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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Killing it with Kindness

Elder Johnson and Elder Wall

Wow! This week was pretty insane! We did so much work. It was stinking awesome. I've never been more exhausted at an end of the week during my mission than this one. We set some crazy goals and had two blitzes (where two equipes work in the sector all day) so we went really hard all week.

Les Exhanges
We started our first exchange with the Rodez Elders on Tuesday. I went with elder Wall (who is a bleu in his first transfer) and Elder Omohundro and Elder Robards went with Elder Pittsenbarger. Elder Wall is an excellent missionary. He doesn't have any fear at all! It was really good. We talked to so many people and met some people that were pretty interested. Hopefully we will be seeing them this week. There is just something about exchanges and bleus that makes miracles happen. Bleus are so full of faith and so ready to work and I think that is why there are so many miracles that follow them around.

The very next day we had a blitz with the Chinese elders. We brought them here from Toulouse. Elder Zhu, the Chinese elder, tells me every time he is in Albi he realizes how much he loves Toulouse...  Hahaha. I guess it is good that it makes him thankful? Lol. I actually went with Elder Leon and we pretty much contacted all day. It was a lot of walking but we also met some people that were nice and possibly interested.

After our exchange with the Chinese elders we all drove to Toulouse on Thursday morning for district meeting. It went pretty well. I didn't have a ton of time to prepare (Elder Johnson is still district leader) but it still ended up running smoothly. After district meeting we went to Chez Vong which is this extremely delicious Vietnamese food. The owner, whom we call Tati, loves the missionaries so much. She gives us food for really cheap and gives us free drinks and has pictures of missionaries all over her wall. She really loves us. Hahaha. She calls us her children :) she is really adorable. We ate so much food. I thought I was going to die. Holy cow. It was my favorite part of district meeting.

District Meeting

Nos amis
We found a ton of new people this week.... Guess how many new Amis we have?  Go on, guess! We had five! Probably the most I've ever had on my mission. I think the reason behind us finding so many new Amis was because we were really pushing to teach people on the street. We were more aggressive and really testified in contacts and it worked super well. Hopefully we will get to see all of them this week. I'll just tell you about my favorite and most promising.

Look, we worked hard!

 After our exchange on Tuesday, we took the car out to Carmaux. It is about a 30-minute drive from our house. We decided to do some pass backs of potential and ancient Amis. The first pass back was really embarrassing because this guy opened the door and we asked him if he knew the woman we were looking for and he was like... Yeah, she moved to Ireland like 7ish years ago. Hahaha. Oops.
The next one was super cool though! I told you about an African family Elder Steadman and I found last transfer... But then nothing really ever happened with them. Well! We tried passing them just one last time before writing them off and they were home and let us in to teach a lesson. Moïse and his family are really cool. They are from Congo. It was the perfect way to end the day after having contacted for hours.

Since then we've seen them once with the entire family. We gave them a
Book of Mormon and they were so touched. By our second rendezvous they already knew that the Book of Mormon is true. They are awesome. We just need to find a way to get them to church because they don't have a car and they are a family of six. Pray so that we find a way!

Brigitte doing okay. Her daughters are so frustrating. I have a hard time not resenting them. They do things simply out of spite towards their mom who would do anything for them. Brigitte has made contact with the addiction recovery program in Toulouse so that should be good. She needs to find a new house before winter because it is super expensive to heat and it doesn't have any insulation. She is so faithful. She reads and prays everyday and comes to church. She wants so badly to stop smoking but life has been making it really hard for her lately.

Elder Johnson labeled this "Weird Cat Picture" lol

 D'autre choses
Recently I have felt kind of panicked with how much time I have left on my mission. Members keep asking me how I feel about going home and it's weird! Of course I'm excited to come home and see my family and friends but I am more nervous about coming home than when I left on my mission. Going on a mission you have a general idea of what your goal is. Help others come unto Christ. You understand what you will be doing for two years because that is how it is. Then all of the sudden you have to go home and figure out your entire life and there are way more choices than just before.

But I just need to calm down and trust the Lord. I think what is making me feel so weird is because of all of my dreams. They are super weird mixes of the mission and coming home. Every time. Sometimes I'm running through the airport looking for church members because I need to go teach a lesson. Other times I'm home but I know my mission time isn't up and I feel bad that I left early. I think the weirdest one I've had was we were walking around Toulouse as a family and then Johnny Depp drove by and I was like..."Look! Johnny Dep!" And then he yelled out the window "tais-toi!" Which means shut up! Lol. Then
Sierra was like... “Yeah, be quiet!” Lol.

Anyways! That is it for this week! I love you all! Thanks for your support. AND a special shout out to everyone in the ward that sent me a care package.

Je vous aime

Elder Cameron Johnson

3 comments:

  1. We are so proud of you Cameron! The kids have loved hearing about your mission and they are excited to see you! You are doing amazing work and are a wonderful example to many people. Way to go!!! (I don't know if you actually read this, but hopefully you'll get this message somehow. :) )

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    Replies
    1. I will pass your message onto Elder Johnson. Thank you for your support. :)

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  2. Hey Cameron! I don't know how long this will be up so I decided I need to get busy and read...the last 9 months!!!! Whoa! Hey, we are excited to have you back home soon. Crazy how fast it has gone. I noticed you mentioned an Elder Steadman. We had an Elder Steadman here about a year ago. Do you have any idea where he is from? He was from the north, Wisconsin maybe? Minnesota maybe? Just thought that if you had a chance to ask, that might be neat if they are brothers. Sorry I have been so lousy about writing! Love ya and we will see you soon! Have a great trip home!

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