He is Risen!

Oh Dear Family and Friends!

God is so good! How incredibly lucky are we to live in this amazing dispensation! What a great day to be alive!

First off, general conference was just amazing this year as always. My heart is so full of joy and light as I reflect upon the words of wisdom, guidance, and joy from our living prophet. He truly is called of God to lead us and give us specific direction just for us! How grateful I am for the priesthood power that directs our true church.

I still haven't been able to watch all of conference, but I'd have to say Pres.Uchtdorf's talk was probably my favorite.They were all so good. Our amis Isabelle and Claudia came to multiple sessions! This was Isabelle's first Sunday at church. She will always be one of my favorite amis. She just has the sincere desire to know the Heavenly Father's will. She truly studies it out in her heart and her mind to know. Lately she's expressed her concern for how to determine specific answers through the Spirit. We had a great lesson with her this week with a member named, Beatrice, who is just great. The Spirit was so strong as we testified of the Plan of Salvation, the divine plan that God has created for each of us. She told us that it made sense. As she looked me in the eyes and told me she wanted to go to the Celestial Kingdom, I could feel that one day I will see her there.

After Saturday Morning session of conference (Saturday evening for us) I talked to her about what had happened. She told me she liked the talk by Elder Soares (talked about meekness). She told me she received her answer! I asked her what she asked and what she felt and she opened up and said, "I've been trying to feel the Spirit. I asked to know how I can determine truths and I felt it! During his talk, I felt the Spirit. I felt it." Her eyes filled with a new light of Christ and fulness. It was incredible to witness and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to hear her feelings.

Our other ami, Claudia (she's lately been unsure about her date for baptism) told me she loved conference. She has so many friends that are members. She already looks like she is a member when she interacts with the ward. I asked her how she felt after the conference and she told me, "I know these things are true. They are true. My repentance is near. I'm going to repent." To see people grow and understand the path to happiness just fills me with so much hope that this world is not lost.

Lately, Soeur Lefrandt and I sing a lot of hymns. We suddenly realized that our teaching pool has become mainly elderly women who desperately need a spark of hope and light to keep going. So much pain and sorrow can be curred in an instant with a simple, beautiful hymn that helps us remember our Father and older Brother who love us and have given us everything. I am so grateful for the power of hymns and the peace that accompany the words.

Our ami, Susan made a huge leap of faith this week. She didn't make it to conference (which I was so sad about), but Soeur Lefrandt had a great idea to share the Joseph Smith video with her. We went over to her apartment and watched the video together. Afterwards, we asked her what she thought. She only made a few statements about it, but they were the best statements I could have ever heard. She said, "I know that no one could have created this without it being real. There is truth behind this. No evil man would create such a film or story." We then asked her if she would pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet (something she has been putting off for a while) and she said, "After watching this video I think I will sincerely pray now." WOW! We then introduced the lds page andmormon.org page and she LOVED it!

General Conference talked so much about the sacred work of missionary work. I hope we all recognize our personal calls from Heavenly Father that it is now time to open our mouths. Share with others why we have reason to rejoice in such a place filled with despair and sadness. I loved the statement by President Uchtdorf that we should "doubt our doubts, not our faiths!" It's so true. We must be quick to recognize the true pieces of truth we have and turn away from feelings of despair and hopelessness. Satan wants us to feel like we can't do it. "When Satan reminds us of our past, remind him of his future!" We have more power than that. We can do better. We have our Savior to lean on.

"He was betrayed..denied..accused..rejected..bound..scourged..mocked..reviled..spit on..crucified..forsaken..He did His Father's will..He atoned..healed..held His peace..forgave..He gave His life..He is risen!" He gave all he had so that we might find peace, feel joy, find strength, and return.

He stands at the shore of Galilee today just as He did 2000 years ago and beckons us to drop our entangled nets of sin and worldy challenges to Follow Him. Follow Him and you will find peace. What a marvelous promise! All we need to do is ACT. Act on our faith, believe in His name, lean on His Atonement. "In our hour of deepest sorrow, we can feel profound peace through the words on the Easter morning, "He is not here, for He is risen.""

My plea to all of you my family and friends is to choose HIM. Choose to use His Atonement and find joy. Choose to recognize our human need for His perfect love and perfect sacrifice. Choose to find out for yourself each day His will concerning you. Choose to be healed through His power. Choose Him.

May we all find the beauty and peace we long for through Jesus Christ. May God bless you all this week.

Stay righteous, be true, be you!
Avec amour,
Soeur Berge

As We Hunger For Happiness

"Oh no. Not you again!" love the doormat

Ran into President and Soeur Poznanski and their daughter on exchanges

Avec Soeur Poznanski

Chère Ma Famille et Mes Amies -

Hey everyone! What a wonderful week Soeur Lefrandt and I have had. It's so funny to think you guys watched that video Soeur Poznanski had us make! It was so difficult to say share our miracle in English! I love Soeur Poznanski so much! She's the coolest.

This week we had the opportunity to do an FHE night with one of my favorite families- The Lethuaires! We brought our ami from Camaroon, Susan, over and we had a great time. The family even shared this hilarious video about how important it is to compliment each other and lift each other up rather than tear each other down. We had a great evening and even ate some hamburgers! I can't even tell you what a blessing it is to be with the Lethuaire family. I honestly feel like they're my family. I love them so much and it makes me so sad to think I'm going to have to leave them possibly when this transfer ends. They've helped me more than anyone will really ever know.

We also had the priviledge to visit the Lam Yam family. Brother Lam Yam has cancer right now and he is going through chemo. This time is so difficult for them and I know that this will be but a small moment in their lives. They're so much fun to talk to and I feel like we all learn so much when we go over there about who we are and the importance of using Christ's Atonement not only to repent, but to be healed.

One amazing experience I had this week was with my dear friend, Sarah. Sarah has been less active for about 14 years (since she got baptized) She recently had a surgery that had some complications causing her to be in the hospital for about 2 months. She had experiences while she was in the hospital that caused her to make a decision, to either have faith and push through or blame everything and everyone around her. At first, she really struggled with her situation and Soeur Wynn and I visited her and we saw the pain and suffering she was in. It was so sad to watch her in so much agony, but I remember sitting at the side of her hospital bed thinking that this was something Heavenly Father knew she needed to go through and we couldn't do anything about it.

I made a point to pray for Sarah in every single one of my prayers. I just prayed she would allow this experience to change her life, not destroy her life.

A few days after we visited her, she showed up at church! After months of not eating or being able to get around, she was there at church last week with a smile on her face. We visited her this week and she had a WHOLE new light in her eyes. She was glowing. Before we could even sit down, she said she had to share some scriptures and a Christian song that really touch her. She shared with us verses in Isaiah and told us how God speaks to us through the scriptures. She said that Heavenly Father allowed her to be healed and how she just wants to share this peace that comes from the gospel with everyone. She says she testifies to everyone she sees (even on facebook) She quit smoking! Finally! She took out all of her piercings. She broke up with her boyfriend she has had for years. She said she wants someone that will take her to the temple. She wants her future husband to hold the priesthood and be able to give priesthood blessings to her and her children. She said she wanted to serve a mission.

It was such an incredible experience for me to have watched her flip a 180 all because of this trial. It seemed to be forever during the time, but now she recognizes it as a small moment in her life. She is so dedicated to the gospel right now I'm speechless. My testimony is strengthened every day by watching Heavenly Father change the hearts of the people I'm serving. In a way, it made me step back and recognize that I should be thankful for the trials I am given that shape me and mold my character. I testiy that we will have so much more peace if we have the courage to allow the challenges in life to shape us into the people Heavenly Father knows we can be. I know true happiness comes from using the Atonement of Jesus Christ to heal our internal wounds and give us daily relief.

Soeur Lefrandt and I had another really interesting experience this week. We waited an hour for one of our potential amis to meet us so we could begin teaching her. She kept calling us telling us she was close, but after an hour we just decided this was wasting our time so we began walking back to the gare. During this time of the day kids were barely getting out of school and there were lots of kids walking around with backpacks trying to get home. We walked by one girl and I smiled and said, "Bonjour" as we normally do to most people. She looked at me really funny (as most people do) and we kept walking. Less than a minute later she was running back after us. Out of breath, she said, "Les Soeurs!!" (this usually doesn't happen) She then began to explain that she thought we were missionaries, but she didn't see our plaques til we walked past her and she really wanted to come back and say hello. (She seemed to be about 11 years old and she was a member from a neighboring ward) I asked her if she was planning on serving a mission and she said, "Oui! Bien sur!" Her desire to serve a mission at 11 years old caught me off guard. The idea struck me (of course it was totally not me, but the Spirit) that we needed to give her something to give to a friend maybe at school. Soeur Lefrandt instantly felt the prompting too as she whipped out a Book of Mormon and we told her to give this to a friend who needed the gospel. She took it with all confidence and said she would. Then she saw someone out of the corner of her eye and with excitment she said, "In fact, there's one of my friends right now! I'll go give it to her!" This desire to share this beautiful, true gospel with her friends touched me so deeply. We told her good luck and off she went. Soeur Lefrandt and I were really curious because this situation was so random that we stayed and watched her. Sure enough, she not only gave the Book of Mormon to her friend, but she opened it up with her! This experience was absolutely incredible. If an 11 year old girl can share the Book of Mormon with her friend from school, ANYONE can share the gospel.

Saturday we had exchanges and I went to the Torcy ward. Soeur Huntsman and I had quite the miracles! As we walked to the church, we contacted this lady and we talked to her for about 10 minutes and she showed genuine interest. Then out of the blue, Salim (member from my ward preparing to put in his papers and just joined the church 3 years ago from being Muslim his whole life) walks up and says hi. So we then asked Salim to share his story with her and he bore solemn witness of the truth of the gospel. What a miracle!

We also found a little Egyptian family that really seemed to be interested! As we finished the contact and walked to the church, President Poznanski, Soeur Poznanski, and their daughter walk out! So fun to see them and chat with them! We've had this goal as a mission to find FAMILIES! It was cool to share with them that we had literally found a family less than 5 minutes before.

Miracles happen every day. Heavenly Father is aware of us. He knows our struggles, our weaknesses, our strengths, our fears, our joys, and he knows what each of us need.

I'm so excited to hear from our living prophet and apostles this upcoming weekend! What a privilege to have a living prophet who leads and guides us specifically for our time. As General Conference is nearing, I encourage each of you to reflect on the challenges in life that have shaped you and where you would be if you didn't have those difficult moments. As you think about all of the trials this life brings, think about how blessed we are for the healing powers of the Atonement. Allow the hunger and spiritual need for our daily bread be a reminder to seek Jesus Christ and seek to do the little things each day. Seek to uplift and serve those around you for everyone is walking on a difficult, personal path to our Father.

Heavenly Father lives! He lives and knows each of us. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to atone for us. Our Savior and Redeemer took upon Him our pains, afflictions, and sorrow so that we might not suffer them in this life. Allow our Savior to influence your life. Allow His welcoming arms to wrap around you in a loving embrace. He wants us to be happy. So choose to be!

I love you all and pray you all feel the love Heavenly Father has for each of you! I know our Savior will come again one day and we must prepare for Him to come, by loving others enough to serve them.

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge

"You're Not From This World.."

Forever friends

Elder Oaks greeting some new members ans amis

Saying goodbye to Soeur Wynn

New companion, Soeur Lefrandt

Hey Hey Everyone!

Well a new transfer has begun and I'm still in the beautiful ward

Nogent with my new companion, Soeur Lefrandt! She's great. Funny thing

about her is we have a million friends in common and we get along

great. I'm excited to see where this transfer takes us.

The week started out a little bitter sweet saying goodbye to my best

friend, Soeur Wynn. Mais, all is well. :) I feel like the time just

goes by so fast, I keep praying that it'll slow down a little bit.

The Allanic's son was baptized this week and our ami, Claudia came :)

That was her 3rd baptism she has attended and this time I could tell she

was reflecting a lot on her decision to be baptized. She seems a

little nervous, but I have all the faith in the world that she will be

ready the 19th of Octobre :)

We also got to visit our friend, Chantal. She's the coolest. She just

takes care of everyone. We went with her to visit her mom who is in a

really nice retirement home and it was so fun! We walked in and I felt

like we were movie stars. Everyone's eyes became the size of bowling

balls! They were the cutest. It was so fun to chat with some elderly

folks in French. So cute!

Another super interesting story, we tried to contact this lady and she

was kinda crazy. She kept saying "You are not from this planet. You

both aren't

from this world." And I was so shocked I kept saying, "No we're here.

We have flesh and blood. We're on the earth?" She just kept telling us

no. It was so interesting. Later, Soeur Lefrandt and I just kinda

laughed about it.

Friday night we had such a miracle! Soeur Lefrandt and I have been

doing a lot of finding and contacting and porting! oh man! On Friday

night we tried to visit a less active and turned out she didn't live

there anymore and we somehow ended up in another city called Noisy Le

Grand. We decided to walk around and try to talk to some people.

Rejection after rejection, Soeur Lefrandt turned to me and said,

"Soeur, we need to pray." We found a spot and prayed. Just after, we

turned around and contacted this woman and she

was really nice. We testified and turned to Moroni 10:3-5. We asked

her to read it and she began balling! She told us it was so touching

and she had prayed that morning that God would send someone to her! We

began testifying and said a prayer with her and after we ended the

prayer, a man walked by and said, "Bonjour les soeurs!" then told us

he was a branch president and to keep up the good work! So then we

decided to go sit on a bench with her and talk about the blessings of

the gospel and read more of the Book of

Mormon. By the end, we were all just crying. She asked us how much she

could pay us for the Book of Mormon and it's so nice to be able to say

the gospel is free and for everyone! Towards the end I invited her to

be baptized and she said she would! Best part of this story-SHE'S 100%

FRENCH!

We haven't met with her since and things are a little complicated, but

we're going to try and see her soon. We talked to her the next day and

she said she wasn't sure, but she's been reading the Book of Mormon. I

have no doubt she will one day be an incredible member of the true

church of Jesus Christ :)

After that we found 3 other people that were interested and it's

incredible to see the hand of the Lord throughout it all. Soeur

Lefrandt and I have been here under 6 months, yet we're trying to

inviting others to Christ in a language we both don't know. We are so

humbled by the teaching power of the Spirit. When we bear our simple,

broken-French tesimonies, the Spirit truly does the rest.

I know with all my heart that God has a plan for each of us. Sometimes

we lose sight of where we're going or who we are, but we can find

comfort and peace with knowing that our Heavenly Father is aware of

our needs and loves us. We just have to place our trust in Him and

have faith in His timing. The trials we face are specifically for us.

I love this gospel. I know it's true. It brings so much peace and

happiness to my life. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now

than serving the Lord. Thanks for all the love and support! Til next

week,

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge

When Life Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going

Dear family and friends,

My heart is so filled with gratitude today to be able to talk to you and tell you about the incredible work that the Lord is letting me be apart of here in Nogent, France. Sometimes I just don't know how to count my blessings because there are just so many. My heart is filled with love for the Lord and these great people and my awesome companion.

This week started off incredibly! We went and had dinner as planned with a French woman we met on the street, Chantal. She is incredible!! I love her to death. We went over to her HUGE French house and as we arrived, we noticed other people in the garden. We were having a little picnic with her and her husband and her best friend. They were some of the nicest people ever and throughout the night we sat and discussed our beliefs with these incredible people. They are in their 60's and are French and have a twin boy and girl that they adopted from Chile who are grown and moved away. We bore testimony from the bottoms of our hearts and we were all so open and loving and had such a nice time. It was a perfect night! Bernard, her husband had such interesting questions, but all of us just felt the power of the Holy Ghost so strongly all thoughout our dinner picnic. We were all best friends by the end of the night and even took some fun pics that I'll include. They are such great people and as Soeur Wynn and I were heading home that night, we both got the distinct feeling that this was not the first time we had met this charming couple. That we had been sent to them because in the life before this life, we knew each other...we anticipate seeing them again soon, I hope!

We had exchanges this week and so I was with Soeur Pulupuna! I LOVE HER! We had 2 incredible lessons with our 2 amis: Claudia (big curly hair) and Isabelle and her son Gael (he also has huge crazy hair). Both of these women are incredible! and BOTH came to the baptism and met and ended up being best of friends. We didn't have a ton of members at the baptism, but the both of them ended up helping us out a ton setting up cakes and refreshments after. They're so incredible! (I'm thinking they'll get baptized on the same day ;) October 19th!) Later that night of the exchange I ended up getting pretty sick..

After 3 days, I was finally feeling better and so we went on fast mode this weekend to make up for it. Even while I was sick, we still got tons of calls in a set up appointments and were able to get good planning in and such so it wasn't a total waste. The Lord blessed us so much for our efforts to go out and Soeur Wynn ended up getting pretty sick too, but after resting really well, the Lord strengthened us and back to work we went!

We had our first ward counsel this weekend!!! It was super awesome to show the ward that we are really trying super hard and that we have so many people who are ready for baptism and who are progressing so well. As we left that night, we felt so proud of the work that we are doing, the people the Lord has blessed us with. It's incredible to see how He has taken this area that was really struggling for a long time and has shaped it into a field ready to be harvested!!! And we are blessed to be the ones to harvest!

Our favorite bit of this weekend was the baptism of our darling Stéphanie =) it was such a great day, even though hardly anyone came! But that's ok because we had 2 of our amies come!!!! Claudia (who is our awesome amie who does all the family nights with us and a who will be baptized next month) is already fellowshipping all of our other amis! She has been coming to the ward for several weeks now so she knows the drill and so she helped us out a ton at the baptism and at church on Sunday when we had people come! It was so great to have her there and we are having a JOINT FAMILY HOME EVENING now with her and another amie at a member's house this week. It will be EPIC! We have set up 4 family home evenings for this week already all with investigators who were invited specifically by members! Can you believe that?! That's what we call a solid week! Through our ward counsel meeting we asked several members to invite our amies who come to church to their house and so they did! Look at that faith! This ward is ready to do some missionary work! I'm so thrilled.

The baptism was incredible though. Stéphanie is such a light and an example of purity. She's so darling! I love her to pieces! Her baptism was a sweet experience and watching her in the waters of baptism and being confirmed I have a joy in my heart that is unlike any other! Like I said last time, it's quite an addicting feeling! I can't imagine the joy I will feel as I watch my own children and family enter the waters of baptism. There really is no greater joy.That is the most joy we can have on this earth I think...closest we get to heaven. But Stéphanie has promised us to one day serve a mission and to be sealed in the temple as well. I look forward to watching her life play out in the next 10-15 years. She loves the feeling of the Holy Ghost and is so overjoyed to have it now. I love her!!!

We were able to visit our family last night. It was the mom's birthday Saturday so we made a card and stopped by. We had an incredible short little lesson and the dad expressed some concerns and right after we just asked if he had prayed to know...he made up a few excuses and then we opened up to 2 Nephi 32:8-9 and had him read it and then I testified with all my heart, with my companion doing the same, that our Heavenly Father loves us with all of His heart, more that we can imagine and He wants to talk with us. After testifying by the power of the Spirit for a few minutes we sat in silence and he looked up at us finally and said, ok, I'll pray. We are having a family home evening with the Lasa's (our African parents) on Sunday. So we look forward to that!

We also had a BBQ yesterday after church. Super interesting. French BBQs are NOTHING like American BBQs..it was fun though.

We have been so blessed this week and I could not be more grateful. I'm really bummed that Soeur Wynn is leaving me the end of this transfer, but Elder Oaks is coming this next Sunday so we will be at the multi-stake assembly for that next week.

This gospel is just so incredible. I'm so very grateful to have the opportunity to spread the good word that the fulness of the gospel is upon the earth! What a great time to be alive and growing closer to our Father in heaven each day. I know this church is true. I know we have a Heavenly Father who knows our weaknesses and our trials. He knows us better than we think and He wants us to talk to Him through prayer. He wants to pour out blessings. We just have to humble ourselves and ask.

Thank you for all the love and support. I pray that all is well and I know that you are in the hands of the Lord, right where I left you! I love you!

Stay righteous, be true, be you!

Avec amour,

Soeur Berge