Bonjour family and friends!
There were even more surprises this week.. On Wednesday I went down to Paris to pick up my "bleu." I got quite the surprise! My new companion is Soeur Mèjean. She is from Lyon, France and she is serving here until she gets her visa to go to Pheonix, Arizona. She could be here up to 3 months or could leave before then. Her first language is French so we have be speaking lots and lots of French. It is a great way to learn the language faster! I just might have a permanent headache for next couple transfers..
On Saturday we had a meeting with the Stake President and all the missionaries that are serving in Belgium came up for it. He gave us a little history about the church here in Belgium. He also talked a lot about the differences in the culture. It still surprises me all the little differences Belgium has compared to France. He talked a lot about having a vision of what we want to accomplish here and how we are going to do it. It's definitely a concept that applies to life in general, not just missionary work. When we have a vision of what we want to be and where we want to go, it makes all the difference. Once we have a vision for our life, we can make better daily and weekly choices that will help us reach our ultimate goal. I love the quote by President Monson where he is talking about choices and using the example from Alice in Wonderland, "Confronted by the Cheshire Cat, of whom Alice asks, “Which path shall I follow?” The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.” Unlike Alice, we know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we follow in this life leads to our destination in the next life." Our choices really do make all the difference! Have a vision of where you want to go and make the choices necessary to reach it.
The biggest miracle of the week was.. We were coming back from a lesson with a member and we had 20 minutes left in the night. There was stuff we needed to finish at the apartment but I had this feeling that we needed to stay out and pass by a lady that we met while "porting" a couple weeks ago. We walked down the street where I thought her house was but we couldn't seem to find it. Instead, we knocked on a couple of doors and by then it was time to go home. I was kinda bugged that I wasn't able to find it but decided we could always try another night. We started to walk home and we saw a lady who was pretty far down the road. It was getting late but we hadn't had any really good conversations with anyone that day so I decided I would contact her. Her head was facing down so i couldn't see her face but when I said, "Bonsoir" she looked up and to my surprise it was the lady who we were trying to pass by! She immediately recognized us and we started talking. We asked her if she had the chance to read the "Plan of Salvation" brochure that we had given her a couple weeks before. She said she had and that she has been reflecting on it. She said some of the concepts were hard to understand. We told her we could come by and explain them. She said she was busy for the next two weeks with work but maybe after we could stop by! We are able to say a prayer with her before we left. I couldn't think of a better way to end the night! What a miracle. It was good reminder that God helps turn our weakness/mistakes (forgot where her house was) into miracles.
The night after we were out contacting and "porting" but didn't have much success. I turned to Soeur Méjean and said, "I just want to have one really good conversation with someone before the night is over." We started on our way to catch the tram and again there was just one person on the road. We decided to contact her and she ended up being so sweet! She is from Portugal and is really religious. She was so impressed with what we were doing as missionaries that she invited us to her house on Saturday for coffee with her! We said no to the coffee obviously, but we told her we would love to see her again! Both of these miracles made me think of the importance of finding the "one." It reminds me of the parable about the one lost sheep and how the Shepherd always goes after the one. (Matthew 13) "And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." I love this scripture because it shows the love Heavenly Father has for all of his children. We are all important to him and he is going to find a way to bring back those "sheep" that are lost. There is no doubt that the Lords hand is at work helping us find those "lost sheep"! Love you all. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Soeur Johnson
There were even more surprises this week.. On Wednesday I went down to Paris to pick up my "bleu." I got quite the surprise! My new companion is Soeur Mèjean. She is from Lyon, France and she is serving here until she gets her visa to go to Pheonix, Arizona. She could be here up to 3 months or could leave before then. Her first language is French so we have be speaking lots and lots of French. It is a great way to learn the language faster! I just might have a permanent headache for next couple transfers..
On Saturday we had a meeting with the Stake President and all the missionaries that are serving in Belgium came up for it. He gave us a little history about the church here in Belgium. He also talked a lot about the differences in the culture. It still surprises me all the little differences Belgium has compared to France. He talked a lot about having a vision of what we want to accomplish here and how we are going to do it. It's definitely a concept that applies to life in general, not just missionary work. When we have a vision of what we want to be and where we want to go, it makes all the difference. Once we have a vision for our life, we can make better daily and weekly choices that will help us reach our ultimate goal. I love the quote by President Monson where he is talking about choices and using the example from Alice in Wonderland, "Confronted by the Cheshire Cat, of whom Alice asks, “Which path shall I follow?” The cat answers, “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.” Unlike Alice, we know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we follow in this life leads to our destination in the next life." Our choices really do make all the difference! Have a vision of where you want to go and make the choices necessary to reach it.
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| Reunited with my girl, Soeur Romney!! |
The biggest miracle of the week was.. We were coming back from a lesson with a member and we had 20 minutes left in the night. There was stuff we needed to finish at the apartment but I had this feeling that we needed to stay out and pass by a lady that we met while "porting" a couple weeks ago. We walked down the street where I thought her house was but we couldn't seem to find it. Instead, we knocked on a couple of doors and by then it was time to go home. I was kinda bugged that I wasn't able to find it but decided we could always try another night. We started to walk home and we saw a lady who was pretty far down the road. It was getting late but we hadn't had any really good conversations with anyone that day so I decided I would contact her. Her head was facing down so i couldn't see her face but when I said, "Bonsoir" she looked up and to my surprise it was the lady who we were trying to pass by! She immediately recognized us and we started talking. We asked her if she had the chance to read the "Plan of Salvation" brochure that we had given her a couple weeks before. She said she had and that she has been reflecting on it. She said some of the concepts were hard to understand. We told her we could come by and explain them. She said she was busy for the next two weeks with work but maybe after we could stop by! We are able to say a prayer with her before we left. I couldn't think of a better way to end the night! What a miracle. It was good reminder that God helps turn our weakness/mistakes (forgot where her house was) into miracles.
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| Building desks for the new Soeurs! |
The night after we were out contacting and "porting" but didn't have much success. I turned to Soeur Méjean and said, "I just want to have one really good conversation with someone before the night is over." We started on our way to catch the tram and again there was just one person on the road. We decided to contact her and she ended up being so sweet! She is from Portugal and is really religious. She was so impressed with what we were doing as missionaries that she invited us to her house on Saturday for coffee with her! We said no to the coffee obviously, but we told her we would love to see her again! Both of these miracles made me think of the importance of finding the "one." It reminds me of the parable about the one lost sheep and how the Shepherd always goes after the one. (Matthew 13) "And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." I love this scripture because it shows the love Heavenly Father has for all of his children. We are all important to him and he is going to find a way to bring back those "sheep" that are lost. There is no doubt that the Lords hand is at work helping us find those "lost sheep"! Love you all. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Soeur Johnson
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