Helloooo
everyone! This week has been beyond fantastique! I CANNOT believe that we are
already on the last week of the transfer. This past five weeks has seriously
flown over my head. Wow. Despite time going so fast it has been absolutely
wonderful. Life is beautiful here in the South of France!
CONFÉRENCE
GÉNÉRALE!
So
a lot of you were asking about how I actually watched conference because the
time difference and such. It really isn't as complicated as you think. haha.
But anyway! I was able to watch it in English at church. They had the chapel
for the native French speakers and the primary room for us Anglophones.
On
Saturday evening we watched the Saturday morning session (which I think was
live). On Sunday we watched Priesthood session in the morning (which was
awesome) took a lunch break, watched Saturday afternoon session and then waited
for the Sunday morning session to come on (which was for sure live). As for the
Sunday afternoon session, I am yet to watch it... because we would have had to
stay up really late to watch it. As soon as they go online, we are going to
print them off and read them.
Let's
talk a little about the content of conference. Wow! If I had to choose the
theme of this conference it would be this: Have Courage! Talk after talk the
church leaders asked us to have the courage to stand firm, defend our beliefs,
and trust in the Lord.
I
meant to bring my notebook to share some of the things I wrote down but I
forgot it in the apartment D: BUT! I will try and share what I wanted to
anyway.
I
don't remember who was speaking or what they were speaking about but it dawned
on me how it is impossible for anyone to be completely lost. No matter what
they have done in their lives, Jesus Christ will never be ashamed of them. He
will never look at someone and say, "You have fallen too far." He is
forever reaching for us. All we must do is seek his help.
I
also had the epiphany of how simple it is to grow our faith in Jesus Christ,
yet sometimes so difficult. All we are asked to do is obey. That is IT! We
aren't going to receive the blessings of obedience immediately (because then
faith would be robbed) but they will come. The more often we obey and trust the
Lord, the easier it becomes. Simple.
I'll
probably share more of what I learned next week. But anyway!
UN
AUTRE BAPTÊME!
I
had the wonderful opportunity to baptize someone this week! :) His name is
Promise and he is from Africa. He is an ami of the Soeur (sister missionaries)
equip in our ward. They showed him pictures of all the missionaries and people
that could do the baptism and after learning that I was a quarter black--he
chose me.
Promise
has been being taught since I came to Lyon. He doesn't speak French and has a
hard life but after some super persistent Soeur Missionaries he is
baptized!
After
the baptism and we were changing into our dry clothes I asked him how he felt
and after pausing for a moment he said, (in his cool African accent) "I
feel full of God's love." It will never cease to amaze me at how much the
gospel can change the lives of others.
NOS
AMIS
This
week was pretty good for meeting with our amis. Rachelle is doing so well! So,
apparently after her baptism she calls up her brother in Africa to tell him
that she just got baptized and how awesome it was. After she told him, he asked
what church and she told him. And then he said that's funny, because I am
meeting with the missionaries from that church right now! I read the Book of
Mormon every night! After she told Elder Du Pre and me that, I looked at him to
make sure I heard right. I'm pretty sure we had the exact same face of
shock.
What
a tender mercy of the Lord! Rachelle just happened to be baptized when at the
exact same time that her brother begins to investigate the church. Coincidence?
I think not! Can you imagine everything Heavenly Father orchestrates? Nope. Me
either. It is pretty amazing.
As
well as Rachelle is doing, Annick isn't doing as well. We haven't been able to
see her very much. Hopefully this week we will be able to meet with her a lot
more. Fingers crossed. Or arms folded ;)
Gwenaël
is doing wonderfully! He said he still hasn't quite received his answer if he
should be baptized or not. But he is reading every night, praying, and
hopefully coming to church this week! He is going through some really, really
difficult trials in his life right now, so it is hard for him to put God first.
But I know he will get the answer he is looking for.
LES
AUTRES CHOSES
Welllllll.
Let's see what else has happened this week! We fortunately haven't encountered
anyone else who decided they needed to use the bathroom in public places but we
have met a few crazies this week... I'm less and less surprised each time when
we meet someone weird.
OH!
Something wonderful, we found an all you can eat Korean BBQ which is pretty
affordable and absolutely delicious. There is all you can eat meat, which you
cook on the grill, sushi, and ice-cream. After eating there, I seriously
thought I was going to explode if I was to even think about standing up.
Transfer
week is here and I think I'm leaving Lyon. I don't know why but I feel like
these are my last few days here. I don't know. Maybe Corisca is next ;)
That
is all for this week... Nothing too crazy or funny!
I
love you all very much! I hope you are all well and happy.
Face
challenges with courage and faith!
L’Évangile
est vrai!
Je
vous aime!
Elder
Johnson
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