Mini miracles!

Bonjour family and friends!

This week we started off by going "porting" (knocking on doors). We ended up meeting this really cool family!  The mom actually was an exchange student in Idaho when she was 14. She said she actually knows about the Mormons but she only thought that there were Elder missionaries. She asked if we wanted to come back sometime and have dinner with their family! Such a miracle.

We ended up having another miracle in the same neighborhood! We had a referral from the St. George visitor center in the neighborhood so we decided to stop by. Luckily, they were home and they even let us in! We talked with them for awhile and we asked if we could come back the next week. The problem is that they are going to visit family in Italy and they could potentially be gone for a couple months. The husband is Italian so we were able to have a fun conversation about Italy and I told him about the places I visited this past summer. They said that we could definitely pass by again when they get back. I will probably be transferred by the time they get back so I will have to have the other Soeurs pass by again. They found out about the church because they went to St. George and went to the temple. They were very intrigued about our beliefs and wanted to learn more. Even though I am sad that they are leaving for so long, I am glad I got the chance to meet them!

finding day with Soeur Romney!

We had a lesson with one of our Amis that was found contacting on the road. She came to one of our activities a couple weeks ago. We had our first lesson with her this past week. She is a young college student and is Catholic at base. She said she is interested in looking at other religions. We taught her the restoration and she seemed pretty receptive. She is super sweet and nice! We have another lesson with her next week.

Notre Dame from last week

The biggest miracle of the week was on Sunday! The family that we have been teaching that was suppose to come on church on Sunday didn't end up showing up. We had 5 minutes left at the end of relief society and I stood up and walked out the back door because I needed to go the front to make an announcement. When I walked out the door I looked to the right and the family was walking into the church building!! They had messed up the time they were supposed to come. Even though they missed church it was still a good experience because we were able to introduce them to the members. We gave them a tour of the church and they said that this next Sunday they will come!! We have a lot of great things coming up in the next couple weeks/months. There is so much potential and work to do here! Thanks for all your love and support. Have a wonderful week!

Love, Soeur Johnson

Fun in Paris!!

Bonjour family and friends!

This was such a great week! A couple weeks ago we got a call from a girl who told us that she was going through a faith crisis and had a lot of questions. She said that her mom was a member but that she wasn't. She wanted to meet with us because she figured that we could help her. We ended up having a lesson with her on Monday to start off the week. We talked a lot about Christ and how having faith in Christ can help us get through trials and the difficulties we have in life. It's comforting to know that somebody else has felt the same pain and sorrows that we are going through.  In Alma 7; it explains the atonement really well and how it applies to us when we are going through hardships.  "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people..And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." He knows how we feel and therefore he knows what need. In moments of difficulty we will not always be given what we want but he will always give us what he knows we need.

We had a lesson with the cutest little family. The mom is Catholic and the dad is Agnostic. They have a 18 month year old boy. We explained the "Plan of Salvation" and afterwards we asked them what they thought. Their first comment was, "It's beautiful." They really liked how God is merciful and how people don't just go to heaven or hell. We talked about about free agency and how we have the opportunity to choose where we go after this life based on the choices we make in this life. They also really liked when we talked about baptism being a choice. The mom was baptized in the Catholic Church when she was a baby but she said it doesn't mean that much to her because it wasn't her choice. We talked about the importance of being baptized by the proper authority. They really liked the idea of priesthood and they want to come to church on Sunday to meet a priesthood holder! They have a lot of potential and we are really excited to teach them again.

Eiffel Tower with Soeur Hodgeman!

On Friday we went into Paris for Soeur Witham's legality. While they were doing legality all the trainers went out contacting! I went out with Soeur Hodgeman. It was interesting contacting right in center of Paris and comparing it to contacting in Lille. There seemed to be a lot less people who stopped to talk to us on the street because they were in a hurry to get somewhere. We actually found a lot more success contacting on transportation such as the mettro, TER, RER etc. When people are just sitting on the train it's a lot harder for them to use he excuse, "je suis pressé." (I am in a hurry) It was so fun to get to go around Paris for the day! It made me realize how grateful I am to serve in such an amazing place. It also made me excited to maybe eventually serve in the center of Paris! I would say life is pretty good if you get to do missionary work with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Church is true. Life is good!

The dream mission!

Love, Soeur Johnson

Answered Prayers

Bonjour family and friends!

We started off this week by going into Paris for my legality! It was fun because I got to see all the people that I was with in the MTC. We all had to go to the doctor and get some tests done so that we can get approved for our 1st year legality in France. Afterwards, we had a little bit of time so we were able to walk around by Notre Dame and get crepes before we had to head back to Lille!

In front of Notre Dame

I also went on exchanges this week with Soeur Ulrich. We went and visited this cute Brazilian family in Belgium. They are recent converts and just moved here 3 months ago because they wanted the kids to be able to have a better life. They are saving up their money so they can travel to the temple and get sealed. They are so excited and it strengthened my testimony to see how much faith they have. Afterwards, we went out contacting for a little bit. We met this family that had the cutest little girl. We asked them if they believed in God and both the parents said no... just as we were about to say something else the little girls eyes lite up and she said, "Oui!!." Apparently, after her grandparents died she started believing in God. She has been studying with the Jehovah Witness's for a year... By the way she is 9 years old. It was so cool to see how excited she got when we talked about Christ. She literally just glowed like a little angel! Her parents said they are letting her decide her religion. We gave her a brochure but weren't able to set up a lesson. They said they will give us a call if she is interested. It was definitely the highlight of my day.

We had two lessons with our new ami Marie-Aude this week. She is the sister of the brothers who got baptized a couple weeks ago. Our first lesson we taught the restoration and the Joseph Smith story. After we explained what happened with Joseph smith we asked her if she thought it could be possible that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith. Her response surprised me. She said, "Well yes of course! My preacher told us about a 14 year old boy who had a question, prayed about it and God and Christ appeared to him. I just never knew what his name was." She goes to an Evangelist church so we were shocked that she would have heard the story before. As we asked more questions we began to realize that it really was the Joseph Smith story she has been hearing all these years. Her preacher liked to use it as an example that God answers prayers. She is a perfect example that people are being prepared here to hear the gospel. A couple days after we had another lesson with her! We were supposed to teach the "Plan of Salvation" but we didn't feel very good about it. At last minute we decided to switch the lesson to the "Gospel of Jesus Christ." Before we started the lesson we asked, "Do you have any questions?" She replied, "Yeah I have one. What is the gospel?" We quickly responded, "Actually, that's exactly what we planned to talk about today!" It couldn't have been more perfect. We told her about how last minute we felt like we should change lessons. She got a big smile on her face and said, "I think God answered my prayer." I didn't think things could even get any better but they did! At the end of the lesson we invited her to baptism and she said YES! She said she thinks she is going to be ready in 2 years.. We told her we think she can be ready way sooner and that she should set a date. She said, "Okay. March... 2017." Haha. Honestly, I feel like she is ready right now. She asks so many great questions! She studies the Bible so she has a really great foundation. We got her to move it up a whole year by just telling her we thought she was ready so I don't have any doubt that she will be ready to be baptized way before next March. I am excited to watch her progress and develop her testimony in these next couple months! Miracles Happen. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Love, Soeur Johnson