Le dernier mot d'un missionnaire

Bonjour à tous 

There are several things I want to express but there is way too much, so I have the difficult task of choosing what to share! I've had so many experiences. 

I don't know why I have been so blessed to have been able to come to this mission, at this time. Looking back at my mission, I've realized how everything that has happened to me, has been crucial to my spiritual growth and testimony of the Savior. It has been like a perfectly designed puzzle. My life will never be the same thanks to President and Sister Roney (and the Browns), all of my companions, the faithful French members, who everyday face the challenge of living in a country apathetic towards God, the Amis I've come to love as family, and even the random person on the street. 

If I've learned anything during the span of my mission, it would be this; love is the key. I have genuinely come to love the French people and their culture. The exquisite food, flawlessly balanced in taste and consistency. The pâté fois gras, escargots, all of the patisseries, bread and chocolate. The French affinity for family and friends. Their family is the most important thing of their life. I love how initially awkward they are when you don't know them. I love how they have  practically zero spatial awareness and are nearly incapable of guessing if something will fit somewhere (except whilst parallel parking). I love the members and their courage to stand up for Christ's doctrine in the face of ever present secularism. They are pioneers of the church and I have gained a huge respect for them. They are incredible. 

I am forever grateful for the lifetime friendships I have created. The word 'ami' for investigator is more than appropriate. To even think I would have not had the opportunity to meet the people I have greatly saddens me. There are so many incredible people! I've learned great lessons. You can't just "deal with people", you have to love them. 

I know Heavenly Father made it possible for me to gain a sincere love for the people and even my mission. For every beautiful experience, every kind, sincere person, for every good day there have been innumerable bad ones. Days that are unbearably long where people yell at you to go home and keep your dirty sect. I've had things thrown at me. I've been laughed at.  I was assaulted and even stabbed. These experiences weren't fun. But they didn't define my mission experience. 

They weren't able to... Because no matter how tired I was or how mean the people were, I knew and I will always know that I was never alone. Not once. The atonement of Jesus Christ can turn the greatest tragedies to the most beautiful experiences. The difference between misery and happiness is an eternal perspective. On the days where I felt like I couldn't continue, I felt divine support from my Heavenly Father through His son, Jesus Christ. 

I long to see my family. I love them much. I'm excited to see them. At the beginning of the mission, you look forward and feel like your mission is never going to end. Two years seems so long. But then you look backward and it seems it has been about two weeks. 

I love you all and I am eternally grateful I was able to share a tiny bit of what I have experienced. I hope you have been uplifted and strengthened in your faith in Christ. 

Que Dieu vous bénisse! À bientôt :) 

Elder Cameron Johnson 

Watching the 185th Semi Annual General Conference 

Hmmm, donc, voila quoi, tu vois?

Bonjour a tous! Another week has gone by! We did some pretty cool stuff this week. Still looking for amis... They have all been hiding recently.

ACTIVITÉ AU LAC

The branch had its first activity since I've been here. It was organized by the young women and everyone was invited so we decided to head on up with the Rodez Elders. 

We had planned on staying over at their house the night before because the activity started at 10 and Rodez is a long drive but as we started driving up, our car's power steering went out. Luckily we had only been driving for a few minutes outside of Albi when it happened. So… we need to get that fixed this week. 

Anyway, we ended up taking a train to Rodez and then riding with Frere Pascalin (1st counselor) to the lake with the Rodez Elders. We get in the car and he says... “Elders, I'm really sorry but I'm super tired and if I don't listen to music I'm going to fall asleep”...(my eye lol) and so we listened to Reggae music all the way to the lake. He had Adele but remixed into Reggae. l will admit that I didn't not enjoy it.:) 

The activity was super fun! We just ate on the beach and played games. It was a little rowdy though because there was a sand volleyball tournament going on at the same time. It kind of had the feeling of Ragnar but with lots of alcohol but they all had costumes and team names and stuff. haha 

One of the games we played was Loups-Garous "Werewolf". It is kind of like Mafia but a little bit more complicated. We played several rounds and I got killed like every time. All of the young women would accuse me of being the werewolf and the village would vote to kill me. haha 

One of the bad things about the activity was that everyone got super sunburned. Luckily I'm already kind of brown and just got a little pink on my nose and cheeks. Elder Steadman's feet got destroyed. haha 

NOS AMIS

We were able to see Brigitte two times this week! I wish we would have been able to visit her more but then our car broke. I don't understand why all of these little things happen all at once. It is so stinking annoying. It's so hard to not get frustrated and shake your fists in the air but I'm just kind of rolling with the punches at this point. I just laugh and pretend to not get mad and then a magic thing happens where I don't get mad. 

But anyway…Brigitte! She is doing pretty well! We talked to her about fasting this week (because she doesn't see how it could help her) and so we know that it would build her faith if she did it. We really want to do a branch fast with her to help her stop smoking. After our lesson, she said she would pray to know as to when she wants to do it. 

Her daughters have really calmed down and things are getting more stable. Prayer works! :) 

Eda called us on Monday and told us that she was taking a plane to L'ile Maurice (island near Madagascar) that was leaving in an hour. Apparently her sister had to have an emergency operation and so Eda was like, “I’m leaving. I don't know when I will get back”. Luckily though she was able to call us with her phone from where she was. She should be getting back at the end of this month. The operation went well and her brother (who was less active) is going to go back to church now! I talked with him on the phone and he said sometimes bad things need to happen in our lives to help us realize how important God actually is. I was happy to talk to him and be able to encourage him to go back to church :) 

As for the search of the amis... It is still a work in progress. We prayed a lot this week to have inspiration to know as to where we should go to do porting and contacting and it seems to be working. We found a few really nice potentials there. The problem is that they are all women and we don't have anyone to teach with us. Frere Millet is super sick and won't be able to help us until late September... D: It is really unfortunate. Luckily we have a new family moving in this week :) 

D'AUTRES CHOSES

Well! Because I'm not second counselor anymore they made me District Leader! I'm excited to work with everyone in the district. The district got rearranged to where we now we have Albi, Capitole Sisters, Capitole Chinese, Zone Leaders, and Rodez. This district is a lot bigger than my last one where I was district leader. It's going to be a blast. 

Hmmm…I was thinking about our car breaking and I think it is maybe so we can walk around everywhere and talk to more people. :) Blessing in disguise? 

I got my flight plans for my travels back to Arkansas... I was looking at them and it doesn't even seem real to me. President Brown told me that there are still people out there waiting to be found by me... I’ve got to find them! :) 

Voila! C'est tout pour cette semaine! 

Je vous aime :) 

Elder Johnson

ALBI #4 et Spider Cochon

Hello family and friends! This week was good! I don't have a ton to write about this week (and not a lot of time because we just got back from Toulouse.. we helped the zone leaders out with gare duty because all of the metros aren't working at the moment)... anyway! 

ALBI #4

I'm staying in Albi for a fourth! Which is pretty darn crazy to me just because I have never stayed anywhere for more than four and a half months and now I'm doing at least six here. I'm excited to stay. 

To be honest, I kind of wanted to be transferred but then after we got the call it just felt right. And then I thought of Brigitte, Eda, the Family Leroy, and all of the other branch members. They all told me that they had prayed that I stay and I'm glad that I did. I think my desire to get transferred was selfish but I'm over it :) 

There is a very large possibility that I will die here. 5 transfers anywhere is pretty long and it doesn't happen very often but I would kind of be a little upset to just go die somewhere the last six weeks of my mission. 

Elder Steadman and I are staying together, which is also nice because now I don't have to worry about getting a new driver.... #tendermercy. Speaking of transfers, Elder LaPointe just got transferred to Toulouse! The Marseille team! haha 

NOS AMIS

Still searching for amis. We decided this week that we haven't really been finding as much as we could because we could be planning a lot better. So… we really planned some miracles for this week. It is going to be stinking hot and there is going to be lots of opposition but I know we will find some people! 

Brigitte-I love Brigitte so stinking much. She is really making progress. I'm excited for her and her desire to move forward. I'm proud of her. I can't wait for her to be baptized. I know it is going to happen. It is just a matter of time. 

Famille Leroy-We were able to see them this week! It was a really intense rendezvous. We shared some excerpts from the "THE FAMILY" but we ended up talking about coming back to church (because she isn't a member anymore). I'm not really going to go into detail of what was said but I will say that it was a very powerful lesson. The spirit was there. I really think we made a big step with them. 

On a side note: we were eating dinner and their son (Ethan, who is like 2 and a halfish) is refusing to eat and crying and all of this stuff... and then he starts coughing and coughing and then, as I am taking a bite of a tarte, he throws up all over the table. Poor little guy. Needless to say, I was done eating. hahaha. If I had been sitting any closer to him, I would have thrown up as well. I really did not feel good afterwards. I was just praying to not throw up everywhere. And I didn't! 

SPIDER COCHON

We went and visited the Bernardi family this week (our Branch president) and they live in this SUPER French village where everyone leaves their doors unlocked and are farmers. The kids were showed us around. First we went and looked at some puppies. Then we walked to the garden and saw chickens and peacocks.... and then they showed us some pigs and sheep... there were so many. 

Ambre (the less active that we work with regularly, taught us the "Spider Pig" song in French) we took the opportunity to take a video and show her... and she laughed SO hard.. it isn't even that funny but she was very sparked after having watched it. 

SPIDER PIG in FRENCH

C'est tout pour cette semaine! Je vous aime tous! Même ceux qui sont moches ;) 

A la semaine prochaine! 

Elder Johnson

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.

Time, It's Flying By.

Hi Everyone. Another week has gone by. All the weeks just blur together. I feel like I write the same things ever week when but I think it just feels like that because I have to ask myself... did I do that last week or this week? 

TIME GOES BY TOO FAST

This week I was talking with a less active and I started kind of complaining about how fast time goes and how I'm a little worried because of how fast that it is going that I might not be enjoying my mission as deeply as a can be. I went on for a little bit and then the less active said to me... I think you can have a better perspective. They then continued... when your life is going fast it means that you are occupied, that you are engaged in something and that you have something that you are working towards. Life goes fast when you are enjoying yourself because you are using your life to the fullest. Life is slow when we aren't enjoying ourselves and when we wish time would go faster. It is usually when we don't have anything to do or we are lonely. 

I had never really thought about it like that before. I am really thankful that I had the opportunity to talk to this less active member of the church, because it did make me feel like I was just looking at things in the wrong light. Life is best when it is flying by. :) 

iPads

We finally got our iPads. They are pretty awesome tools. I like them. I think the coolest thing about them for the moment is that we have so many resources within our reach with such little space or weight taken. The gospel library is so cool. You can take notes and highlight and make tags and have scriptures on certain subjects all grouped together. It is really useful. 

Another thing I really like about them are the language learning apps on them. They are really fun and useful. They make language study more efficient. 

I'm just thankful for the opportunity that I have to be a part of the first wave of missionaries using the iPads. We have been promised that once we have social media on them and that if we use them correctly we can double the amount of people we are teaching. That would be awesome. 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

So this week we went to Rodez to do an exchange with Elder Gossel and Elder Keller. They serve in the same branch as us but they live about an hour north of Albi. The best part of the entire exchange was when Elder Gossel and I ran into a 90 year old woman while we were porting. She opened the door and looked super surprised and then said, “Well, are you going to come in or not?” She was super delightful. Obviously we didn't go in because she was alone but we spent a good 30 minutes talking to her at her door. 

She asked what church we were from and we said "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" Then she said, "Oh! That is my church!" lol In the course of her conversation she said just before we knocked on her door, she had been praying to have someone visit her because she was feeling really lonely and depressed. She then told us "You are truly representatives of Jesus Christ". 

As we were walking down the stairs after just finishing our conversation with her, I realized that we had been the answer to someone's prayer. And that really touched me. It isn't by chance that we decided to port her building. Her building had five floors and she was the only one that opened her door and talked to us. 

I thought about how we probably are never going to see this little old woman ever again. She probably isn't going to get baptized. We didn't teach her a lesson at her door. We didn't do anything with her that we could "count". But she had testified to us that we were the Lord's servants. It made me think about a conference talk that I had read this last week. It says something like "the most important acts of service are recognized by God alone." I'm just so happy to have been able to be in the right place at the right time. 

ALSO! BRIGITTE FIXED HER OWN BAPTISMAL DATE! She prayed and prayed and prayed and she said she wants to get baptized the 5th of September. It isn't as soon I would have personally liked but that is her answer so too bad for me! It isn't my decision, it is between her and the the Lord. I'm super happy she finally realized she had received an answer. 

SOOOO...

Yeah…that was this week! 

Je vous aime

Elder Johnson