didnt think it could quite possibly get worse, and then it did. haha but as with all things, there is always light at then end of the tunnel (or an awesome family who always has your back) and I ended the week with a definite bang and it was a really great ending. The mission is TOUGH! I never though it would be as tough as it is, yet it is SO rewarding. The Lord is always watching out for his missionaries.

So this week, with everything going on here in France, we didnt get to go out much, so I dont have much to talk about. Therefore, i decided to write about the lessons I have learned from this transfer!

Lesson 1: This transfer I have learned that we are all children of God, that includes yourself! I think a lot of times that the other people around us are children of God (or maybe we don't) but we take for granted that it includes ourselves! We really do have a Heavenly Father who is watching out for us and is guiding us. He loves us so much and really enjoys blessing us as we do what is right. 

Lesson 2: Patience- use it befor you lose it. This is a very commenly used quote on the homefront videos haha but its so true! A lot of the time you and your companion are different people who grew up in different backgrounds (there once was a companionship in our mission where the younger sister trained her big sister SO COOL!) and do different things that will most likely annoy us. No one on this earth is perfect, and there has only been one to live that was perfect. That is especialy true with missionaries, WE ARE NOT PERFECT! haha And in companionships there will always be things that the other does that annoys you or isn't right, but as you practice patience and charity, things will be okay! Getting along with people is not easy, but when you love them with a pure love of christ, it is easier.

Lesson 3: When you think you're humble, you're not. This transfer I thought I was so humble because I was tollerating people, FALSE! I was actually a pretty prideful person. I realized a little too late into the transfer that I was very self centered and was constantly complaining. As one of my teachers from the MTC put it (shout out to Frere Keenan), "One of the fastest ways to drive the spirit from your life is to complain. What is complaining? You are essentially saying, "This is unfair!" Or "This isn't how I want things!" Or "But I thought it would go differently, That is so AWFUL that the Universe didn't make itself the way i thought it should be." 

Listen to those messages you are sending god when you have a complaining heart, or when I have a complaining heart, and consider the universe you do live in. 

God created a world for you, His Son, Christ, Died for you so you could be forgiven. Christ did not have to, He chose to , and he would have chosen to if you WERE THE ONLY ONE! 

If the world was fair, There would be no world. Do we deserve this world through our own merits? Do we deserve salvation, so freely offered to us, on our own merits? 

No, These are gifts. On top of these great gifts of the opportunity of exaltation and salvation come gifts of the spirit, promises of eternal family, the spirit guiding us in our every decision. 

The world is unfair. It is hysterically hopelessly unfair IN OUR FAVOR! We are suprememly blessed and loved beings. TImes can be difficult, and the big picture can be hard to see, But remember how much the lord has done for you and how WONDERFULLY unfair life is before you allow your heart to complain. 

Rather be as Job, or Nephi, or Like Christ, be submissive to the Lords will and Full of Gratitude. Even the worst days are blessings we fought a war in heaven for."

This really made me think about what messages I was sending to my Heavenly Father, and I decided that I really needed to study Humility... So next transfer will be dedicated to Humility! If you have any good talk, scriptures, or thoughts, I would love to hear them!

Lesson 4: Contacting in the rain is fun! People feel so bad for you, and they commend you for what you're doing and actually like to listen to what you have to say. Plus, Soeur Van Loon and I quite enjoy dancing in the rain, so woo hoo haha

Lesson 5: I have a really cool heratige! This transfer I studied my family history and the history of the church to find out where I came from and how cool my family really is, and I found a gold mine of cool stories! We have some pretty big shoes to fill friends, and some of those shoes need saving! So learn who you are, where you came from, and do your family history! You may never know who is waiting for you to save them :)

Lesson 6: Sisters Conferences are SUPER COOL! Yesterday we went had a mission wide sisters conference. It was a blast to get to have everyone there and to have a conference. President talked to us about the need to step it up because we can't rely on the Elders all the time, he also said that we are a young mission and we need to step it up because we are going to be trained, and then moved to leadership positions and we need to be able to take responsibility and to lead in a positive manner. He said that it takes love, humility, and trust in the Lord. We also talked about getting along in our companionships. It was a very good conference and I really feel more united as sisters. I really hope that this becomes an anual thing :)

On our way to Sister Conference.
France Drivers are CRAZY!  If I can drive here I can drive ANYWEHRE!!

I learned a lot more, but I'll save the rest for another day and time so I don't put you all to sleep haha.

I love you all and am very grateful for your prayers in my behalf!

Also, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you cool dads out there! Keep up the good work because you never know how much good you do in your kids lives. I will forever be grateful for my dad and for all he did to prepare me to be here today, and all that he does to keep me here on a mission. Love you dad :)

I challenge you all to watch this video and ponder about how much we love our fathers, and then ponder about how much we love our Heavenly Father!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1450-a-fathers-love-a-fathers-day-tribute-to-fathers-fatherslove?lang=eng&_r=1&cid=HP_TU_7-6-2016_dPFD_fMLIB_xLIDyL2-3_

--

Soeur Keagan Robb

Weekly Scripture:
1 Nephi 21: 15-16

I love this scripture. The Lord really does know us personally. He truly did suffer and die for each on of us the cross. He has suffered for our pains and afflictions, all that we would go through, and He did so willingly. He loves us immencly with a love that we can't even comprehend, Don't ever hesitate to pray to your father in heaven when you're struggling because He and His son Jesus Christ are always there, just one prayer away.

'Sup toute le monde!
How is everyone doing? Fantastic I hope :)

This week in Albi was a blast for sure! We got 4 new Amis! Woot woot!
I guess I should start at the beginning :)

Monday:
Monday we got to have a lunch appointment at the Bernardi's house! I
always love those.. We had to go over because Sandy (the mom) does
this thing called "magnetism" where she can tell how your body and
spirit are and she can tell you what's wrong...? I dunno.. She says
that I'm perfect and don't need it, which has only happened to her one
time before me! So go me! Haha but I guess Souer Van Loon needed it..
So we went and got it done for her and apparently it helps? I dunno
haha to each their own.

Tuesday:
Tuesday we got to contact a bit, look at an apartment, and work on the
area book. We also taught English class. I love teaching English
class. It's a blast! We are currently planning a 4th of July party and
its going to be epic! So if anyone has any favorite 4th of July
recipes or traditions, let me know! I would love to get some more
ideas :)

Wednesday:
Wednesday we got to teach a church headquarter referral named Axel.
He's so cool! Apparently he had met with the missionaries 4 years ago,
and even had a baptismal date but he couldn't quit smoking so they
dropped him and he lost contact with the church. But he remembers
everything, and asked us what he needed to do to be baptized! He said
he will be coming to church each Sunday because he feels that It will
give him the strength to quit smoking. He's already down from 20
cigarettes to 5 each day! And he asked for us to find someone to give
him a blessing to help him stop! He's so ready and I'm excited to
teach him! He committed to reading and praying daily, but we would
love your prayers for him too :)

Thursday:
Thursday we had interviews with president! Can I just say, President
is one of my favorite people on the earth! He told me that I get to
stay in Albi for a long time... Haha he also basically read everything
on my mind and told me lots of things I didn't know about myself! Like
he told me that I don't need to feel pressured to go to a school like
BYU that where ever I go the lord will bless me. It was WAY cool and
he answered so many prayers.

Friday:
Friday we got to teach a new ami named Mark. He is one of Cynthia's
friends. He's cool. He was receptive to the lessons and at the end I
was able to testify to him about the Book of Mormon and promise him
that If he would read the book with a sincere heart he would feel that
this was the true church and he would understand easily what he was
reading. He was actually really surprised with that promise.. Haha we
finished our lesson by having him pray. It was his first prayer and it
was the sweetest prayer I've heard in a long time. He was very sincere
and I know that if he will keep that, he will get those blessings
promised. It was probably one of the most powerful moments on my
mission. The spirit was like a flood over everyone! So cool :)

Saturday and Sunday:
We taught Juan Saturday. We were hoping to commit him to baptism but
like usual, the opposition kicked in and we were unable to. He even
told us he needs some time to think about the church.. But he asked
for a blessing! We of course told him that we would try and find
someone to do that. The only slight problem is that he speaks Spanish.
So we looked everywhere around us and no one could. So we prayed and
felt like we needed to call him. During that call Soeur Van Loon
promised him that if he would come to a world wide conference in
Toulouse with us he would get that blessing. He said he would come,
and he did even though he didn't have much money and driving that far
is expensive. After the blessing, we tried to find someone who speaks
Spanish and turns out that just one person there spoke Spanish besides
Juan! And that guy wasn't planning on coming but had a feeling he
needed to go. #miracle so he was able to go and give Juan a blessing.
It was beautiful and Juan said it was exactly what he needed. He went
away glowing and smiling.
The conference was for members and was in French.. So I didn't get
much out of it because they spoke too fast haha but what I did get is
that the gospel is the answer to all our problems! Beautiful right? :)
I would just like to add my testimony that the gospel is the source of
lasting happiness on the earth today. It is also the way to lasting
happiness after this life. Every good thing I have in this life is all
thanks the the gospel.

Je vous aime! Soyez forte et bonne courage avec tout.

Big bisous from France,
Sœur Keagan Robb

La mission Français de Lyon
Lyon Business Centre
59 rue de l'Abondance
69003 Lyon France

Weekly Scripture:
3 Nephi 22: 7
I love this scripture! We are truly never alone! Thanks to the
atonement of Jesus Christ all is possible!
Recently I've been studying Grace and I have a talk I would like to
challenge you to read. It's called Receiving Divine Assistance through
the Grace of the Lord by Gene R. Cook. It's amazing!!

Jumping for Joy in Albi

Hello everyone!! :) how has your week been? Good I hope.

This week I just want to talk about the highlights from the week :)

So Thursday we had exchanges with the STLs in Toulouse. I got to be
with Soeur Grant and I basically love her lots and lots! We started by
teaching a recent convert who was just super cool!  We taught about
temples and family history so we can help him prepare for the temple
and ah he was just super cool! He is so excited to go. That excitement
makes me excited! Haha it also reminds me how much I miss the temple!
Then we were able to teach a lady named Cynthia and her friend Koby.
They're from Ghana! They were super super cool. They have already
investigated the church in Ghana but didn't know that the church was
here in France too :) they were really receptive to the message and
said that they have a greater opportunity to join the true church
because they are on their own and not living with their parents in
Ghana. I really hope for them that they come to know the church is
true! After that we got to go to a FHE with the YSAs in Toulouse.
They're all super cute and were a lot of fun! We played pictionary and
they all laughed at my drawings... Needless to say, I need to work on
my drawing skills because angel Moroni was just not good... Haha

Soeur Grant and Keagan

Thursday we had zone finding day. I got to be with Soeur Grant again.
It was the best. We just talked and contacted and it was a blast!
There was one lady in particular that we contacted that I want to tell
you about. Her name is Celeste and she is from Boston, Massachusetts!
She teaches language at Stratton University and her husband teaches at
Toulouse University during the summer. She told us her life story and
it was BOMB! Oh she is so cool. She is a Greek Orthodox and her
husband is a Jew. She told us about their story and how they make life
work dispite the different religions. She expressed the importance of
raising your children in a religion. It was neat. She ended by telling
us that her and her family had traveled to Peru with one of her
students who had served a mission there and he told them all about
missionaries and missionary work. She seemed more interested in our
genealogy library than the lessons... But that's okay! :)

Saturday we were able to teach our ami Juan-José. He is really
progressing! He's so humble and he knows the church is true. We are
going to engage him to baptism this coming Saturday, so please pray
for him :)

Well, other than that, nothing much is new here. We have some strikes
here in France that is REALLY slowing down our work because all the
trains and busses are canceled, and this Wednesday we are starting a
HUGE strike where basically everything but the post and the gas
stations are shutting down. It's annoying.. But to help us pass the
time, president brown has given us another challenge! Starting June 1
we are going to start finding new Amis. Our challenge is to find 1000
new Amis by June 12! That's 12 days, yes, to find 1000 Amis. It seems
CRAZY! But I know we can do it :) the key is to find families!

Anyways, that was this week! I want you all to know that I know this
church is true! I know it with all my heart. I know that we have a
Savior who atoned for us. I know that because of the Atonement we are
never alone, we can live with our Heavenly Father again, and we can
repent and become clean again and again, and how every many times more
we need to repent. I love you! Be good :)

Big bisous from France,
Sœur Keagan Robb

La mission Français de Lyon
Lyon Business Centre
59 rue de l'Abondance
69003 Lyon France

Weekly Scripture:
D&C 50: 40-41, 44
This scripture is a favorite! I love how it talks about us "growing in
grace". I have been pondering that a lot this past week and what it
means to "grow in grace" so if you have any ideas, I would love them!
:)

Spiritual Soldiers

Hi everyone! I hope your week was awesome :) Here in Albi, something
big is about to happen because this week has been a tough one, but as
always, we had an incredible finish! Here is my week :)

Monday:
Monday we went to our branch presidents house and had a nerf war! It
was the bomb! Of course my team won 😉 we then had lunch with them,
and came home and spent some time with our RC (recent convert)
Cynthia! She has received revelation that she needs to go to BYU so I
am helping her prepare for all that :) lets just say, it's a blast
teaching her English and helping her with applications and preparing
her for the USA (Utah specifically). She is trying to start January,
so fingers crossed we can get her ACT done and everything she needs in
time!

Tuesday:
Tuesday was a different day haha. It started in an odd way.. Soeur Van
Loon woke up and found a tick on the top of her foot! I guess she got
it from our nerf war, she was running through long grass and that
stuff (I stayed safely on the paved path haha). We called the mission
nurse and she send us to the hospital to get that taken care of. When
we arrived, we got in within 10 mins (which is really unusual for
French Hospitals) and when we got in, the doctor started asking us
about what we were doing here and we actually taught him the
restoration, right there in the hospital! Super super cool :) he said
he wasn't interested at the moment in meeting with us, but if he was
he would let us know. We then continued the day like normal and got to
look at apartments during lunch (our apartment was an elders apartment
and it's just trashed...).

Wednesday:
So each Wednesday I teach English here, and it's a hit! So I got to
teach proper grammar this week, which for some reason, everyone has a
problem with! Haha it's really funny trying to hear people speak
English... I'm sure that's how they feel when I speak French! But it
was good! This week were teaching on describing.

Thursday:
Thursday was a super tough day. Our car has been having problems so we
found a car dealership and when we got there, it was closed down! It
took us an hour to get there too so that was super frustrating... So
we just went home and did the usual missionary stuff, make calls,
contact, study, etc.

Friday:
Friday was Zone Training. It was really good. We had someone from the
stake come and teAch us about ward counsel and all that stuff. It was
really nice and informative. Here we don't have ward counsel, so it
was nice to know what was suppose to be happening haha. Friday we also
got the car fixed. It took us a while but, it was worth it. After that
we drove to a members house for a dinner appointment. They're the
coolest family ever! They're from Tahiti and just darling. And she
cooks AMAZINGLY! It was a blast. I honestly love Albi and all its
dysfunction haha.

Saturday:
Saturday we got to teach Juan-José again! He's super cool, but a
really slow learner. We got to teach him with Cynthia. Cool thing
about Cynthia, she's going to BYU for her masters and PhD in
Psychology! So she totally red Juan for us haha.  It was really nice.
I love them both. So does the Lord, so being with them is even better
:)

Sunday:
Sunday we had church and it was amazing! It was focused on faith,
which was amazing! we also got to go to our Branch Presidents house
for dinner. Dinner at their house reminds me of dinner at my house.
Always so much fun and everyone is always laughing :) it's the best!
We played this game where you get a person and an action and it's
hilarious! I will send a video of one of the elders doing it, cuz it's
the best.

Well everyone, that's it for this week! I love you all and I know that
this church is true.

Sœur Keagan Robb
La mission Français de Lyon
59 rue de l'Abondance
69003 Lyon France

Weekly Scripture:
Moroni 10:32. I found this quote earlier this week, and don't remember
who it's by...but it said everything I wanted to say! So here yah go
:)
In the concluding chapter of the Book of Mormon, the great prophet
Moroni teaches us how to come unto and be perfected in Christ. We
“deny [our]selves of all ungodliness.” We “love God with all [our]
might, mind and strength.” Then His grace is sufficient for us, “that
by his grace [we] may be perfect in Christ.” If we “deny not” the
power of God, we can be “sanctified in Christ by the grace of God,”
which “is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of [our]
sins,” that we can “become holy, without spot”

My First Baptism

Hey ya'll! I can't believe I'm beginning a new week already! It's
crazy. Time just goes by so quickly.

So since the last time I emailed this is what has happened haha
Friday:
Friday we met with Cynthia again to just go over everything for the
baptism. After that we went and met a new ami named Juan-Jose. He's
pretty cool and from Spain! So he just speaks Spanish which is good
for my companion who was called to speak in Spanish. Then we finished
getting everything ready for our baptism

Saturday:
Saturday was the day!! We had a CRAZY day. We woke up and it was
pouring rain. Cynthia was supposed to be baptized in a pool outside
and it was pouring. Soeur Van Loon and I decided to pray that just for
the baptism it would be good. We went through the day and at around
noon (the baptism was at 3:00)  the rain stopped, the sun came out,
and it even got hot! It was amazing! We were able to go through with
the baptism and everything went perfectly. It was awesome and the
spirit was so strong. After the baptism there was a ward activity, so
naturally we went haha. We got to sing karaoke! It was a BLAST!

Sunday:
Sunday we had church. Our branch is well, interesting haha. But good!
Everything kinda was a little out there, but ça va! I'm sure as were
there we'll either 1) get used to it or 2) things will get better
haha. After we went and did studies and had dinner with the ward. It
was a great Sunday.

I'm excited to be here and I'm loving the mission. The mission is not
easy, but it's definitely worth it! Just the opportunity you have to
be here serving others is just an incredible chance! I have gotten to
know my savior so much better and I love it. There is nothing better
than serving a mission, I tell yah what!! :)

Love you all and I'm praying for you!

Sœur Keagan Robb
La mission Français de Lyon
59 rue de l'Abondance
69003 Lyon France

Weekly Spiritual Thought:
This weeks spiritual though comes from the talk "Let Virtue garnish
thy thoughts unceasingly" by Gordon B Hinckley. It's amazing but this
part really touched me.
"There is no other event in human history as significant as the
atoning sacrifice of our divine Redeemer. None else compares with it.
Without it life would be meaningless. It would be a dead-end journey.
With it we are assured of eternal life. Death is not the end, but
rather a passing on to a more glorious existence.
All of this is symbolized in the partaking of the sacrament. All other
items in our meetings are of lesser importance compared with partaking
the emblems of the sacrifice of our Lord."

I challenge you all this week to make the sacrament more meaningful by
choosing a new way that you will remember the savior and all he has
done for us.