She's Home!

Jill was supposed to come home on December 5, but there was a labor strike scheduled in France for that day and so they changed her travel date to December 4. It was a long day waiting for the evening to come. Zoe Letourneau and Peirce made posters and kept us entertained while we waited for the time to go to the airport.

 This one was my favorite poster.

We had a great crowd at the airport for when Jill came home.

It was anguishing waiting for the time for her to arrive.

I was surprised at how emotional I felt when she came through the doors. Emotions came flying out of me and turned into tears.

Best hug ever!

 So nice that both of my siblings could be there!

 Jensen cousins together again! Jill hadn't seen Jordan for almost 3 years because their missions overlapped.

 After meeting with the stake president we stopped at Jimmy's for the best shawarma in Calgary.

Chico's favorite is back!

Mission Complete! ....almost

I have great regrets over my lack of blogging. Once missionaries were allowed to call home, I really fell off the wagon with blogging about Jill's mission. Now this week she is coming home! I have decided to recommit to daily blogging. I've felt a longing for it lately. 

When Jill left, I decided I was going to also make it MY best 18 months ever. I'm not so sure I can say that it was though. It's not that anything bad or not good has happened, but I can't say it's been totally the significant time of growth like I hoped it would be for me. That just reminds me again that nothing really compares to a mission. You can't replicate it even if you really try. 

Jill has always been that kid who was excited about each new step. She made being a mom easy because I never worried about her being nervous or scared about things. There were no tears when she started kindergarten or grade one and life has kind of continued like that. I have never been able to watch those videos of kids coming home and hugging their moms without crying though. We will see how things go at the airport. Bottom line: I'm excited for her to be home.

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm ready or if I'm nervous or if I have done everything to be ready for you to be home...and I'm like, "Well, I think so." I'm not nervous. I will clean the bathroom, change the sheets, take the vacuum out of her room and put it back in the basement. ....not sure what else I'm supposed to do. LOL I'll try and get the tree up (if only I could find the extra bulbs that will make the entire string of lights work....argh!) 

Bottom line: Allen and I are just super proud of her. It is almost like  she was built for this mission experience. I'm so happy it was such a positive experience. It isn't always positive for everyone - but it can be SO great when it is great.  I am confident that Jill will come home with confidence and the  spirit of peace she so often possesses.  I love that she has spent so much time at the Paris, France temple. She will have a perspective on the temple that will be rare. I'm so happy for her!

Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.

 ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

💕🤹🏼‍♀️🧘‍♀️🐪🐁

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great week and that you're doing okay after daylight savings😊 ours is coming up pretty soon so your prayers are appreciated! 

Monday was our preparation day... We took it pretty easy and cleaned the apartment!!! Wooo! It was so nice because we've been going to Paris every week for p day and doing something touristy so it's been nice to relax a bit! 

Tuesday

This was our all day temple day, but it was pretty quiet so we left a bit early and tried to stop by some people past missionaries had told us about. We were kind of hungry but we thought that maybe if we didn't eat until after, we'd save some time and then at the perfect moment we'd get to these people's houses and they'd be so happy to receive us and hear the restored gospel! So we waited to eat our dinner, and that didn't happen. BUT the person who we were initially trying to visit has an across the street neighbour who wanted to talk with us and wanted to help her cute little son to learn about Jesus! It's nice when we listen to where Heavenly Father wants us to be and when. It was also nice that we had pretty good croque monsieurs after for dinner.😊

Wednesday

We had district council and a quiche competition after (soeur Jones and I won, in case you're wondering). The district council was about how becoming more like Christ and incorporating His characteristics into who we are can help us be more positive. He gives us something to hope for, something to have faith in, a way to love more fully. When we intentionally remember all these things how can we not have a positive attitude with Christ? 

Thursday 

We had a first lesson with a girl that we met at our free book of Mormon stand. It was such a powerful lesson. We asked her to pay attention to how she felt as she watched one of our favourite videos about Christ called Because of Him.

Friday

We had exchanges and I got too be with Soeur Ethington for the day! We had a great day remembering old times, watching the new missionary safety videos and eating from our favourite store- Picard. (Definitely worth looking up:))

Saturday

This was a historic day! Couple firsts for soeur Jones! Her first mangez vous and we were so generously served raclette... for those who have never been blessed with such an opportunity to try it, it's melted cheese on potatoes and meat and vegetables. It's so good. If anyone is looking for a housewarming gift for me when I grow up, A RACLETTE MACHINE IS IT. 

The other crazy thing was our lesson in the evening. It went really poorly and it reminded us that missionary work isn't anyways peaches and cream! The person we were teaching was not excited about the idea of the church of Jesus Christ being restored, and even less thrilled about the book of Mormon. It was kind of a sad experience but it definitely reminded me of how grateful I am to have the holy spirit of God with me to help me to find comfort in moments like that. 

Sunday 

There was a super fun fireside at the visitors centre, and I got to see a friend that we met a few months back from the Paris ward! He told me about how his life has changed since his baptism and it was so beautiful to hear! It's amazing, reassuring and inspiring to see how the gospel of Jesus Christ can change people's lives over time. I know that the work we're doing has a real impact of people's lives, presently and in eternity. I'm so grateful to have a front row seat to watch God show His love to His children. It's really a great opportunity to be a missionary.

That's the run down of my week! Nothing too exciting but before I sign off I just want to share with you my testimony of the plan of salvation. I know that Jesus Christ is with us every step of the way and that through Him it is possible to overcome the horrible parts of this life and find true joy. I'm grateful for the temple and for the fact that my family can be together forever. I invite you all to share your testimony and knowledge of God's plan with someone, or to seek to know more about it. I know that God loves all his children and wants us to know Him and understand Him. 

Love you lots, hope to hear from you!

Soeur Ackroyd 

Hi Everyone!

I hope that you're having a great week! I just wanted to share a few miracles and experiences from the past few weeks that have taught me a lot and helped me to grow my testimony of Jesus Christ. I feel kind of bad for not writing an email every week.. There's a lot to be doing in Paris these days! 

This week we set up a special Book of Mormon table with the elders and a member of our ward to share the Book of Mormon with people in our area for free. We gave away so many in just a couple hours! It was a pretty simple thing but I loved being able to talk about the Book of Mormon with so many curious people and testify to them that by reading it they would get closer to Jesus Christ and that He'd change them and their hearts. I know that that book is true and I love it!

We had another really awesome experience last week that helped me see how music can be a powerful influence in God's work. We had a first lesson with this lady that the missionaries here had met in the past. We met with her in a park and decided to start with a song! As we were singing - this man noticed us and walked over. He asked us if we were talking about Jesus and if he could join us! We were so happy to say yes to both of those questions! He loved what he heard and we set  up another appointment with him the next week! I'm so glad that we sang that song. I know that music invites the spirit of God and that that's what made our new friend want to learn more about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

We had a cool geneology/family history miracle a couple weeks ago too! This one sister that we've been working with for a while, she happened to walk past the new family history centre in Paris and so she asked us about it later. We took her there and showed her how she could get her own account on Family Search and how she could look at her tree. When she looked at it, it already had a lot in it because her family members had filled some things out already. She found a picture of her ancestors and just looked at it for so long. You could just see her heart becoming connected to those people. It was especially meaningful for us to be able to share this with her because she doesn't have very good relationships with her family. She kept saying how she loved those people even if she'd never met them in this life. We testified to her how these people are in the spirit world and they are watching out for her. They love her. They wil all get to see each other again one day! I know that God's loves families. I'm so grateful for geneology and family history that allows us to understand God's love and His plan for us.

I think that that's all for now! Hope to hear from you all! Have a great week/month/undetermined amount of time until I write next. 

Soeur Ackroyd

The Beginning of Transfer 7/12

Hi everyone! I hope that things are going well at home and that you're all safe and warm! Today we got news about the next transfer and..... I get to train a new missionary! I'll find out what her name is and who she is on Wednesday. It's sad that I won't be with Soeur Olsen for more than a transfer, she's such a great missionary and companion. But at the same time, I'm so excited for this new adventure! My trainer, sister Marteeny, will be training again this transfer so I'm happy we get to do it together! All together, there will be three new missionaries who will be coming from the MTC and they're all from Canada!! 

We spent our p day today packing and moving and cleaning because there are missionaries who are switching apartments 😅😅 We had 18 missionaries there between the temple soeurs and the versailles district so it only took about 3 hours! And now we're going to go treat ourselves and get food together!! We're going to the historic restaurant where I first tried ratatouille. 

The past couple weeks have been hard for us and the people we're teaching so we havent gotten to see them a whole lot. Sometimes that can be discouraging. Missionary work in general can often be discouraging but I've learned over the last month that Heavenly Father has great things in store for us if we have faith. If we can avoid complaining and just keep working hard, there's almost always something waiting on the other side! Like last week, we had a rough night where everyone said no to us all night. We kept trying though, and the very last people we talked to before were turned home were so happy to talk to us and learn about Jesus Christ. That made it all worth it. I know that if you remember that with God anything is possible, keep your hopes up!

Soeur Ackroyd 

Re: It's a good week to be in France escaping the polar vortex

I woke up to a message from Jill this morning that was her and her companion singing happy birthday in French. It was so great to hear her voice! (click the link to hear it!)


The ambushes she is speaking of were my plans to celebrate my birthday with silly string. Let's just say, it was a hit!

Here is her letter:

Hi again mom! I hope that you liked our singing this morning! It was one of the first things when we woke up. Usually we nap on p day but we've slept through our alarms so many time s (not for our 6:30 alarms, of course!) that we figured this time we'd just skip it and have 3 extra hours of p day! 

You'll have to let me know how your ambushes go this morning 😂 the other day the Versailles sisters his and then jumped out and scared us on our way home from the temple. It was funny for them. 😑 That's the most of the pranking we've seen in the past couple weeks. One time we were down stairs in the online teaching Centre and when we came up just before 9 everyone hid and made us think we were all alone. And then ANOTHER TIME we were down there, and everyone else forgot so they left and our coats and keys and everything were locked inside. That wasn't a prank and then Elder Meunier (one of the visitors Centre senior missionaries) was mad when he had to come back to get us. But we complimented his shoes and then he was happy. I think he's kind of like dad. Both very "high fashion" men. I wish you could hear him say that in his French accent. It's awesome. He also bakes super good treats for all the temple sisters 😊

How fun that your parents bought you books for your class! I was talking with sœur Olsen this morning about how when I get home, maybe as part of my service in the ward I can start a book club! Maybe as part of ministering. 

I do yoga in the mornings too sometimes! It's amazing how that one makes my legs the most sore out of all the work out videos we have. Good job for working out your pains, I am so glad that I learned that the way to fix she's and pains is to exercise. Lots of sisters don't really apply that and then they have back problems. I'm so excited to get home and start going to the gym again 😊 but not to excited, of course! 

Did you ever read the book The Hate You Give? I keep seeing advertisements for the movie and they look pretty good! 

Glad to hear learning conférences are going well. It seems like those were pretty tiring times before so it always nice when it goes a little more smoothly than usual. 

How fun, handwriting! Today we're going to the Invalides museum. It's the war museum, and it's pretty interesting, especially to go with people who are American! They have different perspectives that are interesting. I don't know much about wars but it's cool to go see those things as a missionary because you have a different look on the world and on people so I enjoy it enough 😊 

You must know a lot more about divorce for someone who has never been divorced, because you're a teacher. When we were in a trio, the their companion's parents had been divorced and I feel like I learned a lot just from those couple weeks that we had together. I got to set her again at the mission Conference and I was so happy! I guessed right which blue she would be training. It was the one that I went finding with the first day! She's Canadian! And she is so awesome. We met a really miraculous person together, with a dog named citrouille! (pumpkin)

That's really cool that dad had that experience. He taught her about the Plan of salvation I guess so he probably made a really big difference for her by being there. I hope Peirce and dad had a good time together. 

Is so great to hear that you're having awesome gospel centered conversations at dinner. Got to for it in when you can, right? One of the questions president asked us recently in our interviews was "what is one thing your companion has taught you during companionship study?" I told him how great of a missionary Sœur Olsen is and how she taught me about Moses being a type of Christ. I always loved Moses's story so much and she added another layer to it! What is something you've learned from your devotional dinners? Is that an every night thing? 

I like your idea about Jesus being tempted right after he was baptized. I think that almost as much as you learn how real God is on your mission, you learn how real Satan is. He knows us pretty well too. One of the things we apply in this mission is called Bishop Causse's three invitations. The first one is that every family commits to bring someone without a temple recommend to see the temple. The other is that everyone with a baptismal date comes to the temple before their baptism. And the last is that recent concerts come to the temple within the first 3 months after their baptism. The temple gives us so much protection against the adversary. It gives us power! President likes to read from Doctrine and covenants 109 when he teaches the blues about the temple. Prayer time was especially awesome because he told them how the temple arms them and their amis and converts who come with power. I love that he said that because it's so real and so true. l love the temple. I love the scripture that teaches that its through ordinances that we understand and see the power of godliness. It's so true.

On a different topic, I opened Facebook yesterday to do some online teaching and I saw one of my flight attendant friends in her uniform... I kind of miss that! I didn't look for too long though cause that would have been distracting! It was really nice to be able to just leave and go somewhere fun! Last year when it snowed and I went to Hawaii, that wasn't bad. I wonder if that is what I'll end up doing again when I get home. I keep having this sneaking feeling like something should be different when I go home. But I quite liked doing that too so we'll see. 

I really am staying warm and happy and enjoying life. We're working really hard and not seeing the success every day. When we do see it though, it's worth it! Yesterday nights fireside at the temple was definitely a pay off moment. 

I hope you have a great week at seminary and the early mornings are good for you. What are you learning about these days? 

Love you! Jillian 

Mission Conference with Elder Andersen

Jill is in the third row, just to the left and behind Elder Andersen

Halfway Point?

Hi everyone! I'm not really sure if my subject line is accurate because I'm not exactly sure what day I'll be coming home from my mission, but it's approximately true :) Crazy right? I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing, but that's mostly because it's not me doing the work. Missionary work is God's work and I'm just doing my little part, trying to keep up with His plans! I love being a missionary and learning how God works. I love the people I have taught and the people I have served with.

France Paris Mission Tip of the Week

When an african momma tells you "tu as grossi!" (you got fatter!) This is a compliment. 

Les miracles du semaine - 

Natasha came to church! She's a super cool lady that loves God so much. The whole ward loved her and welcomed her! It warmed my heart! This Sunday really showed me how much of a difference you can make by being friendly and showing love to people. She has a little baby, and he was sick! So we asked some of the recently returned missionaries in our ward if they could give him a blessing. One of the guys that we asked to give the blessing recently received the priesthood and will be leaving on a mission! It was a powerful moment because they were blessing this little baby that will grow up in the gospel and maybe one day become a missionary himself! 

Freddy was another miracle this week! We had our first rendez vous with him, and he asked about how he could be baptised! He told us about his life before he moved to France and all the miracles that built his testimony of Christ. He really has so much faith, you would have to in order to see the things he has! He had trouble getting here because of legal issues, but after a long time of struggling with the process of moving, he heard a voice as if From heavenly Father saying "You can go now." After that, he made it to France with no problems or obstacles. Even things that should have stopped him were removed from his path, and I know it is because Heavenly Father wanted him to get here so that He could hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. God really is so powerful. 

I got pants! Pictures to come. 

Tomorrow Elder Anderson will be coming to our mission and he is going to speak to all the missionaries! I'm so grateful for this opportunity to hear and apostle speak. You'll hear more about that next week! 

Soeur Ackroyd

 An important dog that we met in our favourite store, Sostrene Grene 

 me relating to some art (femme au lettre- woman reading a letter.) (131 Boulevard Carnot, 2ieme etage, le Vesinet, 78110, france)

 Me enjoying some other art at the orangerie 

Some awesome graffiti that can be found all over Paris teaching that Jesus Saves us from our sadness, weaknesses and mistakes.