Fake Alcohol and Mixed Emotions

Elder Cameron Johnson and Karine

So! What a week! Things this week in Albi were sick. Elder Steadman and I are having a lot of fun and doing some good work.

CONVERTIE RÉCENTE
We went and saw Eda two times this week. The first time was to have her meet Elder Steadman (whom she calls "Steve" because Steadman is just too hard for her). She fed us a nice simple meal of a salad and some cold cut meats and baguette. She invited us over Wednesday because it was actually the day that marked a year since the death of her husband. She was a little sad but doing very well considering. I talked with her sister on the phone (who is a member in the UK) and she thanked us for taking care of her sister and teaching her. She said that she has been praying for a long time that her sister would join the church. That was cool to hear.

We went back Saturday to do some garden work for Eda because with all of the rain that we have been having her garden was invaded by weeds. We put two good hours of work in and got most of the important stuff weeded. The trick was finding the good plants and not tearing them out. After our work, she tried to pay us again and I told her that she cannot pay us! Ha ha! She said "Fine, I'm going to give it to the church then!" Hahaha!  I told her that would be good :)  She fed us a really good meal.  She even cracked out some foie gras (which is normally eaten at Christmas or really special events). AND some fake alcoholic drink. She said she wanted us to try it because she thought it was good.. It wasn't my favorite but it was different. If anything, if alcoholic drinks taste like what we drank... I'm not missing out on anything. It was just pretty funny though because she was insistent that we try it. And of course we took photos.

The FAKE stuff

Elder Steadman 

AMIS ET MOINS ACTIFS
Brigitte is doing alright. She is facing so much opposition in her life. She is being faithful though... but my goodness. I have seen the hand and work of God during my mission but conversely I have seen the work of the devil too. He is throwing everything he can at Brigitte right now. Her daughters are doing some pretty stupid stuff and it is really sad.

But Brigitte says it is become more natural for her to pray when bad things happen to her. She is sad and tired of all of the opposition but she has gained a better perspective and she knows that her "afflictions are but a small moment". I'm so thankful she is choosing to trust the Lord and not giving up. Pray for her! She is a trooper.

We went and visited Ambre, a less active with a non-member husband and three adorable kids. She is a HILARIOUS person. She gives all of the missionaries nicknames. Mine is "Elder Mexican" and Elder Steadman's is "Elder Spiderman". I see so much potential in her. She wants to come back to church but there is stuff she has to change that is going to be hard. Her husband is really nice too, and open to listen to the gospel. She loves to make fun of us when we don't understand what she says... but she talks super fast and mumbles on purpose. This week we went over and ate dinner with them. They made some good pizza and salad. Whenever her kids do something annoying or weird she just looks up in the sky and says: "Je voulais un hamster..." I wanted a hamster... hahaha. Goodness. She says she is going to try to come to church this next week. We shall see.

Ambre Children

BYE BYE IN BORDEAUX
Tomorrow we are traveling to Bordeaux to say goodbye to President and Sister Roney. It kills me they are leaving. To be honest, I feel like a big part of my mission is dying with them leaving. They are such good people. I never even remotely expected to be so attached to my mission president. I truly love them. I'm so grateful to have had their influence in my life. They have taught me so much! Goodness. So much mushy lovey stuff but seriously! 

But I know that it is what needs to happen. President has been talking about it a lot about how mission presidents are called at specific times for specific reasons. I'm sure I will love the Browns and that they are what the mission needs. But I'm not saying it is going to be easy at first.

CONFÉRENCE DE PIEU
This week we had stake conference and their  was a re-transmission in Albi.... I had to set it up and it stinking stressed the crap out of me because I couldn't get it to work and we had like 30 minutes until before it started. I started getting super frustrated and then just said a little prayer in my heart and things got sorted out. Thank goodness. Unfortunately, the cable they sent it wasn't long enough to move the TV anywhere so we had to watch it in the office of the Branch President.  Which is super tiny. Both fortunately and unfortunately, 13 people showed up and we all fit inside.  Four of those people were missionaries  and four others were Anglophone visitors and the other five are one family in the branch. It is pretty funny and small. I think most of the members actually went to Toulouse for the conference. The Bernardis fed everyone after the conference. Very kind of them :)

That is it for this week!  I love you so much!

Stake Conference in the very small office. 

Gros bisous
Elder Johnson

PS- Cool tender mercy! I called a less active that we visit in Castres from time to time and someone else answers the phone, one of her friends. and I recognize her voice and I say... Karine? AND IT WAS HER! She was a recent convert when I served in Bordeaux. I talked to her a lot because she had questions about Africans in the church and the priesthood. It was soooo cool to see her again! Super funny.

"SANS TITRE"---because I don't know what to put as a headline

Bonjour everyone! 

This week was really good... just like the rest of them. I haven't had a bad week in a while (knocking on wood). Things are just dandy here in Albi, France. We have a lot of good things going on right now. 

NOS AMIS

So, I guess I will start with Eda (because her baptism is this Saturday!). Eda is so great. I really love her. She cracks me up. She doesn't joke or try to make us laugh but the way she says things is just too much sometimes. For example... she is in LOVE with Moroni. (Moroni is a great leader in the Book of Mormon) If Moroni was living today, she would probably try to marry him. I need to explain why...

So, after Eda's husband passed away, she had a dream that Moroni was in it. Well, she didn't know who it was at the time but he looked really familiar to her (because her mom has a huge picture of him in her house) SO, she wakes up the next morning and sees the picture and realizes that it is him and feels like it is a sign that she needs to "go back to her roots" and be baptized (because all of her family is in the church.) Ever since then, she has been in love with him. When we are were going over the baptismal interview questions we asked her if she believed that Joseph Smith had been the prophet who restored the gospel to the earth? And she said, "You know, I like Joseph Smith but Moroni is way stronger." hahaha. Her exact words. She went on for like 10 minutes talking about how strong and awesome Moroni was until we finally re-asked the question and she is like "Oh yeah, for sure! Of course Joseph Smith restored the church. " hahah. Maybe she understood the question as "Who is your favorite hero in the Book of Mormon?" 

She is so excited for her baptism. There are actually going to be four baptisms the same day. The Rodez elders (who come to our branch) are having a baptism, along with two equipes in Toulouse. It is going to be a really cool day. She has invited around 20ish people, not even kidding. And they are all coming. Some are coming from PARIS. Yes, PARIS. She called me the other day to see if we wanted to go to the temple in Suisse with her after her baptism. We explained we couldn't go but she is already planning her trip! lol. I also told her that we had to teach all of her friends after her baptism and she was like "Pas de soucis!" "Not a problem!" She is really cool. 

Brigitte is also doing well. We were only able to see her once this last week because she had a friend that came up from Marseille so they spent time together. She is currently looking to move closer to Albi, which will be good. Pray that she finds a house soon! 

Meethel, our Chinese amie is probably one of my favorite people on planet earth. She is just so stinking open to new ideas. We invited her to church this last week and she said she is excited to come. We hope to give her a baptismal date this week. Whenever you are teaching her she just nods her head and says "Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Ok. Hmm." Does that make sense? "Yes. Perfect sense!" She told us she really wants that what we teach her to be true. She is awesome. 

ZONE P-DAY

We had zone p-day last Monday. It was nice. All of the equipes in the zone went to Toulouse and we ate together, talked and just played some fun games. It made me think about how incredible it is to be a missionary. There are so many people that I love so much that I would have never met had I not come on a mission. Missionaries, members and amis. All thanks to the mission. 

After playing around we had to drive back to Albi to get all of our other p-day stuff done (clean, wash the car, groceries, emails). It is too bad we live so far away from Toulouse. It is a pretty cool city. Very pretty. 

LES AUTRES CHOSES 

We had an apartment check this week (it is to see if your apartment is clean). We passed with flying colors. The senior couple told us it was one of the cleanest. Yeah, I'm pretty proud. 

We did gardening work with Soeur Delouche this week. I love working in the garden so much. It is nice to change the type of work you do on a day to day basis. It is kind of a stress relief. She was impressed with our gardening skills. 

We should be getting iPads this Friday if everything goes well. I'm not getting my hopes up just because I've been hearing about our mission getting iPads for about a year now. I am excited to get them though. They are really going to change the work. I'm a little worried about carrying one around all the time though. I mean, once one bad person finds out missionaries have iPads, a lot of bad people could. But I mean, we are in France, it isn't like people get stabbed in the butt everyday. 

PENSÉE SPIRITUELLE

So, spiritual thought of the week. I was studying for certain amis of ours and I came across the scripture in Corinthians 10:13:

 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

This scripture is a real comfort for me. To know that I'm not destined to fail because of weaknesses or "favorite sins" that I have won't stop me from overcoming temptation. God loves us and wants only the best for us. He wants us to succeed and will allow us to as we learn to put our trust in Him. There is always an "escape" and He will never be ashamed of us for what we have or have not done because His love in unconditional. 

So! That was our week! I love you all! Thank you for your prayers :) 

Que Dieu Vous Bénisse!

Elder Johnson

I just want to stay in Albi

Hello everyone!

These are all the missionaries that started their mission when Elder Cameron Johnson did in October.
The girls have all gone home as their 18 months are done. 

I don’t have a ton to write about this week just because we got back into Albi this Thursday. So we haven’t had a ton of time back here, which really stresses me out. Whenever I am out of my sector for a long time I just think about my amis and what they are doing. I know they aren’t being taught! It is a weird anxiety. Just sitting around in a ville that isn’t yours does bad things to you. I really enjoyed being in Lyon despite not being able to teach. I love Lyon so stinking much. It will always be my favorite ville. Anyway...

LA VISITE à LYON

So.... I was in Lyon for about five days because of the mission wide conference. I think I already told you about it. Anywho... I "hung out" with Elder Mueller and Elder Shalk (two Germans) for three days waiting until the bleus arrived. We mostly just contacted the entire time or did nice things for the office elders like clean their apartment or run errands for them. We talked to so many people. We found some really elect people for the equips in Lyon.

Famille Leporé

I did get the opportunity to visit two of my favorite familles that I know. The Bonnamys and the Leporés. Both of them where like "You are still on your mission? How much time do you even have left?!" That was kind of hard to hear. I thought that once I cleared the halfway on my mission, things would get easier and calmer but to be honest I just feel more stressed and pressed for time. I know the clock is ticking and it freaks me out. I don’t like it. haha.

Famille Bonnamy - also shared this photo last week.  :)

As cool as Lyon is, I was ready to leave when we did. On Wednesday we finally got our bleus! My new companion is Elder Strong. He is from Kentucky. He is very quiet and reserved. He probably thinks I’m crazy... hahaha. Probably, because I am. We get along well even though we are different.

Elder Cameron Johnson meeting his new bleu companion, Elder Strong

Riding in the car is a little stressful but it is getting better. He is learning quick but we have already driven on the wrong side of the road twice. Only once on the freeway, so no big deal.

LES AUTRES CHOSES

Ummm... I don't really have a whole lot more to say, just because we haven’t really "worked" this week. Our amis are doing really well despite us not being here. Eda will be baptized the 23rd of this month, so pray everything goes well! Brigitte is getting closer and closer to stop smoking. We are going to try to engage her this week to baptism.

We have to go back to Lyon this week. I think I might go crazy if we have to leave anymore. But it is only for two days to do the legality of Elder Strong. It should be quick and we will be back in Albi by Wednesday night.

Voila... that is this week! I will write more next week!

I love you all!

Elder Johnson

President & Sister Roney & Moi

UNE SEMAINE SUR LYON, BÉBÉ #2 and iPad Cases

Hello family and friends! I have a lot of thing to tell you! I'll start with the conference in Lyon :)

So! Friday of last week we got on a bus in Toulouse and headed towards Lyon with ALL of the other missionaries in the Toulouse and Montpellier Zones. It was about a six-hour ride. It went by really fast though because we just all talked about funny stories and read scriptures and talks from the Area Seventy that was coming.

We got into Lyon around 7PM and went to the Ecully chapel, and literally the entire mission was there. All 240ish missionaries. It was insane seeing so many missionaries. There were so many that I had never even seen before mostly because I have stayed on the south west side of the mission. But anyway, the office had bought all of the missionaries pizzas. They bought a crazy amount of pizza. There was a mountain of boxes afterwards the size of a car.

The actual conference took place on Saturday. And I was pleasantly surprised at how spiritual it was. I went in with the idea that I was going to just hear about all of the rules and the "nuts and bolts" of having iPads. But it was very uplifting! Elder Nielson (he spoke in this last general conference about his sister) came and showed us the view from "40,000 feet." as he said.

The church is introducing technology with iPads to missionaries for a number of reasons. They see that the work is going to explode because most people know that going from door to door and talking to people on the street is becoming less and less effective. Already one cool point.

The church also wants missionaries to develop good social media habits for when they are home and the way the iPads are formatted, we still have a ton of freedom so we will have to learn how to use them correctly and effectively.

The conference was also super, super cool because I got to see all of my old companions! (All of them that aren't home). It was like a giant family reunion. Every time a bus pulled up to the church it was like Christmas. It was also super weird because the sisters from my group are going home this week and I'm here in Lyon with them all. It is a really weird feeling to see them going home. Frankly, it is hard for me to believe!

When President shook my hand for the conference he said "Good morning Stabby..." And then when he said goodbye, he told me I needed to keep my iPad in my back right pocket... just to be safe. Lol. I just imagine him lying in bed at night thinking about what he could say and then just laughing. He is too funny. I really love him. He only has 8 weeks left on his mission and it makes me super sad to think I'm not going to finish with him. I never imagined my mission president being someone who has influenced me so much.

As for visiting members I got to visit the Famille Bonnamy! It was sick to see them again. I really like them. They had us over for some juice and a tarte citron. We talked for about an hour and a half and just caught up. They asked me how much time I had left and they were shocked that I only had six months. Time passes fast!

Bonnamy family

Cool tender mercy... We are waiting in the metro station for the next car when I'm looking around and I see this woman that looks super familiar. I keep looking and I realize it is Annick! HA! I run up to her and she is like, “ WHAT?! IT IS YOU! JOHNSON!” hahaha It was so awesome. She was really happy to see me, as I was happy to see her. She is doing better but she hasn't been going to church. Rachelle is still going to church though, which is awesome. After seeing her, I felt overwhelmed with how much God loves us and gives us little experiences like that. What are the chances of visiting a city of two and half million people for a couple of days and I am going to come across someone that I know? God is so awesome :)

In the end we didn't even get iPads yet! The mission has received the cases but not the iPads. President has named the conference we had,”The iPad Case Conference.” lol. I imagine in the next month we will have them. It will be weird but after being at that conference, I see how much it can advance the work. I'm very excited.

So... I'm actually still in Lyon right now.... because I'm training AGAIN! I guess I messed up so terribly they decided to give me a second chance. I'm excited and nervous to train again. I'm sure it will be a great learning experience. I'll be here in Lyon until Wednesday if all goes as planned. I am pretty sad to see Elder Ottesen leave Albi, he has been a great companion. But we will see each other at BYU. Anyway!

Saying goodbye to Elder Ottesen

That is about it for this week. I love you all so much. Every time I think about you all, I just work harder. Thank you for your support and above all, your prayers (especially because the bleu will be the one driving the car).

Je vous aime tous!

Elder Johnson