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Monday, May 26, 2014

BONJOUR Y'ALL

Hello everyone! Transfer calls have come and gone and looks like I'm staying in Bergerac for another transfer! Elder Sanchez is staying too! I can't believe it has been a full six weeks in Bergerac... but it has! 

District meeting

ECHANGE ET REUNION DE DISTRICT
This week I had the opportunity to go on an exchange in Brive! It takes a long time to get there. We wake up at around five so we can catch the first bus to Périgueux and then catch a train to Brive. The exchange was really fun! I got to go with Elder Martinez (he is from Spain). As we were contacting someone this man from across the street in a cafe yelled "GO OMMME YU DIRTYY AMERICANS!" 

I would have been mad, but I was so particularly impressed with this French man's use of the word "dirty" that I had to just wave and smile. 

The day after our exchange we had district meeting. President wants us to be prepare spiritually for hearing Elder Andersen, so each equip of Elders was assigned a talk of his and gave a brief summary of it. 

It just made me more excited to hear Elder Andersen in Nice. I'm beginning to realize how fortunate I am to have this opportunity! Wooo! :) 


ON THE WAY HOME FROM OUR EXCHANGE
On our way home from the exchange, we stopped in the town where our Branch President lives. President Raveneau and his wife are so awesome! He served his mission in New Caladonia and was telling us that he got to wear a lava lava (those Hawaiian skirt things) to church! Lucky duck. Hahaha

Right before we left their house we had a prayer by their son Ethan (he is like three or four) and he farted so loud during it. bahaha. I thought: “Holy cow... I am in the United States right now... saying family prayer.” Oh the things that remind me of my family ;) The Raveneaus were like "Yep... this is our family!" hahaha. What a family they have :) 

Mother’s day activity



RANDOM RACLETTE 
So! We needed to figure out what the weather was going to be for the week but forgot to check on Monday so we decided to drop by a member's house and ask her... well! As we passed there was a huge dinner going on with lots of members and when she saw us she was like "COME IN AND EAT!" So we got a second dinner just for stopping by to ask for the weather! The Lord looks out for His missionaries ;)

NOS AMIS
Our amis are doing wonderful! Juan Antonio has decided to live the Word of Wisdom and continue to prepare for baptism. We have been able to see him a LOT more often now. He seems like he is changing. I'm really happy about it. We think he will be baptized the 14th of June! 


Zoraya is also doing really well. We have restarted the missionary lessons with her just to give her a little refresh before she gets baptized. I hope I am still here for that! I think that it is only this transfer and the next away! So it is very possible!  

Beatrice is also doing really well. She has had quite a few trials come up this week but she is pushing forward strong and hard. Every time we go in for the lessons she has practically memorized the pamphlets. :) 


CRAZY PERSON OF THE WEEK
I forgot to do one last week, I'm so sorry! Anyway, the crazy person of the week THIS week is "BANSHEE OF BERGERAC" It is this woman that walks around Bergerac ... she is probably like 50-60 and at random moments she screams bloody murder and then just continues to go about her normal business like she hasn't just screamed like a psycho maniac. 
So yeah... crazy person of the week.

A MIRACLE 
So! As we were walking home yesterday from a rendezvous that we had been 15 minutes late to, a woman at a gas station waves her hands at us to come over. Well, seeing that that doesn't happen very often we quickly walked over there! Turns out, she is a less active of about 20 years! She said she had moved to France from New Caladonia and kind of just fell away from the church but she made a promise to her sister that the next time that she saw the missionaries that she would talk to them to get the address to the church!

I'm also so amazed that things like this happen! I shouldn't be, I should expect miracles but what if we had been to our rendezvous on time? We wouldn't have gotten out 15 minutes later and thus, we wouldn't have seen this woman! 

The Lord orchestrates everything good in our lives. It is important to not forget that. 

That is it for this week! I love you! 
Que Dieu vous benisse!

Elder Johnson

Monday, May 19, 2014

Another Week Gone By

Two real Latinos and one fake one

I feel like I was doing emails yesterday. This week we get transfer calls! Already! What the heck? After this week, I will have been in Bergerac for six weeks already! My how time flies. Anywayyyy! 

As fast as this week was, it was kind of a hard one. But it was still good! 

SERVICE
We did lots and lots and lots of service this week. We went to the Red Cross and moved some furniture around and whatnot for them. Two young, American problem solvers are always a help at the Red Cross. They really love us there. Apparently the missionaries have been going there for a really long time. 

THE STUMP HAS BEEN REMOVED, I REPEAT, THE STUMP HAS BEEN REMOVED. Unfortunately, I was on an exchange when this was accomplished. But the Bontronts had their grandson come down and chop it for a couple of hours and then Elder Sanchez and Martinez went over to their house and lifted it out of its crater. 

We also helped an older member move into her new apartment! We had to do it really fast because we had a train to catch to go to a baptismal service in Bordeaux so in the morning we had to skip studies and run over to the church to meet the member and load up all the furniture that was in the church's garage and then ride over to the apartment and drop everything off, change and get driven to the Gare (train station). 

But yeah! Lots of service this week! It is always nice to help people out. 

NOS AMIS
So, we have been having a really hard time meeting with Juan Antonio lately (Portuguese ami) because he has a job now and is super tired when he gets home from working in the vineyards. He did come to church this Sunday though and we have a rendezvous fixed with him. We are a little worried that he is going to become an eternal ami because all of the members LOVE him and invite him over to their houses and whatnot but we can't seem to ever teach him. 

 I get frustrated that we can't see him and that he seems to understand what we are teaching but then does something that indicates that he either doesn't understand or doesn't want to follow what we teach him. But, we are doing everything we can to help him, and that is all that we can do. 

We also taught our amie Beatrice this week! She is doing wonderful. Every Sunday when we teach her she comes in with her husband and they pretty much teach us the lesson that we are "teaching them". She has a wonderful testimony and is excited to be baptized and come back to church. 

BAPTÊME
This week, we went to Lormont (Bordeaux) for a baptismal service of one of the kids in our Branch. It was really fun! Usually we go to Périgueux for baptismal services (which is a lot closer) but their chapel is being renovated at the moment. Alexis is one of the children of the Fueres Family (Ecuadorian family) and a ton of their family came to the baptism! Afterwards we went to this buffet, which was pretty good. Then the Bontronts drove us home in their car so that we didn't have to wait for the train to come. 

Baptism of Alexis

OPPOSITION IN ALL THINGS
This week has just been kinda hard for me personally. It is hard to stay patient with the pace of the work here. Every time I get frustrated I remember president specifically telling me "Don't become impatient with how fast things go." and then I feel kind of dumb that I forget so quickly. I want people to come to Christ NOW! Is that too much to ask? lol

As frustrating as it is at times, I just need to be content with the fact that we are doing everything that we can to help people. A lot of people in France (and the world) always ask, "IF there is a God, why are there so many bad things in the world?" It's a good question, why are there bad things? Well… 

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad."
2 Nephi 2:11 

God hasn't given us opposition---he has allowed that it exists so that we can appreciate the things that are good. If we didn't have bad weeks, there wouldn't be good weeks... and frankly, I've seen a lot more good weeks than bad ones. So really, I should be happy that we had a hard week, because that means that a good one is rolling around :) 

I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve a mission and to wear the name of Christ each day. It's a little hard sometimes but honestly, I couldn't be happier. 

I love you all! 
Avec Amour,
Elder Johnson


PS AND it is confirmed that the entire mission will be going to Nice to hear Elder Anderson speak to us! I'm so excited!