Bonjour family and friends!
This week we started off the week by taking a road trip to Brussels to hear President Uchtdorf speak. I couldn't think of better way to start off the week! He spoke at one of the chapels in Brussels and we were invited. He started off by saying, "German may be the celestial language.. But they speak French at the entrance to the celestial kingdom." I guess that's one good reason to be a little more motivated to learn French He talked a lot about how we should be grateful for challenges because they provide us with opportunities to use the gospel. He said that challenges provide us with opportunities to grow and show what we are really made of. His comment about showing what we are really made of reminded me of the story of the wiseman and foolish man building their houses on the rock/sand. The "wiseman" built his house upon a rock (Christ)..3 Nephi 14:25, "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock." The "foolish" man built his house upon the sand (things of the world)..27"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it." In both circumstances the rain, floods, and winds came at full force. However, the wiseman had built his house with a solid foundation and therefore it remained strong despite the trials and challenges. Challenges and the winds of life will come no matter if we are built upon a solid or sandy foundation. However, when we build ourselves on a solid foundation (gospel/Christ) we will be able to make it through the "winds" and the "floods" of life. When challenges come they will reveal what kind of foundation we are built on. He also said that often he is asked what is the best advice he could give a person. He said obviously each person is in a different situation but he said the best advice he could give is to simply keep the commandments and trust in God. He said we will enjoy life so much more when we learn to do those two things.
Thursday was a day of miracles! We started off by contacting a lady and introducing the Book of Mormon. We went to give it to her and she said, "I already have one." She then afterwards started to apologize that she hasn't read it yet. We told her we could come over and read it with her! She agreed. It will be interesting to hear the story behind how and when she got the Book of Mormon. It's a good reminder that one of our responsibilities is to "plant seeds" for future members and missionaries to reap. We continued contacting for a little bit and ended up seeing a girl we had met a couple weeks ago. She had wanted a Book of Mormon at the time but was going to a party and didn't have a bag to put it in. When we ran into her this time we were able to give her a Book of Mormon. She was really happy and pointed up to the sky and said "Merci!" She said it was "grace à Dieu" that we ran into each other again. We were all super grateful that God put us in each others path! We headed back to our apartment and had about 5 minutes left until we were supposed to go inside. We saw a lady with two kids at the end of the sidewalk. Soeur Witham and I both looked at each other and said, "One more miracle!" We started down the sidewalk and quickly realized that we were going to awkwardly meet her in the middle of crossing the street. I leaned down and pretended to fix something on my shoe to give us more time to meet her on the sidewalk. When we stopped walking, she stopped walking too! So we ended up both crossing the street at the same time and meeting each other in the middle of the road. Usually, we don't contact people when we are in the middle of the street but we decided to do it anyways because we really wanted to talk to her! She ended up telling us the story of how she converted from being atheist to Catholic. We shared the Joseph Smith story with her and she loved it! We are meeting her and her two kids again this week at the park. (Praying we have good weather) It was such a great end to a great day!
Overall, we had another amazing week and I am excited for all the miracles to come! All is well here in France. Church is true. Love you all!
Love, Soeur Johnson
This week we started off the week by taking a road trip to Brussels to hear President Uchtdorf speak. I couldn't think of better way to start off the week! He spoke at one of the chapels in Brussels and we were invited. He started off by saying, "German may be the celestial language.. But they speak French at the entrance to the celestial kingdom." I guess that's one good reason to be a little more motivated to learn French He talked a lot about how we should be grateful for challenges because they provide us with opportunities to use the gospel. He said that challenges provide us with opportunities to grow and show what we are really made of. His comment about showing what we are really made of reminded me of the story of the wiseman and foolish man building their houses on the rock/sand. The "wiseman" built his house upon a rock (Christ)..3 Nephi 14:25, "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock." The "foolish" man built his house upon the sand (things of the world)..27"And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell, and great was the fall of it." In both circumstances the rain, floods, and winds came at full force. However, the wiseman had built his house with a solid foundation and therefore it remained strong despite the trials and challenges. Challenges and the winds of life will come no matter if we are built upon a solid or sandy foundation. However, when we build ourselves on a solid foundation (gospel/Christ) we will be able to make it through the "winds" and the "floods" of life. When challenges come they will reveal what kind of foundation we are built on. He also said that often he is asked what is the best advice he could give a person. He said obviously each person is in a different situation but he said the best advice he could give is to simply keep the commandments and trust in God. He said we will enjoy life so much more when we learn to do those two things.
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| Road trip! |
Thursday was a day of miracles! We started off by contacting a lady and introducing the Book of Mormon. We went to give it to her and she said, "I already have one." She then afterwards started to apologize that she hasn't read it yet. We told her we could come over and read it with her! She agreed. It will be interesting to hear the story behind how and when she got the Book of Mormon. It's a good reminder that one of our responsibilities is to "plant seeds" for future members and missionaries to reap. We continued contacting for a little bit and ended up seeing a girl we had met a couple weeks ago. She had wanted a Book of Mormon at the time but was going to a party and didn't have a bag to put it in. When we ran into her this time we were able to give her a Book of Mormon. She was really happy and pointed up to the sky and said "Merci!" She said it was "grace à Dieu" that we ran into each other again. We were all super grateful that God put us in each others path! We headed back to our apartment and had about 5 minutes left until we were supposed to go inside. We saw a lady with two kids at the end of the sidewalk. Soeur Witham and I both looked at each other and said, "One more miracle!" We started down the sidewalk and quickly realized that we were going to awkwardly meet her in the middle of crossing the street. I leaned down and pretended to fix something on my shoe to give us more time to meet her on the sidewalk. When we stopped walking, she stopped walking too! So we ended up both crossing the street at the same time and meeting each other in the middle of the road. Usually, we don't contact people when we are in the middle of the street but we decided to do it anyways because we really wanted to talk to her! She ended up telling us the story of how she converted from being atheist to Catholic. We shared the Joseph Smith story with her and she loved it! We are meeting her and her two kids again this week at the park. (Praying we have good weather) It was such a great end to a great day!
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| "Porting" in the pouring rain! |
Overall, we had another amazing week and I am excited for all the miracles to come! All is well here in France. Church is true. Love you all!
Love, Soeur Johnson
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