Bonjour family & friends!!
This is going to be a week that I am going to remember for a really long time! It was so amazing. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
We started off the week by going to a members house that hasn't come to church for a long time. She has decided that she wants to become active again and be able to go back to the temple. She told us that she knows there are blessings that are being withheld from her and her family because she is not doing the things that would allow Heavenly Father to bless her. Her husband and her 9 year old son are not members, so she hasn't always had a good support system. This week they left for vacation but when she gets back we are going to start meeting with her weekly and have her make goals to help her get back to the temple. She has a great testimony and a strong desire to come back. We are so excited to work with her! I think it is so cool that she realized on her own that there are blessings that she is missing out on. That means she has noticed a change in her life from when she has lived gospel standards and when she has not. Heavenly Father wants so badly to give us all the blessings that He possibly can.. but we are usually the ones who keep ourselves from receiving many blessings that we could have if we were just simply obedient.
On Tuesday, we went to Paris to have our mission Christmas conference. Bishop Caussé, who is the presiding Bishop of the church, was our surprise visiter! He spoke to us about miracles and in particular, the miracle of the Paris, France temple. He told us about a couple different miracles that happened, which made it possible for the completion of a temple in Paris. They went through years and years of political opposition and difficulty while searching for a place to build the temple. Maybe I will share some of the stories he told us in a future email.He told us that the Paris, France temple is a perfect example that miracles happen, even in France! They really encouraged us to continue to have the faith that miracles exist and that they happen everyday. I left with a renewed sense of motivation and faith!
We started off our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve! For lunch, we went to the home of a Swedish family in our ward and we had a traditional "Swedish Christmas dinner." Afterwards, we spent the evening with a German family and had "German Christmas." In both of their cultures, they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. It was fun to be with both of these families and have them share a little bit about their culture with us. Christmas morning we woke up and went to the home of an American family home for breakfast! It was fun to watch their kids open the gifts that Santa had just brought. It made me so happy that we got to go over there because one of the things I love most about Christmas at my house, is that we have a big Christmas breakfast! I had accepted the fact that I would just have to go two Christmases without our traditional American breakfast. However, Heavenly Father proved me wrong! I think it was His Christmas present to me. Afterwards, we all went to church together. I actually love Christmas being on a Sunday because it is a good reminder of what the Christmas season is all about. There is no better opportunity to reflect and think about the life of Jesus Christ than during the sacrament. Two of our investigators even made the sacrifice to come to church.. That is the ultimate Christmas present for a missionary! After church we went home with a family from England and had our Christmas lunch/dinner at their home. We spent the rest of the evening at the home of a Luxembourgish family and we were able to Skype our families. This was definitely a Christmas that I will never forget!
We did a lot of really fun things and made lots of memories. However, I would say my favorite Christmas memory from this year was from something we did on Christmas Eve. On Thursday, we had visited a lady in the ward that is going through a lot of difficulties in her life. We asked her if she was getting excited for Christmas. She said, "not really" because she knew her kids expected gifts but she couldn't afford to buy them anything. After we left, the member that we went with sent out an email to the entire ward asking for any gift donations that we could give to this single mother. By Saturday morning, they had a huge box full of food and gifts. That evening, we went with our German family and dropped the presents off at her doorstep. We rang the doorbell and ran! It was so cool to watch the little 6 year olds face light up as he looked down and saw all the gifts. The mom and her teenage daughter tried to lift the box up to bring it inside but it was so heavy that they had to have the boys do it! There is no doubt that dropping those gifts off at a family's house who needed it was the best part of Christmas. Service is truly one of the best ways to feel the love of Christ. I'm grateful for the Christmas season where we our encouraged to think a little more about what His birth means to us personally. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sœur Johnson
This is going to be a week that I am going to remember for a really long time! It was so amazing. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
We started off the week by going to a members house that hasn't come to church for a long time. She has decided that she wants to become active again and be able to go back to the temple. She told us that she knows there are blessings that are being withheld from her and her family because she is not doing the things that would allow Heavenly Father to bless her. Her husband and her 9 year old son are not members, so she hasn't always had a good support system. This week they left for vacation but when she gets back we are going to start meeting with her weekly and have her make goals to help her get back to the temple. She has a great testimony and a strong desire to come back. We are so excited to work with her! I think it is so cool that she realized on her own that there are blessings that she is missing out on. That means she has noticed a change in her life from when she has lived gospel standards and when she has not. Heavenly Father wants so badly to give us all the blessings that He possibly can.. but we are usually the ones who keep ourselves from receiving many blessings that we could have if we were just simply obedient.
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| A Swedish Christmas! |
On Tuesday, we went to Paris to have our mission Christmas conference. Bishop Caussé, who is the presiding Bishop of the church, was our surprise visiter! He spoke to us about miracles and in particular, the miracle of the Paris, France temple. He told us about a couple different miracles that happened, which made it possible for the completion of a temple in Paris. They went through years and years of political opposition and difficulty while searching for a place to build the temple. Maybe I will share some of the stories he told us in a future email.He told us that the Paris, France temple is a perfect example that miracles happen, even in France! They really encouraged us to continue to have the faith that miracles exist and that they happen everyday. I left with a renewed sense of motivation and faith!
 |
| Christmas Day round #2 with Sœur Brown! |
We started off our Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve! For lunch, we went to the home of a Swedish family in our ward and we had a traditional "Swedish Christmas dinner." Afterwards, we spent the evening with a German family and had "German Christmas." In both of their cultures, they celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. It was fun to be with both of these families and have them share a little bit about their culture with us. Christmas morning we woke up and went to the home of an American family home for breakfast! It was fun to watch their kids open the gifts that Santa had just brought. It made me so happy that we got to go over there because one of the things I love most about Christmas at my house, is that we have a big Christmas breakfast! I had accepted the fact that I would just have to go two Christmases without our traditional American breakfast. However, Heavenly Father proved me wrong! I think it was His Christmas present to me. Afterwards, we all went to church together. I actually love Christmas being on a Sunday because it is a good reminder of what the Christmas season is all about. There is no better opportunity to reflect and think about the life of Jesus Christ than during the sacrament. Two of our investigators even made the sacrifice to come to church.. That is the ultimate Christmas present for a missionary! After church we went home with a family from England and had our Christmas lunch/dinner at their home. We spent the rest of the evening at the home of a Luxembourgish family and we were able to Skype our families. This was definitely a Christmas that I will never forget!
 |
| mission Christmas conference! |
We did a lot of really fun things and made lots of memories. However, I would say my favorite Christmas memory from this year was from something we did on Christmas Eve. On Thursday, we had visited a lady in the ward that is going through a lot of difficulties in her life. We asked her if she was getting excited for Christmas. She said, "not really" because she knew her kids expected gifts but she couldn't afford to buy them anything. After we left, the member that we went with sent out an email to the entire ward asking for any gift donations that we could give to this single mother. By Saturday morning, they had a huge box full of food and gifts. That evening, we went with our German family and dropped the presents off at her doorstep. We rang the doorbell and ran! It was so cool to watch the little 6 year olds face light up as he looked down and saw all the gifts. The mom and her teenage daughter tried to lift the box up to bring it inside but it was so heavy that they had to have the boys do it! There is no doubt that dropping those gifts off at a family's house who needed it was the best part of Christmas. Service is truly one of the best ways to feel the love of Christ. I'm grateful for the Christmas season where we our encouraged to think a little more about what His birth means to us personally. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sœur Johnson
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