Hiya!

Hey everyone! Goodness how time flies! I've been in Bordeaux for three weeks already! Weeks just come and go. Sometimes I wish time would slow down a little. 

Anyway! About my week! :)

EXCHANGES

So! I went on a TON of exchanges this week.. One was planned and the others were all on the spot decided. My first exchange was with Elder Miner. We stayed in Talence and didn't have a ton of stuff planned before so we had a LOT of time for contacting. We had been contacting for about 45 minutes when I felt like we needed to go pass this member. So we are walking towards this members house and this woman comes up to us and asks "Vous êtes les mormons?" (You're the Mormons?) And we say yes and I'm thinking, "YES! This is why we came to see this member, so we could meet this lady." But then she is like.. I need you to pray for me... so I can win the lottery because I need to have lots of money to be happy.... (Face palm). So, my hopes and dreams were a little dashed. haha We did pray for her that she could be happy. 

One exchange we also visited some super cool members, because we are still trying to get to know the entire ward. It was too bad that Elder Karras wasn't with me because we got fed so many treats. haha. The members in this ward LOVE the missionaries. LOVE THEM. It is pretty impressive. 

OTHER EXCHANGES

SO the day after I had my exchange with Elder Miner, Elder Karras got REALLY sick and we had to stay in all day. We called this mission nurse and she said we couldn't go out for a long time. So I just read my scriptures, caught up in my journal, cleaned the whole apartment, and wrote a few letters. You really can only read your scriptures for so long consecutively before everything starts running together and your brain turns into spiritual mush. So, the Zone Leaders and the Lormont Elders were kind enough to do splits/exchanges with our equip so we didn't lose any of our RDVs. It was really nice of them. And I stayed sane. Elder Karras ended up being sick for about three days. We did get to go to church though. I was glad he could get out because I think apartment fever was starting to set in. lol

NOS AMIS

We taught a few times this week and the lessons were pretty good! We taught Manu about the Plan of Salvation. He really is searching for direction in his life and knows that he needs to put God first but he isn't quite willing to do it. 

We also taught Mathieu, which went really well. He said that everything we have taught him makes sense and that he is starting to "understand" the importance of what we are teaching. 

AUTRES CHOSES

So, the girl who found my wallet told me that she was a little busy this last week... she was on vacation. BUT! Hopefully within these next few weeks we can get a RDV with her.

Vickie, the lady who asked us if we were from Utah, is going on vacation this week but she really wants to come to church the week after this one. I really feel like she has a lot of potential. Elder Andersen gave us statistics of people who were baptized and the top three characteristics were: People in a period of change (just moved, lost a loved one, etc) have friends or connections with the church, and are around 18-24 and she is all three of them! So! I'm excited.

Oh... something else we ate, HORSE! We saw it in the store and it was only 3 euros so I was like. Yes, I must try this. And it was pretty good. I actually liked it. It tasted like deer meat but less gamey and more tender. 

Elder Karras' Birthdy is the the 7th of August and mine on the 3^rd, so we are hoping that lots of members will shower us in birthday love :) haha

Anyway! I know that this work could not possibly work if it wasn't the work of the Lord. He lives. He loves us. And He wants us to be happy. 

I love you!

Une Autre Semaine Passé

Bonjour tout le monde! We had an awesome week in Talence! Lots of stuff going on! Working hard, looking for more people to teach!

LA FÊTE NATIONALE 

So! Last Monday was Bastille Day! It was super fun. President was super nice and said that we could stay out until midnight if we had members take us home. So, in the evening we went with the Sister Training Leaders (Sœur Luthi and Sœur Bailey) and some members from the Ward. We ate at the Chinese food place and walked around centre ville Bordeaux, ate some ice cream and then headed to Park Peixotto for the firework show. 

 

The park was so packed but it was still really fun. I was expecting to not enjoy the fireworks so much just because the fireworks at the ranch are super awesome but I was really impressed! There was music and a light show.

The next day we got to sleep in a little too! Which was nice, but I woke up at 6:30 and had to force myself to go back to sleep. lol

LE TRAVAIL MISSIONNAIRE

We doubled the lessons and contacts we had this week! That was pretty cool. I mean, it wasn't a ton but it was nice to see that we are starting to get established in Talence and understanding how things work here.

We are still looking for more people to teach! A cool little miracle that happened: there was this woman that was walking by us and I felt that I should talk to her but she walked by too fast and I was like ... NOOO. 

But then when we got on our tram, she sat down next to us and said "Hey! Are you from Utah?!" haha It was super cool. She is from Singapore and in France studying French. She told us that she was Baptist and that she is just going to a church here because she said she knows she needs to go to church. We got her number and are going to meet with her sometime this week! I'm excited. I could see her becoming one of our amies. 

CONFÉRENCE DU ZONE 

We had Zone Conference in Pau this Monday. That is why I didn't email. Pau is a beautiful city. It is about 2 hours south eastish of Bordeaux. This Conference was super awesome because president Roney did interviews, which are always my favorite. I could just sit in front of him and ask him questions for hours. He is so inspiring.  

The conference was a very spiritual one too. We talked a lot about the Elder Andersen conference and how we need to continue to make ourselves better. The Lord has given us many miracles in the mission this past month and to continue to have miracles we must continue to improve ourselves. We had a mission wide baptism of 22 people on the same day. 22! 

It is wonderful to see the work hastening in the land of France :) 

I know that the Lord has His hand in this work, and that if we trust Him and follow His commandments, we cannot fail. It is His work.

That's about it for this week! 

I love you and pray for you often!

Que Dieu vous bénisse! 

Elder Johnson

PS... we overflowed the baptismal font.

 

Bonne Fête National!

Hello tout le monde! I hope everyone had a good week. My week was pretty fantastic! Not a ton of things went down, but it was still pretty good. 

TALENCE ET BORDEAUX

So, Bordeaux is probably the most beautiful city I've ever been to. It is wonderful. There is so much to do here and SO much history. It seems older than Lyon but don't quote me on that!  Talence is a suburb of Bordeaux. There are a lot of houses and colleges in our sector. Which means families and cool young people! haha

We actually don't even live in our sector.. and it takes like an hour to get into our working area so that is why were are going to be moving out of our apartment soon. 

NOS AMIS ET LE TRAVAIL MISSIONNAIRE 

So! Since we were white washed in we have been working hard to see the amis that the other elders had, understand all of the public transport, and find more people to teach. White washing is a little difficult but it is pretty good. We are starting to get adjusted to everything.

Oh! And Zoraya got baptized in Bergerac this week!!! I was super happy to hear about that. I was sad to leave and not see the actual baptism but I was just as happy to see that she had been baptized even though I wasn't there. She is off to EFY this week! haha Two days a member and going to EFY. That will be a great experience for her. 

Especially For Youth - EFY (click to find out more about EFY)

Something that the other Elders did was do Samedi Sportif! We all go to this park with amis, members and nonmembers and play soccer. Let me tell you, I was SO sore afterwards. It reminded me a lot of when I was in Lyon with Elder Schneider and all of these little French kids destroyed us and we were super sore afterwards.. Same story this time too. haha

We have seen two of the amis that the other Elders passed to us. Manu, who is a super cool guy. He came to Samedi Sportif and wants to meet more but his work schedule is so crazy... And we met and have started teaching Ahmed. He is a super open Muslim who has started reading the Book of Mormon and said he felt something.. Pretty coool! But yeah :) Those are our amis at the moment.

LES AUTRES CHOSES

So, my wallet, which was found in the Gare had a note in it which said "You were lucky!" and a telephone number. I texted the number to say thank you and to ask to see if I could repay this person somehow. They sent a text back and said that they would be in Bordeaux this next week! We are going to go out for pastries :D haha 

We are staying out until midnight tonight! We get to watch the fireworks for the National Holiday :) haha. WOOT WOOT. 

There are muskrats that live near our bus stop... It is like a zoo. hahaha Kinda random and stupid to share but hey! Whatever!

I will try to send photos next week! 

I love you all tons! Bon Continuation! 

Avec Amour,

Elder Johnson