Last Minute Miracle

Bonjour family & friends!

It has officially been two weeks since I have been in France and officially two months that I have been out on my mission! Time is going quick so I better take advantage of my time here by eating some more French pastries..  I got to go back into Paris this week because we had a zone conference. Elder Kearon who is from the Quorum of the Seventy came and spoke to us. He talked about learning to "celebrate the rain and see the rainbows." This is very applicable to the city I am in because it rains a lot here. In life and in missionary work there is going to be a lot of "rain" and moments of discouragement. However, we can choose to see the "rainbows" even if they seem very far away. I am hoping that I can do a better job of looking for the blessings and "rainbows" in my life even when things are hard. "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." -President Hinckley

This week started off by attending Ward council meeting. Typically, missionaries haven't attended this meeting but we thought it would be good because we are trying to get the ward more involved in missionary work. We set ward missionary goals for the coming new year and they want to have 12 baptisms. I think this is totally realistic with a lot of hard work from the missionaries and the ward members! We also assigned a couple families to help fellowship our "amis." (amis: friends of the church aka investigators) We had a couple dinner appointments this week! We had dinner with a member who isn't active but she has the sister missionaries over every week. She is American but married a French man so she lives here. She is super awesome and I am excited I get to teach in English at least once a week! I had my first official French dinner with the Gouttin family. We were able to bring our ami Anna with us (the girl who is atheist that we taught last week) and I think it was good for her to get to know a family from the ward. We read a couple verses from Alma 32 and talked about the importance of acting on our faith even when it is small. On Sunday we went to the Bishop's house for dinner and had really great dessert!

The Lille church building!

We had a couple lessons cancel on us this week but it's okay because we had a miracle that made up for it! We were walking home from contacting and we hadn't had any people that were willing to talk to us. Right before we got to our apartment we contacted this elderly lady. In all honesty, I was expecting to hear the usual, "No no no, Je suis Catholic." As we started talking she actually stopped and listened!! (That's like a miracle just by itself) We started talking to her about her beliefs and she said she is Christian but hasn't practiced any religion for a long time. She said she knows there must be a higher power or some type of God. However, she went through a difficult time because her parents died at the same time and that made it hard for her to believe in religion. I was able to introduce and give her a Book of Mormon and explain to her the peace it has brought into my life. We got her number so we could set up an appointment and afterwards we left her with a prayer. Hopefully, we will be able to teach her because from talking with her I can tell she needs peace in her life.

Outside the Rihour bell tower

One of the reason I wanted to serve a mission was to give the opportunity to others to feel the peace and comfort the gospel has brought me. This week I have been reading the New Testament in John. My favorite verse I read was, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27) I think the world's idea of peace is that everything is okay and we don't have difficulty or opposition. The peace that Christ can give us is peace for our souls. There will be still be heartache and trials in our life but through faith in Christ we can receive peace because we know that because of Him everything will be okay in the end. I am grateful for the people I am meeting because they make me better a person by allowing me to reflect on my own life and testimony! Thank you for all your love and support. Have a great week!

Love, Soeur Johnson