Bonjour family and friends!!
The beginning of the week we spent in Nancy, France for interviews and Zone Conference. I really have been so blessed to have had such a great mission president. We talked a lot about the importance of learning to enjoy every moment. He talked about how a lot of missionaries think about things that happened before their missions and what will happen after their missions, but are never really IN their missions. It's a good reminder that no matter what stage of life we are at, we need to learn to "enjoy the journey."
This week while we were contacting, we met a cool lady from Italy. She actually heard one of the 12 apostles speak in Europe about 20 years ago and was really touched by some of the things he said. She said she can still remember the way she felt afterwards. Since then, she said she hasn't met any missionaries or any members of the church. We talked with her for a little bit and introduced her to the Book of Mormon. We told her we had one in Italian for her and she really got excited. We are going to drop it off this week!
We also had another lesson with our ami James. He is always the highlight of the week for us! We decided to show him the Restoration video this time. As we started the video he turned to us and he said, "Oh I have already seen this video, I was watching it last night!" That was definitely not the comment I was expecting! We downloaded the gospel library app on his phone and apparently in his free time he watches the different videos and reads from the different Manuel. He received the gospel principles Manuel in church on Sunday, and by Tuesday he had already read the first 13 chapters. We can hardly keep up with him and his desire to learn! It's amazing. He is definitely teaching us a lot more than we are teaching him. We talked to him a little bit about how God answers prayers. He was telling us a story of one time when he received an answer to his prayer. At the end, he got tears in his eyes and said, "Sisters, God is great!" Even though he lives a difficult life and technically has every reason to complain, he always chooses to be grateful. He knows exactly where the blessings in his life come from. What a great example.
On Saturday we were able to go to the temple open house as a ward! We took a double decker bus to Paris. There were about 70 people who came! The spirit was super strong and everyone really enjoyed it. There were a lot of members who were able to bring their spouses who aren't members. We also were able to bring our amie Françoise and she really loved it. This Paris temple has really made a huge difference already in the missionary work here!
Another highlight of the week was that I got to Skype my wonderful family. After about 18 months, I would say that I am getting pretty excited to see them!
This morning I finished reading the Book of Mormon in French. I made it a goal to read it at least once by the end of my mission. Learning a language is not easy but it's an amazing experience because you quickly learn to rely on the spirit and Heavenly Father. It has definitely been a very humbling experience. Reading the Book of Mormon in a different language has really helped strengthen my testimony of its truthfulness. Even though I didn't always understand every single word that was written, I could still feel the spirit testifying to me that they were the words of God. I could literally feel that something was different and special about the Book, even without 100% understanding. I particular remember reading in 3 Nephi about when Christ came to the Americas. While I was reading, I remember being overwhelmed by the spirit and it testifying to me that He really did come and visit the people there.
This week, I have yet again realized that I have so much to be grateful for. James is right, "God is great!" Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sœur Johnson
The beginning of the week we spent in Nancy, France for interviews and Zone Conference. I really have been so blessed to have had such a great mission president. We talked a lot about the importance of learning to enjoy every moment. He talked about how a lot of missionaries think about things that happened before their missions and what will happen after their missions, but are never really IN their missions. It's a good reminder that no matter what stage of life we are at, we need to learn to "enjoy the journey."
 |
| Dinner at the Luxembourgish fair! |
This week while we were contacting, we met a cool lady from Italy. She actually heard one of the 12 apostles speak in Europe about 20 years ago and was really touched by some of the things he said. She said she can still remember the way she felt afterwards. Since then, she said she hasn't met any missionaries or any members of the church. We talked with her for a little bit and introduced her to the Book of Mormon. We told her we had one in Italian for her and she really got excited. We are going to drop it off this week!
 |
| I love Luxembourg! |
We also had another lesson with our ami James. He is always the highlight of the week for us! We decided to show him the Restoration video this time. As we started the video he turned to us and he said, "Oh I have already seen this video, I was watching it last night!" That was definitely not the comment I was expecting! We downloaded the gospel library app on his phone and apparently in his free time he watches the different videos and reads from the different Manuel. He received the gospel principles Manuel in church on Sunday, and by Tuesday he had already read the first 13 chapters. We can hardly keep up with him and his desire to learn! It's amazing. He is definitely teaching us a lot more than we are teaching him. We talked to him a little bit about how God answers prayers. He was telling us a story of one time when he received an answer to his prayer. At the end, he got tears in his eyes and said, "Sisters, God is great!" Even though he lives a difficult life and technically has every reason to complain, he always chooses to be grateful. He knows exactly where the blessings in his life come from. What a great example.
On Saturday we were able to go to the temple open house as a ward! We took a double decker bus to Paris. There were about 70 people who came! The spirit was super strong and everyone really enjoyed it. There were a lot of members who were able to bring their spouses who aren't members. We also were able to bring our amie Françoise and she really loved it. This Paris temple has really made a huge difference already in the missionary work here!
 |
| Reunited with my old companion and cute members from our ward! |
Another highlight of the week was that I got to Skype my wonderful family. After about 18 months, I would say that I am getting pretty excited to see them!
This morning I finished reading the Book of Mormon in French. I made it a goal to read it at least once by the end of my mission. Learning a language is not easy but it's an amazing experience because you quickly learn to rely on the spirit and Heavenly Father. It has definitely been a very humbling experience. Reading the Book of Mormon in a different language has really helped strengthen my testimony of its truthfulness. Even though I didn't always understand every single word that was written, I could still feel the spirit testifying to me that they were the words of God. I could literally feel that something was different and special about the Book, even without 100% understanding. I particular remember reading in 3 Nephi about when Christ came to the Americas. While I was reading, I remember being overwhelmed by the spirit and it testifying to me that He really did come and visit the people there.
This week, I have yet again realized that I have so much to be grateful for. James is right, "God is great!" Have a wonderful week!
Love, Sœur Johnson
No comments :
Post a Comment