Bonjour family and friends!
It's finally spring/summer in the north of France! The weather here has finally warmed out and I couldn't be more excited. It literally went from freezing cold last week to really hot this week. We have been asking people when it will get warm and they always say, "you're in the North.. So probably never." It's actually supposed to rain at the end of this week so maybe they are right!
The end of the transfer was this past week as well. I am staying in Lille for one more transfer to finish training Soeur Witham. The only thing that is really changing is that we are getting a new Soeur in our apartment because Soeur Ulrich has finished her mission. I am really excited for this next transfer!! We have a lot of solid Amis and I think we are going to really start to see them progress.
Overall, I have been blessed to have been able to have eaten really well here in France (as can be seen in the way I look in pictures haha) but this week was a little bit rough to say the least. We had the weirdest jello/jelly like thing with bits and pieces of green stuff in it, wrapped with some bizarre meat, and to top it off their was a completely raw egg in the middle of it. The worst part about it was that it was only our appetizer...yikes. Let's just say by the main course I was told that I didn't have to finish my plate if I didn't want too (which never happens in France) and we were given 3 different desserts after because I think she felt bad..haha. It was probably the most traumatic thing that has happened to me on my mission so far.. so I would say things are going pretty good if eating weird things is my biggest problem! All is well though because she said we can have potatoes next time to make up for it.
We had our finding day in Lille on Friday. The weather was absolutely beautiful so people were everywhere. It couldn't have been more perfect! For this finding day, we focused a lot more on involving members. We took members out contacting on the street with us for a couple of hours. It is really a great experience for the members to share their testimonies and it is really helpful for us to have members with us to better communicate and relate to the person we are talking with on the street. While I was contacting with one of the members we met this really cool lady from Russia! She immediately looked at my plaque and said, "Let me guess, you are Mormon?" I replied a simple, "Oui." She then said, "I don't know what it is, but I swear the Mormons always find me! I must have a "visage" that attracts Mormon missionaries or something because no matter where I am in the world they always seem to talk to me." I told her that it's probably not by chance that she has had contact with so many missionaries. She told me that she went through a time where she was really angry with God because she had her baby that was 2 months old pass away. I immediately tried to testify of the plan of salvation. We talked with her for a minute and before she left I gave her a plan of salvation brochure. She said, "I am not going to read it now because I am not prepared but I will keep it for the day that I am." I am hoping that day will come sooner than later for her so that she can feel at peace and have that knowledge that she will be able to see her child again.
To finish off our finding day we did a "Book of Mormon/Restoration" activity in the center of Lille. We had little Book of Mormon posters and a bunch of Restoration DVDs & brochures. We stood around for the first little bit singing some hymns while one of the Elders played the Ukulele. Some people would sing while others went around handing out Book of Mormons and DVDs. Overall, it seemed to be a really successful day!!
To end this wonderful week I got the chance to skype with my family on Sunday! Mother's Day is definitely my new favorite holiday. Being on a mission has made reflect on how many things I have to be grateful for. My testimony has really grown about how important families are. Everyone has different types of family but the thing that we all should have in common is that they should be the most important thing in our life. They should be our highest priority. I am especially grateful to have a mother who has taught me the importance of family.
This is absolutely one of my favorite quotes from a talk Jeffery R. Holland gave. "How is it that a human being can love a child so deeply that you willingly give up a major portion of your freedom for it? How can mortal love be so strong that you voluntarily subject yourself to responsibility, vulnerability, anxiety, and heartache and just keep coming back for more of the same? What kind of mortal love can make you feel, once you have a child, that your life is never, ever your own again? Maternal love has to be divine. There is no other explanation for it. What mothers do is an essential element of Christ’s work. Knowing that should be enough to tell us the impact of such love will range between unbearable and transcendent, over and over again, until with the safety and salvation of the very last child on earth, we can [then] say with Jesus, ‘[Father!] I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.’ ”To all of our mothers everywhere, past, present, or future, I say, “Thank you. Thank you for giving birth, for shaping souls, for forming character, and for demonstrating the pure love of Christ.”
Thank you to my mother and all the "mother like" figures in my life. Abe Lincoln says it best, "Everything that I am, I owe to my angel mother." Have a wonderful week! Love you all.
Love, Soeur Johnson
It's finally spring/summer in the north of France! The weather here has finally warmed out and I couldn't be more excited. It literally went from freezing cold last week to really hot this week. We have been asking people when it will get warm and they always say, "you're in the North.. So probably never." It's actually supposed to rain at the end of this week so maybe they are right!
The end of the transfer was this past week as well. I am staying in Lille for one more transfer to finish training Soeur Witham. The only thing that is really changing is that we are getting a new Soeur in our apartment because Soeur Ulrich has finished her mission. I am really excited for this next transfer!! We have a lot of solid Amis and I think we are going to really start to see them progress.
 |
| Springtime in France! |
Overall, I have been blessed to have been able to have eaten really well here in France (as can be seen in the way I look in pictures haha) but this week was a little bit rough to say the least. We had the weirdest jello/jelly like thing with bits and pieces of green stuff in it, wrapped with some bizarre meat, and to top it off their was a completely raw egg in the middle of it. The worst part about it was that it was only our appetizer...yikes. Let's just say by the main course I was told that I didn't have to finish my plate if I didn't want too (which never happens in France) and we were given 3 different desserts after because I think she felt bad..haha. It was probably the most traumatic thing that has happened to me on my mission so far.. so I would say things are going pretty good if eating weird things is my biggest problem! All is well though because she said we can have potatoes next time to make up for it.
We had our finding day in Lille on Friday. The weather was absolutely beautiful so people were everywhere. It couldn't have been more perfect! For this finding day, we focused a lot more on involving members. We took members out contacting on the street with us for a couple of hours. It is really a great experience for the members to share their testimonies and it is really helpful for us to have members with us to better communicate and relate to the person we are talking with on the street. While I was contacting with one of the members we met this really cool lady from Russia! She immediately looked at my plaque and said, "Let me guess, you are Mormon?" I replied a simple, "Oui." She then said, "I don't know what it is, but I swear the Mormons always find me! I must have a "visage" that attracts Mormon missionaries or something because no matter where I am in the world they always seem to talk to me." I told her that it's probably not by chance that she has had contact with so many missionaries. She told me that she went through a time where she was really angry with God because she had her baby that was 2 months old pass away. I immediately tried to testify of the plan of salvation. We talked with her for a minute and before she left I gave her a plan of salvation brochure. She said, "I am not going to read it now because I am not prepared but I will keep it for the day that I am." I am hoping that day will come sooner than later for her so that she can feel at peace and have that knowledge that she will be able to see her child again.
To finish off our finding day we did a "Book of Mormon/Restoration" activity in the center of Lille. We had little Book of Mormon posters and a bunch of Restoration DVDs & brochures. We stood around for the first little bit singing some hymns while one of the Elders played the Ukulele. Some people would sing while others went around handing out Book of Mormons and DVDs. Overall, it seemed to be a really successful day!!
 |
| Soeur Witham & Me! |
To end this wonderful week I got the chance to skype with my family on Sunday! Mother's Day is definitely my new favorite holiday. Being on a mission has made reflect on how many things I have to be grateful for. My testimony has really grown about how important families are. Everyone has different types of family but the thing that we all should have in common is that they should be the most important thing in our life. They should be our highest priority. I am especially grateful to have a mother who has taught me the importance of family.
This is absolutely one of my favorite quotes from a talk Jeffery R. Holland gave. "How is it that a human being can love a child so deeply that you willingly give up a major portion of your freedom for it? How can mortal love be so strong that you voluntarily subject yourself to responsibility, vulnerability, anxiety, and heartache and just keep coming back for more of the same? What kind of mortal love can make you feel, once you have a child, that your life is never, ever your own again? Maternal love has to be divine. There is no other explanation for it. What mothers do is an essential element of Christ’s work. Knowing that should be enough to tell us the impact of such love will range between unbearable and transcendent, over and over again, until with the safety and salvation of the very last child on earth, we can [then] say with Jesus, ‘[Father!] I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.’ ”To all of our mothers everywhere, past, present, or future, I say, “Thank you. Thank you for giving birth, for shaping souls, for forming character, and for demonstrating the pure love of Christ.”
Thank you to my mother and all the "mother like" figures in my life. Abe Lincoln says it best, "Everything that I am, I owe to my angel mother." Have a wonderful week! Love you all.
Love, Soeur Johnson
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