Bonjour à tous! C'est
incroyable qu'une autre semaine soit déjà passée! I say it every week but
really, the weeks just run together!
NOS AMIS
So! Brigitte got back from
Marseille at the end of this last week but we still don't have our stinking
car. I honestly don't know what we would have done if we actually had a job
where we could get fired because honestly no one cares if you don't have a car
to go places here. One thing I don't really appreciate about European culture
is the total lack of customer service. If it is broken it is your fault and
your problem. Oh well... I'm just bitter about not being able to see amis we
would have been able to see. But! I digress, Brigitte is doing well. She is
excited to come to church this next week. It has been a while.
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| Zone p-day Volleyball |
Anyway, Elisabeth was supposed
to come to church this week but she called the members that were going to bring
her an hour before saying she wasn't feeling well. We sent her a text asking
how she was and she said that she was tired and needed to rest and take a break
from lessons and that she is going to re contact us :( But it doesn't make any
sense that she would say that! We really think she is having family opposition
to her taking the lessons. She said she feels really good when she is at church
and with us and she said that every time we leave her house she waits with
anticipation for our next visit. I just hope it works out. Pray that our
suspicions aren't true. I would say through out my mission the number one
reason people drop us is because of family. We will see. I just need to have
faith things are going to work out.
Still looking for new
amis! The weather is cooling off and I think people are starting to be nice
again. Haha.
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| Paris Temple |
When the mission shifted
its focus to temples and the ordinances we do inside of the temple, it was kind
of weird at first that in contacts we are talking about baptisms for the dead
and eternal marriage. But it works really well! We have been showing people
pictures of the temples in contacts and then talking about how we do ordinances
by proxy for our ancestors and others and it works so well! People are
captivated by the temple and when we tell them there is going to be one in
Paris they get really excited. We are really tapping into one of the big
"F's" of the French culture... (FAMILY, friends, and food...
Unfortunately it isn't always in that order but that is besides the point). It's
cool to see that our mission president truly is inspired.
L'ECHANGE
I did an exchange with
elder Hansen this week, on Monday actually. After we did p-day in Toulouse
elder Hansen and I caught a train to Carmaux to visit the famille Allal. I
really like them. They are such a fun family. One thing that I have really
appreciated in staying in a ville for so long is all of the friendships I have
made with members
and Amis. The Allals are
really fun because they love to joke. They have this never-ending game called
"blague pourrie" which means rotten joke. Basically whoever says the
dumbest joke wins but you never really officially start or end the game. No one
can officially win but periodically you can take the lead. I think we as
missionaries are pretty good at it because our jokes in French are pretty
basic. And almost all jokes in French are play on words so if we can come up
with a joke. It's always really dumb.
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| Zone P-Day Volleyball |
Anyways! We had a good rendezvous
with them and then rode home with Frere Allal. Elder Hansen is a really good
missionary. He was in the same district as me when I was in Marseille. I love
that despite how big the mission is, you still get to see people again.
The next day we taught
Elisabeth, contacted and we were suppose to have another rendezvous but it fell
through and we had brought the Famille Billet with us. So we ended up doing a
spiritual thought with them before barely catching our train back to Toulouse
to end the exchange. We ended up staying with the zone leaders again because we
missed our return train. Oh well. I fight the little "if we only had the
car voice…" Pretty often but now I'm like a billion times more thankful
for it.
LA RESTE DE LA SEMAINE
Saturday we went over to
Eda's house for the first time since she got back from her emergency trip to
Maurice. She fed us so stinking much. She makes food for like ten people and
only invites four. Eda cracks me up but sometimes she stresses me out too.
Sometimes she asks questions or pretends to be for something that isn't
compatible with the gospel just to "test us" as missionaries. She is
a stinker.
We are slowly reteaching
her all of the lessons and slowly correcting some of her odd theological ideas.
I mean she has been catholic for like her entire life in France so I understand
why some of her ideas are mixed up with half-truths, but we are just super bold
with her because she knows that we love her and only tell her the things we do
because we care.
After stuffing our faces
with Eda we were invited to Mimi's to eat. We cooked with her and it was really
fun. She told us how to do everything and we did it. We made this really good
pasta sauce with sundried tomatoes and pickles... Sounds odd but it was good.
We felt like giant fatty
pants afterwards though because of the back to back meals. We were joking how
it was probably better that we didn't serve in Utah because our bodies simply
would not have handled all of the meals. Hahaha.
We drove our car this
week... and it was super sketchy! But we had to. Eda sent a friend to look at
it. He replaced the battery and then we drove it about 30km to his house.
Hahaha. We were praying the entire time that it wouldn't explode. The power
steering went out several times but then it would come on right before we
needed to make a scary turn. Haha. It was an adventure.
One other thing! Today I
got a call from Elder Schneider! Which is totally against the rules but it was
him that called me so I talked to him. Hahaha. The phone call was super funny
because I didn't know who it was at first. I answered and we made small talk
and then he asked... Elder Johnson de l'Arkansas.. Il est là? And I said oui
and then asked who it was because the entire time I was trying to match the
voice to the person because I recognized his voice but just couldn't put my
finger on it.
He is doing really well.
It was so great to hear from my trainer. He was amazed at how much better my
French was. Hahahah. I would hope it has gotten better considering he had me
for my first three months. He said that he thought it was another person on the
phone :) I'm going to have to visit him. He is so awesome. It pretty much made
my day. It made me realize how fast time goes by! We served together forever
ago!
Anyway! I love you all!
That was it for this week!
Que Dieu soit à vos côtés.
Elder Johnson
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